Sebastien stopped and realized that he had been watched by the diminutive Frenchman with stubbled hair. “On occasion.”
Leduc stepped closer and pointed out to the sea. “I don’t like the water.”
“I don’t like freezing to death.”
“You wouldn’t though eh?”
Sebastien remained silent.
“Did it hurt?” Leduc asked in a whisper.
“Did what hurt?”
“When they added the bits of machines. Do they change your dreams too?”
The wind slapped against the tent. Sebastien turned his head and looked down to Leduc. Pleading eyes looked back up at him. The turn of the phrase rolled over again.
“You too?” Sebastien questioned.
“I used to dream the most amazing dreams. Now they are gone,” Leduc said.
“You are augmented?” Sebastien asked with a tone of surprise.
“I found a niche, I could steal what others couldn’t lift.”
Sebastien smiled slightly. “That is a niche.”
“And the Army knows?”
“It’s off the books, minimally invasive, nothing like your package. But yes, they know.”
Sebastien felt the fire of camaraderie spark for a moment and fade into the wind. “No, I don’t dream either,” he lied as he turned and walked back into the tent. His dreams were his own penance.
The following morning a new sense of purpose came to the camp. They now had something beyond an abstract goal. They had something to focus on, something to build.
William awoke groggy and stiff. His knee felt like it was filled with lead, yet strangely warm. He slid a hand into his pants and felt it gently. The edges were hot while the center of the frostburn felt chilled.
“Wake up Grace, you missed breakfast,” Vito said. He handed William a ration bar and a plastic pipe section for a cup. “You feeling well? You look a bit off.”
“I overslept?” William asked. He sipped the chill water. He felt warm, but a bit off.
“A bit, everyone is out searching the wreckage.”
William nodded and finished the cup.
“Oooo,” he said as he stood up.
Vito gave him a questioning look. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just sore.”
Vito nodded and held the flap open.
Outside the sun was warm and the wind nonexistent. Overhead the clouds whipped as they collided against the warmer currents from the south. William raised a hand to his brow and looked out. The snow had melted all around exposing even more wreckage. Men poked, walked, hauled, and slid all around.
William stepped out and took in the shore. Vito walked silently next to him. They passed Kerry carrying a bundle of wires trailing behind him like a dead snake. Xan lugged a large box with a display screen.
“Mr. Grace!” Tero called out as he ran up. He held out a large brown box. It was a giant box of socks.
“I never thought I’d be so excited to see a box of issue socks,” William replied with a dim smile.
“Anymore patches?”
Vito shook his head. “Not yet.”
William nodded. He pried back a metal plate and looked into a sophisticated pumping array. He dropped it loudly and focused on the next bit of wreckage. The pair poked in and out of each mangled piece around. He found himself sitting more often. His knee was both cold and hot all at once.
Sebastien jogged up at an easy lope. “Mr. Grace, do you have a moment?”
William nodded and sat up from an empty methane tank. “Lead on.”
“I’ll keep poking about,” Vito said as he detoured to a hull section.
Sebastien began to run. He stopped seeing that William was having a hard time walking. “Is something wrong?”
William shook his head and set his chin downwards. The pair plodded on until they rounded a black gravel point. His leg ached as they passed the five kilometer mark. Beyond lay even more wreckage and a piece of the spine of the ship.
Sebastien waved his arm in an arc. “It looks like most of it ended in the water, but there’s even more wreckage further down the coast and more back on the plateau here.”
The ships spine was stiff and bent just slightly. The honeycombed core was nearly impossible to destroy. It had to handle the shock of entering the atmosphere and blinking out again a few moments later. A task most starships would crumble under.
“Do you see what’s missing?” Sebastien asked with a slight smile.
“Damn near everything?” William replied.
Sebastien pointed to the end of the spine. “What was latched on there?”
William squinted. His eyes felt warm and scratchy. Then he saw the giant hydraulic clamps. Open. “Oh…”
Sebastien nodded with a wide smile. “The orbital assault pods made it out.”
William looked up for a moment and then back to Sebastien. “But we’ve got no comms.”
“No, well, not yet. If we do we’ve got orbital support.” Sebastien replied with a bit of a cocky grin. “Those little buggers are running silent now, each one ready to slide a nasty little package over the horizon.”
The orbital assault pods were small satellites that carried a payload of ceramic coated warheads. They were fast and designed to live in low orbit for a very brief time. They had enough fuel to keep them on station for a few months. For now they would silently orbit awaiting instructions.
“So what do we need?”
Sebastien nodded and stuck his hands into his pockets. “An orbital commset that works, or a broadcast station somewhere that Xan can tap into.”
William felt a bit better, though he dreaded the walk back. “Well, shall we?”
Halfway back William crumbled. When he opened his eyes next, Vito stood over him cradling his head. The cool water was spilling down his neck as he tried to sip. He burned with fever.
“Doesn’t the Navy get inoculated?” Berry asked.
“Everyone does, for every drop,” Vito replied.
“Then what is it? Some alien bug?” Selim asked.
“I don’t think so,” Vito said.
“What about the patches?” Crow said.
