by Ryk Brown
“Good thinking,” Luis agreed.
“I’m at the end of the first section of safety runner,” Devyn announced as she came to a stop. “I’m transferring my safety line to the next section.” She held on with her left hand while she disconnected the carabiner from the safety runner with her right and reconnected it on the other side of the safety runner’s attachment bracket. “Okay, I’m reconnected,” she reported as she turned to her right slightly to face back the way she had come. “I’m going to pull the EVA pack to me now.”
“Copy that.”
Devyn reached down to the line hanging from one of the attachment points on the right side of her waist and pulled at it with her right hand. The EVA pack hanging five meters behind her slid easily along the safety runner, traversing the entire distance with a single tug in the light gravity. “Well, that was easy.” She connected the second safety cable’s carabiner to the safety runner on her side of the runner’s attachment point, then disconnected the other cable from the other side of the runner and let it hang freely. “Okay, the EVA pack is on the next section as well. Moving on.”
“So, you only have to transfer one more time, and then you’re on the last section, right?” Luis asked.
“That’s right,” Devyn confirmed. “Darcy was right. This isn’t that hard after all, even in an EVA suit.”
“Once you get to the other side, all you have to do is go up the ramp and through the hatch and you’re on the command deck,” Luis said happily. “Then it’s just a short walk to the bridge airlock. You’ll be here in no time.”
“No time he says,” Devyn mumbled. “What has it been so far, like an hour?”
“Forty-seven minutes, actually,” Ensign Schenker corrected over the comms.
“At least when you go back you won’t be hauling an extra EVA pack,” Luis pointed out.
“Always looking for the silver lining, aren’t you?”
“Hey, it’s what I do,” Luis said. “Of course, you could always just fix the leak and get us our whole deck back. Then none of us would have to go back.”
“Yeah, and I could sleep in a real bed.” She paused to transfer her safety line to the next runner section.
“Ah-ha,” Luis responded in an accusatory tone.
“What? You didn’t think I was going through all this just to save your sorry butts, did you?”
* * *
“This way,” Tony said as they made their way through the woods. “It’s just ahead.”
“Where are we going?” Synda asked.
“There’s an old barn just past these woods,” Tony explained. “There are lots of them just outside of town. We keep a vehicle out here for times like this.”
“For times when you need to get to a secret rendezvous in a hurry?” Synda said, her voice incredulous.
“I meant when we want to use a vehicle outside of the city but don’t want to get logged as passing through a Jung checkpoint. It’s easy to slip in and out of the city on foot, not so easy in a vehicle. The Jung watch cars closely. They search every vehicle coming and going and check everyone’s IDs.”
“Why doesn’t everyone do it?”
“A lot of people do,” Tony said. “It wasn’t our idea. Hell, there are four vehicles stored in this barn alone.”
“And the owners don’t say anything?”
“I don’t know about the other places people hide their vehicles, but this place is abandoned. It has been since long before the Jung came.”
Jessica glanced up at the sky as she followed Tony and Synda through the woods. The shadows were getting long. “Not much time left before sundown.”
“An hour, maybe,” Tony said. “We’ll already be on the road by then.”
“How long will it take us then?” Synda wondered.
“Two hours maybe.”
The woods began to thin out, and minutes later, they were out in the open, walking through knee-deep grass toward an old, dilapidated barn.
“Looks like it would fall over if you sneezed on it,” Jessica commented as they approached the barn.
“It looks like crap, but it’s sturdy enough,” Tony assured her. He was the first to reach the barn, and he pulled open the side door.
Jessica followed Tony and Synda into the barn. It was dark inside, with the only light coming from the many cracks between the old planks that made up the walls. There were several empty stalls for farm animals along one wall, and four vehicles along the other wall. “Let me guess,” Jessica said. “The van?”
“Yup.”
“Does it run?”
“Not well, but it runs,” Tony said as he climbed into the vehicle.
Jessica pulled one of the big barn doors open, letting light inside from the setting sun.
Tony pushed the control chip into the van’s control panel, then flipped on the power. He pushed the ignition button, holding it in as the van’s starter motor began to turn with a terrible grinding noise.
“Oh, my God,” Synda said, covering her ears. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”
The engine turned over and came to life with a hideous squeal of old fan belts and loose, rattling metal. Tony smiled. “I told you it runs,” he said as he pressed the accelerator and eased it out of the barn.
After closing the barn door, Jessica climbed into the van through the back cargo door and made her way forward as the old van bounced along the dirt driveway toward the road. “How old is this thing?”
“It’s not that bad,” Tony argued.
“Hell, I’ve seen pre-Ark collector’s cars that were in better shape. You couldn’t get one of the newer, electric models?”
“You don’t find many of them outside of the city these days,” Tony said. “We’d stand out too much.”
“It would almost be worth the risk,” Jessica said as they bounced down the road.
