Founded in October, 2006, the Earth 2 Round Robin is growing more slowly than the RPG but the plot is pretty good so far. We are playing along a definite story arc so it has been easy to stay on course.
We have a handful of participating writers and a few fans who are in the group just to read the story as it grows.
As always I have the permission of all authors to correct typos and punctuation.
All disclaimers apply. We are writing this for our own enjoyment.
CHAPTER ONE: Abandonment
There were times when True Danziger felt as if she'd been walking across this
planet her entire life. Yale, the cyborg tutor who was keeping track of these
things, told her it was one Earth year, eight months and fifteen days since
their pod reached the surface of the planet and they were all stranded here.
It was just over one G889 year.
Either way she figured that was a long time to be traveling on foot across any
planet, not just this one. She kicked a stone and watched it skitter away and
bounce to one side. She ran a few steps and kicked it again. She wondered how
long she could keep it going until someone told her to knock it off. People
were doing that a lot lately.
Out of the corner of her eye she was keeping watch on the adults around her
while she played her game.
They were all going pretty slow again today. She knew that was because none of
them really wanted to be leaving Devon Adair behind in that old cold sleep
capsule back on the Bennett ship, and some didn't like leaving the body of
their friend, Eben, in the ground. Every now and then someone would stop for a
drink of water and they would take a quick look behind them to see if the tall,
rocky peaks near the ship were still visible.
True supposed they thought they weren't really leaving Devon and poor dead Eben
Sihn all alone as long as they could see the rock spires near them.
Maybe it doesn't seem like we're abandoning them if we can still see where they
are? she thought, kicking the stone again and skip-running after it. The grown-
ups were really upset about that word- abandon. She remembered the arguments
before the group voted to continue to New Pacifica, and how reluctantly a few
of the hands were to raise in agreement. She knew some of them still talked
quietly at night about abandoning their leader and their other friend.
She was starting to not like the word abandon anymore-- not that she ever
thought of it before, but because leaving was hard for her dad, too. It made
her angry that no one seemed to think of that. They just blamed him for making
the decision to keep going. Like it was all his fault things were happening
the way they were. She wanted to tell them it wasn't so, that it bothered her
dad a lot to have to keep going, but they always stopped talking when she was
around and walked away to do chores that didn't need to be done.
They smiled and joked when True or her dad or both were around, pretending to
be supportive as if they thought neither she nor Dad knew about their quiet
talk. They did, though. That was why True walked among the grown-ups now
whenever she could. As long as she was nearby they didn't speak of it. As long
as she was nearby they left her dad alone.
It they ever said anything in front of her she was going to tear into them like
nobody's business.
She was getting ahead of the walkers now, chasing after her stone, but she
didn't realize it until Bess Martin called to her from the back of the
transrover.
"True! Come and get some water, sweetie." She had a cup in her hand and she was
holding it out to her.
True gave the stone a hard kick and forgot about it. She ran toward Bess and
slowed to get the cup from her hand. "Thanks," she said and drank.
"Want me to give you a lift up?" Bess asked. "You should rest a bit after all
that running."
True finished the water, walking behind the still moving transrover, and nodded
as she handed the cup back to her. "Okay."
She could keep an eye on the
walkers from the back of the vehicle as well as from on the ground. She raised
her arms and ran forward, and Bess grabbed her hands and pulled her into the
air.
"Gotcha!"
True swung her legs to one side, caught the transrover with a knee, and Bess
hooked an arm under hers and dragged her aboard.
"Want some more?" Bess was looking over her shoulder as she held a bottle under
the spigot of the water jug on the other side of her.
"No, that was enough."
"Okay," Bess said and put the cap on the bottle before holding it over her head
and yelling, "Water!"
The walkers immediately started walking faster and tossing their empty water
bottles into the back of the transrover as they got closer. Bess and True
ducked and weaved and giggled as they tried to catch all of them.
Bess filled them one by one and True threw them back to their owners. She
tossed them a little harder than was absolutely necessary, but it felt good in
a sneaky sort of way. She didn't like them blaming her dad for having to start
traveling again. It wasn't fair.
Bess threw the last one in a lazy, underhanded lob to Magus and looked at True
with a tiny smile tugging at one corner of her mouth and one eyebrow raised.
True had the uneasy feeling Bess knew exactly what was going on with her. She
raised her knees and hugged them with her arms. She laid her face against her
knees and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at that expression
anymore.
Sometimes Bess just caught on too quickly.
///////////////////////
Bess let out a small sigh. Whether she wanted to or not True let her know
something was bothering her. Just a little more watching and Bess was certain
she could figure it out.
She gathered several containers of water in her arms and said to the
girl, "Better lay down if you're going to have a nap You don't want
to fall off the back of the 'rover. I'm going to take these up front."
With that, she slid off the back of the vehicle and jogged around the
side and was out of sight.
True slid farther back until she touched the items stored behind her
and then laid back against something rigid and cool. She stretched
her legs out in front of her and laced her fingers over her stomach.
She could see the tall rocks near where the old ship came down way
off behind the caravan but she knew by next morning they would be
gone. They weren't tall enough to be seen for much longer. As it was
they were disappearing in the haze. She forgot what Yale said that
was caused by but she knew the horizon would block them from view
soon.
It was the last thought she had before dropping into sleep.
Bess tapped the door of the transrover and it swung open and her
husband Morgan looked out. "Here," she called as she ran beside it
and she threw the bottles of water into his hands.
Morgan held his hand out to her. "Come on," he said and leaned out as
far as he dared, and that wasn't far.
Bess shook her head. "I'm going back, honey. True fell asleep back
there. I'm going to keep an eye on her. See you at lunch break."
She stopped running and dropped back quickly. She grabbed the end of
the vehicle, pushed off with her legs and hoisted herself onto the
back end. True was leaning against another of the water containers.
