RV Summer

Chapter 7

Rick found him. Mostly he saw a head of black hair and maybe even a beard. He was able to get his arm around him and try to swim back to shore. It was laborious and tiring and exhaustion was beginning to set in when suddenly Alexis grabbed hold and tried to help. Together they pulled him out of the lake. Rick had finally had enough so he dropped him, forcing Alexis to let go. "DAD!" She wanted to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. "He's green!"

Rick tried to straighten up and look at who he'd dragged out of the water. He was indeed green. He looked human, had black hair, and a black beard. He was wearing some kind of uniform but she didn't recognize any of it. In fact the writing on it looked more like Chinese to him. But he didn't look anything like a Chinese man.

Alexis decided to risk it; she leaned down and ran two fingers over his skin to see if it rubbed off. "If it's paint it doesn't rub off. …Or wash off from lake water. Why is he green?"

"Martians are little green men," Rick muttered. "This guy has to be at least 6 feet tall." That killed the possibility of him being an alien which Rick suddenly felt bummed about.

"Is he alive?" Alexis asked and hit her dad when Rick didn't move.

Rick rolled his eyes as he bent down, looked him over, and finally put 2 fingers against his neck. Then he leaned close to his mouth. Rick looked up at his daughter. "He's breathing." That sounded like a good thing.

"Go make the sofa into a bed then come back out and help me get him inside." Rick watched her run inside and he just stood there looking at the unconscious man.

Alexis was back and took his legs while Rick put his hands under his shoulders. He lifted up the heavy end and they worked at getting him inside.

Rick saw that she'd even taken the time to put sheets on the bed so they dropped him on it.

Alexis finally saw blood and left them to go find the first aid kit. "Here." She handed it to her dad. Rick wasn't sure why he had to help him since he didn't even know who the green guy was, but he opened it and began working on his wound.

"It doesn't look like it's washing off even with alcohol," Alexis commented as she watched her dad work on him.

Now Rick opened up another fresh alcohol swab and this time he really scrubbed a fresh spot. "Nothing." He couldn't possibly be really green, could he?

Rick began cleaning up the rest of him then sat back and looked him over. Alexis was standing over him and already looking him over.

Save for his black hair absolutely everything about him was green. She leaned down and saw that his eyebrows were black as were his eyelashes. Even his lips that were now really close were a deeper shade of green. Alexis noticed that he smelled like lake water. "Is all of him green?" she wondered aloud and pointed at his shoes.

Rick groaned but got busy taking off his shoes and socks. They both soon saw that his feet, including his toenails, were green. That had Alexis lifting up a hand to see that his fingernails were also green.

"Hollywood actor maybe?" Rick guessed.

"He crashed in something. It was on fire. And it streaked across the sky and crashed into the lake. You think maybe he crashed there on purpose?" Alexis speculated.

Rick thought about it. It explained why he was green, but not why the makeup didn't wash off. "If I was crashing I would rather crash there than into the mountains behind us."

Alexis nodded her agreement. Crashing into any of the mountains around them would be really bad and could have gotten him killed. "What's this?" She put her finger on a patch that was on his arm. She'd never seen anything like it.

"Kind of looks like Chinese to me. I never could make heads or tails of it. But he doesn't look Chinese." Rick suddenly wondered if he had escaped from the Chinese. Except China was hundreds if not thousands of miles from here. Besides, they weren't at war with China. At least not yet. Since being at war with them eventually was looking more and more likely all the time.

"Who do we call?" Alexis queried since he was going to need hospital care most probably.

"Maybe we should let him rest and when he wakes up we can question him about who to contact. There has to be someone who's looking for him. If they were filming they'd have to know that something went wrong and he crashed," Rick said.

It made sense to Alexis. Then she remembered. "DIXIE!" She'd left her outside! She ran to the door to go out and try and find her. The second she opened the door she found Dixie looking at the steps that would allow her to follow her best buddy inside the RV. "Dixie." Alexis picked her up and kissed her head over and over. "You're such a good girl." She hadn't run away. "Let's go outside so you can be a good girl if you have to."

When she came back inside her dad hadn't moved and neither had their guest. Alexis sat down in one of the captain's chairs and stared at the green man. The more she looked him over the more she liked him. He was tall, he was handsome, and she realized that she liked the green. It was different. He wasn't white or black. He was green.

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Kate slipped through the many panels that made up 1 wall and moved to her seat at the table and pressed a panel at the table. That caused the panels to pivot and close up creating a wall.

"Sorry I'm late. I got a report from 1 of the teams that's searching this place. Tell me how we're coming on the shuttles we've found." She was in charge of this expedition and it was turning out to be a challenge for her. For all of them, actually.

"We've got 1 of them working. We still don't fully understand why, but it's presently powered up. It looks like there's room for 2 pilots and then a seating area in back with benches on each side. We're theorizing that it's meant to deploy troops or meant to transport cargo since the middle's empty," Patrick reported.

