Free Keystones: Tau Prime by Alexander McKinney Page B

that Calm would concur.
    Calm sat with an elbow on the table and his head resting on his fist. “Fine. Prepare Tempest , and let’s check our EVA suits.”
    Deklan breathed more easily.
    “Mr. Day,” said Calm, “you stay up here on Serenity . Mr. Tobin, you’re coming with me.”
    A rush of emotions flooded Deklan—fear, excitement, surprise, and anxiety. “What?” he exclaimed, with Jonny just a heartbeat behind.
    “You said it yourself, Mr. Day. Something could go wrong. Mr. Tobin and I are the closest thing to indestructible that we’ve got. We’ll leave Dr. Beal up here too just in case something goes wrong.”
    Jonny’s mouth hung open. Deklan couldn’t blame him. He’d be frustrated too if he’d just talked himself out of being one of the first men to walk on a new planet.
    Calm was already leaving the bridge when he said, “Mr. Tobin, let’s check our suits.”
    Deklan walked in silence next to Calm for ten or fifteen seconds before speaking. “Do you know what to expect down there? Do you have scans of the surface?”
    Calm shook his head as though he was clearing away cobwebs. “Yes, yes, sorry. I was far away. We have scans of the surface. It looks as though it should be safe. Tempest is small enough that I should be able to shield most of her hull from any form of damage, especially if I sit in the middle of the shuttle.”
    Deklan said nothing, but he didn’t like any plan that relied on a Keystone trait.
    Unaware of any reservations on Deklan’s part, Calm continued, “I want to launch in half an hour. You’ve gone over your EVA drills, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Excellent. Then you have time to review the data from Exo. We’ll christen it once we get down there.”
    Deklan hazarded a question but kept his voice non-confrontational. He still didn’t have a good read on Calm. “Isn’t this a bit hasty? Shouldn’t we study the planet for just a little while?”
    Calm stopped walking. “History is not made by timid men, Mr. Tobin. None of the great explorers had the advantages that you and I do. Do you want to go down in some dusty tome as the man who was almost famous, or do you want to be remembered for time immemorial as a bold adventurer?”
    Deklan had no desire to be remembered in history at all. If simple reasoning wasn’t going to work with Calm, Deklan had to go along for the ride. “Put like that,” he replied, “I think it’s time to see what this planet has to offer.”

    Deklan pressurized the seal on his EVA suit. Made of a tough white fabric, the suit fitted over him like a second skin, allowing for nearly perfect freedom of movement. It was a little stiffer in the neck area but made up for it with a wide-open faceplate that could be reflective or transparent.
    Calm had finished his preparation minutes earlier, a silent and effective testimony to his level of comfort with the gear. He waited for Deklan aboard Tempest .
    Deklan wondered how searching for Susan had resulted in his being one of the first to explore an alien world. He pushed his thoughts aside as he walked to Tempest . There was nothing he could do to change things for now.
    Tempest was a small craft, about ten meters long, which was ample space for a two-man crew. She was designed with sleek aerodynamic lines and large fusion engines for use in an atmosphere. There were side hatches on the port and starboard sides, but only the port hatch was open. Deklan could see Calm sitting in the pilot’s seat. Although his faceplate was opaque. he yet somehow still looked impatient.
    The port hatch started to close before Deklan had finished walking through it. Calm was obviously eager to depart. Deklan took a moment to look at the interior design. A series of indentations in the floor indicated that the craft had been outfitted with more seats until recently. Calm probably had them removed because they were only a four-man crew aboard Serenity . Despite Tempest ’s small size the cockpit and passenger area were