Making Friends 00:0001:05

     Same job with a few new crewmembers. Joe Fortson came to help and his robot R. Dan Daily and two of the Parker’s bots, R. Sir.Tom and R. Maggie, replaced the ones we had borrowed yesterday. We were going to cut some tall trunks, that wouldn’t need to be squared up as columns, for a raised community building. We planned to notch for the attachment points of the floor and roof beams and cut planks for the floor, walls, and roof. No windows yet and just one door with a ladder we can pull up after we are inside. Total size about 60’ by 48’ the plan was to get the first and only floor level 10 foot up above ground and leave the underside open. We could do something with that underside area at a later date. What we were aiming for was something more secure than the tents that we could spruce up later.

     “I saw your crack about our sanitary facilities Joe. Any of the small stuff we cut is yours for the construction thereof.”

     “Gee thanks Bart, I didn’t mean for that to get out.”

     When I went to start the saw mill…. it didn’t. Overnight, what yesterday was just mildly sticky log tree sap had hardened up around the blade pulleys and saw guides. It took 20 minutes and a pint of the precious chainsaw fuel to remove the caked sawdust. We only had two small biomass converters for the fuel production and they would barely be able to keep up with the chainsaws once we were in full swing.

     While Joe and I were cleaning the saw Janie was examining the wood we had cut yesterday. She came back from her inspection, expression grim, and told us all the planks that had been stacked one on the other were now solidly glued together. Those few resting singly on uncut logs had dried to a non stick finish almost like shellac. The sap didn’t dry and stick to the log trees bark. That would mean spacing everything out and drying for a day before the wood could be stacked and moved. All we could do with what we had piled yesterday was cut it up and use it for firewood. At least, and thankful for small favors, the chainsaws were not gummed up, most likely due to their use of blade oil.

     Using the cleaned up trunk of a smaller tree we had taken to calling a Pole Pine as spacers between layers we were shortly cutting again. About that time I got a call from Andy Stuart. The signal was none too clear but I caught something about slabs and charcoal. Joe volunteered to head to the raised area to the south of us and get clarified exactly what Andy was up to. Joe left his bot “Ro Dan” to cut up the glue pile and take it back to the tent area for fire wood. After the re-cutting the wood seemed dry clear through.

     “Yo Andy, How goes it? Diggin’ for gold?”

     “Naw Joe just the Biolab, we got more gold than we can use. And between you and me the food gets cold too fast when Mariana uses the gold table setting. What we need is some supports. We’re digging into the base of the mound here to get us underground for containment but if we are going to have any substantial free span open area we’ll need shoring, cross beams, and roofing timbers.”

     “And at the rate those bots are slinging it Reaper, oops I mean Andy, you’re gonna need em soon.”

     When Joe returned and described what Andy was up to it made sense to get him what he needed as quickly as possible. We started cutting 8 foot shoring timbers and 16 and 20 foot cross beams. An hour later Joe took a chainsaw for the necessary trimming and a cartload of timber pulled by RoDan and Sir.Tom. He would have to get the cart unloaded in a hurry to keep the pieces from sticking together or to the cart itself. We had another load ready to go, mostly roofing, and Joe had not returned yet when Janie and I went back to cutting for the community building.

     While Janie ran the saw I was seeing about getting some more pole pines placed out and trying to figure a way to get the planks to stand on edge so that they didn’t take up as much space. I glanced towards the tents and noticed one of the colonists leading two robots and the other cart heading in our direction. He sent the bots and the cart my way and went over to have a word with Janie. Janie flicked on her communicator so I caught the conversation .

     “Good morning Ma’am. And with a glance in my direction. “You two are certainly performing admirably.”  He said this as R.Emy took another board from the mill and carried it to the drying stack.

     “It’s Janie”, she replied with a quizzical expression, “And your last name is Reyes isn’t it? I don’t think I caught your first.”

     “Les, Lester Reye at your service.”, He nodded his head as if it were a blessing from royalty. “I’ve just come over to pick up some of this marvelous lumber for a private building project I have in mind.”

     Eyes widening in disbelief Janie pointed at me and said, “Go talk to Bart maybe it’s your lucky day.”

     He came over to where I was working and introduced himself.

     “Good morning to you, Mr. Bartlett, and a fine morning it is, though breakfast did leave something to be desired. I am quite sure we will get the meal situation worked out in the fullness of time. Les Reye is the name, I am sure you remember me from the robot class on the Mayflower.”

     “Yes Les, and just what exactly do you want and how did you get hold of the cart while the Galileo is down and being unloaded?” I had seen and heard the ships arrival while we were cleaning up the mill. I guess a hint of annoyance , ok mild anger was creeping into my voice.

     “Calm down, calm down my good man”, in a tone meant to mollify, “It’s really quite simple. After breakfasting, and seeing so many of you laboring types working so industriously, I, along with a few like minded individuals of a more managerial and professional bent, engaged in a short discussion concerning the future direction of our small colony. In so far as it seems too early to make some of the necessary major decisions, we decided that rather than waste time later, we would pick out our building sites overlooking the river. There are perhaps a dozen choice locations with truly spectacular views and perhaps…. yes almost certainly, if you finish up early enough today, you might even choose one yourself.”

     “What the hell!”   Near speechless with amazement that was all I could choke out.

