by T. R. Harris
He wore a watch and had checked the time of his departure on the hunt for the Garrison. He had to estimate his ground speed to calculate how far he’d gone. He stopped six other times to get warm, having gone about forty miles.
The dark was fully upon him by then, with the cloud- and moonless night bringing with it freezing temperatures. It was getting serious, and the stops became more frequent. Now, he not only had to contend with the cold, but fatigue was setting in. The cold was draining him of energy, and at one point, he realized he’d reached his limit. He swept over the dark terrain looking for a suitable shelter, a place with a little of the scarce vegetation that had begun to grow on the once-dead world. He needed a place to rest, and one that would retain the heat from a static electricity ball.
He found a promising spot and landed, quickly scurrying against a low rock outcropping. There wasn’t enough of the scraggly moss to make a bed, but at least the ground wasn’t covered in tundra. He leaned against the rock wall while bringing the crackling ball of light in as close as he dared. The dichotomy was distinct. He was being scorched on one side of his body while aching cold penetrated his back.
Chapter 4
Adam suddenly jerked awake. He could barely move, with each motion a study in agony. He’d fallen asleep, and when he did, the warming globe of electricity evaporated. He struggled to check his watch, learning that he had slept for almost an hour in the bitter cold of the Korash-Nor plains, his back still pressed against the heat-sapping granite outcropping.
His mind was foggy, the pain in his body intense. He tried to concentrate enough to conjure up a life-saving heating ball but failed the first few times. His body was racked with violent spasms, robbing him of concentration. Anger grew to such intensity that he finally screamed out in the darkness, letting out at least some of the frustration.
His mind cleared after that, and moments later, a small glowing ball of light appeared before his eyes. He stared at it as if it were a god, cradling it as close to his frozen hands as possible. As the warmth soaked in, Adam moved the ball farther away and continued to let it grow, as his rejuvenated ATD gathered up as much of the raw static electricity in the dry cold air as possible. He’d never made a ball this big; it had to be a foot across, crackling and spitting tiny shafts of blue, white and yellow lightning into the night.
The heat was incredible, and after a while, Adam toned it down, reducing the ball to half its size. He felt better now, enough where his mind could function. He’d only gone about a hundred miles, and that was a crude estimate. That wasn’t good enough. He thought about staying where he was until daybreak, but then he’d have to risk falling asleep again. The next time he may never wake up.
He had no other option.
Reluctantly, Adam created another magic air carpet and set off across the dark landscape, using the strange constellations in the sky as markers as to the direction he was heading. He knew he would have to take the ride into the upper atmosphere eventually to scan for the BARs. He wasn’t looking forward to that.
He went slower this time, figuring he was only moving at about ten miles per hour. He had to be careful of obstacles along the way since he wasn’t that high, and the light from the containment field robbed him of his night vision. But the higher he went, the colder it got.
Adam couldn’t remember ever being this cold. The only thing that came close was the twenty-four weeks of BUD/S training in the SEALs in Coronado. Ocean water off the California coast never got warm, and the instructors made sure each candidate spent as much time in the frigid surf as possible. He could vividly remember the uncontrollable shivers he got while sitting in the gentle waves for hours on end. While on dive operations, it was different; he had something to do to take his mind off the cold. But during endurance training, all he had to do was sit and think of the cold. He was supposed to learn how to ignore the pain, to tough it out. The whole idea of SEAL training was to weed out those who didn’t have the will to survive. And it wasn’t so much about physical strength or conditioning, but about mental toughness. You had to want it more, to not let the instructor, or the cold or the pain defeat you. That was what Adam needed at the moment, a superhuman boost of mental toughness.
That would have been fine—let his mind wander and get lost in some alternate reality for a while. But he couldn’t do that. He had to maintain the strictest concentration to keep the containment field intact. That wasn’t only difficult, but it was mentally and physically exhausting. This didn’t apply only to the magic carpet, but to his warming balls of electricity, as well. Both required constant attention, although the globes not as much.
After another hour or so—and half a dozen quick respites to warm up—Adam felt it was time to make his first high altitude scan. He had no illusions that it would be one and done. He figured he’d have to make several before he could get a good reading on the BARs at the Garrison.
He spent ten minutes soaking up all the excess heat he could, but he knew there was no easy way to do this. He would just have to tough it out. He created the air cushion, and while still invigorated by the residual heat still clinging to his clothing, he shot into the air.
As soon as he took off, his mind wandered slightly, and the cushion dissolved for a moment. He fought to get it back, while a phantom thought was present in his mind. That thought was that in the dark of the Korash-Nor night, he couldn’t judge distance. He would have no idea how high he was or how far he would fall while he did the scan. He pushed the thought out of his mind and concentrated on the sparkling electricity below him.
The cold grew more intense the higher he went. At a high enough altitude, he could make out the horizon to the east—the direction he was traveling—as the faint glow of morning was seen. That was reassuring. He had his bearings straight, and it gave him a location to focus his scan.
