Bridgebuilder

Lieutenant William's assertion that the weather would clear soon was correct - and unsurprising, given the Confederation had drones operating in the Artifact already. The atmosphere inside was thick - thirty kilometers, more than enough room for an active troposphere. A terrifying amount of atmosphere, if one stopped to think about it. How much something so infinitesimal to an individual must weigh to the structure that contains it?

Carbon did think about it, only briefly, before she decided she should not not spend much time dwelling on it. Whoever built this clearly understood the structure they intended. The snow and wind had died down, sparse flakes coming down at an angle. The sky was still overcast, the promise of the blizzard continuing later obvious even without the drone's forecast. It hid the mountains in the distance, but she could see the foothills. The lake at the bottom of the gentle hill was also there, now frozen over.

It reminded her of her last winter on Schoen five years ago. Something she also did not spend much time dwelling on. There would be time for those lingering thoughts later. It was time to go back to the Artifact.

"All right, all right. Sorenson, Lan Tshalen. You're up first. To the line." Lieutenant William's addressed them, gesturing to the red line in front of the portal. "Acknowledge when ready."

Her husband was first to the red line painted before the portal, unsurprisingly. It matched that vibrant shade of red on his suit that stood out among the muted colors everyone else - herself included - wore. It would be more appropriate on a hazard suit, but she wouldn't deny the inner voice that enjoyed seeing that he chose such a bold color that also aligned with what he had worn living among the Tsla'o.

Alex also carried a brace that had just been finished to keep the device that had been whipped up for communicating through the portal from being blown over. The large box had tumbled a few meters away during the worst of the storm, despite being quite heavy. Its twin was set to the side to keep the area clear, for now.

They were both eager to get back to the mystery of this thing they had found, even with all the deceit that now swirled around them.That had tempered her enthusiasm for this expedition, yes, but she did not dawdle.

"Ready." Alex announced to the Lieutenant, before tipping his head towards her, and asking quietly. "Ready?"

There was a moment where that question felt dangerously close to being obvious about their relationship, but... It wasn't. That was something he would have said to a friend, or because of the bond between Pilot and Engineer. Even if neither one wore those titles anymore. A smile curled the corner of her mouth. Just a little one.

"Of course." She replied to him at the same volume before looking over her shoulder to Williams. "Ready."

"Received, cleared to proceed through the portal." She cleared her throat. "Soreson: helmet on, please. It's negative ten out there before windchill. I will not be shipping people back to McFadden with frostbite because they forgot their hat."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved a hand dismissively behind him as the helmet deployed from the back of his suit, enveloping his head with a quiet hiss as it pressurized.

Carbon still didn't like the idea of putting her head in a container unless she had to. Her shielding popped on - the fact she had not been reminded did not go unnoticed, but she was not the one who had originally gone through an untested alien portal with no plan for what to do when she got there.

"Well, I'm gonna go. See you later." Her husband joked with a smirk, a momentary flash of worry on his face as he turned away. He walked up to the portal quickly, not his usual casual stride, and proceeded through it without hesitation. Like he had wanted space between them when he reached it. If something went wrong immediately, she would have time to stop.

Another thing Carbon banished from her mind, lest she spend too much time imagining horrors that could have befallen him. She was glad she hadn't turned the comms on yet, because she had been holding her breath. A sharp exhale filled the layers of baffled shielding as Alex patted himself down.

He turned around and gave them a thumbs up, a big stupid handsome grin on his face.

Carbon thought about supplying a joke to go with her departure as well. A memorable little quip. But after standing there pondering whether or not she should for a few seconds she decided that sometimes silence was the best call, and followed him through.

There was no sudden burning in her chest this time. Thankfully. The wind buffeted her as she stepped through, boots biting into the packed snow. She looked back through the portal and gave them a vertical swipe of her hand, ending with her first two fingers pointing upwards. Saying the same thing Alex had, for the Tsla'o.

Two dozen faces stared back at her, waiting for the actual communications channel to come back up. A couple of them waved, but there was no discernible distribution of who did so.

