Chapter Four

Jack

We all watched the Captain's reaction to the news, wondering what he would make of this new discovery. He sat staring at his desk for a long while, pondering the situation before looking at us again.

"Well, it's about time we found a place to stop," was all he said, still deep in thought.

"Are we going to be allowed off this ship to see the planet first-hand?" Jane asked carefully after a few minutes of silence had elapsed. I looked at the Captain's expression - he still seemed concerned about our actions.

"I don't know," he said carefully, folding his hands in front of him. "By all accounts, you should be confined to your cabins, but this changes everything . . . Look - why don't you all go down to the Command Deck and prepare for the landing procedure. I need to think about this some more . . ."

With that, he ushered us out of the room and down the hallway to strap in for the descent.


Emily

As we descended onto the planet's surface, I felt a chill run down my spine as I wondered what would happen to us there.

The Crew seemed to have forgotten the misadventure my friends and I had had and even Max - now out of sickbay - was laughing and joking about it.

"Just . . . don't ask me to do that again," he said as he checked his Abra's Poke Ball. I followed suit with my Meowth, making sure she was inside her Ball and that it was sealed securely. Although it was rare for Pokemon to escape from their Balls, it had been known to happen and I didn't want Meowth to get loose now.

"I wonder," Marle remarked beside me, "what's the planet going to be like?"

Bianca, the girl with the Xatu, was seated nearest the window and she looked out to examine our new home. "It looks like Earth must've thousands of years ago - all beautiful and unspoilt," she said. "There's a forest and what looks like a clearing with a lake; they'll probably take us down there."

That made sense. Clearly, we couldn't land the Ark in the forest and we would need somewhere to build our settlement. With the passengers and Crew combined, there were nearly two-hundred people on the Ark - and when you add the Pokemon that had been brought along . . .

My thoughts were cut off abruptly as we landed by the lake with a bump. We were all eager to get out and explore, but the Crew wanted to debrief us first.

"Please stay seated until the doors open," one of them told us. "When we are ready, we will let you off the Ark, starting with those of you seated in rows A to D . . ."


Max

I had always wanted to visit another planet ever since I saw that thing in the sky.

It was a glimmering purple light with lots of other lights behind it - people told me it was a Legendary Pokemon, but I knew it was a UFO even though no-one believed me.

Now that I was going to set foot on an alien planet, I couldn't contain myself.


Ken

I squinted against the light reflected off the lake. The new planet was so much like Earth it was uncanny.

Then, a number of Ark security personnel ran in pairs to equidistant points around the Ark. Of course, having almost no information about the now planet, the Crew could never be to cautious. This mission had gone ahead with veey little planning because there had been no choice, but it seemed even as little as three months of prep time could find a habitable planet relatviely close to Earth. I was beginning to wonder if someone had set this course specifically for us to land here.

Then I glanced at the Ark. The ship had taken us who knew how far from Earth in less than a year and yet there were no habitable systems within five light-years of Earth. "Nothing travels faster than light," they used to say. So much for that . . .

My reverie was broken by an announcement over the loudspeaker. "While we finish powering down the Ark, I urge all passengers . . . er, colonists to remain within the perimeter set by our security personnel. In addition, may I ask anyone and everyone with any experience in engineering whatsoever to please assemble near the prow. Anyone who is familar with buildings or their design is also welcome to come."

Jane turned to me. "You think . . .?"

"Who knows? I've got a little background," I replied. "Find the others and stay with them." I then strode over to join the little band of people who would probably end up designing the colony.

The Captain's voice droned on again. "Anyone who is familiar with surviving in hostile environments, please form a group at the perimeter near the forest. Our security personnel will brief you . . ."

A nasal voice rose over the hubbub as the Ark's engineer began speaking. "OK, people, we'll be putting up the prefabricated shelters. But we're gonna need cabins soon and you lot will be helping me with that."


Marle

I was wandering through the lower decks when the announcements were made. I often came down here to visit the Pokemon - I felt sorry for them, isolated for the whole trip, but I guess it could have been worse. The journey could have been MUCH longer.

I felt like there was something I could be doing but had no idea what that was. I felt useless, like I should be doing something to earn my keep.

The Pokemon stared as I stomped up the stairs and out of the door to join the others outside. "So, what's going on?" I asked Jane.

"They're forming groups for various tasks," she told me. "You know? People with engineering skills for building homes, people with survival skills for exploring . . ."

"Well, I might as well contribute something," I said as I dashed off to find the explorer group. When I informed the supervisor that I was there to join the group, his only reply was a burst of mocking laughter.

"Look around, child!" he said. "This is a job for adults trained by the military - you wouldn't last a minute out there!"

I felt my face growing red and flushed with every word. When he'd finally finished, I tried to control my voice as I countered. "And what exactly do your troops know about the terrain?" I demanded. "I may be young, but I can take care of myself! I've had wilderness survival training and taken martial arts since I was six - and I'm going to explore this place with or without you!"

