Terror on Terra 5
by Maggie Allen
Maggie Allen started writing short fiction not long ago, but from her day job at NASA she has years of experience writing and podcasting about various nonfiction topics in astronomy and astrophysics. Maggie has short stories published in many Silence in the Library Publishing anthologies (including A Hero By Any Other Name, Time Traveled Tales, Athena's Daughters), as well as Dreaming Robot Press's 2016 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide. She co-edited the Athena's Daughters, Volume 2 anthology. Maggie is a guitarist and singer in the rock band, "Naked Singularity," which released its first album of original music in 2013. They are currently working on their second album. Her band's website may be found here: http://naked-singularity.com, and her writer website here: http://writermaggie.blogspot.com.
When questioned about the incident, Bee would say it was the sheer human terror contained in the scream that compelled them to act.
“But wasn’t a horrifying scream a good reason to stay in the Safe Zone?” the incident investigator asked. “You’re only students.”
“You would have thought so,” she replied with a shrug that conveyed more bravado than she actually felt. “But here we are.”
Bee sat beneath a tree, the warm sun shining through the purple leaves above her creating dappled patterns of light on her dark skin. Realizing her fingers were cramping, she reluctantly made a gesture, closing down the digital projection from the small, portable data pad sitting on her lap. She cracked her knuckles and looked up at the sky, trying to judge the time based on Alpha Pictorus’ position. After a couple of weeks on Terra 5, she had gotten pretty good at guesstimating it, despite the fact that Terra 5 didn’t have a twenty-four hour day like Earth did.
Regardless of the time, her sore fingers and the crick in her neck told her it was time for a break. Unfortunately. Bee loved her work. She loved almost everything about this internship, where she was finally getting the chance to catalogue flora on a real extrasolar planet. It was the fauna she wasn’t so sure about. Mostly because it was still somewhat of a mystery.
The first exploratory parties to come through the wormhole had landed here on Terra 5, the unimaginatively named fifth terrestrial planet out from Alpha Pictoris, a perfectly average star. Their first base, Freya Station, had been on the other side of the planet, resulting in that particular region and ecosystem being better explored than the newer Loki Station, which is where Bee was now. Initial readings of the planet had shown no sign of intelligent life, tech, or pollution—but humans had only been studying it for the nine years since that first landing. And nine years isn’t a lot of time to fully explore something as large as a planet.
However, part of the mission of the Space Academy for Technical Arts and Sciences was to train the next generation of scientists and explorers, and with that training came an accepted level of inherent risk, even for teenagers. The protective equipment set up at Loki Station had been deemed adequate to ensure the safety of the science teams and now students, who were here to study this strange new world.
The students in particular, while unescorted, were trusted to stay in the so-called Safe Zone. Bee had no complaints—there was plenty to learn about and to catalog within the Safe Zone’s generous parameters. Nor had she been here long enough yet to explore it all.
She dumped her data pad onto the soft, pale purple grass beside her and stood up to stretch. You couldn't beat spring on Terra 5 when the weather was good. She turned her brown face up to Alpha Pictoris, enjoying its gentle warmth, and then ran her fingers through the Afro that bloomed around her face like a soft black halo. The purple-leaved trees above her tended to shed pale pink pollen when the breeze went through their small blossoms, making her feel like she constantly needed to dust off her head.
But she didn’t care. This place was magic.
And the best part, (as if anything could be better than getting to do nothing but study plants from another planet) was that she got to share this with her friends.
Bee shoved her data pad into her jacket pocket and set off through the woods, towards the rugged, rock-ringed clearing Mike was excavating. If Bee Williamson loved plants, Mike Lopez loved rocks. She knew that when she found him, he'd be tapping away at a boulder, his sample bags and camera close by.
Bee felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped.
“Sorry, Iowa," a low voice said in her ear. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you."
It was Alicia Callahan, another one of her best friends and a fellow SATAS student, using the nickname Bee had been given three years ago at Lunar Camp. She’d hated it then, but now it just reminded her of her home state on Earth, and also of the summer she’d become friends with Mike.
