Exodus: Extinction Event

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  Schematics! “Can I … May I look?” she asked.

  Torin whipped a sharp look back at her, saw that she was pointing at the papers he’d gathered and, after a moment’s debate, he rose and carried the stack over to her.

  She smiled at him a little absently as she took them and began to study them with frowning intensity.

  “You read schematics?” Torin asked after a few minutes, almost certain from the way she was looking at them that she completely understood, but still in need of convincing.

  She had said she was trained in the study of plants after all.

  Monica dragged her gaze from the mechanical drawings with an effort at the question in his voice, stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, and returned her focus to the drawings. “This is the ship?” She flipped through the drawings. “Modifications? This isn’t the original design, is it? This looks like alterations to the structure.”

  After a few moments, she handed the plans back to him, scooted off the desk, and then took the drawings and spread them on the desk top so she could study them more easily.

  Torin was torn between his fascination with her interest and his fascination with her ass as she leaned over the desk.

  Dar and Kael arrived shortly after that, filling the room with anger and suspicion that didn’t dissipate appreciably when they saw that Torin was propped against the wall studying Monica as she studied the plans.

  “I nearly had a fucking heart attack when I discovered she was not in the cabin. Why the hell did you not say you meant to bring her here today?”

  Torin’s lips tightened at the accusing tone, but he could see that Dar had had a nasty fright when he discovered she was not in their quarters. “Because I did not bring her. She came. I was drawn by the commotion and went out to discover she had found her way here.”

  “What commotion?” Kael demanded.

  “I make no excuses for the assholes, but it is understandable that they would react with shock to seeing an alien among them.”

  “They knew she was here,” Dar said tightly. “I will not believe the doctor and his staff kept that bit of gossip to themselves!”

  “There has been no reason to do so and no attempt to keep her presence a secret,” Torin responded. “It was seeing her for the first time that caused the shock. As I am certain that she felt the first time that she saw you.”

  Dar digested that angrily, but in all fairness he knew that Torin was right. No one had believed that other intelligent species existed in the universe, let alone that they would have the capability of space flight.

  It was a natural reaction.

  And he still did not like it.

  “They upset her,” he said, struggling to keep his voice neutral.

  Torin struggled with his own anger and finally sucked in and released a deep breath to expel it. “Yes. I brought her here to recover. And now she is poring over my drawings as if she completely understands what it is all about.” He turned to look at her. “I believe she has more than a passing familiarity with engineering.”

  Dar moved closer to her and touched her shoulder.

  She started, as if she had just noticed their arrival, and then smiled at him when recognition dawned. He felt his heart turn over in his chest.

  Dismay was much of it.

  He had struggled mightily to guard his heart from her, too fearful to risk it when he had lost everyone who had ever mattered to him. He had felt that he simply could not handle any more pain.

  And yet, she had still managed to worm her way in.

  He swallowed the knot in his throat with an effort. “Meeka unnerstan dis ting?”

  Her smile broadened to a grin. “Yes! Uh. Well, I think this must be schematics for changes to the ship? But, yes, I can read them and understand. I am an engineer, after all.”

  Dar frowned as he struggled with interpreting what she’d said. “What is n-gin-ear?”

  Monika stared at him, trying to figure out how to explain. Finally, she looked around for a blank piece of paper, a pencil and mechanical ruler and then, after a little thought, drew a schematic for building a simple drone—minus the breakdown of the engine, of course. That would have taken a good deal of time. Basically, all she drew was the housing, but she thought it was enough to give them the understanding that she designed machines.

  Dar studied it the best he could with Kael’s head between him and what he was looking at.

  Torin got no more than a glimpse but her familiarity with the ‘tools’ was enough to convince him. “Very smart and beautiful.” He grinned at her, dragged her close, and kissed her soundly on the mouth.

  Very briefly.

  Like a brother.

  Monica sighed but wiped the disappointment from her face when Dar glared at both of them.

  Torin was still grinning when he turned to Dar. “She is an engineer! Loka’s balls you have no notion of how badly we need her! Damn near a third of the ship was destroyed in the cataclysm. We had to tear out that entire section because we had no way to repair it—nothing to repair it with. We have used everything that was useable to repair damage to the rest of the ship—because it was damaged, though far less than the rear compartments.

  “Unfortunately, we also lost a good portion of our personnel in the disaster—mostly when the ship was hit, but we also had a lot of people abandon the project when they saw how much destruction there was. Many left to find family or friends and never came back.

  “We are at sixty days until launch and not ready—not close enough for my comfort.”

  Dar frowned at him. “Why set a launch date if you have no notion if you will be ready or not?”

