“But can the drones stop us?” Siobhan asked. “Can they bring us down?”
“In theory, yes. The drones don’t usually carry heavy weapons, just sonic disruptors, but they can be armed with missiles.” Jim tapped the controls. “I don’t know if they’re armed now, but she’s not bluffing about the drones coming after us. Grab that nav screen and you’ll see what I mean.”
He indicated a display panel mounted on an extendable arm, and Siobhan took hold of the panel and pulled it toward her. The display showed a schematic diagram with a large rectangle in the center and two, much smaller, shapes directly behind it. “Those dots must be the drones, is that right?”
“Yes. I need you to track them. I’ll speed up as much as I dare, but I’m going to have to concentrate on flying this thing. I’ll need you to tell me what the drones are doing at all times.”
“I’ll try.” Siobhan hesitated. “But what about the missiles? What can we do if they fire at us?”
Jim kept his gaze focused on the view through the windshield. “I think she’s trying to frighten us. The drones weren’t armed yesterday, so if they sent the drones out to search for us straight away, then it stands to reason that they aren’t armed now.”
“That doesn’t follow,” Siobhan said. “We don’t know when they sent them out.”
“I don’t know,” Jim said, “but a refit takes quite a long time. She wouldn’t play it that way.”
Siobhan stared at him. “How can you be sure?”
“I can’t,” Jim admitted. “But even without missiles, the drones can do us a lot of damage. They may look small, but they’re tough as hell, and each one weighs over a ton.”
“They’re getting closer,” Siobhan called out. “Ten yards behind us. Six. Three. They’re splitting up, one on each side of us. They’re about five yards out on each side.” She gasped. “One of them is heading right at us. It’s going to hit the truck.”
Jim turned his head frantically. “Which side, goddammit?”
“Right! It’s on our right side!”
Jim worked the throttle and the truck leaped forward, its engines thundering. At the same time, he steered hard to the left. Siobhan’s stomach squirmed. Her head spun and the floor rose up beneath her. She swallowed, keeping her lips pressed firmly together, and she kept her eyes on the display screen in front of her. For a heartbeat, it looked like they’d shaken the drone on their right, but it corrected its course, homing in on them. It was close now. Closer.
A mighty crash boomed through the cockpit, and the din of tortured metal filled the air.
“Shit!” Jim hissed. “Where did it hit?”
“Near the back of the truck. We almost got away, but it moved too fast.”
“Is it still in the air?”
Siobhan forced herself to concentrate on the display. “Yes, they’re both still there. They’re keeping pace with us.”
“Check for damage.” Jim pointed to a display in the center of the console. “Integrity. Air quality.”
Siobhan peered at the complicated array of charts, but the whole cabin was shaking and she struggled to focus on the colorful lines and rapidly changing figures. “I can’t…” she started, but then she spotted the charts labeled Structural Integrity and Cabin Air Quality. “Got it. Both are toward the top of their scales. They’re both green.”
“Good. Now tell me about the drones. And be precise.”
“Okay,” Siobhan said. “There’s still one on each side of us. They’re keeping on a parallel course. Wait! They’re speeding up. We’ll be able to see them out the side windows any second now.”
“The windshield,” Jim groaned. “Our weakest spot.”
“Watch out! On your left!”
Siobhan looked past Jim, just in time to see a drone emerging from the darkness, the bright central light on its front glowing like a fiery eye. And then it was crashing into them, it’s angular metal body colliding with the side window. The noise of the impact ran through Siobhan like an ice-cold knife, and she let out a shriek. But Jim remained fixated on the control panel. “Damage report.”
“It just bounced off of us.”
“I know that,” Jim snarled. “Check the display.”
“Er, no damage that I can see. Integrity and air quality haven’t changed.” She looked up from the display and the blood drained from her face. “It’s coming in again. Same side. It’s going to hit the same window.”
