Paws and Planets (2 page)

The middle
decks, there were another two, were divided into compartments and
contained food consumables, much of which was alive and growing and
the equipment. There was also a large area containing freeze dried
protein ration and vegetable nutrients. The fresh cut and killed
produce, in the cold compartments would be eaten first. Another
compartment contained plant seeds in specially designed storage
chests. Yet more contained medical supplies, hide oil (very
necessary), replacement parts, the precious spare crystals,
beacons, and tools. There were even E.V.A. helmets and oxygen
cylinders if repairs had to be done while in the zero atmosphere of
space. Behind the engines were the oxygen purifiers, also crystal
run which kept the ship’s air sweet and even equipment to extract
life giving oxygen from plants if need be.

Underneath, in
a separate area connected by passageways leading from the engine
decks were the scout ships, called Quorko, with which they would
survey suitable planets.

The thrusters
were propelling the
Limokko
upwards.

Maru closed his
eyes. This was the moment of truth. Was there enough power in the
engines to lift the immense ship away from the gravity field? He
kept his eyes closed, expecting every tvan to hear the warning
wails of the alerters signifying the imminent failure of the
launch.

The
Limokko
pushed her ponderous way upwards, beyond the clouds,
through the stratosphere and out into the darkness which came with
a suddenness that surprised Maru who had opened his eyes a tiny bit
by this time.

The engines
stopped roaring and the ship stopped juddering.

Maru opened his
eyes wide.

“We were the
first,” announced Zanua, flexing her shoulders and unfurling her
wings as she relaxed. “We wait for the other four then we can get
on our way.”

The planet to
ship communications console bleeped and she reported that the
Limokko
had attained planetary orbit. “They will reach us in
duntan vadtvans,” she informed the others with her on the
bridge-space. “The
Ammokko
has experienced a launch delay
and will be the last to arrive at the exit co-ordinates. We shall
just make it,” she added this last with relief. Any further time
lost and they would all have had to make a full orbit of the planet
before the convoy could depart.

Maru sighed a
private sigh, he would have liked to make this last orbit and from
the look on some of the other’s faces, they would have been quite
happy if the
Ammokko’s
delay had been a protracted one.

Maru kept
silent however, watching as first one and then another of the
spaceships attained orbit.

“
Ammokko
approaching,” he announced after a long and tense silence.

“Thanks be,”
said Wharua, another of the females amongst the crew and the third
of the five Lai, apart from Maru and Zanua occupying the command
space this first shift. Her golden, speckled eyes gleamed, “now we
can be off,” she added in an aside to Maru as Zanua gave the orders
for Maru to begin to steer the
Limokko
out of orbit and out
into the blackness.

Maru did so and
the spaceship of rtath Lai led the other ships out.

“Those on the
Ammokko
won’t be happy,” he said to Wharua, “they have an
ingrained desire always to be in the forefront.”

Wharua
shrugged, her wing muscles rippling, “first come first away,” she
laughed, eyes full of mirth. “They know the orders. We lead, they
follow.”

All five bridge
personnel could well imagine the chagrin of the Dglai crew when
they realised that their take-off troubles had placed them in last
place. “I think however,” she added, “that Zanua will ask the
Jamokko
to move back behind them before many tvans have
passed.”

Maru agreed.
They would all feel more comfortable if the
Ammokko
was
wedged between others.

“Never trust a
Dglai, my mother used to say,” said Maru in a low voice.

Then, as if on
cue, the secure communications channel between the
Limokko
and the
Silokko
, the ship of the Sbnai, bleeped and Maru
heard the commander of this ship, Susa Brnu, request that very
thing. It appeared he didn’t trust the Dglai either. Zanua, as she
gave permission, told the commander that the flight order was going
to change anyway once the five ships had passed out of the solar
system.

“I hope the
Ammokko
always remains in front of us or another,” Maru
heard him plead but then Maru’s own console bleeped and he did not
hear what Zanua said in answer.

He recognised
the sghail of the sender. It was his family wishing to say their
farewells.

He pressed the
toggle to accept the call and instead of his screen being filled
with the image of the rapidly disappearing planet, up came the
images of his family.

First his
father and his baby brother, not yet able to fly, his wing strength
only now developing.

Maru knew that
he would in all likelihood never see them again.

“Ult si ban
Maru,” said his father, his voice crackling.

“Inj elt tho
bel,” he replied, his throat tight with emotion. “I love you
all.”

“We know,” his
mother told him as she appeared within the screen-frame as little
Rezu bounced about in front of them

“Look at me!”
he squeaked in his baby voice.

“In whan tho, I
see you. Look after mother and father.”

“I will, I
will,” he cried, flapping his stubby wings. He was too young to
understand that this was not
goodbye
but
farewell
.
The short-range ship to planet communications connection began to
crackle more and more as the Limokko gained speed and the distance
between them increased.

“Good luck
Maru,” his parents said in perfect unison.

Maru watched as
the image of his family faded into nothingness.

He would watch
and listen to the recording many times during the months and xanus
ahead.

* * * * *

‘The Intrepid
Adventurers’, as the irrepressible Wharua was describing the
occupants of the five ships (the name was becoming most popular
amongst all but the Dglai) had been on their deep space exploration
for three xanus and often found time lying most heavily on their
wings. Now though, they were fast approaching another solar system
in their sector of the galaxy.

Such
occurrences always gave rise to a considerable amount of excitement
amongst the one hundred and twenty-five occupants of the
Limokko
. There was always the chance that this one would
possess, orbiting its sun, a viable planet for colonisation. The
six systems they had already surveyed had not.

