Traveler in the Dark

8

The buggy had almost completed an initial circuit of the immediate landing area when the radar readouts began lurching and dipping. Rebecca didn't notice immediately, too entranced by the wide vista and the deep blue of a nearby river. She wished she could smell it. Feel the plants brushing by her skin. She wanted to believe they could make it here, she wanted to trust that there was a plan and that this planet would be home.

She looked back at the radar. "Captain— there's something under us."

"Probably just an aquifer or something. We'll get Hackford to check the readouts."

Rebecca stared at the screen. She scrolled back through the feed. "I'm no expert at this stuff, but it looks awfully big."

Stratton slowed the buggy to a stop. He frowned at the readout.

"It's getting shallower, too, see?" Rebecca pointed to the rising darkness in the graph. "Maybe it will surface ahead?"

Stratton shook his head. "We're at the edge of the zone. I don't want to risk going further until this area is fully mapped, unless there's good reason. It's probably just a cave system. If Hackford thinks it's significant, I'll okay an exploratory search for an opening." They started moving again. "Keep the radar going, for now, we'll reach the edge of the river and follow it back toward the ship. If there is anyone here, they'd be near water, right?"

Rebecca shrugged. "It's as good a place to start as any. Humans, certainly, would settle near fresh water, but whatever is here— if anything, may have different needs than us. Martham was right, the Hardcoop's assessment didn't show any signs of permanent settlements."

"Well, at least we can take some samples for the others while we're there. And the Keseburg's orders include locating a clean water source for future missions and— and settlement." He shook his head. "That seems unreal. To say that. Settlement. To think of houses and streets. I don't even know what a street is made out of, do you, Emery?"

"Not really," she said. "I know the materials and the industries people used to make them, but not how to do it myself. Nor how to build a house, plant a crop or start a fire. At least— not without the draybots to help. Never seen snow or real rain. Except on the feed."

Stratton chuckled and it echoed against his helmet. "My dad had this film he loved when I was a kid. It was made on Earth, and it was about these great beasts— cows— that roamed around on huge plains— like this, actually. And these men would watch them, guard them from other men. And that's all they did, every day. They sat on the back of a different animal— horses. They're too big for the zoology labs. They don't let them reach maturity during cloning. Have you ever seen a picture of a horse, Emery?"

She shook her head. "I've read about them, but no, I never was much for Earth films. I thought they might disappoint me, ruin what I imagined it looked like."

"Oh, not horses— horses are fast and strong and graceful. The men would sit on their backs and follow the cows over these huge stretches. And sometimes the horses would run. Forever, Emery, they could run forever. No ship walls, no steel decks, just— just this." He spread a hand toward the plain. "The sound on the Earth films isn't as good as ours are, but when the horses ran, it sounded like your heart in the middle of a crash simulator. Thumping and thumping. I want to belong to a horse, Emery."

"I think it's the other way around, Captain. At least, that's what the books say. But never mind. You're excited about this place?"

He turned to her in shock, fumbling with the wheel and snapping his head back to the terrain ahead as they hit a bump. "You aren't?" he asked, "There's plants, life. We saw an animal— a living spiny thing. A real living thing. How can you not be excited?"