‘Nothing, Anna.’
There was barely anything useful left of the Silver Dollar. It had been a Century Class ship, and as such considerably larger than Blue Sun Dawning. It had carried a hundred Augs, and drones, too. She’d seen it.
‘Nothing?’ said Lian, turning her head to glance around. A natural thing, just a movement people do all the time, but it sent shards of white pain into her head and the pain drove her to one knee. She swayed on one knee, struggling not to fall on her face there in the snow, while her stomach fought her.
‘Lian? You all good?’ said Cassie.
‘Super,’ said Lian. She giggled and wished she hadn’t as she fought back her rising bile once more. She never was much for laughing. It hurt her head, too, and at last she did what she’d needed to for the past hour. She raised her helmet and vomited onto the snow.
Lian wiped her mouth swiftly, and slapped her helmet back just as fast. The wind, the cold. It was like...
Being smashed in the face with a big splash of wake the fuck up.
‘Lian?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said. Ulrich frowned at her, and her breath hitched as she spoke, and she gasped from the shocking cold, but it wasn’t a complete lie. ‘Not fine,’ she told him. ‘Just better.’
*
33.
The Silver Dollar
Silver Dollar Wreckage (Troop Dispatch/Century Class)
Ice Field
11 KM outside anomaly
Ulrich didn’t think Lian was quite as good as she said – not all the way – but her colour had improved, and when he wiped her faceplate clear of snow and peered into her eyes she did seem more focused, and even managed a weak smile, which was heartening.
‘Glad you’re still with us,’ he said, but Jin called him and he left it at that.
‘What do you think, Ulrich?’
The Titan made a wide, sweeping gesture. Jin’s meaning was clear enough. It wasn’t a battle, that much was clear. One thing every battle had in common was bodies, and there were none.
The site felt wrong from the moment Ulrich first looked to the last.
The ship’s rear was entirely gone, and what did remain was filled with snow. The wreck sat low in the ice as though it had fallen on a steeper trajectory than their own ship, and the remaining sections of the hull were cracked apart in so many places it was impractical as shelter. Jin could stand one of the larger sections on end, perhaps, but even so, it was a short term solution for a much larger problem. Already, with packs and what Jin could attached with their improvised harnesses around his waist and shoulders, they at the limit of what they could take.
‘No bodies. Odd.’
‘Yes,’ Jin agreed, and neither made further comment, but Ulrich was wondering about that more than anything else, and he was sure Jin was, too.
‘Some salvage...maybe,’ said Ulrich, disappointed. ‘But it’s not of much use to us, anyway. Can’t carry much more than we have. Suits?’
Jin shook his head. ‘Augs would have little need of environmental suits. A few simple upgrades to Hush’s Augs? Her technology is far more advanced than when we left Earth. Check, but...I think not.’
‘Salvage, then?’ said Ulrich. ‘Move on?’ He was tempted. He found the site disquieting, and the fact that he didn’t know why only made it worse.
‘I am able to carry a considerable amount more equipment and supplies.’
‘And remain effective?’
Jin said nothing.
‘How far to the next ship, Jin?’
‘Eight kilometres.’
‘And our objective?’
‘From there? Three. I cannot guarantee that to be exact. The terrain is a serious issue. But the anomaly, that is clear. The energy is indeed immense, but that is an oddity, too.’
‘Meaning what, Jin?’ asked Anna. She stood beside Lian and Kiyobashi, but it didn’t matter where they were. As long as comms were open they might as well have been in the same room reclining on comfortable chairs as standing in driving snow surrounded by the wreck of the Silver Dollar.
‘It is perfectly contained,’ said Jin, ‘massive, yes....but stable with zero fluctuations since our arrival.’
Something else Ulrich didn’t understand, and as it were, they were standing out in the open, with barely any information, and no support at all.
‘I say we mark it,’ said Ulrich. ‘This is our fall-back. And Jin, I appreciate the courtesy, but we’re alive because of you, not me.’
