Bleak

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Um … yeah. I suppose I can always come back here. Bring better tools.”

  “I’d appreciate it,” Finch said. “See you back up there.”

  “Finch.”

  Finch stopped.

  “Did you really mean what you said? You’d allow me to stay behind if I wanted to?”

  “Yeah.” Finch nodded. “I did.”

  “Thank you for that.”

  “You’re welcome for that. Now …” Finch waved his finger. “Finish up. Please.”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  “Good night.” Finch began his return but paused a few feet away to look back to make sure Nate was gathering his items. The determined geologist was examining his find. Holding the round object in his hand and close to the light.

  It didn’t surprise Finch at all that Nate found something. In fact, he expected it. If anyone would, it certainly would be Nate. And Finch was also sure it wasn’t going to be the last discovery made by Dr. Nathan Gale.

  TWENTY

  “Okay, you need to stop,” Ben told Sandra as she tried the rear hatch once again, banging her shoulder against it over and over. “You’re wasting energy and oxygen.”

  “We wouldn’t need to worry about oxygen if you let me start the ship again.” She pulled the mylar blanket over her shoulders.

  “We’re not starting the ship again. There’s no need. We have to build the power supply. Not use it. Give the sun time to do what a sun does best. Okay?”

  “We need to get out.”

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “We’re stuck in here.”

  “No, we aren’t,” Ben said. “Yes, it’s cold. I know. But the solar panels ejected without a problem. That tells me we aren’t stuck.”

  “That we can see,” Sandra argued. “Which we cannot. The shield and doors are frozen.”

  “Give it time. I know this ship well. We’re fine. I promise you if in two hours the hatch or ramp doesn’t open we can fire up the ship again.”

  “Any contact with the team on the radio?”

  “No. I don’t expect to. If they’re hundreds of miles away, we won’t get a signal. Especially if the antenna is frozen. We’ll know when it defrosts.”

  “What do we do in the meantime?”

  “You can sleep. You haven’t slept. Sit down. Close your eyes and get some sleep. Now, Captain. I outrank you so that’s an order. Sleep.”

  Disgruntled, Sandra plopped down into the pilot’s seat. She was tired, really tired, but she wasn’t sure if she could sleep at all.

  She did.

  Before she knew it, she was out and when she jolted awake, she believed that only a few minutes had passed. She was wrong.

  The main door to the omni was open wide and the ship had warmed up. She stood from the seat and looked around, tucking her long bangs that fell from her messy bun behind her ears.

  “Ben?” she called out. “Ben?”

  When she saw him limping and walking slowly to her, holding tools, she got annoyed. “What are you doing?”

  “My job,” he said. “My job is the mechanic. I’m making sure everything is alright.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Nothing I can see. As far as I can tell we made it through whatever that event was. I don’t want to fire her up because we’ll have enough power when they get back to fly off, use her as a plane.”

  “To go home,” Sandra said. “We need to go home.”

  “No, we don’t. Not yet. I’m alright. Not a hundred percent. In pain. Trust me, I’m in pain. Plan on stealing Clutch’s stash, but I’m alright. I don’t want to leave. Do you?”

  Sandra folded her arms close to her body. “No. Not really. I want to see what this place holds beyond natural disasters that pop up out of the blue.”

  “Me too.” Ben smiled. “I do need to sit down right now, though.”

  Sandra took the tool kit as he hobbled to the step on the door to the Omni and sat. She stepped forward finally looking around at the area after the frost storm.

  The sun was so bright in the sky, it was perfectly blue and the bigger moon could even be seen. It almost looked fake, translucent.

  The lush green area that had surrounded them went from looking like summer to the dead of winter, even with the warm temperatures. There were no leaves on the trees, they lay all over the ground and the branches dripped water as they defrosted.

  Ben had told her the ship was fine, it made it through the phenomenon. Sandra was happy about that, but she worried they had lucked out once, could they survive another night like that? However, the way the planet behaved, the next thing would be fire from the sky. She shuddered at that thought, put it out of her mind, and continued to explore the ravaged area.

  <><><><>

  It was the rushing sound of water that caught Finch’s attention and caused him to bring the buggy to a stop.

  “What’s going on?” Nate asked.

  “Check your imagery,” Finch said. “There’s water near here.”

  “There’s water where I want to stop.” Nate opened the image. “It’s not supposed to be for another thirty miles by my estimate.”

  “Your estimate might be off. I hear it,” Finch said, turning off the buggy. “It’s through there.” He pointed toward the trees. “It has to be close. Listen how loud it is.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Rey said. “We heard the ocean miles away.”

  Curt pointed. “If that sound is miles away, I'd have to wonder what it could be.”

  “One way to find out.” Finch stepped from the driver’s seat and walked around to the back. He lifted the hatch while the others got out and he grabbed his backpack.

  Curt reached for his, as did Nate.

  “Ready?” Finch asked. He looked over at Nate who was working on his tablet. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s obviously water. I’m marking it as such.”

  Finch led the group into the woods and noticed Rey was lagging behind. “Rey? Everything okay?”

