“What are we supposed to do if Bethany Anne’s war spills over to Earth while the defenses are down?” Sarah Jennifer asked.
“Are we expecting it to?” Esme returned.
“Well, no, but there’s always the chance someone out there figures out Earth’s location. I wouldn’t be any kind of guardian if I didn’t at least consider the possibility.”
Esme laughed. “The laser network will be activated. Anyone trying to attack Earth is going to find themselves playing with fire.” She pushed the keyboard back into its recess. “I’m done here. We’ll have to come back so I can upload the changes before we start the saturation.”
Sarah Jennifer nodded. “That’s going to go as I expect, right?”
“That depends,” Esme told her with a laugh. “Did you read the brief?”
“I can confirm I did, that one at least.” Sarah Jennifer closed her datapad screen and put it away before picking up her helmet. “Let’s get the run to Salem out of the way. Then Mars, and then we’ll see if your plan worked.”
“Of course it’ll work!” Esme retorted. “Cheeky sod. I’m not a bloody amateur. I’ve memorized this system back to front, which is more than I can say for anyone else.”
Sarah Jennifer laughed as she sealed her helmet. “Why would anyone else need to know when we have you?”
Esme snorted as she sealed her helmet. “Hmmph, absolute liberty! I won’t be around forever, you know.”
“Yeah, right,” Sarah Jennifer shot back. “You’ve outlasted Twinkies, concrete, and probably cockroaches. You’re not getting away from us anytime soon.”
They continued their easy banter while the airlock cycled and the roamer took them back to the Enora.
They left the airship at the landing strip on the edge of town and walked to Defense Force HQ. The center of Salem felt like a ghost town despite the bustle of administrators and committee members. Sarah Jennifer put it down to the dearth of uniforms around the place. That changed once they entered the military complex around the former town hall.
Izzy met them at the requisitions depot. She had her back to them, too busy yelling at the men and women loading a truck with crates to notice their arrival. There was another truck that was already loaded off to the side.
“Move your sorry asses! If the major gets here before we’re done, it’s going to be shit duty for you all for the next forty-eight hours!”
“Should we wait?” Esme murmured so only Sarah Jennifer could hear.
Sarah Jennifer shook her head. “A healthy fear of the QM is a good thing. They look to be almost done. We’ll walk slowly.”
The last crate was loaded as they reached Izzy’s position in the yard.
The acting lieutenant whirled when her underlings snapped to attention. “You heard that? I apologize for my language, Major.”
Sarah Jennifer waved the apology off. “There are situations where it’s called for. This is one of them. I take it this is our consignment?”
Izzy nodded. “Yes, Major. All loaded and ready to go. I’ll have the trucks taken out to the airstrip and get the crates loaded before you’re ready to leave.”
Sarah Jennifer tilted her head. “We’re leaving right away.”
Izzy’s reply was cut off by a familiar voice.
“Sarah Jennifer!” Sarai called. “You’re here! Good!”
Sarah Jennifer wasn’t sure she liked her cousin-in-law’s tone.
Sarai ran down the steps of the main building with all three of her children in tow. “You’re heading to Mars?”
Sarah Jennifer couldn’t miss the backpacks she and Jody had slung over their backs. “Yes. Why?”
Sarai flashed a bright grin, her curls bobbing in the breeze. “We’re coming with you.”
Sarah Jennifer’s jaw dropped. “You’re what, now?”
Izzy stepped away from them in an attempt to make herself scarce.
“Stay right where you are, Acting Lieutenant,” Sarah Jennifer snapped. “You knew about this?”
“Well, they were hardly going to get their belongings loaded without my knowledge,” Izzy replied sheepishly.
Sarai breezed by them, ushering Macey and Tori into the waiting truck. “Don’t take it out on Izzy. Six months is too long to be separated from Brutus. Jody needs to be with his father. I’m not leaving any of my children, so we’re all going.”
Esme chuckled. “I don’t think you’re getting a choice, Duckie.”
