“Do you think this is it?” Rev asked Kurt.
“We’ve been disappointed before.”
“Goldilocks, no sign of the BGs. You’ve got to stay optimistic.”
“Are you trying to get rid of us? I thought we were friends,” Kurt said.
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say.”
The Genesian made his buzzing laughter. “Who says?”
“They say. And they are always right, you know.”
“Far be it from me to naysay ‘they.’ So I guess we’ll be super fond of each other if this is it,” Kurt said.
The tension on the ship had faded as most people tried to forget the war that was raging back home. And the best way to keep the peace was to stay busy.
With Titan otherwise preoccupied, there wasn’t any pretense as to the ship’s main mission anymore. They were going to try and find the new Genesian home. They were hitting new systems, and if they didn’t pass the muster from space, then it was abandoned without sending down a ground force.
Three planets were crossed off the list in that manner since Wolf had received the orders to eliminate the MDS soldiers. The fourth, though, EFP-09, had promise. The scans done over the last two days showed an Earth-normal planet with abundant life, but only a few samples were multicellular. There were also fairly abundant mineral resources.
The landing force consisted of the Marine security element, a team from the civilians, and a larger Genesian contingent. There was no reason to think that the planetary life posed a threat that the Marines couldn’t handle, but the unknown had a way of cropping up.
“Seriously, though,” Rev said. “I hope this is it for you. You must be getting tired of looking.
“The Israelites wandered the desert for forty years looking for a home. We searched for sixty-three years before finding Pakao. This is nothing.”
Sixty-three years? I had no idea.
It dawned on Rev how little he knew about the Genesians despite being on the same ship for almost two years. For all his life, he’d been taught that the Genesians, Deimers, and Eunuchs were evil incarnate, dedicated to eliminating human life.
But these guys, while a little on the weird side, were good people. He’d rather hang out with them than the Children of Angels or some of the other crazies. Rev still resented them sticking their noses into his and Punch’s situation, but he knew it had come from a good place, and the fact was that Punch had made the choice.
“How’s Punch doing?” he asked Kurt.
“Your AI? Progressing, from what I heard. It’s been a little more difficult for it to master its shell, but we’re working on that with it. Just not me personally. I’m no longer in that billet.”
“He hasn’t told me there were any issues. He hasn’t told me much of anything, to be honest. But why is there a problem?”
“We’ve got the Deimer data, but our shells were designed for an organic control, not a crystal. So, there’re some hiccups.”
Do you guys actually hiccup? Or is that phrase just a holdover from when you were first created?
“We’ll figure it out, though, so if Gunnery Sergeant O’Donnell changes her mind, we can free her AI as well. Please make sure she knows that.”
“She does.”
Not that those two will ever separate, he thought, half wistfully, half bitterly.
“First wave, prepare to board in five minutes,” came over the 1MC.
“That’s me,” Rev said as he pushed away from the bulkhead. “And I’m serious about hoping this might be the place.”
“Thank you, Rev. I’d be happy if it were, but that’s out of my hands.”
“See you planetside, Kurt,” Rev said as he crossed the hangar to join his stick.
* * *
“This is a dreary place,” Rev told Tiwari as he stared out over the grasslands. “I’d be bored to death to stay here.”
“Better to be bored to death than get trampled by buffalo, na?”
“It’s close, Per. Really close.”
EFP-09 had very little in the way of topography, at least where they were. Grasslands stretched out for klicks around the camp, but even the “grass” was less than impressive. Growing to about six centimeters, the yellowish-brownish vegetation was a dull carpet.
Within the low vegetation, small single and multicell animals/motile plants conducted their lives. But standing at the edge of the camp, Rev couldn’t see any of that. All he saw was grass.
He’d almost welcome a buffalo if it would give him something to look at.
“I don’t think they’re going to stay,” Tiwari said. “Not enough minerals.”
“There’re minerals. Just deep. There’s not enough volcanic or tectonic activity to bring them to the surface. Even that is boring, but the minerals are there.”
“But hard to get, na? Why not wait until they find something better.”
“That’s what I’d do,” Rev said. “But they’re really testing the place,” he added, hooking a thumb over his shoulder and pointing to the small greenhouse the Genesians had set up.
