New To Beven

Chapter 1

"So why couldn't we just send a drone?" I huffed, loudly, with shoulders hunched. My suit's hood covered a bare scalp, product of gene tech to keep unneeded blockers out of the ship's filters, when we were once on one. Not so much now.

We followed a game trail, so narrow, up a steep grassy slope to another rocky rise--me puffing dramatically all the while--and passed stone pillars similar to those that dotted our camp. Their orange red tint brought back memories of a U.S. National park back on Earth: the Garden of the Gods. As if we needed to feel any more insignificant while being the first humans to take up residence on this planet.

"Because she deserves this chance to stretch her wings," called my baby brother, Nate the Geek, but only I was allowed to call him that. Anyone else who dared would have to answer to his older sis. 

I might be shorter, but I packed more muscle than my gangly baby bro, who had already disappeared over the rise beside another sandstone pillar. "And because, even with our technology, it still won't compare with the perception of a native. Why are you complaining, Steph? This was partly your idea, remember? You're always begging off work."

"Work? Is that what you call it?"

All of the crew's tiny haulers were able to navigate this unstable terrain, but the big equipment had been abandoned. It wasn't needed anyway, so they said. Might as well have said I wasn't needed either. My official work was maintenance of the heavier transports. I could tinker with the small haulers, but the personnel regretted the last time they asked me to examine one of their finer tuned pieces of equipment. I told them I didn't do so well with the science instruments. But had they listened? I rolled my eyes again. Now, I was delegated to being an extra set of hands for holding this or pouring that, or usually collecting more samples. At least it got my hands dirty. We'd gone so far north, my brother and I, explorers on our own at this point.

I straightened, hands to my lower back, and exhaled, loudly. Okay, yeah, I had wanted to get out of that canyon, and boy howdy, was it worth it. A glittering lake rested below, rocky cliffs formed a far corner, but hulking beyond them were the Craggeds, black shards for peaks veined with silvery minerals and scraping the wispy clouds. To the left, where the cliffs broke, hills rolled endlessly, brushed by slanted rays from the rising sun. Fresh scents of surrounding plants, bitter and cool like sage, filled my eager lungs. Blood pulsed through my system, singing as usual, ever since we'd all drank the water on this planet.

Then she shrieked, and my eyes shot to the deep blue above. There she soared, tilting her black body, wings outstretched in glossy black and golden eyes piercing from a sable head. The hooked beak spoke of her regular diet, in which we hoped to partake as well. Lead us on, girl, to where the fishes swim in bounty.

She sure was a beauty now. Once an injured fledgling, ugly as all get out, a tangle of downy feathers that had rolled down a muddy slope with leathery legs and had a very anti-social habit of pecking. But then she took to Nate, and they'd become inseparable.

I made it to Nate's side, strained lungs breathing in his reliable vanilla latex odor. He wasn't watching her. Right now, he tapped at a screen strapped to his forearm, probably reviewing images from the camera attached on Raven's breast. She wasn't really a raven by the Earth definition, but the name suited her just the same.

"This lake does look promising. I wonder if she'll fish, indicating any innate skills."

"I'm sure she'll be better than the rest of us, especially the drones," I grudgingly conceded.

He smiled a bit and did a grunt-laugh without looking up.

She screeched again. That wasn't normally like her. Maybe she felt pure joy at the wind beneath her wings. I knew I would if I had her kind of equipment. My hand instinctively strayed to the foldable multi-tool Fellson in my pocket, next to my flashlight with extendable magnet that was able to flex or go rigid at the flick of a switch. I fingered the inscription, worn near indecipherable. I should have had it re-etched before embarking on this journey, but my brother had waited until the last moment to negotiate my accompaniment. He knew it would make them desperate to agree.