“What are your orders?” She asked their visitor.
“I don’t have any orders yet.” She paused to sip some more water. “Marshall Rand told me that this came right from the top. Since the rangers don’t have the ability to do their own investigations, she told me that’s why I’m here. She told me to wait here until I’m given my orders.”
“By who?”
Clarissa shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say Captain Sarrah Rhodes would be the one to contact me. She’s probably looking through records as we speak, doing a little research. So, until she figures out what needs to be done, I’m just here sipping water and thinking about more pressing questions... like what’s for dinner.”
After a moment of thought, Lauren spun back in her chair to face Madison. The girl had a frown on her face while suspiciously eyeing the woman leaning on the bar.
“Who’s turn is it, Maddie?” Lauren asked.
“Yours.”
There was something unusual about this whole situation, but Lauren just didn’t have enough information to piece together the puzzle. She hoped it was just as the woman had said. Once Sarrah Rhodes did some research, she’d inform Clarissa what needed to be done, then they’d all head back to base camp.
After a quick scan of the board, Lauren moved her rook forward to the last row on Madison’s side.
“Check,” she announced.
With narrowed eyes and a hand on her chin, Madison studied the board.
“I’m assuming you people keep food here,” Clarissa asked, but it came out more like an accusation.
Now irritated, Lauren exhaled explosively. “Yes, but unless you can cook, all we have are MREs.”
“I can cook. Just point me to the kitchen and I’ll make us something.”
Lauren looked back at Madison. Now the girl was smiling back and nodding her head.
*****
Two hours and two bowls of chili later, Lauren was softening up to their unusual visitor. She was a good cook and she could be funny when she told a story. More than once she had Madison in hysterics. But a part of Lauren was still concerned about the whole scenario. Nothing about this seemed legit. Why did it matter who saw the research station? Why were she and Madison ordered to stay behind when Roxanna was allowed to go back to base camp? Why couldn’t the protectorate investigate this mystery on their own? Until she had better answers to all her questions, she couldn’t entirely let her guard down.
After cleaning up the dishes, the three returned to the rec room and decided to play pool. Cutthroat was the game. After Clarissa racked the balls, Lauren broke. And as they took turns, it quickly became apparent to Lauren that Clarissa had a problem with silence. The woman talked non-stop about anything and everything that came to mind.
“What do rangers do for fun?” Clarissa asked.
“You’re looking at it,” Madison replied as she shot at the three-ball and missed. The cue ball came to rest on the other side of the table.
“There are no pool tables in the jungle,” Clarissa said as she stood behind the cue ball and scanned the table. “So, I’m assuming this is what you do occasionally. What do you do regularly?”
Lauren cringed. She knew what was coming and dreaded it. Now that Clarissa had fed Madison, and now that the girl found their visitor entertaining, Madison was going to fuck with the woman. She could be quiet when necessary, but in their everyday routine, Madison was always the instigator. She knew how to press people’s buttons. And she had no filters.
Clarissa leaned over the table and lined up a shot at the nine-ball, but Lauren’s eleven-ball was partially blocking it.
“Well,” Madison began, “Every girl is different, but we all have hobbies. And just before we settle in for the night, we’ll all spend time doing what we love most. Some read, some play cards, tell stories, things like that.”
Clarissa twisted the pool cue as she gently nudged the cue ball. It slid across the table, spinning oddly until it kissed her ball. The nine-ball promptly fell into the corner pocket as it nudged the eleven-ball out of the way.
“So, which of those do you do at night?” She asked Madison as she stood behind the cue ball again, scanning for another shot. “What’s your hobby?”
Here it comes...
“Me? I play with myself.” Madison grinned. “After a long day at looking at a squad full of healthy asses, I’m so horny I can barely stand it.”
Clarissa laughed.
“Maddie...,” Lauren began, but Madison wasn’t finished.
