Jordan folded his arms. “And how do you propose to do that? Are we all going to don our suits and march over to this Shangri-La?”
“No, of course not. But if we strip the rover down to bare essentials, taking out the lockers and the workstation. And if we remove the second row of seats, we can fit maybe a dozen people inside, perhaps a few more. Then we can move a team over there, and the rover can make the return trip loaded with supplies.”
“And what would this team do?” Katherine asked. “With no shelter and no wall, they’d be vulnerable.”
“They can build shelters,” Siobhan insisted. “They’ll take tools, and they can build from stone and wood cut from the trees.” She smiled around the group. “Don’t you see? They’ll be pioneers, building homes and working the land. They can be a satellite colony, for the immediate future anyhow. But if it works out well enough, then eventually, when we’re ready, we might all go over there.”
“Eventually, we’ll be rescued,” Jordan stated. “That’s the only solution that will work long-term, you must know that, Siobhan. Your own father is up on the lookout right now, working hard to send a signal back to Earth. That has to be our only hope.” He turned in his seat to face Evelyn. “You agree with me, don’t you?”
Evelyn raised her eyebrows. “I see no reason why we can’t pursue more than one course of action, and I’m sure we can all see that Siobhan has given us a great deal to talk about.” She paused. “Unless anyone has any questions for Siobhan, I suggest that we talk over the situation, but that’s up to Katherine.”
“Right, good idea,” Katherine said briskly. “We’ll talk through some options and see what we can come up with. Siobhan, you’re welcome to stay, but if you’d rather withdraw from the meeting, that’s fine. We can always call you back later if we need more information.”
For a moment, Siobhan hesitated, biting her lip, then she stood slowly. “I’ll go and see how my folks are doing. If you need me, I’ll be at home.” She made to leave, picking her way between two chairs with exaggerated care, but before she left the tent, she turned back to face the group. “Thank you for your time. I hope…I hope this works out. I just want to make a difference. It’s what Ben would’ve wanted.” She nodded to the group then walked away, moving quickly, her eyes fixed straight ahead. We’ll get this done, she told herself. One way or another, whatever the council says, some good has to come of all this. It has to.
CHAPTER 16
The Hill
Connor crossed to the edge of the lookout, arching his back to stretch his aching muscles, and Parry walked over to join him, the two friends exchanging tired smiles.
“Been a long day,” Parry said, nodding toward the horizon. “We’re losing the light.”
“Yeah. Maybe we should wrap it up and head home.” Connor glanced down the slope toward the settlement, and just as he was about to turn away, a movement caught his eye; a figure climbing quickly up toward the lookout. And it could only be one person.
Parry followed his gaze. “Hey, isn’t that Siobhan?”
“Yup. That’s my daughter, all right.”
“Looks like she has something on her mind.” Parry checked his portable comms set. “Nobody’s called. I wonder what’s up.”
Connor watched his daughter, taking in the way she raced up the slope, her lithe limbs in constant motion as she leaped nimbly from one rock to the next, like a wild creature in full flight. She’d grown up so much over the last few weeks and dealt with so much; she was a teenager no longer, but a fully fledged adult, a future leader in the making. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Whatever it is, it clearly couldn’t wait.”
“Maybe she’s just jogging up here to tell her old man that dinner’s ready,” Parry said. “I sure could use something to eat. We should pack the gear away and head down. We can come back first thing in the morning.”
“I don’t know.” Connor turned to Derek. “What do you think? Are we going to get anywhere tonight?”
Crouching on the ground, Derek flinched at the mention of his name, but he didn’t look up from the complex arrangement of wires and circuit boards he’d laid out atop the plastic crate. “Give me a minute. I really thought I had it just now, but…” His voice trailed away as he concentrated on his task. “If I could just get the signal amplifier to play nice with the—goddammit!” He slapped his palm to his forehead. “The polarity! I forgot to set the polarity!”
Connor sighed. “That settles it. We all need a break. You’ve worked hard, Derek, but it’s no use trying to carry on. If we wait much longer, you won’t be able to see what you’re doing. We’ll risk damaging the equipment, and no one wants that.”
