Final Days: Escape

by Jasper T. Scott

  “Yes, there are some creatures in there, but they’re not technically fish…” Roland stopped as the gun pointed at him again. “Come on, Tony. Water aerobics time.”

  He rolled up his pant legs, assuming he was going in past his waist. Tony didn’t bother, and seconds later, the two of them were heading into the lake. It was warm, like a heated pool, and they descended from the pair of guards.

  Roland waited until they were out of earshot to speak, and when he did, his voice was low against the clanking of the underwater pump. “She has to be controlling them somehow.”

  “How do you figure?” Tony asked.

  “There’s no other way. Also, ever notice how twitchy they all are?” Roland asked. He failed to mention that he’d experimented with some harder stuff than his prescription drugs when he’d been at his worst about six years ago. He could see some version of himself in their faces.

  “I guess we’ll have to keep our ears open,” Tony said.

  “Right.” Roland needed to talk to the others. Kendra would have a better idea what to do than him. She always did.

  The lakebed dipped gradually, and the thick vegetation tickled his calves as they walked deeper into the water. The pump wasn’t far, and by the time they arrived at their destination, they were up to their necks in the lake. The first thing Roland did was flick the pump’s power switch to off. It sputtered and stilled, slowing the thrashing surface water.

  “Check the filter,” Roland told the younger man.

  “I hate doing that,” Tony mumbled.

  “When you’re the head water treatment guy, you can call the shots. Today, that’s me,” Roland said smugly. He loved having someone to boss around, even if he rarely used his power over Tony. Truth was, he liked having the kid there. He was like the little brother Rollie hadn’t grown up with, or maybe just a friend. Other than a few online monikers he’d bantered with, Roland had never had a real friend.

  Tony shoved his goggles on before diving under the surface. He emerged twenty seconds later with a handful of seaweed. “Clogged really bad.” Tony spat out water. “Can you give me a hand?”

  Roland shrugged, setting his own goggles over his eyes. The treatment tubes had a better filtration system, but the reverend was really pushing these water pumps since it had been so hot. Water was life, but so was food, and they needed to grow their own to survive for a long period of time.

  The engineers were working on a real irrigation project, but they’d been told some of the pipes had been damaged in the crash of the Eden station holding the supplies. The only alternative was an undersized pump to supply all their needs.

  Roland dove under, assisting Tony as they scooped the thick weeds from the filter. After breaching the surface five times for air, they had it cleared. Roland flicked the pump to life, and it hummed along under them, no longer sounding like it was choking.

  “Good work, Tony,” Roland said as they emerged onto the beach, dripping wet.

  “Was it seaweed?” Eve asked.

  Roland nodded.

  “Then you’ll have to rake it clean,” she told them.

  Roland stared at the water. “Just beside the pump?”

  She shook her head. “The whole thing.”

  “That’ll take days,” Tony whispered.

  “Then recruit some warm bodies to help you.” Eve shoved her gun into her holster.

  “The day’s done, and I have some work to do at the plant before I head in. Can this special project start tomorrow?” Tony asked.

  Eve glanced at the big guy, and he shrugged. “Fine, but I want this entire place cleared by sundown tomorrow. The rakes are stored beside the fields. If you encounter any issues, remind them Eve is under direct orders from the top.”

  Roland only nodded, watching the pair leave in the direction they’d come.

  “This is going to suck,” Tony said.

  “I’m not so sure about that.” Roland clapped the boy on the shoulder, smiling.

  “You’re a strange man, Rollie.”

  “Think about it. We’ve been trying to find alone time with the gang. She told me to recruit help. Seems to me like Kendra, Andrew, and Valeria might be up for some manual labor tomorrow,” Roland told him.

  The plan finally clicked, judging by the grin on Tony’s face. “Do we really have more to do at the plant?” he asked.

  “Nope. Let’s get changed and return to camp. We can tell everyone the good news.”

  Tony laughed. “We’ll see if Val thinks raking a lake is good news or not.”

