by G J Ogden
“What was that?” said Josh, breathlessly.
“It’s the ranger’s oath. Say it with me.”
Ethan repeated the oath in stages, and Josh mirrored his words. When they had both finished, Josh looked up at Ethan and his face shone like morning sunlight.
“You’re a ranger now,” said Ethan. “Just like me.”
“What do I do?” said Josh, eager to start his duties.
Ethan smiled again, removed the small red ball from his pocket, and held it out to Josh. “You just keep doing what you do best, Josh.”
Josh took the ball and squeezed it in his hand. “I understand, Ranger Ethan,” he said. He beamed another smile at him and ran off back to the others, the metal ranger seal flapping up and down on his shirt as he went.
Ethan watched the boy play for a few seconds and then turned around to see Maria smiling warmly, arms folded gently across her chest. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy.
“You’re something else, planetsider, do you know that?”
“You’ve only just figured that out?” said Ethan, with a wry smile. “Come on, let’s find this tunnel, before you turn soft.”
Maria picked up Ethan’s short-staff, which was still on the ground, along with some other items they had yet to pack, and threw it at him, hard enough that Ethan needed to react quickly. “You’re the soft one,” said Maria. “Who was he, anyway?”
Maria clearly hadn’t overheard the boy speak his name, but somehow it didn’t feel like the right time to tell her. Ethan knew it would cloud Maria’s head, and distract her from what they needed to do, so he decided to keep it to himself, at least for the moment. Besides, he didn’t even know if it was the same Neviah; it could have been a common name, for all he knew. “He’s just a brave kid. They’re all brave kids.”
Maria nodded. “Yes they are. So how about we go and find these brave kids a new home?”
Ethan looked up at the mountain and then tightened the straps on his backpack. “Lead the way, Commander.”
Chapter 19
Maria stopped to regain her breath; her legs burned as if she’d just finished a session of intensive high-g flight training. The slightly higher gravity on the planet compared to the moon base and space station was already bad enough, but the steep climb up the mountain was akin to torture. She looked up at Ethan, who was practically bounding up the slopes, and wondered if he had mechanical legs.
“Come on!” Ethan shouted down to Maria. Then he retraced his steps to arrive alongside her, suddenly conscious of who or what his shouting might attract. He found Maria red-faced, breathing heavily with hands on hips. “I expected you UEC military types to be fitter than this.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed…” Maria said, in-between breaths. “There were no mountains on the moon base.”
“Too much time sat in a cockpit, more like,” Ethan retorted. Maria shot him a fierce look and he decided not to toy with her further. “We’ve been searching for at least a couple of hours,” he said, aware that the sunlight was fading fast. “I’m starting to think that old hermit imagined this tunnel of his.”
Maria, feeling more recovered, checked her PVSM, which was a new addition to her left forearm. Aster had found the unit in a storage bay on one of the transports, while they had searched through each one for usable tools or materials with which to hide the vehicles and camp equipment. It was a more basic unit than the military-spec device that she was used to, but it provided the functionality she needed, including the crucial personal toxicity reading, which was thankfully still showing as low amber.
Maria’s new PVSM had also been conducting short-range scans of their immediate surroundings, trying to discover some clue as to the location of the tunnel entrance, but so far it had detected no sign of it. She lowered her arm and looked around. They were perhaps one hundred meters up from their previous location on a rocky slope, which inclined steeply up the side of the mountain. Maria spotted a flatter area about twenty meters above and behind where they were standing and pointed towards it.
“Let’s head up to that plateau and take a break. Then I’ll see if I can reconfigure this thing to give us a wider scan radius.”
Ethan looked to where Maria was pointing, and then back up at the sky. “Okay, but if we don’t find anything within the next hour, we should head back. We’re not really equipped for a night under the stars with the local Roamers.”
“But, you make it sound so romantic.”
“You should be so lucky,” said Ethan, with mock indignation. Then he held out his hand to Maria. “Come on, I’ll help you up, seeing as your off-world legs are too feeble to climb this thing.”
