Chapter 2: City Slicker

Cal made his way deeper into the city, his industrial surroundings giving way to more familiar architecture, the buildings growing taller the further he went. It was such a stark change, going from an endless expanse of open plains to having sheer walls of glass rising up to either side of him like a canyon. He left the road, proceeding along pedestrian walkways that crisscrossed above it, the occasional small park or plaza suspended above the vehicles that passed below. When he crossed above a railway track, he had an opportunity to see one of the huge transport trains barreling through the city on its way to the tether. It was three stories tall and almost as wide, the empty trailers that followed behind it seeming to go on forever. Just like everything else on the planet, the trains were oversized and overengineered, just the sound of it enough to shake the support pillars.

Cal’s leather and denim garb wasn’t unusual, but his choice of companion was, and he got some looks from the other pedestrians. Most people gave him a wide berth as he passed, others stopping to stare at the exotic animal, unsure of what to make of it. Kevin was larger than any Earth dog, and his fearsome appearance made him intimidating to everyone except young children. To them, he was nothing more than a giant teddy bear, and he was all too happy to play the part when the opportunity arose. It was hard to believe that the Rask had bred these hounds for war.

He didn’t even need a map – he just had to follow the tether to reach the administrative district where the federal offices were located. He eventually reached a wide plaza with an ornate fountain in its center that depicted some important historical figure, a few squat local trees cultivated in planters lining its edges. The government building was on the far side, Franklin and UN flags billowing in the breeze just outside its glass atrium. On his way, he was stopped by a pair of PDF troopers clad in camouflaged body armor, the visors on their helmets open to show their faces. They were carrying XMRs – cutting-edge EM weapons that were easily identifiable by the signature copper coils that lined the barrels beneath their heat shrouds. They were more for show than for any practical purpose in a place like this.

The Navy didn’t have the manpower to garrison troops across all of human space simultaneously, so local defense was handled primarily by the Planetary Defense Forces and various civilian militias that could be called up in times of need. It depended on the culture of the colony in question, but in a lot of places, the PDF also filled the role of police and peacekeepers.

“Sorry, sir,” one of the men began as he raised a hand to stop Cal. “I’m gonna need to see your permits before I can let you enter Federal property.”

“No worries,” Cal said, handing the trooper his phone. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“Firearms license checks out, and you’re licensed to own ... whatever that is,” he added warily with a nod to Kevin. “Go right ahead, sir.”

Cal passed the two men and entered the atrium of the building through a glass door, finding himself in a lobby lined with pillars of the blue-green marble that was so prevalent on the planet, the floor paved with polished granite. Hanging from the pillars were more oversized flags, tracing the history of the colony from its first founders all the way to the present day. There was a tattered flag of the old United States from Earth that must be a few hundred years old, along with several from specific states the colonists had hailed from. Another marked company holdings from the early Expansion period. He saw a Franklin flag with stars representing each city that had joined the federation, and there was a UN flag from the unification. He could also see the UNN banner – the Navy’s crest depicting the cross of Earth with a stylized nautical star, a sword and an anchor crossed behind it.

As he greeted the receptionist with a wave – the woman staring at Kevin in bewilderment from behind her desk – he walked past the rows of marble busts that lined the room. Like the statue outside, they depicted revered figures from the colony’s history. Some were founding fathers, including the man from which the colony derived its name, and others were more recent. It was all very Greco-Roman, reminiscent of the architectural styles of old America, itself an imitation of the great empires that had preceded it.

Cal had always found it a little tacky. Franklin’s story was one of rugged individuals braving the wilds – homesteaders and ranchers conquering a frontier filled with alien dangers, light-years from any real form of government. The first outposts had been company towns driven by profit, not glittering halls filled with marble busts and preening politicians.

At the end of the lobby was an elevator, and he rode it up, pulling out his phone to double-check his appointment as he waited for the doors to open again. His next stop was a similarly lavish waiting room, and he took a seat in one of the padded leather chairs, Kevin lying down at his feet. The secretary greeted him from behind her desk, pausing to watch the dog curiously before resuming her work.

After a few minutes, she spoke up, lifting her eyes from her display.

