GREG HAMILTON
Rotane hung low above the horizon to the south, bathing the landscape in its eerie green light, while auroras flickered across the northern sky. The wind had subsided in the afternoon, leaving the forest quieter than usual; even the jerrybirds were silent. The night seemed almost magical, and Greg couldn’t remember having seen anything like it, neither here nor back on Earth. There was nothing magical in the faces of his associates, however, their faces grave and clearly affected by the seriousness of the situation. Dean had placed himself off to the side, as usual, seemingly placid. His eyes, though, were as alert as ever.
“So basically, you say it’s some sort of parasite,” Greg said. Maria nodded, her breath turning to mist in the cold night just outside Port Hammer.
“Yes. It seems to be going through a process, as if it’s trying to somehow merge with its host.” He looked over at Tina and Kenneth. Kenneth had been looking at Maria, listening as she spoke, sometimes nodding and scratching his thick black beard. But Tina had turned away. Greg knew she had felt responsible for the kids from the New Discovery even from the beginning, and now one of them was dead and possibly three more dying.
“Is it dangerous?” Greg asked, turning back to Maria.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that we can’t cure it. None of our medicines seem to have any effect. But for the time being, the kids are stable, so we’ll just have to keep giving them water and nutrients intravenously.”
“Okay, thank you,” Greg said. “Just one more question. Can they be moved?” Maria raised her eyebrows for a second, then shrugged.
“Well, as long as they are kept warm and their fevers don’t rise again, I don’t see a problem with that,” she said. Greg nodded, satisfied that they wouldn’t have to leave them behind if his worst fears came true.
“Alright,” he said turning back to the others. “Let’s move on to an entirely different matter.” He thanked Maria, who turned around to walk back to the small town.
“We need to plan ahead and take stock of what we’re facing,” Greg continued. Tina stood a little straighter, and brought out her tablet. “In the days since the so-called riot, almost two hundred more have joined us here. Now though, the last trickles seem to have stopped, which tells us that the perimeter has been effectively shut off. It also tells us that Fort Andrews is preparing a response.” Tina and Kenneth nodded gravely. Kenneth had quickly become a close adviser to him. Due to his role as psychologist and researcher, he had talked to almost everyone at one point or another, and most people knew him, although few seemed to know him well. Kenneth Taylor seemed to have a unique ability to interpret the situation in psychological and political terms. It was he who had predicted there would be an abrupt end to the refugees, signaling an escalation of the conflict. It was also he who had come up with the main elements of the plan Greg was now preparing to unveil.
“We should be expecting an attack or some kind of punitive action within the next few days,” Greg said, and even Dean moved a little closer.
“Do we fight them?” Dean said. Greg shook his head.
“We don’t have the firepower to fight them head on. So our main priority should be to plan for an escape. For that we need an escape route, and some defensible position. North, I would think. Port Hammer is too close. Due to the short distance from Fort Andrews, they would have their entire force at their disposal. Even though they have to move further west to cross the Trickler, because of the currents keeping the ice thin around here, it’s still too close. With more distance, we should be able to stretch their lines of supply enough to harass any reinforcements, and maybe even separate their forces, to fight them on more equal terms.” Tina nodded, and Greg thought he could see the old soldier in her come to life again.
“Do we have the resources to break with Fort Andrews? If we succeed, that is,” she said. It was Kenneth who answered.
“We will lack their strong power supply, with no access to the nuclear plants. Also, the Exodus will be under their control, unless we find a way to hack into the control systems, and then keep their hackers out. And of course most of the equipment will be theirs. Also, they will control the farming areas, which may be our biggest problem in the long run. On the other hand, we will have many of the scientists, and we have craftsmen and even quite a bit of military expertise that will be necessary if we manage to break free. And if we head for coastal areas, we will find fishing to be as valuable as farming.” Greg had discussed these issues with Kenneth just a few hours ago and agreed with his analysis.
