With a hard shock, Elisa’s drop pod slammed into the bedrock. Something gave way, and the pod skidded, then toppled over on its side. The fire alarm went blaring, but Elisa was already out of her harness, grabbed the heavy bag of essentials and leaped out of the hatch before it was fully ajar. One of ARI’s flying drones was right behind her.
Elisa’s helmet light turned on automatically in the darkness, which was illuminated sparsely by burning patches of rocket fuel over a stretch of at least a hundred meters. The ground clung at her feet as she sunk to her ankles into fine sand littered with smooth, treacherous rocks. She spotted a large round boulder, slung her bag over it and tumbled into a depression at its lee, panting and clouding her helmet visor. ARI landed beside her.
“We made it,” she stammered. “Unbelievable, but we made it, ARI.” Her gloved fingers ran through the sand, then began drawing random shapes.
“Indeed, at least one person made it to the surface alive!” ARI exclaimed cheerfully. “Do you know what that means?”
“What?”, Elisa said, shaking her head.
“Since we landed the first humans, this world is now part of the Company portfolio! Even if we all perish, nothing can change that claim! The captain’s share passes to you or your next of kin, of course.”
“Yeah, good luck claiming that,” Elisa groaned. “I care more about the fact that we are still alive.”
“I will do my utmost best to keep you that way, commander,” ARI said, as on the planet’s surface and without a ship, Elisa was captain no more. “Unfortunately, I must remain realistic and warn you that the situation is dire still. You must get to work, immediately.”
“What about the air? Can you confirm it is breathable,” Elisa asked, knowing full well that a negative would reduce her expected survival time to days at best.
“Atmospheric analysis complete. It is breathable and no apparent toxins detected, not even the nice hallucinogenic ones. However, be warned that oxygen levels are in excess of thirty-two percent, small particulate level is over 500, and there’s a fire going on nearby. Please do not remove your helmet.” ARI responded.
“How bad is the pod? Should I go put out the fire? We should try to save the rest of the supplies...”
“Let me check to see if it is safe,” ARI said, lifting off once more. Elisa loosened her heavy backpack and dropped it in the sand beside her bag, but kept her tool belt and sidearm where it was.
A large explosion sounded, shaking the ground and blasting Elisa with a sudden rain of sand moments later.
“ARI! Are you ok?”
“Yes, commander.”
“Did the pod just explode?”, Elisa asked, not daring to peek from her hiding place.
“Negative, our pod is fine, damage is minimal” ARI replied. “You can come out now and begin extinguishing the fires.”
“Then what was that?”
“Sigrid’s pod, on the ledge above” ARI answered impassively.
“Did she make it?”
“I am no longer picking up her signal,” ARI stated calmly, its voice devoid of emotion.
Elisa felt horrified and froze.
“Commander,” ARI said after a few seconds.
“Yes, ARI?”
“I must remind you that you have to get to work now. Extinguish the fires of the pod, please.”
Elisa put her sentiments aside and lifted herself up. She noticed how the flames had already subsided somewhat, and removed a small fire extinguisher from the bag.
She toiled all night salvaging materials from the pod and setting up camp. The crash site had been on a plateau she found, on a ledge good twenty meters above the surface of the crater. Her pod had come to a stop only a few dozen meters from the edge. Elisa had found a cliff edge upwards that would offer good protection from the sun and possible storms.. Just as she managed to deploy her shelter, the first light of dawn began turning the sky a deep green that transitioned to a dark orange opposite.
The shelter structure unfolded itself like an origami dome popping out of its crate. Initially, it had failed to deploy, but Elisa has jury-rigged it with servos she had from the wreckage of the pod. She unrolled the sheets of solar panels nearby and connected them to the electrical systems, but all batteries were empty still. ARI had set down to conserve energy, but the moment the sky began turning brighter, the starved systems could commence their desperate charging.
Elisa sat down. “What are we going to do about the oxygen, ARI? I can’t keep this helmet on forever.” She checked the display panel on the inside of her left arm, tapping the virtual controls with movements of her left fingers, and found she had only two hours of breathable air remaining.
“Don’t worry about that,” ARI assured her. “Your shelter is intact and airtight. For now, we’ll fill that up with filtered air, and then have the climate controls maintain an underpressure while you are inside.”
“What about outside?”, Elisa asked.
“The atmosphere is breathable for hours at a time, but the use of a basic filter is advisable. If you spend eight hours recovering indoors, the damage to your lungs will be minimal. As soon as we have basic production underway, I can refill your air tank with a proper mixture in case you need it.”
“Thanks, ARI,” Elisa said. “I should give it a try.”
“It is very dusty,” ARI warned.
