June 3, 3 Y.L.  

In the early days of Cathay settlement, the summer heat was unbearable.  Even sitting in the shade was miserable.  I was sitting in a camp tent set up near the site where we were building the Mothership Council compound.  The tent flaps were rolled up to let any chance of a breeze blow through, but the air was still except for a fan running off of a solar pack.  The fan was just blowing hot air on me.  

We were definitely roughing it.  Instead of managing the work up in the Mothership, we had decided to move my office and the rest of the Councilmembers' offices to the planet.  My desk consisted of a fold up table and a foldup chair covered with a pillow.  It wasn't much, but we wanted to be with the other colonists as we worked together to build Cathay up from a settlement into a real city.   

A charr fly had found its way into my tent from off the docks and was buzzing around my head, occasionally landing on my papers and leaving dark marks on them.  I knew how hard it was going to be to build a colony on a new planet, but that day, even the charr flies were getting on my last nerves.  At that moment, remembering the cool air on the Mothership, going back to the Sleep seemed like a good idea.   

I looked over to my aide's 'desk' near the entrance.  His chair was empty.  I thought he left the tent some 10 minutes ago. 

"Jerold!" I cried out, hoping he was outside.  

The only thing I heard in the background was the fan next to me as it droned on over the shouts and the noise from the building site in the distance.  The charr fly divebombed near my head again.   

"Please come kill this fly for me.  And please bring me more water!"  

The charr fly buzzed around the empty blue pitcher and landed on the side of the pitcher.  It buzzed as it sat there, taunting me.  If I killed it, it would leave not just a smear of black on the pitcher, but a sour smell.  I decided to ignore it, breathing slowly in the heat until I could almost imagine it had gone away.  I closed my eyes until I heard the footsteps come inside the tent.  He picked up the pitcher and set down something in its place.   

I opened my eyes to see Fitz, the newly appointed head of the Scouts that were exploring and mapping Kiannon. 

On the table, he had replaced the blue pitcher was a green pitcher full of water.   

Fitz looked like he always did, dressed in the blue and grey clothes issued by the Mothership, his brown handlebar mustache perfectly shaped and a smile in his brown eyes.  He held the old blue pitcher in his hands, cupping his hand over the charr fly.  He seemed to thrive in the summer heat.  He was a true child of Kiannon, rotten man.  I lifted the back of my shirt from my sweaty back, trying to catch a breeze from the fan.  

Fitz beamed at me and then bowed. 

"Your water, madam,"  he said.  "Wait, I forgot to bring you a new glass," he said.  

He rushed out with the blue pitcher and turned right.    

Most of the time Fitz showed up, he came with problems: people problems, resource problems and problems with a new group in Cathay that were creating problems for everyone.  None of these usually made me happy to see him.  Since he managed to sneak past Jerold he must have something big for me. 

I put my pen down and waited for him to come back in.  I poured a glass of water for myself, picked it up and looked down into the glass.  He had ice!  The glass was beginning to sweat against my palm.  I sipped and let the cool water trickle down the back of my throat and sighed.  I still felt like I was baking, but at least my throat wasn't dry.  

Fitz came back in with a determined look on his face.  How he had managed to get me a pitcher of ice water in the middle of the day buzzed at the back of my mind, but I ignored it.  I put the glass down and frowned at him.  I was not going be swayed.  I didn't want to look too pleased.  He was always trying to curry support for his projects.    

"Thank you for the water, Fitz."  

He stood there with an empty glass in his hand, slightly disappointed.

"I brought you a clean glass from the mess tent."  

"I didn't need a new glass.  Where's Jerold?" I asked, leaning over to look past him to the opening of the tent.  

He set the glass down by the pitcher.  

Usually by this time, my aide would have come running in here, trying to shoo Fitz out so I could get back to work.  

"He had a family emergency," he said.  

Did something happen to Jerold's daughter?  She was one of the first babies born on Kiannon, a month ago and we all doted on her.  I got up and rushed around the fold-up table that was my temporary desk.  I passed Jerold's desk near the entrance and tried to scan down the hill to the temporary shelters set up near the bay for newly landed colonists.  Other colonists were walking down the path that led to the shelters, but I didn't see Jerold.  

When I turned back to face Fitz he had a smile on his face. 

"No emergency," he said.  "It's Friday, Taryne.  I offered to sit in for him and shared a couple of fresh fish I caught earlier today.  And then I encouraged him to take the rest of the day off.  I told him you wouldn't mind."  

Fresh fish instead of the standard rations that we were getting from the Mothership.  I might have taken the day off. 

"Fitz!  I have a pile of reports to read through and things that I need his help with."

