Project Terra

by S. J Woods

  “It wasn’t in the news. People have posted about it online, but there’s nothing trending. No official word about it. And the next day, there was that huge press release about the infertility cure. Took everyone’s mind off it.” She spoke so quietly, her mouth close to Dane’s ear. “Coincidence? I don’t think so. We’re the best-of-the-best being sent back fifty-plus years to train to live and to kill with no technology. I’m telling you, something is up.”

  Dane felt his chest tighten as her words rang true to the thoughts that he had been suppressing.

  He crunched his own leaves, praying that his improvised privacy guard was drowning out their voices.

  “Do you know what happened to the thirteen?” He whispered, conscious that they were falling further behind the squad but desperate to know.

  “It was an entire team.” She said, her words barely audible. “Nobody knows. Nothing has been said. It’s messed up. Something is not right.”

  “How do you know?” He asked quickly, his heart racing at both her words and the risk they were taking discussing this.

  “It’s too long to tell you like this,” Gia whispered. “I’ll tell you as soon as it’s safe.”

  Dane nodded, half-relieved that the conversation was being cut short, as paranoia had kicked in and he was half-expecting his wrist-device to light up at any moment and the Commander to summon him back to base for treason.

  They started moving again, almost running to catch up, when Dane suddenly thought of another question and he grabbed Gia’s shoulder to pull her to a halt. He scooped up another handful of dry brown leaves, crunching them furiously as he looked questioningly at Gia.

  “Why are you telling me this?” He asked, wanting to know why Gia was risking punishment by telling someone who was essentially a stranger.

  Gia tilted her head to the side, as if she was contemplating his words before replying. “Teonie said I could trust you.”

  “Teonie?” Dane asked, aloud this time in his surprise. “How do you know Teonie?”

  Gia’s expression changed quickly from initial horror that he had spoken out loud to exasperated resignation that it was done now. She recovered quickly though and jerked her head in the direction that they were travelling, indicating that they would walk and talk.

  “Tee is my cousin,” She said in a markedly clear voice, pushing her jacket sleeve back up as if to signal to Dane that it was fine to talk freely as long as they censored themselves. “We grew up together in South Apatia before my family moved up North.”

  “Oh, now you say it I can see the resemblance.” Dane regarded her carefully and recognised the shape of her eyes and her full mouth as being identical to Teonie’s, although their colouring was different.

  The team weren’t too far ahead of them and Dane hurriedly bridged the gap, praying that Seraphine hadn’t noticed their absence. Neha and Niall glanced back at them as they caught up, and Neha gave Gia a disapproving look.

  “Where’ve you been?” She asked loud enough to turn a few more heads.

  “We saw a deer!” Gia replied in an excited tone, not skipping a beat. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t hear it!”

  Neha pressed her lips into a tight line in response but said nothing. She turned away from them and moved forward so quickly that she bumped into Niall who had come to an abrupt stop ahead. Dane realised that the whole team had stopped for Seraphine to address them, and he felt his heart sink that she had noticed their short absence.

  “The good news is we’ll be arriving at the first base camp in approximately an hour.” She said, sweeping her eyes across the squad and pausing at Dane. “We’ll be joining forces with another team for our first set of manoeuvres. I don’t need to remind you of the high standards I expect of you.”

  With that, she fixed Dane with a steely gaze until he looked away uncomfortably.

  “Riku, if you could set your own navigation,” She continued. “I’ll drop to the back to ensure we’re moving at a more productive pace.”

  Riku nodded hesitantly, consciously avoiding meeting Dane’s questioning look. He fiddled with his wrist-device and moments later was moving into the forest with purposeful pace. Dane watched as Gia slipped closer to the front of the pack and he hung back to accept his fate from Seraphine.

  She said nothing for some time; the silence gnawing at Dane’s nerves as they walked. He could feel her presence, just steps behind him, and he waited for the reprimand to come.

  “It’s a lot different from our assessment journey, isn’t it?” Her voice pierced the quiet, the tone friendly and upbeat, almost causing Dane to jump in surprise.

  He looked back at her, uncertainly, but it was clear she was addressing him.

