To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2)

by Robert F Hays

  Jim reached for the pad. “Can you give me a close up?”

  “Coming through now.”

  Jim smiled as he watched the diagram appear. “Tin cans connected in pairs, they jangle together when someone trips over the wires. It’s a warning device.”

  “Recording their positions. We can guide you around them.”

  “What do you recommend?” Peter asked. “Should I go in alone or take a backup?”

  “Backup advised. If you’re detected entering you will need covering fire to support your withdrawal. We also suggest entering through the section containing the cryo chambers. It seems to be common for people coming from there not to be known by the ones already awake.”

  “That’s logical,” Chris said. “Most of the colonists didn’t know each other before they left.”

  Jim settled back and made himself comfortable. “Get some sleep; we’ll start out when the sun goes down.”

  “I would like to hear the conversation in the cryo section,” Peter said. “I want to know what to chat about when I get there so I can blend in.”

  Carol reached over and touched a couple of controls. “Putting it through to your receiver Peter.”

  “Tell me the truth,” Earl said. “You were actually in the delivery room when your kids were born?”

  “Yes Earl,” Jim said.

  Exhausted from arduous journey they settled back to sleep the three hours before nightfall. After half an hour Peter switched off his receiver and shut his eyes. Only Carol remained awake to monitor the communications system.

  * * *

  As Jim opened his eyes he saw Peter changing from his modern protective suit to one used by the colonists. The pilot style mask connected to a long hose and a filter unit hanging by his side. The remainder of the outfit was thick and cumbersome.

  “Is it time?” Jim asked while stretching.

  “Yes Mr. Young,” Herb said.

  “Would you call us by our first names? It’s easier.”

  “I’ll have to use code. It’s easier to keep track of. Peter you are the package. Jim is one, Earl two, Sam three, Chris four, Marie five and Carol is home. Is that understood?”

  “Ah can understand that,” Sam said. “We’re a deliverin’ the package, right?”

  “Quite right.”

  Jim looked out through the gap between tent and ground. He saw the dim glow of lights from the hundreds of uncurtained windows of the settlement. The countryside was not completely black. Here and there features could be identified due to indirect light from the two moons glowing behind a thick cloud cover.

  “Damn, the rain storm’s gone. I was hoping we could use it for cover,” Jim said.

  “Don’t worry,” Peter said. “It’s dark enough.”

  They assembled outside the observation post and all checked their suits and laser pistols. Peter checked the radio concealed inside the old mask. Once they were ready, they started down the hill single file.

  “One, left ten degrees,” ordered the controller.

  The weather was clear and the moon, Carol, made a rare appearance through the cloud cover. As the ground flattened, lights from the settlement were clearly visible in the dark. The wind had dropped to a relatively pleasant twenty kilometers per hour. They walked slowly, concentrating on the ground immediately in front of them.

  It took an hour to travel the premapped course to a position close to the camp’s perimeter. They skirted to the left of the main section and moved around toward the wake up tents.

  “Number one halt,” Herb said. “The first alarm is three meters in front of you, half a meter from the ground.”

  Jim, who was in the lead, examined the nearest tent one hundred meters away. The lights shining through the plastic windows occasionally blinked as a person passed by inside. He bent down and slowly advanced, feeling for the wire. “Here it is. Everyone move up and be careful.”

  One by one, the rest of the party stepped carefully over the wire and took up a crouching position on the other side. When the last crossed, Jim moved up to take the lead again.

  “One, twenty degrees right,” Herb said. “I’ll guide you around the next.”

  Minutes later, they were within fifty meters of the nearest tent. The settlement lights cast a dim illumination on the ground ahead making it easier to find a path but it also made them nervous as their own silhouettes were now becoming visible.

  “Freeze,” Herb ordered. “There’s someone looking out a window.”

  “Is the person armed?” Jim asked.

  “Negative,” Herb said, “he’s not armed. The nearest firearm is three tents away, in another section.”

  “How do you know it’s a he?” Earl asked.

  “Body temperature and distribution. The pattern has changed slightly in the past few seconds; I believe there has been a mood change to one of curiosity or concern. Be prepared for action. I think you’ve been spotted.”

  The group stood in silence while looking from window to window in an attempt to locate the person watching.

  “Down!” Herb snapped. “He’s walking toward a door.”

  The party immediately dove for the weed. In the open countryside they were crossing, there was no cover other than lying flat on the ground.

  “Indicating exit door now.”

  Jim looked up from his lying position and saw the two dots appear. They indicated a side door to the right of the tent. He watched as a beam of light marked its opening and a shadowy figure appeared. It stood scanning the area. Jim held his breath.

  “He’s looking for you,” Herb said. “His head movements indicate that he knows your approximate position but can not as yet see you. Just stay still.”

  Jim raised his pistol and deactivated the safety as he knew the others were also doing.

  “A second male is exiting the door. I’ll see if I can pick up any conversation.”

  The door opened again and another figure joined the first.

  “What’s up Fred? What’cha looking at?”

  “Thought I saw something moving out there.”

  “Something or someone?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “Dead weed in the wind?”

  “No, wind’s going that way. It went that way.”

