by John Corwin
Her finger left his chest and Scarlett started walking down the tunnel. "That's exactly right, Max. Jungle people."
Max caught up to her in a few long strides. "Now that we've got some time to kill, I know what I want to do next."
"Climb the wall," Scarlett said without missing a beat. She holstered her blaster. "That's what I want to do too."
"There must be a way to see over the opaque section," Max said.
"I say we take a look first so we'll know exactly what we're dealing with." Scarlett ran a hand over her blaster.
"Let's not shoot at it," Max said.
A laugh burst from Scarlett—a laugh she quickly extinguished with her hand. "I don't reckon blasting a hole in the dome would do us much good." They reached the door at the end of the tunnel and she hit the button to open it. "You think we should disable this airlock too?"
Max looked back down the tunnel and nodded. "It'd be for the best."
They disabled the door the same way they'd done the other and slipped outside before the outer door shut.
One more obstacle in Alderman's way. Max hoped it would hold.
Scarlett didn't talk much on their way north to the tree, but her wrinkled forehead and concerned eyes made it obvious she had a lot on her mind.
Max felt mixed up inside. After blasting Garth, it was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his back. He couldn't explain why killing someone made him feel better even if the person in question had been Alderman's favorite marshal. Something about this new environment made the laws he'd grown up with seem obsolete. The jungle didn't have any rules. Killing Garth only seemed to underscore that point.
If Max could kill Garth, it seemed far more likely he could also kill Alderman, Simmons, and the rest of the sick bunch running City 7. Maybe Scarlett was right. Even though it had only been a few days, maybe he was a different person than he'd been in the city. He looked over at Scarlett and wondered if she'd changed much. On the outside, she still looked like the same brooding woman he remembered as his deputy, but she'd shown him the fire beneath her ice.
Max took a crack at breaking the shield Scarlett held firm around her. "I like it when you laugh."
Scarlett's green eyes blazed with surprise. "Max Planck, what in the world are you talking about?"
"Why do you keep everything positive bottled up inside, Scarlett?" Max picked a leaf off a bush on the side of the path and folded it. "You said it yourself—we've changed."
Lips pressed together defiantly, Scarlett stared at Max. "I'm actually starting to like you, and I don't like that a bit."
Max chuckled. "I understand. If holding onto that anger makes you feel better, then you hug it tight and never let go."
Scarlett glared at him. "Maybe I will. There's too much bad blood between us. Too much I can't let go."
Her words were so right they stabbed Max in the chest. "I'm sorry, Scarlett."
She blinked away tears and nodded. "Me too."
They reached the tree moments later and found the vines Yana mentioned. Max stared up the huge trunk and staggered from a sudden wave of vertigo.
"This is one tall tree," Scarlett said. She swallowed hard. "You think we can climb it?"
Max shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He gripped the vine and braced his feet on the tree. Hand-over-hand, feet walking up the trunk, Max climbed to the first branch some thirty feet off the ground and took a much-needed break. He looked down and saw Scarlett red-faced and panting about halfway to the branch.
"You can do it!" he shouted.
"I'm too tired," she said. "My arms hurt so much."
Max shook his head. "Don't you dare give up, Scarlett. You're almost here."
Jaw clenched with pain, Scarlett continued the climb. When she was a few feet away, Max reached down, gripped her forearm, and pulled her up the rest of the way to sit on the branch next to him.
Panting, Scarlett leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes. "How much further?"
Max looked up. "At least another hundred and fifty feet or so."
She groaned. "Maybe you should go without me."
"From here on up we can use the branches to climb," he said. "It'll be much easier."
Scarlett ran a hand over the thick, rugged bark. "How long do you reckon it takes a tree to grow this large?"
Max hadn't given much thought to it, though it might give a better idea as to the true age of this dome. "Twenty years, maybe more." He shrugged. "I'll bet one of the scientists knows." Max gripped a branch overhead. "You feeling rested at all?"