"You’re actually taking a break?" Alicia's green eyes widened in mock surprise.
"Forcing myself to take one. I needed dusting off anyway." Bee grinned and gently swiped at her friend's dark brown bangs.
Alicia bent her head over and swished her long ponytail for a minute, before flipping it back. "That felt good—I think I needed to shake off the dust, too!"
"How's your project coming?" Bee asked.
"Good! I've almost got the old spectrometer working, and I made a few mods to it to give us readings for longer wavelengths..."
Alicia was interrupted by a warning blast from the loud klaxon of the emergency weather siren.
"Crap. Now I'm not going to get the chance to try it out this afternoon." Alicia sighed. "Why don't you drag Mike away from his rock sampling, and I'll stow my stuff and meet you at the south entrance of the station?”
“Sounds good. How long do you think we have this time?” Bee looked up at the sky again. Alpha Pictorus was now obscured by some very benign-looking, wispy, pink clouds.
"No idea.” Alicia shook her head, starting to warm up to one of her favorite subjects. “There’s so much variation between storms. The data set I downloaded showed that onset of forecast rain could be a couple of minutes to over an hour, but there’s no real pattern. We just don’t have the kind of weather satellites here that we have looking at the Earth, so there’s not much information to go by. All I know is that it apparently gets weird when it rains, and exactly how is not well-studied."
“Well, it can’t be too bad—the station’s still standing, right?”
“That’s something better than nothing!” Alicia replied cheerfully. “And you know how early exploration anywhere goes; there are lots of things that can kill you besides the weather!”
"Mike!" Bee stood in the center of the clearing and looked around. His bag of work tools and supplies lay in the clearing, abandoned. Where was he? Bee felt a twinge of alarm when a cold gust of wind ruffled her hair, signifying a definite turn in the weather.
Bee roamed the perimeter of the clearing, calling her friend’s name.
"Bee! Can you help me?"
It was Mike! Bee ran towards the faint sound of his voice, which was coming from outside of the clearing, farther back in the woods. The trees here had thick, deep-blue foliage that blotted out the light from the sky, giving everything an eerie overcast. "Mike, are you okay?"
"I'm stuck!"
"Are you hurt?" She paused, waiting for his voice again so she could follow it.
"I don't think so."
Bee spotted a row of trees, blue branches draped with thick yellow and black-striped rope, clearly meant as a warning. If she had one guess as to where she was going to find Mike, it was on the other side of that rope. He had a knack for finding trouble. "Why didn't you message me?"
"I couldn't reach my wristPAL." Mike's words floated up to her from somewhere beyond and below the tree line.
"Why not?" She cautiously approached the trees and peered through. Ah, that was why. Mike was hanging below the edge of a sheer drop-off, clinging onto the root system of one of the trees. "Some Safe Zone this is turning out to be."
"Tell me about it. Can you help me get out of here? We've got to get inside. I heard the siren go off." Mike adjusted the position of his feet, causing a shower of dirt and small rocks to clatter and skitter off the rocky wall below him.
"Yep, just hold on." Bee pulled her head back through the trees and scanned the area. Her eyes immediately went to the safety rope. "Well, you weren't much use as a warning,” she said to it. “Let's see if you can help us now."
"What?"
"Nothing!" Bee grabbed the rope and pulled it out from the branches. She tugged it a bit with both hands to test its strength. It seemed like it should hold Mike's weight—he was pretty small and light, fortunately. They didn't have any better options at present, so she folded it, wound the looped side around the base of one of the trees and threaded the ends through.
She poked her head back through the tree branches and looked down at her friend. “Mike, I'm dropping the safety rope towards you."
"Safety rope?"
Bee rolled her eyes as she played it out towards him. It figured he hadn't even noticed it. He'd probably chased a rock right over the edge.
"Got it!"
Bee got down on the ground and wiggled herself carefully through the trunks and lower branches of the trees until she was positioned on her stomach near the edge of the drop-off.