She turned her comms on with a flick of her mind, and once her suit had linked to Alex's, switched to a private channel. "That was not invasive at all."

He had already set down the frame and gone to get the PCD - Portal Communication Device - from the snow drift that had formed around it. "Yeah, I am not complaining."

She triggered the internal health scanner on her suit, the sensors inside giving her a once-over. "No changes noted on myself, or on the implant."

"Same as mine." Alex swept loose snow off it until he found the top, a pair of handles for safe carry. With the suit's added strength, he had no problem lifting it out of the snow with a soft grunt of exertion.

"Mmh." It took her a second to reset from hearing that quiet little noise. It had only been two days. This was not reasonable behavior for any adult, let alone one with such an important task set before her. She did not have time for any sort of anxious excitement.

Probably shouldn't stand there arguing with biology while watching him carry a device the size of his torso by himself, though. "Do you need..." She managed to start asking before he set it down in front of the portal with another grunt. "Any help?"

"Nah, suit did all the work." He wiggled the PCD into place, then tipped it back to brush snow off the array of lenses and lasers on the front.

The portal didn't allow anything in the usual radio communications wavelength through. Despite appearing to be merely a step away, more exotic things like quantum entanglement didn't get the job done. Something interfered with transmission, but did not disentangle the devices. They even tried out a Tisoka ripple-collapse device, to no avail. So the 'Garage' team had moved back down to the visual spectrum. It would even work - at a massively reduced data speed - if the portal frosted over.

Carbon grabbed the frame and brought it over, slotting it down over the PCD once he had it back upright, wide stabilizing legs now keeping it more secure. A technician on the other side set theirs back up facing it, the pair going through a handshake and calibration before the Garage Passthrough connection came online.

"Sorenson, Tshalen? Telemetry looks good on this side. How do you read?" Williams inquired as soon as they had connected to it, voice clear and strong.

She scanned the data quickly, pleased at what she found. "Connection strength on all segments is showing in the 95th percentile."

"Reading you five by five, Ell Tee." Alex nodded in agreement, some jargon Carbon didn't immediately recognize spilling out of him.

Williams sighed. "Mister Sorenson?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't call me that."

He nodded. "You got it, boss."

Williams sighed harder. "Looks like you two did have return tickets. I'm sure you were wondering. Alright, next up. Groups of five until we're all through, please."

Carbon had expected that, upon seeing both of them pass through the portal without issue, some of the fears of the unknown would be allayed for this group. The uneasy glances indicated that the story of how unpleasant getting the ID tag had been made the rounds.

"It is your people's saying that fortune favors the bold. Isn't that right, Ell Tee?" Stana said as she stepped out of the crowd, head tipped towards Williams as she walked up to the line.

The Lieutenant was at least amused by this, not chastising Stana for using that nickname. The rapport they had previously built apparently counted towards using it. "That is what I've heard. Served me pretty well so far."

Zenshen turned on her heel, arms cast wide as she stepped up to the red line. "Then it will have no choice but to favor me. Ready."

They would have to have a chat about the amount of theatrics Stana had picked up. Carbon was torn. She found it unprofessional from a Tsla'o military standpoint, but it was clearly useful as far as interacting with Humans was concerned.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Alex had little problem with Carbon's behavior - he had adapted to her being an alien faster than she had done for him being an alien, as far as she could tell. Having some of that Human-themed theatricality on hand could be useful in dealing with Humans who were less in tune with her in the coming weeks.

Williams smirked at this display, giving Stana a nod. "Cleared, Sarge."

She gave the Lieutenant a short bow and her shielding popped on as she turned back to the portal, walking through it in a few swift strides. Zenshen straightened, up patting the slab of armor over her chest. "Oh, that is very unpleasant. How bad is it supposed to- Wait, it cleared up."

Alex clicked back over to the private comm link as Zenshen and Williams continued conversing. "That's bullshit."

"What?"

"When we came through it hurt so bad it brought us to our knees, and she got heartburn for a couple of seconds." He was a little riled up over this change.

