With a grim expression, Ben went down on his knees, snipped off the plug of the red cable and pulled off the plastic cladding until only bare copper stuck out.
If I connect it directly to the pole on the generator, the circuit will be complete.
He pulled the cable over to the generator, which had a plug similar to a car battery. He was silent for a moment.
Here we go!
There was a small spark as he connected the wire to the pole. A bang and a grinding sound were the last thing he heard.
Russell didn’t know for how long he had been running. He kept on going up the slight incline of the canyon. He had just turned another curve when he stumbled. He flailed his arms around to try and regain his balance, but without success, and fell headlong to the ground. This saved his life.
He was surrounded by a bright light, brighter than a thousand suns. He screamed, as searing heat singed his hair. There was a terrible rumbling sound, but he only heard it for a second before his eardrums burst. Pieces of rock started to break off the canyon wall and poured over his battered body.
Chapter 51
When Russell came to, his surprise was boundless. He opened his eyes, but the brightness blinded him so much that he immediately closed them again.
I should be dead! The atomic bomb! The exploding rocks! Or am I in fact dead?
He felt pain in his knees and back.
The dead don’t feel pain!
Tentatively, he opened his eyes again and forced himself to keep them open.
Gradually he got used to the light. He recognized the infirmary. The light came from the sun that was shining through the window straight onto his face. He turned around and saw Ellen’s face. She was smiling. She said nothing, but stroked his cheek with her hand.
“I love you!” whispered Russell. He could not remember when he had last spoken those words. The face of the doctor appeared beside his wife’s.
“How many lives do you have, actually?” Lindwall smiled.
“I’m guessing I’ve used them all up now,” croaked Russell.
“And he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, either.”
Russell propped himself up with difficulty, tensed his muscles and one by one, moved each of his limbs. It seemed he hadn’t even broken anything.
“How . . .” he began.
“How did you survive?” his wife finished his question. “It’s thanks to your radio. The talk button was pressed down the whole time. That way we were able to find you under a foot of debris. It’s lucky you weren’t any nearer the explosion. The whole canyon is buried.
“The explosion . . . It worked!”
Dr. Lindwall nodded. “It did. At Ground Zero there’s a sheer, hundred-and-thirty-foot high barrier. No animal in this world will be able to get over it. Unless it has wings.”
“It was awful,” said Ellen. Her voice was trembling. “We went down shortly after the explosion and looked over the edge. The beasts had torn each other to bits. A few hours later the flood came, and drowned any that were still alive.”
“How long was I out for?” asked Russell.
“Two days. You had a bad concussion. The doc put you into a deep sleep with a bit of medication, so that you could recover.”
Russell coughed. He had difficulty breathing, and he remembered that his survival would only be short-lived. He wanted to run his hand through his hair, but his hand touched nothing but naked skin. It must have been the radiation from the bomb! “Will I end my life like Ty’s?” he asked blankly.
Dr. Lindwall shook his head. “You didn’t get any radiation, although you were less than a mile away from Ground Zero. The bomb exploded below ground. Only a small amount of gamma radiation was emitted. The heat singed your hair, but you don’t have any critical burns. This evening you can go back home.”
“The children?”
“They’re fine. Greg and Grace were here until a few minutes ago. Jim is with Cathy and her sister. Another two children who have to carry on without their parents.”
Ben!
Slowly, Russell remembered the last few minutes before the explosion. “How many dead? How many victims?”
“Ten dead and fifteen injured,” said Ellen. “It could have been worse. We survived.” She leaned over and kissed him gently. “And we have you to thank for that.”
Russell shook his head. “No, we have Ben to thank for it, and above all Ty. In the end his plan worked. And the men and women who sacrificed their lives for the colony down at the post.”
“We all fought for it,” said Ellen. “But we won! We saved our colony!”
Russell could feel all the strain of the last week in his bones. He sank back down on his pillow.
“Rest now. Try to sleep a little. This evening at sunset there will be a memorial service for the dead.” She smiled. “Well, and to an extent of course it is also a victory celebration. I’ll come and collect you with the children and we can go together.
Russell smiled weakly and fell back to sleep.
Chapter 52
“I had hoped we wouldn’t have to hold another memorial service,” said Marlene. “But unfortunately it has come to pass.”
Twelve graves had been dug in the hurriedly extended cemetery. Because they did not have enough coffins, they had lowered all the dead directly into the ground, filled the holes and scattered them with fresh flowers. A single candle flickered on each grave. Wooden crosses were adorned with the names of the fallen. In the coming weeks, they would be replaced by individual gravestones.
All of the surviving colonists had turned out, apart from Sarah Denning, who was still lying in the infirmary. Marlene’s head was bandaged; the heat of the flamethrower had burnt her scalp.
