Pearce looked and saw the illumination. But it wasn't steady, it was flickering. Regardless, it was in the direction that he thought they would find the base. So they headed toward the glow.
After another fifteen minutes as they were starting to feel the intense cold, they topped a hill and saw the base. The buildings were on fire.
“Oh Pearce what are we going to do now?”
“It's okay honey I know where we are. If we have to we can walk to a lodge nearby. My Emmie will keep us on course. Let's see if there is anything left first.”
After an hour of looking around Pearce gave up finding anything that would help them. Instead he pulled some pieces of wood together and lit a fire that they could sit next to and try to rest. They would leave in the morning to try and find the lodge.
“Anais, Anais wake up.”
Pearce had awakened first and was trying to wake up Anais. The fire had kept them warm enough but had died. Eventually Pearce had shaken Anais awake.
“I was dreaming of my home Pearce. Probably because of the cold. Winter was snow and ice like here.”
“You feel strong enough to get started honey.”
“Sure. How far is it?”
“It's about eighteen miles straight-line. Will probably take us six or seven hours.”
“We've nothing to eat honey.”
“I know but we should be able to find enough water along the way. But we're going to be real hungry by the time we reach the lodge, that's for sure. I've got some coffee left in my canister. Let's have it before we start.”
They finished the coffee and headed out. The first two hours flew by. The terrain was covered with packed snow which made the trek easy but tricky and it was still very cold. Anais slipped and almost went down.
“Careful honey,” said Pearce as he reached to catch her.
“I'm okay just a little tired.”
“Let's rest a minute,” said Pearce. “I'm sure there's a lake close by with fresh water.”
Anais sat while Pearce went off to find some water. He soon found a small lake and filled his canister. Back with Anais they both took a long drink and started again.
After another few hours the sun was getting low.
“Pearce, shouldn't we have been there by now?”
“Well we've walked far enough but not in a straight line of course. We should be close. I'm sure it's just a little further. You up to it?”
“I'm a country girl. Remember?” she said and began walking again.
Pearce watched her walk away approvingly and then followed.
Almost dark they finally came upon the lodge. There weren't any lights even though it was dark enough. Walking onto the porch Pearce tried the door. It was locked. He turned around to Anais.
“It must be seasonal.”
“Can we get in honey?”
“I'll see if I can find an open window or something.”
Pearce tried the windows on the porch and moved around the side and back of the lodge. There he did find a loose window and climbed in. He opened the front door for Anais to come in.
The lights were still working. Pearce figured there was an isotopic reservoir somewhere.
“I'm going to look for some food and see if there's a communications node.”
Pearce found the food and served it to Anais in the large front room where Anais had started a fire. After he had finished he went to the other room to use the communications node.
Anais heard him talking to someone, it sounded like a woman's voice but she was too tired and too comfortable to get up and see. Pearce would tell her all about it when he finished. After a few minutes he reappeared and stood there staring.
“What is it honey, why are you staring at me?”
“I think I just messed up,” he said pausing again before continuing.
“You remember the other Anais I said that I had worked with at Pan-Universe?”
“Of course I remember.”
“Well that was her and she still looks just like you.”
“Okay, but how did you mess up?”
“She's coming to get us.”
“And?”
“And I don't think we want her to.”
“Why honey?”
“I think she's working for the Core worlds or maybe the Dhalkans.”
“So what do we do? Run?”
“It's the only thing I can think of.”
There was a noise outside, a roaring sound. Pearce ran to the window.
“It's too late,” he said, they're here. Pearce backed away from the window and joined Anais. He put his arm around her. They both stared at the door.
There was a knock. Neither moved.
“Dr. Rawlings are you in there?” came a voice.
Pearce looked at Anais, “That sounds like . . .”
He moved to the door and opened it. It was Captain Dodge.
“Captain Dodge. I can't believe it's you. I thought you were killed at Opheim.”
“Almost but not quite as you can see. But we need to leave here immediately. Gather your things and follow me.”
CHAPTER 31
Pearce and Anais quickly grabbed their things and followed Dodge to his craft. They climbed aboard with Dodge following.
“You two take a seat back here while I get us into the air.”
Pearce and Anais sat down in the nearest seat. A soldier was sitting near the front, he turned around.
“Hello Dr. Rawlings, Dr. Eiffel.”
Pearce was startled and started to panic, it was Edgar. Then the craft lifted off before anything could be done.
“Edgar we are surprised to see you,” said Anais.
“Yeah, real surprised,” added Pearce.
“I'm surprised to be here. If it wasn't for the Captain I wouldn't be here. He found me about dead after the attack on Opheim and took me to the doctors. I owe him my life.”
Pearce was fidgety while Edgar talked, finally he couldn't wait anymore.
“Edgar when did you stop working for the other government? I can't believe how easily we've been traced.”
