Chapter 14 : Scooter's boat

The railway tracks laid by the early colonists were mostly beneath the dunes now, but the shifting sands exposed them in a few places. Hal Moby knelt down and touched the track’s dull grey metal. He dropped his head in contemplation, and he seemed momentarily to make a connection back to the world of his ancestors. Then he stood up and pointed back to the habitat, squinting into the low sun.

“It’s hard to see now the trees have grown back, but I think they may have leveled this whole area and blasted a route through the hills, there are some piles of cut stone over there. The line of the tracks seems to pass through your habitat. You know, I think you might have built on top of something we left. Back then there were people living and working all along this coast. They would have been cut off when the Americans destroyed our fleet, left here to fend for themselves I suppose. I just wonder what happened to them all ? I mean … how did they die ?”

Jack, Hugo and Daff looked worriedly at Hal. No-one knew the answer to his question, and dwelling on the matter was spoiling the carefree mood of the group. After some quiet words between Hal and Daff, the four continued along the shore towards Scooter Marlin’s place, as the day warmed and the sun climbed and blazed. After another hour’s walking they came to a cove, shaped like a bowl cut into the russet-colored cliffs, with a circle of clear turquoise water, and a boat moored on the far side. A few trees lodged precariously on the slopes above. Across the cove there was a collection of wooden buildings, sitting out on a promontory. From there a path had been built that picked its way down to the jetty. There was no easy way to get round there, as the water was high and lapping gently at the surrounding rocks.

“Looks like we’ll either have to wait for the tide or double back”, Hugo said, surveying the surrounding hills.

On the other side of the cove, a young Chinese woman emerged, she took a running jump from the jetty and splashed into the water. She swam across in a few graceful strokes and climbed onto a rock within shouting distance.

“The water’s only waist deep ! Come down this way and you can wade over ! You’re gonna get wet on the boat anyhow !” It was Scooter’s wife, Tina. She seemed cheerful and confident, beckoning them towards the water. Jack and Hugo spotted a line that rounded the cove over some slippery rocks, and headed off that way in defiance of their host. Led enthusiastically by Daff, the others made it across the water with some laughter and commotion.

Scooter was waiting for them on the jetty. He wore nothing but a pair of shorts, making his guests in their hiking outfits look over-dressed. Scooter was a compact, muscular man. The hair on his head and face was cropped to a uniform stubble, and his neck seemed as wide as his skull, giving him an immovable quality. This robust appearance was tempered by his natural easy-going manner, and a ready smile, that of a man at ease with himself. He led the party up to the house, which comprised a number of buildings of different forms and sizes, all covered in the same weather-beaten wooden siding, spread over the rocky site that projected out into the ocean. It was all daringly close to the water, and although the location was spectacular, it left anyone of a cautious disposition wondering if a large enough wave might one day sweep it all away.

“As you can see I’ve got a number of work sheds here”, Scooter said. “I have a few projects going, and the noise and smell and dust would drive Tina and the kids crazy, so with this layout I can get out of their way. Over there is a little recording studio, I make a audio program that’s broadcast around here. I make furniture in the shed behind that. Over there I cook seaweed and I sell it as a health product. I’ve got quite a few crazy schemes.”

Jack nosed around the sheds, which were more impressive on the inside. Scooter had installed some basic machinery like conveyers and power tools, and had a few men working.

“This is Trax, the site boss”, Scooter said.

Trax was a huge man, with grim features and brutally shaved hair. He threw he threw the massive bundles of seaweed around the workshop with ease, all the while maintaining a quiet and calm disposition. Trax’s body was strikingly pear-shaped, being wide of girth but tapering to relatively smaller shoulders and feet. Jack wondered how a pair of trousers might be found to fit such a form; Trax wore a long overcoat that kept these details under cover. Jack was starting to wonder where Crystal was, when she and Tina came out from another shed with two small children, a girl and a boy, both with their mother’s oriental looks.

“Were they born here ?”, Jack asked, kneeling down to play with the kids on their level. The Marlin’s offspring looked adorable, and remarkably healthy.

“Oh yeah, we’ve been here eight years now”, Tina said. "I meet Scooter on Earth and came out here with him. He has connections on Greenshoot ... things have worked out well for us."

The production of healthy children, living outside the habitat, was something Jack had rarely seen. It was, he felt, the strongest indicator of the long-term viability of a colony. The complexity of human biology was such that no test had yet been devised, that could reliably predict reproductive success over generations in an alien environment. The second generation might exhibit a new set of problems, but looking at the Marlins, Jack could only feel optimistic. His spirits lifted further as Crystal came over to him, for she had regained some of the radiance Jack saw on their first meeting. She cast her eyes over Jack intimately, examining the new facets of his face revealed by a layer of sweat and the intense sunlight. There was, Jack felt, some chemistry here.

