Chapter 2
It was, of course, an excruciatingly long five years.
Times had changed since the Crimson Collective returned to the SS Constellation. The discovery of life on another planet led to a widescale investigation involving five different galactic stations who, over the course of a year, travelled the cosmos to arrive here, in this small, unregarded star system bordering on the outskirts of Orion. Spacecrafts the width of moons dominated Zurn 852’s orbit, each with the same wheel-shaped design, and each holding more than two billion passengers. If it was possible for humanity to thrive on this desolate planet, then the sheer number of people that would have to be transported here would quickly make it unsustainable. They already made that mistake on Earth; it couldn’t happen again. If they wanted the planet to work, certain conditions had to be put in place, and that was exactly what the Galactic Federation of Colonizing Affairs did.
Two years after the discovery, the Federation sent multiple teams of colonisers and engineers onto Zurn 852 to build new infrastructure: buildings embedded with heatshields and radioactive propulsors, which were designed to stave off Poseidon’s rays, but had also acted as micro atmoshields. Engineers had a long way to go before they could envelop Zurn 852 in one ray-protective blanket, but for where humanity wanted to go, it was a nice start. The Federation ruled that the maximum population allowed on this planet would be, at first, one thousand, then ten thousand once enough settlements were built, and then up to a hundred thousand when more area was covered by the terraforming hardware. But more developments were needed, more research, more tests. Ava would understand this very well when she graduated from the educational sector with a proficiency in astroengineering three years later.
She was licensed to operate dropships, carriers, and the new-age, terraforming technology on Zurn 852, but there was one problem: she couldn’t use any of it. With so many people graduating into the same line of work, and with there being very limited space in the colonising industry for this planet, she was forced to take up a job at a grocery in the tail of the ship. She wasn’t the only one; the workforce was growing increasingly competitive on the SS Constellation, and some ended up transporting to different ships to find jobs better tailored towards their skillset.
Ava, of course, couldn’t do that. At first, it was because she wanted to wait until an astroengineering job opened up here, giving her the opportunity to operate the machines on Zurn 852, which would in turn allow her to look for her father.
But then her mother fell ill. She had been stricken with a case of Class-D skin cancer, meaning it had metastasised, deep. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was coming up with the money to afford her medication. Oxymenda was a powerful drug with an expensive price tag. It cured every cancer, but in doing so it also caused some adverse side effects, such as stomach pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, and in particularly bad cases, vomiting. It came in many different forms, everything from a pill to a cream to an injection, depending on the disease and, of course, the degree to which it had developed.
Windal was unable to work and provide for herself, and the treatment would take anywhere from a couple months to a couple years. The survival rate, thank the sun, was a whopping ninety-five per cent, approximately sixty-two per cent more successful than its predecessor chemotherapy.
Three years after the discovery, the Federation had built several testing facilities in what would later be known as Site 101. The animals that were discovered here had been dinosaur in resemblance, possessing thick, fleshy membranes that accounted for up to more than half of their overall mass. The skin was translucent with a bluish-purple tint; their underbellies exposed organs, everything from the liver to multiple stomachs to ropey intestines. The Federation agreed on deeming the species ‘inkasum’, on account of their inky, thinly skinned appearance.
Most were friendly; some had been reported to attack humans on site. Whatever their origin, not all inkasum acted the same way, which was perhaps what made them stand out as an anomaly compared to many of the species that originated from Earth. The nature of these creatures was difficult to pinpoint, yes, but they existed, and that fascinated Ava.
By year five, the year of Ava’s graduation, the Federation finally began moving people from the galactic stations to Zurn 852. There weren’t any houses built yet, but there were plenty of habitats designed with bioplastics, regolith, and thermopane glass. Shaped like domes, they allowed for a perfect sun-absorbent shield to wrap around the exteriors, making humans practically invulnerable to ultraviolet rays. To venture out into the planet, however, they needed special tempsuits, but those were reserved for colonisers, at least until the planet was fully terraformed.
