Twice Removed... 16

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Xia Phar had a good life for a human on Saer’kah. She didn’t wear a restriction band and the Saer’khi family that had raised her since the Migration treated her like one of their own. Others humans on Saer’kah though had no reason to love the Saer’khi . At least Xia had some semblance of freedom. So when the humans decide to rebel against the Saer’khi and she discovers the real reason for the presence of humans and other aliens on Saer’kah Xia decides to take action. Enlisting the help of her family and her friend Tarek she forms a plan to get everyone out of the alien barracks without arousing suspicion and get them off Saer’kah on one of the newly built colony ships. Sounds pretty easy right? Now Tarek’s crush on her is the least of her problems and leaving Saer’kah is just the beginning.

 
 

Twice Removed
Chapter 16
Traveling

By
Amethyst
*Don’t worry Xia, I’ll keep in contact the whole time and help you both through it. You should be fine though,* she assured me, *it’s just like flying, you just use more telekinesis and don’t use your wings.*

 


 
Author's Note: Thanks as usual to my readers and of course the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a great place to post and read TG fiction. ~Amethyst.
 


 
Chapter 16: Traveling

The rest of the afternoon was pleasant and with the help of the slips we managed to get a fair amount of earth churned up, and nearly a third of the southern field was now done. With luck it could be finished in another two days and we could begin planting soon. That night there was a feeling of accomplishment as we ate dinner. I think that people were beginning to see that we were actually doing pretty well for ourselves considering how grim things had looked when we had first arrived on Unity. More than that though, people were happy to be alive and healthy. Despite everything that our journey and this planet had thrown at us we were still alive and improving our situation every day and that alone was an accomplishment worth feeling good about.

As I sat eating that night, I had to smile to myself as occasionally Jittu would run up with her doll in her hands and give me an appraising look. My wings seemed to be of particular interest to my new spirit child and I figured that she was trying to figure out how to make them and get them to look right on the doll. I just tried not to let myself be distracted by it as I ate and while Krie and I helped Amy to study her letters for the Saer’khi written language.

When it started to get dark we put the data pad away and joined in the general conversation. Artemis was already high in the sky and Achelois would likely be joining it soon. It had been a little hard at first adjusting to having two moons, since both Earth and Saer’kah only had one, but we were all beginning to get used to it. Personally, I was beginning to find it reassuring in a way; it was like a reminder that no matter how dark things seemed on this planet, that there would always be light. I smiled to myself as that thought came to me and I looked up at Artemis, until the sight of a shooting star caused me to sigh.

That had been the third shooting star I had seen since the sun went down and, while I hadn’t been paying attention those first few nights on Unity, the past several nights I had been seeing an increasing number of them. It was the last evidence of the Bounty. I had asked Karran earlier and he believed that the explosion of our ship had sent some of the smaller debris of the explosion toward the planet. None of it was large enough or moving fast enough to be a danger to us or the medical ship’s long range scanners would have let us know. Mostly it was just small bits burning up in the atmosphere and causing the shooting stars, it was possible we might get some small meteorites and other tiny debris too, but he thought that what didn’t get caught in the debris field around the planet would be relatively harmless. I tried to put it out of my mind for a bit when Tanna and Karran decided to get out their instruments and entertain us all for a bit.

I think Dennis had caught me watching though as while we were listening to the music he said. “I still can’t get used to seeing two moons up there. How does that even work? Why aren’t we getting more extreme tides and other stuff.”

I considered the question for a moment before shrugging. “I’m no expert in planetary physics Captain, but I know that this planet is a minor miracle statistically speaking. Multiple moon planets seldom have the capability to generate and sustain complex life. Usually the moons have too much mass and their orbit is too close so they end up causing far too much gravitational effects, and rarely they collide if their orbits aren’t complimentary.”

