by Mark Harritt
“Watch yourself. While the other two head this way, I’m going to show you how to saddle up inside here. I’m going into the stance, and I’m going to show you the helmet.”
Rieci and Geonti shifted their stance as the mech shifted its. Once it was settled into position, the hatch opened, and Jen stood up. She still had her helmet on, but she quickly removed it. She bent over and grabbed another that had been left in the back of the new mech she was riding.
She motioned, and they both moved forward to crouch down next to the opening.
She started pointing things out to them, “Okay, these are the helmets. You’ll need to put them on to talk to the A.I. and to me. You’ll be able to see everything around you. Your legs go in here, and your arms go in here. The bio feedback loop is going to be shutoff, because I don’t want your mech to go tumbling when you flinch. When you get into the mech, make sure you push down on this bar right here. That’s the combat lock. Your weapons and your gear goes in here. Do you have any questions? Oh, and when you jump in and everything’s ready to go, this foam is going to inflate. Don’t worry. It will keep you in place and keeps you from getting hurt. Now, do you have any questions?”
It was quick, minimal, but summed up everything they needed to know. They had scant minutes before the other two mechs showed up. Rieci left his two bags of scavenged food with Jennifer, and then climbed down from the mech to find more. Jennifer shoved the extra helmet at Geonti, and all he had to do was wait for the first mech to show.
The mech arrived while Rieci was still grabbing extra food. Jennifer dropped the chameleon camouflage on the new mech, because it was hard to climb something you can’t see. It slowed just enough for Geonti to step over onto it. It cleared the front of the box canyon and went to the back towards the slope that lead up into the geothermal springs. It dropped down into the sumo stance, and Geonti opened the back hatch and slid in. Rieci finished scavenging for food, and ran over to where Geonti was trying to stuff his gear and scavenged food in. Geonti grabbed the extra helmet in the mech and threw it over to Rieci, who turned it on and then strapped it on.
Rieci didn’t have to wait too long. His mech arrived in a hurry and dropped into the sumo stance kicking up a wave of dirt and sand. Rieci climbed on and then started shoving his gear into the storage space in the hatch. He barely had enough time to stow his rifle when Jen told them they had to go. He quickly closed the hatch and got into position.
The foam inflated, and Rieci felt claustrophobic. He couldn’t imagine how Geonti was feeling right now. He rapidly found that he had nothing to do, and he started paying attention to what was going on around them. He saw three green dots, and he could see a narrow line of orange dots coming at them through the confines of the canyon.
“Everybody ready?” Jen asked.
She got a yes from both Rieci and Geonti. Geonti’s voice sounded tremulous as he answered. Geonti really didn’t like enclosed spaces.
“Okay, we’ve got to go. They’re right behind us.”
“Where are we going?” Rieci asked.
“Over the mountains, right up through the geothermal springs. The fog and the heat will hide us, and they can’t go follow us there because of the heat.”
Rieci’s mech jerked to life, and he guessed that the A.I. was following Jen’s lead. Her mech ran right past them. Rieci’s mech ran at the slope of the mountain, and started climbing beside hers. He could see Geonti’s mech for a moment, but then it turned on the active camouflage and disappeared. Soon, the world was swallowed up by the fog of the geothermal springs. Ground exploded around them as the green men used their maser rifles. Luckily, nothing hit them.
The mechs kept climbing, and soon, they were too far up into the mountains for the green men to find them.
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter Four
“Okay, What the hell is going on?” Mickey asked. He was squatting in front of Bobby and Weitz. Weitz had already checked everything he’d done, with Bobby staring over his shoulder. Weitz had given up in frustration and handed it over to Bobby, who was checking the programming line by line. Mickey was upset, but he could see that Bobby and Weitz were probably more upset than he was.
Bobby stopped typing, and used both hands to motion at the laptop, “It’s not anything that Weitz or I did. I’ve checked the variables that were entered. They’re the same exact ones that we used on the other three trips. I’m checking to make sure the source code hasn’t been tampered with.”
