By Dawn's Early Light

by Jason Fuesting

  “How are we planning to light this?” Eric asked. “The wood’s kinda wet.”

  “No problem,” Svoboda grinned. “Use this. Scrape your knife against it. Get the sparks onto the needles I had Leah gather from the back of the cave.”

  Eric knelt over their small mound of kindling and deliberately drew his knife across the small metal block Svoboda had given him. The bright sparks left after images where they’d flown. The needles lit by the third swipe, and, properly encouraged by blowing, were then pushed into place. A short time later, they had a sizable fire.

  “Oh thank God,” Jeff sighed, pulling his boots off. “I’m cold enough someone could use me as a thermal sink.”

  Eric made to do the same, but Svoboda shook his head. “No, at least half the group needs to be ready in case something happens. Any less than that and we’re playing games with chance. That’s you, me, and Doc right now. Doc, check the others out now that we can get out of most of these clothes without freezing. Me and Eric will keep an eye out.”

  Eric eyed Svoboda curiously. The man staggered to his feet.

  “It’s alright, Doc,” Svoboda said as he motioned for Eric to lend him a shoulder, “I know, stay off my feet. I’m only walking over to that tree over there.”

  “You okay?” Eric asked, helping the man over to the promised tree.

  “Yeah. Tired of being babied. I’m hurt, not broken. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a piss?”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry.”

  Svoboda laughed. “Keep your eyes out there and away from the fire. Keep your low light vision as good as possible. We’re far enough away, anyone looking at the fire is likely to miss us.”

  “Paranoid much?”

  “It’s only paranoia if they’re not actually out to get you.” Mirth flavored the old man’s words. “Okay, done. I’ll admit, usually when I used to do nature hikes like this, we were a wee bit better armed.”

  “How much better armed?”

  “Oh, rifle and a few hundred rounds a piece. Two to six grenades each. Light mortar, couple kilos of explosives, and a light machinegun for the squad.”

  “For a nature hike?”

  In a very serious tone, Svoboda informed Eric, “Bears are scary.”

  Eric snorted, and the pair devolved into snickering.

  “Seriously though, ursines can be pretty inconvenient. Nothing compared to a highland wolverine though. That’s what the radio was for.” Svoboda laughed at Eric’s puzzled look. “Air support, son.”

  “Well, I guess I can see why our load-out would be disappointing if you’re used to having all that,” Eric offered.

  “It’s not all bad. I’ve had to make do with similar before. At least this time I’m not dodging search parties and aircraft. That said, just about anything can be used as a weapon if you’re motivated enough.”

  “Right.”

  “Seriously, Eric. If I wasn’t beat up, I could probably kill you with half the shit in my pockets. I’d break a sweat doing the same with the other half.”

  Eric shook his head. “How would you kill me with a field ration?”

  Incredulous, Svoboda replied, “Have you eaten one before?”

  “Point taken.”

  “Mental exercise if you get bored. Pick a random item, figure out how you’d kill someone with it. Admittedly the easiest path is simply to beat someone to death with whatever it is, but be creative. Similarly, ask yourself how you’d defend where you’re at if you got attacked right then. Never hurts to have a plan.”

  “Seriously, what did you do for a living?” Eric asked, half grinning.

  “Would you believe door-to-door salesman?”

  “Not a chance in hell. It’s just I can’t see your average soldier doing half of what you talk about.”

  “And there’s your problem, average,” Svoboda grumped.

  “Doc wants to see the two of you,” Jeff grumped as he came up to them.

  Svoboda nodded. “Keep your eyes out and away from the fire, Jeff. Just watch for movement. Still got that hatchet?”

  Jeff nodded.

  “Good man. Let’s get back to the fire, Eric.”

  As they neared the edge of the firelight, they passed Leah on her way to join Jeff. She looks pissed. Svoboda groaned as Eric eased him to the rock.

  “Take ‘em off,” Doc said. “Pants, too.”

  Eric shucked his boots, but hesitated with the heavy pants.

