Page 38 of Experimental Voyage
I narrowed my eyes, considering the woman. “What are the rules regarding failed colonies?”
Viva sucked in a breath. “You know about Waldren’s history? We’d been warned about it in case we meet him. He’s sensitive.”
I nodded. “I want a better understanding of these colonies. They’re what explorers like me work towards, to establish new colonies on new worlds. We talked about thesuccessfulcolonies, but we never discussed the failures.”
Viva’s gaze unfocused, something I recognized as a linker making use of the plethora of databases available at a mere thought. “Yes, I have access to the record. There were two survivors, among the first born to the colony. Twins. The planet is hostile tohomo sapiensif they stay longer than a year. Waldren is noted as having been rather feral. His sister is the sensible one of the pair, and she kept them both alive until a group of Veloc rescued them. The Veloc had been aware of the colony, and when it became known all transmissions had stopped, they made the venture to investigate.”
After a moment, Viva giggled. “According to this, Waldren bit numerous Veloc during his first meeting with thembeforehis flight instinct kicked in and he ran them around for several hours. His sister’s future husband was one of the ones Waldren had bitten. He opted to feed her and groom her hair while the rest of the clan caught Waldren.”
That generally matched what I’d heard on the ship, and I laughed at the thought of a wild Waldren biting Veloc before running for the hills. Then I forced myself to take the conversation seriously. “Homo sapienscan stay a year? That’s odd. Wouldn’t any viral or bacterial infections begin promptly?”
I’d gotten that lecture more than a few times. Hostile planets tended to kill the instant someone stepped foot on them. The variable was the time until death. I hadn’t heard of planets with delayed death sequences like Viva described.
“The infection appears to be fungal in nature. Waldren and his sister are naturally immune to it, likely due to having been born on the planet. It takes a year for the fungal infection to no longer be treatable, but it takes a few years to kill. The colony experienced a mass die off within a six month period as the fungal infections all became terminal at the same time.” Viva’s gaze focused on me. “It’s considered to be a hazardous planet, but itcanbe visited with clearance. We can get the clearance. The planet is located three days from here over a series of five gate hops.”
I raised a brow as most pilots, at least according to Waldren, wouldn’t do more than three gates at a time without stopping to check the engines. “Does the three days include the engine checks?”
“Yes, it does. I can do the checks on my beauty in five hours.” Viva smiled. “She’s also rated for six consecutive jumps, but I never take her more than three. I’ve salvaged enough derelicts to know better.”
“Do you think we could go there? To his colony?” To me, it wasn’t a complete failure.
Waldren and his sister lived. No, they thrived.
My heart hurt for the loss of their family and loved ones, however.
Viva and Delta exchanged long looks, and after a moment, he shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’ll have to battle my father for the clearances, but we know how to treat the fungal infection. He just dislikes when we do anything reckless, and this would be a little reckless. But only a little. It’s a good exercise for you, especially as you can do botany work on the planet. They’re still not sure where the fungal source is, so an expedition would not be a bad thing. The planet isn’t in anyone’s territory, but nobody has done any significant surveys of the natural resources. We could do a preliminary survey, and if we find anything of interest, we could stake a claim.” Delta regarded his wife with wide eyes. “Foxes don’t have issues with the fungus. If we can convince my father to stake a claim on the planet, we could use it forvulpes vulpes.”
“Delta, we can’t destroy the ecosystem of planets solely to take over the universe with foxes.”
“I don’t see why not.”
Viva heaved a patience worn sigh. “Delta.”
“Boo-Boo needs more friends.”
“Boo-Boo does not need an entire planet worth of friends.”
The pair glared at each other.
I could see myself in Delta’s shoes should I ever get an Andean like Palta.
I would even consider taking over an entire planet for them.
“How long do you think it’ll be before we can depart to the failed colony?” I asked, glancing again at the departing ships.
“Longer than you’ll appreciate. The mid-semester break is in four months.” Viva snagged my bag and tossed it over hershoulder. “We’ll take a hover to the school. It’s several hours to walk, even if you take the shortcut through Veloc territory. In good news, their hunting trails are large enough for a hover, and they don’t mind when we use it. I know being stuck on a planet is dull, but you’ll be fine. View it as training for going back into space. If you can withstand the monotony of being stuck on this rock, you’ll be fine during the long, boring stretches. Just try to be patient with the Deltans. They mean well, but they just don’t understand space. I’m convinced I got my greedy hands on the only adaptable Deltan.”
“My parents travel through space,” Delta reminded his wife with a scowl.
“They will only travel through space when you get in trouble, the Veloc offer to let them cuddle with the hatchlings, or there are new foxes to be had. Otherwise, they would prefer to stay at home.”
While he sighed, he didn’t argue with his wife.
“It’ll be all right, Camellia. You’ll see,” Viva promised.
As warned,I became ill from the vaccinations, but no matter how many people the Deltans tossed at me, I failed to infect anyone with any new ailments. Delta’s father, who’d volunteered to get sick, lamented he wouldn’t be getting any paid days off work. That amused me.
As promised, I was given a suite at the university. As Schwana Major counted as a backwater and was woefully behind on education, the school’s dean opted to start me back at the beginning, allowing me to test out of courses after a minimum of a week of study. Trying to cram an entire semester of readingand education into a week kept me busy, and I took advantage of their offer to pack my schedule as full as they would allow, starting with the classes I held confidence I could pass with ease.
