Jungle colony book 2, p.41
Jungle (Colony Book 2), page 41
Then again, he thought with a frown, that’s really not my area of expertise either.
“Something bothering you?” He almost jumped as Anna’s voice filled his helmet, but caught himself before turning to look at her.
How did she—? Oh, right. No more reflective visor. Whose idea was that? “Not really,” he replied, triggering his comm gear. “Just thinking about how out of my element I am at the moment. I’m a corporate investigator, not a scientist’s bodyguard.”
“It’s probably not that different a skill set when you get down to it,” Anna said. “At the one, you’re looking for misplaced files. Here, misplaced scientists.”
“Those two things don’t actually act alike,” he pointed out. “People and files are two very different things.”
“I don’t know, some of them are both pretty sedentary from what I’ve seen on this trip,” Anna said, and he chuckled.
“There it is,” she said. “Smiling. That’s better. Anyway, relax, I’m the muscle, remember?”
“I literally can’t forget,” he said, grinning. “You’re a good six inches taller than me.”
“More like five,” Anna said. “Besides, I’ve seen you shoot. The armory is well stocked, and I doubt there’s anything down there that can withstand a bullet that’d leave a dent in composite armor.”
“Fair point,” he said, turning back to look at the map. “So … what you’re saying is I’ll spot, you shoot?”
“No,” Anna said, leaning forward. “The scientists spot, we both shoot.”
“Sounds like a decent enough plan.”
“Well,” she replied. “We can’t come up with anything more concrete until we’ve got an idea of what we’re going to be facing. Clearing? Trees?”
“Venomous birds?” Jake cut in.
Anna paused and then laughed. “Give me a chance to practice leading my shots,” she said. “I wonder if they’ll come in flocks?”
“Is there any input from the security team?” It took Jake a moment to realize that Ikeda had directed the question at them, and he snapped his head back forward.
“An open area is preferable,” Anna said before he could say anything. “The larger the open area, the better. Aside from that, our preferences are few.”
Jake nodded. Works for me.
“She’s right,” Karabou said, nodding as well as she looked at Ikeda. “The bio-habs are sturdy enough to survive just about anything nature should be capable of throwing at us, so weather isn’t going to be a problem. Sight lines, however, are useful.”
“Well,” Louis said quickly. “I’m all for that.”
“Rules out sites B and E, though,” Naomi cut in. “Unless that’s just distortion. Can we see about getting a picture overlay so we can have a better idea of what’s what? Light doesn’t seem to have any problems making it offworld.”
“I’ll see what I can get,” Ikeda replied. The group again began to talk amongst themselves again, and Jake’s attention drifted down to the map.
I wonder how they did this on Pisces? Did they even have bio-habs or ships like the Sojourner then? he wondered. Above the tabletop, a new image appeared above the old one, a flat, two-dimensional aerial shot of what he assumed was the valley. Ikeda tapped at the controls, and the new image sank down, draping itself over the valley below it and molding to its contours. It had the effect of stretching and distorting the original image, making it look strange and almost alien.
Fits though, Jake thought as the group immediately began pointing out new locations on the map and debating amongst themselves. It’ll probably look weirder when we actually get there. He twisted his head, trying to make sense of some of the surfaces he was seeing, but nothing leapt out at him save more of the vivid, vibrant green color. Bright green. I wonder how bright it’s going to be on the surface under that sun? He frowned, his eyes flicking to his visor’s hud. And does this thing tint? I really, really don’t want to be stuck squinting or trying to track down a pair of sunglasses that’ll fit under this helmet with me.
The conversation shifted again, fingers pointing as another possible site was discussed and discarded—this one for being too far up the side of the mountain, and thus further from any potential water sources. The group was down to only three now, though as Jake watched, Johan pointed out two new sites, making a solid enough case for both of them that Ikeda added them to the map, and the discussion began anew.
Interesting. During the trip, there hadn’t been many moments when the entire team had interacted with a common purpose in mind, save meals. And those were still fairly independent. Now, he was seeing the entire group work together, cooperating with a shared goal, and just like with any group, he was seeing dynamics appear, little tidbits of behavior as the group balanced itself out.
Johan, for instance, was interacting with almost every member of the group, whether or not the area of expertise they were talking about was his or not. If anyone said something, the majority of the time he would reply, even if it was with something as simple as a word of affirmation, or a question of clarification.
He doesn’t like quiet, Jake thought. And he keeps things rolling. Then again, that bit of Johan’s personality had been evident from their first meeting. But it contrasted heavily with other members of the group, like Louis, who seemed only to speak up when he was uneasy about something.
To be fair, he seemed to be uneasy about quite a few things. Most of what he said was reasonable enough, however, that the rest of the group seemed to be giving his words credit.
Still, his concerns were making him more vocal than Jane. The botanist was almost completely silent, as she had been through the majority of the time he’d seen her during the trip, speaking up only when she was commenting on something that directly influenced her particular position—though he noted that her eyes always darted to Daniel first, as if checking to see if he was raising any objections.