“Well Dr. Rawlings I'll tell you the truth. I was still working for the government after I told you they tried to kill me at Crawley's place and I had quit. But it was that day, the day the caravan was attacked and we all ended up in the ditch. I thought to myself, if I'm going to die what should I die for? And the answer was for people like you, not the government that had almost killed us.”
Pearce was quiet, staring at Edgar. Finally he said, “Okay I just wanted to know.”
“You had a right to know Dr. Rawlings.”
Captain Dodge came back from the cockpit.
“Okay we're on our way to a safe place. Have you heard the news lately?”
“Not since my wife and I left the lab.”
“The forces of the Northwest Territory are in retreat. We've been under attack not only by the other territories but also from space. As far as we can tell there are hundreds if not thousands of spacecraft in orbit around Earth. And they have a weapon that they can project from orbit that is devastating. How much longer we hold out is anyone's guess.”
“We think we know what their weapon is Captain. Anais came up with a similar idea. Anais would you care to explain.”
“Of course. Captain I don't know how much you have heard about our work but let me just say that we were unable to create the defensive weapon we had hoped. However in our efforts we have come up with a weapon that can be delivered through a link and be just as devastating as the one you just mentioned. If you would like the details?”
“No thanks Dr. Eiffel save the details for our scientists and engineers. If we can bring this new weapon to battle, and soon, we may still have a chance. I'll have you two at military headquarters soon and you can explain this new system to the top brass. Excuse me.”
The Captain went back to the cockpit.
Pearce gazed out the window a moment.
“I don't think we are heading south Anais.”<
br />
Edgar overheard.
“That's right Dr. Rawlings headquarters has been moved northwest of here. The old one was overrun.”
Edmund had been home for a few weeks and had noticed the change. Things were resembling normal. A change in leadership and the government of the Southeast Territory had revoked many of its stifling regulations.
He had returned to work at his pizza place though it still seemed a little unreal. His wife continued to work the front and Edmund spent most of his time in the kitchen. He had adjusted to his missing digits. It didn't occur to him that he was hiding back in the kitchen where he was comfortable.
One day after he had been home for a few weeks during a slow period in the restaurant Edmund was out front having a late lunch when an old friend he hadn't seen since before his captivity walked in.
“Joseph how are you?”
“Edmund I just heard the other day you were back.”
“Yes, finally. I thought I would never see any of you again.”
“I'm sorry for what you went through.”
“Thanks Joseph. How about the others? Have you heard from our little group?”
“There are no others Edmund. Just you and I.”
“Really?”
Joseph shook his head yes.
“Well I guess I should be a little more thankful,” said Edmund.
“We should all be a little more thankful,” said Joseph.
Just then the wallscreen alerted. A message from the government was coming. Joseph and Edmund stared at the device. It was the new President.
“My friends and fellow citizens,” said the President. “I apologize for the interruption but I have an important announcement. Your government, in an effort to protect its citizens, has just signed an agreement of neutrality with the Core planets. As part of that agreement we will be offering the military forces of the Core accommodations here in the Territory. This should affect very few of our citizens and we all should carry on our normal business. Thank you my fellow citizens and God bless the Southeast Territory.”
The message ended and the wallscreen returned to normal programming. Joseph looked at Edmund.
“We're occupied again,” said Joseph.
“We'll be landing in five minutes,” said Captain Dodge over the speaker system.
Pearce looked out the window again and noticed a deep snow as far as the eye could see. But in one direction he could see almost a perfectly level snow and ice surface.
“It must be a body of water,” he thought.
He then remembered something he had read.
“To the poet a pearl is a tear of the sea.”
“Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand ,” he thought.
The craft came down vertically onto a snow-cleared landing pad. Shortly the engines shut down and the Captain came out of the cockpit along with his co-pilot.
“Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk,” he said.
“Tuk a tuk?” said Pearce. “What's that.”
“Tuk-to-yak-tuk,” said the Captain slowly. “It means resembling a caribou in the native language around here. It use to be one of the remote radar bases used by the nation's government a few hundred years ago, the DEW line I think they called it. Now it's one of the new headquarter bases. This one is particularly geared to our scientific research teams.”
“Where are we, I mean how far north?”
“Did you see the smooth snowfield as we landed Dr. Rawlings?”
“Yes I did.”
“That is the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean.”
“So this is the last stand.”
“Right, if we can't hold this line then they'll push us into the sea.”
The scientists and engineers that Pearce and Anais met with were excited that there might be something they could offer the military that would help the situation. But after hearing what was needed they were somewhat skeptical that the resources could be put together in time. After listening to their objections Pearce put it into perspective.
“Ladies and gentlemen I hear what you are saying and I agree to a great extent. But speaking for my wife and myself I have to say that the Core and its allies have done nothing but harass and threaten our lives for months and I don't think they are going to stop. I believe we have two choices. We can choose to resist by doing whatever we can, however small that may be, to help the military or we can walk into the sea. Because I'm sure they will see to it that we are all dead if we give up our freedoms voluntarily.”
