The atmosphere in the hangar bay was tense. Leon looked around and observed the other members of the ground crew. Samuel and Chad were wearing standard void suits, the white strengthened polymers matching the rest of the hangar's clean look. The two men looked ready, if a little nervous. This would be the first time the SSV would be used for its intended role of space to surface and back transportation.
Despite the fact that the entire operation was relatively untested, Samuel and Chad had thousands of hours of practice flights in the simms to bolster their flagging confidence. Leon shrugged his shoulders, the heavy armoured environmental suit he was wearing weightless in the microgravity of the ship’s core. But that would change dramatically when they reached the planet’s surface. The suits had internal servo muscles to aid in movement, but despite the assistance they were still heavy cumbersome things. They were more designed for deep sea diving than exploring the surface of an alien planet, but Leon wasn’t complaining. He would suffer the discomfort for the protection they offered.
Casting his eyes on the others he saw that Oliver, Dr. Kimathi, Joice and Myung were also ready with their heavy suits on. Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were close together, the two of them holding a private conversion of some importance it looked like from the expressions on their faces.
Myung and Joice were also talking, but not to each other. Joice was deep in conversation with Terry and Taylor, probably giving the two last minute instructions on the ship’s operation as they would be in charge of the bridge while she was groundside. Myung was talking to Sabine, the young woman had been a bit upset when he had informed her she was going to be staying on the ship.
“But I want to go, it’s not fair.” she had pouted when he had told her privately. He had done his best to assure her that she would get a chance to visit the planet’s surface once they deemed it safe. If it was safe that was. But he was not going to risk her safety for a glorified walk in the park. As one of the ship's two engineers, she had the honor of keeping the ship’s systems in check while Chad was gone.
She had taken some convincing, but eventually he had managed to talk her down to a more rational state of mind. She was an emotional one to be fair, but he wouldn't let that get in the way of her safety, not under his watch.
Leon blinked, his mind once more on the present. He turned and looked at the two SSVs that were docked in the ship’s main hangar bay. One was chunky, its frame bloated like a grub or some deep-sea predator. That was the cargo shuttle, the heavy lift SSV. He then looked at the
other, it was sleek like a shark. Covered in rounded protrusions engineered to break up shockwaves as it fell through a planet’s atmosphere at incredible speeds. Once they had slowed down enough, the SSV was designed to glide till it found a suitable landing spot at which time it could switch to VTOL mode and make a neat landing. That was the plan anyways.
As long as nothing went wrong then they should be down and back in under six hours.
He turned his head as something landed on his shoulder. It was a hand, looking over to see who it was attached to he smiled. Natalia stood beside him, her smiling face reassuring his mind that everything would be alright.
“So, my big strong captain finally gets to become a true space explorer today?” she teased.
Leon nodded and replied cheerfully “Yeah. But don’t worry. I know where my true home is.”
She drew closer and planted a kiss on his cheek before asking “Oh yeah? And where is that?”
Leon blinked, feigning shock as he said in his best fake surprised voice “Why, with you of course my love.”
She giggled and hugged him as best she could, her arms barely even managed to wrap around the front of the environmental suit and she sighed as she pushed back slightly. She was wearing a light duty uniform with velcro slippers for the hangar floor. He had no need of the slippers as he had magboots on.
Most of the crew had turned up to see them off. He pulled Natalia close again as he looked around the room, the only two missing were Aden and Chris. Chris had elected to watch their departure from the observation deck alone. Something about the need for solitude he had said, and Leon wasn't going to antagonize the old man over it. If he wanted to miss out on the shindig then that was all up to him.
Samuel slowly walked toward the passenger SSV’s open side door and stopped by the bottom of the ramp, Chad scurried by him into the ship after managing to tear himself from Sabine’s grasp. Smiling, he looked at Natalia from the top of the ramp and asked “Are you sure you are going to be okay without me here?”
She shook her head and smiled “Of course, my whole universe doesn't revolve around you, you know that.” she blushed a little as he raised an eyebrow and she said “Well, not all the time it doesn't.” he just chuckled and leaned in for a kiss.
