Chapter Four

Devon and the others gathered at 8 am, ship’s time. A hushed excitement could be felt running through the crowd of children. This would be the first chance they got to meet the guide who would lead them when they reached the planet’s surface. The vid-blog about the trip had contained a short bio of their guide for this trip, Deke Jacobs.

Deke had become a hero ten years ago when he single-handedly rescued a group of marooned VIPs on one of the moons of Zenos Prime. The public vids only showed faint images of him as he was hustled into custody for debriefing after he returned the Ambassador’s party to a backwoods outpost far from the civilized side of the moon. The glimpses the vids had captured were shadowy, but seemed to show a wiry, dark man with amber eyes. His face was sharp, just like his eyes. The look he had given the camera was fierce, causing many of the children, in the group gathered to meet him, no end of worry. Devon strained to see over the milling children, watching the door near the back of the room for any sign that Deke was coming.

Suddenly, a thump sounded at the door. The children immediately hushed. Slowly, almost frighteningly slow, the knob turned. Devon held his breath, waiting for the door to open. Slowly, ever so slowly, the door began to open. The room on the other side of the door was dark, so dark that no one could see if Deke was in the room watching them.

“What are you folks staring at,” a gravely voice said behind the students. They all nearly jumped as one, whirling around to see who was speaking. They laid eyes on a small, friendly looking man who was not much taller than most of the children.

“Well, he said, is there a show starting, or something?” He asked.

“Oh, get lost, mister, we are waiting for someone, someone important,” Terry Jameson replied with a sneer. Terry’s cronies laughed, pointing at the man.

“My guess would be,” the man said with a grin, “that I’d be the one you’re waiting for….but that’s just a guess.”

At those words all of the children turned to gawk at the stranger, wondering aloud if this could be the famous Deke Jacobs.

Terry sputtered in surprise as he wondered if he had made a mistake. “What, who? You can’t be Jacobs. My aunt looks tougher than you.”

The man laughed again, “tough is on the inside. It doesn’t always show, and anyway I bet your aunt is plenty tough to put up with you.”

All of the children, with the notable exception of Terry and his cronies, laughed heartily. Devon could not help but grin, but still feeling bad that Terry had been embarrassed. As mean as Terry seemed, Devon never enjoyed seeing people embarrassed. Devon looked over at Jacinda, who smiled guiltily when she saw that Devon did not approve.

Deke motioned for everyone to be quiet, “That’s enough, I’m sure the lad did not mean any offense.” The laughing dies, for the most part, but Terry still fumed. He eyed the Gustav brothers, but they simply shrugged as a group, unsure of what to do.

“Now, it’s time to get down to business. Each of your datapads has been updated with the latest information on Forrestal. It is primitive, but harmless for the most part.” Each of the students pulled out their datapads and began to follow along as Deke spoke.

“It’s a bit hotter than sol standard during the day, but it can get cold at night. Each of you will be issued a standard survival pack with a modular shelter and sleep roll. I will issue the insta-meals when we reach the landing zone.” Deke began to pace back and forth in front of the students, glancing at each to make sure they were paying attention.

“Now, this trip is serious business. While Forrestal has been completely surveyed, there are some ruins that have not been completely explored. We are not sure of their origin, but they are extensive…and fascinating. Our job during this trip is to study the ruins for 21 days and report what we find. In addition to our work at the ruins I will be teaching you some basic frontier skills.” Deke pressed a button on his WristVid. A pop-up appeared on the screen of each student’s datapads. The pop-up showed a map of the camp the group would be using.

“Our compound has already been dropped by an advance team. It is fully stocked and ready for us. We will be dropped about a day’s hike from the camp and we will use the hike to get acquainted. Before we make the drop to Forrestal each of you must choose a safety partner. If you can’t work that out yourselves by 3 pm, I’ll assign them. Everyone understand?”

A murmur of assent passed through the crowd of children. “Well then, then I will leave you alone until 4 pm. We will be having our first meal together in the forward mess at 6 pm. That is the cafeteria, for all you planet-huggers. Be there and I will finalize the assignments.”

Without another word, Deke motioned for the children to move out of his way. He strode through the crowd and exited through the door that had opened before he had appeared.