Landing... Again

An hour before they planned to set down on their new home, Ofelia climbed the ladder into the cockpit. She stopped when she heard Tyler’s voice.
“Think Jack, how much this technology would be worth on Earth. And it would only take a few months to get there.”
“That’s rather a moot point considering we’re almost here, and not all of us would fit on a ship for that long in any sort of comfort.”
“Who said we had to take all of us… or all of the damn equipment we have on board?”
“Tyler, the whole point of this expedition was to prove that a generational colony ship can be self sustaining and eventually profitable. Coming home with our tail tucked between our legs after a month on a strange planet would be a disgrace to our parent’s memories.”
“But think of the legacy for the people who brought incontrovertible proof of other intelligent life in space.”
“We left home twenty years ago! By Larry, Moe and Curl’s description, they’ve probably had twenty encounters so far. We were on Eden 12 less than a month before our neighbors decided to say hi.”
Ofelia didn’t give Tyler a chance to respond. Instead she noisily climbed the rest of the way up the ladder. Tyler stopped talking and after an icy stare, headed down the way she’d come. Jack raised a questioning eyebrow silently querying how much she had heard. Ofelia rolled her eyes at Jack and sat in the other chair.
“Everybody ready to go, Captain,” Jack said swiveling around, a little faster than necessary. He had to brace himself on the control panel to keep from spinning a three sixty.
“Don’t call me that. It makes your brother angry.” Ofelia turned her chair to face the one window she’d seen in the spaceship. It may not have even been a real window, but it was the only thing that offered a view of the rapidly approaching new planet. They were just now getting close enough to make out some of the features on the face of the white blue globe.
“I know it drives him crazy. Why do you think I do it?”
“Well, I’m not your fearless leader, so you can cut it out. Other people won’t get the joke and they’ll follow your example.”
“Ofelia, exactly what have you been doing for the past two weeks?” Being a leader is more than just ordering people around. And no matter how hard he tries, Tyler can’t get that great leaders are born and not made.”
“Your father was first officer and your mother was the chief doc.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that Tyler couldn’t lead a kindergarten class to the Rec Dec.”
“Have you ever tried to corral five year olds?”
“Tyler is still trying to replace my dad.”
“You’re oversimplifying things. And besides, I don’t want to follow in my mother’s footsteps.”
“I hate to tell you, but you’re already there.”
While Ofelia was thinking of a response, the purple red light blinked off.
“Honey, we’re home!”
The planet looked huge, much bigger than she imagined Eden Twelve looking.
“How much larger is our new home?” she asked.
“Actually, by mass, it’s slightly smaller. That’s how I got the spaceship thrown into the deal,” Jack said as he grabbed the steer stick and dipped in low.
“Weren’t you going to wait for Tyler?” He was supposed to be the pilot around here… and he was going to have to steer it out of the atmosphere.
“He snoozed, he loses. Besides, I’ll have to wait for the next window if I want to get anywhere near the spot we chose.”
The aliens had recommended what they called a premium site that mimicked the geographical location they’d landed on Eden Twelve. The cockpit grew warm for a minute, and the view faded as they hit clouds and suddenly dipped below them, revealing a deep rich tree laden jungle.
“Definitely smoother than The Hope, as much as I loved that bucket of rusted bolts,” Jack commented.
“She got us where we were supposed to go, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, but this is like trading an Old Earth handheld video game for a holosim chamber. Cooler, but doesn’t quite match the charm.”
They zoomed even lower. “I wonder if this thing does loop de loops.”
“Don’t even think about it, buster.”
They burst out on an open plain and Jack slowed the ship as he looked for a proper landing space.
“That’s a strange looking hill.” There were several large green brown hills rising twenty or so feet above the tall grass. “Almost doesn’t look like a natural phenomenon.”
One of the hills raised a head.
“Holy Crap, Jack! You bought us a planet with dinosaurs!”
Jack swerved the ship and put it into hover mode, well above the creatures’ heads.
“That’s not a dinosaur. It’s a…”
“Does that, or does that not look like a brontosaurus?”
“Well, it can’t be, considering this planet can’t make the same genetic choices that ours did billions of miles away. I think we’ll call it a Jackasaurus.”
“That still doesn’t answer the question of whether there’s lots of things down there that can eat us! You tell me how the force fence will keep that out?”
“I’m sorry,” Jack bit back. “When bartering for a new planet, one does not think about the potential of dinos!”
