“Look on the bright side,” Riker replied. “Down there, he won’t take it badly if you tell him he’s all wet.”
CHAPTER T
WO
DROPLET
The away team’s first destination was a small cluster of floating islands at a high southern latitude, comfortably removed from the equatorial storm belt. The winds on an ocean planet built up swells that never broke against land and thus could grow to mountainous size. There was wind at these latitudes, of course, the same steady, predictable circulation patterns that could be found planetwide. But sensors showed no major swells heading toward this grouping. Swells of such size could be fairly gentle and would pose no risk to the aquashuttle; but until the nature and behavior of the disklike islets were determined, it was better not to take chances.
Melora Pazlar gazed out the forward ports with fascination as Aili Lavena brought the aquashuttle down to a flight trajectory just a few kilometers above the waves. “Astonishing,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much water at one time.” Since the planet was so large, more than half again the radius of a typical M-class world, the horizon was unusually distant, all but lost in atmospheric haze. It was easy to imagine the water stretching to infinity. It couldn’t have been more different from Gemworld, the artificial crystalline planet where her Elaysian species resided. But then, her world was different from any other world in the galaxy, so that wasn’t much of a standard of comparison.
“I know,” Lavena replied. “It’s gorgeous! I’m going for a swim first thing once we land.”
“Hold on there,” Commander Vale said. “Before you do that, I’d like to get a little sense of what the ocean’s like. With the interference, we should double-check our scans of its chemistry, make sure there’s nothing toxic. And there’s no telling what kind of sea monsters might be lurking down there.”
Pazlar threw her an amused look. “Do you suppose that’s what these islands are? Some kind of giant turtles or something?”
Torvig turned to Kekil. “Relatives of yours, perhaps?” The pale green Rigellian Chelon, so called because of his people’s somewhat turtlelike appearance, simply ignored him.
Soon, the cluster of islets was in naked-eye range. The sight left no doubt that they were floating atop the water, rising and falling with its slow swells. The larger clusters flexed and warped somewhat as they rode atop the changing surface, but their saucerlike components remained connected. They were a pale yellowish white around the edges, with darker soil and assorted vegetation covering them farther “inland.” The larger clusters had the most abundant vegetation.
“Set us down by the nearest single islet,” Vale ordered. “Let’s not complicate the variables.”
“By it, ma’am?” Lavena asked. “Not on it?”
“Just to be on the safe side. We’re not sure how buoyant those things are.”
“Aye, Commander,” Lavena said, looking happy to touch down in her native element.
Pazlar, aware of the Selkie pilot’s skill, was expecting a smooth landing. But the Gillespiehit Droplet’s surface with a bit of a jolt, rocking her in her seat. “A little overeager there, Ensign?” she asked.
“What? Oh, no, ma’am. I just eased back the inertial dampers a bit. We’re diving into a new ocean—it seemed right to feel the splash.”
“Just take us in to the nearest lone islet,” Vale ordered.
When the shuttle bumped against a solid surface, Lavena programmed it to keep station with the islet and popped the hatch. Vale led the way out of the shuttle, with Pazlar following. The air was warm and almost stiflingly humid, a shock after the controlled environment of the ship and shuttle; but there was a steady cooling breeze blowing from the west, carrying the fresh, wet tang of ocean air along with other exotic scents.
They waded across a few meters of shallow water—also unexpectedly warm—before climbing out onto the gently rising shoreline. Pazlar sized up the weight she felt, or what fraction of it was filtered through her antigrav suit’s field. She knew it was a few percent below standard, but she couldn’t feel the difference.
Once Torvig had clambered onto the shore, he jumped up and down a couple of times. “Well, it isn’t rocking,” he said with his usual straight face. “Commander Keru, maybe you should try it,” he said, looking up at his burly Trill friend, who outmassed him by about three to one.
Keru just rolled his eyes and bent down to examine the waterline. “No obvious edge. Looks like it extends several meters under the water before dropping off.”
“It looks like an island,” Vale observed. “Soil, plants, some treelike things…and I think I can hear insects, or something like them.”
A fuller survey of the islet revealed nothing particularly striking living here beyond what her eyes and ears had revealed. There was no sign of avian life, though Titan’s optical sensors had sighted flying creatures in Droplet’s skies. Though it seemed reasonably habitable, the islet was simply too small to support much of an ecosystem. Some of the larger clusters visible in the distance bore thicker vegetation, however, and Pazlar thought she could see birds or the local equivalent flying around their treetops.
Meanwhile, Kekil knelt and ran his tricorder over the soil, taking a handful and kneading it with his broad, webbed fingers. “Very rich. It’s mostly organic decay products; minimal silicate content, as you’d expect.”