by G J Ogden
She piloted the crawler cautiously towards the convoy, paying more attention to the animals than to anything else around her.
“I would steer very wide of the caravans,” said Ethan, noticing that they were heading directly for them. “This thing will probably spook the horses. Circle around in a wide arc and stop alongside the wall, out of their view.”
“They’re so beautiful...” said Maria, pushing the control column away from the settlement and beginning the long loop around, as Ethan had suggested.
Ethan was reminded of how he must have sounded the first time he arrived on the UEC moon base, and saw the planet, bright and blue and surprisingly small, hanging in the blackness of space. He imaged that the expression on his face as he realized what he was looking at was similar to Maria’s now, and he smiled. Maria had grown up with the technological marvels of the pre-Fall civilization and had spent most of her adult life flying in the void of space, able to gaze upon the planet whenever she wished – something that sounded miraculous beyond imagination to Ethan. Yet here she was, awed by the sight of a simple, graceful creature that had been lost to her world for generations.
“Yes, they are, aren’t they?” agreed Ethan. “They are also as precious to us as the water in the wells and the walls that guard the settlements. To use them like this, to drive caravans outside the protection of the settlement is a terrible risk.”
“Less of a risk than allowing them, and everyone else, to remain, I think,” said Maria.
Ethan looked beyond the settlement towards the city, which was now impossible to see clearly through the haze that was slowly seeping towards them. “To evacuate is a last resort,” he said, somberly. “With no-one to defend our perimeters and walls, we may lose Forest Gate to roamers or the maddened.”
Maria had not even considered this; she had simply assumed that they would just wait out the dust storm and return as if nothing had happened. Now the full significance of the decision became clear; it meant that these people may never be able to return home. Maria’s thoughts turned to her own home and her modest quarters in a desirable part of the residential district inside the government sector. She had never given it much thought before now, but watching the settlers prepare to leave and realizing that it might be forever, she felt a sudden, intense sense of her own personal loss. She had gambled everything on the peace process, and she had lost it all. No, not lost; Kurren had cheated it from her. As she watched the small caravans, pulled by animals whose natural beauty contrasted with their surroundings like the sun in the blackness of space, she hoped that the settlers’ odds were more favorable than hers had been.
Maria completed her loop, pulled in alongside the settlement wall and shut off the crawler’s systems. Ethan wasted no time and jumped out of the machine almost before it had reached a standstill. “Remind me never to get in this thing again.”
“You complain too much,” replied Maria, hopping out and joining him. Then she too noticed the thick haze in the distance, creeping ever closer. “Let’s find Aster quickly; we need to move out before that cloud gets here. I’m not sure what effect it might have on the crawler.”
“If it means we don’t have to get in it again, I’m willing to risk it,” said Ethan and Maria rolled her eyes.
They walked around to the front gate, just as another caravan was setting off, followed by a group of settlers on foot and an accompanying escort of six rangers. Ethan spotted Summer and split off from Maria, though she didn’t notice him leave because she was again captivated by the sight of a horse being led up to the front of the next caravan by a tall, thin woman with a heart-shaped face and thoughtful eyes, who was probably around the same age as Administrator Talia. Maria, feeling as if she was in a trance, approached the animal slowly, breathlessly, until she was almost able to touch it. It was all black and as it moved and jostled as the woman attached straps to its harness, its glossy coat shimmered, like the reflections of moonlight on a cool, still lake.
“Would you like to stroke him?” asked the handler, as she finished attaching the last strap, and gently patted the horse’s shoulder to help him settle down.
Maria looked at the woman with what must have been a look of sheer terror, because she quickly added, “It’s okay, he won’t hurt you. He may be big, but he’s as gentle as a summer’s breeze, this one.”
Maria took a nervous step forward and then slowly reached out and placed her hand on the horse’s other shoulder, mirroring the actions of the woman. The feel of the soft coat beneath her fingers and the warmth of the animal’s body were unlike anything she had experienced before, eclipsing even the moment she had first felt the wind on her face. “I didn’t think anything so pure could still exist here,” she said, stroking the animal gently.
The woman looked at Maria, clearly intrigued by her statement. “The Fall took so much,” she said, softly. “But the thing about falling, is that you can get back up again. Many things fell and never got back up, but those that did, grew stronger. Just like this handsome creature.”
“There’s always hope...” whispered Maria, feeling the ripple of muscle under the horse’s skin as it pranced in place, unable to remain still.
“What was that, young miss?” said the woman, pointing an ear towards Maria.
Maria smiled. “Oh, nothing,” she said, louder so the older woman could hear. “ I just said hope you make it to your destination safely.”
The woman nodded. “Thank you, miss,” she said, then she looked to the rear of the caravan and saw that everyone was ready and that the ranger escort had arrived. “Right, best be off then. You take care.”