“So why haven’t they then?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The two moons look around the same size from down here but Achelois is much smaller and closer to the planet while Aretemis is larger and further out,” I explained. “Relatively speaking they’re small moons as well, their mass combined can’t be more than one point two percent of the planet itself if I remember the calculations we made. The spacing of their orbits means that Achelois is orbiting the planet at nearly exactly double the time it takes Artemis and it has a stabilizing effect of sorts. They’re staying far away enough from each other for Achelois not to be pulled into Artemis’ orbit and have the two collide, but yet they are both small enough that the tides aren’t more severe.”

He nodded, but then frowned as something else occurred to him. “But the planet had a third moon once if you’re right,”

I nodded in agreement as I thought about how best to explain my theory. “I think the third moon may have been larger and much further out in orbit and an asteroid hit it hard enough to break it apart. It sent some pieces raining down on the planet and the rest further out of orbit to create the debris field we appeared in. Some of the smaller debris has stayed in orbit though, which made landing a ship here a bit difficult. If we contact Saer’kah we’re going to have to warn them about that, they may only be able to get to the surface by drop ship. The colony ships and mother ships are too big and appearing too close is likely to get them damaged by the debris.”

The cyborg shuddered at whatever memory that brought up. “Yeah, we really don’t need a repeat of the Bounty.”

”No we don’t,” I agreed, “and even a small piece of debris could cause a disaster if they appeared out of subspace in the wrong place.” The mere thought worried me immensely. Tarek of course sensed my agitation at that line of thinking and promptly asked me to dance. It was just the distraction I needed.

* * *

I turned in early that night and was up before dawn the next morning to wake the other members of my exploration team. Once we were all awake and had eaten a quick breakfast of ration bars and molehog jerky we started making our way south along the coast. Tarek spent a lot of his time scouting ahead by air, but we were keeping in constant contact telepathically so he could keep me informed of anything he was seeing. As I walked along with the others we kept our senses peeled for anything unusual, but I also used it as an excuse to get to know my other team members better.

I had gotten to know Matt pretty well, since we began the trip on the Bounty and not only was he a good friend I could joke around with, but there was also that mutual attraction between us that was hoping he might someday be comfortable enough to pursue. He really was a lot of fun to be around and when he smiled at me or talked to me like he was actually enjoying my company it never failed to make my heart flutter. I had never been one of those Matthew Scott fan girls on Earth before the Great Quake, but I sure was now. It wasn’t because he was famous though, or even that he was attractive and had an amazing smile (though that was part of it), it was because he was a great guy who treated me as he would any other person.

Bixx and I had a lot in common with getting the nanites at such a young age and often feeling that we had to prove ourselves to others. We both wanted to be seen as the adults we were inside and not the teenagers many people saw at first glance. Where I had worked hard to become a good doctor, Bixx had embraced the fact that it would never have to take on a gender assigned role with its people. Instead of having to follow the ‘men are hunters and warriors and women are home makers’ ways of its people it had decided to pursue more intellectual pursuits and had developed an interest in electronics. As we talked more I began to think it might be a good idea to have it learn from Karran or Xawin. They could use the help and it was certainly interested in what they did.

I had gotten to know Pallu a bit already. She was impulsive and outgoing, but she would follow orders well too. The Yazuik was fascinated by the whole planet around us and her eagerness to explore our new world was infectious. I had wanted her on my team for her swimming and electro-location abilities, but it was more than that that would make her a valuable resource to my team. She saw this as an adventure and a challenge, and she was the kind of girl who gave one hundred and ten percent when she was challenged.

Rinnik was the biggest surprise though. She was a bit shy at first as she tried to get a feel for us, but as we moved southward along the shoreline and got to know each other a bit better she started to open up more and more. My first surprise was that her Niadu was none other than Lirra, which certainly explained why Lirra had suggested the young Murqui for my team. Lirra still tended to get a bit protective of me from time to time and she probably figured that if she couldn’t watch over me personally, than who better than the girl she had been training herself. Rinnik had taken her assignment to heart and was determined to do her best to keep me and the others safe. Once we managed to convince her that she could relax around us and still do that she became a lot more talkative.

