The Other 6 Months

Rex stared up at the blue belly of the ship as it took off. At the last minute he’d changed his mind, and thrown on some clothes. He’d stepped out of his cabin just in time to hear the roar of the engines and see Ofelia hurtling into space off to a new planet.
Why had he let Kathryn talk him into this? Sitting around baby sitting aliens wasn’t too bad, but now that the place was nearly empty, the D.O.’s were starting to get ideas into their heads. They’d started off with looting. After all, the boys said, no one was going to object to them helping themselves to stuff no one wanted. Kathryn put a halt to that rather quickly and she sealed the doors to all unoccupied cabins. Then they’d moved to the orchards and gorged themselves on fruit. Viola nearly had a heart attack when she’d seen how much they’d eaten in such a short time. She’s planned to can a lot of that because it could be a long time before they saw fruit bearing trees again. They didn’t have room on the ship to unroot them and cart them to the new planet.
When they entered The Bar, Rex met them with an ominous grin and a laser rifle slung on his back. They gave him a few wary glances and then settled in the corner opposite from Larry, Moe and Curly. Now the aliens Rex could handle. They spent the vast majority of their time playing poker, and from what Rex could tell, not one of the three seemed to amass any fortune. They all seemed to win and lose equally, as if they were taking turns bluffing and calling each other’s bluffs.
As time grew close to Tyler’s expected return, Rex spent more time with Kathryn and The Doctors Romanov. For some reason he seemed to share more of the same sensibilities with the three older women than with the rest of the crew left behind. They were all veterans and despite Kathryn’s celebrity status, she had seen a lot of darkness in her life.
They knew that this mission wasn’t just for scientific and cultural expansion. It was he search to find some place in the universe where they could settle, and not worry about the growing shadow of the corporation or the dimming ghosts of the past.
As much as he tried to deny it, Ofelia was now part of that dream. Some part of him had known it the moment she’d stormed into the bar and downed the whisky like pro.

Rex was glad the DO’s had a healthy respect for Larry, Moe and Curly. He didn’t want to end up as the first interspecies referee. Instead, they sat in the corner and came up with new things to steal.
Some how or another, Kathryn had either got Rex’s invitation, or he’d managed to invite her to have most of her meals at the bar. Viola and Juliet usually joined her. Most of the time they talked business, deciding what could be packed and what couldn’t and in what order. Juliet was rather upset that the first ship had forgotten the force fences. It meant they were going to spend the better part of a month without protection from the planet life, and they’d probably have to build another set of fences to keep the cattle in. Either way, Juliet made sure that they had to be included in the cargo.
“It’s like giving birth,” Viola said about the packing up. “Like trying to squeeze a watermelon through something the size of a lemon.” Rex knew what she meant. Unlike the first group, they seemed to have more time to decide what was going and what wasn’t. Most of the liquor was a definite go. He had repackaged it all out of the traditional glass and into more spill proof containers. He’d received the okay from Kathryn to pack the glassware, but he’d have to leave the large bar mirror, the stools, chairs, and tables.
Looking around, just before take off, Rex realized how attached he’d become to the place. It was odd. The little thirteen year old who’d conned his way on the ship like The Artful Dodger didn’t exist anymore. There was no boy who jumped from place to place, learning survival skills as he went. Instead, he was a stodgy thirty three year old man who didn’t want to give up the comforts of home. Now the only choice he had was to uproot and move on.
Had he mentioned his plan to move in with Ofelia to her? As long as they were losing their quarters, they might as well cohabitate and share. And if that wasn’t her idea when he landed, Rex was sure he could find ways to change her mind. He had to readjust himself at the thought. He seemed to be doing a lot of readjusting lately.
From the minute Tyler landed, Rex was sure he had it out for him. With all the cargo sitting on the landing pad Jack had paved before he left, it only took a few hours to load the ship. Tyler didn’t help an ounce. He didn’t even supervise. He simply glared coldly at Rex as box after box was hoisted into the hold.