With that last statement, Mickey turned to look at Weitz. Weitz caught Mickey staring at him, and he blanched, “Oh, no, I didn’t do anything to it. You think I’d mess with the coding while I was on the shuttle?”
“He’s right. He’s a weasel, but the one thing he’s most concerned with is his own wellbeing. There’s no way that he would ever do anything that would endanger himself.”
Weitz looked past Mickey to the other side of the aircraft. “Fuck you, Bitch!” he snarled at Jessica Randall.
“Hey! You keep a civil tongue in your head before I come over there and rip it out!” Will growled at Weitz.
Weitz’ eyes shifted to Will, “Just because you’re banging her right now doesn’t mean that she’s not the same evil bitch that she’s always been.”
“I’m going to kick your ass, Weitz!”
Mickey heard rustling as Will tried to stand. He turned and transfixed Will with his gaze. He pointed at Will, “Sit your ass right back down, Will. If you mess your knee up and make it worse, I swear to God I’m going to hack the leg off. Do you understand me?”
Will was surprised by the intensity of Mickey’s gaze and sat right back down. Mickey turned to Randall, “If you can’t help, shut up.”
Randall’s mouth opened, and then shut it just as quick when she realized that Mickey was dead serious. Hank leaned into Will and gave him a nudge, “don’t worry, once we get out of here you can give Weitz a drubbing. Besides, you know Weitz is right. Jessica is a bitch.”
Randall leaned forward and gave Hank the evil eye, “Hey!”
Hank didn’t let her off the hook, “Jessica, even you know you’re a bitch.” He winked at her. Randall frowned, but she leaned back into the seat and was quiet. Which was good, because that’s all that Mickey wanted anyway.
He turned and looked at Weitz, who was still glowering at Randall. Mickey snapped his fingers, “Hey, pay attention to me. I’m the one who’s speaking to you.”
Weitz refocused on Mickey. Mickey nodded, “Okay, so, you’re saying that the program didn’t malfunction. What about that?”
Mickey pointed his finger toward the null generator.
Bobby looked up at Mickey and then over to the generator. He shook his head, “No way. If that malfunctioned, we’d never know about it. Our atoms would be scattered across the universe, or we’d be stuck in a singularity.” He looked up and looked around the shuttle, “I sure don’t think a malfunction would bring us here.”
Mickey frowned, “Okay, you keep working on that. See if you can figure out what the hell happened.”
He stood up and walked to the front of the shuttle. Tom, Caul, and Daijj were staring out the window. One of the mechanics, Smarijj, was sitting in the co-pilot’s chair, and the other, Zenj, was sitting on the jump seat right behind him. They looked uncomfortable when Mickey smiled at them.
Tom watched him walk over. He nodded toward Bobby and Weitz, “They figure anything out yet?”
Mickey shook his head, “No. Right now, Bobby’s checking the source code to make sure nobody changed anything.”
Tom looked around Mickey, “Weitz?”
Mickey shrugged, “Honestly, that’s what I thought at first. But Randall has a point. If he was going to do something stupid like that, I don’t think he’d do it while he’s onboard the shuttle. He may be a dick, but he ain’t stupid. He’s not going to do anything that would harm himself.”
Mickey looked down at Daijj, “So, what’s going on?�
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Daijj looked over at the instrument panel, and tapped a knuckle on one of the read outs. Mickey couldn’t read it, “What’s it say?”
Daijj shrugged nonchalantly, his pouch inflating, deflating, “It says that the atmospheric pressure is increasing. If it keeps up at the present level, then we have maybe another thirty minutes before we can step outside the shuttle.”
“Do we have enough air in here?” Mickey asked.
Daijj thought for a moment, then nodded, “Yes, the CO2 scrubbers are working efficiently. We have another few days before they need to be cleaned. I’m hoping that we can step out much sooner than that.”
“Have you sampled the air? Can you tell me what the mixture is?” Mickey asked.
Daijj nodded, “I can do you better than that. I can tell you what the mixture is, and I can tell you if there’s anything in it that shouldn’t be in it. You never know what you’re going to find when you dock on one of the big freighters. Some alien hominids breathe strange things. Some shed proteins that can cause an allergic reaction. So, we have to be very careful.”
