Road Trip

Jenny126 beamed at the message on the data screen built into her sleeve. After living her whole life on the station, she had been picked for a trip to Terra! Humans had been gone from Terra for a long time, but reconnaissance missions deemed it was now safe to visit. She was already starting to fantasize about the trip. It was going to be so exciting to visit some place new and exotic. She had been reading about Terra since she was a little girl. The lottery gave out only a few slots every year and she had been trying for the past two, since reaching consent age.

The station corridor was jammed with people. Jenny126 was lost in her thoughts and bumped into one of her station mates as she made her way down the busy corridor. She looked up at the young man with whom she had collided. He was tall with closely cropped black hair and a close shaven beard. He didn’t look happy. “Sorry,” she said, “That was my fault.” He just nodded and they continued on their separate paths. Rude, she thought, and continued to her work station buzzing with excitement.

Jenny126 had been “born” here on the station at the edge of the same solar system where Terra was located. Donated eggs and sperm had been combined and then the gamete had been incubated until Jenny126 was viable. There were plenty of adults on the station interested in raising kids. Jenny126 loved her adoptive parents and they loved her back. But she had been obsessing about Terra for a long time and she wasn’t going to pass up this chance. She was sure they would understand.

The start of the trip came so fast that Jenny126’s head swam. She attended the required training sessions on top of her regular work shifts. The one thing she wasn’t looking forward to was the hypersleep. She had heard nightmare stories about the aftereffects of reanimation. But if she was going to make this trip, she had to get used to the idea.

On departure day, she made her way down to the launch section, falling in with about two dozen others making the journey. She was surprised to recognize the same tall guy she had run into in the corridor the day she found out. They entered the ship and made their way to assigned sleep pods. A flight technician came around to each of them, checking IDs and getting the life support systems fully online. Jenny126 blew out a long sigh. “Are you feeling OK?” asked the technician.

“Yeah. I’m just a little nervous,” she said.

“You’ll be fine. Just try to relax. You probably won’t even notice the time passing. Most people feel like they’re waking up after a deep sleep. It will save you a lot of boring space travel.”

Jenny126 smiled up at him, “Thanks.”

He was right. The pod covers had closed and she heard the hiss as the gas mixture filtered in. A voice came over the speaker instructing her to count backwards from 100. She didn’t make it past 92. Then there was a darkness where time slipped away. The pod cover slid back and Jenny126 felt like her eyelids had been glued shut. She remembered back to her training and took some deep breaths. She lifted a tube by her right hand and brought it to her mouth, sipping on some of the stale, recycled water. It burned her throat at first but then started to soothe the raw tissue.

She eased herself up, flexing her arms and wiggling her feet to get the blood circulating again. She looked around the cabin. Why weren’t any of the other pods opening? As her senses re-engaged, she heard insistent beeping and noted a row of red lights flashing on one of the ships’ panels. She looked down at the pod next to hers. It contained the tall man from the corridor. She started at the sight. His skin was pulled taut across his skull and his mouth hung open in what looked like a silent scream. She turned away; afraid she might be sick. She reflexively looked down at her data screen. There were a series of warnings and error messages. Something had gone wrong with the environmental controls. A quick tour confirmed that she was the only survivor. She felt a wave of panic but tried to stay calm.

Jenny126 made her way to the ship’s control panels, although she had no real knowledge of what she was looking for or what she might do. The meteor screens were still down over the ship windows so she couldn’t see outside. Had they made it to Terra? If not, where the hell were they? She looked from one screen to another. They showed images of the engine room and other parts of the ship. Nothing was moving. There was one image that was different.

At first, she couldn’t figure out what she was looking at. She had seen pictures of Terra, of course, but being raised on the station, she was used to everything being composed of regular curves and straight lines. She looked again. The ground looked uneven and was covered with something rough. It appeared to be moving. There were large vertical structures that had numerous branching components, and they were covered with something that moved as well.

Jenny126 made her way to the lockers on the ship and donned an environmental suit as a precaution. Even if this was Terra, there was no way to know if the air was still safe to breathe. That would be great, she thought. Be the only survivor on the ship and go outside to take her last breath in a poisonous atmosphere. She adjusted the helmet and touched the keypad on her sleeve. The suit powered on and she tasted the mechanical air supply as it started to circulate. The last thing she did was strap a weapon to her upper leg.