  She peered up to the sky then looked at him with a smile. “I just saw something flying in the sky.” Her voice then upped with enthusiasm and she spoke quickly. “I just saw something in the sky. I saw it.”

  Nate raced back to the path to look, he kept staring at the sky. “I don’t see it.”

  “It was there,” Rey said.

  “Water. Life,” Curt added. “Bet where we find that water, we find more life.”

  They headed back into the wooded area. The sound of water increased, and it wasn’t a monstrous thing or far away, the reason it sounded loud was because it was close.

  They felt the cool mist of water before they saw it and emerged from the trees to a breathtaking sight.

  A large cliff was before them, smooth in the middle with rocky sides that came out like shelves, creating a natural staircase. Down the center flowed a rushing stream of water that emptied into a small but beautiful lagoon.

  “Wow,” Curt said. “I feel like Charlton Heston in the Planet of the Apes. No one skinny dip. The natives may be around.”

  “This is amazing.” Nate lifted his tablet and took a photograph. “Are you getting this, Rey?”

  “No.” She reached up to her camera cap. “I am now.”

  “What’s next?” Finch asked.

  “Explore the area.” Nate crouched down by the pool of water and placed a sampling tube in there. “See what’s around.”

  “Looks pretty flat up top,” Curt said. “The waterfall isn’t wide. I’m thinking that’s not a lake up there. Maybe a river or stream.”

  “We can do a flyover once we get back.”

  “We could wait for that.” Curt placed his hands on his hips. “Or … we could go up.”

  “Go up?” Finch asked.

  “Yeah.” Curt nodded. “Go up. I’ll go up there.”

  “Are you nuts?” Finch barked.

  “No. It can’t be more than a hundred feet. But imagine what I can see from up there.” He set down
his pack and opened it. “I can make it up the side rocks and it’s not that hard from there. I can do this. Plus …” He handed a radio to Finch. “These should finally work here. I’ll radio from up there.”

  “You’re really serious?” Finch asked.

  “I am. And curious.”

  “Be careful.”

  “You got it.” Curt, with his pack, backed up to walk around the small lake.

  “Wait,” Rey called out. “I’m gonna go with you. I won’t go all the way to the top, but I can have your back on those shelves.”

  “You sure?” Finch asked her.

  “Positive.”

  “Thanks,” Curt told her.

  Even though Finch found the idea of them climbing dangerous, he did think it was a good idea. He stood with Nate watching as they made their way around the lake to the side of the cliff. They both made it up the first twenty feet with relative ease.

  “I don’t know if I can watch this,” Nate said. “I think I’ll take some soil samples.”

  “I’ll see if I can spot anything in the water.”

  “Good idea. How are you going to do that?”

  “By going in.”

  “Hold off until I test that water.” Nate not only had a backpack, he had a small case. He opened it and pulled out a handheld reader. He retrieved a testing strip, dipped it in his specimen, then inserted it in the reader.

  “What are you checking for?”

  “Bacteria levels. Chemicals.” The device beeped, and Nate looked down. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t see the display …” He moved it around left and right, then he froze.

  “What’s wrong now?”

  “Oh my God.” Nate slowly stood.

  “What does it say?’

  “It’s not what it says, it’s what I think I see.”

  “Feel like clueing me in?” Finch saw Nate unzip his suit. “Hey. Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Seeing if it’s my imagination.” Nate stepped from his suit, then the remainder of his clothes, and hurried toward the water.

  “So, when I was twelve …” Curt grunted as he made it to the final tier of the cliff, reached down, and extended his hand to Rey. “My grandmother called me Spidey, you know, like Spider-man, because I climbed everything.”

  Rey climbed up and joined him on the same level. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, I was pretty good and you’re doing well, too.”

  “I was always good at climbing,” Rey replied. “Running not so much.”

  Curt looked up to the ledge that was above his head. “Now this one will be tough.”

  “I’ll wait right here for you.”

  “Sure you don’t want to go up? It’s one more?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Curt looked around the ledge for something to grab and brace. He spotted a root to a tree and reached for it. When he did, he looked down. “Well, son of a bitch. I told him not to go skinny dipping. Look out, the natives will come now.”

  Rey peered down. Curt wasn’t joking, sure enough when she looked, Nate, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, had jumped into the lake.

  Finch felt like he was watching some long-distance tennis match. His eyes went from Curt slowly taking that final section of the cliff to Nate swimming the short distance across the lake to the waterfall.

  All while he stood on the beach trying to determine who he should focus on more.

  He brought the radio to his mouth. “Curt, I know you’re climbing. Radio me when you’re up top. Over.” He placed down the radio and looked across the lake when he heard a loud squeal of delight.

  Nate was touching the wall near the falling water and he looked back at Finch.

  Was he saying something?

  Finch lifted his hands, palms outward trying to convey that he was curious about what Nate was doing.

  Mixed with the rushing water, Nate said something.

  “I can’t hear you!” Finch shouted. “What?” He cupped his hand to his ear.

  Nate yelled something again, then returned to the wall of the cliff.