In all five years, Maxim never detailed what had happened to the full roster of ‘lost men’ on Zurn 852. According to him, the CC only knew what happened to a small portion of them. Some members were slaughtered by inkasum, others died due to severe dehydration, and some went hunting, never to be seen again. As for Mr. Broker’s wife, Linda, she was tasked with rewiring the firmware with some of the underseat back-up tech, only to be found fried to a crisp by Barkley after his morning run of saltwater tanks. Mr. Broker, God forgive him, never got the chance to hear any of this, because he had already been transported to a LockCraft thousands of lightyears away, rotting in a cell.
Ava’s father, Ben Longwood, had been one of the hunters, which meant there was a still a chance he was down there. Maybe he was already making his way towards the new settlements. Hell, maybe he was there, trying to get a hold of the SS Constellation.
Or maybe not. Thoughts of his death infected her mind like a fine plague, and she struggled to shake them away. The chances of survival on Zurn 852 must have been close to zero if some of the CC managed to die from dehydration, vicious creatures, and perhaps hazardous planetary conditions. And then there had been the suits: were they really built to last more than two years? Yes, actually, they were, but if her father’s had been poorly designed, out of threshold, or damaged, then he wouldn’t have lasted very long, especially by himself.
“Ava.” Windal placed a comforting hand on Ava’s cheek; her touch was warmer than normal. “You were always such a smart kid. A coloniser. Your father will be proud.”
‘Will be’ hit her like a physical object. She blinked. In her moment of daydreaming, she had almost forgotten her mother was standing there, smiling weakly. “I talked with the bank.” She handed her an Echo device. It was small, rectangular, and shaped a little like a portable radio. “I set up a benefit plan where we can share the same account. If you ever need money, all you have to do is use ‘Transfer’ on the bank app. It takes funds out of my next payment.”
Windal looked at the screen, smiling thinly. She was gaunt, dry-skinned, and much older-looking. Yes, she had aged a fair deal, but the drug wasn’t doing her any favours. “I’m going to miss you, Ava. I’m really, really going to miss you.”
“You too, Mom.” For the first time since she was thirteen, Ava felt tears, real ones. It wasn’t because she was leaving the SS Constellation; it wasn’t because she was leaving her mother – although, yes, that was painful; it was because she had finally been given the opportunity she’d been looking for since childhood: to go to Zurn 852.
Ava stood an incredible six-foot-one. Her rabbity face remained untouched, her hair was shorter and pulled back into a ponytail, and her clothes…. Well, her uniform had seen better days. It was white, and her space helmet was attached to the side of her backpack.
“It’s time, Ava,” a voice from behind said, appearing like a ghostly whisper, but with the intensity of a thunderous command. “Say goodbye.” It was Zef Mindfield, the co-captain of V-Knox 852, and the co-pilot of the team’s suborbital shuttle. He was shorter than her but packed twice as much muscle. The team had nicknamed him ‘The Bull’, on account of his stocky build, short stature, and even shorter fuse.
Ava pulled her mother into a hug for what she feared would be the last time. “I love you.”
Windal’s voice quavered. “I love you, too.”
Ava tried to be brave. She tried to hide her emotions with the resolve of a soldier, because in training, you were taught to expect the worst and think nothing of it, but good graces was it difficult. She broke her mother’s embrace.
Goodbye. She wasn’t even brave enough to say the word out loud.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Ava and the crew were strapped in their capsules, all ten of them. The cockpit of the suborbital shuttle was larger than original models, allowing for more cargo. It also gave the crew a better view of space; the mag-shield spread across the outer hull, and at the centre of it was a large cupola window through which Zurn 852 could be seen in the far-off reaches of the poseidal system. Site 101 lay on the thirty-second parallel, near a large bay secured by granite reefs. From this distance, it looked as if it had been swallowed by an enormous smoke storm, but those were clouds, nothing more.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The moon, Zurn X17, hovered outside of it, a shattered rock split into large, milk-dipped chunks. While scientists weren’t entirely sure what had occurred here, the leading theory was that the moon had clashed with Zurn 852, causing the great lava spill, and taking with it needy clawfuls of the mantle.
