by Raylan Kane
“You made it!”
“I’m having a hard time seeing.”
“You’re eyes need a minute to adjust.”
“Where are we?”
"We are on the planet – your pod landed on top of the ship – we’re on one its exterior decks,” I said.
“Weird.”
“Yes.”
Ri squints and looks around. “Lots of pods here. You the only ones out so far?”
“No, we’re pretty high above ground here – there are hundreds of people down on the ground.”
I reach down to Ri and help her stand. She takes in another deep breath and looks out at the vast desert savanna and the bright sky above us. “The air here.”
“I know, it’s so clean.”
“Yes.”
“Have you found Milne?”
“Not yet.”
Prit introduces herself and walks to a pod. “I need help with this one,” she said.
The pod sits flat on its bottom. We huddle around and manage to lift the thing onto its side. Prit pulls the cord and the lid pops open and the gel blob splats on the deck.
“There’s no movement,” Lofwell said. “Why aren’t they moving?”
“Give them a second.”
The person lays there and doesn’t move for another minute.
“This is strange,” Ri said.
“Are they still breathing in that fluid do you think?” I said.
“There’s not enough flow of the liquid to allow for that. The synthetic amniotic fluid is designed to pass in and out of the lungs much as oxygen does when we breathe,” Prit said.
“Synthetic amniotic fluid? How do you know this?”
“I’m a medic. We need to clear this person’s airway – they should be coughing and spitting up already.”
We kneel next to the person and move them until it feels as though they’re lying on their back. Prit scoops gels away from the person’s head. The face appears to be that of a man. His eyes are closed – he does not draw a breath.
“This is trouble,” Prit said. “Roll him to his side.”
We put the man on his side. Prit applies force to his jaw and opens his mouth. She reaches in and scoops out globs of the fluid. As she puts her fingers in the mister’s mouth she makes a face and then places the palm of her hand on his forehead and the back of her hand against the man’s cheeks. She opens the man’s uniform and feels his chest.
“His body’s cold. Took me a minute to realize – the warmth on his was from the fluid. He’s been dead a while.”
“How could that happen?”
“Several reasons, perhaps his pod malfunctioned and didn’t provide enough gel to buffer against the impact of the crash. He could have suffered strain on his heart somewhere along the process – this whole experience was stressful, and his weight would be an issue.”
“Maybe he didn’t stick to a human only diet?”
“Possibly.”
“What should we do with him?” Lofwell said.
“Leave him for now – let’s free everyone else. We can carry him down and let Captain Marek know – give him a proper send off,” Prit said.
CHAPTER NINETY
Our group has swelled to 20 people. I haven’t found Milne or Trident or the clone yet. There are 12 pods left to check on this deck. I pull the cord on an overturned pod close to the bay door – the blob plops out. As the person wiggles around and spits out the gel I look around to other pods where other gel covered souls have been released – no sign of her. The miss in front of me looks up.
“We here?”
“We’re here.”
“The ground feels weird.”
“We’re on the outside of the Holocene. Your pod landed here.”
“What’s your name?”
“Bramen.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Kilger.”
I help Kilger to her feet. She recognizes two people standing in the offing. They all laugh as they hug and reunite. I watch as people smile and hug and help each other. This is what the mission is supposed to be. Why the High Council decided to allow those sociopaths Marek and Rygart lead this expedition is beyond me. Marek literally fought to ensure I was brought on this journey – came right to the Haker to get me and then proceeds to try and kill me as soon as we’re out from under the High Council’s thumb.
The landing didn’t happen as planned – I won’t say it out loud but I don’t know if all of these smiling and laughing people realize the hardship we’re about to endure. What are the chances our supplies have remained intact inside this ship? What are the odds we’ll be able to set up the receiving portal for teleporting the rest of Sydin to where we are? If we’re not able to build the portal it will be another 70,000 plus years before they’d arrive here and that’s if they build enough ships to bring everyone in time before the asteroid hits.
“Bramen!” Ri calls to me, I turn to her and she smiles and waves me over.
I jog over to the figure lying on the deck.
“Bramen?”
I don’t recognize the voice.
“Yes, I’m right here. Your eyes will adjust in a minute.”
“Eyes. Hurt.”
The voice is soft and sweet – like a little boy in a man’s body.
“Bramen is my friend.”
“I’m right here – I am Bramen.”
“Please stay – no leave.”
He passes his hand over his face to wipe away gunk and it’s the clone! I feel a lump in my throat to hear him speak – his training really has gone well. I feel bad that I haven’t spent time with him on this journey.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “I’m right here.”
CHAPTER NINETY-ONE
The clone clings to me as I walk to one of the three remaining unopened pods. Crew members open the other two; I keep my eye on them to see who the blobs of goop turn out to be. One of these pods has to be her.