She smiled prettily and obliged, their lips meeting in a sweet and somewhat delicate kiss. After what seemed like minutes, but was likely far shorter than that, they parted and she batted her lashes at him.
“You had better come back to me, or I will have to get very angry.” she whispered.
He placed his heavy covered hands on her shoulders and reassured her as best he could. “Natalia. It’s just a routine surface visit. Nothing can go wrong, I promise you.”
She nodded and said something under her breath that he didn't quite catch. He was about to ask her about it when Joice called to him from the shuttle’s boarding ramp.
“Come on Leon, we gotta go before the orbiter loses contact on the far side of the planet. Otherwise we will land and they wont know if we made it safely for half an hour or so. And I don’t think you want that.” she said.
Leon nodded to her and turned to Natalia once more. “I have to go Nat, I love you. And I will contact you as soon as we make it safely to the surface.”
She nodded silently, her eyes glistening as she held in tears. “I know you will, I promise I won't worry too much about you.” He smiled at her comment and started to walk away. He paused as he heard her say “I love you too Leon Muikman. He turned slightly and gave her one more smile before climbing the ramp into the SSV.
He walked carefully in the microgravity to an open seat and sat next to Oliver. Oliver smiled and slapped him on the shoulder before saying “Good to see you. We were worried you would miss the launch.” he laughed heartily.
Some additional chuckles sounded from the others when Samuel spoke over the ship’s internal comms. “Okay, listen up people. This is far from the first time I have flown this can, but this is a first for planetary reentry. What to expect? Turbulence, lots of it, so strap yourselves in and hold onto something. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Leon nodded to himself and quickly did his restraint straps. The ships had been designed with the bulky environmental suits in mind and so an alternate set of much heavier duty straps were readily available to wrap up in. Leon glanced around, Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were strapped in, the couple checking on each other.
He looked across the small crew bay and saw that Myung and Joice were also fully secured and ready to go. Joice gave him a thumbs up which he reciprocated as he felt the ship move slightly. The magnetic landing clamps would be releasing them and a small jet of cold gas would propel them towards the main hangar doors.
The crew had already exited the hangar by now and the ships mighty atmosphere pumps would be dragging the hangar down to a near vacuum as they drifted towards the sealed steel doors.
He felt a slight shudder roll through the ship as its cold gas jets fired off. The doors must be open already, the yawning pit of cold dark oblivion being all that awaited them beyond. With a slight tug of acceleration they were free, the shuttle flying out of the hangar like a missile from a tube. Albeit a very large and populated missile.
Leon had only been in the SSVs a few times during the entire voyage, it hadn't really sat well with him. As a retired Navy man he was no stranger to the rolling and jostling motions that caused so many to become ill. But there was something entirely different about the experience of zero gravity flight that made his insides churn and his heart quicken.
He closed his eyes, several of the others were speaking but he tuned it all out. His mind flashed with half remembered horrors from his peacekeeping years. The South African revolutions and the hundred year Chaddian supremacy war had left their marks on his body and soul. He clenched his teeth as the all too familiar pain shot through him. The sounds of gunfire and the roaring of unchecked flames filled his mind and he felt like screaming, but then another sound reached his inner mind.
It was soft, almost sensual. The memory of his love with Natalia surfaced, the memory of the times they had spent impassioned nights in each other's arms driving away the pain and fear. He smiled, his eyes still closed as he found the pain waning. Peace filled him and he opened his eyes.
The shuttle was shaking quite alarmingly but he was unafraid. Instead he found himself smiling against all the odds and shouted to Oliver over the screaming din of reentry “Wow, this is certainly a rush isn't it?”
Oliver shouted back, the man’s face split by a grin at least as wide as his own. “Yeah it sure is, nothing like it!”
Leon looked across the small passenger bay and gave Joice a smile. The woman was tough as nails and seemed to be generally unaffected by the rough flight, Myung on the other hand seemed to be having a more stressful time of it. He gestured at her and Joice glanced at the woman seated next to her. Joice said something that Leon couldn't make out but it seemed to do the trick as Myung relaxed slightly. She was still uncomfortable looking but now no longer looked terrified.