Sarah Jennifer had a hundred reasons why this was a bad idea. And two in the balancing column that outweighed them all. Unlike Cherie, who had a grandmother who had already raised two Were boys to take care of her, Jody really did need his father, and Sarai’s affinity for agriculture would be invaluable in the terraforming effort.
Still…
She caught Sarai’s arm. “You know the city isn’t going to be habitable for months? You’ll be living at Habitat One. There will be no time without suits. Cramped quarters and rations. You’ll be stuck with the pack around the clock, and you’ll be working twice as hard as everyone else with three children to take care of alongside your duties.”
Sarai laughed. “I know exactly what I’m getting into. I spoke to Brutus—who doesn’t know about this yet, so don’t tell him. Six months is too long for us to be apart. Jody is getting closer to his first shift. I can’t deprive him of his pack right now. As a mother, I know it’s the right thing. Besides, don’t tell me they couldn’t use me up there. The only witch better with nature than me is my mother. We won’t be on rations for long.”
“What does Annie have to say about this?” Esme cut in.
Sarai shrugged, fleeting sadness obscuring her smile for a moment. “She’s going to miss us, but she understands. I have Jana and Janie covering the hospital. Everything is arranged.”
Sarah Jennifer dropped a hand to her hip. “You thought of everything, huh?”
Jody stuck his head out the truck window. “Aunt SJ, we are going, right?”
Sarah Jennifer saw the gleam of yellow in his eyes, a sure sign his wolf was going to make an appearance soon. She sighed. “Yes, Jody. You can go.”
He whooped with joy.
The girls peered out the window at them with big eyes. They were too young to understand the changes that were coming, but they would soon adjust. Children had the resilience most adults strived for.
Sarai hugged Sarah Jennifer. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m sorry to spring this on you, but I didn’t see any other way you’d agree.”
Sarah Jennifer huffed. “Well, you got your way. You can drive that truck. Acting Lieutenant, you can drive the other. I’m not feeling especially fond of either of you right now. I’m going to walk to the landing strip. I expect the crates to be loaded by the time I get there.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Izzy mumbled.
Sarai hopped into the truck and drove out of the yard after Izzy.
Esme chuckled. “I can’t wait to see Brutus’ reaction.”
Sarah Jennifer shook her head. “I’m going to call him as soon as we’re airborne. Sarai might want to surprise Brutus, but the pack needs to make arrangements for their arrival.”
Mars, Reynolds Plain, Habitat One
Brutus and the elder Ace waited for the Enora at the landing site with a trio of general-purpose bots.
Ace watched Brutus pace the walkway without offering a comment. The news that Sarai and the children were on their way had hit Brutus hard. Ace supposed he would have been just as agitated had Tamara decided to bring Cherie up here, seeing as they were still living out of the shipping containers that made up Habitat One.
At this moment, Linus and Dinny were clearing out one of the containers previously assigned to storage since they were the only spaces large enough to fit a family, while Reg and Katia scoured the base for furniture.
The speaker over the hatch crackled. “Lieutenant, I have just received word from Enora. The ship has just broken atmosphere over the northern plain.”
Brutus qui
t pacing at the EI’s announcement. “Thank you, Galileo. Initiate airlock procedures and inform Enora we are waiting.”
“Airlock cycle initiated,” Galileo intoned. “Transfer tunnel extending in fifteen seconds.”
“I’ll get out there, then.” Ace sealed his suit and stepped out of the access hatch. The bots followed him across the packed dirt as the transfer tunnel snaked out on its runners beside them.
The Enora came into sight a few moments later, her body catching the light of the midafternoon sun. She swooped in, looking as magnificent as the day she was launched.
Brutus sealed his suit, then resumed his pacing until Galileo had connected the transfer tunnel to the drop bay doors. He hurried along the tunnel, eager to hold his family in his arms again despite the thought of his very active children running loose around the habitat giving him gooseflesh.