Elisa carefully removed her helmet and took a shallow sniff. The air was frigid and Elisa immediately noticed the pungent smell of rocky sulfur, as if someone had rubbed vast quantities of flint. She breathed carefully, then started coughing from the dry, dusty air that made her throat irritated and sticky. She put the helmet back on.
“I see what you mean about the dust filter,” she said through a grimace.
The sky was becoming brighter by the minute, and Elisa could begin making out her surroundings. Her plateau was near the center of the crater, and she could see the crater wall was a good five kilometers away. The upper cliff face extended for at least a hundred meters. As she got up, she spotted something glittering in the distance.
“ARI, are you seeing this too?”
“I’m afraid I can’t, commander. I still need to begin charging.”
Elisa patched through her helmet camera feed. “It looks like running water,” ARI exclaimed with surprise.
“I’m going to have a walk and see,” Elisa replied.
“Please be careful,” ARI said. “I am obliged to notify you that the Company is currently unable to compensate you for any injuries and you have not yet accumulated any sick days.”
“You can toss those notifications, ARI. The Company will never be in a position to help us or compensate us for this mess. They probably no longer exist.”
“So far, there’s no evidence to support that assessment,” ARI replied cheerfully.
As Elisa got closer, she realized there was indeed a stream of water running through a shallow indenture of the terrain, before trailing off the edge of the plateau. A sparse waterfall continuously refilled a small pool at the bottom of the cliff face from above.
“Look,” Elisa said. “Plants!”
The edges of the pool were lined with a carpet of small red bulbs covered in glittering dewdrops, and Elisa could see balls of hairlike strands of blood red algae swirling ominously in the water.
“Don’t touch any of it,” ARI warned. “They may contain all kinds of toxins, hostile micro-organisms and contaminants.”
“I’m going to take a water sample, we need to know if it is usable,” Elisa said.
“I would advise against it, but you are right, you are going to need a water source to survive in the short term, and having access to a fresh water source would conserve energy. Thank you for thinking economically!”
Elisa unbuckled the pouch of sample vials from her belt and found an overhanging rock devoid of the plants from which she could access the water. She lied down and extended her arm. Below her, the balls of red strands continued their angry circular dance in little holes in the stream bed. The hair on Elisa’s neck rose, and she felt as if something was watching her. She hesitated, looked around, but saw nothing. Then she quickly took her sample and leapt up, away from the water.
My mind is playing tricks. Don’t be so panicky, it’s just some stupid plants, she thought.
It was not the first time humanity had encountered alien vegetation. As close as Proxima, a basic ecosystem of multi-celled autotrophs had been discovered. Similar findings had occurred at Ross 248 and Teegarden, leading humanity to conclude simple organisms were common. Complex life however, had remained strangely elusive. As had signs of extraterrestrial intelligence of any kind.
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A moment later, Elisa realized what was amiss, snatched up her kit and sprinted back to her shelter.
“ARI!”, she shouted in panic.
“Yes, commander?”, ARI responded in its default flat voice.
“You said water is rare here, yes?”
“Indeed, commander,” ARI responded.
“Zero precipitation, correct?”
“Likely,” ARI confirmed.
“Then how does the water get up there?!”, Elisa barked.
“That is a very good question,” ARI admitted. “However, please remain calm. There must be a rational explanation for it. As soon as I have recharged, I will survey the area above us.”
“I will get this water tested and take some more samples in the meantime,” Elisa said, setting up the small laboratory kit from the pile of equipment she had recovered and inserting her water sample for analysis. She replaced her air tank with a spare, then she took an additional pouch of vials and cautiously headed back in the direction of the stream of water.
The diffuse light from the atmosphere was now bright enough for ARI to begin charging. Elisa could make out the details on the cliff face. She took her vials and scraped on various rocks to obtain samples for compositional analysis. As she walked further along the bottom of the cliff, she paused. Between two large boulders, there was what seemed like a large crack in the rocks, the top of which had been refilled by debris, and the bottom end forming a natural cave.
“ARI, check this out. Wouldn’t this make a good shelter?”
“It definitely seems like an excellent place to hide should any of the storms hit us. Could you also get some more rock samples in there please?”
“Will do,” Elisa said in a tone that betrayed uneagerness. She shuffled on the uneven, raised surface of the entrance and entered cautiously, checking her footing. As she went deeper inside, the dust appeared to lessen and the rocky surface turned into lutaceous clumps. Elisa dropped to her knees to examine the material, and filled another of her vials.
She flicked her gloved hand around, and again, palm wide. Then she removed one of the testing strips from her vial pouch and dropped it. It didn’t fall exactly vertically.
