"So what do you think of this Naxos that we’re heading off to?" Karen asked as they eased the shuttle through the atmosphere. Karen Latra, along with her copilot Jack Benson had signed up for exploration, and surprisingly were assigned together. Jack grinned over at her, "Naxos looks great from the initial probes, but I can’t say the same for that stiff in the back." "So he minds his own business, is there anything wrong with that?" "Perish forbid, but not only is he the most famous Patrolman I’ve met," Karen laughed, "And you know so many patrolmen." "Excuse me," his attempted glower just set her laughing again, "as I was saying, not only is he the most famous Patrolman I’ve met, but he is also the only silent one. If I hadn’t seen him having lunch yesterday I would have taken him for a real stiff." Their gentle descent down to the Martian spaceport finally ended, and they touched down smoothly. "Kind of a shame you know, having to sell the Reva, she’s been a good ship but she’ll be too obsolete when and if we get back." Karen said thoughtfully. "Since this is good-bye to the Reva, will you please," Jack smiled so nicely, "tell me why you named her that, I mean, usually only men give ships ladies names." "You are incorrigible, Jack," she laughed, "it seems like you’ve asked me that once a month for the last hundred twenty." "And you never answer me, or say how you managed to get your own ship so young." "It’s very simple, my mother left me a fair bit of money when she died so I named the ship for her. Now doesn’t that make loads of sense?" The door to the aft cabin slid open. "Are you pair ever going to stop arguing long enough to open the lock and let me off this crate?" asked a voice. The two spun around. "Hey look, the stiff does move, and he can talk too!" Jack exclaimed in mock surprise, "You know sir, you shouldn’t insult this crate, it’s named for the pilot’s mommy. YIKES!" This last came as Karen flung him against the side of the cabin. "Hey, I was just joking!" "I know. The airlock is released sir, you can leave now." Karen watched as the dark Patrolman turned and left, then she turned back to Jack. "That’s why I never told you why I named her the Reva, I knew you’d make a joke about it!" With that she stormed off the ship. Jack jumped at her anger, "I’m sorry. Hey, Karen, we haven’t finished the shut-off yet. Karen?" Twelve hours later they met up again at the mission briefing. The majority of the others in the room were science types, only one looked non-science, and vaguely familiar. Karen looked at him again, "Bart, is that you in all that striping?" The man turned, 'Good God, Karen Latra and Jack Benson, I’m amazed to see you alive in each others company. But what are you doing here?" "We signed up for explorer duty and got assigned here, what else?" Karen said. "And we haven’t killed each other because it’s to hard to plan a plausible accident that doesn’t include ourselves as well," added Jack. They sat down next to Bart. "What are you doing here, Bart?" Bart smiled, "Believe it or not they put me in charge of the Naxos mission. So you should call me Captain Lore, not Bart, Mr. Benson." A voice startled them from behind again, "Are you pair going to fight all the way to Naxos as well?" They turned to see the patrolman staring down at them. "Well since you’re already acquainted, I hope you’ll introduce me," Bart said. "Of course," Jack grinned, "Stiff, this is Captain Bartholomew Lore, mission head, Bart, this is Patrol Lieutenant Ewan, our last passenger on the Reva." The Captain’s jaw dropped, "Not THE Patrolman Ewan? Of the Canstis Crisis?" "One and the same, sir. Mr. Benson, I’m sorry I gave a stiff impression on the trip here. But most pilots seem very interested in becoming a dear friend in the couple days I spend on their ships, and then bragging about it the rest of their lives." The youngest scientist turned about and looked at them. Horror spread over his dark face. "You can’t be here Bishop. You can’t!" he cried. The Patrolman smiled slightly, "I can and am, Tran. So, I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with it." "But this is my thing, Patrol doesn’t leave the settled area, and I know you haven’t quit," Tran whined, "mom would have had a fit." Any response was cut off by a crash as one of the other scientists dropped all her things, including several phials, a goblet and her glasses, all of supposedly unbreakable material. The shards skittered across the floor as Commander Wolten entered. "Miss Lannon, I hope this isn’t a sample of how you will do on Naxos." The Commander looked around the room at the others. "As you know, Naxos is the farthest planet we have looked at to date. The trip there will take three months. If any of you wish to back out now is the last time you can do so." He paused for a moment. "The