  “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen hundreds of before. Off with ‘em. We’ll check arms and chest next.”

  Somewhat embarrassed, Eric slipped off the pants and let the doctor poke and prod at him. He tried to afford Svoboda some privacy by averting his eyes, but couldn’t miss the mass of bruising that was one of the man’s calves while Eric warmed himself. Thank God for the fire. Lower extremities checked, they swapped bottoms for tops. Doc hissed, looking at Eric’s arm.

  “You still have feeling?” Doc asked as he poked and tugged on it. “Does that hurt?”

  “Not a lot, no. Aches more than anything, real sore, that’s all. Didn’t have any feeling at first. It’s been a bit stiff, too.”

  Doc grit his teeth.

  “How bad are we, Doc?” Svoboda asked, putting his shirt and parka back on.

  “Really wish I had some real equipment. Any sort of imaging would be great.”

  “And I wish we had armor and air support. We’re not getting that either, so what can you tell me?”

  “Well, your legs are banged up and you bled a little. His arm’s the same way. Not broken any way I can tell, but they look like they ought to be based on bruising.”

  “And the other two?”

  “Jeff’s probably been hurt more lugging your ass around than he got in the fall. Leah? Well, examining her was, what, interesting? Something happened to her, Svoboda, and I’m not talking on our trip down the side of the mountain. She wouldn’t let me touch her, but I didn’t see anything that stood out other than her attitude.”

  “Yeah, I know what happened to her,” the old man said. “I should’ve warned you, sorry Doc. Just be happy she gave the knife to Eric here. Not sure if she’d’ve used it if you forced the issue.”

  “Same here. You don’t threaten cornered animals,” Doc replied.

  “Exactly. I’m serious here when I’m apologizing. It’s a breach of leadership and unacceptable.”

  Doc nodded. “Shit happens. We all appreciate what you’re doing. Slip ups happen.”

  “True enough. I try not to slip up in ways that get people killed, though. So what about our oxygen?”

  “We’re all down to our last tanks. I actually have had my mask on bypass feed the last half hour to test how we’re doing. I’m comfortable making the suggestion that masks are optional from here down, barring some sort of distress or anything else that requires increased oxygen.”

  “Okay. That works. The masks do help with the cold a bit. We’ll have to make sure Jeff and the others know. Anything else, Doc?”

  “Other than remembering to keep moving to avoid freezing and checking for frostbite, that’s it.”

  “Okay. So we don’t really have a good idea how long night lasts here,” Svoboda said.

  An idea came to Eric, but he decided against saying anything.

  “What?” Svoboda asked, noticing the change in Eric’s demeanor.

  “Well, I was just thinking. We might not know how long the day is, but we know how fast it got dark. There ought to be some way to extrapolate from that.”

  “I was getting there, Eric.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “No problem. Well, I was going to say that based on prior experience amongst a few other things, we’re looking at a nine or ten hour night cycle at the very least. I’m going to ask folks to sleep in shifts. Anyone not asleep is out where Jeff and Leah are. Sound like an idea?”

  Doc nodded.

  “Okay, I’m going to ask Eric to stack our firewood into two piles. Jeff and Leah have first watch un
less they’ve got valid objections. When the fire dies down, they need to wake you and Eric up, and add the next pile to the fire. When that burns down, someone gets me up. Figure we’ll look at heading out at full daylight if the storm had passed by then. If not, we’ll get more wood and look about.

  “I’ll relay this to the others, but if you have to get up, go no further than that tree. That way whoever’s up has an idea where friends are supposed to be and where we’re not. Also, the magic number tonight is seven.”

  “Magic number?” Doc asked.

  “Yeah, if you see something move, freeze. You say a number, the other person has to reply with something that adds up to the magic number. As long as you don’t move, you’re hard to spot and you can get away with saying something short like a number without giving away your position. I say three, what’s the response?”

  “Four,” Eric said.

  “Right. Same with two and five, etc.”

