15. Chapter 15
Mika
After our talk, I expected things to get better with Mazorium. In some ways they did. He was speaking and interacting again. He wasn’t staring off into space and acting depressed any longer. That was great.
Except now he wouldn’t sleep in the nest. At first I thought it was because he was still healing and didn’t want to worry about me accidentally knocking into him. I missed his warmth, but I understood. No one wanted to be abruptly woken up from an errant foot to a healing rib.
That couldn’t be it any longer. He was mostly healed and moving around without any problems. The only thing he struggled with was lifting heavy items, so I’d bullied him into using bots when things needed to be moved.
It meant he couldn’t lift me yet, but he didn’t even invite me to sit on his lap. I couldn't remember the last time he’d even invited me to hug him.
I didn’t realize how much I’d gotten used to all his hugs and snuggles until I wasn’t getting them anymore.
“Do you want to see our home for the next three solars?” Maz said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see him in the doorway of the galley. I set down the mug of tea I was holding.
“Yes!” I said. Nadia was sitting in my lap, so I tucked her against me and stood up.
“We’re in a slow descent, but still high enough that you can see a large section of the planet,” he explained, stepping back so I could join him in the hall.
“Do you know where we’re going to land, or do we need to do some survey stuff first?” I asked, walking with him.
“I have a spot picked out for us,” he said. We turned into the control room, and I let out a little gasp. I didn’t know one of the walls could turn into a giant display.
“It’s so green,” I said, entranced by the images the display was showing. I’d only been to two planets in my life. Both had been industrial planets with almost uninterrupted city and manufacturing structures covering the surface.
“I’ve never seen so much wilderness,” I murmured, stepping closer to the display.
“It’s a lush planet,” he said. “But I don’t think it will be suitable for agriculture.”
“Wait, why?” I said. “There are so many plants there already. Can’t they be removed and other kinds put in the soil?”
He sounded a rumble of amusement. “It’s hard for you to see, but everything down there is megaflora.
The trees and bushes are massive and their root system must be deep.
That indicates the soil isn’t very fertile until you go many lengths down.
Topsoil can be enriched, but it’s a question of cost vs production. ”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” I didn’t know what megaflora or root systems were, but it all sounded too complicated to learn about right now.
There’d be plenty of time to have long, involved conversations later.
I thought of something more important to ask.
“Is there anything dangerous down there?”
“There are small animals I believe have a symbiotic relationship with one species of tree,” he said. “They’re brutal to any other plant that tries to encroach on their chosen tree’s space. They aren’t a worry though because they aren’t a predatory animal.”
I chuckled at the thought of something small and furry chirping at me for walking too close to their tree.
“Are you sure they’re the only animals?” I asked.
“I can’t be absolutely sure, but if there are other animals, they’re either aquatic or much smaller.”
I frowned as something occurred to me. “If you’re here to do a comprehensive survey of the planet, how do you know all these things already?”
He pointed to a smaller display on another wall. “I sent an independent automated survey bot ship to do preliminary research. They’re limited, but they sent back enough data for me to plan my survey out better.”
Although I should’ve been reassured by his knowledge, unease grew inside me.
I focused on the slowly shifting image on the wall-sized display as we got closer to the surface.
Nadia started to fuss, but when I shifted so she could see the display, she quieted down.
We both watched with wide eyes as big green areas gradually resolved into trees interrupted only by jagged valleys.
I couldn’t see any open water, but small lakes or ponds could easily be hidden by the dense, leafy canopy.
“Where are we going to land?” I asked.
Maz walked up to the display and pointed to a small dot. “There.”
The ship shook slightly, and Maz turned to me with his arms open. He looked like he was about to rush over and scoop me up like he used to do. As much as I wanted to feel his arms around me, he wasn’t ready to carry my weight.
I don't know whether it was the concern on my face or the revulsion he’d developed toward touching me, but he stopped halfway between us and dropped his arms to his sides.
“You should sit in one of the shells,” he said, pointing to the chair full of padding and pillows. He’d purchased several of them during our ill-fated trip to Helsin Station.