A few more moments passed by and the shuddering eased. The roaring of wind and fire eased as well as the ship slowed, its steep descent leveling off as they entered glide mode.
Samuel’s voice rang over the internal speakers again “Thank you for flying air Samuel, we will be making our final descent momentarily as soon as Chad finds us a dry spot to put down. The ground looks real swampy here. Not too many places I can see are stable enough for me to land.” Samuel’s voice cut off.
Leon looked around the ship again but was reassured by the SSV making a sharp turn.
Chad’s voice spoke over the internal speakers this time as he gave them an update. “Okay, looks like we found a spot, hold on we are preparing for a landing.”
Leon grabbed onto the safety rails next to his seat as the ship made another sharper turn and then lurched to a halt as the VTOL system brought them to a halt mid air. He would have loved to see the landing process but there were no windows for him to look through in the passenger area. He settled himself by imagining how it would look based on his previous experience with similar aircraft of Earth.
The hot jets of exhaust would be scorching a twenty-meter clearing under the ship as it touched down. Any loose debris or animals either blasted away or cooked. Stepping off the ship should be a relatively safe affair.
With a final thud the ship landed and the whine of the engines faded as they powered down. He set about unstrapping himself as the airlock to the cockpit opened. Chad strolled out and gave them a big smile asking “So, how was everybody's flight?”
Myung shot the man a poisonous glare and grabbed her suit’s helmet. Joice smiled and said “It was bumpy.”
Chad rubbed his neck and apologized “Yeah sorry about that. This planet has some pretty serious high-altitude winds. Samuel is setting up the micro atmo-observatory to help us avoid the jet streams on the way up.
Leon motioned to Chad to come closer and as the man approached he finished unstrapping and stood up. Chad asked him “Yeah, what’s up?”
Leon glanced around and said “I want you and Samuel to pull some weapons from the armory. This planet is potentially hostile and I have no Idea what we may encounter. Once we leave you will need to stay in the cockpit. There is the potential for contamination when we exit.” he told the man seriously.
Chad nodded and asked “But if we are going to be stuck in the cockpit anyways then why would we need rifles?”
Leon shook his head. “You won't, the rifles are for us.”
Chad’s eyes widened and he nodded “Oh, yeah. I see, that makes sense. I'll go get them right now.”
Joice walked over as Chad rushed off and asked “What was that about?”
Leon shrugged and said “I told him to grab us some rifles. Can’t be too cautious.”
Joice frowned and said a little cautiously “Leon…” but he cut her off.
“I know what you are going to say Joice, and part of me agrees. But be practical. We have no idea what’s out there. I will not risk the lives of others on the grounds of peaceful exploration. The universe doesn't give two shits about that kind of thing, if something wants to eat us I'm not going to let it. We have likely already contaminated the planet’s biosphere with Earth bacteria anyways. The reentry would have sterilized the hull, but no amount of fire could kill one hundred percent of them.” he said.
Joice frowned and said “Well we knew the risks of exploring any planet. Cross contamination was always going to be an issue. But the guns Leon? What if they cause hostility towards us instead of the other way around?” she asked him.
He just shook his head. “Not negotiable Joice. We are taking them. I will have one as will you”
“Me? I don't want one.” she tried to say but he waved a hand.
“You will take it, that's an order. You are going to be armed because I trust you completely not to do the wrong thing. Understood?” Leon said to the blond-haired woman. She bowed her head for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. But I want to go on record as having protested this.” She told him.
Leon just cracked a small grin and said “Noted Joice. Now, let's get everyone ready, we have some exploring to do.”
Leon and Joice walked to the small huddle that had formed by the exit ramp’s door. The airlock was now closed and ready for them to depart. In their armoured suits only one of them could exit through the small airlock at a time. Leon was determined to be the first.
Chad exited the cockpit area carrying two G402-K service rifles. The general conversation quieted as Chad walked up to him and handed him one of the German manufactured rifles.
