Chapter 2

"We are sending down a search two search parties. I want Dr McCoen to lead the one going to the north pole, and Dr Shelly leading the one to the south. You all know how to do your jobs. Find me a water source and we can get of this damned boat. Dismissed." The captain finished addressing his crew and they all scattered to pack equipment and don space suits. Gabriel sent Shannon a look to say 'be careful down there', and she nodded back to him. He didn't need to remind her. She was a professional, and she was trained for the field. Gabriel on the other hand was chained to his maps. Oh, how he longed to be able to explore the green alien planet with his partner, but work had to come first. The people of the ship had to come first.  Once all of the crew had left, and the bridge assumed its normal air of organized chaos, Gabriel stepped up next to the captain once again offering him a cup. Once again with a hot tea inside. This time it was mint, both he and Theodore needed to be awake and alert today. 

"Have you identified a new course yet?" The captain asked taking the cup from Gabriel. 

"Already given up on Coprum Theta have you?" Gabriel questioned. 

"No." He said "But I always like to have an alternative, you know that. So have you mapped out a new course?" 

"I keep a list of possible candidates, and one seems as though it would be promising." Gabriel neglected to say anything more. 

"Keep looking. cross as many off that list as you are comfortable with. We don't have time for a wild goose chase." Gabriel nodded and left the cup of tea on the captain's desk, retreating back to his office.

He closed the door and turned down the lights; he always worked better in the dark. He pulled up the holographic map and zoomed out so he could see the whole of the galaxy that he had mapped so far. It was only a tiny slice of the entire system, but he had already scanned and named nearly 1,000 planets, while that was barely a dent in the number of planets he would expect for a galaxy of this size, statistically he should have found a habitable planet by now. That was assuming the density of habitable planets was the same as his home galaxy. Gabriel had no idea where they were astrologically, no one did. Maybe the density of habitable planets was not the same. In any case that line of thinking would get him nowhere, so he picked up his data pad and pulled up the ship's scanner array. The long-range sensors were operating at 30% intensity. It was against protocol to raise them above 50% for fear of your signal being intercepted by hostile craft. A stronger signal meant that you were easier to locate, but in their situation, it mattered little if hostiles found them. 'Death by starvation or bullet, Gabriel knew which he would choose', he thought as he slowly increased the intensity of the signal. It would take some time for the rest of the map to fill in, but already he could see the planets already mapped increase in detail, and new ones start to form on the edges of the map. He told the map to mark any and all that had been newly discovered for further review and let the ship do its work, turning back to his desk and the small notebook he had been writing potential candidates in. Theodore would have scolded him for not working digitally, but digital databases were venerable to cyber-attacks. Old habits did indeed die hard it seemed. Besides, all the planets were catalogued in the database, so his little list was harmless. He only had about 20 entries and he began pulling them up on the map. The first on his list had a thick atmosphere that was hard to pierce, and the clouds were a strange color. Gabriel crossed this one off. The clouds were most likely sulfur or some other poisonous gas. The second he crossed off because it did not have any visible airable land, and he doubted that there was anything below the icy surface. The he removed because the glassy structures made him think that the planet was mostly silicone based, and no plants would grow there. He Continued to cross off structures until he was down to one, and it was not an option he was pleased about. 

Oceanus Lota. A planet that was 90% liquid with a few islands sprinkled around it. It had a stable atmosphere of what was most likely oxygen and nitrogen, similar to other habitable planets. Gabriel was not hopeful about this planet though. It felt too easy, there was a large body of water, a stable atmosphere and while the land masses were small, they indicated that there was a crust of minerals underneath the liquid. It was almost perfect, too perfect. If the conditions were so favorable why was the planet baron? No activity in the seas or land masses. There must be something wrong with the planet, but Gabriel had no evidence, so he left it on the list. The trip to Oceanus Lota was at least three months. By that time the rationing would have started, and if they made it to the planet and it wasn't habitable. Everything would be lost. He sent the information to the captain with a short message detailing his thoughts and went back to the map. 

Shannon stepped off the shuttle onto the dusty ground of Coprum Theta. Dr. McCoen had instructed them to split up once they laid boots on the ground to cover more area. They would keep the coms open in case anyone ran into trouble. Shannon swung around back and unhooked her bike from the shuttle powering it on. The four other expedition members looked to Dr. McCoen. 

"Pick a direction and begin searching. Let the team know if you are in danger or have found something. Check in every hour and meet back here in six hours." Dr. McCoen instructed. 

"I am going south to that cave." Shannon said as mounted her bike. The rest of the expedition called out directions and started speeding off. While she was traveling, she saw that Gabriel was trying to open a private line to her. She accepted the invitation. 

"You know this is against the rules." She told him making the wry smile on her face apparent in her tone.

"Yea but doc, rules are made to be broken." He replied, and she chuckled. 

"What's on your mind my love?" She asked as she navigated her bike into a long emerald ravine, making steady progress towards the pin she placed when they were landing. The green cliffsides around her almost felt like foliage, and she imagined what this world would be like if it had large oak trees. The orange and red leaves would have been complimented by the green soil. It reminded her of home.

