AL Clark by Jonathan G. Meyer (digital e reader .txt) 📕
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- Author: Jonathan G. Meyer
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“Yes sir, I will get right on that,” the red-faced mechanic answered.
“Have you been presented with a pilot roster yet?”
“Umm—not quite yet sir.”
“Well get it done, and make sure you add me to the list.”
“But Captain, you can’t....
“The hell I can’t. Nobody tells me I can’t fly. You are dismissed.”
The captain noticed Al standing to the side, winked, and turned around to leave with his group. Al was impressed. The captain knew what he wanted, and just how to get it done. Not all commanders were as capable.
****THE SURVIVING MEMBERS of the crew and the scientific complement were all revived, and the hiber-pod technicians were busy awakening the colonists. Ana and Kayla were very busy and pushed themselves to stick to their schedule. This period would be their most active while they were awakening people. Once they revived the last colonist, their duties would change considerably.
Chris was helping repair of the shuttles. He was good at his job and loved working on the tough, versatile, flying machines. Whenever he got together with any of the group, he found it hard to talk about anything else.
His mother was also busy, as was Cody. All of them were gearing up for planetfall.
Al, however, was bored. With everyone aboard preoccupied, nobody had time to cause trouble. He spent his days walking around under the guise of patrolling. He was in constant communication with his five security officers. However, they too were bored. There was not a lot of chatter over the radios.
He would stop and visit his friends from time to time. Because they didn’t have a lot of time to chat, he would move on. Sometimes, he would stop at the mess hall, talking to anyone who stopped long enough to listen. He walked the park several times a day; simply because he could.
There were a few cases of a robot misinterpreting someone’s orders, sometimes with some pretty hilarious consequences, and a couple of fist fights. Most of the time, Al walked around and became acquainted with the people he was tasked to protect.
In their off hours, Chris and Al took to playing racquetball in the hub. Originally it was meant to be exercise, but it turned out to be a lot of fun also. The game was much harder without gravity and led to a lot of unintended reactions.
A strong net was installed behind them to act as support. Even with the netting, it was tricky to keep the ball in play. They laughed until it hurt. People came to watch and laughed with them. Some even worked up the nerve to try their luck, and by the time they were ready to begin planetfall, crowds were betting on who would win. In the beginning, Chris was usually favored to win their matches. Toward the end, the odds swung to support Al. The bored security chief thought his travels while patrolling the ship helped his game.
****ORBITAL OBSERVATION revealed a planet brimming with plant and animal life. Sun drenched valleys rolled gently up to snow-capped mountains, and swift streams meandered down towards the deep blue oceans. It was the Earth of days gone by with forests and prairies covering half of the landmass on the planet, with smaller islands to rival the old Jamaica or Hawaii of Earth. In a word, Avalon was paradise.
Several remote landing sites were selected and then narrowed down until they settled on one primary site. On the largest landmass, relatively close to the equator, they found their new home. It sat at the foot of a rust-colored mountain, in a green valley close to a lazy blue river, and it was the perfect place to establish the first colony of Avalon—a place they named Shangri-La.
They would be landing in early spring, and the homesteaders would have the best part of spring plus all of summer and fall to prepare for winter. Average temperatures on the surface would be near ideal until then.
An exploratory flight to the surface was scheduled and the crew members selected. Aboard the shuttle would be: Al and two of his security people, a biologist to document and collect samples of the local fauna and wildlife, Doctor Cody in case of injury or illness, a habitat coordinator, a co-pilot, and the captain—acting as the pilot because they couldn’t talk him out of it.
The Excalibur was operating smoothly, and the captain/pilot had a good excuse to fly, so he left his quite capable first officer to manage the ship in his absence.
The captain recognized the possibility of encountering indigenous natives and therefore decided to make landfall just before sunrise, coming straight down from the sky quickly to minimize exposure. They would stay two days.
The lucky crew members selected for the first trip were instant celebrities. They would be the first humans to set foot on Avalon, with Al the most recognized mainly because he knew so many people from walking the ship. Everywhere he went people congratulated him and grilled him with questions.
“What do you think it will be like?”
“Are there large animals?”
“Will the natives accept us? How advanced are they?”
“Can we eat the plants down there?”
“Is the water safe to drink?”
Al would smile at each question and reply, “We won’t know until we get there.”
