“Viekko!” Cronus wheezed. “I can’t breathe! I can’t run!”
Viekko spun around. Sure enough Cronus was clutching his chest at the bottom of the hill just as the first mammoths were cresting it.
Viekko sprinted back, grabbed Cronus by the arm and pulled him toward the tree line. The deafening drum roll of mammoth feet got louder with each passing second. A momentary glance to his left told him that he was out of time. A medium-sized but imposing cow was close enough that he could see the determined look in her eye.
He stopped running, grabbed Cronus by the collar of his green vest with one hand and his pants with the other. Viekko stepped forward, spun and launched Cronus like a very large, screaming, crying shot put.
Viekko had an instant to see Cronus hit the branches of a tree before he had to leap out of the way of the mammoth. He tucked, rolled and got to his feet. He had a moment to gather his situation before he had to leap out of the way of a smallish-bull. The animal just missed him, his tusk made a small tear in Viekko’s jacket as it ran past. There were more coming and there was nothing he could do. In an instant of panic he lunged for the treeline. Several more mammoths missed him but more out of luck than any skill.
He reached the forest and ran directly toward the first tree he could find. His whole body slammed against the rough bark. He found grips for his hands and pulled himself up. He got another grip at the height of his arc and pulled up again.
This time he managed to grab a thick branch. Below, something brushed against his boot. His muscles were screaming in protest. His EROS suit let out a barely audible whine as it worked hard against him. Still, he managed to pull himself fully onto the branch. There, he wrapped his body around it and stayed there until the ground stopped moving.
CHAPTER SIX
Scholars have long debated the causes of the Fall. Most have come to the conclusion that a complete collapse at the height of human civilization was inevitable; all it needed was the right trigger. Still, centuries later, we don’t know what that trigger was. The records just do not exist. It is like a whole chapter was ripped out of the Book of History and we turn the page only to find a world on fire.
-from The Fall: The Decline and Failure of 21st Century Civilization by Martin Raffe.
Viekko held on to the branch until the last mammoth, a relatively small calf that was still big enough to trample him to death, ran underneath his feet. After that, the forest was strangely quiet. As if the small animals, birds, and insects also beat it for higher ground. Or maybe the constant humming background of the forest was simply no match for the all-encompassing roar or the stampede.
The Martian dropped to the ground. The clearing was wider than it was a few minutes ago. The smaller trees were snapped at the base and the brush and ferns were trampled into the mud. The ground was littered with broken branches, crushed fruit, and leaves, but nothing squishy and red which meant the balding little hacker was probably alive somewhere.
“Cronus!” called Viekko.
Nothing besides the faint rustle of leaves in the canopy.
“Cronus! You okay?”
Cronus's voice answered from somewhere in the foliage. “My body is intact. My resolve is somewhat broken.”
Viekko walked in the direction of the voice. “You hurt?”
Cronus wheezed and sounded like he was trying to cough up a raw oyster. He croaked out, “I dropped the breather.”
“Well come on down and we’ll get you another.”
“I am curious on how you would like to accomplish that.”
Viekko spotted the little man overhead draped over a high branch like a naughty child over his daddy’s knee. His frantically kicking legs was all that kept him from falling through the canopy.
“Drop, Cronus. Titan’s gravity’s weak, you won’t fall near as hard.”
“I’m supposed to take your word for that?” asked Cronus, struggling.
“Cronus!”
“You will catch me, right?”
Viekko rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I’ll catch you. Just drop.”
Cronus stopped kicking and let his body go limp. He lost his grip and fell through the lower tree branches like a big, screaming, pasty lump of stone. Viekko repositioned himself as Cronus careened off several branches until he finally landed in Viekko’s arms. Titan’s lower gravity made it feel like catching a large, awkward baby.
Viekko set Cronus on his feet. The hacker clutched his chest and sucked in few frantic gasps of air. “You did as you promised. Even though it was you who threw me up there to begin with, I thank you.”