“You won’t think them so feeble when I kick you in the shins,” said Maria, though she still gladly accepted Ethan’s offer of help.
They reached the plateau and dumped their bags on the stony ground. Maria sat down with her back to a smooth, cool boulder and rubbed her shoulders, while Ethan took a look around their new rest stop. There was something about it that didn’t sit right with him, not least of which was its curious flatness, which contrasted with the lumpy, rock-lined slopes surrounding it. Also, now he was standing on the plateau he noticed that it cut slightly into the rock face in a way that also didn’t appear natural. He went into the cutting and placed his hands against the rock; it felt curiously warm. He side-stepped along the side of the rock face, sliding his hands along the surface and felt the temperature of the rock suddenly drop, becoming damp and cool, as Ethan expected it should be.
“Something is not right.”
“You’ve only just noticed that?” Maria answered, in a weak attempt at humor. She was still massaging her shoulders and had not noticed Ethan exploring the wall.
“If you’re done with the sarcasm, perhaps you could use your scanner thing on this wall,” said Ethan.
Maria wheeled around on the spot, still sitting down and said, “Yes, sir.” She configured the PVSM to initiate a short-range scan focused directly at the wall of rock. A few seconds later, it bleeped and displayed a simple, wire-framed three-dimensional image of the hillside extending for several meters beyond where Ethan was standing. Maria stood up, the excitement of the discovery fueling her aching muscles.
“Hey, take a look at this!” said Maria. Ethan jogged back and stood beside her, looking at the simple image on the screen. “There’s a hollow space behind that rock face.” She then manipulated the image so that a tunnel-like structure could clearly be seen inside the mountain.
“I’d say this plateau was constructed,” said Maria. “But it must have been a long time ago, because nature has clearly reclaimed it since.
Ethan studied the image further. “It looks like the tunnel extends deeper into the mountain.” Ethan used his hand to slice a path through the mountain side on the screen. “And if that thing is accurate, there should be an opening further up the rock face.”
Ethan pointed to an area he thought the image indicated and was startled by the sight of helmeted figure, perhaps fifty meters away. Whoever it was wore a matte black, single-piece suit that covered them head-to-toe and included a sleek-looking helmet with a tinted visor. It was not facing them, but looking out in the direction of the city. Maria also saw the figure and carefully moved over to Ethan staying low. The suited figure seemed oblivious to their presence.
“What, or who, is that?” said Ethan in what was barely more than a whisper.
“It looks like some sort of hazard suit,” Maria said in a low voice. “The sort of protective clothing that first-response personnel would wear to tackle a fire or radiation leak. It’s an old design, but from the looks of the helmet, it has been heavily modified.”
Ethan contemplated this for a moment. “You said these sub-surface cities were experiments.” said Ethan, thinking out loud. “Could there have been people living underground all this time, even after the Fall?”
Maria shook her head. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s possible.” She took a moment to think,
trying to dredge up as much information as possible from the recesses of her memory. “From what I recall, the experiment sites were designed to be self-sufficient, with reclamation and recycling capabilities similar to those used in space habitats. If they could manage to maintain power and find a sustainable source of food, then theoretically they could operate almost indefinitely.”
The idea that there could be other survivors of the Fall was difficult for Ethan to accept. After all this time, why hadn’t they shown themselves? he wondered.
“Well, let’s get some answers,” said Ethan, and he started moving towards the figure, abandoning any of his prior attempts at concealment or caution. He figured that anything wearing a suit that bulky was not going to outrun a ranger on rough terrain.
“Ethan, wait!” Maria called out, but she kept her voice low and Ethan did not hear, or chose not to. He had already started his climb towards the figure in black. “Damn it,” cursed Maria. She retrieved her backpack and quickly slung it on, and then picked up Ethan’s which in his haste he’d forgotten, and started after him.