“Thanks Chad, give the other one to Joice, you brought some spare mags? Thanks, here clip them to my toolbelt.” he told the man who complied.
“Here, careful.” was all the young man said as he did as instructed.
Leon shook his head a little sadly as the man walked to Joice to repeat the process. Safe or not, the planet would not take him without a fight. If the need for the weapons arose, the others would be glad he had brought them. He slung the weapon over his shoulder via its strap and grabbed his helmet. He placed it on his head and locked it into place.
Checking his seals were all good he activated the helmet’s eye tracking helmet-mounted-display. With a few glances he had it calibrated and then activated his comms link. He spoke through the ship’s antenna to the Leif Erikson in high orbit above the planet.
“Leon to Leif Erikson, come in please.” he said.
After a moment the slightly fuzzy voice of Taylor answered him “Oh it’s good to hear your voice captain. I assume that everything went smoothly?” he asked in a curious tone.
Leon nodded even though the action would not be visible to the man, force of habit was hard to break after all. “Yes, the ride was exceptionally bumpy, but we made it in one piece. I am just getting ready to advance onto the planet’s surface. Can you see my helmet feed?” he asked Taylor over the relay communication.
The delay from their incredible distance was slight but noticeable. Taylor responded “Yes we can, it's obviously a touch delayed and a mite fuzzy, but it's clear enough to follow along with. Leon, there is someone here that wants to say something.” the man told him.
Leon waited patiently as a few bumps and a quiet curse reached him. After another moment a familiar voice reached his ears making him smile. “Hello Leon, I am happy you made it safely.” Natalia spoke to him from thousands of kilometers overhead.
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Leon replied quickly “Yes. I told you we would be fine. I love you Nat, you can watch our progress on the live feed if you want. We will be deploying signal boosters to help keep us in touch throughout the whole mission.”
Natalia’s voice spoke again “I love you too Leon, I’ll be watching from in here.”
There was some more rustling static and then Taylor’s voice returned. “Okay, now before you head out onto the planet’s surface are you sure you are ready for this Leon? There are an awful lot of things that can go wrong. Gas leaks, contaminated feeds, sharp rocks…” the man started to say worriedly but Leon cut him off.
“It’s going to be okay Taylor. I have been in dangerous situations before you know. And I’m still here.” Leon reassured the younger man. In reality he was a bit worried about it as well, especially for Myung, she seemed a little stressed. And stress lead to mistakes. He decided to go and give her a reassuring word before they got underway.
Leon walked over towards Myung, her helmet was on and calibrated as well from what he could see. She turned and looked at him before asking over the internal comms “Are we almost ready?”
Leon gave her a clunky thumbs up and a smile before he asked “Myung, how are you feeling? That descent was a little rough, I know you don't like flying very much.”
He saw her give him a little head shake inside her helmet before she answered him. “I don’t know. I feel ready to go, but I am feeling a little shook.” she admitted.
Leon reached over and patted her suited shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about it, we are all here together right?” she smiled at the comment and nodded “So, if anything happens we will all be there to help you. No problems right?”
She repeated “No problems. Thanks Leon.” He gave her another firm shoulder slap and walked to the exit ramp. The airlock was currently closed in preparation for a decontamination run. It would try and do its best to decontaminate their suits before they exited to the surface.
He turned and looked across the crew. Oliver and Dr. Kimathi stood shoulder to shoulder, looking ready for anything. Joice was standing next to him and Myung had moved over towards him as well. Chad had returned to the cockpit with Samuel and would be monitoring their condition remotely. If something unthinkable were to happen, they would be standing by to move the shuttle to assist if possible.
Satisfied that everyone seemed ready he spoke to them “Okay. This is a big moment, nothing like this has ever been attempted in human history before. I want you all to know that there is nobody else in the universe I would rather have by my side, well except for all of you that is. But we had to leave some of you back on the ship.” he chuckled.
Continuing on he spoke “What I am saying is that you are the best crew I could have ever imagined you would be. I am proud to be in charge of such outstanding people. Ok, enough feelings shit, let's do this.” he finished. He heard a few overlapping voices agreeing with him as he turned and adjusted his G402-K across his chest and stepped into the decontamination chamber.
