Eriksen seemed to sink into his chair as the shock registered on his face. “Captain Quinn,” he said over his shoulder. “Do you have a copy of the passenger matrix for Raphael?”
“Yes Colonel. What do you need?”
“Total passenger count including crew.”
“One moment, please.” There was a moment of agonizing silence. “Two thousand, two hundred and forty four.”
Eriksen closed his eyes and bowed his head. Darius swallowed again but could not shake the lump in his throat. He realized that they would not know whether or not the drop succeeded until they got within the limited range of the pods’ emergency beacons.
“Does anyone else know yet?” Eriksen asked.
“No, sir.”
“Keep it that way for now. I want you to go through the schematics of the pods’ com systems. Figure out how far their signal can go. If we haven’t heard by 75% of their maximum range, we will revisit this.” The colonel met Darius’s gaze. “Under no circumstances do you tell Doctor Kimura, do you understand me? Not even as a friend.”
Darius nodded slowly and made his way toward the computer core so he could work undisturbed.
Capt Haruka Kimura
Planetfall +5 days, early evening
Six miles west of ex-Raphael pod eight crash site
Haruka placed one sweat-soaked boot in front of another as she paced her way toward the rear of the scattered, curling column of passengers. She methodically counted heads as she made her way through the group, slowing down where the crowd was the thickest, so as not miss or double count any passengers. They were all resting for a few minutes, which gave Haruka an easy opportunity to make the count. As she made her way to the end of the line, she beamed.
So far so good, haven’t lost anyone in the jungle.
The short days of Demeter, the size of their party, and the presence of a number of small children made their march from the pod very slow. At times, machete wielding survivors had to cluster in front of the party and hack through the denser sections of undergrowth. Haruka wasn’t entirely sure how swiftly they could move everyone while keeping the group together, but she was starting to get an idea. The journey that she thought might take two days now looked as if it would take four at the least.
It’s a good thing that Gabi’s fruit is edible. That will really help stretch our food supplies.
Haruka turned to make her way for the head of the column, where she was accustomed to walking. She made a mental note of how the guards with rifles were distributed, and nodded in silent approval. James strode toward her at a hurried pace. The belt he had been issued fit awkwardly on his slight frame, and the holstered pistol made him look like the world’s geekiest cowboy. He waved at Haruka as he approached.
“Well?” she asked.
“We didn’t see any other good places to stop for the night. We’ll be able to watch over everyone if we stay here; I can’t say the same if we try to press on.”
“Alright. Have your team distribute any necessary supplies. I’ll work on getting this group settled back here. Find Luis and have him do the same up front.”
James nodded and jogged off. Haruka cleared her throat to address the weary travelers near her.
“We’re going to bed down here for the night,” she said in her most commanding voice. “Please take this time to eat your supper, no more than one ration package per person. If you need to, supplement your meal with the fruit that the staff showed you during your briefings. If you are on guard duty assigned to shift two, please try to get some rest right now so that you’re fresh later.”
Haruka watched as people began to mill about, retrieving food from whatever pack or makeshift sling they had, or looking for a more comfortable patch of ground. An increasing low tone din let her know that the entire camp was engaged in similar activity.
I couldn’t have imagined this going more smoothly, she thought.
She slowly walked toward the head of the column, studying the faces of her survivors along the way. She couldn’t help but notice the diverse ways in which people interacted; some quietly went about their business as if it were routine, others loudly expressed their safety concerns to anyone who would listen. Children huddled close by their parents, looking at their surroundings with wide eyes as they peeked from under protective arms or over shoulders. Haruka stopped to check on a young mother and her child, making sure that they had all the food and bedding they needed for the night. When she was satisfied with their situation, she pressed on.
A shrill shriek and the angry bark of a woman cut through the noise of the camp. Haruka craned her head in the direction of the noise and doubled her step. Gabi bolted through the camp headlong in Haruka’s direction, but did not seem to be paying attention to where she was going. Gabi tripped over a backpack and flailed to a tumbling stop at Haruka’s feet. She got to her knees, sobbing, with her eyes locked on the ground.
“What’s wrong, Gabi?”
“Mama doesn’t love me,” she choked through her tears.
Haruka paused as the weight of the little girl’s accusation took her voice for a moment. “What? Why would you say something like that?”
“Because it’s true. She doesn’t love me anymore.”
Haruka leaned her rifle against a tree and dropped to her knees next to Gabi. “What happened to make you think that?”
“She yelled at me, and she only pays attention to Aidan now.”
“Why do you think she yelled at you?” asked James as he sidled up next to Haruka.
“Because she’s mean and she doesn’t love me anymore.”
“No, honey,” he replied. “She might be upset for a moment, but she loves you. I bet she’s going to give you a big hug and say sorry in a couple minutes.”
Gabi hugged her knees to her chest and a pout stretched across her face. James glanced at Haruka, who returned a stumped shrug.
“Don’t worry, I got this. Just keep her here for a minute,” he said as he darted off into the thick of the camp.