“Ten people gave their lives to defend our colony at the observation post. Ty died constructing the bomb. We owe our lives to his idea and to his zeal, and to Ben, who detonated the bomb, in full knowledge that he would die in the process. All of these brave people gave their lives for us, the survivors. Together, we mourn the loss of the men and women from our midst and, even if the pain subsides, we will never forget that they died to secure the survival of our colony.”
Marlene paused for a moment.
Survive. We will carry on living!
Two days ago she had no longer believed it. When she had seen the hordes of beasts approaching the observation post, she had been sure her life was over. She would never forget that sight and that feeling. It would haunt her for as long as she lived. Her hands hadn’t stopped trembling since the battle, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. At some point it would subside. Along with the pain and the memories. But the scars would remain. They had fought, they had won. That was what counted!
“I know that some people in our community have always struggled to see this planet as their home. But that is precisely what we fought for over the last few days, and what the fallen died for: our home! Let’s continue to work together to improve life in our colony and to give our children a solid foundation for their futures. It may take hundreds more generations, but I am convinced that our descendants will spread across the whole planet. I am also convinced that the names of those killed in action from the first and second generations will always be remembered by our descendants. And it goes without saying that we ourselves will never forget their sacrifice.”
Marlene paused. She could hear sobbing from the crowd. Many had lost mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and children. It would take a long time until the sorrow and the horror of the last few days faded.
Marlene gazed toward the horizon. The air was incredibly clear. The radioactive wave had been blown out to sea. The setting sun had turned red and would disappear over the horizon in a few minutes. A few bright stars already glimmered in the sky. The moon was just coming into view over the cusp of the horizon. Despite the many victims, Marlene wanted to face the future with optimism.
She turned back to the waiting colonists. At the edge of the crowd she could see Russell, who was leanin
g against Ellen and coughing. She was glad that he had survived the explosion, but it made it all the more distressing to know that soon she would be conducting another funeral service.
“Today is a time for mourning, but it is also a time to celebrate. Our colony has survived, and once again we can look to the future full of hope. We will wait until the flood has subsided, and make our way back down to the lowlands. Since all the monsters are dead, we can go down there for the first time without fear. We will put the oil wells back into operation and step up our efforts to explore and understand our planet. The events of the last days have taught us that we cannot afford to isolate ourselves in a single settlement and focus only on ourselves. We need to build a future not only for the second generation, but also for the third generation, which will hopefully soon see the light of day. And we can do so with less obstacles than before, which is what we want to celebrate today.”
She paused. “I can understand that many of you are not in the mood to celebrate, but I would ask you to still come to the mess hall, because we want to spend this day together.”
She nodded and stepped aside. One by one, the colonists walked past the graves and laid down flowers. After a while, the crowd dispersed and trotted in little groups back to the settlement.
Russell and Ellen walked slowly over to the mess hall. She had to support him. He felt weaker than he had ever felt in his life. And yet he was in good spirits. All the exertions of the last days and weeks had been worth it. Despite the advanced stage of his cancer, he had contributed to the survival of the colony. His family was alive, and considering the many victims, that was not to be taken for granted.
When they arrived at the mess hall, somebody pressed a glass into his hand and he took a big gulp. The moonshine had been diluted with some juice and tasted awful, but the warmth in his throat felt good.
Marlene came up to him and smiled. “We haven’t seen each other since you woke up. I wanted to come by the infirmary, but there was just too much to do.” She squeezed his hand and he smiled back weakly.
“It’s okay, I can imagine you must be up to your ears at the moment. Thanks for organizing this little party.”
She helped herself to a full glass from the tray and toasted with Russell. “It seemed wrong to go straight back to the normal routine. I hope this will mark a symbolic end to the crisis. Despite the mourning, we will continue with our daily lives tomorrow. We need to get back to the fields urgently, and save whatever we can of the harvest. Some of the vehicles are damaged and need to be repaired. God, there’s enough to be getting on with.”
Russell nodded. “I’ll help as much as I’m able.”
Beside him, Ellen rolled her eyes and groaned.
Marlene laughed. “You’ve already done more than anybody ever expected of you. You will stay at home with your family and let yourself be taken care of.”
“But—”
Marlene interrupted him brusquely. “No buts. If I catch sight of you anywhere near the workshop or the fields, I will have you dragged away and chained to your bed.” She grasped his hand. “I know exactly what keeps you going. You’ve still got a bad conscience because it’s because of you that we’re all stranded on this planet. But you’ve made your contribution. Over all these years, no task was ever too much for you, and even in the last few days, despite your illness, you risked your life to save the colony. And you nearly died in the process.”
“Everyone risked their lives,” said Russell flatly.