“There’s airflow in here. It’s not a dead-end cave,” she said.
“That kind of reduces its efficiency as a shelter,” ARI grumbled.
Elisa shuffled onwards as the available headspace was reduced progressively, until the opening became wider once more and she found herself in a domed cave. Water softly dripped from the ceiling, having formed stalagmites on the cave floor. She turned to get a better look of the surroundings, and screamed.
“Please don’t panic. Tell me what happened,” ARI stated seriously.
Elisa collected herself and let her light shine across the scaly, bone-coloured, almost dragon-like remains of an enormous plant. It climbed all the way from the floor into the vaulted cave ceiling. As the plant had withered, a pit surrounded what remained of its shrunken roots. Elisa could hear the sound of more water dripping in the depths below.
“Maybe this… thing is what originally cracked the rock?”
Then without warning, something heavy dropped onto Elisa and slammed her hard into the floor. It latched onto her helmet from behind. This time Elisa screamed for real, as she heard hissing and scratching noises and felt something clawing at her back.
“Are we going to keep this up?” ARI asked sarcastically. “What is it this time? Oh maybe I should play a guessing game! Perhaps the big dead tree has some big, dead, ugly flowers?”
Elisa screamed more and attempted to roll over. She failed, but managed to push herself up to her knees and elbows, as the heavy thing on her back flailed and tried to drag her down again. She tried to grab at it, but it proved elusive and jerked away from her hand. The scratching and hissing got more intense. Elisa put a knee under herself and pushed herself up to her feet, but felt herself grow weaker as the struggle dragged on. Out of options, Elisa kicked herself backward, and felt the thing crash into the rocks behind her, making a noise akin to the shattering ring of breaking glass. The thing let go, and Elisa planted a foot against the rock and sprinted forward, unholstering her sidearm. Without looking, she spun around and fired two shots.
“Okay I admit, that’s not a flower,” ARI said.
Before her, Elisa saw the remains of what resembled a many-legged, multisegmented creature vaguely resembling a beetle. Its four dead eyes glittered in frozen frustration, while it's chitinous body shone iridescently in a multitude of colors. Crystals protruded from its back. She quickly checked the ceiling for any other creatures, but found none.
“Well then, let me be the first to congratulate you on achieving contact with a complex alien life form! Such a monumental discovery for mankind! Shall we name it after you?”
“It feels more like reliving a pre-historic moment to me,” Elisa answered, still panting from the ordeal. “A predatory creature trying to feast upon a stupid caveman.”
“Awww, don’t be so harsh,” ARI answered cheerfully. “They don’t look that dangerous. I’d task you with capturing one alive for study, but eehhh, unfortunately you’re not that expendable. Science will have to wait!”
“So sad,” Elisa answered, tired of ARIs demeanor.
Light emerged from one of the side tunnels. Elisa could clearly see it was another helmet light and lowered her weapon.
It was Sigrid.
“You’re alive!”, Elisa blurted, then noticed how she was limping and her visor was open.
Sigrid spotted the husk of the alien creature. “Please tell me you know how to get out of here,” she said, latching on to Elisa.
“Come with me,” Elisa replied, dragging Sigrid towards the hole that led outside. As they emerged, the diffuse light from the atmosphere was now bright enough to see. Sigrid began coughing heavily. Elisa dragged her into the shelter, and sealed the entrance. Sigrid laid down on the single floor mat.
Elisa removed her gloves and helmet, and helped Sigrid take off hers. “What happened,” she asked. “I thought your pod exploded on impact.”
Sigrid tried shaking her head, but struggled. “I fell into these caves while evacuating. I was unconscious for a while. I have totally missed the explosion part.”
“Did you get attacked by those creatures?”
“No, that one you killed was the only one I saw,” Sigrid answered, much to Elisa’s relief. At least that meant the cave was not completely packed with alien beetles. “ I had been crawling through the cave for almost half an hour, ran out of air, and then I heard your gunfire. That’s how I found you. I did see lots of red plants though.”
“What happened to your leg?”, Elisa asked.
“Must have been the fall,” Sigrid admitted. “I think something is broken, but the suit is holding it all together quite well. And I guess I have to be thankful for the painkillers.”
Elisa began removing the hard plating of Sigrid’s greaves and finally removed her tall boot. Sigrid’s lower leg was a patchwork of bruises in all colors, both new and old, which made it difficult to determine the extent of her injuries. Elisa clamped the leg in her hand and ran her fingers along the bone. Sigrid couldn’t indicate any pain, but Elisa did indeed find broken bone.
“Looks like a double fracture to me,” she said. “But my medical training is not very advanced.”