Leon moved into the airlock and felt the door close behind him via the subtle vibrations in the deck underfoot. He raised his arms and took a wide stance to minimize any creases in his armoured suit. A second later the room turned dark as a subtle purple glow emanated from seemingly everywhere. The high intensity ultraviolet light bath was accompanied by a fine mist of antimicrobials and pure undiluted hydrogen peroxide. The harsh chemicals were then washed from his suit by a quick deluge of pure deionized water that washed the contaminants down a drain at his feet. His suit’s visor darkened as the booth was lit again this time by harsh orange light as the heat lamps quickly dried his suit.
The insulation kept him from feeling any of it and he lowered his arms as the light switched to a subtle green and the outer airlock opened. He raised a hand to block out the bright light that suddenly streamed into his eyes. As his visor automatically polarized itself he stepped forwards and let the airlock close behind him.
He looked around, his eyes wide with wonder. In front of him was a small stand of bushes and a tree that looked similar to anything he might have seen back on Earth except for the slight orangish tint to its bark. He glanced to his left and saw more of the low bushes next to some low brackish looking water, and over the water he saw movement. Insect-like creatures in their thousands flitted too and fro above the low weeds, seemingly unconcerned about the aliens that had landed in their midst.
He smiled, real life aliens, close enough to touch. He looked down at the short ramp that led to the dark soil of the planet itself. He took a few steps forwards till he was on the cusp of reaching the planet’s surface itself. He cleared his mind, this moment would likely go down in history. He needed to say something symbolic to mark the occasion, in a flash the words came to his mind as if they had been hiding there all along.
He took a deep breath and stepped forwards. As his foot touched the ground he spoke “All of the chaos and pain of our past has led us as a species to this exact moment. Billions lived and died bound to the mother Earth, toiling in her loving embrace. But no more, we are no longer bound to her fate. We are free.”
A tear welled in the corner of his eye. The significance of the moment was not lost on him. It was a nice thing to say he thought, a reminder of their origins while imagining their future. He smiled as he took a few more steps. He turned to the shuttle in time to see Joice step from the airlock and walk down the ramp. Like him she paused at the foot and looked around in wonder.
She spoke too as she stepped off “Another world. Are we the aliens now?” she chuckled. Leon laughed too at her comment, it was true.
It took a few more minutes for the rest of the crew to exit the ship, once they were all together on the ground and had acclimated to their new reality Leon spoke. “Okay. We are on an alien planet, but don't let that go to your heads. Remember, we are the invaders here. Like as not everything remotely hostile is going to try and take a piece out of us, so be wary. Joice and I are armed, so if we encounter any large threats try and clear the line of fire. Understood?”
A chorus of agreement met his statement and he nodded. Joice spoke up “Suit checks, make sure everything is green. Pressure, oxygen levels, suit integrity. I don't want any excuses, if you have a problem let's fix it here.” She commanded.
Leon flicked his eyes to the suit diagnostic and sent the results to Joice. After another few minutes of checks, everyone seemed to be in the green.
Leon unslung his rifle and motioned towards a conspicuous outcropping of rocks in the middle distance. “Everyone ready? Okay, let's move out. We are going to put some distance between us and the shuttle as it likely scared off anything interesting when we landed.”
Joice stepped to his side and Taylor’s voice spoke over the link. “Good luck guys, we will be with you every step of the way. I’m like your little guardian angel.” The man joked.
Oliver responded “Taylor, if you were my guardian angel I would be very cautious.”
Taylor grumbled a little and said “Well, I’m here regardless. Keep your eyes and ears open, we don't have any idea what's down there.”
Leon stepped off the hardened and cleared dirt left from the SSV’s descent and immediately his armoured boot sank into thick clinging mud.
“Shit…” he muttered under his breath. Turning to look at the others he warned “The ground gets unstable really fast over here, watch your step.”
Leon kept walking, testing his steps and moving along the slightly more solid areas of the noxious swamp. After ten minutes of this trudging they had finally reached the large rock outcropping. He lifted a hand to call for a rest and the others stopped nearby.