     “And while others are busy unloading the Galileo I thought to stake out my site and perhaps start construction. Nothing pretentious mind you, just two or three thousand square feet to begin with. The cart was temporarily idle so I had R. Augustus and R. Hadrian pull it over to see how you were doing and get a first load. Idle hands and all.” With that he turned to the bots and said , “Start loading boys.”

     “Stop now!! ” I screamed. The robots froze. “Reye, get out of here and take the cart and robots with you. If I don’t see your backside within the next 5 seconds you will surely wish I had.”

     He started to say something then took a closer look at my face, spun on his heels and left.

     Janie, who had come over to hear the end of the exchange said, “Imagine that.”

     “I’ll do my best not to.”, and with a grin, “I did show remarkable restraint. Don’t you think?”

     “Only for you Bart, only for you.”

     It wasn’t long afterwards that Joe Fortson returned. He told me that while unloading and explaining to Andy about the sticky wood sap problem he heard that the second, smaller sawmill, had just made it down. The lab area was much closer to the landing site than we were and so the communications passing back and forth were easier to make out. He told us he had taken his cart back to use for ship unloading and told R .Daily and R SirTom to carry the mill over to Andy so he could cut on the spot and that the bots should be back any time now.

     “Good call Joe. Let’s get back to work.”

     With only a brief stop for lunch we kept going till dusk. We left the cut wood on the pole pines to finish drying overnight and cleaned up the mill. Back at the tents later that evening I found out from the Hist that a few of the colonists were talking about setting up on the Southern continent. I described my “Discussion”, with Lester Reye and the Historian said, “I see.”, and after a pause, “It’s probably time to think about a little more organization.”

Ash Andrews

A bedraggled figure struggled into the area where Hanna Parker was running the first restaurant/bar/common room on Alchibah from the palatial confines of a corner of a tent.

Ash groaned, “Can I have some coffee; black and strong please!”

Hanna turned to hide her stare as she dug out a packet of the old US SOCOM MRE coffee, the kind with triple the caffeine. Running that through the fast pot, she handed it to him as requested. “Pardon me if I am prying but what has got your goat. I have never seen you like this!”

Ash looked up from behind four days growth of beard and the worst case of bloodshot eyes Hanna had ever seen; “I have to give a bunch of people news they do not really want to hear. Travis and Bartlett are probably never going to trust me again and when I talk to Mariana she’s probably gonna kill me! So, it’s just a great fracking day on Alchibah. Well, Might as well get this started.”

Ash keyed his wrist comp, “Bartlett, Ash Andrews; on the next rotation of the shuttle, I need a private face to face with you and Travis. I have something that needs to go only to you two!”

Bartlett’s voice cracked in return, “Ash, this had better be good! The next time Travis will be available will be the AM landing on Day 2.”

“Good enough I’ll meet you at the landing field and it’s that important, Andrews clear.”

Hanna stared and asked, “What’s that important?”

“Oh, just the classified data base off of Pursuit Cruiser 1192; you know the one I was flying! I think I left the UNWG the Lancers DEE-HEE pulse drive as well as the gravitational grabber drive that made the Mayflower possible!”

Hanna asked in a bewildered tone, “And how in the world did you do that.”

“Well, right when Andy and Mariana were getting out of the service; the UNWG was jacking me around on mom’s health care. I wound up staying in to insure she got it. I got bored, decided to go for another PHD, and wrote a thesis on Drive design. Guess where R. J. got the idea for the grabber drive. Hell, he even tried to hire me. The UNWG quashed publication and all that got out were a few private copies. A friend of mine gave his to Hamilton. I thought the UNWG had destroyed all mention of it. Surprise, Surprise; there was a copy in that data base!”

“Oh Dear, and Bartlett is never going to believe you had nothing to do with it’, Hanna commiserated.

“Yep, and wait till I fill in Marina’s data. Oh hell, I know it’s early; but, you got a shot of anything about a hundred proof back there!”

Early morning day 1 (second guard watch, night after landing).

Connor

I’ll never forget my first step onto Alchibah. Our new home is so much like Earth and yet so, well… alien. The trees and plants almost seem like they would be at home in the old backyard in Vermont. Almost.

I looked up at the night sky, at the two brilliant moons, at the breathtaking starscape and milky asteroid belt. The night air was crisp and fresh in a way that not even the mountain air of northern Canada was. Humans haven’t had the chance to mess this planet up yet. I only hope that those of us here learn from the lessons of the past and don’t make the same mistakes our predecessors had. No, here we have the opportunity to make entirely new mistakes. I laughed ruefully.

Watching the surrounding forest I hefted the shotgun and silently hoped that it would be enough for what was out there. There were some very odd sounds coming out of the darkness, sounds that definitely came from animals of the predatory persuasion. The one that stood out the most to me was a loud hiss that ended in a sort of rasping growl/howl. It was the sort of sound you’d imagine coming out of the mouth of the grim reaper’s dog. Once though, far off in the hills, there was a booming, guttural roar that quieted the raspers for quite a while. The beast the belonged to that sound was the one that made me question the effectiveness of the otherwise trusty 12 gauge.

“Quite the thing, isn’t it?” Mariana came around the corner from my left. “Being the first humans to ever set foot on another planet with life?”

“That it is. I only hope we prove ourselves deserving of the honor. I think perhaps not all of us are.” I grimaced, thinking of Buchanan and Kurt.

“I’m sorry to say, but you’re probably right. I think time will separate those that are from those that aren’t.” She scanned her side of the tents, facing away from me. “Andy and I, for our part, just want the opportunity to start a new life away from all the death we were a part of back home.”