  Ten minutes later, the two of them entered camp, and Roland peered into the distance, near the border of the camp where Tony had stashed the weapons from the night of the coup. He’d done a good job, because so far no one had discovered them. Tony had managed to sneak out there twice in the last month, finding them safely hidden. They couldn’t risk holding the guns now, but the time would come.

  Roland also had the tablet concealed in the treatment plant. It would give him control of the construction drones and machines, which would make for one hell of a diversion. He thought about how dire the situation was, but relished the idea that they could finally break free from their oppression. This dictatorship would end one day, but the revolution would likely be brutal and bloody.

  The mess hall greeted them, and Roland unzipped his jumpsuit slightly, trying to find a little reprieve from the sweltering heat inside. The sun was setting, and insects sang as shadows covered the opposite end of the crops. They’d continue the tune until it rose again.

  The instant he spotted Kendra, he lifted his hand to wave, and knew something was wrong. She was pale, sitting close to Andrew. Valeria was present, but there was no sign of Carrie, who tended to join their party for dinner most nights. Keller was noticeably absent as well.

  They settled to the table, which was really two four-person settings unbolted from the deck and pushed together. “What happened?” Roland kept his voice low.

  “Brian. John shot him in front of Kendra a couple of hours ago,” Andrew told them.

  Roland recalled hearing the shot. His stomach churned, and he swallowed thickly. “What did he do?” His voice was a whisper, barely even audible to his own ears.

  “Nothing.” Kendra said through clenched teeth. “He was injured, and John killed him like a lame horse. We need to…” She stopped as John entered the mess hall. Hands on hips, he surveyed the space, his ugly eyes searching over the two hundred or so occupants, each waiting for their plate of oats.

  “Keller wants to talk tomorrow. I don’t know how we’re going to do this,” Andy said.

  “I do.” Roland leaned in, making sure John was still near the entrance. He told them about the pump, and the plan to bring them along as his rake team.

  Kendra nodded along absently, but Andrew shook his head. “You really think they’ll let us plan a revolt under their watch?”

  “Dad, we have to try,” Val said, stirring her food with a spoon.

  “Hi, Kendra!” Diane’s cheerful voice cut through the room, and the little girl sprang to an empty spot beside the FBI agent, grinning widely. Her front teeth were coming in, and she had a slight whistle when she spoke. “It’s so warm out. I get to play in a sandbox, and then I have classes. I like them. The stories are scary, but good.”

  Kendra placed a protective arm over the girl’s shoulders. “What kind of stories?”

  “About New Earth, and how the Saints are here to save my soul,” Diane said loudly. People from the nearby table glanced over, frowning.

  “Jeez, they’re brainwashing her,” Roland said.

  “What’s that mean?” Diane asked.

  “Nothing, honey, let’s…” Kendra was cut off by Reverend Morris’ voice.

  “Diane, you do not eat among the disbelievers. You are royalty in New Earth. If any others here care to join the Saints at our home, there’s a fresh roast from the local wildlife. I know it’s been a hot week, and you deserve a little break. I also have chilled wine. If
anyone feels a change in their hearts, please join us.” She spoke with kindness, but Roland wasn’t buying it.

  Diane squeezed past Kendra and ran for the door. “Never stood a chance,” Tony said.

  “These people aren’t foolish enough to buy into her crap,” Andrew mumbled, but he was wrong. At least ten of the colonists rose from around the mess hall. An older woman, who Roland believed was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, stood from the table behind them, and a man tried to grab her wrist to stop her.

  “I’m tired of being hungry, Clayton. Let me go,” she said, slapping his hand.

  “I can’t believe this.” Andrew dropped his spoon. “Fine. Roland, I’m in for tomorrow.”

  “We’re in,” Val agreed.

  Roland went to the lineup for food, which was noticeably shorter now that he’d waited so long. At least they had something to look forward to. Otherwise, he’d have no choice but to eat meat with the Saints.