Leon took a swig of water from the small tube near his throat, the cool liquid soothing his parched throat. The suit’s were designed to keep the internal atmosphere cool and dry. While that did wonders for keeping him from turning into a swamp inside the suit as well, it made his mouth somewhat dry.
He turned and took a breath saying “Okay, that wasn't too bad. How are you holding up?” he asked the other four following behind him.
Joice gave him a thumbs up before turning to look closely at some sort of moss cover growing on the rocks. Myung was breathing heavily, her small frame having to work a little harder to get the bulky armoured environment suit to move. She raised a hand and made a gesture saying to give her a minute.
Leon looked towards Oliver and Dr. Kimathi. The big Australian man was having no trouble at all it seemed, he looked even fresher than Leon himself felt. Not exactly surprised by the fact, Leon took note of their location and then opened a direct link to the ship.
“Leon to Taylor, come in.” he said quickly.
Taylor’s voice responded almost immediately. “There you are, I was expecting to get a report from you sooner than that. How are things on the ground captain?” he asked in a genuine tone.
Leon leaned back up against the rocks and looked around. The area behind them was a long stretch of low grassy swampland, their tracks disappearing into the muck soon after they had passed. He said “Well, it's been no walk in the park that's for sure. The ground seems to be very soft and the humidity in the air is hovering around a perpetual eighty percent. If we didn't have these environmental suits on then this would be a real pain in the ass for sure.” he said honestly.
Taylor seemed to chuckle though the sound was distorted by the connection fizzing slightly. His voice squirmed through the speaker amid the interference as he said “I’m starting to lose you, you might need to set up a reception rod where you are.”
Leon nodded to himself and said “Thanks for the heads up.” switching back to the local comms net he remarked “Okay, we are going to keep moving unless someone sees something of great interest. Joice, I'm looking at you.” he said with a chuckle as the blond-haired woman stood up suddenly. A curious look on her face as she had been messing with the moss growth.
Tucking away some small sample of the yellowish plant she walked towards him and motioned into the distance. “I want to try and make it to that grove.” She said.
Leon turned and looked in the direction she had indicated, in the distance he could see a grove of trees. They were spindly and dark, their bark an almost olive black with yellow green leaves. He cocked his head slightly as he shrugged.
“That looks as good as any location to set up. Lead the way Joice, I'll cover the rear.” Leon said with a gesture towards the front of the line.
As Joice and Myung started walking towards the nearby grove, Leon turned to Oliver and asked “Oliver, can you give me a reception spike?”
Oliver nodded inside his helmet and pulled a small device from his belt pouch. It was a small rod-like device about the thickness of a marker but longer. He walked the side of the boulder pile and stabbed it into a crevice in the rocks. With a flick of his eyes he activated a remote link to it and watched as its slightly larger top unfolded like a sunflower.
After a few seconds he was looking at a tiny spinning receiver antenna and a general broadcast dish. The relay would have battery power for about twelve hours if they used it sparingly. Plenty of time to cover their short expedition.
Oliver took off after Dr. Kimathi as Leon set up the spike, a few moments later he had finished and he tested the connection to the ship once more. “Taylor, this is Leon, come in please.”
Taylor’s voice answered him, much clearer than it had been before. “I read you loud and clear Leon, I take it you set up a relay?” The man asked unnecessarily.
Leon just gave him an affirmative and asked “Is there anything of value or interest in our area that you can see from the orbiter?”
The younger man was silent for a second before replying, “No. Nothing that stands out from a few thousand miles at least. I wish you the best of luck.” The link cut from the other side and Leon snorted.
As long as they had something better to do on the ship than watch all of history being made, he might as well get walking. He grumbled slightly to himself in mild frustration. Why couldn't they have set down on a nice ocean beach world or at least a world that had solid ground. Not this ever-present sticky mud that seemed to coat everything in existence.
He sighed inside his climate-controlled suit and started walking after the group, his G402-K gripped tightly in his hands. They were starting to get far enough away from the SSV that there was the very real potential for larger and potentially predatory animals to appear.
