by TW Iain
This time the forest writhed.
When the light hit the creatures, they shuddered, retreating deeper into the foliage, hiding behind branches and leaves. A sibilance cut though the pounding of the rain and the rumbling of the thunder, like an angry, pained hiss.
He turned a full circle, and all the creatures pushed to escape the light. When he returned to where he started, they reacted with more venom, baring their fangs as they backed off, some bringing their arms round to protect themselves. Their hides rippled in the torchlight.
Brice saw his own breath in front of his face, a haze that drifted off as the beam moved.
A peal of thunder washed through the forest, and the lightning lit the sky with an orange glow. There was no forking, just a flash, as if someone had found a light-switch for the clouds and had flicked it a couple of times. Brice instinctively flinched.
But the creatures didn’t seem bothered. They were more concerned with the light from his torch.
That was important. Again, he remembered Cathal spasming in the light. And now, he didn’t want to be out here anymore.
“Brice?” Ryann’s voice came up from the hatch, just by his feet now. He looked down. She had one hand on a rung, as if she were about to climb up, and one knee was raised.
“Coming down,” he said, then took one final look around the trees, bathing them with the light that seemed to send the creatures scurrying away.
“They’re angry.” Ryann’s voice was barely audible. “And…something else.”
Brice nodded, but didn’t know if she saw the movement. Thoughts raced through his head as he spun the rotary plate to seal the hatch.
“What happened to them?” she asked when he drew level with her. But he held up a hand. Before he said anything, he needed to be sure.
He ignored Tris’ comment and Keelin’s look when he entered the main room. He stepped across to the bunks.
With the blanket covering his body, Cathal looked like he was deep in peaceful sleep. For a fleeting moment Brice wanted to swap places. He wanted to be laid out, unconcerned with the world outside, blissful in ignorance. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and make this all disappear.
But he stepped closer, breathing through his mouth in anticipation of the stench. He couldn’t be distracted. He kept the torch beam angled to the floor, the yellow light following his footsteps. A flick of his thumb focused the beam, and then he raised it. The beam crawled across the floor and up the side of the bunk.
As it reached Cathal’s head, the man moved. His eyes remained closed, but they flickered. His head twisted violently to one side, and spittle flew from his mouth.
Brice moved the beam away quickly, up to the wall. If he was going to check this out, he needed to do it properly.
Brice pulled back the blanket and unbuttoned Cathal’s shirt with one hand. He gagged at the stench, and looked down at the worryingly familiar black covering that reached almost across Cathal’s chest now. He thought of what he’d seen hiding in the trees.
“What are you doing, Brice?” Ryann was by his shoulder, but she wasn’t trying to stop him.
“Not sure,” he said, and it was only partly a lie.
He brought the beam round on the wall, and then lowered the yellow glow onto Cathal’s chest.
And this time, there was no surprise when Cathal started to thrash about.
Somehow, Ryann knew what was about to happen. It made sense, like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place.
Cathal spasmed. Where the light fell on him, his skin rippled. The darker, leathery patches stretched and bulged, and a fine mist rose, like sweat evaporating. But it carried the stench of his wound with it, rancid and pungent.
An arm shot out, striking her leg before flailing in the air. Cathal moaned, and there was a low hiss at the back of his throat that grew into an angry rattle.
His body buckled, his back rising from the bunk. His other hand smacked against the wall with a crunch. The hiss grew into a cry of pain. Through her connection, Ryann felt his lattice flare bright, burning up, and a thousand synapses sparked.
“Enough!”
Brice looked at her, then back at Cathal, his mouth open, like he only now realised what he was doing. The beam jerked to the floor, illuminating the pool of water by his feet. And Cathal grew still once more.
“Tell me.”
She sensed Tris and Keelin, her hand on his shoulder, and his fist clenched. She considered sussing, but she needed to concentrate on what Brice had to say. They all did.
Brice didn’t meet her eyes when he spoke, and his voice was quiet but steady. She heard each breath he took.
“Outside,” he started, “I changed the light setting. Something startled me, and my finger slipped. I started running through all the settings, just to see what happened. Then I got to one setting, and those things…reacted. It was like they were hiding from the light, like they were scared of it. And then…well, I needed to be sure. I wasn’t trying to hurt him.”
Ryann never thought he was. But Brice wasn’t saying that for her benefit, was he?
“And Cathal reacted in the same manner as the creatures outside?”
He shook his head. “They hid from the light.”
“Which setting.”
Brice held the torch out to her. “I can’t read it. The setting it’s on now.”
Ryann held a finger over the control, and pulled the data up. Intensity, luminosity, angle, remaining power, streams of other figures. But in large letters, displayed in the most prominent data field in her lens, was the name for that setting.
“Sol,” she said.
“They’re scared of daylight?” Tris’ tone suggested confusion but also disbelief, and Ryann knew he wasn’t alone in that. Sol was, indeed, the closest artificial simulation of sunlight. It was what they used in communal areas in Haven, replenishing vitamin D and keeping them healthy. It was the basis of the light in the greenhouses. It was vital for life, and yet these creatures shunned it. And, if Cathal’s reaction was any indication, with good reason.
