by Chris Hechtl
As he scavenged he noted the jungle plants were in shock due to the bitter cold and snow. Tropical plants needed warm temperatures year round in order to survive. He wondered how many would be alive come spring and if there would be a spring next year at all. With the way things were going, the nuclear winter would probably run for years. Possibly a decade or more.
He rubbed his tired brow. If he remembered his intro to the Battlefield Apocalypse game, the nuclear winter was followed by a nuclear summer. Something about trapped gases and crap in the ice thawing? He frowned then shrugged. They had to live long enough to get that far. For the moment, that was in doubt. Very much in doubt.
He managed a couple of small finds, some fruit and even a dead monkey. Both would be welcome to their meager table. Though he had his doubts about the monkey. At this point though, beggars couldn't be choosers.
As he dragged his catch back, Donnie stood guard. Occasionally the dog would alert in one direction or another. It took Fiben's tired mind a few minutes to realize he, no they, they were being stalked. So getting back to the cave was a welcome relief.
He unloaded his backpack and then turned to the dog. “What was it? Bot?”
“Cat,” Donnie replied.
“Cat?”
“Big cat,” Donnie amplified.
“Frack. Jaguar most likely then. Rare these days,” Pat said, looking up in alarm. “You led it back here?” he demanded.
“No choice,” Fiben said. “We're going to need to keep watch,” he said, looking at the now cowering Asa and Imda. “Asa, if you can check me on the fruit, I can work on skinning this thing then we can roast it,” he said, holding up the half frozen monkey. Asa looked, licked her lips then nodded. She reached for the fruit.
They had a radio, power, fire, some heat, food, and plenty of water. Things were looking up Fiben thought just as another storm broke.
“Me and my big mouth,” he muttered, turning back to the open mouth of the cave to see the hail start to fall. He shrugged after a long moment and then turned back to his chores. At least they weren't out in it. He would take his tiny blessings of luck where he could.
Chapter 14
Elliot felt only relief as he took the helmet off. He'd busted his ass outside for quite a while but it finally looked like they were making progress. Progress on many fronts he thought, noticing fewer people in the compartment.
“Everyone checking out the digs?” he asked, looking around. Major Johnson tossed him a bottle of water. The chimp snagged it out of the air then popped a straw into it. “I mean, I know it was crowded but …”
“It's awesome getting some space,” Johnson admitted, “at least for some. We've had a lot of people having tracking issues. Getting them some space is a small step to straightening that out. But they won't be fine ever again.” He shook his head.
“Yeah well, we do what we can,” Elliot said, feeling a little nettled about how they were risking life and limb and not being appreciated for the effort.
Getting outside was easy. Patching the damaged modules was tricky, but for some straight forward. It had been done for centuries after all, just not on such a large scale. Each of the modules that had been holed had been evacuated and cut off from the rest of the habitats. Getting them patched up and then repressurized took a load off of the overstressed living quarters. It also put that much more life support modules back online, even if it did give them more volume to cover. But getting the resources to replace losses wasn't his current problem. He'd left that up to General Murtough.
“Word is I'm supposed to call you general too?” the major asked, smiling to take the sting out of the question.
Elliot snorted. “Don't you start. I know they want our own rank system but come on,” he rolled his brown eyes. “Anything on docking the stations together?” he asked.
“We're still working on corralling the debris and sorting through it. It'll be at least two shifts before we can work on that,” the major admitted.
“What about you? Are you going to be taking an ark to the colonies? Get some of the civvies to safety?” Elliot asked and then took a sip of his drink. He expectantly looked at the human.
Johnson seemed to squirm then finally he shook his head. “No. My shuttle doesn't have the legs to go that distance. I pitched the idea of using that tug that brought you in but the general nixed it.”
“I see.”
“There are ferries at the colonies. Now that we're not so much of a hazard here they are supposed to be coming over to relieve some of our population load.”
Elliot grunted. He was pretty sure Lagroose would do it, but he was far less certain of the other companies. He was also fully aware that Lagroose had pulled a lot of its assets out of the area. They still had some stations, a couple of the industrial centers at L-3, L-4, and L-5, plus the O'Neill colonies Lagroose 12A and B.
“I still think it's insane to keep the station here. Turn it into some sort of complex,” the major said, shaking his head. “I know we need a platform but …”
“It's actually smart,” Elliot said, shucking his suit. He left the water bottle to drift in the zero G as he pulled his gloves off, then turned so the major could unbuckle the back of his hard suit. He was glad he had the suit; it like all the Lagroose suits had nanowires and additional shielding to protect them against cosmic and solar radiation. But the suit could only put up with so much. It couldn't handle a full-on solar flare. So far they'd had one and two scares.
“The general has the crew working on the new assignments. I'm hoping we can get the life support module in the power room sorted out.” He dodged Percy, his flight engineer. “Hey Percy, busy much?” he asked, moving away from the coil of cable the man had. He had tools covering his body.
“What's it look like?” Percy asked crossly. “I'm overworked and underpaid,” he grumbled. “They want me to make quick disconnects at all the locks. Then I've got to reroute the temporary ducting too. We just got it sorted out neat and tidy to get it out of the way, now this shit,” the engineer grumbled. Elliot shot him and the major an amused look. “And some of us have work to do, other than standing around jawing at shit,” Percy growled.
