by G J Ogden
There was no time to understand this unusual behavior, because the scrape of bony fingers against metal drew his attention back to the ship. The second figure was climbing onto the ship, using the torn and twisted metal panels as footholds and handholds. Ethan fired at it but missed, hearing the bullets ricochet of the metal and then off the rocks behind the ship, sounding like a hammer striking stone.
The creature reached the upper hull and pulled itself up, but then appeared to waver and almost fall, before awkwardly loping out of view towards the cockpit. Ethan sprinted to the base of the ship and scrambled up the rocks to gain enough height to get another clear shot. His muscles burned and his fingers bled as they clawed at the jagged rocks, but still he could not see his enemy. There was a gap of a few meters between the rocks and the shuttle, and ordinarily he would have considered the leap too risky, but rational thought escaped him. He threw himself towards the charred hull, but the distance was too great and he slipped back, losing the pistol as he grasped frantically for a handhold, until his tunic caught on a jagged strip of metal and halted his fall back to the rocky beach below. His right foot found a purchase and he pushed himself back up, grunting with exertion as he rose higher, hand over hand, until he was finally at the top.
Breathless and in no shape to fight, he staggered on towards the cockpit and found the creature, motionless, staring down through the smashed glass. It looked confused and distant for a moment and then it slumped to its knees. Ethan rounded on it and drew back a fist, ready to strike, but the creature merely twisted its neck and stared up at him, confused, its mouth agape. Ethan swallowed hard as he stared back into the creature’s eyes, and saw that instead of the pure, obsidian black that he had seen so many times before, these eyes were fractured with hairline cracks, like strands of white thread. Its chest rose and fell erratically and then, as suddenly as it had dropped to its knees it fell back and slid off the dimpled metal of the shuttle’s hull and thudded onto the rocks below like a discarded puppet. Ethan stared at it for a several seconds longer, to make sure it was dead, but the crumpled body was as still as the black water of the lake.
He rushed to the cockpit and found Maria strapped into the pilot’s chair. Her eyes were closed and her head and body were slumped to one side.
“Maria!” he shouted, lowering himself in through the smashed cockpit and dropping to her side. He took her head in his hands and gently lifted it, feeling Maria’s pulse push back against his aching fingers, and then let his head drop into her lap; the sudden relief of knowing she was alive acting like a pressure valve that drained away all the strength that remained in his beleaguered body.
“This seems familiar,” croaked Maria. Her voice was weak and broken, but she still managed to smile at him.
Ethan slumped back and looked at her. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and instead found himself doing both at the same time.
“If you mean crashing to the planet’s surface and then me finding you, then yes, this does seem remarkably familiar.”
“Not crashed… landed…” Maria corrected. “You’re as bad as my old partner.”
The PVSM on Maria’s left wrist bleeped angrily, and she gingerly lifted her arm and flipped open the panel. She was silent for a moment as she read the screen, and then smiled weakly, closed the panel and lowered her arm.
The initial, almost giddy relief at Maria being alive had gone and was replaced by the icy grip of fear.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Maria reached out and grabbed Ethan’s hand. “Don’t worry. Just help me out of this damn chair.”
Ethan released the straps and took Maria’s weight on his shoulders, helping her to stand. In the glow of the moonlight, she looked pale and her skin seemed to glisten.
“I need to get you to the laboratory building, just by the shore,” Ethan said, gently supporting her as they climbed out of the cockpit. “Gaia is there; she can help you.”
They clambered out and then both lay back against the hull to rest and regain their strength. Maria’s PVSM bleeped again, but this time she did not check it and simply reached down and switched off the alert. Ethan looked at the device, and then at Maria, and the disquieting feeling that had begun when the alarm first sounded grew more intense.
“Maria, you’re starting to scare me. Those things don’t bleep for no reason.”
“No…” said Maria, exhaling the word slowly into the night air. “No, they don’t.” Then she smiled softly at Ethan and held his hand. “I’m afraid that Gaia isn’t going to be able to work her magic on me this time.”