Ava, still wrapped up in her thoughts, felt oddly terrified.
I’ll be there soon. I promise.
The comms director spoke through everyone’s Echo-connected earpiece. “Status, pilot?”
“If the status was anything less than perfect I wouldn’t be sitting here,” a nasal voice said. Jack Terrygrew.
“Just say it,” snapped Zef, voice laced with static.
“It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.” Jack raised his arm and made an O with his thumb and forefinger. “Everyone okay back there? Crew?”
“Yessir,” everyone said – Ava included. Speak like soldiers, think like soldiers, obey like soldiers. Just be sure to get the job done while you're at it. Zef's favourite quote.
“See that, Zef? They called me sir.”
Zef chuckled. “It’s a good thing I engineered most of this ship. Had you installed the thrusters we’d explode before take-off.”
That was only partially true; Zef was responsible for the ship’s wiring and technological input, yes, but the thrusters were built by the crew and designed primarily by Ava. She got the idea for the design from the barrel of an X-74 blowout pistol; they spent two weeks putting the shells together, and another two weeks installing the central components. Yes, Zef installed the ion-splitters, but outside of that, he had little to do with the engineering. The only reason they even let him do that much was because he was the only one in the team who knew how. He had been an astroengineer for twenty-seven years, and as such had become greatly efficient in the art of quantum wiring.
Jack was different. He was from a galactic station on the other side of the Western Arm, and had been delivering resources from system to system for the last thirty-six years. He wasn’t necessarily proficient in engineering, but he knew his way around the control panel, as well as planets of various conditions, so the Galactic Federation saw no issue in appointing him as the head captain of V-Knox 852.
“Prepare for lift-off in T-minus sixty seconds,” said the comms director.
Ava tightened her grip on the capsule arms. The engine hummed to life, and the floor vibrated beneath her feet. This was it, take-off. Soon, the ship would leave the SS Constellation, perhaps for more than two years, which meant…
Mom.
Oh good grief. Why did she have to have these thoughts now? Belated regret? No, she was confident, brave; this was what Ava Longwood wanted. Her father was out there, waiting to be found. Her mother would be fine as long as the payments went through. Still, her stomach cramped, heat suffocated her, and fear sank in.
Breathe.
Although she could feel the force of the thruster as the shuttle rose out of the loading dock, it was nevertheless silenced by the voiceless vacuum of space.
Now was the time….
“Three… two… one…” the comms director said.
Then, after a moment of silence, Jack said, “See you on the other side, gentlemen.”
The force of the thruster expulsion caused all five rows of capsules to kick back; Ava was pulled violently into her seat. The shuttle travelled through space at Mach 30, a speed so incredibly fast that Zurn 852 seemed to gravitate towards them, a growing sphere of possibilities. It wasn’t the highest speed the thruster could go, but it was the most Jack could handle when you took into consideration space debris, loitering dropships, and other galactic stations.
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Quickly the suborbital shuttle left the SS Constellation’s outer ring, and the sick knot in Ava’s stomach settled. On the top left of her helmet overlay, a name appeared in neon-blue characters: Kingston, Tyrone. Ava got along with many of the crew members in V-Knox 852, but Tyrone was always the most pleasant to talk to.
“Feelin’ alright, Ava?” His voice was similar to Jack's in that it was nasal, but it had a much gentler effect. Whether that was because he didn’t hold as much power as Jack or he was simply a nice guy, she didn’t know, but either way it was refreshing.
“Nervous,” she said, her voice cracking as it would have at thirteen. “You?”
“Always,” he said. “But relax. I think most of what we’re gonna find on Zurn won’t harm us, not as a team.”
“It’s not that,” she said.
Tyrone hummed thoughtfully. “I think your dad is out there.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Alright,” said Tyrone softly. “Well in that case, all I can really say is to keep your head up. We’re gonna be covering every inch of the uncharted land, so if he’s out there, we’ll find him. He’ll be okay. If anything happened, it would have been reported to us by now, to the SS.”
