378 378 Abs of Steel
The Cutter left Terminus with a smooth push from the gravity beam, only really noticeable because of all the screens showing the scenery outside the ship.
There were only a few transparent portholes, and they had all been taken up with professional camera equipment, so everyone else was watching the screens as the atmosphere of the planet approached, starting from the dark side of the planet and passing across the light side until they reached the dark again, just past the line that marked the sunrise.
If the professional footage turned out half as well as the fixed cameras, they were in for a treat when they edited all three ships’ worth of footage.
The first few minutes were lost, of course, due to the flames of the superheated atmosphere burning around their shields, but the Cutters performed flawlessly, and all three were reporting themselves precisely on course and on time when they reached the landing zone nearest to the cliffs and the rainbow pool, as Nico’s tourism brochures called it.
[Now that the hull has cooled sufficiently, please begin an orderly departure. If you have finished in the next fifteen minutes, you will be on time to see the sunrise through the mist of the waterfall. Adjutant Rage has set up picnic blankets and reclining chairs already, so you only need to step out and find your preferred spot to watch the sunrise.]
That caught Max by surprise. Nico hadn’t been thinking of that when she was around him, but it was also possible that it was set up by Logistics, and she only found out when she arrived in her drone ship loaded with supplies.
The Innu did an excellent job of not pushing and shoving, moving smoothly out of the Cutter in a fashion that any Kepler soldier would be proud of. In fact, Max suspected that their presence was actually encouraging the Soldiers to be better behaved than usual so they didn’t embarrass themselves in front of the aliens.
The surface temperature of the planet was nearly thirty degrees already, and the sun hadn’t come up, so it was going to be a scorcher of a day away from the cooling mist of the pools, but that shouldn’t be a deal breaker with everyone planning to swim and relax anyhow. It would certainly slow down those who might want to go hiking through the woods though.
Max felt a shoulder bump on his ribs just before the sun crested the ridgeline, and the air lit up in a beautiful rainbow. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, a kaleidoscope of colors that took up half the sky.
Hundreds of cameras captured the moment, but what really caught Max’s attention was the handful of tourists that weren’t holding imaging devices. They were more interested in the Human Soldiers, who had all stripped down to swim trunks and bikinis in preparation to enter the waters once the first round of photos depicting the uninhabited and pristine nature of the place had been taken.
“Do humans not put on a fat layer? It’s like someone chiseled their muscles out of marble.” One of the Innu girls sighed.
“A little body paint and some proper tentacles to replace that fuzz on his head, and he would be perfect.” The student’s friend agreed.
“I think we might have to worry about more things than the species not getting along soon,” Nico whispered, winking at Max when he gave her an annoyed look.
Her red mechanical eyes glowed in the twilight, matching the bikini she had chosen with a translucent sarong wrapped around her waist. It was a stark contrast to her dark hair, which she had left loose to blow in the breeze, except for two small braids on the sides, one hung in front of either shoulder.
“Well, I hear we’ve even got multiple species within the crew now. At least by intergalactic standards. So how about we show them some peaceful interspecies relations?” Max joked.
“Right here in front of the waterfall? I never took you for the exhibitionist sort, but I’m game.”
Nico’s response made Max groan in embarrassment as he realized he had just left himself wide open for the teasing.
“You know what I meant. Now, let’s go for a swim. It should help everyone relax if they see us in the water first. Being told it’s safe and seeing that it’s safe are two different things, after all.” Max replied.
“Sounds good. Give them a show, Commander.” Nico told him, then took a knee and cupped her hands for him to step into.
It was the same method that infantry and others with lower-ranked systems used to boost their squad mates over obstacles, so Max stepped back, then took two fast steps before stepping into Nico’s hand and launching himself into the air with her assistance, flying the thirty meters to the deeper section of the pool with ease and diving in.
He couldn’t hear the cheering, but he could sense the approval of his form, so he dived down to check the bottom, making sure that it wasn’t too hazardous to be swimming here, even if the water was pure.
The Crystals had almost all been worn into round shapes by the flowing water, so they were more like reflective pebbles, perfectly safe to swim around, while the actual shoreline had built up a sandy beach for the first few meters.
One after another, the others joined him, with the Innu enthusiastically heading into the deeper waters to admire the gemstone base of the pond, where the rapid flow had pushed all of the sediment off of the rocks.
“Dave, will we be able to do that one day? I want to fly through the air like a cartoon hero.” Sandy, the younger of Max’s twin sisters, asked excitedly.
“It’s possible. He is your brother, and he got such a powerful affinity, so you might do pretty well yourself, even if you don’t have as much affinity as he does.” Dave agreed.
The girls were barely into Gamma Rank, and that might be a generous ranking on behalf of their inspector or, more correctly, a bribe that had been given to him to increase her rank and, thereby, the subsidy her mother was getting.
Even the Illithid had gotten in on the fun, wading through the shallower river sections, not wanting to get into the crowded pool when they could relax in the cool water and watch the rainbow reflections of the sun on the mist as the day warmed up.
“The Commander made an excellent choice. Look, the humans are heading up the cliffs to dive. Get the cameras ready. Nobody will believe that they survived if we don’t have a video. They’re not even an amphibious species.” One of the Innu videographers was directing his crew while the Pilots, who were significantly faster than the infantry who tried to race them to the top of the cliffs, prepared for the first dives of the morning.
The winner of the race was Colonel Lucas, the stout and muscular but surprisingly nimble Colonel of the Third Battalion.
He didn’t even slow, simply running to the edge and launching himself into the air, arcing through the sky into a perfectly executed headfirst dive.
The spot they were jumping from overhung the main cliff face, so there was no real danger of hitting the rocks or landing in the shallows, but the dive was very impressive and landed him right in front of the waterfall’s most turbulent area, where he could easily swim to shore with minimal effort and maximum visibility for the spectators.