Event Horizon Threshold

by Kaitlyn O’Connor

  Regardless, it made her feel safe, tethered to something substantial—rock solid when nothing else was. Slowly, but surely, he drew her in until she was resting against him and then cinched her to his length with his arms.

  She was grateful for at least the semblance of protection. It made it possible for her to cling and close her eyes.

  He had to peel her lose when they stopped moving.

  Self-conscious then, she avoided glancing around at the others and turned her attention to her surroundings instead.

  That effectively erased all other considerations from her mind.

  They were standing in the middle of a garden. Every plant that she focused on was almost bent double with the weight of the fruit hanging on it.

  Before she could consciously evaluate, though, she realized it was growing ‘wild’. Or, at least, there was none of the regularity generally associated with cultivation.

  It was a veritable garden of Eden, she thought, awed.

  In the next moment, she thought about the rations they’d packed to carry with them—roughly a month’s worth when they were only supposed to stay a week.

  A precaution, she’d been told, against ‘problems’.

  And so unnecessary now that they’d arrived.

  It was the realization that the plants looked very familiar that made her look up at the sky and then there was no doubt at all that they weren’t anywhere on Earth, regardless of the familiarity or seemingly recognizable plants.

  The sky was red—colors of either dawn or dusk—but what leapt out at her was the two huge balls in the sky. Her heart jerked with fright. Her mind went chaotic. “They look awfully close,” she murmured to no one in particular.

  “Moons,” the lead soldier said. “Stable.”

  “How do you figure that? They look like they’re on a collision course,” Paul retorted.

  He met Paul’s gaze. “They are not.”

  “Yes, but …,” Roslyn objected uneasily, wanting more reassurance than ‘they are not’.

  “We need to do some calculations,” Marvin said briskly.

  “I’m in favor of getting the fuck back through that gateway!” Gretchen exclaimed.

  She’d hardly gotten that out when the soldier, who’d been speaking into a recorder, tossed it toward the gateway and the vortex promptly vanished.

  Roslyn gaped at it in disbelief.

  She thought the shock must have held everyone silent for many moments, and then, abruptly, everyone began babbling at once, exclaiming, cussing, Gretchen crying ….

  Roslyn couldn’t seem to get any words past the choking sensation in her chest.

  As unconcerned as if he hadn’t just blocked their return, the lead soldier turned to the others. She thought they spoke to one another. They seemed to be communicating, but it didn’t come through her earphones.

  Then they took their helmets off and began to strip out of their suits.

  Roslyn gaped.

  She thought it probably crossed her mind that they shouldn’t be doing that because nobody knew, yet, if the atmospheric pressure and the chemical makeup of the atmosphere were safe for humans.

  But as soon as they men bared their chests, she forgot everything else.

  She’d known they had to be built like gods, but … my god!

  It wasn’t until she realized her main hunk was staring straight at her that she realized she was just gaping at him.

  She looked away quickly and discovered the team was virtually dancing in fury. Finally, their gobbling began to filter through her shock and she was able, after a few minutes, to grasp a word here and there.

  “Should I just call you lead asshole? Or do you have a fucking name or maybe a rank?”

  The lead soldier, the one Paul had addressed, narrowed his eyes at Paul. “I am Aurek. That is my beta, Dylan. And the medic is Tor.”

  “Beta?” Gretchen echoed.

  He glanced at her but apparently decided to ignore her. “It is safe to remove the suits and helmets. They should be stored for the return.”

  It was the most words he’d strung together since she’d first seen him.

  It was a damn shame, Roslyn thought, that she was so enthralled with the sound of his voice she didn’t have a clue of what he’d said. He had the dreamiest voice she’d ever heard. It fucked up her entire nervous system every time he opened his mouth.

  “What return?” Paul bellowed. “You closed the fucking gateway!”

  Unruffled, Aurek shrugged. “Yes. We will open it when we are ready to return. You should not waste the oxygen when you may need it later.”

  Thankfully, he moved to Roslyn as he said that and turned her valve off and removed the helmet for her.

  That distracted her enough she was afraid to breathe for several moments.

  He leaned down until he was practically nose to nose with her. “Breathe.”

  She sucked in a breath. A wave of dizziness followed. It took her a few minutes to realize that was either because she’d held her breath so long.

  Or it was because he was so close she dragged his scent into her lungs and it affected her like an alcoholic beverage.

  Roslyn discovered when he moved away from her that the rest of the team was staring at her. She felt her face heat before it dawned on her that was because they were expecting her to explode, or implode, or keel over because the air wasn’t safe.

  When they saw she seemed to be ok, they reluctantly began to remove their own helmets.

  She wasn’t wearing anything under the damned suit but a skimpy t-shirt and her panties. She wanted to get out of the suit, but she didn’t especially want to change in front of everyone.

  She saw, though, that everyone seemed to be focused on their own wardrobe and decided that was probably her best chance.

  Dropping her pack to the ground, she crouched and pulled out a change of clothing—one of only two she’d brought—and began shrugging out of the suit.

  She’d brought a sweat-suit because she wanted to be warm and comfortable and she realized as soon as she took her clothing off that it was already comfortable. Well, the pants would protect her legs, she reflected, stuffing the top back in and then, after a little thought, tying the arms around her waist to keep it handy.

