by R. L. Wolf
The boys came out onto the roll-call field dripping wet from the rain. Only a few teams remained, most having already left for Phase two. Colt took his position next to Cora on the field.
"I'll be right back," said Colt. He hurried over to where Duke's team was waiting. "Hey, brother," said Colt.
"A fine morning to you too, brother," said Duke.
"You'll be gone by the time we get back from patrol," said Colt. "I just wanted to say good luck." Colt held his hand out, and Duke grasped it firmly in a warrior's embrace.
"I think phase two will be boring until you get there," said Duke, grinning.
"Any idea where phase two is?” asked Colt.
"The Marshal would not tell me," said Duke, "but I asked my father. He says it is not the most miserable place possible."
"I wonder what that means," said Colt.
"For a Daemi, the most miserable would be an ice planet," said Duke.
"Okay, so we're not going to one of the ice worlds, that's something," said Colt. "Here comes the Marshal, got to go."
Colt hurried back to his position, his boots splashing in the growing puddles of water on the field. Everyone hoped the run would be canceled, but the Marshal turned and headed off at a jog. The students groaned and fell in behind him. Rain or not, the Marshal wasn't going to let them out of the morning run.
The path they ran along was wet and muddy to begin with, and only got worse as they ran. Wes laughed as the morning run became more a mudslide than a run. Garth was attempting to help Wes recover from his latest face slide into the mud when Toran plowed over them. The formation lost any semblance of order as the students slid and fell along the muddy path.
"Jack, how are you doing?" yelled Colt.
"This is fun," Jack yelled back as he ran lightly along the path, leaping from dry spot to dry spot, and jumping over fallen students. He didn't seem the slightest bit affected by the deteriorating conditions.
"I'm glad you and Wes are enjoying yourselves," yelled Colt.
"There's enough water on the ground that I could just swim," yelled Toran.
Colt fell in the mud again. The run was becoming miserable the more the rain and mud soaked through his clothing. An hour later, the Marshal ran the students back to the roll-call field and released them for breakfast in front of the dining cabin. The students sloshed into the dining cabin, trailing mud and water behind them.
"That was the most fun I've ever had," said Jack. "I wish we could do it again." Jack was the only student in the Dining Cabin that wasn't covered in mud
"How'd he do that?” asked Cora, sitting down at Colt's table. "He didn't fall once during the whole run, and he's barely wet."
"Just another one of them weird things Daraians can do," said Toran.
Most of the students finished their breakfast and headed back to their cabins to clean up before class. Colt decided there wasn't any point in changing clothes. They had a fifteen-mile hike up the mountain in the rain and mud. They would be wet and covered in mud again before the first mile.
"You guys ready?” asked Colt.
"Let's do it," replied Jack, grinning as he munched on an apple.
The soggy team left the dining cabin and headed north while the rain got worse. When they reached the footbridge across the river, they found the river just starting to flow across the top of the bridge.
"Watch your step," said Toran.
The water covered the top of Colt's boots as he walked across the bridge, he could feel the power of the current pushing against his feet. If they had waited any longer, they wouldn't have been able to make it across the bridge. Jack leaped up on the railing of the bridge and ran across. He reached the other side and hopped down on the bank to wait for the team to catch up.
"Show off," said Wes, walking past the grinning Jack.
Colt led the way up the winding trails to the north of the Camp. The trails became more treacherous as the melting snow and rain made a muddy mess of the mountainside.
The boys were traversing a particularly rocky section when Wes slipped and fell, landing hard on his back against a rock, his field pack absorbing the worst of the fall. He tried to get up, but water was gushing between the rocks, and he was pulled toward the edge of the cliff. Garth leaped at Wes and grabbed his leg a moment before he was about to disappear over the side of the trail.
"You okay?” asked Garth. "That was a hard fall."
"I'm fine, I landed on my field pack," replied Wes, getting up and pulling the pack off his back. He checked the radio. There was a dent in the side, but a radio check with the Camp showed the radio was still working.
"Only a few more miles," said Colt.
"How you doing, Fish Boy?” asked Wes.
"It's cold, and I'm freezing," said Toran. “I’d give anything for a nice warm ocean right now.
The team continued until they reached the top of the mountain. The ground leveled out and walking got easier.
"Anyone notice how quiet it is up here?” asked Garth.
"Hey Yeah, it is," said Toran. "No gunfire from the range."
Someone was always at the firing range, they had become used to the sound, but now the quiet of the mountain was a pleasant relief. The only sounds now were the birds calling to each other.
"Hey guys, hold up," called Garth.
The boys looked back to see what the problem was. Jack had stopped walking and was standing in the middle of the path with his arms held out and looking up at the sky.
Colt looked up to see what Jack was looking at. A large eagle was flying lazy circles over the trees.
"What's he doing?” asked Colt.
"Didn't you read the book the Marshal gave us about Daraians?” asked Toran.
"Um... No... I didn't," admitted Colt.
"Daraians believe the bird is sacred, and the eagle is the most sacred of all," explained Toran, "I think he's praying."
"They are beautiful birds," said Garth.