Bess got the little girl settled more comfortably and then sat down
and looked out at where they were coming from.
Like True she knew she wouldn't be able to see the rocks around the
place where they left Devon and Eben for much longer. It made her
feel sad and her eyes filled with tears. Devon was as safe as John,
Alonzo and Yale could make her, and poor Eben. Certainly no one would
bother her grave. Even the grendlers had respect for the human dead.
Well except for the ones Gaal befriended but they were far away. They
were safe.
Bess wiped at her eyes. It didn't make sense to think of them as
alone when neither woman was conscious. Neiher one knew they were
alone. For all she knew they were both on the dream plane relieved
that the living had finally got off their behinds and started off for
New Pacifica at last.
That was Bess's greatest wish. The ghosts of Mary's parents at the winter camp
was proof spirits, or ghosts or whatever you wanted to
call them, could exist on G889. She closed her eyes and imagined her
lost friends standing on top of the tall rocks in the dream plane
and watching the group disappear in the distance.
"We'll make it," Bess said aloud and opened her eyes. She lay down on
her side, between True and the end of the transrover and watched for
a long time as the rock spires disappeared slowly into the distance.
In her mind's eye Devon and Eben were waving her on.
////////////////////////////////
Miserably huddled in the front seat of the dunerail, Uly Adair kept
his hands folded in his lap and looked down at them resolutely. He
was trying very hard not to cry but it wasn't easy. He missed his
mother so much, but there was also a part of him, a very grown up
part of him, that knew they were doing the right thing. Still, he
didn't know how much longer he could sit here like this. His mother
was getting farther and farther away with every turn of the tires,
the crumbly, crunchy sound of which sounded loud in his ears.
He wanted to go back, just jump out of the dunerail and run back
across the kilometers to her, but the one thing keeping him from
doing that was Devon herself.
His mom would understand and smile and hold him to her with murmured
words and kisses, but deep down she would be disappointed that he had
run away and had not gotten to New Pacifica to prove to the other
families what a good life awaited their children. He was their dreams
come true and they needed to see him to know that. It was hard to be
a dream come true.
Uly closed his eyes tightly to keep a teardrop from escaping. As he
did so, a picture sprang into his mind. There were two Terrian
figures standing in front of the Venus class ship wherein his mother
was encapsulated, and they were barring the only way to reach the
ship. As long as they stood there the ship, surrounded on three sides
by high rock walls, was protected. Both Terrians moved suddenly,
planting their long wooden lances butt first into the ground, sinking
them in deep and letting go. Lowering their heads slightly, both
beings sank quickly into the soil and were soon gone.
The twin lances stood sentinel at the only opening in the rock walls.
And then, he saw movement close to the ship. A figure was walking toward the two
staffs, a slight figure wearing a bandana tied around
her head and her long, dark hair tied in two pigtails that hung over
her shoulders. A blue jacket was tied around her waist by it's
sleeves. She reached the lances and squatted down between them. She
looked around and in the act of pulling a weed from the ground, her
figure slowly faded.
When Uly opened his eyes, he was smiling and there was no sign of
tears ready to fall from his eyes. He raised his head and looked at
Yale, his tutor and friend and surrogate parent.
"Yale? Can I go find True and see if she wants to play VR?"
/////////////////////////////////
Yale turned his head and looked at Uly in surprise. It was almost midday break.
The boy was, until now, uncommunicative and sullen since the group left the
ship and his mother to begin their travels this morning.
Now the boy who was just minutes ago working his face to keep from
crying was looking at him with a smile and an eager expression on his
face.
"Are you quite alright, Ulysses?"
Uly was nodding his head. "Yeah," he said. "The Terrians are guarding
my mom, Yale! She's going to be safe until we come back for her. I
just saw them and I saw-" He hesitated, wondering if he should
mention the ghost of Eben Singh and quickly decided to wait a while
before he did. "I saw them block the way to the ship so no one can go
near it."
Yale took his eyes from the way ahead of them and was staring at
Uly. "How do you know this?" he asked almost breathlessly.
"The Terrians showed me. I was thinking I wanted them to come and get
me and take me back and then I saw them." His smile faded and he
looked serious for a moment. "No one can bother her as long as the
Terrians are guarding her."
The dunerail bounced over a rock and Yale spun his head to face
forward. "You asked them to take you back? Can they do that?"
Uly shrugged. "Yeah, but it's not a good idea. I have to stay here
and keep going."
Yale was still surprised. "I see." Though he didn't. "Uly," he began.
"Please, can I go find True?" the boy asked again.
"I think we should talk about this, Uly. This is a very important
thing the Terrians have done."
Uly looked crushed and his head tilted to one side. "Aw, Yale. Can't
we talk later? I want to tell True." And he really did want to talk
to the girl. She and Eben were good friends and he wanted True to
know her ghost was there with his mother and they might get to see
Eben again just like his mother. Well, not exactly but kind of. He
knew True would be astounded by what he saw and it took a lot for Uly
to astound her these days. This was an ace up his sleeve.
Yale sighed. "Alright, Uly, but we will discuss this later and maybe
with John and Julia present."
Before he finished talking, Uly scrambled out of the dunerail and hit
the ground running toward the back of the caravan, yelling a thank
you as he went.
Uly reached the back of the transrover quickly and stopped running
with a definite hop. There were people walking behind it and two of
them, Alonzo and Walman who were carrying the mag-pros and bringing up
the rear, angled toward him. They both looked surprised.
He grinned at them and looked into the dust and haze behind them.
"You okay, kiddo?" Alonzo asked and stopped close to him.
"Yeah," said Uly and he started waving his hand high in the air in
the direction of the far away ship.
"What are you doing?" Alonzo asked, turning around in surprise. "Is
someone back there? Walman!"
The other man was already looking through jumpers even though the
dust from the vehicles was still thick in the air.
