Clone Earth : MELVIN

Unlike the rest of her journey the last two hours passed quickly as they headed straight to dark side of the planet. Not even a piece of space debris crossed their path resulting in a direct route. Ari’s heart fluttered suspecting ZIG had succeeded in clearing the space around the planet.

The planets sun crested the cloudy horizon the moment they broke atmo. Ari watched the constantly changing scenery in wonder. At first they descended into white fluffy clouds which broke across the ships bow periodically opening up to an inky blue sky. Farther still the clouds darkened blocking most of the natural sky lighting and swirling a mixture of water droplets across the viewing window. Then all at once the cloud fell away, revealing land far below coated in what should have been a dreary shadow but the scatter of green of spiny trees bending in the breeze dusted in a bright layer of pure white. Even with no star providing light the ground appeared to glow, brightening the entire settlement for their approach.

Quickly dismissing herself from the flight deck Ari ran for her duffle. Scooping up her meager belongs she shoved everything inside, but before latching it closed she switched on her personal. The link was primed to access ZIG and she quickly wrote a message:

ARI: Landing on Melvin. Thank you for the clear path.

She added the longitude and latitude that she’d seen on her way out, then turned off her device and shoved it into the bottom of her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder she heard the hiss of landing gear, the alternating pressure between the engines prompting her to brace for landing.

Taking firm hold of the cold metal handle by the doorframe she widened her stance until she felt the shutter beneath her feet as the ship settled on solid ground.

Ari exhaled relaxing her shoulders and stretching the knots in her neck. There was an added ease to her exhale, she made it.

“Out we go,” Farris announced, sliding down the steps from the platform above. He instantly set to work collecting parts into a large crate attached to a four wheeled vehicle. “Turn on your tablet.”

Ari froze trying to look innocent.

“I know you have one, turn it back on.”

Ari slid the bag from her shoulder and reached deep into the bottom to retrieve her hidden comm.

“Are you going to trade this too?”

“That’s an idea, but no.” He snatched it from her hands, turned it on and made a few quick swipes across the screen before handing it back to her. “That’s a map of the nearest local transport. If you’re not here when I get back, I’ll assume you took it. I will not go looking for you.”

“Wait. Shouldn’t I help make sure you get the right price for all this? I worked hard upgrading and programing…”

The way his one eyebrow lifted to look at her almost prompted Ari to laugh. “I know better than you how to make a proper trade.” He opened the cargo doors, climbed onto the vehicle and paused. “I thought you would be anxious to leave and find people.”

”I’ve never been on a planet before,” Ari felt a blush touch her face, “Won’t I need money?”

“You will.” He answered. With a flip of a switch and the press of button the vehicle hummed loudly to life, giving Farris the excuse of ignoring anything Ari shouted at him as he drove away. Down the ramp and onto the crunch of gravel and the white stuff that rested on it.

Ari expected to smell pure oxygen but it was mixed with a strange metallic taste. She followed the smell out into the chilled breeze to see they had parked in a large open patch of land. It faced a long alley of tall purple metal walls that stretched north, south and straight ahead. Actual people were scattered here and there. They mostly wore one piece of clothing from top to bottom and large boots. The colors were just as drab as the ones Ari wore. In fact, they resembled the maintenance workers on Meckam.

Ari was not impressed.

Continued exposure to the cooled temperature caused Ari’s arms to prickle. She ripped the gray jacket from the bottom of her duffel and promptly pulled it on to cover her exposed skin. She had never experienced such a change in temperature and air pressure. The weight of the planets gravity made it challenging to lift her feet at first. Once she realized her booted toes were dragging, she made a deliberate effort to step.

Down the ramp she bent low to touch the white powder on the ground. But it wasn’t powder, it was wet to the touch and not at all soft. Plus very delicate, and everything that touched it left deep tracks behind.

Fascinated, Ari sat on the bottom part of the dry ramp, pressing her boots into the white ground. She looked again at the open document Farris had loaded. Route stretched in all directions, so many the brown, blue and green lines looked like a mess of wires tangled together at the large metropolis areas.

There was a public shuttle on the opposite end of the long alley ahead. Easy to get to but again, she wondered what it would cost when she didn’t have anything. She looked again out across the dark morning. Farris was anxious for her to leave, she was anxious to leave, but nothing about it felt right.

