Emerald

Exploration

Mil and Andrej follow the progress of the exploration team on the big screen in operations. With some keystrokes, the physicist connects the inbuilt mask cameras with the main feed. Their view is now shown as row of separate images at the bottom of the screen. Koshi, Dray and Carlos walk away from the ship in parallel, only a few steps apart. The captain sets the pace, stopping every few moments to look around. Carlos takes advantage of one of this stops to turn around his axis. The silvery ship shines in the sunlight, in stark contrast to the burnt field. Dray stoops to pick up a handful of ashes and crush it with her gloved fingers. Her gaze wanders to the horizon and she talks quietly to herself, uncaring that the others can hear her over the microphone.

"Unbelievable how much damage our engine did to this forest."

Mil swallows hard. Dray expresses exactly what troubles her own mind. Only a short while ago, she doubted the possibility that the pilot and herself could be of the same mind just once. Now she follows attentive Dray's movements as she packs up some of the ashes in a small bag, seals it and stows it away in the side pocket of her suit. Only then she follows Koshi's request to move one. He addresses mostly Mil and Andrej as he starts describing his impressions.

"The heat completely destroyed the vegetation in a perimeter of several hundred meters. Even the soil is burnt, at some places red and cracked by the heat. We will have to advance to the rim of the clearing to collect some useful bio samples."

Mil has a thousand burning questions at least. But first priority is the health of the crew, as always.

"How does it feel out there? It's the air supply alright? Carlos?"

The technician turns back towards the ship and waves cheerfully before answering.

"Everything is fine, Mil. You were right, the air seems to be clean and breathable. I'm glad there is no wind though. Otherwise the filters would be clogged by ashes within minutes. They are kind of abundant."

"We can exchange or double the filters anytime, if there should be a problem. Are there other observations? Noises? How's temperature?"

Koshi checks one of the displays at his wrist. Surprised he glances up up at the local sun, nearing zenith right now. Mil knows that the heat in the clearing is well above agreeable for an unprotected human. Koshi clears his throat.

"My thermometer shows above 40 degrees. But in the suit, I can't feel anything of it. I can't hear any noises as well, except my own breathing. But this might just be the mask."

Carlos and Dray confirm this observation. Andrej remarks that this probably will change quickly as soon as they reach the forest. Then he silently starts working on a calculation while Mil follows the progress of the exploration team. It seems to take forever until they reach the rim of the burnt area. Andrej leans back in his chair.
"I checked, the temperature at ground level must have been well above 1000 degrees. That's more than you need in a pottery kiln. No wonder the soil is burnt and cracked. Above 1400 degrees, and they would be able to observe vitrification."

"So it's highly unlikely they will find any life in the landing area."

Mil turns back to the screen. Near the rim of the destruction zone, the situation seems to be less desolate. Dray picks up something that looks like burnt wood at first sight and slips it into another one of her sample bags. Now the progress of the team is slowed down by bigger lumps of unrecognisable black material, probably plants. They have to climb about blackened tree stumps and move closer together, Mil is sure as a precaution. Very soon the silvery suits are covered by dark streaks. Koshi gasps involuntarily as he sinks up to his knee into a mud hole. Dray has to help him getting out of the muck.

In the meantime, Carlos reaches the first fallen tree. The transmission of his camera shows clearly the giant roots, blackened and useless against the deep blue sky. For the first time, Mil realises how much the colour differs from Earth's sky. This must be due to the different density and stratigraphy of the atmosphere. But right now, she is more interested in the dead tree. Carlos walks around the rootstock. Mil follows his gaze along the massive, blueish grey trunk. Its diameter must be several meters and it's covered by smooth, slightly shining bark. In almost regular intervals it is punctured by deep holes, looking like pores. The trunk rises towards the upper end, where the crown of the fallen giant hangs helpless in the treetops of it's still standing neighbours.