Running Toward Home

by M B Panichi

  Whippet lifted a hand in greeting, which Morgan returned with a smile. She and Joe went to the serving counter, which consisted of a prepared-meal and beverage dispenser, some condiments and eating utensils. There were facilities for a real kitchen, but it was closed. Morgan supposed they hadn’t hired cooks yet.

  Frowning, she punched in a food request. The dispenser dropped out a hot sealed container with her cheeseburger, a bag of chips and a juice bottle. Morgan put everything on a tray, grabbed sauce for her chips and a napkin. She squeezed in at the table with the security team. Joe followed behind her. Morgan sighed as she swallowed her first bite. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she inhaled the slightly greasy smell—even if it was just a prepackaged sandwich with unidentified processed protein.

  Whippet teased, “Geeze, Morgan, you’d think you actually enjoy eating this crap.”

  She balled up her napkin and threw it at him. “I’m starving. Raw protein flakes would be good at this point.”

  He laughed and threw it back. “You’ve been in space too long, you nutcase. You probably like military MREs too.”

  She pointedly took a big bite of her sandwich and replied as she chewed, “If you’d eat once in a while you wouldn’t look like a damned bag of bones, Whip.”

  Del laughed.

  Joe Hailey shook his head and muttered, “Children.”

  They all concentrated on eating. After a while, Morgan asked, “Is Shaine still out placing cameras?”

  “Yeah, she’s with Josef and Allim. They took a skimmer over to where they’ve been drilling the latest batch of cores. I think they were setting up some trip-beacons at the site perimeter.” Del took a sip of her coffee. “Not sure why they’d bother. Only things out there are wind and sand.”

  Morgan shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, I guess. I think Garren is concerned about sabotage.”

  Joe Hailey said, “There’s that religious colony, hunkered under the ridge about four hours west of us. They were pretty angry about us being here. I suppose they could come down and cause trouble.”

  Del snorted dismissively. “I think we could handle them.” Then she shrugged. “Ah, well. Not in my job description to question why. Just to do what needs doing.”

  “There’s an enthusiastic employee,” Whippet commented, adding a grin to lessen the sting.

  Morgan laughed. She liked Whippet. He reminded her of an older and more experienced Toby.

  Hailey said to Amaar, “So, what’s the story with the heat exchanger? You got anyone looking at why I’m freezin’ my butt off the last two days?”

  “Leo was going to get to it later today. You want to have a go at it sooner, feel free.”

  Joe nodded. “Me and Morgan will take it on, then.”

  Shaine and Josef strode into the cafeteria. They chose their food and joined the others. Shaine cupped her hands around her coffee mug and shivered. “Damn, it’s cold in here. Cold everywhere.”

  Morgan frowned. “Your vac suit heater not working right?” she asked.

  Shaine shook her head. “Naw. Suit’s okay. Just cold in here. What’s up with the heat?”

  Amaar sighed. “The heat exchanger isn’t working at full capacity for some reason. Joe and Morgan have volunteered to take a look at it after lunch.”

  Shaine nodded. “Thanks.”

  “Sure. What’s on your agenda this afternoon?”

  “Need to go back out to the site to finish up what we were doing.” She glanced around the room, then said quietly, for their table only, “Got an interesting earful while we were out this morning.”

  Del raised a dark brow. “Do tell.”

  Shaine shook her head. “Not here. In any case, it’s just pissing and moaning.” She caught Morgan’s eye, and Morgan knew she’d been listening to Anya Bjork. Morgan shrugged and finished off her bottle of juice. Fuck Anya Bjork and her attitude problem.

  Joe Hailey stood up, stretching his back. “Well, Morgan, guess we oughta get at it. Talk to you all later.” He moved away, pausing to empty his tray into the recycler.

  Morgan pushed to her feet. “Later, kids,” she offered with a smile. She let one hand brush Shaine’s shoulder as she passed. Shaine smiled up at her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Morgan and Shaine fell into an easy routine over the next few days. Morgan divided her time between assisting Joe Hailey and helping monitor the security cameras for Shaine’s group. She preferred working with Joe since it was hands-on instead of watching live video feeds that showed nothing other than people working or sand blowing.