‘I am fallible, Ulrich, and wise enough to understand the value of palaver.’
Interesting choice of words.
‘I appreciate that. I’ll check inside, on the off chance there’s a suit, or any power units. Lian, you’re hurting and need rest while you can.’
‘I can help,’ said Lian.
‘No,’ said Cassie, ‘If we’re going to make it you need to be honest about that.’
‘Okay, but I can make it.’
‘Rest now, under shelter, Lian, and don’t be a hero,’ said Ulrich. ‘We’ve got this covered. Cassie...you and Anna search outside?’
Anna nodded, but Cassie cocked her head.
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘But Jin?’
‘Yes, Cassie Kiyobashi?’
‘Cassie, please,’ she told the Titan. ‘How long do we have left until we can recharge or change, or find breathable air, warmth? Our suits won’t last forever, right? Eight kilometres? Mine reads 43% right now...’
Something Ulrich should have figured, and something he thought Jin might have, from his reaction. The Titan might be expressionless, but like most other living beings, if you paid attention, came to know them well enough...everything with a heartbeat, and some without, even, had their tells.
Jin might have kept information back for good reason, but the lesson was there, and Jin was right on one count certainly - the value of palaver.
‘Not long enough to rest for more than seventeen minutes. Nine minutes would be preferable,’ said Jin.
I’ve been keeping my own counsel too, haven’t I? Focused on surviving and forgetting to use everything at my disposal to do so – this team. We’re all valuable. All of us.
‘Where are the bodies?’ asked Anna.
Ulrich glanced at Jin. Though the Titan only shook his head Ulrich still checked through his scope. He found nothing in any spectrum. He knew Jin felt it. Ulrich’s hackles were up, too.
There was nothing hot anywhere. Nothing living, not even Silver Dollar’s AI, and that was troubling enough. What Ulrich found more worrying though wasn’t the lack of bodies, or survivors, but the angle of the damage to the hull.
‘We do not know, Anna,’ said Jin.
*
Cassie and Anna found nothing as they searched among the shattered remnant which stood proud against the storm like monoliths. They would probably stand for centuries, lost under the ice and snow. One day, perhaps the planet would thaw, and that hull would stand out against the landscape once more.
More likely it would be almost entirely gone. A metallic, primordial soup, degraded to nothing but an exotic stew of alloys.
Magnesium and radium, ear of barium, eye of niobium. A pinch of gold and silver and copper, a dash of silicon. Add cadmium and nickel to taste.
Cassie frowned as she roamed around the deserted crash site.
‘Cassie? You okay?’
She jumped. She’d been staring at the jutting block of the ship like an idiot while Jin protected them and Anna did all the work. She turned, looking for Anna but the small woman was hidden around the other side of the wreck.
‘Cassie?’
Shit. Maybe I’m going snow mad.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I’m still here. Just...thinking.’
‘Don’t strain too hard,’ said Anna.
Cassie laughed. ‘You find anything?’
‘Nothing useful. Nothing interesting. Ice. Snow. Dead ship. More interesting searching through rich people’s trash.’
‘Yes it is. Got to
have a hobby when you’re fucked out of luck on an alien planet.’
This time, Anna laughed.
Cassie took a deep breath, and widened her circle, but couldn’t help glancing back at the ship. Time to time, she tilted her head, like she was trying to figure out angles, and none of them seemed to come out quite right.
‘Anna...you worried?’
Anna was quiet a moment before she replied. ‘Sure. Not scared...but it’s weird. You?’
‘Scared,’ said Cassie.
Yes, she thought, and frowned at the hull one last time.
‘Ulrich? Jin? Are we ready to move on?’
*
‘Two minutes,’ said Ulrich. ‘Jin?’
‘Anytime. There is nothing here.’
Ulrich helped Lian to her feet.
‘Not much of a rest, was it? Anything I can do? We can do?’
‘Suit’s good for now, but...I’m hurting. So are you.’
