Transport 3_The Zone

by Phillip P. Peterson

  Morrow had left behind a good dozen soldiers, who were now patrolling the settlement. Every twelve hours they were relieved, as new soldiers emerged in their uniforms from the transporter.

  Marlene had urged discretion, and together they had decided to defer to the invaders for the time being. Marlene hoped they would get some answers soon, but for three days nothing had happened.

  And Richards was right! If they didn’t get back to the fields soon, they would be facing a tough winter. Why didn’t Morrow at least let them leave the settlement to harvest their crops? Was it because the transporter lay halfway between Eridu and the fields?

  “What now?” Richards asked.

  Marlene frowned before getting up slowly from her chair. Her back was aching, a delayed effect of the fight against the wotans, but others were far worse off. She had hoped things would improve following their victory against the monsters. And now this!

  “Come on,” she said to Richards. “We’ll talk to him.”

  Together they stepped outside. The sun was shining and a gentle breeze stroked her face. It would have been a perfect day for bringing in the harvest. Richards followed her to the square in front of the administrative building. To her right, two of Morrow’s soldiers——grim faces, weapons slung over their shoulders——were keeping an eye on the workshop where Albert was fixing a jeep.

  With Richards at her side, Marlene walked slowly over to the men. The soldiers turned their heads and scowled at the approaching pair.

  Marlene looked at their insignia. One was a sergeant——“P. Conrad” she read on the nametag on his breast pocket.

  “Who is in charge here?” she asked.

  “That would be me, Ms. Wolfe,” one of the men replied. Tall, with piercing blue eyes, he fixed her with a disparaging, almost arrogant look.

  “Captain Wolfe, Sergeant!”

  The man’s lips curled slightly, as if she’d made a funny but inappropriate joke. “You are no longer in the US Armed Forces. You no longer have a rank, Ms. Wolfe.”

  Marlene shrugged. She hadn’t come to discuss her rank. Nonetheless, she wanted to present herself with as much authority as possible. “I would like to know what’s going to happen, Sergeant. We have work to get done that cannot be put off any longer. We have been very patient but now I demand some answers.”

  The man looked unfazed. “You will get your answers as soon as General Morrow returns. Until then, you may move around the settlement freely. There is nothing more I can do for you.”

  “We have crops that need to be harvested. And it can’t wait, Sergeant.”

  “Nobody is allowed to leave the settlement! That’s an order!”

  Richards stepped forward and made a threatening gesture with his fist. “For Christ’s sake, I—”

  Marlene saw the sergeant pull back the butt of his rifle. In a moment he would use it to strike Richards. She grabbed her friend by the shoulder and pulled him back. “Don’t provoke them!” she hissed quietly in his ear, before turning back to the soldiers. “If we don’t harvest our crops soon, we won’t have anything left to eat come winter. We used up almost all of our reserves during the flood crisis. So, if you continue preventing us from going to our fields, I can only hope you’ll supply us with enough food from Earth——because otherwise we’ll starve.”

  The soldier chuckled. “There won’t be any food from Earth.”

  “When will General Morrow arrive so that we can talk? Where is he, anyway?” Marlene’s tone was brisk.

  “I am not authorized to disclose that information, Ms. Wolfe. And now please get back to your own business.”

  She snorted. “What do you think I’m doing?” But Marlene could see that the conversation was going nowhere. This guy didn’t have any real authority, and was just following orders. Until Morrow or one of his officers turned up, there was nothing more she could do. “Tell the general that we are running out of food. And be warned: once our people realize there might not be enough to eat come winter, they’re going to put up a fight. And it won’t make any difference if you shoot us or not, we will die of starvation anyway.”

  Pointedly, she turned on her heel and stalked off, pulling the furious Richards behind her. After they’d gone a few feet, she shot a brief glance over her shoulders. She could see that Sergeant Conrad was holding his radio in his hand.

  “Fucking assholes.” Richards spat out the words.