  Torin divided a look between his three companions. “Because there will be no launch at all if we cannot finish by then. That is the cut off time when we will begin to have fewer supplies each day to make the journey. Sixty days is the very last day that we can project a possibility of arriving alive—and strong enough to start a colony. Three days past that and there will not be enough water to go around for the entire trip—we will have to decide who will be allowed water and who will go without. The last will be exhausted within a week.” He paused. “The food will only feed everyone if we begin on half rations. Perhaps we should have cut rations more to have a better safety margin, but then we risk the workers being too weak to work and finish the project. And we have risked not finishing at all by dividing our workforce with those who gather food and those who work on the ship itself.

  “It cannot be emphasized enough that we are critical for a chance to reach the new world. If we do not launch within the 60 days we will be trapped here.”

  * * * *

  The one thing that was brought home most forcefully to Monica was that she needed to put more effort into learning their language. The pigeon language they had devised that was a mixture of gestures, drawing, English and their language had worked well enough when they spent most of their days just trying to survive—hunting, cooking, preserving enough food to stay alive. Fighting off the animals that wanted to eat them.

  They were too exhausted to spend much time simply conversing, sharing stories of their backgrounds.

  In point of fact she knew almost nothing about the lives Dar and Kael had had before—or Torin, for that matter until they’d arrived at his colony. Now, she actually knew more about Torin with no conversation at all because she could see the life he had been leading since the cataclysm.

  And she still knew nothing about his past.

  They couldn’t discuss his schematics.

  But she knew he was an engineer—and a damn good one.

  There was something critical missing from the drawings he’d allowed her to study, though, and she wasn’t certain if that was because she hadn’t been allowed to study the full set or if there actually was a problem.

  And she had no way to find out which because she couldn’t ask and it was too complicated for pigeon English.

  She discovered, to her dismay that she also would
n’t be allowed to work with him. All three men ganged up on her and ordered her to stay put until she was better.

  And they gave Kunga the job of enforcing her imprisonment.

  He did that by laying down at the door when they left and refusing to budge no matter how much she tugged at him, shoved, and tried to coax him away.

  She was angry enough for a little while that she felt like kicking him.

  She couldn’t bring herself to do so, however.

  Partly because she wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t take her leg off.

  Partly because she only had one good leg for kicking and she couldn’t stand on the other to do it.

  And partly because she was fond on the monster and could not bring herself to hurt him even a little.

  She was bored.

  She thought she was going to go insane.

  Torin relented and brought schematics to their quarters and allowed her to work on them.

  Well, double check his work for errors.

  She wasn’t particularly comfortable with that job, but it gave her something to do and she did find a few minor errors that were nevertheless critical.

  Because everything in space was critical.

  Of course, she was working with alien schematics and numbering system and alphabet/language. As often as not, she pointed out something and was wrong herself, but she understood that people’s lives were on the line. They had to get it perfect and one person could not do that. One person would always miss something.

  So they went back and forth until it was as perfect as two people could make it and then, finally, Torin took her one day and walked her down to see the progress of their joint effort.

  And that is when she discovered the fatal flaw.

  The ship had no working warp engine.

  No warp engine at all that she could see.

  Her belly knotted.

  Did they not have warp technology at all?

  Or did they just not have the drive they needed to warp?

  And if they didn’t, did that mean they would only be going to another planet within the system?

  Because this planet was ideal before the cataclysm and none of the others within the acceptable zone were considered good candidates for colonization.

  Those questions, voiced that evening when they gathered after a long day’s work, spawned a heated debate but also a possible solution.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “There is a possibility that we could salvage what we need from the ship that brought Meeka here,” Kael said.

  They had settled in the gathering area of their quarters after the evening meal to discuss the progress of repairs and preparations as had become a habit, although the subject had taken on a dire tone as they approached the deadline and still had not managed to complete the preparations needed to launch. With that statement he instantly had the full attention of everyone in the room.

  “Is this true?” Torin asked sharply, feeling a flare of anger.

  “It was blown up,” Dar responded. “I do not see that the odds are in favor that there would be anything useful, but we have no options that I know of. He is right. We will need to go and see what there is to be had.”

  “What?” That took the wind out of Torin. He frowned, clearly both confused and suspicious. “I thought you said that it crashed.”

  “It did crash,” Kael responded. “Dar saw when it was hit by a lava bomb, but it was a controlled crash. The craft was not greatly damaged … then. Later, when they could not make repairs, her people sent another ship and it blew up the one on the ground—we supposed that was to make certain their technology was not captured. I saw a … well it was an engine of some kind that flew out when the ship exploded. No doubt at all that it was damaged, and possibly destroyed, but it was blown free of the wreckage so there is at least a chance that some of it might be useable, that we might be able to salvage what we need.”

  That was all it took to set in motion a rapid fire, excited discussion of launching a recovery mission and the length of time that might be involved.

  Because time was of the essence now.

  They were down to the wire.

  Monica struggled to keep up, but although she’d felt like she had made a lot of progress in learning their language, they were excited and speaking rapidly and she was lost fairly quickly.