She nodded. "Just give me a few more minutes."
Thick branches made the climb much easier all the way up until they were nearly at the crown. A long branch protruded over the perimeter path far below, reaching nearly all the way to the wall. Tied to the trunk just above it was the rope Yana had fastened there on her second visit. A metal rod hammered into the concrete anchored it to the wall. Even though the branch looked thick enough to support his weight, Max couldn't imagine actually walking out to the end of it and leaping over to the wall without the aid of the rope.
That ranger is crazy.
"How in the dome did Yana get back over to the branch from the wall?" Scarlett breathed in an amazed voice. "That's at least a four-foot gap."
"She jumped to the wall then jumped back to the branch," Max said.
Scarlett gripped the trunk and shuddered. "That woman is insane."
The tall band of opaque glass Yana had mentioned denied them a view of the outside world, though the clear skies overhead seemed at least a little closer.
Max grabbed the rope and used it to balance himself on the branch. His bowels felt loose and his heart hammered against his chest. He looked down and instantly regretted his decision. Nothing would save him from plunging to his death if he lost his grip. The branch grew thinner near the end, bending beneath his weight so he slung his legs over the rope and inched his way across the remaining divide. Griping the metal anchor, he pulled himself over the lip of the wall.
"I'm coming," Scarlett said in a voice wavering with fright.
Max rolled onto his stomach and peered over the edge at her. "It's not hard, just scary."
Scarlett looked down and squeezed her eyes shut. "I wish I hadn't done that."
"Hold onto the rope and you'll be fine." Max felt frightened for her though he couldn't explain why. The thought of her falling filled him with horrible angst. He motioned her on with his hand. "You can do it."
Maintaining a brave face, Scarlett held onto the rope with white-knuckled intensity and walked along the branch. "It's no higher than Overlook," she murmured. "Not higher at all." Like Max, she had to swing her legs over the rope and pull herself along the last few feet. She gripped the metal anchor with one hand and Max's arm with the other. He pulled her up beside him.
Scarlett gripped his hand painfully tight and remained on her back for a moment. She took a deep breath as if to steel herself and stood. Max rose beside her and took a good look around. The top of the wall was about ten feet from the lip to where the dome rested on it. The glass rose straight up for twenty or thirty feet before its slight arc carried it out over the jungle.
"Wow." Scarlett blew out a breath. "What an amazing view."
Max looked out at the expanse of greenery. Birds flew in the distance and the treetops looked like broccoli tops. A wide, grassy plain to the west offered a small glimpse of the ground. The location of the watering hole was easy to guess thanks to the lack of trees in the middle of the jungle.
Scarlett turned around and ran a hand along the glass. She looked up and grunted. "If only we had a ladder."
"Maybe we could bring lumber up here and build one," Max suggested.
"How many trips up and down the tree would that take?"
Max cringed at the thought of repeating the climb even one more time. "Several." Pulling his own body weight all the way up the tree was difficult enough without adding fifty pounds of wood to it.
"Thi
s is odd." Scarlet took her hand from the glass and held it out to Max. "Let me see your knife."
He slid it from the sheath and placed it in her palm. "Do you plan to cut a hole in the glass?"
Scarlett ignored the jibe and scraped the glass with the knife. White particles floated down to the ground where she worked. Max sidled closer and felt his jaw go slack with surprise. The small area she scraped was nearly clear.
"Is it paint?" Max couldn't believe it was so simple.
"Some sort of tough coating," Scarlett said, grunting as she bored down on the blade and worked it back and forth. Within a few minutes, she cleared an inch-wide gap. She handed Max the knife and flexed her hands. "Your turn. I'm tired."
Max took the knife but peeked through the clear glass first. At first, he wasn't sure what it was he saw—hues of orange and sickly green. Then he realized it couldn't be anything else but the true surface of Mars. Off to the right he made out another structure, but he needed to clear more of the opaque coating to be sure. Then he had a better idea and walked back to the edge of the wall.