They’d already determined that they could convert the native grass to the necessary hydrocarbons they needed to survive. But no one wanted to rely on a single source of food. So, they were planting seeds to see if they germinated. If they could grow Earth plants, then Genesian food would be much easier and provide a more varied diet.
“Did you know that they spent sixty-three years hiding out from the rest of humanity until they found Pakao?” Rev asked Tiwari.
“Long time. And this is about the exact opposite of that place.”
Pakao was a mineral-rich planet with a very active crust and raw, rugged mountains in view of almost the entire land mass. EFP-09 was . . . not that.
“At least they wouldn’t have to terraform here. It would make it more comfortable, but they could live as it is.”
“Until they died of boredom, na?”
“Yeah, na.”
* * *
“Is everything OK down there?” Rev asked Tomiko.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I mean, the crops are still growing? The groundwater’s still fine?”
“Once again, yeah. And once again, why?”
“Tata Eleven wants to meet with Nyad, Njuguna, and me. I’m thinking it might be to tell us it’s on to the next target.”
They’d been on EFP-09 for three weeks now while the Genesians ran their protocols. Most of the seedlings germinated and had been planted in a small test garden. They continued to do more testing, and a team, with Strap and five Marines, had been taking one of the ship’s shuttles to survey other parts of the planet.
They’d even sunk two cores: one near the camp for groundwater and one about twenty klicks away over a mineral deposit.
“Well, everything’s fine down here, as far as I can tell. How about up there?”
“We’ve got the meeting. Then I’ll have something for you.”
“I don’t mean that, Rev. The girls. The girls!”
“Oh, yeah. Uh . . . they’re fine. Aspen had another meltdown. I had to call Kat to help with that.”
“Rev, she’s not our nanny. That poor girl’s got no social life. Aspen melts down all the time, but it’s up to us to handle her, not pass her on.”
Rev winced at the dressing down. He knew he should have handled it, but his sister was so much better at it, and she hadn’t objected. He knew he took advantage of her, but it was so much easier when the girls had him at wits’ end.
“I know, I know. I’ll do better at that. But I should get to the meeting. I was just hoping for a little intel before I got there.”
“Kiss the girls for me and tell them Mommy will be back in two days.”
“Will do,” he said before cutting the connection.
He’d taken the call in the passage outside his stateroom. He hadn’t wanted the girls to realize he was talking to Tomiko. But now he stuck his head in.
“I’m heading to the meeting. Are you OK, Kat?”
“I’ve got it, Rev. Right, girls?”
“I know you do. It’s just that . . .”
“What?”
“We ask a lot of you.”
“I’m their auntie. I’m happy to help.”
“But . . . I mean, with your duties, and then the girls. You don’t get much free time.”
“And you do?”
“No. Of course not. But they’re my daughters.”
“And they’re my nieces. ’Nuff said.”
“But I . . . Miko told me . . .”
Kat raised one eyebrow as she pulled Willow onto her lap.
“We’ve been aboard the ship for four years. Do you even, you know, socialize?”
“Big brother, are you asking me if I get laid?”
“By the Mother, no!” he almost screeched, feeling his face flush as he recoiled from her. “I just meant—”
“Relax, Rev. You should have seen your face just now. But to answer your question, yes, I socialize. We all do. But I like being here with the girls, so believe you me, this isn’t a burden.”
Rev’s face still burned, but he mumbled, “Well, we’ll try not to take advantage of you, Kat. And we appreciate your help.”
“Go to your high muckety-muck meeting, Mr. Sergeant Major. I’ve got the girls.”
Rev was relieved to close the door and get out of there.
What ever happened to that sweet little girl? Damn!
He’d regained his composure by the time he reached the Genesian conference room. Several Genesians were already there, including one Rev hadn’t seen for a while: Renzy.
“So, are you pulling chocks?” Rev asked him.
“What does that mean,” the former eleven asked.
“It’s from . . . heck, I don’t know what its original meaning is, but it means leaving.”
“Interesting choice of words. Now, I’ll have to go look it up.”
I could have told you if you hadn’t taken Punch away from me.
He could query his wristcomp, but for whatever reason, he didn’t want to ask it aloud.
