Hunt sighs. “Okay, look.” She straightens, surveying the entire room, even Alyx. “I don’t want this to be a suicide mission. This is a simple search and rescue, then assist. I do not want anyone hurt. I want you all coming back alive. And let’s just forget my status right now.” She tosses a twisted star on the table. It makes a metallic clank on the hard surface. A badge all generals carry. “I’m not your General right now. I’m speaking as a fellow human. I’m speaking as your friend. Be careful out there. Watch your back and each other’s. Put aside your differences and find our people.”
Everyone just sort of glances at one another and Alyx almost feels a bit of respect for Hunt. It’s probably all an act, but it’s a good one. She seems sincere. Besides, they’re all in her hands now. She’s responsible. Unless this is all a bunch of shit and it truly is a suicide mission in the name of science. These days, Alyx has seen it all. Betrayal is like the new cool thing.
Finally, Alyx forces herself away from the wall and says, “Thank you, Ms. Hunt.” She ditches General because, well, now Hunt is just a woman. No power or authority, just a strong-willed woman. Or at least in theory. Could be just a show to put on for her troops. It’s a well-worn tactic. Strip one’s authority to look eyelevel with those under you. Let them see you as one of them and they’ll listen better. They’ll relate.
Hunt gives Alyx a wan smile then addresses the others, “Great or small, we all look out for each other, okay?”
Alyx watches the others nod in agreement, even Captain Row.
Hunt picks up her twisted star and stows it in her pocket. Now she’s their General. Just like that. Nice little psychological trick.
And it was a trick after all.
Still, there’s an almost loving expression on Hunt’s thin face. Like she’s looking at her own children. “You deploy in one hour. Gather what you wish to take with you and report to Dock 9. Everything else will be provided, including the weapons you’ll need. All supplies such as drink water and survival gear will also be included.” She smiles. “Now go make humanity proud, as I am proud of you.”
The Marines stand and file out of the room without a word. So robotic in their movements. Even rebellious Gerty. Alyx is the last to get to the door and before she can leave, Hunt grabs her arm and tugs her back.
“Dr. Wick, Alyx, please sit for a moment longer.”
“Shouldn’t I stay with the team?”
Hunt shuts the door and motions for Alyx to sit at the table.
Alyx sighs and sits in the nearest chair.
To her surprise, Hunt sits right next to her. Not opposite, or standing.
Hunt sighs. “Can I be honest with you, Alyx?”
Alyx blinks. “You mean you haven’t so far? Well…shit…”
“Don’t be an ass. I’m trying to talk to you person to person.”
“Ohh, you’re doing that, ‘I’m not a General right now’, thing.” Alyx winks.
Hunt snorts. “I’ll always be a General. I’ll retire a General. But that’s just my job. Unlike most, I can separate my work from life. I can detach from my job. That’s what I’m doing now.”
“Are you?”
“Yes. Alyx, please, I’m really not your enemy here. I want you to be safe. I want you to come back with everyone. Dr. White and Company 3. I want you all back and I won’t leave you out there alone. I’ll give you four days. If coms go down during that time I will send a full assault recon team to retrieve you. That’s a promise.”
“A full, assault recon team? Well, holy shit. All for little ol’me?”
She watched Hunt’s expression fall from warm to stony. “And for everyone stuck on the planet. I like you Alyx, I really do, but you’re being a bitch.”
“Then why the fuck didn’t you just send that assault recon team yesterday to get Sully and Company 3? Why bother with me or this other team, which, sorry to say, seem like amateurs to me.” It all just rolls out of her mouth before she can stop it.
“Because we need that artifact,” Hunt says, leaning back a little, her gaze wandering. “This planet is all used up.” She looks at Alyx again. “We’re dying here. You, me, everyone. We just don’t know it yet.”
For the first time, Alyx believes she’s seeing the true General Hunt. The one she keeps hidden deep. Perhaps even one she thinks is dead, until times like this. Tears well in her gray eyes. Her mouth turns down and she turns away from Alyx a little.