  They were going back to the wreckage to see what could be salvaged that they could use. She knew that much.

  Her first, gut reaction was to argue against it, but the truth was that unless they found what they needed none of them were going anywhere.

  And that sent chances of long term survival for all of them spiraling down toward zero.

  Not that she really believed any of them would listen to her if she demanded they stay put and let someone else go.

  Because, as much as she hated it, no one was more qualified to go after the wreckage if for no other reason than they, or at least Dar and Kael, knew where to look.

  Well, and Torin had a better idea of what they needed and was the most likely to be able to identify it.

  She was still resentful that her guys had to take the risk. She didn’t think it was all in her head, or purely a matter of prejudice, that they were the most valuable. They’d accomplished more in the two weeks they had been at the ship than had been done in the two months prior. And Dar and Kael had way more experience in dealing with the rigors and hardship of survival with little more than their own two hands and their brains.

  Torin had taken more risks than all of the others put together to go out and find people to rescue and he was, in her mind anyway, the most valuable of all. Without him the ship would never have been redesigned and repaired. None of the others had had any idea what to do and had felt too hopeless even to try without him pushing.

  She realized, though, that arguing would change nothing beyond possibly slowing them down and making the situation more dangerous, but it was all she could do to maintain a positive front while she watched their preparations to depart the following morning.

  Not that they seemed to notice.

  It was a relief to discover that they would be taking the colony snow-cat.

  Naturally, that wasn’t their name for it, but it was the only piece of mobile equipment they had been able to salvage after the cataclysm and it had tracks.

  It had not been designed for use in the snow, but rather rough terrain.

  The purpose had been to use the machine to help with heavy moving, lifting, and ground breaking for the colony. Fuel was limited. But it was decided that it was worth the risk, worth the use of the fuel, because there would not be a lot of use for it if they didn’t manage to transport the machine to the new world and it actually did quite well in plowing its way through snow and ice.

  With that to carry them and any materials-parts they found, they expected to be able to reach the crash site in a matter of days, hoped to be able to collect what they needed or at least what they could use in two to three days and then return, making for a round trip of a minimum of seven days.

  Monica wasn’t certain of whether to be relieved and pleased or worried and pissed off when she discovered the guys had drawn straws, so to speak, and decided that Kael would stay behind and guard her.

  Kael didn’t look too happy about it.

  “No!” she said flatly when she found out. “You will all be safer if all of you go—and take the monster kunga with you! I’ll be safe here at the colony with the others. I don’t need to be guarded and I’ll feel better knowing you’re all together and can watch each other’s back. And if you should run into trouble there will be the four of you to fight off raiders.”

  She didn’t get nearly as much of an argument against that suggestion as she’d thought she would.

  It was really disconcerting.

  And she had a lot more time to dwell on that after they left than she’d thought she would.

  They left so fast, though, that she didn’t have time to adjust to the ide
a before they left. By mid day of the day following Kael’s introduction of the idea, they had prepped and fueled the tractor, packed the monster machine with supplies, and were ready to head out.

  She thought she was going to break down in tears in spite of all she could do when we walked them out to watch them leave.

  Kael dragged her into a bear hug. “You are certain you will be alright? I will stay if you think you need me.”

  “Of course I need you,” Monica responded. “I will be lost if anything happens to you, but I know Dar needs you to watch his back.”

  Kael looked bemused when he pulled away to study her face but pleased. “You have been learning our language. I did not expect you to understand half of that.”

  Monica chuckled. “That’s what I thought! Well, it’s so hard to argue with you guys when I don’t understand half what you say! I had to do something.”

  He kissed her with enough heat to singe her eyebrows. “When I get back we will see if we can find something interesting to discuss.”

  Monica chuckled dutifully, but she felt more like crying by that time than amused.

  Happily, she wasn’t given the chance.

  Kael handed her off to Dar and climbed the ladder up into the ‘cockpit’ of the tractor.

  Dar shook his head at her woebegone expression. “We will only be gone a matter of days. You will be safe here.”

  Monica gave him a look. “As if it’s me I’m worried about!”

  “You are worried about me, then? I am not certain how I should take that,” he said with mock anger.

  Monica swallowed with an effort. “Take it to mean you must take good care of yourself so that you can come back and take care of me.”

  He pulled her close and gave her a kiss of peace, a light brush of lips, no more. “Trust that I am committed to that,” he murmured near her ear and then kissed her more thoroughly on the lips.

  Uncertainty shook her when she saw that Torin was waiting for a goodbye. She moved readily enough into his embrace as Dar moved away and climbed up, but she wasn’t certain of her welcome.

  He kissed the top of her head.

  “I have told everyone here that you are my mate and that I expect you to be treated with respect. You will be fine while we are gone. I swear this to you.”