“You clean—” The blonde blinked at me incredulously. “—outside of the ship?!”
“Not very often, thankfully. But yes.”
She let out a long breath. “I did not know that. You do not get paid nearly enough.”
I snorted. “You got that right.”
Prepare for orbital entry in one minute.
“That’s our cue. Everyone buckle up.”
“Yeah, because safety harnesses are going to be so useful when we burn to a crisp upon reentry.”
I smirked wryly. “Do you think we all use sarcasm as a way not to say something that could be misconstrued as incorrect due to a lack of knowledge?”
“Hey, who gave you permission to moonlight as my therapist?”
Ciangi let out a long sigh as she buckled herself into a chair. “I remember therapy. I miss it. Remind me to go back if we ever make it to Earth as non-fugitives”
“You can introduce me to them,” Bahn said. “But first, we need to find these compounds. Everyone fully harnessed and ready for orbit?”
“Yessiree.”
Ten seconds until reentry.
“I would like to note that this is the tiniest ship that I have ever entered a planet on, so if I piss myself in terror, I don’t want to hear about it,” Gonzales said dryly.
It took all of my strength not to laugh outright. It seemed, after so much time holding them in such high esteem, it made me feel a bit better to have them be so nervous about what was just a matter of course for me. I guess it made sense that, despite all their knowledge and expertise, they probably had very few assignments that ever had anything to do with eviro-suits or dangerous maneuvers on small vessels.
I just hoped they held it together for when we were planet-side.
Orbital reentry imminent.
The voice of the helm clicked off and then the ship began to rattle.
Strangely enough, it wasn’t as bad as the wormhole. In fact, it was almost downright pleasant.
I could feel the ship’s auto-nav trying to fight the urge to skip across the atmosphere like a stone, and see the nose of our little vessel turn scarlet red with flames and heat, but other than that…it was relatively peaceful.
I heard a very small whimper from Gonzales, and I glanced to her white knuckles gripping her armrest like a lifeline. It seemed maybe my co-conspirators were not having as easy a time as I was, but they would be fine.
Or at least I hoped so.
The helm was prattling on some countdown about our descent, but I didn’t pay much heed. Instead, I watched the surface of the moon as it slowly became more and more detailed. It looked a lot like a forest, albeit a forest filled with wildly colored foliage and flora like I had never seen before.
The rattling slowed and the others let out a collective breath. I tried to see if I could catch any wildlife as we settled at the base of a mountain, but as far as I could tell, there wasn’t anything around. No birds taking flight as we settled down onto several trees, no frightened roars from beasts whose home had been destroyed.
Just…quiet.
The landing gear came down and we finally settled against the ground. There was a moment of silence, before Gonzales let out a whoop.
“We made it!” she said, leaning over to high-five Ciangi.
I did allow myself to smile at their earnestness as we all unbuckled and headed toward the exit, where our supplies were already strapped and waiting for us. “I knew we would,” I said honestly.
“Glad there was one of us.” She took a long breath to compose herself then squared her shoulders. “Are we all ready for our first off-world mission?”
“Technically, being sucked into your ship after you murdered my entire family was my first off-world mission,” Mimic mused, the very corner of her lip raising in a smirk.
I could tell that Gonzales was struggling not to roll her eyes. “I suppose that’s true. Is everyone ready for what is most of our first off-world mission?”
“I am.”
“Guess so.”
I nodded toward what seemed to be our de facto leader. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s.”
She hit the button to release the airlock, and the door slowly began to open. According to our readings, the atmosphere was similar enough not to mean sudden death if there was a puncture in our enviro-suits, but there was enough of a difference to lead to nausea, shortness of breath, and other uncomfortable complications—something we wanted to avoid if at all possible.
The door finished rising and the ramp started to extend. With another look at each other, we ventured into the outside world.
The Great Unknown
It was bright. So very bright.
I squinted against the harsh sun as we walked down the ramp, my eyes struggling to adjust to the blinding rays.
“Geez, why don’t these enviro-suits have sunglasses?”
I reached over and pressed one of the buttons on Bahn’s chest. Almost immediately, his helmet began to darken with a UV filtering tint.
“Whoa, we can do that?”
“Only you and Bahn. Ciangi and I have slightly older models.”
“Bummer,” the blonde remarked before looking to Mimic. “Are you sure you don’t need one?”
“I am fine, I assure you.”
“Alright, good. If you say so, I guess. You did live on an asteroid with no atmosphere for…how long have you been alive?”
Mimic shrugged. “That is unknown. My kind does not keep track of time in the same way you do.”
“As in your kind doesn’t keep track of time at all?”
“Yes.”
I turned away to glance out at the landscape. It certainly was breathtaking, with over-saturated blues, pinks, and yellows surrounding us. “Where did our sensors say they wanted us to go?”
Gonzales consulted her data-log before pointing to a narrow grove between thin, twisting trees. “That way.”
We headed in that direction, taking on the standard formation I had been taught in my orientation when I was brought onboard my first government vessel. I was surprised that the engineers hadn’t had the same basic training, but I guess whoever had set orientation up had decided it wouldn’t be necessary to their jobs.
An oversight, in my opinion. But what did I know? I was just a janitor who had managed to find alien lifeform and then commit high treason.
“Does anyone else find it eerily quiet around here?”
“That usually means one of two things,” I murmured quietly. “Either there is no flora roaming around here, or—”
“Or what?”
“Or we’re in a predator’s territory and all the prey animals know not to go near it.”
“Right. Well, let’s hope it’s number one then.”
“It’s never number one,” Bahn whispered. “Be on your guard.”
And so, we crept forward, coming ever closer to the coordinates on Gonzales’s array. My senses were all on high alert, my eyes scanning the foliage around me in sweeping arcs.
I wished I had time to appreciate the beauty of it all, but I couldn’t risk being caught unaware. I needed to focus, to make sure that nothing got the drop on us. To—
“We’re here.”
“What?”
I looked to Gonzales, who was standing in the middle of the clearing we had reached. “We’re here. These are the coordinates.”
“Then what are we looking for?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t like the sensors came with a sketch of the exact materials we were looking for. Just that they were here.”
“I guess we’ll have to use our handheld to scan everything one by one until we find what plant or rock we need.”
“Fantastic. That sounds like a great use of our time.” She sighed and pulled out one of the scanners Bahn had fabricated for us. “But it’s not like I have a better idea, so hold on. And watch out for carnivorous plants. I’m still not settled about this whole silent thing. Mimic, you still focus on trying to find yourself something to eat.”