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

by Mikey Campling

  Parry glanced back to the control panel. “Flip the covers off the release buttons, then hold them both down together.”

  Cate smiled. “Just make sure you don’t mix up the buttons for the primary and the secondary cell compartments.”

  “Got it,” Parry said.

  Connor clapped his hands together. “Okay, people. Time to suit up. Let’s get this rover back on the road.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  TRUCK TWO

  Siobhan rolled over in the confines of her narrow bunk. She’d been lying in the dark for hours, and every second had been a trial. The thin mattress gave little protection from the solid metal surface beneath, and whichever way she turned, she could find no comfort. She almost wished the truck was still moving, so that at least there would be some sense of motion to occupy her mind.

  She sighed and stared up at the metal panel above her. At least that bunk was empty, so she didn’t feel as though someone was lying directly on top of her. Even so, she was intensely aware of the other three people in the room. She could hear every breath they took, and the air was thick with the scent of stale sweat. I’ve got to get out of here, she decided, and moving as quietly as she could, she drew the curtain aside. Apart from removing her socks, she hadn’t bothered to get undressed, and now she swung her legs from the bunk and climbed out, padding barefoot to the doorway.

  She paused for a moment, listening, but there was no change in the sounds of gentle breathing from the other bunks, so she opened the door quietly and slipped outside.

  The truck’s main compartment was swathed in almost complete darkness, the gloom lessened only by the dim glow of the few display screens that had been left switched on, and Siobhan made her way slowly toward the back of the truck, looking around as she went. The air in the compartment was cold, almost chilly, and she took a deep breath. That’s better, she thought. That’s a lot better.

  Siobhan walked on with no clear purpose in mind, enjoying the quiet solitude, but as she neared the back of the compartment, her eyes came to rest on the door of a tall metal cabinet. That’s where they keep the guns!

  She quickened her pace. The cabinet was three paces away. Two.

  “What are you doing?” The man’s voice echoed eerily through the darkness, and Siobhan froze for a second, then turned slowly.

  Jim Clennan emerged from the shadows, walking quickly toward her. “I said, what are you doing?”

  Siobhan took a step back, her hand on her chest. “Nothing. I was just…walking around. I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Oh.” Jim stood in front of her, dressed in only a baggy T-shirt and a crumpled pair of shorts. He put his hand in his tousled hair and scratched at his scalp. “I heard the door open. My cabin’s right next door.”

  “I’m sorry,” Siobhan said. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

  “It’s all right. I wasn’t asleep either.” He shifted his weight awkwardly from foot to foot. “I figured it might be you or your friend getting up. I, er, I wanted to check you were all right.”

  Some instinct told Siobhan that this was her moment. She needed an ally, and Jim clearly wanted to talk. His guard was down, they were alone, and she might not get such a good opportunity again. She gave Jim a smile. “The truth is, I was hungry. I came out to look for something to eat.”

  “I’m not surprised. I told you, you should have had that soup.” Jim hesitated. “I guess I could find you something.” He gestured toward the back of the truck. “Come on, I’ll show you the galley.” He bustled past her, heading into the darkness, and Siobhan followed, her gaze flicking to the gun cabinet as she passed.

  “It’s in here,” Jim said, indicating a door set into the back wall. He pressed his thumb against a small panel set just above the door handle, then he pulled the door open.

  Siobhan peered into the dark room beyond. “I thought that was where we came in. The decontamination room.”

  Jim laughed. “Don’t make that mistake or there’ll be hell to pay. The decontamination chamber is over there.” He pointed to an almost identical door along the wall. “You’re allowed into the galley though. If you want to go in, that is. There’s just about enough room for two.”

  He stepped into the room and a ceiling light came on automatically, giving Siobhan a glimpse of glass wall cabinets and a gleaming stainless steel counter before the door swung closed on its spring. She reached for the door handle, but she didn’t take hold of it. Once inside the room, she would be sealed away with a man she couldn’t entirely trust. The galley was as far away from Milo and the rest of the crew as it was possible to get while remaining inside the truck. Would she be safe?