"What did you see?" Scarlett asked, pressing her face to the glass.
"Not much, but I think I know how to see more." Max looked along the wall and found the black line marking the northernmost point of the wall about a hundred yards distant. "Follow me."
They marched along the wall until he found the line. Max aligned himself with it and paced toward the dome. He scraped the glass and discovered the job of scraping off the coating was tougher than he thought. Soon he'd cleared enough for a peephole and looked through. A long gray corridor of concrete ran through reddish-brown sand to a towering domed structure in the distance.
Scarlett tapped her fingers on the glass impatiently. "Let me look."
Max stepped out of the way and listened to her gasp. "Must be another habitat."
Scarlett held out a hand without relinquishing the view. "Give me the knife."
"Let me do it." He nudged her out of the way and worked on it. They took turns widening the view for more than an hour, leaving a wide window. The dome directly north hid anything that might be on the other side, but it appeared the structures sat on a wide flat plain with mountains standing like black cutouts in the distance.
The sky was green even though it looked blue when looking straight up through the dome above the opaque line.
"The dome must be tinted to make the sky look blue," Scarlett mused as they wondered about it. "Just like the sky on Earth."
"I want to clear a spot to the west," Max said. "I want to see City 7 from outside."
"And east and south," Scarlett said. She looked up at the darkening sky. "Maybe we should start tomorrow, though. It's getting dark."
Max nodded. "Yeah, let's head back before it's too dark to climb down. I don't want to spend the night up here."
A flock of colorful birds gathered in the distance, the concrete stained white by their excrement. Beyond them Max saw the eastern black line.
He and Scarlett made their way back across the rope and down the tree. Descending seemed easier, but no less treacherous than the climb. The prospect of seeing the real outside world and all its mysteries diminished his fear of making the ascent tomorrow.
They went to the northeast shelter instead of the southwest one since it seemed a little closer to the tree, talking excitedly about the adventure they'd take tomorrow.
"It's exciting," Scarlett said, letting a smile light her face. "I feel like one of the pioneers we read about in history."
Max opened the trap door on the shelter and followed Scarlett up inside. "Maybe we should go one step further," he said as an idea came to him. "Maybe we should go into the habitat we saw to the north and take a look around instead of going back up the wall."
Scarlett took two beers from the fridge and handed one to Max then sat down at the table. She didn't think long before replying with a quick nod. "I like that idea."
"I noticed there weren't any tunnels or domes to the east or west of the north dome," Max said. "Maybe it's the only one out that way."
"Could be." Scarlett grabbed a meal packet. "What do you want to eat?"
"Is there a beef stroganoff in there?"
She looked at the labels and slid one across the table to him then peeled open one labeled spaghetti and meatballs. "I've never heard of this one before. I hope it's good."
"So far, none of them have disappointed," Max said, tearing open his and savoring the smell.
The swiftness with which Scarlett devoured hers seemed to indicate it was, indeed, tasty. "It's noodles with tomato sauce and meat," she said between bites. "Why have I never heard of this?"
"Because City 7 gave us shit to eat," Max said.
After a shower, Max settled onto the floor, stomach full and his mind, for once, at ease. Tomorrow they would take another step into the unknown. Tomorrow, they would head north.
Chapter 38
Early the next morning they reached the northern marker. Max pressed his hands along the concrete until a section of it slid up to reveal the hidden control panel.
Scarlett's heart raced as they hiked swiftly down the passage toward the doors nearly a mile distant. "What do you reckon is on the other side?"
Max shrugged. "Desert, or maybe a nice pine forest like the one at the zoo."
"I'd like to see something with huge lakes or an ocean." Ever since seeing dolphins at the zoo, Scarlett dreamed of seeing them in their natural habitat even if this world of domes was anything but natural.
They reached the airlock and went inside. Max held a hand toward the button to open the outer door and hesitated. "What if it's an airless void like outside City 7?"
