Meteor Shooters on Elatha

By C E Chester

When the Meteor Shooters Association is dispatched out to a plant world that mysteriously killed everyone that tried to colonize it, Rachael is excited to see the research station she's dreamed of working at. She just hopes her theory on the source of the neurotoxin is incorrect, otherwise the team will be in more danger than they anticipate.&nb

• Language: English
• Publisher: C E Chester
• Release date: Mar 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798988722762

Book preview

1

A loud cheer interrupted Rachael Perazzi's concentration. She sighed and looked down at the lower right-hand corner of her holographic projection to see what time it was. To her surprise, it had been over four hours since she had last checked. Their flight should almost be at its destination.

Device. End program.

The scientific journal hovering in front of her disappeared. She picked up her personal computer from her chest, where she had laid it to center the projection, and slid it back on her finger. She spun it so the two cooling diamonds faced out. Then she adjusted the back of the chair so it rose into a sitting position.

She looked in the direction the noise had come from, to see an athlete on the largest screen celebrating. The people between her and the screen did a similar dance as the human male in the sports uniform. It appeared around a quarter of the passengers all rooted for the same team.

Rachael got up and stretched, glancing around the flight cabin. It was a private flight taking the Meteor Shooters Association out to where the next storm was predicted to hit. Their protocol had been recently amended giving Janek, and his ship 'Betty', the contract to take them out to and returning them from all their matches.

She surveyed the twenty-three members that, along with her, made up the association. They had a reputation for being crazy. Anyone that traveled out to a location about to be destroyed by falling space rocks and used weapons powered by dark energy to stop it wouldn't be considered sane. This bunch had turned it into a competition and shot every chance they got. It averaged out to two matches a year.

Chase approached her on his way back from the galley. His slender blue face lit up with a smile. Zuexine were a four-winged avian species, with a three fingered hand at the end of each of his wings. He had a drink in each of his upper hands and a bowl of snacks in his lower ones.

You look nice.

She looked down at her beige slacks and green silk top that showed all types of leaves, stacked one on top of the other. The outfit had been a gift to herself on her forty seventh birthday. Being a little too nice to wear in her hydroponics lab, it usually only came out of her closet when she had to go to the corporate offices.

These are my work clothes.

I'm used to seeing you in that old, faded sweatshirt.

My lucky shirt. She chuckled. That's downstairs in my bag.

He stood in front of her with his eyes roaming over her head. It's not just your clothes, you've grown your hair out.

She ran her fingers through the straight brown strands that now touched her shoulders. A change from trimming it at her jawline for the last decade. Ironically, I've found it's easier to handle when it's longer. I can pull it back when I don't have time to deal with it.

His eyes still scanned both sides of her face. And it looks nice.

He turned away from her and continued to a table on the other side of the room. She sighed in relief. She knew, being human, he wasn't interested in her romantically. Still, the compliment made her feel uncomfortable. But Chase was a real friend that not only said flattering remarks without any expectations, he was also polite enough to see her discomfort and leave before the situation became awkward.

Someday I'll figure out how to take a compliment, but I'm not going to worry about that today.

Once again, she looked around the cabin. The competitors had made themselves right at home. Both tall liquor cabinets had been fully stocked before takeoff, and just about everyone had a drink in hand. They all had to be sober to compete, so the flights to and from were one of the few opportunities they had to kick back and enjoy an alcoholic beverage. There were bowls and plates on every table holding snacks or the crumbs left over from one.

All four screens were being used to show different games. People, some human and some not, surround them hooting and hollering for their team to win. She knew not to bother asking anyone if she could change the display; no one else in the room would be interested in watching their approach to the planet. She had never paid attention to landing either, but she had never been to Elatha before.

One screen on board had to display the images from the forward sensors; the one in the cockpit. Oh great, I have to go down into the bowels of the ship. She sighed and headed towards the stairs.

You're supposed to think positively, and be grateful there is a way to see Elatha without disturbing the guys. She had recently decided to change her negative thought patterns by keeping her inner dialog positive. Some days she did better than others.

On the way there, she dropped off her drink bottle in the waste receptacle. Then she forced her back straight, like she would before doing any task she didn't look forward to.

She had gotten off on the wrong foot with the pilot when they were introduced. He had acted juvenile, gushing on about having a crush on her since he saw her compete when he was just a boy. She had her normal anxiety about receiving compliments, so the whole thing became touchy. She admitted she had reacted poorly. Since then, the two of them had come to an agreement; as long as he didn't make advances towards her, she would be civil with him.

She went down the steps into the cargo hold. Totes were stacked along one wall and their luggage sat on shelves. The center, and majority of the room, sat bare. She went past all of that, to the open door in the far bulkhead. She could hear Janek singing to himself inside.

Grinning, she stepped through the door, but stopped as soon as she crossed the threshold. Seeing the blue and green planet on the display screen made her halt. No bigger than her fist, she had gotten there in time to see the whole approach.

Oh, hey. I didn't expect to see you down here. The pilot said.

Reluctantly, she forced her eyes away from the screen and over to him. Being Acorian, he had pale skin and purple hair and eyes. The curve of his lip was a little flat compared to how it normally looked. She was grateful he spoke fluent Earthing, so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings.