  “What if the guy doesn’t answer?” Doc asked Svoboda.

  Svoboda replied, “Well, normally I’d say you kill him.”

  Doc grimaced at Svoboda’s words.

  Svoboda shrugged and added, “But we don’t know if anyone we run into here is hostile or not. Since we’re not seeing lights, I doubt anyone with good intentions will be out after dark, so if possible, disable them, we can ask questions later. If they use a weapon, kill them.”

  “Fair enough,” Eric said.

  “If something happens, whoever is on watch is to make as much noise as possible to make sure everyone else is awake. Depending on the threat, we all attack, fall back to here where it’s harder to come at us from more than one angle, or scatter. I’ll make that call if at all possible. If we have to scatter, get back up the mountain. Try to meet up at the huge rock we passed about a half kilometer up. Got it?”

  Doc and Eric nodded.

  Exhausted, Eric laid out by the fire once he’d stacked the wood as instructed. Despite the mask, sleep took him almost immediately.

  Day 1

  “Rise and shine.” Jeff’s voice dragged him out of deep sleep.

  “Oh, fuck off,” Eric groaned, stirring stiffly from where he lay. His head throbbed just short of unbearably.

  “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Jeff laughed as he added wood to the fire.

  Eric swapped in his last canister for his mask, put it on, and woke Doc. The pair took their place at the tree outside, watching the snow fall in eerie silence.

  “So, what’d you do to get sentenced to this shithole?” Doc asked.

  “Well, my memory’s still shot. I was charged with piracy though.”

  “Oh,” Doc said. His tone shifted, sounding suspicious. “Piracy?”

  “They found me innocent.”

  “Ah, fair enough. How’s that headache you had earlier?”

  “Pretty much gone,” Eric lied. “Hurt for a bit though. Could’ve used a less exciting way to get down here, but I think I’m doing a lot better. You know, everyone really hates pirates. When I tell people about the charges, they act like I puked on their shoes.”

  “Why wouldn’t they? Pirates are all rapists and thieves. Human scum, really. Destroying the foundations of civilization.”

  “Pretty sure I’m not a rapist. Killed a rapist though.” Eric felt vaguely offended. Despite the holes in his memory, his gut told him the charges were true.

  “They did find you innocent.”

  Eric shrugged. “What about you?”

  “General practitioner on Unity for the last few years. A nobody, really, but one of my clients was evidently inner party. The charges were excessively vague. Endangering an inner-party member through medical negligence and a few others that sounded like the same shit rephrased to sound worse. They never told me who it was, just that I wouldn’t be allowed to practice on Unity anymore. I may have told the judicar exactly what I thought of his uninformed opinion and just where he and the unnamed party member could go. Couldn’t keep my mouth shut, so here I am.”

  “And people say pirates are criminals. I’m thinking if I were a pirate, there’d be a little bit of professional jealousy on my part. The Protectorate takes everything you are and you thank them for it.”

  “It’s not like that, really.”

  “It’s not? Odd, I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be standing here with me under a tree freezing our asses off and watching snow fall in the dark.”

  “The system exists the way it does for a reason. Yeah, imperfections exist, but if I’d kept my mouth shut, I wouldn’t be here.”

  Eric shrugged. “How do you explain Leah or Jeff?”

  “Haven’t really talked to either about how they got here.”

  “I know I knew how Leah got here, I just don’t remember. Jeff? Wrong place, wrong time. Ship he was on found something old that the Protectorate wanted kept secret. He doesn’t even know what it was, but here he is.”

  “He’s a loyal citizen, he’ll be okay.”

  “Really? He could’ve died. Still can, in fact, just like you or me. What happens when the rations run out? Hell, look at how broken Leah is. That’s what your justice system does to good people.”

  “Your? Like it’s not yours either?”

  “Let’s just say I can understand why folks would prefer piracy to living under the Protectorate banner.”

  Doc shook his head and said nothing until the fire began to gutter from burning down several hours later. “Time’s up, go wake him up. I’m going back to sleep.”

