Page 2 of Music of the Ocean

Saxby chuckled as he led them down the ramp and out onto the surface. His boots hit dirt, the jarring shooting up through his ankles.

The planet’s gravity was only a hair off from Earth standard, but the difference was enough that every step felt like walking through a glass of water, buoyant and slow. Gravity was a bitch. The rest of the Landing Team stood by the shuttle’s opening as Kira Merryweather, their Weapons Chief, scouted the area.

“All clear,” Kira called eventually, holstering her weapon.

A few seconds later, Vance walked down the shuttle ramp and joined them. The ramp slowly retracted, and the bay door closed. “Shuttle is secure, and cloaking will commence in three … two…”

The shuttle blurred, then disappeared against the landscape. Saxby surveyed the area. The landscape was gorgeous, he could admit. It also had a highly varied habitat, ranging from lush tropical rainforests on one side of the planet to arid, barren volcanic deserts on the other.

There were no large land predators, which was odd. Of course, they were not completely sure what lurked beneath the surface of that beautiful blue water, because, oddly enough, scans could not penetrate the waves. It didn’t seem to matter what type of scans they used. Nothing got through, which brought up a whole host of questions.

As far as Saxby was concerned, it was the reddest of red flags.

Plus, rumors suggested a colony had previously been established here but then had disappeared. No buildings, no equipment, no debris of any kind was ever found, along with no survivors or bodies. At least, that’s what the rumors said. The Federation classified it, so no one knew for sure.

Soooo many red flags.

Saxby honestly had no idea why their crew had been sent here. There’d been very little information when they’d received their mission, not to mention they were supposed to be headed to a space station for some R and R.

Saxby’s attention returned to the water. In the old days, before the jump to interstellar, somebody would’ve thrown a rock, just to see what happened.

Unable to resist, he leaned down, palmed a pebble, and flicked it, watching it skip across the endless waves. Well, what do you know? No monster rose from the deep. No lashing tentacles, no sharp and jagged teeth rendering flesh from bone.

No reaction whatsoever.

So, why the hell did he feel like he was being watched?

“All righty then, let’s get started, folks,” Saxby said. He didn’t get paid the big bucks, so why they were there didn’t matter. He was only a junior lieutenant, after all.

Abe was already kneeling by the water’s edge, fiddling with the squat yellow canister that was part of their field kits. “Come on, Lieutenant,” he called. “You’ve been wanting an update on the Field Work 101 course, so no time like the present.”

Abe Wilson was their Science Officer and quite good at what he did. Yes, Saxby had learned the basics when he’d gone through the Academy, but that was not his field of study.

Yes, he had also mentioned to Abe he was interested in a refresher course, but every instinct Saxby had was screaming now was not the time. He really didn’t want to get near that endless water.

What the hell was it with this planet?

But Saxby was in command of this Landing Team, and he certainly would not shirk his duties. He set his pack on the water’s edge and watched as Abe popped the lid and revealed a tangle of tubes, vials, and microprobes.

The water was clear enough to see the bottom and smelled clean. Fresh, with just a trace of salt. And he’d much rather be stomping through the tropical jungle at his back than standing on that sandy beach.

Abe punched a button, and the canister chirped to life. “We need a baseline,” he said, handing Saxby a slim metal rod with a bulbous end. “Shove this as deep as it’ll go,” he said, then snickered.

Saxby rolled his eyes.

“Don’t lose your balance.”

Dear gods, was that going to haunt him for the rest of his life? “Okay, again, the gravity adapters malfunctioned during, during the—”

“Mattress mambo?”

“You’ve been spending too much time around me if you’re picking up my slang. And I didn’t lose my damned balance while I was… Why did I ever tell you about that?”

“What’s that favorite saying of yours? Oh yes, you were three sheets to the wind when you shared that little gem,” Abe added helpfully, lips quirking. “Top shelf tequila will do that to you.”

“Are you laughing at me? You’re laughing at me. Okay, just keep it up, and I’m going to throw you into this very nice, very blue ocean,” Saxby threatened.

“That’ll be interesting on the report.”