I walked past without looking at him and sat back down in my squeaky fold-out chair.  Honestly, if he didn't actually have anything to bring to my attention, why the hell was he here?  

I tried to refocus on the report I was reading about the area just beyond Cathay's limits.  We had no borders yet.  For now, we had set up force barriers to keep out anything that we hadn't discovered through the Mothership's scans.  According to the drone scans, the forest that lay just beyond the settlement's limits had small predators that were easily deterred by the barriers or by the noise that our building projects made.  I felt Fitz leaning over me to try to read upside down. 

I sat up quickly and he backed up to avoid my head catching him in the chin.  

"You still here?" I asked.  

Not answering, he yanked the report off my desk and spun away.  

"What could be so interesting on a Friday?  The Northern sector, huh?  Near the caves that go underneath the Eslen Mountains." he asked, looking over at me with a raised eyebrow.  

"That's a coincidence," he said, "I was hoping you would close up early today so that I could show you what we've discovered recently."  

Fitz knew that I wanted to explore the area just outside the landing zone.  I didn't want to ask what he had found.  Exploring Kiannon was much more interesting than sitting in my 'office' reviewing reports.  I glanced at my watch.  It was after 3pm.  And it was Friday.  

"Ok, Fitz, I'll bite.  What did your scouts discover?" 

He grinned and handed the paper back to me.  

"If you feel in a good spot for a break, I'd like to take you see something amazing!" he said.  

I sat back in my chair and looked at him.  Fitz had been a forest ranger before the Sleep.  He knew how to navigate and survive in the wilderness.  Whatever he found wasn't going to be easy for me to find later.  I might not ever find it.  His team had been over near the caves.  From the original pre-landing scans, there was nothing unusual about the caves.  

He waited, letting me stew in my curiosity.  

"Ok.  Let's go," I said.  I locked the reports away in a metal file cabinet behind me and thirty minutes later, we were standing outside of a cave near the base of the Eslen mountains, about 15 minutes outside of the settlement.  

After handing me a helmet, a handheld light and some gloves, Fitz led the way.  I put on the helmet and the gloves and turned the light on.  When he walked into a crack in the hill, I followed him, listening to the sound of his breath and smelling the faint smell of his aftershave.  As we moved further into the cave's passageways, the temperature dropped so much that I felt a slight chill on my face and hands.  I was glad I had grabbed a jacket before we left.  

"Keep your head low and don't move too fast.  There are sections of the ceiling that jut down," he said.  

As he said that, I nearly ran my head into an outcropping level with my forehead.  I bent over and began inching along after him. 

"How did you find this?" I asked him. 

I could almost hear the smile in his voice. 

"We were eating lunch after mapping this area a month ago.  Someone found the entrance and we blew off an entire afternoon trying to find out where it led."  

"You're not going to give me a hint about what we're going to see?"

"Nope - you've got to see this for yourself," he said.  

There a clatter and his light disappeared. 

"Fitz, are you ok?" 

There was a grunt and the sound of movement and I saw his light again. He turned in the passageway.  The light lit up the side of his face, which now had mud on his right cheek.

"I'll be fine if I take my time.  I'm a little bit too eager to show this to you.  Watch your step, the floor isn't even," he said.  Turning back around, he began moving again, slower this time.    

I followed his light until he disappeared through a wall.  A moment later, I stepped through the entrance into a larger chamber. 

The small narrow passageway we had crept along opened up into a wider space with stalactites that dangled from the high ceiling throughout the chamber.  Fitz stood further in, holding his light up so that I could see the chamber.  The ceiling of the room was a good 5 feet above our heads.  Behind him, the room seemed to stretch into darkness.  Did water flow through this cave?  The cool damp air pressed against my face.   

"Was this it?" I asked.

"No.  This is pretty awesome, but no," he said.  

"I haven't been in caves like this since Earth. The last time I saw something like this, I was 12 and on a school trip," I said looking up at the stalactites.  

When I entered the Sleep at 40, the Mothership was programmed to search for a planet that could sustain life.  And it had found one that seemed strangely similar.  It was hard to believe we were light years away from home.  Home and all of the people we left behind.  My father would have liked Cathay.  It was going to be like the beach town he grew up in before the ocean crept in and swallowed them.  

I held my light above my head to look closer at the stalactites, trying to blink away tears.  

"If this isn't it, what do you want me to see?" I asked.   

Fitz might have seen me crying, but he didn't say anything.  He turned and pointed behind me.  

"We go this way," he said.  He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.   

"Follow me," he said.  

