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Interstellar: Revivisco, Part II
Chapter 7: Iumenta

Amelia was the first to wake up, happy to watch him sleep for only a moment before she decided she would welcome him to the morning. She sat up and gently moved toward him, careful not to disturb his sleep then. She was finally close enough; she leaned down and kissed him, moving away as she watched his eyes flutter open. "Hey."

"Hey," he whispered back, reaching up to push her hair from her face. Neither wanted to speak, the moment too perfect. She instead laid back down next to him, close, his arm wrapped around her. Amelia held the hand that held her, and heard Cooper sigh. "Want to go explore a little today?"

"That sounds fun." He watched as she snuggled back into him.

"One of the boys can give us the lowdown on the weather." Amelia had to think about 'boys' for a moment before realizing that he was referring to TARS and CASE. "We'll go on the ATV. We can get some samples, take some pictures, ya know. Make a day out of it." He felt Amelia move her fingers over his knuckles. "This is nice, though."

"Yes it is," she replied as she pulled the sheets up around them. Amelia took a deep breath, knowing that they needed to get ready for the day, but it was just so perfect where they were right then. "We need to get ready." She attempted to get up, but Cooper held her down.

"Just five more minutes like this, please?" She obliged, smiling. "Or twenty."

"All set?" he asked as she walked out the door.

"Everything's packed up: lunch, cameras, blankets, sample boxes, and you got the guns and spare bullets, right?" He nodded as she got closet to the ATV.

"We're ready, I guess." Amelia handed him the bags and he secured them to the back. "Nice and sunny out today, huh?"

"It's beautiful out," Amelia agreed as she hopped on the ATV. Cooper finished securing the bags and got on the ATV in front of Amelia, feeling her arms wrap around his waist as he started it up.

"Hang on!" he yelled as he put his foot on the gas.

2 weeks and 6 days until the launch of the Endurance Mission

"So, um, this will be your apartment until we leave," Amelia said as she guided Cooper into the living space. "Doyle's right next door and Rom's across the hall." She watched as he slung his backpack onto the couch. "I'm next to Rom."

She watched as he weakly looked around the first room. "I'm only gonna be here for a little bit - do I really need all this?" Amelia could tell that he had been emotionally drained - he had just said goodbye to his children and he wouldn't be back for years. As little trust as she had in him, she did feel sorry for him in that moment.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked, ignoring his earlier question.

"I think I'm good right now, but thanks." Amelia walked toward the door.

"Get some sleep - meetings start tomorrow," she reminded him, crossing her arms.

"See you then," she heard him say. Amelia's heart sank for him just from his tone.

They walked slowly hand in hand through the flat land. The tall grass was beautiful, but was also scary, considering that they were in unknown territory; Cooper seemed to not be bothered by it, but of course he wasn't.

"We need to get samples of this grass, remind me later." Even though the sun was beating down, the cold still won the battle.

"I suspect I'll be planting all the way out here. Good thing I'll have those bots and automatic combines they're supposed to be sending in, right?"

"You never had to do all that on your own, did you?" He shook his head.

"No, I had everything programed, I just oversaw, but there was a lot to oversee, took up a lot of time. 500 plus acres of corn, I couldn't've done it all by myself, or even with the few seasonal farmhands I had. I programmed the combines to harvest on their own." Cooper thought back to that moment when the combines all ventured to his front porch. "You're gonna get to see how all this works, though."

"I'm excited to," she replied, squeezing his hand tighter. "What do they want you to put out here besides trees and corn?"

"Okra, half runners, basics right now; nothing fancy." Amelia nodded. "Ya know, I used to think I hated this. It's not half bad compared to not knowing if you're gonna make it or not being up there."

"I don't know if I ever want to go up there again, either, but Cooper, zero gravity was the most magical thing I think I've ever experienced." That first time she'd felt her feet rise up from under her, swimming through air had been phenomenal.

"I'm not sayin' I'd never go up there again, because I might, but I'm never gonna travel into the unknown again." It had cost him too much the last time, and he wasn't going to let it cost him anything ever again.

"I wouldn't allow you go into the unknown again, don't worry." Cooper laughed. Always in charge, but that was alright with him.

"You wouldn't allow it? My, my, Dr. Brand, so controlling." She bit her bottom lip in frustration.

"Ha ha, Cooper; no, I wouldn't allow it, I don't even want to think..." He smiled as she struggled to find the words, flattered.

"I know." She doesn't want to experience that all over again, Coop. "I won't."

"You're right, you won't." She stared straight forward. "I think I see trees ahead."

Cooper saw what she was talking about. "Yeah, about a mile away. We can check 'em out."

"That will be a good opportunity to get samples," Amelia reminded him as they turned around and went back toward the ATV.

