Castaway Resolution: Chapters 12 and 13!

My computer died last week, so I had to go some days without it -- and you people without an update! So here's two chapters in one to catch us up on Christmas Eve!

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Chapter 12.

"Huh," Tavana said, a questioning air about him, as he lowered himself heavily onto a stump at the side of the path.

Sakura glanced at him; she had a momentary flash of annoyance that he'd stopped, but she suppressed it. Tav was still not fully recovered, and was just starting to get back to regular activity. "What's 'huh'?"

"The sun, I could swear that just the prior dawn, it was rising between those two trees, but now it is on the far side of the one," Tavana answered.

"Well, yeah," she said, after a moment. "Think about it, Tav."

The broad Polynesian face wrinkled for a moment, then Tavana smacked his head. "Stupid. The floating continent, it also spins. There is no really stable orientation here."

"You got it. I guess Caroline's having a ball gathering data on the planet with your satellite network. We didn't know hardly anything about Lincoln before we landed, and, well, until you guys got here we still didn't know much. 'Cept about the specific things here, anyways."

"Well, those were the things that mattered, yes? Aside from anything needed for survival, planetography would have not just taken the backseat, it would have been in a trailer behind you."

She heard her own laughter echo through the trees. "Yeah, exactly." She saw him glance up into the sky again, his brow furrow, then relax. "What is it this time?"

"Oh, that." He pointed into the sky a fair arc away from the sun.

Sakura could see a point of light, dimmed by the sky's brightness but easily visible. Concentrating, she could make out a faint mist trailing out to one side. "Oh, yeah, a comet. There's a lot of them here. I think there's only been a few weeks since we've been here that there wasn't a pretty bright one visible."

"Oui, I remember we saw two very large comets when we entered the system. Meteors are common too."

"Oh, you bet." She grinned, remembering. "When we were out building that dock for you, we hit a meteor shower that Caroline said outdid anything she'd ever heard of on Earth; it was like fireworks. And if you stay out at night and look up at any reasonable patch of sky you'll see a meteor pretty quick."

"Any actually fall around here?"

"We haven't found any meteorites, but there's bound to be some. But Caroline said that finding them would be tough; on Earth they used to go to places like Antarctica where there was nothing but flat ice and figure that if they came across an isolated rock, it pretty much had to be a meteorite, but here in a jungle? Not working so well."

"I guess so." Tav stood up. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay," she said, even more annoyed at herself for her prior impatience. "You guys nearly died, I can't get mad at you for taking it slow sometimes. But this trip was your idea."

"Well, yes. I want to see how you do things here, and even if I am not up to helping much, it will be good to know how for when I am better."

Sakura couldn't argue that. "We're almost there, so if you can keep moving for about five minutes you'll be able to sit down and rest while I get to work."

They walked in silence for a few minutes; Sakura found herself very aware of Tavana being close, even though he wasn't really much closer than he was in a lot of other situations. Does he feel the same way? I mean. . . What do I mean? Do I, well, like him?

Tavana spoke suddenly, and his voice sounded unusually. . . tense? Nervous? It had a slightly higher, faintly strained pitch to it. "Um, Sakura, I was wondering, why here? That is, why is this the good place for your driftseed?"

The question relaxed her—to a startling degree. Boy, I am nervous! "Oh, well, that? It'll be easier to explain when we get there."

In a few moments they emerged into a semi-clearing along a narrow streambed. Across the stream, Sakura could see a strip of brilliant white, as though someone had taken a two-meter-wide paintbrush and drawn it across the jungle in front of them.

"What is that?"

Sakura studied the clearing and trees and stream for a moment to make sure everything was safe, then moved forward. "That," she said as she hopped across the stream, "is what we're here for."

As they got closer, the white streak resolved itself into what looked like a massive snowbank, a literal drift of white fluff. There were small animals, something like green-brown guinea pigs, moving in and around the fluff, but they scattered at the humans' approach.

Tavana surveyed the mound, eyebrows high. "Impressed, yes, I am impressed. So we use these rake-things to compress and scoop the driftseed into our bags, then carry it back?"

"Right. You can do as much as you feel up to, but don't push yourself."

She saw Tavana squint down the stream, then hold up his hand in the air for a moment. "Ah! I believe I understand."

"Thought you would!" Tav was smart, which was one of the things she really liked about him—that, and him being kind of quiet a lot of the time. "Prevailing winds get funneled up here from farther down, where it spreads out, so a lot of driftseed comes in here, and then it runs straight into this area where there's heavy growth because of the way the sunlight gets into the clearing."

"Vraiment, yes, but what about the turning of the island? We just mentioned that, yes? Will that not change the winds?"

"Some, yes, but so far it looks like our island continent doesn't just spin around like a top; it sort of wobbles back and forth but stays pointing in the same general direction."

Tavana scratched his head, then took the scoop-rake off his back and started trying to gather driftseed. "How is that? I mean, why does it not spin completely around?"

