Arrival

by Ryk Brown

“I remember. We used to call you ‘The Three Musketeers’.” “Yeah, that was us. I used to love going over to Bobby’s quarters and listening to Ray talk about his adventures back on Earth. That’s where I got my adventuresome spirit. I’m sure of it. Then when Bobby died, Ray sort of took me under his wing, put the command bug in me. It’s all I can ever remember wanting to do with my life.” Jack took a drink from his own canteen. “This mission seemed an obvious choice.”

“I sure did. So did Abby.” “Yeah, Tanya did too. She never asked me not to go, but I know she wanted to. I guess she just knew I had to go.” Jack thought for a moment, remembering their last night together. Tanya’s mother had taken the children for the night, leaving them alone in their quarters for the first time in months.

They had made love that night, refusing to speak of the dangers that might lie ahead for him. She had not asked him to make any promises to return that he could not keep. She understood his inherent heroic nature, as much as she disliked that side of him. And he had made no such promises before departing, saying nothing more than “see you soon” as he kissed her on the cheek and floated through the docking port hatch. “You know,” Jack realized. “In retrospect, I think she’s probably much braver than I am.” “How do you figure?”

Jack glanced at Will after his remark, catching the grin on his face. “Yeah?” he laughed. “Well, we have our moments.” Jack turned his gaze toward the campfire, deciding that it needed more fuel to maintain its amber blaze. “Well, convincing Abby wasn’t so easy,” Will confessed. “She even asked Maria to try to talk me out of it. It almost worked, too.” “So she didn’t want you to go, I guess.” “That is a considerable understatement. She wouldn’t speak to me for days.” “What changed her mind?”

“I’m not sure, really. But I think it had something to do with my oldest son. He had never really been interested in my work. I think he wanted someone a little more interesting for a father. Maybe someone not quite so ‘scientific’, if you know what I mean. But after I started training, she heard him bragging about me to his friends. At that point, I think she understood my reason for going better than I did.”

“Maybe, but he had never done so before then. I guess it had a significant effect on her. I know it did on me.” “Yeah, it does feel good.” “Yes, it does.” They sat there for a while, staring at the fire. They had both learned something important about each other, as well as themselves. It had brought them a little closer together, which they both seemed to welcome.

“Need some help?” Maria asked as she stepped off the ladder onto the flight deck, bowing her head slightly under the low ceiling. “Huh?” Frank responded, not expecting visitors. “Help? Assistance?”

She was good, there was no doubt about it in Frank’s mind. “You’d be defensive too if you had Commander Lynni giving you the evil eye at every turn.” “The evil eye, huh? Why do you think she does that?”

She was baiting him, trying to drag him into a conversation that he didn’t feel like having right now. “Cuz she’s afraid I’m going to find Jack and she’s going to have to give up her seat of power,” he sneered. Maria was a little shocked at his spiteful response. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Frank leaned back away from the electronics rack that he had been tinkering with, slumping back into his chair. “No, of course not,” he sighed. “She just doesn’t understand.” Fra...

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she countered, not allowing herself to become upset by his jab. Frank was silent for a moment. “Sorry, Doc.” “It’s alright, Frank. You know, Will was one of my best friends.” “Really?” “Yup. I introduced him to his wife.” Frank leaned away from his work once again, curious about this new information Maria was sharing.

“They were both so shy, I thought I was going to have to coach them through their first kiss!” She laughed to herself. “You should’ve seen them!” “I had no idea,” Frank admitted, chuckling. The shared bond had been forged, just as she had intended. But it was time to get down to business. “So, you think you can fix this thing?” she asked as she leaned forward, feigning interest.

“Really? I didn’t know we even carried any, what did you call them?” “Repeaters. We don’t, actually. But they’d be easy enough to rig up.” “And you’d have to put them on top of the mountains? Can you do that?” “I don’t really know. I’m pretty sure I could. Maybe using one of the ATCs.”

“Now that I will take as a compliment.” “Okay, Doc. I’ll give it a try,” he promised, seeing the doubtful look on her face. “I promise.” “Good. And you can start now by knocking off for the night and getting a full night’s sleep for a change.” “Is that an order, Doctor?” he teased. “If necessary.”

Just as they had anticipated, hiking through the mountains was far more difficult than walking across the plains. Still, after nearly two weeks of hiking across flatland, they were happy with the change of scenery. Here, it was greener, and more lush. Instead of hiking a relatively straight course across open plains, they found themselves weaving through never-ending forests. The trees here towered above them, and were adorned with various species of birds and small animals. There was plenty of water flowing through these hills as well, with a new stream crossing their path nearly every day.