Uly stopped waving. "It's okay, Mr. Solace. I was just waving to my
mom and Eben." He whirled around and started running toward the
transrover, calling for True as he went.
Alonzo and Walman looked at each other and shrugged.
CHAPTER TWO: Lake Shore
The group stopped for the midday break and everyone switched places
out of long habit. The walkers were able to ride in one of the
vehicles now if they wished and those who had been riding got out and
took a turn at walking in front of or behind the transrover. Alonzo Solace was
the forward scout in the ATV. He found a high point
of land and urged the little vehicle to the top where he could have a
look around. They were covering quite a lot of ground today. He
raised his jumpers to his eyes and had a long look around starting
with the rest of the group who were about a half k behind him and
then slowly covering the land surrounding them to the north.
The mountains were so far behind them he couldn't see them anymore
and the land they were crossing now was arid but not desert, and it
seemed to be leveling out. There weren't so many hills and cliffs and
rock formations ahead of them.
Pity. They were awe inspiring and something to look at and wonder
how they were made. They took his mind off other things.
Getting up and out of the ATV Alonzo continued his look around
through the jumpers by scanning the terrain in front of the group and
then sweeping around to the south.
Nothing. No movement but his own group of people. Funny that he
hadn't seen a grendler around in days. Normally they were everywhere.
The Terrians were around though. They were never very far away and
that made Alonzo feel safe. If they were around it meant there were
caves and sunstone deposits nearby.
He didn't care what Eve the crazy computer in space told Devon. He
knew she, it, couldn't see them if they were near sunstones. She was
communicating with the ship when they talked to her and she knew
where the ship was, but not where the group was. Alonzo was certain
of it.
Once they left the ship they were lost to the computer. She had an
idea where they were but she couldn't see them.
Alonzo put on his gear and snapped the eyepiece into
place. "Danziger," he said. "There are trees and tall grass to the
south. Why don't we veer a little that way and see if we can find
some more of those yellow birds. Might be water down there too. The
trees might be following a stream."
////////////////////////////////
Taking a turn on the back of the transrover, Magus heard Alonzo's message and
looked back at the walkers fanned out behind the vehicles. She sighed. I might
have known, she thought. She grabbed her water bottle and hopped off
the 'rover. She trotted toward Danziger, coming up close before calling,
"John! Put on your gear. Alonzo just checked in."
Danziger, a mag-pro slung over one shoulder, turned to her as she ran up and
turned to walk beside him. "Yeah? Where is he?"
"Ask him yourself," she answered. "He thinks we should angle south to check out
some trees that might be following a stream."
He nodded and dug into his pocket and in a few minutes he was looking at
Alonzo's image in the air before him. "What's up, man? We have plenty of
water. We're losing time with all this zig-zaggin' you want us to do."
Danziger was familiar with Solace's Eve theory.
Alonzo gave a one sided smile. "It looks promising over there, Danz. We can do with
finding more of those yellow birds. The dried meat we made a week ago is
already getting low. Even if there isn't any water, the trees and brush on the
ground are the same kind the birds were nested in."
Danziger had to admit that part was a good idea. "You hear that, Walman?
Cameron?" he asked, addressing the new drivers of the two vehicles.
"Got it," Cameron said and started to swing the transrover south.
Walman, in the dunerail, asked, "How far ahead are you, Solace? All I see is
haze to the south. Where do you want us to go?"
Alonzo turned to give the others a look at his view through the gear. "See
this? Look for those three hills. I'm going to head straight south. Should
meet up with you somewhere between the farthest two."
Danziger squinted past the image from the gear and just made out the hills
still pretty far away.
"Okay, everyone," he said. "We can see barely the hills from here. Let's go
that way. Anyone on the transrover got 'em sighted?"
Cameron answered, rattling off some coordinates and they all began a slow turn
to the west, southwest.
Magus shaded her eyes and peered ahead. "Would be nice to find some fresh meat.
Fish, too, if there is water."
"Yeah," Danziger agreed. Planning ahead, he told himself. Always planning
ahead, the bunch of us. Damn it, Adair, you sure got us trained.
He hoisted the mag-pro higher and fell into step behind the transrover. True
and Uly were sitting on the back, VR gear on their heads and legs swinging
back and forth as they laughed and shouted at each other in their game.
He walked along, listening to them as he took off his gear and stuffed it in
his pocket.
/////////////////////////
Alonzo listened to the chatter of the others and smiled to himself.
He was already gunning the ATV's engine full speed toward the trees.
If he hurried he could have a nice, leisurely swim while he waited
for the others.
Morgan was walking and took the change in direction with barely a
notice. He was losing his voice trying to argue against this
ridiculous this way and that way course Danziger was letting Solace
make them follow.
No one was listening to him and he was pissed at everyone in general.
Even Bess. Well, maybe not as much as the others but he was a little
bit angry with her for not trying harder to help him make his point.
So everyone felt bad about leaving Devon, and he wasn't even going
to think about the mountain of valuable equipment stacked under a
tarp close to the ship! Thousands of credits worth of- No! He wasn't
going to think of it.
"Honey?" Bess' voice said at his shoulder. He didn't hear her
approach.
What?" he answered sullenly.
She stuck a water bottle in front of his face. "Here. Have a drink."
She paused. "Take it!"
He moved his head irritably and snatched it from her hand. "Okay,
okay. So what are we doing now? Adding another five or six kilometers
to the journey? This way, that way," he motioned with his other
hand, " north and south, back and forth? What are we, ants? Walking
back and forth like insects looking for food?"
Bess heard this litany from her husband daily and was used to it but
she understood his frustration. Under Devon's leadership the group
was more or less a democracy. She had the final word, of course, but
she nearly always let a show of hands decide things.
Devon was gone though and Danziger was in charge. John was a good
man, but he wasn't the leader Devon was. He rarely took a vote but he
wasn't a strict leader either. He took the advice of a few and
decided for the many. That's how Bess thought of it.