Mike had already shinnied most of the way up the rope and had thrown an arm up for her to grab. She was reaching out for him when the angry-looking clouds on the horizon caught her attention. It was already raining off in the distance. Sheets and sheets of rain, colored scarlet from dust the storm was collecting to the east. When the rain finally hit, it was going to look like a bloodbath out here. They could well be running out of time. A second blast of the klaxon served to emphasize the point. Bracing her legs against the trees, Bee gripped his arm and pulled.
"Iowa! Mike!" Alicia waved to them from the station's south entrance. The relief on her face at the sight of them was evident to Bee, even from their short distance away. "What took you so long?" she demanded when they ran, panting, up to her.
Bee gave Mike a pointed look before looking down at her own wristPAL and tapping a few buttons to make sure they were marked as checked in.
"It wasn't my fault..." Mike started to protest.
Just then, Alice, one of the teaching assistants stuck her head out the door. "Have any of you seen Kjell? He hasn't checked in yet." She pressed a few buttons on her own wrist, which pulled up a projection of the updated list of personnel staying at Loki Station. "Looks like you two are the last ones in. We're just missing Kjell." She scanned the horizon with troubled eyes. "He hasn't responded to any messages, and the weather will be coming in soon."
Bee exchanged a look with Alicia and Mike.
"You three had better come inside where it's safe. I'm going to do another check for him." With that, Alice disappeared back the way she came.
“We’d better get in…” Alicia was interrupted by a dismayed cry from Mike.
“My rock samples and tools!” Mike looked down at his empty hands, as if suddenly realizing they were missing. “Would I be in more trouble for going back to get them or for leaving them out during a storm, do you thi…?”
His words were cut off by a prolonged scream from somewhere behind them. A scream that sounded undeniably human.
Bee's head snapped around, her eyes searching for a sign of where the scream had come from. Kjell. If that was Kjell, he needed help and he needed it now. Her lizard brain was screaming at her to react. She found her feet moving beneath her, but she had only gotten a few yards from the station door before Alicia caught her shoulder.
"Iowa, stop! We can’t just go running off! We don’t know what on Earth that was!”
"That's just the problem—we're not on Earth, are we?" she said, meeting Alicia's wide eyes. Bee looked over at Mike, who was now standing with his back pressed firmly up against the station wall. “If Kjell’s in trouble, someone needs to do something!”
“We need to let Alice or someone inside know what’s going on.” Alicia firmly pulled Bee back towards the station.
Bee tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Alicia to exhaust all the responsible possibilities.
Alicia poked her head inside the station door and then shook her head. “I don’t see her, she’s already gone.” Alicia tapped at her wristPAL. “And I can’t get a signal anymore. Must be magnetic interference from the storm.”
Bee looked down at her own device, which now displayed a spinning wheel. “Mine is hosed, too.” She frowned. “Look, if that was Kjell screaming, he might not have much time. And he’s likely unable to communicate.”
"We don't have much time," Mike reminded them.
"Five minutes ago, you were ready to go back for your rocks!”
“That was before the scream.”
“We can't leave Kjell out there," Bee insisted stubbornly. "Let's at least do a quick sweep outside until the rain starts and make sure he’s not somewhere we can easily get to him. Besides, nothing big should be able to get into the Safe Zone."
Alicia squinted up at the sky. "Well, it’s held off this long, maybe it’ll hold off a bit longer. Let's do it. Mike?"
He stepped forward. "Right behind you."
Another scream rent the air from somewhere deep in the woods.
Involuntarily he stepped back again. "Literally, I will be behind you."
"Oh, come on." Bee grabbed Mike's arm and pulled him after herself and Alicia.
Mike hesitated again after the fourth scream. They'd already followed the sound of the previous ones all the way back through Bee's purple-leaved orchard, Mike's rocked-ringed clearing, and they were nearly to the heavily-leafed blue foliage. "Did that sound like someone being torn to pieces? Or like someone who might have just fallen off the same cliff I did?"
Bee considered this for a moment. "I dunno, I think it sounded more like someone who is afraid rather than in pain."
