Swimming

[Colonel Eason 0]

Claire paused to tread water and look about. She was about 500 yards offshore, and the view was beautiful. Coastal mountains dropped abruptly downward to meet the rocky shore as waves crashed onto the rocks and beaches. Yes, beaches. There was no broad expanse of beach stretching as far as the eye could see around here. Just many small packet beaches each with their own personality hidden inside the many coves created by the coastal cliffs.

 

Swimming had become one of her favorite activities over the last month but then that was natural for someone literally born underwater. Even in the time they came from, it had been years since she had been to her homeworld, the water covered planet of Pacifica where the cities were all underwater because very little land mass was above water. You didn't hike trails on Pacifica. You swam them with the fishes. That was one difference here. And it was a little unsettling. There were no fishes. Or anything else other than plants and vegetative life. Even in the ocean. But even so, swimming in a real ocean in real water sure beat the fake oceans and water of the holodecks. This was real swimming. She couldn't help but wonder about Pacifica. Was it still there? Was it barren except for the underwater plants? No humans or fishes or other animal life like here? Like Vulcan, and Izar, and all the other planets in the Federation and beyond, Pacifica had not answered their calls. Were they really the only sentient life left?

 

She swam to about 100 yards offshore and tread water again. From here, she could see the landing pad and the shuttles sitting there. She could also see the edges of the main field and orchard. Food. Water. Shelter. It had all been theirs for the taking. It had almost been too easy. The water distillery and Deuterium plant she couldn't see from where she was, but she knew they were there. She turned slightly and looked in the another direction toward the Point. The silhouette of a lone figure stood there against the background of the sky. She knew he would be there. He just about always was this time of day. She was a little concerned about him. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what or how, but there had been something different about Sovak since they landed or maybe even a little before. But then again, this experience had changed them all in one way or another. She watched him for another minute or so, then sighed and swam toward the shore.