Ethan could certainly move, Maria thought, as she fell well behind his pace and was struggling to keep him in view. Her legs were still achy and she slipped and disturbed some rocks, which clattered down the mountainside, sending a series of sharp clacks echoing through the air. Ethan and Maria both stopped and lay low, but it was clear that the suited figure had seen Maria, because whoever it was immediately bolted.
Ethan sprang forward, scrambling up the mountainside with the dexterity of an animal native to the terrain, but when he reached the area where the figure had been standing, it was nowhere to be seen.
Maria arrived a couple of minutes later and rested on her knees. Her muscles burned so badly that she felt her legs were about to melt away from her body. She saw Ethan a little further ahead, pushing his way through a dense wall of leaves that appeared to lead nowhere. But when Ethan’s body vanished though the wall of green and did not return, Maria grew curious and slightly concerned, so she followed him.
She pushed through the thick hedge and emerged, slightly scraped and prickled, onto another plateau, perched above a sheer drop. It had been invisible to them from their previous location, on account of the dense shield of foliage that extended all around the ragged lip of the plateau. She brushed herself off and saw Ethan standing in front of what appeared to be a stone-colored door, which was very obviously not a natural feature of this ancient mountain.
“There it is,” said Ethan. “There’s our way in.”
Maria joined him, still breathing heavily, and examined the door more closely. It was likely a service door, she considered, or possibly a secondary exit to use in emergencies, and from the way the dirt had been disturbed it had been opened recently. She ran her fingers along the seam and found a depression. “It’s an ident scanner,” said Maria, surprised at the discovery. She brushed away the thick build-up of moss and grime with her sleeve. “Whoever was in that black suit must not have needed it, but perhaps it still works.”
“So, can you open it?” asked Ethan.
Maria stepped back and rested her hands on her hips. “These places weren’t military installations, and this system was probably installed before I was born. But, what the hell, I can give it a try.”
She lifted a flap on her PVSM and pulled out the jacking cable, attaching it the port on the concealed ident scanner. A few seconds later the PVSM bleeped and Maria’s eyes widened. “What do you know; it’s not even locked! At least, it’s not anymore.” Maria pressed a button on the PVSM and the door clicked and swung slightly ajar.
Ethan grasped the edge and pulled hard. The door swung open relatively easily, without the creaks or groans that might have been expected from an old door that had seen little use. They both peered through the opening. It was dark inside, but not pitch black; besides the light that was now bleeding in from outside there seemed to be some low-level illumination emanating from inside too.
Ethan drew his knife and glanced at Maria. “Better to be safe. We don’t know if whoever went in there is friendly.”
Maria drew her sidearm, released and checked the clip, and then loaded it again. She held it ready, but with the safety engaged. “I only have this one clip, so let’s hope that Mr. or Mrs. Hazard Suit is friendlier than they looked.”
“Somehow, I doubt it,” said Ethan, gloomily. He took the lead and stepped through the opening, with Maria following closely behind.
Chapter 20
Beyond the door was a tunnel, wide enough for two or three people at a squeeze, winding down into the mountain. They moved through it cautiously, noticing that the walls were lined with luminescent strips, which were the source of the dim lighting inside, and another indication that the tunnel was still in use by someone.
The tap of their boots on the hard stone softly echoed along the tunnel until eventually it opened out into a cave, roughly cut into the rock and obviously not naturally occurring. There was a hatch or small door on the opposite side, but Ethan and Maria were separated from it by a deep crevasse that was too wide to jump. There was a rusted metal bridge on the other side, which had been pulled up and secured, and from the recently disturbed mud and grime on the edge nearest to where they were standing, Ethan surmised that the bridge had been raised and lowered recently, in all likelihood by the suited figure they had seen. He kept this thought to himself and surveyed the other side of the cave, spotting another more steeply-sloping tunnel cut through the rock, much wider than the one they had just left. It too was lit dimly with luminescent strips along the edges of the walls, but unlike the first tunnel, it appeared to have been undisturbed for a very long time. The air felt cold and stale, and water dripped from the rock above them into murky puddles with an echoey, plop… plop… plop...