“We’ll have to make do,” he said. Then he addressed Dean.
“Dean, I want you to pick a small team and head north. We have scouted the foothills, but we need to know the mountains. Your primary objectives will be to find an escape route away from Port Hammer. Your secondary objective will be to find a sanctuary. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but we need to be able to survive the rest of the winter there, meaning water supply and defensibility. Any questions?” Dean shook his head, and Greg continued.
“Right then, you should get moving ASAP.” Dean saluted him briefly, which surprised him a little, and then trotted off before he had a chance to reply. When only Greg, Tina, and Kenneth remained, Kenneth coughed slightly, and Greg turned his attention to him. Tina didn’t react; her mind seemed to be somewhere else.
“There is something else…” Kenneth said. Greg motioned for him to go on. They had a million things to do, and no time to spare.
“I have a source deep inside Havelar’s organization. It took me a long time to get in touch with him, but he has been gathering intelligence for years. A few weeks ago, he told me something disturbing, and I think you should know it too.” He cleared his throat again.
“Havelar brought weapons of mass destruction on the Exodus.” That jolted Tina from her private musings, and Greg cocked his head. This was something he hadn’t thought of. And he suddenly saw the psychologist in a new light. It seemed there was more to him than he had let on.
“You sure? What kind?” Tina asked sharply.
“Well, I know for certain he brought four nuclear warheads and rockets to carry them,” Kenneth said.
“Four nukes… Shit…” Tina said.
“Only two remain though. The others have been rendered effectively useless.” Greg raised his eyebrows. It seemed Kenneth’s contact was quite resourceful.
“How?” he asked. Kenneth shrugged.
“He never told me, just that he had taken care of the first two and thought he might need help in order to take out the remaining missiles.” Greg nodded slowly. Taking out two nuclear missiles was a feat not to be taken lightly. Those remaining would likely be heavily guarded.
“Will Havelar be willing to use them?” Tina said. Kenneth didn’t seem to have an answer, and there really was no way to tell without knowing how Havelar’s mind worked. And none of them presumed to have such insights.
Just as Greg was about to move on to other matters, Kenneth spoke again.
“I got a new message, just minutes ago, from my contact. I don’t know what it means though.” Greg turned toward him again.
“It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s just bits of sentences here and there, with all kinds of symbols in between… There is something about seeing Ramon Solis today, out by the shuttle field. It’s unclear, lots of these meaningless symbols again, but it might be Solis in fatigues, uniform. That’s all I could make of it, and I was unable to reply.” Kenneth shrugged.
“Ramon Solis? Really?” Greg exclaimed.
“Yes, that was my reaction as well. But think about it. If Havelar is moving on us, wouldn’t it make sense for Ramon to do everything in his power to save his daughter?” Greg nodded. Ramon knew Maria had come here, that much he had revealed earlier.
“So he dresses up in fatigues and join the soldiers who are about to move out.” Kenneth continued.
“He doesn’t trust the soldiers to value her life over destroying the rebels, so instead
he makes sure he’s in a position to save her.” Now Tina nodded too.
“That means they are coming for us,” she said. Kenneth displayed no reaction, but Greg saw the way his eyes squinted, and he knew the psychologist had come to the same conclusion. The soldiers would be coming soon, and when they came, they would have a singular objective: to destroy Port Hammer and everything they stood for in a single blow.
THOMAS DUNN
Thomas was relieved to find the clouds thickening, preventing Rotane from lighting up the night. It wouldn’t be long until first light, and he needed the dark. The light snowfall was rapidly thickening, which would keep the guards uncomfortable, and hopefully less vigilant. As he leapt from cover to cover, he thought how completely ridiculous his plan was. If he survived this, he was luckier than he deserved. But it wasn’t as if he had a choice, if he wanted to warn Port Hammer of the imminent attack. A few hours ago, he’d tried communicating with Kenneth Taylor, but all communication had been scrambled. He managed to send a short message, but there was no way to tell if Kenneth actually got it. There had been no reply. Then he discovered Alphanet was inaccessible as well. Since being gradually more included in the inner circles, he had been allowed access to the network, and now he couldn’t tell whether Alphanet was down or if he had been cut off from it. In any case it was time to act.