Larry, Moe and Curly came to see them off. Somewhere in Fred’s database they must have found a few salutations and goodbyes. They waved their tentacles and Fred shouted.
“Thanks for the memories! Take a hike! Hit the road Jack! Hasta Vista, Baby.”
Once everything was on board Kathryn paused at the end of the ramp to look at the empty sprawl of buildings.
“It’s not a bad deal, Jack made, but I wish it didn’t have to happen,” she said, hitting the ramp button.
“My mom never said goodbye. She always said ‘On to better things.’”
“She died in the war?”
“Just after. I didn’t realize she was starving herself to feed me, until she was dead, and I had to find food for myself.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight. I moved into a metropolis and lived off garbage for a month or two before getting smart to the system.”
“The system?”
“Yeah, find what people want, and get it for them… for a price. Always works.”
Kathryn nodded and grabbed a hold of a console as the engines roared and the ship shifted beneath them.
“That boy isn’t even going to wait until I’m up in the cockpit to take off.”
Rex chuckled. “He seems to have a rather large chip on his shoulder.”
“Stay clear of him. Ofelia left me a vid saying you seriously should keep an eye on him and not provoke him.”
A knot curled in Rex’s stomach. “Sounds like a reason for me to kill him. What did he do?” Images of Tyler alone with Ofelia ran through his head. It irked him enough that he’d touched her before, but now that Ofelia was Rex’s, there was no way in hell he’d tolerate Tyler’s advances.
“My daughter can take care of herself. Apparently Tyler now has several stitches in his tongue. That does not give you permission to start brawling on my ship.”
“Tyler seems to think it’s his ship.”
“He would be quite wrong about that. Here. You might want to take a look at this.” Kathryn beamed a vid to Rex’s PDA and he smiled when Ofelia’s face popped onto the screen.
“Hello Mother. Now I don’t want you to overreact, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep an eye on Tyler Crosby and Rex. Tyler seems to think that my decision to… start a relationship with Rex was… not very well thought out. He still seems to think we’re engaged… even though we never were. He caught me in going into the cockpit and he tried to stick his tongue down my throat. I didn’t mean to give him so many stitches, but he’s been rather grumpy since Jack got some of the children to call me Captain Clovelly. Why can guys be so creepy? Wait a minute, maybe I shouldn’t… well anyway… just watch, and make sure Rex makes it onto the ship, alright? Oh, and the children and I had a contest to name the new planet, since too many people couldn’t pronounce it. They want to call it Planet Clovelly… after you, I promise. Not me. Okay. Ofelia Clovelly out.”
Rex sighed, not sure whether to laugh or go punch Tyler in the face. He was probably expecting it. Waiting would be ideal for the biggest impact, and it would probably tick off Kathryn if he disobeyed her order to stay away, and she was not a woman to cross. Rex could wait.
Instead, he went exploring his new quarters. They were cramped, but at least he had a bottom hammock. Crosby had his own room… which would make the trip a bit more tolerable. Upon further exploration, Rex discovered Ofelia had set up a game room. With only a tenth of the crew aboard versus the previous flight, crowding wasn’t too bad. The worst thing was the smell from the cargo bay where the herd of cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens made a ruckus as they were penned tightly for two weeks.
The cats, dogs and other pets all had their own room in neat little cages. There were no children aboard, so Rex made a point of visiting the pet room several times a day, keeping an eye on George, Ofelia’s cat. He also spent a good deal of the voyage playing catch with some of the dogs. One of them was well on her way to having puppies. For the first time in his life, Rex pondered having a pet of his own.
It wasn’t until the day before landing, that Rex noticed his PDA was missing. He’d searched the sleeping cabin several times, and had removed each dog in turn to make sure that none of them was hiding it in their cages. When he couldn’t find it, he was puzzled. It’s not like anyone on board would need to steal it. They all had their own, and they had plenty more in cargo space somewhere. It wasn’t until he caught the cold eye of Tyler in the game room, that Rex began to suspect personal reasons for the theft.