I approach the pod; it’s turned on its side. I grab the knob at the end of the release cord and pull hard. The lid flies open and the person falls out. Once they spit up and take in some air I get on my knees and push the gel out of their face – it is a miss but it’s not Milne. Where is she?
“This can’t be right. We’ve checked every pod.”
“What’s that?” Lofwell overhears me and walks over.
“I was looking for someone – they’re not here. Did we check all of the pods up here?”
“Yes, of course – everyone’s here – only one casualty.”
“It doesn’t make sense – where would she be?”
“What’s going on?” Prit walks over.
“He can’t find his friend,” Lofwell says.
“You thought she’d be in one of these pods here?”
“Yes, I said as much before.”
“Maybe she’s down there with everyone else,” Prit points down to the hundreds of crew far below sitting in the dirt.
“No she’s not there – I checked – I walked through the crowds – I was thorough.”
“It’s possible her pod was thrown another direction – somewhere far from here. I was thinking at some point we’ll need to form search parties anyway. Maybe we’ll find her that way.”
“Maybe.”
“She means a lot to you, hey?”
“She means everything.”
“Don’t worry,” Prit said, “we’ll find her.”
No Trident either – though it is possible he’s on the ground.
“We’ll have to count everyone up – so we know how many we’re looking for.”
“Looking for more people?” Ri walks over.
“Yes, we’re thinking there will have to be searches conducted to find any other survivors who may have their pods land far from this site. I don’t think anyone could make it alone in this barren place for too long,” Prit said.
“Count me in – I will help,” Ri said.
“I think we’re jumping the gun here,” I said. “Captain Marek needs to be the one to organize such a thing and I think he’s too busy worrying about himself.”
“That may be true.”
I stare down at the clusters of people huddled in circles. I wouldn’t be able to see her from here if she were down there - or Trident for that matter.
“Do you guys hear that hissing sound?” Lofwell said.
“Hissing?”
“Yes – it sounds like a gas leak.”
“I don’t hear anything,” Ri said. "But I'm sure this ship uses something far more advanced than gas."
“I don't hear it either,” Prit said.
“Well, I do - sounds like something’s leaking from the ship – maybe coming out of an air duct from inside.” Lofwell extends his hand to the clone. The clone looks at me, I put my hand out to mimic Lofwell – the clone reaches out and shakes the man’s hand. “Sorry,” Lofwell said. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, I’m Lofwell.”
The clone looks frightened and he looks to me for help. “My friend is not the talkative sort – he may not say much to you – take no offense from this,” I said. “It’s just his way.”
“No offense taken – it’s nice to meet you, friend.”
I put my arm around the clone. “That was good – you’re doing really well. Now come and introduce yourself here to these misses.”
“Prit, Ri – this is my friend – we’ve known each other since before the Grim.” I put my hand on the clone’s forearm and gently nudge his arm outward. Prit shakes his outstretched hand.
“Hello.”
Ri shakes his hand and smiles. “What’s your name?”
“He actually doesn’t have a name at the moment.”
“How odd.”
“Yes – I found him wandering the countryside back in my home region. I’ve kept meaning to give him a name – just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“Bramen!” Lofwell walks over to me with urgency.
“What is it?”
“The hissing sound-“
“I still don’t hear it? Do you guys?” I look to Ri and Prit – they both shake their heads.
“Anyway – I was just talking to a couple of crewmen from engineering – see those guys over there?” Lofwell points to them.
“Yes.”
“They’re telling everyone – letting them know-“
I look around and notice the group has begun leaving the deck area and making the climb down and presumably off the Holocene.
“Telling them what?” I said.
“The ship – it’s going to blow!”
“What?”
“It’s set for self-destruct. A couple of the engineering guys – as soon as they were released from their pods they climbed off the ship right away.”
“We’ve all been standing around here long enough – we’re just hearing about this now?” I said.
“Now you know. We need to get off this thing.”
“How do they know this?”
“Because one of them said Captain Marek ordered that the ship be set to self-destruct before the last of them went to their emergency pods.”
“But we haven’t set up the receiving portal – all of the equipment is still inside. And what about food and water?” Prit said.
“I think most if not all of our food is dead and rotted now anyway,” I said.
“The ship was supposed to break apart – the parts with the supplies we need were supposed to be contained in its own thing,” Ri said.
“Clearly that didn’t happen.”
“The pod bays broke away as planned – we’ve seen evidence of that,” Prit said.
“What do we do?” Lofwell said.
“What if there are more pods inside the ship? What if some of the bays didn’t break away?” I said. “There could be survivors trapped inside a ship set to explode.”
“There’s no way we can know if someone’s in there,” Ri said.
“There is if we go in and look,” I said.
“Are you mad? The ship is timed to explode!” Lofwell said.
“Then I guess we’d better hurry.”
