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A Gift from Panacea

"Getting the reading now, Captain." Technician, Jeremy Weathers announced from his station at the scanning terminal. The bridge of the Endurance, a Terminus class terraforming ship, was bustling with activity as the results of the first extrasolar terraforming project came in. The outcome of the project that was codenamed, Panacea, after the Greek god of healing, would determine mankind's place beyond the Sol system. Earth had been picked clean, there was little left there other than the capital city that sat in a biodome that kept the inhabitants safe from the toxic atmosphere of the once green and lush planet. Most of Humanity had moved to either the moon or Mars where previous terraforming projects had made them perfectly habitable, but those had been easy to do. In terms of distance on a galactic scale, Mars and the Moon were close by, but the planets of Sirius were light years away and the recent discovery of Slip-Space technology had allowed mankind to travel beyond their small solar system.

"Well then, put them up." Captain Trey Knoll chided the boy from his command chair that sat in the center of the bridge and looked out the large viewing window that graced everyone with the sight of a green planet. The sight alone was getting everyone giddy. Only twenty years ago, when the Endurance had first arrived, it had been barren and grey. There was no life, no atmosphere, not even tectonics. Now all of that had been reversed. All the captain needed to declare the mission a success was some hard data which would include the scans that were coming up on the screen and a short planet side walk just because he could.

The data began to stream in on the large viewing screen that lowered itself over the viewing window. It showed everything the captain needed to know about the planet to determine whether it was habitable or not. He didn't understand much of the numbers, but by the way the specialists were nodding and smiling, he got the idea.

"Doctor Freemont." The captain leaned over to his right where a tall woman in a lab coat stood. He rested his elbow on the armrest and looked at the woman who truly defied the stereotypes about nerds. She had long flowing golden locks that made her emerald eyes pop right out and they were studying the numbers very closely. "Dr. Freemont?" The Captain repeated when the woman didn't seem to hear him. She was too engrossed by the data they she had staked her entire career on.

A gentle nudge on the shoulder got he to look at the Captain in a half confused daze. "Huh?" She managed to mutter and a few of her colleagues chuckled. She was a brilliant scientist, but she sometimes got too devoted and would often drown out the rest of the world.

"Can you inform the rest of us what this data means?" Knoll asked politely, he found her temporary state of confusion cute, but he didn't fool himself with any hopes. Freemont was a woman of science and whenever he had tried to make friendly, even flirty conversation with her, she always somehow ended up talking about neutrinos or DNA, things that bored the Captain greatly despite heading a mission that dealt exclusively with science.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah." She quickly recomposed herself and habitually ran a few fingers through her hair quickly. It was a habit she had formed back in college when she didn't have time to use a brush in the morning and would just use her fingers instead to straighten her hair. She did a quick second over of the data, just to double and then triple check that everything was right, she put on a big and honest grin. "The planet is showing very Earth-like qualities. It's entirely habitable. The mission is a success."

The bridge erupted into applause and mirth at the confirmation of their hard work. Everyone on the ship, all 1,138 hadn't been home for the entire duration of the mission. Someone tossed his cap into the air and soon everyone else joined in, even the captain who smiled lightly and tossed his hat into the fray. He felt relieved, like a massive burden had been lifted off of his chest. He had watched endlessly as the crew worked round the clock for twenty long years to make this day possible. There had been death, struggle and times when he though that everything was going to fall apart, but there had also been life and hope. Friendships were forged and lots of exciting discoveries made, there had even been seventeen children born. The ship was a community and he its mayor.

"Attention everyone." Knoll stood up, his knees slightly shaky from the excitement. He had skipped breakfast to get to the bridge early. He made sure to turn on the ship-wide intercom so everyone could hear. The people of the bridge stopped, but only just, and looked up at their Captain with glimmers in their eyes. His eyes went over them. "Today marks a monumental day in human history. Today we will go down as the people who turned humanity into a true space faring race. We've come a long way to turn this rock into something worthwhile and to help make this day even more special, I am authorizing anyone who wants to, a chance to go down to the surface to walk on what we made." He kept it short on purpose, he wasn't one to make long speeches and by the look of how fidgety his crew was, they didn't want a long speech either. He was right, the crew gave a hurrah and went back to their celebrations.

People partied well into the nights, or at least the simulated night that occurred in sync with the capital. Bottles of booze that had been stowed away just for this moment were popped open, the cooks in the mess baked cakes all day and in general, everyone was enjoying themselves.

Knoll retired for the night after receiving 657 requests to go down to the surface. He would deal with the logistics of that later since he, of course, was going to go down first. Dr. Freemont had asked if she could go on the first trip as well and he couldn't deny her it. None of it would have been possible without her in the first place. She had developed the techniques that allowed an entire planet to be terraformed and even seeded with life in such a short amount of time. The planet had jungles, oceans and deserts, all it lacked was actual wildlife since that would have to be imported in from gene labs on the Moon which had so called "doomsday bunkers" as the conspiracy theorists called it. They were nothing more than a seed vault for everything Earth, made especially for populating planets like now.

