Stellar Storm by Cameron Cooper

Stellar Storm by Cameron Cooper

Author:Cameron Cooper [Cooper, Cameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-21T09:24:35+00:00


—16—

WE CAME BACK TOGETHER AFTER a few hours of dinner and relaxation. Dalton had forced me to sit and eat a civilized meal with him at the table Lyssa built in the corner of the ship. There was even a candle.

The time away from all the data gave me a chance to assimilate it and come to a few decisions.

When we were all assembled once more, except for Ven and Byrne, who had already left for Terran space, I had Lyssa display the 3D of Gara City once more and pointed at the red building. “I’m going to work on the assumption that this is our target, for now. It will let us get on with planning the rest of the mission, as this is just our end point. We can adjust for a different target later, if we need to. Lyssa, move out and up, and track south to the interior, please.”

As she moved the display, I said, “Let’s find a place where we can land without drawing attention to ourselves, and track to the town from there.”

The display settled down once more and we all examined it.

Sauli groaned. “More frigging fields?”

Everyone laughed.

“I don’t understand,” Juliyana said. “They actually grow their food outside?”

“Crack the door open and take a look outside,” Dalton told her. “Tell me what you see.”

“Fields, yes, but we’re inside the cylinder.”

“Humans grew food outside through most of their history,” Lyth pointed out.

“Where it got rained on, destroyed by high winds and scorched by drought,” Juliyana replied.

I shuddered at the idea of high winds.

“So maybe these Terrans are behind the development curve,” Colton said. “New colony and all.”

“Not if they’ve got a harbor built and a town established,” Dalton replied.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I said. “Fields mean people. We need to find somewhere not cultivated. Keep scanning, Lyssa.”

“Land that isn’t cultivated is left alone for a reason,” Dalton said. “Boggy or rocky, or too steep for autocroppers to navigate—”

“If they even have autocroppers,” I said.

“Then humans with scythes,” Dalton said patiently. “I’m just saying that if we choose to not land in a field, or near one, then we’ll find ourselves on inhospitable terrain.”

I nodded. “Let’s see what our options are, first.”

Lyssa scanned and stopped when she found something that seemed hopeful to her, while we all examined and discussed it. Then she’d move on to another possibility.

We narrowed it down to three different locations, one of them more than twenty klicks from the escarpment that separated the arable lands from the coastal plateau. Despite the distance, it had the most promise—it was remote and not too densely wooded. The other two were both too close to civilization and the escarpment. “That cliff is a problem,” I said.

Lyth nodded. “Every easy way down will have already been discovered and used by the Terrans.”

I sighed. “Let me look at the tip of the peninsula again.”

“Then we’ll have to move right through the town itself to get to the complex,” Dalton pointed out, as the display shifted to show the rocky headland at the end of the peninsular.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.