“Maybe, but something doesn’t seem right,” Vito said.
“He was limping,” Sebastien said.
Vito tossed the cup. He slid down Williams pants and recoiled backwards. The skin just above Williams knee was a black dimpled patch of rotting skin. In the center of the wound was a gash like cracked mud. A slight red tint grew on the edges of the crack with a fierce red burning near the skin.
“Sweet Jesus,” Eduardo replied as he sat back and away.
“What is that?” Berry said.
“That is gangrene,” Vito said simply.
William closed his eyes and drifted into darkness.
He dreamed of his father. They were sitting in a tunnel playing with toy horses. The eyes of the horses glittered and rolled as the pair slid them along the dusty floor. Men walked past and saluted his father.
His father spoke, but he couldn’t remember the words. He knew he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the tunnel or the machine that bored into the rock. It was loud. Loud everywhere. The machine went up and out, boring further near the surface. All he could taste was stone.
But still his father came down and they played with the worn horses. Then the sounds stopped and he had to leave.
Berry walked out from the tent and felt giddy with anticipation. He’d been waiting for a moment to seize upon a change of pace. He’d be damned if he was going to follow the fools to the needle. He had his own plans with his own men.
The meaty-sweet smell of gangrene hung in his nostrils. He trekked towards the supply pile and found Grue sorting through wreckage. “Find Nur and James.”
“Why?”
“Because I fucking told you, go!” Berry yelled back. He walked back down towards the second tent and poked his head inside. It was empty, everyone else was in the other tent. He popped the release and watched it def
late slowly. The stakes slid out from the damp soil easily. The wind rustled and lifted it as the last bits of air finally drifted out.
“What are you doing Corporal?” Crow asked. He stood with his arms on his hips bent over slightly at the waist.
“Taking matters into my own hands,” he replied and began to fold up the tent. His heartbeat was racing. This was the critical moment.
“Stand at attention Soldier,” Crow snapped back.
Berry stood slowly, but not to attention. “The Civilians were signed on to the ship, they have no legal contract binding them to any of this. They’ve requested my assistance.”
Crow looked back with a strange look on his face. “It’s called desertion.”
“I’ll not abandon them if they want to go there own way, they requested my help.”
They stood and looked at each other in the wind. Sebastien stepped out and walked over.
“Mr. Villeneuve, we’ve got a deserter.” Crow said.
“No ship, no contract, the Civilians want to go their own way and have requested my help,” Berry said again.
Sebastien looked back and crossed his arms. “I think not.”
Grue returned with James and Nur. The group stood by Berry and listened.
“Grue, James, you signed on to a ship, and with no ship, you aren’t signed up with anyone,” Berry said with a sweep of his arm to the wreckage.
“That’s right!” Grue stammered, out of breath.
Sebastien looked to Crow and back to the tent behind him.
Berry saw the moment and seized it. He reached down and grabbed the handle of the collapsed tent and began to drag it. Grue and Nur grasped on and tugged the awkward bulk.
“Negative,” Sebastien said. “We are not splitting up.”
“This is our right, we’ll split the rations and supplies, but we need a tent,” Berry bartered.
Crow shifted on his feet. “You’ll get no power, find your own damn reactor.”
Berry bared his teeth like an animal in a mock smile. It was agreed and they didn’t even know it, down to only the bartering. “I’ll talk with that Midshipman once he’s awake, we’re just one less thing for you to worry about now.”
Sebastien dropped his hand onto the holster at his side. “Drop the tent.”
Berry continued to drag the bulky mass. Nur and Grue strained while James lagged behind unsure of what to do. “Mr. James, if you please.” He locked his eyes onto James and watched as the quiet man grabbed a corner. “You’re not going to shoot a civilian?”
“No, but I’ll have no problem shooting you.”
Berry released the front of the tent and it dropped slowly. “Is that how it is now Marine? An argument doesn’t go your way so you shoot it?” He stooped down and grabbed the forward edge. “Tell that Midshipman I’ll barter this with him.”
Berry had an audience now. Most of the survivors were watching as the bulky tent moved a few hundred meters away. Sebastien held his hand over the cover of the holster, resting his palm on the top.
Berry turned and gauged the distance before setting it down in a slight bowl. “Alright boys,” he said turning to his crew. “Lets get to work.”
William opened his eyes. The room was dark. The crashing of waves shook the ground beneath him. He could still see the glittering eyes of the horses slowly recede in the darkness. Only a small piece of the light strip gave any light. For the first time he noticed the smell, that rank animal odor from too many men in too small an area.
Gangrene. Could it be? He felt fine. His knee was sore, but the soreness was different. He could feel a patch on his neck. The priceless, precious patches, and he wore one. His fingers danced down his soiled shirt and found a heavy dressing sitting over the top of his knee. He pushed gently and was rewarded with raw pain.
He closed his eyes and listened to the waves as he drifted back to sleep.
William woke as the morning still grew. Around him the men were tossing and turning while one man went outside. William sat up slowly.
“He’s awake!” Avi called out.
The room sprang to life with the sounds of nylon and fabric moving. All eyes were on him. He blushed and felt rather sheepish.