“It was either that or we’d be scraping you off a mammoth’s foot,” said Viekko surveying the new landscape. “We should find Althea.”
Or what’s left of her, he added in his mind.
They didn’t have to go far. By the time they got back to the hill, he saw Althea coming over the crest. She was covered in mud and leaves and had a few twigs poking out of her bright red hair, but she was walking.
“Althea!” yelled Viekko, “You alright?”
Althea pulled a tangle of brambles from her hair. “Bloody fantastic.”
She was sassy. That was a good sign. “Not hurt or nothin’?” said Viekko.
Althea shook her head and a couple of twigs fell out. “No. I fell down when the mammoths charged but I cozied myself next to a fallen log. They just ran over me. A bit lucky, I guess.” Althea flushed red. “I guess that was a stupid thing to do.”
Viekko looked back in the direction of the stampede. “Somethin’ else set ‘em off. The noise called to ‘em like a dog whistle. Only with much bigger dogs. We just happened to be in the wrong clearing… oh Hell.”
Althea seemed to realize the same thing. “Oh no. Isra?”
“Ain't heard from her. Come on.”
They hurried back to the crawler as fast as Cronus, in his state, could manage. The vehicle was where they left it, beaten, battered and tossed upside-down. The four crates that had been stacked onto the cargo bed were scattered across the forest floor in the direction of the carnage. There was no sign of the expedition’s leader.
Viekko ran up to the vehicle. “Isra! You there?”
An annoyed voice echoed from under the crawler. “Yes.”
Viekko knelt down beside it. “You hurt?”
“I am fine. Just help me out of here,” said Isra.
Viekko grabbed the side of the crawler and lifted. It would have been an impossible feat on Earth but in Titan’s fractional gravity he was able to lift one side of the vehicle over his head. Isra was balled up under the cargo bed. As Viekko held it, Isra slid out, got to her feet and helped Viekko push. After some straining, the crawler fell back on its wheels. There was some ominous metal clanking inside followed by a pathetic electric whine. The front windshield was crushed and broken off and there were a couple of large tusk punctures in the door and in a wheel well.
Isra looked at the crawler as if making a mental log of all the damage it sustained. She turned to Viekko. “What. The Hell. Was that?” Every word felt like an accusation pointed directly at his head.
“Local wildlife?” Viekko hazarded.
“It was my fault,” said Althea approaching the crawler, “We found the mammoths in a nearby field. They looked domesticated and…I guess I…I’m sorry.”
Viekko tilted his hat back. “It weren’t that. You mighta heard a loud trumpet call come from the northwest, ‘bout where we think the city might be if I’m any judge. Those animals, there were domesticated, and they responded to the master’s call. That there is proof of civilization, right?”
Isra glared at Viekko. “No, it is my fault. I thought I could let you out of my sight for a moment. I want both of you to stay close from here on out. Understand?”
Althea nodded. Viekko shrugged and said, “Fine.”
Isra took a deep breath and looked back at the crawler and the crates thrown to the forest floor in the stampede. Her calm voice returned, “This
is good evidence for a civilization remaining on this moon. We should cover more ground while we still have the energy. Help me with these crates.”
They walked for several more hours all the time heading toward the same blinking dot on a satellite map in between the Ligeia Mare and the Kraken Mare.
Every moment of the way, Viekko felt his mind slipping deeper and deeper into the Haze. The scenery, for all its beauty, became a muted green blur with little accents of color here and there. The sounds all ran together until he felt like he was walking in the middle of a wildlife echo chamber. He had long since lost Carr’s scent although he knew the marine was watching them from somewhere in the forest.
That being said, they couldn’t go much longer. Isra wasn’t so much walking as lurching forward propelled by her own stubbornness and looked as if a strong breeze could blow her over. Althea and Cronus were in a better state riding in the crawler, but even then, Viekko caught Althea’s head nod as she tried to prevent herself from falling asleep behind the wheel, and Cronus was wheezing hard even through the breather.
