The Trail: A Colonization Science Fiction Serial (Colony B Book 2)

by Mikey Campling

  Cate replied without looking up from the controls, “Try the handles on the bottom row.”

  Connor knelt down beside the lockers and took hold of a pair of metal handles attached to the lowest door. He pulled, and a long, narrow platform slid out from the wall, a set of metal legs clicking into place to support it. Connor pressed the platform with the flat of his hand, surprised to feel it give slightly beneath his touch. That’s pretty neat, he thought. The cot was too small to provide much in the way of comfort, but it would be better than curling up on the rover’s hard metal floor.

  He folded the cot away, then he headed back to the cabin doorway and peered out into the gloom.

  Parry was waiting patiently beside the team’s pile of rucksacks and weapons, his own rifle in his hands, his eyes fixed firmly on Mac, watching him like a hawk.

  “Parry, let’s load up,” Connor called out.

  “You stay there,” Parry said. “I’ll pass the gear up.”

  Within minutes, the bags and rifles were loaded into the cabin and safely stowed in the lockers. Parry climbed up and sat beside Cate, watching her carefully as her hands darted over the controls.

  “What’s Ben doing?” Connor asked.

  “I sent him around to make a visual inspection,” Cate replied. “He must be nearly done by now.”

  “And how’s it looking from in here? Does everything seem right?”

  Cate tilted her head from side to side. “I hate to say this, but it looks like Mac’s been as good as his word, for once. Everything checks out. So far anyway.”

  Ben appeared in the doorway. “Cate, I’ve checked out everything you asked me to, and it all looks fine. As far as I can tell, someone’s done a good job of keeping everything clean and in good order.”

  “Yeah, well it ought to be,” Parry said. “The damned thing’s only been used once, and that was just to make the trip here.”

  “Come in, Ben,” Connor said. “Make yourself at home.”

  Ben smiled and tried out a seat in the second row. “Pretty comfy.”

  Cate threw him a look. “Wait until you’ve been sitting in it for a few hours before you say that.”

  Ben’s eager smile was undiminished. “Anything else you want me to check out?”

  “No, we’re good,” Cate replied. “I’ll need someone to get familiar with the controls though, preferably someone who’s had some experience.”

  “I’ve done the training,” Parry chipped in. “Happy to ride shotgun.”

  “I’ve driven something similar in the past,” Connor said. “I can take a shift later, but I’m more than happy to take a backseat for now.”

  “All right,” Cate said. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a crew. It’s time to light the touch paper and stand well back.”

  She flipped a switch on the control panel, and immediately, a low whine sprang up and grew louder. Cate slid her hand along the touch panel, and the whine was replaced with the dull drone of motors whirring into action.

  Cate studied the displays. “Looks like we have a green panel, and the fuel cells are almost producing full power—eighty percent on the primary, and seventy-five on the secondary. That’s enough to take us a good distance, and we’ll be able to top up the system with solar power once we get outside.” She turned around to face Connor. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “One second.” Connor crossed to the door and leaned out. Mac was still outside, standing back against the cave wall. “We’re heading out,” Connor shouted down to him. “I just wanted to say thank you. You’ve done a good job.”

  Mac threw him a casual salute. “No problem, Connor. I hope it all goes well.” He looked away for a moment, then he looked Connor in the eye. “I hope you get your daughter back. I really do.”

  Connor nodded, then he stepped back from the door and pulled it closed behind him. I’ll never figure that guy out, he thought. Never.

  He took the seat next to Ben then leaned forward to tap Cate on the shoulder. “Take her out.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cate said. She gripped the rover’s yoke and pushed it forward gently. The noise of the motor rose a little, and the rover trundled smoothly forward, the cave’s entrance growing larger and brighter as they moved toward it.

  Connor looked around his crew, taking in the excitement in their expressions. Calum would love this, he thought. And what young person wouldn’t be thrilled at this experience? To be heading out, to be driving away from the hill and the settlement, to explore beyond the wall. The idea of freedom must have seemed so thrilling to Siobhan, so inviting. Perhaps it should’ve been no surprise that she was ready to climb the wall and willing to jump aboard a strange vehicle; the possibilities it offered must have seemed impossibly exotic.