It seemed as though they had gained at least a few thousand meters in altitude. The air was crisper, cooler, and undoubtedly thinner. The result was that water that had been enough for two days, was now only enough for one. Today, they had been following a ravine up the side of a long hill since they broke camp more than four hours ago, hoping it would be the easiest way across the summit. “It looks like we’re nearing the summit,” Jack panted as the trees began to thin out. “I hope so,” Will remarked weakly. “I’m almost out of energy.”

Jack picked up the pace a little after the terrain flattened out, but then suddenly slowed down. “What’s wrong?” Will asked when he noticed that Jack was lagging behind. “You need a break?” he teased. “Do you hear that?” Jack asked as he ground to a halt. Will stopped beside Jack and listened. “Sounds like running water.” “It sounds like a lot of running water,” Jack corrected, remembering the sound of the first river they had taken water samples from.

“Uh-oh,” was all that Jack could say. Below them stretched a vast, jungle-like forest so thick that he felt he could step onto the treetops like walking across a carpet. The canopy was colored in greens, tans, and browns, with occasional splotches of colorful flowers growing in the sunlit treetops that broke up the monotony. A wide river wound its way through the forest below, cutting it in half. About fifty kilometers across, the far side of the valley butted up against the base of another mountain range, the one that Jack assumed was the final obstacle between them and the coastline.

“Does it matter?” “Guess not,” Jack decided. “We’ll have to look around and try to find the best place to climb down,” he announced as he began walking along the ridgeline to his right. “Excuse me?” Will asked in disbelief. “Did you say, climb down?” “How else do you expect to get down there? Take an elevator?” Jack joked as he walked along the ridge, stopping every few steps to peer over the edge. “Are you nuts?” Will objected. “We can’t climb down this!”

“Do you always babble like this?” Jack asked. “Only when someone is suggesting that I jump off a cliff. Otherwise, I’m a very quiet man.” Jack stopped suddenly. “Look,” he said, pointing at the ridgeline ahead of them. “There.” “What? What is it?” “That’s where we can get down.” Will looked; the cliff face was not quite as steep closest to the northern end of the ridge, but it still looked like suicide to him. “Please, Jack… Think about this,” he begged.

There were no great obstacles for the first fifty meters. The cliff face wrapped around the base of the northern mountains, so it was not as steep. A lot of very careful steps and a few butt-slides got them down. But the last fifty meters required more effort. Facing the mountainside, they stepped down, one rock, crack, or handhold at a time. On more than one occasion, Will’s grip would fumble, sending pebbles and dirt showering down onto Jack. But they managed to get to the shelf where their packs waited without serious difficulty.

“Give me a hand lowering these.” Will joined him, looping the rope around his waist and leaning back against the cliff to brace himself. “Ready?” Jack called. “Ready.” Jack sat on the ground in front of Will, held onto the rope, and pushed the backpacks over the edge with his feet, putting tension on the rope. Slowly, they lowered the packs down the cliff face, the packs knocking bits and pieces of the mountain free as they slid down.

“Christ! We’re probably less than five meters short!” he exclaimed. He turned around to face Will. “Anything breakable in there?” “Just the data pad and video player,” Will answered. “Yeah, but they’re pretty well padded.” Jack looked back over the edge. “What the hell; let it go, Will.” “Are you sure?”

“Okay, we’re going to have to do this one at a time,” Jack said. “It’s at least one hundred meters down to the bottom, and all we have left is a fifty-meter line, so one of us is going to have to climb about halfway down while the other one belays him from here.” “Then what does the top guy do?” “He climbs down to the bottom guy, who belays him.” “From below? What happens if the second guy falls?” “Well, he won’t fall all the way down, only forty to fifty meters or so.” “Oh, is that all?” Will answered sarcastically. “Then you better go first,” he suggested.

“Okay, here I go.” Jack knelt down on the ground, lowering his legs over the edge. He put his feet onto his first foothold, a large rock jutting out from the face. Will carefully fed out the line as he watched Jack disappear over the edge, wondering if he would be able to do the same when it was his turn. Now he couldn’t even see Jack, and was only able to gauge his progress by the amount of line he had fed him. Occasionally, he could hear the sound of crumbling rock, the pieces bouncing off the face on the way down, dislodging other stones.