“I’ve got the boat charged and loaded up already”, Scooter said, picking up one of the children. “Come on baby. We’re all going to have some fun today.”

With Scooter at the helm, the boat headed out into the calm waters. Behind, the hills that had towered over the habitat now looked insignificant, and merged into a single dark green band between the clear blue sky and the deep blue ocean.

“Keep an eye out for anything floating in the water”, Scooter shouted from the bridge. He powered down the motor and came to join the others on the rear deck. “This water is about ten meters deep. There’s kelp out here. The people in the biolab say it’s a complete protein, so we might be able to wean people off synthetics one day with this stuff. I‘d like to get some more for my smokehouse if I can find it. This is my harvesting tool - patent applied for !” He brought a lethal-looking contraption from below deck, a long pole with curved scissor blades and a hook on the end.

“I think I see something moving down there”, Crystal said, leaning over the handrail. “Flashes of silver.”

Scooter swung the boat round and headed further up the coast. He was joined on the bridge by Hal, who looked troubled, despite the jovial mood on board.

“You know the old railway ? I wondered, is there any sign of it further north, beyond your compound ?”

“Hey Hal, it’s good you could make it. I heard about your situation. That was an amazing rescue ... but you must be having a hard time coming to terms with what’s happened and settling down here. I hope the people that you’re staying with in the habitat, can understand what you’re going through. If you like, come and see me and Tina, because we’d really like to help. But the railway, now my guess is that it never went any further. The terrain gets even more mountainous. You would need tunnels and bridges and I don’t see anything like that.”

“Thanks, Scooter”, Hal said quietly. “I appreciate your help. I’m trying to get a picture of what happened here before ... before the colony rebuilt. Is there any other sign that that they lived around here ?”

“I can tell you there’s a tidal island an hour’s walk from the house. The way is rises up is strange - volcanic looking. We call it North Dome. Something has been built up there in stone. So maybe it’s something left from before the war. I would call it a folly but then I am just a practical man. There is too much to do just surviving, to worry about temples.”

“We’re all heading for trouble”, Scooter said shaking his head. “The new colony, the post-war construction, is not scaleable. It’s a self-contained, self-sustaining system but that’s all. They can’t produce the tools we need to get out there and really work this planet. The big machines. I feel like I’m playing my part, and all those damned people in the habitat are just having a holiday.”

“If you sell enough serum you can import machinery”, Jack said from the other side of the boat.

This ended Scooter’s rant and his attention moved on to a small, conically shaped island close to the shore. “There she is”, he said with delight, “there’s that place I was talking about !”

“Could we take a look now ?”, Hal asked.

“It’s too shallow in there. We’ll run aground.”

As the island slowly passed by Hal looked at it transfixed, moving to the rear deck to watch it recede into the distance. Within a few minutes the coast was out of sight and the small boat was alone in the endless ocean, still powering ahead. Scooter seemed to be pushing the boat ever faster and the water churned and foamed in its wake. Jack, sitting at the stern with Crystal, looked around and felt uneasy. On these smaller planets the curvature was more noticable; landmarks dropped quickly out of sight below the horizon; a change in the weather could arrive with little warning. He came forward to check on Scooter. Jack pulled the communicator out of his pocket and checked their position.

“We’re seventeen kilometers north-west of the habitat”, Jack said. “What’s the range of this craft, Scooter ?”

“Don’t worry Jack, we’ll be fine. This is as safe a boat as you can get – it comes from the triple-S, and those guys don’t take second best. This one was surplus and I got a good deal.”

Jack was unconvinced, and was deciding how get the boat turned around when Scooter at last found what he was looking for.

“Yeah, we got some drifters !”, Scooter shouted, his voice starting to crack from talking too long above the rush of wind and water. He turned sharply to starboard, and dropped anchor. The bloom was all around, held up by round, black bladders that floated on the surface, bobbing up and down in the gentle waves. The bladders were large, each about the size of a human skull, sitting in a cup of pointed green leaves tightly folded around. The stem trailed below and disappeared into the dark water with long waving leaves growing from it, tangling with their neighbors and forming a living mass beneath the boat. Scooter set to work harvesting it with his heavy, nasty-looking tools.

The passengers sat around the rear deck in a circle and talked, with Tina quietly amusing the children in the middle and bringing a stream of drinks up from the cold box below deck. An hour passed and the conversation grew louder and somehow funnier, but was brought to a halt by an unexpected splash of water onto the deck. The wind had picked up and there was a light swell on the sea.