While Knoll went to sleep, Dr. Freemont couldn't contain her excitement and it kept her awake. She found herself in her lab going over the mountains of data that was still coming in. There was a forest fire on the planets smallest continent which was putting large amounts of carbon in the air while a series of tornadoes were hitting the largest continent's center. She was no meteorologist, her PHD was in Biology, but she liked to delve into a little of everything.

Hunched over her computer she just watched the planet in all its glory. She thought of it as her child and in a sense it was. She had neglected nearly every aspect of her personal life trying to get to this stage. She had friends yes, but not the kind that she would go out with for a drink after work, they were more like trusted colleagues. There was Captain Knoll who she remembered had tried to hit on her once and in a fluster, she had sputtered science at him. It was a complete failure on her part to keep her cool and now the man was only business with her. She did regret it, Knoll was well liked by the entire crew and genuinely cared for everyone. She liked that about him, he was a man in power who hadn't let it corrupt him in the slightest. He wasn't bad looking either. A chiseled chin with brown, almost rusted colored eyes along with a healthy body that she had the pleasure of seeing more than one occasion since the ship had shared showers. Twenty years of sitting in his command chair everyday with the stress of his job had added a few pounds and some grey to the man, but in her opinion, it made him look more experienced.

It didn't matter to her that the man was in his sixties. In an age when modern medicine allowed people to live close to 200 years, his body was closer to being in its mid-thirties and if he kept in shape, it would remain like that for several more decades.

Maybe I'll be able to fix it all down on the planet. She thought this and imagined landing down on some tropical island near the equator where the sun would shine and the waves would crash against the sandy beach in a romantic setting. It would be the perfect time to try and get something rolling.

Knoll had given free reign over the destinations where the ship would take them to the pilot as long as it wasn't dangerous since he wanted to be surprised. A bottle of whiskey she had made in her lab might be enough to get what she wanted. It was the perfect plan and it didn't feel wrong in the slightest to her. They would get to be on a nice beach and see the planet and since he had hit on her before, she knew he was already interested in her. Everything was falling together nicely in her head as she pulled up maps of the planet to look for the perfect beach.

As the shuttle landed with the executive members of Project Panacea and opened its doors, Knoll tried to keep himself from peeking out of one of the windows. He waited patiently for the landing gears to hit the surface, the shuttering of the ship making his heart flutter in excitement.

All the while, Dr. Freemont had her own butterflies in her stomach. All of the confidence she had the previous night had faded now that she was there and sitting right next to the Knoll. She rubber her hands together nervously, trying to hide their shakiness from everyone.

Other than her and Knoll, Director Stephens, a stout man who had a legendary attitude that had not faltered one bit in twenty years and Chief Engineer Santos, a shy, but brilliant man who had designed the fusion bomb that was used to restart the planet's core. Knoll had kept the amount of people to a minimum on his trip so he would have more time to look around, they would only be down there for an hour. The crew, on top of wanting to go to the planet, they were more eager to return home. He couldn't get too greedy and spend too much time topside while his crew were itching to get back to Sol.

"Welcome to..." The pilot spoke over his shoulder and through the single open door that separated the cockpit and the passenger bay. He frowned for a moment. "What is the name of the planet anyways?"

The passengers all looked at each other as the realization that in the twenty years they were there, they hadn't even decided on what to name the planet. It had an official designation that had fancy numbers and stuff, but not an actual name.

"I can't believe we overlooked that." Knoll laughed at the major overlook on not only his part, but everyone's. Not once had the topic been officially brought to light.

"It had never appeared in any of the official schedules." Director Stephens said, trying to hide his own embarrassment since he was in charge of all of the official paperwork that would be handed over to the capital the day they returned. "I suppose now would be a good time to fix that." He pulled a pen and a notepad out of the inside of his suit that he wore all of the time even though everyone else was wearing more casualwear. "Any suggestions?"

Silence. No one knew what to name the planet, it wasn't like naming a child. They couldn't very well name it Bob or Frank and something like New Earth just seemed too clichéd for anyone to suggest it.

"C'mon, it can't be too hard." Stephens said even though he was drawing blanks as well.

"How about we name it after the project, Panacea?" Freemont finally suggested after a few moments and several humorous suggestion by the pilot to name it after his left nut.

"I like it." Captain Knoll quickly agreed which drew a blush from Freemont. She ran her hands through her hair and flicked her locks to cover the red on her cheeks.

"I second that." Santos quietly said from his spot in the corner. He had kept quiet the entire flight and Stephens had actually forgotten that the man was there.