  Jim seemed harmless, but appearances could be deceptive, and she’d got herself into enough trouble lately by making impulsive decisions. She bit her bottom lip and looked back toward the gun cabinet. Could she rush back and grab a weapon before Jim came out of the galley? Possibly, if the cabinet wasn’t locked, but where would that get her? She’d still be trapped in the truck, hundreds of miles from home. Perhaps she might be able to subdue Jim then force Alec to turn the truck around at gunpoint. But Alec would be a formidable opponent, and she’d be outnumbered, even if Milo decided to back her up.

  No, she thought. I need someone else on my side.

  She grabbed the door handle, but it turned beneath her hand, and she stepped back as the door swung open.

  Jim appeared, holding a small plastic packet in his hand. “You could have come inside,” he said, sounding slightly hurt, then he held out the packet. ”I found you a biscuit. It’s dry, but it’ll keep the hunger away.”

  “Thanks.” Siobhan took the packet with a grateful smile and tore it open, her mouth already watering. The hard biscuit smelt of something sweet, something that made her stomach growl with anticipation.

  “It’s supposed to be like chocolate,” Jim said. “It’s not real of course, but it’s pretty good.”

  “Chocolate? I remember chocolate.” Siobhan bit into the biscuit and snapped a chunk off with her teeth. It was hard, denser than anything she’d ever eaten, but when she rolled it around in her mouth, the flavor seeped out onto her tongue and her eyes went wide. “It’s so sweet,” she murmured. “So good.”

  “Yeah, well, I probably shouldn’t have given it to you, so you’d better keep it to yourself.”

  Siobhan nodded, too busy eating to talk.

  “Okay, you’d better get back to your bunk, and I need to try and grab some sleep too.” Jim took a step forward, but Siobhan laid her hand on his arm. “Stay. Just for a minute.”

  Jim looked down to where her fingers touched his arm, and she pulled her hand away. “I don’t want to go back to that tiny cabin just yet,” she said. “It’s so cramped and stuffy. It reminds me too much of the sleep pods on the ship.”

  “I know what you mean,” Jim said. “We were in pods ourselves on the way over here.”

  “How long ago was that?” Siobhan asked quickly. “How long have you been here?”

  “Seven years and change. Almost seven and a half.”

  “Longer than us.” Siobhan Shook her head. “All that time we thought we were alone on this planet. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “To tell you the truth, we were just as surprised as you were.” Jim started to smile, but then he dropped his gaze and looked away.

  “What is it? What’s the matter?”

  Jim looked up, and in the dim light, his eyes shone. “Nothing.” He sniffed and shook his head. ”Nothing at all. Really.”

  “That’s not true, Jim,” Siobhan stated. “You have something you need to say, and we both know it, so you might as well get on with it. Is it…is it something to do with what we were talking about before? Is it something to do with that sound I heard before you picked us up?” Jim flinched, and Siobhan examined his expression carefully. “It was gunfire, wasn’t it, Jim?”

  For a heartbeat, Jim didn’t respond, then he nodded sadly.

  A swell of anxiety stirred in the pi
t of Siobhan’s stomach. “Who was doing the shooting? Was anybody hurt?”

  “It was us,” he replied. “We saw a gun up on the hill. One of your people fired first, and we started shooting back. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that, but there was a problem with our comms. Nobody knew what was going on. The whole thing was…it was all just a terrible mistake.”

  “Oh my God,” Siobhan whispered. “My dad was out on the hill that day. And his friends. Were they…were they hurt?” She covered her mouth with her hand.

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” Jim said. “There were four of them—four men, I think.”

  “What happened?” Siobhan asked, but Jim carried on as though he hadn’t heard her. “I can still see them, you know? It’s why I couldn’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see them. I see them fall.”

  “No!” the word forced itself from between Siobhan’s lips.