“Right. We're getting caught up. Elliot just came in from EVA,” the major said.
Percy paused and eyed the chimp, nodded once than looked at his former boss. “Wasn't talking about him. There are too many people here. Layabouts who are wringing their hands complaining they feel so helpless. It doesn't take a genius to do shit, even if it is cleaning and keeping the kids from fracking with things,” Percy said, thoroughly disgusted.
“I'll see if we can get a couple people with some engineering training to lend you a hand, Percy,” the major said.
“Oh hell. That's all I need, fumble-fingered idiots who don't know a ground line from a hot line,” Percy started to curse making the major wince. Elliot snorted then chuckled softly. He knew better than to shake his head but did so anyway out of instinct. He must be tired he thought; the motion making his body turn until he arrested the motion by grabbing a handhold.
“Tired?”
“A bit,” the chimp admitted. Most people thought EVA was easy. That working in zero G was easy. A single finger push and voila! They didn't understand it took a lot of thought to move just right; if you didn't, bad things happened. And even though everything floated they still had mass. It was very easy to get hurt if you weren't careful.
“We're reserving a module for the command center. I mean for command central. It will be tied into the station’s communications network, but of course that will be air firewalled up the ying yang,” the Major said.
Elliot nodded, gripping the hand hold tighter. “I caught that in the last meeting I think.”
“Yeah, more work for me. Yippie,” Percy said from the peanut gallery.
“Percy, quit your griping. You aren't the only engineer here so zip it,” the major said, turning to eye the man then back to Elliot. “Now that we've got more space, everyone is
scrambling to get their own staked out.”
“I hope someone did it for us since we're the ones who did the lion share of the work,” Elliot said as the lock cycled. One by one his team and the other volunteers were coming in. He racked his suit to get it out of the way then motioned the major to get out of the way. Johnson moved to the side, grabbing a handhold of his own.
He was just in time; two techs in stained but still wearable coveralls came in to lend the EVA techs a hand getting out of their suits.
“We can talk later I suppose.”
“Gossip you mean,” Percy muttered, putting a fitting on a cable. “Great, I've got all male fittings and not one female. This job sucks!” Percy complained. He started to turn the air blue around them with his cursing.
Elliot winced then floated off before Percy's sour mood infected him. He'd patched two modules this shift; it was a win in his book. He wasn't sure what Percy's problem was, but the guy had to lighten up or he was liable to get knocked flat or blow a blood vessel, the chimp thought, following the major out.
<>V<>
General Murtough looked over the reports and rubbed his brow. He wasn't certain what it meant. The robots were getting better. He didn't like the sound of that. The odd reports of them ignoring dogs though … he set that idea aside.
His fingers scrolled through the mountain of reports. They were getting in daily reports from each region now. The best were from North America; the EMP hadn't hit as hard there since the nukes hadn't hit in high numbers everywhere. There was some good news on the New England front; a small survivalist militia had survived the nukes and fallout and kept their cohesion. The second Mass led by a Colonel Weaver was kicking tin butt and not taking names he read, snorting at the quote. They called the robots mechs but that was fine. They had cleared a fourteen-kilometer zone around Salem for refugees to go to without having to worry about robotic kill teams.
Europe on the other hand had been savaged. His lips twisted in a scowl. Typical. The European nations had been so dependent on the US for their defense they'd been caught flat footed. He glanced at the one composite image of Europe they had. France looked like the moon—battered and cratered by the nuclear weapons. The same for the Ukraine. He could just image what the rest looked like, though he didn't want to. Just seeing what he was seeing now was bad enough to sicken anyone's stomach.
He noted the latest shift change. The EVA teams were coming in, they had done a lot. He nodded. He certainly appreciated their efforts, he thought, looking around the newly-restored compartment. There were still some issues with power, but it was a space. A home to call his own.
According to the latest timetable, Charlie was due in by tomorrow. Charlie had headed directly to the station instead of to one of the Lagrange points. He was relieved of that; there was no need to wait to ferry him over.
Unloading his freighter though … that was going to be a pain in the ass. Should he bring Elliot in on it? He frowned thoughtfully, and then shrugged. Most likely Elliot would have some input to contribute, but he needed a cargo master. He pulled his tablet off the wall where he'd velcroed it and then used it to scroll through his lists. He had a general TOE list. Ah, he thought, finding the personnel list. He nodded.
“Isis? Get with Takai. We need to pull some personnel and get them organized to handle the ship coming in tomorrow. She's going to need a warm reception, and that includes people to unload her. Once she's unloaded we're sending her back with as many people as we can stuff into her safely. All noncombatants,” he said. They already had a list. Most were made up of civilian tourists who had little or no training for space. Quite a few were families with kids.
“Understood, sir,” Isis said, not looking up from her own tablet. “I've already gotten George on it. I'm expecting his progress report in an hour or so.” she said. She looked up after a moment.