“Too bad the commander won’t let me order the privates to eat pussy.” Madison grinned. “I’d be the happiest girl in the history of girls.”
Clarissa laughed again.
“Maddie.” Lauren sighed. “Save that talk for the jungle.”
“I don’t know about anyone else,” Clarissa said as she leaned over and lined up another shot, “but I’m a sucker for a good kisser. Man or woman, if someone can kiss me right, my panties are coming right off.”
This time Madison laughed.
Their banter came to an abrupt end as the sounds of rain hammering the shelter were mixed with the roar of another shuttle landing.
“What the...” Lauren then turned to Clarissa. “You expecting company?”
Clarissa straightened up. “No,” she muttered. “You?”
The three dropped their pool cues on the table and rushed up to the main door. Just as Lauren peered through the glass, another protectorate officer was sprinting toward the outpost entrance. Her coat billowed in the relentless rain and high winds, and she too was wearing a holster that held the protectorate’s standard issue Justicer pistol. The shuttle’s cargohold door lowered as it ascended into the air. Just above the tree line, a blast of blue flame came from the shuttle’s engines, and with another roar, it was gone.
The main door slid aside. After the protectorate office sprinted in, the door closed behind her. Like Clarissa had done, this woman also paused to shake the rain from her coat. This woman was older, perhaps fifty or so, a tattoo of a dragon on her neck, and she kept her long blonde hair in a straight and neat French-braid.
“Who the hell are you?” Lauren asked.
The women locked eyes with her. “I was told you already knew I was coming and why I’m here.”
“She asked your name,” Madison chimed in. “Or don’t you have one?”
“I’m Sister Clarissa Kelly. Were you expecting someone else?”
Lauren and Madison turned to face the first Clarissa Kelly.
“What the fuck is going on?” Lauren asked her.
The woman shrugged. “Beats me.”
*****
A few long minutes later, Lauren had the two cops sitting on barstools in front of the long oak bar. She paced back and forth trying to figure out how this was possible. The first Clarissa sat comfortably and politely on her barstool, sipping water. While the second Clarissa sat with her legs open, downing shots of whiskey like someone might steal the bottle before she could finish it off.
One of the two was obviously lying, but which one? Lauren planned on interrogating both, but not until she was armed. Until then, she kept pacing as she eyed both. She just needed to wait until Madison returned.
Another minute later, Madison rushed into the rec room with their Peacekeeper rifles. She pulled up beside Lauren and handed the commander one of the rifles. Lauren slung the rifle strap over her shoulder, while Madison pointed her rifle at the two women.
“Okay,” Lauren said. “This is obviously a setup, but I can’t guess why. So, it’s time to get some answers.” Since Lauren already had a rough idea of the first Clarissa’s story she focused on the second one. “You,” she pointed at the older woman with the dragon tattoo and the French-braided hair. “Which colony are you from?”
“Scythia,” the woman flatly replied.
“And how long have you been a cop there?”
“Nine years.”
“What were your orders?”
“I wa
s told there was a research facility that needs to be investigated.” Apparently, a half bottle of whiskey being her limit, the woman sat her shot glass on the counter. “Now, are we done with the interrogation? I didn’t fly my ass all the way out here to answer your questions.”
Madison leaned into the commander. “Ask to see their IDs,” she whispered.
“Good call, Maddie,” Lauren said with a smile. “Both of you, let’s see some identification. Right now.”
“I was told to leave mine at home,” the first Clarissa replied.
The other Clarissa hopped off of her barstool and leaned back against the bar.
“Where’s yours?” Lauren pointed at her.
“I was in a rush. I didn’t think to grab it.” The second Clarissa smirked. “Now, are we done?”
After shaking her head, Lauren returned to pacing. This was obviously some sort of game, and a game she didn’t care to play.
“We’re done,” the commander finally said. “You two can stay here and keep playing whatever game this is, but Maddie and I are taking our asses to bed. If the weather permits, I’m contacting Captain Sarrah Rhodes first thing in the morning. We’ll soon discover what’s really going on.”