  “Oh,” He said dumbly. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

  “Still,” She continued, rewarding him with a dazzling smile. “It was nice to be home, wasn’t it?”

  “It was.” He agreed, swallowing nervously at the unexpected warmth.

  “How’s your family?” Seraphine asked, her tone saccharine-sweet. “Were they impacted by the tech-out?”

  “The tech-out?” Dane repeated, feeling a pang of fear that she was letting him know she’d heard his conversation with Gia.

  “When the connectivity was turned off?” She gave him a questioning look as if he was acting strangely. “Oh, come on, Dane! Surely you noticed!”

  “Oh, yes,” He felt like he had to agree in case she had overheard him. “Of course. It was a bit surreal. Do you know what happened? There wasn’t anything trending.”

  He added the last part just in case she had somehow been listening into Gia’s shared concerns. If she had heard him, it was better for him to bring it up first. If he didn’t, he figured he would make both himself and Gia seem guilty.

  “It was a planned outage,” Seraphine replied confidently. “This is obviously classified, but I trust you. This operation isn’t a just-in-case, Dane. The threat is critical. Latheia are going to attack. A tech-outage, by the enemy, is a likely scenario and the Government were testing reactions.”

  “Oh, wow!” Dane blinked slowly, feeling foolish that he’d been so quick to jump to a conclusion. “We wondered why there hadn’t been anything reported…”

  “Latheia will be trying to gain any intelligence on how we’re preparing,” Seraphine said sagely. “Does that answer your questions?”

  She paused mid-stride to give him a judgemental look and Dane knew that she was, somehow, aware of his conversation with Gia. He nodded and looked away embarrassed.

  “So, you’ve got nothing else you want to ask me?” She prompted again.

  Her smile was kind, despite the frankness of her words, and Dane felt pushed into adding his second concern.

  “Well,” He started cautiously. “I was kind-of wondering about what happened to the thirteen who didn’t pass the assessment.”

  Seraphine showed no surprise at his confession. “They couldn’t cut it. They made some bad decisions and tech-jacked an Attendant for supplies. We need people who can survive from the land. They’re back at their previous jobs.”

  Dane felt a wave a relief, only slightly clouded by doubt. “So, they’re not dead?”

  Seraphine gave him a stern look. “We would never let that happen! It was an observed assessment.”

  “Of course!” Dane quickly agreed with her, and they fell into silence as they marched.

  “Officer!”

  A startled shout from the front of the pack came from the trees ahead of them, and Seraphine rushed forward, with Dane close behind her. The squad were gathered behind Riku, who was stood at the top of a steep incline. Thick, sturdy bushes and scraggy, lop-sided trees grew along the sharp gradient, making it appear impassable before the near-vertical slope was even considered. At the base of the hill, maybe seventy-feet down, was a small natural landing consisting entirely of rocks that the fast-moving river had dumped there over the course of thousands of years. The river was clear in patches along the edge, revealing the
shallow depth, but the water darkened towards the centre, spilling and gurgling as it raced past. The squad fell silent as they regarded the fast-flowing body.

  “The navigation is adamant we go this way.” Riku said, holding his wrist out apologetically to Seraphine in way of explanation.

  “That’s right,” She nodded, unperturbed. “This is the way.”

  TWELVE

  Dane watched as the faces of the team around him took in the trial that lay ahead of them. The almost-sheer drop to the rocks beneath would be a challenge for anyone, without the added pressure of the river and the unknown beneath the surface.

  “Any volunteers to go first?” Seraphine called out as she stood, hand on hip, at the edge of the incline.

  Nobody said a word and Dane moved closer to peer down at the treacherous course. He narrowed his eyes against the sunlight, looking from tree to shrub, trying to calculate the safest possible route.

  “I’ll do it.” He said quietly when it was clear there were no other takers.

  Seraphine rewarded him with a smile.

  “I knew you would,” She said, sounding pleased. “Your descent will be the hardest, but you’ll make it easier for your squad. Well done.”

  She slid one of the bags from her back, and knelt beside it, searching the depths before drawing out a length of nylon cord.

  For a moment, Dane felt a glimmer of relief that he was to be secured to the cord, but his hopes were dashed when he saw that Seraphine was planning on using the cord to lower the row of heavy bags to the ground.