‘I’m used to it,’ he said. ‘I imagine you’re not.’
‘Take your own advice. Be honest.’
Her voice slurred, but there was nothing insensible about her reasoning.
‘I’m hungry and tired and my leg aches, but I’m good to go. Come on.’
Ulrich helped Lian up. The power remaining on their suits concerned him. If they reached the next crash site, they’d need either a functioning suitable power source, or replacement suits. If not? Then they wouldn’t make it further than the next stop...and getting there was a long shot, too. And though he’d told Jin to mark this location he knew it was fruitless. There was little of use left on the Silver Dollar.
He’d slept a long time but his skills, his nature, hadn’t changed. Ulrich had been a fighter and a killer most of his adult life, and there was an extra sense in a born fighter. Maybe it was innate, maybe developed through years of not dying. He didn’t know where that sense came from, but he felt it there in the wreckage of the ship.
It was quiet, dead...but something was wrong. That survival instinct had woken up along with his body and his memories and thoughts. There was nothing nearby, and he knew it without Jin’s remarkable scanners. The danger wasn’t from the ship. Silver Dollar was dead.
And the angle...
Cassie Kiyobashi hadn’t been the only one to notice it.
Lian staggered as they exited the remains of the ship into the storm once more, but it might have been him. He was so tired, and confessing to his hunger had made it worse. They’d eaten nothing since Blue Sun Dawning, and walked for hours in terrible conditions. Hunger made him weaker with each step he took.
The few minutes rest might mean enough energy to make it to the next small chance of survival...
...or it might mean we don’t make it all.
That wasn’t helpful, though. Chance was a thing out of his hands, but acting like they had a chance – that was on him.
‘Are you ready?’ said Jin.
‘This is about as good as it’s going to get,’ said Ulrich.
They moved on. They had no choice, and only faint hope of respite further on into the snow. There was no rescue, and that begged a question Ulrich couldn’t shake. If Hush knew their situation, why hadn’t she sent help?
*
34.
Short on Time
Ice Field
The respite had been welcome, but back into the brunt of the harsh wind and blinding snow, the dead ship and the absence of anything resembling life led to introspection, and slow, steady, tired gaits.
Ulrich was the one who broached the subject of the Silver Dollar. He figured most of them noticed anyway, and he was done trying to do it all alone. They were a team, and he wasn’t a leader. Just another survivor, trying to live.
‘Jin, everyone...you noticed the ship, right? The angle, the damage she took?’
Cassie nodded. ‘I did. She was struck from above. Right?’
Ulrich, beside Lian, nodded even though he couldn’t see Cassie and she probably could only barely see him.
‘Jin?’
‘Scorching toward the missing aft of the ship, but on the top side, yes.’
‘Look like it was hit from the air, not surface, to you?’
‘Yes,’ said Jin, his voice quiet through comms, thoughtful.
‘No drones, no Augs,’ said Cassie. ‘Seem...wrong?’
‘To me? Sure? What about the rest of you?’
‘Honestly,’ said Lian. ‘I wasn’t really looking...but no survivors? No bodies? From a crash which tore the ship apart? Where did they go?’
‘Anna?’
‘Felt wrong,’ she said. Ulrich waited for more, but she seemed to think that summed it up, and Ulrich was inclined to agree.
‘What’s your assessment, Jin?’ asked Ulrich.
‘Possible scenario?’
‘Yeah.’
‘They prioritised. Went to support the ship we’re headed toward. Closer to the Silver Dollar, and closer to the objective.’
‘Secondary,’ said Anna. ‘Right, Jin?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘There is, however, no solid conclusion to be made from the information we have.’
‘But Jin...do you get hunches? Like when something doesn’t feel right? That scenario feel right to you?’
‘It’s a logical explanation, Anna. But not the only logical explanation, and only supposition based on insufficient facts. I don’t get hunches...but...’
‘It feels wrong, doesn’t it?’ said Ulrich.
‘Yes,’ said Jin. ‘It does.’