The girls ran out in their tiny pressure suits, squealing, “DADDYYYYYY!”
“How are my preciouses?” Brutus scooped them up, one in each arm, as Sarai and Jody followed.
“We went in space!” Macey squealed.
“I gotta spacesuit, Daddy!” Tori blurted.
Their faces were flushed with excitement inside their hoods. Brutus swung them around. “That’s my girls. Let me see your brother.” He put them down. “No running wild now, you hear?”
He took a knee to greet his son, putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “How you doing, kiddo?”
Jody shuffled in that awkward way preteens have. He met his father’s eyes, revealing the yellow shine that was there most of the time now. “I’m okay. Missed you, Dad.” His voice slid around as he spoke.
Brutus’ eyes stung with the emotions welling up. He pulled Jody into a hug, all his misgivings washed away by the gratitude in his son’s expression. “You’re here now, son. I’m here. We stick together, okay? Linus is getting our quarters ready. Go find him. Galileo will help.” He smiled. “Did your mom tell you we wear our suits at all times?”
Jody nodded. “Yes, sir. Hoods ready to deploy, no helmets while we’re inside. Helmets on while we’re outdoors.”
They heard Linus’ voice up ahead and the girls squealing happily.
“Looks like Linus heard you arrived,” Brutus commented wryly. “He gets too much joy out of being the fun uncle.”
“Make sure your sisters don’t get into a pickle,” Sarai told Jody, putting a soothing hand on his shoulder. “I want to talk to your father.”
“Stay out of the labs!” Brutus added as Jody caught up with the girls, and the three of them vanished into the habitat. He waited until the children were out of earshot. “I’m not mad at you.”
Sarai dropped her defensive pose. “You sure?”
Brutus took her hand, and they walked into the habitat together. “All honesty, I was scared at first. It’s hard living out here.”
Sarai laughed. “Bethany Anne’s people lived in containers when they first went to space. If they could get along, so can we.”
Brutus pulled his hood off to kiss her. “I’ll be in as soon as SJ has gone. Linus will show you our quarters.”
Sarai cupped his face in her hands. “I’ll just follow the sound of our noisy children.”
Brutus released her reluctantly and resealed his suit before heading out the hatch and walking over to where Sarah Jennifer was supervising the unloading.
Sarah Jennifer offered him a wry smile. “Hey, cuz. What, no coffee?”
Brutus snorted. “You don’t deserve coffee after springing this on me.”
Sarah Jennifer laughed. “Springing it on you?” She recounted Sarai’s method of getting her permission to transfer here, to Brutus’ amusement. “But enough of that. I brought coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, milk powder—”
“The sooner we can get cows here, the better,” Brutus grumbled.
Sarah Jennifer smiled. “That reminds me. Izzy cleared out the freezers at HQ, too.”
“Steak?” Ace asked hopefully.
“I have no idea,” Sarah Jennifer admitted. “Whatever was in there before harvest, she had it packed up.”
“I miss steak,” Ace murmured as he got the bots moving.
Brutus had a hankering for lamb. He’d hidden a few shanks at the back of the freezers, knowing his favorite meat would get scarce before winter arrived. “You and Esme going to take a look around the construction site before you leave?”
Sarah Jennifer shook her head, explaining the situation at New Romanov. “We need to get back sooner rather than later. Is there anything that needs my attention?”
“I’ve got everything running mostly to schedule,” Brutus told her. “There were a few snags with the appliance printers, but they’ll be resolved before the build gets that far. Thought you might wanna take a look at the park, though. Carver’s team got the arti-forest outside the city up and running a couple days ago. Jim’s projections have us breathing the air as soon as four weeks from now, and that was before Sarai got here. Stella might actually get off my damn back about increasing her team’s share of the oxygen once Sarai does her thing.”
Sarah Jennifer chuckled, patting Brutus on the arm. “You can deal with Stella. We’ll do a flyover of the park on our way out.”
Brutus nodded. “Then I guess I’ll see you in six months.”