****THE NIGHT BEFORE PLANETFALL a bon voyage party was held in Chris and Liz’s quarters. Al, Chris, Ana, Liz, Doc Cody, and Kayla had all found time to be there. Al’s first six friends in his new life, and the closest thing he had to a family. They relaxed and snacked on fruit from the park, discussing whatever came to mind.
“Why do you think the captain wants to go so bad? Shouldn’t he be staying aboard the Excalibur?” Elizabeth asked the group.
Chris and Ana were sitting on the bed, and Chris responded to his mother’s question, “If I were the captain, I would sure want to go.”
“He is most likely curious as to what we will be dealing with down there,” Cody suggested. “And I have heard that he enjoys flying the shuttlecrafts.”
“Maybe he just wants to get away from the responsibilities of command for a while,” said Ana.
Al respected their leader and liked his command style. He had to say something in his defense. “Why shouldn’t he go? Our captain is responsible for everyone on this ship. He wants to be the first to assess the safety of his people on the planet, and besides, he has a full staff of competent officers to take care of the Excalibur in his absence. Personally, I welcome his company. How much can happen in only two days?”
The hangar bay was full, with standing room only at departure. Ship security set up barricades for a wide aisle down the middle of the shuttle bay to contain the crowd. The first humans to visit Avalon filed in and boarded among cheers and whistles, with the captain boarding last.
When Al stepped up to the aircraft, he turned to the crowd and waved, hamming it up while thinking of the age-old tradition of cheering and throwing confetti when a cruise ship leaves the dock. He was excited to be leaving, actually feeling sorry for the people that had to stay.
Al traded his formal off-white uniform for a more practical pair of khakis and a tan short sleeve shirt with his Chief stripes sewn on the sleeves. He even considered a pith helmet, like they wear in the tropics, but thought that would have been a little too much. Even without the helmet, the outfit made him feel like an explorer.
The planetary team seated themselves while the captain closed the doors and started the engines. The shuttle floated slowly up and maneuvered to the hangar bay door where a force field twinkled to life. The large outside door slowly opened and slid up out of the way to reveal black space and bright stars. Without hesitation, the shuttle smoothly accelerated through the opening, circled over the Excalibur, and pointed itself at Avalon.
The captain stopped the ship, set the controls to stationary, and turned to the passenger compartment, “Al, I believe you have some rules you’d like to lay out?”
Al addressed the group seated around him. “Everyone is aware of the rules—right? We go everywhere in twos, and we stay close to camp. If you need to go out of sight of the shuttle, a security officer will accompany you. We keep our voices down—if you need to yell, you use the radios, and we don’t touch anything without gloves. Remember, this is only a preliminary survey. We will be carefully taking samples and returning them to the ship to be analyzed. There is no need to take unnecessary risks. Are there any questions?”
There were no questions. It was evident his crewmates wanted to get going. When the captain saw there was no reason to delay, he turned his attention back to the controls and said, “All right then—let’s go and see our new home.”
They descended to within a mile of the surface and directly over their designated site. The craft hovered for a moment, weightless and silent; and the passengers held their breath without knowing.
The captain said, “Here we go,” and they dropped like a rock into the night sky.
The ride down was a blur of clouds and a rush of air that shook the shuttle. When the shuttle fell to within a hundred feet of the ground, the captain gradually added power until they came to a stop; floating inches off the ground. It was a ride to remember. The captain knew his shuttle and its capabilities. He smiled all the way down.
Al asked, “Is that why they call it planetfall?”
The captain just smiled. He parked the shuttle under a large, unusual looking tree at the edge of a forest of exotic timber. The group constructed a fold-up canopy of camouflage netting twice as large as the craft, with the extra space under the canopy used as a covert base. Out of sight equals out of mind.
Before unloading, they gathered and watched the sunrise. Slowly, as the sun came up, their new world was revealed to them. The mountains were to their south, with a green and purple forest flowing up to them. To the north was a picturesque river, with spring thaws from the mountains adding to its girth. Green rolling hills with clumps of tiny red and blue flowers stretched all the way to the river bank. The name they picked was well chosen—it truly was an Avalonian Shangri-La.
They were not, however, fooled by its beauty. The planet appeared similar to Earth. However, all they had to do was look around, and it became obvious they were not on Earth. Evolution works differently according to different requirements and has varying results. Every plant and every creature they saw would be an entirely new species.
Tables were set-up
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