  “The last person would have to go down without help,” She said when she saw his eyes follow the cord hopefully. “I think it’s better that we try without, but I’ll reassess if necessary.”

  Dane nodded and tried to look unphased. He shed his own heavy bags, grateful at least that he’d be unhindered by their bulk on his descent to the bottom. Although, he thought to himself, at least they would have cushioned any fall and maybe saved him breaking any bones. He rubbed his palms together, feeling them already start to slicken with perspiration, and swept them across the leg of his pants to dry them off. Everyone was silent as he lowered himself to a sitting position at the edge of the incline, his legs dangling over the edge.

  There was a vertical drop first, before the land tapered into the steep hill down to the river below. Dane squeezed his eyes shut, willing his body to remain calm, before he opened them again, fixing his gaze firmly on his target. He pushed off with his hands, before he had chance to overthink and felt a momentary panic as he fell freely for just a second before his feet met the dirt. His hands flew out instinctively, grappling for the nearby scraggy branch that he had seen from above. The momentum of his fall moved him forward a few feet more than he’d intended, but the tree, strong at the roots, held firmly and he slid to a stop in an awkward crouch. He tested the ground, kicking at the top of the dirt, testing for stability and watched as a shower of dust and leaves cascaded to the rocks below, picking up speed as they fell. He scuttled across sideways before dropping down further when he had identified another sturdy branch to stop him sliding straight to the rocks below. He kept up the sideways-and-down technique, barely pausing and moving quickly until he was at the bottom. His feet touched the rocks and he almost slipped in his haste to straighten up. He looked up at his squad, looking down at him and raised a thumb in the air.

  By the time the whole team had successfully navigated their way to the bottom, along with their heavy packs, the rocky landing was crowded, and Dane held on to Kaya’s shoulder as she slipped precariously on the slick surface. He eyed the sweeping current as it rushed past, surprisingly noisy now that they were close, and hoped that Seraphine was right in her navigation.

  “Neha,” Seraphine said, as the last member of the squad brushed themselves off from their journey down the slope and the landing became uncomfortably packed. “Do you think you could get to the other side?”

  Neha nodded, but her eyes displayed some reservations. Gia, close to the bank, snapped a stick from some shrubbery and tossed it into the centre of the water. The squad followed it with their eyes as it disappeared at a high-speed. The water churned a frothy white at places where the river moved unhindered and faster than at the shallow edges, and Dane regarded the wild flow with concern. Until Neha reached the centre of the river, there was no way of knowing whether the water would overpower her, and even if she managed to keep upright, or in the case that it was deeper than she was tall to swim against the current, there was nobody on the squad as strong and powerful as her. He looked from Neha’s tightly-packed muscular frame to Riku and Gia, who were small and slight in comparison. He didn’t feel confident about this, but he had to put his faith in their Officer.

  Thinking on his feet, he managed to circle around the squad to snap a long branch, almost waist high, from a low-hanging tree and he handed it to Neha. She looked at it uncertainly before she recognised Dane’s intention and took the stick from him.

  “I’ll be right behind you.” He said encouragingly.

  With that, Neha shouldered her backpack, lifted her head up high and stepped into the water. She held the stick ahead of her, testing the depth in the darker water, feeling for rocks or sudden drops. When she was an arm’s length away from the edge, Dane followed her into the water, barely registering the cold, wet flooding his boots and swirling around his shins.

  “Dane.” Seraphine spoke sharply, causing him to look around. “Let her do it.”

  “We should be within grabbing distance of each other, surely.” Dane countered, pausing but reluctant to turn back or let Neha move too far from his grasp.

  There was a murmur from the shore as the squad agreed. Nobody wanted to watch a teammate be swept to their death.

