Atlas
Chapter 1: Part 1
“That went better than expected,” said Daniel, as he wrung his sweaty hands together. Only Daniel Olivert could express a condescending attitude with his own trepidation. He shook his head and sighed. “But I don’t think any of you are treating the matter as seriously as the situation demands.”
Jack poured himself a cup of coffee, drained it, filled it up again, and then filled a travel thermos. “You can’t change the past, Danny Boy. The Space Whale is on Atlas. And us with it. Nothing is going to be changing that, so we may as well cowboy up and deal with problems as they come along. I’m not one to shit myself over issues that may not even exist.”
“You think you’re being pragmatic, but you’re just playing the Cavalier.”
“Someone has to. Would you rather I walk around sulking?”
The sliding door to the lounge opened, and Commander Sarah Rose poked her head inside. “Would you two stop making out and get on the bridge? Boots are about to hit the ground.”
Jack killed his coffee and exited the lounge, thermos in hand. “What are the odds that Dom pisses himself in glee?”
“Between us,” said Sarah, lowering her voice, “I ordered him to wear a diaper to avoid embarrassment.”
After triple checking the contents, Daniel slung his satchel over his shoulder and followed the two officers toward the bridge, jogging to catch up. “I don’t suppose I can convince either of you to help the land reconnaissance team, at least for the first few days? Knowing the local terrain is of the highest priority.”
“Nope,” said Sarah, all smiles. “Divide and conquer.”
“I already told Dr. Metzger that I’d help him recover some plant and soil samples for testing,” said Jack. “And I wouldn’t trust Dr. Hunt or . . . Fred to cover his six.”
Daniel wrung his hands and sighed.
The trio found the rest of the crew already geared up and waiting on the bridge. Steve and Landon had their respective teams grouped up, running through last minute briefings. Dr. Metzger and Dr. Hunt chatted idly at a distance from the rest of the crew, discussing the nutritional value of various types of apples. Meanwhile, a few feet away, Fred stared into empty space, miming an imbecile with perfection. Dom danced from foot to foot in front of the hatch, eyes wide with enthusiasm. Lily giggled, and Anna watched with a look of mild bemusement. Naturally, Alexandria stood in silence.
Sarah stepped up front and center, clapping her hands together to gather everyone’s attention. “Before we impregnate this planet with our humanity, I just want to rehash a few things. One, keep your radios on and report any findings of dire import immediately. Two, respond to the hourly radio check in promptly. Three, avoid contact with sentient alien lifeforms if reasonably possible. And uh . . . four, don’t die. Any questions? No! Great. Anna, open the Space Whale’s vagina, we’re about to get intimate with Atlas!”
Fred, with his hand raised high in the air, looked crestfallen as everyone ignored him.
The Space Whale’s vagina granted planetary access, and a platform extended down to Atlas’s surface. Dom plunged forward, wiggling through the gap as it spread wide. Without hesitation, he raced toward the soil. The rest of the crew walked at a reasonable pace down onto the planet’s surface.
“You know, honestly, I seriously considered a running past him and ruining the moment,” said Landon. “But I don’t know if he ever would have stopped crying.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” said Anna. “He’s not on your team. You don’t have to deal with him.”
“I think he’s cute,” said Lily.
Anna laughed. “He’s all yours, sister. I don’t think you’ll be finding any competition.”
As Jack took his first sip of coffee on Atlas, Dr. Metzger grabbed his shoulder and led him away from the rest of the crew. “I have a proposition for you, Officer Stone.”
…
“Well, this is interesting,” said Steve, taking a healthy swig from a bottle of rum. “I’m not sure this is what I expected.”
Jerome looked at the thermometer. “83 Fahrenheit.”
“It’s kind of warm for 8,000 feet above sea level,” said Mark. “I guess I just don’t really understand this tidal locking thing.”
“High elevations can be hot,” said Steve, adjusting the rudder. “Sounds comparable to Addis Ababa on Earth.”