Ofelia surveyed the herd of monsters, gently grazing on the plain. “One thing’s for sure. We’re not landing here. Surely there’s another place more suitable. It’s a big planet. Tell me there’s at least one continent without dinosaurs.”
“At least these look like vegetarians. We don’t really want to find a dinosaur that we’re going to call Tylerosaurus Rex.” Jack nearly keeled over laughing at his own joke. She was afraid to smack him, in case he accidentally sent the ship into a tail spin and crashed.
“Jack.”
He straightened up, and at least tried to stop laughing. It really wasn’t that funny, but he had the giggles, and she was starting to get infected. This was serious business.
“Really. I know. But I just realized that you’re the carnivore. You like to eat meat. We should call it the Ofeliasaurus.”
Ofelia had to close her eyes to avoid laughing. It would only encourage him. She pointed towards the skyline.
“Go.” Mostly contained, Jack flew the spaceship higher and they skimmed up and over a forest. Ofelia kept her eyes glued to the flashing sights below them, but through the trees it was difficult to tell if there were any more creatures available. That’s all she needed – for her mother to land in another month and find that most of her colony had been eaten.
After an hour, they found another potential site. Ofelia made Jack circle a thirty mile area, three times to check for any more giant creatures.
“None that I can see,” Jack said as he hit the button labeled landing gear.
“Yeah, but maybe we should send out a few recon parties before letting everyone off.”
“You do realize that if we don’t start unloading soon, we’re not going to get the turnaround time your mother is expecting.”
“I think she’d rather have us safe than on time.”
Tyler popped his head up from the hatch.
“So when are we going to get there?”
“Right now,” Jack said. The ship jarred to a halt and settled on the legs.
“You mean we’ve already cleared the atmosphere?” Tyler didn’t sound too happy. Jack looked at a light that had started blinking on the console in front of him.
“They’ve opened the main hatch. Someone had better get down there and tell them to keep an eye out for giant lizards.”
“What do you mean, giant lizards.”
“What? You mean you didn’t see the Tylersaurus Rex?” Jack chuckled and stood from his chair, but Ofelia was ahead of him. She was already at the top of the ladder, waiting for Tyler to climb down. Tyler didn’t move.
“He’s serious you know. We need to get down there and tell them about the dinosaurs we saw.”
“Dinosaurs?”
“Move!” Jack and Ofelia shouted together. Tyler finally began to descend the ladder. Ofelia quickly followed and sprinted towards the back of the ship. She had gotten the hang of where to duck and go sideways through the narrow passages.
“Oww!” Apparently Tyler hadn’t.
When she reached the back she saw that a crowd of the colonists had already run down the ramp and were stretching in the fresh air. Some of the children were sprinting around in an impromptu game of tag. She knew immediately that informing them of the moveable hills would be a big mistake. There weren’t any in the direct area, and she couldn’t imagine anything that big moving fast enough to catch them by surprise.
Jack came running down the ramp with a megaphone. He offered it to her. She took it, and Tyler made a grab for it, but she yanked it out of his reach and started to call out instructions.
“Right. No one goes out more than one hundred yards from the ship. We’re not sure if this is a good spot, and if we take off without you, we’re not coming back.” That would be enough to scare the children in staying close, but not panic them.
“They didn’t ask for permission before opening the ramp. I think…”
“Tyler. They’ve been cooped up for two weeks. Let them run around a bit. There’s no need to worry about permission. It’s already done.” She watched them for a bit longer before turning back to the ship. Jack was at the top of the ramp handing out scanners to survey teams. Each team was made of four people, one of which was either a xenobiologist or zoologist. Each carried a long range communicator and a set of flares. Jack cleared a space and unloaded four of the five dusters that they had brought with them. He pulled the team leaders aside and quietly spoke to them. There was a lot of nodding, and Ofelia guessed he was probably explaining what they should be on the lookout for. Jack’s group broke up and the leaders set off with their groups, blazing away in their dusters.
The spot where Jack had set them down, was near a small river and about a hundred yards from a fairly tropical looking jungle. They’d need a good source of trees for when they started to build houses. For now, they’d have to make due with the impromptu tents the moms had been making while watching the children play their board games. The largest of their cranes had not fit on board, but Jack had managed to disassemble several of the smaller cranes that could be used to level some trees and move around the main beams.
The most hardy of the men had been studying whatever documentation the mainframe had contained about the construction of wood framed houses. Until they got the glassworks set up, windows were also going to be at a premium.
Tyler stood at the top of the ramp looking very grumpy, his arms crossed over his chest.
