by Max Jager
When he asked about this, Udel, wearing a very serious expression explained.
"If you try and travel the dead lands in a piece of junk, you're going to die out there, the dead lands do not forgive. By the way, make sure you bring a pair of sand goggles, I see you and your friend have dark glasses, but you're going to need sand goggles, ask my brother, he might have an extra pair. Also, bring plenty of water, and food." The then paused, as if thinking about something, then added.
"That weapon you were telling us about…"
"My gun?" Asked Matt,
"Yeah, better bring it as well. There are packs of barbongs as well as Boloth's out there, best to play it safe." Standing next to the wind wag Matt asked Bria,
"Looks like you're having fun?"
"Oh very much so," she replied, unlike you, Udel here knows how to have fun!"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Snapped Matt. Bria was interrupted by Udel loudly announcing,
"Stand back, we're leaving now!" Releasing the brake and turning the sail, the wind wag shot forward heading out into the wastes.
Turning to Kaitlyn, Matt asked,
"Why is she still pissed at me, I haven't done anything?" Kaitlyn shrugged,
"Beats the hell out of me, best I can figure is that she just doesn't like you all that well. You know how some people just rub you the wrong way? They've never done a thing to you, but there's just something about them you just don't like. I wouldn't worry about it, I like her a lot, and we get along great…You, well what can I say?" Before Matt could continue the argument a much larger wind wag approached with Chasi at the controls.
"Oh great!" he thought, "She's all we need right now."
Amber, Gandric, and Drok appeared, with Drok and Gandric still discussing manufacturing process's.
"Well if you're all coming let's get going," announced Chasi.
"We have to go get our stuff," replied Matt, "Come on Kaitlyn, let's go."
As they quickly headed for the ship, they heard Drok's mother yelling at them about something, but just kept going. Once inside the ship, Matt made sure he had his new knife, plus plenty of ammo for his, and Kaitlyn's AR's.
"Do you think we really need these?" She asked, "I've never shot one before, even back on the spaceship."
"I'll give you a crash course on how to load and fire them," said Matt.
"Well if you say so," added Kaitlyn. They grabbed their sleeping bags, along with extra water, and rations. Everybody was already sitting in the wind wag waiting on the two, Drok's mother didn't look very happy, but said nothing. Although this vehicle was much larger than Udel's, everybody, with the exception of Chasi, were scrunched together sitting down inside the tub.
It didn't take long for them to begin moving, picking up speed rather quickly. The wind, and the squealing of the metal wheels prevented much talk, Matt guessing that they were traveling close to fifty miles an hour, it wasn't fast by automobile standards, but sitting so low in the vehicle gave the impression that they were really moving. Matt looked back at Drok's mother who was wearing a pair of dark goggles. The lens were round, and gave her a bit of a "steam punk" look. She spoke to no one, and continued to focus all her attention forward, adjusting the sail as needed. Drok on the other hand, was scanning the horizon with a device that Matt guessed were binoculars, but looked more like a rectangular box. They continued to travel for a little over an hour until Drok pointed to something at the ten o-clock position. Suddenly Chasi turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, and yanked back on the sail control. The vehicle jerked quickly to the left as she made more sail corrections bringing them around.
As they moved in the new direction, Matt could now see something out there, and whatever it was spread out, and glinting in the sun. The wind wag began to slow as they started passing piles of rubble, and what looked like twisted girders and rebar. They began to pass these piles more frequently now, and Chasi was having to constantly turn and correct the sail because of it.
She had slowed them down to around thirty miles an hour, giving everyone a better view of the area they were entering. Matt could now see that these piles were mostly the remains of abandoned, and forgotten machines that had lain out here, and had been sandblasted by close to two hundred years of unchecked wind. Many of the piles of junk resembled airplane fuselages , and pieces of wing. Finally Chasi slowed even further, and brought them up along an especially stark piece of wreckage. Coming to a complete stop, the only sound was the wind, and the flapping sail.
"We'll stay here for the night," Announced Chasi, Drok then added.
"Everyone stick close to me, don't wander off, ask me if something is safe to touch. Much of this metal is extremely hot from the sun and will burn the skart out of you."
Amber and Gandric moved up with Drok, as he pointed out the kind of metal, as well as the difficultly he expected on recovering it. From time to time, Drok would wrench off pieces of metal, or literally reach down and pull up a structural section, then show it to Gandric who would study it and say something to Drok. Both Matt and Kaitlyn tried to imagine what all of this originally was, but it had been so blasted, and left to the elements for so long, it was impossible. While they were waiting for Drok and the two androids to finish discussing a large piece of metal Drok had ripped off what looked like a fuselage, Matt noticed a pile of loose rubble that had been sheltered from the wind by the fuselage. Kicking at it with his boot, he exposed something metallic, and round. Reaching down and pulling it up, he freaked, and immediately dropped it again, a cold chill running down his back. It was a helmet, the same kind that he had seen those ghosts wearing, but this one had a skull in it.