  She discovered when she’d finished that she was the last.

  She thought Aurek’s expression might denote disapproval, but it was really hard to say. He wasn’t inclined to give a lot away in his expression. “We need to find a place to make camp. It is nearly dusk.”

  Roslyn gaped at him and then looked at the sky again.

  She was damned if she could tell if she was looking east or west at the sun near the horizon.

  Maybe he had a compass?

  But would it work on this world? Did it have a magnetosphere?

  Or did it revolve clockwise? Or counterclockwise?

  It did seem to be a little darker than it had been before she’d changed though.

  And there was no point in arguing.

  The soldiers had struck off already and the metal monster with them that was carrying all of the equipment.

  She hurried to catch up to them.

  After a slight delay, the others joined her.

  Paul was muttering under his breath about freaking soldiers.

  Marvin and Gretchen seemed too caught up in craning their necks to pay him a lot of attention.

  And Roslyn was way too fascinated by the trio of male asses in front of her to think about much else.

  She did try to gaze around and make mental notes, but really it was hard enough to keep up with the soldiers as it was.

  The irony of it wasn’t lost on her.

  She’d traveled halfway across the universe, or the galaxy, at least, and she was way more focused on the males they’d brought with them than the flora and fauna.

  Then again, she was rarely around males old enough to be called men—she generally taught if she wasn’t on a dig somewhere—and she honestly didn’t know much ab
out the flora and fauna on Earth.

  * * * *

  Aurek led them, seemingly unerringly, to a stream—not a raging river but a very respectable tributary.

  Of course the valley was filled with fruitful plants and trees. It made sense that there was a water source close by, but still ….

  Roslyn stared at the beautifully clear water, feeling her throat close.

  As comfortable as the temperature was when she wasn’t active, a brisk walk carrying a heavy backpack and wearing hot sweatpants had warmed her up well past comfortable.

  She didn’t dare touch the water, though.

  For all she knew it might not be water at all.

  Aurek followed her when she went down to the water’s edge, scooped a palm full into his hand, sniffed it and then drank.

  Was he insane? Or just lucky?

  Roslyn didn’t even have time to yell a warning.

  He straightened and scanned the sky. “Animals will come soon to drink,” he said, meeting her gaze. “You will want to … do whatever you have interest in before they arrive and return to camp.”

  She wasn’t sure of what he meant, but she wasn’t comfortable with him speculating about her bodily functions.

  She was a prude. She knew it, and she knew how much it amused the vast majority of people—except for the ones who found it annoying.

  But she couldn’t help it.

  She supposed it was from being raised by grandparents from a distant age.

  And working on digs hadn’t ‘cured’ her of it.

  With that thought, she made use of the ‘facilities’ while she had the chance for a little privacy.

  No way was she taking a dip in, or drinking from, an alien body of water! There was no telling what might be in it. And the tiniest things, the things you couldn’t see with the naked eye, were probably the deadliest.

  When she got back to the campsite, she saw it had been setup.

  The ‘women’s’ tent, identifiable by the woman parked in front of it, was sandwiched between the soldiers’ tent and the ‘men’s’ tent.

  Cozy.

  She couldn’t help but appreciate the macho-ism that had thought that up, though.

  There were damned few perks about being a woman in a man’s world, but it was always nice when they felt protective.

  Way better than being thrown out as bait!

  She hadn’t seen anything yet, but she’d heard rustling in the brush and scurrying feet and quiet animal squeaks and grunts.

  The garden wasn’t the only thing that was prolific.

  It was weird, though, that she got an ‘empty’ feeling about the place—like nobody was home.

  They hadn’t been on the planet more than a couple of hours and they hadn’t walked far before it was beginning to get too dark to keep going. That was a rush to judgment if she’d ever made one, but she had that eerie sense anyway.

  So… it was no surprise to discover there wasn’t a waiting party. It had been ten thousand years or so since man had evolved—depending, of course, on your interpretation of man. For her part, she didn’t really consider them sentient until they’d graduated from cavemen/hunter/gatherers to builders and farmers.

  And, of course, nobody really knew when the DNA had turned up in humans that had contained the message/instructions.

  This would have been a staggeringly advanced species and they could’ve manipulated human DNA at any point in their evolution from beast to modern humans.

  For all they knew, the aliens might have made that happen.

  Of course serious scientists dismissed that as pure fiction, but the truth was, nobody knew. Even the most educated guesses were often still just guesses.

  She did her best to carefully examine and study everything she found and created theories based on fact and not conjecture, but that had to figure in at least part of the time because nobody could go back in time and verify fact versus fiction.

  Dismissing her conjecture after a few moments, she went to collect a meal as the others had.

  The soldier named Dylan was guarding the pack. Without glancing, he dragged a MRE out and handed it to.

  She was a little outdone.

  She would’ve liked to choose which one she ate, but she didn’t suppose any of it was particularly good.

  Uttering an irritated huff, she grabbed a bottle, ignored the questioning look he sent her, and headed to the women’s tent.

  “What did you get?” Gretchen asked.