“So when are you getting this stuff off my ship so I can take off?”
“The survey teams are supposed to report back in two hours,” Jack said. “It would be silly to move anything until we get final confirmation. I’d rather not have to move everything about more than once.”
“It might be getting dark by then,” Tyler said, eyeing the sky dubiously.
“Then you might have to take off tomorrow,” Larissa said, from behind him.
“Where have you been,” Ofelia asked her, trying to change the subject that Tyler was about to argue.
“Didn’t you hear? I’ve been elected Juliet by the Shakespeare in the Ship Theater Group. I’ve been trying to memorize my lines!”
“I think that Romeo and Juliet was a little industrious for a fifteen day cruise.”
“I told them they should have stuck with a comedy, but Mrs. Edwards doesn’t like all the cross dressing in Twelfth Night. Either way, I’ve been busy.”
“Who’s your Romeo?”
“Why, Meldric, of course. I’m surprised Mrs. Edwards didn’t inform you of how cute we are together.”
“Is she back pushing you at him?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not thinking that Meldric is going to make my date book any time soon.”
“He’d better not. If I hear of any shenanigans, you’re no longer my apprentice.”
“Isn’t that kind of a double standard. I mean you’ve been up to all sorts of shenanigans.”
Tyler was turning red as he tried to pretend he was ignoring the conversation.
“Yeah, but I’m over the age of consent. When you turn eighteen, feel free to make your own decisions, but as long as your living under my roof…”
Ofelia grinned, knowing full well it would be a month or two before she actually had a roof to live under. Larissa grinned back and passes a sly look to Tyler.
“So, are you missing Sexy Rexy yet? I bet you are going to be in serious French kissing mode when he gets back.” Tyler turned around and stomped back into the ship.
“You really shouldn’t do that. I’ve left my mom a vid to explain the mood Tyler’s been in, but I wouldn’t want to tempt him any further to punish Rex when he gets on board.”
“Oh, I think Rex can take care of himself,” Larissa said. “Now what’s this I hear about dinosaurs?”
“Do you know everything that happens on board this ship?”
“Actually. Yes. I do.” Larissa winked at Ofelia and went off to gather more information.
Two hours later, the survey teams came back right on time with positive reviews of the surrounding area. Nothing larger than some sort of camel looking animal was found.
Despite Tyler’s fears, they finished unloading the ship just before dusk. Jack told Tyler to wait until morning, but as soon as the last person and crate were off loaded, Tyler shut the ramp and took off with a roar. Even though Ofelia knew it would be back, the sight of the ship rising to a vague pinpoint in the sky filled her with a sense of dread.
At least they had laser rifles. Ofelia wondered how many shots it would take to down a dinosaur. More than five, she guessed, but now was not the time to be thinking such pessimistic thoughts.
Ofelia finally gave up trying to get people to stop calling her Captain Clovelly. To get even with the one who’d started it all, Ofelia started calling him Captain Jack, which made him sound more like a pirate, than the scrawny nearly twenty year old with a brain to big for his cranium.
Ofelia surveyed the campsite that was beginning to settle down for the night. Near the landing site, boxes and boxes of personal items were still lined up and stacked in neat rows, forming a semicircular wall that Jack had skillfully used to protect the back side of the camp. The heavy machinery that Jack could fit in the cargo hold filled in the rest of the circle except for the quarter that faced the river. As long as there were no giant alligators, squids or monster killer bunnies, they’d be fairly secure. The flood lights brightened the area to near day, and the tents that had been set up filled the space. The weather being warm, and space in the tents limited, many of the colonists had decided to sleep outside. Curfew was in an hour, and Ofelia went from campsite, to campsite, visiting and reassuring people that they would be safe when they turned the flood lights down for sleep.
Ofelia approached the HQ tent that the moms had made out of a bright yellow fabric. If you looked closely, it had tiny teddy bears and bunnies imprinted into it, but Mrs. Reynolds had informed her that they’d chosen the brightest color they could find, despite it being originally intended for children’s pajamas.
Jack stood in the middle of the tent, staring at a newly made map of the camp and surrounding areas. He was scowling at the only other man in the tent. Ofelia joined them.
“What do you mean, you forgot the force fences?” Jack called to the sheepish technician who’d been elected to bear the bad news. “How could you forget them?”
“Well, they were being used at the old colony. We couldn’t just leave them defenseless.”