"We don't know," she answered candidly, dragging her scoop in what had become a practiced motion. "Might be the way the island's shaped that makes it stay in one general orientation, especially since it must dip way down to keep us all above water, or maybe there's some kind of active orientation guidance from one of its symbiote species."

Tavana was having difficulty getting the driftseed into the bag. "No, look, Tav, you have to scoop more first. Until it compresses enough it'll just puff right back up and fall apart. You have to tell by the resistance and the look. Here, let me." She took his arm and guided it through the scooping motion. He resisted at first, trying to anticipate her movements and failing, but by the second time through he had relaxed and just let her guide. "See?" she said finally. "Four, five good long scoops and it's squished itself down and if you turn it like this," she gave the scoop a sort of shaking half-turn, "It loosens in the grooves just enough. Now try putting it in the bag."

Most of the driftseed slid into the bag, with just a little of it fluffing and flying away at the edges. "Oh! Oui, c'est facile," Tav said; his voice had that same strange, tense edge. She was suddenly aware of the warmth of Tav's arm, the hard-soft feel of muscle under skin.

She stepped back, letting go maybe a little faster than she'd originally planned. "So, um, you think you can do that yourself?"

"Yes, it is easy, yes? I said that." He laughed suddenly. "So, Saki, can I ask you another question?"

Another question would be good, she thought. "Sure!"

He hesitated, and she suddenly wondered if she did want another question. Or if she really did want another question. "So," he said again, and licked his lips nervously, then managed a smile. "The neighborhood, I did not see an immertainment complex or a performance hall or even restaurant around. So I was wondering, um, where would you go if you were dating?"

She couldn't help herself; the release of tension sent her into a gale of laughter. Seeing his wince-and-cringe helped get it back under control. "No, it's okay, Tav, jeez, I was trying to decide how I might ask you, and that was a pretty cute approach you tried, so the answer's yes but I don't know where!"

"Yes? Vraiment? Really?" He grinned, teeth flashing as bright as the driftseed. "Well, then we will think about the 'where' later!" The relief was as clear on his face as it had been in her gut, and then he went on, "Maybe the practice range? It is not so classically part of romance, but I had fun with our little contest before."

"Ha! That's not a terrible idea at all, but maybe we can come up with a better one. I'll have to talk to Mom and Dad, of course."

"Oui, and I with the Sergeant. At least we have already met each others' family here."

She heard a giggle escape her. "Yeah, I guess we have. So, anyway, think you can help finish gathering the driftseed?"

"Now?" Tavana grinned again. "Now I could finish this whole clearing."

 

 

Chapter 13.

Campbell stretched, testing his body's sensations. Mostly back to my old self, but still a little off. That damn disease really took it out of us.

Still, he'd gotten off pretty light. He looked at Francisco, who was sitting in bed, trying to paint a picture of the view out of the window, and shook his head. The little boy still had to pause every ten minutes or so to rest; Maddox was a little better than that, but even now after three and a half weeks he was only up to a little light labor.

"Is he going to recover all the way, Doctor Kimei?" he asked, voice low.

Laura bit her lip. "I. . . hope so. This was a complex disease. It actually started adapting to some of the nanotreatments, and I don't remember ever seeing anything like that in the literature before. If we had a full-scale hospital setup I'd be sure, but. . ."

He could see the dark doubts on her face. He put a hand on her shoulder. "What you're really telling me, ma'am, is that if we hadn't had the incredible fortune that you landed here, and that we were able to reach you, that little boy and the rest of us would be dead now. You reversed most of the systemic damage, including the neurological, and whatever happens, Franky's going to still be himself, and that's okay."

Laura shook herself and then smiled at him. "Playing therapist now, Sergeant?"

"Hell, that's the job of a noncom, isn't it? Half of your job's running out the recruits who really shouldn't have signed on in the first place, and the other half's helping build up the ones who belong there. And the way you looked? Ma'am, I've seen that expression before, more times than I care to remember. In my line of work, you see a hell of lot of medics and doctors losing patients, haunted by what-ifs and I should haves." He frowned, remembering. "Sometimes the patient's only one of the victims that needs treatment."

Laura nodded. "They teach you that lesson in medical school," she said with a rueful grin, "but it's hard to keep in mind." She looked back at Francisco. "But. . . yes, I think he will. The nanos are working on the repairs and I don't think there's anything irreparable. It was very close, though."

"Too damn close. Your upgraded medical suite should keep that from happening again, right?"

"It should. I'm confident that it will. I had to do a complete wipe-and-reprogram on your nanos to enforce full compatibility and consistency, but that's done, so I think our little colony has full coverage on medical safety now."

She gestured upward. "And since you were saying how grateful you were for our presence, let me just add how grateful we are for yours. Those satellites are a godsend. Now we can talk to each other anywhere on the planet, and if there's a medical or any other kind of emergency we'll know about it right away, with all our omnis linked to the network."

"Well, now, I guess it's just that we're both groups lucky. Together I think we can really make a go of it here, even if we're never found."

She was quiet for a moment, and the two of them moved out of the doorway of the shelter to let Hitomi through; the little girl ran over to Francisco and dropped a flower chain on his lap. Campbell grinned at that.

