Corporal Harris was scared clean out of his mind. His heart raced as much as his brain. What's going to happen now! After that thing broke his helmet, he had to get it off! Harris had seen enough horror science fiction movies before they left Earth to know, when an alien breaks your helmet, it is because it is trying to get at the meat inside! The next moment, he was still alive, but breathing the Searth air. People came to his aid immediately. However, the damage had already been done. The team helped him into the containment pod so he could be removed from the possible contaminated air and shuttled back to the Atlantis. Emergency drills was part of their training. Like most humans, Harris could not imagine that he would be the subject of this real emergency.

It was stupid, stupid, stupid to have picked up any life forms on the planet without consulting the science department. He had been observing them for weeks. Harris had nothing else to do. The trilobites, or scooters as the ground crew called them, seemed a docile and harmless creature. Maybe he triggered some self-defense mechanism or something from the scooter. No matter why it happened, Harris was in big trouble. He may wish he was dead.

Currently, it seemed they were about to dock with Atlantis. The transport had been kind enough to patch communications to his pod. Three people were tending the corporal and monitoring his vitals.

The EMT sergeant concerned about Harris's vitals strongly urged him, "Corporal, you really need to try to slow your breathing down."

Harris was practically gulping air. "Yes, Ma'am. I'm trying,"

"Well, try a little harder corporal! Your pH and electrolytes are sliding. You are going to be sick with acidosis if you don't slow down! Pick a spot and focus. Take slow, deep breaths. Take it easy and try to relax. You are in good hands. You are still alive, and you are doing well. Breathe a little slower now. That's it; a little slo-o-o-wer now. Good." After a few minutes she could see his readings were starting to turn around. "Feeling better corporal?"

"Yes, thank you, sergeant. I do feel better." Harris's brain raced faster than his heart now. He guessed that was a plus. He heard the unmistakable noises of the transport docking with Atlantis. The corporal's next leg of his journey was about to start. His three chaperones collected their gear and moved Harris to the ship's loading gate. Some more loud clanking and the gate opened, and his entourage became bigger. Harris could not see, but he could hear from his external microphone.

"How long was he exposed to the atmosphere?"

"Download his current vitals."

"Does he have any injuries?"

"The corporal's pod was decontaminated before loading aboard the transport, right?"

"Let's get him to the containment area."

It took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the containment area. Harris heard someone talking to the captain. Great! He had heard Captain Metcalfe a fair-minded individual but did not tolerate stupidity very well. The captain also sounded like the kind of man that did not like excuses. So, he knew he better be straight with him, and what punishment levied by his superiors would be tempered with the captain's assessment. Where were his superiors anyway?

His handlers wheeled him into a large room, and the pod tilted. Harris could at least see now! A person followed him into the room wearing an environmental suit very like the ones the ground crew used. It looked like he was going to be let out. Thank goodness! It had been an effort to keep down the claustrophobia. The person twiddled with the settings and WHOOSH! After some equalizing of pressures, his keeper motioned to step out of his coffin.

"Corporal, please disrobe and put these pajamas on," said his nameless assistant.

As he took off his suit, and then his underclothes, he looked at his surroundings. He scanned the windowless room. Surely there had to be monitoring equipment embedded somewhere.

Harris looked regretfully at the diagnostic equipment in one corner of the chamber. The room looked otherwise comfortable with a bed and nightstand. Across from there, a nice wooden table with a couple of chairs. Hmm, a couple of chairs. It looked like he will have visitors.

The pajamas, if you could call them that, only vaguely resembled that attire. Although a seam went down the front of the shirt, the pants had a seam that ran down both sides of the legs. Harris quizzed his assistant, "Hey, what's up with the pants?"

"It's so in an emergency, we can get your shirt and pants off in a hurry."

Harris's eyebrows peaked. "Well, let's hope we don't need to do that!

"He's ready," he said to the air. "I hope everything turns out alright Corporal."

"Me too," Harris said feeling the full weight of that sentence. His assistant turned and walked out the door which then seemed to disappear. One side of the wall became transparent, and the captain, along with medical personnel, and a major were staring at him for a moment. Of course! The wall had to be transparent aluminum with a piezo-optic sandwich. The wall could be transparent like glass but several times stronger than steel and could be opaque with a little voltage applied.

"Corporal Harris," Captain Metcalfe began. Harris snapped to attention and saluted. "At ease, Corporal. For expediency's sake, we will be interviewing you all together. We have agreed that the medical people will talk to you first, followed by the rest of us."

"I will do what I can to help," Harris steeled himself for the interrogation. Someone moved to the front and spoke.

"Hello Corporal, my name is Dr. Lim. Please grab a chair and be comfortable. This is going to take a while. We have been monitoring your vitals since the incident. Aside from some stress-induced acidosis, you seem to be in good shape."

Harris grabbed a chair and sat in front of the now transparent wall. "Yes, I feel fine. Nervous, but fine."

Dr. Lim asked, "How long would you say you were exposured to the atmosphere?"

