by Adam Carter
“I haven’t erected anything, Arowana.”
We both looked away in embarrassment.
Taylor thumped on the door. “I can still hear you, dimwits.”
Arowana moved closer to the bed, since it happened to be the farthest place from the toilet door. “If we keep arguing like this,” she said in a quieter voice, “we’re going to get ourselves killed.”
“We’re not friends.”
“We’re not enemies, either. You really think Taylor wants you alive? You’re a liability to her. She has orders to keep me safe if possible, to kill me if she can’t recapture me, but you’re nothing to her. I’m surprised she hasn’t killed you already.”
“Why hasn’t she?”
“I’m guessing because she knows it’d annoy me.”
“Why would it annoy you?”
“You know what, I don’t know,” she replied heatedly.
I still did not like the woman, but I could tell when someone was making an effort so I knew I was being cruel. “I trust you more than I trust Taylor,” I conceded.
“That’s big of you.”
“It’s not bigamy: I’m divorced.”
Again, another red-faced silence. I hated to think that Taylor had a point about anything she had said, but I was on the verge of no longer denying things. True, Arowana may have kidnapped me at gunpoint, but we had shared some strange experiences since then and seemed to save one another’s lives every two minutes.
“When we get out of this,” Arowana said softly, “we’re going our separate ways. Agreed?”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
“Then, until that time …” She extended her hand. I looked at it with a little sadness. There I was contemplating the very real possibility of something happening between us, and before I had even finished the thought she had shot me down. It reminded me of everything I disliked about women.
Taking the hand with relish, I shook it soundly. “A truce,” I said. “A truce until this is over and we walk our separate ways.”
“That’s all I want.”
The door opened and Taylor came back in to see us shaking hands. “Isn’t this civil?” She took up her crutch and headed for the exit. “Come on, if you’re insisting on hurrying.”
I held Arowana’s gaze for several moments before performing a low bow. “After you, ma’am.”
With a scowl, she followed Taylor, her head held high as she walked away from me.
For all I cared, she could walk all the way to Jupiter.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Captain Taylor moved as quickly as she could, but her injuries were more severe than I realised. We had found medical supplies at the shack and Arowana had treated the wounds as best she was able, but since I knew nothing of medicines I had stayed out of it. My only glimpse had been of a bloody wound in the woman’s side, and that had been enough to turn my head. An hour after leaving the shack, however, we had made only a fraction of the journey Arowana and I could have made without her. If we were attacked, we would die – it was as simple as that.
Taylor had stopped to rest on a rock while Arowana scouted ahead, taking her metal case in one hand, Taylor’s rifle in the other. Arowana was becoming anxious to leave the mountainous terrain behind and I could tell she felt closed in and anxious of ambush. I chose to remain with Taylor under the pretence of looking out for her, but really I just didn’t want to be anywhere near Arowana.
“How much farther?” I asked in order to make conversation.
Taylor grimaced and wiped her brow with her sleeve. She was trying not to allow her injury to affect her, but I think she was fooling herself more than me. “Not far.” She unhooked her canteen from her belt and took a swig of water. We had all taken supplies from the shack, but were limited to what we could carry. Still, it was good to know we had a fresh water source on us and something to carry any other water we might find along our journey.
“You feeling up to getting all the way without dying on us?” I asked.
“Blunt, I see. You try being bit by a dinosaur and see how well you come out of it.”
“You were bitten?”
“Grazed. I guess if I was really bitten I’d be dead.”
“Eighteen-centimetre teeth,” I said without thinking.
“Good to see you remember what Iris tells you.”
“She knows a lot.”
“More than me.”
“And you were her superior.”
“Still am, technically.” Taylor swilled the water about her flask while she watched me. “She’s single, by the way.”
“I don’t care.”
“Then why get so antsy when I say it?”
I had not realised but I had stood up and was clenching my hands into fists. Immediately I sat again. “I’m not interested in Arowana,” I said more calmly. “She’s cold and she’s evil and she’s patronising and she’s … She takes the mick out of everything I say, corrects me whenever she opens her mouth and condescends whenever she even looks at me.”
“Seems to me you’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about her.”
“I hate her.”
“Hate’s a strong emotion. You have to care a great deal to hate.”
“You don’t even know me.”
Taylor shrugged, continued to swill her flask while she looked into the distance at where we had come from. “All I’m saying is there’s a good chance none of us are making it out of this. Happiness is transient, Mr Hawthorn. If you two have a chance at a moment of happiness, I’d take it if I were you.”
“A chance at happiness? ‘Excuse me, Miss Arowana, I know we hate each other but will you sleep with me?’”
“God, you’re such a man. Happiness, not … that. I meant you could spend some time with her, get to know her, laugh with her. She’s a nice girl and you’re the only guy on the world so if she’s going to die here I’d prefer she knew a little happiness at the end of her life. God knows she didn’t know much of it while she was alive.”
“How do you mean?”
“You’re full of questions aren’t you, Mr Hawthorn?”
