CHAPTER 2
"How are we going to bury the bodies?" Jenny asked. "We have gardening equipment and all that. But, what about the decomposition?"
"That's a good question," Bryce said.
"We could disassemble the cryo units and use those," Nicholas suggested.
"No," Bryce replied. "We can't. Those units are powered by a single system. It's like the lights on a Christmas tree. Remember, we have livestock still in cryo stasis. We can't revive them until we either find a local food source that's safe for them, or figure a way to introduce safe plants that won't overwhelm the ecosystem."
"What about cannibalism?" Someone asked.
Jenny made a face which Bryce didn't blame her for.
"That's disgusting," Bryce stated. "And it wouldn't work. If you've ever eaten chicken, you know there's always some meat left on the bones. It might not be much, but even a few pieces is enough to release bacteria into the ecosystem."
"Cremation," Jeremy suggested.
"Dioxins," Bryce pointed out. "We'd have to remove any dental fillings if they have them. And even if we did that for the younger departed, we don't know if Bennett or his translator had anything like a pacemaker artificial hip."
"So, what do we do? We can't just leave them to rot!" Jenny pointed out.
"No," Bryce said. "we need to reactivate their cryo stasis pods. That will give us time to create a crematorium that will keep the dioxins from entering the atmosphere."
Bryce went to the ship's computer and turned to the monitor. "Max."
"Here." Max returned.
"Max, I need you to reactivate the cryo pods holding Izzard, Clary, and Stubbins."
There was a noise nearby as the pods were turned back to active mode.
Jenny turned to the rest of the group.
"Jeremy," she said, "I want you and Laura to come with me to get the planters and seeds from the cargo room. We need to collect a sample of the local soil and test for compatibility. We do have some soil of our own, but it's limited. And while we have enough to support us. But our population will grow over time, and as it does we will not have enough soil to support the amount of vegetables, fruits, and grains we need to grow as a food supply for us or our livestock."
"They really thought things through when they sent us here," Nicholas grumbled as Jenny and her group headed into the ship's cargo hold.
"If we'd stayed on Earth, we'd have died," Bryce told him, sternly. "We can survive here. But we all need to work together and work hard."
"Why don't we go back to Earth?" Susan asked. "Maybe it's cleaned up by now?"
"We don't have the power," Bryce said. "I'm going to turn the ship's power off and we're going to leave it that way until we can figure out a way to create a solar panel that will work with a blue sun. I don't want to risk an uncontrolled power-out. I don't know what it would do to Max. And we're going to need him down the road."
"What about local animals?" Alan asked. "Would the plants we add be toxic to them?"
"That's a good point," Bryce replied. "We'll have to build greenhouses to keep our plants off limits to the local wildlife."
Alan nodded in agreement.
"Now, I want to create a catalog of the local animals," Bryce told them. "Each of us is going to be given a blank book and pencils. I know it's not what most of you are used to recording with, but they don't require electricity. If you see an animal, write down it's description. And if it seems safe to do so, observe and record its movements and activities."
"What about local people?" Jeremy asked. "We don't know if this planet has any life similar to us or not."
"Max?" Bryce asked. "What did you observe during your fly over?"
"There are sev-sev-several indigenous species including the local equivalent of reptile, mammal, and am-am-amphibian." Max explained, "However there are no bipedal species other than the crew of this ship ship ship."
Bryce nodded. "Thanks, Max."