Ray watched them go feeling numb. ‘He’s not there,” she signed to nobody in particular.
“Who?” Nettle asked spotting the movement of Ray’s hands.
“The bad one… He was older…I didn’t recognize him,” she spelled out, “P R I T C H A R D. He was the leader.”
Suddenly she spotted him. He leaned with false nonchalance against the wall of an outhouse in the background. He stared over at Ray like a vulture. Arms folded in front, his receding gray hair and scarred face apparently untouched by the melee in the forest. His grimace was still locked in place and Ray could see the veins and tendons in his forearms standing out. He was gripping his bicep hard enough that she could see the indentations even from this distance.
Ray grabbed Nettle’s arm to get her attention and nodded in his direction to alert her. Nettle frowned.
“I don’t recognize him either…freaky looking dude.” It became clear that the staring contest wasn’t going to be ended by Pritchard so eventually, Ray took her turn to grab Nettle’s arm and drag her away around the corner. Pritchard’s eyes followed the pair until the end wall of a barracks obscured them.
Nettles’ expression spoke volumes. Why had Pritchard not been arrested with the others? The way he stood and watched, he didn’t even appear afraid that he would be recognized. Who the fuck was he?
As they walked both Nettle and Ray sank into the realization that their world had begun to change and not for the better. Diana was not theirs anymore. They needed to be able to defend themselves from this new world with new rules. From the look that Aymes had given her, Ray felt certain that Jonah would not be there next time. It was up to them to protect themselves and their home.
CHAPTER 15
Ray woke from a dream around midnight. She had only been asleep for four hours but, nevertheless, felt wide awake. The dream was one she had often. Men chased her through the forest. She would run and run but could never build up any speed, struggling and pushing. Panic would well up into her throat as she waded along the forest trail as if she were in deep mud. The men would get closer; hooting and calling out. No matter which way she turned there they were, running between the trees like deer. Eventually her inertia would become too great and she would stop, unable to press forward anymore.
She always woke, bathed in sweat, just as the hands closed around her arms, fingers sinking into her flesh and ripping into the skin.
At eighteen, Ray now bunked in a mixed night shift barracks for unmarried workers. She stared at the ceiling wondering whether she should try and get back to sleep or give in and get up. Neither seemed very appealing.
Ray didn’t feel the least bit tired, but her bed was comfortable and warm. She toyed with her vision for a while, closing one eye and then the other to make the features of the domed ceiling switch positions. This was her last sleep before two rest nights, so in the end she made the decision to extend her weekend and get up early. She folded back the covers and swung her feet quietly to the floor. She pulled a loose pair of running shorts over the briefs and tank top she slept in and grabbed a pair of worn trainers.
Many things had changed since the arrival of the humans. Bigger transports meant that there was space to pack in a wider variety of goods. The selection of clothing available to Dianians (who had money) had improved dramatically.
Ray flicked the lid off a plastic pill bottle and popped one, pouring herself a glass of water from the small jug on her shelf. The label on the pill bottle read Haemo-Tab, another recent arrival.
The pills increased the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, dramatically increasing exercise tolerance. It had been developed for human soldiers on Earth so that they could perform super human feats of endurance. For the Dianians, however, the pills were a godsend. They enabled them to compete with humans’ physically in everyday tasks and, with training, even in endurance.
Ray had jumped at the chance despite the large portion of her wages she had to pay for them. Ray crept out of the quiet barracks and slipped her runners on outside. The vista of earth in the Diana sky wasn’t invisible today due to low cloud.
A soft rain was falling, making Ray smile; she loved running in the rain, it kept her cool and changed the acoustics and light in the town and forest. She set out. The muted sunlight and quiet making it easy for her to slip into an easy rhythm, letting her mind wander on its own. Soon she passed the last of the old wooden Dianian buildings and jogged on through the newer printed steel and concrete structures. They were ugly but tough and functional.
Ray now stood five feet four, one of the taller Dianians, and lean as a whippet. The muscle definition in her arms and legs glistening in the falling rain as she ran. Her hair was cropped short, much to her Mother’s dismay. Pretty much a military short back and sides with a little extra length on top.
Now that she worked in remoted signals, the hours in the sun had bleached her hair to a copper color, fading to reddish blond where it was longer. Her freckles had also deepened giving her exposed skin a rusty hue at a distance.
Passing the last of the human buildings, Ray banked left towards the shuttle port. The track had been widened to a road in the first year after the humans arrived and now snaked off into the forest, two lanes wide. Ray had to stick to the fringes as she ran to avoid the deep ruts and churned mud from the passage of heavy, tracked vehicles. The forest stretched out to her left and right. As always, ambivalent to the work of the tiny humans.
Ray soaked in the sound of the pattering rain and her footsteps, muffled by the deep oppressive humidity. Sheltered from the wind, her body had to work harder to keep her cool and a sheen of sweat mixed with the rain.