The assembled were silent a moment, then Dr. Beutro, an elderly scientist that engendered a deep respect from the others said, “We are with you Dr. Rawlings.”
The work began immediately and went on twenty-four hours in shifts of eight hours. Once Pearce and Anais were satisfied that they had imparted to the others enough information to bring success the top brass decided they should move to another base and get the work started there. Captain Dodge would fly them.
It was before dawn when they flew out of Tuktoyaktuk headed east along the shore of the Arctic Ocean to the next base. Several engineers went with them to help out. Pearce and Anais were late.
“Why does the military always start every journey before dawn Edgar?” asked Pearce.
Edgar started to answer but stopped. He was listening to his earbud. Then he answered, “Well it's not because they can get away unnoticed. We've got incoming, it looks like Midwest. Everyone better buckle in.”
Then the craft started evasive maneuvers. The turning and rolling motions made Anais's stomach uneasy. Unfortunately Pearce and some of the others had it far worse. They were grabbing for the air-sickness pills. All but one got the pills down and felt better. The poor fellow who was too slow had to use a boot.
Even with the medication the shaking and bucking craft was making them freeze in fear. Pearce heard someone praying. Then he heard Edgar say roger into his mike and reach up over his head to a touch screen and trigger several inputs with his fingers. He saw Pearce watching.
“Manual ejection of a homing pigeon,” he said to Pearce. “It will carry enough data to reproduce our situation. I'll release one every few minutes.”
“Why?” was all Pearce could think to ask.
“In case things get rough,” said Edgar.
“Rough?” Pearce thought to himself.
How much rougher than this could it get?
Just then the craft started to tumble and spin.
“They got us,” yelled Edgar. “Prepare for impact.”
“Prepare?” though Pearce.
Prepare? How?
Then Pearce saw an old-fashioned switch above his head and Anais'. It said Emergency. No one had briefed him.
Well this is an emergency.
He hugged Anais and then with both arms reached to throw the switch above each of them. It was difficult with all the spinning and tumbling the craft was undergoing. Then things seemed to stabilize a bit and he found and flipped both switches.
CHAPTER 32
Pearce woke surrounded by a cocoon of material. He was warm and could breathe easily. Anais was not with him. Then he heard a voice outside the cocoon, very muffled.
“You obviously missed the briefing,” it said. “Do you see the circle marked press here? If so press it.”
Pearce saw the circle and raised his arm to press it. Immediately the cocoon peeled away and he was sitting on the snow and looking up at Captain Dodge. Dodge was wiping the blood from a split lip.
“Being late is not an option in the military Dr. Rawling. You've been in there for an hour. We've almost got the camp set up. How did you know to hit the granny switch if you missed the briefing?”
“Granny switch?”
“Yeah, that's what we call the emergency switch that deploys the cocoon. As safe as in granny's arms.”
“I just saw the switch. It said emergency. It was obviously an emergency so I hit the switches above Anais and me and here I am.”
“Well you probably saved yours and your wife's life.”
/>
“So what happened? Where are we? Did you get hurt in the crash?”
“The crash? No I was in granny's arms when we crashed. I hit my lip while searching through the wreckage for my cap. As to where are we? We are about twenty miles from base. As to what happened. We were outnumbered about twenty to one. But that wasn't what brought us down.”
“Then what was it?”
“I think we were hit by that weapon from orbit. One whole side and motor just evaporated. Maybe it was a fast-time bubble or maybe it was something similar to what you and Dr. Eiffel have developed. I don't know I've never seen anything like it.”
“So what do we do Captain?”
“I've got everyone started on pop-ups to protect us from the elements. You and your wife will have your own. They should keep you comfortable. We've got enough food for a month if we're careful and we are using our Emmies to try and let headquarters know our location without giving ourselves away to the enemy of course.”
“What about the base? Why don't you contact it?”
“The base is gone Dr. Rawlings. First thing I did was put a drone up. It's completely destroyed. I expect that everyone is dead.”
“I see,” said Pearce. “Can you tell me where is my wife?”
“She's okay. She unzipped the granny and is in what we are calling the mess. Right over there.”
“Thanks Captain,” said Pearce as he rose to go to Anais. He stopped and said, “And thanks for saving our lives again.”
“It's my job Doc,” said Dodge as he headed off to the command popup.
Pearce found Anais in the mess.
“Pearce, honey, they found you.”
“Hi honey,” said Pearce as he sat down and kissed her.
“Apparently the cocoons spread far and wide when we crashed. They had to search for several including yours. But the Captain assured me you would be fine when they found you. Those cocoons are remarkable.”
“Yeah I was sitting all comfortable and content when the Captain found me. I hadn't noticed the press here circle. I have to say the Captain seems to have taken care of everything.”
Time's End: A Future Chron Novel (Future Chron Universe Book 34) Page 20