We were silent for a while, watching the night. I had been in this situation countless times, as I’m sure she had as well. Somehow, this was different.

“So, you’re really Angel’s ‘big brother’?” she asked.

“Gabe? You better believe it. Our parents adopted him when he was just a few days old. He never talked about SpecOps much, but given how much he was able to teach me, Jaisa and the gang you two must have been damn good trainers.”

She grunted. “We were given the best to work with. Angel though, he was something else. Never seen anyone come that close to Andy’s level. Hell, I’ve never seen anyone but your brother come at all close to Andy’s level. But even with all that, he’s not a killer. Some of the people in our line of work are a little… funny in the head, let’s say. The parts of them that make them really human aren’t always there.” She paused. “Did he ever tell you why we called him Angel?”

“When I found out that was his callsign, after he left the service, I just assumed it was because of his name being ‘Gabriel.’ There was more to it?” I asked.

“Oh yes, much more. I wasn’t there, but as I understand it he damn near got kicked out of the service for that little incident. Disobeying a direct order and all that” She laughed softly. I shook my head. It sure sounded like Gabe so far. I could never understand how he made it as long as he did in the ‘yes sir’ environment of the SSEALS. She continued.

“It was supposed to be a quick in/out mission. Torch a weapons depot, set some small delayed charges to finish the job and run. The bad guys end up with fewer weapons, it looks like accidental fire and no one gets hurt. Win-win-win. Only it wasn’t that simple: part of the building was being used as a makeshift orphanage. Whether the higher ups knew that or not is (and probably always will be) an open question, but Gabe sure as hell didn’t. The second he heard those kids yelling for help he was running full tilt back into the building while the rest of the team followed their orders and got the hell out of there. He was hauling the kids out of there in threes and fours. Man, that guy was built like a brick shithouse. He managed to get all fourteen kids out before the place blew. I’ve been told he jumped out of a third story window with the last one just before the charges went.” She grinned. “So, Angel it was.”

“Wow. I never knew. That’s Gabe all over, but he sure never said anything. But then, that’s Gabe too.” I sighed, “I hope I get to see him again. He’s the only living family I’ve got left, other than the girls.” I looked up into the night, towards Sol and Earth.

Mariana slapped me on the back. “You may yet. If there’s anyone that can pull off that stunt, it’s him.”

We stood, watching the night.

Mariana

The quietness of the night surrounded us until my wrist comp began to vibrate. “Connor shifts almost over. I’ll go make sure the relief is awake.” Getting only a nod from him, I went to the corner of the tent the guards had cut off with a ground cloth. Stopping to pour a cup of coffee with triple a normal load of sugar, I went to the bunk Andy was softly snoring in. With an evil grin, I launched a kick square at his read end. This as usual was not there when my foot arrived. The reaction times those gene sequences give him are the reason he goes through so much sugar and alcohol (which was to him just one more source of blood sugar). “Just once I want that kick to land”

“Get faster, pretty Lady.”

As he was getting into his outdoor garb, he started talking. “I checked the overheads before I crashed. Found the perfect place to dig in the lab. Down on the Southwest corner of the big bluff to the South is a perfect place. Safe away from the first structures, away from the road Bart is talking about and with the mass overhead to bury it if necessary in an emergency.”

I noticed that he was concealing his weapons and not putting on the open holsters.

“Why the concealment we are home now?”

“Yep, and I guarantee you that there are going to be people coming down in the near future to whom only the Cops and the Bad Guys have guns. Not, that in the UNWG there was a lot of difference; but, lets forgo the questions in their minds as to which we are. We are not wolves anymore, we are sheepdogs, it’s time to hide the fangs and let the sheep settle in! Which I might add, could you talk to Connor and that girl of his? I’ll talk to Joe and Bart. Ash already hides his so he’s no problem, even if I could get him away from that lash-up computer rig.”

“What’s got into him any way and yes, I’ll talk to Connor and his brood. If we are going to calm this down maybe, I should back off a little on the DNA samples. We are probably starting to look like the UNWG there also! Until people realize we are not even looking at them till someone gets sick, they are probably a little nervous. Bet you someone thinks we are scanning for defectives or plants; as if we could if we wanted to! We only have control scans for eight people to compare to.”

“When does distrust of bureaucracy need fuel to feed it?”

I just nodded and said, “OK, you’re right. Let’s go make the shift swap!”

Andrew

The new sun was just drifting above the edge of the horizon on Day 0:1 when the camp began to stir. The watch had been as boring as you could possibly hope for a daybreak shift. Broken only by a speed run down to the river for Mariana’s water sample and some animal noises, it had been gratifyingly quiet. Jack waved towards the tents and moved inside, funny that I had not said a word to him all night!

People began stirring, Hanna and the support crew was shifting foodstuffs around. Bart and Janie were getting their robots in gear dragging what would have been called slabers where I grew up. The Historian was stirring looking up on the approach vector for the Galileo as if he expected action at any moment.

I went by the coffee rig we had set up and fixed one for Mariana, and myself I did not want to deal with the before coffee version. Moving to the guard watch section of the tent I grinned and prepared to launch a kick to her backside. Predictably as my foot started back she rolled out of the bunk. “You complain because you can’t get a kick to land, I don’t get to start one.”

Grimacing she reached for the coffee, “Well of course, it’s not fair that those overdrive genes of yours should keep me from landing a well deserved boot!”