Finally, Hunt sighs, wipes away stray tears trickling down her thin face and says, “I’m not doing this for me, or the Government. I’m doing this for humanity. There are so few of us left, and our numbers are dwindling by the day. Soon we’ll be extinct.”
Alyx opens her mouth, closes it, then says, “Good riddance.”
“No, Alyx. Most of us are good. We do good. Some of us fall, yes, but we rise again and again. Brighter. Stronger. I want to save us, Alyx, and you’re the only one I trust to help me. You and my Marines.”
Alyx nods. “Okay. Fine.” She stands, gives Hunt a glare. “Four days. I have your word?”
Hunt stands, holds out her hand. “You have my word, and documentation of this conversation. Which has been sent directly to your beacon, my office, and the Head of Military Defenses.”
Hesitating for only a second or two, Alyx takes Hunt’s hand and shakes it.
When they part, Hunt says, “Now, let’s save the human race. What do you say, Dr. Wick?”
Alyx shrugs. “I say let’s get this shit over with.”
Hunt smiles, pats Alyx’s shoulder and ushers her out of the briefing room.
Less than half an hour later, Alyx has her suitcase and slips into more comfortable clothes. Her real work clothes, she supposes. Jeans, black T-shirt covered by a leather jacket, strong, black boots and to top it all off…the old baseball cap. With her hair cut short, she doesn’t need a ponytail, thank whatever gods there are. Once upon a time she had long hair. Complete frustration. All of it gets in the way constantly, no matter how tight you secure the damn ponytail. She straps on her belt, holsters her gun and joins the others at the docks.
As the Marines, all decked out in their very best body armor and tactical gear, file into the cruiser, all Alyx can think about is Sully.
If he accepted the mission, then it must have been a noble decision.
And she can’t think of anything more noble than saving the human race.
SIX
“Close your chambers and prepare for hyper sleep,” a robotic voice blares inside the cruiser.
“Best sleep I ever got was in hyper,” Gerty says, strapping herself into the white chamber tube next to Alyx.
“Never tried it,” Alyx says, hesitating before climbing into the chamber tube. “I like knowing what’s going on.”
Gerty chuckles, “Hun, trust me, if this bitch explodes out there, you’d rather be asleep than aware of anything.”
“Well, no shit. But this cruiser is a jaunter. We’ll be at our destination in less than a day. We really need hyper sleep?”
Securing the final strap across her chest, Gerty says, “Look at it this way.” The young Marine looks at Alyx, smiles. “You might not sleep at all once we get there. This is like a…” She waves a hand. “I dunno, one of those nice, healthy siestas, or something. Get ya nice and rested before all hell breaks loose.” She winks at Alyx, then shuts her chamber.
On the other side of Alyx is Captain Row. She nods at him. He doesn’t nod back, just secures his straps, glares, and shuts his chamber against her.
“Well excuse me all to hell,” Alyx says.
“Dr. Wick,” the robotic voice sounds, startling her a bit. “Secure yourself in the chamber, close the hatch. We are about to launch.”
She sighs. “Yeah, yeah. Hold your shit, I’m going.”
She straps herself in, draws in a breath, and shuts the hatch to her tube.
In here…it’s so quiet she can hear her own heartbeat. Which is maddening.
Yeah, fuck this. She goes to open the cham
ber when her vision blurs. Her hand falls away from the latch as her eyelids droop. Her head is a ball of gauze.
She has a moment to think, Did I leave the furnace on? Then she knows nothing more.
In hyper sleep, there are no dreams.
Only darkness.
SEVEN
There’s no time to think.
Before her brain can fully wake up, she’s being hauled out of the chamber tube. Rip is in her face. He’s shouting something, but all she hears is ringing. Her vision blurs in and out. Beside her, also yelling at her, is Row. His scarred face drawn with concern. The world around her shakes.
What the hell is going on? What…
“—she hurt?”
Alyx isn’t even sure who said that, but the ringing disappears, thank whatever ugly gods there are out there.
“Just get her outta here. I’ll inform Hunt of our situation.” That’s Row, Alyx is pretty sure, even though she hasn’t looked at him to make sure.
“You just make sure you’re careful with her, Rip.” Yes, this is Gerty. Gerty suddenly cares about what happens to her.