  Seraphine shrugged to show she wasn’t going to stand in his way and Dane turned back to Neha, who was moving steadily through the water, which was now swirling around her waist. She continued to check the depth before she stepped and, although she wobbled under the force, she remained on her feet as she passed the swirling centre. Dane followed her path, feeling a little more confident at the ease in which Neha had crossed. The riverbed had dropped away sharply, taking the depth from knee-deep to waist-high in the space of barely six inches, but that seemed to be the extent of the depth. Dane stepped carefully at this point, feeling with his boot-clad foot for the rocky ground beneath. Afterwards, he reflected that he had been moving too quickly. Neha had moved slowly and cautiously, using the stick to test not only the depth but the solidity of the rocks beneath. There were loose stones, not yet embedded firmly, and slippery with algae. His right foot found stable ground, his body automatically tensed as the river level rose to meet him and his left foot arched through the heavy water, searching for the steady bed beneath. The sudden coldness, more shocking than it had felt against his legs, and the force of the water caused him to stumble. His left foot moving, he couldn’t right himself in time and he toppled face-first into the river. His right foot slipped with the force and as he lost his footing, the river knocked him forward. It all happened so quickly, all Dane recalled was the panic shooting through his body as he flew into the river. His eyes widened in fear, registering the eerie glow of the sun’s rays reflected and retracted across the river bed. The river moved fastest at the surface and the water’s roar filled his ears. His mouth and nose filled with water and it took all his strength to fight the overwhelming instinct to breathe. He tried to break to the surface, but the force of the current spun him. His legs flailed uselessly, searching for solid ground and in the back of his mind, where the panic didn’t quite reach, he wondered what it would feel like to die.

  It was over in less than a minute. Neha grabbed a handful of his jacket and heaved him backwards until he struggled to his feet. Neha stood still, just supporting him to stand upright, as he coughed violently, expelling the mouthful of river water, furiously wiping the water from his eyes and face.

  “Are you ok?” Seraphine was in the water now
, but she hadn’t yet crossed to the centre.

  Dane turned to her and nodded, embarrassed. He muttered a ‘thank you’ to Neha and she gave him one more concerned look before addressing the squad.

  “Take it easy,” She warned them. “The river is strong, and it drops off suddenly.”

  Neha stayed where she was, close to the opposite side of the river, and she motioned for Dane to pass her.

  “No.” Seraphine shook her head at Neha. “Move to the side. I’ll watch out for the team.”

  Neha opened her mouth as if she were going to argue with Seraphine but seemed to remember her place and shut it again, following the command. Dane and Neha stayed, ankle deep, on the edge of the river and watched nervously as she waded into the middle. She wobbled slightly as she stepped down into the centre, and her height meant the water was almost chest deep, restricting her movements and weighing her down. There was no fear on her face, despite Dane’s near-miss, and she moved slowly but confidently through the deep flow. As the river shallowed again, she stopped and turned to the squad, gesturing for the next person to enter.

  After three of the team had crossed safely, Dane felt confident enough to move closer to the opposite riverbank. Nobody had fallen like he had, which he was embarrassedly grateful for. Gia was the last-but-one to cross and Dane turned to watch the concentration etched on her face. She was easily the lightest of the squad, and she moved through the current cautiously as if aware that it would be more difficult for her. Dane felt himself holding his breath as she took the step downwards and the water was suddenly rushing past her chest. She gritted her teeth at the sudden coldness and squared her shoulders as she pushed through the worst of it. She reached Seraphine, who was waiting on the slope upwards, on hand to grab anybody who experienced any difficulty. Dane released the breath he’d been holding as Gia’s chest emerged from the water as she drew level with her. Seraphine nodded in acknowledgment to Gia, turning to face Niall, who was last to cross, when suddenly there was a flurry of movement and a splash. Gia spun on her heel, complete panic across her face as she made a grab for Seraphine. Dane rushed forward, Neha at his side, as they watched in horror as their Officer was propelled forward by the rapid current. Dane made out the dark material of her backpack as he grasped that she was face-down in the water. She was moving quickly and was out of Gia’s reach within seconds. Neha had shed her pack and she dived forward, leaping after Seraphine and closing a fist around the strap of the bag. Neha had lost her own footing in the move, but she managed to keep her head above the water and haul Seraphine to the surface. Seraphine broke the surface, coughing and spluttering, and the women travelled several metres forward before Neha navigated them to the edge of the water a little over ten metres away from the rest of the group. Gia was still stood frozen, rooted to the spot and she splashed noisily to the shore to meet them.