Organism Ch. 01

"Understood, Captain. Decompressing launch bay and loading shuttle into position."

They felt the subtle lurch of the shuttle being hoisted into position by mechanical clamps. There was a loud clang, and Jess jumped in her seat, reflexively grabbing Jacob's leg out of fear.

"Sorry..." She pulled away awkwardly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

He smiled at her. "It's alright. We were all nervous fliers at one point or another."

Jess bit her lower lip and glanced over at him. "I hate to ask. But do you think you could...you know?"

Jacob offered his hand to hold, which she accepted gladly.

"Thank you," she insisted bashfully. "I know it's childish, but it really does help."

He shook his head assuredly. "Like I said, it's fine. Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. If it helps you with the fear, I'm more than willing to offer assistance."

Her smile grew, and she squeezed his hand a little tighter. "You're always so dependable, Doctor. That's something I've really grown to admire about you."

The others all rolled their eyes at the display before bracing for launch.

"Final sequencing complete," Mira declared. "Shuttle launch in ten...nine...eight..."

The afterburners kicked on, and the clamps detached the moment she hit one. Jacob felt his body press back against his seat as the gravitational generators worked to compensate for the increased g-force output. Once they were clear of the Cordoba's gravity field, his body relaxed, and Jess finally loosened the death grip she had on his hand. He'd have accused her of ulterior motives were that sweaty palm and trembling wrist not so convincing. It wasn't an act, she was genuinely terrified. Which was why he didn't mind doing this.

"Launch successful," Mira declared. "Setting course for RX-91."

"Samantha, can you get a lock on that signal?" Chris requested.

She rattled away at her keypad. "I've got it. Isolating quadrant now. Annnnd, you'll want to adjust bearing thirty-six degrees. Declination twenty-four."

"Got it," the Captain adjusted his course. "Where are we on descrambling that frequency, Mira?"

"I just finished decoding the signal, Captain. Signature matches that of a damaged precursor beacon."

Jacob felt his heart leap up into his chest, a mixture of excitement and trepidation in his heart.

"Looks like Christmas came early for you, Jacob," Kevin called back to him from his seat, a twinge of sarcasm in his voice.

"Doctor, isn't this great?!" Jess was elated. "Actual precursor ruins. There hasn't been a discovery like this in almost a decade!"

He nodded in agreement, now completely focused on the task at hand. "Mira, playback the signal on an audible frequency if you'd be so kind."

"Of course, Doctor. Playing back now."

What sounded like a foghorn mixed with the cry of a whale began to play through the speakers of the shuttle. The ominous noise sent nervous chill's down their spines.

"The signal plays back every eight seconds," Mira explained. "Unknown morphology."

"The fuck kind of beacon is that?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

"There's no way to know for sure," Jacob admitted. "Our understanding of the precursor race and their technologies is minimal, at best."

"There appears to be a message embedded in the signal, Doctor. I can attempt to decipher it. Though it will take time."

He nodded. "I'd appreciate it, Mira. While you're at it, could you give us a readout on the planet's surface?"

"RX-91 is a mid-sized terrestrial planet with a thirty-six hour day/night cycle. Its surface is composed primarily of lava rock, and its atmosphere is nitrogen-based with methane crystals."

"Gravitational parameters?"

"Suitable for ground excursion."

"And the temperature?" he asked next.

"Well below habitable conditions. If you intend to traverse EVA, Doctor, you'll need a heat regulator for your suit."

Jacob nodded in understanding. "Focus on decoding that message and get us the closest suitable landing sight for ground-based EVA."

"Captain, we're approaching the equatorial orbit now," Samantha declared.

"Alright. Everyone hang on tight. This is going to get a little bumpy," Chris called back to them.

Jess inhaled sharply and gripped Dr. Warren's hand tightly again, bracing for the descent. "This is always the worst part..."

"What's the worst that can happen?" Kevin called back to her jokingly. "We crash and die?"

Samantha swatted him upside the head. "Don't be an ass."

"Approaching gravity well," Brooke declared.

Chris nodded. "Let's take her down. Nice and slow."

The deck rumbled, and Jess tensed up.

"It's just turbulence. It's just turbulence. It's just turbulence. It's just turbulence," she repeated over and over again.

"External dampeners are off," Brooke informed. "We are locked and floating."

