A Planet with No Name

by Alan Black

Chapter Fifty-Four

  Veronica woke up with a start. Her hearing twitched and her eyes stared into the darkness. It was so early in the morning it was still dark outside. Something unusual had awakened her.

  She was sleeping in the mobile construction office she bought from Tucker. It was more of a recreation vehicle than an office shack. It had a full kitchen, full from a construction crew’s point of view, meaning it had a built-in coffee pot, a toaster oven, and a large enough refrigerator to hold energy drinks, soda, cold water, and beer—lots and lots of beer. It also had a back office with a fold down bed. She was not sure why a construction shack needed a bed, but she was thankful it had one.

  She parked the mobile office in a field south of her old place where her cattle were located. Polat and Kat were counting and branding the cattle—the Flying V brand looked great on them—before moving the herd from the dry areas of her new property, up to the green, lush, watered portion of her original land. The Earth grasses she planted were thick and lush during the rainy season on her southern-most property. During the current dry season, the heat and lack of rain caused the grasses to dry out, turning them brown. Cattle could forage for feed in the dry grass, as they would on hay, but they could not live without water. The herd needed to be moved north until they could restart the water flow to this south section and prevent it from flowing south beyond her property boundary.

  Yesterday, Mags helped her mark the master land plat for the new property, designating locations for new dams, wells, and water catchment ponds. It would take a while for the water to fill the storage areas, but in the meantime, there was enough watered land up north to take care of her small herd. It was a long day and Veronica worked well into the night in her mobile office. She was thankful the mobile office was so handy. She dropped into bed exhausted.

  She should not be awake this early. Her eyes stared into the darkness, but there was nothing to see.

  Mags had taken the truck back to College Station to spend the night with Auggie. Polat and Kat rode along to spend some time with their children, including their growing collection of orphans, and a few runaways. Veronica believed Kat had never met a child she did not love.

  A beep from the vidphone caused Veronica to jump out of bed. It was not the beep of an incoming call or a message. It was a warning message of something amiss at the ranch house. Fire and smoke alarms rang throughout the house, blaring to every remote message station she owned. She slapped her data-patch onto her wrist. The message she already knew repeated—a fire had erupted and been put out by the automated suppression systems.

  The house should be empty. Veronica handled having children running around underfoot all day, but she had steadfastly refused to use her spare bedroom until Eve came to live with her.

  Veronica was here in her mobile office miles away from the house and Eve was spending the night with Malina.

  The young girl had been living with Veronica for two weeks. The original safety plan was for Eve to spend the night with Malina at Maslow and Arianna’s home whenever Veronica was not at the ranch house.

  A couple times Eve stayed with Malina when Veronica was home, but she ended up returning to the ranch house in the middle of the night. The teenager had an understandable desire to spend time alone in her own room.

  Eve had suffered physically, emotionally, and mentally at the Halberds. Those abusive years haunted her and she refused to talk about it. She alternated between clingy and standoffish. She would be chatty with Malina and then, not want anything to do with her new friend. Eve was overly compliant, always agreeing to stay with Malina, even when it was evident she wanted to be alone. Veronica knew it would take time to heal.

  Even when she wanted her friend around, Eve was often distracted and unable to concentrate on Malina’s endless verbal barrage, especially when Malina’s meandering stream of chatter focused on Rodrigo. It hurt Veronica’s heart every time she walked into a room without announcing herself, only to startle Eve. The poor girl looked like a scared rabbit.

  Veronica placed a call to Eve’s data-patch. There was no answer.

  She dashed to the mobile office’s driver’s seat, fired up the engine, flared the hover skirts, and pushed the joystick forward for maximum speed. The mobile office moved agonizingly slow. Construction sheds were not designed like racecars.

  She called Maslow’s data-patch.

  Maslow answered, “Hello?”

  The video was on so Veronica could see Maslow was still mostly asleep.

  Arianna appeared in the background over Maslow’s shoulder.