  The rover exited the cave, and Connor looked out through the side window. Mac was watching them leave, shielding his eyes against the daylight with his hand. And he was smiling.

  Everyone seems happy about this trip, Connor thought. Everyone but me. He understood his crew’s emotions, but he couldn’t join in with their enthusiasm; they mustn’t forget the purpose of their mission, and they mustn’t forget how deadly serious and dangerous their task would be.

  Cate interrupted his thoughts, “Where to, boss?”

  Connor looked ahead. “Follow the curve of the slope around to your right, as if you were heading for the fern bank, but after a few hundred yards, you’ll see a ridge of dark rock running at right angles to your path. We’re going to turn downhill just before we meet the ridge. The route down is steep and pretty rocky, so you’ll have to take it easy, but after a while, the slope gets shallower and we’ll be able to head straight down to the wall.”

  “I think I know the way you mean,” Parry said. “I’ll help Cate to find a route. You guys should try and get some rest.”

  “Maybe,” Connor said. “Let’s see how it goes.”

  ***

  The rover lurched from side to side and bounced erratically as it rolled down the slope, and Ben nudged Connor with his elbow. “Hey, this is some ride, right?”

  Connor forced a strained smile. “Yeah. Some ride.” He leaned forward to see over Parry’s shoulder. “Excellent. We’re almost at the wall.”

  “About that,” Cate said. “How do we get through? Because I’m telling you, this vehicle may look tough, but it’s built for efficiency and long distance, not for brute force. You can’t just drive it through the wall.”

  “Don’t worry,” Connor said. “Aim for the white panel, the one there, slightly to the left, and take us close. We’ll need to stop within a few feet of it.”

  “Okay.” Cate turned the yoke slightly to the left, her brow furrowed in concentration.

  A jolt juddered through the cabin as the rover’s wheels found a hole in the ground, and Connor’s backside temporarily parted company from his seat. “I guess we should have fastened the safety belts, huh?”

  “Already did,” Ben said.

  “Right,” Connor said. “I just need to get this first.” He fumbled in his pocket and produced a small metal box fitted with a numerical keypad.

  “Jeez, are those mechanical switches?” Ben asked.

  Connor nodded. “It might be old-fashioned, but you’d better pray this thing still works. Otherwise, you’re going to be suiting up and taking a section of the wall apart.”

  Ben’s face fell.

  “Tell me when we’re close enough,” Cate called out.

  Ahead, the rigid metal panels of the wall seemed to grow taller as the rover trundled toward them. “Another five yards,” Connor said. “Four, three, two…that’ll do.”

  “Hold on,” Cate shouted cheerfully.

  Connor grabbed hold of his safety belt and pulled it across his chest, slotting the buckle home as quickly as he could. Just in time. Gravel crunched beneath the rover as its wheels locked, its momentum carrying it forward over the loose stones as it slid down the slope. Connor was thrown forward against his safety belt, and he stared in horror as the rover
raced toward the wall, the solid metal panels filling his field of vision. He should’ve told Cate to stop sooner, but he’d misjudged the distance and misunderstood the terrain. Now, they were all going to pay for his mistake. The rover was going to hit the wall, it’s cabin crumpling on impact, its windshield shattering into countless deadly shards. A yell built in Connor’s chest, and his throat tightened. But before he could cry out, a rasping roar reverberated through the cabin as the rover’s tires bit through the gravel and found a grip against the solid rock. For a heartbeat, Connor’s world shifted into slow motion, and then the rover ground to a halt, throwing its occupants back against their seats.

  “Wooh!” Cate cried. She turned around to face Connor. “Close enough for you?”

  Connor nodded, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. “Yeah. Thanks. Perfect.”

  “Over to you, boss,” Ben said. “Time to work your magic.”

  Connor held out the metal box and pressed hard on the zero key for a full second. A small red light appeared on the top of the box, and Connor tapped in a series of digits. “There.” The light on the box changed from red to green.