She hooked her hand through Morgan's arm and fell into step with him.
"Cheer up, sweetie. It's not so bad. John is still getting used to
being the leader. He didn't have the kind of training Devon had but
he's learning. We need to give him a chance."
Morgan knew better than to let Bess know how he felt about that.
//////////////////////
Julia was riding in the transrover with Denner and Cameron and as
she squinted ahead to see the hills she wished she was walking. She
would give Alonzo a good talking to for ranging so far ahead. No
matter how reasonable she tried to be no one listened to her when she
stressed the need for them to stay together. All would agree it was a
good idea and promise to not wander off, but when it came to scouting
ahead, the whole idea of staying within sight was thrown out the
window.
Danziger, Alonzo and Mazatl were the worst offenders. Once on the ATV
they headed for parts unknown, reporting in from all over the place.
Once, Mazatl reported the high hill they'd passed the day before
turned out to be crawling with kobas who had all popped out of their
holes to watch him as he drove part way up, turned around and headed
back the way he came.
There was really no telling what the scouts were going to get into
their heads to do once they were away from the group and able to roam
freely.
She worried and she wondered if this had been Devon's constant state
of mind every day when she was still with them.
"You know, Julia," Cameron said, interrupting her thoughts and
causing her to jump. He grinned. "You can turn on the long range
sensors and get a pretty good view of the hills from here." He
pointed at the dash screen.
Julia shook her head and tried to look appreciative. "Not necessary.
I can see them fine from here. Even just this far off the ground, we
have a better view of the surrounding countryside than the others on
the ground." She settled back in the seat and went on, "As a matter
of fact, I was just thinking of taking a nap."
She took the gear from her head, placed it carefully on her lap and
leaned toward the door at her right, letting her head rest against
it. She closed her eyes. "Wake me if something exciting happens."
Cameron held back a snort and Denner patted Julia's arm.
"Don't worry. We will."
"Hey, look. There's a dust trail!" Cameron said excitedly.
Julia knew better than to fall for that. "Nice try," she said, eyes
still closed and she wiggled her shoulders to a more comfortable
position.
////////////////////////////////
By the time the main group reached the last two hills Solace
mentioned, the sun was low in the sky. Smoke from a fire rose into
the sky and they followed it wearily to the large clear area Alonzo
chose for their campsite. There was indeed water nearby. A large,
wide lake filled the hollow between the two hills and stretched away
to a far shore. In the distance it appeared to extend around the
third hill and disappear behind it to the west.
The ATV was standing alone close to the shore.
True leaped from the back of the transrover and started running
towards it. She heard Uly hit the ground seconds later.
"Be careful, True!" Danziger called after her. "Uly, same goes for
you, too!"
"I will!" she and the boy both yelled back and laughed.
"Don't stay long. Still got chores to do."
"I know!" they answered in unison, laughing more.
The reached the ATV about the same time and stopped to look around.
"Alonzo!" True called. "Alonzo, we're here!"
"Wow," Uly said. "Sure is pretty, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's as blue as the sky." She made a gesture with her
head. "Come on. I'll bet he's having a swim."
They started running closer to the water. The ground fell away
sharply and below was a wide, sandy beach with footprints leading
away, back and forth across the sand.
Walking alowly across the beach in his bare feet, pants legs rolled
up and his boots and outer shirt dangling from his left hand, Alonzo
heard the voices of the children and looked toward the campsite. He
could see True and Uly standing above the beach at the place where he
had scrambled down to approach the water.
He raised his free hand and waved, letting out a piercing whistle as
he did. They both spotted him and gingerly started to slid down the
steep incline.
"Come on," he shouted. "The water's okay. I tested it."
Behind the kids a couple of the adults were walking closer to see the
lake. He waved again. By now the children had hit the sand and were
running toward him eagerly.
"Alonzo! Where have you been?" True asked.
"I went for a walk, took a wade in the water and then walked a bit
both ways along the beach. Nothing but clean sand and cool water all around us."
He shrugged. "Some food plants I recognized, too, back
there," he pointed in the direction opposite from which he'd been
coming, "but we won't tell Julia until after everyone has had a swim,
right?"
"Right!" True and Uly agreed.
Uly frowned. "What's that in your boots?"
Alonzo grinned. "Pieces of a tall plant I never saw before." He
pointed over his shoulder. "Past those rocks way back there is a
whole clearing with this stuff growing all over the place." He
lowered his voice and arranged the shirt to cover the long,
cylindrical plant sections. "Don't tell Julia yet!"
They smiled back and both children looked guiltily over their
shoulders.
Apparently the lure of the beautiful scenery was too much for
everyone. Setting up camp was momentarily pushed aside to see the
water more closely.
Alonzo and the children stopped close to where the ATV was parked.
"Do I know how to pick a good campsite or what?" he called up to the
others.
//////////////////////
Bess reached the line of wet sand where the waves gently lapped
against the sandy beach and promptly sat down. She started taking off
her boots and socks. She looked up at her husband who was gazing
across the water to the far banks of the lake. "Morgan, honey, let's
have a wade in the water. Alonzo said it's warm."
Morgan looked down at her nervously and then back at the water. "I
don't know, Bess. The last big lake we ever saw was the one full of
electrical current those Terrian creatures used to power their spear
things. We could get electrocuted or have our skin eaten off by the
current!"
Bess carefully stuffed her socks into her boots and got to her
feet. "Alonzo has already been IN the water. He's fine."He glanced at her
nervously. "He's practically part Terrian himself,
Bess! Maybe he can touch that kind of water."
Bess rolled her eyes. "Morgan! There would be Terrians here warning
us away of that were the case!" she spread her arms wide and looked
around. "Look! No terrians. Just us." She bent down to roll up her
pants legs. "I knew I should have worn shorts today."