Whatever is happening to her, that is. Because right now everything is an insane whirlwind of madness.
“I got’er,” Rip says.
Then Alyx loses a section of time. A giant, blank, white space where all there is…is silence.
Gradually, the white space of nothing fades. Voices create a mongrelized version of a very strange language that never existed. They echo, these voices. They merge and dance before Alyx like a damn musical void of bodies. Kind of creepy.
Then, a single voice breaks through. “Dr. Wick? Hey! Wake up.”
She knows this voice. A woman. Gerty? Yes.
There’s a sharp cracking sound and a brilliant surge of pain and—
Alyx’s eyes flutter open, and as her vision clears she stares up at Gerty’s slightly frustrated, angsty face.
“Well it’s about damn time. Christ, lady.” Gerty moves away and Captain Row comes into view.
“Can you stand, Dr. Wick?”
“I…don’t know.” And Christ, her tongue feels like a thick strip of old carpet. “What happened?”
Row and Gerty help her sit up. For a moment, everything tilts and fogs over, then finally clears. She blinks at thick, bluish foliage.
“We kinda crash landed,” Gerty says. “Luckily Rip’s chamber cracked so he woke up in time to get us all out before shit got real.”
Alyx frowns at the younger woman. “So the cruiser is—”
“Broken,” Row says. “But Hannah thinks she can repair the damages. Nothing too major. I already spoke with Hunt about our situation.”
Massaging her temples, Alyx snorts. “Bet she was helpful.”
“She’s giving us an extra day to see if Hannah can repair the cruiser in case we need an emergency exit. While she’s working on it, we’re going start our search for Company 3.” Row sighs. “I doubt we’ll find them in all this, though. We didn’t land in their last known location. We’re off…quite a bit.”
“How much is a bit?”
“Measuring in miles, over fifty. At least.”
“Well, shit,” Alyx says.
“We got all the gear out before the fires started too,” Gerty spouts. “Thank god.”
Alyx’s eyes widen. “Fires?”
Rip crouches next to Gerty. “Nothin’ too bad. Gerty here is being over dramatic again.”
Gerty glares at him. “I hope you fall down a well, or something.”
Rip chuckles and pats her shoulder. “Love you too, kid.”
Alyx glances around at all the dense, bluish foliage again. “So we’re stranded?”
“Not exactly,” Row says. “Hannah knows what she’s doing. And Hunt knows where we are. She’s already deployed a rescue cruiser, just in case we don’t let her know all is well in time.”
“Well,” Alyx says. “That’s good then.”
Row nods. “Get ready to move out.” He hurries away, making sure the other Marines are geared up.
Alyx finds her bag, snugs into her jacket and ballcap, then straps on her belt and holster. At the bottom of her bag is the revolver. She makes sure it’s fully loaded, slips it into the holster and pockets a few more rounds. Just in case. There are more dangers here in this unknown planet than she’s used to. The Marines would protect her, but…there’s always a chance…
And she couldn’t afford too many chances. Not here in this strange place.
The Marines, seven in all, stand alert at the edge of the dense foliage, Z91’s at the ready. Those rapid-fire guns scare her a little. She’s heard stories about their power and accuracy. She’s heard entire crowds being mowed down by one in seconds. But, if anything can stop whatever roams the woods beyond, then those guns can. Or at least slow it down.
“Company A, ready?” Row says.
“Oorah,” the Marines spout in unison.
Alyx smiles. The Marines were a cool branch of the military. Like family, all of them. And she kind of liked that.
She just hoped she was part of the family now too.
“Move out,” Row says in a growly voice and motions for the Marines to enter the woods. They do without hesitation.
Row glances at Alyx and nods. “Go ahead, Dr. Wick, I’ll follow behind you.”
She doesn’t say anything, but does as the Captain says. He knows what he’s doing in such situations. Even so, she hates being ordered around by a man. It takes more effort to follow the order than it should. Typically, she’s the one in charge. It’s her that will lead. Then again, if she wants protection, she needs to do as Captain Row says. Like it or not, the Marines are her guards and their respect is key. She might really need them later on.