The path was wider and taller, but it seemed to slope downhill.  We slowed down to avoid slipping on the damp rock.  After a few minutes more, the path split and went to the right.  I followed him into a cave with bioluminescent blue-green threads that hung from the ceiling.  Each thread looked like a series of blue and green jewels strung together.  Each thread caught the light from our handhelds and shimmered.  And there were hundreds of blue and green crystals threads that hung from the ceiling near the walls.  Each thread cast a soft greenish blue light and they swayed slightly.    

"What are they?" I asked.  

"I knew you'd like them.  They are similar to glowworms.  There were a number of caves on Earth like this one," he said.  

I moved toward them and reached out to touch one of the strands.  

Fitz caught my wrist. 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said.  

"Why not?"  

"Because they're made out of just water and wee,"

"Urine?" I asked, jerking my hand away and stepping back. 

Not looking, I stepped onto what turned out to be a very thin piece of shale that gave way under my boot.  The only satisfying thing about my fall was the expression on his face as he saw me fall through the hole that broke open beneath my feet.  He was probably thinking the entire Founders' Sect was going to have his head on a pike.  Good job killing off their leader.  Was he an AGP Plant?   

Those were my thoughts before I fell into the water that ran underneath the stone.  The water closed over my head and enveloped me in a cold embrace that glued my jacket and summer clothes to my legs and arms.  I sank a few feet and then my feet touched bottom.  Fortunately the water was slow moving.  If it had been moving faster, I would have been washed further underneath the rock.  

I grabbed hold of the side of the underwater cavern and pulled myself back to where I fell in.  I swam back up to the jagged hole, coughing up water.   I saw his pale, worried face peer through the hole at me.    

"Taryne!  Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Fitz," I said.  "Get me out of here.  The water is cold, but I hadn't planned on swimming in a cave this summer,"  

He left the opening.  

"Come on, Fitz!  This isn't funny."  

Through the jagged hole, the cavern I came from, with the glowworms and their glowing waste was dim.  Staring out over the water, I saw the same glowing light underneath the surface. Crap, was I drinking the glowworm urine? I ducked my head under the surface and opened my eyes to see a mass of bluish green light near the bottom of the cavern floor.  I glanced back up to the hole.  Did he leave me?  He must have gone to get help.  

Treading water was hard with my boots on, but I wasn't kicking them off.  I needed the boots.  Good thing the Mothership made sure we could at least tread water before they released the colonists or I'd be dead now.  The bluish green light was muddled and distorted through the surface of the water.  I ducked my head under the water to see more clearly.  My eyes didn't burn.  The water wasn't sea water.  I came up for air, then took in a deep breath and dove down to the bottom to get a closer look.  

The thought of contamination flickered through my mind.  The Mothership had not sent techs or drones this far beneath the surface.  If I was at risk, it was too late the moment I fell in and swallowed a cup or so of water.  I'll go straight back to the ship before I go back to the Compound.  The last thing we needed was a plague in the new settlement.  

I kicked my feet and swam closer to the source of the light.  As I moved closer, the bluish-green light revealed itself to be a mass of glowing bluish green snakes.  A stream of them were emerging from a crack in the floor of the underground channel and then joining the glowing bluish green cloud of snakes.  Or were they worms?  

Were they keeping themselves warm?  In hindsight, I wish I had been a little more careful, but the biologist in me wanted to see what they were.  As I leaned in, I could see that each of them were about 5 inches long and pencil-size in width.  Along the length of their bodies was a pattern of circles that were interconnected.  They did not seem to have eyes.  As I drew near, the mass of creatures froze as if they were aware of my presence.  I didn't feel any fear, but I felt a strong urge to get closer.  I swam to within a foot of them to watch them swarm.   

A single creature snaked out of the mass of creatures and bit me, attaching itself to my forearm.  I tried to scream and let out a stream of bubbles, remembering that I was underwater.  I swallowed more water and pushed off the bottom to get to the surface.   I coughed and tried to see into the space beyond the jagged hole.     

"Fitz!"  

The bastard was still not back.  

Looking down at my arm, I saw that the creature had not let go.  It was beginning to burrow itself into my arm that felt like it was on fire.  It slowly moved underneath my skin until it was no longer visible.  I hung onto the wall with my right hand and tried not to move the other arm. 

"Fitz!"  

I heard footsteps echo above and then I saw Fitz.  I had never been so happy to see him in my life.  

"I'm here.  I've brought help," he said, breathing hard.  

He let down a loop of rope into the cavern.

"Put it under your arms.  We're going to try to pull you out of there," he said.  

I did as he said and the cavern's walls began to turn red and purple and flow together.  My hands were feeling numb.  The water flowing past my body was beginning to feel like ice water.  