Her muscles now warm, Ray increased her pace. The shuttle port came and went. It had expanded to four concrete landing pads and the clearing had grown to more than a kilometer in diameter. Warehouses, control buildings, and a tower nestled among the trees at the outskirts and a fleet of vehicles chugged around the port; fuel trucks for ground fueling, transports for goods and luggage, and emergency vehicles at the ready.
Two heavy transport shuttles were crouching on pads, one with the goods ramp down and heavy earth moving machinery backing out carefully. New G-Port fuel tanks inside a tall wire fence sprouted among the trees a little further down the road, refilling themselves through an internal G-Port sieve directly from Earth.
The road reduced to a single lane, less rutted from the wheels of heavy vehicles. Ray could run down the middle and enjoy not having to watch her feet. The razor wire topped fence, surrounding the military and scientific precinct, came into view.
The trees of the forest grew almost uninterrupted inside the perimeter fence and the buildings were low and separated, so the forest canopy shielded them from the air. Ray doubted that the complex would be detectable by satellite and would be tough to spot even from Skycar.
Two armed guards watched Ray pass the main gate, the muzzles of their weapons were pointed at the ground, but their fingers rested on the trigger guards. The main road turned through these gates, but a smaller trail headed off into the forest alongside the main water pipe for the compound.
The track cut straight and smooth through the forest, undulating with the terrain for five kilometers until it abruptly ended at the shores of a The Great Lake. Ray covered the distance in twenty-five minutes then let her speed drop and to a halt beside the pumping station that fed the pipe and the compound behind her down the trail.
The Great Lake rippled in the breeze, the reflective surface grayed by the drizzle that still fell gently. In the distance, Ray could see the white domed roofs of the Life2 housing development. The first phase of CDSEs complimentary revenue streams to maximize profit from Diana. Dianians were strictly prohibited from going out there. The houses were destined to be sold to super rich retirees from Earth, traveling across the galaxy to enjoy their twilight years in the Diana sun on the banks of the crystal clear Great Lake. Behind the houses the forest resumed, climbing up to the low-lying clouds and the foo
thills at the base of the Grafton mountain range.
Ray simply watched for a while enjoying the feeling of her heart slowly returning to rest and clarity returning to her mind as her lung implant, and chemically enhanced blood, caught up with the exercise. Ray kicked of her runners, stripped off her top and wriggled out of the gray shorts and briefs. Her toes scrunched into the small rounded pebbles that formed the beach, massaging the souls of her feet.
She waded, naked, out into the water. Her skin and muscles flinched, and her heart rate jumped again at the shock of the cold. She forced her arms to her sides, fighting the urge to stop as the cold water inched up her body. The water reached her chin, then her mouth, then the top of her head. She continued walking until the light began to dim and the unfocused dappled rays of the surface were far above her.
Ray closed her eyes and let her body sink to the sandy bottom. The uniform cool of the lake washing away the sweat from her skin as stillness enfolded her. She listened to the directionless hum of the pump station whirring into life and imagined she were suspended in space, bound to nothing. She drank several large mouthfuls of water and let her eyes drift open. The morning drizzle must have been lifting because suddenly the lake water was pierced with bright shafts of light scanning across the lake bed; the surface ripples diffracted the bright sunlight. The vibrant green of the underwater weeds and algae flashing, as the beams flickered over them. Ray smiled. “Beautiful,” she thought to herself. When the lake looked like this Ray would sometimes sit enjoying the cool water until her skin pruned and she was shivering from the cold.
Her mind lazily wandering, she became aware that the pump station working was not the only sound. She could hear gravel crunching and faint dragging sounds. Ray swam smoothly up and trod water with her eyes just above the surface. She could easily see the distance to the shore and the source of the noises. Two armed men in forest camouflage had dragged an inflatable out of the bush and onto the beach. They worked quietly, speaking in low voices, too faint for her to hear. Ray could just detect the outline of a plastic wrapped object resting on the transom of the boat where the outboard was attached.
She had been running this route for over a year now and this was the first time she had ever seen anybody else near the pump station. Something about the way the men were moving made her uneasy. They seemed on edge and were looking around more than was natural for workers on a routine job. Instinct told her they would not be pleased to find her here.
Her eyes moved to her clothes crumpled in a small pile, just twenty feet to the left of the men. The clothes were shadowed by the dirt bank where the trees ended in a tangle of exposed roots and the fabric was similar in color to the gray beach stones but, to Ray, they looked too obvious for the men to have missed.
From this distance, she couldn’t tell if her clothes had been disturbed already or not. Suddenly, the water felt freezing and Ray realized she had been in the lake too long. She knew with certainty, however, that she didn’t want these men to know she had seen them.
Ray stopped treading water, allowing herself to sink silently back into the lake. Her mind cycled through plans to get out and away without being seen. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Something was very wrong here. It occurred to her the she couldn’t remember which briefs she had been wearing. Of the three pairs she owned, one had been issued recently by CDSE and had her designation, Min-654MilGr printed on the waistband. She was almost certain that she hadn’t worn those to bed last night but fear made her doubt herself. Maybe she was remembering the night before? What if they found her clothes and took them? Ray was already planning a route back to her barracks that she imagined might give her the best chance of going unnoticed running naked.