"We don't have eagles on Darai," replied Jack. "But we do have a prophecy that says the Eagle will come one day and give us back our wings." Jack cawed a few times at the Eagle, and jogged to catch up with the group.
"So what's up with the calling yourselves Ravens and Sparrows?” asked Wes.
"Darai has many different races, like most worlds," said Jack. "Our races and House Governments are named after birds."
"That's different," said Wes. "We met the Ravens."
"They're a nasty bunch," said Jack. "I'm from House Sparrow."
"The people that make all the spaceships?” asked Wes.
"That's us," said Jack. “You should see my Province, there’s shipyards everywhere.”
"Hey, I was thinking, how did you get the name Lance Dustin Blackjack?” asked Wes. "That's not exactly a Daraian name."
"Lance Dustin was my Hatching Father's name," explained Jack, "and Blackjack is a game my great-great-great-grandfather made up, it's played on Pyra."
"Never heard of it, but why Pyra, that's the other side of the galaxy," asked Wes.
"The Ravens control all the casinos, we sold the game to them. You play it with cards, but it's not as popular as Bone Dice," said Jack. "I got a deck of the cards. I can show you."
"Okay, that makes sense, Pyra is one of the few places the Empire allows casinos, but I gave up gambling," said Wes.
The rain started up again and made further conversation difficult. The boys walked in silence for the last mile. Toran thought Colt looked lost. Another three miles and several backtracks later, they came out of the trees into a clearing with boulders surrounding a cabin. A tangle of wood beams littered the ground. The lookout tower had fallen on its side.
"See, it wasn't that I was lost," said Colt. "The tower fell over, and I couldn't see the cabin without it."
The four Merits rolled their eyes at Colt.
"Fine, believe what you want," protested Colt. "I wasn't lost."
"Lucky it fell away from the cabin," said Garth.
The cabin was s
maller than their cabin back at camp, and didn’t have a loft, but instead had two small bedrooms off the main room with a bathing room between them. The kitchen occupied a comfortable corner with a cast iron stove, a storage pantry full of canned food, and a decent size food preparation counter. The fireplace was in the same spot as their cabin and had several rustic chairs placed around a bear-fur rug. A large round wooden table occupied the center of the main room, with more of the rustic chairs pushed in around it.
"Hey, there's two beds in each of the bedrooms," said Wes, exploring the rooms.
"Probably so we can't get tempted to all sleep at the same time," said Toran, stacking wood in the fireplace.
"There’s no watch tower, now what?" asked Wes.
"Call the Marshal and ask what we should do," said Toran.
Garth stood at the sink checking for hot water. "I think the water heater isn't working."
"I saw solar panels on the roof," said Colt. "Hey Austin, can you..."
Colt realized what he had said and stopped abruptly, the others became silent and stared at him accusingly. The awkward tension in the room was thick.
"This is dumb," said Jack. "It's normal to make a slip like that, and you guys have been so busy making sure I don't act like Austin you don't ever ask me to do anything."
"Jack, you don't have to try to be Austin's replacement," said Toran. "Just be you."
"Oh my gosh, you guys don't listen," said Jack. "Is it because I'm smaller than you?"
"It's not that, Jack," said Colt. "We just want you to be you."
"Oh stop it," said Jack. “I am Austin's replacement, and the pilot, the mechanical expert, the political analyst, and the detective."
"What do you know about being a political analyst?” asked Colt.
"Nothing, I don't even know what it is," said Jack, "but I guess it's in one of the books I'm studying, I'll figure it out. Stop treating me like I'm the team's pet canary."
"Okay," agreed Colt. "Get the electricity turned on.”
"Gosh, was that so hard?" asked Jack, his tiny fangs gleaming through his grin. He turned and bounced out the door whistling to himself while he went to look for the power box to the solar panels.
"We got a problem," said Wes, fiddling with the radio. Purple goo was dripping from the bottom of the radio. "The battery must have cracked when I fell on that rock, its dead."
"Not a problem," said Colt. "The Marshal will send a Dart ship up here to check on us when we don't make the scheduled radio checks."
"Maybe we should do our watch shifts on the roof of the cabin," said Garth. "It's not as good as the tower, but it's better than nothing."
Everyone looked up as the lights flickered on.
"Well I'll be," said Wes. "Bird Boy got the electricity on."
CHAPTER THIRTY
Below Water
Colt stuck his hand under the deluge of rainwater pouring from the roof. "I don't think it's safe, just walk around the porch, and keep an eye for anything unusual."
"You got it," said Wes. "Um... we've fought a pack of wolves, a Caelum drop battalion, a Raven assassination team, been captured by raiders, conquered a planet, and broke an inmate out of prison. What exactly do you consider unusual?"
Wes's constant smart mouth was starting to get on Colt's nerves. "Just keep your eyes open," snapped Colt, opening the door and slamming it shut behind him.
"I want to check out the lake," said Jack.
"Aren't you supposed to be studying?” asked Toran.
"If I study, can I go see the lake later?”
"Check with Colt."
"I don't care, do whatever you want," said Colt.