It wasn't until Bess was actually standing in the water and
exclaiming how wonderful it felt that Morgan finally sat down in the
sand and pulled off his shoes and socks.
"Oh, Morgan, you know what we can do?" She turned to look at him. "Set
up a tent right here at the waters edge and use it for a changing
room. We can all have nice warm baths before we go to bed tonight."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Morgan muttered as he stepped closer to the water
and gingerly set a foot close to the lapping waves. "These waves
aren't going to drag us under are they? Yale said waves in large
bodies of water can do that."
"Oh, stop being silly! These waves are barely moving. A waterline two
feet wide isn't dangerous."
The water was warm, Morgan had to admit, and he walked straight into
the water without being careful of his footing. He stepped onto a
large, flat rock, slick with what felt like slime and felt his foot
slide out from under him. He hit the water on his butt, arms flying
upward and water splashing high around him.
"Morgan!" Bess shouted and started laughing as sne looked down at her
wet clothes. "Oh, what the hell!" She flopped down in the water
beside him, her laughter ringing across the water and sand.
Behind her she could hear the children laughing and begging Danziger
and Yale to let them jump into the water, too.
Morgan pushed his wet hair out his face and gave his wife a look. She
was still laughing and didn't see it.
///////////////////////////
Uly was watching the Martins with envy. They were grownups and could
go into the water any time they wanted which was what he was wanting
to do right now. When he saw Morgan slip and fall into the water he laughed out
loud with several others who saw what happened and
immediately he heard True start calling up to her father and begging
to be allowed to wade in the water too.
Uly spun around and grinned up the steep slope at the people standing
above the beach. "Please Yale? Mr. Danziger?" he joined True. "Bess
and Morgan will watch us! You know they will!"
True was nodding her head. "Yeah Dad. We'll stay along the edge but
we won't fall in. I promise!"
Yale and Danziger looked at each other for a time and then both
shrugged their shoulders.
Yale looked at the children. "You must ask the Martins first if they
will agree to keep an eye on you. If they say yes then you may go
wading. But only wading!"
He had to yell the last sentence because
the children were already running toward the water.
CHAPTER THREE: Discovery
After a few moments of admiring the view across the lake, Danziger
squinted his eyes and looked at the area they were in more critically.
The high hill the lake seemed to curve around was steep sided with a
thick growth of trees at the top. It extended quite a ways to the
west, and the trees growing along this bank of the lake where he was
standing obscured the view in that direction but it definitely looked
like it went on for quite a while. After they had the camp set up and
a cooking fire going he was going to take a drive along the banks and
see how far it went.
Drawing in a deep breath, he turned away from the water. "All right,
folks. Camp won't set itself up. Fun as all that looks, we got work to
do first. Takin' a swim can come later."
Julia, arms crossed at her waist, gave Alonzo an apologetic look and
spun around on her heel. John was right. First things were called
first things because they had to come first. She walked away and heard Alonzo's
voice yell, "Spoil sport!" She smiled.
Actually, she thought as she neared the transrover, no one was really
being a spoil sport. There was still quite a bit of daylight left and
the group could add a few kilometers to the day's march before
stopping to camp. That Danziger had called a halt so early meant he
also wanted to explore the lake.
Of course, he wasn't going to do it for fun . . . but then lately the
times John did anything for fun were few and far between.
Mazatl had climbed the side of the big vehicle and was untying and
throwing down tents and poles.
"Give me Morgan's tent," Walman called up with a wide smile. "If he
wants to have a water fight with his wife instead of set up, he can
sleep in the old tent that needs a patch at the top."
"First come, first served," Mazatl answered.
Danziger clapped Walman on the back. "I'm such a spoiul sport I'll
even help you set it up and get your stuff moved in before the Martins
dry off."
"Deal," Walman replied.
Alonzo's bonfire was still roaring when Yale and Danziger, working
together, had their tents erected and the cots inside set up. As John
approached him, wiping his hands on a rag and stuffing it in his back
pocket, Yale was already holding the rolled sheaf of maps Eden Advance
was trying to follow, with varying degrees of difficulty, to New
Pacifica.
"I can imagine what you are about to ask, John," he said. and held up
the maps as if giving a salute with them. "This lake is not on the map
we have been following since leaving the winter camp. I would have
remembered it. So would you. Devon and I looked at the map before the
first signs of illness came upon us. There is a lake, but it is shown
at least one hundred kilometers away. Five days journey."
Danziger nodded. "Yeah. I remember. Why don't we take a ride west
before dinner? We can take Maz or Cameron with us. Find out how big
this lake is, that the Council says doesn't exist."
Yale nodded. "Of course, it could be a survey oversight. Many of the
hills and small rivers we have encountered that re not on the maps
could have been easily missed by a flyover survey craft."
"Yale, this lake is big. Even without jumpers, I can guess three
quarters of a k wide between the hills and at least another k to where
it goes around the far hills." He looked around. "Hills and small
streams and small lakes I can buy being overlooked, but a water source
this big? No."
Yale was nodding in agreement. "I know," he said softly. "I know. I am
simply reluctant to think why the Council would want it erased from
the maps.""That's the million dollar question, ain't it?"
/////////////////////////////
Knowing he should go back up the hill and help set up camp Alonzo
dropped his boots to the ground and sat down in the warm sun beside
them and refused to feel guilty about it. This was a good place to
spend a day or two looking for food and game. The trees were full of
birds and the ground cover along the banks of the lake might shelter
a few of the bigger, flightless birds or small mammals the group
often hunted.
And he found it. He figured that gave him title to a lazy afternoon.
Of course he wished Julia would join him and he could take her for a
walk back up the beach where he went earlier. This was a nice
secluded spot and he knew everyone else was feeling better. The
illness that nearly killed them was in the past and they were all
past it. He was thinking it was time to put a bit of romance back
into his life. He and Julia both needed to relax.