Pushing into the dense, blue woods, she spots Gerty waiting for her. The younger woman lifts an eyebrow, as if saying, “You coming, or what?”
Alyx sighs and gestures for Gerty to keep moving, and Gerty does.
Behind her, Captain Row follows. His stealthy movements just little more than unsettling and she doesn’t know why.
She turns her focus to Sully. If the calculations are correct, they should arrive at Sully’s last known location in about fifty miles. It feels like forever away, especially on foot. Fifty miles of blue woodlands and dead leaves crunching under her boots. All around her odd squealing sounds echo through the canopy. Birds? Maybe…
The smell here is also odd. Nothing fresh, like most of the woodlands she’s explored smell. No. There’s something slightly sour here. An underlying stench of putrescence she doesn’t care for. What was it the one Marine called this planet? Dead World? Yeah, maybe that’s closer to the truth than Hunt’s “New World”.
Eventually, Alyx catches up with Gerty. The young woman, she doesn’t look at Alyx. Barely acknowledges her presence. Alyx keeps needing to remind herself that this woman is a Marine. A tough as nails soldier. Gerty isn’t ignoring her, but being professional. Maybe trying not to get too close. Less emotional connections if you just ignore someone.
Still, Gerty says, “Don’t talk too much, if that’s what you want to do. Short bursts of convo.”
Alyx nods. “Gotcha. How old are you, kid?”
Gerty rolls her eyes. “Don’t call me kid, lady. I’m twenty-five.”
“Sorry.”
“No worries, hun. Now, shh, for a while, okay?”
Alyx nods, liking Gerty probably more than she should.
Ahead, the rest of Company A fan out about four feet apart. A simple strategic formation, Alyx realizes. If attacked, they have enough space to maneuver and defend. But so far, there’s no sign of anything except for the birds, or whatever, squealing in the trees. No sign of life. Which makes Alyx wonder why? Where are all the wildlife Hunt warned them about?
Maybe the General’s scans were off.
It happens. Even with the military.
Not that it’s a bad thing, really. It’s good. This way they don’t have to fight off any predators and just work their w
ay to Sully’s last location. At this rate, they should be there in no time. Well, more or less.
The heat in the woods is tolerable. Nothing like a jungle. Or tropical. Maybe a steady eighty degrees. Not much humidity. She’s sweating a little, but that’s to be expected.
The land slopes downward as they trek onward through thick brush. The putrid stench remains as they go, as if death itself is clinging to them.
After an hour or so, Gerty hands Alyx a canteen of water from her pack. “Just a couple sips.”
Alyx nods and swigs down more than a couple sips, suddenly aware how thirsty she is. Gerty takes the canteen before Alyx can take another drink. The younger woman shakes her head and returns the water to her pack.
It’s a survival thing, Alyx knows, and she should’ve known better than to be so greedy with the water. There’s no telling what the fresh water situation is on the planet. She curses herself for making it appear she’s so naive.
She’s had to survive weeks on a backwater planet after her cruiser broke down during an excavation of the rare metal platus. That planet, C-T10, it was nothing but a massive death trap. The water there had been so nasty not even purification lasers could make it drinkable. Only thing she relied on was the rain. Which came down in small, wild spurts, but drinkable nonetheless. Fortunately, she managed to fix the cruiser before things got really bad.
The downward slope in the land brings them to a lazy stream.
Alyx stares at it before sighing. “Doesn’t look good to drink.”
The water flowing over gray rocks is tinted a peculiar orange she’s never seen before, but tinted water typically means bad water. At least in her experience.
“Gabe,” Row says joining the others. “Gather a couple pots of this. Might be able to purify it.”
A man, maybe in his late thirties nods, uncaps two large containers and fills them with the orange water. He screws the caps back on and stuffs the containers into his pack.
“We’ll rest here for a few,” Row commands. “Rip and Fern, I want you two to keep watch.”
Rip and a woman just as tall as him nod and set off in different directions away from the group. Not out of sight, though. Alyx watches Fern, the woman assigned with Rip to keep an eye out, step over a fallen tree and mumble something under her breath.
Dead World Page 5