"Fitz, you need to hurry," I said my teeth chattering.  "I was bit by one of those damn glowworms."  

I felt them begin to lift me out of the water and that was the last thing I remembered. 

*  *  *  *  * 

Dark. Warm again. 

I dreamed of floating in the cave.  

Floating into darkness  

Static picture on a screen

The static cleared and I was sitting on the porch with my father.  I was 12 years old.  He was smoking his pipe.  I heard him inhale and then blow out a smoke ring above my head.  

"Daddy!"  I said, waving the smoke ring away.  He laughed. 

"I'm glad you came to Kiannon," he said.  

I looked at up him.  What was he talking about?  

"We are glad that you are here," he repeated.  As he spoke the porch disintegrated around us and I floated back into darkness.

"My father is...was on Earth," I said.      

"We know," it said.  

I opened my eyes to see Fitz sleeping with his head on the bed beside me.  They must have transported me to the Mothership because I was blessedly cool.  I was in the medical bay in what looked like an quarantine isolated room.  The pod had a wide entrance, but there was a force barrier across the entrance.  They didn't want whatever I had picked up on Kiannon to contaminate the rest of the ship.  

There was a second bed in the room that looked unmade.  Fitz?  Both of us would have been quarantined after the cave adventure.  I lay back onto my pillow and closed my eyes only to see the image of the bluish green snake biting my arm and burrowing under the skin of my forearm.  Was it still in my arm?

I lifted my arm carefully, but the IV taped to my arm made it difficult.  I held my arm close to my face to peer at my forearm.  There was no bite mark and no sign of the body of the snake underneath my skin.  I ran my right hand over my forearm, pressing down a little. That hurt.  But I didn't feel anything.  The medical staff said they scanned me for pests and disease and I was clear.  We waited out the quarantine with no issues.

After another 21 days, both Fitz and I were released back to our duties.  Everything seemed to be back to normal.  I was back to my reports and leading the Founders Sect.  He went back to prepare for an expedition to map the Esle grasslands just beyond the Mountains.  

In twenty-one days, a lot had changed.  Most importantly, the Founders Sect office was built.  We had air conditioning and running water.  I had a real desk and Jerold sat at his own desk just outside my office.  Even my fold up chair had been upgraded to an executive chair with a high back.  This time, Fitz sat in the waiting room until Jerold let him.  

Jerold winked at me and then turned to leave Fitz standing the doorway offering me a bag.  I didn't take it.  I didn't know what was in it.

"What do you want this time, Fitz?  Not satisfied nearly killing me by showing me the glowworm cave?" 

He made a face. 

"Here to apologize, really." He held out the bag.  I took it from him, looking back up at him. 

"What's this?" 

"I brought you dinner - fresh fish we caught today." 

While we had an office and all colonists onsite had houses, we were still working on moving the colony from Mothership rations to food grown in our own fields and greenhouses.   

"Thank you.  I forgave you 21 days ago, Fitz." 

"I feel bad for not keeping you safe," he said.  

"*You* be safe out on the plains.  The Mothership has sent back reports.."

"I've seen the reports and the drone vids.  We'll keep an eye out," he said.  

He looked at my arm, covered in a long sleeve.  

"You babbled a lot about in your sleep about the snake that bit you," he said.  

I looked down at my arm.  

"I think I was in shock.  Your 'surprise' probably just mixed the glowworms with the effect of the cold water." 

He nodded and then raised a couple of fingers to the cap with the Founders Sect insignia on his head.  

"I'm off to the Plains," he said. 

"Next time, Dinner's on me," I said.

He grinned. 

"Then I'll definitely be talking to you in a few months," he said, turning to leave.

I asked Jerold to put the fish in the refrigerator in the kitchen and came back to my office, closing the door behind me.  We were still building out Cathay, but the only sound I could hear in this office was the air conditioner cutting on. 

I sat down and swiveled so that my back was to the door.  Pushing back my left sleeve, I ran my fingers along my forearm.  Talking in my sleep was nothing compared to my dreams.  Whatever had happened in the underwater cavern, I was still dreaming of bluish green snakes and visions of other places on Kiannon.  I didn't know what they meant, but I didn't want to be distracted.  My focus was on the colony we were building on Kiannon.  

I pressed down on the surface of my skin.  A moment later, the chain of circles that I saw on the back of the snakes reappeared under my skin.  They were still there.  Taking my father's face, they continued to talk to me in my dreams.  I didn't say anything to anyone about the dreams.  Or the raised pattern on my arm.  The creatures seemed to have good intentions.  They had started to tell me more about what we would face as we explored the planet.  That should be enough.  It had to be enough.  I swiveled back to my desk and picked up another report.