  “Maslow, it’s me, Veronica. Is Eve still there with Malina?”

  Maslow nodded. “Sure, boss.”

  Arianna slapped him on the back of the head. “No. Wake up. We took her back to the ranch house just after dark. Why, Veronica? We made sure she was locked in and safe.”

  Veronica took a gulp of air before answering Arianna’s question. “The fire alarms went off and suppression system activated.”

  Maslow said, “Teenagers! She probably burnt some toast or something. You want me to go check?”

  “I’m on the way, but this construction shack is not much faster than walking.”

  Arianna said, “Are you worried?”

  Veronica nodded. “I called her data-patch but didn’t get an answer. Hold one.” She called the main vidphone system at her home, but it went directly to messaging. “There’s no answer on the home number.”

  Maslow’s face disappeared as he shut off the video function while leaping out of bed.

  Arianna’s voice floated out of the blanked screen, “Maslow is putting on pants. We’ll be there before you get there.” The call disconnected to the sound of Arianna’s voice shouting to Malina that her parents were going to the ranch house to check on Eve.

  Veronica called Steve.

  Pushta answered his data-patch.

  Before Veronica could speak, Pushta turned and jabbed Steve. “Get up. There’s a problem. Where?”

  Veronica wondered how the woman knew. Maybe Pushta recognized the panic on her face. “Eve is at the ranch house alone and the fire suppression system came online.”

  Pushta said, “Steve is already out the door. I’ll stay with Ransom and Nikki. Call me and let me know that everything is all right.”

  Veronica nodded and terminated the call.

  She looked down at the driver controls. She could not see any way to make the vehicle move faster. She thought about driving straight to the ranch house in a direct line, but the mobile office was too long and too poorly balanced for off-road excursions. Even traversing relatively flat fields, the mobile office had a tendency to go over the smallest hill like a ship crashing through high seas. The front end would rise with the land driving the hoverfans up and forward until it reached the tipping point and the front end would tilt downward causing the skirts to slam into the ground with a teeth-jarring crash as it proceeded down the hill.

  She headed toward the town road.

  She tried cresting a small rise at an angle to reduce the stress on the vehicle only to find the slope so steep it threatened to tip the mobile office over onto its side. She flared the skirts allowing it to slide sideways back down to the bottom of the hill. She eased back on the speed with great reluctance.

  She pushed the joystick all the way forward as soon as she reached the town road. It was little more than a dirt path from here to the ranch house, but it was relatively flat and smooth.

  It took far too much time before she was able to flare the skirts and shut down the fans in front of the house. Steve, Auggie, and Maslow were waiting for her by the front door. Her heart skipped a beat. Eve was not standing with them.

  She erupted from the mobile office at a run.

  Steve held out his arms, waving her to stop. “Hold—”

  “Where’s Eve?” she interrupted.

  Steve shook his head. “Give us a minute, Veronica.”

  Veronica was stunned, realizing this was the first tim
e her foreman ever used her first name. He always called her boss, boss lady, Mrs. Smith, and more recently, Ms. Wikoff. She knew it was not a good sign.

  She tried dodging around him, but he wrapped an arm around her, and lifted her off her feet. He carried her back to the mobile office, where he set her feet gently on the ground but did not release her.

  Her eyes glared at him with unspoken threats.

  Auggie spoke. “You can fire us all, but Mags is in there. Give her a minute, please.”

  Veronica nodded as she began shivering. Steve still held her close.

  Much less than a minute passed before Mags came out of the ranch house. It seemed like much longer to Veronica and she thought the men would agree. Veronica got to her feet.

  Mags came straight to her, not looking at anyone else. “There was a fire in the back of the house, in Eve’s bedroom. The flames caught her. I’m sorry, but she’s gone.”

  Veronica’s knees felt weak, but she did not let them buckle. She stiffened her spine, glaring at Mags. “Did she suffer?”