“You too,” said Maria, stroking the horse one last time, before stepping back and watching it pull away as if the caravan weighed nothing. She watched until it was almost out of sight, in case this was the first and last time she would ever see this amazing animal, and then turned back to face the gate. It was then that she realized Ethan was no longer with her. She scanned the walls and groups of settlers looking for him and then spotted him, talking with Summer; her arms were folded across her chest in the way that usually spelled trouble. Elijah was also with them, she noticed, though he was standing off to Summer’s side, slouching, with an expression that suggested it was the last place he wanted to be at that moment. Maria considered not joining them, but she had already spent too long away from the survivors, whose exposure to the planet’s toxic atmosphere grew more perilous with each passing hour.
Maria headed towards them, making sure her approach was obvious so as not to appear to be creeping up and listening in to their conversation. Ethan had his back to Maria, but Summer had already seen her advance and alerted Ethan with a sharp tilt of the head. Ethan turned and Maria saw that he looked worried, upset even, and she hoped that she had not again been the focus of their argument.
“Everything okay?” said Maria, and then felt foolish for asking, because clearly nothing about their current situation was okay.
She was saved further embarrassment by Lieutenant Aster, who came charging through the gates towards her. The display panel of his PVSM was already flipped open and he appeared flustered, despite not being out of breath.
“Commander, there you are!” said Aster with barely a breath between words. “We’ve been getting data from the probes circling around the city and its worse than we thought.”
“Keep your voice down!” said Maria in a hushed, admonishing tone, while also making a ‘slow down’ gesture by patting down the air in front of her with the palms of her hands. Aster stopped talking and looked around to see the anxious faces of settlers watching them as they prepared to join their caravans.
“Now, take a breath, and tell me what you’ve found,” said Maria, once the bystanders had become distracted and stopped paying attention to them.
“The blips we monitored leaving the city, they’re moving faster than expected.”
“Cut the code language, will you?” snapped Summer with her usual tact. “What’s a blip?”
Maria stepped beside Aster and examined the data on his PVSM. She quickly pulled up some additional readings, studied them, and addressed Summer directly, conscious of not ignoring her question and lighting the fuse on another Summer storm. “A blip is something moving,” said Maria. “The roamers and maddened; our swarm of ants.”
“How close are they?” asked Ethan. He had instinctively reached down to grip the handle of his knife.
“It depends how fast they can continue to move,” said Maria. “The terrain between the city and this settlement is arduous in places, but at the rate they are moving now, I’d say by tomorrow morning there could be dozens passing directly through this area, right past the settlement.”
“That’s sooner than expected,” Ethan cursed, shaking his head. Then he looked beyond the settlement walls at the haze in the distance. “That dust storm is coming in fast too; do you have any clue when that will hit?”
“The front will sweep over Forest Gate during the night,” said Maria. “It will provide almost perfect cover for anything approaching from the city. This place will become a death trap.”
Aster’s PVSM bleeped another alert and he raised his arm so that both he and Maria could see the information.
Summer glared at the device. “I swear if that thing bleeps one more time, I’m going to rip it off your arm and shove it…”
“We get the picture, Summer,” interrupted Maria, sparing everyone the gory details. She turned her attention back to the screen, quickly catching up with Aster. Maria’s face was stony, but Aster had not mastered his commander’s talent for hiding emotions, and it was clear from the look on his face that this was more bad news.
“Out with it, space man,” said Summer, squeezing her arms even more tightly across her chest.
Aster looked again at Maria, who nodded. “We’re also picking up two objects entering the atmosphere,” he said.
“More debris?” wondered Ethan, looking up to see if he could make them out.
“No, not debris,” said Maria, “These are ships, both with UEC transponders. It appears to be a smaller shuttle and a much larger craft, which I can’t determine from these scans. Their trajectory puts them on a heading towards the city, most likely to the small space port on the outskirts. ”
Ethan frowned. “The space port that we left from five years ago?” he said, and Maria nodded. “That’s some coincidence, Sal. What’s going on?”
“It’s no coincidence,” said Maria. “I’m afraid that there’s more you need to hear.”
“Of course there is!” said Summer, sarcastically. “Come on then, Sal, let’s hear your latest lie.”
Maria felt a powerful urge to punch Summer in the face, but she remembered how badly that had gone the first time they fought, and so bit her lip, hard, letting the pain soak up her anger. “The survivors we brought here from the GPS space station were not all GPS citizens,” said Maria. “When we escaped from the moon base, we brought with us a number of UEC defectors, mainly children again, but amongst them was James Kurren’s wife and two sons.”
Summer threw up her hands in disbelief. “So your lunatic general is coming to get them, is that what you’re saying?”
“I didn’t know she was with the defectors until it was too late!” Maria protested.
Ethan remained calm. Any journey planetside would have been incredibly risky, and while he could understand Kurren wanting to rescue his family – despite what he’d done, he must still have some feelings locked deep inside him – why bring two ships? Then he remembered what Maria had told him about Kurren’s anger towards her.