  A week into their stay, Morgan found herself in ops covering the security desk. Three ops personnel staffed the facility monitors. Ahmed’s second in command, Gohste Rocke, was at the main ops console at the center of the room. Morgan listened in while he helped one of the field techs control the rock borer carving out the underground emergency shelter.

  Morgan liked working with Gohste. They had a lot in common, and his sense of humor made her laugh. She hated to admit it, but she was also fascinated by his looks—it wasn’t every day she met an albino. Gohste’s pink eyes and the complete pallor of his skin took some getting used to. She tried hard not to stare.

  Gohste leaned over the terminal he monitored, his fingers flicking over the keyboard and the touch screen in rapid succession. He frowned at the monitor and tapped some more before speaking into his mic. “I see it, Ket. Back the drill off.”

  Ket’s voice responded over the overhead speakers. “Roger that. Pulling back. I’m going to have to switch drill bits. This one is toast.”

  “Go ahead and do that. You’re hitting solid bedrock there.” He fiddled with the touch screen. “Think it’s just the one spot. I’m sending you the scanner feed so you can see it, too. The rest should be a lot softer.”

  “I’m shutting down to switch out the bits. Back on in a few.”

  “Roger that, Ket. Standing by.” Gohste leaned back in his chair and stretched long arms over his head.

  From the security station slightly behind and to his left, Morgan heard his back pop and crack and she cringed. “You oughta see a chiropractor about that,” she commented wryly.

  The albino laughed. “Yeah. Should probably do a lot of things.” Cocking his head left and right, he popped his neck then rubbed his face as he yawned. Running his fingers back through short white hair, he sighed. “On the upside, once Ket gets through this one tough spot, we should have the underground space cleared out in another day and they can start putting in the interior infrastructure. It’ll be good to have a real radiation bunker set up.”

  “What’s the timeline once it’s bored out?”

  He shrugged. “On paper, a couple of weeks if they work three shifts a day. Real life, we’ll see.”

  She blanked one of the monitors and pulled up the Space Administration Weather site. She poked around until she found the weather for Mars and the Asteroid Belt, then marked the site for future reference. A quick look at the forecast data told her that there weren’t any imminent sunspot storms.

  The main ops door hissed open. A tall woman with dark hair strode in, looking ready to bang heads. Her lab jacket swished behind her as she stopped in front of Gohste. “What in the hell are you doing out there?” she demanded. “You’re upsetting important experiments in the lab! I can’t get reliable readings when the seismometers are bouncing off the scale!”

  Gohste stretched out in his chair and regarded her with a bored expression. “Good evening, Dr. Hurtz,” he offered with a smile.

  She glared. “Don’t fuck with me, Rocke. Just stop the disturbances.”

  Morgan turned in her chair to watch, not bothering to hide her interest.

  Gohste shrugged. “No can do. We’re digging out the underground shelter, and that’s a safety priority. We should be finished with the main shelter tomorrow. Unless you like radiation poisoning?”

  “That is NOT satisfactory! Where is Ahmed?”

  Morgan piped up, “I saw him earlier
with Joe in the warehouse.”

  The scientist sneered at Morgan, then turned and stalked out of the room.

  Morgan smirked. “Bitch,” she muttered.

  Gohste laughed. “You got that right. Maybe I’ll tell Ket to use a really dull drill.”

  * * *

  Morgan was still staffing the security desk later that night when her partner strode into ops. Shaine’s brows rose as she saw Morgan.

  “Babe, what are you still doing down here?”

  Morgan had her feet up on the desk, her personal comp pad in her lap, while she flipped through the security cameras with one hand. She smiled. “Hey, hon. I told Del I’d sit in for her tonight. She’s got the crud that’s going around. She looked like shit and could barely talk.”

  Shaine sighed. “All the medical miracles we’ve come up with and we’re still fighting the common cold and flu.”

  “I was gonna com ya, but I figured you were still on rounds. I’m on until oh-four-hundred, then Lukas will be in the rest of the shift.”

  “Thanks, Morg.” She sighed dramatically. “It’s gonna be cold tonight, sleeping all by myself.”

  Morgan leered at her. “Oh, I’ll warm ya up just fine when I get home.”

