The Rings of Haven (11 page)

“Yeah. At first I thought the sensors where out of calibration, but I checked. Those numbers are accurate.”

Cameron watched as the small ship weaved its way around the larger components in the rings, while scooping up the smaller ones. “He barely slows down when he scoops them up,” she declared, a bit surprised. “Can you generate a real-time 3D model of this?”

“No, sir, we’re still down more than half of our cores,” she apologized. “I could compile it later into a playback, if you’d like?”

“No thanks,” Cameron said. “Just thought it would be interesting to watch.” She watched a few more seconds, still shocked by the abrupt maneuvering of the harvester. “Whoever is flying that thing really knows what they’re doing, I’ll give him that.”

- 4 -

By the time Nathan and the others had returned from the parts market, most of the raw produce vendors had already packed up for the day.

“You have returned,” the farmer called to them as they approached. He had completely disassembled his tables and canopy, and was finishing loading them onto his vehicle. “Does this mean you are still interested in purchasing some molo?”

“Indeed it does,” Jalea answered. “Does your invitation still stand?”

“Indeed it does,” the farmer smiled back to her. “I sold well today, so there is plenty of room for you all.”

“How will we get back?” Jessica whispered to Nathan and Jalea.

“We can contact Tobin. The farms are outside of the city, so there are no restrictions on landing. He can pick us up at any time,” Jalea assured them.

The farmer tossed the last crate up onto his flatbed hauler, dusted off his hands, and returned to them. “My name is Redmon Tugwell,” he announced, extending his hand. “My friends simply call me Tug.”

“Then we should call you…” Nathan began, taking his hand.

“…If you’re going to buy a bunch of my molo, then I guess you should call me Tug as well.

“Okay, Tug. Nice to meet you. I’m Nathan. This is Jalea, Jessica, and those two back there are Vladimir and Danik.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. If everyone will climb on board, we can get started. It’ll take about an hour to get there.”

The vehicle was basically one big platform with wheels. At the front of the vehicle, the center portion was raised, covering the main drive section of the vehicle, behind which was a bench seat with room on either side of the driver for passengers. In the middle of the raised section was a small control console, with a steering column and a dash-mounted throttle to one side. On the opposite side of the console there was a small hand-brake lever. There were rails along both sides of the platform, with fold-down benches built into the rails. The side rails appeared easily removable, giving the flatbed vehicle the ability to haul objects considerably larger than the bed itself.

Tug climbed aboard first, reaching behind him to fold down the most forward bench seat on each side. “Everyone grab a seat, and we’ll be on our way,” he instructed as he positioned himself behind the driver’s console in the middle of the front bench seat.

Tug held out his hand, pulling Jalea up to sit beside him on his right. Nathan took a seat on Tug’s left, with Jessica sitting directly behind him, and Vladimir and Danik on the opposite bench.

“Hang on,” Tug announced. “It’s not exactly a smooth ride.”

Tug pushed the throttle forward slowly, causing the vehicle to lurch forward. The vehicle itself was quiet, the wheels creating the only perceptible sound as the dirt and gravel crunched beneath them.

They rolled down the back roads at a slow and steady rate, stopping occasionally to yield to other vehicles or pedestrians. Their rate of travel was better than it had been when they had arrived. Tug explained that the city was most active in the morning and early afternoon, and that by this time most merchants had already begun to make their way home for the day. The days were a few hours longer on Haven than on Earth, so most people spent the first half of the day conducting business in town, and the second half at their homes, most of which were small farms.

Nathan was surprised at how few people actually lived in the city proper. Other than merchants that lived above their shops, and a few small communities that housed mostly ring workers and technicians working the spaceport, nearly everyone else that lived on Haven resided on small parcels of land spread throughout the surrounding countryside. It entailed daily commuting into the city, but with the extra hours available each day, it did not seem to be a hindrance.

After about ten minutes, they found themselves on the outskirts of the city, moving at a much better speed as they made their way through the countryside.

