All Or Nothing, An Anunnaki Story

Chapter 4 - The New World

All Or Nothing, An Anunnaki Story

Chapter 4

The New World

The docking bay was bustling. The shuttles that brought the crew to the Nibiru were now taking them to Tellus. Their assigned groups and locations determined where on the surface they would end up. Apsu and Mummu had been there since the departure began. Apsu was personally responsible for every crew member of the Nibiru, even those on Tellus, and he took that responsibility seriously.

Shuttles were taking 30 groups of 100 people to the surface. Appsu already received reports that those on the surface felt heavy and that moving was sluggish. Not optimal conditions for a mining operation, Apsu thought. He could only hope their bodies would adjust.

“Are you eager to see the surface up close and personal?” Mummu asked.

“I’m not happy about the heavy, sluggish feeling I’m going to have, but I am looking forward to seeing it,” Apsu replied.

“We will adjust after a while,” Tiamat said, walking up behind them.

“Is that your medical opinion?” Mummu asked.

“Yes,” Tiamat responded. “Apsu is a prime example of why I believe so.”

“Me?” Apsu asked.

“Yes,” Tiamat answered. “Your constant weight lifting builds up your muscles. People who lift weights regularly will adjust the quickest.”

“That’s a relief,” Apsu said.

“After everyone has departed, are we heading down?” Mummu asked.

“We will have to go to each settlement to see how they are doing, of course,” Apsu replied.

“I know that,” Mummu said.” I mean to look around.”

“Mummu, if you are that eager to see what it looks like, go,” Apsu said.

“You mean it?” Mummu asked.

“Yes, just be careful,” Apsu answered. “We don’t know what kind of animal life is down there.”

“I’ll take a plasma pistol,” Mummu said excitedly. Mummu took off for the nearest departing shuttle.

“Like a child in a candy store,” Tiamat said.

“Yep,” Apsu agreed.

Mummu spied a shuttle with an empty co-pilot seat and boarded it. He opened the weapon locker, took a pistol from it, then seated himself in the co-pilot seat.

The shuttle ride to the surface was uneventful, except that Mummu could feel the gravity pulling on him more and more as they neared the surface. He read he would be 62% heavier on Tellus, but he would not let that dampen his spirits. He was planning to explore.

The shuttle landed in a clearing. Mummu hurried outside. It surprised him at how green everything was. Ma’adim’s plants didn’t have the richness of color these did. He saw birds flying overhead and could hear the sounds they were making. Their sounds were unfamiliar to him. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue with patchy white clouds.

“It’s been a long time since I saw a blue sky,” Mummu said to himself.

Mummu explored the forest around the clearing. There wasn’t a lot of undergrowth, so he could explore at will. There were bushes, shrubs, and flowers with colors he had never seen before.

He was walking along a game trail when he saw a small, furry black and white four-legged creature walking toward him. It had a long, fuzzy, black and white tail. It was a cute little thing, and it didn’t even seem afraid of him. Suddenly, it turned around, lifted its fluffy tail, and sprayed a horrid foul-smelling liquid at Mummu.

Mummu left out an incoherent exclamation and ran from the forest and back into the clearing.

“What is that smell?” he heard one miner ask. People started lifting their faces and sniffing the air.

“Oh, that’s horrible,” someone else said.

“It’s you!” one of the mining crew exclaimed, pointing at Mummu.

“It was an animal in the forest,” Mummu explained. “It sprayed me.”

“Could you stand downwind over there somewhere?” the same mining crew member asked, pointing back toward the forest. “In a general away from us direction.”

The mining crew were civilians. They didn’t have to worry about the proper way to speak to a commander.

Mummu grumbled and moved away from the mining crew. He had to admit, the smell was horrendous. He wondered if he could wash the odor off. He tapped his universal device.

“Map the area,” he said to his device.

“Mapping,” a female voice said. After about a minute, the device said, “Mapping complete.”

“Show map,” Mummu said.

A holographic map appeared, floating above his arm. There was a river just down the hill from their location. On the map, it didn’t look that far away.

“Does anyone have a bar of soap?” Mummu called to the miners. A bar of soap came flying in his direction. Mummu caught it. “Thanks,” he said. Armed with the bar of soap and his plasma pistol, he headed for the river.