"I wouldn't be a good judge of that, sir. I had had the crap scared out of me. Time does funny things when in fight-or-flight mode. Of course, it seemed like forever, but more likely between ten and fifteen minutes. The emergency team took some minutes to get to the pod and set it up."

"What did the air smell like?"

"What did it smell like?" Harris thought a moment. "Well, I haven't had a chance to even think about those things. Now that you mention it, the air was fragrant and flowery. However, it didn't smell like any flowers I know."

"That's fine for now. Did the odor seem to come from the plant life or do you think the smell came from the trilobite?"

"I don't know. I don't believe the scent came from near the trilobite. I continued to smell it after I flung my helmet and the trilobite away."

"Do you think the trilobite touched you?"

"No. I did not give it a chance. My helmet cracked, and I could hear my air escaping and suit alarms going off about the suit integrity. I did not hesitate to take my helmet off to remove the threat from my proximity."

"Good, thank you."

This went on for a few more minutes before Dr. Lim had finished with the first round of questions he had for him. The major stepped forward and introduced himself.

"I am Major Patel." Harris snapped up from his chair and stood at attention. "At ease soldier. I can't speak for the captain, here, but this is an informal interview. We just need to ask a few questions. You will then submit to a very uncomfortable medical exam from stem to stern. After the first round of tests are complete, we will no doubt have more questions. More exams, then more questions etcetera, etcetera. If you have any requests which can make you more comfortable here, let us know. As you have surmised, this will be your home for the foreseeable future. Do you understand corporal?"

"Yes, sir." Harris studied the major as he spoke. The officer's slender build did not immediately imply a forcefulness about him although he seemed wiry and quick. Patel looked to be from India. His skin, however, a little lighter than he expected. A fierce intelligence burned in those dark eyes. The eyes alone was intimidating.

The major continued. "It does no good at this point to mention that there are regulations about the interactions of the native wildlife. The why does not matter either. You were most likely curious. I can't tell you how many cats I have seen killed by curiosity. I am sure getting locked up here, poked, prodded, and endless questioning; not to mention you could still end up dead, should suffice as a punishment for your lack of judgment. If you survive the process, you may return to duty hopefully a little wiser."

Feeling thoroughly awful Harris said, "I understand, sir."

"I didn't come here just to dress you down for your transgressions. I do have a few questions."

"Certainly sir." Harris noticed the captain dispassionately watched him, not appearing to listen to the others.

"After you threw the helmet away from you, how did the trilobites behave?"

"Well, I really freaked out from the moments before, so I would not be a good judge of those observations. Someone else could have witnessed the incident. All I do know is the scooter did not trap itself in my helmet. When I looked back some moments later, it disappeared as well as the other scooters nearby when it happened."

"How many would you say were there before the incident?"

"Maybe a dozen or so."

"Did you do anything provocative toward them before the incident?"

"NO SIR!" Harris was shocked by the implication. "I would never do anything to harm any living thing on this planet without expressed orders to do so!"

"Very well Corporal." The major needed to see if there were something more to the story or whether he lied. "We will talk some more, but for now, I have some answers."

Major Patel stepped back and allowed the captain to approach the transparency. He suddenly appeared to be engaged, and his demeanor changed to a more approachable figure.

"Corporal, do you need anything to drink? Is there something I can get for you?" Captain Metcalfe knew that he is beginning his first day in prison, so to speak, and he may need some things for his comfort.

"Thank you, Captain, I would like some water. Later, when things settle down, I would like some things from my quarters."

"Whatever you need. I would caution that whatever you bring in, will need to survive the decontamination process, so keep it in mind." One of the medical staff took the cue and disappeared.

"In the meantime, I want everyone here to know Sonny has been monitoring your vitals during our talks, and you have not lied to us about anything so far. I have been in contact with the ground and General Zhou. Scientists have noticed the trilobites use this appendage to right itself when it has fallen on its back, or to aid itself in climbing. They seem to think when you picked it up and turned it over, a natural reflex took over to grab something. That something happened to be your helmet."

While the captain talked, someone entered with a suit. The attendant brought with him a kind of water cooler with many liters of water in a reservoir for him to drink. The captain paused while the medical person set up the cooler and the corporal got himself a glass of water. Harris returned to his chair with his water, and the captain continued.

"Did you sense anything from the animal when it attached itself to your helmet?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, did it try to communicate with you? Could you sense its fear, for instance?"

"I don't know. I was in my own moment of panic, I'm sorry."

"That's OK Corporal Harris, relax for now. The medical staff wants to poke and prod you for a while, and then afterward, get some rest. Things may become clearer in the morning. We will also look at the other information which we have gathered and chew on it awhile. If you need anything, feel free to ask the medical staff or Sonny, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Although it is a prison, I want it to be a comfortable prison."

Harris appreciated the captain's sympathy, "Thank you, sir. I don't want to die," he added. The thought clearly weighing on him.

"Our goal is to see that doesn't happen. No guarantees, though. Some of us will be back to check in on you in the morning. Good evening Harris."

The transparent wall went opaque again, and Harris was left to himself. He hoped this thing didn't turn out to be fatal. After a few minutes, four medical personnel came in with a couple of robots that didn't look friendly.