Ray’s body jumped as the outboard motor roared into life, the amplification and lack of directionality underwater making it feel like the motor was on top of her. She could just make out the flat rubber hull of the boat and the growing wake as it accelerated away from shore, moving directly towards where she stood, shivering violently, on the lake bed. From her point of view, she could see the boat so clearly it seemed inconceivable that they would not see her, standing under the water looking up at them. She had to fight the irrational urge to run away.
To her relief, the boat continued to accelerate over her head and veered out towards the depths of the lake. Ray burst into motion, heightening her already spiking adrenaline. She bounded along the lake bed and swam with her arms towards the shore as fast as she could. She surfaced in the shallows and skulked up onto the bank looking back at the retreating boat approaching the center of the lake. Turning back to her clothes she was relieved to see that her briefs were an unnamed pair and her clothes didn’t appear to have been moved.
She hurriedly tugged her clothes on, fighting with them as the dry fabric clung to her dripping wet skin. Her foot snagged in her briefs as she tugged them on and she hopped to recover her balance. Desperately, she glanced out into the lake. She could see the small boat out near the center, silhouetted against the white of the Life2 buildings on the far bank. The small boat turned, idling in a slow circle. The sound of the engine, still overly loud, bounced over the water of the otherwise tranquil lake. The two men stood in unison and Ray froze. She thought she could see their faces looking straight at her.
With a start, Ray realized that one of the men was Pritchard. She hadn’t seen him since the attack in the forest so many years ago, but she recognized him immediately. Ray stared back, heart beating hard, hoping beyond hope that she was shaded by the trees. The men bent in unison and grabbed the object from the boat and rolled it towards the side. Ray glanced from the men down the path wondering whether it was better for her to bolt now or if the movement would alert them. Unable to decide, she watched as they manhandled the heavy object.
Both men bent over the figure, apparently trying to untangle the plastic sheet from an obstruction inside the boat. Ray took her chance while they were both looking down. She bolted down the path, fully dressed apart from the runners she held in her hand.
Once obscured by the trees, she donned her shoes and set off. She was shivering violently, both from too long underwater and from the rush of adrenaline. More fears started to crowd her brain as she ran. “What on Diana were they doing? Why did the whole situation give her such a bad feeling? Had Pritchard seen her? Would they see her foot prints? This last thought made her heart jump again and her stomach drop. The guards outside the military compound had seen her run out that way. How hard would it be to remember a red headed woman running in the middle of the night? The two men had been wearing camo. Did that mean they were marines? Last time she had seen Pritchard he was definitely in a CDSE jumpsuit. Most of the time, the two groups worked hand in fist anyway. Neither seemed safer to her just now.
Wondering whether it was the right decision, she chose to run back past the guards pretending that nothing unusual had happened. Perhaps if they didn’t see her return, that would seem more suspicious. She even managed a quick smile hello as she passed.
She bounded past the shuttle port and onto the road into town, once again sticking to the smoother terrain on the verge. The sound of a vehicle approaching from behind made her fight the urge to run. It passed without pausing but her ears continued to burn, expecting someone to grab her from behind at any moment. She wondered whether to return to her barracks or make for her mother or Sparks’ house. In the end, she decided to act as if nothing unusual had occurred and headed for her barracks.
CHAPTER 16
Ray made it back around 1:30 am, surprised that the whole incident had only taken one and a half hours. She grabbed her wash kit and headed out for a shower, trying not to glance around wide-eyed like a rat in a snake pit. Every noise made her spine tingle and her stride falter. She made it to the amenities block and locked herself into a shower cubicle.
Hot again from the run back and brisk walk over, she set the water to lukewarm and simply stood, letting the jets massage the bac
k of her neck. After a minute or two her nerves started to calm, and she started to rationalize the bizarre morning.
The more she ruminated the more she managed to convince herself she was being ridiculous. The men were probably just dumping some sort of rubbish that was supposed to be disposed of in another way; a scientific device for monitoring the water perhaps. It could be any number of things.
By the time Ray was clean and dressed again she had convinced herself that the whole thing was in her mind and to just go ahead and forget about it. Feeling much better, she left the block and headed back to the barracks to see if she could get a few hours’ sleep.
As she rounded the corner of the toilet block she almost bumped into Rose coming the other way. Rose was dressed head to toe in expensive earth clothes, that looked wrinkled and slept in. Her hair was piled up on her head but was lopsided and she carried her heels in her hand.
Rose jumped at seeing Ray and a momentary look of guilt flashed across her face. Rose was fuller figured now, almost buxom, and tended to choose clothes that accentuated that fact. Rose grimaced and shrugged at Ray, looking sheepish. Ray rolled her eyes and signed
“Who?”
“One of the engineers,” Rose replied, “nice guy really, quite tall. Gave me this necklace.” Rose held it out for Ray to inspect.
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