No Better Place

By Al Horn

"Where to, now?" asked Dave.

"Hell if I know," answered Tom. "Lets get to the top of that hill and see if we spot anything we recognize."

Dave looked in the direction that his brother was pointing. The 'hill' he was indicating had to be at least four klicks away. It was also about six hundred meters up. "Thank god that's what passes for a mountain on this planet. I don"t think I could climb anything higher."

Tom gazed toward the sun that was still rising, then back at the hill. "Well, it might not be that rough getting to the top, staying there is another matter. The ground gives off enough breathable air where we are now. Up there, you would think you were on top of Mount Kilimanjaro with only one good lung."

"I know the drill. Breathable air seeps from the ground then the upper atmosphere sucks off the oxygen and returns it in the form of heavy rain out at sea. If it wasn't for the gold and copper mines that are so abundant on this planet, nobody would ever come here."

"That same rain water is broken down by the volcanoes in the oceans. We still haven't figured out why all the volcanoes are in water, none on dry land." Tom wiped the sweat from his eyes. "Or what quirk in the way the poles are that causes that same water to be drawn through all the huge underground rivers towards them."

"Would it pay us any if we could figure it out?" pondered Dave.

"Probably not," replied his brother. He turned to look in the direction of their downed flyer.

In the ten short years that humans had been exploiting this planet, a ground spark had never been known to go up more than a hundred meters. There had never been one to hit within forty kilometers of shore. The two brothers had been unlucky on both counts. Of course that hadn't been the end of their misfortune.

The ground spark had knocked out their communications. The survival rations that every rental is supposed to have aboard had been solidly welded into their 'easy access' compartment. The flyer had caught the downslope of a hill then slid right into a stretch of vegetation that made a briar patch look like heaven. Everything onboard that was even remotely electrical had been fried. On top of that, the self-powered, ever-faithful homing beacon was dead. Even if someone had an idea of where to look for them, the ship was better camouflaged than any duck blind back on Earth could ever hope to be. Staying there was not an option.

Tom pointed out the need to move quickly. The 'vegetation' covering the flyer would completely engulf it, and all hope of getting out alive, within two days. This patch was actually a single plant. It moved its root structure as well as its above ground vines in search of anything remotely metallic. Almost anything, it was not too fond of gold or copper. Given a suitable period of time, it was fully capable of leaching all the metal that was contained within the flyer. The inside of the flyer might have protected them from the cold at night but it would also have become their tomb. As it was, it had taken them three hours just to get out, then work their way to the rear.  The wake the flyer had created provided a path for them to walk out on. This same path would fill itself in by tomorrow night. All things considered, it was a miracle they were still alive. They had gotten out with nothing more than the clothes they had been wearing.

Not that they had dressed for cross-country hiking. They were going to take some overhead pictures of the land they had bought just the day before. The photos they had been shown were almost a month old. The whole face of the land could have changed by now. They had been assured that the largest opening had been there for quite some time. This was a good indication of a pocket of copper close to the surface. In some cases, it was an indication of gold.

Gold would be nice, but it was not their highest priority. The two brothers owned an electronic supply factory on a planet three systems away. For the industrial societies  forming out in this sector of space, spare parts were not always so easy to find. The North brothers had locked up an exclusive rights franchise from the two biggest electronics firms from Earth. Anything larger than a hut probably held some component that had been made by the two conglomerates. Tom and Dave found that everybody wanted their business. Their biggest problem was raw materials for their automated factories.

"When we get back to Wakening, I'm going to kill that friend of yours."

Dave wiped away some the perpetual perspiration off of his brow, looked over at his brother and let out a short laugh. "You mean, if we get back. Besides, he wasn't a friend. Just some guy I met at the spaceport." He pulled his hat off to wipe the sweat out of his hair. "I know one thing, he can forget any commission.'

The two had left early in the day intending to make the inspection then get back before the sun would get very high. David's shirt was already soaked despite the fact that 'noon' was still hours away. Both men had their sleeves rolled down and had made it a point to don lightweight gloves. The hats they wore contained fabric that could be rolled down over their faces, ears and necks. Sunburn on this planet was no laughing matter. David was glad his brother had insisted on packing them in their day-bag.

"If my memory serves me correctly, we crossed a chain of hills on the way out," Tom said. "If we keep moving from one large hill to the next, we might get close enough to pick up the shoreline."