  “I don’t know. Dylan just handed me one. I haven’t had the chance look.”

  “I had the beef stew. It was actually pretty good.”

  “Ah ha!” Roslyn responded with a chuckle. “I have the stew, too! How much you want to bet it’s all stew?”

  “That’ll get old in a hurry,” Paul said from the neighboring tent.

  “Well,” Roslyn said a little doubtfully, “the food we have when we’re out in the field really isn’t that great. I guess I’ll live.”

  Paul invited himself over.

  Roslyn was a little surprised, but it didn’t take long to figure out why he’d moved.

  “Those guys are seriously weird. Is it just me?”

  Roslyn and Gretchen exchanged a look. “They’re ok,” Roslyn said noncommittally. “I’m really not used to being around military people.”

  Gretchen shrugged. “Everybody here’s weird.”

  Roslyn choked on the bite she’d just taken. “Good point.”

  “I’m serious.”

  Marvin joined them. “Unless they’re deaf, I think huddling to talk about them is a waste of time,” he said dryly.

  Paul reddened, but it was hard to say if it was embarrassment or anger that caused it. He and Marvin seemed to rub each other the wrong way.

  “Do you guys know each other?” Roslyn asked when that occurred to her.

  “No,” they both said almost at once.

  Marvin sent Paul a ‘look’. “I know his type, though,” he added.

  That time there was no doubt that it was anger that made Paul redden. “What type is that?”

  Marvin met his gaze. “I wasn’t talking about you being gay if that’s the conclusion you’ve leapt to. I’m talking about you being a reckless fool—one of those gung-ho young men that runs into danger and risks everybody else’s life.”

  Marvin’s radar must be better than hers. She hadn’t had a clue Paul was gay.

  Or an adrenaline junkie.

  He seemed high strung—and maybe a tad judgmental of everybody else, but … she wouldn’t have pegged him as a daredevil.

  He shrugged. “I like excitement. I don’t mind taking risks now and then—when it’s something I can handle. How about you, old man? What’s your poison?”

  Marvin merely stared at him.

  “See, I’m thinking we’re all expendable or we wouldn’t be here. I saw you popping a pill—heart? Or is it terminal cancer?”

  The question made Marvin furious, but he refused to answer it.

  Surprisingly, Paul let it go. “And Gretchen over there—well, she likes to self-mutilate or she’s suicidal. Which is it? I saw the slashes earlier when we were changing.”

  “How about you mind your own business, fucktard,” Gretchen growled.

  Paul laughed. “So that leaves you, angel face. You suicidal? Or terminally ill?”

  Roslyn had been expecting his venom to head her way and she was still pissed off. “How about neither, smartass?”

  “You’re fucking up my theory, you know.”

  “It was already fucked up,” Roslyn said tightly. Getting to her feet, she headed into the tent to finish her dinner in peace.

  Gretchen followed her inside and settled on her sleeping bag across from Roslyn. “He was right, you know,” she said when they’d listened to Paul snap at Marvin and then get up and leave abruptly.

  Roslyn shook her head. “He damned sure wasn’t right about me.”

  Gretchen said nothing for several moments. Finally, she shrugged. “Wel
l, his theory might still be on point. I got a chance to look at everybody’s file.”

  When Roslyn gaped at her with a mixture of disbelief and anger, she shrugged again. “Ok, so I broke in and had a look. We all have one thing in common. Not one of us will be missed if we don’t make it back.”

  Roslyn really resented that assessment even though she knew it was, basically, true. She had no one. She hadn’t in years.

  She had to suppose that was true of Marvin and Paul.

  “What about the soldiers?”

  Gretchen nodded. “Now that’s the oddest thing about all of the really weird stuff that’s been going on. There are no records about them that predates the beginning of the project.”

  Roslyn felt a coldness creep down her spine, but she dismissed it. “Aww come on now! You couldn’t have checked on them. I didn’t even know they were going to escort us until just before we went through the gateway.”

  Gretchen chuckled. “Why would you assume that I couldn’t know anything you don’t? I just told you I hacked in and looked at everything.”

  “Hacked?” Roslyn said a little faintly. “You hacked into a government computer system?”

  Gretchen laughed at her expression. “That’s my specialty—hacking. If they didn’t want me to look they should have guarded it better.”

  Chapter Three

  Roslyn felt like she’d been rode hard and put up wet when she woke up. She was sore from the unaccustomed exercise—very long hike carrying thirty pounds on her back—and she was yucky sticky because she’d sweated and she hadn’t gotten a shower.

  They’d camped near a stream.

  She wasn’t leaving until she’d had the chance to at least see if it was safe to bathe off.

  There was no signs of anyone when she emerged from her tent, but that didn’t perturb her or deter her from her goal. In point of fact, she was relieved she wouldn’t have to explain and or possibly fight someone for a few minutes of grooming. Hoisting her pack, she headed down to the stream, watching carefully for any kind of wildlife although she didn’t really expect to run into anything in broad daylight.

  Of course, that was making a judgment based on Earth conditions. Grazers were out during the day and the animals that preyed upon them, naturally enough, were out also, but they tended to shy away from open areas.