The planet had been listed as life-bearing in the Aori data cores, but it hadn't been listed as colonised. He had to believe there was a reason for that. It could be as simple as the planet being newly discovered before the war with the Ruiners had happened, but he had a gut feeling that it was more than that. The planet was dangerous, he could tell just by the stillness.
He looked around as he caught up to the others, the air was heavy with moisture and still, no wind moved the branches in the trees or stirred the surface of the many brackish ponds. The planet didn't seem to have a very active weather system, they hadn't seen any geological activity to speak of on the way down nor had the orbiter picked up on any mountain ranges. It was possible that they were just in a bad location, but without any active geological processes, things would never change.
Lowlands would remain lowlands forever and slight hills would be worn down over eons till the entire planet was a single vast marshland filled with nothing but trilling insects and the remains of larger plant species. From what he could see there were a few types of scraggly tree that still stubbornly clung to existence despite the murky living conditions.
After another few minutes of trudging through the thick mud and slime they had finally reached the small copse and stopped. Joice and Myung took no time to start getting their equipment set up, pulling various specimen jars and small analyzers from their packs.
Leon nodded to Dr. Kimathi and waved her over. She complied and said “Yes Leon?”
He took a second to scan the area again but saw nothing larger than some buzzing insects hiding in the shade. Feeling a little more secure he asked her “What do you think of this place? Does something feel a little off to you?”
She looked around and then replied smoothly “No, perhaps the lack of wind? I guess that would make sense though, this world has very little in the way of topography.” She shrugged inside her suit as she said it, the motion almost entirely absorbed by the bulky environmental garb.
He shook his head again, still not able to ease the feeling that they were in danger from his mind.
He turned around quickly as if trying to catch a stalker, and saw nothing once more. Dr. Kimathi looked him up and down and muttered “Paranoia… Look. Leon, if there is something…” she started to say but stopped as Oliver shouted in alarm and pain.
Leon immediately brought his rifle to an upright position, his muscles tense and his mind alert for the slightest danger. What he saw baffled him for a second, Oliver was thrashing in the shallow water near the base of one of the trees. What looked like a vine wrapped around his right leg.
It took him a few precious seconds to realise that it wasn't a vine at all, it was actually some manner of snake-like creature. It was wrapped around the man’s leg, its head near his thigh. It looked like it had bitten through the unarmoured part of Oliver’s suit.
Oliver yelled again and the thing released him and splashed into the water near Myung. The small woman screamed and started to climb one of the scraggly trees as the alien viper started to swim off towards one of the larger ones.
Dr. Kimathi screeched “Don’t let it get away, If it’s venomous I will need it to make antivenom!”
Joice stood stock still, gun aimed at the creature as it moved towards her. She seemed to be frozen in fear, not moving at all. Leon swore as he broke into a sort of stumbling run. The blood rushing in his ears was as loud as thunder as he made a dive for the creature before it could cause any more harm. He made a grab for the serpent and was rewarded with the feel of something round and distinctly snakish in his hand. He grunted in surprise as he felt something press against his palm almost like the flat of a tiny hand before the creature wriggled free of his grip.
He sloshed around for a moment before spotting it again. This time it was making a beeline for the same large tree he had noted earlier, likely its den. He pushed all other thoughts out of his head as he sprinted after the elusive animal. His legs burned from walking all morning in the thick mud and carrying the weight of the heavy environmental suit. His lungs ached as the clinically sterile air was pumped from the compressor on his back.
With one last herculean effort he threw himself bodily at the tree to try and block the entrance to the thing’s burrow while also making another desperate attempt to ensnare it.
He hit the surface of the scummy water and felt something hard smash into his side knocking the wind from his biological lung. His bionic lung remained unaffected allowing him to retain enough presence of mind to latch onto the writing form partially trapped underneath his body.
He heard an angry hiss followed by pressure on his cybernetic right arm. Lifting it up out of the water fully, his eyes widened as he saw the entire length of the serpent-like animal wrapped around his arm, its fangs buried deep in the fabric of his suit.