  “You’re seeing things Fred.”

  “A third person is joining them,” Herb said.

  “Hey, Fred’s going nutty on us,” said the second man as the door opened again. “He’s seeing ghosts.”

  “No I’m not, and I did see something. I have to report it.”

  “Don’t you report shit,” a female voice snapped in a low tone.

  “Listen, you haven’t got family up there. I don’t want mine to get it if they find out I didn’t report something.”

  “No you won’t,” the second male said. “You’ll get it down here if you open your mouth about anything. Now get inside. What you saw was a piece of weed tumbling past on the wind. Got it?”

  The door opened again and the three figures entered.

  “Will keep a monitor on that one,” Herb said.

  The party stood again, all breathing heavily. Jim turned and started walking to the right in order to avoid the problem tent. Twenty meters from a gap between the rows they lay down again and Peter continued on alone. He assumed a casual male gait as he passed two tents then entered a third.

  “Am monitoring him,” Herb said. “Be prepared in case he has to run for it.”

  Jim readied his pistol and smiled as he heard the altered inflections in Peter’s voice. “I was told that this is where I get a billeting slip.”

  “Name?” a female voice asked.

  “Bert Robinson.”

  “You’re not on the list. When did they wake you up?”

  “Two hours ago, and they told me I will fall over soon, so please get me a bunk. I met a friend of mine on the way here and she said billeting was all screwed up.”

  “It’s not our fault. Those... ah... people up there keep changing t
hings. Here’s a slip and a map. I’ll put you on the list. Occupation?”

  “Soil technician, analyst.”

  “That guy’s got more moves than Fred Astaire,” Earl said.

  “I heard that Earl,” Peter whispered. “All of you, get out of here. I’m in and doing just fine.”

  The rest of the party got to their feet and slowly moved off in the direction of their observation post. They listened as Peter introduced himself to various people and heard their guarded comments on the situation.

  After a few minutes of general conversation, Jim had the line disconnected from their receivers. He pitied the men who had to listen to hours of trivia, sounds of eating and the noises associated with sleep just for a word here and a comment there that could be of value.

  When they arrived at the dugout, they found Carol half asleep. She jumped with fright as they climbed in.

  “Go to sleep,” Jim ordered. “Anyone comes within a kilometer of this place and the controllers will wake us up.”

  “Everything’s quiet,” Herb said. “Peter’s working on something. I will let you know what happens. For the next twelve hours he has to pretend to be unconscious anyway.”

  “One thing I’m worried about,” Jim said. “How’s he going to fake being a soil technologist?”

  “We just called up a panel of techs that will coach him as he goes along.”

  “I’ve done it before,” Peter whispered. “Last time I was a zoo keeper.”

  “Oh,” Jim said.

  “The most challenging role I played was when I was a gynecologist,” Peter whispered.

  “I can understand that,” Jim said.

  They all settled down and went to sleep.

  * * *

  Chris played with the controls of the binoculars as he watched a pair of women studying a large paper map laid out on the engine cover on an alcohol powered vehicle.

  “They want the stables here,” one said.

  “But why six months?” the other asked. “They can’t have horses from the bio banks old enough to ride for at least one local year.”

  “Don’t ask questions, just lay out the foundations. Our self-proclaimed architectural genius says he has a master plan.”

  “What will his next brilliant revelation be, build the roof on that monster house first?”

  “I said don’t ask questions.”

  “Ok, but I’m going to make a statement. That thing we’re going to build for them is a fortress...”

  “I know, I know. I’m a residential contractor too. Military design is not in my field either. We’ll just have to make do.”

  “That’s not it.” The first said. “It’s an old movie I saw about the ancient Egyptians building a pyramid. The pharaoh had all his engineers killed after it was completed so no one would know the plans. Is that the plan for us?”

  “Oh shit, I never thought of that.”

  “Putting a tag on that first one,” Herb said. “She’s smart enough to be of use.”

  “Hey, Herb,” Jim said. “You back again?”

  “Yep, another twelve hour shift.”

  “How’s the wife? Anything on the horizon yet?”

  “No, same old thing. The monitors read any time now. Went out to dinner last night.”

  “What did you have to eat?”

  Herb laughed. “Should I tell you? What’re you eating down there?”

  “Boiled weed. Tastes like puppy poop.”

  “Then I won’t tell you. I’m swinging the monitor over to the cryo section to see who just arrived on that one way lander.”

  “Just outside the door of tent... ah...” Chris glanced down at the map displayed on his pad. “Thirty seven. It’s a wake up tent. There’re three people that look like they’re having an argument.”

  “Got it,” Herb said.

  “...disassemble the first section,” a male voice said. “That would endanger the ones we have to put aside for an hour.”

  “Those two will be woken up before the others,” another male voice said. “The lives of the ones you have to put aside are of no interest to Mr. Stutchman. We already have had one complaint about you, one more and you will be swinging a pick with a chain around your ankle.”

  Chris readjusted the binoculars. “They just split up and the first man went into the tent. What’s so important that they want two people put ahead of others?”

  “More guards?” Earl said.