“Can you give me a minute?” Derek looked him in the eye. “Seriously, Connor, this is a tiny adjustment. All I have to do is change the connector on a couple of pins, and we’ll be in business. It’ll take me two seconds.”
“All right,” Connor said. “We’ll give it a little longer while we wait for Siobhan. But don’t forget, we still have to climb down. It won’t be so easy once it gets dark, even with flashlights.”
Derek was already bent over his task. “Fine, fine.” His hands moved quickly as he worked, disconnecting a board and holding it up for inspection, his precision screwdriver hovering over the components as he counted them off, muttering under his breath. “There. That’s the culprit. Don’t know how I could’ve missed it.”
Connor allowed himself a smile. The circuit boards all looked the same, and the bright rows of gold-plated pins and colorful plastic connectors arrayed along each board seemed designed to confound anyone who might feel the urge to tinker. And as for the antenna they’d cobbled together, it looked like something a child might make: lengths of stiff wire fixed together in what Derek had insisted was a precise configuration, the whole assembly standing upright thanks to some well-placed rocks and a dead branch Parry had salvaged from the hillside. A stiff breeze would probably have the whole thing over, but Derek had been more than happy with it.
“Here comes Siobhan,” Parry said. “And there’s one thing—from the look on her face, I think she’s got good news.”
“Makes a nice change.” Connor waved to his daughter. “Hey, what’s the rush? Something happened?”
“Dad!” Siobhan called out. “I’ve got a lot to tell you.” She barely paused as she scrambled up the last few yards to the lookout, and she started talking without waiting to get her breath back.
Connor listened carefully while she told him all about her expedition in the rover, and though he paled a little when he heard how Tessa had been bitten by a dirt python and how Siobhan had been lost in the mist, he interrupted as little as possible. But his eyes went wide when Siobhan explained her meeting with the council and their subsequent decision.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “They really said you could take a team out there?”
Siobhan looked affronted. “Yes. Why not? It was my idea in the first place.” She rolled her eyes. “They didn’t give me everything I wanted, though. It’s just an exploratory trip to see what we can bring back. They wouldn’t agree to anything more, but I’ll change their minds, you’ll see.”
“Hold on a minute,” Parry said. “You’re not leading this trip yourself, are you?”
“No.” Siobhan threw Parry a disparaging look. “I never expected to lead it. I don’t want to be in charge. The council is putting the team together. I expect they’ll want you to go, Dad. That’s why I came up to tell you all about it.”
Connor exhaled loudly. “I guess it makes sense for me to go, or maybe Parry. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“You know me,” Parry put in. “Always ready to rock.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Derek said, rubbing his hands together. “But I just checked the antenna, and I reckon this baby is up and running. Let’s give it a whirl.”
“Are you sure about that?” Connor asked. “Only last time we tried…”
Derek waved his objections as
ide. “Ah, that was just an accident. It’ll be fine now. It’s safe. And anyhow, you only got a little jolt. Nothing to write home about.”
Parry rubbed his chin and let out a disapproving grunt, but though he looked as if he’d like to say more, he kept his lips pressed firmly together.
“Okay,” Connor said, “let’s try raising Lyndsey. I want to talk to her, anyway.”
Derek began making adjustments to the comms set. “Got it.” He flicked a switch and gestured toward the set. “You’re on. Signal strength is looking great.”
Connor squatted beside the comms set and leaned in toward the microphone. “This is Connor calling for Doctor Teare. Are you receiving me?”
The comms set let out a squawk, then a man’s voice came through loud and clear: “Kyrksen here. Receiving you incredibly well. Much better than usual, in fact. Are you calling from your rover? You’re not…you’re not heading this way, are you?”
“No,” Connor said. “We’ve improved our comms rig, that’s all.”
“Interesting. Why? What are you hoping to achieve?”
Connor hesitated. “Kyrksen, could you put Lyndsey on? I need to talk to her.”
A pause, then: “Certainly. You’ll have to hold on though. She’s very busy at the moment.”
“No problem.” Connor sat back when the channel went dead, but he didn’t have to wait long.
“Connor, Lyndsey here. How are you guys holding up?”