Ava didn’t agree with that last point. Knowing Maxim’s secretive nature, he may very well have kept certain elements of the CC’s story in the dark. It was difficult, however, for Ava to pinpoint exactly why he would have no issue detailing the deaths of some members but not others, so perhaps she was overthinking it a bit too much, and not in a rational manner. She was flying by the seat of her pants.
Tyrone, for one, was very much an in-the-moment sort of guy. He didn’t think too much about things, especially people in power, so hearing his trust in the SS and Galactic Federation wasn’t necessarily reassuring. Still, it helped, albeit in a strange, roundabout way.
“That’s true,” said Ava.
“Alright,” said Tyrone, once again softly. “We get there, we do our job, and when everything’s up and running, hey, we can look for Ben. I’ll help you out. I know what Mindfield and Terrygrew would say if you asked them.”
Nothing good. “Thanks, Tyrone.” Ava felt much more reassured now. The fact that he would even suggest doing something like that was comforting, and he was, as the old saying went, ‘a man of his word.’ This was one of the reasons Ava found him pleasant compared to everyone else in the crew. He always lent a hand when needed, and never forced himself upon anyone.
The suborbital shuttle reached Zurn 852’s atmosphere after just twenty minutes of travel. As soon as it entered the stratosphere and the mag-shield was swallowed by a plume of black smoke, the landing thrusters roared to life. Slowly the energy from the back of the shuttle was transferred to the front in an ionic conversion.
“Hold your guts, gentlemen,” yelled Jack. Ava couldn’t exactly make out words other than ‘gentlemen’, but during training this was always something he would say in the testing facility when the crew spun violently in the Farnborough machine.
Ava gripped the arms of her capsule once again.
Dad’s ship. Look.
He would have contacted me by now.
Mom.
Two years, Ava. He’s been gone for two years without a word. It’s not him, dear.
The black smoke cleared, revealing an enormous jungle. The dense foliage was a vibrant shade of blue, almost glowing from within. The trees were tall and slender and seemed to expand into a never-ending sea of luxuriant colour. In the distance, there were several dome-shaped habitats, colonising stations, and animal research facilities. Even though humanity had only recently begun to colonise this planet, the infrastructure, towers, and deforested paths made it seem as though they had been here for quite some time.
As the dropship descended, Ava spotted movement among the brackens, bushes, and tree-shaded understoreys – flickers of iridescent skin. Inkasum, no doubt. They scurried through the jungle at breakneck speed, seemingly bolting from the landing space of the suborbital shuttle. Ava couldn’t help but feel excited; this was the first time in her entire life that she had witnessed true alien life. Life that, instead of growing from the ground up, could walk and think and fend for itself.
They weren’t alone in this universe, and that was both beautiful and terrifying. Beautiful because it showed how truly complex and artistic the cosmos was. Terrifying because it confirmed that there was still so much scientists didn’t know; there could be smarter species out there, and they mightn’t be as friendly as humans. The colonisers could one day become the colonised. Then what?
“Ten,” the comms director said suddenly, his voice loud despite the thrusters. “Nine…”
Your father isn’t dead.
Then where is he?
“Five…”
Somewhere.
I just want to know.
“Three…”
He’s on Zurn.
I want to see him.
“Two…”
One day. I promise, sweetheart.
“One.”
Everything went black. The light that normally came through the cupola window had been obscured by the darkness of Zurn 852’s surface. For a moment everything was still.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it gentlemen?” said Jack.
No…. No, it wasn’t.
It couldn’t have gone much better.
“I’ll take credit for the aversion of disaster, Terrygrew.” Zef laughed deeply.
The crew joined in. Ava chuckled a bit herself. She had expected so much worse, for something to go wrong on their descent – a great bump that would knock everything in the starboard cargo hold out of place – but everything was smooth, without error. To make things better, she didn’t hurl up vomit. Her stomach was hollowed out, as though her navel were wedded to her spine. Calm, relaxed, undisturbed. Things were going well.
Jack tapped into his Echo device and spoke proudly: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for the crew.”