Chapter one: The awakening
Jim woke up to an aching in his head, and the need to piss so bad he could taste it.
“Jim, take it easy, look at me, how many fingers am I holding up?” Doc asked holding his hand a few inches from Jim’s face. “Just take a deep breath and open your eyes.”
“Four.” Jim could see the fingers as he struggled with the brightness. “I have to piss.”
“Perfectly normal for coming out of stasis, I’ll help you up.” Jim held onto Doc’s shoulder as he stood, a little wobbly but he regained his composure quickly. “Do you remember where the head is? The Captains already on the bridge and wants you there with him, get something to eat and head up there as soon as you can.”
Jim pissed for what felt like twenty minutes then dressed and headed for the mess. After eating two servings of the protein that passed for food on this tin can he headed to the bridge to find Captain Tom. Sonya, one of the researchers met Jim’s pace on the way to the bridge.
“Did you hear? The Captains got photos of the surface that he’s been studying, we’re close enough to see the planet.” She did not try to hide the emphasis in her voice, for the research crew this trip had been the chance of a lifetime, travelling back to the birthplace of humanity to find out what happened after they left.
“I guess that’s why Tom wants to see me.” Jim tried to match her excitement, but the pain in his head was keeping him from focusing on anything else. “We have to find a good place to set up a surface camp.”
“Somewhere defendable.” She mocked his stoic personality, “with access to water and other natural resources.” Sonya giggled at the comedy of her own words, in this moment Jim noticed how pretty she was and hoped that their attempts to make a good life on this abandoned rock would prove successful.
“Hilarious. Who else is awake?” Jim said, hoping to change the subject.
“Chief engineer Draskins and Millie so far.” It made sense to have the engineers up first. “And I think Doc is pulling the rest of the research team out of stasis now.” It would not be too long before they needed to prep for the surface drop. Sonya stopped at a corner and quickly said “Later.” As she turned and went on her way.
On the bridge Captain Tom was hunched over a flat screen looking at a forest with a small river running through it. He didn’t notice Jim until he was almost on top of him.
“Jesus Jim, do you make any noise?” Tom said, startled. “You move as quietly as a shadow.”
“Just a habit, I guess. Doc said you had some stuff to go over with me?” Tom gestured toward the interactive map on the table in front of him. “These are pictures of the ground? How long do we have to find a good landing spot?”
“Not a picture, a live feed. And we have two days to prep before we get close enough to make a descent.” Tom said. “Of course, the sooner we settle on a good spot the less adjustments we have to make before entering the atmosphere.” The First mate Roscoe entered while Tom was finishing his thought. “The map is all yours Jim, I’m going to take a long overdue shower, wash this two hundred years of stasis funk off me. LT, you have the bridge.”
“Aye sir.” Roscoe said as if he was still in Garrison. He turned his attention to Jim. “Jim, waking up ok?”
“Just fine sir, how about yourself.” It was not really a question, or something Jim cared to know, he just didn’t want to seem like an ass for not caring. Jim had spent his entire career seeking adventure and exploring uninhabited wilderness, being cooped up in a flying box and having to make small talk was the last thing he wanted to do. It would only be a few more days until they landed, and he’d have an entire planet to explore. So long as he didn’t have to worry about keeping these folks alive.
“About as well as can be expected, I guess. Docs waking up the rest of the flight crew, let me know if you need any help with the map.” As Roscoe looked toward the table his expression changed, he looked confused and leaned in. “Did you see that?”
Jim looked down at the map, or feed, there was a small clearing along a dense tree line. “What did you see?” Roscoe pointed toward the edge of the woods.
“Something came out of the woods here, moved along the edge quickly and darted back in here. Do we know anything about the wildlife on this planet?” he asked.
“Only what was in the old history books and logs that was taken on the Arc to our world, I’ve read everything I could, but those accounts are thousands of years old.” Jim swiped out of the map to get a larger view. “We’ll worry about the wildlife when we get down there, I’ve got to find a place to land and set up camp.” Roscoe walked to the console and attended to whatever First mates do when a ships on auto pilot, and Jim stared intently at the screen, zooming in and out scouring the ground for the best place to land, defensible, access to water, resources. Jim smiled as he thought of Sonya’s earlier impersonation. She’d been spot on with his business first attitude. Sure, Jim liked to relax at the end of the day, stiff drink in hand, like anyone else. It just had to wait till the day’s affairs were over, fires stoked, gear secured, plan of the next day ironed out, then remove the boots and relax. Now, two days until touchdown, relaxation and complacency were out of the question.
When Jim got the assignment, he dove into the archives, trying to find out what to expect when they arrived. It was like ancient history looking back that far, trying to imagine what kind of change could have happened. They knew from long range probes that the planet had regained sustainability, most likely thanks to human’s departure and a lot of luck.
Jim zoomed out the map to get a better feel of the planet as a whole, from where they were coming in he could see the southernmost continent almost entirely. He recalled in the archives that the poles were covered in ice caps, but not anymore. The continent was completely green as far as he could tell. He focused back into one of the continents closer to the equator. There it seemed mostly dessert, he needed someplace with good vegetation, good resources. He scoured the map for the next hour, hoping he could find a place sooner rather than later.
Jim had cut his teeth on Terra Sanctum first by exploring the Northern reaches in small parties. They’d spend several months in the bush exploring, looking for beautiful places but also for resources. At first just to survive, but as he got better, Jim began to find his niche, and to fill his pockets. He didn’t care much to get rich, he just wanted to fund more exploration. Eventually this led to philanthropists with big money dreams to hire his services, and eventually the government noticed. He was contracted by the feds and became very successful. He had no family to speak of, so when they came to him about the Earth mission, he had no reason to say no. The thought of an uninhabited planet, all to himself and the crew was the stuff his dreams were made of. All he had to do was lay in stasis for two hundred years and keep a dozen or so people alive on the ground long enough to become self-sustainable. Should be a walk in the park. A nice, big, empty park.
After Two hours of swiping over terrain Jim had decided on a landing zone. Captain Tom had come back to the bridge and been mulling over technical data, something about its auto landing sequence was throwing codes. Captain Tom kept sending messages to fix it and about what it was doing. At one point he got frustrated and yelled at the com about how the ship thinks the sun is habitable and may burn us all in an attempt to self-descend. Jim just wanted to smell something other than the recycled air flowing out of hidden vents. When he let the captain know of his proposed spot Tom and Roscoe got to work setting the coordinates in the nav system so they could head in that direction.
Jim had the next two days to prep for their arrival. Since he was not part of the flight, engineering or research crew, he could focus on the planet, learn what he could about this alien Earth and hope he could keep his wits about him. Jim tried to imagine what could have happened to the flora and fauna in the last few thousand years. Obviously, the surface had heated enough to melt the ice caps. But all that carbon brought back flourishing plants, and what did that mean for the animals? Jim started looking through the animal records to figure out what might be the apex predator now. Was it canine, feline, bears, or maybe even reptiles? A whole new continent covered in vegetation could mean a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere. Could there be other intelligent life now? He didn’t think it had been long enough for that evolutionary step to happen, humanity itself had barely changed. One thing Jim knew for sure, whatever was down there, it was not preparing to roll out the red carpets for them. The entire crew was awake, had been for the last two days as they made their final approach, the ship was designed to go all the way to the surface, and the storage areas had supplies to make a camp for a long duration. They also had a number of tools designed for structure building so they could set up a colony. The crew had been taking classes on building primitive structures back on Terra Sanctum. Everything from log cabins to mud and brick style houses. They would need something more than the containers they had carried along with them.
Terror of New Dawn
By: Joseph Gelinas