“Vito?” Where’s Vito?” Kwesi asked.
“Outside,” replied a voice.
“Go get him!” Kwesi shouted back.
“He’s pissing, and heard you by now, relax,” Crow said. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and scooted over to William.
“I, uh, well. How long was I out for?” William asked.
Crow smiled thinly. “About two weeks.”
William took a deep breath. “That bad?”
Crow nodded. Others around the room nodded as well. “You had a nasty bit of gangrene, even the nanites couldn’t stop it.”
“So what did you do?”
“We had to do some surgery,” Vito replied as he stepped back into the tent.
William wiggled his toes. He could still feel them. His mind wandered to amputation.
Around the room sat most of the survivors. William looked around and did a quick head count. The room was crowded. Too crowded. Four men were missing, Berry and his crew.
“Where do we stand?” William asked.
Crow ran a hand through the growing stubble. “We’ve found a lot of useful things,” Crow diverted the real answer.
“We’re welding some pontoons onto a piece of decking,” Xinhu replied. His eyes glowed with excitement.
“Supplies? Food?” William asked.
Vito shook his head. “Not really.”
“Someone help me up please. I’d like to see this boat. And I really have to use the bathroom,” William said. Vito and Crow helped him hobble outside.
The snow was completely gone showing mostly bare gravel. The second tent was a few hundred meters away. On the beach basked a set of large fuel tanks with a section of perforated alloy decking on top. Assorted sheeting, pillars, tubes, and struts lay on the beach above the high tide line.
Further down the beach lay a second craft. It was smaller and cruder. Lashings of power wire and plastic tubing held together the tanks. William had a hunch what had happened.
Vito noticed him looking at the other craft. “There was a bit of a legal battle.”
“Legal battle?” William asked. He slid his arms off his supporters and stood gently on both legs.
“Always a lawyer somewhere,” Sebastien replied as he walked out of the tent and began to rummage through a collected debris pile.
“Grue and James are both contractors, signed on to the ship. So they decided no ship, no valid contract,” Vito said.
“What about Berry and Nur?” William asked. It wasn’t unheard of for civilians to leave when the terms weren’t satisfactory. But this was different, it wasn’t like the ship was stuck in repairs.
“Deserters,” Crow spat.
“What do they want?” William asked.
“They want to talk to you about it,” Vito replied.
“But I’ve been unconscious for what, two weeks?”
“Exactly,” Crow said.
“I’m not walking into that mess just yet,” William said. He needed to get a crutch and think for a bit.
The trio slowly moved down the beach to the large shape of the boat. It was tied down with heavy conducting cable and rested on a set of metallic tubing. Xinhu was looking away while a pure white light danced behind. Sebastien dropped a handful of black rods on the ground and walked back onto the rise.
“How are we welding?” William asked, surprised.
“We’ve got the reactor, Xinhu was able to scrounge up some alloy rods and we’ve been arc welding. I tried. It’s tough to do,” Vito said.
“They wanted to weld too, but they don’t know how.” Crow said, looking down shore to the smaller craft.
William looked down the rocky beach. “No bodies,” he mumbled.
“We moved them away,” Crow said.
“How long?” William called out t
o Xinhu.
Xinhu had his eyes focused away from the camp with his head tilted as if listening to the weld. Behind him the arc crackled and sizzled like tearing paper. His hand twitched and moved down the alloy beam as he caressed the arc into a stream of cohesiveness.
William stood and waited for the crackling to stop before yelling again. Xinhu dropped the rod and walked closer. His eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot.
“How long?” William asked again.
Xinhu went to raise his hands before dropping them to his sides. “A few days, we get the mast up and then string the wires. Maybe another hard day to weld on lashing loops for the gear…” he drifted into thought and looked back to the craft.
Vito pointed to the tents. “We’re going to use the tent as a sail.”
William nodded as he kept his eyes on the tent further down the beach. There wasn’t any activity yet.
“How can I help?” William asked.
“Get some rest for now, you’re in no shape to scrounge for supplies,” Vito scolded.
William smirked. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Just like you judged that gangrene yes?” Vito replied.
William sighed and looked to the tent. “Shall we grab a bite?” He spent the day helping sort through the debris that was brought in. Any device or piece of equipment that seemed to possibly function came into the camp.
Among the highlights for the day was a single flexible tablet that still functioned and a box of freeze dried beans. Normally beans would not elicit much response but at this point any meal was welcome beyond the gritty blandness of the ration bars.
The tent with the disgruntled men was still mostly quiet. A man would emerge from time to time and relieve himself in full view of the loyalists tent. William didn’t miss the imagery of being pissed at. He made his mind up half way through the day. The deserters could go.
CHAPTER SIX
Decisions
Vito shook his head. Sebastien stood with arms crossed and his chin back. Selim and Leduc both argued with their hands as vigorously as with their mouths. The others sat in silence and watched the debate. William decided to inform the others of his decision.
“Enough. My decision stands, they will get a split of the rations and are on their own,” William stated. He could feel the eyes on him.
Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far) Page 8