"Adjust pitch 92 degrees, port yaw."

The deck rumbled again. This time Jess audibly yelped before latching onto Jacob's arm.

"Doctor!"

"It's alright," he spoke to her reassuringly, placing a hand on her trembling frame. "I'm not going anywhere. Try to focus on slowing down your breathing. You don't want to suffer a hypotensive episode when the gravity fluxes."

"Navigation lights on," Brooke declared.

"Kill drive engines and extend landing gear."

Slowly, they descended toward the planet's surface. Jess all but buried her face in Dr. Warren's arm, shutting her eyes tight as the deck continued to rumble and shake violently below them. He was starting to lose sensation in his hand but decided that was something he'd just have to grin and bear for now.

Until finally, with one last jolt, the shuttle came to a stop.

"Successful touchdown," Brooke declared happily.

Chris blew a breath through pursed lips. "Well, that was about as smooth a landing as we could have possibly made."

She smirked at him pridefully. "You know I only aim to please."

The Captain finally unbuckled and turned around. "Everyone doing okay?" With a grin, he added. "Doc, how's your arm holding up?"

"Starting to turn blue," he admitted.

Jess finally let go and pulled away, her ears burning, face scarlet. "Sorry, Doctor..."

Jacob chuckled, opening and closing his hand a few times to return circulation. "You're fine, Jess." He looked up at the ceiling. "Mira, how close are we to the source of the signal?"

"Just under twelve-hundred meters. Due northeast of here."

"Hear that, Captain?"

He nodded. "The ground crew for this one will be Jacob and myself. As well as Kevin and Samantha. The rest of you are on support. Got it?"

Brooke frowned at that. "Shouldn't I be on ground team? I am the only medic here."

"It's for that exact reason we can't risk you getting hurt out there," Jacob spoke up. "The Captain's right. It would be better if you remained on the shuttle."

She folded her arms and turned away, a slightly salty look on her face as she muttered to herself. "So now you're on his side?"

"Everyone clear on the gameplan?" Chris asked.

They all collectively nodded their heads.

"Alright. Let's suit up and get down there. We've got an alien artifact to uncover."

--

Jess assisted Dr. Warren into his EVA suit in preparation for a surface walk to the site of interest. These advanced space suits were composed of a synthetic alloy kevlar composite and were dark blue in color. With these, they would be able to not only traverse the hostile landscape but also monitor each other's vitals and communicate with the shuttle.

Over a couple yards away, Brooke had her arms around the Captain and was kissing him deeply, sharing a quick, tender moment before they left. In spite of his better judgment, Jacob would occasionally catch himself glancing over at the couple.

His attention was briskly pulled away by a noticeably strong grip on his arm. Jess leaned up on the tips of her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. The bemused scientist placed a hand against his face.

"What was that for?"

She looked away, smiling bashfully. "For luck. And...you know...for putting up with me."

In spite of himself, Jacob's ears started to burn. Jess quickly placed the helmet of his suit on his head and locked it into place.

"Good luck, Doctor," she offered meekly, a noticeably bubbly look in her eyes at that moment.

Over on the other side, Brooke had just finished snapping Chris's helmet into place. The Captain walked over to Jacob and clasped his shoulder.

"Ready, Doc?"

He nodded, grabbing his equipment, whereupon they both joined Samantha and Kevin in the airlock, forming a line in the tiny corridor where Owen sealed the hatch behind them.

"Standy, shore party," Mira declared. "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere."

The cabin hissed as atmosphere was slowly vented out of the chamber. Samantha checked the plasma bolt thrower strapped to her holster and made sure there was a fully charged energy cell in the gun.

"You really think you're gonna have to use that thing?" Kevin asked.

"Probably not."

"So why bring it then?"

She shrugged, inspecting each of her weapons facets before placing it back in the holster. "For the same reason I always keep a condom in my back pocket. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it."

"Depressurization complete," Mira declared. "Opening outer hatch."

The outer hatch opened, and they were immediately hit by gusts of strong wind and crystalized methane. One by one, they exited the shuttle and looked around. It looked like they were trapped in the middle of a violent blizzard. The winds were howling on the planet's surface, and the clouds overhead were so thick it was pitch black out despite the sun supposedly being overhead.