“Fine. We’re just checking out our comms, and I wanted to run something past you.”
“Go ahead,” Lyndsey said. “And I’ve got something to tell you too. Something we just found out. Could be important. And I’ve got someone over here who’s very keen to talk with you—someone you might know.”
Connor narrowed his eyes when he heard the edge in Lyndsey’s voice. Something was up, but was it good news or bad? “Sounds like we have a lot to talk about,” he began. “I’d better get to it.”
CHAPTER 17
Base Camp
Lyndsey closed down the comms channel and turned to face Simon. “Okay, could you give us a little privacy for a minute? I have something to discuss with Kyrksen.”
“Sure,” Simon said, beaming at her. “Thanks for that, Lyndsey. It was great. I remember Derek. Not sure about the other guys, but Derek was on the crew. He’s all right.”
Lyndsey offered him a tight smile. “Perhaps you can talk with them again, some other time.”
Simon made ready to leave, looking around absently as though he’d forgotten something. “Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks. That’d be great.” He sighed happily then headed for the door, closing it behind him.
Kyrksen wrinkled his nose in distaste. “For God’s sake. He’s wasting time on tittle-tattle while we have some real issues here.”
“All right, let’s talk. What did you make of this valley they found? Could it be useful for us?”
“Well, it might be good for supplies, but I don’t see how it can hold out against the symbiont—not in the long run.”
“Maybe not,” Lyndsey admitted. “But did you buy their theory about the magnetic field?”
Kyrksen nodded. “It’s plausible. I have a dim recollection of a gorge we passed once. It was too narrow for the trucks, so we sent in the drones.”
“I remember that.” Lyndsey ran her hand across her forehead. “Could it be the same place?”
“If it is, we seeded it properly, so if the symbiont hasn’t grown there, it can only mean there are environmental factors at work. At best, I’d say the field is attenuating the symbiont in some way. It’s impossible to know without hard data.”
“We could send a truck and see what we can find out. Maybe we could help the settlers. In one trip, a truck could carry everything they’d need. We could save them a lot of effort in moving people, supplies, equipment.”
Kyrksen’s eyes brightened. “I might be interested in that. A trip away from the base, an opportunity to pick up fresh food. It sounds quite appealing.”
“Maybe.” Lyndsey hesitated. “And what did you think to their idea—to get in touch with the Terran Alliance?”
Kyrksen’s expression darkened. “That’s a different matter.” He grimaced. “The Terran Alliance! They’re no better than thugs. Terrorists! They’re the reason we’re stuck here, or had you forgotten that inconvenient fact?”
“I haven’t forgotten, but I expected you to see the bigger picture. Do you really not see the potential here? If we could get through to the TA—”
“We? Are you out of your mind?”
“Listen for a minute,” Lyndsey insisted. “I’m not suggesting we talk directly to the Alliance ourselves. We have no point of contact on their side, and even if, by some fluke, we managed to reach someone connected to the Alliance, there’s no way they’d listen to us—we’re the enemy as far as they’re concerned. But if we could link Connor’s comms set with our own transmitter, we could boost their signal properly and make sure it hits the relay. That’s all I’m suggesting.”
“It’s still communicating with the enemy. And worse than that, you’d be helping the Alliance get some sort of leverage over the GRC.” He held out his hands, pleading. “If you alienate the Resettlement Corps, then none of us will ever get off this planet. They’ll leave us to rot, and I for one wouldn’t blame them.”
Lyndsey pulled herself up to her full height. “I disagree. Connor and his friends are going to contact the Alliance whether we like it or not. You heard what he said. They have someone on the inside—a direct line to the TA.”
Kyrksen snorted under his breath. “I don’t believe it. They’re bluffing.”
“Why would they do that?”
“To push you into getting involved. It’s perfectly clear to me.”
Lyndsey stared at him. “No. You’re wrong. That’s not how Connor operates. I believe him. And remember, he didn’t ask for any help. This was my idea.”
“You were hoodwinked. Don’t fall for it, Lyndsey. The settlers aren’t holding any cards. Their homemade gear just won’t be up to the task.”