  “Cool it. I don’t think it will take long now.”

  They stopped in front of the administrative building. Richards was still trembling, but he seemed to be calming slowly. He took a deep breath. “What was it all for?”

  Marlene stared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “What did we fight for? To be held hostage in our colony by these jerks?” He shook his head. “It’s my fault.”

  “You want to explain that?”

  “All these years I’ve hoped they would find us. That somebody from Earth would turn up here and say: You can go home.” He pointed at the soldiers. “And now this!”

  Marlene nodded. “I don’t get it, either. Sure——Russell and his friends destroyed the transporter, but that has nothing to do with us. But they’re still treating us like traitors. And Morrow of all people ought to know that he can’t lump us all together.”

  “I never knew him,” Richards said. “But I’ve never heard anything good about him. Apparently he’ll stop at nothing to achieve his goals.”

  Marlene shook her head. “That wasn’t always the case. When he was still a colonel, he always stood up for his men. He was tough, but popular. It was only when he started to manage expensive arms projects in the Pentagon that he turned into an opportunistic politician.” She made a dismissive gesture. “Back to the harvest. How much time do we have left until it’s too late to begin?”

  “One and a half weeks, at most! And we need at least a week for the work.”

  Marlene turned to look at the workshop. At least they’re letting Albert and Lee get on with repairing the vehicles.

  “Let’s wait and see. Go home and rest. The last few weeks were tough, and it looks as if we’ve got more difficult times ahead of us.”

  Richards had stopped trembling. Now he just looked tired. “I don’t suppose I have a choice.”

  “How is Marianna?”

  “Her leg is healing well.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. The sniper sure got her.”

  Richards nodded. “She wasn’t the only one. The doc has had his work cut for him.”

  “He still does. I think I’ll go see him now and check how Mike is doing.” Sammy Yang’s son had been badly injured by acid when a wotan was blown up into thousands of pieces by a mine just a few feet away from him. “Do you want to come with me?”

  Richards shook his head. “No. I’d only be in the way.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going home.”

  “OK. I’ll call you as soon as I have any news.”

  Richards walked off without another word. Marlene watched him for a moment before making her way to the infirmary. She saw hardly anybody as she walked through the settlement. Most of the colonists had withdrawn to their huts and were just waiting for whatever would come next. Since Eridu had been occupied, there hadn’t been much they could do.

  Dr. Lindwall was standing next to the door of the infirmary. His threadbare white coat was dotted with pale red stains. Most of them were old and simply couldn’t be washed out. But there were also many new stains. He was holding a cigarette and blowing thick plumes of smoke into the air. When he caught sight of Marlene he smiled weakly.

  “How did you get hold of those?” she asked.

  “I wheedled them off one of the soldiers who came to see me with a cut on his hand.”

  Marlene was surprised. “Don’t they have their own doctor with them?”

  Lindwall took another deep drag on his cigarette. “Well, not here on Eridu. I tried to get some information out of him, but they’re obviously under strict orders not to talk. At
least not about their mission.”

  “Yes, I’ve found that out for myself. They’re all waiting for the general to return.”

  “I’ve made a list of things we need. Including dressing material and antibiotics.”

  Marlene lifted her hand reassuringly. “Let’s wait and see what happens. Maybe we’ll all be back on Earth again in a few days.”

  The doctor sighed. “Earth. How I’ve longed to return ...” He took a long puff on his cigarette, lost in thought. “But now that the possibility is so tantalizingly close, I’m not so sure. We’ve put so much work into building this colony.”

  “Yes,” Marlene said. “And we just defended it with our lives. I’m also not sure if I would adapt to life back on Earth.”

  “What do you think they intend to do with us?”

  Marlene shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. Their behavior is so strange——as if they were occupying an enemy village ... or as if we were all traitors.”

  “Then they could have just taken us back to Earth in the transporter and locked us up.”

  “I guess that’s exactly what they’ve done with Russell.”