Great, what the hell do I do now? Haruka shifted her weight as she searched for an answer to the great awkward silence between the two. It was one thing to act as Gabi’s protector and try to keep her occupied; this was the premise of her service. Comforting the girl after a family argument was a different level of intensity for which she was not prepared. Haruka couldn’t find a way to explain to her why her mother just needed to cool off, at least not in a way she felt that Gabi could understand. The time for her to come up with something meaningful passed too quickly.
“Gabrielle Juanita Serrano!” Maria yelled as she stormed toward her daughter. “You do not run away from me like that, Mija. Get back to our campsite right now and apologize to Aidan.”
Gabi’s tears flowed anew at the sound of her mother’s rebuke. Haruka rose to her feet and stepped between Maria and Gabi, putting her palm out toward Maria. “Take it easy, she’s really upset right now.”
Maria snorted. “She better be, after what she did.”
“What could she have done so wrong that you have to yell at her like that? She’s just a kid.”
“She hit Aidan in the head with a stick really hard.”
Haruka sighed and shook her head. Oh no, Gabi… She took a knee and softly asked, “Is this true?” Gabi nodded quickly and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. “Why?”
“Because Mama loves him more than me now. It’s not fair.”
Maria’s face twisted in shock, and her mouth dropped open. Haruka could see tears form in her eyes, and when she spoke, her voice wavered. “Gabi, I love you more than anything. How could you ever think that?”
“Because it’s true. You never hug me anymore and you spend all your time with Aidan and Marya. I was hungry, and you would only feed him and not me.” Anger seethed in the girl’s voice as she stared down her mother.
Maria moved to her daughter’s side, knelt next to her, and rubbed her hand on her back. “Gabi, I’ve told you this before. Aidan an
d Marya’s mama and papa are gone, and they’re never coming back. They’re really, really sad right now, and I’m just trying to help them.”
“I know, but it still makes me angry.”
“Do you remember what it was like when you were alone in the jungle before I found you?” Haruka asked.
“Yeah, I was really scared.”
“Did you miss your mom and dad?”
“Yeah.”
“And would you miss them if they weren’t at the pod when I brought you back?”
“Yeah, a million billion times.”
“That’s what Aidan and Marya are going through,” Maria added. “They miss their mama and papa, and they will never see them again.”
Gabi’s eyes widened and her jaw slacked as the realization set in. She hung her head sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Mama.”
“You need to apologize to Aidan for hitting him.”
“I will, I promise.”
“Can you promise me something else, Mija?”
“Yeah, Mama.”
“Promise to help me with Aidan and Marya. They need you to be their friend.”
Impulse drove Haruka, and before she could think, she blurted, “Not their friend. Their sister.”
Maria looked at Haruka and smiled. “That’s right, they need a sister. Someone to give them hugs, and to play with them, and help them when they need it.”
“But I’m not their sister.”
“You can be like one,” Haruka replied. “I have a sister, and she’s one of the most wonderful people I know. We’ve had some fights now and then, but we’ve had a lot of really good times. She was on another ship, and I really miss her. Do you know what I miss the most?” Gabi shook her head and looked at her, wide-eyed. “I miss talking with her over dessert about how our days went, and about what our friends did, and about those silly boys. That was my favorite thing when I was a girl.”
Gabi giggled. “Silly boys.”
“Just remember, there’s a silly boy that is hurting and needs a hug. When you go back with your mom, can you do that for me?”
Gabi nodded. James came jogging back with a pack slung over his shoulder, panting hard. On his heels was Luis, who nearly fell on Gabi in his zeal to reach and throw his arms around his distressed daughter. He lifted her off the ground like she weighed nothing and plopped her down in his lap.
Haruka leaned over and whispered in Maria’s ear, “Is Aidan okay?”
“Yes. He’s got a nasty cut on his head and he’s pretty upset, but he’s fine. Emilia is with him right now.” She paused for a moment. “Good job with her. You made that look easy.”
I’m not even sure what I did. I’m terrible with kids. Haruka had to admit to herself that she was on edge about the interaction. She wasn’t sure if her words would help or hurt the situation, but they came out without her usual self control. She watched as Luis looked into Gabi’s eyes, his hands gently wrapped around her tiny arms.
“Gabi, please don’t run off and scare me like that,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Papa, I won’t.”
James unzipped the pack and revealed an assortment of stuffed bears, dogs, and other animals in a dizzying array of colors. “Gabi, is one of these yours?”
She rifled through the animals and her eyes lit up as she grabbed and hugged a fluffy tuxedo-colored cat. Its white spots were smeared with dirt and grime, and its head and face clearly showed a great deal of wear. “Pelusina!” she exclaimed as she squeezed the plush toy tight against her chest.
He smiled and patted her on the head. “You go with your mom and dad back to your camp, okay?”
Gabi nodded and walked next to her father, grasping his hand and clutching her stuffed cat with her other. The three made their way back toward the front of the column. When they were out of earshot, Haruka turned to James with a crooked grin.
“Really? I ask you to pack up critical supplies and leave behind the junk, and you come back with a backpack full of stuffed animals?”