“Maybe not, but do you want to take that risk? If they get through and talk to the TA direct, then who knows what they’ll say? But if we help Connor, if we get involved, we can handle the situation. We could work on the message together and make sure they put their point across in the right way.”
“Nonsense. If we don’t help your friends, they’ll fail. There’s no way they can build a transmitter powerful enough or accurate enough to get a message back to Earth.”
“Don’t underestimate them,” Lyndsey said. “You made that mistake before.”
Kyrksen stood stiffly, his face twitching. “This conversation is over, Doctor Teare. I want nothing to do with this. Nothing. The so-called Alliance is nothing more than a gang of criminals, a ragtag collection of reactionary scum! Their actions have risked lives, ruined projects that took years to plan, and laid waste to missions that cost billions to put together. It’s unthinkable to deal with them. Unthinkable!” He broke off and turned away, heading for the door.
“Kyrksen, wait!” Lyndsey called, but she was too late. Kyrksen had already stormed out the room, leaving the door wide open. “Aw hell!” Lyndsey thumped the comms console with her fist. Kyrksen clearly had an ax to grind over the TA, but she didn’t have time to get to the bottom of his grudges and bad moods. She’d just have to go elsewhere for help because she was certain of one thing: whatever kind of rig Connor had built, it would never be as effective as the comms gear she had right in front of her. If she could patch Connor’s signal through the base transmitters, it stood a real chance of getting through. It could be our ticket home, she told herself. And she knew what to do.
Lyndsey headed into the corridor. It wouldn’t take her long to find David Brandt, and as her senior technician, he knew more about comms than any two of his colleagues put together. If he couldn’t boost the settlers’ signal and send it back to Earth, then it probably couldn’t be done.
CHAPTER 18
The Rover
Siobhan leaned back against the cabin wall, the vibrations rattling her spine as the rover trundled down the hillside. There was nowhere for her to sit, and the journey to the valley was clearly going to be uncomfortable, but the only two seats in the cabin were occupied by Cate and Parry, with Cate driving and Parry riding shotgun. And without the workstation, there was nothing for Siobhan to do in the stripped bare cabin, so she found herself watching her fellow passengers. Phoebe was standing close to her husband John, her arm interlinked with his, and they were talking quietly to each other, swapping secret smiles in the way that couples seemed to do. Siobhan looked away, a pang of grief stirring inside her. Ben should’ve been here with me, she thought. None of this would’ve been possible without him.
She turned her attention to the side window, watching the hillside streak past. The blur of rocks and the swirling cloud of dust stirred up by the rover’s wheels was almost hypnotic, and she stifled a yawn. She’d risen early to help the team prepare the rover, and after a climb up to the cave and a few hours of hard work, stripping out all the unnecessary equipment, they’d set off on their mission without pausing to rest. The night before, she hadn’t slept well, and now, an insistent ache of exhaustion dulled her senses; the world seemed gray in the late morning light, a haze of mist hanging in the air. But at least it wouldn’t be long until they reached the lowlands, and the ride would be smoother from that point forward.
She rolled her shoulders, feeling the muscles relax a little. She shouldn’t complain. Some people were having a tougher time of it. Derek Kline had spent all night on the lookout, talking to Lyndsey’s people and trying to get their comms link working properly. And although her dad had come home to spend the night, he’d looked exhausted in the morning. Apparently, he’d stayed up late to hold meetings with Evelyn and the rest of the council, and then he’d risen at first light, setting off for the lookout, lugging enough food and water to keep him going all day if need be. He was ready with his message and determined to get it through to Earth, but something about her father’s grim expression had troubled Siobhan. He was pinning everything on this radio signal, and in some ways he was right; the long-term survival of everyone in the settlement would be secured if it worked. If. But what if it didn’t? What if no one received the message? After all, they weren’t expecting it, weren’t looking for it. It was like sealing a note in a bottle and throwing it out to sea, but in this case, the note was a tiny beam of electromagnetic radiation, and the ocean of space was cold and empty and unimaginably vast. It was a brave effort her father was making, but he didn’t stand much chance of success. Not much chance at all.
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