  Mags nodded. “Sorry, but yeah, probably. I covered her up with a blanket and looked around. If you think you can handle it, I want to show you some things.” She looked at Steve and Maslow. “You guys, too.” She grabbed her husband’s hand and led Auggie into the ranch house.

  Veronica smelled the smoke as they approached the front door. She had no idea what could burn so hot and produce so much smoke before the fire suppression system could put it out. The system was as up-to-date and modern as any available on Earth. The bits, pieces, and fabrics in the house were made from standard retardant materials as mandated by all North American governments. They had to be, as she purchased everything in Phoenix before shipping it to this planet with no name.

  She and Cal built the ranch house using local materials. The wood walls and framing would burn like any wood, some hotter and some not so hot. However, nothing was flammable enough to outrace the installed safety equipment.

  Mags led them down the hallway to Eve’s bedroom.

  Veronica almost gagged at the stench, a combination of heavy smoke, water, burnt cloth, and something else she could not identify.

  Mags stepped into the bedroom and gestured for them to join her. She stepped between them and Eve’s covered body. Veronica and Cal had made most of the furniture. It was all heavy, solid wood construction. There were a few scorch marks found here and there, but nothing had burned. Everything dripped water.

  Veronica shook her head. “I want to see her.”

  Mags said, “Not a good idea, Veronica.”

  Veronica looked at the men. Steve and Maslow looked away, but Auggie was already looking around the room as if seeing a body was nothing new to him.

  Veronica squatted down next to Eve and slipped the blanket away from the girl's face. The smell of burnt flesh washed over her in a wave.

  Maslow said, “Oh God!” He raced from the room with his hand over his mouth.

  Veronica looked up at Steve. He kept his face turned away from Eve, but he stood his ground.

  She stared down at the teenager’s face. One-half of her face was burned beyond recognition; black, charred, and cracked deeply enough to show bone. The other half of her face looked undisturbed like she was sleeping.

  Veronica stared at Eve’s face, her hand frozen on the blanket.

  Auggie bent down and pulled the blanket from Veronica’s hand. He covered Eve’s face and wrapping her body tightly in the blanket. He gently picked up her body and carried her out of the room.

  Veronica sighed and stood up. “What happened?”

  Mags said, “I need to show you this.” She led Veronica and Steve over to the window. “Step carefully. There is broken glass all over here.”

  Veronica asked, “Did the fire break the window?”

  Mags shook her head. “This is a corner bedroom with windows to the outside and to the interior courtyard. Fire should not break just one window unless the glass was faulty, to begin with.” She shook her head. “A hot fire inside a sealed room might generate a vacuum and cause the windows to break to the inside, but the bedroom door was open. This fire started with a flash. It burned hot and fast. Any blast would have blown the glass outward, not inside all over the floor.”

  Veronica was confused. “What are you saying? Eve set the fire deliberately?”

  Mags said, “No.” She squatted down and pointed at a large rock under the dresser. “Not unless she ran outside to throw the rock in through the window, then ran back in to run around barefoot on the glass. There are no cuts on the bottom of her feet.”

  “Then how did the fire start?” Steve asked.

  Mags slid a finger into the neck of a broken bottle, holding it up for review. “I’m not an expert, but this bottle smells like it was full of grain alcohol, mixed with—unless I miss my guess—enough soap flakes to turn the accelerant into jelly. The fire would stick to whatever or whoever it hit. Someone broke this window with the rock and tossed in a Molotov cocktail. Eve jumped out of bed when the window broke. She was caught in the blast when the Molotov cocktail exploded. The jellied accelerant hit her and stuck to her body. No water suppression system will stop an alcohol accelerant.”

  Veronica said, “Who would want to kill Eve?”

  Mags said, “Can we check the neck of this bottle for prints?”

  Steve shook his head, “The only prints we have are from the bullets probably fired by Maine and Dillon. They’re both dead.”