On the whole I was feeling pretty good about my team. We all got along well, were eager to do the job and discover what this planet had to offer, and while they all respected my authority they also treated me as a relatively normal girl. Being Commander Phar was fine for the camp, people needed me to be that there, but it was nice to just be Xia for a while too, and I got the feeling that Bixx, Pallu, and Rinnik understood that as well as Matt and Tarek did.

By lunchtime we hadn’t found anything of interest and I decided to report in while Pallu caught us some fish for lunch and Rinnik and Bixx gathered wood for a fire to cook them on. Krie was quick to acknowledge my ping. *How’s the exploration going Xia*

*Well it’s a nice day for a long walk on the beach,* I admitted as I lay back on the sand and Kit curled up beside me, *but we haven’t seen anything terribly interesting so far. I guess we all can’t be lucky enough to discover signs of civilization and strange new species on our first day. We’re going to have lunch and go on for another hour or two before we head back. How are things on the home front?*

*Replenishing our supplies is going well and the team I have working the fields is making good progress too, we could be ready to start planting tomorrow afternoon.* she replied cheerfully.

*That is good to hear,* I sent back with a smile. *I’m going to enjoy the sun while I wait for lunch, I’ll report in if we find anything interesting.*

*Enjoy yourself Xia, I’ll talk to you later.* I tried to get more comfortable in the sand and give Kit some affection as we broke contact and watched Matt try to play fetch with Mine. I was thinking that he really needed to think of a less confusing name for the poor thing when Tarek settled down beside me and began absently petting Fido. He reached out with one of his free hands and I took it in my own without a word as we just lay there together enjoying the quiet moment. Before long Rinnik and Bixx returned and got a fire going. Pallu returned not long after with enough seussfish and featherfish to make a good meal for all of us and as they cooked we talked about what interesting finds might be waiting out there.

We were all hoping that we might discover something big or incredible, but I tried to be the voice of reason and remind them that thus far there hadn’t been much ecological diversity to be found on Unity. The ‘corns were a great find, but only species with similar survivability and/or a lot of luck would have been able to survive the cataclysm that had hit this planet. We had already been extremely fortunate in what we had found. It was of course possible we might find more ruins, but that was probably the best that we could realistically expect. Sadly though, we hadn’t found anything of interest by the time we had to head back to camp. We had continued making our way along the shoreline, but it seemed to always be just more of the same: Rainforest with occasional sandy or rocky beaches.

When we returned to camp the southern field was almost entirely ready for planting and people were in good spirits. Work on digging the water pipeline was proceeding well too and it was good to see everyone feeling better with more energy than the day before. I had been half afraid that something would have gone wrong while my team was out exploring, but much to my relief all the reports that I received and went over during dinner that evening showed no real problems with things progressing as well as could be expected. Still, between the time I was finished eating and the time people started heading to bed, I made sure to go to each of the campfires and see how the other colonists were doing, if they needed anything, or had any concerns.

* * *

I awoke in the early hours of the morning to a pulsing sound/sensation in my mind and a flashing image of a roughly spherical silver object. At roughly the same time Kit began shrieking. I shot up into a sitting position and had barely begun to realize just what it was when the pulsing suddenly stopped. Kit was staring at me in confusion and worry and I had to stroke her fur gently and assure her everything was alright before I could get out of bed and into my ships uniform. *It’s okay Kit, I’m pretty sure I know what that was and it wasn’t anything dangerous.*

Once I was dressed I dashed out the door to the main area of the ship. I wasn’t the only one awakened as both Tarek and Krie were coming out of their rooms after hastily getting dressed and Amy was rubbing her eyes sleepily as she asked, “Is somethin’ wrong? Violet was screaming.”

“It’s okay Amy,” I quickly reassured her. “It was just the ship wide alert system. It sends important messages to all receptive psychic’s in the drop ship and it looks like the slips got the message too.” While the Bounty and other colony ships had internal subspace vocal communications, that was really only for the benefit of the colonists. Most of the crew notifications and communications were designed to be done psychically since the crews were meant to be all Saer’khi and psychic communication is generally faster and more efficient for us.