  Lindwall threw the cigarette butt heedlessly onto the ground. “But why only him? What makes him different from the others? If they’re got it in for the traitors, then they should have also taken Holbrook, Ellen, and the others.”

  “Russell was the ringleader. He made the decision to destroy the transporter on Earth. The others supported him, but it was his idea. And General Morrow is well aware of that. I guess they want to make an example of him.”

  “Is there anything we can do?” Dr. Lindwall asked in a subdued voice. He fumbled around in one of the pockets of his white coat, pulled out a packet of cigarettes, hesitated for a moment, and then put it back.

  “Not at the moment. I need to talk to Morrow and find out what his intentions are. Then we’ll see.” Marlene took a deep breath. “How’s Mike getting on?”

  Lindwall smiled. “Better. The inflammation has gone down. I won’t need to amputate the leg.”

  Marlene breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God!”

  “But——to get back to the list——we’re starting to run out of antibiotics.”

  “I’ll take care of it, but first I need to speak with General Morrow.”

  The doctor leaned forward and fixed his gaze on a point behind her. “Looks like you’ll be able to speak to him sooner rather than later.”

  Marlene turned around. The general was approaching from the direction of the administrative building. He was wearing a combat uniform and a black beret. His face was pale, as if he hadn’t seen the sun for weeks or even months. Instinctively, Marlene wanted to raise her hand in a military greeting, but she stopped herself at the last second. The general stopped a few steps in front of her.

  “General Morrow,” Marlene began. “It’s time we—”

  With a surly gesture, he indicated that she shouldn’t talk.

  Marlene gulped. The man emanated tremendous authority.

  “Ms. Wolfe. You are right, it is high time that we talk,” the general said in a gruff voice. “Call your people together. We’ll meet in an hour in the administrative building.”

  “Can you at last tell us what it is you want from us, or do you intend to just carry on staring at me for another hour, General?” Christian Holbrook asked caustically.

  The malicious expression on the general’s face as he regarded the former astronaut hadn’t escaped Marlene’s notice. Not that the general was overly friendly with her, but he had clearly put Holbrook and Albert in the category of traitors. Marlene sat at the head of the long table, with the general opposite her. The council of Eridu had taken their seats along the long sides of the table; the chairs right beside the general were unoccupied. Sitting with Albert and Holbrook were Dr. Dressel, Dr. Lindwall, and Lee Shanker, their deputy Sammy Yang, and Travis Richards. Ellen had asked to be part of the meeting in order to find out more about Russell’s whereabouts, but Marlene had decided it was better to keep her away from General Morrow for the time being.

  “We are all here, General.”

  Finally, Morrow turned his gaze away from Holbrook. After several long seconds he nodded. “Good. I will now tell you what will happen to Eridu, as you have so imaginatively named your colony.”

  Richards snorted loudly.

  “The settlement is being placed under the command of the US government, which I represent. My deputy, Major Palmer, will introduce himself in a moment. You can keep your council and your own commander, but this will be a purely administrative role to ensure our orders are carried out. Soldiers will be stationed here at all times to guard the settlement. Nobody can leave Eridu without first informing the commanding officer.”

  Marlene could feel her pulse rising, but she forced herself to maintain a matter-of-fact tone. “You want to put us under arrest? And what gives you the right to occupy our colony? It took us years to build up this colony after we lost contact with Earth, and we defended it with our lives. And now you come along and declare martial law?”

  Morrow did not flinch. “The transporter in Nevada was destroyed by traitors and mutineers, with whom you have collaborated.”

  “Well clearly we didn’t have a choice!” Lee protested.

  The general did not respond. “This colony was established by you——that is by former soldiers and staff of the US Army. With materials belonging to the army and the government of the United States of America. Your remit was to establish a base. And now that contact has been resumed, we demand the return of our base and will use it for our purposes.”