Getting Devon back would take time but it was no reason to stop
living too.
With a smile that was almost wistful, Alonzo watched the Martins
still sitting in the shallows and having a water fight with the kids.
Morgan seemed to have gotten into the spirit of the game as he made
Bess fall into fits of laughter by helping True and Uly splash water
in her direction.
That was good for people. Having a little fun now and then.
"Hey, Solace," a voice called from above and behind him. He
recognized Baines' voice. He must be taking first watch.
Alonzo leaned back on his elbows and turned his head slightly toward
the voice. "What can I do for you, Baines?"
"Besides trade places with me? I can think of a million things!" he
answered smartly and laughed. "How much exploring did you do here?
Are we going to find food besides fish? I'm feeling hungry after
being sick too long. Got my appetite back."
"I know what you mean, pal. I went along the shore both directions
and saw signs of birds and small animals all over. You know, paths in
the forest that lead down to the lake. Even saw some new plants way
off to the west, where the shore turns towards that big hill out there."
"How about grendlers? Those little poison things?"
Alonzo laughed. "I didn't look for grendlers and kobas can be
anywhere but I didn't see any. I saw some tracks way over there that
I never saw before. I was going to take Danz and Yale out there later
to check them out."
Baines made a noncommittal grunt and Alonzo heard him shift his
feet. "Gotta walk the beat," he said. "See you later, Lonz."
"Yeah."
Well, that did it. Alonzo grimaced as he felt the guilty feeling that
he should be busy, too come to him. He got to his feet and picked up
his boots and jacket and started to climb the bank to the top. The
grasses at the top were trampled down enough by the others coming to
see the water that he didn't bother to stop and put on his boots. He
would just drive the ATV closer to the camp in his bare feet.
He got into the seat. "Vehicle start." And swung the little machine
away from the lake.
Close to his bonfire, which was still going strong, he got out of the
ATV and dumped the contents of his boots on the seat and then sat on
one of the tires to pull on his socks, roll down his pants legs and
lace up his boots.
By the time he went to help Julia he forgot all about the long thin
plants he found up the beach.
////////////////////////////
After a while, after everyone had a turn being the victim, the
splashing games stopped and Uly sat down on the beach in his wet
pants, the legs rolled up, and dried off his arms and upper body with
the dry shirt he left on the sand. His hair was dripping but he
didn't worry about it. The warm sun was shining on his back and he
was enjoying himself. There were days when he didn't feel as if he
would ever laugh again, but today was not one of them. Today was
alright. He wasn't feeling sad but happy that he could still feel
like having fun.
He didn't know how he knew it but he was sure his mom approved.
After a moment True called to him. "Hey Uly! Come here. Look what
this sand does when it gets wet."
He looked at her. She was crouched down and making a pile of darkened
wet sand and shaping it into a ball. He picked up a handful of sand and it
trickled away between his fingers but the wet sand was holding
together like a snowball. He rolled onto his knees and crawled closer
to where she was. As he approached a wave from the lake touched the
side of the mound she was making and it was washed away, leaving just
half a mound.
Bess was on the beach, too, drying off and she walked over to
them. "Watch this," she said and took the large cap off the top of
her water bottle. She filled the cap with wet sand and turned it over
on the dry sand. She lifted the cup and a neat little round cup shape
of sand stayed on the ground. She took a bit of mylar from her pocket
and used to cut away the sides of the circle until it had turned into
a little square. "See how it holds it's shape as long as it's wet?
And you can take some of it away to make another shape? On Earth kids
used to play on the ocean beaches and make sand castles and other
shapes out of the wet sand." She smiled. "Tell you what. After we
finish our chores and while dinner is cooking, I'll help you two find
some empty containers that we can use to make all sizes of shapes and
we'll see if we can't build us a genuine sand castle."
The looks on their faces made her smile widen.
////////////////////////
True knew that Bess's words meant the end of playing in the water.
The return of responsibilities was always tough to take, and
especially hard when you were having so much fun just being a kid.
But...on this planet even kids had chores to do. That was a fact of
life that had been the hardest lesson for her to learn since crash
landing on the planet. She watched Bess rinse out her bottle cap in
the lake before she reached for her shoes and socks and started
putting them on.
Uly made another little mound of sand and waited for a wave to wash
it away before he joined her. He seemed subdued all of a sudden and
True wondered if he was thinking about his mother. She felt an
empathy for him ever since Devon got sick and was put into the cold
sleep capsules. Now they both had mothers who were gone from them and
both mothers were asleep in capsules, and both women were depending
on the choices made by others whether they ever awoke again. Like all
the grown-ups, she felt a sense of protective responsibility toward him, too.
She was older, after all, and her mother had been gone longer.
Bess managed to get the children laughing and talking again as they
walked across the beach toward the higher ground. They scrambled up
the embankment and saw that the camp was nearly set up-- even the
solar collector tower was up and the generators were humming. Mazatl
and Danziger were carrying one of the tanks of drinking water toward
the mess tent and Dr. Heller was kneeling by some plants growing
thickly near the campsite and examining them with her scanners.
Life was going on.
"But that wasn't the end of it," Bess was saying. "Remember, Morgan?
After the parade was over, all the advertising holo screens all along
the hallways of the station started showing fireworks displays.
Without sound!" She paused while Morgan rolled his eyes and pretended
he hadn't heard this story a million times before. She went on, "The
people on the stations have no idea how much more wonderful fireworks
are for real, with the sounds and smells that go along with-- Oh, my
god, Morgan! Look!"
She had stopped walking and was staring wide-eyed at the ATV. She was
pointing at something on the seat.
Morgan frowned and took a step back and a little behind her. "What,
Bess? What?"
Uly followed the direction of her pointing finger and took a few
skipping steps toward the ATV. "Oh!" he said. "Alonzo showed those
things to me and True when we first got here. He said he found a lot
of those plants growing down the beach."