“Mister Briggs? The minister will see you now.”

“Kevin, stay,” he commanded as he rose to his feet. He shrugged off his rifle and left it leaning against the chair, the hound waiting obediently. “Don’t worry – he’s a good dog,” he added as he walked over to the door.

Beyond it was an office with a carved wooden desk that looked to be worth more than Cal made in a year, a brass eagle perched on its surface. The minister was wearing a neat suit, looking up from a computer display as Cal entered, framed by a large window that looked out over the city. He was a man in the later years of middle age, his features softened by his privileged position, his thinning hair still clinging stubbornly to life.

“Ah, Mister Briggs,” he began as he gestured to a chair opposite him. “Please take a seat.”

“I have your report ready, minister,” Cal replied as he sat down. He pulled up his phone and swiped the screen, sending the file to the minister’s console. “I think you’ll find it very encouraging. Pretty much every metric that I was asked to measure ended up beyond our projections. If you wanted a glowing endorsement of your ecological policies, here it is. In brief, native populations are starting to bounce back much more quickly than the initial data suggested. The preserves are showing encouraging progress, and I saw nothing to indicate that local ranchers and homesteaders aren’t abiding by environmental regulations.”

“Very good, very good,” the minister muttered as he glanced over the data briefly. “Hopefully, this will stop the senators from yapping about our budget allocation. Some of those old coots don’t seem to understand that it takes more than a single financial quarter for an ecosystem to recover.”

“I have to ask,” Cal continued, prompting the man to look up from his display. “I could have sent you the report over the air, and you could have wired me my consultancy fee without any need for a face-to-face. Why did you ask me to come in person?”

“I’m glad you asked,” he replied with a smile. “Now that your assignment for my office is complete, I’ve received a rather interesting request. It came straight down from our counterparts in the UN, actually. The United Academy of Sciences has been asking after you.”

“Really?” Cal asked, cocking an eyebrow. “What does the UAS want with me?”

“They’ve been searching for a candidate to take on a survey job. I’ll send you the data, but to summarize – it’s a mission to a mostly uncharted planet filled with dangerous fauna that needs to be cataloged and evaluated so that the new colony can minimize its ecological impact. They need someone with a background in exobiology and conservation, but who knows how to handle a rifle.”

“Well, I do fit that description,” Cal conceded as he raised his phone to read the message. “How dangerous are they talking? I’m not going to Kerguela...”

“Epsilon Eridani Four,” the minister replied.

“Can’t say I’m familiar with it.”

“Neither was I, but from a cursory glance, it appears to be a jungle world liberated from the Bugs in 2620. It’s barely been touched for the last seven years because it was largely unsuitable for human habitation, but some of our Coalition allies have begun an earnest attempt to civilize it. You can be a hard man to find, and I suppose they traced your last known whereabouts to me.”

“Seeking an ecological consultant ... all expenses covered ... generous pay,” Cal muttered as he briefly scanned the offer. “A little too generous if you ask me.”

“Well, they put in the effort to find you,” the minister added. “They clearly have their hearts set on Calvin Briggs. I doubt that there are many candidates with your background, and even fewer who aren’t off chasing rainbow spiders or teaching African elephants to paint, or whatever it is you people do when I’m not keeping track of you.”

“It feels like they could have messaged me directly,” Cal said, giving the man a skeptical look.

“I may have implied that you would be unreachable until our contract had concluded,” the minister replied with a smug smile. “Couldn’t have you distracted from your work.”

“Naturally,” Cal grumbled.

“You’re a freelancer – you don’t work for me,” the minister continued as he leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “You’re free to do as you please, of course. I just wanted to pass it on as a courtesy. If you want my advice, though ... take the job. With what they’re offering, you could come back to Franklin in a yacht.”

“It must be dangerous, or they’d be paying me the way you do,” Cal joked.

“I am but a humble public servant,” the minister laughed, the motion making his portly frame shake beneath his expensive suit. “As I said – lots of ado about budgets and funding.”

“Fortunately, the animals are more important to me than the money.”