Thankfully no one saw him, Kaitlyn was standing with Amber and Gandric listening to Drok.
"Goddamn!" He thought, "We could be standing right over a fucking cemetery? Damn! This place is giving me the creeps." They continued to walk along as Drok, and Gandric discussed the difficulty involved in removing all the metal, as well as the rest of the rubble. Suddenly there was a growl, and something big lunged from an opening in a pile of rubble. Amber was walking a couple feet ahead of everyone else as the animal rushed at her. Matt happened to be looking right at her, witnessing an incredible sight. He, like the others could only watch as Amber dodged the attack by flipping her body up into the air in an incredible display of gymnastics, and coming right down on the animals back. In the millisecond it took for the animal to realize it's prey was sitting on it's back, Amber slammed her fist down on it's spine so hard it literally broke the animal's back.
Immediately jumping off, the animal, which everyone could now see was a boloth lay writhing, and shrieking on the ground unable to move. Matt immediately charged his rifle quickly bringing it up to his shoulder and putting two shots into the large cat silencing it forever. For several moments after, everyone just stood there looking at Amber, then the dead boloth, then to Matt.
"Holy Fuck! What was that?" Gasped Kaitlyn. Drok immediately put a bolt in the cat's head with the crossbow he had slung over his shoulder, before carefully approaching it. Amber acted as if nothing important had happened but Kaitlyn and Gandric just stood there looking. Slinging his cross bow back over his shoulder, Drok pointed to Matt and said.
"I don't know what that thing is, and maybe I shouldn't know, but later, I want you so show me what you've got there." Matt didn't know if he was in trouble or not, but had the sinking feeling that he was on the spot. As they moved on by the dead boloth, Matt took a closer look. It had been awhile since he had seen any pictures of saber-toothed cats, but damn if it didn't look like one.
"Man I thought we were goners!" Whispered Kaitlyn, I was so scared I didn't even think to use my own gun. And did you see Amber? She punched that thing so hard she broke it's back." All he could do was nod in agreement, as he thought back to the conversation he had had with Amber where she admitted her secret past.
"Well it all makes sense now," he thought, "Only a freaking "terminator" could do shit like t
hat." Once again, he couldn't decide whether he feared her, or admired her. They finished Drok's "tour," before working their way back to where his mother had set up camp. Their "temporary" home had apparently been some sort of crashed spacecraft, or airplane, but right now it was half covered with sand leaving an open door from which to enter.
Like everything else around here the metal skin was sandblasted to a dull metal color. When he entered , he knew right away it must have been some sort of transport, for when he looked up, he could see rows of what were seats at one time, but were now just skeletal frames. The former ceiling, now the floor was full of sand, and Chasi had a small fire burning at one end with the smoke venting out a hole in the new ceiling.
"I piled all your gear over there," she exclaimed, pointing to their flight bags and sleeping bags.
"This old transport will provide us protection from the wind, and any boloth's that might be wandering around. Drok then told her about Amber and Matt killing the boloth earlier in the day. She was suitably impressed, and later, spoke to Amber about it.
Everybody had their own food, and with the exception of the water Chasi had heated did their own cooking. Both she and Drok were drinking something they called "Dol'Meul, a spicy red drink made from the leaves of the meul trees that grew in the canyon. When offered some, Matt thought it tasted like swamp water, but he was polite and simply said the taste didn't appeal to him. Kaitlyn said that it tasted very similar to something the fairies had given her back on Denedra, and seemed to like it. After dinner, Drok and Gandric finished up their plans for salvaging and rejuvenating the planet so Matt and Kaitlyn prepared their sleeping areas. Chasi thought it a good idea to set up a watch, with Matt being "volunteered" for a two hour stint from just after midnight until the Gri'Foda equivalent of two in the morning.
In "building" his bed, Matt had chosen a spot up against the outer hull and a former bulkhead. While he was scooping away sand to create a shallow hole in which to place his sleeping bag, he tried to push a section of the bulkhead back in so it wouldn't be poking him all night. As he was doing so, he noticed something sticking out of a thin space between the loose metal plate and the bulkhead. Fishing around, he pulled what looked like a wallet made of some cloth-like material that started to disintegrate. He fished around in the space between the bulkhead and the loose panel and found an elongated diamond shaped piece of thin metal on a thin silver chain. Examining it closer, he noticed that it had a small orange colored lens in the center. The object also had some sort of tiny "bit" on the end that reminded him of the kind of keys that open vending machines. There was also strange lettering on both sides.
Matt suspected that this had once been someone's "dog tag," that had either been dropped down in between the panels, or had simply fallen down in there, but it didn't explain how the wallet got down in there as well. Since everyone was busy doing other things, he stuck the items into a pocket on his backpack. Becoming even more curious, he began to explore deeper into the wrecked transport, or whatever it had once been. Working his way to the front, Matt discovered that when the aircraft "augured in," earth and debris flooded in through the windows like a large scoop, hence this part of the craft was completely filled in.
