Challenge #02101-E277: Not Dead Yet
humans are hypersensitive to the smell of fresh water, hence why we can smell storms coming. It's so sensitive that we can smell water better than most dogs -- Anon Guest
The Human origin world, Earth to some, Terra to most, has a surface that is over seventy percent water. Thus, it is surprising to most that Humans can detect it. With land in such relative scarcity, most Galactic Citizens assume that finding good soil would be a better priority.
It's a logical assumption, until one learns that most of the water on Terra is not potable. Humans excel at finding fresh water. They can smell it coming in the weather. They can scent it on the air even though it is in a cavern far, far underground. They can find rivers and streams in the time it takes to take a deep breath. Literally.
This one fact has saved many lives.
Planetary Survey had its perils, and one of them was getting lost in the process of investigating this or that. Another such peril is having their sophisticated equipment fail owing to atmospheric conditions. In those instances, it is a very good thing to have a Human on the team. In Planetary Survey especially, they are highly trained in all aspects of survival.
This time, the team nicknamed Murphy's Lawyers found themselves on a vast desert with little in the way of secure ground and eternally-shifting sand. The inflatable life raft had proved useful in keeping their sand-infested equipment from falling deeper into the powdery silicon. Similarly, adjusted snowshoes also kept the team from sinking knee deep with every step. They had to camp on granite spires - the bones of extinct volcanoes - in order to prevent them from being smothered or crushed by the sand while they attempted to rest.
On one such plinth, Human Anand smelled the prevailing wind and announced, "We have a new heading. There's water. That way," and pointed upwind. The magnetic compass assisted where geostationary satellites could not, and the rest of the team took notes as well as attempting to transmit to the relays. It was all very well trusting in a Human's senses, tenacity, and indomitability, but keeping records just made sense in case everything went completely pants.
If all they find are your bones and your records, it makes complete sense to make those records very readable indeed.
The trip took them three days, sustaining themselves on recycled water from their own bodies ejecta. To say that it wasn't pleasant would be an understatement of epic proportions. Technology has worked for centuries on recycling water to a state where it's potable, replicating the same systems that occur on their origin world in smaller containers. The problem, of course, is that something of the source is always persistent. The potable part isn't the problem. The palatability is.
To say that the team was not impressed when Human Anand lead them to a granite cave was yet another understatement of epic proportions. Anand was more than a little upset that her teammates still didn't believe her. "The water's here. Beautiful, fresh, clean water. Can't you smell it?"
"We are grateful for the relative cool of the cavern," soothed Ryhick with careful diplomacy. "We are prepared for the truth. We are going to die here. It's okay."
Anand sighed, dug out the spelunking equipment and a couple of the empty water containers. "Fine. Gonna have to prove it. Again. Trust the Human. The Human knows her nose."
Ryhick set up their last camp. Water or not, they didn't have much in the way of edible supplies. Setting up even an edible algae farm would require more water than they could extract. Surviving another week would require more water than they could extract. They had four days. Maybe five. Ryhick prepared to record her last words. They had run out of discoveries.
An hour passed in resigned silence. There was no point in panicking. The opportunity for panic had passed in days of radio silence. Now it was just facing the inevitable with whatever dignity they had left. That, and helping the Human accept it all, too.
An echo from the depths brought words. "Flakking yes!" And, judging strictly by the noises, the distinctive rhythm of the I Told You So dance. Human Anand returned with two heavy containers strapped to her body and a big grin on her face. "I found a whole bunch of water and an underground ecology that will flip your lid. There might even be a few shrooms down there that're edible more than once. We're gonna need to set up a winch system because like hell am I hauling Siwus[1] of water up with just my arms."
"How much is a 'whole bunch'?" asked Threch.
Anand hauled herself up and swapped the full containers for two more empty ones. "Dunno. It's deep, I know that much. Deep and wide, and I couldn't see the other side. There might even be fish. That'd be nice."
Trust a human to snatch life from the jaws of death. Now they had a bigger hope, that the mother ship would come looking for them before they got real tired of algae cakes and maybe mushrooms. They also had a whole ecology to study in the meantime.
[1] Standard Weight Units, abbreviated to SWU's and pronounced 'see-woos'.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / muha04]
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