"You fell off a cliff?" Alicia turned her head and cocked it at Mike, widening her eyes at him. "No, wait, of course you did." She shook her head and started walking again, though with an amused smile on her face.
"It could have happened to anyone," Mike protested. He paused to readjust the bag he’d retrieved near his excavation site and then jabbed his finger in Alicia’s direction as he broke into a jog to catch up. "It could have happened to Kjell."
Alicia considered his words for a moment. "Let's hope it's something as simple as that—we're not exactly armed."
"We have pepper spray," Mike tapped the can on his belt.
"You ever wonder why on Earth they think pepper spray is supposed to work here?" Alicia asked him, ducking under a thick branch covered in delicate red moss. “I did some literature searches, but I didn’t find a whole lot of actual studies that were that convincing. Sure, there are field reports, but those are hardly scientifically rigorous.”
Bee, following behind her, stifled an urge to grab a quick sample of moss to take back with them. "You mean 'why on Terra 5?’ And field data is better than no data, right?”
“Let’s just hope we won’t need to find out for ourselves,” Alicia grumbled.
By the time they heard the fifth scream, the wind was picking up steadily, and the three of them were coated with pink pollen and covered in scratches from the large blue leaves being gusted at them. They were nearly to the spot where Mike had gone over the edge when the sixth sounded, this time off to the west.
"Guess it wasn't the cliff." Bee grimaced.
"How far west does the cliff run?" Alicia asked.
"Not far," Mike replied. "It was more deep than wide. There was a sort of plateau on the western side of the drop-off. I couldn't exactly tell, because of the trees, but I think the meadow we've done fieldwork in is over in that direction.”
"That's outside of the Safe Zone. We're not going outside the Safe Zone," Alicia said firmly.
"Of course not," Bee reassured her.
"We'd never do that, we're not stupid," Mike added.
Ten minutes later, the three of them stood at the fence that marked the edge of the Safe Zone, staring at a scrap of red that lay on the ground beyond it.
"Does that jacket have a name patch that says "Kjell" on it?" Alicia pointed.
Mike squinted. “Yep, looks like.”
Bee looked over at the others. "We’re going to have to go outside the Safe Zone.”
Alicia opened her mouth to object, and Mike cut her off with a gesture. “Alicia, your face…”
Alicia swiped at her cheek. “What? What is it?” She looked at her hand, which had a red streak on it. “Blood?”
Bee felt something spatter on the back of her hand. “Nope, not blood. Rain.”
“We really need to get back inside. The rain… we’re not safe out here, and we’ve already left it too late.” Alicia heaved a sigh. “But I know we can’t just leave Kjell…” She wiped another drop off her jacket sleeve, leaving a red streak on the fabric.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got the pepper spray, remember?” Mike waved his canister aloft.
Alicia threw him a dirty look.
“Look, we know this meadow, we’ve been here before, let’s just check it out.” Bee wiped at her own cheek. “We haven't heard another scream, so let's just make sure he’s not lying unconscious somewhere. Clearly there isn’t anything big out there, or we’d be seeing it.” She scanned the meadow that stretched out in front of them towards the horizon before it disappeared into the clouds of pink mist that had come rolling in with the rain. The small canyon Mike had nearly fallen into was to their right, and more blue, shadowed forest was to their left.
Next to the gate in the fence was a small metal box. Bee flipped its cover up, and inside was a keypad and a light, which was currently glowing red, signifying the force field was activated.
“If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now,” Mike said, typing in the code to deactivate the force field.
Everyone at Loki Station knew the codes to turn the force field on and off. It was standard safety procedure, and it ensured no one could get trapped outside the Safe Zone. The fence and thirty foot high force field were never intended to imprison, just to offer a measure of safety. Classes and field groups were free to come and go. Students on their own, however, were honor-bound to respect the station’s safety rules. Bee was sure that there must be exceptions to those rules for special circumstances, and surely the possibility of a student being hurt and unable to get back to the Safe Zone qualified. She waited until the light turned green and then pushed the gate open.