However there was a small area that contained a couple drawers and three medium sized cabinets. When he slid one cabinet open several documents and what looked like a small book fell out since everything was upside down. The second drawer was empty, but the third held three more "dog tags," and what looked like some sort of watch. One of the cabinets held several items of clothing that disintegrated the moment he touched them, however there was a metal badge of some kind that dropped out. Like the other items, he stuck it in his backpack The next cabinet was empty, but the third was a real "treasure chest."
Matt recovered what looked like a handgun, but unlike anything he had ever seen. There was also a large package with strange writing on it . The package was made of a metal foil like material. Sticking it in his pack, he brought out what looked like a small comm device, not all that different from the ones they used. Suddenly he thought he heard Kaitlyn calling his name. Dropping the device into his pack, he turned to scoot back out of there. As he did so, his boot hit something, it turned out to be another helmet, this one much shorter flaring out at an angle with a large cut-out for the face. With a shrug, he decided to take it with him. Working his way back to the others, Kaitlyn asked him where he had been.
"Poking around, I found some neat souvenirs."
"Well be careful when you do that," injected Drok, "You could stumble on some unexploded ordinance, come here, show me what you have."
Chapter 35
Titan Stand Chapter 35
Before Matt could show his treasures to Drok there was a commotion outside with Kaitlyn announcing,
"Hey it's Bria and Udel!" Drok forgot about inspecting Matt's finds, and along with his mother went outside to greet his brother. Matt stepped outside the wrecked transport to see Udel roll up in his rattle trap wind wag. His mother then began to berate him for being so late, and why wasn't he here earlier. Udel then began to argue back, and before long Drok became involved. Matt noticed that Bria looked like she wished she was anywhere else but here. Any enjoyment she had been sharing with Udel was now long gone. Kaitlyn then came up to Matt, and observed,
"She's just like my mom. It's kind of funny really, you can travel millions of miles in space and still not get away from this shit." By now the bickering and arguing had become quite painful to watch, Amber and Gandric just stood there not knowing what to think, Drok, for all his education, seemed no better than the others. Matt looked at the troubling drama then at Kaitlyn.
"I guess wherever you go you're gonna find families that just can't get along."
"Yeah, well they don't need to do it in front of us," replied Kaitlyn, who then went back inside the wrecked shuttle.
Matt stayed a couple moments longer pondering the family drama playing out in front of him, before following Kaitlyn back inside. A few minutes later, Drok, Udel, and their mother entered, their problem apparently resolved. They were soon followed by Bria and the two androids. Bria didn't look very happy, and sat down next to Kaitlyn, whispering to her about something. Everyone ate by themselves, and for a time Udel kept trying to engage Bria in conversation, but she didn't pay him a whole lot of attention. Later that night, a wind storm came up, forcing everyone to move deeper into either side of the wrecked shuttle. Earlier, Drok had rigged up a tarp over the door, which kept a lot of the sand and dust out, but, Matt and the girls were forced to tie bandannas around their faces to keep from inhaling all the dust.
Later, Matt woke up and realizing that he couldn't sleep, and needed to take a piss,and made his way over to the covered door. Opening the flap, he was startled to discover Drok sitting outside.
"Shit! You scared me," announced Matt, Drok looked up and apologized.
"Can't sleep either?" He muttered.
"No," replied Matt, his first thought was to wonder how he could excuse himself, but he really had to go. As if he could read minds, Drok pointed with his thumb,
"Down that way, just step into the open spot and have at it."
When he was finished, Matt sat down next to Drok,
"I take it that your family doesn't get along very well," he asked.
Drok turned to look at him.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, what was all that bickering earlier?" Drok chuckled,
"That? That wasn't anything. Oh don't get me wrong, Udel likes to throw his weight around from time to time. In this case, I think he was trying to impress Bria, I…" He suddenly stopped, speaking, then changed directions.
"When you're around we Gri'Foda a little more, you'll realize loud talking is just our way, we don't mean anything by it."
Matt wasn't so sure, then took a chance by asking.
"What happens when all that "loud talking" as you call it gets out of hand, when do the weapons come out?" When Drok
next spoke, there was a discernable edge to his voice.
"So you think arguing leads to bloody fights, and everybody bashing each other over the head?"
"It usually does on my planet, people have been known to kill family members simply because they were served coffee that wasn't hot enough, or somebody just said the wrong thing." In the half light of dawn, Matt saw Drok bow his head,
"For all we know this planet was destroyed simply because someone said something somebody else took offence at," replied Drok. "Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up every morning after suffering terrible nightmares about the things our ancestors did, or having to look out on a dead planet, wondering how you're going to get through the day?"