“Hey, it’s better than walking,” Tony interrupted.
Jessica looked over his shoulder at the console. “Looks like we’ll be walking any minute. Did you look at your fuel gauge?”
“It doesn’t work,” Tony said, smiling again. “It’s a decoy. Lots of people stealing fuel these days.” He reached up and flipped down his sun-visor, revealing a small switch attached to the ceiling of the van. “Fuel bypass switch,” he announced with pride. “We even installed a second fuel tank that you fill from inside, just behind you.”
“Nice,” Jessica said. “That explains the smell in here.”
“We try to keep the tank full at all times. We considered this our final getaway vehicle—you know—in case everything went really bad, and we needed to get out of the area to lie low for a while.”
“Like today?” Synda said.
“Where do you get your fuel?” Jessica asked.
“Uh, I stole it,” Tony said.
Jessica smiled as she settled back into the jump seat in back. The van pulled onto the main road and accelerated westward toward their rendezvous point. She looked at her watch. They still had nearly three hours to reach their destination. As long as there were no surprises along the way, she would make her rendezvous with the resistance, and her mission would be nearly completed. For a moment, she thought about that beach she had jokingly told Nathan she was going to find while on Earth. She smiled again.
* * *
Devyn stood at the top of the ramp on the command deck, pulling on the rope to drag the EVA pack up the ramp behind her. The command deck was dark, just like the rest of the ship, its internal systems shut down to save power now that it was depressurized and no longer in use.
“Okay, I’ve got the EVA pack up here as well,” she announced as she bundled up the tow line and tucked it securely under the top strap on the EVA bundle. “Moving forward.”
“You’re almost do
ne,” Luis said.
Devyn looked around as she made her way to the bridge, peeking into compartments through open hatches as she passed by them. Nearly every compartment she peered into was in disarray. “You guys aren’t very tidy, are you?” she commented.
“We were in a hurry to grab everything we needed before you sucked all the air out of the command deck,” Luis reminded her.
“Yeah, right.” She stopped for a moment, leaning into Luis’s quarters. “These are your quarters, right? Nice place you had,” she said. “It’s actually neat and tidy.”
“I had a strict mother.”
“So, if we’re planning on moving everyone aft, why exactly am I going to try to fix the bridge’s environmental systems?” she wondered as she continued forward.
“We don’t have access to the sensors or long-range comm systems from your end of the ship,” Luis told her. “The lieutenant commander was hoping to keep at least one of us up here at all times, keeping an eye out for the Jung and an ear open for a message from Earth.”
“What, someone is going to make this walk every shift?”
“He figured we would work week-long shifts,” Luis explained. “It’s not like it’s much different than sitting around anywhere else on the ship, except you have sensors and comms.”
“And if I’m not able to fix the environmental systems?”
“With only one of us up here, it would last a few months. We might even be able to haul O2 resupply with us during shift changes. Or maybe stagger the watches: one week someone is here; one week they’re not.”
“You guys have been doing a lot of thinking up there, haven’t you?”
“Not much else to do,” Luis said.
Devyn came to a stop outside the entrance to the bridge. “I’d ring the doorbell, but there doesn’t seem to be one.”
“What?”
“I’m here,” she told him. “Unlock the outer hatch.”
“Oh, right.”
“What, is the air already getting thin in there?”
The light on the hatch handle turned green.
“It’s unlocked,” Luis reported.
Devyn pulled the hatch open, then picked up the EVA bundle and transferred it into the airlock before stepping through herself. “I’m inside. Closing the hatch now,” she announced as she pulled the hatch closed and locked it. A single, red light snapped on over her head, bathing the small compartment in its soft glow.
“Pressurizing,” Luis announced.
Devyn felt exhausted as she waited impatiently for the airlock to pressurize. All she wanted to do was to remove the suit, clean up, and rest.
The light overhead turned green, and the inner hatch opened. Luis was standing in the hatchway, a huge grin on his face as he stepped into the airlock and reached for Devyn’s visor.
Devyn felt a wave of fresh air waft across her face as her visor opened.
“Long time no see,” Luis announced as he disconnected her helmet and raised it above her head. “Welcome to the bridge.”
Devyn let out a sigh. “Got anything to drink?”
* * *
“So neither of you is from Earth?” Garrett asked as they walked along through the canyon forests of Tanna. “Have either of you been there?”
“Nope,” Loki said.
“And yet you are willing to fight for her? For her people?”
“The people of Earth fought for my people,” Major Waddell said, “and without needing to do so.”
“And why would they do such a thing?” Garrett wondered.
“Because it was the right thing to do,” Loki said.
“And did the people of Earth fight for your people as well?” Garrett asked Loki.
“Not directly, no. But they defeated an enemy that was a threat to our entire sector of space.”
“The same enemy that threatened your world?” Garrett asked Major Waddell.
“Yes.”