“Let me see,” ARI said. Elisa picked up the helmet and let ARI have a good look from all directions. “Yes indeed. Just make sure it’s set somewhat properly,” ARI continued. “Then tighten that boot up and hope one of the doctors arrives sometime soon.”
Elisa confirmed, then ran her fingers across the leg once more. She pulled on Sigrid’s ankle and pushed hard onto the broken bone, half expecting Sigrid to scream. Nothing came. She sealed up the boot once more and restored the hard plating, then moved some of the packs behind Sigrid and helped her lean upwards a bit.
“Here is some water. Hang on for a moment, I want to go outside to check if I can see any of the others,” she said, collecting her gloves and helmet.
As she left the shelter, she could make out the details on the crater wall, and considered that she would probably be able to finally see the crater floor below. She carefully approached the edge of the plateau, wary of the loose sand.
Amongst the dunes, she could see the shimmer of a multitude of perfectly round pools of water, each surrounded by a carpet of red. In the center of the pools, tall red mushroom-like trees dripped water.
“I think this answers the water question,” Elisa said with great relief. “They’re probably sucking it out of an aquifer. Capillary action and adhesive condensation of what little moisture there is in the air. So these are the red patches we saw.”
“Indeed,” ARI confirmed. “However, let me remind you that any kind of biological life can potentially be dangerous. Seeing the crater is infested by these things and that the cave was occupied by that creature, we need to take more samples to determine whether we have to evacuate.”
Although she could see only a third of the crater as the cliff behind her blocked the view in the other directions, she found that a multitude of yellow drop pods had come down in the general area.
“ARI, I know you’re still low on power, but could you do a quick round and see if any of the others are down there? And check for the fabricators, please.”
“Yes, commander,” ARI said before zooming off. In minutes, ARI had located Maximilian and Otto four kilometers to the north, and found Ervin had set up a shelter just two kilometers east of the plateau. ARI noticed it had lost contact with Elisa, the extreme electromagnetic interference on the planet cutting the range of their weak radio signals to a few hundred meters at best.
ARI took samples of the plants and water, made an inventory of the nearby drop pods and returned to its charging station. Over the commlink, it reported back to Sigrid and Elisa.
Elisa responded. “So, if I understood correctly, we have a dozer and two toploaders nearby, as well as all the PV arrays we need. One fabricator. Both landers are missing, which means that we have neither of the medical doctors present. How long until the analysis of the samples is complete?”
“The initial analysis of your water sample is already complete. Good news so far, it returned all negative on any of the obvious toxins,” ARI replied. “Still a few hours to go on the rest of the tests.”
“The electromagnetic interference is going to be an ongoing issue, impacting communications and positioning,” Sigrid said. “Anything we can do about that?”
“Yes, we can,” ARI answered. “The reason why communication is so poor is simply because helmet transmitters lack a decent antenna and are not powerful enough to get through the interference. We can set up comm towers on the crater walls. These can both relay our comm signals and be used for positioning. We can emit a signal that the crew in the landers will be able to home in on, should they be out there and attempting to find us.”
“Alright then,” Elisa said. “Finish your recharging and let’s wait for the others to arrive and the tests to finish.”
“I’m glad Otto made it,” Sigrid said softly to Elisa. “He’s the only family I have left. Do you have anyone? Or did you lose somebody?”
“No,” Elisa said. “My father divorced when I was young, and he remained behind on Earth after raising the credits to at least get me a better life…”
“Oh, you’re from Sol,” Sigrid said with a faint smile. “My grandparents were.” The smile faded. “My mother’s ones had to remain behind too, so we never met…”
“I thought you were a Folkeforening citizen-partner, with a name like that… Why couldn't they come?”, Elisa said, referring to the much-envied enclave of rich and prosperous people. Owing their wealth to smart long-term investment strategies as well as an early move to space mining and the occupation of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the Folkeforening was an economic entity that had remained mostly independent of the Universal Economic Council, and could directly compete with a Great Family in terms of resources and influence.
“I’m only one quarter Folkeforening, so I wasn’t entitled to such a status… It’s complicated…”
Sigrid was silent, but Elisa understood. What Sigrid meant was that she was born out of wedlock to a non-citizen, and her father hadn’t sponsored her, even though she had taken his name.
“Don’t feel sad,” Elisa said. “Almost everyone on our ship is a misfit. The first colony ship always is; after all we were intended to do the hard work for those that would come after. After the Company has made a fortune selling rights to settle to a bed already made. But there won’t be another ship here. The world we build will be for ourselves. And it will be better.”
Sigrid’s eyes went wide, and gestured to Elisa to be quiet. ARI, she drew in the dust on her boot, then wiped it away.