Commander Rose stuck her hand into the lake and twirled her wrist, splashing the alien water. “Basically, Atlas’s day is just as long as its year, so the same side of the planet always faces the sun. Any given point on the planet will have consistent temperatures and daylight. The side facing the sun is naturally very hot, and the side facing away is very cold. Wind currents in the upper atmosphere help spread the heat by moving warm air to the cold side of the planet, which supposedly melts glacial ice that form large rivers that move toward the hot side, which eventually evaporate and then precipitate elsewhere. Meanwhile cool air moves to the hot side, helping to disperse the heat more evenly. Theoretically, with the right conditions the entire planet could have relatively even temperatures, but here the conditions are just sufficient enough to create a habitable zone in a ring going north and south around the middle of the planet. We landed closer to the hot side of that ring.”
Mark grimaced. “When you say theoretically…”
“Well, our data from the initial scanner only attached to the habitable ring, and we misinterpreted some of it because of that.” Commander Rose shrugged. “For now, we’re only speculating about what lies beyond.”
“That’s a simpler way of putting it than what the egghead told us.” Mark continued to grimace. “I don’t trust him.”
“He means well,” said Commander Rose. “He’s just . . . special?”
Steve spit. “He was probably bottle fed. I blame his mother.”
The small powerboat motored across the lake with Steve in expert command. The Space Whale only had a limited amount of fuel for the tiny craft, so the team would have to transition to a more rustic mode of travel in the near future. But problems for tomorrow could wait.
The Space Whale had landed in a freshwater lake and powered to the shore of the only visible beach. Two sides of lake hugged sheer walls of rock that raced several thousand feet high before they leveled off into more reasonable slopes. The far side of the lake necked back in a bend, which the team could not see around from the landing site. As head of the waterways navigation team, Steve elected to see if he could determine the source of the headwaters before scoping out any outlets further down the beach.
After an hour, Commander Rose checked in with the rest of the groups, and so far, no one had managed to die. Soon after, the powerboat rounded the bend, which snaked back in an “S” curve. At long last, the powerboat rounded the final curve of the “S.” The rock walls ringed the entirety of the back end of the lake, and nine waterfalls cascaded down from the heights, stirring up foam and mist.
"Second hour check in," said Commander Rose into the radio. "The lake follows an "S" curve back into walls of steep rock. It's fed by waterfalls from above."
“Hey, I think I can see a cave behind the one waterfall,” said Steve. “Third one to the right. Maybe ten feet above the waterline.”
Mark peered through his eyeglass. “Behind one? Try all nine. Same height above the water, each one.”
Jerome clutched his harpoon gun. “That seems a bit too uniform to be a coincidence.”
Something slammed the powerboat from underneath, rocking the tiny craft. Mark managed to grab Steve before he flopped over the edge like a drunken seal. Commander Rose lunged for the radio, but it fumbled through her outstretched fingers as the powerboat took another blow. The radio toppled over the side and plunked into the water. And the brave commander dove in after it!
As the powerboat took a third walloping from below, Jerome fired the harpoon gun straight through the bottom of the boat. A tremendous scream bellied from the depths, as water burst through the hole.
Mark grabbed a bucket and started bailing water. “Sounds like a great shot, but I don’t think you thought that one through.”
“You fucking idiot!” Steve plugged the empty bottle of rum into the hole, to marginal effect. “Wait, where’s Rose?”
…
Meanwhile, Dr. Hunt and Fred listened to classical rock music as they set up the infirmary in the Space Whale’s medical unit.
“Do you think there is such a thing as pickle wine?” asked Fred. “Maybe I could be the first to brew some.”
Dr. Hunt rolled his eyes. “Don’t be disgusting.”
…
Alexandria seethed in silence.
What a waste of wood. We should have put up a chain-link fence. It’s not like we carried a forest with us from Earth.