Tyler had taken to playing poker with the DO’s and as Rex sat across the room playing chess with Viola, he could practically sense that he was the topic of conversation. Great. Crosby seemed to have attracted a fan club. The intuitive woman that she was, Viola caught on.
“Some men see what they can’t have, and desperately try to get it at all costs. And even once they get it, they’re severally disappointed.”
“Some men need a kick in the teeth to convince them that they don’t want what they see.”
“Some men need to rise above the other men, knowing that they are already in firm possession of what they want, and that other men are not a threat to them.
“Some men seem to be thieving little bastards.”
“Some men need to concentrate on the task at hand.
“Some men had better stop bloody staring at me.”
“Some men… this is ridiculous, you know,” she said with a smile as she moved a chess piece. “Checkmate.”
Rex looked down at the board, disgusted.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here and stare at the little red purple light for a while.”
“Haven’t you heard? Only people with the last names starting with C and R are allowed into the cockpit.” Actually, Tyler had made the announcement that only Kathryn and the doctors Romanov were welcome. Rex hadn’t minded. It wasn’t as if it really took any talent to pilot this thing.
“What is your last name, anyway?” Rex smiled.
“That’s a very good point. Shall we?” He held out his arm for Viola. She took it with a gracious smile and the two of them sashayed out of the room.
#
They landed without further incident, and when the ramp let down, Rex totally expected to see Ofelia at the end of it. Instead, the only thing in front of them was a grassy plain.
“We’re early,” Tyler called from behind him. They didn’t expect us until tomorrow. They set up camp about a half mile that way. Tyler pointed south, over a slight hill. “This is the best place to land the ship. Let’s get everything unloaded.
No one questioned him. They began to unpack the crates from the ship and set up a ring of force fences as a temporary coral for the livestock. Rex was feeling slightly irritated by the fact that they’d been on the planet for four hours and he’d yet to see a single sign of Ofelia. The dream he had had last night was enough to make any man want to find a shady corner of somewhere and dispense with foreplay until after an explosion or two.
“Everything’s off!” Juliet said as she checked the last thing off the list. “Now we just wait for the welcome wagon.”
“Thank God,” Tyler said. He was standing at the top of the ramp, glaring at Rex, as usual. “I’m quite glad to get some of the trash off my ship.”
It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but Rex calmly walked up the ramp and sucker punched Tyler, hopefully giving him a broken jaw to match the stitches in his tongue. Tyler fell back onto the ramp and Rex walked down, taking off his jacket, really hoping Tyler would follow him down and finish the butt kicking that Rex had planned for him.
Rex turned when he heard the sound of the ramp going up. The whoops of the DO’s silenced as the ramp sealed off the inside of the ship. The engines roared to life and the ship took off, leaving two hundred or so stunned crew members staring up at it, including their captain.
“You’re not blaming that on me, now are you?”
“If I knew your last name, I’d have you court martialed, but seeing as I don’t I think I’ll just have to look the other way. Besides, by the hoots of the numbskulls aboard, I’d have to say he planned that before you punched him,” Kathryn said as she surveyed the horizon.
“So should we send a runner or two to locate the settlement?” Viola asked.
“Something tells me, Tyler was fibbing. Why wouldn’t Jack have set up a strip for us to land? The ship isn’t much bigger than the cattle pens we asked to be waiting,” Juliet commented.
“Why did no one think of these objections while we were unloading?” Kathryn asked.
“I guess we were just so happy to be planet side that we didn’t think we’d be dumped in the middle of nowhere,” Viola said.
“Well, we’re probably at least on the right planet, but who knows where they are. Should we just stay put and wait for them to find us? Searching an entire planet for one little colony would be like trying to go from LA to New York when someone says it’s that direction.” Juliet pointed towards the hillside. “It’s not like we have any way to find each other.”