  Eric nodded and made his way back to the fire.

  “Hey,” Eric said, resting a hand on Svoboda’s shoulder. The next thing Eric knew, he was on one knee wincing in pain with his arm twisted up behind him.

  “Shit, sorry,” Svoboda mumbled through his mask, letting him go.

  “It’s all right,” Eric replied, rubbing his arm. Eric stood and pulled the man to his feet. Svoboda shook his head and accepted Eric’s proffered shoulder.

  Once out at the tree, the old man nodded to him. “Get some rest.”

  Eric turned to go, but saw Svoboda fingering a black cylinder. “What’s that?”

  “A surprise for anyone sneaking up on us. Anything can be a weapon, remember?”

  “Right. Well, see you in the morning.”

  Eric checked his oxygen levels again before laying back down. Svoboda had been right, the mask was drawing much less from the tank at this lower altitude and his headache had faded significantly.

  Eric stirred and opened his eyes. It was barely light out beyond the outcropping and the fire hadn’t died down much. Fuck, why am I awake? He shook his head, trying to clear it, but that only brought a surge of nausea and made the headache worse. Eric sat up, hoping that would help. It didn’t. He got to his feet and stumbled out from under the overhang. Svoboda was not under the tree.

  “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

  Eric spun. Somehow he’d missed the old man sitting under a different tree.

  “Can’t sleep. Was going to water a tree.”

  “Plenty to choose from.”

  Eric nodded and staggered off into the trees. He dimly noted it had stopped snowing as he unbuttoned the thick pants. Eric felt slightly better after relieving himself. Maybe it’s the cold air? He checked the readout on his tank and decided to walk a bit further to stretch his legs. Fifty meters further on the trees ended in an escarpment that dropped another hundred meters or so. A wooded white valley rimmed with equally white mountains stretched out before him. Eric leaned against a stump and watched the trees sway in the distance. A lone bird circled overhead, highlighted against the darker cloud bottoms by a ray of sunlight.

  “Beautiful, huh?”

  Eric winced and jumped.

  “Shit, Svoboda, you have to stop sneaking up on me.”

  “Didn’t think I was being terribly quiet this time around. You feeling alright?”

  Eric shrugged. “Good enough for now I guess. If it doesn’t get any better, I’ll talk to Doc. Not
sure what he can do about it though.”

  Svoboda nodded. “You didn’t answer my first question.”

  “Oh, yeah. It is. I mean, it’s not what I’m used to, but I can see folks liking it.”

  “Stay on a planet long enough, you’ll learn to appreciate mornings like this. Cold, quiet, like you’re the only person awake. We’re not though.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Svoboda pointed. “Those trees? Too regular. That’s an orchard. The open space near them, probably a lake or a field. That lumpy looking area is probably a farm field. Hard to see with all the snow, but half behind those tall trees is a sizable building. Look for the smoke. Someone’s got a fire going already.”

  Eric squinted, following the finger as Svoboda talked. “I don’t know how I missed that.”

  “Me neither. We get down there, we’ll have to give you another good looking over.” Svoboda froze.

  “Hands up,” Eric heard off to his right. His heart kicked into high gear as he lurched off the stump. “Ain’t said nothing about moving! Keep still or I shoot.” A man in ragged furs stood fifteen meters away on the edge of the escarpment holding an odd wooden contraption.

  Where the fuck did this clown come from? And what the hell is that?

  “My friend here isn’t feeling well,” Svoboda told the man as two more men hauled themselves atop the drop several meters behind the first. They fanned out, drawing long blades.

  Okay, not so funny anymore. Damn.

  “Nobody cares, meat,” the man with the contraption told them. Eric twitched as his headache hitched higher. His heart pounded in his ears. “Empty your pockets and I might let ya go.”

  “Careful,” Svoboda muttered under his breath as he tossed the contents of his pockets onto the snow. “Crossbows might be primitive but they’ll kill you all the same. You think you can take either of those two?”