Sarah Jennifer pulled him in for a hug. “You call me if you need anything, and I’ll figure a way to get here.”
She returned to the cockpit and took her seat while Enora went through the preflight checklist. “I want to fly over Promessa, Enora. Adjust our exit route to account for it, please.”
“Done,” Enora confirmed. “I would like to see the city take shape.”
“You and me both,” Esme concurred.
“That makes three of us.” Sarah Jennifer leaned forward and slapped the console. “Let’s go already.”
Enora vacated the viewscreen and turned it over to an external camera view as they lifted off. The three of them were quiet as the landscape of Mars opened up beneath the ship.
The rolling red plain ended abruptly as they flew over the agricultural sector, barren sands replaced by rows of raised mounds in the Hügelkultur style that were interlaid with Stella’s oxygen delivery system. Similar to the air diffusers used in hydroponic systems, the pipes fed a continuous mixture of gases that approximated Earth’s air into the ag sector and made growing possible in the low-oxygen environment.
Sarah Jennifer saw the agricultural teams hard at work in the fields, maintaining the mounds and monitoring the water reclamation stations. Every thirty feet, the fields were broken up by the stations that were simply made from a plastic box, a Perspex sheet, and a small tarp. Jim refused to claim credit for the technique, which he’d told Sarah Jennifer was handed down by Alaskan homesteaders from before WWDE.
More than ever, waste was not something they accepted. Their environment had to be made to work for them, and they had to make the most of every gain on the road to Mars being made habitable.
The city came into sight a few minutes later. They had opted to forgo walls since the threat level was practically zero. Instead, the edge of Promessa was closed in by the arti-forest. Beyond the tree line, the city was beginning to take shape.
Enora banked and slowed to get the best view of the buildings and open spaces set out on a grid below. Most of the partially completed buildings were the same blush color as the Martian soil. The pale mud plaster protected the metal sidings and printed fab-wood frames from the weather. In the sectors that were close to being completed, the walls contrasted pinkly with the green areas.
The park was everything Brutus had hinted at. Tall faux-oaks jostled for space with artificial pines, alders, sycamores, and a dozen other models Carver’s team had produced and “planted.” Real grass grew everywhere that wasn’t paved, brushing up against the banks of the waterways and ponds.
Already, the open park was providing a place for people to come together during their time off. People lay on blankets, j
ust as Sarah Jennifer had imagined the day they’d broken ground on the project.
In short, Promessa was shaping up to its name.
Sarah Jennifer smiled as Enora turned her nose to the stars. The trials on Earth aside, the future was looking as rosy as the city below.
Chapter Fourteen
New Romanov
Olaf and Theor were in the command tent in the center of the camp, which stretched in a continuous line for three kilometers on either side of the mountain.
Most of the Weres had arrived from the Americas, and their camps filled the spaces between the Siberian, Finnish, and Swedish warrior bands.
Olaf had burned a few bridges to secure the cooperation of some and had called in every old favor and leaned on every obligation going back to before WWDE. He had pleaded, cajoled, and outright threatened where necessary to get the warriors here. Even the communities who traditionally remained cut off from the outside world had offered up their warriors to hold the defensive line against the encroaching Mad. Everyone in Siberia owed Olaf or Boris for one reason or another.
What they were facing was no skirmish. As well as the Mad they could track, Lilith had learned from Ezekiel that more were coming from the west, seemingly following the dirigible he and his company were sailing. Amelie was out on the tundra to the west, working with her mages to bring a snowstorm in from the estuaries that would delay the ravening hordes for a few more hours. The Defense Force was out with Reika’s warriors and rock mages, shaping the land and laying mines and other nasties to further slow the progress of the Mad heading their way from the south and east.
A steady stream of scouts had been reporting to the tent where the two Weres bent over the table spread with maps and tokens representing the various groups who had come through snow and hail to make their stand against the destruction threatening Arkhangelsk, Siberia, and the entire world.
End of the Line Page 12