  Shaine laughed. “Good.”

  Morgan flicked through the screens again and frowned. “Hey, site camera three is down,” she said. She tapped a couple controls and ran a diagnostic. “I can’t connect to it at all. Maybe the power pack drained. Should I send someone out there?”

  Shaine shook her head. “Add it to the priority task list for tomorrow. I don’t want to send anyone out in the dark. Camera two should be able to pick up at least part of that area.”

  Morgan nodded. “Will do.”

  “Anything else going on?”

  “Nothing. Nobody’s even down in the rec room. A couple folks in and out of the mess hall, but that’s about it. Pretty much everyone’s hunkered down for the night. Hurtz and Ulm are down in the lab, as usual.”

  “Okay. Well, if you need anything, just com me.”

  “I’ll wake you up every hour with stupid questions,” Morgan teased.

  Shaine grinned and started toward the door.

  “Hey!”

  Shaine spun around.

  Morgan cocked her head and opened her arms. “What, no kiss good night?”

  Shaine considered for a moment then sashayed across the floor. Very deliberately, she leaned over Morgan’s chair. Morgan looked up to see pure lust darkening Shaine’s green eyes. As Shaine slowly lowered her mouth, she tangled her fingers in Morgan’s short black hair. She teased with the tip of her tongue until Morgan felt a growl at the back of her throat. Her body heated up as she opened to Shaine’s advance, demanding a passionate response, returning Shaine’s kiss. Minutes passed before they separated, breathing each other’s air.

  Shaine cupped Morgan’s cheek with one hand. “God, I love you,” she murmured against Morgan’s lips.

  “Love you too.”

  Shaine grinned and backed slowly and reluctantly away. With a wink and a wave, she slipped out of the ops, leaving Morgan sprawled in her chair with her eyes closed, blood pulsing in her groin, and four hours before she could do anything about it.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Morgan pulled on a warm undershirt and grabbed a heavy long-sleeved tunic before sitting down on the bed to pull on an extra pair of socks.

  Shaine paused in the bathroom door. “Planning on being in the warehouse today?” she asked.

  Morgan shook her head. “Actually, I’m going to suit up and shadow Piper and Wrenn on the site. They’re going to start sealing up the new dome today. Piper said he could use an extra hand since the shuttle with the extra construction guys got held up. I figured I may as well be useful.”

  “Love, you’re always useful.”

  Morgan shrugged. “You know what I mean.”

  Shaine smiled and sat down next to her, giving Morgan a hug and a kiss on the temple. “I know what you mean.”

  “What’s on your agenda?”

  “The shuttle from Moon Base should be here in a couple of hours, so Josef and I will be processing the security newbies.”

  “I’ll see you at supper then?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  * * *

  Morgan suited up with the rest of the crew and joined them on the skimmer that took them to the construction-site. They hadn’t worked in three days because of a sandstorm that had blown through. Yesterday they’d had to do cleanup and sand removal. She’d be working again with Alec, Piper and Wrenn, who’d taken her on as an impromptu apprentice. She enjoyed the work, and since Joe didn’t have things for her to do every day, she was glad to be able to lend an extra hand.

  The crew jumped off the skimmer and started toward their respective jobs on the site. Alec headed to the construction crane. Morgan followed Piper and Wrenn toward the empty frame of the new dome.

  Sixteen curved girders rose from the foundation like curved steel bones, meeting at a sixteen-sided steel plate at the top. Laid out around the empty frame, the glassteel dome sections rested on the gravel like gigantic clear slices of an orange peel.

  Piper and Wrenn started to secure the hydraulic clamp at the end of the crane cable to the top of a glassteel slice. There were rivet holes in the girders and matching holes in the glassteel. The bottom of the glassteel slice had a lip the width of the foundation and holes matching the rivets poking up from the foundation. It would be Morgan’s job to fuse the rivets once the slice was in place on the girders. Alec mounted the side ladder to the crane’s open control cockpit. He called over his helmet’s open com channel, “Let me know when you’re ready, Piper.”

  Piper lifted a hand in response. “Yeah, be a couple minutes.”

  Morgan joined Piper and Wrenn. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

  “You and Wrenn are going to guide the glassteel from the bottom. I’ll be at the top of the dome and will lock it into place there.”

