Third colony galena chro.., p.22
Third Colony (Galena Chronicles Book 2), page 22
The sky was a black cloud, choking out sunlight.
In the midst of the chaos, two creatures spun through the air, slowly drifting lower. The Weaver was a craggy mass of rock-like flesh as large as a skyscraper with two tapered ends. The creature Jeff had recently encountered in the cathedral cavern was a translucent black sac half-enclosed with fibrous muscle tissue.
The Weaver had become entwined by the long, ropey black tendrils of its attacker. They burned chasms into the Weaver’s smoking flesh.
The Weaver made no sound. A red pool shaped somewhat like a round mouth opened wider as it plummeted in slow motion toward a vast lake of lava below. Its attacker tightened its grip. Tendrils sank deeper until they met in the middle, spilling the segmented Weaver in several directions.
The tendril creature hovered in mid-air, shuddering with delight or some unknowable emotion, then drifted across the riven surface, searching for more prey.
“They’re enemies,” Jeff said, slowly emerging from the memory.
Ayani rubbed her eyes tiredly. “Trager would probably want to study it, too.”
“I have no doubt…and I can’t let that happen.”
“What’s your plan?”
“You mean our plan,” he said, smiling. “You’re here to protect me, right?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“We need to figure out a way to kill it without also killing the canopy organism underground.”
“I thought you said the canopy was the only thing keeping it locked up down there.”
Jeff nodded. “They’re still connected somehow. I’m worried if we yank out the tumor, the rest of the body will die, too. The canopy covers most of the land on Galena. Accidentally killing it would mean killing everything else.”
Ayani frowned thoughtfully. “Do you really think one organism could have that much of an impact?”
“It wiped out a highly advanced species, one capable of constructing resurrection machines and tampering with the fabric of space. I don’t want to think about the harm it would cause if it got back to Earth.”
“Well,” said Ayani, pushing herself from the wall. She gripped Jeff’s shoulder and gave it a rough squeeze. “We’ll need some supplies from town if we plan on staying a while. Eventually.”
She walked out of the cockpit, leaving Jeff to bubble in a stew of a million thoughts.
Ayani was right, of course. They couldn't remain isolated forever, and Jeff had questions — for one person in particular. He pulled up a probe map of the continent and began his search for the colony.
MERRITT
The hospital was a crowded place in the days following the creation of the new Rip. Merritt was one of many patients who needed medical attention. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the bright ceiling. His body felt steamrolled. After saving Kellan from the fissure, he’d been barely conscious when his son helped him stumble through the hospital door. All of the beds were occupied by those in critical condition. Leera bandaged his chest and gave him a low cot near the wall while a rectangular patch of living moss slipped him into a gentle coma and healed his wounds. The living moss wouldn’t physically stitch bones together, but it would align them for faster recovery.
Merritt turned in the cot, wincing at the dull soreness in his chest, and set his bare feet on the cold floor. Shurri stood near one of the other beds, looking down at her brother. His chest rose and fell gently. The dried-out husks of three square patches of moss were on the floor next to his bed.
“How’s he doing?” Merritt asked.
“He’s definitely been better,” Shurri replied without looking away from her brother. Her pockets were stuffed with used tissues and her eyes were red.
“Gavin says he’s stronger than he looks.”
She smiled slowly. “He’s really good at giving himself half-compliments.”
Merritt groaned as he got to his feet and shuffled over to stand beside her. He squeezed Shurri’s shoulder and said, “He meant it.”
She nodded and her bottom lip quivered. Merritt sensed she would burst into tears if she said anything, so he left her to her thoughts and walked toward the back of the prefab hospital. Leera was in the process of quietly instructing Uda how to refill the living moss incubation tanks after the moss was gone.
“How are you feeling?” she asked as Merritt approached.
“Like I was smashed between two boulders…but still better than I felt when I got here. Thank you.”
“Well, progress is progress, no matter how painful,” Leera said with a smile.