The land was mostly flat, with only modest rises in elevation from time to time. The road was dotted with farmhouses both large and small. Nearly all of them had at least one greenhouse—many had several and of various sizes. There was also molo growing everywhere—along the road, between rows of greenhouses. Anywhere you would expect to see lawns, there was molo. Nathan had to wonder why they needed to travel farther out in the country to purchase molo from this guy, when there was so much of it growing all around them.

Nathan noticed that where the land was open and exposed, it seemed dried out. He could easily see how little would thrive naturally on this reformed world.

“Why is it so dry?” he asked Tug.

“There is no rain on Haven,” Tug explained. “Not any real weather of any kind, actually.”

“But you do have some natural vegetation in addition to the Molo, so there must be some water.”

“There is ground water, yes. And as you have probably noticed, the air here is pretty humid as well.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“When we go through our dark cycle, the temperature drops, and most of the humidity in the atmosphere settles back down onto the land. When the light returns, for the first few weeks everything becomes green on Haven.”

“So I’m guessing it’s not long until the darkness starts?” Jessica surmised.

“That’s right,” Tug told her. “In four days the long night will begin.”

“And it really lasts fifty-two days?” Nathan asked.

“What do you do all that time?” Jessica wondered. “Doesn’t it get cold?”

“Very. We stay inside, mostly. I work the greenhouses, where it is warm. But there is very little activity during this time, at least out in the country.”

“Sounds like a typical Russian winter,” Vladimir exclaimed.

“It is not as bad in the city,” Tug continued as they continued to bounce down the road. “They have lots of lighting, and heaters to keep the cold away.”

“That must be those vents we saw on the sides of the buildings.”

“Yes, they blow warm air out into the street. It is wasteful, but necessary. There were plans to enclose much of the city in a dome, but it is doubtful that they will spend the time and money to do so.”

“Sounds rough to me,” Jessica said.

“You don’t like the cold?” Vladimir asked.

“I grew up in Florida,” she explained. “We don’t do cold there.”

“Where I grew up, we had snow and ice for at least half of the year. Very cold,” Vladimir said. “But when the snow would melt, everything was green and beautiful.”

“Well, it never gets
beautiful
on Haven. It isn’t pretty, but it
is
out of the way and we
are
left alone. And because of the rings, we can get what we need out here.”

Nathan continued to gaze at the stark landscape as they traveled. “You know, there isn’t any wildlife here,” he stated. “I just realized—I haven’t seen so much as a bird, a squirrel, or even a dog the entire time we’ve been here. Don’t you have any animals on Haven?”

“There are some,” Tug assured him. “None that are indigenous to this world, as it was a lifeless rock before it was reformed.”

“Not even pets?” Nathan wondered.

“A few. But most people cannot afford such luxuries.”

“Surely you have livestock of some type?” Nathan asked. “You know, cows, chickens, pigs, goats. Animals you can eat?”

“Yes, of course. But again, such creatures are expensive to acquire and to care for. They are rare on Haven and only for the rich. And those that own such keep them indoors, to protect against the cold as well as theft.”

“There are bugs,” Jessica commented, as she swatted something that had landed on her neck.

“Yes,” Tug laughed. “Somehow, they always manage to find their way onto every human inhabited world.”

* * *

“He’s coming in awfully fast,” Ensign Yosef warned. By now, news of the harvester pilot’s skills had spread, and there were a few more people on the bridge than usual, all wanting to witness his first landing.

“Put up the flight deck approach camera,” Cameron ordered. On the main view screen, the image switched from the standard view ahead to one facing aft toward the open flight deck between the center of the ship and the massive drive section at her stern. A small point on the screen, nothing more than a glint of reflected light, was dropping toward them, growing larger as it descended.

“He’s coming in high as well,” Cameron noted.

Everyone on the bridge watched the main viewer as the little speck quickly grew in size as it continued to descend toward them. Within moments the speck grew into shape of the harvester. It came in low, skimming quickly over the tail of the ship. No sooner had it cleared the drive section than it dropped further, pulled its nose up, and flared its landing thrusters to decelerate sharply.