Technical crew will consist of Captain Bartholomew Lore, whose ability to keep mismatched crews together will stand him in good stead, Patrol Lieutenant Bishop Ewan, an able fighter and well known survivor, pilot Karen Latra, a very capable computer technician, and pilot Jack Benson, mechanic and all around handy-man. The scientific crew is headed by Dr. Bethany Prendergast, an expert xeobiologist, with Jacquelyn Lannon, a surprisingly capable botanist, Tran Ewan, an exemplary geophysicist, and Dr. Allison Hader as medical officer. Your mission is the standard, find out what life and land formations are inimical to humans and whether it is worth colonizing." Jack leaned over towards Karen, "When is the scarecrow gonna finish? I mean, we all got our packets. How much else is there?" She tried not to laugh, and started choking violently. The Commander looked startled, "Miss Latra are you okay?" Karen nodded quickly, and he continued, "If there are no questions, I will leave you now to get acquainted. Departure will be at 0800 hours tomorrow." He left immediately. Bishop moved over to try to pacify his brother, who looked ready to explode. "I like that," said Jack, "ask for questions and leave. I’ll have to remember that trick." "And what do you think you’d use it for, Mr. Wiseguy? You never tell anything but jokes, and a joke that needs explaining failed." "You just wait, Karen, one of these days," Jack paused to think of what to do, then gave up, "Aside from that any Thoughts on the Ewans?" Jacquelyn joined them then, "It’s little brother trying to get out of big brother’s shadow, Tran is extremely envious of his brother’s fame. And please don’t call me Miss Lannon like Wolten did, we have to get along for three months so we better be friends, I’m Jackie." "I know those two beings will never treat me with respect, so I might as well be Bart to everybody. How do you know about the Ewans so well, Jackie?" "Well the science crew did get together several weeks ago to start preparations. But, the main reason is that the Ewan’s are my neighbors at home, and Tran has been fighting his brother from day one." Karen looked at the other two scientists, who were talking together. "Okay, which one is which, Jackie, and is there anything to watch out for regarding them?" "Well, Bethany, and you need her express permission to call her anything besides Dr. Prendergast, is brilliant and knows it. Allison will answer to anything resembling any part of her name, but as soon as you take her out of med., she looses it, any change panics her. Before you ask, she’s on the team because within med. there’s nobody better, and she does have some xeno background." "Karen! It’s your watch, wake up!" After three months on ship, nobody wanted to stand watch a moment longer than necessary. "I’m coming," she growled as she left the cabin. "Tell me again, Jack, why did we sign up for this?" "For the fun and adventure," he grit out at her, the monotony had taken its toll even on his humor. "Do you realize this is four times longer than we’ve ever been shipboard before?" "I’ve been realizing it for the past two months, and it doesn’t improve with time. It might not be so bad though if it weren’t for the Prendergast DRILLS." "What does she think we are, robots? Even they need downtime to recharge." "She’s unreal, but unless you plan on joining me on watch you better hightail it for your own bunk." Jack checked up the corridor and fled. Karen slogged off to the bridge, once her favorite place in the universe, three months of Dr. Prendergast had made it hell. She found Tran, her present watch partner, there waiting for her. They’d started posting double watches a couple of days before with ETA so close, but this was her first watch with him. Throughout the flight everybody but Jackie had mainly stuck to their own crew (barring drills), so he was still an unknown to her. She found him pacing about on the bridge when she arrived. "What took you so long? What if something had happened?" he demanded. She looked at him, "I was asleep. And if this is how you’re going to be all watch, I’m going to find you a gag." The boy backed a step. "I didn’t mean anything, sorry. "You want to make it up? Tell me why you’re always so grouchy at your brother." Tran hung his head, "Cause I’ve always been ‘Bishop’s little brother,’ this was my chance to do something separate from him, so what happens? He turns up. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a person when you’re related to somebody famous?" Karen noted his sorrow, "No, I don’t, but then, I don’t have any family." "You don’t?" Tran looked amazed. Just then an alarm went off. Tran jumped around, "What’s that? Is something wrong?" Karen checked her instruments, then turned to him and smiled, "Nope, nothing’s wrong, and you just beat your brother out on one thing. We’ll be the first to get a decent view of Naxos. We should be in visual range in half-an-hour, but only for here on the bridge." "Truly?" "Yep, so sit tight and try to wait. If you’d like I can explain some of the controls to you so you can bring it up as soon as we’re in visual range. After all, your area gives a pretty weird view, doesn’t it?" "All right!" By the time Naxos was in range they were both very excited, finally the board signaled. Tran nearly ran up, "Is it time now?" "It’s time kid, bring ‘er up." The planet came up on the screen, a great ball swirled with green and pink and dotted with blue. Karen reached to the com, "For anyone conscious enough to hear me, we have Naxos in view on the bridge. Anyone can come and join us for a peek." Bishop was the first to arrive, "Hey Tran, looks like you drew the lucky card this time." Tran beamed at the comment. They watched in silence for a moment as the others started to join them, then Bishop spoke again,"Not wanting to intrude on your territory, but those pink areas don’t look like any part of any planet I’ve ever seen. What does your stuff say?" Tran started, then jumped to his own board. He worked for a moment, then responded, "You’re right, they aren’t plant matter, and they don’t fit any previously encountered geologic formation. Karen, what area are you planning on setting down in?" "I was going to go for whichever pink you chose because they’re clear, unless you feel elsewhere would be better." "The forested areas seem more stable than pink, if you look the pink is shifting slowly like waves all over." "Forested landing it is then, and I’m going to snooze off now so I’m alert for it." At last they killed the repulsors. "A perfect landing everybody." Jack cheerfully announced. The ship shook slightly. "Looks like we’re just in time for an earthquake." Allison ran onto the bridge, "What was that?" The ground heaved, throwing her to the floor. She started screaming. "Could somebody clear that dead weight out of here? I need to hear the comp!" Karen yelled, and Tran seconded. Bart threw her over his shoulder and carried her out. Dr. Prendergast spluttered in rage, "How dare you refer to a respected member of ," Karen cut her off, "If she has to scream it can be somewhere else, we need to hear any signals from the comps, Dr." She turned, "Tran, are we going to get an aftershock?" "I can’t tell, my readings are more precise now, but only to show there’s nothing more here than a thin spot of crust on top of an unknown substance." "Hey guys," Jack called, "maybe it’s gelatinous and we wiggled the jello." "Shut up, Jack." Came from everyone on the bridge. Tran cut in, "There doesn’t seem to be any further disturbance right now, so maybe we should go out while it’s quiet." Bart swung into command, "we’ll send two away teams. Dr. Hader and I will stay with the ship. Dr. Prendergast, you, Jackie and Bishop will form team A, you’ll be checking for local animals and collecting plant samples. Team B will Be Tran, Karen, and Jack, you’ll conduct a careful geologic survey of the area, and try to determine what the pink is. Don’t go out of com range, and for this initial survey let’s put a limit at three hours. Now get yourselves together and get out there." Jack blinked in amazement, "Wow, you’d think he’d done this before." They left the ship very carefully. As soon as they were out of earshot Tran started off, "I can’t believe I didn’t get sent with my brother, or stuck with one of the older scientists." Karen smiled patiently, "This arrangement was the one that made sense. Prendergast and Jackie’s studies complement each other, while yours is somewhat separate. Bishop is the expert in planetary safety, while Jack and I can come close together for survival ability. These teams were the only way to make them even. Now where to to start readings." "I think we should probably head for the edge of the pink to see if any thing can be determined on it," he shrugged. "Though honestly I don’t think these instruments’ll help much." "Why don’t you check the ground here for a comparison?" Jack asked. Tran paused, "That might help, OK, if you’ll set that down right here," "Thank goodness, it’s heavy!" Tran stood up, "Well apart from the lack of pollutants, this dirt could be straight off of Earth. The problem is, it’s only about twenty feet deep, below that level I can’t get an accurate reading. Let’s check the pink now, and was there an area of water near here?" "I think the water’s a bit far for our time limit." "Then let’s hit the pink stuff." The pink area had the smooth, rolling look of a field of grain. Jack looked at it askance, "So, who’s going out on that first?" Tran laughed, "If it worries you, you can set the sensor on the edge and back away. But I have to go on it for the readings." "Well, I