While I was talking, the supervisor signalled to one fo his men who snuck up behind me, hoping to restrain me and take me back to the shuttle. Before he even knew what was happening, I grabbed his arm and deftly flipped him over my shoulder. He hit the ground flat on his back.

The others simply stared and I looked at the supervisor questioningly. He nodded and I thought I saw a glimmer of respect forming in his eyes.


Vicky

I sat down on a chair and sulked. The only skills I had were climbing and creeping through small spaces and that wasn't going to get me far. Then I heard something on the intercom.

"Could all groups please include one person under five feet tall?" When I heard that, I looked up. Since I was 4'9", I should be picked for a group.

Then, I saw Marle whispering to her group leader and pointing at me. The leader of the group walked over and asked if my name was Vicky.

I nodded frantically. "OK then, you're in our group," said the leader.


Emily

It was strange being on the surface of a planet again, feeling the cool wind on my face and listening for the first time in ages to the sounds of nature.

The Crew sent a robot to forage for food - we'd need to know which of the local plants were edible once the supplies on the Ark were exhausted. This robot had a really neat way of telling us if something was poisonous or not - if the berries (or whatever) that it had just gathered using its extendible arms were safe, a green light would come on. But, if the plant was poisonous, a red light would come on and we'd know to steer clear of that plant in future.

I stood with Marle, Max and Jane as we examined a small dish of pink berries. None of us knew quite what to expect - just because something was edible didn't necessarily mena it would be palatable as well. I hoped there would be something similar to sugar on this planet so we could mask the taste if the berries were bitter.

"What d'you guys think?" asked Jane.

"I think we'd better taste them to see what they're like," said Marle. "After all, we don't exactly have a choice."

"O - ok, but which of us should go first?" I asked.

In the end, we decided to draw lots. I broke off a piece of the reed growing by the lake and, using Max's penknife, cut it in to four strips of varying lengths. Then, I held them out in my fist so that only the tops showed and the others pulled them out one by one.

In the end, I was left holding the short straw and I knew what that meant. Taking a deep breath, I picked up one fo the berries and put it on my tongue . . .

"Well?" asked Jane, looking at me anxiously.

I broke into a grin of delight. "It's like . . . tinned peaches!" I exclaimed as I savoured the sweet taste. "We should call these peachberries!"

"Yeah - you're right," said Marle as she sampled the peachberries for herself. We would have carried on talking and tasting had Jack and Ken not come to tell us there was going to be an induction meeting by the shores of Lake Arrival (the name we had given the lake near what would become our settlement). The planet would be called Terranova, which means "New Earth".


Ken

"Are you sure we should put the prefabs up so close to the lake? I mean we don't know anything about it except that it's big and supposed to be teeming with life."

I glanced over at Trent as he questioned the chief engineer about the way the shelters were being constructed.

"And what do you suggest, Mr Dean?" he asked. "Placing them just anywhere?"

All I'm saying is that maybe we should keep our shelters packed until we know we can definitely erect them here without any risk of losing them," Trent countered.

I looked at Jane, who was helping me unload a shelter from the Ark. "Um, I think maybe we should move all the shelters into the space between the Ark and the forest," she said. "The Ark's pretty big and so are those trees - they could act as windbreaks."

"Yeah, these shelters can't take winds stronger than seventy miles per hour and we still don't know what the weather is like here," I agreed.

The chief engineer gave us a look of approval and started scribbling in his notepad. "Good point," he acknowledged. "OK, people! All the shelters will be placed in Zones Four and Seven, arranged in rows. We want the latrines a good distance off - but not too far . . ."

I had just started to chuckle when I caught sight of something breaking the water at the far end of the lake. It looked vaguely like a Gyarados, but it was a deep scarlet colour and much bigger.

"Did you see that!" I exclaimed, gesturing wildly to where I had seen the majestic creature.

Jane looked up. "No, what did you see?"

"Never mind," I sighed. "Come on, let's get this shelter up."


Vicky

As we walked into the forest to explore, I wanted to climb the trees but the others had told me not to.

We were walking along when I heard something up a tree. I walked up to it and, when the others told me not to climb it, I said I wasn't but I had heard something.

Marle walked up behind me and looked up the tree too. "There's nothing up there so come on!" she told me. "We've got to explore this forest."

I walked off, but, when I looked behind me, I thought I saw a purple and green Pidgey. When I rubbed my eyes, it was gone.

I was walking along, not paying much attention to where I was going, when I bumped into something soft and squishy.


Emily

I was one of around a dozen people helping to set up the dome-shaped modules that would become our homes when Vicky came running up to me.

"Emily! Come quick and see what I found!" she called, grabbing me by the arm and practically dragging me away.

I wondered what she had found, what strange creatures we had to share this planet with. I felt my Meowth's Poke Ball in my pocket and was glad to have it with me - who knew what would happen if we didn't have a Pokemon to protect us out there? Even a Normal Type like my Meowth would be better than nothing . . .