  “No,” Jim said, “the guards were in the main section. They’re all awake by now.”

  “Shifting to inside the tent,” Herb said.

  “...what do you expect from murderers,” came the voice of Dr. Ellison.

  For the next half hour they listened to technical trivia and procedure. Earl reached for a packet of emergency rations they had brought from the shuttle. Pulling a tab it popped and sizzled as the package heated the contents. He nudged Marie and offered the packet. “Split this with you. I had some of that crap earlier.” He pointed at the small pot sitting on a portable cooker. The contents steamed and made the group thankful that they were wearing suits that filtered out the smell of cooking mulch weed.

  Maria broke off half the block of concentrated food and undid the front of her suit. Quickly shoving her hand and the food inside she bunched the material around her wrist with the other hand to minimize breathing the unfiltered atmosphere. Shoving the food up into the cowl she quietly ate. Earl went through a similar procedure to eat the other half.

  “This is getting nowhere,” Herb said. “I’m shifting the snooper to another location.”

  “One hour,” Peter mumbled pretending to talk in his sleep. “Will go find out.”

  “I’m focusing on the guard tent,” Herb said.

  “...got a good idea what you’re pulling,” a male voice said.

  “Well it’s up to you. You know what they say. No guts no glory,” a female voice said.

  “Is this dissent among the guards?” Chris said, still glued to the binoculars.

  “Give me time, give me time,” the man said.

  “Either you’re in or you’re out,” the female said. “What have you got to lose, I can’t sit here waiting for you all day.”

  “Plotting something?” Marie asked.

  “Ok, I’m in. What’cha got.”

  “Full house, jacks and fours.”

  “Ah... shit!”

  The group in the dugout looked at each other then burst out laughing.

  “Shifting,” Herb said.

  “...convert the shit.”

  “If those two can make something that’ll find them assholes we should take people off the land preparation detail to work on that project instead.”

  “But the farm expert said there wouldn’t be enough food if we don’t double that work detail.”

  “What do you care? You’ll be eating.”

  “Guess you’re right. I’ll pull ten of them off the farms tomorrow.”

  “Now what was that all about?” Carol said.

  “The adamant one was the guard that had an argument with Dr. Ellison’s assistant,” Herb said.

  “The assholes are probably us,” Jim said. “I can only assume that the two they want to wake up can put something together to find us and they need manpower to assemble it. But why farm workers?”

  * * *

  “Jim.”

  “Huh?” Jim said as he slowly woke.

  “Jim it’s Peter.”

  “What? Oh Peter. What’s up?”

  “One down.”

  “One what? Just a moment I have to wake up first. Go ahead.”

  “A guard is dead. Poor fellow had an accident. A cable snapped on a tractor as they tried to pull a mobile generator out of some mud. It lashed out and took his head clean off.”

  “That’s nice to hear.”

  “It also killed two colonists.”

  “That’s not so good.”

  “Dr. Ellison pronounced them dead at the scene of the accident; they should be at your loca
tion in about thirty minutes.”

  “What’re we talking about, zombies?” Earl asked.

  “No,” Jim said, “he had a couple of colonists appear to die as well to make it look good. How are they finding their way, Peter?”

  “By magnetic compass. Their names are Phil and Ann. Herb will tell you when they’re close.”

  “Herb’s not here,” a female voice said. “We just changed shifts. My name is Margaret.”

  Jim glanced at his watch. “Ok, Margaret. The sun will be up in half an hour. I hope they get here before then. Keep us posted.”

  “Will do.”

  The party got up to stretch and walk around. When the sun came up their position would be visible through binoculars so they made the most of the darkness.”

  “Got number two,” Peter said.

  “Good heavens, he works fast,” Marie said.

  “Another accident?” Jim asked.

  “No, two guards got into a fight over a game of cards and one killed the other. He keeps on protesting his innocence, but I think the Stutchmans have ordered his immediate execution... ah... no I’m not talking to you. Sorry, I have a habit of talking to myself.”

  “Be more careful Peter,” Earl said. “I want to see your ugly face back here in one piece.”

  “Yes, I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee. Have to wake up so I won’t have a fall and kill myself.”

  “Ah don’t hear no other person a talkin’,” Sam said.

  “His radio is an ear plug. It picks up his voice from vibrations in his cheek bone. It doesn’t pick up anything else.”

  “It’s all right,” Margaret said. “The person who overheard him believed the explanation. Heat pattern and voice stress did not react. By the way, your visitors are a hundred meters away and will miss your position by twenty if they do not change direction. I’ll give you their position on you faceplate.”

  “Just mine,” Chris said. “I’ll go get them.”

  They waited and watched the slowly increasing glow in the clouds to the east. Jim was used to using sunrise and sunset to judge direction. As they waited, a thought occurred to him. On every planet he had been, the sun always rose in the east. Why wasn’t there one that spun the opposite direction? He paced up and down pondering the question then felt like slapping himself on the forehead when he realized a simple fact. A spinning ball when looked at upside down can spin in any direction you want. They just designated east as the direction from which the sun came up. He ascribed his temporary stupidity to fatigue and decided that when he returned home from this vacation he’d have a long rest.