“Volander, Harvester,”
the pilot’s voice came over the comm-channel.
“You might wanna open your outer bay door so I don’t roll right into it.”

“Open it,” Cameron ordered.

The outer transfer bay door began lifting open as the harvester finished its flaring maneuver, settling onto the deck with enough forward momentum left to roll into the primary airlock bay. Without hesitation, the small harvester rolled under the rising airlock door, barely clearing, and then slammed on its brakes to stop just as it was about to kiss the inner door.

“Volander, Harvester. We’re in, close her up.”

The airlock bay door immediately began to slid back down as the harvester powered down her main engines in preparation to enter the hangar bay.

“Damn. Was that really necessary?” Cameron asked. Although his skills were impressive, she wasn’t too pleased with his reckless landing on
her
ship.

“Probably not,” Ensign Yosef agreed. “But it was impressive.”

“You have the Conn, Ensign. I’m going to have a little chat with that hot-shot about proper landing procedures.” Without waiting for a response, Cameron turned and headed out of the bridge.

The harvester rolled into the hangar bay, turning sharply to port before stopping. As it came to a complete stop, one of the ground crew ran underneath and opened up a control panel along the harvester’s undercarriage. After manipulating the controls, several locking mechanisms disengaged and the entire collection pod dropped smoothly off the bottom of the harvester and onto the deck. Moments later, two more workers were rolling the massive pod away to be unloaded. Meanwhile, others were connecting a refueling line that came from one of their nearby cargo shuttles.

Cameron came charging into the bay, marching up to Ensign Mendez, who was overseeing the security of the operation.

“Ensign Mendez,” she snapped. “I want to have a word with that pilot,” she ordered, pointing toward the cockpit of the harvester.

“Uh, yes, sir. But I think you’ll have to talk to their crew foreman, sir.” Mendez answered.

“And who would that be?”

“That would be me, lady.” The old man that had challenged Mendez back on Tobin’s shuttle stepped over from where he had been overseeing the manual off-load of the harvester’s collection pod.

“Commander,” Mendez started. “This is the foreman.”

“Marcus Wallace, at your service, ma’am.”

“Mister Wallace, I’d like a word with one of your pilots,” Cameron insisted in no uncertain terms.

“I’m assuming you mean Josh?”

“If he’s the reckless jerk flying that harvester, then yes.” Cameron looked over at the cockpit windows of the harvester. She could see the helmeted pilot as he checked his systems in preparation for departure. His face was obscured by the reflection on his faceplate, but he saw Cameron looking his way, and gave her a little mock salute. For a moment, she could’ve sworn she saw a smirk on his face.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, ma’am. You see, he’s in the middle of a hot refuel, so he can’t leave the cockpit. Besides, he’ll be taking off again shortly.”

“Well you tell that little hot-shot that he needs to call in for approach and follow the controller’s guidelines. Because the next time he comes in to my flight deck like a bat-out-of-hell, he’s going to find himself slamming headlong into the outer bay door. Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Marcus chuckled.

Ensign Mendez started to smile, then stopped when his eyes met his commander’s as she turned and charged out of the bay.

Marcus lowered his headset mic. “Joshua? I trust you copied all of that?”

“I gotta ask nicely next time?”
Josh joked over the comm.

“If you don’t mind? And maybe you can ease up on the throttle as well?”

“Okay, but that’s gonna take all the fun out of it.”

“All right!” Marcus hollered. “Let’s get that pod unloaded, strapped back on, and get him the hell outta here! MOVE IT, PEOPLE!”

Workers scrambled to remove the last of the rubble from the collection pod before rolling it back under the harvester. With the touch of the controls, the pod raised up until it mated with the underside of the harvester, its latches grasping tightly and its wheels retracting up into her undersides. A warning klaxon sounded once from the harvester, and its motion warning lights began to flash, warning everyone on the deck that it was about to start moving. A few seconds later, the harvester backed up slightly, pivoted its nose aft, and started rolling out of the hangar bay and back into the transfer airlock.