Chapter 26
Away Team One

“Captain to Sollipsis, come in.” Cathérine fiddled with the awkward communicator controls on her helmet. She adamantly refused any kind of communication implant, and had since before the war, but the suits they were wearing would muffle more traditional handheld communicators. So she was stuck trying not to press the wrong button while transmitting. She hated design-by-committee. Next to her, Hasan was unpacking the shuttle’s telemetry instruments. She heard him huffing and puffing as he unloaded various different kinds of devices, most of which ended in ‘-ometer’ or ‘-ograph’. 

“This is the Sollipis, receiving you loud and clear, Captain,” Jackson Manderley’s voice rang in her ear; he was taking the Captain’s chair while she, Science Officer Prakoso, and Security officer Mayes had gone down to the planet’s surface. Interference really was minimal. With the landed shuttle as a relay, the planet’s atmosphere was no match for their signal. 

“We’ve landed planetside without issues,” Cathérine said as she looked around, hands on her hips. The mechanical counterpressure suits — MCP’s, or ‘Pajamas’, as the engineering division had nicknamed them — allowed for a lot of freedom of movement, even if they pulled a bit in certain areas. She checked the readings on the tablet. “Atmosphere readings are consistent. Not breathable, but a suit leak won’t be immediately fatal at least. External pressure is all within expected parameters.” She moved her hand around. “Slight resistance in the air, which is weird. Like being underwater.”

“We’re seeing no change from up here either,” Manderley said. Good. The planet, according to records provided by Proteus, had no ambulant life beyond the microbial, but scans and files usually proved to be insufficient when in contact with the real thing. It was a beautiful planet, all things considered. No trees, no vegetation above shoulder-height at all, made up for by a spectacularly rocky terrain. And everything was a mix of greens and aquamarines. It was pretty nice. Too bad the atmosphere was full of argon, or she’d take off her helmet. Evangeline, not wanting to take any risks, patrolled the perimeter of their landing site, nodding at the Captain every time she passed. 

“Prakoso will have the scanners up in just a moment,” Cathérine said. “Let us know when you’re receiving.” She took a few steps forward to the edge of the cliff they’d landed on. From here, they had a pretty good overview of the landscape, although visibility wasn’t perfect, and the scanners were more effective high up. “Damn good view,” she muttered to herself. She let her gaze drift across the violet horizon. 

“Uh, Captain.” There was a slight waver in Jackson’s voice. 

“Go ahead.”

“Is Hasan okay?” Manderley asked. Cathérine turned around. Hasan was setting up a telemetry spike, hammering it into the ground carefully. He seemed to be perfectly fine, even if he occasionally hit himself in the thumb. This was exactly his kind of thing. Other than the sensors they were setting up to see what, if anything, on the planet had caused the Sollipsis’ engines to turn themselves off, they’d also brought various other scanners that would append the data they’d received from the Unity. The biology department was going to have a field day, literally and figuratively. 

“He seems like it,” Cathérine said. “Why?”

“Because,” Jackson said, “he’s been transmitting his audio non-stop for the past few minutes, and I’m worried his swearing might be upsetting Communication’s Officer Holloway.” There was a barely audible protest on the other end of the line, which Cathérine presumed was Maria Holloway. Cathérine sighed a slight chuckle, and walked over to Prakoso. 

“I’ll talk to him. Durand out.” She approached Hasan and she tapped her helmet. He frowned for a moment, looking at her through the clear visor, then said something. She didn’t hear anything. She shook her head. He frowned more, then pressed a few buttons around the helmet’s edge.

“--n’s sakes, this bloody thing. Could have sworn I’d set it to push-to-talk. Can you hear me now?” He fiddled with the controls a bit. Cathérine smiled and held up her thumb. 

“Loud and clear, Prakoso. Safe to say the MCP’s could use a bit more work, yes?”

“This,” Hasan said, grumbling slightly, “is what happens when people who specialize in theory have to design something to be used in the field.” He knelt down next to the now-solidly embedded telemetry spike. It had been thoroughly disinfected and sterilized. They didn’t want to alter this planet’s ecosystem any more than they already would by touching down. He pressed a few buttons, and the scanner started to hum ever so softly. “Should be transmitting,” he mumbled, then pressed a button on his helmet. “Sollipsis, please confirm.”

“Receiving data, Mister Prakoso. Thank you.” There was a slight pause. “We hope your sinuses clear up.” 

“Thank you, Manderley,” Hasan said with a chuckle. “I’ll try not to sneeze on your food when we get back.”

“Behave, gentlemen,” Cathérine said, but she couldn’t help but smile. It was good to see the crew get along. After the pressure, both psychologically and emotionally, they’d been under these past few weeks, she worried there would be tensions among the crew, but at least her bridge officers were still in good spirits. 

“Aye, Captain,” both men said, and the line went quiet. Cathérine walked over to Evangeline, who was doing another sweep, keeping a close eye on her own scanner. While its range wasn’t particularly great, it combined motion, density, heat and various other data. If something was coming, from microbial to larger, she’d know. Evangeline saluted when she saw the captain approaching. 

“Anything?” Cathérine asked. Evangeline shook her head. 

“Nothing. Perimeter is clear. Looks like Proteus’ info about the planet was all up to date. Not even seeing any kind of significant bacterial activity.” She held up the small tablet she was checking her readings on. “So far, not seeing anything on this planet that indicates animals, let alone intelligent life.” She ran her fingers over one of the larger ferns. “I have my doubts we’ll find anything, Captain.”