Ethan felt his stomach twist. “But she created the serum! Karl brought it back to the base for you!”
“I didn’t take it.”
“What?!” Ethan let go of Maria’s hand and rocked away from her. “What do you mean you didn’t take it? What are you doing back here?”
Maria grabbed Ethan’s hand again and when she spoke, her words were soft and comforting, but had a chilling finality to them. “Ethan, please listen to me. I don’t have much time. I just need you to be with me, okay?”
Ethan felt like he was dying; like a knife had been pressed into his stomach and twisted again and again and again. But he saw the seriousness in Maria’s eyes, and more than that, he saw she was scared. He buried his questions and slid back over to her side, letting her rest back against his chest.
“Page did return with the serum,” Maria said as they both stared across the lake at the snow-capped mountains in the distance. “But I couldn’t risk it killing me, before I had a chance to stop the Maddening here.”
“You found a way?”
“Yes!” said Maria, with a hint of brightness. “I sent out an army of little probes to distribute the serum into the air. Tyler would have been proud.”
“Distribute it? How far?”
“Everywhere. You’re all going to be safe now, Ethan. This time, it will be the maddened that fall.”
They were silent for a time, though for exactly how long, Ethan couldn’t be sure; time seemed to have melted away.
“You did it, Sal,” said Ethan, thinking not only of the serum, but about Kurren and the liberation of the UEC base. “You made everything right.”
Maria laughed, and then coughed, which caused her whole body to shiver. Ethan held her tighter and gritted his teeth.
“I could never make it right, Ethan. But, hopefully, I’ve made things better than they were.”
Ethan wrapped an arm around Maria’s waist and pulled her closer, feeling her strength start to waver and her grip on his hand loosen with each passing second.
“No, you’ve done so much more than that. You haven’t just given us hope, you’ve given us a future. You’ve given us life.”
Maria sighed and let her body fall against Ethan, her head resting on his shoulder. Her chest felt heavy and her breathing was becoming erratic and shallow.
“Despite everything that has happened, the good and the bad, I’m very glad to have known you, Ethan. And I’m glad it’s you here with me now.”
Ethan closed his eyes, forcing back tears, and then swallowed hard. He gripped Maria more tightly.
“I’m very glad to have known you too, Maria Salus.”
A light flashed across the sky and was reflected in the glassy lake, like a bolt of pure starlight. Maria thought back to her old partner’s message, left to her before he had died. Christopher Kurren had been right – this planet was something special. It was something worth dying for.
“It’s so beautiful…”
Ethan felt Maria’s head roll limply onto his chest. He reached over and took her other hand in his, keeping her close, and then opened his eyes, allowing tears that could no longer be contained to fall softly onto her hair. He blinked the wetness away, and then rested his head back to gaze up at the starry sky as another brilliant flash of light streaked overhead.
“Goodbye, Sal.”
Chapter 35
Ethan watched the shuttle as
it banked smoothly across the warm summer sky and descended slowly towards Forest Gate. Silhouetted against the late evening sun, it looked like a giant bird soaring towards them, albeit one that made a considerable racket, enough to startle real birds out of the trees. It had been five years since the probes had distributed the serum and wiped out the roamers and the maddened, yet still the sight of birds and wildlife roaming freely around the settlement seemed unbelievable to him.
The shuttle slowed and hovered a few hundred meters beyond the main gate and then gently touched down on the lush green grass. Ashley, Gaia and Page stepped out of the shuttle and greeted an army of children who had rushed over to see them and, more importantly, their spaceship.
Ethan climbed down the ladder from the settlement wall and walked out through the main gate, which was open as it always was these days. This was something else that Ethan still struggled to get used to. After a lifetime spent ensuring the settlement remained closed and impenetrable to roamers, seeing the gate open still gave him a disquieting feeling. The enormous cannons that Tyler had installed in the four corners of the settlement walls had gone and their parts re-purposed to provide tools and automatons to help develop the existing settlements and build new ones. Not everyone had welcomed the application of pre-Fall technology – old habits and superstitions died hard – but that no-one had seen a roamer in five years contributed greatly to a new sense of hopefulness that had spread throughout all the settlements, new and old, like sunlight after the dawn.