“Or something in its make-up. Might be a particular wavelength. We can’t know for sure.”
“That’s why they live in caves,” Keelin said. “That’s why we’ve never seen them before.”
Ryann nodded. It was a decent enough working hypothesis. But where the creatures came from wasn’t a priority at the moment.
Brice buttoned up Cathal’s shirt, then covered him with the blanket. He paused, then pulled it up, over his head. No part of his skin, either normal or leathery, was visible.
Then Brice reached for the torch. Ryann passed it over, intrigued where he was going with this. He turned the torch over in his hands a few times, then pulled at the sleeve near the glass. It slid down, and the torch became a lantern, spreading light in all directions.
He placed it carefully on the floor, watching Cathal. Ryann saw no movement.
“If they stay away from this sol setting, we’re safe,” he said, choosing his words with care. “We keep Cathal covered.”
It made sense, but Ryann didn’t like not seeing Cathal. It seemed too final, like a reminder of what would—could—eventually happen. And he was still changing, even if he was hidden from view.
“But we need to get out,” she said, and there was a murmur of assent from both Keelin and Tris. “We need to call Haven.”
“Maybe we can.”
Tris huffed, but Ryann raised a hand. “Go on,” she said to Brice. “Work through it.”
She didn’t allow hope to rise. Not yet. But she felt a surge of something like pride. Brice had the start of an idea, and even if it turned out to be impractical, it might trigger more ideas. And Tris was staying calm. That would be Keelin’s influence, true, but it meant they were calm enough to work together. Like a team. Like a crew.
And maybe this was how they would survive—not through a leader telling them what to do, but through working together.
&nbs
p; “The other landing pad’s a half-k away, right? And we have relays and boosters, and whatever else we need.” He waved a hand at the lantern. “And now we have something that keeps the creatures away.”
“It’ll never work,” Tris said, but it wasn’t an accusation or a threat. His words came from doubt and fear.
“Maybe not,” Ryann said. “But don’t give up too easily. Brice, carry on.”
He nodded. “Tris, what equipment would we need to reach Haven from that landing pad?”
Tris seemed about to make some comment, but he bit his lip, and closed his eyes. “Relay, and maybe ten boosters.”
“Then what? They pick up a message straight away?”
“Possibly. Might get an instant response.”
“But might take time.”
“And if you think I’m staying outside, with those things around, you’re out of your head.”
Brice nodded. “Fair enough.” He smiled. “Maybe I am.” But he said that too quietly for it to be in jest.
“We have enough equipment in here, Tris?” she asked, giving Brice time to collect his thoughts and focus his mind.
“Sure. More than enough. Just don’t see how practical it would be, though. Even if we set up a system, we’d have to monitor it. Too much trouble to go to just to send off a random message and hope it hits home.”
“But we can monitor remotely.” Ryann might not have his tech training, but she had some understanding of how these things worked.
“Without power, can’t monitor from inside the hold-out. Concrete’s treated.”
“But can we set up a closer boost?”
“Give me a moment.” Tris turned to the storage units and opened drawers. Meanwhile, Brice bent down to study the torch/lattice. His shadow loomed large on the wall, hovering over Cathal.
“Brice?” Ryann said, and he looked up.
“Just a thought. If we leave stuff out in the open, it’s vulnerable. We need to protect it.”
She looked to the torch, understanding. “Leave a torch with the equipment, and the creatures don’t come near.” She gave Brice a smile. “Good thinking.”
“We’d need a second one, on our roof.” This came from Tris. He held a couple of boosters in his hands, and his shadow stretched out onto the open stores.
“What have you worked out?”
“Still don’t think much of our chances out there, so this is theoretical only. Main group of boosters and a relay at the pad. Then we put another relay and booster on the roof of this hold-out, with another lantern. A third relay in here, and we’d be able to talk to Haven without going out there.”
“Delayed signal, or instant communication?” Ryann liked where this was going.
“Pretty much instant. Storm might introduce a short delay, but nothing more than a couple of seconds.” Tris smiled.
“But we still need someone to set up the stuff outside,” Keelin said.
Tris’ face fell. “Like I said, it’s only theoretical. Yes, someone would have to go out there. And get ripped to shreds by those things.”
“Unless we used torches,” Brice said, nudging the lantern with his foot. The shadows on the walls jerked, and Keelin flinched away from them.
Tris laughed. “What, we go out there waving torches around, and hope that works?”
“Better than waving lashes around. At least we know the torches do something.”
“No. You just think that.”
“What? You saw what happened to Cathal!”
“And he’s not one of them!”
“The creatures outside…”
“Moved away from the light, yeah. So you said. But maybe that was because they didn’t want to be seen. You think of that? They were hiding. They don’t know about lenses and filters. So they see light, and they hide.”
“But only on the sol setting.”
“Doesn’t mean sunlight kills them. They’re not some storybook monster, you bloody idiot. They’re real.”