"Couldn't have picked a better planet for this, could you, Doc?!" Kevin shouted over the gale force flurry.

"Switch on your helmet lights," Chris commanded before queuing up his radio. "Mira, we're beginning our approach towards the site. How copy?"

"Logged, Captain. Exo Brooke Holloway now has command."

With that, he gestured toward the direction of the signal as indicated by his heads-up display. "Alright, let's move people. Stay close and watch your footing."

They began the slow, careful trek through the hostile alien landscape, following the source of the unknown transmission. The flurries of methane were so thick even with helmet lights they could barely see two feet in front of them.

"Brooke, are our vitals still coming in solid?" Chris spoke over the radio.

"All green on my board," the medical officer responded.

He nodded. "Keep the line open. I don't wanna take any chances out here."

"I can't see shit in this mess," Kevin griped.

"Would you quit complaining?" Samantha insisted. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can head back to the ship."

They followed the signal all the way to a large dome-shaped structure jutting out of the volcanic rock. To anyone else, it would have looked like just an ordinary hill, but Jacob knew better. He approached the structure and brushed away the outer layer of methane before turning back to the others.

"This is it."

"You sure?" Kevin asked skeptically.

He nodded. "The structure is completely fossilized. We'll need to dig our way through."

Kevin sighed in annoyance before pulling out his ionic mining rifle. "Just tell me how big a hole you want."

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up." Samantha immediately gripped the rifle and lowered it. "Not so fast there, Chief. You fire up that mining laser out here, you'll ignite all the methane in the air."

Chris nodded. "She's right. We'll need to set up an isolation unit first before we work on the wall. We're heading back to the shuttle for more supplies."

"Captain, you can't be serious," Kevin groaned. "Look, we found the blasted signal. Let's just mark it and leave. Why are we out here digging through..."

"We're heading back for more supplies, and that's final," he cut him off, strictness in his voice. "I don't want to hear any more complaints. Until the doctor says we can leave, we keep going."

The miner cursed under his breath before glaring at Jacob. "I hope you're at least enjoying yourself."

With that, he stormed away back to the shuttle. Samantha looked back at the others and mouthed the words "I'm sorry" before following after him. Chris just sighed wearily and shook his head.

"Well, isn't he in a fine mood."

Jacob shrugged indifferently. "He can get an attitude all he wants. I'm not leaving until I've confirmed the validity of the site."

"Nor would I expect you to," the Captain assured. "I respect the work you do here, Doc. Even if he doesn't."

A small guilty frown formed on Jacob's lips. "You make an excellent captain, Chris." With a sigh, he added. "Sorry if I don't ever say that enough."

"It's fine, Doc. I mean, I get it."

He raised a brow at him. "You do?"

The Captain nodded. "Of course. I'm not as dense as you seem to think, Jacob. It's obvious you still have feelings for Brooke."

He turned away, deciding not to comment.

"I'm not mad," Chris assured in an amicable tone. "If anything, I feel like I owe you a bit of an apology."

Now Jacob just looked confused. "Why?"

He shrugged. "You knew her longer than I did. By the time I was assigned to the Cordoba, you'd already been friends for close to four years." Chris frowned somewhat guiltily and sighed. "I hate that my relationship with Brooke has caused tension between the two of you."

Jacob shook his head vehemently, returning to a look of indifference. "Don't put that on yourself, Chris. The fact is, you were more proactive than I ever was trying to win Brooke over. She had to choose one of us, and in the end, she went with the better man."

The Captain chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm no super genius like you."

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to do that. I'm not that sore a loser."

"No, I'm being serious," Chris insisted with a smile. "Jacob, I get you lack confidence in yourself, but you really shouldn't. I mean...you've got how many research papers published?"

"I've lost count," he admitted.

The Captain smirked at him and patted his shoulder again. "My point is, you've got a lot going for you. At the very least, I can think of one young lady who's clearly attracted to that giant brain of yours."

"Okay, let's not go there," he insisted wearily.

Chris shrugged. "I'm just saying. Our mascot clearly has a thing for you, Doc. And you have to admit, she's pretty darn cute."

"If by 'cute' you mean she wouldn't look out of place in a high school," Jacob immediately retorted.

The Captain cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean...Kevin and Samantha seem to make it work."