“No more so than those precognitive genes of yours keep me from starting a more than justly deserved boot!”

She gave me that innocent me look and said, “Yea, if they would just work more than a couple of seconds out! Still, the old UNWG was as scared of us as anything.”

“What do you think the effect is going to be when your DNA project lets our little secrets out here?”

She whirled from straightening up the bunk and I got the full Magic Stare, “You of all people should know better than that. Samples from here get scanned in and catalogued; they do not get examined unless someone gets sick. If they are not in my body and fender shop, I do not care and I made damn sure no one else gets those records. In case you don’t remember when you and Ash wrote the encryption algorithm for the old OPLAN database, you left your notes on the dining room table when you went out to the BBQ to celebrate. Well, I copied them. That’s what’s protecting the scans right now. As it has never been broken, I figure that’s good enough!”

I just woofed and sat heavily into the camp chair, “Damn but you are being damn serious about protection aren’t you. Well, here are the water samples you wanted. You going to stay here and work these while I take the robots and prep your lab site?”

“Yeah, I should have a preliminary for the water in an hour or so and a full report as soon as the lab is online.”

“OK I am going to go watch the landing, then police up the robots and head out. Good luck with the samples, and come and join me when you’re finished.” She just grunted, already lost up in unpacking the small water test kit.

Stepping outside I was able to watch Travis bring down the Galileo for today’s run. Damn but that guy had a smooth hand at the controls. The only one better I had ever seen was Ash but as he shared the family overdrive genes; he did not really form a basis for fair comparison. I woke up the robots and instructed them to do a self-diagnostic then wait for instructions; and wandered over to the cluster around the Historian and Travis. I was grateful to see Travis light up a cigarette and my next stop was graven in stone!

I asked Travis about the availability of sheet metal and he said it would be at least a month. That was no problem as I am looking at least three weeks lead time for the first part of my project.

I keyed my wristcomp, “Bartlett, A. Stuart; you copy?”

“Stuart, Bartlett; go ahead!”

“Bart think you can put your slab piles in one location. Believe it or not I have a use for them.”

“Andy, sure, but what use are they?”

“Bart, yall ever hear of charcoal! How can you have a BBQ without charcoal?”

Hearing a suppressed laugh, I went back to the tent where our gear was and began digging to the very bottom of my pack. Digging out the small vacuum case grandpa had given me I opened the valve. When the air in-rush stopped, I opened it and pulled out the first of the three precious packs of ancient Marlborough’s. Placing it firmly in my pocket and moved out of the tent. I gathered the robots and moved to the area on the southern area of the bluff that we had seen from the overheads. I then spent the next couple of hours instructing R. NUG and R. MYCROFT in the Manual of Arms for the M-117 Shovel. The oldest and hairiest joke of the military might have come to life. These robots really were “One Person, One Shovel, and Seven Days per Week.” It took about an hour for them to get the motions down correctly. When they did it was a sight to behold, those bots’ could move dirt. After showing them how to move the first rock that they had encountered, it behooved you to be out of range when they flung one out of the way. After about two hours, my wristcomp went off.

Mariana

Taking a deep breath, I keyed the wristcomp, “M. Stuart to General Broadcast, Comm. Central please record. The water on this planet is on preliminary examination safe to consume. However, in the short term light chlorination or boiling is recommended. The native microbes contained in the water while not dangerous are foreign. For the first day or two after consuming untreated native water, you will experience what on Earth was called Montezuma’s Revenge. This will not be in the long term harmful; it will be in the short term unpleasant. Suggest that not all members of a family unit make the transition at the same time. Also, advise that single colonists have someone check on them during the first 48 hours. Good Luck and it will pass; it will just seem like it won’t.”

Andrew

Grinning I went back to getting the robots to level the area they had cleared. I had no doubts that the Lab Rats would appear shortly.

Day One.
“Asimov!”

“Yes, Historian?” my robot, R. Asimov replied, dutifully beside me.

“I’m going to take a little stroll,” I said, “why don’t you help out sorting supplies that arrived on the Galileo this morning. I’ll be back later.”

“Yes, Historian,” R. Asimov said, “But do be careful and call me using your wristpad if you need my assistance.”

He strode off to the ramp leading up into the hold of the Galileo. Intellectually, I knew he — here I am calling it a he — wasn’t capable of actual emotions, or even of worrying about me but as I approach my 70th Birthday, alone on a new world Asimov seems a comfort. I did change his “personality” setting to “older brother” once I figured the controls out.

Captain Travis had brought the Galileo down this trip to spell Monroe and he came towards me now. Although he had seen some of the photos and videos already sent back to the Mayflower, this was his first few minutes on the planet. We first landers were, having been here all of about 20 hours, veterans of the planet!

He said to me, “It’s gorgeous, Historian, absolutely gorgeous here. I don’t suppose there’s a Galactabuck’s Coffee Shop nearby?”

“Why yes,” I said, “come with me to our luxury dining establishment, over there beyond the two large dorm-tents we’ve set up. I’ll buy you a cup.”

As we entered the tent, one of the Parker girls squealed, “Ewww, a rat!”

Rushing over to the serving area, we could just spot the tail of the rodent as it darted under the tent wall and headed to safety outside.

Hanna said, “It was a rat!”

Several colonists said in unison, “A rat?”

One of them looked at Travis and said accusingly, “What the hell is a rat doing on this planet?”

