The Terra Class Trip

Vienna was among the first group to disembark from the landing module on to the planet. The sun was just rising over the horizon, and she stared around in awe, taking in the mountains and the ruined city. Turning to her buddy for the trip, she said “It’s funny, I knew we’d land here but somehow I still expected to see the ocean. I just think of Terra as being mostly water.”

Paddy smiled and nodded. His hair was still dark, but his beard was gray with a few white patches. He was just happy that he had been paired with Vienna for the excursion. What a waste it would have been to go somewhere as romantic as Terra with one of the many old fogeys and crones who made up their university department. “I know what you mean. We learn so much about Terra, the history, the geography, the biosphere – it seems as though we have images in our minds about how it will look and feel. Can you feel the chill in the air? I was expecting it to be much warmer.”

Vienna seemed to shrink further into her warm clothing. She was about to say more, but Professor Kasparov started to address the group.

“Welcome to Terra, class of 2230. It’s my greatest joy to show you the planet we originated from. You all have your schedules, maps, and accommodation information. Do not lose them! It’s a big planet, and if you get lost, no one will come and find you. Stay with your buddy at all times. If you have any problems, any at all, come and find me. It goes without saying that the planet is unsafe. No humans have lived here for more than a century. Although you can identify some poisonous plants and dangerous creatures, do not assume that you are experts. Eat only what has been provided for you and avoid contact with all life forms.”

The professor paused, and smiled warmly at the eager students. “Having said all that, this trip is the highlight of your degree course. You have 24 Terra hours to get oriented and experience the sights and sounds of Terra for yourselves, before our first formal study session. This is what used to be Colorado, in North America. Next week we’ll transfer to what was once Greece, in Europe, which will be very different. Make good use of your recorders and document everything you see and hear. We’ll exchange information and memories and raise and answer questions in our first session tomorrow. Those of you who have questions for me now, please stay behind and speak to me before I settle in for my daily nap in a couple of Terra hours. The rest of you, please go and explore!”

Vienna and Paddy looked at each other, grinning excitedly. They felt like children again. “Mountains first, then city?” suggested Paddy. “Then we’ll be able to rest when we feel like it.”

Vienna nodded enthusiastically, her gray hair whipping across her face in the wind. “I’ve been practicing hiking to build up my stamina. I expect I can walk in this gravity for two Terra hours – longer if we go slowly.”

Paddy winced and rubbed his hand across his face. “Be gentle with me. I didn’t train that hard.”

They took the scooter to a nearby trailhead and parked. Vienna used her recorder to show the snow-covered mountain ahead of them, the brown grass and the trail leading into the unknown. Birds flew overhead, and in surprise she pointed the recorder upwards to capture them. Paddy looked through the information they had been given. “It’s impossible to identify them. There are literally hundreds of possible winged creatures. Maybe we’ll find out in tomorrow’s session.”

Vienna frowned. “We have so little time, and there are so many things to discover. I need the energy of an adolescent or a young adult to really explore everything. The university is wasted on old people like us.”

Paddy put his arm casually on her shoulder, drawing her close to keep warm against the chill wind. “Of course, and then the young people would get the education and we would do all the work, right? They need all that energy to run the world. It’s only the old folks who have the time and the experience to appreciate a university education. Come on, let’s get moving. We need to stay active or the cold will slow us down.”

As they walked along the trail, however, Vienna was constantly stopping to look at interesting rock formations, plants, trees, streams, birds, insects, and animals. Paddy took over the job of recording the sights and sounds, noting the smells and tastes, and picking up samples they could carry. Although the sun was rising higher in the sky, the cold wind continued to chill them. Eventually, they stopped to sit on some rocks and have a hot drink.

“Imagine what it must have been like to live here, in the cradle of life,” said Vienna, leaning against him. “With all this history, all these life forms around us. I just can’t wrap my head around all of it.”

Paddy nodded slowly, looking around at the landscape. He felt the same way. So much biodiversity, all without human planning and intervention. It was so very alien to them now, coming from their sterile home world, all built by the people who had abandoned this planet to create new homes among the stars.

Looking down at his feet, he saw a line of marching insects crossing the trail and disappearing into the undergrowth. “Look at these,” he said excitedly. “They are all following each other toward a specific destination.” He was recording now as he spoke. “When one moves to the left to avoid an obstacle, the ones behind it take the same path even without investigating the obstacle for themselves.”