“Of course I am: no one’s giving me any answers.”
“Like I said, it’s not me you should be talking to. Anyway, I’m rested as much as I’ll ever be. Give me your arm.”
I helped her to her feet and we set off once more along the gravelly track. It took a while to reach the next rise, but as we arrived I could see Arowana standing there, staring out at something. Moving to stand alongside her, I could see we had reached the edge of the rocks and that if we headed down a fairly steep slope we would hit a woodland or jungle of some sort. We could see much of it from above and it did not continue indefinitely. There was an area of the woods, however, which was clear of trees, and it was here that someone had constructed a tower. It looked to be five storeys and formed of windowless metal. Close to the penthouse was a balcony ringing the whole tower, upon which there was a flat surface, presumably for a helipad. The entire thing looked like a giant had plunged his sword into the ground and left it there.
“That’s the base we’re headed for?” I asked, not really seeing the need to.
“With any luck,” Arowana said, “we should be there in five or six hours.”
“I thought you said they build their bases underground?”
“I said people built their bases underground if they didn’t want to be discovered. Whoever put this here really doesn’t care.”
“Then you don’t know who built it?”
“No. I saw it from space so I knew it was here.”
“I thought you came here, to Ceres, specifically for this place?”
“No. I came here, to Ceres, because it was convenient. I didn’t expect Securitarn to violate the law by sending fighters after me, or at the very least for them to seek advice or permission first. I reasoned there was a good chance of me being able to find some form of outpost before anyone came for me, and when we were avoiding Captain Taylor in the s
ky I saw this place.”
“When was that exactly? How did you have the sense to be looking out for things like this when we were being shot at?”
Arowana shrugged. “It was part of my plan all along.”
“And if you didn’t see anything?”
“Then I would still be searching. But I don’t have to, because I’ve been following the route in a straight line ever since we crashed.”
“This is insane. We don’t even know if there’s anyone in there.”
“You’re right. They could be watching us even now. If they haven’t noticed us yet we might be able to get to them before they do.”
“Get to them? To do what?”
“To steal a way out of here.”
I tried to get my head around her surprisingly limp and vague plan. “So you escaped Securitarn, came here because you didn’t think you’d be followed straight away, randomly saw this building and decided to raid it for a spacecraft just so you could go back out into space and fly away?”
“Yep.”
“Why not just steal something from Securitarn?”
Here she was silent. She even looked a little sad, which threw me even further. “I don’t expect you to understand, Gordon, and I don’t expect you to be happy about my decisions. For what it’s worth I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, but the fact is I needed a pilot.”
“You can’t fly? All these other things you know, no one ever taught you to fly?”
“No one’s perfect.”
I stared, mouth hanging. She looked at me with sweet eyes which, while not exactly innocent, were vulnerable. Of all the words I could have used to describe the woman, never before would I have thought to use that one. It stirred a mixture of emotions within me and I fought the urge to take her in my arms and console her with a hug. I also could not shake the feeling that she was seeking my approval, which would have been ludicrous were it true.
Still, I felt her apology was genuine and found I could no longer hate her for it, if ever I had truly hated her before.
Arowana half-slid, half-ran down the gravel slope leading to the edge of the woodland, but I followed more slowly, bringing Captain Taylor with me. A fall would likely finish her off, but she was a proud woman who did not like the thought of having to rely on someone she had been actively shooting out of the sky not so long before. Once we finally made it we found Arowana waiting impatiently for us.
“I’m going first,” she said. “Erin, you’re next; Hawthorn, bring up our rear. Take this.” She tossed the case at me and I barely managed to catch it. With her hand now free, she checked her rifle to make sure it would fire if she needed it to.
Regaining my composure, I asked, “What kind of dinosaurs are we likely to find in here, then?”
“Ones that live amongst trees.”
“Any chance you could open your mouth and something sarcastic not spill out?”
“Any chance of you shutting yours and giving me a break?”
“Daspletosauri,” Taylor said simply.
Arowana frowned, as though trying to remember. “You sure they’ll be in the woods?”
“Who’s talking about the trees: just look up there.”
We looked back the way we had come. Two of the massive beasts were wandering along the ridge down which we had just slid. I could see a third nosing around behind, and assumed the fourth had been too badly burned to have survived. At that moment the beasts had not seen us, but they were clearly looking for us.
“Move,” Arowana said and was already disappearing into the trees. Taylor hobbled after her and I remained staring at the savage monsters for only a few seconds longer. When they were not trying to kill us, they were beautiful creatures, larger than any land predator that existed any longer in nature. The thought of creatures of such size and magnitude working together as a pack was awesome, and I could imagine the Cretaceous landscape being filled with the beasts hunting with wolf-like precision.
Backing away before they could notice me, I put a few trees between us before turning and hurrying after the women.