“Great, you’d better hope that the survey teams didn’t miss anything. Otherwise, we’re going to be very, very sorry. We’ll have to set up a watch. And your team gets the longest shift.”
The tech nearly ran out of the tent.
“Not that giant lizards will find force fences much of a barrier,” Jack said as he stared at the map. The scans that they’d brought back made a fairly detailed map of the area.
“I think the layout you’ve got us in will be pretty good for most things, even without the force fences.”
“Yeah, but they would have been nice to have, even if they just kept the more adventurous of the little brats from wandering too far away.”
“Hey, I remember when you were a little brat, not too long ago.”
“Well, at least I couldn’t wander off the spaceship.”
“No, instead, you’d turn off antigrav and go floating about into holes we couldn’t get too.”
Jack smiled fondly at the memory. “I think this site will work well for our new home. The jungle’s got plenty of wood, and the weather here tropical. We’re far enough inland to make hurricanes not a huge threat. No volcanoes, and though we’ll have to wait for tectonic and seismographic scans, I think it’s pretty stable.”
“Then it sounds like it’s time to turn off the lights and go to bed,” Ofelia said, yawning.
“I just have a few more adjustments I’d like to make on the new particle board attachment I came up with.”
“Captain Jack, it’s past your bedtime,” Ofelia warned with her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said. “I’m not a teenager any more.”
“Actually, by the way I calculated it, you still are… for another 30 days. Did you realize your birthday is the same day that we’re expecting them to arrive?”
“I had noticed, yes. And I expect a really big party.”
“Aye, aye Captain Jack. Of course we’ll be telling everyone it’s a welcome party for the rest of the crew.”
“I figured as much. As long as I get some chocolate cake, and ice cream, even if it is cardboard from the food processors.”
“Can do.”
“And I expect you to spend at least one hour at my party.”
“Why would I only want to spend an hour?”
“Because,” Larissa said, coming into the tent. “Sexy Rexy might be having other ideas.”
“Oh,” Ofelia said.
“Oaf, you’d think that you’d stop blushing by now,” Jack said.
“I can’t help it.”
“Anyway,” the fifteen year old Larissa said, putting her hands on her hips, “it’s past both of your bedtimes, so turn the lights off and get some sleep.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jack said, as he hit the dimmer switch on the flood lights.
“Oh, and Ofelia, I forgot to tell you the good news.”
“What’s that?”
“Our scans are conclusive on one point. The area is entirely bunny free.”
Ofelia shook her head in the darkness. Larissa giggled, but then announced in a strong mothering voice, “That’s it. If you two keep talking, I’m going to have to come over there and separate you two.”
“Can I at least say goodnight?”
“Fine,” Larissa said.
“Good night, John Boy,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean? My name’s not John, and I’m certainly no boy,” Larissa said in the darkness as she climbed into her sleeping bag.
“Oh, just forget it.”
#
It was amazing to Ofelia how fast the houses began to go up, and things moved into a routine. By the time Jack’s birthday rolled around, nearly half the families had houses. The first buildings to be constructed were the infirmary, school, and the cafeteria… as well as the rank of toilets.
This time, Jack had made it perfectly clear, that once the houses were built and assigned, there would be moving them from place to place, as these suckers had concrete foundations. It also seemed that everyone was pitching in, much more than they had in the original settlement on Eden Twelve. Apparently, 15 days crowded on an alien ship had done what 20 years on The Hope had not. They’d cemented into a cooperative community.
Ofelia had asked for a four bedroom house, thinking that when her mother arrived, it would be nice for her to have a place to live until the rest of the houses were built. There would also be room for Jack, Larissa, and Rex… if he wanted to share her bedroom for a while.
The location was on the end of one row, overlooking the river and slightly separated from the rest. The shell of it was finished the day before Jack’s birthday, but unfortunately furniture, dry wall, paint and tiles were in short supply. She dragged her personal crate into it, nonetheless, thinking at least she could try to set up a decent private space for when Rex arrived. With no decent mattress, she’d made pillows and piled them on the floor with a few sheets draped over the floor. When she finished, her room looked somewhat like a harem decorated in raw wood particle board.
“Great décor,” Larissa said as she peered in the doorway. “Care to decorate my room?”
“Very funny.”
“My suggestion is that you wear something slinky so he’s so busy getting your clothes off he doesn’t have time to take a look around.”
“Oh, I remember how well slinky worked last time. I ended up in a trench coat for 2 days.”
“Yeah, but did he pause to take a look around?”
