CHAPTER 202: FIRST DAY ON A NEW PLANET

Ri Ja - Day 1

The LITVs appeared on flat plain. Giant black rectangles of carbon Nanotube matrices were suddenly there where nothing was before. Seconds after they arrived, doors opened. People stepped out. The first person out was Rafael Camal de Leon followed by Maria Isabel Flores. Rafael put his arm around Maribel’s shoulder protectively, and took a deep breath, the first human being ever to inhale the air of the planet they had decided to call Ri Ja, the Mayan word for Home.

Then hundreds of colonists start walking out onto the soil of Ri Ja until the sunlight falls on every single one of them. All but one turn their faces toward the sky. Most stretch their arms out wide to feel the sun of their new home world for the first time. Rafael scans the tree line fifty yards away for any large animals or threats. After a few minutes, and finding no threats, Rafael turned back toward the large crowd, the last of whom had just exited the LITV transports. His smile is wide and contagious, his dark eyes sparkling in the light of a new sun.

"People of Ri Ja! We have made history! We are the first humans to walk on the surface of another planet, to breathe the air of a world that is not Earth." His voice sounded unnaturally higher pitched that it had on Earth due to differences in atmospheric composition.

A loud cheer, a human cheer, rose up from the plains by the edge of the forest on this new planet, silencing some animal or insect noises that had been present since they first opened the doors in the LITVs.

"Today, Human beings are not just the people of Earth, we are an interstellar species."

Another cheer rolled across the open land.

"We, those of us here today, can no longer call ourselves Earthmen, Ri Ja is our new home world!"

The biggest cheer of all carried human voices farther across the plain and into the forest than they had ever been heard before that exact moment. For the first time, an alien creature that would later be named the invisible cat heard those human voices.

The big black rectangles from which the colonists emerged were meant to be barracks, community dining halls, workshops, medical centers, laboratories, and warehouses until the fabricators started churning out individual housing units. First, though the fabricators would start with heavy equipment. Bulldozer-like vehicles that would flatten and clear land and make passable roads and heavy haulers that would carry dirt, rocks and lumber. By using more conventional Earth equipment instead of licensed alien tech, the colony could reduce its royalty payment expenses and achieve break-even faster. Even though the vehicles themselves would be largely Earth tech, they would still use dark energy generators for power. The advantages over conventional fuels or even solar power were just too great to use anything less.

The first hours after arriving were spent organizing the things they had brough from Earth. Labs and other equipment were unpacked and set-up, then connected to power, fabricators were put to work cranking out sleeping mats, which were quick and easy and wouldn’t take too much time away from bigger more important projects.

A surprising number of colonists tried to set-up their sleeping mats outdoors on the alien world, but Rafael declared it absolutely forbidden until they had more information about the planet. There were some protests until he asked if they were really sure that none of the native insect-like creatures or small animals would try to bite humans as they slept or even lay eggs in their flesh so the larvae could feast when they hatched. The idea of being eaten alive from the inside out convinced everyone they could wait a few weeks to become familiar with the habits of the fauna and flora of Ri Ja before camping out at night.

A dozen colonists began immediately using the portable scanners to analyze the plants and insect-like things they found in the immediate landing area. The bugs they caught and tested didn’t show any signs of being venomous or capable of causing any harmful reactions in humans. Only a couple even had mouthparts that might be able to bite human skin. The sample size was very small because of the nature of the terrain and the lack of automated or flying equipment to chase down and catch the faster flying bug creatures. They didn’t catch any of the larger animals, things the size of mice or bigger during the first day.

The plants were a different story, the most prevalent grass on the open plain terrain had a chemical compound that analysis said would almost certainly cause a pretty significant skin rash with even slight skin contact. By the time that test had been done, however, and the culprit identified, over a dozen colonists had already discovered that something they had contacted had caused a blistering, red rash that induced a sensation they likened to painfully cold. The single small cellular manipulator that had been included in the start-up gear for the colony was thankfully able to break the compound down into inert components both topically and with the cells that had absorbed it without difficulty. The site of the rashes and the pain they caused in those affected proved to be another factor that helped colonists that following Rafael’s orders to sleep inside and use full protective gear outside at all times, should be followed. Not that people were actively threatening to disobey before that, but there the grumbling and complaints went away.

Ironically, the toxic rash-inducing grass was one of the first plants that analysis indicated might be a licensable and marketable product. As far as the colonists could determine, the compound was produced to stop grazers from eating the grass and it looked like an extract might be useful as a novelty food additive that made the mouth feel like it was freezing cold without causing damage in a alien people with a specific chemical composition (one quite different from that of humans, but still fairly numerous throughout the Galaxy. It likely wouldn’t be a huge revenue producer, but it was a symbolic victory to find something useful on the first day.

Maribel checked in on everyone who showed symptoms of the rash and used a portable scanner to check shoes and pant-legs for any of the toxic that might have been picked up by clothing but not yet brought into skin contact. She set up a rigorous screening before anyone was allowed to enter any building structure to prevent any secondary contact later. She also spent time talking with those affected and generally restoring morale.

For his part, Rafael spent his time organizing and overseeing labor details. At first the unpacking and organizing and later, after the cause of the rashes was identified, the eradication of the grass within an established camp perimeter using hand-held lasers. For this, he insisted on both physical distance from the targets and wearing electro-magnetic shields that would filter out airborne particles of a similar type before they could reach the skin or airways.

He also spent time checking and organizing the plant seeds the colonists had brought from Earth with the idea of establishing areas where the biosphere was fully compatible with human chemistry and even providing edible crops. Rafael had been given freedom to pick the plants that he wanted for this effort with suggestions from Joe based on what would be most likely to succeed in the soil of Ri Ja.

The soil chemistry was generally more alkaline than Earth’s but not so much that nothing would grow or that it was harmful to humans. It just made certain plants that preferred acidic soils less likely to succeed on Ri Ja so they were dropped from the list in favor of those that preferred alkaline or neutral soil.

The atmosphere of Ri Ja was also a little different than Earth’s but still breathable. On Earth the atmosphere is made up of roughly 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and 1 percent other stuff (mostly carbon dioxide). Ri Ja, however, had only about 66% nitrogen, 22% oxygen and 11 percent helium with 1 percent other gases (again mostly carbon dioxide.) For breathing, this didn’t really make much difference. For human temperature regulation however, it meant that the air was better at drawing heat away from the body, making it easier for the body to get chilled or even to experience hypothermia. If one wore shields, of course, the shield would regulate thermal loss, but without them, colonists would need to be more careful, especially in cooler winter temperatures or even during cooler nights during the summer months.

Ri Ja’s gravity was only one percent higher than Earth’s gravity which wasn’t really noticeable to humans. Solar radiation at sea level was slightly lower due to differences in the stars that governed the Ri Ja system and the Earth system. Ri Ja’s star was slightly more orange than Earth’s Sol, but the difference was minor.