Transmigrant - Chapter 17
Copyright © 2024 Stephen B. Anthony
Today is the culmination of a journey that began 226 years, 7 months, and 11 days ago. I fear for all of us. I hope for all of us. I wonder what it will be like to be in a wide-open world with sun on our skin. I wonder what it will be like to watch him run for kilometer after kilometer and never reach the end of the world. My heart overflows.
—Christine Silman Decker
CHAPTER 17
The following day was dark, and a constant drizzle fell. Ray was pleased to see much of it absorb into the soil rather than pooling on the surface to create runoff. It signaled the presence of enough organic material and aeration to support additional life. He wondered how long it would be before they started introducing less rudimentary life forms onto the surface. Unlike Tellarius, nothing here would be native. It would all, eventually, be flora and fauna from other worlds imported to this one.
The farmers here, early on, had a much harder time than he’d had on Tellarius. He wondered if reaching the colonial production quota was possible here. On the other hand, producing food on Tempus was harder, which might have made it more rewarding work than he had experienced on Tellarius, where everything proliferated effortlessly.
The only clothes Ray had to wear were fleet uniforms, which were far out of place for Niruku employees on Tempus. He had picked the least conspicuous combination, and Kaylie assured him it worked as far as not looking like a uniform.
They donned wet-weather gear that Ichiro was smart enough to include in the ship’s stores. Wearing wet-weather gear was a suitable exercise for botanists and biologists doing fieldwork on a planet, so that behavior wouldn’t raise suspicion.
They followed the same pattern on the way back to Mossley Landing, following the same track that was becoming a path. Ray knew it was risky to do that, but he wasn’t willing to damage any more of the developing immature flora.
They parked the rover out of sight and walked directly to an airlock on the station’s north side.
They each tested their wristbands at the airlock, and it opened for all of them. Following the ingress sequence, they entered an area of small apartments. An entry room allowed them to hang up their wet outer garments and change into everyday dress.
The dome comprised seven different levels. Apartments at the bottom, designed for a single occupant, were only twelve square meters and were little more than a bed and a breakfast nook. The upper floors accommodated larger apartments for senior personnel and married couples.
Ray hesitated, unsure whether they should take the apartments assigned to them on the third floor. Bradford was a senior geologist who rated a fifth-floor single, twenty-four square meters in size.
Bradford opened the door to his apartment on the second knock. He was tall and wore unruly long hair tied back in a ponytail that reached the middle of his back. His enormous beard betrayed the fact that he had not put a razor to his face since college, now twenty years in the past. It gave him a sloppy appearance, but for all of that, he was fit.
“What?” he demanded, noticing, “Oh, you’re not security.”
“No,” Ray said. “We are not security.”
“Well, who are you, and what can I do for you?”
“Doctors Short, Sharp, and Parker. I’m a botanist. These two are biologists.”
“Okay, and what’s your interest in a geologist who is not allowed to work anymore?”
Ray paused for a moment upon hearing that. “We are new to Tempus. We wanted to talk to you about some things you’ve discovered here.”
Bradford’s suspicion flared. “So, they tried the stick first, and now it’s the carrot?”
“We’re here to help you,” Ray said.
“Thanks for confirming that for me,” he said. “But no thanks.”
Bradford closed the door. Not quietly.
Ray exchanged glances with Kaylie and Estia, then knocked on the door again.
“Go away,” Bradford said from inside.