“I know we could cover more ground if we split up, but let’s not, okay?” Mike called over to Bee and Alicia. The three of them were walking in a line, cautiously threading their way through the meadow while keeping their eyes peeled for indentations in the vegetation that might indicate a body. They were surrounded by waist high, weedy-looking wildflowers and plants, similar to what one might see in an Earth meadow, if one discounted the odd coloring of the vegetation… and the apparent rain of blood.
“I am all for sticking together,” Bee said. “No sense compounding our stupidity.”
“And we are pretty stupid!” Alicia managed a smile that was incongruous with the gory-looking tracks the raindrops were leaving on her face.
Just then, a low hum started sounding around them, which swelled in volume and then dropped just as suddenly as it had started.
“What was that?” Mike froze.
The humming sound rose again.
“Where is that coming from? I don’t see anything!” Alicia swiveled her head. “There aren’t any obvious life forms."
“Except for the plants.” Bee pointed to a tall stalk in front of her, upon which a beautiful orange and black striped bloom was opening, almost before their eyes. Its petals extended, and Bee watched them form a cup, catch a few bloody-looking raindrops and then siphon the rain from the cup with an audible slurp. Bee tapped her wristPAL to see if she could get its offline camera function operational. She had to record everything she could—she might never get another chance.
“Bee…”
“What?” Bee’s camera was successfully capturing the wondrous thing in front of her, and she could barely take her eyes off it.
“Bee!” Mike was insistent this time. "We're surrounded."
Bee looked up and realized that they were, in a sense. The entire meadow had suddenly bloomed into a riot of color. She could see ripples in the meadow in front of her, almost as if the plants were waking up in surges. She'd once seen something like it on the seashore in Florida, back on Earth, when the ocean’s receding had brought tiny coquina shells up out of their sandy burrows, creating the effect of a pastel-colored wave rolling down the entire beach.
Mike suddenly stumbled as the ground broke open beneath him. Alicia grabbed his arm and pulled him nearer to her. They stood huddled together on a mound of purple grass, now separated from Bee by a series of shallow pits.
Bee gaped as small protuberances poked up through the soil, giving the impression that the pits were filled with tentacles that writhed excitedly as they appeared to drink in the increasingly steady fall of red rain. "I think they're to help the plant roots collect the water." She let the holographic eye of her wristPAL drink in the roiling vegetation of the meadow and the thirsty pits all around them.
The hum built again, rising and falling in pitch. It got louder and louder until it culminated in an ear-piercing scream that came from somewhere off to the left. All three of them clamped their hands on their ears as they looked around in alarm.
"We gotta go, Bee," Mike begged. "It's not safe. And that wasn’t Kjell screaming.” His pale face was streaked red from the rain.
"You’re right,” Bee conceded. “Whatever is humming is also doing the screaming. But what happened to Kjell? His jacket…”
“Ow!”
Bee’s thought was interrupted by Mike’s cry of pain.
“Are you all right?” Alicia gripped Mike’s arm keeping him steady as he hopped up and down on one leg.
“Something bit me.”
“Let me see.” She crouched down quickly next to him and pulled up the leg of his jumpsuit. There was a large red welt on his calf. “How did whatever it was get you through your jumpsuit?”
“I don’t know!” Mike looked like he was on the verge of panic.
“The flowers!” Bee pointed at the tiger striped bloom she’d been recording. She focused her wristPAL in on a small creature, black with blue and red dots on its carapace, now sitting in the flower’s cup. It was maybe three centimeters long, and not so different from an insect one might see in an exotic jungle on Earth. The spiky head of the creature in front of her started to vibrate, joining the soft humming that was building from their immediate surrounds. The sound swelled, and then suddenly the creature’s head expanded three-fold in size. Its mouth opened, letting out a blood-curdling shriek. Bee reeled in shock, barely catching herself from tripping backwards into one of the root pits. Bugs were responsible for the cacophony of sounds around them, not the flowers!
“Iowa, now!”
