Traveler in the Dark

3

Zachery's was the oldest bar on the Keseburg. Tucked into an oversized storage locker in the aft cargo hold, it had been a notorious secret during the Fi-Gen Rebellion until the Admiralty had done away with the Keseburg's strict alcohol prohibition. It stayed in business even after the slick nightclubs and cozy pubs of the upper decks opened to compete with it. Zachery's had the hardest liquor, the dirtiest gossip, and the best fights. The corrugated metal doors had been welded permanently open, and the place was never empty. Gabriel Stratton's crew was spread out along the dingy steel bar, leaning on the cracked vinyl bar stools. Legend had it that somewhere there was an original piece of leather on those stools, a real artifact from earth. Rebecca doubted it. But rumor was that when the last bit of leather in Zachary's barstools disappeared, the Keseburg would find its new planet. Chione Al Jahi had rubbed each one for luck, laughing as Spixworth teased her. Her daughter, Noura had escaped the Spindling, but her toddler, Dia, had not. Like Titov, the mission was personal and it drove her during training. Al Jahi, Liu, and Joan Leroux made up the flight crew. They came as a unit, several hundred hours of flight time under their belts with Captain Stratton. But like the others, this was the first time they'd set foot on a planet instead of using remote mining equipment on sterile asteroids and moons for resource grabs.

Titov saw them and waved to Dorothy from the end of the bar. Hackford and Titov had grown to be close friends as they had to share lab space, and Rebecca suspected Titov was more successful at keeping Hackford on an even keel than Dr. Cardiff was. Not that Rebecca had much confidence in Cardiff, to begin with. The woman seemed far more interested in research than in her colleagues, and Rebecca suspected she only took the position in order to advance once they returned to the Keseburg. But then— that was true of many of the candidates. No one really expected to find anything on the planet. Not even a hint of a habitable planet in sixteen hundred years, why should this one be the right one?

"Glad you made it to Stratton's crew, Emery. Knew you would." Lionel Blick patted her shoulder and winked before lifting his glass.

"I wasn't so sure," said Rebecca, "but thanks. Did you tell Agatha yet?"

"Yes, she'll be down after her shift. The cotton crop had to go in this week or we'd have to reset the entire subclimate. It was bad enough I had to set up the special tanks for both missions. I don't think she'll ever forgive me for going without her."

"You'll have to bring her back some flowers."

"Don't think that's going to cut it. Going to have to bring her back an entire planet," said Blick.

"That's the plan. Maybe you can find a spot for a vacation home, Lionel," said Liu. "Thinking about surprising Jared with some oceanfront property."

"You and everyone else," laughed Rebecca.

"Hey, Cap— dibs apply, right?" Liu shouted over the bustling bar. Stratton just grinned and waved him off. "Martham wants a whole mountain range named after her."

Rebecca choked on her beer.

"Doesn't surprise me," said Blick. "If she had her way, the entire planet would be named after her."

"Now, now, don't be catty on my account," laughed Rebecca, "We're all here now, and we're going to have to coexist for a few months. I'm sure she'll come around."

"Did you tell your lab yet?" asked Liu.

"Yeah, I called them on the way here. They were disappointed that Webster didn't make Bruheim's team, but the moon mission was seen as less likely anyhow. They're studying the Hardcoop's photo packet to see if there are any likely structures in our landing zone."

"Wow, you guys sure know how to party."

"Oh, we're a rowdy bunch in the anthropology department. Might even stay up all night discussing first contact ethics."

"You really think we're going to find someone down there, Emery?" asked Blick.

"I don't think it's any more unlikely than you finding new plants or Martham finding new animals. Whether or not we'll recognize another creature as sentient and if we'd be able to figure out how to communicate with another society is far more questionable. For my part, I hope we don't find anyone down there."

Liu glanced up from his mug in surprise. "Really? After all the work you did to get here, you hope you don't find anyone? I thought you, out of all of us, would be hoping your research uncovered something."

She rolled her cup between her hands. "Part of me would be excited to find something, certainly. And it would go a long way toward proving the planet was hospitable to life— or life as we recognize it. But then— humanity doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to colonization. We don't treat others gently. Even when they are our own. And I look around and see how desperate people on the Keseburg have become. If we found someone, do you think we'd stop to consider their rights to their own planet?"

"It'll be different this time, Emery. We've come a long way in the past several hundred years."

"I hope you're right, Liu, I really do." She let the subject trail away and was soon distracted by the arrival of several friends who had come to congratulate them.