Travis said, “Well, I’m sure you won’t be shocked to learn there are rats scurrying around the Mayflower. Wherever man has sailed, rats came along for the ride! One of them probably got onto the Galileo and came down with us. From there, it just followed the food.”

Another colonist demanded, “What’s that going to do to the ecology of this planet?”

I said, “What are WE going to do to the ecology? We’re here and we will impact it as we might because there’s no chance of our leaving. The native flora and fauna will just have to get used to us, or adapt to us, as we will to it.”

The Rayes and several others were standing nearby and one of them muttered, “Just great! We’re starting off a new world with guns, rats, and probably pollution. Seems like old times…”

As Travis and I wandered outside the tent, he said, “The Rayes bear watching. In the Mayflower over the past couple days they’ve formed their own little click of friends and I don’t think they’re too happy with the rest of us. There’s some talk that they’d like to be set down somewhere else on the planet to start their own colony.”

We walked east, towards the river.

“What’s the schedule for landings?” I asked Travis.

“Well, more supplies on my second run this afternoon including two of the three wind generators. They’re not big but each can supply up to 20 kilowatts under favorable conditions. Enough to power a string of lights around camp, anyway, and a water pump. The PVC pipe, what wasn’t on the Copernicus, will come down, too. The other eight porta-potties are coming, and the another 100 water drums. That will leave 70 drums left. Naturally I’ll take the empties back with me but you folks need to establish the safety of the local water quickly.”

I said, “I noticed a tall hill, almost a cliff, on the map we made, near the intercoastal waterway. The winds on top there coming off the ocean should be perfect for the wind generators.”

“That would be a good project for some of the colonists to work on. Tim Watson or Zoe Heriot come to mind as they’ve got experience with electronic stuff. We’ve got plenty of copper cable to run down towards camp. Certainly a couple miles of it. Setting up a Wi-Fi around here would be good, too.” He paused, took out an expensive silver cigarette case, withdrew one and lighted it. He continued, “Thank god you grew some of this during the trip. Finally, a planet without smoking nazies!”

“We’ll see about that,” I said, “but I enjoy a good cigar myself.”

“Tomorrow — that would be Alchibah Day Two, I guess, though shouldn’t it really be Day Three? — I’ll be bringing all the small personal tents down. Each is about 15 feet in diameter and there’s one for each colonist, even children. They can be connected together with flaps so families can actually have a multi-roomed tent.”

“What about running some steel pipe in the ship’s foundry?” I asked.

“Dr. Hibbes is working on the CNC program now. We’ll run just enough to get drilled wells, sanitation, and so forth going. It will be rough for a time because most of the heavy equipment used for mining was lost in the Copernicus. We’re down to one bucket loader, one crawler, and a few rock drills, one of which is coming here to drill for wells, sewar, etc.”

We stopped by the wide river. It was quite pretty and there were some small waterfalls to the south, rapids, and yet some rocky shallow areas making it look easy to cross it in a couple spots. The sound of the small fall was soothing, as was the planet itself. We were alone although the sound of a lot of activity drifted to us from the other colonists a couple hundred feet to the west.

“Any fish in there?” Travis asked me.

“I haven’t had the chance to actually look,” I replied, “I imagine several of the colonists will be checking that out rather quickly. I certainly see some things darting around! Actually, later this afternoon I plan to follow the river at least partly to the ocean.”

“Well don’t overdue it, old-timer!” he said with a smile.

“You too? First my robot and now you fussing over me,” I smiled back.

He picked-up a couple small stones and tried skimming them across the water. He said, “You know, I think that on the afternoon trip I’d better bring some of the battery powered heaters and more lights, too. According to Bart, it’s still early Spring here and the nights could get cold.”

“It was chilly last night for sure,” I said, “and I know we have plenty of nuclear batteries — they’re all standardized and there are cases of them. Of course, between powering robots, lights, cook stoves, heaters, water pumps, the refrigerators and who knows what else, we’ll go through them pretty quickly. You’d better keep a few cases on the ship for emergencies.”

“Well,” Travis said, “You certainly plan–”

Just then, Andy Stuart came bounding up to us and said, “Say Travis, any chance of getting sheet metal out of the Mayflower’s steel mill?”

“Hi Andy,” Travis said, “At the moment, no. It’s a small mill and with only a few of us to run it, including one young colonist, Greg Bugbee, who has some experience in mining and wants to help us maintain the Mayflower. He dreams of being a space-jockey himself. And, there’s a long list of other things ahead of it sheeting. I imagine we’ll do a run in a month or so.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Well, metal piping for one, as I said, since we lost much of the PVC piping and plumbing is a priority. Secondly, we plan to modify the lifeboats on the Lancer to make them full-time vehicles. We’ll rip out four of the 10 seats to make space for cargo and other equipment. Once we reinforce the hull and increase thrust and fuel capacity on them, they should be good for hopping around the planet. Sort of like small mass-transit busses. There are a lot of parts to be fabricated. I’m afraid you’ll have to stick to native wood for your projects, for now.”

Andy said, “By the way, when do you plan to bring the rest of the colonists?”

Travis replied, “I’ll bring another sixty down tomorrow on one of the trips and Monroe will bring the rest of them the day after.”

I said, “It will be quite the tent-city here shortly.”

We all turned back to the rippling water.