“For God’s sake!” Jim yelled, and then the drone slammed against the window, even harder than before, sending a violent judder through the cockpit. A sharp crack split the air, and a circle of white appeared on the glass, a web of fine cracks radiating from its center.
“Integrity just went down,” Siobhan called out. “It’s at eighty-five percent.”
“It’s just the outer skin,” Jim stated. “There’s another layer of glass, but we can’t take much more of this.”
“The other drone is level with us now.” Siobhan looked rapidly from one window to the other. On both sides, drones were barreling toward them. “They’re going to hit. Both sides at the same time. There’s nothing you can do.”
Jim bared his teeth. “Oh, yes there is, goddammit! Hold on tight, this is going to be rough.”
Siobhan could only stare in horror, her senses numb, her mind flooded with fear as the drones hurtled toward them. And then the truck was surging rapidly upward, pressing her into her seat. Her whole body was suddenly heavy, her legs like lead, her head thrown back against her chair’s headrest. And outside, the drones seemed to plummet below them as the truck rocketed upward.
A frenzy of crackling hisses erupted from somewhere below, and then a muffled explosion shook the cockpit and was closely followed by another, louder explosion.
“They hit us!” Siobhan cried out, but Jim shook his head.
“Give me a damage report.”
Scarcely believing what she was doing, Siobhan checked the display, and her eyes narrowed in confusion. “It must be wrong. It’s not showing any more damage at all. Integrity is still at eighty-five.”
“Thought so,” Jim said. “They didn’t hit us at all.”
“What?”
“Check the nav panel.”
Siobhan grabbed the display screen. “Wait, the drones have gone. Both of them. They’re just not there anymore.”
Jim chuckled. “When I took us up, the drones went under our hover panels. I must’ve fried those little bastards straight to hell.” He gave her a wicked grin. “I hoped that would happen.”
“You hoped? Are you kidding me?”
Jim’s face fell. “It worked, didn’t it?”
Siobhan ran her hand over her brow, and she let out a steadying breath. “Yeah. Yeah, you did real good, Jim. Good call.”
“Thank you kindly. Any more drones coming after us?”
Siobhan checked the nav display. “There’s nothing on the screen.” She hesitated. “So, can we slow down a little?”
“Sure. And I’ll take us lower.” Jim’s fingers darted over the control panel. “The hover panels don’t like to go too high for long anyhow.”
Siobhan focused on her breathing while the truck swooped down toward the ground. Her stomach seemed to press itself against her rib cage, but the sensation only lasted for a few seconds, and she regained her composure quickly. “Right, I should go and check on Milo and the others…” she stopped speaking and her lips formed a silent O. “I just realized, we forgot about Alec. Do you think he’ll be all right?”
Jim shrugged. “Alec’s tough enough. He’ll be fine. He’s most likely feeling less shook up than you and me.”
Siobhan nodded weakly, then she turned in her seat. Had she heard something? Yes. It was probably Milo, coming to find out what had just happened. The cockpit door opened, and Siobhan smiled and called out, “Hey, Milo, are you all right?”
But the smile fell from her face. Because the man who appeared in the doorway was definitely not Milo.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
THE ROVER
“Connor, wake up!”
Connor snapped into consciousness, sitting upright so rapidly that he almost fell off the narrow cot. “What? What’s happening?”
Kneeling next to him, Parry let out a laugh. “It’s okay, Connor. You were just catching a little shuteye, though God knows how with all this going on.”
The rover lurched as if it had just run over a rock, and Connor realized that the cot was shuddering beneath him. “We’re still moving.” Connor scraped his hand down his face. “How are we doing?”
“We covered a lot of ground while you were asleep,” Parry said. “We decided to let you rest, but I thought I’d better let you know that it’s almost dawn.”
“Aw, man!” Connor rubbed his eyes and peered toward the front of the rover. “How long was I out?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Parry said. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll need to take turns to rest. I caught a little shuteye on the chair, but then…” Parry gestured toward the driving seat. “We’re letting the boy wonder take a turn at the wheel.” He grinned. “Hence the rough ride.”