Forest Gate had also embraced change and grown beyond the claustrophobic walled fortress that had lain in the shadow of a broken city, into the grandest of all the settlements. Instead of the settlers being forced to live inside the walls, Forest Gate had blossomed out from the center, with the huts and open spaces inside the walls being converted into a vast recreational and commerce center, and administrative hub. The great council chamber was one of only two structures inside the walls to retain its original purpose, and it was also where Ethan spent many of his days, as Forest Gate’s Administrator. It had been difficult to hang up the ranger’s coat, but he still managed to stretch his legs and explore by joining the hunting parties whenever he was able, partly thanks to the support of Yuna, who had left the mountain complex to live in the settlement as his deputy.
The survivors from the destruction of the GPS space station had also left the subterranean complex. Most of the UEC contingent had gradually been returned to the moon base, while the difficult process of fostering the last children of GPS had led to them being spread out across the various settlements. All had found homes where they would be loved and cared for, though the legacy of General Kurren's actions would forever live in their memories.
Besides Yuna and Gaia, the other scientists and engineers had chosen to remain in the complex, since it was their home, but they made regular visits to the settlements to provide their valued expertise.
The other structure to retain its original purpose was, at Ethan’s insistence, Katie’s bakery, which still produced the wonderful amber cookies that the old hermit had so loved. In fact, the cookies had garnered a reputation all of their own, and were renowned across the expanded thirty-four settlements. Every traveler that visited Forest Gate would frequent Katie’s bakery and buy or trade something in exchange for a box of the infamous ‘hermit’s cookies’.
Ethan looked around the settlement, at the hustle and bustle of people going about their affairs and living free of fear, and smiled.
“Unbelievable, isn’t it?”
Ethan turned around to see Yuna standing just behind him and also gazing out towards the ship. He greeted her with a smile and then peered back at the spectacle surrounding the landing site.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”
A little girl ran over and clung to Yuna’s leg, giggling. Yuna let out an exaggerated ‘oof’ as if the tackle had been made by someone ten times the girl’s size, and then stroked her long auburn hair. “What are you up to, little Maria?”
Ethan eyed the girl suspiciously, his lips curled into a subtle, but playful smirk. “She’s up to no good, most likely…”
The girl giggled again and stared back at Ethan, mimicking his suspicious-looking eyes.
A leather-covered ball the size of an apple rolled into Ethan’s boot and interrupted the comical stand-off. He reached down and picked it up and then looked around for the culprit. A teenage boy in ranger clothing was running towards him, away from a group of other apprentice rangers who had all been playing games to improve their dexterity, agility and reflexes. Ethan remembered these games fondly.
“Sorry, Ethan.”
“Isn’t it about time you got the hang of this, Josh?” laughed Ethan, tossing the ball back to him. “I don’t think catching is really your thing.”
“Maybe not, but he’s shaping up to be a great archer.” Summer appeared through the throng of settlers and visitors in the main square, also dressed in ranger clothing. She had a quiver and a short bow slung over her shoulder. The little girl’s eyes lit up upon seeing her mother and she released her vice-like grip on Yuna’s leg and ran over to Summer, who scooped her up, planting kisses on her face and rosy cheeks.
“We might not have roamers to shoot at anymore, but there’s plenty of good hunting in the woods now,” Summer added, bouncing the little girl up and down, with each bump eliciting an additional giggle.
With all the distractions, they hadn’t noticed that Ashley, Gaia and Page had almost reached the gate. Summer placed the little girl down, and she immediately ran to Gaia, who engulfed her in an embrace that lasted for several seconds.