Once I had gotten Amy back to bed, Krie, Tarek, and I headed to the drop ship’s pilot’s compartment to see what the alert was all about. It was some sort of message, but there wasn’t enough sent before it stopped transmitting to make much sense of except for the fact that whatever was transmitting had been sent by the Saer’khi. *Tanna might have a better idea, since she’s our communications officer.* Tarek suggested after a few minutes of trying to puzzle it out.

I pinged Tanna, Xawin, and Karran and when all three had sleepily responded I sent, *We just got an alert, but it suddenly stopped transmitting. I’m going to need you in here Tanna, and it might be a good idea for you boys to come as well.*

Five minutes later the trio had joined us in the ship and Tanna was looking over the communications logs. *It looks like a subspace communications relay probe dropped out of subspace and stared scanning and transmitting messages, but I think it might have appeared in the debris field and gotten damaged before it could complete it’s task. We sometimes send a large amount of probes out ahead of search and rescue ships if we want to search a large area of space quickly. They are small, can travel a lot faster than ships because they don’t have crew to keep alive, and they do not use up as much resources as sending ships to search the same area, so it’s easier to form a search grid and locate missing ships faster.*

*Damn,* I cursed, *that could have helped us communicate with Saer’kah, or at least told them where we are.*

*It still could,* Tanna said with a smile. *The long range scanners say it’s still up there, it’s just not transmitting or scanning.*

Karran’s eyes lit up at that, and I think we could all sense the idea forming in his mind. *If we can get that probe, I might be able to use it to increase the range of medical drop ship’s subspace communications system enough to allow us to reach the closest subspace anchor and send messages along the subspace beacon network.*

*I know just what we’re doing today then,* I replied with a grin. *Sorry Krie, but your team will have to wait until tomorrow for more exploration. You and Amy will need to get what supplies you might need for today and set up base of operations in the personnel ship. We’ll need the medical ship since it’s smaller and more maneuverable. Xawin, keep working on that water pipeline, but be prepared in case Krie needs you for any other engineering related matters. Karran and Tanna, you’ll be coming with Tarek and me. Let’s all get a few hours more rest because we’ll be leaving right after breakfast.*

* * *

There was some excitement among the colonists as I informed them of the appearance of the probe over breakfast. The mere possibility that we could use it to contact Saer’kah, if we could manage to retrieve it, had us all in high spirits as everyone finished the meal and left for their morning tasks. While Krie, Amy, and I moved enough medical supplies to last the day into the personnel ship, Tarek and Tanna began going over the pre-flight checklist for the medical ship and Karran made sure everything was secure for the trip.

We set up the temporary medical centre near the personnel ship’s pilot’s compartment so that Krie would be able to keep I contact with us while we were gone. When that was done I gave my sister and Amy a quick hug goodbye and I headed back to the ship to join the others so we could launch. Our slips had been given stern orders to stay with Krie, since we couldn’t be sure how they would react to being on the ship during this operation. Once I was on board and the airlock was sealed I sent to my companions, *Okay, we’re aboard and ready for take-off. You two can take off when ready. Anyone have any ideas on how to get the probe on board?*

*We’re taking off now then Xia,* Tarek replied first.

Tanna replied to my question as I was securing myself in one of the seats. *We can use the tractor beam to pull the probe close to the ship. You and Karran still have fully functional ships uniforms so you can go outside the ship and bring it in through the airlock once we get it close enough.*

*A spacewalk huh? Sounds like fun, but Karran and I only did that once during training and this is going to be real. You and Tarek would be better choices; you both had full space agency training, but you’re probably right. With all the debris up there we’ll need our two best pilots in there.* I was a little nervous since the only experience Karran and I had with spacewalks was one simulation and it had been weeks before.