He chuckled as he got to his feet and said to the thing “Ha, you won't get me like that, that arm isn't something you can hurt.”
Dr. Kimathi rushed to his side carrying one of the large specimen bags. She held it open as Leon carefully stuck his arm inside.
No sooner had the creature’s head passed the lip of the bag then it let go and tried to escape, but Dr. Kimathi was too fast, sealing the bag and holding it up as it writhed angrily. Hisses and something that sounded almost like an angry duck issued from it as Leon rushed over to where Oliver was leaning against a tree, his injured leg held up in the air as he used the trunk for support.
“Oliver, are you alright?” He asked the tall man anxiously.
Oliver shook his head and groaned “No, I don't think so. My leg is burning, I think that thing injected me with some sort of venom. I can feel it spreading up my leg.” he said in a pained voice.
Leon turned to Joice and shouted “Joice, get Samuel to evac us right now!” The slightly shell-shocked woman nodded her head inside her armored suit and immediately started talking over a secure line.
Leon grabbed Oliver’s shoulder and asked him “Can you walk?” When Oliver nodded he continued “Okay, that’s good. We need to get to a clearing so the SSV can pick us up.”
He took a limping step with the man, his bruised leg and side smarting heavily. As he took another step he felt the weight on his shoulder lessen and turned to see Dr. Kimathi holding Oliver’s other shoulder. He gave her what he hoped wasn't too pained of a smile and continued walking the injured man towards the light.
Myung and Joice followed behind, Joice’s gun raised and Myung holding the still squirming sack containing the little monster.
It took them several precious minutes longer to exit the small wood than it had for them to enter it, Oliver’s pained noises driving Leon onwards despite the mounting pain in his side. It felt like he had dislocated something, potentially even fractured a rib or two in his mad dash to apprehend Oliver’s attacker.
He cursed under his breath. What a colossal fuckup this entire venture had turned into. He should have expected something to go wrong, the law of Murphy notwithstanding, it was just his luck that something would have happened. Just as things started falling into place there always arose some ugly problems.
He reached the open swamp, the trees falling away behind them as the bright sun once more filled his eyes. He heard another sound though, not the whispering of the trees behind him or the slurping of their footsteps, but more of a distant roar. The sound got louder and more pronounced till he looked up and saw the small dark form of the shuttle approaching them at high speed.
It was a measure of Leon’s trust in Samuel’s piloting skills that he didn’t flinch as the craft screamed towards them before executing a bone liquifying high G maneuver to almost instantly bleed off excess speed. With a loud hiss the SSV touched down onto the muddy ground and sunk almost half a meter into the muck. The side hatch opened and Leon started towards it.
He stopped at the bottom of the ramp and swore. Speaking into the comm network he said “Chad, you are going to have to disengage the decontamination airlock. Oliver isn't going to be able to walk himself through and we can't wait for the full decontamination process.”
Chad spoke up in response, his voice a little tense from stress. “Okay Leon, what the hell happened out there?”
Leon shook his head angrily even though he knew the man wouldn't see it and spat a little aggressively, the pain in his side growing with every step. “Just do your goddamn job right now. There will be time to explain it politely when we get back to the ship.” he turned to the others and shouted “Move your asses, we need to go now!”
To the credit of everyone on the ground they were all in the shuttle and strapped in in less than two minutes. Leon felt the SSV lift off the ground with its powerful jets. The shaking of the shuttle making him grind his teeth in pain.
Oliver sat across from him with Dr. Kimathi on one side and Joice on the other. Leon squinted his eyes in pain as the shuttle started to hit turbulence again, he had definitely dislocated something in his side.
He gasped out loud causing Myung to look over at him and ask “Leon? Are you alright? You don't look so good.”
Leon raised his right arm to give her a thumbs up when a particularly violent tremor shook the shuttle like a dog would shake a rat.
Leon’s side spiked in pain so intense he stopped breathing. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he passed out, the last thing he heard before the swirling pain overwhelmed him was Myung yelling for Dr. Kimathi.