The Bastion of God: Hard Science Fiction (God's Factory Book 2) by Brandon Q. Morris

Author:Brandon Q. Morris [Morris, Brandon Q.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hard-SF.com
Published: 2023-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

The outer bulkhead of the airlock opened with a squeak. A stream of warm, humid air rushed in.

"Crap, my sunglasses are fogging up," Jürgen said.

Jaron breathed in deeply through his nose. The air contained so much oxygen that he did not feel any difference from Earth. The difference from the spaceship was staggering. Oil, sweat, food vapor, rusty metal, cleaning agents—the unique mixture evaporated with every breath. It made room for... for... Jaron drew in the air and swallowed, concentrating entirely on the aroma, but he found—nothing. The air smelled and tasted completely neutral. The light floral scent, that was Carlota, not the local flora. The heavier aroma of malt, that was Jürgen, not the fertile soil of the planet. The light sweat note came from himself.

"Wow," Carlota said. "That's... interesting."

She did not use the word "beautiful," and that was interesting, too. He had come to know Carlota as a woman who recognized and appreciated beauty. When she called something "interesting," something was definitely wrong.

"The view is great," Jürgen said. "Here, take my arm."

Jaron grabbed the arm that was touching him and held on just above the elbow. Jürgen pulled him up slightly.

"Two steps and you're standing on the platform," Jürgen explained.

Jaron pushed his glasses over his eyes. They were a special model for outdoor operations that warned him of obstacles acoustically and tactilely. With Jürgen's help, he took the two steps up.

"Do you smell that, too?" asked Jaron.

Jürgen and Carlota draw in their breath almost simultaneously.

"Heavenly," said Jürgen.

"What exactly?" asked Jaron.

"No stench, no sweat," said Jürgen.

"I don't smell anything at all," said Carlota.

"That's right," said Jürgen. "That's weird."

"It doesn't necessarily mean anything," Carlota said. "The sense of smell works by having matching molecules dock onto sensory cells. Here, there's probably a completely different biochemistry and thus no molecules that would fit in ours."

"But then we can't eat any of the things that grow here?" asked Jürgen.

"Are you hungry already?" asked Jaron.

"No, but it would be inconvenient if we were stranded here."

So he had already thought of that, too. No wonder, Jürgen was an engineer. He knew what forces acted on the ground during a rocket launch.

"If there's at least carbon, we could make our own food," Carlota said.

"Well, there's that," said Jürgen.

"Shall we go?" asked Jaron.

"Do you want to go first, boss?" asked Jürgen.

"Carlota, you go first," said Jaron.

"I get it, you're scared," Carlota said. "Fine, I’ll go."

Suddenly, his face warmed. Presumably, he had been in Carlota's shadow until now. He stretched his face toward the sun. It seemed a little warmer than the sun at home, but that might be a misconception.

"The ground is bouncy," Carlota said.

"The first human on an exoplanet," Jürgen said. "Wait, I have to savor that."

"What do you see?" asked Jaron.

"We're standing pretty much in the middle of a flat plain that rises slightly on all sides," said Carlota. "It ends in a kind of wall, but it's broken by many crevices. Battlements, yes, it looks like the loopholes of a medieval castle. The ground is covered with a kind of green fluff that reminds me of the undercoat of a rabbit.

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