by Dan Decker
“Do it, sir. It would seem you need this.”
He stood for a long time and just as I started to believe he was about to go through with it, he dropped his fists. He was still as red in the face as ever and he looked angrier than anything. I was tempted to smile, but let it go.
A change came over him, like he flipped a switch.
One moment he’d been angry, the next he was calm, collected even.
He relaxed, letting the tension drain from his body. The release did not touch his eyes.
It was all an act.
“The button on your watch, the middle one below the block timer, if you press it, an ultraviolet beacon turns on, keeping them ten feet away.” He nodded toward the door. “Let’s go. We’ve wasted too much time for you to go on guard duty. It’s time to wake the others.” He stepped to the door, opened it, and went outside while making a point of pushing the button on his watch before letting the tent flap fall.
I pressed the same button as I stepped toward the door, hoping this wasn’t another trick.
It is all madness. How am I ever going to find my wife and son?
With that depressing thought I followed him into the dark, trying to convince myself there might be a chance. One thing was sure, my only way out was through. Unless I got close to a ship and was able to sneak aboard.
I stifled a snort of bitter laughter.
That’s never going to happen. It’s this or die.
I had no illusions I could escape on foot. The appearance of the crocks saw to that.
What other invisible creatures were out there, just waiting to take a bite?
22
I worried another crock might attack as I followed behind Jeffords, but the night was quiet. They kept to themselves now that I had turned on the ultraviolet beacon, but I was hard pressed to say for sure with just the moonlight. I was careful with every footstep, afraid I might tread on a tail.
I didn’t know what had made Jeffords relent. He’d been quick to back down, so he must have another play in mind. I tried to pay attention as I followed him through camp, hoping I could find the barracks on my own because I figured this was the only time I would learn how to get there. And judging by how well things were going, I would probably be running a lot of laps, spending much of my time away from the others.
Why is Jeffords isolating me?
We stopped in front of a tent that looked the same as any other. It had nothing to identify it as the place I should return at the end of the day, it was just one among many. When Jeffords pulled back the flap and stepped inside, I was tempted to mark the spot, but except for the tube of block, my pockets were empty and had been since I my arrival. I examined the canvas to see if there was a tear in the fabric or any other identifying feature but there was nothing. There wasn’t even a rock I could place by the door.
Jeffords reached for a switch and flipped on the lights inside the barracks.
“Wake up you baldheaded mangy maggots! Wake up! I was gonna let you sleep all night, but Anders went and got himself lost. He was trying to spend the night in the infirmary, shirking latrine and guard duty. Wouldn’t you figure. Well, because of his screwup, you’re all going to pay. Lucky for you—” he took a quick look at his watch “—it is just barely after midnight, so we are technically in a new day, as promised.”
I kept my face blank, not surprised he was once again blaming me. I had assumed he would do something like this. If any of the others had a brain, they should have assumed the same thing. They should also be smart enough to know it was not my fault.
But it wasn’t going to work out that way.
“Line up outside in two minutes.”
I considered looking for my cot but decided to find it later. I thought about waiting outside but was concerned if I did Jeffords might come up with new orders I could not hear, giving him another excuse to punish me, so I waited where I stood.
Jeffords looked at me expectantly and I was glad I had decided to stay put. He would not miss an opportunity like that.
He gave me a small smile that held the promise I was not going to like what came next.
After three other soldiers went out I did too, assuming my position first in line, like yesterday. It was not long afterward that everybody else got ready, waiting for Jeffords.
He did not immediately come out. The man right next to me yawned. It was Winston. I was tempted to make conversation but knew the moment I did, Jeffords would walk out and send me running laps.
It was awhile before Jeffords exited the tent, probably close to ten minutes after the last soldier, even though it felt much longer.
“Only a few remembered to make your beds. One of you never even made up your cot, the sheets and blankets are unused. I am disappointed you did not follow instructions. He pointed towards the edge of camp. “Because of this last failure, everybody gets to run five laps before meeting me at the ravine.”
Winston stifled a groan.
“What was that soldier?” Jeffords approached and for once I was glad to not be the target of his wrath.
My heart sagged when Jeffords stopped in front of me.
“Did you have something to say, soldier?”
I opened my mouth to explain I hadn’t made the noise, but Jeffords already knew that.
If I blamed Winston, I would earn his ire, but if I took the brunt of Jeffords wrath, I might make an ally. Or at least have somebody who hated me less. Winston hadn’t made any attempt to befriend me though he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.
“I have nothing to say, sir.”
I considered claiming the disgruntled noise, but decided it was safest to go a more direct route. I did not want to say it was me and have Jeffords accuse me of lying.
“It sounded like you were unhappy to do more running, soldier. As I recall you did a lot of running yesterday because of your belligerent attitude. Are you looking forward to more today?”