“What are you still doing here?” he asked. “Did you miss the shuttle?”
“The shuttle never stops running,” said Uda. “They are bringing so much…”
“I decided to stick around a few extra days to help out,” Leera explained. “The Renata isn’t going anywhere until Kellan is up and walking again.”
She nodded to a back corner of the room, where a long metal table had been pushed aside to make room for a coffin-like tank with white walls and a clear plexi lid. Inside, Kellan was suspended in a pink gel. Little square patches of living moss crawled slowly over the open stump of his left forearm. Wormlike flagella probed the wound from small pores on the sides of the moss.
“Is he in hypergel?” asked Merritt.
Leera nodded. “It has strong antibacterial properties, and it keeps him in a deep sleep while I see what the moss can handle.”
“You never miss the chance for an experiment.”
She shrugged. “Well, I’ve found out the moss is immune to the sleeping narcotic in hypergel. Kellan’s wound seems to be healing faster than a simple stitch job.”
“Think they’ll grow back his arm?”
“Now that would surprise me.”
“Why go up to the Renata so soon? It still has a few months left of rad shedding in orbit.”
Leera rubbed her tired eyes and blinked. “Kellan’s people told me he wanted to go on a survey mission to the far side of Galena. I signed up. Besides, there are doctors in Kellan’s crew that will be here for the bumps and scrapes, and Uda and Shurri are learning more every day.”
Uda smiled.
“I figured you’d want to explore the city you found,” said Merritt.
She drew a sharp breath. “It’s just that…Miles…” Uda squeezed her arm. She sniffed and nodded, then flashed an embarrassed smile. “I can’t go back down there. Not so soon, anyway.”
“I’m going to check the beds,” said Uda, excusing herself.
After she walked to the front of the hospital, Leera said to Merritt, “She’s been a real blessing, especially with the colonists who went to the cave.”
“They came back?” Merritt asked, surprised.
“Henry brought them back yesterday. Most only had minor injuries, but a few were struck by a rockslide in the cave when the earthquakes hit. Everyone’s alive, so there’s that.”
Merritt pulled her in for a long hug. She sniffed into his sore chest.
“We’re going to miss you,” he said quietly.
They separated and she looked up at him, smiling. “Likewise. But I’m finally going home.”
The air was cool and crisp outside. Late afternoon light created long shadows across the common area at the center of the colony. Gavin and Shurri sat on two cross-sections of a tree made into short stools near a freshly-dug bonfire pit.
“Mind if I borrow him for a minute?” Merritt asked as he shambled over.
I’ll find you, Gavin signed to Shurri as he stood.
She nodded and smiled at Merritt, then walked back into the hospital.
“Let’s walk this way,” said Merritt, pointing toward the first tree he saw. He waited until the pair of them passed beyond it before continuing. “If you hadn’t come along when you did, either Kellan or I would be dead. Or both.”
Would that be a bad thing? Gavin signed. If Kellan died? Ahmed knows him. Says he can’t be trusted.
“Who’s Ahmed?”
Found him in a worm cave. He was still in a stasis pod from the crash.
Merritt’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Eight years in a pod? I guess we have a lot more to talk about than I thought.” He groaned and pressed a hand to his sore hip. “But to answer your question, yes. It would have been bad if he died.”
Why? Gavin signed. He wants to change our home.
“Of course he does. There’s good money in it. It might not seem it to you, son, but this colony is fragile. We’re better off dealing with the devil we know than the one we don’t.”
As long as you know him, Gavin signed in concession.
Merritt wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulder. “We’ll see. I heard a certain someone killed the sky beast. I should be safe, right?”
Gavin shrugged out from beneath his father’s arm.
Willef would still be alive if we had killed the sky beast when we had the chance, he signed angrily.
Merritt’s gaze sank to the ground as he thought fondly of his friend. “Willef wouldn’t have killed it, either,” he said. “We only hunt if it’s necessary.”