“Excellent.” The older Clarissa clapped her hands together. “Now, that that’s settled. I’m taking a shower, then calling it a night.”
A boom came from outside the building, which was quickly followed by the crack of tree trunks and the sounds of heavy trees falling in the jungle.
“Now what?” Madison called out.
The four made their way to the glass door and peered out into the stormy darkness. A fire was burning somewhere within the jungle and illuminating the raining skies in ambers and reds. And in the beams of the outpost’s external lights, another protectorate officer was sprinting toward the entrance.
This is not good.
“What in the fuck is going on?” Madison asked.
“I have a feeling that we’re in big-ass trouble, Maddie,” Lauren replied.
The main door slid aside. Once the protectorate officer sprinted inside, the door slid closed behind her. She removed her crimson leather longcoat and shook the rain from it. She then wiped the water from her crimson leather pants and tried the brush the water from her blouse. This woman was middle-aged, perhaps thirty-five, a silver wedding ring on her left hand, and she kept her long blonde hair in a high ponytail. And she also had a holster strapped to her hip with the same energy pistol as the first two officers.
“I’m afraid to ask, but who the hell are you?” Lauren asked.
“Sister Clarissa Kelly. I was sent here to investigate some lab or something.”
“Of course, you are,” Lauren muttered back.
Both Lauren and Madison looked at the other two cops. With furrowed brows and wide eyes, the first Clarissa looked worried. The second one’s face was expressionless as granite.
“I don’t suppose you have any ID on you,” Lauren smirked at the new Clarissa.
“Nope,” she quickly replied. “Do you?”
“How did you get here?” the first Clarissa asked.
“What was that explosion?” Madison added.
“Lightning struck my shuttle and I went down just outside the perimeter,” the new Clarissa flatly replied.
Lauren shook her head. None of this made any sense.
“Well,” the older Clarissa announced. “I’m not sure what you all are doing, but I’m hitting the showers and going to bed. I’ve got work to do in the morning.” She then wandered off into the hall that led to the remainder of the outpost.
Lauren looked at Madison. Her face was contorted with confusion. She looked like Lauren felt.
The third Clarissa pushed passed the group. She tossed her wet coat on the counter, then slid behind the bar. After rummaging around out of sight for a long moment, she reappeared with a wine bottle in hand. She then searched the counter behind the bar until she’d found a wine glass and a corkscrew.
The commander grabbed the younger Clarissa by her collar and marched her back to the pool table.
“Sit,” Lauren ordered while pointing at the pool table.
The woman obeyed by promptly hopping up and sitting on the edge of the pool table.
“I’m hungry,” the third Clarissa called out from the bar.
“Before anything else happens, you’re going to answer a few questions,” Lauren told the Clarissa sitting in front of her.
“Excuse me?” The blonde behind the bar rudely called out again.
Lauren looked back at her. The third Clarissa finished guzzling a half-glass of red wine before continuing. “I said, I’m hungry. You got any food in this shithole?”
“There’s chili in the kitchen,” Lauren said as she continued glaring at the Clarissa behind the bar.
The woman casually refilled her glass. She then grabbed both the wine glass and bottle and walked off into the hall that led to the kitchen.
Madison was the first to tear into the first Clarissa, still sitting on the pool table.
“What the fuck is this shit?” She shouted at her. “Is Clarissa even your real name?”
“I have no idea what’s going on,” she replied.
“What’s so special about that research lab?” Lauren asked, putting her hand on Madison’s shoulder to calm her down.
“I told you everything I know,” the woman replied.
“Maddie and I didn’t see anything. We don’t know anything. It was Rox that fell into that research complex. So, why does it seem like this fucked up situation is meant to keep us quiet?”
Clarissa shrugged.
“Well,” Madison snapped as she pointed at the woman. “There can’t be three of you assholes, so two of you are certainly lying.”