  “Swell,” Finch said. He looked at Curt again, he was almost at the top, then back out to Nate.

  Nate emerged from the waterfall and shouted.

  Didn’t he get that there was no way he could hear him? Finch again lifted his hand, only this time to show him he hadn’t a clue what he was saying.

  Nate must have understood because he began swimming back.

  Seeing him return, Finch reached down to grab Nate’s clothes. When he lifted them the circular object Nate had found the night before dropped to the ground.

  Finch released the clothes and grabbed the object. He examined it and then rubbed it with his thumb. Then he took what small bit of thumbnail he had and scraped against the rough service. He did so hard and a small piece lifted off.

  When that happened, Finch saw that it was indeed metal. Tarnished, but metal. He stared at the cleared small section, trying to see what it was. Then he noticed Nate was close, and Finch placed the object in his pocket.

  Despite turning her head, dirt fell down on her face when Rey looked up, watching Curt climb. His slipping boats sent the loose earth her way as she hoped and prayed in her mind that he’d get over the top and do so safely.

  She worried.

  But she knew once he made it over the ledge, he had the rope, he could secure it to something so he could make it down easier.

  Finally, he made it to a point where he could hoist his body over.

  “Ha!” he yelled down. “I made it.”

  “How’s it look?” Rey shouted. She titled back, only enough to know she couldn’t see him anymore. He was over the edge and topside.

  “I don’t know. I …”

  “Curt!”

  Nothing.

  “Curt!”

  Curt appeared and yelled over the edge, “You have to come up.”

  “What? I … I can’t.”

  “Hold on!” he said and then disappeared from sight. A minute later, he yelled, “Watch out,” and the rope came down. “Grab it.” He stood at the top. “I have you. You have to come up.”

  Rey looked at the rope.

  “Please.”

  She took hold of the rope, grasping it firmly. She didn’t have the upper body strength to climb the rope straight to the top, so she used the side of the cliff for her feet to leverage and walk as her arms pulled and she moved slowly, hand over hand.

  Once she was close, Curt extended his hand.

  Rey was fearful to take it, she was so far above the ground.

  “I got you. Take it,” he said.

  Rey hesitated, scared to let go.

  “Come on. What is it they call me? The Clutch.”

  There was a bizarre sense of comfort in hearing that, and braving the moment, she let go with her right hand. As soon as she did, she felt herself losing her balance and grip, but that was short-lived, Curt grabbed her.

  He lived up to the sensationalized name the media had given him.

  With a firm grip on her wrist, Curt pulled her up and Rey used her feet to help get to the top. Once there, her chest against the crest of the cliff, Curt grabbed her by the ass end of her suit and hoisted her the rest of the way.

  She landed sideways on the flat surface.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, standing above her.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you. I can’t believe I came up here.”

  “Well, that’s not all you’re not gonna believe.” Again, he extended his hand.

  Rey took hold of it and he aided her to stand. When she did, he turned her to look west and Rey nearly lost her breath.

  Nate crawled partially on hands and knees the last few feet out of the lake. Dripping wet he rubbed his arms and jumped up and down a little. “Water is freezing,” he said.

  “I bet.” Finch handed him his clothes.

  “Thank you.” Nate pulled a T-shirt over his head, then after dropping his wet boxers, st
epped into his pants.

  “Care to tell me what that was about,” Finch said.

  “Window.” Nate shivered and so did his words.

  “Excuse me?”

  He stepped into his jumpsuit and zipped it. “I saw a window.”

  Finch shook his head, confused. “What are you talking about? I’m asking about the waterfall and what you were doing.”

  “I thought, you know, it was my imagination. Maybe the water was playing tricks on me. That’s why I swam out,” he said. “Finch, that’s not a cliff. That’s not a wall of rocks. That …” He pointed. “Is part of a building.”

  Before Finch could reply, a rush of static rang out from his radio.

  “Finch,” Curt called.

  Finch lifted the radio. “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “Colonel,” he said. “You aren’t going to believe this.”

  “We were never alone,” Rey said softly, standing next to Curt. “All those times we wondered if we were alone in the universe. We have the answer.”

  “Were we that arrogant to believe we were the only intelligent life force?”

  Rey shook her head. “This is amazing.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  They both stood in awe and stared westward.

  The top of the cliff was vast: a long flat surface, but in the distance they could see it. A triangular tipped object that merged with a rounder base. The shape was clear, the color wasn’t. It was covered in overgrowth and the metal was corroding. Clearly it was a ruin of sorts that either merged with the earth or was in a valley. That much they couldn’t determine. They could have easily begun their journey to it to find out what it was, but instead, they opted to wait for the others.

  Curt and Rey left the rope secured to a tree at the top of the cliff and climbed down to join Finch and Nate when they radioed that they, too, had information.

  “That’s a building?” Curt asked, looking at the waterfall.

  “That entire thing,” Nate replied. “Yes. You can’t see it fully. But when you get close there are window frames. It’s a building.”

  Finch ran his fingers down his face. “And you …” He looked at Curt. “You saw a building.”