Mary perks up beside me as Toby, Laura and Nicki all come back through the gateway together. Toby and Nicki have a large cooler between them and look pretty excited.

“Okay guys, what have you got for me?”

“The atmospherics are confirmed as clear,” Laura starts off with the first news. “There’s nothing that will be a problem as far as we can tell. The air might smell a bit odd, though not really any more than it might in different parts of Earth.”

“Good. What about the soil samples? Toby and or Nicki?”

“The mineralogy is fine. There are trace metals that I’d rather weren’t here at these levels, but it is almost certainly local,” Toby tells me first. “We are safe, just don’t eat the dirt or lick any rocks!”

“We should be good to go,” Nicki adds. “There are the expected micro-organisms, small insects and plant spores or pollen or whatever they use here, but it all seems bio-compatible and harmless. I’d agree with Toby. Don’t eat the dirt or anything else just yet, but we’re not going to catch some disease and die if we go out there. Oh, probably try not to let anything lick or bite you, either!”

“Well,” I tell the now crowded bridge space with a smile, “That sounds like sensible life advice, new planet or not. Six people at a time into the airlock. The first five with me!”

<The main ramp is down, Peter. Ready when you are.>

I glance around without thinking as the inner door of the airlock space starts to close, spotting Andy just coming back through the gateway with a couple of other stragglers.

The inner door closes completely and there is a slight hissing noise as the pressure is equalised. The scent of Verus is, well, a bit odd. I’ve travelled extensively on Earth and spent much of my life on Sevrin and this is, as should be expected, different from both. There’s an overwhelming musty, musky earthiness to it, coupled with the faintest hint of something sulphurous. It’s not exactly unpleasant, but it will surely be a distraction until we all get used to it.

Laura, who has managed to hop into this first group with me wrinkles her nose and looks a little disgusted. “Too late to change your mind now,” I tell her with a smile as the main hatch begins to open up in front of us. “May as well take a deep breath and get used to it quickly.”

“I may never get used to it!” She tells me earnestly, but she takes a deep breath anyway and we all walk down the ramp and onto the green growth that covers the ground of the clearing. It’s some type of grass analogue, but it has small round leaves on almost crunchy wiry stems.

For the next few minutes, the only sound is the regular cycling of the hatch as the rest of the landing crew come out to join us. Andy is in the last group with Toby and I can see that they now have the cooler between them. I quickly step back onto the ramp and climb up on to the flat spot at the bottom of the platform rail.

“Welcome to Verus, everybody. I’m not doing the big speech – that’s my punishment for tomorrow afternoon. For now, I’d just like you all to join me in a little bit of a celebration of a successful landing and a hope for a fruitful mission. Toby, make sure everybody has a drink.”

There are one or two cheers as the cooler – which most of the crew hadn’t noticed – is opened and beers and soft drinks are handed out to all.

“To Verus,” I call as I raise my bottle. There’s a good chorus of the same as those around me also raise their drinks. There’s quite a lot of back slapping and handshakes going round and the ice does seem to have been broken.

As everyone settles down and we all slowly start to spread out a little, I call Toby over with a wave. “We can relax for the rest of the day. Just make sure everyone knows what the security situation is, please.”

“Yeah, no worries, boss. I’ll get a team to put some sensors out before it gets dark and then we’ll put the next ring of them out in the morning. Do you know how many are coming through for the official landing ceremony?”

“Honestly, I’ve no idea. I’d expect maybe fifty or so. I have invited my grandparents, so I know of at least two who won’t be any trouble!”

“Do you need someone to make sure they are taken care of? You’ll be far too busy to do it yourself.”

“I’m going to see if Andy will stick with them. He arrived too late to be given any other responsibilities. I’ll ask him now.”

“No problem, Peter. Leave all the rest to me. We have a plan to follow and it shouldn’t be a problem to get the stuff through and set up. Why don’t you go back and write your speech!”

“Oh great. Thank you for reminding me that I still have to do that. Andy’s the linguist. Maybe I should ask him to write it for me?”

“You’re the boss. You could even order him to do it!”

“What sort of a monster do you think I am. See you tomorrow, Toby.”

Andy had been talking to Mary, but he now seems to be standing close to the ramp, bottle in hand and alone. I make my way over to him and, once close enough to do so, clink our beer bottles together. “Welcome once more to Verus, Andy.”

“Hmm…”

“What? A bit of an anti-climax?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I just feel a little out of place. I’m the latecomer with nothing to do,” He seems genuinely concerned that he is surplus and that’s just not the case.

“Actually, I have an extremely important job for you tomorrow. From my point of view, it’s the most important job of the day.”

“You’re making that up!”

“No, I’m serious. I want you to look after my grandpa and granddad tomorrow. I don’t give a shit what happens to any of the other dignitaries, but they are going to have my best people on the job.”

“You mean you want the only spare member of the team to look after them?”

“Busted. Seriously, I want them to be here and I do need someone to make sure they don’t get into any trouble. Grandpa, in particular, loves to exercise the weight of his personal history a little. I’ll give you full authority to put him in his place. It’s either keep an eye on them or spend the next few hours writing a speech for me for tomorrow.”

