The Abyss of Time

Chapter Nineteen

     Three days later, the Miller family arrived at Hanger Bay One to board their lander.

     They had been assigned to the Orchid. A Callista class lander, midway in size between the large Bounty class vessels that were equipped for extended stays away from the colony and the Finch class that were simply personnel transports. The Callista class were designed for brief survey and exploration trips lasting a day or two and had been intended to carry around a dozen people with only the minimum provision for comfort and privacy.

     "It's going to be rather cramped," said Zanele with a frown as she looked at the rows of g-seats. With the lander having to carry twice the number of people it had been designed for, and with every fabricator on the ship being used to make surface suits, they'd had to raid seats from the Lucina's accommodation decks, resulting in seats of garishly different colours sitting side by side. The air still carried the tang of ozone from the welding equipment that had fixed the seats to the deck, and the once immaculate walls and doorways were scratched and battered from the heavy equipment that had been carried in and out over the past week. The result was that the lander already looked years old even though it was yet to make its maiden flight.

     "It'll only be for a few hours," Miller assured her. "Once we're down on the surface we'll be able to live in the inflatable habitat modules."

     "That won't be much better,' said Lucy, looking unhappy.

     "It'll be like being on holiday," Miller told her, although he looked as though he were trying to convince himself. "Hardship is fun when you're on holiday."

     "Holidays last for a week," Lucy replied. "This'll last for years."

     "It won't be too bad," her father assured her. "We'll begin hollowing out the permanent habitation chambers immediately. Within the month we'll be living underground and as the years go by we'll make more and more space for ourselves. Five years from now we'll be living in a proper city with all the luxuries and comforts of home."

     "If the cyborgs don't find us first," Zanele said dismally.

     "Chances are the cyborgs are already dead," her husband told her. "And just in case they're not we'll have a full defence perimeter in place. Fences. Cameras. Automated weapons. Robot security guards armed with weapons that'll kill cyborgs in one shot. We'll be safe, I promise you."

     Zanele forced a smile and nodded.

     "And one day," Miller added, "when we're settled and secure, we'll have a whole new world to explore. Whole new ecosystems filled with forms of life beyond our wildest imagination. We can spend the rest of our lives studying it and still barely have scratched the surface. It's going to be exciting!" He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little shake. "Exciting! God, but I can't wait to get started."

     Zanele smiled again, and this time it was genuine. "Yeah," she said. "I suppose."

     "So, shall we get changed so we can get aboard?"

     "In there?" said Lucy, nodding her head to where screens had been set up to create makeshift changing rooms.

     "Yep," her father replied, and he led the way.

     It was possible for a person to put on their surface suit on their own, Miller had been told, but even through they'd already tried them on a couple of times they still had to help each other get into them. Miller and Zanele helped each other, and when Jack turned up with his family he and Lucy helped each other. They'd seen each other in their bare skins often enough for it not to be embarrassing. Jack then helped his own family while Miller, Lucy and Zanele went back outside.