Bess dashed forward and picked up the long, round objects and held
them to her face to smell their aroma. She spun around and looked at
Morgan and True. "These are Earth plants! This is food! Morgan, this
is corn!"
In the next instant she was running toward the spot where Julia was
examining plant life. "Alonzo! Alonzo!" Bess yelled. "Alonzo, where
are you?!" As she reached the doctor, her cries changed. "Julia, look!
Can you believe it? This is corn! There is corn growing close by!"
She threw her arms around Julia and laughed with sheer
happiness. "Isn't that wonderful?!"
Julia stumbled a little as Bess let go of her and started looking
around for Alonzo again. She looked a the green cylinders in Bess
hands and grabbed one of her arms to keep her steady for a better
look. She took one of them from Bess and pointed her scanner at it.
"This is corn? Are you sure, Bess?"
"Of course!" Bess assured her. She started peeling away the green
outer leaves and matted, hairlike strands of the thing she was still
holding and revealed rows of tiny yellow kernels.
"See? Corn doesn't come out of
a bag freeze-dried, Julia. It grows like this before it's
harvested."
Julia recognized the ears of corn for what they were before her
scanner identified them. “Oh, my god!" she said in a low voice. "Someone is
growing corn here?"
She and Bess stared at one another in silence.
///////////////////////////////////////////////
Alonzo was at the tent he sometimes shared with Baines and one or two
of the other men. He tossed his jacket on a pile of boxes and started
digging through the rolled canvases and tent poles to find his
hammock. Baines set up the tent before going on watch so the least
Alonzo could do was finish up. He was still feeling pretty good.
He decided he was going to get his quarters prepped and then go find
Julia and talk her into going for that walk on the beach he planned
earlier. If they went far enough along the shoreline there might be a
chance for a swim, too. Just the two of them. Now how often did they
get to do something like that all alone? Not too damn.
He heard a crackling of material to his left and he looked to see
Magus coming out of the women's tent several feet and a pile of
equipment away.
"Sneak off for a wade in the water before we start cooking," Alonzo
called to her. "You'll never stop thanking me!"
Magus gave him a look. "I'm sure I would, flyboy, but I was planning
to visit the lake as soon as I could anyway. We're going to do a
little foraging for fresh plants as soon as all the tents are up."
She shrugged and walked over to him. "Here. I'll give you a hand. You
can show us where to look."
He nodded. "I can do that. I was just going to put up my bed and get
the tarp over it."
"Well bring it around to the back entry. Baines picked this spot
because there are two small trees growing close together right over
there. You can hook one end of the tarp to the tent pole."
"Smart guy, my bridge officer. I taught him well."
Magus laughed. "Come on! You know as well as I do he gets tired of
you sneaking in and out of the tent to visit Julia."
He was about to make an offended remark, when he hard Bess Martin's
voice yelling for him and Julia. He and Magus both looked across the
campsite and saw her running toward Julia's med tent with several
long, green things clutched in her hands.
"What in the world has she found now?" Magus asked. "Better be good
to get her that worked up."
"Ah damn!" Alonzo said. "She found the plants I brought back from up
the shore. I forgot about them. I left them on the ATV. Come on." He
laid a hand on Magus's shoulder. "Looks like they're worth something."
Across the camp, others were turning at the excited sound of Bess'
voice and looking to see what the fuss was about.
Cameron and Mazatl jumped down from the back of the transrover as
Alonzo and Magus passed and followed.
"What going on Solace?" Mazatl asked.
"Looks like I hit the jackpot," he answered. "She's got the plants I
found up the shore when I went exploring. Never seen anything like
them before."
/////////////////////////////
Danziger, still talking to Yale, turned at the commotion Bess had
started. The children and Morgan were walking behind her as she and
Julia looked at what she was carrying. John looked back at Yale with
one eyebrow raised. "What do you--?" He stopped speaking and looked
quizzically at the other man.
Yale's attention was immediately caught by the objects Bess had in
her hands as she ran toward Julia. His maps forgotten all of a
sudden, he knew what Bess had. When she started peeling one open for
the doctor he was in motion. "Come on, John," he said over his
shoulder, walking quickly in the direction of the women. "I think I
know what Bess has found and this is extraordinary."
"Sure," Danziger answered more to himself than Yale, who was already
far ahead of him. "At least she's yelling at Solace this time and not
me."
Bess was looking around and spotted Alonzo strolling toward her. She
was still holding one of the ears of corn. "Alonzo! Get over here!
Where did you find these? This is corn! Earth food!" She saw Yale and
the look on his face. "Yale, look! Corn! There is corn growing
nearby!"
He took the ear into his hands and examined it carefully, as if he
thought it might disappear. "Bess, this is a wonderful discovery! We
must look for more."
"I know," she said. "Alonzo found them. He knows where they're
growing."
"Yale," Julia interrupted, her scanner still examining the ear in
her hand, "it really is corn of Earth origin, but genetically
modified to make it more nutritious. Something like Eden Advance
would have had."
Danziger heard this and put a hand on Yale's shoulder. "Could it be
from one of our cargo pods?"
The words "cargo pod" seemed to echo loudly the silence as everyone
stopped talking at once and contemplated what a found cargo pod
could mean.
Julia and Yale looked at one another for a long moment.
"Could it?" Yale wondered.
Julia shrugged and shook her head. "It's always possible," she
said, "but this is a full year later, after the pods fell to the
ground. I don't see. . ." She let the rest trail off. Alonzo was
standing in front of her, Magus just behind him. "Alonzo, where did
you get this?"
"I found a lot of them growing on tall stalks about a kilometer up
the beach," he answered and waved his hand in the general direction
of west. "The trees end and there was a big area where it grew. There
were stalks all over the place, then a long row of trees covered in
white blossoms and then some tall grass. The lake ends a little
farther on and the stalks grew along the side of it and disappeared
behind more trees." He shrugged. "I didn't go farther. I just wanted
to find the end of the lake before I turned back. I didn't see a
cargo pod anywhere."