Deference based on seniority among botanists? Jake wondered as he let his attention slip over to the gray-haired man for a moment. Or for someone who’s been on more expeditions than just about any of us? With Jane, it was hard to tell. For all I know, they’re two completely different kinds of botanist, and she’s just fielding the answers for her territory.
Daniel, meanwhile, seemed to almost hold himself above the rest of the group. It wasn’t intentional—at least, it didn’t appear that it was. It’s more like … experience, Jake thought as he watched the older man reach out and tap one section of the map, saying a few words about ground slope stability. The overlay winked out, the location discarded. He focused on the man’s eyes, the way they were sliding carefully around the table with a hint of amusement to them. He’s seen this all before, he thought. Dozens of times. He could probably point to one or two of the best sites right away, but instead he’s letting the group decide for itself and figure out what works and what doesn’t. He almost chuckled. Letting them learn how to do it. He watched as Daniel spoke up again, the majority of the group’s attention shifting his way before sliding back to the map once again, various thoughtful looks on their faces.
Not bad, Jake thought, a newfound sense of respect for the man welling inside him. Not bad at all. There were far worse ways for an experienced, senior member of a team to be playing things. If he’s like that all the time, I’d bet Anna and I can expect some fairly rational, thoughtful behavior from him. Hopefully.
He shifted his attention once more, his eyes still panning over the group. Ikeda seemed to be doing well in her role as commander, responding equally to everyone and offering her own input while still holding it only in as high an esteem as everyone else’s. Good, that. Moria Kombes, the doctor, on the other hand, was staying almost as silent as the two botanists … though he noted the way her eyes were walking back and forth across each member of the expedition the way his were. For a moment they locked eyes, her giving him a knowing smile and the faintest of nods, and then she was back in motion, her eyes moving past him.
She’s doing the same thing I’m doing, he thought with a smile. Team doctor. That makes sense. He moved on, watching as another landing site was discarded. The group was down to three now, and Commander Ikeda seemed to be making a request of Captain McCormack for higher-resolution scans of the remaining locations.
And, as usual, Naomi had something to say about them. The stocky woman was almost as active a commentator as Johan, but where many of his words were quick and designed simply to ensure he was dancing around the conversation with the rest of the group, Naomi’s words were harsh, direct, and heavy, crashing through whatever was being said like a runaway truck. Combined with the clipped, tightness of her words and her heavy accent, her statements might as well have been fired from a tank.
“—all I’m saying is that we cannot know the geographic conditions of these areas without setting foot on them ourselves,” she said, gesturing at two of the locations with short, violent motions. “We need to examine them further before—”
He tuned the discussion out again, letting his subconscious pay attention to it while he focused on the participants. Naomi seemed dangerously close to butting heads with Karabou, who despite being a recent graduate, clearly had some real spunk in her system to stand up to the biochemist. Both of them like to get their way, Jake noted, watching the small glares they were giving one another. If something comes to a head, they could end up really angry with one another. As opposed to the current debate, where both of them simply seemed annoyed with the other for alternately agreeing and then disagreeing with one another.
They might be the ones who’ll question us most in a troublesome situation, he thought as the whole group seemed to get in on the discussion, debating the pros and cons of one particular landing site. Both are fairly confident of their own decisions, and seem to weigh them over others. Karabou, at least, seemed to show some deference for obvious positions of rank—likely a holdover from being a student for so long. Naomi, on the other hand, was clearly used to being in charge … or close enough that no one disagreed with her often.
On the other hand, he thought, eyeing her posture. She doesn’t seem to be taking offense when she does get disagreed with … most of the time. Maybe her directness was just part of who she was and where she came from. And she’s from Hades, which means she should be quick to act in the case of a disaster.
It was a toss-up, either way. Maybe it’d balance out somewhere in the middle.
Daniel leaned forward, and Jake noted how a number of eyes flicked in his direction. Even Johan, who’d been halfway through arguing out a response to Naomi, stalled for a moment, waiting on the botanist.
It wasn’t much. He said a few words, tapped his finger against two locations on the map, marking a differing boundary in color near one of the proposed sites with one finger, and a solid mass of distorted color in another, and then sat back. The group looked at one another, and almost immediately, the tension faded.
“Good point,” Ikeda said, tapping at the controls. Another one of the possible sites faded from the board. “We’re down to two. Any thoughts from the end of the table?”
Again the group’s eyes shifted his way, and Jake shook his head. “Nothing so far,” he said, glancing at Anna. She shook her head as well, armored—and now bulky, with its new communication suite—helmet snapping back and forth. “We’ll work with what you give us. Just the sightline preference.”
“It’s going to be tricky to provide that, regardless of whichever of these two sites we pick,” Ikeda said. “The jungle’s fairly thick, and while these openings are pretty large—”
“Openings?” Jake leaned forward, trying to keep an embarrassed grin off of his face. I must have been paying less attention to them talking than I thought.
“Yes,” Ikeda said as he looked down at the map. “Openings.”
“I see ‘em,” he said. “Weird.” Spread across the map of the valley, several areas that he had assumed had been blind spots on the initial pass had since been resolved by further scans and the image overlay into scattered clearings, open spots against the canopy of the forest. Two of them currently had the overlays hovering above them that marked a potential landing site. “Any idea why they’re there?”
