Traveler in the Dark

7

"What do we do with it?" asked Blick, staring at the small, sharp-nosed rodent as it scuttled around the glass box.

"We watch," said Martham, unpacking the field lab equipment with a mere glance at the animal.

"But what if it needs to eat? Or water? Or what if it's calling its buddies with that rattly noise?"

The animal shook its spines and they clacked and shivered.

"Then we will soon have more specimens to study," said Martham flatly. "As for the rest, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt our little friend. We're going to attach a small feed to it and release it again."

"Um, Beatrice?" Alice was reluctant to question the older woman. While they were technically equals, Martham acted the part of her superior and Alice was generally content to follow. But she was uneasy with the plan. Uneasy with the entire thing. Microbes, she'd expected. They all had. Some faint glimmering of hope, something that indicated the Keseburg's residents might survive with time and technology helping them along. Existing complex ecosystems were something else entirely. "Do you think that's wise? A feed might carry some kind of contamination from us back to its nest or burrow."

"Everything's been sterilized, Oxwell. It's part of protocol."

"Yes, I know. But it's all been handled since then, on the Wolfinger. If anyone slipped, forgot a glove or a mask—"

"We can't go doubting all our equipment. We don't have the time or facilities to check and resterilize everything. You know this, it's never been a hesitation before."

"I didn't expect complex organisms before. And I didn't expect any contamination to travel beyond our immediate vicinity, but we don't even know if this animal is migratory. We could be talking hundreds of miles."

Martham shrugged. "You heard the captain. If we're going to live here, we're all going to have to get used to altering things. Bacterial or otherwise."

"And if not?" Blick asked quietly. "If we leave a swathe of alien bacteria to sweep through the planet for no purpose? What if we wipe them out? This creature may be a crucial part of this planet. We don't know. It could change the entire system if—"

Martham sighed loudly, interrupting. "Will you two listen to yourselves? This planet's natural evolution is not our concern. We're here to do one job. Save our families. Save our children. Or have you forgotten? Titov and Al Jahi would agree with me. This is what happens when places are colonized. Happened on Earth too. People bring diseases. And parasites. And competitive species. You think a little camera is going to change things? What was your plan when you start planting crops, Blick? Are we going to do that in glass domes? No. We'd come somewhere we knew was fertile, like this valley." She waved a hand down toward the plain. "We'd burn what was here, plow up the ground, and introduce our own plants. Maybe even use pesticides and fertilizers if it helps us survive. And then there's the zoo. Why'd we carry all of those tissue samples for so many years? For so many thousands of miles? Why do we keep cloning them in the animal labs? It's not just to feed the Keseburg, I'll tell you that."

"But you're talking about an extinction level event—"

Martham laughed. "Stars, Oxwell, how did you get so melodramatic? We may not affect them at all. And if we did, if it really meant wiping out several species here— well, sad as it may be, that's how it works. Them or us. My interest in the life here is how it can help our people survive. Of course, we'll do what we can to ensure as much survives as possible, but when it comes down to it, this is the first possible home we've found in centuries. The Keseburg isn't going to last until we find another. The kids aren't going to last either. Are you ready to sacrifice the people you love for some rodents and a field of alien grass? Truly? Your parents? Your wife, Blick? Any children you might have in the future, Alice?"