Ulrich wished Jin had a face, because he couldn’t tell what the Titan actually thought. Either way, Ulrich could barely see Jin’s head with the snow hitting them harder than ever, and sharp shards of ice blowing low across the surface of the ice field. Everything was obscured in the constant cold fury of the planet. Moving was hard enough, let alone holding a conversation. Lian’s weight dragged against him and threw him off balance. Anna was close by, and Jin ahead. Daylight was already fading and they’d barely progressed at all.
We’re in enough shit, he figured, without getting out of breath.
He said nothing more, and concentrated on following Jin and not dying for a while longer. Very soon they would have to use their suit lights, and they’d have to cut back on warmth or oxygen to conserve power. Not long after that, Ulrich figured they’d be down to luck. He checked the power readout on his own suit.
22%.
If he was that low on power, how long did Lian have, her medical needs draining more resources from the suit each minute they struggled on?
*
Night fell, and even with Jin’s glow guiding them and moving close together they had no choice but to use their suit lights. Power packs for suits were designed to be light, and short term. They’d never expected a slog of nearly a whole day across ice fields. Blue Sun Dawning should have taken them close to the anomaly. They should have had shelter, back up. Resources.
Wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
But it had, and this was what they had to work with.
They battled onward, glowing for all to see. The snow suffused the light they made, but Ulrich didn’t like it. That sense of wrongness persisted, and now they walked on blinded to any presence but their own, and shining bright as beacons.
‘Turn down heat if you can bear it,’ said Ulrich. ‘Movement’ll warm you.’
They weren’t soldiers, but they were smart and just about as brave as anyone he’d ever seen with a rifle in their hands. Ulrich had known plenty of soldiers who would have given up long ago.
‘Jin...how long ‘til light?’
‘Nearly seventeen hours.’
Ulrich wished he hadn’t asked. In the dark, suit power dangerously low, on unknown terrain, probably facing unknown enemies?
Our chances? Fuck all.
But like most of his thoughts during that heavy night on the ice planet, he didn’t share.
*
35.
Crevasse
Icefield
4 KM outside anomaly
Jin’s sensors were hampered by the weather and by the small group’s proximity to the energy source. They could not see the anomaly, nor hear it. Anna imagined it would be glowing, blue, visible in all directions, but there was nothing to indicate its existence other than Jin’s diminishing effectiveness.
Their comms were able to tune out some of the wind’s ferocious wailing around them, yet the wind quashed all other sounds. Snow blinded them, and Jin, less effective a scout (still far superior to the humans) only registered heat signatures when they were less than a kilometre out from their goal, the next stricken ship.
They weren’t going to make it, though, because of the crevasse which sliced across their path to the ship. Most likely any aid at the crash site had been empty hope, but it had been some hope.
Jin gave them the bad news in his flat, tonal voice. Lian sighed, Cassie swore and Ulrich said nothing. Anna didn’t complain at all. She hadn’t so far, and she wasn’t about to start. She’d said nothing about her pain when they’d been released from Jin’s shell. Bleeding and bruised and not a single grumble from her.
She didn’t know why. She guessed she felt everything since waking was a second life, a second chance and so everything was somehow unreal. But it wasn’t. She hurt, she was tired, and while her suit cut out 90% of the cold, that part it didn’t, couldn’t, shut out, that small discomfort over a long period of time, became a big discomfort and it drained her. She was tired, and hungry, and thirsty enough her lips were cracked.
Complaining never made a job easier.
Her dad said that, and often, but Anna never was one for complaining.
In the glow of their suit lights, none could see the crevasse, but none of them moved forward either. Anna stepped back. She wasn’t complaining, sure, but caution was healthy enough.
Cassie turned her head this way and that. The former cop still swore and wasted her breath. Her energy, too. Even if they were attacked, Cassie wouldn’t be of much use. Should anything out there intend them harm and Jin couldn’t protect them, Cassie wasn’t going to see it.
HUSH Page 13