*Don’t worry Xia, I’ll keep in contact the whole time and help you both through it. You should be fine though,* she assured me, *it’s just like flying, you just use more telekinesis and don’t use your wings.*

Just over half an hour later we were navigating the debris filed as we approached the area the signal had last transmitted from. I was in my bedroom getting into my uniform when Tanna sent me a ping. *We’ve found it Xia. Visual enhancement shows the probe is still mostly intact, it just has a good sized tear in the outer shell, it probably took a hit from one of the smaller pieces of debris that get pulled into the atmosphere and burn up. We’re locking on with the tractor beam now and we’ll try to pull it as close as we can to the airlock.*

*Thanks Tanna, I’ll be on my way to the airlock in a moment,* I answered as I finished adjusting my uniform. I quickly pulled up the hood and sent a mental command to the nanites to engage the environmental suit mode. All seals on the suit closed up tight as the transparent face shield formed and sealed as well. As soon as the suit was airtight the oxygen recycling and temperature regulation systems came online with a slight hissing sound. The HUD on the outer right edge of the face plate lit up, showing the status for all the systems and once I was sure everything was green I gave a sigh of relief and headed to the airlock.

Karran was already waiting for me and completely contained in his uniform as well. *Ready Commander?* he sent me with a mental grin.

*You better believe it,* I replied, sending my own grin back. *I’m nervous as hell, but really excited too. I wonder if Neil Armstrong ever felt like this.*

*Who is that Commander?* the burly Saer’khi asked.

*He was the first person from Earth to walk on our moon,* I explained. *He was a pioneer of sorts, the first to make that giant leap for mankind out in space, to let us know that it was possible for us to really explore space. I think if I’d known I was supposed to be the one to name the Bounty I probably would have named the ship the Neil Armstrong instead. I kind of admired him.*

*You are a pioneer too Xia,* the engineer pointed out. *You’re the first commander of one of these mixed colonies, you were the first to set foot on Unity, and you discovered two new elements and some new species. Maybe someone will name a ship after you some day.*

I was blushing fiercely in my suit and about to object when Tanna informed us, *The probe is as close to the airlock as we can manage.*

*Thanks Tanna, we’re entering the airlock now.* I replied as I pressed the button for the airlock door and we stepped inside. Once the door was sealed behind us I entered the command in the console to slowly vent the atmosphere and turn off artificial gravity. While we waited, we secured our plasteel tethers in place and attached the leads to ports on our belts. It took several minutes, but soon our faceplate HUDs showed the lines were secure and I was able to open the outer hatch.

As the hatch opened and we used our telekinesis to guide ourselves outside I got my first unimpeded view of the starry expanse of space. It was at once the most beautiful and frightening thing I had ever experienced floating out there. With the ship behind me it was just me and Karran among the space debris with all those stars in the distance and the planet far below us. I could almost forget why I was up there until the virtual targeting reticule in front of my left eye flashed and drew my attention to the probe. *We have the probe in sight,* I sent to my companions on the ship.

*Okay, keep watching for any moving debris and use short telekinetic bursts to make your way there. Remember there is no gravity or friction or anything out there so you should not need to use much power.* Tanna continued to coach us as we carefully traveled the short distance between the ship’s airlock and the probe. I made sure to keep my eyes peeled for any moving debris, but we managed to make it to the probe without incident.

The metal sphere was roughly four feet in diameter and had a long gash along the outer surface that looked to have damaged some of the outer components. Karran and I both touched the outer shell at nearly the same instant and Karran sent, *We have made contact. The outer hull and some of the components are damaged, but I am pretty sure I can salvage the long range subspace components, and possibly some other useful components as well.*

*Bring it in when you’re ready,* Tanna replied, *but take it slow and easy. We do not want it or the two of you damaged.*

After some deliberation Karran and I decided it would be easiest for us both to manoeuvre to the side of the probe closest to the ship and just direct it and ourselves to the airlock by reeling our tethers in and keep it slow, steady, and on course with a series of carefully timed telekinetic pushes. We would stay on opposite sides so that if it started to go off course one of us could redirect or push it back as needed. It was a long careful process, and we had to stop once to avoid an errant bit of debris, but eventually we managed to get it and ourselves back into the airlock.