Looking at the sky she marveled shifting clouds as they pushed up against the atmosphere. With no ceiling above her head her eyes struggled to focus on the vast distance between her the sky. Yet, something about it made her miss being surrounded by stars.

A sign beside the ship suddenly flashed yellow. The words were bold and caps locked adding to their urgency:

RESERVED PARKING SPACE - MUST VACATE IN ONE HOUR

Ari blinked wondering if planet time ran the same as it did on Meckam. She’d seen the sunrise above the clouds so it had to be morning. But how could she tell one hour from now? She glanced down at her personal, its clock ticked away in the top corner. An hour was a long time, but when the sign flashed again Ari wondered if it was a mistake to do nothing.

What if Farris isn’t back in an hour? She wondered. Ari jumped up to look around. The lot was practically empty. No one parked close to each other and the next lot with a VACANT sign, was to the left only 100 yards back.

It would be easy to just move the ship over there, She thought to herself.

She put her comm back into her bag and secured it on her shoulder, before making a dash for the ships drivers seat.

Quickly making the necessary calculations for the planets gravity, wind shield, and distance, Ari’s body tingled with nerves. Confidently starting the engine sequence Ari lifted the ship off the ground. The motion had been as simple as breathing, so she went a little farther.

Steady, she repeated to herself stretching the tension from her fingers one hand at a time. You’re able to fly so much farther, why not go higher?

It was a strange feeling, her arms started to turn and she lifted the ship higher when she remembered this wasn’t her ship to take. Farris would be back, she needed to land. Quickly she set to do the opposite action, turning the ship back and alternating the current to allow her decent. But the sudden change had a very familiar effect. The ship jolted in the opposite direction, causing the engines to shutter. Planet wind pushed to the left and spun the ship around.

Outside the sound of metal scraping rock echoed. Shaking, Ari flipped the switches cutting the power from the engines and the hunk of metal unevenly dropped to the ground.

Crunching metal echoed around Ari, followed by a pop and rushing air from a pipe bursting inside the ventilations shaft.

Ari flipped more switches turning off the air flow, lessening the sound of compressed air. She quick surveyed every instrument. It had only been a six foot drop but she inaccurately calculated the added weight from the planets gravity.

Ari stomach churned. As she tried again to start the ship.

Nothing.

Triple checking every switch, she tried again.

Not a sound.

Her fingers thread through her hair pulling at the roots, “Engine room.” She jumped to her feet and ran down the corridor. She’d never been into the main engine compartment but after wandering the ship for weeks she knew where it was.

The narrow corridor room that serpentined through the bottom of the ship into a long room with a low ceiling. Several parts she recognized were undamaged, but the smoke from inside the ignition chamber caught her eye.

She moved around the tubes and belts, each hot and touched with charcoal, but it wasn’t until she got deeper that she found the piece of smoking metal the size of her own shoe.

Because it was so misshapen, it easily slipped out of place into her hand during the top layer of her skin so quickly she dropped it.

Still unsure which part it was, she looked deeper into the ignition chamber and could see that it had directly connected with the turbine engine. There was no hints on how to bypass the oddly shaped part. Swallowing hard, Ari wrapped the part in a nearby rags and carried it outside to get a better look at the damage.

The planets sunlight had pushed through a few cracks in the clouds. Now it reflected off the snow and gave her a clear view of the exterior of Farris’ Ship.

It did not look so good.

The outside damage of the ship was minimal. Her stupid trip had left a path of disarray, and the landing gear was a bit slanted in the muddy ground.

“What is wrong with me?!” Ari growled. Hands again in her hair, tears threatening to leave her eyes and every muscle in her body tensed with the urge to punch something with all her might. “Why does this keep happening to me? I didn’t do anything … I KNOW HOW TO FLY! That shouldn’t have happened?!” She cursed and covered her face to hide the tears that now streaked down her eyes. “Stop crying. You can fix this. You have to fix this!”

“You were right the programming you did boosted the trade more than I thought.” Farris’s voice was happy as he approached. His steps crunched across the loose rock and she peeked through her fingers to see him carrying two cards, one in each hand. “Seeing as you earned it, I placed a small amount of credits on … an account.” He stopped. Still holding out the card he turned and looked behind him then back again at his own ship. “Didn’t I land over there?”

Ari’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.