From the “Log” Files of William Bartlett

     I had run a few Galileo landing and takeoff sims in the last four years but had made well over a hundred piloting the Surprise. Andy Stuart, having more time in type, took the drop seat and I got the co-pilots chair and the better visuals. We each ran through a couple of preflight and touchdown sequences while waiting for final loading. After Glenda Cumberland announced all on board and belted in Captain Monroe did a walk through and sent me to double check the storage holds.

     As I returned to the bridge I happened to see Janie Cantarubias sitting next to her robot R. Madame Currie, “Emycee or Emy” for short. Janie had already gotten the bots basic personality set and with the Jeep’s help a fair amount of the speaking and mannerism detail which made all bots distinctive. Out of the crate the robots appearances were all identical. On board the Mayflower we had found that fact could be extremely confusing, passing a bot anywhere and not being able to tell if it was your own without asking. We solved that problem with paint. The Jeep had on his torso, upper arms, and legs, three 2 inch wide bands. “Black, Silver, Black.” In addition on the top of his head was painted, in quadrants, a black and silver beanie. Janie had chosen Lavender, Silver, Lavender for Emycee’s colors along with a lavender cap and also painted M. C. in script right where the heart would have been. I had noticed that improvement on the Jeep also, (but in block letters), and now knew where it came from. A few of the other bots had color schemes already but most colonists hadn’t had time to get to it yet.

We locked out of the Mayflower did the inertial alignment and de-orbital burn. The Galileo had to brake for reentry, no ablative tiles, but plenty of energy to do just that.

     This was the view as we left the Mayflower and started down.

     The landing sequence was automated and plotted before we made our first burn. But the last try by Copernicus didn’t work out so well did it? Captain Monroe made the final touch down on a sandy field by a small tributary of the main river which ran North/South into the hills above the landing site.

     Standing at the top of the ramp, under a warm sun and gentle breeze, I watched Linda and J.J. Parker, their family and the Benjamins all set foot upon Alchibah together. A glance around and a few deep breaths of the incredibly fresh smelling air and back inside I went. Off loading began immediately. When the portable timber mill went rolling down the ramp I figured I had found a job for a while.

     With the Jeep, R. Asimov, and a few of the other bots doing the heavy lifting the Galileo was soon on it’s way to being empty. For this task not much teaching of the bots was necessary. All of the training files from when the Hist , the Jeep, R. asimov and I, were cleaning up after the sabotage to the Mayflower were loaded into all the other robots and we had done a lot of moving and loading besides that over the years. All that was needed was to point to an item and indicate where to take it. Soon there was a constant stream of people and bots heading away from the Galileo, up about a 1000 feet of sandy slope, and then 500 feet westward to where the tent site was to be located, and back again. There were a half dozen wheelbarrows and a couple of four wheeled carts but as yet no powered vehicles to pull them. A couple of robots on each cart and they moved along as fast as a man could walk. Two hours after touchdown the Galileo was empty. Everything still piled at the ships base had to be moved before the jets could fire again. Two hours later we watched the Galileo depart.

     A group had started laying out the fabric and supports for the first of the two large tents. Figuring that was well in hand I took an axe from a chest of tools, got the Jeep, and made a quick trip out to the nearby forest edge. I was armed with my Glock and the Ruger I used on the Goonie cruiser.

     I said to Jeep, “Pay attention to the woods and if you detect anything larger than a mouse coming in our direction let me know.” All I had seen so far were a few, small, insect like things that didn’t seem attracted to me I’d put on some standard Earth type repellant and hadn’t been bothered yet. I wondered if the Jeep’s infrared detectors worked on cold blooded life forms. The Jeeps visual acuity was much better than mine but without being trained on what to look for that might not count for much. I decided that in the future I would not to get more than 50 yards away from a source of possible hidden danger without having another human with me. A couple of swipes at the base of one of the trees told me that it was sawable and well “woodish”. That’s all I needed to know so we went right back to camp.

     I found Janie and her bot Emycee assisting Zoe Heroit and some others restacking and arraigning supplies into a semblance of order. I asked her if she could give me a hand with the mill and she readily agreed. On the way over to it I managed to get a couple of colonists I knew through the introduction to robots class to let me borrow their bots for a couple of hours. We, or I should say the bots, loaded one of the low flatbed carts with a couple of 30 gallon drums of fuel, and a five gallon bucket of chain oil, and a crate labeled logging supplies.

     I had popped the lid off that crate and checked the contents a couple of years before when I saw it listed on the Mayflower’s manifest. It contained axes, sledges and wedges, 6 chainsaws, gloves, a dozen pair of boots in various sizes, climbing harnesses, ropes , chains and all the common safety equipment along with an assortment of spare parts and blades for the chainsaws and portable sawmills. I had Emycee grab hold of the mills tongue and told the Jeep to push and follow me. Janie had two of the other bots doing the same with the flatbed.

     The “Log Trees” started growing about 300 feet to the west of the tent site and about the same distance from the raised mound 400 foot south of the tents. They ranged in height from around 70 to 120 feet. The foliage was a similar to an Earthly cedar though slightly more leaf like. The bark was smoother and browner rather than grey, rather like a very tough rind rather than a bark. The trunks of the taller specimens were 16 to 24 inches in diameter the shorter ones from 10 inches and up. They were very strait with little taper until the branching started about half way up their length. Their average spacing was about 35 foot or so. There was a minor amount of brush and low fern like shrubs along with a few smaller Log Tree sprouts growing up amongst them.