Renzy didn’t answer the original question, but Rev left it alone. He could wait.
It didn’t take long. A few minutes later, Tata and Nyad came in together, and then Njuguna a moment after that.
“Thank you for coming,” Tata said. “This has been a hectic three weeks as we tried to analyze the planet. There have been some good results, but not all of them are what we hoped.”
Which was pretty much what Rev figured. Just because the test crops were surviving wasn’t enough to select this barren place as a new home.
“However we believe that we can overcome those, so, with the concurrence of the conclave, we’ve decided to attempt to build a settlement here.”
Here? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Pakao had been a beautiful, resource-rich planet that had already undergone partial terraforming, which had been enough for the Genesians to live there. EFP-09 was an empty ball of rock.
He’d been a little freaked out when they’d wanted to stay on EFP-07, but at least he understood it. The logic had been sound. None of that logic pertained to this place, though.
“We would like to keep the Galaxy Explorer here for a month as we move to the surface. It will take us that long to set up a working settlement. But there is one more thing, and we’re asking for a boon. The situation here is not optimal, and there is a chance of failure. So, for a period of five years, we’d like to keep in communication with you, and should our attempt fail, we’d like to be evacuated.”
She stared at Nyad, who looked to be gathering his thoughts before saying, “I can understand why you’re asking that. However, we don’t know where we’ll be in five years. We may be recalled, for all we know. We might run into the BGs and not survive the meeting.”
“We understand that, of course. All we ask is that if we request an evacuation, and if it’s in your power to do so, you’ll honor that request.”
She wasn’t asking Rev, which made sense. Nyad controlled the ship. But he wanted them to remember that he was an equal member of the command.
“I think that’s reasonable,” he said. “And it’s a smart move.”
Tata Eleven switched to face Rev and said, “Thank you, Sergeant Major.”
“I should confer with New Mars,” Nyad said.
Not Titan. New Mars.
The ship had been flagged under the Perseus Union, but she had been transferred to the Congress of Humanity at the start of the mission. The Union should have no say in where it went. But the crew was mostly Union Navy, and the Union hadn’t hesitated to send out the kill order on the MDS soldiers.
“If I remember correctly, Captain, our orders have been to continue our mission. With the troubles back home, I don’t think what we do is high on their priorities.”
“I agree, Tata. We can’t leave any human who needs our assistance out here,” Njuguna added. “If our friends need our help, it would be our moral responsibility to do what we can.”
Nyad flushed at that. “Of course, it would be. I was only saying that I should inform New Mars what we’re doing.”
Which isn’t what you said at all.
“And I want to stress that this is your decision to stay. We’re not abandoning you. I can give you the thirty days, but there can’t be a guarantee about an evacuation after that, only that we’ll attempt it if we can.”
That’s hardly a confidence-inspiring statement.
But Tata Eleven seemed to accept it.
“Good. Then I think we can begin debarkation. Yoni Nine has the plans, and if she can coordinate with Lieutenant Commander Norton, I think we can make this as easy an evolution as possible.
“Certainly,” Nyad said. “When would you like to start?”
“Yoni Nine is ready now if that’s OK.”
Wow. It’s happening, Rev thought as Tata went on with some initial coordination.
He’d known it was coming, but he didn’t expect it this soon. And not here. It was going—
Oh, shit! Punch!
He’d purposely refused to consider what his friend would do when the Genesians left because he knew what the answer was. But now, when faced with the reality, a sense of mini-panic set in.
Punch and he hadn’t been very close since the separation, and that killed Rev. But as long as his battle buddy was around, Rev could hope that they’d eventually come back together. It wouldn’t be like before when Punch was a resident in Rev’s brain, but how about close friends? Buddies?
But if the Genesians were leaving, then he knew Punch was, too. He’d spent most of his time with them, and with the shell, he had a lot more in common with them than he had with the organic humans.
And if Punch was gone, so was their relationship. There was no hope for a reconciliation.
Rev was suddenly sick to his stomach, and he tried to fight down the nausea.
“Excuse me,” he said as he lurched to his feet and cut off whatever Tata was saying.
He rushed out of the conference room and headed back to his side of the street. He barely made it to the first public head where he rushed in and lost his lunch into the toilet.