Jacob laughed at him incredulously. "Samantha is still well into her twenties. For God's sake, Jess is nineteen. I'm almost thirty-five. You can't tell me that wouldn't be inappropriate."

"It's not like she's a child."

"Close enough," he argued. "That girl still has some growing up to do. She's still trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to do with her life. I can't in good conscience take advantage of that."

Chris nodded in understanding. "Fair enough." A thought occurred to him. "How about this, then? The next time we're dry docked, have a drink with me at the canteen. I'll show you how to pick up ship captains."

Jacob looked somewhat reluctant. "I don't know..."

"No pressure," he assured amicably. "Just give it some thought."

After a moment, Jacob smiled and nodded.

"I will."

--

Dr. Warren was grateful that at least Samantha and Chris seemed to be taking this seriously. Even if Kevin was dragging his heels getting the equipment they needed. He'd have offered to help, but there was so much that needed to be done. Mineral samples needed to be taken, scans of the structure needed to be completed; for the sake of his crewmates, Jacob was trying to keep his excitement to himself.

Eventually, they managed to get an isolation tent set up where Kevin could begin mining through the rock without risk of causing a massive firestorm. Using his mining rifle, he carved a hole in the side of the domed structure roughly seven feet in diameter. During which time, Jacob collected more samples.

"So, how's it coming, Doc?" Chris asked, having just finished securing the final tether for the tent with a large rivet gun.

"Sediment deposits contain trace amounts of pyroxene-based ceramics. And the spectrograph confirms the structure in front of us is hollow," Dr. Warren declared, excitement leaking from his voice. "There can be no mistake about it. This is definitely a precursor sight."

Over a couple yards away, Kevin continued to carve a path for them, his mining laser forming multiple beams that spun around in a corkscrew pattern, breaking down the lava rock at a molecular level.

"So if we find whatever the hell he's looking for, does that mean we're making equal pay?" the miner asked while holding his rifle steady.

Samantha, who was walking beside him, rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Just focus on digging, Jackass. You can worry about your pay once we're back on the ship."

Back at the tent, Jacob had just finished uploading his most recent findings to the lab back on the Cordoba. Once he was satisfied, the researcher queued up his radio.

"Rebecca, you there?"

"I'm here, Doc."

"Has Mira managed to decipher that signal yet?"

"Partially," she responded. "But Doc, I've been going over what Mira managed to decipher so far, and something's not right."

Chris perked up upon hearing that and queued up his radio. "Hold on, what do you mean not right?"

"Well, it's just..." There was a slightly nervous twinge in her voice. "...this doesn't look like a distress message, Captain."

"So what is it, then?"

"It looks more like a warning. A warning to stay away."

A tense silence fell over them both. At that moment, Kevin called out.

"Hey, Captain! I think I've got something here!"

Putting aside Rebecca's update for now, Chris and Jacob rejoined the others. Kevin had successfully carved his way through the stone, reaching a solid dark green wall in the process. After scanning the structure, Jacob could, at last, confirm his initial hypothesis.

"Ceramified pyroxene," he declared in amazement, his inner geologist trying especially hard not to geek out at that moment. "We've been studying the precursors and their building materials for decades, yet we still have no way of reproducing them ourselves."

Kevin shrugged indifferently. "It just looks like a giant rock to me."

Jacob gave him an incredulous look. "Just a rock? Just a rock?! You do understand that what you're looking at right now is a liquid crystal polymer more advanced than anything humanity has ever managed to conceive, right? By all accounts, such a material shouldn't even exist."

"What do you know about the precursors, Doc?" Samantha couldn't help but ask.

"Less than I probably should given the scope of this operation," Jacob admitted. "I'm not an archaeologist. My specialty is minerals and microbes."

"But you must know a little, at least," Chris offered.

"Most of my interest in those who came before us lay in their building materials. The precursors, they...they created fully functioning space stations out of stone and earth and rock, and we have no idea how." He placed a hand against the smooth, porcelain structure. "Even in ruins, this structure is a work of art. I...almost hate to damage it."

"Good thing for you, I don't." Kevin adjusted the settings on his rifle, switching to its high-energy plasma cutter, whereupon his helmet tinted black. "Let's see how your wall stands up to forty-thousand degrees."

They moved aside while Kevin began cutting his way through. While he worked, Chris decided to quiz the Doctor some more.