I'm not here to see you. I just want to watch our approach.

His normal smile returned as he went back to manning the controls. I wasn't aware you have a phobia about flying.

She snickered. I don't. If we were going anywhere else, I wouldn't care to watch. This place is special, so I don't want to miss a moment of it.

Oh. He cleaned off the co-pilot seat and motioned for her to sit down. With the stories I've heard about this place, I thought people would be reluctant to come here. I mean the first two colonies were wiped out without an explanation.

Perazzi looked him over, hesitant to climb between the seats. It would be very easy for him to trap her there. She inhaled twice, to fully inflate her lungs, and then slowly exhaled. The physiological sigh calmed her, just like she knew it would. This isn't the man that hurt me. In fact, since she had explained she wasn't interested in him, he had been very polite.

Still, she looked at the console and found where the touch screen turned on the intercom system. If something did happen, she'd be able to scream for help and the whole ship would hear it.

She slid into the seat, watching him the whole time. Janek stared at the panel in front of him as he made adjustments. When he didn't say anything, she finally turned back to the large screen in front of her. The planet already looked bigger than it had just a moment before.

Do you want to tell me about it? The Acorian asked.

She looked over at him with her lips pressed firmly together.

Or would you prefer a moment of silence?

The human sighed. Half of Elatha is land and ninety percent of that is covered in vegetation. There are no animals, so early colonist thought it would make a good settlement, since there aren't any predators or sentient beings to contend with. Both that tried were dead soon after touching down on the surface.

When he stayed quiet and kept his eyes on the gauges in front of him, she continued. "Later, scans revealed that nothing with a nervous system had evolved on the planet. Robots were sent down, and pockets of neurotoxic gases were found at ground level.

There is one rocky plateau high above the tree canopy, so a research station was established to study the plants and to find the source of the gas. I'm a biologist and would love to work here. I want to see how plants evolved without insects and animals to aid in their pollination.

Have you applied for a job? His purple gaze flicked to her before looking up at the subject of their discussion.

She laughed. Only about five times. The problem is they get hundreds of applications for each position. Everyone in the galaxy that studies plants wants the chance to come here. I've made it as far as a video conference with the hiring team, but I've never been a finalist that got to come out here and see the place first hand. Since it's so remote, they only bring the top four applicants out here to meet the people already on staff and see the facility.

And now you have the opportunity to shake hands and introduce yourself without any other candidates. He flashed a quick smile.

She nodded her head. So, not only do I have the nervous butterflies for a match, but I also have the ones I get before a job interview. Her openness surprised her, but his relaxed demeanor made her feel at ease.

Purple eyebrows went up. You still get butterflies? But you've been shooting for like...

Twenty years. She finished his sentence. And I still get excited and nervous. Van said he still has the same reaction after eighty years. I guess there is too much danger involved for us to get bored, and we don't get to do it often enough for it to get monotonous.

She had responded with her eyes locked on the screen in front of her. When the silence drew out, she glanced over at him. His smile had turned impish.

Well, you know, if it's too much I could shoot for you. I've logged about three hundred hours on Van's simulator.

Janek was not only their pilot, but also training to join the team. Rachael didn't want to think about that, because she knew her friend Van would be retiring soon. There were only twenty four platforms, so you had to wait for someone to retire or die to join the association. She had taken Bei's spot. Equipment getting passed from one person to another was part of the sport. It still made her sad to think that in the not too far future another one of her friends wouldn't be making the trips with them.

She looked back at the man at the controls with a hopeful expression. Not a chance, fly-boy. I got some feedback during the last match that has changed the way I think about things. I think I might finally win.

His jaw dropped. You've never won before? In all that time?

She shook her head. I've been gradually improving, but I haven't made the top spot, yet. My best, so far, was sixth place. This sport isn't for the faint of heart, or someone that wants to win every time. Every match is different, and even the people that usually place in the top five can have a bad day and end up at the bottom.

He had a pensive expression as he nodded along with everything she said. She thought it was a good sign he didn't look disheartened. He might have what it takes to be a part of the squad, after all.

She looked back at the screen. The planet was about the size of Janek's head. She still couldn't see any detail, just green splotches surrounded by blue. It looked just like the picture in she saw in college.

Janek gave her a sheepish grin. I'm sorry, I need to switch to another sensor for a moment.

That's fine.

The passenger cabin showed on the screen in front of her. It looked the same as it had when she'd left.

Hey, everyone. You might have felt we've started decelerating to counter Elatha's gravitational pull. We will do half an orbit around the planet, and then will be lined up to enter the atmosphere. Since we're landing on the surface, I need all items in the cabin secured, including yourselves. Thank you.

She reached down and fastened her seat belt. He watched long enough to see people take their dishes to the galley before switching the view back to Elatha. They were now close enough she could see white swirls of clouds.

I know this is a passenger ship, and not a research vessel, but you have sensors for monitoring the full spectrum of light waves, right?

Yeah.

Can you set them all to record our approach and landing? I'd really like to see what kind of data can be collected.

He moved his left hand and tapped a far panel. Done.

She had hoped to make this landing with a group of scientists, not with the guys she shot with. But, in reality, she was just happy to be here, even if it was only for a few days. Now, she could say she'd seen the