Dom frowned as he sunk his shovel into the Atlas soil. “This is dumb. I’m supposed to be an electrician, not a common laborer.”
Anna had ordered the engineering team to dig a trench around the camp while she constructed an outward projecting ring of spiked logs for a quick form of rustic defense. After that, they would build a series of watchtowers together. The team did not approve of the decision to utilize manual labor for the task. Nor did they approve of Anna shirking ditch digging responsibilities.
“Anyone can dig a hole,” Anna had said. “But the logs need positioned at just the right angle for optimum protection.”
Alexandria shoveled in silence, almost shaking with rage.
“I think you look pretty sexy working up a sweat over there, Muscles.” Lily winked. “Maybe I’ll give you some personal rock climbing lessons in the coming days, yeah?”
Alexandria snorted.
Dom raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Well, I didn’t volunteer to dig a ditch for the fun of it, Handsome.”
“How’s that ditch coming guys?” asked Anna, as she positioned a log.
Alexandria stabbed at the dirt with violent abandon.
…
Tina really wished that Daniel had went to help another team, for she had an underlying desire to stab her pen into his eye.
Landon, Akari, Tina, and Daniel circled the Space Whale in outward arcs. Landon measured the distances. Akari scribbled notes on the topography. Tina kept a record of the flora. And Daniel . . . told everyone how to do their jobs better. To be fair, Daniel’s observations were on point. But the man just had a certain aura about him that made him utterly insufferable.
“Keep an eye out for plants that are missing the flowers like this one,” said Daniel, pointing. “I haven’t seen any alien fauna, but that’s a good indication that some are in the area. If we record the disturbances, we may be able to get an early idea on their diets and travel patterns.”
“All the plants seem to be black or dark red,” said Landon. “I wonder why?”
“Atlas receives more infrared light than Earth,” said Daniel. “The flora has adapted to better absorb those wavelengths of light. Human eyes cannot see infrared, so many of the plants appear black.”
Tina gazed out over the landscape. From the beach, most of the land rose in a steady slope. However, a small section of the lake cut through the rock in a narrow, fast moving channel that disappeared into an underground cavern.
The lake kind of looks like a potbellied man sticking his needle dick into a vagina, Tina thought. And the Space Whale . . . looks like a beached whale.
“Tina, are you paying attention?” asked Daniel. “Make sure to note this plant’s unusual star shaped leaves and the purple swirls on its petals. I think this is the only purple I’ve seen on any of the flora so far.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, of course.” Tina closed her eyes and counted to three. I will not kill this man today. I will not kill this man today. I will not kill this man today.
Landon walked up to a tall tree with bark black as pitch. He tapped his knuckles against the wood. “Wow, that thing feels solid as brick!”
“Please don’t touch things unnecessarily,” said Daniel. “You have no idea what it’s composed of.”
Landon rubbed at his knuckles. “Oh shit! It burns like hell!”
Daniel dug into his satchel, rummaging for his emergency kit.
“Calm down, Dan, I’m just joking around,” said Landon, beaming a mighty grin. “I’m fine. It’s just a tree. A big black alien tree. But still, just a tree.”
Akari walked up to the tree and swung an axe into it. The axehead bounced off the bark without leaving a dent.
“What are you doing!?” Daniel stared in disbelief.
“I wanted to see how solid the tree was,” said Akari. “It’s pretty solid.”
Tina jotted down a description of the tree in her notes. Solid.
…
“You’ve got yourself a bargain, Dr. Metzger,” said Jack.
“Please, call me, Arturo.”
The officer and doctor shook hands and headed off to collect plant samples near the beach, both in healthy spirits at their newfound partnership.
...
Group policy choice:
The Waterways Team has missed the third hour check in. The fourth hour is closing in, and the teams are returning to the Space Whale.
A: Mount a search and rescue mission immediately.
B: Wait 3 hours before launching a rescue mission.
C: Wait 6 hours before launching a rescue mission.
D: Do not launch a search and rescue mission.