So Thomas had decided not to wait around any more. From what he could tell, Havelar was moving on Port Hammer, and the only idea he could think of that might give him a chance to get there first was to hijack one of the shuttles. He wasn’t sure he could fly it manually, but from what he had gathered, once he managed to override the security systems, he could upload a program that would fly the shuttle on autopilot. Piece of cake…
The shuttle was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on top, and he had managed to get past the soldiers sitting nearby. If he didn’t move quickly though, the team patrolling the area would discover him. If the soldiers didn’t, their dogs would catch his scent. He had cut a hole through the fence and climbed through, while making no sound. He held his breath as he wriggled through and then darted over to the shuttle hatch, where he released a lever that opened the cover where a small keyboard and a display appeared. Then he keyed in a six-digit code and pressed a red button. He heard a low hiss as the hatch opened. He looked around, nervously. Still no sign of the guards noticing.
He slowly pushed the hatch open and climbed on board. The interior was dark, and he waited a few seconds to let his eyes adjust. Then he went over to the pilot seat and took out his knife. He pried open a dashboard and found the wire leading to the shuttle guidance systems. Then he connected his tablet to it and found the correct program, activating it.
Nothing happened.
“Shit,” he whispered to himself. Frantically, he disconnected and turned his tablet off, restarting it. He waited as it rebooted, each second lasting an eternity. As soon as it turned back on, he reconnected the tablet to the shuttle. This time a light flickered on to the left. Main systems on line. Another light, electrical systems, another one, life support. He grinned impatiently. Life support wasn’t really necessary here, but it was part of the sequence. Nothing to do about it. Another light, and then everything happened almost instantaneously. Suddenly the displays were all alight, and the engine roared. Well, that’s what it felt like. The engine wasn’t loud, by any means, but breaking the dead silence of the night, the engines sounded deafening to him. He looked out the window and saw stirring outside the fence. The guards must surely have heard. He wondered whether they would fire on the shuttle. There were only four shuttles total, after all. If they wanted, they could shoot him down in an instant. But Thomas relied on the value of the shuttle to save his butt this time.
The shuttle quickly taxied onto the lift-off pad, and the soldiers kept their distance. Thomas grinned, this time from relief. No shots had been fired, and he didn’t think there would be any, as long as he didn’t linger. As soon as the shuttle was in place, the rockets fired, and he felt the craft moving. It rattled as it ascended. The vertical takeoff was something entirely different from a plane taking off, and he was surprised by the shaking and shuddering of the craft as it lifted away from the pad. Then another rocket fired, and the shuttle moved forward, away from Fort Andrews. He had set an eastward course, to circle the town from a distance. If a late order came through to shoot him down, he wanted to have as much distance between himself and the soldiers as possible. A surface-to-air missile had tremendous speed, but the shuttles had been fitted with some decent missile-defense systems. Another of Havelar’s ideas, born out of paranoia, now working against him. Still, he felt much better as the lights of the city vanished in the distance, hidden by both distance and the low-hanging clouds.
The shuttle was flying itself, and the flight would only last for a few minutes, so Thomas sat back and looked out the window, lost in thought. He had finally blown his cover. The lie he’d been living for so long would come to an end. He smiled to himself in the dark cockpit. Then he decided there wasn’t really much to smile about. Soldiers were heading for Port Hammer, and he had a growing concern that whatever defense the admiral and his people might be putting up would be pitiful against the column coming their way. He only hoped he’d get there in time. Those snowmobiles moved awfully fast, and they had a head start.