  “But that was over twenty years ago, General,” Marlene pointed out. “We were fighting for our survival. You said yourself that we are no longer part of the armed forces, so what’s this all about? And why all this hostility? The majority of the colonists have got nothing to do with the destruction of the transporter in Nevada——in fact, they suffered themselves because of it.” Marlene leaned forward in her chair. “There are even some colonists who would like to return to Earth.”

  The general blinked. “Nobody from New California will ever set foot on Earth again.”

  “Yes, but—” Dr. Lindwall began.

  Morrow waved his hand dismissively. “I and my soldiers may also never set foot on Earth again. Whatever you may be thinking——you are mistaken.” He paused briefly. “We haven’t come from Earth.”

  For a moment, Marlene was speechless. Not from Earth? “I don’t understand ...” she said.

  “I had you down as more intelligent,” Morrow said, turning to look at Holbrook. “You destroyed every transporter in the solar system. Except one.”

  The former astronaut furrowed his brow, then turned pale. “My God ... Venus! You’ve come from Venus!”

  “We were almost on our way to Mars when the satellite Maven registered a flash of gamma radiation on the planet’s surface. Obviously it wasn’t enough for you to destroy the transporter in Nevada, you were compelled to destroy all the others in the solar system, too. But you forgot about the one on Venus.”

  “We didn’t forget,” Holbrook said in a hoarse voice.

  Morrow nodded. “Or rather, you didn’t have the means of getting to Venus. You thought the transporter was inaccessible, in any case——in that lethal environment. But fifteen years ago, plans were started to set up a base there.”

  “But how?” the astronaut asked in disbelief.

  Morrow made a brusque hand movement. “That would be too much to go into now. But I can tell you it cost a crazy amount of money. A big percentage of the US federal budget was pumped into the project. And still it was only enough for a one-way mission.”

  “I get it,” Marlene said. “You set up a base on Venus and receive regular supplies and reinforcements, but you don’t have a way of returning to Earth.”

  Morrow nodded. “That’s correct. We have two ships, which commute between the orbits of Earth and Venus. And we bring people and materials to th
e ground in re-entry capsules. But unfortunately we don’t have a way of getting back into orbit.”

  Marlene shook her head. The government had sent these people on a mission with no return. Venus had almost the same mass as Earth and a huge rocket would be needed to get the men and women off the ground and back into orbit to their ship circling just a few hundred miles above them. She had an image in her mind of Columbus landing on the shores of the new world in a small boat, with no way of returning to the Santa María and waving a sad goodbye to the ship. A horrible image. What kind of men and women were willing to embark on that kind of mission?

  “It is our job to secure the transporter,” Morrow continued. We have built a base around it and a team of scientists is working on it round the clock. Their findings are being sent back to Earth. The scientists and soldiers, including myself, are volunteers. We hope to gather enough data to build a new transporter on Earth and in this way eventually return. But there are also plans to build a ferry to transport materials from Venus back into orbit.”

  “And if you fail?” Marlene asked. And immediately, she knew the answer.

  “Then we will settle here on New California, when our work is done. Until then, you and your colony will support us in our work. That is an order.”

  A hush fell over the room as the colonists digested what they had just heard. Marlene chewed her lower lip. They were no longer independent. From now on, Morrow and his people back on Earth would decide the fate of the colony. On the one hand, this renewed contact had its advantages. Via Venus they now had access to medication and urgently needed spare parts and equipment. On the other hand, the arrival of Morrow and his soldiers worried her. She wasn’t prepared to give up the colony’s autonomy without a fight. They had fought too hard for it. But the way things stood, they didn’t have a choice——at least for the time being. They needed to make the best of the situation, and that meant cooperating with Morrow.

  “What do you expect from us?” she asked the general.

  He cleared his throat. “First of all, obedience. You must follow my orders. Do not try to go behind my back. I would regard this as mutiny and would impose harsh penalties according to martial law. Attacks on my men will be punished severely. You can guess what that means.”