Jack threw himself down on the rug in front of the fire and opened a book. The cabin was warm and was comfortable now. Jack found it difficult to keep his eyes open; studying was boring. He knew it was important. He needed to catch up with the rest of the team, but he wanted some action like the team had seen. Jack flipped the pages of the textbook and studied for several hours. The monotony got to him, and he pushed the book away
"This is boring," said Jack. "How do you guys study for so many hours without going insane?"
"I thought Daraians liked to study," said Toran.
"It's dumb to think we're all the same," said Jack. "I hate school. I want some action."
Wes had come back inside and flopped down on the floor with his feet up on one of the rustic chairs; it seemed to be his favorite position.
"Knowing Colt, you'll get plenty of action," said Wes.
"You've always got something smart to say," said Colt, “and why aren’t you on watch?”
“Watch what?” asked Wes. “We can’t see anything from the porch.”
Garth growled, stood, and tossed the book he was reading back on the table. "I'm tired of listening to you two argue," said Garth. "I'll stand watch."
"You guys are some kind of geniuses, huh?” asked Jack, not completely oblivious to the tension in the room.
"I don't know about that," said Toran, "but we did figure something out a long time ago."
"What's that?” asked Jack.
"We aren't being trained like normal Gunslingers," replied Toran.
Jack sat up. "What then?"
"All the teams at our camp are being trained as special Gunslinger combat teams," said Toran. "They're getting us ready for something big, studying what's in these books might save us later."
"My team was a normal Gunslinger team," said Jack. "We were going to be assigned as constables on Darai when we graduated."
"You need to step up your game," said Toran. "You'll be okay if you crack those books hard."
"Okay," said Jack. "I'll stop whining about studying."
An hour later Jack was sound asleep on top of the book he had been trying to study. Toran left him be, Jack was an oddity among Daraians. Most Daraians were reclusive. Some people said it was because they were thousands of years more advanced in technology and afraid of accidently giving science to species not yet ready. FTL had come from the Daraians and was the last technology they had ever given up. Though, there was more controversy over FTL than any other subject. Nobody other than the Kesune had ever figured out how the Daraian FTL engines worked.
Toran shook his head. Jack wasn't an academic, and never would be. Jack probably didn’t even know any advanced technology and was likely the reason the Daraians hadn’t cared about him joining the Gunslingers. Toran got up and went to one of the sleeping rooms. He had another two hours before it was his shift.
Jack startled awake; something felt wrong, but he didn't know what it was. Daraians were sensitive to changes in the environment around them. He laid his hand on the floor of the cabin. A slight vibration was running through the floor. Jack looked up at the windows. The wind was blowing sheets of rain against the side of the cabin.
"Maybe it's the wind rattling the building," thought Jack. He felt the tremor again, so slight that he doubted anyone else would feel it even if he pointed it out to them. He walked over to the table in the center of the room. Wes had left the map out on the table to dry, and Jack looked at it, running his finger across the map. He traced a circle around the cabin with his fingers, expanding the circle each time. Jack's finger stopped at the trail they had followed up from the Gunslinger camp at the bottom of the mountain. The camp was marked with the number 26. He recognized the various buildings of the camp. He continued making larger circles on the map.
"This is the mountain we are on," thought Jack, "and here on the other side of the mountain is Camp 25. Jack's finger kept circling and stopped at the blue symbol for a lake. That was where he wanted to explore.
"This must be where we get our water from."
He traced the path back up to the lookout cabin. Jack felt the tremor again under his feet again, and went to the sleeping room and looked in. Wes and Toran were sleeping. He pulled the door shut and walked back to the table.
Jack grabbed the map, folded it up, and went to the door to put on his dust
er. He looked back at the room once before opening the door and stepped onto the porch. He knew they would be mad that he went without telling them, but he needed to check out the tremor.
"Garth must be on the other side of the cabin," thought Jack, as he tucked the map into his duster and walked out into the rain. The mountains reminded him of his home world, Darai. He loved the tall pines soaring into the sky, the blanket of pine needles with patches of snow covering the ground, and the smell of the wet forest. This was a good place.
Jack walked through the forest and followed the map towards the lake. He tipped his head up and caught some of the raindrops in his mouth. Despite what the others on his team thought, he couldn't avoid raindrops, but the rain did fall in patterns, and if you paid attention, you could see the pattern. If the others had bothered to watch Jack, they would have noticed him sidestepping the sheets of falling rain. Jack did that now and glided down the hill.
He followed the path for three miles and came to the edge of the lake. He felt an adrenaline surge at seeing that much water in one place. Daraians as a species were terrified of large bodies of water, but not Jack. He liked the thrill. He pulled the map out and looked at it. There was a symbol on the map he didn't know. Wes was the navigation specialist, and Jack hadn't had the time yet to cross-train. He headed in the direction of the unknown structure.
The lake was swollen and the edge came well up into the tree line. He could just see the other side of the lake through the haze of the rain. The water swirled angry and dark as Jack followed the edge of the lake. He felt the tremor again; it was stronger now, and closer. He stopped for a moment and waited to see if anything else happened, then continued along the edge of the flooded lake. The edge of the trees opened to a wide curving structure of earth spanning from one side of the lake to the other.
"Oh, it's a dam."
He pulled the map back out and looked at the symbol of the dam on the map.