"For all the good that will do us. We would still have forty or fifty clicks to travel to reach the nearest port."

"That's true. While you were busy flying, I was checking out the scenery."

"What scenery? Even at the coast there was nothing but shrub."

Tom had been leading the two on a course that weaved through smaller outcroppings while avoiding anything that might represent a sinkhole. "Not exactly. About every five klicks, there were small weather stations. There is a group of scientist at the main port trying to solve this planets mysteries."

Dave had been following his brother's path more or less. "Those weather stations are self-contained. They were designed to take a lot more than we could dish out." He veered to avoid something his brother had jumped across. "Considering the fact that we have no tools to speak of, how the heck are we... What the hell!"

Tom turned to see one of David's feet sinking in the sand while the other was stretching into the air. Before he could get back to him, David's body sank into the sand just as if he had taken a step into a swimming pool. The tip of the foot that was stretched skyward was all that could be seen. Tom dropped to his back and began to crab walk toward the shoe tip. Fortunately, he was able to get close enough to stick his leg in and lock it around his brother's leg at the knee. The fact that David was also pulling with his leg told Tom that he was conscious and had kept his wits about him.

Tom was able to pull most of his brother's leg toward solid ground. He turned around so that he could use both arms to haul him in. "Who needs to go on a diet," mimicking David's voice. "At my size and weight, who would dare pick a fight?" He noticed the leg was starting to go limp. Rising onto his feet, he got a better grip and used his legs to make one last pull. He was rewarded with one hundred kilos of sibling sprawled across the ground, coughing and gasping.

"The Great Spirit be praised!" he spat out. He rubbed most of the sand away from his face, rose up on to his knees, and then let out a big howl. "Hoo-wee! Was that something? I tell you, for a second I was scared. But I had faith in you little brother. I knew I was either going to pass out and die or you would pull me out! It's a shame we don't have something to drink cause I sure have reason to celebrate."

"Maybe not. In case you hadn't noticed, you lost your hat in that pit."

David's hands shot up to his bare head. "Damn, your right." He looked at his brother. "This is not good."

"Your right. If you don't dehydrate from sweating, the sun will cook what few brains you got."

"Well, little brother, I'm the brawn in this outfit and you're the brains. How do you figure we're going to get out of this mess?"

"Mom always said I'm the one with the smarts. Fortunately for you, I've got a plan. You're not going to like it but if you want to live you don't have much choice."

Eight hours later the two men reached the coast. As fate would have it a weather station was in sight. Tom had broken loose a piece of shrub and was intermittently waving it over one of the windows used to measure sun activity. David had plopped down on the other side to try getting some relief from the sun. "Tell me again how that's going to help?"

"Hopefully, some one is checking reports on an hourly basis. This will pop up as an anomaly. Closer inspection will show a nice pattern."

David was barely awake. Exhaustion was taking its toll. "You're sending an SOS?"

"Yep. With any luck, the Port Authority will send a ship out to investigate."

Two hours later, Tom could hear the whine of an aircraft moving up the coast in their direction. He stepped away from the station and began to wave his hands over his head. A small shuttle drifted down toward him. It hung in the air for a minute before landing a few meters away. A side door swung open and a Port officer stepped out. He had a weapon in his hand but was not pointing it toward Tom. "Care to explain what you're doing here?"

It only took a minute to tell what had happened. The officer relayed the information back to the Port Authority. Within minutes it was confirmed that the two brothers were overdue with their rental. The officer holstered his weapon but still seemed suspicious of their story. That is until he saw David passed out next to the weather station. "Who's idea was that?"

"Mine," replied Tom. "He lost his hat about thirty klicks out in the desert. Say what you will, but it probably kept him alive."

The officer shook his head and muttered, "I'm sure it did."

The two helped Dave to his feet. He was able to walk part of the way. They had to drag him the last five meters. As they were placing him into a seat, Dave came around enough to ask, "Are we there yet?"

As Tom was strapping in, the door closed and the craft rose into the air. After a few seconds they were moving toward Wakening. He settled back into his seat, glad to be out of the elements. He heard the first officer to go back check out his brother. The second officer stepped out of the cockpit and came into the cabin. Tom smiled at the look on his face upon seeing Dave.

"My God," Started the man. He turned to Tom. "Is that two pair of underwear on his head?"

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