CHAPTER NINETY-TWO
I can hear the hissing sound now. Sweat rolls down my forehead. I feel dread in the pit of my stomach as we climb up and over the bay door at the end of the landing deck. A vent of warm air flows through a broken section of the Holocene’s shell. I lie on my front to peer through the hole – inside is the interior landing dock – a huge room – dark but for the sunlight that pokes through this hole. I can hear a siren sounding inside and an automated voice – the voice is female but I cannot make out the words.
“Well?” Prit says. “Is it safe to go in through there?”
“It is,” I said. “It’s about a ten foot drop to the floor. We need to be careful – feet first – hang and then drop. Go ahead.”
I hold Prit’s hands tightly as she slides her feet down through the hole. Her head disappears through the opening – I lower her down as far as I can.
“Okay!” She says.
I release her hands; I hear her land on her feet inside.
“I’m good!”
“Okay, Ri, you’re next.”
Ri drops successfully to the floor below.
“You’re up big man,” I said to Lofwell.
“I’m nervous.”
“You can stay here with my friend if you like – keep him company.”
“No, I’ll go – I want to help out,” Lofwell said.
“Okay – here we go.”
The clone looks on as Lofwell slides on his belly and his feet lower into the opening. I have his hands and with his added weight I’ve braced myself with my foot against one side of the hole. “Easy does it.”
“Okay!” I let go of Lofwell’s hands and I hear him yell.
I put my head through and look down to see the man holding his knee. “What happened?”
“It’s an old injury. I didn’t land in the best way.”
“That looked painful,” Ri said.
“It was.”
“Are you okay?” I said.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be right there,” I said.
I look back at the clone who sits by the hole. “I need you to stay here, okay? It’s too dangerous in there right now. Okay? Can you do that? Just sit here and wait for me?”
“Yes. Wait.”
“Yes – wait right here – don’t move.”
“No move.”
“That’s right. Okay, you’ll be fine – I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.”
I lower my feet through and grip the edge of the hole tight – I hang down and drop. I bend my knees and catch myself at the bottom with ease.
“Do you know this part of the ship?” Prit said.
“No.”
The hiss sound is much louder. We walk toward the siren and the automated voice. “Danger – self-destruct in 120 minutes.”
“We need to move.”
We walk to a doorway that opens into a long corridor. “Let’s split up,” I said. “There’s probably ladder chutes at either end of this hall. There’s three pod bays – three areas to check – we know their deck numbers; if we follow the numbers painted inside the ladder chute we’ll find those decks. Open any pods you find – bring the people here. We don’t leave the ship until we all arrive back at this spot.”
“Sounds good,” Prit said.
“Ri, you come with me – you guys take the other end,” I said. “Let’s be quick. Go!”
CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
We climbed up two levels before we realized we were going the wrong way. We are moving down the ladder fast. A hole busted in the side of the ladder chute pours in sunshine and lights our way.
“Danger – self-destruct in 110 minutes.”
“We need to hurry,” Ri said. People li
ke to point out the obvious in times of great stress – I’ve always noticed this.
We reach the deck second from the bottom of the ship. There is a pod bay on this level. I punch open the hatch door and climb through to a corridor lit only by red rotating lights on the ceiling.
“Check every room.”
The first room on our right glows green inside. Ri walks in and looks around while I wait in the hall.
“It’s a medical station – I’ve been in this one before. I know this level. My pod bay was on this level.”
“So we’re wasting our time here then?”
“There’s two pod bays on this level,” she said. “We should keep checking.”
We walk along the dark hallway. The end of the hall isn’t far off.
“Here we are,” Ri said. “This is the other pod bay.”
We walk through a corridor with no light at all, feeling our way along the walls with our hands. The corridor leads us into a large room dimly lit by a faint blue flashing light close to the floor.
“Danger – self-destruct in 100 minutes.”
A shadow sits in front of us. “Is that a pod?” I said. We run our hands over the thing and it definitely feels like a pod. I feel for the bottom of the thing – it is flat on the floor. “We need to turn this thing on its side. It’s heavy, I need your help.”
We stand together on one side of the craft and squat down with our hands under the edge of the pod. We breathe heavy as we lift the thing and push with our legs until it falls over onto its side.
“Good job.”
I pull the cord and the lid opens. We hear the pile of goo hit the floor and the sounds of someone convulsing – the gross swish of the fluid against the floor. The person coughs a big wheezing cough – I can tell it’s a man. Curses!
“It’s not her,” I said.
“It’s still someone,” Ri said.
The mister coughs and throws up. “Hello? Anyone there?” The man’s voice is a deep baritone.
“Right here, yes,” Ri says. “We just released you from this thing.”
“Where are we?”
“Still on the Holocene.”
“Have we landed?”
“We have – no idea why your pod bay didn’t break away.”
