by D. W. Vogel
We loaded in at dawn—me, Shiro, General E, Pilot McCarthy, and four other men with varying amounts of jungle experience. Josh climbed down along with us, then retraced his steps back up to the cave’s “front door,” squirting rancid fermented fruit juice over our path to hide our scent. We did this every time anyone had to climb down to the jungle floor in the hope that nothing would track us up to our caves. The climb was difficult enough to put off any but the most determined hunter, but if a pack of Wolves knew we were up there, nothing would stop them from scaling the cliff edge to get us.
Now we sat three on each side in the seats that remained next to the empty space where the freezer had been. The thrusters pulsed to life and I pressed my face to the dirty window, the familiar moldy smell clouding my nostrils.
How times change.
The last time I’d flown away from our base I’d been jumping out of my seat with excitement. It was my first mission as a full soldier, and I couldn’t wait to lift off. Only three months ago. Felt like a decade.
Our shuttle struggled up over the treetops, engines hitching at the strain. The single precious power core, the one that had cost me so many friends and almost cost my life and those of every human on Ceti, was plugged into the shuttle. Carthage could survive on solar and wind power now as long as the lights were used sparingly. The cave community didn’t have a lot of need for energy. The power core could be recharged by the solar panels all around the cliffsides or by the panels on the roof of the shuttle, but it took several months to reach full charge. We had packed crates of fruit and dried meat for this trip just in case we didn’t have enough power to make the flight back right away. Nobody relished spending weeks in the shuttle waiting for the core to recharge, but if it happened, we’d be safe inside.
Shiro echoed my train of thought. “Sure feels familiar, doesn’t it?”
I snorted. “Was just thinking that. It sort of does, but it feels like forever, you know? Like the kid who went out on that last shuttle died in the jungle and I’m just his ghost.”
“That’s deep, buddy.” Shiro gave a small smile that warmed my heart. He hadn’t smiled much since I found him half-dead on the riverbank after nearly a week alone. Shiro had no family among the Carthage community, and I’d hoped the list of Transport Seventeen survivors might include someone close to him. I hadn’t dared to hope it might be his dad. “It sure will be great to see Ryenne and Rogan, though.”
I wasn’t sure if he was kidding. Ryenne was a sweet kid but Rogan could be hard to take.
The jungle rolled below us, a thick carpet of green treetops that swayed in the wind of our passing. Small flocks of tiny Buzzers erupted through the trees, scattering at the roar of our flight. I scanned the skies for Pterosaurs but saw nothing.
The flight took three hours. We had a decent tailwind that helped us, and by the time my ears registered the change in our thrusters, I was nearly hypnotized by the constant motion of my eyes, left to right across the treetops. The ship slowed and banked to the right and I snapped to attention.
“This is our stop, gentlemen,” General Enrico said from the cockpit. “We’re less than a kilometer away from Seventeen’s beach, but there’s some mighty big mountains between us and them. We set down here and climb.”
The shuttle dipped lower, circling the treetops for a clearing to land. These mountains were part of the range we lived in, but the foothills were more gradual and covered in grassy plain, not bare rock like ours. Grassy plain meant grazers. And grazers meant hunters.
I wanted to shout to McCarthy to get as close to the rocky mountainside as he could, but of course he knew that. And he’d never hear me if I shouted anyway.
We set down on the edge of the field, the shuttle’s side nearly up against the vertical cliff. From the air the mountains had looked craggy and solid, but from the ground I could see crevasses between the peaks. We’d have to cross through one of them to get to our starving friends, and we’d have to do it in daylight.
“All right, everybody get your packs.” General Enrico was peering out through the windshield.
I nudged Shiro. “Better landing than last time.” He grinned again.
Each of our packs held two pistols and a small box of ammunition, and the rest was filled with small hard-rinded fruit, dried meat, and tree nuts. We didn’t know if the Seventeen survivors were completely out of food or not, but we knew we’d be spending the night in their transport. Even if we found an easy pass it would still take a couple of hours to get across to the beach, and on the way back we’d have little kids with us. Plus, the shuttle’s lights were out and satellite coverage wasn’t strong enough to fly in the dark. It would be safer for us to stay in the transport tonight, then in the morning we’d cross the mountain, return to the shuttle, and fly home. I’d promised Sara I’d have her sister home by tonight, but the mountains meant she’d have to wait one more day to see the family she thought was dead these past three years.
Chapter 12
I gripped my pistol and checked the extra clips in my pockets. We were leaving most of the ammunition in the shuttle in favor of food in our packs. There were only eight of us and we might have to feed an additional twenty people tonight.
Pilot McCarthy stepped out behind me and I whipped around to face him.
“What are you doing?”
He cocked his head, the wide scar over his eyelid pink in the sun. “What do you mean, what am I doing? We’re going over the mountain to find the transport.”
“But you’re staying with the shuttle.”
He shook his head. “General E said everyone comes.”
General Enrico closed the shuttle door behind us. The rest of the men crowded around, eyes darting over the quiet hills.
“General, is McCarthy going with us?”
The General looked at me like I was stupid. “Of course he’s going with us. We won’t make it back by nightfall. We’re staying in Seventeen tonight.”