Bee felt Alicia’s tug on her arm and she let herself be pulled away, just as the creature launched itself at her face. Bee waved her left hand wildly to deflect it. Alicia’s grip on her other side helped her to retain her balance as the two of them scrambled to get away.
“Go help Mike, I’m fine.” Bee gently pushed at Alicia, who still had a death grip on Bee’s upper arm.
Alicia nodded and then ran ahead to Mike, who was limping as fast as he could towards the Safe Zone, using his arms to help himself weave through the vegetation. Bee watched Alicia grab his bag, and then put her shoulder under his arm so he could lean on her. More creatures were flying off the blooms around them and circling overhead, reminding Bee of the time she’d experienced a brood of cicadas. This was way worse. The cicadas had buzzed, but they didn’t scream or bite.
Swatting the air in front of her face, Bee turned to take in a last view of the meadow. Off in the distance, she saw another ripple starting to sweep through the meadow. Was it the flowers transforming themselves yet again? What would the meadow unleash next? An involuntary shudder ran through her, fear finally overcoming scientific curiosity. Bee turned and ran.
At last Bee spotted Kjell’s red jacket just ahead of them and paused long enough to grab it. She had just bent down to pick it up when Alicia’s voice rang out.
“Iowa, get down!”
Bee dropped to a crouch instantly at Alicia’s warning, and pushed Kjell’s jacket against her head protectively.
“Make sure your eyes are closed, Bee!” She obeyed Mike’s command, clamping her eyes shut as tightly as she could and mashing the damp fabric into her face.
Bee heard a loud humming noise zoom over her head.
“Eat pepper!” Mike yelled from somewhere in front of her.
This could not possibly end well.
Bee felt a tug on the jacket. “Okay, let’s go.”
She looked up to see Alicia, eyes streaming with tears, looking down at her.
She gasped and then coughed as the leftover pepper spray entered her nose and mouth.
“I know. It’s strong. But the good news is those things really don’t like it, either.”
“The field reports were right?”
“Apparently so.”
“Huh.”
Mike had the Safe Zone gate open, waiting for them, and he slammed it closed after Bee and Alicia ran through it. Bee watched him type in the four-digit code as fast as he could. The light turned red.
“We’re safe now, right?” Alicia asked.
A little creature flew at Mike’s head from behind, the sound of it sizzling against the force field making him jump.
“At least from those things,” Bee said. Who knew what the rainfall might bring out within the Safe Zone?
“It’s not going to stop the rain and the wind, though.” Alicia put her hand over her eyes as she surveyed the sky.
Bee considered it speculatively, too. The weather was not looking like it was going to let up anytime soon.
“At least the rain isn’t doing much more to us than making us wet.” Mike shook his head like a dog, scattering red raindrops. “Come on, let’s go. I’ve got to get this bite looked at. It hurts.”
“Let me take another quick look at it now. I’ve got a small first aid kit; I just didn’t have time to take it out back in the meadow. Sit down,” Alicia said.
Bee held Kjell’s jacket over them to shield them from the rain so Alicia could get a better look at Mike’s injury. Alicia let out an involuntary gasp. The welt now looked swollen and shiny, with purple streaks radiating outward from it. “Oh Mike, that doesn’t look good. We need to get you back now.”
Mike grimaced in pain. “It doesn’t feel great, either.”
“I’m not sure any of the medicines I have is going to help it. I don’t want to use the wrong thing and make it worse.” Alicia carefully taped a bandage over it, and then she and Bee pulled Mike up and helped him to move as quickly as possible back towards the station, along a route that should have been very familiar.
Mike suddenly stopped short. “Wait, where are the blue leaves?” Mike asked. “I know this should be the section between the cliff and my excavation site. But it’s not the same.”
Bee, who had been focused on where she was stepping, looked around in surprise. “ You’re right.” She pointed. “That red moss. I saw some on one of the tree branches earlier, but now it’s totally taken over.”
The moss, hanging down in thick curtains from the tree in front of them, curling and undulating delicately, seemed to enjoy the moisture that was trickling down it.