"So, Sergeant. . . do you think that's where we are? That we'll never be found?"

He shrugged, and started walking slowly away from the shelter, looking up at the immense trees surrounding them. "Well, I'll tell you, ma'am; I was givin' about one-in-ten odds a rescue ship would show up in the first six months—which time was actually spent while we were still tryin' to make our way here.

"Now? I wouldn't give you one in a thousand. The only reason anyone would have to come here is if they either suspect there's castaways on Lincoln, or if they notice something funny about this planet. The star someone might notice, but then they're not gonna be so concerned about the planets here, but on what it was that managed to hide a whole star this close to Earth. So they'll go looking in space along that line-of-sight. Only likely thing to draw anyone to Lincoln otherwise is if someone maps it with wide-baseline telescopes, and then notices the map ain't always consistent. But that's a matter of years at that distance."

Laura Kimei nodded; her thoughts clearly ran along the same channels. "So we're here for good."

"Unless one of those contraptions the kids are working on is built, and manages to make it to Orado. If that happens you can bet there'll be a big mission here straightaway."

A pair of arms slipped around his waist from behind and hugged. "And what do you think the chances are of that?" Pearce Haley asked, letting go and stepping up to join them. "Hi, Laura."

"Hi, Pearce!" Laura gave Pearce a quick hug. "That’s a good question. I know Whips, Tavana, and Xander are spending a lot of time on those alternatives. What do you think?"

Campbell stole a quick kiss from Pearce before answering. "Well, first off, there's no problem with them trying to figure these things out. Chances. . . really hard to say. Engineers are usually either complete optimists or total pessimists about how something they designed will work."

"I like the idea of going home under our own power," Laura said after a moment.

"So do I. You can't beat ending a shipwreck story that way, with everyone hammering out a solution and beating the odds to get home on their own. Look at how many times they've dramatized the wreck of the Nebula Storm over the century and a half since it crashed on Europa." He swatted at a buzzbug that was flying too close. "But they'll have to do a hell of a job of convincing me that they can get that hulk skyworthy again before I green-light that. Doing the separate probe might permanently ground Emerald Maui, but it won't risk any of us, and honestly I like that a lot better."

"I agree," Pearce said. "But we'll decide that when the designs are all done; have a family conference about it."

"Sure thing."

He took Pearce's hand in his as they walked around the clearing, and noticed Laura's expression. "What are you grinnin' about, ma'am?"

"Oh, seeing the two of you and then remembering Hitomi running in with that flower chain."

"Ha! Though I think the ones you need to keep an eye on are Tav and Sakura."

"Oh, I am," she said, "but Tavana seems like a very nice young man, and it's not like Saki can't take care of herself. Mostly the problem is keeping them from distracting each other now. Tavana especially."

"I hear you on that," he said with a chuckle. "Especially Tav; when he came to us to ask about what a guy might arrange to have a date, he was practically incoherent. But what about Xander and Caroline?"

"Honestly? I don't know if there's anything there or not. They're clearly friendly, but I haven’t got a sense as to whether they're interested in each other."

"I hate to say it," Pearce said, "but right now it's Maddox who's interested in Caroline."

"What? He's only, what, fourteen?"

Campbell heard his own laugh echo across the clearing. "And she's eighteen, which is only four years apart. Looks like a big separation now, of course, but it doesn't mean much to a young guy. Or gal, for that matter; can't tell you the number of young ladies I know who got crushes on older teachers. Yeah, I've seen Maddox sneaking looks at Caroline myself. Tries to hide it. Kinda like Xander and Pearce."

Pearce boggled at him. "What?"

He laughed again, reflecting on how good it was to laugh now, after all the prior months where good laughs were in short supply. "What, you never noticed him staring at you back on the ship? Or sometimes givin' me the narrow side-eye when he thought I didn't notice? Think he's pretty over it now, but he had it pretty bad for a bit."

As Pearce chewed on that minor revelation, Campbell looked to Laura. "Anyways, one question I gotta ask, have you got the critical issues on this covered? The emotional ones they'll have to work out on their own, but. . ."

"Oh, I absolutely have that covered. None of us—not me, not Pearce, and not any of my girls—will be having children unless and until it is decided they will. Obviously, if it comes to that, Pearce, it's completely your decision; you're my patient but not my responsibility."

The redhead gave a grin up to Campbell that jolted him and sent his heart racing as though he was a teenager again. "Oh, maybe it will come to that. But not just yet."

"Uh, yeah," Campbell said, noticing that his own conversation wasn't as sparkling as it ought to be. "Hm. Not yet, that's for sure. We'll need to finish getting established and comfortable before we worry about that."

There were, of course, other problems with the long-term viability of their colony, but for now the real problems were simple: make long-term homes, secure long-term food sources, keep improving their resources and capabilities. . . and be ready for anything Lincoln threw at them.

Because even now, with all of them together, Samuel Morgan Campbell could still feel it. Lincoln had more surprises in store for them.

And some of them could be lethal.