  THREE

  Andrew

  The pale blue sun beat down on Andrew’s exposed skin as he dragged his rake through the water, sending bunches of brown seaweed floating free to the surface of the lake. It clumped together, resembling a thick carpet. Andrew took a break to stretch out his aching back. His skin prickled with the heat and the beginnings of a bad burn.

  “Whose dumbass idea was this?” he muttered, wiping a sweaty brow on his arm. He glanced around at the others and caught a faint smile from Kendra. They were all wearing black Eden-issue wetsuits. Pity, he thought, reflecting that he would have liked to catch Kendra in a bikini. He grinned at the pleasant image—then frowned as Val came over, collecting big batches of seaweed from what was floating around him. Was Tony having similar thoughts about Val? He glanced over at the kid and caught him watching his daughter.

  “What are you staring at? Get back to work!” Andrew snapped.

  “Dad...” Val sent him a warning look. “Be nice.”

  Tony continued raking, and Roland came wading over. “Are we forgetting why we’re here?” he asked quietly, then checked nervously over his shoulder to where two of the Saints stood on the shore, chatting unenthusiastically. They still wore the white jumpsuits, while most everyone else sported utilitarian browns or grays to distinguish them from the cultists. Andrew noticed that someone had sewn black patches onto their shoulders: a circumscribed M with the word ‘Saints’ at the top. M for Mary.

  Kendra managed to edge closer to them under the guise of raking her own section of the lake. “We need a plan,” she said. “Any ideas?”

  Andrew regarded her. “I’ve given it some thought. We need to break into Hound’s lair.” He looked to Val. She was busy collecting seaweed, stuffing it into a big netted bag that she was dragging through the water. “You’ve been there. Do you think you could find it again?”

  Val nodded. “Yes.”

  “Bad idea, man,” Roland added, shaking his head as he scooped up a heap of glossy brown fronds. “If we get caught sneaking out, the Saints will shoot us.”

  “So we don’t get caught,” Andrew said. “Their guards are spread pretty thin at night. I could sneak by them.”

  “How?” Kendra countered. “We’re locked up in Eden One at night. There’s only one exit, and they have armed guards posted on those doors until the morning.”

  Andrew lowered his voice to a whisper. “Yeah, but we have guns stashed. Find me one, and I can take care of them.”

  “And then what?” Val countered. “Even if you can shoot your way out and somehow slip away before they catch you, you won’t be able to come back.”

  Andrew’s chest heaved with a sigh.

  “She’s right,” Kendra said.

  “She’s right, but damn it all if capping those assholes wouldn’t make me feel a whole lot better.”

  “We need a distraction,” Tony suggested, shuffling over with another netted bag full of seaweed. “I can handle that. I did it before.”

  Kendra’s eyes hardened. “This isn’t like it was then. You start another grease fire and the Saints are twice as likely to shoot you as they are to reprimand you.”

  “What if we don’t need a distraction?” Roland suggested. “If one of us gets hurt or sick, we could have the doctor isolate them for treatment in the med bay. That section isn’t actively guarded at night, and it’s facing away from Eden One, so we could slip out easily enough.”

  Andrew began nodding as he raked the lake bed. “That could work, assuming the doctor is willing to play along.”

  “I might be able to convince him,” Kendra said as she bent to the task of clearing the lake bed beside him. Tony and Val walked around filling their bags. “But there’s another problem. We need to be sure that Hound isn’t going to be at his lair when we sneak in.”

  “He’s holed up in Eden Five most of the time, isn’t he?” Roland asked.

  “Not always. I’ve seen him coming and going,” Kendra said. “He flies off, then flies back. Sometimes he takes one of the rovers. And we’re locked up all night, so we have no idea what he’s doing while we’re asleep. For all we know, he returns to that underground lair on a nightly basis. Robots don’t need to sleep, so we shouldn’t assume that he’s idle at night.”

  “A damn good point,” Andrew said. “So how do we avoid running into him?”

  “We have to figure out what he does at night. See if he has some kind of routine.”

  “A stakeout,” Andrew suggested.

  “Exactly.”

  “How are we supposed to watch him if we’re locked up?” Val asked.