During his convalescence, he’d put them together for me.
It was a chair developed by the Veli for their children.
Although it was called a shell seat, it looked more like an egg cut in half long ways.
It was designed so if there was some kind of crash, the chair would enclose the person and give them the best chance of survival.
I thought it was overkill, but unlike all the Talin-style chairs, it had a back and was soft and comfy. It immediately became my favorite. I always used it while enjoying my first cup of tea while Nadia drank her fill in the morning.
Although snuggling on Maz’s lap was better.
No, I couldn’t think about that. Whatever was going on with Maz didn’t seem to be going away, and it didn’t feel right to push him.
“Mika?”
Maz saying my name made me realize I’d been standing there staring at the shell chair without moving. With a little sigh, I moved to it and got in. I pulled my feet up and settled Nadia’s butt on my belly and propped her back and head against my legs.
Nadia wiggled her head a little. I was so impressed at how quickly her neck muscles were developing. Soon she’d be able to support her head.
“After that, there’ll be no stopping you!” I whispered to her with a grin.
The ship shook again, and I looked past Nadia and my legs to see Maz sitting in the command chair tapping at the display there. I moved my eyes to the wall display, disappointed to see the live vid capture of the planet was gone.
There was another shake and full worry started overtaking the vague anxiety from earlier. Was it supposed to be this rough?
When a violent tremor shook me, I was relieved to have the shell’s soft padding in almost every direction. I sat up straighter and tucked Nadia tighter against me.
“Maz?”
He must’ve heard the fear in my voice because he shot out of the command chair. Within a breath he was kneeling in front of me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, searching us with his eyes. Probably looking for an injury.
I felt dumb, but I asked my question anyway. “Are we going to crash?”
“Absolutely not.” He sounded a questioning rumble. “Why would you think that?”
There was another violent jolt that rattled through the chair. “That’s why I’m asking!”
I didn’t like how high pitched my voice sounded, but I’d never experienced this before. The other times I’d been to a planet the ride down was smooth and the landing almost unnoticeable.
“This is normal for entering an atmosphere this thick,” he said, purring.
The purring and reassurance helped. “Normal?”
He launched into a long explanation about how the size of a ship, the atmosphere, size of the planet, and weather conditions could all make the ship shake a little but none of it was enough to harm the ship in a significant way.
He described an assignment in his past where he’d landed on a planet with winds so bad he had to pick a spot in a cave to put the ship or he wouldn’t have been able to get his door open.
Even in those conditions he wasn't concerned. The ship was well built, and he didn’t go anywhere the ship couldn’t handle.
Honestly, it was more about his calming voice than the words he was saying.
My skillset was all about dealing with a space station’s delicate air filtration and cycling system.
I knew all about the special needs of different species, the cubic cleaning requirements for all different size spaces, but dealing with planets was all new.
And scary.
“What if we land and there’s an earthquake?
That happens on planets, right? Big holes can open up and swallow us and the whole ship.
What about the frozen water that falls from the sky?
It could cover the ship and we’d get smothered.
Or if the water isn’t frozen and where we set down fills with water and we drown? ”
The more I spoke, the more the fear I’d refused to acknowledge filled me.
He paused for a moment, as if taking in all my fears, then responded.
“There could be earthquakes, but it’s highly unlikely any will be severe enough to be a problem.
The spot I picked is reinforced by a tree, so that makes it unlikely that the ground will open up to swallow us.
We call that frozen water snow or ice, and the planet isn’t cold enough for it.
There is rain, but it’s unlikely to gather in any significant amount in the spot I’ve chosen. ”
As he said some words, I remembered them: snow, ice, and rain.
They were words I never used because they didn’t happen on space stations or ships.
Occasionally there was fog or frost because environmental systems weren’t working correctly.
Those could be difficult to correct, but nothing to panic over.
I didn’t know how to process the idea of being surrounded by things that weren’t made to be bent to my will with a simple recalibration.