The colony had been built as close as possible to the river so that they could access irrigation, the lake’s resources, and the network of waterways beyond, but the planet’s two moons powered devastating tides. Infrequent as they were— Port Wallace had yet to observe the effects of the second moon’s arrival— it was untenable to be on the water. They’d be building a tunnel to the docks soon, though.
From the instant they’d approached with the boat, they’d known something was wrong. The orange light over the woods ahead was too bright, and the perimeter lights were white. Worse, what they thought was the smell of fire from the Cavers arson earlier was much too dense here to be that.
Every stride was more desperate than the last. Huston felt what they all felt as they sprinted, but like them, couldn’t say it yet.
“No.” He skidded to a stop, dropping to bent knee. “No, no, no.”
“Oh my God.” Kit’s hands were over her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes.
Tarma’s too.
The walls stood strong. Nothing about them hinted at the inferno within. Or what had been an inferno.
“We have to get in.” Cooper barked, bursting toward the gate.
It was shut. The titanium sheet behind it was down. He turned to the trees. Running to the tallest and closest pine, he began climbing. The others joined him up neighboring trees. They needed to see, too. Now.
They made it up without a spared glance down, though not at the same time. Forty-five feet into the canopy, they could just see over the lip of the wall.
“I don’t understand.” Tarma was the first to speak. For a long while, he was the only one to speak.
Melted plastic and metal. Building sides caved in. Roofs crushed.
And bodies. Blackened, disfigured bodies.
The shuttle was gone. Somebody had escaped.
“How!?” Cooper snarled through gritted teeth.
Nobody knew what to say.
“Ok, let’s climb down.” Huston looked at Kit and Tarma concernedly. Climbing down would be so much worse. “The majority may have escaped.”
“We need to get in. There might be something to salvage.” Cooper said to Huston, wiping the bark off his hands. They’d made it down first. His eyes burned. It was the look of a person who’d had to salvage something before. “We’ve only got small arms on the boat.”
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Still Human: Planet G
Copyright © 2018 by Jerry Underhill
This book is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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