The two of them watched in fascination as the seemingly endless parade of identical insects continued to cross the trail. Vienna tipped some water into a rut in the trail, and the insects stopped for a few seconds to find a way around the lake in front of them. Several insects went in different directions, but then by some unseen mechanism, a new path was found, and the line moved forward again, eventually catching up to the insects ahead. It also became clear that there were two lines of insects, going in opposite directions.

Vienna was thrilled. “We’ve seen something really important,” she said. “These creatures function as a single unit, but when presented with a problem they can split up tasks among themselves as individuals. And somehow they communicate with each other. I can’t see how they do that. Can you see anything that might be communication?”

Paddy looked at the readings on the recorder. “No sounds or obvious gestures. I can’t smell anything, but some sort of chemical signal seems possible. Should we follow them to see where they’re going?”

Stepping carefully, they followed the line of insects into the dry grass. Paddy took the buddy line from his pack, and passed one end to Vienna. “Any time we leave the established trails and roads, remember?”

Vienna looked at him and grimaced. They were less than a meter apart. She wanted adventure, but Paddy was determined to follow the rules. Sighing, she obediently clipped the buddy line to her wrist. It would stretch up to 500 meters if necessary, so they could not get separated. She stooped to watch the tiny creatures climbing over grass stalks hundreds of times their size. Suddenly she became aware of a strange smell. She stopped abruptly, grabbing Paddy’s arm to get his attention.

“Can you smell that? I’ve never smelled anything like it!”

Paddy sniffed the air cautiously, and a disgusted look came over his face. “Let’s be careful. Maybe that’s a larger animal of some kind. The information said larger predators can have a strong scent. We don’t want to encounter a bear or a mountain lion.”

Vienna nodded absently. She wanted to find the source of the smell so they would have plenty to report tomorrow. Making sure she didn’t step on the line of insects, she started to move a little faster, her back bent so she could see the ground clearly. Paddy found the object first, perhaps because he was looking around at their surroundings more, fearful of what might be following them.

“Look there!” He pointed dramatically to a lump on the ground, a meter or more ahead.

Now that they could see it, the smell seemed to be much stronger. The line of insects went straight to the unidentified object. Paddy documented it all carefully with the recorder, as they approached it. Lying on the ground was a large feathered creature, its insides ripped open. The air was filled with the smell of rotting flesh, unfamiliar to the two humans. Both of them gagged at the sight and accompanying odor. Vienna was the first to find her voice. “The feathers must mean it was a bird, right? I can’t believe these tiny insects tore it open like that – a larger animal must have eaten most of it, leaving mostly feathers and bones.”

Paddy gulped. “I’m going to take a couple of feathers and bones back with us. I can’t tell what kind of bird this was, but I bet its wingspan must have been close to two meters. It should be easy to identify when we get back tonight.”

Vienna turned away, feeling queasy, as Paddy collected the samples and put them in his pack. “Let’s get back to the trail. There must be plenty more to see.”

They were both surprised by how they had become disoriented on such a short excursion, but they followed the trail of insects back. When they were safely on the trail again, they breathed a sigh of relief. “Kasparov was right,” muttered Paddy. “The planet is unsafe, and we could easily get lost here. No more going off-trail.”

Reluctantly, Vienna nodded. They continued up the trail, focused now on the birds above them. Although the land appeared hostile to animal life, there were both large and small birds around them. Very high in the sky they saw large birds circling lazily. Having seen death so recently, each new discovery seemed ominous.

They reached a small mountain stream where they agreed to turn around. Sitting by the clear water, they shared stories about their working lives, and what led them to study in their retirement. Vienna was a widow, having worked as an engineer. She was looking to expand her horizons and find new interests, engaging in biology, history and literature. Paddy was single, having spent his earlier years raising hydroponic crops to feed the population. His interests continued to center on agriculture, and the farming methods used on Terra were exciting to him. They felt the beginnings of friendship, if not romantic interest.

As they headed back down the trail, they became aware of activity as they approached the place where they had stopped before. They automatically moved closer together, each gaining comfort and confidence from the other. “Let’s go faster through this part,” offered Vienna, unnerved by the feeling of being watched.