“I just might,” Kathryn said as she pulled her PDA out of her pocket. She pressed a few buttons and stared at the screen. “That rat bastard.”
“I like it when you talk dirty,” Juliet laughed.
“I don’t know about the colony, but Ofelia is one thousand, two hundred thirty five point two one miles in that direction.” She pointed across the rolling fields away from the hill that Tyler had pointed to.”
“You have Ofelia tagged?” Rex asked.
“Yeah. I had her tagged when she was eighteen months old. There was a string of famous child abduction cases. I was a celebrity, and I was afraid someone would kidnap her for a ransom.
“So you had her implanted with a homing device?”
“Planet wide, state of the art. Or at least it was twenty some odd years ago. It’s picking up her signal, and assuming she’s at the colony site, and alive, which since she just moved to point two two miles, we should be able to follow this right to her.”
“There’s no way we’re trekking all this livestock across a thousand miles,” Juliet said.
“I agree,” Kathryn said. “There’s no telling if Tyler will get a conscious and come back or not. My suggestion is that we take a small party to the colony, and leave everyone else here. I bet Jack can rig up some better transportation once he knows where we are. He’s got the equipment to build some machines to cart things. Anybody got any better ideas?”
Rex shook his head. Juliet and Viola followed suit.
“I’ll ask for volunteers. I think eight should do it.”
“Then tell them you’re looking for four. We’re coming along.”
“Juliet, don’t you need to stay here and watch the livestock?”
“Babysitting? I’ve got a crack team of biologists sitting around. I don’t need to tell them how to take care of a couple of cows.”
Kathryn shrugged and asked the crowd of colonists to gather. She stood on a crate and honestly told them the situation. Fifty hands went up when she asked for volunteers. Rex didn’t need to put his hand up. It had already been assumed that he was going… not that he objected any. The sooner he got to Ofelia, the better.
“Pedro, Nicholas, Russ, and Zara, get ready what you can put on a horse. Larry.”
He jumped when she called his name. His hand had not been one of the ones raised. “Since our First Officer has so rudely departed, I’m putting you in charge of Base Camp One.”
“Me? I’m just a guidance counselor?” He looked around nervously.
“I’m promoting you to mayor. You know everyone here, helped most of them pick their careers. Just let them do their jobs and you’ll be fine until we get back.”
“Really?”
“Really. I have absolute faith in you,” she said as she slung a laser rifle on her back.
#
The eight of them set out on horseback, and it seemed that the horses seriously loved their run after being cooped up for two weeks. They brought enough food and supplies for a two week trip, thinking that they might be able to cover about a hundred miles a day. They ran into their first problem on the third day. Big problem. Big big big problem.
“Please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” Rex said as he stared at the monstrous form lumbering slowly along in front of them.
“If you’re thinking it’s a triceratops, you’re wrong,” Nicholas, a xenobiologist who had proved himself quite the comedian said.
“And if I think it’s a dinosaur?” Rex asked.
“You’d be more specific if you guessed brontosaurus.” Zara got off her horse and ran a scanner over to a pile of steaming brown crap the size of a large dog. “I didn’t think that was possible. It’s a genetic match. It really is the same species. How can it be possible for two life forms to evolve into the exact same species on two totally different planets?”
“I don’t think it is possible,” Juliet said as she looked at the scanner. “I think maybe somebody stole them from Earth and deposited them here.”
“What gives you that idea?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, the ecology of this planet seems rather odd,” Viola said. “We’ve been traveling for three days and the only wildlife I’ve seen is herbivoric. There’s not a single carnivore in sight.”
“I hope not,” Rex said, thinking about what a meat eater big enough to have turd that big would be capable of consuming.
“But what keeps the herbivore population in check if there aren’t any carnivores. You’d think they’d increase in number until they all died out,” Juliet asked.
“Got me. It’s just a theory.”
Skirting around the herd, they managed to push on for another three days before hitting the largest obstacle of all.
“An ocean,” Rex said as they hit the sand. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Anybody know how to build a boat?”