"Everything is barren, understandably so, what with this weather and all." The trees were extremely tall, skinny trees that resembled pine trees but didn't flare out like them. The forest floor was covered in needles that had fallen off the branches.

"And we're further from the coast, if these trees are an indicator, which they should be," Cooper stated; Amelia gave him a concerned look.

"You didn't bring that rough draft map?" Now she was nervous.

"Yes, Amelia, I did," he replied as he walked toward her. "Don't worry so much."

"I can't help it." She walked away and further into the woods. "I need more samples, come with me."

Cooper caught up to her. "What are you expecting to find deeper into the woods?"

"Moss, maybe." What could she want with moss? "I'd like to check it for fungus. We don't want blight number 2, or more likely something similar to it, even though the chances are extremely slim."

"No, we don't, and you just told me that you weren't letting me go into the unknown again, so we'd be shit outta luck, I guess." She smiled as she gently shoved him, as she often did. "You really try to start this, don't you?" She winked and began to run, hearing him chase after her. This was one of her favorite things to do with him - it made her feel young. She turned her head around to see how close he was. "Brand!"

"You're going to have to try harder than that, Coop!" she yelled.

"No, Amelia. STOP!" She halted and turned her had back around. Cooper then witnessed the loudest scream he had ever heard. He rushed to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Just don't look at it," he said softly, attempting to calm her. She could handle blood and gore, he knew that, but he knew that she had to be thinking of worst-case scenarios.

"What... what is that?" Amelia backed away from the dead animal, its skin terribly marred, limbs torn off. "It's got antlers like the hybrids."

"I think its one of those horse-things CASE showed me." He walked toward it as Amelia turned away to shield herself from seeing it. Cooper put his hand to the animal's chest, trying to feel for warmth. "It's been dead for less that 24 hours. I'd say something got it last night."

"What?" He continued to examine the animal - bite marks were scattered across its body. Then he saw the evidence that confirmed his fears - paw prints, one that he knew the shape of very well.

"Shit," Cooper said out loud. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"What?" He had to tell her, there was no use lying.

"The beasts... they're here," he replied as he walked toward her. "Come on, let's go home."

"They're here right now?!" Amelia asked frantically. Cooper shook his head.

"No, it's not close enough to sundown, but I'm done for the day." Amelia agreed - she was done, too.

"We can't kill them all, there's no point in that, but they're just going to inch closer and closer to us. They're remarkably brave; we were the first humans that the ones at the unit had ever seen and they didn't hesitate to come after us." Amelia was huddled up on the sitting room couch, reliving having to literally shoot them off of Cooper. "These obviously aren't from the same pack, but if they're anything like their cousins back at base, they'll start coming toward the house."

"What do we do? Are they everywhere on this planet or at least this continent? If they attack people, they have to be eradicated." She was right, but there were consequences.

"If you wipe out the majority of them, how is it going to alter their food chain? Who knows, maybe there is an animal even bigger that goes after them, or maybe they prey on things that we haven't seen - some other animal - that is just as dangerous. Then you've got more of those." Cooper was trying to look at it from both angles, but it was difficult.

"We've got to let headquarters know. They need to know that these things are everywhere. If they want to build towns here where people can feel safe to walk on the sidewalks at night, they've got to go."

Cooper heard a snap in his head, like a good idea. "The shields! If they can't get in, no one can get hurt." Amelia shook her head.

"But then it makes it a hassle to leave. With us it was fine, but this place will likely be industrialized: cars, tractor trailers, interstates, and you can't block people from everything." She was right, they would have to be eradicated.

"I'll message Pates now."

That afternoon, three lander-like planes flew in.

"I've got crews setting up surveillance all over the woods now. I'll have drones cover the area nightly, too." Pates made a few notes on his tablet. "They only come out at night, right?"

"From what we have experienced, yes, they begin to appear at dusk" Cooper responded, watching teams drive toward the woods. "This is fucking unbelievable. Sorry for my language, but it is."

"No, Cooper, I understand. You all had to fight them off on your own before." Pates looked at Amelia, she'd been silent the entire meeting. "Are you okay, Dr. Brand?"

Amelia mustered up a closed-mouth smile. "Yeah. Well... I will be." She looked as if she was far away, lost in thought somewhere.

"I just-" Cooper laughed to himself, hands on his hips, "that was the last thing either of us needed to run into right now." Cooper looked over at Amelia. She was still on the couch, looking into nothingness. Cooper motioned for Pates to come outside with him. "Sit down here, Pates. Lemme tell you somethin'."

They both sat down on a bench on the front porch. "Amelia's got a special dislike for those things. The first time we saw one, I shot it down and ran with her over my shoulder back to the unit, then another time she had to stop them from nearly killing me. Not long before you all got here, actually. Well, she shot and killed six of 'em; she's an impressive shot, by the way. Anyway, we've had to deal with those things since I got here. She never ventured out far enough by herself to see them before I arrived."