“So good to see you again, little Maria!” Gaia beamed at the girl. “Run along with Yuna now, and I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay, Nan!” the little girl chirruped and then she skipped back to Yuna.
“Stay out of mischief!” Ethan called over to her as Yuna and the girl departed, but the girl just shot back another suspicious stare, before sticking out her tongue at him and continuing to skip away.
“Don’t say it!” said Summer, glaring at Ethan.
“What? I wasn’t going to say anything about her taking after her mother. Nothing at all.”
Summer punched Ethan on the shoulder, but then smiled at him, and turned to Josh. “I think that’s enough training for today, Josh. You can go. Tell the others too, please.”
“Yes, Summer,” The boy said, dutifully. “See you later. You too Ethan!”
Ethan waved him off and then folded his arms and shook his head gently. “When did that kid grow up?”
Summer stepped to Ethan’s side and leant on his shoulder. “I know. It’s like this is a different planet.”
“That’s because it is,” said Page. “Even with just one eye, I can see that. The change is remarkable, truly.”
“How are things progressing on the base?” said Ethan, turning to face the newly-arrived trio.
“There has been quite a change there too, actually, thanks to the efforts of Gaia and First Minister Jansen, here. I have to say, I like her a lot better than I liked Kuba.”
Ashley laughed. “He didn’t exactly set a very high bar!”
“Also noteworthy is that we will soon be able to start cleaning up the worst of the radiation hot-spots, beginning with your once fair city of Green Haven.” Gaia gestured to the city in the distance, which somehow didn’t look as imposing as it once had, despite having not altered in the last five years. “Then we can allow the planet to finally heal.”
Summer frowned. “But I thought that fancy serum of yours gave us all the same super-immunity as the old hermit?
“That is correct.”
“Then why bother?” Summer added. She hadn’t lost her characteristic tact.
Gaia raised an eyebrow towards Page, who took the cue. “It’s as much about us wanting to clean up our mess. The UEC I mean. It really is the least we can do.”
“Do you think people from the moon base will ev
er want to move down here?” asked Ethan.
Gaia smiled. “Time will tell, but I think so. One way or another, we’re all planetsiders and always have been.”
Page checked his PVSM. “We’d better get ourselves settled and changed, so we’re ready for the meeting of settlement administrators.”
“And I need to make a visit to a certain bakery first too,” added Ashley. “I’m starving.”
Ethan laughed. “We’ll meet you in the council chamber later then,” he said and then stepped aside, inviting them to enter the main square.
Summer waited for the group to blend into the throng and then rested on Ethan’s shoulder again. “I’m going to stow my gear, are you coming?”
Ethan squeezed her gently around the waist. “You go ahead, I’ll catch you up.”
Summer smiled; from the tone of his voice and look in his eyes, he knew where Ethan was headed. It was the same place she visited every day too.
“Okay, I’ll see you later then,” she said, and then punched him hard on the arm, winked and strolled away imperiously, as if she’d just been crowned the champion of a tournament.
Ethan scowled and rubbed his aching arm. When am I ever not going to fall for that?
He made a right turn out of the gate and hung close to the wall of the settlement, heading towards the old tree on the mound, which now lay within the greater boundary of Forest Gate. The mound had been surrounded by an ornate white fence, which stood only half a meter tall, yet no-one crossed the border, not even the children playing outside. Ethan reached the fence, pushed open the unlocked gate and climbed the steep slope to the summit. The sun was setting, casting a warming, crimson glow across the valley and turning the ruined city of Green Haven into a jagged silhouette. He knelt down by the base of the tree in front of four small stones, which he had cut and lain with his own hand.
The first stone was engraved with a single word, ‘Elijah’. Hanging from it on a piece of twine was his nephew’s ranger seal. Once it had become clear that the threat from roamers and the Maddening was gone forever, he had dug it up from where he’d buried it years earlier, deep within the roots of the tree. Elijah would have preferred to rest looking up at the stars, he remembered thinking at the time.