If the
information the close proximity probes sent back proved negative
yet again then it had been decided that each spaceship would send
out one of its Botons, the long-range self-sustaining probes
designed to travel ever onwards through the galaxy sending back
information pertaining to any planets with a possible viable
eco-system as it went. Each ship had five times five Botons in its
hold-space.

The Botons were
powered by a high-density crystal connected to tiny solar panels
which could draw in the heat from any sun and which a mechanism
within converted into energy which the crystal could draw on.

The finest
scientific minds of Daiglon from all five landmasses had come
together to design them, a rare show of joint-endeavour.

“What are the
scanners telling us?” asked Zanua of Maru who was once again on
bridge-duty.

“Nothing as
yet,” he answered, “but this system does look more hopeful than the
others we have seem, the third planet most specially. There are
indications that there is an atmosphere and water.”

“Then we must
all orbit it,” Zanua decided. “I’ll talk to the other Susas. At
least this sun is strong and hot enough to help replenish our
panels, not that we’re anywhere near danger level yet but they can
always do with a top up.”

Maru fully
expected that the
Limokko
, in the front again would soon be
leading the other four into a wide orbit. However, the Dglai had
other ideas. If indeed they had found a suitable planet they wanted
to be the first to survey it and not meekly follow on behind.

Maru listened
to the one-sided and increasingly exasperated conversation between
Zanua and the Susa of the Dglai.

Eventually,
Zanua shrugged her wings.

“If you must,”
Maru heard her say and concluded that his Susa had lost the
argument with her bombastic Dglai counterpart.

Not for the
first time he wished the authorities on Daiglon had appointed an
overall commanding Susa for the mission, a Susyc, but alas they had
not.

“The
Ammokko
will go in,” Zanua announced in an emotionless
voice. “They have claimed the honour,” and Maru watched on one of
his visual screens as the
Ammokko
of the Dglai veered away
to begin her approach.

The
Limokko
, the
Silokko
, the
Jamokko
and the
Nizokko
would continue to journey and wait for the
Ammokko’s
report.

Maru tried to
keep a lid on his rising excitement as one tvan passed another. How
wonderful it would be if they and located a new home so soon and
after only three xanus out!

They would be
able to return to Daiglon with their news, Ruzas all, Heroes of
Daiglon. More importantly, the planet was close enough to Daiglon
so that the transfer of most of their kind would be possible before
life on Daiglon became untenable.

He would be
able to save his little brother!

Maru’s large
brown eyes misted over as he thought about Rezu, so full of life
and stuck on the dying planet. So unsuspecting about the time bomb
he was living under.

He watched as
Dabu, a close friend of his, sent an initial dat-message back to
Daiglon. Communications between the five and their planet had been
intermittent of late as the distance between them grew. Soon they
would be out of range, any signals dissipating into the nad, the
nothingness that typified space.

Soon the only
way to make contact would be by sending back one of their probes to
inform their people about their progress, or lack of it. Also, the
further out they went, the fewer they would be able to save if they
did find a new home.

Maru wasn’t
panicking yet but the first niggling feeling of doubt were settling
in.

The Dglai
reported back seven ship-days later.

The planet was
unsuitable for protracted occupation. It did have an atmosphere but
it was too thin on oxygen to sustain life on a long term basis.

The ‘Intrepid
Adventurers’ sighed and set off towards the next solar system.

Their ability
to contact Daiglon directly ceased when they were half way towards
it.

* * * * *

When Maru had
left his planet he had been one hundred and seven xanus old, a
young Lai, he had been in fact, the second youngest in the crew.
Only Wharua was younger than him and that only by a few xanus.

Now, almost
fifty xanus later, he was in the prime of his life, a handsome,
gleaming, golden Lai. The paler goldy shades and hues of his youth
had darkened and his hide glistened with health.

As he became
older, his hide would continue to deepen until as the evening of
his life approached, it would start changing into a burnished
bronze and as twilight beckoned the bronze would begin to dull down
to brown.

But that was
many hundreds of xanus in the future. A Daiglon could live for over
eight hundred xanus.

But his
chronological age was not what concerned Maru. They had not yet
found a planet suitable for occupation and the five spaceships were
now so far away from Daiglon that they would, even if they found
one, be hard pressed to get back in time. The crews of all five
were growing disheartened and in the Dglai’s case, angry, at this
failure. Of course by now other convoys would also have set off and
have been searching for some time. Maru could only hope that they
had found the new home of their dreams as the
Limokko
had
not.

There had been
heated conversations of late between the five ships, two crews were
wanting the convoy to split up, to enable them to extend the search
pattern. Three believed that the success criteria had been set
impossibly high but that they should make do with a planet (they
had come across one) on which, even if it did not meet all the
standards, could sustain life.

Opinion
remained divided.

The Rai were
loudest in their insistence that the five should split up so they
could search a larger area. If they did not return home with news
of a new home soon there wouldn’t be time for even a fraction of
Daiglon’s inhabitants to head out for their new home before the
eco-system collapsed (if it hadn’t already).

The Sbnai were
also tending toward this view.

The Dglai
(surprisingly), the Brai (the most timid of the five rtaths) and
the Lai were convinced that they should all stay together at least
for a while longer.

The solar
system they were approaching was a promising one. The Nahoko probe
had sent back data indicating that the third planet from the sun
more than met their needs. There were no visuals, the probe was
either malfunctioning or it had managed to wedge itself deep within
a rock fissure but there was water, oxygen and traces of a
luxuriant insect life.

* * * * *

Danua entered
the domta, the cavernous deck space on the
Limokko
where the
crew spent their off-duty time.