“Good, excellent,” the general said, smiling briefly. He was glad she was exercising some personal initiative. She like everyone on board was still wrestling with their grief, but she was starting to work the problem. That he expected of an officer, even in these trying conditions. “Stay on top of that. I understand the window to return is very short. Any delay will be a pain in the ass to deal with.”
“Yes, sir. We're on it,” Isis said with a nod.
<>V<>
Charlie looked at the image of the stations docked together and whistled. It was a frightening mess, a convoluted maze of cylinders, spheres, trusses, and such. But he could see work teams outside picking up the pieces and here and there nets of parts that had been damaged but caught. He nodded slowly.
They weren't just hunkered down, riding it out, waiting rescue. That was good. It spoke of their mental state; though he was sure Elliot had something to do with it.
He also noted a complete absence of any robotic vehicles. Also no small tugs. They did use robotic arms; Dexter's were in use all over the station network. The thing looked like some sort of mechanical organism he thought.
Docking was a bit nerve wracking but the captain got it done. When the lock cycled, he saw Elliot standing on the other side. He grinned; he couldn't help it.
“Took you long enough,” Elliot said gruffly as the chimp moved into the lock.
Charlie snorted. He'd expected the zero G so he didn't embarrass himself by floating off. Carefully he swung through the inner lock door into the docking module. “I'd ask for permission to come aboard but I'm not sure what you're thinking of this place as.”
“Not going to say anything?” Elliot demanded.
Charlie glanced at him, and then gave him a poke with one finger. “I got here as fast as I could, bub,” he said as he moved out of the way for additional people to come through. He could hear some cheering from the people on the station. He looked down through the distant lock to see people leaning in and clapping or whistling. “I'm glad we've got a warm reception. It makes up for the long crowded flight.”
“Yeah, well, at least you came straight here. Going to L-5 was a mistake,” Elliot said, rolling his eyes.
Charlie winced. “I heard. Sorry mate,” he patted Elliot on the shoulder then turned to the general and his staff. “General Murtough, I see, glad to see you in one piece, sir,” he said.
“And you too, CC, you too,” Isaac answered, smiling ever so briefly. He made quick work of the introductions then waved a hand. “We've been keeping Jack and Roman up-to-date. They've been doing the same. I'm a ground pounder, I admit it. This dealing with orbital mechanics, it's for the birds,” he growled.
Charlie snorted. “Well, my ship is here now. Others are on their way. I understand the Lagroose habitats have finally sent their ferries over. They left an hour or so ago I believe,” he said, frowning thoughtfully.
The general nodded. “Good to hear.”
“I believe they had to deal with the damage on their end first. I don't know the details,” Charlie said. He turned to Elliot. “You haven't been giving me the right reports so I'm a bit behind on what is needed here. I know you hate paperwork, but it's imperative that we communicate,” he growled.
“Whoops,” Elliot muttered.
Charlie shook his head. He had no intention of letting Elliot off the hook anytime soon. Elliot should have known better. But they did have a mission, and they had to work together so he motioned them to get moving.
The general nodded. “Right,” he said, dodging a team coming in with supplies. He liked seeing the food and balls of water, but they needed a lot more, tons for everything. And that was just to get the station up and running. Once it was they would need to turn it into a base. What he had in mind would convert the contraption of individual stations into a massive complex that would be used as a staging ground for the eventual invasion of the Earth.
Charlie's ship would serve as a temporary base of operations for the next two days while it was off loaded.
Elliot's teams and the new fresh EVA teams would work on the exterior of the complex. They were to add additional tr
anshab modules to expand the base while also disengaging and actually moving modules until they had a better system set up. Hopefully, that would serve until they pieced together enough additional habitats with the help of the L-5 factories to move the troops in.
Fuel was an issue; there was a limited supply in the area. You couldn't just draw LOX or water out of vacuum. The ice on the moon had been used up long ago. The tank farms that were at each of the Lagrange points were their only supply, so they were hoarded by the colonies and industries there.
Several had been damaged by debris. Work crews had patched them back together, but the water that had escaped had turned to snow to diffuse to pick up with their craft. If they had any to spare … which they didn't.
Every automated tug was dry docked. Some handy people had bypassed the computer to turn them into manual driven craft like Wilson had, but they hadn't been designed for a human or other operator. Adding life support and a proper cab module wasn't an option on some vessels, so the operators who volunteered had to pilot the craft in a space suit in open vacuum, exposed to the elements of space. It was not a job for the faint of heart or those who wanted to live a long life. But many experienced pilots and EVA techs volunteered anyway, despite the risks. They wanted to help; they wanted to contribute something to their own survival.
While that was going on, Charlie loaded the ship up to the deck heads with refugees in need of medical care and sent them back to Mars.
<>V<>
Zack Lagroose strode down the hall to the project's secure labs, ready to get back to where he truly belonged. He'd had enough playing liaison and shining a seat with his ass. He felt flabby, even though he'd spent a lot of that time working behind the scenes to set the boot camp up and coordinate the merging of security and MFI forces. Just getting the training syllabus down had been a headache and a half. Then there had been the various meetings Roman had drawn him into, plus the occasional favor Wendy called on him to perform. But now he was where he wanted to be, where he was destined to be. The special projects division of Lagroose security.