Mickey pointed out the window, “Have you found anything out there that shouldn’t be there?”
Daijj shook his head, “Not yet. Mostly an oxygen, CO2, nitrogen mix, like the planet below. Very sterile, but there are a few biological proteins floating around. Nothing that seems to be harmful to us, though. Doctors Joan and Joel, plus your chemists Willow and Michelle helped us update our profiles, so you and the other Emurecuns are safe.” He stopped to motion at Caul, “And we have all of the Contai profiles as well. If there’s chemicals in the air that can harm any of us, I’ll know.”
Mickey clapped his hand down on Daijj’s shoulder, “Good. At least that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.”
He turned to Caul, “How are your men doing?”
Caul motioned down to the end of the shuttle. The group followed the motion with their eyes, and saw the Contai soldiers sprawled out on the floor.
“Mostly sleeping, a little bored, wondering where we’re at, happy they aren’t being shot at,” Caul answered.
Tom nodded, “That’s a plus. At least . . .”
Mickey glanced at Tom, “Don’t say it. Don’t Jinx us.”
Tom’s mouth was still open. He closed it.
“Well dammit, there it is.”
The four of them looked over at Bobby.
“There what is?” Mickey asked.
“The line of code that diverted us here,” Bobby replied.
Mickey turned and walked back to Bobby. Weitz was looking at the screen from one side, while John was looking at it from the other. John looked up to see Mickey walking toward them, and he slid over so that Mickey would have a place to sit. Bobby motioned for Mickey to sit down. Mickey sat next to Bobby and looked at what he was pointing at. There were lines of computer code stretched across the screen. Mickey had no clue what they meant.
“Who put them there?” Mickey asked.
Bobby shrugged, “I have no idea.”
Mickey’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean? You’re not covering for Weitz are you?”
Bobby frowned and shook his head, “No, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Hey!” Weitz exclaimed. Mickey wasn’t sure if it was because of his question or Bobby’s answer.
Bobby continued, “No, there’s no way Weitz could do this. I’m not even sure what kind of coding it is.”
“What do you mean?”
Bobby pointed at the lines of code again, “I don’t recognize that computer code. It’s not in a computer language that I recognize. Whoever put that in there isn’t one of us.”
Mickey frowned. Bobby had secured the white orb in a buckskin hunting bag. It had a long strap so that whoever was handling it didn’t have to actually touch the sphere. Now, Mickey looked down at the milky white ball in the bag next to Bobby’s feet.
Bobby followed Mickey’s gaze. He answered the unasked question, “Yeah, that maybe possible. It flared right when we took off.”
Mickey shook his head, “How could it instantaneously change code like that?”
Bobby shrugged, “You’d have to ask the people that made it.”
“People?” Mickey asked.
Bobby shrugged again, “Others. Not us. Whoever.”
Mickey pointed at the line of code, “If you take that out, can we go where we’re supposed to be?”
Bobby thought for a moment, then looked over at Weitz, who nodded. Bobby looked back at Mickey, “Yeah, we should be able to.”
Mickey slapped his hands together, “Hot damn! Let’s do this then.”
He pointed at Daijj, “You ready for this.”
Daijj nodded, “Yes. All I have to do is start the engines and let them spool up.”
Mickey looked at Caul and hooked a thumb back at the other Contai, “Wake ‘em up and get them back in their seats. Everybody else, if you unbuckled, buckle back up. We’re getting the hell out of here.”
The inside of the shuttle was a flurry of movement as everybody got ready to transition from wherever the hell this place was, back to the mountains above the compound. The Contai were the biggest confusion as Caul waded among them, kicked them awake and got them all back into their seats and buckled up. Mickey made sure that Ed was comfortable, and doing well. His pulse was okay, his blood pressure good, and, at this point, it seemed like he was just sleeping. Mickey grabbed the satchel with the white orb in it and set it out in the middle of the shuttle. Everybody stared at the bag like it was a poisonous snake. When he was done, he went over to his seat next to Tom and buckled in.