“Hey!” Ben shouted over his shoulder. “I defy anyone to pick a smooth path through this terrain.”
“Leave him alone,” Cate called out from the passenger seat. “He’s doing fine.”
“Come on,” Parry said, and he stood up. “Let’s go and keep an eye on the youngsters.”
Connor pushed himself to his feet then followed Parry back to the second row of seats. Parry made himself comfortable but Connor leaned forward to peer over Cate’s shoulder. “How’s the trail? Can you still follow it okay?”
Cate wrinkled her nose. “It’s getting harder to make it out. Not sure why.”
“Is it because we lost so much time?” Connor asked.
“No,” Cate replied. “It’s the grunge. It’s much thinner here. Patchy even.”
“Show me,” Connor said.
Cate twisted in her seat to allow Connor a better view of the display panel. She ran her finger across the enhanced image. “You see? Bare patches. Here. And here.”
Suddenly, Connor was pushed forward and he grabbed the back of Cate’s seat for support. He just had time to register that the rover had come to an abrupt halt, then he sat back heavily. “What the hell, Ben?”
“Sorry,” Ben said, “but you’ve got to see this.” He pointed through the windshield, indicating something ahead and to the right.
Connor craned his neck to see what had grabbed Ben’s attention, but he could only make out some indistinct shapes: darker patches lurking among the shadows cast by the rover’s headlights. And then he realized what he was looking at. “Are those…are those plants?”
“It’s brushwood,” Ben said, “and look, there are some small trees too. And creeper vines all over the place.”
Parry pushed forward to look over Ben’s shoulder. “My God! You’re right. But how the hell are they surviving out here?”
Connor shook his head. “I don’t understand. Is the grunge weaker or something?”
For a second, the crew stared in silence, then Cate was the first to speak. “I guess it makes sense. There have to be some places where plants can carry on living, just like on our hill.”
“I don’t know, I…” Ben stopped talking and rubbed his forehead. “I mean, we always figured there’d be some isolated pockets of life, but this is something else.”
“Ben’s right,” Parry put in. “On the hill, we had the high ground to give us some kind of protection, but the land here is flat. And those plants look like they’ve been here for years.”
“Ben, can you set the sensors to give us a closer look?” Connor asked.
Ben pushed himself up from the driving seat. “Sure. Let me get back to the workstation. I’ll see what I can do.”
Ben squeezed past Connor and Parry then headed to the workstation, and Connor wasted no time in taking the vacant seat next to Cate. “I think we should keep moving,” he said. “I know we all want to see what’s going on here, but we mustn’t lose sight of our mission. We’ve already lost a lot of time, and we need to keep momentum. We’re in danger of losing the trail.”
“Agreed,” Cate said. “We might have to go a little slower to get through the brush though. Do you want me to drive?”
“It’s okay. I’ll take a shift. I can remember the basics.”
“All right,” Cate said. “Just take it slow, and I’ll do my best to keep you on track.”
“Got it.” Connor fastened his safety belt then flexed his fingers and released the brake. He pushed the yoke forward, sending the rover gently on its way, then he pushed it farther, smiling as the rover picked up speed. The headlights picked out the trees and bushes more clearly as the rover rolled toward the brushwood, and Connor stared straight ahead, his knuckles white against the rover’s yoke. “How am I doing, Cate?”
“You’re doing fine, but I’m losing the goddamned trail,” Cate grumbled. “It keeps breaking up, and I’ve no idea why.”
Connor frowned and adjusted the rover’s course, aiming for a gap between two sprawling shrubs. “Is it because the vegetation is getting denser?” He risked a glance out the side window. “I’ve got to say, this is the most plant life I’ve ever seen on this planet. It’s incredible.”
“Now we know why those people were using hovering vehicles,” Parry put in. “They’ll have sailed over this with no problem.”
“Look out!” Cate cried.