“If we could afford to pay every man what he deserved, we’d be bankrupt in a day,” the minister chuckled. “You’ve done a lot of good for Franklin, Mister Briggs,” he continued in a more earnest tone. “Few people besides me will ever really be in a position to appreciate it. Thanks to your efforts, we’re a little closer to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the colony. Perhaps this job offer is the Universe recognizing that.”

“If the Universe wants to cut me a check, who am I to refuse?” Cal replied as he stood up.

The minister reached across the table to offer his hand, and Cal shook it.

“You should spend some time in town while you think it over,” the minister said. “Restock your supplies – relax a little.”

“And inject some of my consultancy fee back into the local economy,” Cal added.

“Couldn’t hurt.”

They said their goodbyes, and Cal returned to the waiting room, picking up his rifle and whistling for Kevin to follow him.

“What’s your educated opinion, Kev?” Cal asked. He pulled a piece of beef out of his sandwich and tossed it to the dog, Kevin wolfing it down in a few bites. “It’s a lot of money, and it’s a chance to tread some truly untouched ground. Who knows what we might find out there. It’s dangerous, though. They wouldn’t be offering such a good contract if it was going to be a walk in the park.”

They were sitting in one of the elevated gardens that were suspended above the train tracks, eating some fast food from a street vendor. Cal relaxed back into the metal bench, lifting his head to watch a passenger car race its way up the tether high above, gradually building speed. At this distance, he could see the way that it hugged the cable, the tiny windows giving him some sense of its scale.

The dog tilted his head, watching expectantly as Cal took a bite of the sandwich.

“We could stay on Franklin, but it’s just more of the same. Besides, I feel like the feds have a pretty good handle on the situation now. We should probably go somewhere we can actually make a difference. A whole planet that’s just a jungle ... think about what might be hiding in there.”

He tossed the hound another piece of meat, Kevin’s jaws snapping as he snatched it out of the air.

“You’re right, Kevin,” Cal said with a nod. “It’s too good of an opportunity to pass up. It’ll be quite the journey, though. You can’t exactly get out and stretch your legs when you’re on a spaceship. I don’t want you going stir crazy.”

The dog whined, and Cal fed him the last bite of his sandwich.

“Alright, alright,” Cal conceded. “You’re the boss. I’ll let them know that we accept.”

He took some time to type a reply on his phone, then sent it off. They would need accommodation and food for Kevin during the journey to Epsilon Eridani, or no sale. Franklin was located in the Tau Boötis star system, a hair over fifty light-years from Earth. According to the travel itinerary, EE-4 was approximately sixty light-years from Franklin. That was about five months of travel time as the liner flew – not anything to scoff at. He could ask them for a Courser, and with what they were offering to pay, they might actually agree to charter one. Coursers were much smaller ships optimized for speed over comfort. Still, it would only shave a couple of months off the journey, and spending twelve weeks cooped up in a Courser’s bay seemed like a less desirable prospect than spending twenty weeks riding in luxury. Maybe he should treat it like an all-expenses-paid vacation – a free cruise.

“You’ll probably want a little more room to move around,” he said, reaching down to scratch Kevin behind the ear. “Maybe a liner will have some open spaces where you can run around and play fetch. I bet they have facilities for pets. They’d have to, right? Nobody wants to leave their dog in a kennel for half a year.”

The consultancy fee came through that evening, and Cal spent a couple of days in a hotel in the city while he waited to hear back from the UAS. As he had expected, they agreed to his terms, and they had reserved him suitable accommodations on a cruise liner. It wasn’t going directly to Epsilon, as there was nothing on the burgeoning colony planet that would interest tourists, but it would bring him close enough that he could take a chartered Courser from one of the stops along the way. The UAS were really pulling out all the stops to get him to EE-4, and as much as he appreciated them making the journey as convenient as possible, it was setting off alarm bells. What exactly was he walking into?

When the time came to leave, he took his rucksack and his duffel, then led Kevin out of the hotel. Cal had left Franklin before. His conservation work had taken him to Earth, where he had spent a few years working in the African Union, but he had spent the majority of his life living on the colony. It sounded like this trip was going to be even longer than that, and he wasn’t sure when he’d be back. Travel across inhabited space was neither quick nor very convenient.