"We've noticed 2 things. There appears to be a door in the floor where these shuttles are stored and another in the ceiling. When the door in the floor opens it will be directly in front of the Portal. Even more interesting is that after taking dimensions it's small enough to actually fit through the Portal. We've already theorized that they were designed to go through the Portal." He and the others were actually a little astounded.

"We've attempted to open the Portal for home but it refuses. We have a couple of theories about that. One is that the Portals come in various types. Each type allows for travel to distances that are farther and farther away. Another is that we lack the power. Home's just too far away. Given how much power we had to use to get to here we find this to be the most probable explanation. We have managed to get the console that controls it to work and have opened up the Portal for 2 different locations," Willian told her.

"What we believe is the Control Room, just the other side of these doors, as you know, is filled with panels that appear to be control panels. However, the only panel we have so far managed to get operational is the one that controls the Portal. Even more interesting is that they have a barrier that can be raised that will prevent anyone from coming through the Portal to here," Elio said.

"Howler?" She wanted to hear from him next.

"We have 5 armed teams spreading out to search this place. We're learning that this place is huge. We're talking about city-size kind-of-huge. Each area that a team walks into powers up. Lights come on and doors can be opened. Based on what we think the size is we've only searched maybe 3%. So far everything has been living quarters but we still have a long ways to go." He hadn't been ready for just how big this place was.

"I take it you haven't encountered anyone in any of these searches," Kate asked him.

"No, ma'am. So far it's just us. We've found something interesting. One level below us there's a large outdoor patio area. Based on what we can see from that location we're floating on an ocean. We're also several stories up in a central tower. We could see 2 shorter towers farther out," Howler responded.

"A city. That's more than we anticipated and being on an ocean doesn't help us. Okay, I want the first shuttle made ready and get the doors in the ceiling open. If we can't get home that means we need to be able to stay here. We brought food, water, and medical supplies with us, but what we need is land so we can plant crops after we figure out what will grow here.

"I want that shuttle out and doing a survey around us. Find land and get a team on the ground to find out if we can plant crops there. Then we can solve the housing problem for the people that will be doing the farming. We're also going to need meat so we need a survey of all the local wildlife." Kate had just issued her first big order.

"Medical. Dr. Heuer?" They were still alive so it was apparently safe for them to stay here, not like they had a choice.

"We've completed a number of tests to date. The air's perfect for us. The temperature also appears to be being controlled using a system we have yet to locate. So far we have no injuries or any other medical issues. We've set up a temporary triage station as well as a temporary surgical station.

"I'd like to see everyone in the team 1 at a time until everyone's been examined. Just to be safe. There may be 1 of us that isn't immune to what might be here." They were on an alien planet, after all.

"I'll generate a list for you and have them start showing up immediately," Kate easily agreed. "Continue searching. I don't understand how this place, as big as it appears to be, can be completely empty. What happened to the people that built it?" She needed information. "Keep trying to make connections using the Portal. If we have to leave in a hurry I want someplace for us to go. Also keep working on those shuttles. Once we get a third unit working I want to talk about sending it through the Portal. I want the second shuttle to join the first. We need to understand just where we are. Then I want the fourth unit in orbit and doing a scan of the system we're in." Kate paused and tried to think.

"Just the single control panel worries me. Why is it the 1 that controls the Portal?" Kate made a decision. "Howler, try and get your teams to concentrate on finding the power station. I want to know how this place is powered and how much power it has now. How much is it capable of making. Send them where you think best to accomplish that. Where would you be if you were a power station?" Kate decided it had top priority for now.

"Once we find land get set up to analyze samples that are brought back. We need to determine where in the seasonal cycle of this planet we presently are. Is it too late to do any plantings or is it perfect?

"That's all, gentlemen. Get to work." Kate dismissed them and opened the wall for them to leave only to have Howler step up to her.

"As I'm sure you know, having a women in charge of this expedition doesn't sit well with everyone." He'd already heard the grumbling increasing a little.

Kate knew that was going to be a problem when she had accepted this mission. "Does this include you?" If she lost him she was in big trouble.

Howler snapped to attention. "No, ma'am." He was no fool. Most of the men on this expedition thought with the brain between their legs. Women only had a single purpose and that was predominant thinking in their society. It was starting to change, but change came slowly. Kate was smart and he was willing to let her lead. At least until the enemy showed up.

"I'll try not to step on too many toes. I expect to be informed of any decisions you want to make when or if the Vree show up. I'm aware our military capability's limited. I'll also remind Medical to keep their eyes open. Another reason to let them examine everyone here," Kate told him even if she hadn't mentioned it when she had agreed to the suggestion from Medical.

"No air support, only light weapons." Howler shook his head. "If they show up in force we might be in trouble. We will do our job, though. Ma'am." Howler spun and left her.

Kate knew the men in the Military arm were some of the strongest and bravest of them. The types and locations of body piercings only emphasized just how strong each of them were. She herself didn't see the point and it actually made most of them look ugly to her. It was mostly why she had no one in her life. She'd even done all she could to make sure she didn't do something stupid and accidentally end up involved with someone.