"Perhaps her constitution is superior. She is younger than both of us, and has been training as a soldier more consistently." Carbon turned to look out over the frozen lake, the next thing she said spilling out without a moment of consideration. "And you will recall it did not bring me to my knees."

There was a hesitation in his reply. Wariness. "Yeah, because you used me as a crutch." A warning without speaking it. Be careful when there are more people around.

Carbon took the advice to heart. It was a moment of familiarity, and she had gotten loose with it. "And I remained standing." Okay. She would take that advice to heart starting now.

"Suppose you did." Alex's head bobbed in a nod inside his helmet as he switched back to the open channel. The rest of the expeditionary unit was starting to queue up in earnest now, Zenshen's display and lack of discomfort having eased the tension sufficiently.

Carbon joined him, both returning to open comms and following as he edged away from the rapidly growing numbers on this side of the portal, giving them space to move away. Apparently whatever had been implanting the chips needed to calibrate, after the fourth person through, they said it barely stung.

Alex was right. She didn't want to see anyone suffer, of course, but... It was bullshit that they had because they were first through.

They trudged over to an obvious 'road' that had been compacted up the hill, now knee-deep in snow and surrounded by banks that were hip deep. A flat spot part way between the portal and the orchard with the most unsettling map in existence had been chosen as the site for their forward base, several of those modular housing units already driven up there by drones.

While they stood at the edges of the group, they did not stray from it.

"Alright, first order of business is finding the gear sled with all the shovels on it, then we can dig out the MHS units for set up." Williams trudged up the hill, leaving a narrow path that everyone filed into.

"Hey, I've got a Groundskeeper drone on my network." Alex piped up. "Nevermind, it's tipped over."

"Mister Sorenson, do not access any drones unless asked to." The Lieutenant sounded tired and annoyed with him already. "Once we get the buildings up and running, we'll right it and you can do as much grounds maintenance with it as you please."

This was... strange. Carbon knew that she was effectively of the same importance as Lieutenant Williams, on the Tsla'o side of this mission. She specifically avoided using the concept of rank - Lan far outstripped a Lieutenant. Her old noble title certainly would have, as did her new station as the Crown Princess. They served similar roles, but she had not been that tightly involved in the lead up to this return.

No, she had been off galavanting with her husband instead, and was now reduced to marshalling the Tsla'o element of this group. Not that they needed much direction to trudge up a hill.

The guilt of that thought struck her heart deeply - this should be a massive potential boon for her people, and she was treating it like one of those arrogant Nobles from a movie would. Having a trip home. Attending a wedding. Playing pretend at being a bartender in the lounge. Enjoying herself and her relationship while her people suffered. Her behavior turned her stomach, and she was unable to stop a sneer heavy with contempt from forming.

"Lan Tshalen? May I have a word?" Williams was digging through a mound of snow that was about the size of a Human gravity sled, and produced a shovel from it. She stabbed it into the bank beside her before reaching back in to sweep snow off the sled, its payload of conventional tools quickly revealed.

"Of course." Carbon wondered, for a moment, if she had been complaining about herself out loud. It had been... it had been a long while since she had come down on herself this hard, and it took the rest of the trudge over to Williams to clear her head. She would, as Alex and Neya both said now, knock it off.

The Lieutenant switched over to a secure channel and handed her a shovel. "They sent the housing units through yesterday, but didn't get them finished before the weather shifted." She pointed out a row of six bulges in the snow nearby, the leeward edges showing crisp manufactured corners in a green that matched her armor.

"Yes, clearly." Carbon rested the tip of the shovel in the snow, hands folded on the endcap, inwardly pleased that it appeared that she had only been berating herself silently, as expected.

"They're laid out in appropriate order, we just need the gap between each pair cleared to the trucks so the automatic systems can finish the job. I figured to take the first set, you can take the second, maybe put Zenshen on the third. Everyone seems to like her already and she knows her way around ordering folks to do stuff. Grab a couple of bodies each and we can get housing squared away before the next wave of this blizzard hits. Maybe even get the mess and command tents up."

