Rideshare
Posted on 22 Nov 2020 @ 1:38am by Commander Calliope Zahn
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Planet Obsidian
Timeline: MD05 1530
1231 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure
The sky of Obsidian was nearly blinding this time of day. Through a pair of sun glasses, Calliope squinted against the afternoon sun in order to trace the tiny object in the sky that she suspected to be the Arrow class Runabout she had arrived on. She rather preferred all of their company- Winslow, Cavendish, and DeHaviland, especially as opposed to the company she had presently.
"Quit looking into the goddamn sun." Indri chastised. She wasn't wearing her veil now, and the welt on her cheek was the most marked feature. Calliope still couldn't fathom why the former Admiral submitted herself to that humiliating abuse. Indri felt her stare and scowled.
In spite of it's exceptionally rugged construction, transperisteel windshield, and heavily reinforced ceiling meant to absorb solar radiation, there were no physical sides on the all-terrain buggy, which was fairly disorienting as Indri let the lead out along the long, empty desert road. On either side of them were all of the neatly ordered irrigated fields. From above the agricultural efforts had appeared small, swallowed up by the ugly brown and black terrain, but riding through them gave a different perspective on the scope of the project. Here and there, Calliope could see the glimmer of a protective shield as condensation fell away from it, preserving the water evaporation loss in addition to whatever protection could be provided against Loki's radiation. She looked back out at the road again and realized the whole black expanse wasn't pavement at all, but a path of solar cells.
"The road powers the fields' field generators?"
"Yep. Fighting Loki with Loki." Indri confirmed proudly. "Also runs the water pumps temperature exchangers, and filters for the irrigation. We'd power machines for planting and harvesting, but the Kalarans felt the bots were going to put them out of work. So it's a little slower going with manual labor. You can't over plant or you just get losses come harvest time."
Calliope lost track of the shuttle's climb in the sky. She'd be catching her own shuttle ride back from the Science Outpost with the parts they needed later.
"Seriously, stop. Without the extra shielding from OC, Loki is no joke. You're gonna go blind in those pretty peepers."
Calliope leaned back and grasped the harness straps as the fields became fewer and the expanse of the desert laid out before them with the jagged mountains in the distance that they were trekking across. It would have been shorter to have hopped in the runabout as a little leg before it returned to the station, but Indri had for some reason insisted to Corvus on transporting the First Officer herself. "I'm going that direction anyway," she had said. Corvus must have felt obliged to entertain the old admiral's wishes and hadn't even tried to politely decline. Calliope felt a twinge pissed about that.
At Indri's speeds, it was about an hour and a half drive. The advanced powercell-lined roadway ended and the path led them over a lake of obsidian glass where angry whirling winds picked up across the plain, pelting the buggy with tiny shards of volcanic glass. Indri activated protective shielding and shifted a gear that changed the tire grip and carried right on without missing a beat.
"You have a ranch?" Calliope decided to try some conversation based on what she'd learned at the meeting with Jiran.
"I do."
"You work with cattle?"
"Giant reptile birds called Ortananni, primarily. Domesticated from wild breeds for their eggs, meat, and skins."
Calliope stifled a laugh.
"What? Is that so strange? Plenty of fleet folk retire to the land."
"Not usually to deadly drought ridden land on an alien world to raise dino meat."
They road in silence awhile. The stretch of obsidian glass began to be more broken up, now, as they were about half way to the mountains and negotiating a path through the foot hills. here and there were signs of native wild life, brush, the occasional gnarled old tree with scrubby determined branches. "So there's animals out here? Wild overgrown dino chickens?"
"Sure enough. Though they're the least of your worries. You don't want to be on foot in the desert without a good guide. Loki has made living an extreme sport on Obsidian. Anything left alive has become highly opportunistic when it comes to catching a meal. Humanoids are definitely not keeping to the top of the food chain without a fight."
She hit the brakes suddenly And Calliope was caught by the harness. "What? What is it? Why are we stopped?"
Indri brought a pair of high powered binoculars up to her ancient eyes and scanned the area. They were on a small rise overlooking some brush and scattered trees. There was a little more vegetation in these foothills, enough that Calliope thought it likely there must have been a natural source of water here, maybe one of the treasured ground aquifers the tribes lived by and guarded with their lives.
"Is something out there?"
"Shhh." Indri took off her seat belt and donned her lampshade-style veil. "Stay in the buggy, Commander." The Admiral pointed at the recalcitrant officer like a bad pet. "Stay."
Calliope sat back and waited. Several minutes passed and she wondered if maybe Indri had been eaten by an alien chicken. But as karma would have it, she turned out not to have been a snack. Instead she returned to the buggy with a basket under one arm. The Admiral carefully secured it in the back.
"What's that? A picnic lunch?" Calliope turned to reach behind the seat and tip the basket to try to see inside.
Indri slapped her hand once more and lost her temper. "That's none of your damn business. I don't know what the hell they're teaching you ninnies in Command anymore. No diplomacy, no fucking manners." She slammed the gas and threw Calliope back into her seat with the inertia while continuing to shout at her. "You're a metric crap ton of cultural offenses. Dumbass wouldn't know how to read a brief if it up and bit you in the eye! How the hell did you even make Lieutenant, let alone Commander? You want to know what I'm doing? What my business out here is? You don't even know your own head from your ass. Just mind your own business until you're given orders otherwise! How hard is it really? Sit up straight, eyes forward, and keep your damn hands to yourself."
Calliope sat on her hands. "Yes ma'am"
"And shut up."
Whatever number of minutes remained in this ride were far too many, Calliope decided. Indri must have felt similarly, because if she was driving fast before, she was pushing every limit of the buggy now, flying over the remaining trail.
When they pulled up to the gate of the Science Station, Calliope fumbled with her safety harness and Indri impatiently reached over and unceremoniously yanked it free of the latch for her. "I've gotta let you out of your car seat too?"
Calliope was barely out of the vehicle and still pulling her foot off the dis-board as Admiral Indri peeled out in a cloud of dust. "Thanks for the ride." Calliope called out sarcastically to the bumper of the buggy as it trundled over the next hill and out of view. "Let's talk again never, if possible."