Scarlett had considered the possibility, but since they had no toughsuits, there was no other way to check the other side without risking themselves. She gripped one of the handles near the door. "Hold on tight and hit the emergency close button if something goes wrong."
Max hooked an arm through the handle and offered a reassuring smile. "Here goes nothing." He hit the button. The door shuddered up, breaking the seal. The air pressure stayed constant, but a freezing wind sent white powder through the crack.
Scarlett leapt back from the substance. Max saw her reaction and burst into laughter as the door opened onto a landscape of pure white. He bent down and picked up a handful of the white stuff, balled it in his hands, and threw it. Scarlett shrieked as the ice-cold stuff pelted her stomach.
"It's snow!" Max said. "Didn't you see the penguin exhibit at the zoo?"
"I don't remember seeing this!" Scarlett shouted. She wanted to be angry, but more than anything she wanted revenge. She raced outside and made a snowball of her own. Max was ready for her throw and ducked. He made another projectile and returned fire.
Scarlett stumbled in a deep drift, taking more snow in her pants than she would have from Max's snowball. She should have been furious at the icy feeling dripping down her backside. Instead, she couldn't keep the laughter from bubbling out. She and Max traded fire. Finally, she landed one right on Max's smug face.
Roaring with laughter, he spread his arms wide and fell over backward into a big soft drift. Giggling, Scarlett walked over and stared down at her conquered foe. "You look like you're buried alive."
Max wiped the snow from his face and grinned up at her. "I'm freezing my ass off, but this is the most fun I've ever had."
Scarlett dropped another snowball on his chest and laughed. "Me too."
Max lies on a grassy field smiling up at her. "Hey, beautiful."
Scarlett blinked and the snow was back.
Confusion spread across Max's face. "You okay?"
A loud grunt drew Scarlett's attention to the left. Thirty yards away, a huge white bear stood on its hind legs staring at her.
"What do you see?" Max struggled upright. His eyes went wide. "That's a snow bear."
Scarlett backed up a step. "Bears are dangerous, right?"
"Maybe." Max got to his feet and walked toward the b
ear, waving his arms and shouting. The huge beast dropped to all fours and lumbered away at top speed. Max grinned and turned around. "Guess I'm scary."
"Brave or stupid," Scarlett said, and threw another snowball at him. She didn't know what she'd seen a moment ago, but it was obvious the stress of this adventure was messing with her mind.
Though they were freezing, they climbed a nearby hill and surveyed the land. Max's mouth dropped open and he jabbed a finger to the west. "Penguins!"
Sure enough, a colony of small white creatures bobbled around near a large frozen lake a hundred yards away. Scarlett had never seen such strange creatures and instantly wanted to go for a better look. "Are they dangerous?"
Max nodded seriously. "Absolutely deadly, so be careful." He rubbed his arms and shivered. "I just hope we don't freeze to death first."
They ended up not having to go far, finding a group of penguins coming over the next rise as Scarlett and Max began to climb it. One of the creatures flopped on its belly and slid straight down toward them.
Remembering Max's warning, Scarlett dove out of the way of the dangerous bird and began running back the other way. "They're coming for us! Run!"
Max's roaring laughter stopped her cold. She turned around and saw him rubbing the belly of the bird as it wobbled around curiously inspecting the intruder.
"Max Planck, I will bury you in snowballs for this."
He held up his hands in surrender. "I give up."
Scarlett petted the penguin and realized she was cooing over it like a baby. Unfortunately, it was so adorable, she couldn't help herself. Max, at least, didn't poke fun at her for it. The cold, however, was past being unbearable and they beat a retreat back to the still-open airlock door. When at last they emerged back in the jungle, Scarlett felt her body melt with appreciation for the heat.
"Maybe we can find the shelters in that habitat," Max said. "I'll bet they have warm gear for the rangers there." He motioned toward the east. "Let's go find the next airlock."