Danziger heard enough. "Magus, break out the weapons and bring me a
mag pro. Alonzo, Yale, Julia and Magus in the dunerail." He pointed
at Magus. "You take the other mag pro. Go around the trees for a k
and cut in toward the lake if you don't find the clearing. I'll take
the ATV along the beach, follow Lonz's tracks. Stay on gear. We'll
meet up over there." He looked at the sky. "Three hours to dusk,
another half after that to full dark. We got time to get there, look
around and get back before dark."
A few minutes later, Bess watched the dunerail drive off, an empty
bag and a couple of empty crates secured to the back so the team
could bring back more corn. Morgan and Cameron were setting up the
com units and getting ready to monitor the expedition over the large
screen. She saw the kids standing and looking at each other forlornly
as the sound of both vehicles faded away. She called to them and held
up both ears of corn in her hands.
"You know, there are only two ears of corn here right now, and by a
happy coincidence there are only two children in the camp. I guess
that means the corn belongs to you." She smiled. "Come with me. I'm
going to show you how to roast corn and you two get the first ones."
The trees ended just as Alonzo said they would and he steered the
dunerail toward the lake, driving along the edge of the prairie grass he
saw earlier in the day, thought from another direction. Ahead and to
the right was the row of trees covered with attractive white and pink
blossoms, and between the tree trunks one could make out the tall
stalks of corn growing beyond them.
Yale almost stood up in the front passenger seat where he was riding.
"Alonzo," he said in an awed voice. "When you said there was a lot of
the corn stalks growing here, you did not say it was a whole field!"
Alonzo kept driving. "Does it matter? There is a lot of it growing
here. See over there? The stalks are shorter. I wonder why?"
Julia was seeing what Yale did and she was speechless.
"Yes, it matters a great deal, Alonzo. This is not a clearing full of
corn growing wild, this is a cultivated field!"
"Cultivated?"
"Someone planted this!"
//////////////////////////////////
Julia heard Yale's words and felt her heart begin to pound. It was
the same thing she was thinking but was hesitant to say. The grass
they were going through... Could it be?
"Alonzo, stop," she said and leaned forward to grab his shoulder with
one hand. "Please! Stop right here. I want to get out and test the
grass with my scanner. If that corn was planted by someone, and it
certainly looks as if it might be, then-" She hesitated a
moment. "Well, maybe this grass was planted, too. Yale, if these are
really cultivated fields of Earth food plants then, what if this tall
grass is wheat?"
Alonzo braked to a stop and looked at Yale, waiting for his reply.
Yale leaned out of the dunerail and grabbed a handful of the grass
and pulled them up roots and all. He passed the clump back to
Julia. "Why don't we find out right now?"
Julia took the grass from him and laid the stalks across her lap. She
dug into her bag at her side and got her scanner. She passed it
several times over the plants from roots to the seeded tops just
forming at the opposite ends.
Alonzo was still looking at Yale, who was focusing his attention on
Julia, twisting around in his seat to watch her.
"Yale?" Magus said suddenly from the rear seat beside Julia. "Are you
saying this field, this corn, all of this belongs to someone?" She
looked around sharply. "Someone from Earth might be here, too?"
Magus did stand up in front of her seat and raised her jumpers to her
eyes.
Alonzo opened a channel on his gear. "Danziger? Come in, this is
Solace. Did you get that? What Yale just said."
Danziger was listening and replied immediately. "Got it. I'm at the
spot where you left the beach and went up to look at the corn. Why
don't you drive on through and meet me? There is a place on the bank
just beyond where your tracks turn around that is shallow enough to
let the dunerail drive down to the beach. We can both go back this
way. I had no trouble getting the ATV down the bank by our camp."
Alonzo started the dunerail. "I'm driving," he said. "If we're
trespassin' on someone's property then I say let's not be sittin'
ducks."
Magus sat down. "I second that." She continued to look around with
her jumpers.
"Okay," Julia said and paused. "Okay. This is wheat, not ready for
harvest yet but it IS wheat. I need to examine it with my equipment
back at camp to give an in depth finding, of course, but this is
wheat, an Earth strain, like the corn that has been fortified to be
more nutritious but... It also has G889 properties in it. It seems
to have adapted to growing in this soil and taken on some of the
planet into its genetic structure."
Yale was amazed. "But that would mean this does not come from any of
our pods. This wheat has been growing on the planet for several
years..." His voice trailed off.
Julia looked at him. "Yes. The wheat is harvested and some of the
seed is set aside for the next years crop, year after year."
Fine, thought Danziger. Nix the cargo pod idea. Who the hell has been
planting corn and wheat in this spot year after year?
////////////////////////////////
At camp the progress of the two vehicles was being monitored closely.
Bess was feeling apprehensive even though she knew the discovery of
earth crops was a big thing. But like Yale she knew that the
carefully planted crops had to belong to someone and past experience
meant they might have stumbled into territory claimed by who knew
what. Convicts? More likely exiled scientists like Mary's parents, or
more scientists like Dell Curry's people were. They would protect
their crops just like the people on earth protected theirs when she
was little. Maybe they would be more fierce about it because they
were on this planet. Judging by Whalen they will have weapons.
"Yale," she said. "Get them out of there. I know what people will do
to protect their own, especially food. On Earth when I was small we
did what we had to do and we never ever shared our food with
strangers."
Morgan who was standing nearby gave her a stunned look. "Bess! What
do you mean? We just set up camp here! You're saying we just made
ourselves targets! We weren't exactly quiet when we got here, you
know!"
He looked over his shoulder and spun all around. "We're being
watched, Bess! I know it! Just like the ZED, Bess! We won't see them
until they come for us in the middle of the night!"
To be continued....
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