She positioned herself in the airlock and took two more calming breaths before pressing the button that would open the door to the outside. She hit the button, and the door slid open. Her mind was overwhelmed by the variety of colors and textures in front of her. The station was only so many shades of gray. She was looking out at a field of green grass with wildflowers starting to bloom in pinks, whites and purples. She took a few tentative steps onto the ground, testing out her footing. She wasn’t used to anything that wasn’t completely flat. She scanned around 180 degrees, seeing that the ship had landed in a large open space. She looked up and was glad for the visor that darkened in response to the sunlight. A few white puffy clouds drifted through the sky and Jenny126 didn’t think she had ever seen anything so beautiful. This had to be Terra.

She looked down at the data screen on the suit, pressed a button and voiced a query, “Confirm present location is Terra.”

“Confirmed,” the suit spoke back.

“Confirm that atmosphere is at acceptable levels for humans.”

A brief pause, then, “confirmed.”

Holy shit, she thought. I’m here. Even though she had just received confirmation of the atmosphere, it took a giant amount of willpower to loosen the sides of the helmet and take it off. But she knew that she was here to stay. She looked at the ship, which would never move from where it had landed. She thought of her fellow passengers who hadn’t made it and felt a pang of sadness. She had nothing to lose. This was her new home and the air supply from her suit would only last so long. It was now or later. She twisted off the helmet.

The humidity and earthy smell that filtered in her nose almost made her cry. She had only known the recirculated manufactured air on the station. Nothing could have prepared her for this. She inhaled deeply, marveling at the combination of smells. She could feel the moisture in the air as a slight breeze brushed her cheek. The air was warm, and she was starting to sweat in the suit. She took the rest of it off and stored it next to the airlock door, keeping the weapon strapped to her leg.

She detected motion in her peripheral vision and turned to follow it. Something had flown by and landed in a nearby bush. She made her way over and stared at the bright red creature. The cardinal sat on a branch and gave its piercing cry. A tear slipped from Jenny126’s eye and slid down her cheek. She had never seen anything so beautiful and amazing. The bird gave one more chirrup and took off.

Ben had been walking his normal supply route when he saw the flash in the sky. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but this one was different. Ben was about six feet tall, solidly built, with a shock of unruly reddish blond hair, and matching beard and mustache. He had found that it was easier to let his facial hair grow. Supplies for shaving were hard to find and in the warmer weather, when the insects came out, the beard kept the more annoying of the flying throng away from his face. Without any family to pass down practical knowledge, Ben had learned everything on his own. He brought out the binoculars from his pack and scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of what might have come down.

There had been a couple of times when pieces of satellites had fallen out of orbit and made it all the way to the Earth’s surface. Ben had become a master of salvaging anything useful from what remained. His world was fairly limited in size, generally defined by how far he was willing to walk. He had found a bicycle and used it for a while, until the tires burst after sitting and rotting for so long. Now he was back to walking everywhere. His scan stopped when he spied a shape that looked out of place. He estimated it would take him about an hour to get there. He checked his water and food supply and deemed it adequate to get him there and back. He slung the pack back up on his shoulders and started out. He put his fingers to his mouth and gave a whistle for Jack. Jack was an energetic black lab mix who was Ben’s constant companion. More than once, Jack had defended Ben against other animals and, in the early times, against some of the remaining humans that roamed the blasted landscape.

Ben started out at a measured pace he could keep up all day without wearing himself out. It also left him with enough spare energy so that if he encountered a threat, he could sprint away. Most of the living things left on Earth were short on food and not in the greatest health. Ben was currently near the top of the food chain. There had been occasional threats, but so far, he had come out ahead of the game. As he walked, Ben thought back to his earliest memories.

He remembered the strong smell of smoke. Some was from nearby fires being used for cooking and heat. Some was from the smoldering ruins that ranged all around. He remembered the pit in his stomach from being constantly hungry. The nearby adults gave him sidelong glances and whispered to each other. Looking back, he guessed they were trying to figure out how much to tell him at his young age. He remembered the man he thought of simply as Elder1. Even as a young child, Ben could tell that Elder1 was not going to make it much longer. His hair was almost nonexistent, with small clumps falling out each day. His face was gaunt with gray, sallow skin. Ben didn’t like looking at Elder1’s teeth. Over time, he found out that the few humans left after the firestorm that had raged over Earth were sick with a virus. It was unrelenting and there was nothing to be done but wait for it to do its work. One by one, the elders had failed to wake up from their night’s rest. Or they would go out hunting for food and never come back. He worried that he would join them, but he had managed to survive.