     Again telling the robots to keep a sharp lookout, for whatever good it would do, I put on the pair of boots I had broken in when I first examined the crate, and while Janie found a pair she could wear, grabbed a chainsaw, fueled and oiled it, made sure it would start, then said to the Jeep and Emy. “Watch cause this is how it’s done.” I walked over to one of the nearer, smaller trees. “First figure which way the tree wants to fall.”

     “How do you know the tree wants to fall Boss”, said Emycee, sounding remarkably like the Jeep but with a hint of Janie in the intonation.

     “Quiet for now Emy and it will all become clear. Even trees as straight as these lean slightly in one direction or another. Just figure on what side of center that is and put a notch thusly.” I cut a wedge shaped notch about 18 inches from ground level. “Make sure everyone is out of the way for this next step. Everybody move over there.” I pointed to a spot about fifty feet away. I started from the back side and cut towards the notch and in a matter of a minute yelled “Timmberrr!”, and stepped back watching the tree fall just as I had planed. Those summers cutting for the paper mill hadn’t been wasted.

     “Here’s the next part.”  I said taking the chain saw and cutting off branches. When that was done I cut the trunk into 3 sections. The first 16 feet and then a 20 and lastly another 16. The upper portion was too small to make lumber out of but would do fine for fire wood if it burned. I asked Janie to take Emy and drag some branches and the top back by the tent area and turn them over for a trial burn and start of a campfire. By the time she returned I had the three logs over by the mill and with the bots doing the lifting, gotten the first log onto the saw’s bed. There was smoke rising from an area near where the tents were to be but still no sign of the tents themselves.

     The cutting was done by a 20 horse band saw mounted on a powered trolley. First a skimming pass to give the log a straight base and the log was flipped and the cutting proceeding. Three or four sides would be cut first to insure even edges on the planks and beams which were the output. The rough cut boards, even on this new machine could vary by as much as an eighth of an inch in cut dimension. I explained to Janie how the squared up size of the log determined what size and shape lumber you would eventually cut out of it. Today I said we would concentrate on 1 ¾ in. planks four, six, eight, and ten inches wide. I wasn’t sure what we would be building yet but these sizes were standards. Tomorrow we would cut more specifically for the first buildings. When run to it’s full capacity the mill could put out a bit over 200 board feet an hour. I wasn’t long, with the bots doing the loading, unloading, and stacking, that Janie was up to near that level.

     I went back to the tree line, notched and cut another sample, then turned the chainsaw over to the Jeep. His first tree fell exactly where he said it would. He was never wrong. It must have been the visual algorithms. I had him do all the notching and I made the fell cut. With an hour of daylight left and 20 trees down it was getting dark and time to get back to the tents. We loaded up as much of the scrap wood and larger branches as would fit on the trailer, some of the colonists had already come out to gawk and take back some wheelbarrow loads, and the bots pulled everything back to camp.

     The Galileo had made its second landing; mostly with supplies and a couple of new arrivals. I saw Joe Fortson shaking his head at what he judged to be the mass confusion around the tents. At least they were up and I could smell some kind of stew and coffee brewing along with a slightly sweet aroma of wood smoke.

     I planed to have a quick meal with Janie and maybe a drink and to find out what the word was from the few people who had been scouting within 1000 yards of our camp. Then off to sleep for an early rise tomorrow. I got the meal ok but was tagged for the first of the three hour night watches.

DNA Testing.

Oh, the excuse is plausible enough. It’s true, we don’t have a Class 3 Lab available, and yes, there is a real danger of both virusses and prions from an alien ecosphere causing us all sorts of problems.

I just didn’t expect “Genetic Health” monitoring to begin so soon, especially amongst this bunch of Anarchists. Logic tells me it’s Murphy at work, rather than some UNWG mole. Said hypothetical mole, should they exist (probability approaches certainty) would have other, bigger Fish to fry at this point.

I’m supposed to be smarter than the average mutant, but it never occured to me to bring along a vial of bogus genetic material as cover. I thought I’d have lots of time before something like this happened.

I’m still not thinking at full capacity, my hormone swings slowly damping after cryosuspension but nowhere near normal. I mustn’t make any permanent decisions when my IQ is effectively reduced. Darnit, it’s hard acting in a crisis when my intellect is so impaired.

Stall, Zoe, Stall. Maybe I can volunteer as a Lab technician and do some creative record keeping. The system they’re keeping the records on is a doddle to crack, but dare I risk false data endangering others lives? No, not even for self-preservation. I’ll have to find some other way. After all, I’m almost the same as the standard H.Sap. Human according to most medical measures, just a few things slightly askew. After the Black Market surgery, DNA’s the only thing that would give me away.
Sitting here crying, moaning about the unfairness of the Universe, wondering if there’s a place in the whole Godforsaken Galaxy where it’s safe for someone for me to exist is not an optimal course of action. It’s the ‘mones causing it of course.

Stall. Try to make yourself useful. Try to make friends, so if the secret comes out, they may not vivisect you. After all, some genetic diversity is useful when facing unknown threats. Useful to the species though, individuals can get the Rough End of Life’s Big Pineapple.

Darn I’m not thinking straight. I’ve just got to stall until I am.

The sun — make that the star Alchibah — — on second thought, it IS now the sun — was just rising off to the east of the camp, over the river. Historian made his way outside the tent. Most of the others were still sound asleep. Jack the Blade and Andy were on duty. Presumably there were two others out back of the tents.

“Good morning, Historian,” Andy said, “Hanna and Marty are already up, preparing, or more likely sorting, MREs to find which ones resemble breakfast. There’s plenty of coffee, though.”