“I wonder why they chose to build that rickety-bridged entrance, rather than just using that tunnel?” Maria wondered aloud. This place made her feel on edge; but it was more than just the gloominess and eerie quiet. Something about it felt wrong, but she couldn’t place what or why.
“No idea,” Ethan replied. “Perhaps because it’s booby-trapped, or full of the maddened,” he added, thinking that a little dark humor might lighten the mood.
Suddenly, a guttural, low growl came through the air from out of the darkness in the sloping tunnel. The noise echoed around the cave and then faded to nothing. Ethan’s heart was thumping in his chest; he turned to Maria to ask her what she thought it was, and saw that she was scowling at him.
“What?” said Ethan, defensively.
“You had to say it didn’t you?”
“Hey, don’t put this on me!” said Ethan, indignantly. “Besides, it’s probably just your stomach grumbling or something.”
Maria shook her head at him, but strangely the mention of food had distracted her from the mysterious noise. She was hungry and couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten more than a mouthful of a ration bar. “Can we not talk about food please, I’m starving.” Maria edged forward slightly and peered down the slope.
“I’ll make you some eggs when we get back to the settlement, to make up for my terrible humor.”
Maria smiled; it had been five years, but she had never forgotten the taste of the simple, but mouth-watering scrambled eggs that Ethan had cooked for her, and she was impressed that he remembered it too. But the memory was bittersweet; tainted with regret over her later deceitfulness, which had nearly cost Ethan his life. Maria’s smile faded; she disengaged the safety on her sidearm and chambered a round.
“Right now, I’m more interested in your fighting skills than cooking prowess,” she said, “so let’s proceed slowly, okay?”
Ethan sheathed his knife and drew his short-staff, which would afford him a bit more range. He gripped it tightly and then looked at Maria’s weapon, glinting subtly in the soft light of the cave.
“I don’t suppose you have another one of those?” he asked, nodding towards Maria’s sidearm.
&n
bsp; “As I recall, the last time you held one of these you were more of a danger than a help.”
Ethan smiled, but then a chill ran down his spine as he remembered the fight in the control room on the GPS station, shortly before Maria helped him to return planetside. He remembered watching her through the small viewport as she became smaller and smaller and eventually disappeared entirely as the angular warship powered away from the GPS space station with only him on board. She had turned her back on the UEC that day, and had done it to save him. It seemed a lifetime ago now.
The guttural noise came again, clearing Ethan’s head. They both moved forward, side-by-side, keeping a close watch for any sign of movement ahead. The air grew colder and even more damp as they descended further into the depths of the mountain. Soon the slope leveled out and widened into another cave, much smaller than the first, and more rough-shaped, as if it had not been quite finished. Some of the luminescent strip lights flickered, creating ghoulish shadows that appeared and disappeared at random all around them, and did nothing to calm Maria’s nerves.
“I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” said Maria. “Perhaps we should head back and figure out how to bridge that chasm. There might be something back at the base camp we can use…”
Maria’s voice trailed off; she had caught sight of something, glinting in the gloom ahead. Ethan looked at her, wondering why she had stopped mid-sentence, and was about to ask when Maria raised a finger to her lips, and indicated into the darkness ahead. Ethan stayed silent and squinted, looking for whatever Maria had seen. Then he saw it; two pinpoints of light, moving slowly and deliberately towards them, hugging the wall where the shadows were darkest.
A luminescent strip flickered into life and stayed lit, casting a cool glow over the thing that hunted them; a creature, but not like anything Ethan had seen before. This was an animal, perhaps a wolf; Ethan had seen similar creatures on his travels, but very rarely. Then it had always given him a thrill, but this time he felt the icy chill of fear grip him, because this animal was different. Its fur was a dull, silver-gray, its shoulders were swollen and the arched spine suggested hostile intent. But it was the eyes that struck Ethan cold; they were the inky black, soulless eyes of the maddened, and for the first time in his life, they were staring back at him from an animal, rather than something that had at one time been human.