Holdum was the first to get out of the boat with his paralyzer, followed by Abis and Dak, squinting and inhaling new, unfamiliar smells. Tana led her charge, gently supporting him by his healthy arm.
The boat lay at the beginning of a “surf” slope of small pebbles and loose rocks. The lower part of the craft was deformed. The brake engine nozzles were twisted outward, and the landing struts, which had not fully emerged, were flattened by the bottom. The parachute that had been shot off just in time was being carried by the wind along the hill. Below, the shoreline began, extending far to the right and left. On both sides it ended with rocky capes, hardly visible from here. Ahead, the turquoise-colored water stretched to the horizon, glistening under the rays of the yellow light high in the sky. Small white clouds floated across the sky. Above the boat, the steepness of the slope began to grow and blocked the view in the opposite direction from the shore. But that was where the strange smell of what they thought was the local vegetation was coming from.
– Well, that’s not bad at first glance, – said Holdum with a smirk.
– You know, I’ve read somewhere that these are the kind of planets where you have to keep your eyes open! – Jum said cautiously. – They’re relaxing and distracting in appearance, and then one day some creature eats your head!
Abis and Dak nodded in agreement.
– I agree, let’s not relax. We know nothing about fauna and flora, – agreed Holdum.
– And yet it is terribly beautiful and breathes well here! At least for now, – Tana sighed.
– Let’s go up the hill, shall we? I’d love to see what’s on the other side. And where does that wonderful smell come from? – Jum said excitedly.
– Well, if you can walk, – said Holdum doubtfully, – then let us walk. Wait a minute, though. Abis, would you mind fetching my luggage? It’s next to my chair. It’s strapped to the wall.
Abis rushed back into the boat and five minutes later pulled out a plastic box of “scouting gear”. It contained two optical enlargers, a positioning device, a water supply for everyone, and signal light “shots” in a set with military-style paralyzers.
– We won’t go far today! – said Holdum in a confident tone. – We’ll make a small reconnaissance of the area, determine the location, audit the equipment and everything necessary for survival, and then set up a temporary camp. Jum, how are you?
– I’m okay, thanks. I don’t know if I can walk much, though.
– Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. After all, am I a scout or what? I’ve got something among the loaded equipment that can be very useful in our situation, – Holdum smiled contentedly. – I just need to check that my cargo has survived the landing.
– So this suitcase is not all your cargo? – Dak exclaimed in surprise.
– If you look at each box separately, an uninitiated person will not say that there is something not quite necessary for a geologist or a climatologist, but if you screw a part from one box to a part from another box, you get… Anything can happen! – Holdum smiled again. – Shall we go for a walk? Dak will help Jum up the hill, for our lady is already tired. And you, Tana, take a good look around and appreciate the structure of this part of the land. Abis, the most important part of your research begins now. Here’s a optical enlarger. Observe and try to study the local wildlife. Our future lives may depend on you! – Holdum handed the device to Abis and, saying something in his ear, pointed to the crest of the hill. He began to climb up the hill at a brisk gait, getting a little bogged down in the small stones.
Once at the top, Abis took a close look at the surroundings through the optical enlarger, staring for a long time in the inaccessible for other direction beyond the crest. After ten minutes of observation, he waved to the others to come up. Taking a second enlarger, a signal shot, and a fully loaded paralyzer, Holdum, Jum and Dak, and Tana crawled to the summit ten minutes later, out of breath.
They could see the plain that began on the other side of the rampart. A dense, bluish-white fog swirled over the plain, stretching into the vast distance. At the foot of the rampart, where the fog was not so dense, one could see some brown scaly sticks of varying height and thickness sticking out above its surface. Some of them had a bunch of thin twigs or narrow leaves of a dark green color at the very top. To the left, very far away could be seen the mountains. But the mareva, coupled with the misty blanket over the plain, made their shape and color so erratic that it was impossible to determine their height or the presence of any vegetation.
– Wow! This is some terrain! – Jum, after a little breathing, said admiringly. – Do I think that this wonderful smell is coming from those broomsticks over there? – He pointed with his healthy hand to the plants sticking out of the fog.
– Maybe. I’m willing to bet that under the layer of fog there is a swamp that emits a completely different fragrance, – Abis said thoughtfully. – Did you notice those mountains over there? I tried to take a closer look at them: there was no obvious vegetation on them.
– It’s strange that this planet has so much oxygen with so little vegetation! – Dak joined the conversation.
– The atmosphere can be oxygenated by non-biological means. Under certain conditions it can also be released from rocks! – Holdum said instructively. – Now, since the atmosphere gives us a possibility to breathe without spacesuits, which, you must agree, is a great luck in our situation, and our inoculations and “techno-immunity” against alien microorganisms and other stuff are still working, let’s think about our salvation.
– May I say something? – Jum spoke again, carefully sitting down on loose stones, setting an example for the rest of the tired travelers. – Today I propose not to go anywhere. And it’s not even about my hand. It’s just that we need to take a good look around before we move. We’ll set up camp on the crest of this rampart. It’s safer. We’ll try to study the local wildlife. You know, so we know what to watch out for. We’ll get our bearings. Tomorrow we’ll move towards the main group’s landing site. If we can find one!
– Good suggestion! – Holdum noted with satisfaction. – For my part I can add the following… After setting up the camp we will establish a permanent duty. We will take turns in duty. I propose to exclude Tana from this list.
Tana shook her head indignantly.
– Well, all right, all right. Then Tana and Jum will be on duty together. Is that okay with you?
Everyone nodded.
– Okay. Next. I’ll need to bring all my suitcases along with the domes. There’s something I have to do. It’ll make our future a lot easier. Unless, of course, the instruments in those suitcases were damaged on landing. What we have in our first aid kit won’t heal your bones instantly, Jum, but it will do so for the foreseeable future. There don’t seem to be any complications. Unless the bone heals crookedly. It’ll give you that extra bit of glamor and make you look like an astronaut. What? No? I’m kidding. If something like that happens, it’ll be fixed in five minutes on the ship’s stationary instrument.
– Are you sure we’ll ever get to the ship? – Tana asked with hope in her voice.
– Almost one hundred percent!
– To be honest, I was beginning to fear that we wouldn’t be able to leave and would have to stay on this strange planet forever.
– Well, you just haven’t seen any strange planets yet, Uabju. This one’s pretty good. Trust me. Gather your strength! Well, let’s get started!
First Camp
For the rest of the day, Abis and Dak, bending under the weight of crates and drenched in sweat, hauled their