  “They might’ve been okay,” Jim said quickly. “I honestly don’t know. There was a lot of shooting. A lot of confusion. Nobody could be sure of anything. But then we turned around and took the fleet out of there.” He scraped his hand down his face. “We should have stopped to check. We should have helped or at least tried to do something. But it was like everyone panicked.”

  Siobhan stared at Jim, and in that instant, her heart hardened. These people had tried to harm her father, and then they’d left him for dead. They were soulless monsters, intent on destroying every living thing on the planet. And all their talk of a rescue mission was probably just a fiction designed to keep her quiet. They showed no mercy, no real compassion, they just carried on their deadly work regardless of the settlement and its people. But she couldn’t let Alec and the others get away with it. It was time to put an end to their obscene mission, and she had the means within her grasp. All she had to do was keep her head and act decisively. And she could do it; she knew she could.

  Siobhan took a breath. “Jim, we can do something about this. We can make this right.”

  “How? We’re hundreds of miles away already, and in the morning we’ll be heading even farther away.”

  “Not if we turn this truck around,” Siobhan said. “Not if we take control of it.” She reached out to touch his arm, but Jim recoiled from her.

  “No. That’s crazy. They’ll never allow it.”

  Siobhan took a step closer to him. “We’re not going to ask permission, Jim. That’s not the plan at all.”

  Jim’s lips moved soundlessly for a moment, but Siobhan didn’t give him the chance to object. “You want to put this right, don’t you, Jim? You want to go back and check if those poor people are all right, I know you do. And just think of this, Jim—that wasn’t some dreadful enemy you were all shooting at, it was my father. He’s just an ordinary man, but he risked his own life to come and meet your people. He didn’t deserve to be shot at and then left to die on the hillside. But you understand that, Jim, I know you do. You know what I’m saying is right, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Jim said. “Yes, I know all that, but the company…if I do what you want, they’ll leave me behind on this stinking rock.”

  “No, they won’t. They’ll see you did the right thing and they’ll understand. But even if they don’t, it doesn’t matter because there’s bound to be a rescue mission eventually, and you can stay with us until then. We’d be happy for you to stay with us. We’d be so grateful for everything you’d done to help.” Siobhan looked Jim in the eyes and summoned up every ounce of expression that she possessed, pouring all her hopes into that one gaze.

  “I…I don’t know what to—”

  “This is your chance, Jim,” Siobhan Interrupted. “This is your chance to make amends, to make everything right. And I know that’s what you want.” Siobhan paused. She swallowed hard. “So, what do you say, Jim? Will you help me? Will you help me to rescue those poor wounded men?”

  And Jim hung his head, then quietly, he said, “Yes. I’ll help you.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THE ROVER

  Cate laid her toolbox on the ground with exaggerated care, doing her best to allow for the way her EVA suit hindered her movement. She turned her head, and the twin catches on the side of her toolbox glinted in the bright beams from her helmet’s integral lights. She released the catches and flipped the toolbox open, then she straightened her back and leaned her hand against the rover’s side while she checked the HUD on her helmet’s visor. She’d been outside for almost an hour, but although her life support indicators were all well into the green, she was breathing hard, and despite the suit’s cooling system, a film of sweat had formed on her brow. “Okay, Parry,” she said, “I’m at the secondary fuel cell compartment and you can open it now. Ben is just finishing up with the primary compartment.”

  Parry’s voice came through the intercom: “Opening secondary fuel cell compartment.”

  In front of Cate, the compartment’s metal cover released with a click and then slid open slowly. She waited until the cover was fully clear of the opening, then she stepped closer and peered inside. When they’d opened the primary fuel cell compartment earlier, they’d been extra cautious in case Mac had set up some sort of booby-trap or tripwire. They’d found nothing suspicious, but that didn’t mean that this compartment would be clear.