“Right,” I nodded. “But McCarthy should stay with the shuttle.”
The other men murmured agreement.
“Why?” General E looked down his nose at me. “Think somebody’s going to steal it?”
I flushed, heat burning up my neck. “No, I don’t think someone’s going to steal it. But I do know there’s things out here that could damage it. This shuttle is our only way home. We’re going to leave it unprotected?”
Shiro chimed in, “Caleb’s right. McCarthy should stay.”
General E’s nostrils flared. “Maybe General Carthage took advice from little boys, but this is my mission and you either follow my orders or find your own way home.” He pointed down the ridge of mountains toward our little valley hundreds of kilometers away. “Now grab your packs and let’s go.” He strapped on a belt that dangled four hand grenades and strode away across the hill.
Little boys? I exchanged a look with Shiro. He shook his head silently, whether telling me not to push it or not believing how stupid the General was being, I wasn’t sure. We followed the other men heading up the foothills.
The path narrowed quickly as it climbed into the rocks. Grass became sparse, giving way to twisted, woody vines that clawed into the bare stone. I was relieved to get into more difficult country. The grassland was empty behind us, any ‘saurs in the area likely scared away by the roar of the shuttle’s landing, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. I scanned the path behind us, bringing up the rear of the single-file line, gripping my pistol in sweaty fingers.
The air cooled as we climbed. ‘Saurs didn’t move fast when they were cold, except for a few that used friction to stay warm in higher elevations. At least, that’s how it was in our part of the mountains. Please, let that be true here.
The trail ended at a rising cliff of sheer rock. General E stopped, peering into the sunny sky.
“Seventeen is straight across there.” He pointed right through the mountain. “We need to find a decent pass because tomorrow we’ll have kids with us on the way back.”
/>
Shiro squinted up the cliffside. “There’s a little ‘saur path up there,” he said. “Don’t know if it goes through or where it will dump us out, but it looks wide enough for us if we go one by one.”
He took the lead and I followed, reversing the order from the gentler hills. General Enrico seemed happy enough not to have to go first up the narrow pass.
I tucked the pistol into my pocket and pressed my back against the rocks, edging up and up and up. Nobody spoke, all of us grunting with effort and fear. Soon we were high above the treetops, blocked from view as we climbed around the mountain. Sweat poured off my forehead, stinging my eyes. Should have brought a sweatband. I wiped my eyes on my arm and kept climbing.
Behind me I heard the scuffle of a boot and rocks bouncing down the cliff. I swung my gaze around to see Adam, the soldier behind me, scrambling for purchase against the narrow ledge. The edge of the path had crumbled under his boot and slid a hundred feet down the cliffside.
I grabbed at the collar of his shirt with one hand, pressing the other into the rock behind me for balance. He grabbed my arm, tugging frantically. I dropped to a crouch, back pressed against the rock. Adam’s boot found solid stone and he lurched up, nearly on top of me.
“You okay?”
He panted, staring down the straight drop off. “Yes. No. Yes. I think so.” He still gripped my arm and I gently peeled his fingers away.
“Keep your back on the wall and go slow. And stop looking down.”
He nodded, still looking straight down.
“Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“What did I just say?”
He tore his eyes away from the jagged rocks far below and looked at me. “Don’t know.”
I sighed. My heart was pounding at this height, too, but I still preferred this to the open land where we were a quick meal for any predator that happened by. “Follow me. Step where I step.”
Shiro was waiting way ahead of us on a wider outcropping. “You guys all right?”
We edged our way up to him, followed by the rest of the team. “We’re good.”
“We rest here,” General E said, climbing up onto the wide, flat stone. Everyone sat as far from the edge as possible and opened their packs, pulling out fruit or water. It was quiet up here, only the noise of the wind growing louder as we got nearer to the beach side. A distant cry echoed through the pass.
“What was that?” Adam asked, canteen at his lips. He and the other men were looking at me, not at General E.
I shrugged. “‘Saur of some kind. Hard to tell where, but not close.”
Adam sighed and took a sip of water. “Sure will be glad to get to the transport.”
We rested for about ten minutes, packed up, and moved on across the narrow path.
I murmured to Shiro as the path narrowed. “Little kids are not going to make this climb. And I’m not sure I can carry one and keep my balance.”
He nodded. “We should start setting handholds.”
We had brought a mallet and metal pitons, but they were in Kintan’s pack, and he was three people behind me. I leaned out and called to him to pass them up and the line of men stopped as he fished in his pack.
“Only ten?” Shiro asked as I handed him the first spike.
“That’s all we have.”
He squinted over the pass. “Should we use them all here? Maybe we could string some rope between?”
“Good idea.” General Enrico had the rope. Shiro pounded a piton into a crevasse as the rope was passed hand-to-hand. The piton had a ring on the end and I knotted the rope.
Shiro pounded in three more pitons before the trail widened again. I cut the rope and tied off the end, following him across.
We repeated it twice more, using up all but two of our pitons before the trail started descending. The wind howled up through the pass, bringing an unfamiliar scent. I realized what it was when we rounded a corner.