“So, what, we sit in here and twiddle our thumbs while the air becomes toxic and we run out of food. We wait for a rescue that’s never going to come? Don’t know about you, Tris, but I don’t intend to die in this concrete tomb. I’m not going to hide away like some pathetic child. If I’m going to die, I’d prefer to be doing something useful. Anything more useful than being a bloody whingeing brat of a data-monkey!”
“Enough!” Ryann stepped between the two boys, and noticed that Keelin had done the same. She held out her hands, palm out, one towards Brice, the other facing Tris.
“Enough. Brice, cut the insults. They’re childish,” she added, using his own insult against him. “And Tris, I said to listen. You have anything to say, you do so in a civilised manner. We work through our problems.”
She could hear Tris’ breathing clearly, and could taste his adrenaline where it reacted with his lattice. He stood sideways-on, in a fighting stance, and his fists were clenched. But he dropped his arms.
And Brice took his hands from his hips. Interesting, Ryann thought, that he hadn’t been in combat pose. With the despair that had been streaming off of him earlier, she didn’t know if that was a good sign or not.
“We all know the chances of Haven sending out a rescue crew any time soon are minimal. We need to be proactive about this. And now, we have something to work with—boosters and relay at the pad, relay and another booster on our roof. It’s not ideal, and there’s a hell of a lot that could go wrong. Tris, you’re right—we don’t know for certain what sol will do to the creatures. But I saw what happened on the roof, and it seems to keep them back. It’s better than nothing.”
Ryann paused, conscious of the way three sets of eyes watched her. That unnerved her, but she reminded herself of her position—not a leader, but one of the crew. This was collective work. All she had to do was guide it.
“Going outside will be dangerous. Keelin, you said it was a quarter-k to the pad, right? So ten minutes, maybe fifteen in the conditions out there. Tris, you able to set stuff up here before on-site installation?”
He looked to the neatly stacked equipment on the floor. “Should be able to rig it totally from here, even set a timer to turn on. Just need someone to put it in the right place. And strap a lantern to it. Could train a monkey for that.”
“A monkey wouldn’t have the guts to go out there with only a couple of torches as defence, “ she said quickly, before Brice riled against the comment. “Tris, set up the systems.”
“Systems?”
“One for the pad, one for the roof.”
Nobody moved.
“We seriously going to do this?”
Ryann suddenly realised that she hadn’t even considered not doing it. And the energy from that decision excited her.
“I don’t want to see Cathal getting any worse. I don’t want us to be stuck here. We do what we have to do.” She paused, letting that sink in. “How long to set up, Tris?”
“Couple of minutes.”
“Good. Then all we need is the brave monkey.”
She expected hesitation, or more arguing. But the response came almost instantly. From both sides of the hold out, from the bunks and the stores, the same words came from two mouths as both Brice and Tris spoke.
“I’ll do it.”
Brice turned to Tris, not sure he’d heard right. “You’d go out there?”
Tris looked him up and down. “My tech. And we need this done right.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brice knew that was too strong, and he stepped back. Tris clenched his fist, and his jaw jutted forward. But then he relaxed.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just…just want to make sure it all works. In case there’s a problem.”
Problems like Brice’s lattice screwing up the systems, most likely. But Tris was trying to stay calm. Brice had to meet him on this.
“You willing to go out there with those creatures? You not scared?” He kept his voice level. He didn’t want that to sound li
ke a taunt.
Tris looked around, meeting Keelin’s gaze and then staring at Brice. “You?”
When he’d stepped on to the roof, he’d felt only calm inevitability. He’d accepted what might happen, and—if he were totally honest with himself—he’d been looking forward to it. But now, everything had changed.
“Terrified,” he said, holding Tris’ gaze.
“And you still want to go out there?”
“Not want,” he said after a pause, “but need. No offence—honestly—but it’s what I do. Physical stuff, walking and carrying things. I’m faster and stronger than you. Even with my screwy lattice. But you’re our tech expert. You get those boxes set up, tell me what button to press, and I’ll do the manual stuff. I’m the monkey.” He tried to laugh, but the sound caught in his throat, and he swallowed a cough.
Tris shook his head. “This involves tech, I should see it through. In case there are any problems. Besides,” and here Tris smiled, but it had no warmth, only sadness, “the way your lattice is playing up, you think I’d trust you to even touch any of these boosters?”
Brice knew Tris was right. The way his luck was going, he’d reach the landing pad, turn those things on, and fry the lot of them.
“So you both go,” said Ryann, and she stepped closer, hands outstretched, almost touching both Brice and Tris. “Tris to deal with the tech, and Brice to provide cover and protection. We work as a team, right?”
“And I know how to make you safer,” Keelin said, stepping forward with a handful of torches. She grinned, and must have sussed to Ryann, because they shared a glint in their eyes. Brice was reminded of training, when a couple of the others would get an idea for a prank. They always had that mischievous look about them too.
When Keelin explained her idea, Brice thought it ridiculous, but as she strapped a torch to his back he understood how it would work. She strapped another to his chest, and slid the covers down on both of them. Light shone all around, bathing the hold-out in wonderful artificial daylight. Ryann did the same to Tris, and they both held their arms out, turning like ridiculous tacky baubles.
He didn’t know which of them laughed first, but the sound was infectious.