And the Universe, being an entity that enjoyed a sick joke as much, if not more than most, played its part. Driving at the edge of a steep embankment, the strange, granular sand seemed to turn to liquid beneath their feet. The hill became a river of wet mud carrying the crawler and everyone else down with it before anyone could react. The wave swept them toward the bottom of the hill, leaving Viekko and Isra buried up to their knees and the crawler up to its hood. And just as fast as it moved out from under their feet, the land was solid, hard-packed dirt.
“Tam garig.” Viekko muttered pulling himself out of wet earth, “Everyone okay?”
Althea shut off the engine and sat back in her chair, “We’re fine. Shall I get the tow cables again?”
Isra laid flat on the ground in order to pull her legs out of the hole, “No. This is pointless. Not without some rest.” She freed her legs and rolled over to get a look at their surroundings, “We may as well stop here. Help me set up the shelters.”
Althea grabbed her bag from the back of the crawler. “I would like to check up on Cronus and Viekko while we do that.”
While Althea gave Cronus a check-up, Viekko helped Isra with the shelters. They weren’t much, just a heat-reflective material pulled over carbon alloy frames. Useful for protection from both extreme heat and cold and, despite its appearance, could withstand some heavy weather events.
They just finished the fourth shelter when Althea called him over. He sat down on the crawler’s passenger seat and Althea began her examination, starting with the retinal scanner. “Feel any different than the last time I looked?”
“Not ‘specially,” he said. He added in his own mind, If you don’t count that every moment my mind is slipping farther and farther away from me, I’m peachy.
Althea sat back and checked the readout on her screen. “Are you sure? Your endorphin levels are tanking even worse than earlier. I’d imagine you’d be seeing some mental effects by now. Do you have any sense that the world around you is dream-like or not real? Do you feel like your actions and your thoughts are actually yours?”
“Only every day of my life,” said Viekko. Then, aware that the sarcasm was not helping him, added, “But nothin’ more than normal.”
“Are you sure? You needn’t play the tough guy act for me.”
Viekko jumped up. “I’m sure. Ta zondoo, I’m sure. What are you accusin’ me of?” Viekko stopped. He wasn’t sure why he had an outburst like that.
A flash of fear crossed Althea’s face then her expression hardened, “I’m not accusing you, Viekko. I’m just trying to make sense of this. I’ve got two patients exhibiting two wildly different reactions to the same environmental agent. If I’m to make any sense of it, I have to know what’s happening. Now. Sit down.”
Her voice contained all the warmth and caring of a rattlesnake rattle. Viekko decided to just do as she asked.
Althea continued her examination. While she took his blood, Viekko found himself saying, “What makes you think what me and what Cronus have are related?”
Althea shook her head as she inserted the blood sample into a black, palm-sized device with a small screen across the front, “Honestly, can’t be sure of that either. But I’ve got to start somewhere. You both have symptoms that started around the same time. If they are not related, then I have literally nothing to go on.”
Part of his brain found itself willing her to check his pockets but he forced the thought back before he could say anything.
Cronus, meanwhile, had settled back on top of the crates and used his immersion goggles and glove to manipulate objects in a world that only he could see. Something gave him quite a start and he sat bolt upright and pulled the goggles off his head. “Isra, Althea. Something strange is happening.”
Isra, securing the shelter, stopped and approached the crawler, “What is it, Cronus?”
“I tapped the air. Listened to the light. A place that still has old Earth tech would use both, but I found something strange.”
Althea got up to listen to him as well. Viekko just grumbled. “Yeah we found somethin’ strange too. He’s sitting on our supplies spouting nonsense.”
Isra flashed him a quick glare and turned back to Cronus, “Radio frequencies?”