“Scooter what are you doing over there ?”, Tina asked. Scooter was at the bow and seemed to be struggling with something.

“My tools didn’t work as well as I’d hoped”, he replied. “This stuff is so tough.” But Scooter did have something to show for his efforts, and he hauled a cut of weed out of the water and laid it the length of the boat, dumping the head among the passengers at the stern. It was a massive plant. Its broad stem was flexible like a giant green snake, and it slid around the slippery deck with the rocking motion of the boat.

Tina tried to pull the slimy plant back to the bow to clear some space, but it was heavy, and its stem was thicker than her slender legs. “If this thing is as nutritious as you think", she said, "it should keep us fed for the rest of the year ... uhh ... someone give me a hand with this.”

Crystal got up and heaved the plant across the deck by its head. She struggled to keep a grip on the shiny black bladder, and instead tried the thick, scaly, green leaves that formed around it. As she did so it made a sucking noise, and the leaves closed protectively around the bladder like a sphincter. Crystal dropped it and pulled back, looking at the thing with disgust. Jack knelt down to inspect it more closely.

“You say the biolab ran tests on this ?”, Jack asked Scooter doubtingly.

“You’re calling me a liar ?”

The wind was strengthening and the remaining drinks were spilling over the deck, and the party seemed to be over.

“I think it’s time we were heading back”, Jack said, looking with concern at the kelp surrounding the boat.

Scooter returned to the bridge and started to maneuver the boat out of the kelp forest, but the motor struggled as the propeller tangled in the massive plant. Jack shook his head despairingly. Dark clouds were approaching from the west, and the wind was now howling. A really big splash of water drenched everyone and the boat rolled alarmingly. At that moment Crystal screamed, and pointed at the waves coming towards the boat from the stern. Jack looked around, the waves were higher but not threatening the craft. “It’s OK Crystal”, he said; but then he saw what had frightened her. The kelp-heads had risen up out of the water and held still and erect, despite the spray lashing against them and the water churning below, and faced the boat like a line of huge, black watching eyes. By the time the other passengers looked round, the kelp-heads had sunk back into the sea, and in the commotion Scooter on the bridge had not even heard the scream and was doggedly working the boat forwards. Tina ushered the children below deck and went to join Scooter, while everyone else hung on to the handrail looking anxious, Daff sitting next to Hal on the port side, Jack between Hugo and Crystal on the other.

“Did you see that, Jack”, Crystal asked. She was wet, ashen-faced and trembling. The kelp plant, severed from the forest that surrounded the boat, was still rolling around the deck, and she pulled her feet up onto the seat to get away from it. “Do you think it’s a plant or an animal ?”

“I’m going to get some analysis done on this thing”, Jack shouted above the roar of the elements. “We need to determine if it has a central nervous system. Even if it doesn’t it could be an advanced form of carnivorous plant. We’ve got the equipment on the Beluga, that perhaps they don’t have in the habitat, to ... to understand the organism and classify it. You know, the Beluga was originally a research ship. She’d have had some weird life-forms on board to investigate. My guess is that this one is not going to harm us. I‘m more concerned about Scooter‘s piloting at this point.”

The hatch in the middle of the deck opened a few inches and little Charlie crawled out. He was just taller than the starboard hand-rail and he put his chin on it and held on, calmly watching the heaving ocean, seemingly oblivious to the dangers that preoccupied the adults.

“Hey Tina”, Daff hollered. “Keep an eye on Charlie". She shouted even louder. "Tina !”

Charlie’s mother at last heard and turned round, and ran over to grab him, but slipped on the deck, and as the boat pitched she slid back helplessly towards the bridge in a wash of seawater. Daff got up to help but a wave crashed into the starboard side and she fell back onto her seat as the boat rolled to port. Suddenly, Charlie was no longer there at the rail. A rush of white water poured over the deck, and he must have been in it. Only his kicking legs were visible as he was washed overboard on the port side.

“Charlie !”, Tina shouted, and finding her footing during a pause in the vessel’s violent rolling, she made it to the port side and looked out into the maelstrom. Only the kelp-heads broke the surface. There seemed no point in joining Charlie in the water unless someone could spot him and everyone looked on forlornly. Then Hal, who had been quiet until now, stood up on his seat and launched himself into the water on the starboard side in a high, arching dive. He too was swallowed up. Tina went to the bridge and pulled desperately at Scooter’s broad shoulders. He turned the boat sharply to port but could not be moved from the wheel, and stared implacably through the small bridge windows. Tina fell to the floor with her head in her hands.