I sealed the outer hatch and used the panel to restore the atmosphere while Karran gently pushed the probe to the floor plating. Once it touched the plating I restored the artificial atmosphere as well and we disconnected the tethers and returned them to their compartments. By the time we had finished that task, atmosphere had been restored and I was able to open the inner airlock door so we could roll the probe inside the ship and seal the door behind us.

* * *

Karran had begun securing the probe and looking at the damage as soon as we had gotten our uniforms back to casual mode from environmental suit mode. While he was doing that I asked Tanna and Tarek to do a quick run around the planet while I took some scans. I wanted to make sure the debris field wasn’t going to cause us any problems on the surface since we were up there anyway. The debris appeared to be orbiting the planet like the ice rings of Saturn and seemed to be in a stable orbit. It was so spread out though that it was going to be hell getting anything larger than a drop ship close to the planet.

Finally I went to join Tarek and Tanna in the pilot’s compartment. *I’m all done with the scans. It’s about what we thought, we’ll need to let any relief missions and future visitors know to not come out of subspace too close to the planet, there’s just too much debris spread around in orbit.*

*I’ll make sure to mention that if Karran gets the subspace communications range increased enough that I can send a report to the space agency,* Tanna told me with a nod. *On the other hand it does give us a pretty good natural defense against attackers.*

*Well let’s get back to camp and see what’s for lunch,* I said as I considered that. *Karran how long do you think it will take you to get the parts you need from the probe and make the modifications to the subspace communications system?*

*I’m hoping I can have it all done sometime tonight if the work goes well Commander,* the engineer offered.

*Karran, if you can pull that off, you’re going to have a lot of colonists very happy with you, including me,* I sent back with a grin. *Tanna, I think once we get back to camp you, Krie, and I should start working on putting together all the information we’ll need to send to Saer’kah. Our location and status, the mutiny, the possible sleeper agents, everything we know about this planet, and whatever else we can think of.*

The other Ji’Turi nodded as she and Tarek began plotting a safe course to take us back to the camp. *That is a good idea Xia, we will want to send that information as soon as we have the capability. The sooner they know the sooner we’ll get help.*

 © 2013-2014 Amethyst Gibbs
All rights reserved
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Comments

E.T. phone home?

Hope Eternal Reigns's picture

That probe rescue seemed to go very well. I hope any salvage is only positive.

Fun stuff Amethyst. Sorry I sounded so NEEDY on that last comment.

with love,

Hope

Once in a while I bare my soul, more often my soles bear me.

Calling collect

Amethyst's picture

Let's just hope someone is there to accept the charges. :)

Thanks Hope and I really don't mind hon, it just makes me feel appreciated lol.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Pleasing turn of events

So someone that is not hostile is searching for them. :) I hope that they will get to the party before the Earthers do. Nothing ever goes as planned so I shall be pleased to see the next episode.

Thank You

Gwen

Yup

Amethyst's picture

It's about time something starts going their way regarding contacting home and we'll see soon what happens with that.

*hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

glad to see another chapter,

glad to see another chapter,
question though if the environmental suits have nanites why can't they be used to repair the damaged ones?

as for the debris field, assuming the larger ships have more powerful tractor beams they should be able to use them to clear a path, as long as they can stop them from hitting the ship but they seemed to be able to stop the probe where they wanted to, but then again maybe they have repulsor technology too

Nanites

Amethyst's picture

Technically the nanites can self repair small bits of damage, in fact they sometimes need to, but when Tarek was shot Xia needed to cut his uniform open to get at the wound and it caused a little more damage than can be self repaired. It could be easily repaired with textile nanites, but Xia only has medical nanites available and she is not a professional programmer. I am thinking of even taking that bit about tarek's uniform being damaged out completely though, since it's extraneous information and the real reason he couldn't go was because they needed their best pilot controlling the ship.