“This is ridiculous. I just want to get us all back inside. I’m wet, I’m tired, and I’m done!” Alicia yanked the pepper spray off her own belt and sent a thin stream of the stuff at the moss. It instantly pulled itself back onto the branch, leaving an opening.
“Wow,” Mike said to Alicia in admiration. “Even the moss is allergic to Earth peppers. Is everything here, do you think?”
“We probably don’t want to find out,” she said grimly, giving the moss another spritz.
“Don’t hurt the moss!” Bee protested.
Alicia shot Bee an exasperated look.
“What?” Bee gently pulled a sample of the moss off the tree and dropped it in an extra specimen bag from her pocket. “At least it’s not harboring tiny creatures that scream. You gotta give it that.”
Alicia just shook her head and then ducked under the tree branch, continuing forward, wielding the pepper spray as if she were an early 20th-century explorer using a machete to carve her way through a South American jungle.
Bee, who couldn’t help herself, gave the moss a friendly pat as they walked beneath it.
Bee’s heart lifted when she caught sight of her orchard. They were close now, and after they’d reached Mike’s rocks, there’d been less out-of-control vegetation to work their way through. The rain was slowing to a drizzle, too, though all three of them looked like they were survivors staggering out of a particularly grisly horror movie.
Bee lifted her face to her purple trees to admire them and was rewarded by a bug dropping right onto her. She spluttered and swatted at it. “Help!”
Alicia, having apparently embraced the effectiveness of the pepper spray, instinctually raised it in defense.
“Cool it, killer! You can’t spray it right into Bee’s face!” Mike limped over to Bee to investigate.
“Oh, yeah, good point.” Alicia lowered her hand slightly but kept it at the ready in case more bugs fell on them from above.
“Hold still, Bee, it’s in your hair! Give me one of those sample bags.”
Bee, eyes scrunched close, reached into her pocket and then held one out in Mike’s general direction.
Carefully, so as not to get bitten again, he scooped the bug from where it was caught in Bee’s Afro, which, despite being somewhat bedraggled from the rain, had still managed to shield her skin from the bug’s pincers. From the confines of the bag, the bug managed a somewhat muffled shriek.
“Let me see! Is the same as the ones in the meadow?” Bee peered at it.
Even Alicia’s curiosity was raised. “Hard to tell, but I think this one is different. It’s got pink stripes.”
“I left the camera on my wristPAL running pretty much the whole time we fleeing the meadow, so we should be able to compare. Plus I have high-def footage of that first bug. Though that one did look different than this.” Bee plucked the bag out of Mike’s fingers and held it up. The bug let out a tiny peep. “They’re kind of cute when they’re not screaming.”
“Not so cute that I want to deal with a swarm of them. Especially if they bite.” Alicia looked up at the trees uneasily. “And I'm not sure the discovery will be worth the trouble we’re going to be in for being outside during a storm.”
“Or for going outside the Safe Zone,” Mike added.
Alicia walked over to him, offering her shoulder to lean on again. “How’s your leg feeling?” she asked.
“Actually, much better. I think I’m okay to walk by myself.”
“Really?” Alicia sounded surprised.
Mike hitched up his jumpsuit leg and peeled back the bandage. His eyebrows raised in surprise. “Alicia?”
She bent over to take a look at the wound. “It’s almost gone. How is that possible?”
“And is that good or bad?” Bee asked. “Come on, we need to get back and have Mike checked out. We don’t want him turning into a bug himself or developing bug superpowers or something.”
“Wait, you don’t think that could really happen, do you?” Mike’s eyes widened.
“Bee is just kidding.” Alicia gave her a pointed look that was not without concern.