Gavin’s hands moving in a flurry. Taking out a possible threat IS necessary. I won’t let it happen again.
Merritt smiled sadly as he watched his son from the corner of his eye.
“Is that why you threw dirt in Janos’s face?”
Gavin was quick with his answer. I did it because he would have killed you.
“Are you okay, son?” Merritt asked softly. For a moment, the shadow of fear passed over Gavin’s face and his chin quivered. He looked ten years younger, like the small boy Merritt used to comfort when the guilt of a transgression overwhelmed his emotions.
Then Gavin swallowed hard, and signed, I will be.
“I’m glad you're here with me,” Merritt told him. Then he signed, You did the right thing. He hated having to gloss over another man's death, especially a death for which his son was responsible. Janos would likely haunt Gavin for the rest of his years...yet he had saved his father’s life. Merritt held out his arms for a hug.
Gavin spent a long moment deciding to accept the compliment, then he let his father hug him tightly.
Merritt kept his hands on Gavin’s shoulders as they separated.
“See? I even walked away from the colony in case we hugged. I remember your little diatribe on not embarrassing you in front of your friends.”
Gavin grinned and fake-shoved his father away. That was six years ago! he signed. I’m going back to Shurri.
Merritt waved as his son limped toward the colony, favoring his right leg more than usual. He looked up at the sky and squinted at the hazy outline of the new Rip. He didn’t have the opportunity to ask Kellan where the other side of the wormhole led. How close to Earth had Kellan opened the door?
He took his time walking back to the colony. It felt good to be out of the hospital cot, despite the ache in his bones.
When he reached the common area, Skip was waiting, twirling his wispy goatee.
“Heard you walked off that way,” he said. “Came to check on ya.”
“Well, what do you think?”
Skip looked him up and down. “I sure wouldn’t buy you at auction.”
Merritt laughed harder than he had in a long time. He slapped his old friend on the shoulder and they walked beside each other through the common area. It looked like any other day. A few colonists lounged on the dry mossy ground near the cafeteria, while others carried baskets of freshly-pulled carrots or potatoes for their daily trade.
“How’s Janey settling in?” Merritt asked.
“Already queen of the roost,” Skip replied. “Got me out in the field twice as long as before she got here.”
“You were hardly in the field before.”
“Yeah, but it’s still too much.”
“The kids will help.”
His arms rose and fell in exasperation.“They’re lazier’n me!”
Merritt chuckled. “They won’t be for long. Not here.”
Skip nudged Merritt’s arm with his elbow and pointed over to where Gavin sat with Shurri. They huddled close together, laughing and staring into each other’s eyes.
“Good to see some things are back to normal,” Skip said.
There was a loud thump from behind the hospital building. Several members of Kellan’s crew were stacking dozens of storage crates. Merritt thought of what Kellan had promised him — to use her DNA and LifeScan data to bring his wife back to life.
“Some are back to normal,” Merritt agreed. “And some are still changing.”
Skip grinned and draped his arm over Merritt’s shoulder. “Ain’t that just the way it goes?”
THE ENVOY
Cold darkness enveloped Jeff as he stepped into the prefabricated hospital building. He left behind the organic silence of the sleeping colony for the soft sounds of medicine: thick liquid bubbling gently inside illuminated tanks at the back of the room, each one crawling with various-sized patches of healing moss; buzzes and clicks from a rack of monitoring equipment next to a patient’s bed; the low, steady hum of a stasis tank which glowed pink from the hypergel within.
A beam of moonlight stabbed the darkness from a high window, illuminating a work table stacked high with soiled bed sheets. Jeff liked the moon here on Galena. It was twice as large as Earth’s in the night sky, and was unmarred by the progress of humans. Even with the naked eye, one could see the great scars of the luxury cities Haven and Avalon on the surface of Earth’s moon. Galena’s moon boasted only craters, and a vast, dark canyon that cut across the face along the equator.
