Especially when no one else could. Even after being teased in school, by teachers and other students alike, his dedication would not falter. And as the sun cast its blaze down on their dig, he felt eternally grateful he had never given in, never quit because of the doubt in others.
Not when I get to see this kind of thing all the time.
Lysa Vanden stirred in her tent behind him. She didn’t share his affection for the beauty of a world. Not to the same extent. After she saw one sunrise, she didn’t go out of her way to see another. The passion for her came down to the potential of what they might locate. The quest was her drive. Not the destinations.
Which is probably why I’m happier than her.
“Did you make the coffee?” Lysa shouted without leaving her tent. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Shit,” Kyle muttered under his breath. He smirked as he returned to their fire, putting the pot on. They had all manner of modern conveniences in the ship. When they set up their camp though, they tended to rough it as they had while in the military. That meant using field gear instead of returning to the vessel. “Coming right up!”
“Were you just standing there watching the sun again?” Lysa peeked out at him, her dusty blonde hair wild about her face. She kept it above her shoulders but it was thick and unruly, only contained when she brushed it down into a hat. Green eyes squinted at him, narrow from having just woken up. “Seriously?”
“Hey…” Kyle shrugged as he dumped the coffee into the pot along with some purified water. That went on a grill directly over the flames. “What can I say? You know I’m a sucker for pretty.”
“Uh huh.” Lysa joined him, holding a blanket around her as she cuddled up beside the fire. He didn’t find it particularly cold but he had a greater tolerance for temperature than she did. Part of what made her grumpy on their trips came down to environmental discomfort. Anything too hot or cold for her brought out some serious complaining. “You’re crazy.”
“I’m just making the best of our lives.” Kyle winked. He stood a good three inches taller than her at six feet with shaggy, brown hair and blue eyes. He hadn’t shaved in a week so his beard had started to curl, making him look a touch older than thirty-one. She had six months on him age-wise. “I take it all in. You want to think about something?”
“I doubt it.”
“Well, do it anyway.” Kyle leaned toward her. “This planet, this world… no human has ever set foot on it! Not a prospector, not for surveying it for resources or a potential colony. We are the first people to see that sunrise or dig in this quarry. Start a fire with this wood or have breakfast at dawn. You don’t find that amazing? Not even a little?”
“It’s awe-inspiring,” Lysa replied. “I’m not gonna lie. We do cool stuff. But honestly speaking, we’re out here for results. And we haven’t found any. Not on the last seven planets we’ve visited. You want my honest opinion?” She looked away. “I’m starting to have some doubts, Kyle.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Kyle scoffed. “How’s that even possible? You and I both know extraterrestrial life must exist. It’s statistically impossible to believe humanity is the only sentient creature in the universe. We’ve seen other lifeforms on those different worlds we’ve visited, different animals than we have back home. Right there, that’s proof.”
“That evolution may not have caught up,” Lysa replied. “I’m not giving up. You don’t need to give me the sale’s pitch we’ve tossed around a dozen times. All I’m saying is, I’m a little discouraged today. Yesterday, I felt good about what we were doing. The scans of the quarry got me excited. It’s just… I don’t know if we’re going to find anything down there.”
The two of them had modified a prospector’s scanner to get a deep surface look at different planets. Whenever they arrived at a new place, they would skim the area continents looking for likely places to begin their search. This time, the quarry provided what appeared to be a doorway, a square structure that was unlikely to have formed naturally.
They’d both agreed to start their work there and for the last three days, they’d been working their way toward the findings in the scanner. Kyle had come up with a theory that suggested a rockslide hid the entrance, some kind of natural disaster. Their modern tools allowed them to do the work of twenty but that didn’t mean it was fast.
“Come on, we’re only three quarters of the way to the scan data,” Kyle said. “We’ll break through by the middle of the afternoon and we’ll know if we need to move on or not. Besides, I have a good feeling about this one. I really do.” He grinned as he poured two cups of coffee. “You’ll see. This is the one.”
“I’m so glad you don’t say that every time.” Lysa took the mug. She winced as she sipped. “Christ, that’s hot. But seriously, I get the sense you want to belt out that kind of super optimistic nonsense each time we’re on the verge of a discovery. I’m curious if I’m right. Do you nearly say that?”
“No.” Kyle shook his head. “I’m dead serious this time. I’ve got a gut feeling.”
“That’s heartening in this case.” Lysa looked at the opposite horizon, one full of mountains and cliffs stretching up higher than Mount Everest by miles. “I feel like… this would make sense. I wonder why we haven’t colonized this place. My data