Connor’s head whipped around, and his eyes went wide. Dead ahead, bathed in the glow of the rover’s lights, one sturdy tree stood taller than the others, its twisted lower limbs stretching out to block the rover’s path. Connor pulled back on the yoke and twisted it to the left as hard as he could, but the rover’s momentum carried it forward, and its tires skidded and bounced across the uneven ground. “Hold on!” Connor yelled, and the branch connected with the rover’s side, sending a deafening thud through the cabin. Connor pictured the rover’s thin metal panels giving way, splitting apart, the crooked branch poking through to stab toward the crew. But the rover’s side held, and he heard the branch snap with a sickening crunch. A split second later, the rover ground to a juddering halt.
“Everyone all right?” Cate asked, and there was a slight pause before everyone gave their quiet assurances.
“Sorry about that,” Connor said. “I should’ve seen that goddamned tree. I should’ve stopped in time.”
“No harm done,” Cate said. “The rover can be hard to handle, but at least you hit it in the right place. Some of the panels would have been torn right off by that branch, but I reckon you managed to whack it with a storage pod, and they’re pretty tough.”
She offered him a smile, but Connor couldn’t meet her eye. “Somebody else had better drive. Parry, can you take my place?”
“Sure, boss,” Parry said, “but like Cate said, no harm done, so don’t take it so hard.”
In silence, Connor stood up and made his way to the workstation, where Ben had already returned to studying the monitors, safely belted to his seat and apparently unfazed by the impact. Connor watched him work for a second then said, “Find anything useful?”
“I’m not sure,” Ben replied. “I was just getting something when we, er, stopped.”
Connor shuffled his feet. “Well, if you get anything let me know.”
“You’d better strap yourself in,” Parry called over his shoulder. “I’m just about to back the rover up, so we can find a route through the trees.”
Connor took a seat behind Cate and fastened his belt, then he watched quietly while Parry wrestled with the yoke. He had to respect the way Parry handled the controls, expertly maneuvering the rover back and forth until he could steer around the tree with ease. Parry sent the rover forward, and although small branches scraped and rattled along the side panels, Parry somehow managed to pick a way through the tough foliage.
“Well done, Parry,” Connor said. “How are you d
oing with the trail, Cate?”
“Not good,” Cate replied. “I can’t see it properly. There’s not enough grunge out here. The trail’s getting harder and harder to make out. We’ll have to stop and try something else.”
“Give it time,” Connor said. “Surely we’ll pick it up again soon. This must be a thin spot for some reason, but we know there’s plenty of grunge out there. And they must have driven over it in their vehicles, so there must be a trail. There has to be.”
“All right, I’ll try,” Cate replied, but she didn’t sound convinced.
For a few minutes they traveled without speaking, and the only sounds were the thrum of the rover’s motors and the intermittent clatter and swish of leafy branches pressing against the side panels as the rover pushed its way through the miniature forest.
“I think I’ve got something,” Ben said. “I don’t really understand this, but I’ve definitely picked out a pattern.”
“What is it?” Connor asked. “Is the grunge getting thicker again?”
“Yes and no,” Ben said. “There’s grunge here, but only in certain places. It’s like it’s in strips—long, straight strips stretching out ahead.”
“Patch it through to the control panel,” Connor said. “See what Cate makes of it.”
“Will do.”
In the front seat, Cate leaned over the display screen. For a few seconds she stared in silence, but then her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God! This pattern isn’t where the grunge has been destroyed. These are strips of live grunge, like it’s been laid down. Like it’s been sprayed onto the surface.”
“You’re right,” Ben said. “That’s exactly what it is. I should’ve seen it.”
“Wait a minute,” Connor protested, “that can’t be right. It’s like we said before—their vehicles are just killing the grunge, leaving a—”
“No,” Ben interrupted. “That’s not it at all, Connor. Look around you. There’s life here. The plants are healthy. But the grunge has been laid on top of them. The pattern is clear as day.”
The Trail: A Colonization Science Fiction Serial (Colony B Book 2) Page 10