“There’s more to it than just rescuing his children, though, isn’t there?” he said, and both Maria and Summer stopped dead and looked at him. “He doesn’t need two ships for that. And after what he’s just done, I don’t think a mercy mission is quite his style.”
Maria was impressed at Ethan’s insight. “No, he’s not just coming to rescue his family, if he even intends to rescue them at all.”
“He’s coming here for you, isn’t he?” said Ethan. “Because you escaped?”
Maria looked at Ethan and nodded.
“Does he really hate you so much that he’d risk a mission planetside just to get to you?”
“Actually, I’m beginning to warm to this guy,” said Summer, cheerfully.
Maria glared back at her, but Summer just goaded her further with a provocative smile.
“I’m a loose end,” said Maria, looking again at Ethan, “and the fact that some of GPS survived diminishes his victory. Not only that, but his wife defecting is a humiliation. He won’t leave until he’s killed the last of the station’s survivors. And me.”
This last statement from Maria produced an unusually moderate response from Summer. “Come on, I get that he’d want to kill you, but killing children?”
Maria looked at Summer and held her gaze, peering unflinchingly into her intense green eyes. “I think he’s committed to a path he can’t deviate from now. I think he’ll do whatever it takes to finish what he started. I think he’s capable of anything.”
There was a brief silence and then Ethan spoke. “No,” he said resolutely.
Summer looked at him, her faced scrunched into a frown. “No what?”
“No, we don’t let this happen,” Ethan replied, but he was looking at Maria, not Summer. “Not after everything that has happened. Not after what he did. We make sure these children are put beyond his reach, whatever the cost.”
Summer couldn’t believe what she was hearing. After everything Ethan had said to her, after all his reassurances, here he was again choosing to fight for Maria’s cause and for her people instead of his own. “Whatever the cost?” she said, aghast.
“We can’t let these people be hunted and killed, Summer,” Ethan replied, turning to face her. “We have to help them.”
Summer shook her head. “What about helping the people here, Ethan?” she replied, gesturing to the near-empty courtyard through the gate. “Didn’t you hear what he said?” She pointed at Aster, who scowled. “Our home is about to be over-run by roamers, and worse, and here you are again, ready to run off with her!” Summer threw a hand up towards Maria, but did not take her eyes off Ethan. “Your precious angel turns up again,” she continued, her voice getting louder and more furious, “and you’re ready to abandon your people and go on another selfish crusade. You’re just the same stupid boy that left me years ago!”
The slip was obvious to everyone, including Summer. She had said, ‘left me’, not Forest Gate, not his family, not the rangers, but Summer. She turned away, placing her back to the others so that they couldn’t see the embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
Ethan stood awkwardly in a limbo between wanting to support Summer, but also not wanting to further embarrass her. He wanted desperately to tell her that she was wrong, because this time she was wrong, but he couldn’t think of the words to say, or the actions to take, so instead he just stood, numb, like Summer.
“Maybe, Aster and I should give you two some space…” Maria began, but Summer suddenly spun around and jabbed a finger at her. The move was so aggressive that Maria almost jumped backwards.
“No, you don’t get to skulk away into the shadows,” Summer barked. “This is your doing, again!”
“Blame me if you want to, Summer, I really don’t care,” said Maria. “But it changes nothing. In a few hours, this place will be overrun. We all have to leave. Whether any of you help me is up to you, but I have no choice.”
“I do have a choice,” said Ethan, “The rest of us here do have a choice,” he added and this time he looked intently at Summer and Elijah, who was still loitering on the edge of the group, behind Aster, but clearly watching and listening. Ethan was angry that Summer was making this about him, when to Ethan it was so obvious what they had to do, and it angered him further that Summer could not see this; or chose not to.
“There are children on this planet, who have been torn from the
ir homes,” Ethan continued, and the anger he felt inside flowed through his words. “They have lost their families. They are frightened and alone. And if we do nothing to help them they will die!” He pointed to the wall behind them. “These walls can be rebuilt; this place is just rock and dust and dirt.”
Ethan remembered something the hermit had told him when he first arrived back from the GPS station five years ago, broken and conflicted and without hope. He almost gave up in those moments, and were it not for the hermit, he may never have made it back to Forest Gate and understood the importance of protecting their fragile existence, and how important it was to have someone to share it with; to have someone to build a future with.
“So what if Forest Gate is over-run or even reduced to rubble?” he asked. “It can be rebuilt, either here or somewhere else. Lives cannot.” He turned to face Summer; she was looking down, arms again folded, intentionally not meeting his eyes. “Summer, when I left five years ago, it nearly cost me everything.” His voice was now laced more with feeling than anger. “You’re right, I was stupid and selfish then, but that’s not who I am now. It made me realize that this place is home. Not the walls and huts, but the life. We have to preserve and protect life, and then there’s hope that the future can be better. But it also made me realize that if I was to be a part of that future, I needed you with me.”