Salt.
The ocean stretched out before us, still a hundred feet down and far away. The horizon was an unmarked line of blue sparkling in the sun and I had to turn my face away from it, peeking through my fingers.
Nothing I had ever seen could have prepared me for it. I was born on a spaceship, penned inside familiar walls for the first twelve years of my life. Then we landed, and I was surrounded by our downed ships, and beyond, the towering jungle. Now we lived in caves, and even our valley had high mountain walls that protected us. But this . . . I had no words for it. It never ended. The ocean flowed away as far as I could see, past the edge of the planet. Low clouds hung over the water casting dark gray shadows on the waves. I stopped dead, staring.
The brown sand beach extended as far as I could see in each direction. Just north of our location a waterfall crashed down the rocks, pooling into a giant hole before cutting a trench through the sand toward the ocean. And just south of our location sat the rusting hulk of Transport Seventeen.
Chapter 13
There were ‘saurs on the beach.
A line of them plodded past the Transport, which was shut tight. Must be hot as the sun in there.
I didn’t recognize the ‘saurs, with their long flat backs and wide shoulders. But they were traveling in a large group, maybe twenty members, which usually meant they were plant-eaters. The hunters usually hunted alone, with one dangerous exception.
“What’s the holdup?” General Enrico called from behind us.
“We’re almost there,” I called back.
The ‘saurs must not be able to hear us from this far away, because none of them looked up as they trudged on to ring the rocky pool at the bottom of the cliff.
That whole ocean and they want to drink there? But then I remembered that salt water wasn’t for drinking. At least not for humans. Who knew what a ‘saur could drink?
I kept glancing down at them as we started the descent. I could see the path winding down the cliff face now, and it looked like we’d be able to get down to the beach. And hopefully back up tomorrow.
The sun cast deep shadows behind us on the cliff. We climbed carefully, choosing our footsteps on the ledge. Occasional piles of scat told us that something used this path to get to the beach, but it was old and dry, and not big enough to be come from anything dangerous to us. I didn’t know what we’d do if we met a family of ‘saurs heading the other way. I snorted. Bring fresh meat to Seventeen.
By the time we reached the bottom, stars were coming into view across the end of the ocean. The family of grazers had drunk their fill from the waterfall pool, licking and gnawing on the rocks around it, and plodded back down the beach past the transport. We waited in the shadow of the cliff, watching up and down the beach. The transport was a short run from our hiding place, and as the sky darkened, its hatch opened. Light poured out and a figure stood silhouetted against the glare.
“They know this beach better than we do.” General Enrico glanced up and down the beach one last time. “If they’re opening up, it must be safe to cross.”
If they know so much, why are they still trapped out here? I followed the General into the sand. It shifted under my feet, slowing my tired legs.
The transport was near the water’s edge and I watched the ocean in the fading light. Waves crashed in the distance, foamy water rushing toward us, getting shallower as it flowed up the sand. A variety of tiny ‘saurs rushed out as the wave receded, poking around on the wet surface for something buried, and slurping up whatever they were searching for. In and out the waves flowed, a slow, regular up and down of water on sand.
It looked like the planet was breathing, in and out against the mantle of the ocean that surrounded the land.
We trudged through the shifting sand as fast as we could, scuffling out the grazer’s deep footprints with our boots, following the warm beacon of the transport’s light.
The survivors of Transport Seventeen crowded into the doorway. Officer Halsey stood in the middle of the lowered ramp.
“You found us. I can’t belie
ve you found us.”
A small figure pushed past her and bounded down the ramp, dark curls flying behind her. She flung herself at me and I caught her, lifting her off her feet in a tight hug.
“Ryenne, you’re so tall!” The last time I saw her she was just a kid, a year younger than me and much shorter. She had gotten almost as tall as me in the three years we’d been apart.
She pulled away and grinned up at me. “I knew you’d make it.”
By the time I looked up, Shiro’s dad had toddled down the ramp and into Shiro’s arms. Mr. Yamoto looked terrible. His skin and eyes were yellow even in the poor light and he had lost half his weight since the last time I saw him onboard Horizon.
Officer Halsey motioned us all inside. “Let’s get in for the night. Need to close up.” We filed in behind her.
The smell hit me as soon as I crossed over the ramp. The transport’s interior was dank and moldy, stinking of too many people in too small a space. Our transports had smelled sour like this, circled up and surrounded with electric wire for the first three years of our lives on Tau Ceti e. In the three months since we left them for the safety of the caves and the open valley of Carthage, I’d forgotten the stench. It sent a chill down my back, memories of hot days huddling by the windows in terror at what circled our tiny, wired sanctuary.
The Seventeen crew smelled as bad as the transport. At least we’d had plenty of clean water. They were close enough to the ocean to throw a stone into the waves, but if the ocean was anything like the rivers, they’d been wise to stay away from it. Very bad things lived underwater.
We passed out the food we’d brought, and everyone’s eyes lit up. This was their first taste of fresh fruit and dried meat. They’d been living off the old packaged bars and rations brought down from Horizon, long since stale and dry. Our first years here were hell. But theirs have been worse.