The mutants imbued his ATD with added detection capability, saying that knowledge of impending hazards was often better than an active deterrent. He was counting on the upgraded capacity of the device to scan out a hundred miles or more to detect the BARs.
At first, Adam wasn’t aware that the magic carpet had dissolved. One moment he was soaring ever higher into the Korash-Nor sky; the next, he was tumbling back toward the surface.
He must have blacked out, either from the cold or the altitude. Either way, he was now in a world of hurt. But he couldn’t let this opportunity pass. He accessed the ATD and concentrated on the distant eastern horizon, searching for energy signals in the mostly silent world. He could never have done this on a more conventional planet, one filled with electronic and energy sources of all types. There would have been too much clutter for him to identify a single source.
But Korash-Nor was different. Except for a faint reading to the south, where he knew one of the few remaining inhabited cities to be, everything else was dark and silent.
It was a strange sensation. Adam knew he was falling, as evidenced by the frigid air rushing over his body. But the sensation of motion was gone. It was as if he was standing still as hurricane-force winds swept over him. That was when he noticed he wasn’t cold anymore; in fact, he was at peace with everything. It was so beautiful up here, with the low crescent of the horizon and its soft yellow glow hypnotizing.
Then he noticed a small light in the darkness between him and the horizon. But it wasn’t a light, more a phantom beacon calling out to him. His ATD had detected something.
The thought snapped him out of his dangerous reverie. He concentrated on the location of the signal. It was pretty far from the horizon, making it closer to him then he figured. He searched for landmarks and found a pair of dark lumps on the landscape. Mountains or hills? The signal came from just on the other side of the peaks.
He’d found the Garrison. Now, he could relax, get some sleep. He would go there … later.
But that wasn’t right. Adam wasn’t anywhere he could relax. Where was he? There was nothing but darkness and the mesmerizing curve of the light in the dist
ance.
Adam became aware, letting the panic sweep through his body, producing endorphins that sparked his body into action. He was cold to the point of numbness, and that wasn’t good. His mind was in a fog, but still, he fought for control. He was Adam Cain; he would not let the cold defeat him.
He imagined the crackling light of the static electricity field, knowing that at the end of the effort would be all the warmth he needed. But first, he had to stop his fall. He had no idea how high he was; the surface below was shrouded in darkness. He focused his efforts, concentrating harder than he’d ever done before, his eyes watering and his lungs screaming as he fell.
There was light now, not on the surface but closer, within arm’s length. As the flickering grew more intense, Adam’s mind cleared, allowing him to force the magic carpet into existence. He felt the soothing softness of the air supporting him. He wasn’t moving any longer, and the bitterness of the wind was gone. As he hovered, he could feel the faint residual heat from the containment field. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Now, his entire world was the warm cushion of air below him. He had no trouble maintaining the field’s integrity. There was nothing else except him and his magic carpet.
As his senses returned, Adam allowed the cushion to descend slowly. He could now see the soft undulations of the landscape by the subtle shades of gray and black. The ground wasn’t far away, and he landed with a jolt, the platform of air bouncing slightly as it hit.
He dissolved the cushion and fell face-first to the cold, damp soil. He didn’t care. He struggled to roll over, his body stiff from the intense cold. He conjured up another static electricity ball and placed it above him, bathing in the waves of heat radiating from the flickering light. Although his back quickly absorbed the cold from the ground, he tolerated it for a moment before rolling on his side to let the warmth reach other parts of his body.
He would stay here for as long as it took to get warm, while consciously fighting the urge to fall asleep. He’d come too far to let the night defeat him. The Garrison was close, probably not more than twenty miles away. The thought gave him energy. Another couple of hours and he’d be safe, warm … and alive.
The sky was beginning to lighten with the promise of a new day. It took Adam another three hours to travel the twenty miles to the Garrison. His bearings were true, and in the gathering light, be recognized the twin peaks that marked the direction he had to go to reach the site. The elevation increased through the pass between the hills, and as he crested the summit, his ATD was able to lock onto his destination.
Chapter 5
Adam was ecstatic, although he had to be careful. He couldn’t very well come soaring over the barricades and into the center of the compound like Aladdin on a flying carpet of crackling light. That might not go over as planned. Instead, he landed out of sight of the guard station and walked the rest of the way.
He was bone-weary, filthy and aching from the cold and the countless falls he’d taken throughout the night. His uniform was covered in mud to the point it was hard to recognize it as an Enforcer outfit. Also, the troops would be on edge. The war on Korash-Nor was escalating, and he was sure by now they’d heard of the battle that took place not too far from their compound. Two hundred miles may seem like quite a distance, but on a world with so few people, that was in the neighborhood.
Adam had no idea as to the species makeup of the facility. He was sure no Humans would be here. Although recruits were flowing into the Enforcer Corps from across the galaxy, it was still rare to find a Human among the boots. He kept track of the Humans, and as of his last accounting, there were forty-one of them in the Corps. None of them would be stuck out in the boonies on a planet like Korash-Nor. They were too valuable to waste their time in the middle of nowhere.