“I’m stuck here just like you are,” the woman replied. “I agree. This seems like a trap. And that means we’re all in danger.”
“Not you,” Madison said with a laugh. “If you were the one that set this up, then you’re safe here.”
“Are you planning on killing us?” Lauren asked.
Clarissa didn’t reply.
“Maddie, you and I are sleeping in the barracks tonight,” Lauren told the corporal. “We’ll take turns watching each other.” Then she eyed the cop as she spoke to Madison. “If anyone tries anything, and I don’t care who it is, your orders are to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“An excellent plan, commander.” Madison smiled at the Clarissa sitting in front of them.
December 23, 2255
SUNDAY
It was shortly after dawn. With rifles over their shoulders, Lauren and Madison made their way from the kitchen to the empty rec room. Which wasn’t surprising. Lauren doubted the three Clarissa’s went to bed as early as rangers do. And she doubted they got up any earlier, either.
Although they’d ate, it wasn’t an enjoyable breakfast. Lauren was hoping to contact Camp Calypso again today, but their radio was now missing. And that meant that one of their three visitors, perhaps more than one, were here at Outpost 64-C to keep that research station a secret. And that meant, that same person had no intention of letting anyone else return home.
Once in the rec room, Lauren paused at the main entrance. Peering outside, it quickly became obvious that no one was going anywhere on foot. The skies were black and the rain was just as relentless as it was yesterday. And with the rain showering down like a waterfall, no one was going to investigate the lab either. That sinkhole would be full of water by now.
“What’s the plan, commander?” Madison asked. “We’re in danger here.”
“I don’t know, Maddie... I feel like hiking to Camp Calypso but in this weather? I dunno. It’s chancy.”
“We can make thirty klicks easy, commander. We’re rangers. We do this all the time. And we know the jungles, they don’t.”
“True, but it’s also the monsoon season now. Thirty klicks in dry weather is one thing... and it might be different if we weren’t so close t
o Olympus Mons, but the jungle here is one big swamp by now. It could take us a week of hiking in knee-deep mud. Crossing any stream would surely be impossible. They’d all be raging rivers. Not only that, but just one mudslide, anywhere along the line, and we’d be done for.”
“Well...” Madison’s thought trailed off as she stared outside.
“Let’s do something,” Lauren said, slapping the corporal on the shoulder. “Want to play some chess while we think through our options? We need some sort of a plan before the others get up.”
“Commander... How do we know that the last Clarissa really crashed into the jungle? I mean, we know two of them are lying, so what if she faked a shuttle crash? What if there’s a shuttle out there waiting to take someone home?”
Now, Lauren stared out at the jungle shrouded by the storm. It was possible. It was a good question. And a question, if answered, that would provide a clue to what was really going on.
She turned and faced Madison. “Let’s grab our rain gear. We’re going to find out what that explosion was last night. Even if there’s no shuttle sitting in the jungle, we’d know far more than we do now.”
*****
About a hundred yards into the jungle, Lauren and Madison had found the downed shuttle in a muddy clearing of downed and burned palm trees. Since the shuttle supposedly crash-landed, she expected to see it crumbled, torn, or missing sections of the exterior. That wasn’t the case. Other than the shuttle being charred inside and out, it seemed almost intact. It looked like it purposefully landed there.
With the rain coming down in sheets, inspecting the exterior for clues seemed like a wasted exercise, but Madison volunteered to give it the once over anyway. And after climbing onto the shuttle’s nose, she unsteadily climbed over the slippery windshield and onto the shuttle’s roof.
As Lauren inspected the charred interior, it quickly became obvious that the shuttle had caught fire inside. All the fabric and plastics had burned and melted, it still reeked of smoke, but there just weren’t any signs of an explosion or that it had even crashed. Things just didn’t add up. And now Lauren was certain that two of the Clarissa’s were lying. And the third woman was certainly one of the liars.
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