"Yes, that is a good distribution of labor." It wasn't even, but certainly some of them were less accustomed to physical work and may need to be cycled out, even with e-suits.

"All right. I'll get her up to speed after we get people moving." She gave Carbon a nod and switched comm channels. "Everybody grab a shovel. Lombardi, Zheng, Smith, and Abbot, on me. Everybody else is getting sorted to Lan Tshalen and Sergeant Zenshen."

Carbon noticed she picked a mix of soldiers and scientists. Probably a good idea. "Amalu, Thoan, Samat, Costa. Come on." Costa had been getting along pretty well with Amalu at the dinner, so that felt like a safe choice. Zenshen then had the widest mix of both Humans and Tsal'o, which she was probably best suited to handle. Actually, that was a bad distribution. It left Zenshen with half the crew to manage. "Crenshaw, Sato... do you mind working with us as well?"

She wanted to ask Alex, of course. She wanted to tell him to be on her team for reasons that were not work related, which was a very good indicator that she should not do that.

Crenshaw and Sato agreed.

As it turns out, most of them had never operated a shovel for very long before now. Even with the suits easing the physical workload, the body being exposed to an unfamiliar form of labor still complained. Carbon hadn't touched one in nearly fifteen years and she was feeling it after a half hour, but pushed through - she was setting the example, after all.

Fortunately, it did not take much longer than that to get the channels between each side of the 15 meter long halves of each unit. Standing between them felt a little dangerous - they were taller than she was, taller than the Humans as well, and the four meter gap between the two sides felt small.

Once activated, barracks began the dance of putting themselves together. Final minute adjustments, the two closest sides folding down to create a wide floor to bridge the gap, then the outer shells sliding over to link up in the same manner. The now-connected structure started to extrude walls and roof into place, beginning its transformation into a usable habitation module.

These had been upgraded, she was told by Crenshaw, with equipment from the Empire - mostly revolving around grooming needs, as the latrines and showers were inside these as well. Even though they were not intended for Humans, he was 'jazzed' to try out a full body dryer.

Getting Operations and the mess prepared was more of the same - digging out long, narrow rows between the segments of the respective buildings. Carbon's group was dispatched to dig out and set up the isoreactor that would be providing extra power - it was also from the Empire, and she was very familiar with the black startup process on that model. Once it was running, operating long term in this weather would be fine.

This took another hour, most of which was the startup checklist - the isoreactor had been made for winters like this on Schoen, and required little in the way of unburying except for the control and plug panels.

The barracks had fully formed roofs by the time they were done with that, and now came the most dangerous part of the expedition so far: dealing with a bunch of adults who didn't have anything to do but wait outside.

Most of them had carved out 'chairs' in the snow, sitting around and chatting on group comms. She and Williams were locating a handful of supply sleds that had gotten fully buried and marking them with extra shovels.

What was it Alex had said on the trip to Na'o? If you treat a child like an adult, they will act like an adult. But if you treat an adult like an adult, they will act like a child?

This was the exact thing that ran through her head when she noticed Crenshaw and Amalu rolling up a large ball of snow. It was innocuous at first. Humans and Tsla'o both have a history of sculpture using snow, and setting a base for that up by rolling up a ball was something even she had done in her youth.

It didn't take long for more of the expedition to start showing interest in what they were doing. Carbon expected to see quite the sculpture underway next time she looked over, but was dismayed to find that the small crowd were throwing shovels like spears at a long wedge of snow, several clumps of frozen dirt and grass pressed into it as targets. The two of them at least had the sense to build this uphill and pointing away from where everyone else was gathered.

None of them were particularly good at it, but they were clearly entertained.

She activated the private comm to Lieutenant Williams, and considered how to say what she was thinking to a Human, like a Human. How would Zenshen express herself in that dramatic manner she preferred when interacting with them? What turn of phrase would Alex use in this moment? Oh, of course. "Lieutenant, are you seeing this shit?"