Apsu followed Tiamat as she walked around the store, picking up the items they needed and putting them in the hover cart he was pushing. When they got to the aisle with the shower soap, Apsu reminded Tiamat they needed to get some.

Tiamat kneeled to look at the different brands of shower soap. “I have never heard of these,” she said.

“They are probably all made here,” Apsu offered.

“You can’t go wrong with milk and honey,” she said, picking up a bottle and dropping it into the cart as she stood up.

“Anything else, or are we done?” Apsu asked.

Tiamat tossed one more thing into the cart. “Done,” she said.

Apsu and Tiamat walked to the front of the store to pay for their items. At the front of the store, there were several point of sale systems. Each one had a scanning device to push your cart through and a monitor with a small scanner attached. The monitor told you the total of your items, and the scanner took your payment.

As they were walking out of the store, Apsu’s wrist device started blinking and beeping. Apsu raised his wrist close to his mouth and said, “Apsu here.”

“Apsu, I ran into a problem. I need a small shuttle sent down for me,” Mummu said, sounding embarrassed.

“What happened?” Apsu said, sounding concerned.

“There was this cute furry black and white animal,” Mummu began.

Apsu knew by the sound of Mummu’s voice that whatever happened was more embarrassing than dangerous.

“What did the cute little animal do to you, Mummu?”

“It sprayed me with a foul-smelling liquid that came from its butt, and now the pilot won’t let me on the shuttle to go back to the Nibiru,” Mummu said, sounding frustrated.

“Mummu, the pilot is military. Pull rank on him.”

“He said he’d rather be court marshaled,” Mummu said. “I even washed my clothes and took a bath in the river, and the smell is still there. The smell is terrible. I can’t blame him.”

“OK,” Apsu said. “I’ll send a shuttle down to get you. Apsu out.”

Tiamat looked at Apsu with an amused look on her face. “Apparently, the animals on Tellus are unique,” she said with a smile.

“And smelly,” Apsu replied, also smiling. “Don’t forget smelly.”

Apsu was waiting for Mummu in the shuttle bay when he arrived. Apsu’s curiosity peaked. He had to know what kind of smell would make a man say he would rather be court marshaled than be in the same shuttle with Mummu. When the shuttle came in, Mummu was alone. That must be some smell, Apsu thought.

As soon as the shuttle door opened, the smell wafted its way over to Apsu.

“Oh, wow,” Apsu said, backing up away from Mummu.

Mummu nodded his head. “Yep, it’s pretty awful," he said.

“Let’s put you through bio-hazard and see if that takes it off of you,” Apsu said.

“Yes, anything,” Mummu said.

They walked across the shuttle bay, and through two sets of glass doors, you had to push a button to open. Apsu stayed a considerable distance from Mummu.

“These rooms are for people we think may have come into contact with dangerous organisms or chemicals. They will run you through a series of decontamination protocols. Just follow the directions. Hopefully, it will take care of it,” Apsu said. “Oh, take off your clothes and throw them in the bin.”

Mummu nodded. Apsu left the room. Mummu never underwent decontamination before. The rooms were smaller than he had imagined, just large enough for four people at a time. He removed his clothes, threw them in the bin, and waited for instructions.

Decontamination helped reduce the smell immensely. The first room sprayed a decontaminating agent on him, the second room bathed him with ultraviolet light, and in the last room, he had to apply an ointment all over himself. There was a very faint lingering odor left behind, but it was tolerable. Mummu took the robe provided in the last room and put it on.

Apsu was still there waiting for him when Mummu left the last room. “Yes, much better,” Apsu said.

“I don’t think I’m ever exploring down there again,” Mummu said.

“I don’t blame you,” Apsu said. “Why don’t you head home. If I need you, I’ll contact you.”

“I appreciate that,” Mummu said gratefully.

“There are overalls that the mechanics wear hanging in the maintenance locker. You can grab a pair,” Apsu offered.

“Yeah, definitely,” Mummu said. “Thanks.” Mummu walked over to the area of the shuttle bay reserved for maintainingepairing all the crafts used on the Nibiru. There was a storage room in the back of the repair area. The maintenance locker was in that room. Mummu took out a pair of overalls, then headed for the nearest restroom to switch out of the robe and into the overalls.

“Note to self,” Mummu said to himself. “Not all cute furry animals are harmless.” Dressed in the overalls, Mummu left the shuttle bay and went home.