Jeff could see only three patients in the gloom. Two slept on padded cots, intravenous lines inserted into the veins of their hands. The third patient was suspended in thick gel within the stasis tank.
No guard had been posted on the hospital door. Jeff stood just inside the entrance, shrouded by night and shadow, struck by a sudden melancholy…a longing for the way things should be. Such a simple thing, to be able to leave a door open without fear of looters or predators. The fact that you could only served to highlight yet another difference between the two human worlds — yet on Earth, there was a different breed of predator, one far more cunning than the beasts of Galena.
The colonists did post perimeter lookouts, though slipping past them had taken little more than a halfhearted effort on Jeff’s part. A loose ring of pulsing crab sticks kept the migrating omnivores at bay, and the other potential animal threats were being managed. Cave worms never came to the surface, and one of the sky beasts — if not the only one — had been slain by Merritt’s son, Gavin.
Jeff wasn’t quite ready to reveal himself to the colonists yet, but Ayani had walked among them twice in as many days, deftly sidestepping their more direct questions while asking some of her own. The flaming debris shower from Kellan’s destroyed ship had been a freak accident, sparking curiosity instead of lingering fear. For the most part, the colonists felt safe, Ayani told him. Jeff understood that safety often gave way to complacency, and he’d been right. He merely had to wait for a lookout to yawn greatly and study the night sky before slipping past at a distance.
Walking slowly through the dark hospital, his gaze drifted over surgery tools, sterilization stations, and crates of other medical supplies. The colonists had done well for themselves, despite their situation. Jeff would speak to them, learn more about their perils and their victories — but not yet. Something else weighed heavily on his mind — a looming threat too great to ignore.
Pink light washed over his face and body as he stood looking down on the coffin-like stasis tank. Kellan McEwan was suspended behind a transparent plexi lid, unconscious. He was curled in a loose fetal position, wearing a skin-tight neoprene body suit. A black tube connected his face mask to a neat row of air tanks secured to the inner wall of the tank. His left arm had been severed at mid-forearm, and a thick scar sealed the wound in a precise line. Clean work, Jeff thought. The colony would miss Dr. Leera James after she was gone, he was sure. Doubtless they would need her medical skills more than ever in the coming months with whatever Kellan had planned.
Maybe I can do something about that, Jeff thought.
He tapped the tank’s control panel and white condensed air hisssssed from a row of vents near the floor. The tank lid hinged open, releasing a stinging aroma of rubbing alcohol and iodine. Jeff waited a long moment, but Kellan didn’t stir. He reached into the thick pink hypergel and yanked off the man’s face mask.
Kellan’s eyes bolted open and his body contracted as if he’d been shocked. He grabbed the top lip of the tank with his remaining arm and pulled himself up out of the gel, gagging. Thick glops of it matted down his short hair and clung to his small mustache. He spat a mouthful back into the tank and sucked in his first full breath as he rubbed gel from his eyes with his hand. His left stump waggled uselessly, mimicking the motions of his right arm. He glanced down at it and froze. The tank hummed quietly.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he whispered to himself, his voice raspy after his time in the tank.
“It will,” Jeff assured him. He sat on the edge of a metal table and crossed his arms.
Kellan’s eyes found Jeff in the dark, seeing him for the first time. Recognition flashed across his face, and then resignation. “I was wondering who they’d send. Does Trager want me brought back dead or alive?”
“I don’t know if you matter enough for either,” said Jeff.
Kellan tried to stand but Jeff put a firm hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. With a heavy sigh, Kellan settled back against the wall of the tank, squishing in the gel.
“You saw the new Rip?” he asked.
“Hard to miss.”
Jeff had admired its alien beauty as he walked through the woods, toward the colony. Amorphous twin nebulae adorned the night sky to the west, but they now shared the firmament with a new arrival. The Rip Kellan had opened appeared as a black eye ringed with purple and green aurorae, glowing brightly amongst the ancient stars.