It wasn't that she thought of herself as being lesbian, though she'd tried it a couple of times. No, she preferred having a man and having a man inside her. She just couldn't find one.

Then suddenly a male showed up at the doors. "Ma'am, we've got back a video of a Portal address that opened. You need to see this." He left her and Kate picked everything up and took it with her.

"Show me." She could see the Portal and what it showed, but they had cameras that could zoom in and out.

Kate watched the computer monitor for a while. What she initially saw was a lot of rocks. A whole lot of rocks. Then the probe went out a little farther and she could see that the rocks were a ring around a gas giant. It was interesting but not really anything to be excited about.

"These are the scans it's completed so far." The screen changed from visual to data. "A habitable planet. Mass is 5.972 x 10^24 kg. Distance from the sun is 92.96 million. Surface area is 196.9 million mi2, land area is 57.51 million mi2."

Kate only thought about it for a second. "Put it at the top of the list. The second we get a third shuttle working I want it sent. Two man crew only. I want a quick survey of that planet. Just a single pass then get back here."

"Yes, ma'am." Even he knew finding a possibly inhabited planet might be really big. Too big to pass up.

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Kate met the pilots on the floor of the shuttle bay that was actually up 2 levels from where the control room was located.

"The planet's big and in a perfect position. Remember just the single pass. Don't go into the lower atmosphere. Do not answer any communications you receive from the planet. Get in, get out, and get back here. We'll decide what to do with what you find after you come back. No heroics. If you encounter the enemy get back here and try not to crash on this end." They'd all noticed that the space between the Portal and the first wall was really short.

"Yes, ma'am." Micheal didn't want to stay if the enemy was there either. So far as they could tell these shuttles came unarmed.

Kate went back to the control room and waited. Finally the ceiling opened and down in a hover mode came a shuttle. "Open the Portal for the target planet," Kate ordered. She watched it open and they could all see rocks on the other side. That was the first obstacle for these 2.

Then silently it went into the Portal and almost instantly vanished. Shortly after the Portal shut down. "Good luck." Kate didn't know if it would help but she offered it anyway.

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"Initial scan?" Micheal asked while he flew the shuttle using the controls in front of him. He could see out the front windshield as easily as his partner could for this mission.

"Scanning. We're leaving a gas giant that has large rings around it. It looks like the Portal's hidden inside the rings. A little strange. Maintain course for the target planet," Lee said.

They both sat there and watched as the target planet got closer and closer.

"I'm reading that there are a tremendous amount of communications emanating from the planet. So many that I can't tell if any of them are meant for us. Definitely an inhabited planet," Lee told him which made both of them happy.

Micheal was getting ready to set up for his shot around the planet and then head back.

"ENERGY SPIKE!" Lee yelled suddenly. "It's behind us. …Scanning. SHIT! It's a mothership." Now they were both scared. Worse, that ship was now between them and the Portal to get home.

"Definitely an enemy mothership. Length 5,545 meters long, width 3,970 meters wide (3 miles long x 2 miles wide). They're launching fighters. I think they've spotted us. We need to get out of here." They were dead at best since there was far worse when it came to them.

"What are you doing?" As far as Lee was concerned he was going the wrong way. The Portal was back that way.

"Slingshot. We increase to our best speed for the planet and use it as a slingshot; our speed will increase." They both knew the enemy's fighters were fast, possibly too fast for them.

"They launched only 12 fighters. All of them are headed for us," Lee advised. That was the good news since a mothership held 3,904 of them. However there was also bad news. "They're gaining on us. We need to go faster." Lee was beginning to panic. He knew what they were capable of doing.

"I'm going as fast as I can. I think I hate this planet." Micheal was starting to get worried. Still his plan was all they had.

"Energy spike," Lee announced. "SHIT! Another mothership has exited FTL. It's right behind the first one." That only increased their problem.

"Here we go!" Micheal was ready to start his slingshot around this cursed planet.

"Energy spike. The fighters are firing at us." No sooner had he said it when they both saw glowing stars shoot past them. Then one didn't shoot past them; it hit them in the ass.

"Hull breach!" Lee was up and grabbed something to seal it. No sooner than he started and they were hit again. This one killed all of the power which was about as bad as it got.

"Power's out," Micheal yelled just as sparks started flying from the ceiling. "Fix it or we're dead." And that was the good news.

Lee finished filling the hole then pulled the panel open and had wiring hanging all over the place. "This is bad, really bad." He reached for his case that contained all of his tools when they were hit again only this one was far worse.

They spun wildly and Micheal couldn't stop it without power. Then he heard a loud bang right behind his head. He turned to look and saw a wall right behind him that hadn't been there earlier. "GREAT!" He couldn't see Lee and now he wasn't answering him when he called to him.

What he could tell was that he was headed for the planet now in a free fall while tumbling the whole way. Then it got worse. One of the straps holding him in the chair snapped from the strain. It sent him head first into the ceiling and his world went black.