  “Now what?” Parry asked.

  Connor pointed through the windshield.

  In front of them, the white metal panel shook as though being buffeted by strong wind. It let out a violent hiss, then slowly, the panel began to slide sideways, squealing as it grated across the stony ground.

  “Oh my God,” Cate whispered.

  “Is that a cargo bay door from the lander?” Parry asked.

  “Got it in one,” Connor said. “It’s from a side bay.”

  The crew sat in silence while the juddering door made its slow journey sideways, and Connor stared through the widening gap, letting his eyes wander across the endless acres of blue-green grunge, taking in the way it caught the light and appeared almost iridescent. “I just hope we can pick up the trail of those vehicles right away,” he said. “It can only be a matter of time before the grunge covers their tracks.”

  “I’m not sure there is going to be much of the trail,” Parry replied. “I don’t know what technology they were using to hover, but it looked like some kind of force field. It might not have left much of a mark on the grunge. We’ll just have to do our best, but we can’t be certain what we’ll find.”

  “Their engines must have generated some heat though,” Ben put in.

  Connor nodded. “Yes, but I don’t see how that helps us. We won’t be able to detect their engines from here.”

  Ben leaned toward Cate. “When I was checking outside, I saw something that looked like a sensor array mounted under the nose.”

  “That’s right,” Cate said. “And it does have a camera that can handle thermal imaging. It might be worth a try.”

  “Can I get the sensors’ output rooted to the workstation back there?” Ben asked.

  “Sure,” Cate replied. “In fact, you can run all the scanners from back there. It’s designed that way.”

  Ben unfastened his safety belt. “I’ll see what I can do.” He stood and hurried back toward the workstation.

  “I reckon the gap is wide enough to get through now,” Parry said. “What do you say, Connor?”

  “It looks good to me,” Connor replied. “We should go ahead before the grunge gets a chance to creep inside.”

  “You got it,” Cate said, and she pushed the yoke forward, steering the rover toward the opening.

  For a moment, Connor thought the rover might scrape against the gate, but then they were through and rolling down the gentle slope that led to the lowlands. “Stop once we’re safely through,” Connor said.

  Cate waited until they were clear of the gate, then she brought the rover to a smooth halt. Connor tapped the code into his keypad then pressed his face against the side window to watch the cargo bay door while it reversed direction and slid closed.

  “We’re on our way,” Parry said. “How’s the rover holding up, Cate?”

  “Everything is looking good,” Cate reported. “Filtration systems are running at one hundred percent, and we’re getting enough input from the solar cells to keep the fuel cells ticking over. We won’t be able to maintain a high speed over a long distance, but there should be enough power in reserve for a short sprint if we really need it.”

  “Good,” Connor said. “Take us around the hill until we’re below the scree slope, and we’ll see what we can find.”

  “No problem.” Cate set the rover into motion, heading for flatter ground and then steering around the hill. The rover still shook as it lumbered over the uneven ground, but its rhythm was gentler now, and the rocking motion was almost soothing. Connor was tempted to close his eyes, but his mind was a whirl, his head spinning with the enormity of the task ahead of them.

  As if reading Connor’s mind, Parry turned in his seat and said, “I’ve been running through some plans.”

  Connor managed a small smile. “Yeah, me too. What’ve you got?”

  “Okay, let’s assume we catch up to the vehicles and all six of them are still traveling together.”

  “That’s a reasonable supposition,” Connor said. “I doubt they’d split up. But I guess you’re going to point out that we’re heavily outnumbered.”

  “And outgunned,” Parry replied. “Those rifles packed a punch, and they just might have some heavier weapons in reserve.”

  Connor nodded. “So what do you suggest?”

  “Only one way to beat an enemy like that,” Parry stated. “We have to use stealth and the element of surprise. We have to give ourselves an edge.”

  “Go on.”

  “When the vehicles arrived it was getting dark. They could’ve come closer or decided to pass us by, but they didn’t do either of those things. They formed a circle and touched down until first light the following day.”

