The apartment is cool and, although it doesn’t normally bother me, almost unbearably quiet. I guess I’ve just been among people more than is usual for me for a couple of days and I perhaps need a little time to get used to my preferred solitude once more. Not much chance of that while working on the project.

I’ve always enjoyed separating work from home. At work I’m as gregarious and outgoing as anybody – I couldn’t be in charge if I couldn’t work well with others. At home, I’ve always preferred to be by myself. I don’t hold myself apart from others, or see myself as more important or anything, I just prefer my own company much of the time.

I think I’ve always been the same, but Dad’s disappointment at my choice of career drove that wedge between me and my family just enough to push me away from regular contact. Of course, I keep in touch with Mum and try my best to take an interest in Michael’s young family. It’s just Dad that I don’t see eye-to-eye with.

In the end, it’s my fault. I should have told everyone the truth about my choices. As I enjoyed my break at the end of school, revelling in the freedom of having an implant and spending time on the beach with my friends, I had an inkling that I wanted to do something unusual with my life, I just couldn’t decide what that was to be.

Grandpa, giving me time and space, but also there to offer some advice, finally suggested that I needed to get my arse in gear and talk to the employment AI. I’d basically been surfing for a month and trying my best to not think about it, so his advice was well-meaning and the right thing to suggest.

I really could have contented myself with the community programme at this point. I really didn’t know what I truly wanted to do and, frankly, I didn’t particularly care. So, more out of a sense of duty to Grandpa than a need to make a choice, I made the call.

When my parents asked me about my day, as we sat to eat that evening, I had to tell them that I’d spoken to the Employment office. Then I did something that I have come to regret. I lied to them about the outcome of my call. I’ve lied to almost everyone I know about that call ever since and it weighs heavily in my thoughts at times. The problem is, I don’t think that I can come clean about it now.

The only ones who know the truth are the employment AI and Nexi. I spoke to Nexi about it the same day – my first ever call to them. They could at least see the issue from a place of experience and, as I knew they had done with Grandpa many years before, tried their best to reassure me that it was fine.

I swear, to whatever forces control our universe, that our family is somehow jinxed. So, nobody knows and it plays on my mind. There are not two Quilliams who have received this unique – what’s the right word? Honour or curse? There are three of us, because I received that almost unheard-of single suggestion for a career on that day.

I was, to say the least, a little unnerved. On both previous occasions when this happened, the chosen person – and I use the term advisedly – went on to do something that somehow changed the path of humanity’s future in a major way. Grandpa’s legacy was clear for all to see, but I simply couldn’t see myself as having even one percent of his brilliance, no matter what field I chose as a career.

I instantly knew that I didn’t want the burden of it. I made the split-second decision that I would never tell anyone about the AI’s single suggestion. Nexi reluctantly agreed with my choice and we have kept the secret together for the last ten years. As always seems to be the case, the suggestion wasn’t a bad one. I did have that adventurous nature and had excelled in the biological sciences. Being an explorer did indeed fit me very well, I just yearned to be offered a choice.

I knew that I could choose to find something different, or even just do that community work, but at the same time this option really did fit. Dad was pressuring me to get a safe, unobtrusive administrative job, but I was at that age when rebellion was only a few short steps away. He tried too hard to mould me to his way of thinking and I really didn’t like the pressure on top of my new secret. This gave me a way out that was quick and simple. I lied and told my parents that one of the many suggested options was to work in exploration and that I was going to take it.

Within a few days, I’d left my parent’s home and moved to the campus here on Earth. I didn’t want anything to do with my dad and his seemingly endless objections. I threw myself into my training and then my work, rising quickly to my current position.

The truth is, I really enjoy the work. There’s that mixture of command, exploration, research and adventure that makes every single day a little bit different and I love it. It’s particularly annoying when that single choice turns out to be so perfect for you. It would be fitting for an AI to be wrong about this just one time!

 

Stepping through the gateway onto the ship once again requires that usual moment of adjustment and a grab for a handhold. Most of my crew are already strapped into their chairs or at their posts and there is an unmistakeable air of general industry. I’ve come through to get a proper look at the first images from the surface. There’s something special about seeing it on the massive bridge display, rather than virtually or on a smaller terminal.

“Morning, chief,” Toby says as I take my command seat and strap in. “Here to see the surface as well then?”

“You bet. I hope we don’t get any nasty surprises. Argus, how long until the first feed is available?”

<We will have line-of-sight to the lander in about two minutes. It should send a data-burst of test results first and then give us control of the cameras.>

“Excellent. Is there anything else that I need to be aware of with testing so far? From anyone?”

When nobody seems to have anything to report, Argus takes a turn. <Everything seems pretty much as expected from further out. The magnetic field is a little weaker than we first thought, but it is within the tolerances of our equipment.>

“Yes,” Toby adds. “Verus may be a little lighter in iron and correspondingly have more of the other heavier metals than we thought. Not enough to affect the gravity in any way, just a different distribution. Slightly odd, considering that the star is a little on the metallic side.”

“No theories from anyone about that, then?”

“No,” Toby continues. “Subtle variations in the proto-cloud density could easily account for the differences. Planets two and three look to be very dense, so the materials may simply have differentiated and migrated as the planets were forming.”