“You’ve never been a parent,” he retorted. “You don’t have a clue just how critical these little things are. Look around you, Haruka. How many small children do you see?”
“I don’t need to see to know, I have a head count. Eight.”
He shook his head. “That’s how many there are under the age of eight. You’re thinking along the lines of spreadsheets and manifests, not the human element. Almost all of these kids out here are still terrified. Here, a stuffed animal means something to kids as old as fourteen.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Not even a little. Kristin, my youngest, started crying when I told her that we were heading out from the pod. I’m talking bawling her head off, screaming like a banshee, wake the dead kind of crying. She hasn’t held a stuffed animal in two years, or slept with one in five. I gave her this bear here,” he said as he pulled a fluffy panda bear from his sack, “quieted her down in just a couple minutes. To me and Jeanette, sharing the duty of carrying this backpack is more than worth the burden. You’ve just seen why.”
Haruka nodded. “Yes, you showed that quite well. There’s something else you just demonstrated as proficiently.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“That I chose the best man for the job.” She smiled brightly. “Go on; get back to your family. It’s dinner time.”
“Alright, come along then.” Haruka was about to protest, but he hushed her. “I’m not taking no for an answer. You’re not spending the night out there alone, so it’s either I join you or you join us. And since you’ve already commanded me to go back to my family that means you’re coming with me.”
Haruka sighed. “Alright, but I’m not sleeping with a teddy bear.”
James smirked. “Of course not. You get the stuffed dog.”
Calvin McLaughlin
4 April 2058, 06:05
Michael
A soft light filtered through his eyelids, bringing an end to the darkness and dreams. Cal’s head spun and his stomach threatened to turn on him at a moment’s notice. A whispering noise slowly filled his ears; at first he thought this was the life support system circulating air, but his core felt a chill when he realized it was something else.
This is on you, the piercing whisper of his own voice cut into his mind. You failed. Now it’s all at an end.
“No,” he croaked through parched lips. His eyes fluttered open to reveal his position. He was strapped into a sleeper berth, and the hatch was wide open. The modest illumination from the hallway bathed him. He tried to bring his hands to his face to wipe away the cold sweat, but they were hampered just above his waist. A glance down his body at a glint of metal told him that someone had cannibalized an empty sleeper for its restraints, and used them to bind him to the berth.
It’s only right. You should be treated like a criminal, the hiss in his head criticized sharply. Two thousand dead, thanks to you.
Cal felt a quick throb of pain as his lower lip split open when he spoke. “I tried. He wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t listen. None of them.”
For a moment, Cal thought he saw a fleeting shadow cross in front of the berth. He craned his neck in an effort to catch a glimpse of the source. Unable to spot anything, he strained to hear for any sounds of breath or footsteps that might indicate that he wasn’t alone. He pursed his lips and tasted the sharp metallic tang of his blood.
You didn’t try. All you did was rant like a lunatic.
“They were against me. Even Hunter.” Cal’s good hand curled into a tight fist and his nails bit into his palms. “Hunter. He betrayed me. He’s supposed to be my friend, to stick up for me. He watched as Doctor Taylor shot me full of… full of…”
A broken, angered curse escaped from Cal’s throat like the growl of a cornered animal.
She did more to you than anyone else.
Cal could feel his temper flare. His eyes wandered to a small bandage on his arm that marked the spot where Dr. Taylor had thrust the needle into his flesh. The scen
e replayed in the recesses of his mind, up until the point where the plunge of the syringe pushed some form of powerful sedative into him, and the blackness overtook all. His blood felt as if it would boil from within. He recounted the hours spent with her, learning to assist her with the passenger checks, working out in Michael’s gym, even sharing his meals with her. The torrent of rage reduced the sum of all their interactions to a convenient plot to gain his trust.
“She… she betrayed me the worst.”
She put an end to your chance to convince Dayton. But she’s just an old woman. You are still responsible for letting her get the best of you. You didn’t fight; you just sat there and let her ram that needle into you like a pincushion.
“I didn’t see her,” Cal protested in a hushed voice.
Because you were too busy raving like a lunatic. A distant, haunting laugh sent shivers through his body. She was right about you. You did go utterly nuts, didn’t you? No wonder Colonel Dayton wouldn’t listen to you.
Cal growled again. “Damn it, you’re just as bad as the other me. Just show your face, you coward. It’s not like I can do anything to you.”
The shadow returned along with the clank of long strides on the deck plate. Knowing that there was still no gravity, Cal understood exactly who it was he was about to confront, even before the face came into view through the open berth portal.
“There’s a reason for that,” his doppelganger said through a smug grin.
“I should have known sooner. After all, I’m utterly nuts, as you’ve been so kind to point out. It’s not a stretch that I’m talking to myself again.”
“Ah, but this is a stretch you haven’t taken before. Every time you’ve had the pleasure of my company, you’ve been asleep. That is, until now.”
Cal turned his head and gazed at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes. “I’m still asleep.”
“So pinch yourself.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope.”
“You’re insane.”
“Now there’s the pot calling the kettle black,” his twin replied dryly.
Project Columbus: Omnibus Page 38