Ben snapped back to the present, holding his hand over his eyes and checking that he was still on a line to get to the fallen debris. Jack was a dozen yards ahead, sniffing at the ground and looking back every few seconds to make sure Ben was still there.

Jenny126 had gone back to the ship to pull together some supplies for exploring her new home. While she was gathering supplies, she had crouched down to sample the plants growing on the ground and the soil itself. She broke off stems of the grass and brought them up to her nose, inhaling deeply. She dug her hand down into the soil, scooping some up to examine. She had jumped and dropped the first handful when a small creature wriggled through the bits of rock and hummus. It was just a small beetle, but it had startled her. She laughed out loud at how something so small had scared her.

Even as she realized she was stuck here, Jenny126 still felt grateful to be on Terra after all the years of studying it and dreaming. She couldn’t believe the amount of open space. After being crammed on the station with thousands of others her whole life, she was glad to not be shoulder to shoulder with people, smelling their sweat and foul breath from the constant lack of enough water. The ship had crashed in a large open area. Jenny126 saw a line of trees about a half mile away. She probably would have been numbered among the dead if they had gone down in the forest. The trees were magnificent. Even though she had studied Terra’s natural environment, seeing it in person felt surreal. She wanted to get a closer look, so she headed off in the direction of the forest.

As she made her way to the forest, Jenny126 started to notice more birds making their way through the sky. She marveled at the ease with which they took to the air and glided around. Their calls were mysterious and wonderful. She could listen to them all day. She had been looking up at the birds and not paying attention to her immediate surroundings. A flurry of motion caught her attention, and she inhaled sharply as a black creature bounded towards her. Adrenaline flooded and she started to reach for the stun weapon at her side. “Jack. No! Come here.” Jenny126 whipped her head to the source of the voice. A tall man was striding towards her. He was lean and his clothes were well worn. He had a surprised look on his face. The dog (she had recovered enough to realize what it was) was retreating to join him, looking from him to her with a question in its eyes. Jenny126 let her hand stay near her side by the weapon. She found her voice, “Hello. My name is Jenny126. I didn’t think anyone was left on Terra.”

Ben was now only a few feet away and Jack sat just behind him with his eyes fixed on her. “Where did you come from?” Ben’s voice was scratchy from lack of use. He was used to only talking to Jack or silently to himself.

“I was living on the station and my ship just got here. Something went wrong and everyone else on the ship died.” Ben was looking at her with curiosity, taking in her odd outfit.

“What station? Where is it?”

“It’s out at the edge of the solar system. You have to go into stasis to get there or to come here from there. I don’t want to go back and I’m guessing there’s no way for me to do that, even if I wanted to.” Jenny126 was looking at Ben more closely and noticed his bright blue eyes for the first time. They were direct and boring into her. She felt her cheeks blush. She found her voice again and peppered him with questions, “What’s your name? How do you get food? Are there others here?”

Ben held up his hands, cutting her off before he was overwhelmed. “One at a time, OK? Let’s see.” He ticked off the questions on his fingers one at a time, “My name is Ben. There’s plenty of food if you know where to look. I don’t know if there are other people in other parts of the world, but I haven’t see anyone here in a long time. It’s just me and Jack.” He looked down at the dog as he said this and ruffled the top of his head.

Jenny126 was starting to reach down towards Jack, “Can I touch him? I’ve seen pictures of dogs, but we didn’t have any on the station.”

Ben nodded, “Sure. Jack’s really nice. My best friend really.” He laughed a little then. “I guess the truth is he’s my only friend.”

Jenny126 reached out to feel the soft fur of Jack’s head and ears. He pushed his big head up into her hand, enjoying the scratching. She looked back towards the bulk of the ship and shivered at the thought of the dead bodies inside. “I don’t really want to go back into the ship by myself. Will you go with me?”

Ben considered for a second. “Sure. Then you may as well come with me. Jack and I won’t mind the company.” He smiled at her and his blue eyes sparkled.