A few minutes later, the shuttle started its descent. Thomas thought he could see tiny specks of light in the far distance. That would be Port Hammer. He strapped himself in, and adjusted the straps to his facemask. There was no turning back now. There would be war, if it could be called that with sixteen hundred people divided into two camps. If he didn’t get there in time though, it might be a damn short one.
Chapter 11
TINA HAMMER
Tina exhaled heavily, as she watched Thomas Dunn round up his team, picking up a few ration bars and a few extra boxes of ammo, stuffing everything in his pockets, before exiting the cabin door. He had come less than thirty minutes ago, in a hijacked shuttle, warning them of an imminent attack. Tina didn’t need an explanation to know he was the contact Kenneth had mentioned. She was surprised though, because she had been under the impression that Thomas Dunn was one of Havelar’s closest henchmen. Also, he didn’t seem the type, but then again, who did? He seemed to have a good grasp of what was going on though, and when she heard the kind of force they would be facing, Tina cursed herself for letting Greg go off like he had.
Greg had left with his group of about thirty armed men and women, less than an hour before Thomas Dunn arrived. They were to set up defensive positions on the north bank of the Trickler at the nearest crossing. The soldiers would cross about two kilometers upriver, where the ice would be safe to walk on, and the plan was to use the ice-covered river as a virtual kill zone. They had no illusions that they would be able to hold off an attacking force, but the plan was to slow them down and make them take the longer route, further west, in order to give the rest a chance to flee. Greg said he would take his team up north and harass the attackers after Port Hammer was effectively abandoned, and he’d been really confident it would work. But even before Thomas Dunn brought word of the kind of equipment he had observed, and the size of the force, Tina had had doubts of whether the plan was good enough. Now she almost felt as if the former commander of the Exodus had taken on a suicide mission.
Walking outside, she noticed the snowfall was easing up again, and a few stars were visible in between the clouds. The night was still freezing cold though. She shivered lightly, but not just from the cold. There was so much at stake at this point. Thomas Dunn had been very clear. There was no way Greg and his team would slow the soldiers for long, and as soon as he heard what Greg had done, he insisted he’d take a team out to set up another line of defense in the foothills of the Rockies. The only way to put up some real resistance, he’d said, would be raids and limited assaults on their flanks and supply lines, where the terrain worked against the soldiers.
Tina had
her own tasks to worry about though, and as she watched the last of Thomas Dunn’s team dart off into the shadows, she turned her attention to Maria and Geena, who stood by the still-unconscious kids. The kids were crammed together on a sled pulled by one of the snowmobiles, tucked into sleeping bags.
“All set?” she said, and Geena nodded.
“They will be all right,” she said. Tina told them to get the snowmobile started, and went over to Kenneth, who was carrying a backpack and a sidearm he’d borrowed from Dean.
“You’re ready?” she said to him as she approached. He smiled back at her.
“We’re just about to get moving,” he said, and gestured to the group standing nearby. She recognized some of the scientists, a couple of armed men that looked about ready to go to war, and a few of the refugees that had arrived in the last few days before the perimeter was shut down.
“Dean’s route looks difficult at first, but as soon as we pass the first hills, he thinks we’ll be able to move faster,” Kenneth said. Tina nodded. Dean had done a good job scouting, but they still needed somewhere to go. She knew Dean understood, and as soon as he’d delivered the escape route, directing them through the first mountain passes, he’d gone off again to scout further north, deeper into the Rockies. She was confident she would see him again in a few days, as long as they managed to escape the attackers.
Tina walked over to a vantage point where she had a good view of the Trickler, both east and west. A few months ago, boats had dotted the river, boats that she and her friends had built. Now there was nothing left out there. The boats were being moored through winter a few kilometers to the east, where the ice never grew thicker than a thin film across the surface. A small group had already moved out to take the boats downriver to the coast. The first priority was simply to avoid them being taken by the soldiers. If they could get away, they might sail north along the coast and join up with the ones on foot later.
Aurora (The Exodus Trilogy) Page 12