“Lightning strikes?”
“Overpopulation of flora?”
“Lack of nutrients?”
“A balancing node for the ecosystem?”
“So … No, then?” he said as the chorus of answers faded out.
“Sorry,” Johan said, shrugging. “But that’s not really something we can figure out from here. We’ve got—”
“Theories,” Jake supplied, nodding. “I get it. More than I could come up with, anyway.” He turned his eyes back to Ikeda. “So, are you asking for our preferences in open ground, or …?”
“Essentially, yes,” the commander replied. “Or any other items of note either of you feel like bringing up. The northernmost landing zone—here—” She pointed, her finger coming to rest above the overlay furthest from her. “It has the larger amount of open ground, so the bio-habs will have more space to spread out—”
“No,” Anna said, shaking her head. “We need to keep them connected.”
“They will be connected,” Ikeda replied without missing a beat. “But if we want to have adequate sight-lines for you and roughly equal space here—” She moved her finger to the overlay nearest to her, further south along the valley. “Then we need to put units on top of one another. In the first, we won’t have to.”
“I wasn’t aware that was an option,” Anna said, leaning forward.
“It’s a bit trickier, and it only works with the central units,” Ikeda replied. “Not with any of the specialized labs, so it doesn’t free up that much ground area. We’d still have less open space around us even with the stacking in the southern area than we would in the first.”
“What are the actual sizes?”
“Tricky to tell from here,” Ikeda said. “We’re still getting some rough interference, and it’s making specific measurements hard to figure out.”
“If they’re that close, than it likely won’t matter,” Anna said, shrugging. “Besides, if it really does end up a concern, we can simply prune the forest back a bit.” Several eyes opened wide at her proclamation, and Anna pulled back slightly. “What?”
“Well …” Johan began, holding up a finger. “Something like that could be highly disruptive to the local ecosystem.”
“We’ve got a valley to range in, don’t we?” Anna replied. “And we’ve got the vehicles to travel across it.”
“But we don’t know the condition of the undergrowth!” Johan shot back. “Or the native wildlife! We could—”
“It is an option,” Ikeda said, speaking over Johan, who quieted. “We can exercise it as we wish, because it is something we should have the tools to do, with a little bit of labor. Not that we will … but it’s something we could do.” She glanced at Johan before continuing. “Any other considerations?”
“We should stack the units regardless of which position we choose,” Anna said. “It might be a bit of a hassle to set up, but it does mean that we’ll be in a more condensed position.”
“That’s an acceptable request,” Ikeda said, nodding. “Any other considerations?”
“Nothing that I can determine from up here,” Anna said. “Just keep the armory near the center of the base, but somewhere I can get to it quickly if needed.”
“Layout,” Ikeda said back. “We’ll be discussing that once we’ve got our landing zone laid out, though most of it will be fairly straightforward. Anything else?”
“No,” Anna said with a shake of her head. “Not about that.”
“We’ll get to personal security in a moment then,” Ikeda said, turning her attention back to the rest of the group and leaning forward, her fingertips on the table. “For now, since both sites appear mostly equal, I’m going to suggest we use the southernmost site as the location for our base camp, since it’s closer to what we assume is a moving water source in the valley. Any objections?”
Jake looked around the table, but saw only nods, or at the very least, looks of resigned acceptance. Ikeda saw it as well, but she didn’t inquire. She simply nodded.
“Good. The southern site it is!” She sat down, the holograph vanishing as she tapped at the controls. “Captain McCormack?”
“Got your L-Z all picked out?” came a reply from a small speaker at the head of the table.
“We do,” Ikeda said. “It’s marked. Can you get us a few more scans of that area?”
“Will do. We’ll try and make some lower passes too, maybe compensate for some interference. What is it with this system?” There was a sigh, followed by: “And we’ll deploy the satellite so you’ve got optimal coverage, too. Bridge out.”
“Right,” Ikeda said, looking back up at the rest of the group as behind her, through the viewport of the conference room, the stars began to shift. “So, with that settled, we can get to work on a few other things. Layout design will be a standard plus—with a few alterations here and there,” she said as several members of the team opened their mouths. “Each of you will have your own habs for your specific discipline, though Silva and Wells, you’ll be sharing.” Daniel nodded, his expression saying that he’d expected it, while Jane just settled for the nod.
“Now, I know you’ve also had chances to talk with our security personnel about this,” Ikeda continued, “but since we’re all in one place and getting everything taken care of, I suppose I should bring this up now. Or actually, better yet, give Ms. Neres her space to say it. Anna?”
Anna rose, her armor just barely scraping the edge of the table. “Right,” she said. “So we won’t know until we’re down on the surface of the planet what we’ll be looking at, so I’m going to say this now. Everyone who goes down there, at least for our initial landing, goes armed. I don’t care what your views are on weapons or violence; you’re going to carry a personal defense stunner or better. Jake and I will be more heavily armed, in case we encounter something worse.”