"Alright then." Stephens said and clicked his pen to write down a memo for himself to get the paperwork done to name to planet.

The pilot harrumphed and crossed his arms at the name. "I still think, Flight Officer Jensen's Left Nut would have been better."

"Well, Mr. Jensen." Stephens said as he stowed his notepad and pen away. "That name is simple vulgar and not at all professional."

"Whatever." Jensen shrugged and did his post-flight checks and he also looked down at the bottle of whiskey Dr. Freemont had given him to get him to land the shuttle in a special place. "Let's get this show on the road." He flipped a switch and the back hatch to the shuttle hissed as it slid open. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking, we have arrived on time. Welcome to Panacea." He said more to himself than to the passengers who were unbuckling their safety harness.

Before he could even undo the top straps of his harness, a smell invaded the interior of the ship. "Oh god." Knoll wrinkled his nose and covered his face. "Smells like rotten eggs." The others also began to smell it as well.

"Mmm, new planet smell."

"More like old planet." Freemont corrected the pilot who had the luxury of an oxygen mask within easy reach. "The old volcanoes that had been dead for nearly a billion years are now waking up again and depositing large amounts of sulfur into the atmosphere. Nothing toxic, but Panacea is going to smell bad for at least another decade until the volcanoes finish purging themselves."

"Didn't know you were into geology as well." Knoll commented with a smile and finished unbuckling his straps. Free at last, he stood up and so did Freemont.

"I wanted to know everything about this planet." She said softly as if her thirst for knowledge was some sort of guilty pleasure.

"Your information is very refreshing Doctor." Stephens butted in and looked at his watch. "But, I'd like to see the surface before our hour is up." He didn't walk off, the honor of the first person to step on the planet was reserved for the Captain so he waited patiently.

"You're right." Knoll said and walked over to the edge of the hatch. He could hear the sound of water breaking against the shore as a warm, salty breeze swept past him. Ignoring the sulfuric smell, he thought of where they could have landed. The pilot told him that he had seen some places from satellite images that looked interesting. He would have been happy with anywhere, but now that he thought of it, a beach did seem very nice.

Turning he gasped at the sight.

"What?" Freemont asked worried that she had picked a spot that was ugly or off putting.

"It's..." He fought to find the right words. "Perfect." He finally said and stepped out onto the rocky surface. He gazed out onto the rocky beach that faced the rising binary stars that shined a blue light down onto him. He looked at the ground, not believing that he was the first person to step onto a planet outside of the Sol system.

"Oh wow." Freemont covered her mouth with a hand and stepped out next. She knew that it would be gorgeous to look at a twin sun rise, but the blue of Sirius A made the sky look neon. The clouds looked like blue raspberry cotton candy.

Everyone was awestruck at the sight and after some time to admire it and many photos later, the group split apart to wander and look around. The director decided to investigate the nearby woods that were made up of pine trees. The entire planet had only a few kinds of trees which would be later replaced with more appropriate foliage at a later date. The pilot went with him, much to the director's annoyance. Santos stayed back with the ship. He felt safer next to something that had been tried and tested in over one hundred endurance tests that he had designed himself. As far as he was concerned, a volcano would sprout up underneath his very feet at any moment. Knoll and Freemont on the other hand, went for a walk along the beach line.

"This couldn't have gone any better." Knoll said as he stepped over a rock, admiring how different the planet looked to his home back on Mars. Mars had a red sky due to the iron in the air, Earth had a grey sky due to pollution, but he heard tales that it was once light blue. Now he was under a blue sky that looked like it was glowing.

"I agree." Freemont said. She was thinking about how to make her move. Hesitation had taken her and she was afraid that she would just break out in a scientific banter again, luckily for her, Knoll took the reins.

"Almost romantic." He said casually and put an arm around Freemont's shoulder which caused her to jump. He rubbed her shoulder reassuringly and they stopped walking to look at each other. Freemont had a few inches over Knoll, but she was standing in a shallow divot in the rocks which brought them eye to eye.

"I... uh." She stuttered and was cursing at herself for not being able to bring anything comprehendible out of her mouth. She was supposed to be sure of herself, she had been sure when she injected the planet with oxygen producing algae, she had been sure of herself when she decided to plant trees two years ahead of schedule and now she was unsure of herself now that she was speaking to a man who she had known for two decades.

"We've been doing this dance for some time now." Knoll lowered his arms and took both of the Doctor's hands into his own. Even though she was taller, he had the bigger hands and he easily enveloped them in his own. His strong fingers, gently caressing hers. "I've tried to push this tango further, but you seem to shut me out." He sighed and she quickly acted, using the same urgency that had pushed her career so far to push he personal life as well.

"I think you're hot." She blurted out like some child and her cheeks turned a rosy red. It took both of them by surprise. Knoll had planned to slowly bring his feelings to light and had not expected Dr. Freemont to so suddenly confess hers.