“Noted,” Cathérine said. She shared a lot of the same trepidations. A planet was an incredibly, ridiculously large place. But space was, well, a lot bigger. Mind-bogglingly big. If the interference that had caused their stranding wasn’t on this planet, she didn’t know where else it could be. She hoped Hasan’s instruments would give them something to work with, at the very least. “How are you holding up, Mayes?” she asked. She wasn’t all that good at the in-person stuff, but it did pay to keep open communication with her staff. Evangeline seemed to scan the Captain’s face for a moment. 

“I’m doing alright, Captain. All things considered.” Evangeline was pretty hard to read. Being a veteran, like Cathérine, meant she had a tendency to be more professional. It also meant being more distant, less open, less inclined to express herself. Cathérine knew that. She also wasn’t sure how to properly break through.

“All things,” Prakoso said, “being the discovery of intelligent alien life, a galactic community that’s been around longer than any civilization on earth, or the more recent stranding of the Sollipsis in the middle of nowhere above a planet that has no multicellular ambulant life?” He was a little ways away, and seemed to have his comms finally set correctly. 

“Both,” Evangeline said, and she caught the Captain’s eye. “Personally, the revelations haven’t… I’m not a particularly devout person. The universe is large. Intelligent life wasn’t unexpected.” She shrugged. “And it wasn’t hostile, which is a big plus.”

“Pragmatic,” Hasan said as he walked several large steps, counting them under his breath, then planting another scanning spike. “Religion and faith and such aside though,” he said, “doesn’t it bother you that they’ve been studying us for centuries? Come here for a moment.”

“Not really,” Evangeline said as she did as she was asked. Technically speaking, they had the same rank and he couldn’t order her around, but it seemed like the planet wasn’t particularly hostile and Hasan quite literally had his arms full. Cathérine joined her, taking some of the spikes in her arms as well. “In their place, I think I would’ve done the same thing. Assess the threat, consider future diplomatic possibilities, wait, observe.” She handed Hasan one of the spikes, and he hammered it down. 

“The philosophical implications, though,” Hasan said, a dreamy quality to his voice. “That our way of observing the universe is likely not to be the only one! It’s fascinating in its terrifying enormity.”

“You should’ve been a poet, Prakoso,” Cathérine said with a smile. 

“I tried once,” Hasan said, “but Mother wouldn’t have it. ‘I already lost one child to the Arts,’ she said, ‘I’m not losing another!’” He chuckled. “Besides, I don’t have the patience for it. I need to be doing something with my hands.”

“Fair enough,” Cathérine said as she helped Hasan calibrate the next spike. 

“What about you, Captain?” Evangeline asked. Cathérine chewed tongue for a moment while she formulated her thoughts. She was worried, of course. For her crew, their well-being and so on. But her personally? 

“I’m doing fine,” she said. “I think so, at the very least. It has been a lot, but the concept of alien life? Our place in the universe has changed, yes, but I never expected it not to. We were finally traveling away from our sun, going to new worlds. I was expecting things to change, and when it did…” She shrugged. “I suppose I’m not all that bothered by it. Especially since we don’t seem to be at war, and my bridge crew is exceedingly competent.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Hasan said with a smirk. “Appreciated.” Evangeline nodded professionally in agreement. 

“I am, however,” Cathérine continued, “worried about our stranding. Certainly, in even the worst case scenario we’ll likely be picked up in a matter of days, but if we can not discern the cause, this could happen again in the future. Either to us or to another passing ship. I’d rather that not be the case.”

Hasan nodded. “Agreed,” he said, taking the last spike and walking several more paces. The spikes had been set up in a specific pattern, far enough apart for their scanning signals not to interfere with one another. He hammered the last one in place. “Well, we’ll know soon enough what’s causing it, and get to the bottom of things,” he said. Cathérine headed back to the shuttle, Evangeline and Hasan close behind her. Once they were inside, she pressurized the cabin and a quick scan later confirmed the lack of infectants. 

“So now what?” she asked as she took her helmet off, the seal releasing with a gentle hiss. It was state-of-the-art, but something about having your head in a glass-and-rubber bowl, ever so slightly catching your own reflection on the inside, was never going to not be uncomfortable to her. The oppressive clamminess of it.

“Now we wait,” Hasan said, taking off his own helmet, and checking the tablet. “It’ll be a little bit before we get anything conclusive, and in the meantime, I’d rather we be down here in case anything needs fixing, rather than flying up and down all day.”

“I’d rather not do atmospheric re-entry more often than I have to,” Evangeline nodded. 

“How long do you think?” Cathérine asked. She’d wanted to come down to the planet’s surface herself, stretch her legs, see something other than the inside of the ship for a bit, but she also didn’t like being so far away from the rest of her crew for an extended period of time. 

“Just a few hours,” Hasan reassured her. “The data stream is constant. Barely any packet loss. The team is already analyzing anything that could possibly cause a systems malfunction in orbit.”

“Good,” Cathérine said, “good.” She sat down in one of the chairs in the small shuttle, and drummed her knees. “So…” Evangeline carefully put away her own helmet carefully, and sat down. 

Hasan went through a small locker, and retrieved what appeared to be a small cardboard box. “Poker, anyone? I promise I won’t fleece you too badly.”

Cathérine and Evangeline exchanged a look, and then nodded. Cathérine smirked. “You’re on, Prakoso.”