"Corporal, please disrobe and lay down on the bed and we will get started. You may be uncomfortable, but we will do our best to get this done quickly."

On the other side of the wall, the captain turned to the medical staff, "What is his status?"

Dr. Lim spoke for the group, "Well, after preliminary examinations and tests, we have not turned up anything out of the ordinary. I have a more extensive study to perform now we are finished with the interviews. I will keep you appraised."

The captain wondered, "What are the long-range plans for him?"

"The corporal will remain in isolation and observation. Our findings will guide our strategy."

"For how long you suppose he will have to remain there?"

"More than likely he will be there until microbiology finishes a full workup of the atmosphere."

"So, we are talking about another eight months then."

Dr. Lim checked something on his pad, "Yes, the studies will finish, sometime after monitoring the colony sites through a whole Searth year.

"Major, judging by your questions, do you think there was anything nefarious about the incident?"

Major Patel paused before answering, "Not at this time. I will confer with the general after his investigations on the ground are complete. I covered all the bases here. It's likely an unfortunate accident with no provocative elements."

"Understood. Sonny, do you have anything to add?"

Sonny now talked to the three men through their implants. "There have been reports from the exobiologists studying the trilobites that they are a very social creature. They are also very curious. This explains their numbers clustering near construction sites. This curiosity implies intelligence. There is insufficient data to quantify how intelligent. There is also one other event recorded, but not corroborated."

"What is it?" Levi thought it odd that Sonny seemed hesitant.

"An event with one of the science teams studying the trilobites. One of their team members, Anna Hauser, reported having a clairvoyant incident while near three of the trilobites."

"This is the first time I'm hearing about this." The captain said surprised and a little annoyed.

"The science team felt one event did not constitute a significant finding."

"And you do?"

"The event is very remarkable given that not only does Anna Hauser not exhibit any psionic abilities, but her score is negative twenty-two."

"Wow! She must be a danger to be around."

"Anna Hauser is a capable exobiologist. Are you attempting to be sarcastic?"

Levi chuckled, "Yes. I only meant that while a significantly positive score can explain why some people are lucky. They just know the right thing to do. A negative result can explain why some people are unlucky. They seem to make more wrong choices than the norm. By saying she is a danger, I meant she is so unlucky that she is a menace to herself and others."

"The selection process for passengers on this ship did not include luck and psionic abilities for parameters."

"Can we return to the topic of our discussion? Do you think the trilobites had something to do with the event, or do you believe it a statistical anomaly?"

"It is why the science team did not report it. One point does not make a trend. The trilobites and Miss. Hauser are interrelated in some way. They were either trying to communicate with her or accentuated her abilities."

"Well, they picked one of the worst candidates for their attempt! I would imagine had it been anyone else, they would have had a significantly different experience."

"That is reasonable."

"Are we doing something about this?"

"We should direct Anna Hauser and her science team to stop what they are doing and investigate this phenomenon with other individuals as well as Anna Hauser."

"Just out of curiosity, what did the clairvoyant vision consist of?"

"It pertains to an earthquake that severely damages dome number two."

"So, we move the dome."

"It is impossible to determine. It is one thing where data points provide a trail to a conclusion; it is another to give a conclusion without data. If the supposition is that Anna Hauser saw a real future event and not a hallucination; then you could see the vision may include our knowledge about the revelation. If we move the dome, we may be moving it to the unstable area. Staying put, in that case, would be correct. If the vision did not include our knowing, then staying put would be the wrong thing to do. We have insufficient data."

Levi thought this a rather sticky wicket. "What do you suggest Sonny?"

"The domes should stay put since we are already building the domes. However, I would put into place a contingency in case the vision proves to our disadvantage. In the meantime, have the geologists go over the dome areas again and resurvey the rock the domes are sitting on. I will continue to gather data to ascertain the validity of the vision."

Major Patel, having been silent for some time, spoke up. "Sonny, do you think the trilobites pose a threat to the colonists?"

"Not at this time, Major. There is insufficient data. I would suggest that security remains on alert. Not because of any direct threat, but to ensure we do not have any more accidental encounters with the trilobites. We do not want any more cases like Corporal Harris and Anna Hauser. Observe all human activity on the planet for now."

The major sounded grave. "We will keep both eyes open to the situation."

Dr. Lim followed up after the major, "It seems reasonable to retest Miss. Hauser to see if anything has changed, especially her psi score."

"Sounds good," Levi acknowledged. "Let us meet here in a couple of days since it is convenient to check on the corporal while we are here. We can then discuss data which has been gathered on the topics we were conferring about."

Major Patel and Dr. Lim both agreed to the plan, and the captain excused himself to check on some other matters. As he walked to the auto, he picked up his discussion with Sonny again. "Ok, now that they are not in the loop, does the data you have project any earthquakes in the somewhat near future?"

"There is about an eleven point four percent chance dome two will experience an earthquake within the next 100 years. I can be more accurate when the new data comes in."

Levi felt less worried. "That does not sound like much to worry about."