  “And you think they’ll do the same every night?”

  “Almost certainly,” Parry said. “Once they stop, we can suit up and get close under cover of darkness. Then, if we watch carefully, we can figure out where Siobhan and Milo are being held.”

  “It’ll be much easier to target just one vehicle,” Connor put in. “Maybe we could set up a distraction to keep the rest of them off balance.”

  Parry shook his head. “No. Much better to focus our energies on getting in fast. We go in and overwhelm the crew, and we control the scenario right from the start. We’ll have to keep them from raising the alarm.”

  Connor hesitated. “If they resist?”

  “We can’t afford to take that risk, Connor. We won’t have time to take prisoners. We’ll shoot to kill.”

  Connor looked down at his hands, and Helen’s parting words came back to him: I want you to make sure that they can’t come back. How had she managed to find such strength, such certainty? They’d been together for over twenty-five years, and apart from the time they’d spent in the sleep pods on The Pharaon, they’d always worked hard to carve out time to be together. But even after all those years, Helen’s courage and her ferocity in protecting their family had shocked him to the core. Could he live up to her expectations? Could he find that strength? I have to, he told himself. I owe it to Helen. I owe it to Siobhan.

  He looked up and met Parry’s gaze. “Agreed. We can’t take any chances. We shoot to kill.”

  “Okay,” Parry said. “I’ll come up with a more detailed plan and we’ll talk it over later.”

  “Sure.”

  Parry turned back around, and Connor sat back in his chair, trying to run through a plan of attack in his mind, playing out a host of possible scenarios. What if they were detected before they could even get near the vehicles? It was possible that the enemy would post armed guards or patrol the perimeter of their camp. Perhaps Parry would know how to take out a patrol, but then they’d be faced with breaking into one of the vehicles. It wouldn’t be easy; they could probably shoot out a lock with their sonic rifles, but not without making a noise. And once the enemy troops were alerted, how long w
ould it take them to suit up and deploy?

  Connor closed his eyes and massaged his forehead with his fingertips. A million things could go wrong at any moment, he thought. And one mistake will be enough to turn the whole thing into a disaster.

  He opened his eyes and looked out the side window, gazing back toward the wall and the hill that had been his home for the last five years. He could see the scree slope now, and he could even pick out the ridge where he’d hidden earlier. His eyes roamed across the slope, and he found the place where he’d fallen down toward the wall. Only a handful of hours had passed since he’d picked himself up and been confronted by the oddly-shaped flying machine, but since that moment he’d been running on adrenalin, and every minute had hung heavy on his shoulders, pressing him down, making him stiffen his spine to fight against it.

  Now, the road ahead may be tough, but at least he was doing something, at least he was fighting back. And that has to be good, he told himself. It has to be better than giving up.

  “We’re getting close to where we saw the vehicles,” Parry called out. “Are you getting anything, Ben? Any sign of a trail?”

  “Give me a second,” Ben replied. “I’m picking up a good image from the ground, but it’s kind of a mess. Patterns everywhere. It’s hard to make anything out.”

  “The vehicles spread out when they moved,” Connor put in. “And there were at least twenty people marching over the ground, so they’re bound to have churned it up some.”

  “Should I slow down?” Cate asked.

  “No,” Ben said. “Keep going. When I get something concrete I’ll patch it through to your display panel.”

  Parry looked over his shoulder and said, “Hey, the kid learns fast.”

  Ben laughed. “Believe it.”

  Parry smiled and said something to Cate, but Connor didn’t hear it. He sat in silence, gnawing at the inside of his cheek and staring out the window while the almost featureless landscape slid by. Surely, those huge vehicles must’ve left a visible trail: some signs that they could follow. But when he gazed out over the thick layer of glistening grunge, he could see nothing even remotely useful. There was nothing to show where the vehicles had passed. I should have pre-empted this problem, Connor thought. I should have been better prepared. He scraped his hand down his face, and it came away wet. Sunlight was pouring in through the windshield, and the air in the rover’s cabin was already warm and heavily laced with the scent of sweat.