don’t like it either, but if there’s anything I can do to help you finish faster, say the word." Karen said. Jack set the equipment down and sat by a tree somewhat back from the edge. Tran and Karen set up and took soundings of the ground without any trouble. Then Tran tried to take a sample of the ground for analysis. "Uh, guys," his voice held a hint of hysteria, "the ground just grabbed me!" Karen spun around and Jack jumped up, "What?" They ran over to him. The pink ground had pulled up around his hand and the instrument and was holding him very securely. They both grabbed him and tried to pull him free. "YEOW! That’s not working! It’s too tight!" "Jack, call the ship. Tran, can you move your hand in there at all?" "I don’t think so, wait, I can just let go of the sample tube." The ground suddenly popped and fell away from his hand. The tube was nowhere in sight. They quickly cleared off the pink. "Word is to head back to the ship, pronto. Bart’s recalling the other team as well." "We need further data to confirm this occurrence. A single team will go to the pink this time and try to determine it’s nature. Dr. Prendergast will remain behind with Dr. Hader this time due to her sprained ankle. We know there is danger now so, if anyone else would like to opt out of this one speak now." Bart waited a moment. Jackie spoke up, "I’m sorry but I’d probably just get in the way, so I’ll stay here too." "OK, the rest of us are heading back to where Tran was grabbed, and we will try to get a sample of the material, and to locate the missing tube. Let’s go." With more people they’d been able to bring the heavy equipment, but as they set it down another earthquake struck. A hole opened in the edge of the pink into which the equipment, and Tran fell. The ground settled, but the hole remained, gaping darkly at the sky. Bishop recovered first and crawled to the edge, "Tran? Tran, are you OK?" Tran found himself in a cave at the bottom of a long slope. The surface of the pink stuff around him glowed faintly, letting him see that the cavern was quite large, and that his equipment was quite definitely destroyed. He heard his brother call him and leaned on the slope to look up. "Bish, is that you?" "Can you climb up?" "I don’t think you could!" "We’ll run back to the ship for some rope, just hang on down there!" Tran turned and paused, the far wall of the cavern was shifting, forming something, "I don’t think you should go yet!" "Why not?" He stared at the wall, and it stared back, "Because the planet is looking at me!" "What?" The face on the wall gazed at him a moment longer then it spoke, and the roar of air knocked Tran over and momentarily deafened him. "WOW!" "What happened down there, Tran?" He carefully stood up, "I think the planet spoke, loudly!" "Most sorry for that," a deep voice spoke from the wall. "I had not realized you were so delicate. What were you doing? You do not look like a world killer, yet you have upset my skin most harshly." Tran gulped, "Well, I don’t know what a world killer is, and while we certainly have accidentally damaged worlds we are learning better, and we were just trying to understand what you are made of, and no planet ever talked to us before, and how come you are, and what are you?" "No world has spoken to you?" the face looked puzzled, "How can this be?" It examined Tran again. "If what you say is so and you are merely explorers with no previous worldly contact, I suppose I can not blame you for your mistakes. But you must not be so foolish again." "Uh, we were actually sent to check, um, you out for colonization, sir," Tran said cautiously. The great eyes closed, "It could be interesting to have thinking creatures upon my skin again," they snapped open and fixed upon him, "but there would be conditions." "The Captain up top is the one to speak to about that, not me." The face seemed to consider a moment, then shrugged slightly. Tran fell over again, and barely managed to scramble out of the way as the others came tumbling down the slope. "Which of you is ‘the Captain’?" They pulled themselves up and gaped, Bart finally got up the courage to speak to it. "I’m Captain Lore, uh," "No form of address is necessary. Are you one who can promise actions?" "I am authorized to draw up treaties with any new intelligences we meet, so I guess that counts." "Then we shall treaty. I will permit colonization of my skin, as long as it is limited and actions are restrained, and checked with me first." "I’m sure we can work with that, but wouldn’t checking every action get boring to you?" The planet smiled, "It will be nice to have someone more interesting than the stars to talk to." Bishop walked over to his brother, "Well, Tran, you’ve really beat me, you’re the first to talk to a planet with a sense of humor." "Hey the stiff made a joke!"