“Well, since you put it in such glowing terms, how can I refuse?”

“Good man. I’ll owe you one.”

“Supper tomorrow at Miguels?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s a date.”

 

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t at least a little stressed by the time my grandparents arrive at the gateway. Most of the invited guests have already gone through and there’s an informal reception taking place in a hastily erected marquee in front of the Mona’s Isle.

I barely have time to greet them both properly and introduce them to Andy before I have to dash off and get ready for the formal proceedings. I know they both understand how busy I am and I do promise to speak to them after the official landing ceremony. Andy will take good care of them, I’m sure.

The landing ceremony is being broadcast to terminals throughout human-occupied space and also via implant. I’m far from comfortable with the thought of making a speech to potentially billions of people, but is does seem to be the curse of my family name, whatever career we seem to choose.

Jack, as director, has to do the formal part of the ceremony, I only have to roll out the usual spiel about our excitement to be exploring a new world and our keenness to get results. By the time Jack introduces me, I could piss myself. I’m so wound up that I almost miss my cue. As I move forward to the lectern, I focus on my grandparents who are both standing proudly at the bottom of the ramp with Andy between them. Grandpa did this once and now, I realize, so can I.

“When I was a small boy, I was taught about the wonderful inventions that have shaped our civilisation. I was told of a man who made gateway travel possible and, after he had made that dream a reality, helped to re-start the exploration program and launched this very ship on her journey to the stars.”

“As I grew and my curiosity also expanded, I finally noticed a pair of strange medals in the hallway of my grandparents’ house on Sevrin. Grandpa explained that they were the Nobel Prize medals that he and Granddad had been awarded for creating the gateways.”

“I was both shocked and awe-struck in equal measure. How had I not made the connection for myself? My Grandpa was this great man who the whole of humanity knew all about and I never made the connection until I was twelve years old.”

“I’m not half the scientist that either of them is, but they both instilled in me a love of adventure and a curiosity that will now hopefully serve me well as we begin to explore a new world. I’m delighted that I can bring the story round full circle and make sure that they are here to share in this small celebration of a successful flight.

“Grandpa Aidan, Granddad Jordan; thank you for making me want to be an explorer.” I raise my hands towards them and bow slightly as I mouth a personal ‘Thank you both.’

The assembled dignitaries all clap politely and we’re done. The live feed is cut and we all can finally mingle and relax.

By the time I make my way through the important people, exchanging pleasantries and accepting praise and congratulations in equal measure, in the direction of my family, Andy has found a couple of chairs for them. I’m not surprised that they are feeling it. The difference in gravity between Sevrin and Verus is almost fifteen percent and they are both in their nineties. I’m aware of it, even though I’ve been on Earth and am more acclimatised.

“I’m about done,” I tell them all as I approach. “Andy, you can go and join the party if you like.”

“Sure, I’ll see you later anyway. I’m going to see if Mary has told Steve about yesterday yet!” He heads off in the direction of the two of them on the other side of the ramp.

“You did well, Peter,” Grandpa finally tells me as I settle down to sit cross-legged between them. He places a hand on my shoulder gently and pats me a couple of times. “Giving speeches doesn’t come easy to us, does it?”

“No, Grandpa, it doesn’t. That’s the last one I plan to give for some time.”

“Why do you think I always pretended to be the junior partner,” Granddad Jordan mutters with a grin. “Even in Stockholm, I was able to stand behind Aidan and keep my mouth firmly shut!”

“Well, if the next one is shit, I can blame it on genetics then!”

“it’s almost worth it, though,” Grandpa tells me whit almost a whisper. “Whenever we turn up for something like this, we get treated like I imagine royalty was once upon a time.”

“Well, I hope you didn’t treat Andy like some sort of uniformed flunky?”

“No, but thank you for asking him to look after us. He seems like a really nice guy,” Granddad Jordan tells me with a wink.

“And he’s cute,” Grandpa adds with a much bigger and far more exaggerated and saucy-looking wink. “I can see what you see in him.”

“Wait, what? Andy and I aren’t… We just work together. I’m his boss.”

“Sure and supper this evening isn’t a date at all,” Grandpa tells me.

“He told you about that? I’m his boss. I couldn’t possibly… Even if I wanted to – and I’m not saying that I do.”

“Peter, look at the two of us and take a deep breath,” Granddad adds. “How did the two of us meet.”

Okay, he has a point, but I do have a job to do. I need to concentrate on work, not any distractions that may come my way, however cute.

“Right, that’s enough from the pair of you. If you’re both quite finished, I think we should head back to Earth.” I can feel myself flushing and I could do without this sort of meddling.

“Sure, Son. Let’s get back to a more sensible gravity,” Grandpa agrees, even if that knowing smirk hasn’t quite left his features. Underneath the smirk, however, I can sense a hint of tiredness. “I think we’ll head right back to Sevrin. This gravity really is a bit more than I expected.”

I help them both to their feet and, allowing them each to take an arm, walk them back up the ramp and into the ship.