After a time, Zoe, Connor, and Bartlett joined them, aluminum cups filled with steaming coffee in hands.

Jack said, “I heard some pretty strange sounds out there during the night.”

Bartlett said, “I did, too, along with some rustling near the edge of the forest when I was on guard.”

“I suggest,” the Historian said, “that while many of the unarmed colonists remain here and, with their robots, continue to set things up, perhaps the rest of us need to break into small groups and begin exploring this new world of ours.”

Just then, Kara came out of the sleeping tent and, tapping her wristpad said, “We really do need to settle on a time and day keeping scheme. What the hell is the time, anyway?”

The Historian said, “It’s time to start a new world!”

Sally Kellerman

 
We split off from Mariana and Conner and started across the Last Stop when I saw a sight that stopped me in my tracks.  My Husband sitting at the end of the bar with a bottle in front of him.  One small problem, Kurt did not drink.  He was too protective of his precious Surgeons skills to mess up his bod that way.  Yet there He sat!

I first went to Hanna and asked,” What did Kurt say he was doing Hanna?”

She gave me a wry grin,” He was mumbling stuff about Redneck Southern Mad Dogs but, if anybody ever needed a drink it was him!”

“OK thanks, I think.” I grimaced.

Hanna just stared at me, “Girl I have no idea what went on this morning but, I think you have one chance to save that boy.  For sure as God made little green apples, something kicked him right where he needed it!”

I walked over to the slumped figure and said, “I didn’t think you drank that stuff?”

The face that looked at me was more like a wounded animal than a man.  “That was before someone shoved a mirror up my nose, and I did not like what I saw!”

“What,” I asked speechless!

“Look 30 feet to your right.  There sits a man I tried to humble and degrade just like I have everyone for ten years.  Including, as I remember you!  Well, he would not take it.” He gave a small sick grin, “I understand it runs in the family!  Do you know what it feels like to be sure you are going to die; and then be dismissed as not worth the price of a bullet!”

His face looked like a graveyard, “You are right sweetheart, I have not drunk a drop since my last Shock/Trauma shift but, I seriously need to kill what stands between now and then.  This is the only acceptable way I can think of! Maybe, I can even forget some things!”

I made one swift decision, that was in fact my last chance.  “OK, don’t puke on the floor of the room. And, tell me when you are ready to talk.  Because then, it’s my turn”

His shocked, drawn face was worth it!

I turned away and moved to the center of the room where Linda was waiting, hoping no one could read my face!

Andy

Having caught Ash in the corridor I dragged him to Hanna’s place, “You are going to eat cuz. I am gonna drive you hard, but I’d prefer to keep you breathing!”

“OK OK, when did you become a mother hen?” He grinned.

I grinned, “Since you became the keeper of the keys. Think you can back up that brag back there?”

For once his face was serious, “If it’s the last thing I ever do!”

Reaching the bar it was, “Hi Hanna, food for this lug and two Bourbon on the rocks for me; Mariana’s on the way!” Leaving Ash to Hanna’s care I turned for the center of the room just as the New Lab Rats entered!

Jaisa

At the bar at last! Man I should have taken one of those silly little go-carts. I certainly don’t mind the exercise (though I’d hardly call it that), but it seems like everywhere you go in this place is a hike. I walked over to the bar and sat myself down.

“I’ll take a Jameson’s, on the rocks. The good stuff if you’ve got it.” I slapped the bar.

“Aren’t you a little young for that?” the barkeep asked. Hanna I think her name was.

I just looked at her. “I am.”

She stared back for a second. “Alright,” she sighed, “one 1780 coming up. I’ll save the real good stuff for later.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” I turned to my right. “Now, what are you looking at? Ash, isn’t it?”

“Me? Nothin’. Just admiring the view.”

“I’m 17. Or I was when we got in those damned contraptions.” I replied, grinning. “Now, if you want to talk about that XD you’ve got hidden in your jacket, that’s one thing. If you want to keep admiring the view, that I might just have to take offense to.”

“Well now. I get the feeling you’re the type of person I wouldn’t want to offend. Firearms it is. So you got .38’s or .357’s in that Python your wearing?”

“Oh you better believe it’s got mags. Ashcroft,” I laughed, slapping him on the back, “this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

Connor

We were just arriving at the Last Stop after a short but productive conversation on getting the Bio Lab prepped for our current and future animal companions. It looked like between Mariana, Sally, Linda and I we had most if not all of the bases covered as far as our medical needs went. Shame we only have a 2+ Lab to work with, but I have no doubt that with this team we can do a bang-up job.

As we entered the bar I pulled Mariana aside. “Linda, Sally, you go on ahead. I’ve got to talk to the boss here for a minute.” They went over to the bar, joining Jaisa and…Ash. Huh. That was a little worrisome, but it would have to wait. Andy was coming over as well.

“He’s your husband right? Word on the street is you were in SOCOM together.” I asked, quietly but intently.

“That’s right. What’s it to you?”

“What were your names? Your callsigns?” She gave me an inquisitive look.

“Well, I suppose it doesn’t much matter anymore, and a fair number of people on this boat already know. I was Magic. He’s Reaper.”

I looked at her gravely. “Come on, we need to talk. Andy too, if you don’t mind.” I started walking towards the private back room. “Jaisa, I need to borrow you for a second.” My tone was level; she knew I wasn’t joking around.