"What did it look like?" I asked Vicky as we entered the forest.

I didn't really see anything, but it felt sort of squishy - like a Muk or something," she replied. "Do you think that's what it was?"

"I don't know," I told her truthfully as I pushed aside some vines to reveal . . . a bright red Muk standing in a clearing.

Neither Vicky nor myself had ever seen a Muk like it - we had heard of so-called "Shiny Pokemon", but they were so rare that the odds of seeing one were infinitesimally small. And, as if finding one Shiny Pokemon wasn't enough . . .

"I saw a purple-and-green Pidgey earlier," Vicky volunteered. "And Ken says he saw a red Gyarados - you know? Like that one that appeared at the Lake of Rage?"

I did know and the occurance of three Shiny Pokemon in the same day made me wonder. The Ark was supposed to be carrying breeding pairs of every known Pokemon, plus those belonging to the passengers - what if being in space somehow increased the likelihood of Shiny offspring? I would have to find out . . .

As it turned out, I didn't have much time to think about Shiny Pokemon during the next few days because we were kept busy building our Village and exploring Terranova. If we were going to form a viable settlement, we had to find find out as much as we could about the world we now called home.

The first night felt unreal - I'd forgotten how noisy it could be on a planet after spending so long on the Ark, surrounded by an artificial environment. The darkness was getting to me. On the Ark, there were always a few dim lights in the corridor - here, there was only Terranova's two moons plus the stars.

After spending maybe two hours trying to get to sleep, I picked Meowth up and went out of the module, ignoring Marle as she turned over in her sleep. I was sitting by Lake Arrival feeling the night breeze on my face when I heard someone cough behind me.

I turned and saw a girl standing with an Oddish at her heals. I'd seen her on the Ark a few times, but I'd never spoken to her because her cabin was down Z Corridor, the opposite end from where I had been stationed. I was sure I'd heard her name mentioned during our induction, although I couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Hi . . . um? . . . Er . . .?" I stammered.

"Oh - I'm Kate," she told me. "And this is my Oddish - we were just taking a stroll in the moonlight."

"My name's Emily," I told her. "And I'm just out here because I can't seem to get to sleep."

"Me either," Kate replied. "It feels weird being on a planet again - maybe that has something to do with it . . ."

"Maybe . . ." I said.


Ken

"Suppose we try to count stars - that'll keep us awake."

"Smashing idea, Trent - I reckon we could count hundreds of them before we get horribly bored," I replied, trying to sound as unenthusiastic as possible.

It had been over an hour and we were still sitting on the highest point our exploration teams had found, waiting for the generator to warm up. Once it was ready, we would be able to link up with the geo-survey satellite the Ark had jettisoned shortly before we landed.

"Got it!" Trent suddenly shouted. I wheeled round and saw that the satellite link-up, a remarkably compact electromagnetic focussing dish, was beginning to hum with power. From that point on, my boredom disintegrated and I beagn checking the meteorlogical instruments. "Cloud cover negligible - that's good," I observed.

"Where's our satellite?"

I checked my pocket computer and my watch before replying. "She'll be on zenith real soon . . . Wait a second - let me figure this." I entered a set of figures intot eh computer and looked up at the starry sky. "Try a heading of 32.018279, elevation 89.998912," I said.

The dish emitted a series of whirs as it clicked into place. "Signal lock - it's our satellite all right!" Trent shouted joyfully. "I'm relaying the data stream."

He hit a number of buttons that would send whatever the satellite was transmitting back to the Ark. "Hey! Check this out!" he said. I leaned in close to the tiny screen, watching a fast-forwarded composite of infra-red and visual scans of portions of our new planet. One screen showed a massive red blob in the centre.

Whoa, Trent - go back a few frames," I ordered.

He stopped on an infra-red scan of a heavily wooded area. AS I had seen, a large red blob was frozen on the screen.

Trent whistled. "Wow! That's gotta be at least 500 feet long!"

"It's warm, but what is it?" I asked.

"Dunno - magma near the surface?"

I thought for a second. "Advance the recording - slowly."

The red shape uncoiled itself, transforming into a long object. "Aw, hell - it's alive!" I groaned.

Trent opened his mouth as if to say something, but something else caught his attention. He switched the image to visual and zoomed in to the left-hand side of the screen. "It's around two miles from here," he said.

Both of us glanced around uneasily. I instinctively reach for my Poke Ball, but I realised Pads would never stand a chance against whatever it was. A clunk behind me made me jump.

"Sorry," said Trent. He had been trying to unpack the energy cannon when he dropped it carelessly. He started fiddling with it and asked if I knew how to work it.

"I thought you were an engineer - can't you figure it out?" I demanded.

"Should we make a run for it?" he asked.

"No, this satellite relay's important. We should stay on-station until the satellite goes below the horizon. Besides, that thing might be a harmless herbivore."

Trent managed a nervous laugh, the best either of us could do at that moment. "OK - we wait," he said.