While Mickey was securing Ed and moving the sphere, Bobby was busy going through all the code to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Once he was sure that the coding was perfect, he slid the computer back over to Weitz, who double checked Bobby’s work.
When Weitz was finished checking, he looked up, and started when he saw that everybody on the shuttle was watching him. He seemed to get smaller under their gaze. Mickey didn’t have time for Weitz’ insecurities, however. “You ready to go?” He asked, pointing at Weitz. Weitz nodded. Mickey turned in his seat to look up at Daijj, “Hey, Daijj, you ready for this?”
“Yeah, I’m ready, let’s do it.”
Mickey turned back to look up and down the cabin, “Everybody ready?”
They all nodded or signaled that, yes, they were ready.
“Alright, let’s do this! Daijj, get it in the air and let Weitz know when to hit the button.
Daijj responded by grabbing the controls, hitting switches, and then giving the engines power. Mickey felt the shuttle shudder as it rose from the floor.
Daijj yelled over his shoulder, “I’m ready! Hit the button!”
Weitz looked at Mickey. Mickey nodded. Weitz looked down and hit the enter key.
The world around them disappeared then reappeared. Mickey fought down the nausea. He looked around. Everybody was where they were supposed to be, and nobody seemed to be in any kind of distress. He looked over at Weitz, “Did it work?”
Mickey heard cursing from the front of the shuttle. “No, it didn’t work!”
Mickey unbuckled and walked to the pilot’s seat. Tom quickly followed. Mickey looked out the window. They were in the exact same place they had been when Weitz hit the button. Mickey had been tense, hoping that within the next few minutes he would see Tracy again. Now, that tension evaporated. Mickey’s shoulders shrugged, and his arms dropped to his side in defeat.
“Dammit!” Tom exclaimed
Mickey looked back at Bobby, “What happened?”
Bobby shook his head, “I’m not sure. Possibly that thing again,” He pointed at the bag with the white orb, “Or, it could be something local as well. I’ll have to check the lines of code again. It shouldn’t take as long this time, though. Now I know where to look.”
Mickey motioned at the laptop, “Get busy. We need to figure out how to get the hell out of this place. I’m not going to spend the rest of
my life here.”
He looked down at Daijj, “What about the air pressure?”
Daijj tapped the gage, “Getting close, maybe another fifteen minutes. I don’t want anybody going outside until I know the air pressure is stabilizing. It might not stop at 1 atmosphere of pressure. If it continues to climb, anybody outside could be in danger.”
Mickey nodded. As a military diver, he was quite familiar with variable air pressure, nitrogen narcosis, and the bends.
“You’re correct of course, Daijj. I’m just sick of sitting inside this shuttle.”
Tom nodded, “You and me both.”
Mickey looked over at Tom, “I’m pretty sure that Latricia and Tracy are getting pretty worried about us right now.”
Tom grinned, “I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Mickey smiled, “It’s not your fault you were kidnapped.”
“Oh, I know. She’s not going to let this go without putting in her two cents, though. It’s her way of coping when she knows I’m doing something dangerous. She’ll bitch at me for a bit, then we’ll make up.” Tom’s eyebrow went up, “And I really enjoy it when we make up.” He looked over at Mickey with a big smile on his face.
Mickey laughed, “I bet you do. Tracy blushes every time we hear you two making up.”
Tom grinned, “Oh, believe me, I do too. Latricia has a rather inventive imagination.”
Mickey’s laughter roared through the shuttle.
“What the hell’s going on up there,” Hank yelled.
Mickey turned around, “Nothing, nothing at all. We were just talking about Tracy and Latricia.”
Hank looked confused. Mickey laughed again, “It’s nothing about us, here. We were just saying they were probably worried about us.”
“And you’re laughing because they’re worried about you?”
Mickey laughed, shaking his head. He walked over to Ed, and crouched down next to him. Mickey was concerned about the transition to alt-space, and whether it had affected Ed. He did a more comprehensive check on him, checking to make sure his eyes were dilating. He did pinch tests on all extremities to see if there was a reaction. He did every test he could think of to make sure that Ed was okay.