“Yes, sir, I am. It’s my favorite thing.” As I spoke I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Even though I kept my face still and my tone free of inflection, Jeffords immediately honed in on my word choice.
“Oh, you like running do you,” his voice dripped with sarcasm, “well, I was going to let you off easy this morning, thinking you’d run a lot yesterday, but I’m happy to oblige. Let’s make it ten laps.” He raised his voice. “Hear that, everybody? It’s ten laps now. You can thank Mister Anders later. And in case you didn’t put it together, it’s his fault you must run in the first place. He never set up his cot.
“What are you all waiting for? Go.”
I glanced at Winston, wondering if I had earned some gratitude. He didn’t make eye contact.
No need to thank me.
A few minutes later I was at the head of the pack, pushing past them so they didn’t try something from behind.
23
The camp would have been well lit if I had been in charge. Doing this would only make sense, given how the crocks were afraid of the light.
But why not make things more dangerous?
The only light came from the guard towers and those were focused on giving guards the ability to see what was right in front of them, rather than lighting up camp or even giving them a good view of the horizon.
This made even less sense. It would be better to see as far as they could in every direction.
Only one of the two moons gave light, the other was nowhere to be seen. There was enough to see, but just barely. I was glad I had overtaken the others because I was no longer worried about somebody tripping and becoming an unseen obstacle. After I was ahead I matched their pace so I would not overtake them before we finished our laps.
There was constant movement as the crocks moved out of the way in a ten-foot radius of my watch.
There was danger here. Always.
What else lurked in the night, waiting to kill us?
A ravine might open at any time. Another grenling might attack. A creature like the one I’d killed
could swoop down. Or some animal I had yet to discover could kill me before I knew what was happening.
They keep warning us about the dangers but don’t get specific, like they want to keep us in fear.
I was no stranger to learning this way. Law school was like this. They gave you the general idea of what to do, but held back useful information. You were supposed to figure everything out yourself.
That was what they wanted us to do.
Only it wasn’t sudden-death if I gave the wrong answer to a professor.
Law school had been stressful but nothing like this. The unseen dangers didn’t compare to the most obvious.
Jeffords.
His reaction to my name was the only reason I had to suspect the friction between us was personal. I just wished I could put my finger on it. Jeffords had saved my life when he killed the bung beetle, but he hadn’t yet known who I was. He might not have helped if he had.
I reviewed his mannerisms and actions, trying to come up with a way to tag him to somebody I’d known before, but nothing came.
My thoughts went to the alley where I died but didn’t stay for long. What was the point of solving the riddle if it wasn’t going to help me here? Somebody had wanted me dead. And while it nagged at me, I had no way of finding new evidence. The only thing I could do was spin theories that would distract me from my mission.
I am running in circles, mentally and physically.
On lap nine, Jeffords was already at the ravine. He looked at his watch as I passed. Although he did not tell me to speed up I consciously did, thinking it might help if he saw me increase my effort. It was doubtful but it made sense to try, the only cost was a little pride.
And what was that when compared to finding my family?
Or at least learning what happened to them, I thought bitterly. As much as I might want to deny it, the claim earth had been destroyed was becoming more plausible the longer I didn’t wake up, having experienced the most vivid dream of my life.
I was the last to arrive. The others had never passed so I assumed Jeffords had called them to a halt and let me finish the last lap by myself.
I refrained from muttering as I fell in beside them.
“Look to either side of you,” Jeffords said as he paced in front of us. “For every one of you, at least one more didn’t make it this far. The process of bringing you from earth is not foolproof. Many do not survive. The person on your left or right might be dead by the end of the week.
He shrugged. “Or by the end of this morning.”
A wicked smile formed on Jeffords’ face that was barely visible in the light of the early dawn. I was surprised the sky was already lighting up. If we had been back on earth it would still be dark for hours. Perhaps Jeffords was playing games with time. I had no way of verifying he’d found me in the middle of the night. It could have been an hour from sunrise.
“Today might be your day to die.”
Jeffords let that sink in.
“We need the best. We push you to your outer limits. Those who fail die. Some have learned already just how dangerous this planet can be. We are a few days behind schedule because of incidents beyond my control.”
He glanced at me and the others did as well. I stared straight forward, refusing to get my feathers ruffled.
“It might be a mistake to bump up the timeline, but I want to make sure we have plenty of time for today’s lesson. You must learn to survive unpredictable environments.”
He spread his arms as he turned.
“Such as this planet. Many have already been killed by lady Aldreda’s cold hand.”
Somebody gasped, but Jeffords did not seem to notice.
It would’ve been a different story if it had been me.
“There are many reasons we have chosen this world for our training grounds, chief among them is that this is a harsh planet.
