The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

times. How was I going to do soil testing? How could I possibly bring enough fertilizer with me to cover an entire planet? What were they thinking?

“Bring those sheets of paper with you to New Zealand. They will collect them there and you’ll obtain all the supplies while you’re taking flying lessons,” Idris added.

“Flying lessons?” Spencer asked sarcastically.

“Well, you don’t just get in a spaceship and go, dumbass,” Idris retorted. “Anyway, meeting adjourned.” His eyes flashed open as he waved goodbye. It was easy to tell Idris was done.

LANDING IN NEW ZEALAND was a breath of fresh air. The warm breeze and the sun felt amazing on my skin. Everything was green and smelled fresh. I quickly grabbed my bags from baggage claim and walked to the exit. A driver with my name stenciled on his sign waited for me. It was something new and gave me butterflies. I was important.

We drove away from the airport, through the center of Auckland, and headed north. An hour later we were in absolute wilderness. All the towns we’d driven through seemed tiny, like villages, until even they were gone. Rolling green hills and cliffs surrounded us.

“Are we getting close?” I was getting nervous.

“You’re just a loose unit here, aren’t ya?” the driver asked in a heavy Kiwi accent.

I had no idea what that meant, or even exactly what he said. “I’m sorry, what?”

“A loose unit? You know? Have no idea what you’re doing here?” he said, annoyed.

“Oh!” I answered, exasperated. “Yeah, no, no clue!” I couldn’t contain my laughter, because he couldn’t possibly have been more right about me.

He laughed at me, but looked from side to side and twiddled his thumbs on the steering wheel. “You’re one of them important ones, right? I know we ain’t supposed to know, but I’ve drove too many of you out here to not get some kind of idea,” he said quietly.

The driver’s comment made me feel guilty, like a heavy burden had just been placed upon me. “Yeah... I guess so.” I squinted my eyes to meet his.

We finally pulled into a long, paved lane that appeared to disappear over the hills. I noticed the tall fence surrounding the perimeter with “KEEP OUT PRIVATE PROPERTY” signs posted every ten feet. When we reached the top of the hill, I saw two very large buildings and something that looked like a rocket, but there didn’t appear to be a ship attached to it. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was seeing. I definitely wasn’t a rocket scientist.

The fence created a wide perimeter around the grounds of the all-white facility, which must have included at least twenty acres. Bright green, freshly cut grass spanned the entire expanse, and guards patrolled the fence’s perimeter.

The driver pulled up in front of the second building and stopped the car. Just as I reached to open the door, he stopped me by gently putting a hand on my arm. “I know you all think this is just a big joke, but there are some of us that will probably never get to do what you are doing. Just remember that, okay?”

I nodded, and he let me go.

INSIDE, A GROUP OF scientists gathered in a huddle discussing whatever their team was designated for. I only caught pieces of the conversation, but from the sound of it, they were part of the chemistry crew. Their big to-do on Circadia was to test the air and water. We believed it had an atmosphere and water like ours, but we needed to be sure. After that, they became the jacks-of-all-trades for whatever was needed.

My team was tucked away on the right side of the white room. Apparently, I was the last one to arrive. When they saw me, they peered over, bug-eyed and shaking.

“What’s the deal? You guys look paranoid as hell,” I said.

“What’s the deal? Are you serious?” asked Garrett, and veins bulged from his forehead as he spoke.

“Am I missing something?” I asked.

“Everyone wants to know what you put on your list. Only three things of each of ours have been accepted, and they said they may be making more cuts soon,” Spencer replied.

“Oh, yeah, no big deal. Here it is.” I handed my list to Garrett.

Garrett’s face imploded. An intense shade of red rushed across his cheeks like a tide, and then moved down his neck. Not once removing his eyes from my sheet of paper, he began to shake.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked, too calmly.

“Nope.”

“Two things. Just two.” His knuckles whitened as he grasped the paper.

“Yep. That’s it.”

The paper dropped from his hands and floated to the floor. He didn’t move to pick it up, so I bent down nonchalantly and stood back up before smiling at him.

“Please explain to me your ignorance before I give in to the network’s deepest desires and cause a scene. Please...” His groveling was comical, but no one else seemed to think so.

“It’s easy. You all have what I need already,” I said. Their blank stares indicated I needed to elaborate. “Well, I’m guessing Smith requested a microscope, right?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“And they will give it to you because it’s lightweight, and you are a biotechnologist. You couldn’t work without it.”

He nodded.

“Now, I can do some soil samples with that, along with the kits I requested that are super lightweight and non-flammable. The non-flammable part got tricky for me. How the hell am I supposed to grow crops without fertilizer, right? But then I got to thinking, I have some of the best fertilizer around because Spencer has pigs! Lots of them!” I felt my voice get louder, and decided to tone it down. “I figured the chem guys could help me out with any minerals or chemicals that may need to be added to the pig shit to get it to what it needs to be for fertilizer.”

I could see their faces beginning to sag.

“The network already guaranteed that I would have all the seed I needed