“Okay,” I reply. “Interesting point for future study, but I assume it’s not leaving the surface unprotected from a radiation viewpoint?”

“No, we have enough of a field to have a good set of Van Allen Belts. We’ve even been seeing auroras over the poles. The magnetic field seems to be pretty well aligned with the axis of rotation though. Far more than on Earth.”

<I’m receiving the data-burst. Camera coming live in about ten seconds.>

Everybody stops what they are doing and concentrates on the main screen as the seconds seem to slowly tick away. Finally, the screen brightens and Argus takes control of the camera on the surface to bring it into focus. The camera is about 5m above the ground and can be rotated and zoomed to give a good view of the immediate surroundings.

It is apparently situated in a fairly small woodland clearing. As focus was pulled, it all looked stunningly familiar, but now the image has sharpened up, it takes on that hard to pinpoint alienness. The shapes of the plants, the colours of the leaves, and the colour of the sky are all subtly not Earth-like.

“It’s beautiful,” Mary whispers from beside me.

Something, roughly pigeon-sized and clearly with two bat-like wings, flashes across in front of the camera and away to the right. No feathers, then? Argus spots something and the camera tracks and zooms in to focus on another of the fliers, standing on the branch of a tree about twenty metres away and a good fifteen metres above the ground.

It is strikingly bat-like, but standing upright on strong-looking slender legs. Its body is covered in an almost iridescent pale blue fur and it has a definite mammalian look about it while still managing to look totally alien.

“That’s more advanced than anything on other worlds,” Nicki calls from somewhere over my shoulder. There’s an infra-red feed on a secondary display and it is clear that the flier is apparently homeothermic as well. “Very mammalian indeed.”

“Well,” I tell her. “You and I are going to have our work cut out down there, aren’t we.”

<I’ve something else for you both,> Argus tells us as he zooms back and turns the camera about thirty degrees clockwise. I know he has access to other fixed cameras and isn’t cluttering our view with those feeds. <This looks very much like an animal trackway.>

“Oh…” Nicki and I both coo in perfect unison. “It looks well worn, recently used and whatever walked along it is pretty big,” I manage after I start to be professional again.

“Now I wish the lander had set down somewhere a bit more open, rather than in this glade,” Nicki muses. “We’re probably not going to see much here until the locals get over the shock of the landing.”

“No, and now we really need to know what we are dealing with. This could change quite a lot of protocols for all of us,” I’m not sure that the others realize that we will now have to work with wild-animal protocols in place once we reach the surface. “Argus, how long until the next lander is within range?”

<Only ten minutes or so, but it will be late evening at that location and it is by the sea.>

“I see. Stick with this one until you can switch and we’ll take a look anyway. Are there any herds of anything big enough to be showing up on the mapping?”

<Sorry, Peter. I wasn’t looking for them. I will make sure that infra-red and motion checking are on for the next pass.>

“It’s new for us all, my friend, so don’t worry too much about it. We still have plenty of time. I’ve no intention of going down there for at least a week yet.” I have to be practical and pragmatic. I don’t think anyone on the entire program ever thought that we would find such apparently complex life. “Let’s try and do it all by the book from now on, people.”

There are a few suitable mutters and murmurs of affirmation and a sudden feeling of increased concentration across the bridge.

<Switching to the second lander now.>

Once again, we have a few moments while Argus plays with the focus before a new scene fills the viewscreen. We are just above a broad sandy beach lined to the east by a line of gentle surf and a blue-green sea. West of us it a sort of grassland, broken by occasional trees that must tower to more than forty metres in both height and spread.

<Oh my!> Argus manages as he rotates the camera around to look straight inland. It’s such a human reaction that I’m taken aback for a moment. That is until I can see what he sees.

There are what must be considered to be a substantial herd of what are apparently herbivores. I can see at least thirty of them immediately, even in our fairly narrow field of view. Argus is already zooming the camera to get a better look in the fading light.

“Argus, are they as big as they look?” Nicki asks incredulously.

<Yes, Nicki. They are smaller than an African elephant, but much bigger than any buffalo or rhino.>

The creatures are hard to describe, but they are indeed huge, quadrupedal and very solid looking. I guess they most resemble a buffalo or perhaps a moose, just on a big-planet scale. They are well over two metres tall and perhaps as much as four metres long. I’d guess at about three tonnes if they were on Earth. There are also clearly one or two juveniles in the herd, but it isn’t obvious to me if there are any primary sexual characteristics or dimorphisms.

“Nicki,” I suggest, and I’m sure everyone can hear me. “Where there are big herbivores, there will usually be predators!”

“We’re so screwed!” she manages once this sinks in. “Trouble is, we won’t know until we get down there. We could be dealing with two tonne lions.”

“Well, it’s better not to speculate. You’re terrifying the kids.” I pause to give everyone a chance to let the tension flow out of them. “That includes this kid, if I’m being honest. This may well not be a colony world after all.”

“Do you really think that, boss?” Toby asks as we continue to study the herd on the screen. “We can’t just abandon this mission, can we?”

“No, but we can choose to leave orbit and move on for another thirty years or so to the next star on the list. There are contingencies, you know.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“We keep working the protocols. All of us.” I add a strong emphasis to the second half of the sentence, making sure that all of us on the bridge are on the same page. “And I go back to Earth right now to speak to Jack, Axios and the rest of the admin team.”