  Kendra hesitated between strokes with her rake. “That’s where I’m stuck.”

  “I might have an idea,” Roland said slowly, as if the answer were just occurring to him now.

  All eyes turned to him, and he seemed to wither beneath the collective weight of their stares. “Well?” Andrew prompted. “Spill it.”

  Roland nodded to Val. “You mentioned when you were down there that you saw screens with video feeds from all over the camp. Hidden cameras.”

  Val nodded as she gathered more floating debris.

  “If we find one of those cameras, I could reprogram it to broadcast the feed to one of my control tablets from the treatment plant. Then we only have to disguise the camera as something and slip it into Hound’s room. Or maybe, and better yet, we could set it up to watch the entrance. That way we can see his comings and goings.”

  “That would work,” Kendra said. “But the entrance of Eden Five is surrounded by fields of grass. There’s nothing to mount a camera on without it being discovered.”

  “Well...” Roland trailed off with a furrowed brow.

  Andrew glanced at Kendra. He thought he could see the wheels turning as she raked. “You have an idea?”

  “I do,” Kendra replied. “I hope it’s not a mistake... but we could ask my sister. Hound’s been letting her into Eden Five to clean, or something. He won’t even let the Saints inside. That means he doesn’t fully trust them, but for whatever reason, he still trusts Carrie. If we could ask her to help us plant the camera inside, we could watch the entrance like that.”

  “Or she could rat us out to Hound,” Andrew said.

  Kendra shook her head. “No. She wouldn’t do that.”

  But she didn’t sound so sure. “What’s with your sister, anyway?” Andrew asked. “She was on our side, and now she’s back to following Hound around like a lost puppy.”

  “Stockholm syndrome,” Val suggested, and received a sharp look from Kendra.

  The FBI agent softened it with a wan smile. “I hope not. I hope she’s just playing along.”

  “Well, feel her out carefully,” Andrew suggested. “Make sure it’s safe to involve her in this.”

  “In the meantime Tony and I can search for a hidden camera we can use,” Roland suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Kendra said.

  “And then?” Roland prompted.

  Andrew smiled. “Then, Kendra can bat her eyes and enlist the good d
octor’s help to transfer me to sick bay so that I can sneak out.” Kendra glared at him. “What?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Andrew had the feeling he’d just stuck his foot in his mouth, but now wasn’t the right time to deal with it.

  “I’m not sure,” Val said slowly. “It all sounds dangerous. I mean, what are we hoping to achieve? Assuming this works and you can find your way into Hound’s place, and assuming you don’t get shot trying to sneak back into camp, what good does any of that do?”

  Andrew glanced over at the guards on the shore. They seemed distracted, watching some commotion at the camp rather than trying to eavesdrop on their conversations. Turning back around, he stubbed his toe on a submerged rock and stumbled. The murky water and seaweed encircled his waist. Cursing under his breath, Andrew lowered his voice and said, “We discovered that those aliens in the valley over from ours are actually intelligent. I’m not positive, but I think we might find an entirely different species over the ridge on the opposite side of this location. That, or we’ll find it empty. At the very least, we know we can’t go running into the valley with a whole colony of alien wolves waiting to eat us.”

  Val shook her head, clearly confused.

  “We’re not going to defeat Hound and the Saints. Something tells me that even if we do it right, we’ll still lose. What we need is a safe place to run to, and short of exploring for weeks on foot, Hound’s lair is the perfect chance for us to get the lay of the land. He probably has access to a map of the entire planet in that nerve center of his. One look at that map, and I’ll be able to tell where we should be running to, and where we shouldn’t. We don’t want to climb over that ridge”—he jerked his chin to the dark, hazy line of peaks beyond the trees on the far side of the lake—“only to find that we’re hemmed in by an ocean on that side.”

  “Exactly,” Kendra said.

  “Good point,” Roland added.

  But Val was shaking her head. “That’s the plan? Run and hide?” She sounded disappointed.

  “What else would you have us do?” Andrew asked.