  “Sure.”

  Piper double-checked the clamp’s lock on the glassteel. “Alec, it’s connected. I’m going up top.”

  “Got it. Waiting on you, then.”

  Wrenn helped Piper get into a climbing harness. Piper connected to a winch line connected to the platform at the top of the dome. He used a remote on his wrist to start the winch and rose slowly to the top where he climbed up and connected his safety line. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

  Alec’s rough voice crackled over their headsets. “Righto, gents. Wrenn, Morgan, you ready?”

  “We’re set,” Wrenn replied.

  “Starting up, real easy.”

  Alec brought tension to the cable and eased the glassteel upright. “Coming forward now,” he warned them.

  Wrenn said, “Roger that. We’re clear.”

  Morgan took another step away from the four-story piece of clear metal as it rose off the ground. She looked up past the glassteel into the hazy orange-hued sky. Thin, fast-moving clouds hissed overhead. She decided the landscape had a certain beauty. It felt warmer than the blackness of the moonscape. But it wasn’t Earth. She smiled, glad she’d experienced all three places, then shook herself into the present. She was working and she needed to stay alert.

  The four-story piece of curved glassteel swung very slowly toward the dome’s base, barely a dozen centimeters above the ground. Wrenn and Morgan walked along a few feet from its side, watching closely.

  Wrenn warned, “Slow it down, Alec. You’ve got about three meters to the base.”

  “Roger that. Slowing.”

  “Two meters,” Wrenn counted. “Bring it up twenty centimeters to clear the base.”

  The movement of the piece slowed to a stop. It rose a little more, swinging slightly. Suddenly Piper shouted, “Cable!”

  In an instant, the crane cable shredded and snapped. The top half whipped back toward the crane and the lower half snapped against the glassteel, cracking the clear metal
as it dropped onto its edge.

  Morgan dove away from the glassteel. Something heavy slammed the back of her helmet and shoulders. Her nose slammed against the faceplate in an explosion of light and pain before everything went dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Morgan! Morgan!”

  Voices penetrated her consciousness. She was aware, first, of the pounding in her head and her nose, then of the cold, then of the metallic taste of blood. She groaned.

  “Morgan, talk to me!”

  She managed a pained grunt, blinking her eyes into focus and seeing red gravel under her faceplate. “Uh. Damn.” Thinking hard, she started making a checklist. She was breathing. She had air. Cold. Suit heater damaged? Not good. She tried to move her arms to get to the diagnostic readout on her wrist, but her arm was trapped under her. She could move her legs but she seemed to be pinned in place.

  “Morgan! Talk to me!”

  Morgan blinked again, shivered, and took a breath. She could hear the panic in Shaine’s voice. Shaine? “Here,” she croaked.

  “Thank God! Morgan, hang in there—just a little longer. We need to use a lifter to get that piece of glassteel off you. You have air?”

  “Yeah, I have air.” Morgan could see blood splattered on the inside of the faceplate. Her nose didn’t hurt enough to be broken, at least. “Think my suit heater is damaged.” She shivered again. “I’m losing heat fast.” She felt strangely calm.

  “Just hang in there, love.”

  Shaine’s voice was a warm blanket over her soul. She closed her eyes against the pounding in her skull. Concussion, she thought. I must’ve really hit my head on the helmet when I went down. Lucky the faceplate didn’t break.

  She thought she could hear the grinding of machinery. Maybe it was just vibrations on the ground. Voices buzzed in her helmet speakers—Shaine’s voice, muffled, barking orders, other voices, an urgency in the tones that she couldn’t feel herself.

  She lay there, staring at the ground, watching the blood drip from her nose onto her faceplate, knowing she could die lying here. She could freeze to death before they could get the metal off her and get her to safety. She supposed she was lucky it hadn’t crushed her or cut through her air lines. Perhaps the concave of the glassteel was her savior. She wasn’t ready to die. She didn’t want to leave Shaine. Not so soon. They’d only just got started. She thought she should be panicking. Instead, she simply waited. And shivered. Her hands and feet were starting to feel numb. She listened to the voices buzzing in her helmet. She could hear their panic.