Austen asked his brother if he thought that there might be a MacDonnels on the planet, and Derek said, “Why not. We have one on the moon and one on Mars. Anything's possible.” Then Derek added, “Heck, we even have an All-mart on them.”
It was a perfect landing on the planet Kess in an area about the size of four football fields on Earth.
When the main hatch opened up on the One-Oh-One, everybody left the ship with great anticipation and slowly gathered into one big group outside. Outside, wow! A lot of Cadets thought they would never hear that word again, but here they were outside on a planet much like Earth. Kess’ beautiful landscape stretched to the horizon and touched everybody’s eyes and heart. They were all talking and looking around. Tommy was on his knees bent over kissing the grass. Everyone was taking in deep breaths for some reason. They were happy not to see a black sky for a while.
Austen and Derek walked over to Dale but kept silent to soak in the incredible event. They waited for everybody’s excitement to calm down a little. Then Austen said, “OK everybody listen up!” Everybody but JR focused on Captain Austen’s orders. “First rule is keeping your eyes open.”
Chapter 8
FOOD, WATER, FUEL…TROUBLE
Austen put Dale in charge of his science and engineering teams. He told them to move out and find some water and fuel. He was getting the cadets together to do just that.
Most of the crew was setting up camp by the ship. The hunting party was leaving the humans to go off on their own. When Derek noticed them leaving, he told his brother that was a good idea, and they should go find some food also. Austen saw the hunters leaving as well and said, “I wonder how we are going to stay in touch with them?” Dark emotions crossed Austen’s features, but they dissipated quickly.
JR was walking by with a picnic basket in one arm and the beautiful Kim in the other arm. He said, “What difference does it make. It’s not like we could communicate with the lizards anyway.” Kim winked at Derek as they passed everyone.
Kirk, Noah, and Qworn all wanted to know if they could go explore for a while, but Derek said, “Y’all aren’t going anywhere without an escort!” The captain grunted dubiously at them.
Kirk said, “Dad, Qworn said that the only things dangerous on this planet are cats, snakes and spiders.” Both captains looked unconscionably squeamish.
Austen said, “Snakes!”
Derek said, “Spiders!”
Kirk and Noah laughed, and Noah said, “Don’t worry; we’ll protect you guys.”
Austen was just thinking that he was glad everyone leaving the campsite was wearing lasers and that each group had a walkie-talkie with them.
During the trip to the planet, Will and Kirk were working on some chips that were called smart sensors. The tech was set up in the new chips and integrated into the walkies. No satellite was needed to reach one chip from another chip. It involved something called subspace instead of regular radio waves. The chips also turned just about anything into a computer. They could seek or scan, and play games, and were almost up to predicting the future if the right variables were entered.
Derek thought that if one in every three households on Earth bought one of Kirk’s probes - which had made a lot of money for his company, a hell of a lot of money - then he was sure that these smart chips were going to be gold. Of course, the military tried grabbing many of Kirk’s inventions for their own and failed to get them. So Derek wanted to keep a close eye on Will who helped Kirk come up with the smart chips. He looked around until he spotted Will and then called out his name. Will looked over and Derek was waving him over to join their party. Will acted like he was being picked for a sports game he was so excited. He hurried over anxiously, and said hello to everyone there.
The captains’ party started out. All the parties went in different directions except for JR. He, more or less, went in the same direction as the lizard men went. Kim and he only went so far as to be out of sight from the campsite. “This is a perfect place,” He said to Kim as he unfolded the blanket on the ground. Then while Kim was looking around, JR came up behind her and put his arms around her. She managed to get out of his hold without being too rude and asked him if he thought that there were any ants on the planet. JR said, “Hope not. I only brought enough for the two of us.”
Meanwhile the Lizard men were hunting what appeared to be a pack of dogs. What they didn’t know was that very large cats were also hunting them. This was the way of the planet Kess.
The dogs looked like your garden variety mutts and mongrels from Earth. The lizard men considered them delicious. The cats however were huge! They moved with stealth around the lizard men as they were closing in on the dogs. The lizard men were green and so were the cats, almost the same green. The lizard men were hunting and the hunted.
They were just about to attack the dogs. Shlizz gave the silent order to attack when one of his buddies stepped on something strange, and that is when all hell broke loose. Other than that, it was a very beautiful day.
The captains’ crew was walking toward a dense forest. Kirk caught something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned around it was gone. He thought it might be his imagination. He wasn’t sure, so he aimed his walkie in that direction and initiated a scan. He had a feeling he was being watched, but the scan was inconclusive. He initiated another scan, but still nothing.
Austen picked some mushrooms and put them in a sack. Qworn had let him know that the mushrooms were hallucinogenic, but they tasted good. Derek asked Austen, “Medicinal purposes?”
Austen smiled and said, “Sure, why not?” Derek started helping him.
Noah and Will were pulling what looked like turnips and onions from the ground filling their sacks with them. Kirk was now scanning ahead and said, “I’m picking up a lot of silicon in the forest directly ahead.” The captains looked disconsolately at the forest.
Qworn typed on Kirk’s lap-top, “That is where the spiders live. The silicon you’re picking up is from their webs, and the forest is full of it.” Kirk smiled as he read the laptop.
Kirk said, “Dad, the spiders live in the forest.” He said it mockingly, and he and Noah were laughing about it. They doubled over laughing when they saw the expression on his face. Spiders gave Derek nightmares.
Derek said, “Alright people, we’re going this way,” and he was pointing at a plateau away from the forest. It was either that or the jungle to the far right. Austen was clucking like a chicken, and everybody except Derek and Qworn were laughing.
Will said, “How cool is this being on a whole new planet in a whole new galaxy?”
Noah was pointing at a small lizard that was close by and asked, “Hey, Qworn, is that guy one of your relatives?” Just as he finished his question, and as quick as a bullet, Qworn reached out, caught it and crammed it into his mouth. Noah looked disgusted and answered his own question with a "No."
Kirk told his dad that it was a shame that they weren’t going into the forest because he needed some of that silicon to fix some of the ship’s transistors and solar power cells. Derek told him not to worry about it and that he would send a team to the forest later on.
Once again, Kirk thought that he saw something over his shoulder and said, “Dad, I think we’re being followed.” He did another scan but still zilch.
Austen said, “Let’s just hope it’s friendly.” Then he thought, Please be friendly.
The science team was at the bottom of a mountain side. They found a creek of running fresh water. They filled their containers and half of the team was carrying the containers back to get some more empties. Dale contacted Captain Austen and told him of the good news.
The science and engineer teams all wore black jumpsuits. In addition, the heat on the planet was almost