  Mags shrugged. “If you recall, we set up security cameras on the exterior of the house when our cattle herd was slaughtered. We can check the video feeds. Unless this son of a bitch had a magic cloak of invisibility, we’re going to get a clear shot of him.”

  Mags led them to the vidscreen in the main living room where she reversed the security camera recording to the time immediately before the fire suppression system went off. She scanned through the feeds with the delicate fingers of a professional until she found a clear frame of a man with a rock in one hand and a bottle with a lit rag stuck to its neck, in the other hand.

  She zoomed in the video for a closer view. The man was talking.

  Veronica said, “Can we hear what he’s saying?”

  Mags nodded and cranked up the volume.

  Buckner Halberd shouted, “Die, Smith, just like you killed my boys!”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Veronica’s grip threatened to break the truck’s steering yoke. This was her first—and hopefully last—visit to the Halberds. The sun was barely above the horizon, but its rays flooded the land with enough light to locate their place. The ground speeding past the truck was parched, barren, rock-strewn acreage, worthless for farming or ranching. This dirt made Maine or Dillon’s sections look surprisingly salvageable in comparison. The Halberds owned dead, worthless land.

  She glanced over at Auggie and Mags sitting next to her. “Have either of you seen evidence of anyone working this land?”

  Auggie looked around Mags and shook his head. “I don’t know what anyone could do. This is all sand and rocks.”

  Veronica saw no evidence of water. There were no indications of dry creeks or stream crossings. She saw no natural or manufactured ponds or catch basins. The Halberds water had to come from wells.

  She steered the truck along a pale trace in the dirt toward the Halberds homestead. The Halberds used a flitter and air skis for transportation so there was no worn path or road to follow. If they used horses, mules, bicycles, or their feet to get to town, the trace would look no different. There was no grass to trample or wear down, in fact, no vegetation in sight at all. Not even this planet with no name could find vegetation to grow on this worthless hunk of land.

  Suddenly her breath caught and she bit her tongue to keep from crying. Her emotions were swinging from sadness to anger and back again. She had not known Eve Halberd for long, nor closely, or personally, but no one deserved to die as she did. No thirteen-year-old child deserved to be murdered.

&nb
sp; Spotting the Halberd’s house, she slowed the truck.

  Her first plan was to leave Eve’s charred body at the Halberd’s front door with a recording of Buckner Halberd throwing the firebomb through Eve’s bedroom window. The man intended to kill Veronica, but he chose the wrong bedroom window. She did not plan to talk to them or even look at them. The Halberds had guns and knew how to use them, making them dangerous, but that did not worry her. Her plan of avoiding them was to prevent her from losing her temper. She had planned to do this alone, but Mags and Auggie insisted on coming along. She admitted to herself that having them with her was comforting. Though she did not own any firearms, she was sure Auggie and Mags were as dangerous without guns as they were with any type of weapon.

  Eve’s scorched body lay alone in the back of the truck, wrapped in a warm, colorful comforter. The big farm vehicle was capable of carrying more tonnage than a single farmer could stack in the back, but Eve’s body felt heavy. The truck moved sluggishly, as if it was struggling to maintain its forward momentum.

  Veronica throttled back the truck’s hover fans and flared the skirts, releasing a quiet whisper of trapped air. The engine was practically noiseless, but if they approached too close to the house, the rush of air might alert the Halberds to their presence. No matter how angry she was, she personally did not want to tell Buckner he had killed his own daughter.

  Veronica remained silent, her thoughts on death. People die every day on Earth from a variety of causes. Death on this planet with no name was to be expected. The problems of new worlds were manifold, capable of coming from completely unexpected directions. Death happens easily, even on this planet without animals or bacteria. A fungus can enter and take hold in moist human lungs devouring a person from the inside out. A common-looking native weed can spill its spores onto a passing human, where it grows like it was deposited in a rock crevice, digging in deeper and deeper, eventually breaking the stone. Weather kills every time the dry season rotates to the wet season as the sky fills with tornados, massive haboobs, and torrents of rain causing flash floods.