Ofelia blushes, remembering that they hadn’t even had dinner until several hours after the slinky clothes were lying on the floor. Larissa smiled at her.
“Yeah, I thought so. You want me to pick you out something to wear?”
“No. Besides, I promised Jack that I’d spend at least an hour with him at his birthday party, so I can’t do serious tramp.”
That night Ofelia slept in her new room for the first time. She didn’t sleep well, as her dreams included phantom Rex’s that reached out for her and made wake expecting him to be in her arms. As day broke, she finally admitted to herself that Rex had become more than just a thrilling alternative to Tyler. She’d missed him. She wanted him, and more than just his penchant for bedding her. Ofelia liked his smiles, his good humor, and his mysterious dark side.
As she got dressed, Ofelia realized she had probably fallen in love with Rex. She wasn’t sure if this was a good thing, or a bad thing, but she knew for sure that she was looking forward to the moment he flashed her a smile, curled her toes with a kiss and asked her to point the way to their secluded spot. Ofelia left her house with a bounce in her step.
For the arrival welcome party, they’d set up a huge tent pavilion with practically all the chairs the colony carpenters had created so far. Some of the botanists had even approved some squash like vegetables that the crew had cooked up like a combination between mashed potatoes and cauliflower. Everyone was bustling back and forth, eyes constantly on the sky, trying to look as if they weren’t looking or anticipating the arrival of the ship. Most people sat around idle, as they’d pretty much declared today a work holiday. The sounds of construction were silent so that more hands could be ready to help unload the livestock and other such precious expected cargo.
“The pens are almost ready, Captain Jack,” one of the men reported in at the HQ tent. Jack nodded and marked them off on the map in front of them.
“All right. Then I officially declare us as ready as we’re going to get. We just have to sit back, relax, and wait for them to get here,” Jack said, leaning back into a lounge chair, and putting his feet up. He had donned a loud yellow shirt that, for some strange reason, was made of the same material as the HQ tent.
“So how’s the birthday boy?”
“Exhausted. I feel like I’ve had to plan my own party.”
“It’s great being in charge, isn’t it?”
“I’ll be glad when your mom gets here, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, me two,” Ofelia said. She sat down on a chair similar to Jack’s and lay back, her arms behind her head. The chair was near enough to the outer edge of the tent to have a clear view of the sky. There were two light fluffy clouds lazily crossing, but other than that, the bright blue expanse was unmarred.
The afternoon grew later, and the colonists, unwilling to ruin their appetite, simply snacked on pretzels. Ofelia tried to get the games into gear, but everything seemed to fall flat. The party couldn’t start without its honored guests.
Three hours after sundown, an executive decision was made to cut the cakes, so the children could have some before going to bed. Another three hours after that, most of the other colonists petered off to bed as well.
“Maybe they just had some loading problems,” Larissa said for the third time, as Jack sat poking at his fourth piece of birthday cake. She had decided to stay up and wait with Jack and Ofelia. Unfortunately, Doctor and Mrs. Edwards had also decided to join them.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s it, rather than the aliens murdering them all,” Mrs Edwards said, glaring at Jack’s plate. She obviously disapproved of the amount of cake he had been consuming. When he stabbed it hard with his fork, she reached across the table and pulled it away from him. He caught the edge, and for a moment they had a tug of war.
“Give me that back.” He said it with such venom that she immediately let go, causing the plate to catapult across the table, flying off between Jack and Ofelia.
“You shouldn’t play with your food.”
“I wasn’t playing. I was eating.”
“Four?”
“I’m the bloody birthday boy. I can eat as much as I want. I’m not a child.”
“I shudder to think of what your father would have said about such behavior.”
“First of all,” Larissa said standing up, Ofelia grabbed her hand and tried to make her sit down, but Larissa wasn’t having of that. Her braids swung around her head like vengeful snakes. “You have no right to talk to him like that. Second, I think his father would be proud of how at nineteen, he practically single handedly built and rebuilt this colony without so much as one dead person! And third, unless you want to eat off the floor for the next few months, you’d better be careful about making him mad. All work orders have to be approved by him, and guess who brings him the work orders? Me. And I just might lose a few or ten.”
Ofelia gave another tug on Larissa’s hand and she sat down hard, back into her chair.
As his wife stood, Doc Martin did the same and cut her off before she could spew her own venom.
“Thanks for the cake. We were just leaving anyway, weren’t we, dear?” Mrs. Edwards flashed an evil eye towards her husband, but walked away without saying a word. He followed after shaking his head at the three remaining.