I noticed Arowana was not running, allowing Taylor to keep pace with her. She did not appear to be paying any attention to us, however, for her senses were alert for any other predatory attack. For my part I could not see anything amiss: just vague pathways animals had taken between the trees. The trees themselves were not densely packed, nor were they spaced apart to any great extent. I knew nothing of trees but there were certainly no dinosaurs hiding behind them. Listening carefully, all I could hear were the sounds one would usually expect to find in such a place; the steady chirrup of insects and the hoot of what were likely birds.
“I suppose,” I said dryly, “you know everything there is to know about trees, as well.”
“Trees?” Arowana asked. “They’re made of wood and they’re decorated at Christmas.”
I held back any comment I could have made about her snide nature: it would not have been anything I had not already said before.
“Let’s assume we get to the tower unscathed,” Taylor said. “What’s our plan for getting in?”
“That depends where the entrance is,” Arowana said. “If it’s obvious, we may want to avoid it. Finding an alternative route, though, might waste too much time.”
“We could always knock,” I suggested.
“Knock?” Arowana asked. “You want to walk up to the front door of a group of people who are here illegally and pose as the pizza-delivery guy?”
“We don’t even know there’s anyone in there. The place could be abandoned, or everyone inside could be dead.”
“Let’s assume for the moment they’re in there and they’ll be wanting to kill us. That way any surprises we encounter will be pleasant ones.”
Something darted out ahead of us and we stopped short, all banter ceasing. The beast was a predator, there was no doubt about that. Its body was the same as the previous two dinosaur hunters we had come upon – with an ovoid body, strong leg muscles and a long counterbalancing tail. This creature’s arms did not look as relatively small as those of a larger dinosaur, however, while its neck was longer than that of a daspletosaurus. Its head was just the same, with a horizontal split revealing a row of lethal fangs. Presently the dinosaur was crouching, although even at its full height I could not see it would have been as tall as a human being. It looked both curious and hungry, in equal measure.
Arowana tightened her grip on the rifle but did not raise the weapon.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Shoot it.”
“It hasn’t even attacked yet,” she whispered back without looking at me. “It might just move on.”
“Move on? Your big idea on how to deal with hungry dinosaurs is that they might move on?”
The dinosaur, whatever it was, backed away slightly. Alone as it was, perhaps it saw three strange animals larger than itself as a threat. Arowana tensed with the weapon in her hand, but the dinosaur turned and scampered off amidst the trees.
“All right,” I said, adrenalin flooding my veins, “I stand corrected. When faced with hungry dinosaurs, standing around doing nothing certainly is the best strategy.”
“Why did it run?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t know,” Arowana said with narrowed eyes. “I don’t like this.”
I looked from one woman to the other. “You don’t like that we’re still alive?”
“I don’t like being in the dark,” Arowana said. “Come on, I want us moving more quickly if we’re going to … run!”
The ground shook and a familiar roar filled the air. About me the trees quivered in fright and one even fainted, tearing itself up from the roots to go crashing into the undergrowth. I was running even as I glanced over my shoulder to see a daspletosaurus thundering towards me. It turned its head as it pushed its way through the trees, roaring in anger as it saw me escaping. I ran past Arowana, who at last had the rifle up and against her shoulder. The woods exploded with a single shot and the daspleto
saurus bellowed in pain and rage as the bullet tore through its snout.
Grinding to a halt, I saw Captain Taylor hastily attempting to follow me, terror to her eyes. Her bandages were covered with spreading blood as her wounds reopened and her movements were already becoming sluggish. It only occurred to me in that moment just how injured she had been when we had found her.
Running back to her, I threw her arm over my shoulder and did my best to drag her while Arowana rammed another bullet home. I could not believe Taylor had come down with a rifle which required reloading after every shot.
“Get her into the trees,” Arowana barked. “Find some cover.”
“Cover? Where exactly?”
“Got my own problems right now, Hawthorn.”
A second daspletosaurus came into view and Arowana cursed, throwing the rifle against her shoulder. She sent another bullet through the air, this one striking the first dinosaur directly in the eye, for she had managed to slow it sufficiently with her first shot to score a greater wound. I watched in horror and amazement as the beast reared its great head in pain, with blood and gore spattering the trees all about. Its fellow attempted to push past, but the wounded animal was panicking, thrashing its body in every direction as it fought to stay alive. I watched, amazed Arowana could have made such a spectacular shot, but snapped out of it when she grabbed me by the arm and forced me to run farther into the trees.
Behind us, all I could hear was the death wails of the frightened animal and the angry growl of the second dinosaur.
A tremor passed through the ground as something thudded into the woodland floor and I had no doubt the first dinosaur had dropped, where it would bleed to death and become food for scavengers. Perhaps that smaller predator we encountered would obtain a meal after all.
Taylor twisted from my arm, falling to the floor and coughing blood. Her body was coated in sweat and her lungs heaved spasmodically. If we forced her to run any farther she was likely going to die without the dinosaurs needing to do anything at all.
“What are you doing?” Arowana said, her back to us, the rifle held upon the general direction of the surviving dinosaur. “Get moving.”