  Cate rested the side of her helmet against the rover, craning her neck to see into every nook and cranny of the compartment. Everything looked fine—almost as good as new—with every cable neatly folded into place, and every component securely fastened down with rows of gleaming bolts. It was time to start work, but first, she needed to check in with Ben. “How’s it going over there, Ben? Everything okay?”

  There was a short pause before Ben replied, then, “Yeah, it’s all good. I was just checking that everything else looked okay. You know, just in case…”

  “Fair enough,” Cate said. “I’m pretty sure Mac only altered the sensor module. He was banking on us being fooled by the error messages. But now we’ve reset it, everything should be fine. Are you ready to close it up?”

  “Okay,” Ben replied. “Parry, you can seal the primary cell compartment now. I’m going around to help Cate.”

  “Primary compartment closing,” Parry said. “Should I try firing it up to see what happens?”

  “No,” Cate blurted. “Wait until we’ve finished with both fuel cells, and then we’ll run through a couple of diagnostics before we risk anything.”

  “It’s your call,” Parry said. “But listen, you’ve been outside for quite a while now, and Connor is getting jumpy about the battery levels.”

  Cate sighed. “I’m sorry, but it took us a lot longer than I thought it would to fix the first cell. We had to trace the error and reset the correct sensor module. This time around it should be much quicker—assuming that Mac pulled the same trick twice.”

  “At least you’ll know what to look for first,” Parry said. “Let me know how you get on.”

  “I will.” Cate saw a movement from the corner of her eye and turned as Ben appeared at the back of the rover, the lights from his helmet sending shadows to race across the rover’s side. He walked toward her, a powered screwdriver dangling from his hand. She gave him a wave. “Okay, Ben?”

  He gave her a thumbs up. “Same routine as last time?”

  “Not Quite. Instead of removing the module cover completely, I’m hoping I can just lift it up, then you can hold it out of the way while I get to work. It’ll save us some time. I should be able to extract and reset the sensor module really quickly. Okay?”

  “Are you sure? It won’t give you much room to work.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Cate said. She bent down and took a curved metal tool from her toolbox. “This little gadget will do the job.”

  “All right. Let me open it up for you.” Ben reached into the compartment and placed his screwdriver’s bit against a bolt on the module cover. He pressed the driver’s trigger gently, and the motor whirred as it worked the retaining bolt free. Ben pulled
the bolt clear, placing it carefully in a tray within Cate’s toolbox, and then he moved onto the next bolt. Within minutes, he’d removed all the bolts, and he lifted the module cover on its hinge, tilting it back as far as the compartment would allow. Inside, there were twelve rows of black plastic modules, with ten modules in each row, each one identical in shape and size. “It’s no wonder Mac thought his trick would work,” Ben said. “The chances of us working out which module he tampered with were pretty slim.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t bank on me,” Cate replied. “Or this.” She pulled a tall notebook from the pocket on her right leg.

  Ben shook his head in disbelief. “Only you, Cate. Most people rescued something sentimental from the lander, but only you would’ve saved a goddamned manual for a keepsake.”

  “The rovers were going to be my specialty, you know? And when you think something’s gone, you hold onto what you have.” She looked down at her manual, studying the complex diagram and cross-referencing the colored boxes with the key on the facing page. “Got it.” She tucked the manual back into her pocket. “I’m going to need you to stand back a little to give me some room to work.”

  Ben moved as far aside as he could while keeping hold of the metal cover, and Cate leaned forward, running her gloved hand across the rows of modules while she counted them off. “This should be the one,” she muttered, tapping on a module at the back of the compartment. She placed the curved prongs of the metal tool carefully around the sides of the module. There was barely enough room beneath the raised module cover for both of her hands, but somehow she managed to hold the tool in place with one hand while adjusting a wheel on its side with the other.

  “Careful,” Ben said. “We don’t want to risk damaging one of the other modules.”

  “I know. But if I can just…dammit!”

  “What? Are you all right?”

  Cate hissed under her breath. “Yes, but the damned tool slipped off. I’ll have to release it and try again.”