Cronus cracked that weird sadistic grin of his, “Exactly right. Light and air. It’s mostly Corporation military, but I found a blank spot in the middle.”
Isra cocked her head, “Interference from the city?”
“No. Interference would sound different, like two sounds competing for the attention of the ear. This is blocked out. Nothing there…”
As Cronus continued to talk, something foul in the air caught Viekko’s attention. It was light, far way and strangely familiar.
“Gonna go check something out,” muttered Viekko to the others, and he started tracking the source of the smell.
He stumbled through the forest and became aware that the Haze was hitting him harder and more acutely than he had anticipated. He tried to focus on the scent and on his situation but the more he tried to focus on it, the more the rest of the world slipped away.
Then everything around him changed. He could have sworn he was on Titan, but all he could see around him was the scrub plains and rocky outcroppings of the Martian Steppes. He held a rifle and walked up a steep slope toward a set of rocky peaks. There were other men around him and he felt as if he knew who they were, but whenever he tried to look them in the face they always turned away at the last moment. But he was sure that he knew them. Familiar voices chattering in his native language proved that. They talked of victory, triumph and vengeance. They joked about death and boasted about future battles.
He followed his comrades in between towers of red rock. The stench, light and faint just a few moments, ago grew stronger. He reached the summit of the hill and looked down on a nomadic village. He remembered these people. They were raiders: thieves, murderers, and rapists. They plagued his colony for years before the security force discovered their hidden campsite…this hidden campsite, come to think of it.
As soon as the thought occurred to him, the entire village caught fire before his eyes. He knelt down and watched his comrades moving in the village below and shooting fleeing families.
“Viekko?”
He breathed the air. The stench overwhelmed his senses, but it smelled good. Justified. Vindicated. It smelled as if the gods themselves rained fire upon his enemies.
“Viekko!”
Now he was in the village among the ashes. He walked in between burned tent poles and smoldering piles of ash. He found a body lying face down on the ground. Its blackened skin peeled away revealing charred red and brown muscle and blood. The body curled around something Viekko couldn’t see until he knelt.
“Viekko! Talk to me!”
Viekko moved the body and saw a tiny hand peeking out from underneath. A baby crushed by its mother trying to
save it from the flames. He jumped back in horror and had to set his jaw to keep from being violently ill.
“Viekko! Can you hear me? Isra. Help me get him to lie down.”
He continued to walk through the smoke and the flames. Compelled forward by some figure moving between the tents. A shadow that seemed always ahead but moved out of sight at the last moment before he could see it. The faster he moved, the faster it ran out of sight.
“What is wrong with him?” said Isra’s voice somewhere in the distance.
“I think it’s a depersonalization episode. Help me get his coat off so I can get this in his medical regulator.”
The figure stopped with her back to Viekko. He could see it was a woman with long, black hair and a simple homemade dress. He approached slowly and felt, without seeing her face, close to her somehow. He stopped just a few meters away and reached out to touch her, “Mother?”
As fast as it appeared, Mars was gone. In its place was Althea’s retinal scanner and, behind it, her concerned face. He blinked at the light and covered his eyes, “Jaysus, Althea. That ain’t nothing to wake up to! ‘Specially twice in one day!”
Althea leaned back, “It looks like he is cognizant again. Viekko, can you sit up?”
He did. Isra and Cronus were both there and watching him with deep concern on their faces. Something about that caused a wave of annoyance in Viekko. Almost as an act of defiance, he moved to get to his feet.
Althea tried to steady him. “Careful, Viekko. You just had a major episode.”
Viekko shook his head “What happened?”
“It was like you were sleepwalking. At the end I think you called me ‘Mother’. Do you remember what you saw?”
Already the vision was disappearing like a dream in the first few minutes after being awake, but one part of it remained as strong if not more powerful than ever. That smell was overwhelming, sickening. He became aware that Isra was shielding her nose from it. Cronus, still breathing through the mask, held it tighter than normal.
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