“This Ta’Akar you spoke of?”
“Yes.”
“How many ships did this enemy possess?”
“About twenty at the time, I believe,” the major answered.
“And how many ships did the people of Earth use to defeat the Ta’Akar?”
“Just the one,” Major Waddell answered.
“That is impressive. And this ship, it is the same one we are going to now?”
“The very same.”
“I would very much like to see this ship,” Garrett said, “and meet her captain. He must be an amazing tactician.”
Major Waddell exchanged glances with Loki. “He is a unique individual, to be sure.”
Their conversation was interrupted when one of Garrett’s men who had taken point many meters ahead of them appeared around the bend in the trail in the distance. He was moving quickly toward them and signaling to get down.
Waddell instinctively brought his weapon up to be ready as he reached out with his left hand to usher Loki behind him. “What is it?” he asked Garrett in a low voice.
Garrett and his man exchanged brief words, after which Garrett sent the first man and the one next to him off the trail in opposite directions. “Jung patrol ahead,” Garrett whispered in answer to the major’s inquiry. He turned to face Major Waddell and Loki. “They are headed this way.”
“How many?”
“Such patrols are usually six to eight men, occasionally more,” Garrett explained. “Palmot saw six men, but when they are large patrols, they usually split into two teams, half on this trail and the other half on the parallel trail a few hundred meters to the east.”
“Is this one two teams?” Major Waddell asked.
“I cannot say, but it is possible. Better that it were four men. Then, we would know they were not split in two, as their numbers would be insufficient.” Garrett motioned them to move off the trail. “Hide in the woods behind those rocks just up that small rise. I will go there, on the opposite side of the trail.” Garrett looked them in the eyes. “Do not engage the Jung if it can be avoided. Leave that to us.”
“We should hide and wait for them to pass,” Major Waddell urged. “Our mission is to get you to the Aurora to speak with Captain Scott.”
“I am well aware of our priorities,” Garrett insisted, a determined expression on his face. “I have been at this for many years.” Before the major could respond, Garrett turned and disappeared into the woods.
“Damn it,” the major said under his breath. He looked around, quickly sizing up the area as he tried to decide if Garrett’s tactics were sound. “Follow me,” he instructed Loki as he left the trail and set off into the surrounding forest. “Be careful not to disturb anything or leave any footprints as we leave the trail,” he added. “They would reveal our presence to the Jung.”
CHAPTER SIX
Tony pulled the van off the main roadway, heading down the side road that led to the small airport.
“What is this place?” Synda wondered.
“It’s an airport,” Tony said.
“Duh,” she answered. “I figured that much out.”
“Doesn’t look like it gets used much,” Jessica said.
They passed through the main entrance to the airport and turned to the right, staying along the outside edge of the tarmac. There were a dozen small airplanes as well as a few suborbital shuttles that had seen better days. Most of the tires on the airplanes were nearly flat, and their wings and fuselages were covered with dust. Several overhead lights burned along the outer perimeter of the tarmac as well as along the row of hangars on the far side.
“Someone must still use it,” Synda commented. “They’ve still got power out here.”
“The lights are solar.” Jessica pointed to panels above each light. “Panels on top, big fat bases on
the bottom to hold the batteries. Pretty common out in the middle of nowhere like this.”
“They were probably installed long ago,” Tony commented. “Nobody has bothered to turn them off, I guess.”
“Odd place for a rendezvous, isn’t it?” Synda wondered.
“Not really,” Jessica said. “Wide open, you can see someone coming from all directions and from at least a kilometer away, and it is in the middle of nowhere.”
Tony brought the van to a stop. “So, are we just supposed to sit here and wait?”
“There was one last number in the message,” Jessica said. “Eighteen.” She looked around. “How many hangars do you think there are over there?”
“At least thirty,” Tony said.
“Let’s go check out hangar eighteen,” Jessica suggested as she turned and headed toward the back of the van.
Tony turned off the engine and exited the van, joining Jessica as she came around from the back. They walked down the line of aircraft toward the hangars in the distance.
“Some of these planes are older than I am,” Synda commented.
“Way older,” Tony added.
Jessica crouched down, checking underneath the row of planes just in case.
“What are you doing?” Synda asked.
“Just checking for boots where they shouldn’t be,” Jessica answered.
“See any?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
They continued on, reaching the row of aircraft hangars a few minutes later. Jessica pulled out her flashlight and pinched it between her thumb and forefinger, shining it on the top of the hangar doors to check the numbers. “One.” She shined the light across the tarmac at the first hangar in the other row. “Twenty.” Jessica moved out toward the middle between the rows of hangars as she continued down the row. Hangar two was to her left, then hangar nineteen to her right. “There it is, eighteen,” she announced as she pointed her flashlight at the number above the hangar door. She twisted the doorknob and found it unlocked. She pushed the door inward and stepped inside.