“Daff“, Jack said, “was Hal carrying a communicator ? We can get a fix on that.“

“Yes, I think there was one on his belt”, Daff replied in a broken voice. Her faced was creased up in sorrow. Tears mixed with the sea spray.

Hugo ran below deck working his communicator. Those remaining made their way around looking for any sign of Charlie or Hal, but a minute passed and hope began to fade that either could still be alive.

“Come on Hal”, Jack said looking to the sea, “I risked everything to save you.” Jack thought back to the miracle of Hal‘s rescue. In the days that followed he had considered again the decision to take the capsule on board, and he concluded that Irwin might have been right after all - it had put the passengers at risk, it had delayed the flight. There hadn’t even been a medical officer on the ship. He had been impulsive, he had acted on instinct, when as Captain, he should have been cautious and rational and kept his focus on the mission. Perhaps he was really responsible now for Hal’s death. Floating in space Hal had had a chance, albeit a slim one, but down there he had none. There was no rescue from this situation. Jack sighed and shook his head, standing still on the deck, oblivious to the spray driving into his face. He began to console himself, that Hal had cheated death twice, and was destined to die. Was fate just catching up with him now ?

At that moment a muscular hand rose out of the water and took hold of a stanchion on the starboard side by Jack’s feet. Hal hauled himself up, holding Charlie under one arm and passing him up to Tina who at once laid Charlie out on the deck. The boy spewed seawater but had survived. Hal stood on the deck showing no emotion, no signs of exertion, and he looked with puzzlement at Daff, Jack and Crystal who had gathered round him.

“Hal, darling, are you OK ?”, Daff asked, holding him tight around the waist.

There was no reply from Hal, but he gave Daff a quiet smile and eased himself gently from her protective grip. He knelt down by Charlie and felt the pulse in the boy’s neck.

“He’s a strong lad”, Hal said to Tina, “he was holding his breath down there, tangled up with those damn plants. The leaves were wound tight round his legs, like they were constricting him. He was trying to break free and kicking real hard. I was able to pull the plant off him but he took in some water as we floated up to the surface. You should be proud of Charlie, he‘s a survivor ... like me I guess.”

Hugo came up through the hatch looking at his communicator and looked delighted to see Hal and Charlie.

“Hal, the record shows you were a maximum of fifteen meters below sea level“, Hugo said. “You were down there for one minute and eighteen seconds. That‘s impressive.”

“It didn’t seem like that long. I guess I was too busy to notice”, Hal answered. “I think we should throw this back”, he said, pushing the kelp-head under the railing and over the side. He kicked it a few times and as the boat rolled and gravity took hold, it slid back into the water.

The sky brightened a little. The underwater kelp forest, which earlier had been so hard to locate, now seemed to spread out in all directions. The propeller threw shredded plant into the air, but the boat was now moving steadily through the water, the faint outline of the shore appeared, and was greeted with smiles of relief. The tension on board eased and the passengers started chatting again. Scooter though remained in a world of his own at the helm.

“Hey Jack, I have a question for you about the Beluga”, Hal said. He had a quiet, calm demeanor that, so soon after his heroic struggle in the sea, left Jack puzzled. “I‘m finding it hard to believe, that all trace of the old colony has disappeared. I feel we owe it to them, to make a record of what they left. Can you help ? How good are your scanners on the Beluga ?”

Jack was not enthusiastic. “I think you should have a rest Hal. You’ve been through a lot. Don’t worry about this right now.” Hal continued to look at him intently and Jack felt obliged to say more. “It could be that the colony was systematically destroyed by the Americans, as they used to say, you were bombed back into the stone age. A few survivors found a way to go on. That habitat is their legacy. And I would be proud of it, to raise that up from nothing, isolated out here on the edge of the galaxy. It shows what great people you had here.”

“So Jack, your scanners didn’t pick up any signal from this planet - apart from the habitat. There is really nothing else left ?”

"There's nothing out there, Hal."

The last of the cloud and the rain hurried away like noisy, drunken party-crashers, and the sun arrived, hot and dazzling, and lifted everyone's mood further. The onshore breeze was helping the boat now and it started to pick up speed and cut cleanly through the waves. It rose gently with the swell and seemed to be airborne for a moment, gliding just on the spray; then it fell back again and the propellor cut deep into the water and the engine note deepened. Up and down, up and down, and in a short while they were back in the safety of the cove amid cheers and laughter.

At last Scooter, who had remained on the bridge throughout, turned to face the others. He alone did not smile, and kept his thoughts private.