“Hey, check this out,” he called to Serif and Genie.
The two turned and looked, and Dave repeated his experiment with similar results.
“They are gone?” Serif said.
“Looks like it. The core was probably generating them. Tony was right,” Dave said, turning to chuck another larger stone across a heavy farther away. It easily passed through the area where they had once skirted around in fear of being crushed into the soil.
“This sun of yours is warm,” Serif said, peeling off his jacket and tucking it under his back.
“Don’t worry, it will get cold later… a lot colder. Wait until you see what winter is like.”
“I don’t like your stories about winter. They sound a lot like some sort of hell. Let’s continue,” Serif urged.
Dave obliged, hefting the wheelbarrow again. They moved across the empty plains toward the buildings in the distance. Dave’s feet and back ached with each step, but he smiled at how warm the sun felt on his face, and how comforting the breeze was.
Each step brought them closer to their starting point. It would be a few days, but they would be able to return, and if they were lucky, some of the bridges across the chasm might still be standing. A few days after that, Dave planned on making the hike up the outer crater wall and peer over it.
“What is that?” Serif pointed out, shielding his eyes from the setting sun.
Genie pulled her blade as she looked to what he had spotted.
Serif pointed to a shadowy object moving in a straight line high in the sky. A glint of light reflected off the leading edge.
Dave stopped and lowered the handles, watching it bank sharply and descend. The twilight allowed the red and green lights on the wings to blink brightly in the sky.
“It’s a plane.” Dave smiled. He waved his arms over his head, wincing at the sore shoulder.
“Like a flying plane?!” Serif was excited. “That is a real plane?”
“It might be a drone. Seems a bit small.”
The three of them waved their arms as the drone buzzed past only a few hundred metres above them before banking hard and tightly circling. Dave waved his arms again, and the wings tipped.
He pumped his fists in the air excitedly. “They see us!”
They watched for the next hour as it rose in elevation, spinning around them as the sun dipped over the edge of the immense crater. The three of them lay on the ground, listening to the continued buzz.
They speculated on what would happen next, and if there was help on the way.
Dave felt reassured by the sign of the outside world watching them and knew that the drone was there for them; otherwise, it would have just moved on and explored elsewhere.
Just as Dave closed his eyes, a distant thumping noise rose on the breeze.
“The zealots are back!” Serif pulled his blade out and hopped on his one leg.
The purple dirt of plateau was highlighted by the moonlight, and Dave, still groggy, spun, looking for any attackers. The thumping continued, and the men turned in the direction of the incoming threat.
A beam of white light fired out from the sky near the city and probed the darkness, panning left and right. Another parallel light punched another hole in the night and blinded the trio.
“What is this!” Serif yelled as the helicopter’s blades began to get louder.
“This is our ride home!” Dave clapped him on the back. “No more wheelbarrow for you!”
Serif and Genie alternated between awe and fear as one helicopter swooped around them, panning them with the spotlight. The other dropped in, lowering to the ground hundreds of metres away. Dave could see figures disembark, weapons in hand, shrouded in yellow hazardous material suits.
“These guys are friendly,” Dave told the others. “Just do as they say… You two might want to put those away.”
Serif lowered his sword first, and only after he had sheathed it did Genie slid hers back into the scabbard. They both looked to Dave for reassurance. He nodded at them and stepped forward to greet the people disembarking from the helicopter.
Six yellow-clad soldiers streamed forth. The thick plastic hazmat suits made them look alien and foreign. They encircled the trio, finding a position around them, with weapons pointing outward to the darkness.
“Mr. Thompson?” came a familiar voice.
Dave could see the sergeant’s last name stencilled on the white tape of her suit. He smiled. “Good to see you again.”
“We are very glad to see you too… considering we thought you were dead. We were surprised to find you when the drone spotted you.” Her voice rose to compete with the helicopters beating of the air.
“I’m still alive… These are my friends Serif and Genie. We fixed our little problem with the sphere.”
“You should have waited,” she chastised.
“Things got kind of complicated fast here,” he pointed out.
“You can explain later. Do you want a ride home?”
“That sounds amazing.” Dave laughed. Considering the others, he pointed to Serif, who was now leaning against the edge of the wheelbarrow. “Serif here needs some looking after. He’s got a busted leg.”
“We will call ahead. We’re prepping quarantine procedures, but there’s medical aid available.” She nodded. “We are trying to minimize our time on the ground here. There is some concern about alien toxins and/or radiation.”
“These two are healthy, and my hair hasn’t fallen out, so I think we’re fine,” Dave pointed out.
“To tell you the truth, you look like crap.” She laughed. “I’m glad I can’t smell you right now.”
Dave smiled back at her and nodded. “It’s been a rough few days.”
She waved them to follow, and the soldiers who she had brought with her formed a walking shield.
A short distance away, the large helicopter dropped toward the earth, flaring at the last moment, and a doorway slid open, revealing a man waving them to come.
Climbing aboard, the soldiers clipped them into the seats, helping them with buckles. The door slid shut, loaded down with six people. The remaining soldiers outside moved toward the other helicopter, which was landing in parallel to them.
Dave felt his stomach tighten as the vehicle took off. Serif and his friend clenched at the bench on which they sat, wide-eyed.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened? We didn’t expect to find you at all, let alone so far out. There’s no way you covered that much ground.”
“Sergeant, how long do you think has passed since we left?”
“Five hours? Seven tops maybe. I can’t give you an exact number. Why?”
“It’s been over a week for me. The black dome was putting up some sort of time dilation. These people have been inside here for hundreds years.”
“Seriously?”
Dave nodded. “Yeah. There are other survivors.”
“That’s great news.” She leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m just glad you are okay.”
“Me too,” Dave said.
Thanks for reading
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If your interested in knowing what happened afterward, I have started a cyberpunk thriller series.
The upcoming Thorne Inc. series (Coming in 2017) will be a cyberpunk series set ten years after this book.
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Thanks for reading!
—NM
Also by Neil Mosspark
Spear’s Journey
South of the Spire
Sand Fall
Tales from the Mosspark Universe, Vol. 1
Coming Soon in 2017
Thorne Inc. Dark Crypto (Book 1)
Thorne Inc. Clone Death (Book 2)
Thorne Inc. Rogue Agent(Book 3)
Tales from the Mosspark Universe
, Vol. 2
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and find out about my upcoming novels:
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My Website: www.NeilMosspark.com
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