Larger ships could use tractor beams to clear a path, but what Xia is worried about it them appearing inside the debris field from subspace and meeting a similar fate to the Bounty. Also if they weren't very careful when moving debris it could get pulled too far into Unity's gravity and give them something a lot bigger than shooting stars to worry about.

*hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Just wondering...

Just wondering while they were up there that they didn't try to do some more detailed scans of the planet's surface. i would think that the ship would have the capability to make hi resolution scans and have something like Lidar and ground penetrating radar or other remote sensing equipment that could help them locate areas of interest. After all we already have those kind of capabilities now that has been used to locate previously undiscovered ancient lost cities in the jungles of South America. Just a thought. Great story, can't wait for the next chapter.

Hugs,
Tamara Jeanne

Scans

Amethyst's picture

The scanner on the medical ship aren't meant for that kind of penetration. Their main purpose is to scan for major life signs, like areas with large groupings of heat signatures and to make sure planets are inhabitable before bringing colonists down. They took what scans they could before landing in the first place but the more detailed scans would have been done by the Bounty, had it survived.

*hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Yay for the new chapter!

Well that must of been a bit unnerving, all the slips screeching at once!
At least it's possibly good news! I just had a worrisome thought, with all the advances they have made, what if some of the colonists don't want outside contact? This could get sticky! Thank you Amethyst for getting this one posted. Loving Hugs Talia

The colonists

Amethyst's picture

they know they will need to contact the Saer'khi for several reasons. They will still need supplies to make their home more comfortable and safe. The Saer'khi also need to know about Earth's intentions. Whether they receive more colonists or any other major decisions will be made by the colony, Xia won't do that by herself.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Twice Removed

This story line is excellent. Good characterisation and a real interest grabber. You cant help but identify with the struggling colonists. Please carry on with the story as we will all be disappointed it it ends there.

Thanks Will

Amethyst's picture

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm actually going to try to pump out the last 40k to 50 words before the end of the month so I can start running through it for revisions and final editing and be ready to send to possible publishers by the end of the year. I'll be getting back to my regular schudule next week so the next chapter should be posted on Thursday.

*hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Fantastic Sci-fi.

A great story with wonderful characters. You leave us wondering what's going to happen next, not only with the individuals but the colony too. It's interesting having humans as the bad guys but sadly very believable. Thanks for a great story. Cheers.

Enjoying the story a lot I

Enjoying the story a lot I hope you are alright amethyst and that nothing has happened to you. your stories are some of my favourites on the site hope your Hiatus ends soon (as I desperately want to know what happens next in your stories this one and winters child in particular)

Ru ro . . .

Hope every things going well with you; It always a shock to me when, I get enmeshed in a great older story and find no continuation. :{

alissa

Funny you should mention that

Amethyst's picture

because I'm back now and I have another chapter of Twice Removed that I'm putting through the editing process now. I'm really glad you are enjoying it and I plan to have the new chapter posted this week.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

Twice removed...

I just finished rereading this interesting story.
It is nice to know that I don't need to wait very long for the next chapter.

Martina

I'm happy that you're

Amethyst's picture

I'm happy that you're enjoying it so much, I've been really enjoying rereading it myself as I got to know my characters again and I really look forward to completing it.
Yup, the next chapter will definitely be posted on Thursday, so it's not too long of a wait.

*big hugs*

Amethyst

ChibiMaker1.jpg

Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3

A Little Refresher...

Humans, even in real life are penultimate predators and I do not think they should be turned loose, unsupervised on the Galaxy.

Very nice refresher.

Gwen

Long distance call

Jamie Lee's picture

Jared didn't have to suggest using the slips to loosen the soil since they are natural diggers. Or suggest using the male Unity-corns for plowing with their horns. But he did and his suggestions helped a great deal.

They can't explore properly if they only go far enough to get back to camp before dark. If they had portable field generators they could range further and stay the night.

Step one in order to make a long distance call is complete, they safely recovered the probe. Now if the components they need aren't damaged, they'll be calling home soon.

Others have feelings too.