The Garrison wasn’t an enclosed fort per se, just a series of buildings surrounded by low-lying barricades made of composite fiberboard. The barriers were there more to define the area rather than afford protection against attack. That would change if the Enforcers became more embroiled in the conflict. A small spaceport was located south of the Garrison with six hovercopters and a pair of space shuttles.
Adam had seen the reports coming from across the Zone of his peacekeeping forces being attacked by both natives and PCs alike, even though each vehicle was clearly marked by the color and the symbol on the roof. Also, all local troops wore designated uniforms to set them apart. But with counterfeit units cropping up everywhere, no one could be trusted these days not to open fire. The Garrisons were a little safer since they were well-established locales. Everyone knew these were Enforcers. But when the troops ventured outside their sanctuaries, that’s when things got dicey. That was why they seldom did.
Three bored-looking aliens sat at the main entrance to the Garrison, bundled in arctic weather gear and with portable heating towers glowing nearby. And although the station was located forty miles north of one of the major cities where most of the fighting was taking place, the troops here didn’t have much to do. They showed the flag and reminded the natives and PCs that outside forces were keeping an eye on them. In truth, the center was primarily a remote communication and monitoring station rather than an active military base, utilizing dozens of satellites in orbit, along with a fleet of drones, to keep an eye on the planet. Only about one hundred twenty Enforcers were on Korash-Nor. As the fighting escalated—and Navarus chose sides in the conflict—more troops would be sent in. Three of the wars taking place in the Zone had several thousand Enforcers fighting within the ranks of the chosen side, attempting to suppress the enemy. Two were embedded with native populations, while the third fought with the PCs. Siding with the former MK personnel was unusual and happened when the natives went overboard and attempted to exterminate any outsiders from their planet. That was something Adam couldn’t let happen.
Adam held his arms out to his side as he approached the guard station. It took ten minutes to walk from where he dissolved the air platform to the base, and already he was once again racked with teeth-rattling shivers. His joints could barely function, causing him to move like an old man, with jerky, uncertain steps. The guards were on their feet, aiming their BARs at him.
“Please, I need help,” Adam blurted out. “I’m Adam Cain, the head of the Enforcers. I’ve traveled through the night to get here. I need help.”
That was as far as he got before he dropped to his knees, stuffing his frozen hands into his pockets. Keeping them exposed to the sub-zero temperature was too much to bear.
The guards approached; a corporal took the lead.
“Adam Cain? That is not possible. We received a message during the night that he is dead.”
“How alive do I look?” Adam asked sarcastically. “I didn’t die, but I almost did. Now, get me some help. Call your commander if you must.”
The alien wasn’t buying it.
“If you are Adam Cain, then what is the name of our commander? As head of the Enforcers, you should know.”
Adam hung his head in exhaustion. “There are four hundred eighty Garrisons in the Zone. I don’t know the names of all the commanders. Just get him, corporal.”
Every second that passed while the alien decided what to do was another second of the intense cold penetrating his body.
“While we wait for you to make up your god-damned mind, can I move closer to your heaters? I’m dying here.”
The alien waved the barrel of this rifle, and Adam struggled to his feet. The quad heating towers produced an area of blissful heat, soaking into every part of Adam’s body. The feeling was orgasmic. Another guard offered up his chair to Adam; he was the smart one, covering his bases in case Adam was who he said he was.
The leader fingered his comm and called the base commander. Adam didn’t catch the name; he didn’t care. He wasn’t anxious to leave the comfort of the heaters, and he was sure the commander wouldn’t go out in the early morning cold to see who was at the door.
Eventually, an enclosed transpo
rt hummed up to the station, and Adam was driven to the command center. There weren’t a lot of troops up at this hour, only those on duty. A variety of eyes, buds and stalks watched him with trepidation. One brought him a steaming cup of liquid Adam assumed was some form of alien coffee. He held the warm flask in his hands while slowly sipping the magic elixir.
Adam was warm now, almost to the point of nausea. He began to worry if he’d suffered any lasting damage from the cold, praying that frostbite hadn’t set in. He checked his fingers; none were turning black, showing signs of the early onset of the condition. He could recover from hypothermia; frostbite was something much more debilitating and lasting.
The base commander eventually came into the room. He’d been asleep when first summoned, but now he came dressed in full Enforcer attire, with the insignia of a major on his collar. Adam didn’t recognize him or his species, but the alien had quite the opposite reaction when he saw Adam.
“Summon the medical tech!” the gravel-throated officer ordered. “And a new set of clothing for the Marshal. Please, sir, I apologize for how you were treated. You can imagine our shock after hearing of your death earlier. I am Amann Al’Poma, base commander.”
“It’s okay, Major,” Adam said. He tried grinning but found his lips were dry and cracked. He hadn’t had cause to smile before this. He winced. “Can you contact my ship and let them know I’m alive? And then get a shuttle down here as soon as possible. I appreciate your offer of a med tech, but the facilities aboard my ship are a lot more advanced.”