“We are preparing you to fight some of the worst creatures ever discovered in the universe. Some will skin you alive and crunch your bones while you still move. That is humane compared to others. You must become the most lethal fighting machines ever known to human civilization.
“Some would die from fright if you knew what was coming. We don’t put safety wheels on your bikes. We won’t put harnesses on when you climb. If you make a mistake you will die.”
He paused to emphasize his point as he walked toward the ravine, stopping at the edge with his foot hovering over the side, making me think he was going to walk off. His hand was on his watch, finger on the block timer button and thumb on the middle button of the other side.
I thought he was going to jump but he stepped back, shaking his head as if he thought better of it.
He was close enough the ground could crumble under his feet, sending him into the ravine anyway.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
I thought of pushing him, the temptation was not any less when he beckoned us to join him.
As we did I looked over the other conscripted recruits. I would have expected most would look like me, musclebound men tall enough to be giants. That was not the case. Some were short, some tall, some thin, some heavyset. None of us were overweight, but many had the traits that would make us obese if we didn’t care for our bodies.
Setting aside the absolute insanity of the situation, it was nice to wake up in a brand-new body that was in better shape than my previous one.
But I missed what I’d been before.
I’d had forty-five years to learn about my previous body.
I was not used to ducking my head as I walked through doors. If I had awoken in my former body I wouldn’t have even noticed.
Why so many body types? I wondered.
Perhaps they had specific tasks for each of us.
We lined up in front of the ravine on either side of Jeffords. When I went to the end, Jeffords called my name and pointed at the ground directly in front of where he stood with his back to the opening.
He is tempting me.
I suppressed every urge to shove him and had a feeling I was not going to like what came next.
“The jumpsuits you wear have unique properties,” Jeffords said. “They protect your skin from the harsh sun. It protects you from some of the deadlier poisons on this planet and some not as bad, meaning you’ll die in ten days instead of one. Most of you have already crossed paths with these poisons and did not know it. On our run yesterday, over half the plants you brushed against were poisonous. I didn’t warn you because you were protected.”
Or you hoped some would die.
“It is time you understood the full purpose of your jumpsuit. It’s also important you learn to use your mind under the most crushing circumstances. Some might feel you are already skilled in this area. Perhaps you were doctors,” he looked at me, “or lawyers, or other educated professionals who felt like you knew how to use your mind.”
He paused but not for long.
“You are not prepared to do this.”
Jeffords stepped into the ravine.
24
At first I thought Jeffords was committing suicide, but there was no involuntary scream. There was no thrashing of a man trying to save his life after taking a step he regretted. He was merely in freefall and seemed to take it in stride.
We all leaned over the edge to get a better view. I could not see the bottom in the early morning light. The others were just as surprised as me, several coming dangerously close to following as they peered over. I could not help but wonder if it was tempting for others to end their lives to get out of this messed up situation.
The thought did not cross my mind.
It never would. I had to find my family.
Winston put a foot over the edge but he stepped back, apparently thinking better of it.
I shook my head. So much for thinking he was stable. He’d been my only potential ally.
I listened for Jeffords to hit bottom, but heard nothing. As the seconds ticked by I was not the only one who was uncomfortable, judging
by the way the others shifted and looked around.
What would we tell our superiors if Jeffords had just committed suicide?
I imagined General Roth lining us all up and telling us we would be killed if we did not reveal who pushed him. I snorted when I remembered the ridiculous story she had told me about her father, earning a shocked look from the man next to me.
Roth would order us off the ravine, one by one, until she was certain of the truth.
I had no problem believing that.
Jeffords had given no instructions, no warning, and just stepped off. It was strange behavior. Suicide wasn’t likely, especially since he’d talked about flying. Some of the others looked at the horizon, as if thinking now was the time to run.
We must survive here, which means we have to play by their rules. I looked down at the dark abyss. This is a test. They want to see how we respond.
Jeffords expected me to run, wanted me to make an attempt.
Just in case my suspicions proved correct I stood with my back straight and my hands at my side. I mimicked what I had seen others do, both those from my own training group and others around camp.
I hoped they did have a camera on us because I was going to be beyond reproach.
The others fidgeted as time passed but nobody made a break for freedom.
Just as I was starting to wonder if Jeffords had killed himself to punish me—why else ask me to stand beside him before taking a plunge?—I heard a quiet whirr and turned my attention down to the ravine.
It was Jeffords, ascending as if he rode a magic carpet, only he had nothing underneath.
A few minutes later he hovered in front of us, slowly spinning while hanging in the air. His uniform, which was made from a material like our jumpsuits, was scraped in several places. In one spot it was torn, showing another layer underneath.
“You all thought Sergeant John Jeffords was gone, didn’t you?” A crazy smile broke his face. “But here I am, back from the dead. I’m surprised nobody followed. I usually get at least one.” I looked at Winston and so did the others.