Paddy was in favor of this theoretically, but he had failed to prepare for the trip as thoroughly as she had. He was feeling the effects of Terra gravity, and his pack now seemed to be much heavier than when they started to hike. He increased his walking pace but stumbled and fell heavily to the ground. Vienna gasped and knelt beside him on the hard ground.

“Paddy, are you OK? Can you get up?”

But there was no response from Paddy. Like everyone on this trip, she had the basics of first aid, and some supplies in her pack. Using the recorder, she tried to assess the situation. Paddy was breathing, but he was unconscious. He had a pulse, but the recorder said it was too fast. There were no obvious injuries. Following the instructions on the recorder, she took an emergency blanket from the pack and covered him. The nearest communicator was in the scooter, and she was afraid to leave him out here alone.

She looked around, trying to determine whether she was imagining watching eyes. Panning around slowly, she let the recorder collect data about their surroundings. Then she sat next to Paddy, waiting for him to stir. To pass the time, she went through all the information they had logged so far, making sure that both recorders had a full copy. She broke off every few minutes to scan the surroundings again.

Some time later, she noticed the sun was high in the sky. Checking the recorder, she saw they had left the scooter more than three Terra hours ago. Paddy’s condition was unchanged. There was no choice now; she would have to leave him to go back to the scooter and call for help. The buddy line would stretch to 500 meters, but she guessed that the trailhead was close to a kilometer away.

Do not leave your buddy. That had been drilled into all of them. Terra is a dangerous place, and you need your buddy to stay safe. She looked around one last time, trying to spot the predator she was sure was hiding in the long dry grass. Better to sacrifice Paddy in the chance of saving them both, than to stay and die beside him. She would leave his recorder with him, in case he recovered after she had gone. She picked up both packs and set off down the mountain.

After 500 meters, the tension on the buddy line informed her that it had reached its limit. She unclipped it from her wrist and secured it to a rock. Tugging on it twice, she waited to see if Paddy was awake and could tug back, but there was no response.

Shaking her head, she walked the rest of the way to the trailhead. The scooter was there waiting for them. She pressed the emergency alert button, then climbed on to it and stowed the packs and the recorder. Exhausted by the hike and the drama, she lay down to rest.

Professor Kasparov arrived with two teaching assistants, and reviewed the contents of the packs and the recorder. She woke Vienna and asked for clarification on what had happened, while the TAs recorded everything.

“He’s been unconscious and alone for several hours now,” said Vienna. “We need to go and fetch him. I think there’s a predator out there watching him.”

Kasparov nodded. “Go and check it out,” she told the TAs, who immediately set off along the trail. Once they were out of sight, she turned her attention back to Vienna.

“You did some good work out there before Paddy fell,” she said gently. "I can offer you work in my lab if you’d like.”

“Both of us?” asked Vienna, surprised. “Paddy can’t continue without a buddy.”

A quiet smile lit up the professor’s face. “Paddy is part of an experiment now. He’s helpless in the wild, and we can wait to see how the predators and other life forms feed on him – like the insects whose trail you recorded. You can regard it as an extension of the work you’ve already started.”

Vienna stared at her in shock. She remembered the vile smell of the dead bird, and she turned and vomited before screaming hysterically. “He’s a student, not a test subject! You can’t leave him out there to die. Imagine those creatures eating meat from another animal, from a person – blood, muscles, organs – that’s disgusting.”

Kasparov put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This is research, Vienna. The whole purpose of academia. Don’t you feel called to dedicate your life to real work?”

As Vienna continued to sob and shake her head, Kasparov gently injected the drug into her shoulder.

A few minutes later, the TAs returned. The taller one handed a buddy line to the professor. “He’s been attacked, but he’s still alive and mostly conscious. We set up the monitoring equipment and removed this.”

The shorter TA nodded at Vienna’s body on the scooter. “What do we do with her?”

Kasparov picked up the recorder and the packs and moved them to her own scooter. “Such a waste. She had the makings of a good researcher. Drop her on the trail, set monitors on her, then send her scooter back to the meeting point. If she won’t do research, she can be another test subject. I’ll remove this trailhead from the maps so no one finds them.

“They were warned; stay with your buddy, and if you get lost no one will try to find you. I’ll remind the students about that tomorrow. We can afford to lose a few senior citizens in the name of science.”