“Yes, the crisis of the last few days was a turning point. It marks the start of a new beginning for our colony. Now we definitively leave the past behind us and live only for the future. Whatever debt you felt you owed our community, it’s been paid, once and for all. That’s the way I see it, and so will everyone else.”
Russell stared into his half-full glass. The brownish liquid swilled back and forth.
Marlene clapped him on the shoulder. “Stop moping about, and enjoy the time with your family.” She smiled at him and Ellen again and then disappeared into the crowd.
“She’s right,” said Ellen. “Be happy that you’re alive and that we’re alive. Let’s celebrate a little longer.”
He hugged her and smiled. “Okay!”
Chapter 53
They had stayed till long after sundown, shaken many hands, exchanged hugs, and drunk several more glasses of the terrible swill. They had celebrated with some and mourned with others. Then Russell had been overcome by exhaustion and they had returned to their hut at the edge of the settlement.
Despite his tiredness, Russell was unable to fall asleep for a long time. Beside him, Ellen was also restless.
“It was so close!” said Russell.
“Yes. I was scared. I was sure we would die. I was even more afraid than in the transporter all those years ago.”
“The transporter. I simply don’t understand why the sphere suddenly stopped working. I mean, those things were built to last hundreds of millions of years. I just don’t get it.”
Ellen didn’t seem too bothered by it. “Everything breaks at some point.”
Russell shook his head. “But not those spheres. You know yourself that those things work without a hitch in even the most adverse environments. I would love to know why the transporter gave up the ghost precisely when it did.”
Ellen cuddled up to him. “Stop thinking about it. We’ll never know.”
Russell sighed. “You’re probably right.”
“What will you do now?”
He looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Will you leave us again?”
Russell frowned. That evening he had managed pretty well to forget about his cancer. But he also knew that Ellen was waiting for an answer.
“No,” he said quietly, and held her tight. He had wanted to spare his family the sight of a dying husband and father. But he had been wrong. If he just went, and left Ellen and the children in a state of not knowing, it would probably be much worse for them. Here they would be able to bury him and mourn him.
“I’m staying!”
They lay in each other’s arms for a long time until they fell asleep.
What was that?
Russell awoke from a horrible dream. He had been startled out of his sleep by a noise. There! Again he heard something clattering outside, somewhere close to the hut. Had somebody at the party had one too many? He turned around and tried to get back to sleep. Then there was a scream. Russell sat up in bed.
Jesus, what’s going on?
He heard footsteps on the other side of the wall.
Hastily, he shook Ellen, who woke up groaning. “What is it?”
“Shhhh! Something’s going on outside!”
He swung himself out of bed and pulled on his pants, which were lying on a chair. Again he heard the sound of heavy boots on the gravel. Crouching, he moved over to the window and peered out. It was pitch black, but from somewhere came the beam of a flashlight. He could make out silhouettes—of humans, not animals.
Who the hell is that?
Russell opened the bedroom door and ran to the cupboard, where he kept his gun. Ellen followed him. She blinked drowsily. “What is it?”
“There are figures creeping around the houses.”
“Figures? Who—?”
“I don’t know,” he hissed. “But I’ll be damned if it’s someone from the colony. Go to the children!”
Russell was about to insert a magazine, when the front door burst open. Ellen screamed. Six people stormed into the house. Two of them grabbed Ellen and held her mouth closed. Russell wanted to raise his weapon, but four powerful arms grabbed him and pressed him against the wall. He tried to defend himself, but his opponents were clearly well trained. One of them took him in a headlock, the other ripped the gun out of his hand. Two others stood against the wall, weapons at the ready.
“For fuck’s sake! Who the hell are you?” Russell exclaimed. He didn’t get a reply. Instead, a flashlight was shone s
traight into his face.
“It’s him, Sir. We’ve got him,” called one of the men.
Russell tried to wriggle out of the man’s grasp, but didn’t stand a chance. He stood silent as someone came through the door. The person stopped a few feet away from Russell, but because of the light in his face, Russell couldn’t see him properly.
“How nice that we finally meet again, Harris!”
Russell felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The voice was seething with hate, but that wasn’t it. He knew the voice. He couldn’t place it, but he’d heard it thousands of times before in his life. He hadn’t imagined he would ever hear it again.
“Who are you?”
Another flashlight went on. The man lit up his own face.
That face! It was furrowed and haggard. Much older than he remembered. Short, snow-white hair peeped out from under a cap. But the eyes were still bright and sparkling.
“General Morrow!” croaked Russell. “How the hell—?”
The General nodded to a man at his side and the last thing Russell felt was an explosion of pain, as a rifle butt hit him on the head.
——
END
More books by Phillip P. Peterson coming 2017:
Transport 3: The Zone
Paradox - On the Brink of Eternity
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Transport 2_The Flood Page 30