“Of course I am,” said Bee. “But maybe take it easy with the pepper shaker at meal times for a while, just in case.” She winked at Mike and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s get going.” She put the bagged bug specimen into her pocket with the rest of the samples that she’d quietly taken on their trek, and they continued back toward the station. Hitching Kjell’s jacket back up around her waist, she pulled the sleeves tighter to keep it in place. So many mysteries. Like how to explain the strange and swift life cycle of Mike’s bite and whether it might have lasting effects on him. There was also still the issue of what had actually happened to Kjell. Had the bugs gotten him somehow? Exploring a new place was risky, and Bee thought—or hoped—that they had gotten lucky. It was sobering, and yet she couldn’t believe the amazing things she’d gotten to experience. And they’d come back with a live sample of one of the bug creatures. She’d have to see if she could put together a terrarium so they could study it. Alicia would surely help her rig something together. Something soundproof. She was good at that kind of thing.
The fallout from their adventure, when they’d arrived back at the station, had been somewhat inevitable. Though no one had noticed they were missing, three kids, stained red from head to foot, had not taken long to attract attention. They’d been hustled to sick bay, stripped of their jumpsuits, and inspected for harm.
“Careful of my bug!” Bee yelped as her jacket was whisked off her body.
“Bug?” The lead med tech looked puzzled.
This prompted the first of many retellings of what had happened, at which point all the concern had focused on Mike, whose limp had totally disappeared by the time they got back to the station. Underneath the bandage, the skin was smooth, and all signs of the bite and the discoloration around it had disappeared. Bee, Alicia, and Mike exchanged looks. While it was nice to think that maybe their adventure would have no repercussions, things were rarely that simple.
However, they still had a live specimen, and the meadow was still there for further exploration. And for now, Mike seemed to be fine. He’d been taken away for further examination, blood tests, and scans—and the bug had gone with him for further study. Bee had been reassured that having the bug would help them better understand what had happened to Mike, and that it was indeed more valuable to them alive. It seemed like both Mike and the bug were in good hands.
Once they had all been deemed outwardly healthy and fit, it was time for the formal debriefs. And the formal reprimand for going outside the Safe Zone. Apparently the sound of human screams was not a good reason for putting their own safety at risk. Bee remained unmoved. It had been the right thing to do, trying to find Kjell… who she ultimately found waiting for her when she got out of her individual debrief.
“Iowa, beklager. Jeg er så lei meg.” Kjell’s words came out in a rush of Norwegian, before he switched to accented English. “I’m so sorry. I was out in the woods getting some samples when the weather siren went off. I realized then that my jacket was gone. It’s not so important, but my wristPAL was in it. The strap had broken earlier and I didn’t want to lose it, so…” Kjell mimed putting something in a jacket pocket. “I thought it wouldn’t be good to leave it outside, and I thought I had time, so I retraced my steps to look for it. And there it was, lying outside of the Safe Zone. I must have dropped it there in the afternoon while we were doing field work out in the meadow.” Kjell shrugged. “I decided I had no choice but to just leave it there for now. As a result, I was late getting back and very late checking in. I didn’t realize leaving the jacket there would make anyone think I was hurt… ”
“Well, there were the screams.”
“Screams?”
“It’s a long story, Kjell,” Bee said with a grin. “I promise to tell you the whole thing over coffee later, but I think I’m too tired right now. I am really glad you are safe.”
“Okay, Iowa. Ikke noe problem. And takk. Thank you.” He gave her arm a quick squeeze.
“You’re welcome.”
Bee stumbled tiredly towards the dorm room she shared with Alicia and Mike. Mike was already snoring away on his top bunk, just like normal. She ruffled his hair affectionately and sank down onto the bottom bunk. As she was crawling under the covers, she heard Alicia’s sleepy voice float over from the other side of the room. “They should call this place ‘Terrify’ instead of Terra 5.”
Bee let out a snort of laughter at the bad pun. Though the day’s events could have given her nightmares, instead she found herself dreaming that she was lying on a large orange blossom, watching colorful insects float peacefully overhead.
The next day, Bee sat in her orchard, reviewing the footage from her wristPAL and making notes on her data pad, her back resting against one of the purple-leaved trees. Puffy clouds drifted by, and Alpha Pictoris shone brightly overhead. The weather was idyllic, with no sign of the storm. Magic!