"I need to tell you something, and you can't tell anyone else" he said, and this snapped her out of her daydream. 

"Of course." She said.

"Yesterday Theodore told me that we only had a month left of full rations, and after that we would be on half rations for about six months until our supplies ran dry" he said. This sent a shot of panic through Shannone, but she remained calm. Besides, hopefully someone would find a source of water on this planet, and they wouldn't have to worry. 

"So I have spent most of last night and all of today looking for somewhere we could land, but I have some up with nothing so far." He continued "There is nothing you can do I know and all I am doing is making you worry, but I can't be the only one who knows. I am sorry for placing this burden on you." He sounded genuinely distressed. As if this would make her hate him. That was ridiculous. 

"At least now I know why you were so restless last night." She joked. and he chuckled nervously. "Listen to me my love. I am glad you told me, and I am not upset. All we can do now is work diligently and hope for the best. You don't need to take responsibility for the wellbeing of the entire crew. These people knew what the signed on for, they are more resilient that you think."

"Thank you, my love." He said, undoubtedly preoccupied with studying countless alien planets. She was pulling up on the mouth of the cave now. The mouth was large and imposing, almost like an amphitheater of green stone it dominated the surrounding area. She could see small clouds of dust moving towards the cave. She dismounted from her bike and turned it off.

"I just made it to my destination; I have to go." She said, and before she could cut the line Gabriel said 

"Do you think you could stay on? It helps me focus having someone to talk to." He asked sheepishly. 

"Of course my love, but there may be some interference." 

"I understand." he said, as she brought out her tools and made her way into the cave. 

Gabriel was thankful that he could talk to Shannon, and that she had taken the news so well. 'He had been in other relationships that would have exploded if he had said anything like that'. He thought as he scanned through another planet. This one was another ocean planet, but it had no land masses. He labeled it Oceanus Kappa and moved on to the next marked planet. Shannon was different. It didn't seem like she wanted anything from him other than his company, and to be with him. 

"Another Ocean planet, Oceanus Kappa. No discernable land masses. not an option." He said to her.

"You should really start naming these planets something more interesting." She said. Her voice crackling like popcorn through the radio. 

"I am not creative enough to come up with fun names for them. At least my system is descriptive." He retorted.

"Descriptive and boring." She grunted with effort, no doubt climbing down into a cave in the planets rocky surface. The line was silent for a while the two continued their work, the small sounds of physical effort from Shannon calming his nerves as he surveyed the next planet.

"Caeruleus Delta. a rocky blue world with no discernable atmosphere. Not an option." 

"Shame. I would love to live on a blue planet." She said through heavy breaths. 

"Can I ask you a question my love?"

"Sure."

"Have you thought about marriage?"

"Have I thought about marriage? Yes, I have. Quite a lot in fact. I hope this is not how you are proposing to me." He could hear the mischief in her voice. He struck another planet from the list and decided that going from the top wasn't working. He stepped back into the center of the map and started putting planets into bins based on how likely they were to be a good candidate.  

"I'm serious. I know we agreed to not talk too much about the past, but I have never met someone I am as comfortable around as I am with you. I know I have said it before, but I truly do love you, Shannon." He said.

"I wasn't joking Gabriel, well maybe a little, but I have thought about marrying you a lot. I have been hoping that you would ask me soon. I can give you a bit of foreshadowing, the answer will be yes, but not over a comm link please. While I love you dearly it's a bit anticlimactic. Hopefully you will ask me when we arrive at our new home." She replied.

"Sorry I didn't keep the surprise. I was just worried that we may not make it." 

"Nonsense we will make it. As for the surprise, meeting you has been the greatest surprise of my life, I could ask for nothing more." 

Gabriel was too stunned to reply. He had been moving his way through the map feeling his way through the solar system, adrift in a sea of stars, when he had found it. Finally, a solution! This planet already had a forest on its surface, a boreal one at that. It was lush with trees and flora, many of them similar to the ones he had known from his home system. He was sure that if Shannon were her should identify some of the species. That wasn't the only thing. This planet felt different from the rest. It held his attention. He could almost hear a phantom melody coming from the feedback of Shannons radio transmission. He zoomed into the planet as the high-powered scan slowly increased the resolution on the image. He flew over mountains and through valleys. He found rivers and waterfalls of flowing water. The atmosphere was thick, and almost assuredly water vapor, nitrogen and oxygen if it had trees. it was a bit smaller than the normal planet size, but the gravity was in the correct range. It was what they had been looking for. Gabriel continued to study the surface until he found something that formed a pit in his stomach. It was a building. Someone had been there before. This was no rock formation, it had pillars, broken windows, and a steeple. Parts of the building was crumbling, but much of the roof was still intact, covered in a light dusting of snow. The building looked like a church, and on the front face hung an ornate cross. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. 

"Gabriel... I found something." The sound of Shannons trepidations voice filtered through the radio snapped him out of his trance. "Look at your data pad. I want to know what you think." He opened her message and what he saw made his face grow pale. It was the same symbol. The ornate cross in her hands.