"That's natural that she would dislike them," Pates replied, "I think I'd hate anything that tried to kill the kids or Hodge."

"Bingo." Cooper watched as robots much more advanced than TARS and CASE walked across the fields, humans at their sides. "She's got this fear of somehow losing me to some sort of tragic death, which is understandable considering what I- well, what I'm saying is that she's going to be paranoid until something gets done about this. She's gonna want a rough estimate of how many of these things there are in the area, and she's going to want to know whenever one is killed."

"The largest shield we could install would have a one mile radius." That was bigger than what they'd had before.

"That would be great," Cooper nearly whispered. "She's so determined to get work done - she thrives on it, making a new discovery. She won't leave this house if something drastic doesn't happen."

Pates said with a sigh. "I am so sorry about all of this."

"Not your fault, man. Not your fault. We went lookin' for nature, a new home; we found it. No one said it would be easy."

"No," Pates paused, sadly chuckling, "no, they did not." Pates looked over at Cooper. "You two have had one hard blow after the other, haven't you?"

"Big and small," Cooper replied, "Just since we've got here we've realized we won't be getting much done until the cold weather goes out, which could be a while, and now this." Cooper heard something much like a helicopter. "Did you send out for more crews?"

"I didn't." Both of the men got up and walked out from under the porch. "Sweet Jesus."

"Hart?" Cooper guessed.

"Yep. Right on the money." Cooper and Pates waited as the very-modern helicopter landed. "Why is she here? There's nothing she can do about this."

"She just likes to have her nose in everyone's business. She might be over NASA, but she really has no business here with this situation. Sure, fly in for a meeting about this tomorrow or in a few days, but to jump in now?" They both watched as she exited the aircraft.

"Hi, boys!" Cooper thought she sounded a little too thrilled to be there, especially over what they were dealing with.

"Hey, Dr. Hart," Cooper muttered, "Come on in." Pates and Hart followed Cooper back into the house. "Sit down, we'll tell ya what we know."

Amelia saw Hart walk into the house and froze. What is she doing here? She shot up from her spot on the couch and walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, Dr. Brand! You're here!" Hart smiled at her in that way that creeped her out.

Where else would I be? "Yeah, I was just in the other room." Amelia sat down at the kitchen table, everyone following her lead.

"Dr. Hart, Cooper messaged me about the incident and I brought crew out as quickly as I cou-"

"Well yes Ted, I know that." What a bitch, Amelia thought.

"I think he's just trying to tell you what the play by play has been," Amelia blurted out, everyone staring at her.

"Yeah, um, so we got crews out here quickly, and they're setting up surveillance throughout the forest right now, and I was just about to message them to put up poles in the fields to attach surveillance equipment to. Oh, and a shield," Ted muttered.

Hart sat up straight and smiled as if she was the only smart one at the table. "A shield?"

"Yeah, a shield. There's a lot of research we're going to have to conduct at night and I don't want to risk one of those things coming up to the house," Cooper explained calmly. Hart rolled her eyes.

"They won't come up to the house," she retorted, looking at Amelia.

"They came up to the unit. They ran right up to Cooper and attacked him. They've never seen humans before and they're not scared at all; of course they'll come up to the house," Amelia replied to Hart, leaning over the table slightly. "Look, if we're going to get any research done, I'm going to need that shield. You haven't had to deal with these little bastards face to face, and for your sake, I hope you don't have to, but I have. I know what I'm talking about." Cooper was happily surprised to see her stand up for herself. She'd been too shy to since the stations had been coming in.

"Dr. Brand, don't you think you're overreacting?" Hart replied; Amelia scoffed at her.

"Okay, Lynn, I'll tell you what; we'll give you a gun and you can go out to the woods at sunset. Let me know how it works out for you." Amelia was smiling evilly now.

"Dr. Brand!" Pates had pushed his seat back to get a better view of the action.

"You know, Dr. Hart, to act like you want the best for us, especially for Cooper, you're doing a terrible job at it. We are all you've got as far as expert advise on what it's actually like to deal with anything on this planet, or anything about having your feet on rock for that matter, so if you want our help, you'll let the crews put up the shield." Cooper felt like clapping for her at this point.

"We'll do the shield," Hart said in a defeated tone, looking over at Pates. "Mr. Pates, go make sure the crews start on it now."

"On it." Pates got up from the table and walked out the door.

"I think we've had enough for today. Maybe you can take some time to calm down, Dr. Brand," Hart stated, looking directly at Amelia.

Amelia smiled more gently this time. "Oh, you've seen nothing," she said as she got up from the table, stood up straight and went upstairs.

"Is she alright?" Cooper had to stop himself from smiling.

"Of course, she's fine. She's just very passionate about things when she knows she's right."