"Oh... we... ahh." It was his turn to stutter, his entire planned speech completely destroyed, forcing him to think on the spot. "I think you're hot too." It was beyond cheesy like some chick flick meant for teenagers.

Seeing Knoll in a slight state of panic reassured Freemont. It was good to see that she wasn't the only one who wasn't too good in these situations and even though it was awkward it wasn't the bad kind. Their feelings were confessed after so long of keeping them pent up.

"What now?" Knoll said, ruining the mood a bit. He hadn't planned on what to do when the nitty gritty parts were done with.

Now confident, Freemont smiled up at her new and overdue lover. "I think we should just keep walking along the beach for a while."

"I think that sounds great." Knoll agreed and they kept walking hand in hand until the Director called and chided them for going off for three hours.

Two Years Later

"You think it's going to be a boy or a girl? Knoll asked as he held onto Freemont's hand, admiring the gold bands that sat comfortably on both of their ring fingers. The wedding hadn't been fancy or anything, just a simple one at a local church with family and friends. Dr. Freemont had elected to keep her last name since all her research papers had Dr. Freemont on them and that got no argument since she told him in the afterglow of the night of the wedding. Now they were waiting in the lobby of a hospital, waiting for their first ultrasound for their unborn child. The news that they were going to have a child had come as a pleasant surprise to both of them and they were both excited to find out the gender.

"I don't know, but I'd like a little girl." Freemont tapped her chin with her free hand. "I'd be happy with a boy too." She couldn't really decide, having the child in the first place was a blessing in of itself. "Either way, I'll be happy."

"Of course." Knoll crooned and gave his wife a light peck on the cheek as a nurse walked into the waiting room and called their names. They were led to a small room that had the ultrasound machine in it along with the doctor that was going to perform the mundane procedure.

"Just lay there on the bed." The doctor motioned towards a hospital bed and he flipped on the machine which slowly warmed up. "This your first ultrasound." He had all of the data on the clipboard he carried under his arm, but he found that talking to his patients helped ease any tensions.

"Yes." Freemont said as she sat onto the bed, using her husband's hand as a rail to help lift herself onto the raised area.

"Any morning sickness, craving or anything unusual?"

"Some morning sickness and I have been craving peanut butter." Freemont nodded and rested her head down on the pillow. She was nervous, but not scared in the slightest.

"Perfectly normal."

Just then, Knoll's phone began to ring. "I'm sorry." He was about to put it to voice mail when he saw that it was from Director Stephens who was now running the colonization project for Panacea. He had kept in contact to keep updated on how it was going and Stephens only called when there was something important. "I actually need to take this." He hated the idea of just leaving his wife.

Catching onto his hesitation, Freemont lightly squeezed his hand. "It's fine, just make sure you stick around when I give birth." She laughed and Knoll stepped out into the hall.

"What's up?" Knoll answered his phone as he stood just outside the door.

"Where are you?" Stephens nearly yelled into the phone and Knoll had to pull it away from his face when it came in loud.

"At the hospital." He replied, ticked off that he was getting yelled at already. "My wife is getting an ultrasound."

"Shit."

"What?" Knoll got worried, the was an edge to Stephens voice that he had not heard before. Concern? Fear? He didn't know. "What's going on?"

"It concerns your child and Panacea." Stephens said slowly to make sure Knoll heard it right. He knew that it sounded strange, but he needed to make sure that Knoll heard everything that was being said.

"What do you mean? Those two things are entirely unrelated."

"No they aren't." Stephens said and Knoll waited for an explanation. "You remember how your wife explained that the volcanoes were purging the sulfur in them?"

"Yeah." Knoll vaguely remembered it.

"Well, it purged something other than sulfur into the atmosphere."

"What?" Knoll yelled into the phone which got several people who were walking down the hall to look at him like he was some loon. "Is it dangerous?"

"Not exactly." Stephens readied himself to give the news. "It purged some sort of spermazoid, pollen or something." Knoll just listened with utter disbelief, he was beginning to piece together what he was being told. "By some chance, god knows how, it's compatible with humans and shows some resemblance to wolf DNA."

Knoll dropped the phone where it clattered onto the floor and disconnected the call. On the other end, Stephens wasn't surprised and felt utterly stupid that they had so royally screwed up in making sure the planet was completely sterile. They hadn't brought sensitive enough equipment to catch it and they had left the planet in utter ignorance that over half of the crew had been exposed to the substance that bound itself to human sperm if it made its way into either the vagina or the urethra of a human. There it would wait for years if necessary before it went to an egg. He felt so utterly stupid and sorry for anyone who was going to have a child.

Knoll ran back into the room just as the doctor put the wand onto his wife's stomach and a clear image appeared of their child.

"Is that a tail?"