Colony B Box Set

by Michael Campling

  Alan nodded, his laughter gone. “Good idea. Follow me.” Alan broke cover and dashed toward Mac’s cottage, but instead of heading through the garden and making straight for the window, he veered around the tangle of vines and headed around the side of the house. Calum followed, keeping pace. Good call, he thought. Mac’s house had no close neighbors, so once around the back, Alan and Calum would be able to move around freely without being spotted.

  “Over here,” Alan called over his shoulder, keeping his voice low, then he rounded the corner of Mac’s house and came to a sudden halt.

  Calum stumbled to a stop beside him. “What?”

  “Sh!” Alan held up a warning finger then gestured toward the single rear window. “Take it easy,” he whispered. “There could be someone else inside.”

  “We didn’t see anyone going in,” Calum offered, but that didn’t prove a thing. Calum thought of the two men he’d seen carrying the crate. Where were they? Could they still be inside, or had they gone off on another scavenging mission for Mac? Perhaps they were, even now, heading toward Mac’s house with another crate of stolen supplies.

  “I’ll take a look,” Alan said. He pressed himself back against the metal wall of the house and edged toward the window. Calum followed suit, glancing nervously from side to side.

  “I can’t hear anybody moving around,” Alan murmured, then he took a cautious peep through the window, but only for a second. He looked back to Calum, frowning. “It’s no good. It’s too dark inside.”

  “Let me try,” Calum said. He crept to the window, holding his breath, every muscle tensed. He half expected Mac to appear at the window at any second, eyes burning with anger, but there was no sign of life from inside, and the house had an air of emptiness. Calum moved close to the single pane of grime-streaked glass, holding his hands around his eyes to cut out the reflections, but Alan had been right. It was gloomy inside, and apart from a few mugs on the kitchen table, Calum could hardly see a thing. “I can’t see the crate. We should go back and keep watch. Maybe someone will turn up with more suits.”

  Alan wrinkled his nose. “I’m done with hiding. Let’s go inside. Try the door.”

  “What?” Calum studied the small back door, its metal plates dented and scored. “No. It’s too risky. It’ll be locked anyway.”

  “Nobody locks their doors in the daytime, not even Mac.”

  Calum opened his mouth to object, but before he could say a word, Alan sauntered up to the back door and turned the handle, pushing the door open as though he owned the place.

  “Wait!” Calum said, his voice tight with anxiety. But Alan gave him a cheeky grin and marched inside, disappearing from view.

  Calum let out a hiss of frustration. He’d have to stop Alan right now before he went too far. If necessary, he’d have to drag his friend out the door whether he liked it or not.

  Calum took a quick look around then squared his shoulders and strode in through the door. “Alan, we’ve got to get out of here. Right this second. I mean it.”

  But Alan slowly shook his head. “We can’t go now. Look.”

  He pointed toward the kitchen table, and when Calum followed his friend’s outstretched arm, his eyes went wide. “Hell! I was right!”

  The bright orange crate was on the floor under the table, and since the table was close to the wall, they hadn’t been able to see what lay beneath it from outside. A piece of rough-cut tarp was laid over the top of the crate as if Mac had made a half-hearted attempt to conceal it from prying eyes, but he clearly hadn’t expected visitors. The side of the crate was plain to see, and Calum chewed his lip as he read the warning labels plastered across the orange aluminum. There was no doubt now. This was a suit storage crate and almost certainly the one he’d seen the men carrying down the hill. But there was no way to know for sure what it contained. He turned to Alan. “You know we can’t open it, right?”

  Alan’s frown creased his brow. “I’m not stupid. I don’t even want to touch it. It could be contaminated. Probably is.”

  “Okay then. We’ve seen what we came to see. Let’s go.”

  “Hang on.” Alan crossed the small room, his eyes everywhere. “We should look around. Maybe we can find something else, something we can take back and show the council.”

  “No. That’s just asking for trouble.” Calum stepped back toward the door, beckoning his friend to follow. “Come on, let’s go.”

  But Alan was already opening a cupboard and peering inside. “Nothing here.”

  “So leave it,” Calum insisted, but Alan carried on as though he hadn’t heard, opening a drawer and rifling through its contents before moving on to the next one.

  Calum stared in disbelief. “What the hell? This is just stupid. For God’s sake, you’ve left that drawer open.” He went to close the drawer, but Alan stood in the way, his eyes alive with excitement.

  “Oh my God!” Alan breathed. He grabbed Calum’s arm.

  “What?” Calum shook his arm free. “What’s gotten into you? You’re acting crazy. We have to—”

  “Shush!” Alan held up his hand, then slowly, he pointed to the floor beneath his feet. “Do you see what I’m standing on?”

  Calum shrugged. “A rug. Well, a patch cut from an old carpet or something. So what?”

  “It took me a second to notice, but listen.” Alan stamped his foot, the sound of his boot hitting the metal floor seeming unnaturally loud in the small room. He looked into Calum’s eyes. “Get it.”

  “Get what?” Calum stepped back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” But his words were drowned out by Alan stamping on the floor, harder this time, again and again. And Calum understood. “Holy shit! It’s hollow.”

  Alan grinned and kicked the rug aside, revealing a flat, rectangular sheet of smooth metal set into the scuffed floor. “You see? A trapdoor. He’s got a cellar.”

  Calum froze on the spot, his lips moving wordlessly. This is too weird, he told himself. If we open it, we’ll be stepping over a line. But his instincts argued that he couldn’t walk away from this. He’d set out on a path and now, he had to go further. He had to know.

  He looked up, meeting Alan’s gaze. “You’re right. If there’s anything hidden in here, that’s where it’ll be.” He swallowed. “Open it up.”

  Alan bent and forced his fingertips into the slim gap where the metal sheet met the floor, then he straightened his back, pulling the improvised trapdoor upward, yanking it free from its tight home. Calum stood by, his mouth suddenly dry, his breathing shallow, his eyes fixed on the yawning darkness beneath the metal sheet. And when Alan set the door aside, together, the two friends leaned forward, craning their necks to peer into the brooding void below their very feet.

  CHAPTER 4

  Truck Two

  Siobhan pulled out a chair. “Seriously, Parry, why don’t you sit down? Ben, Cate, please.” She gestured toward the circle of chairs she’d set out in the center of the truck’s main compartment, but the new arrivals stood their ground, their expressions grim. And all three of them cradled their rifles to their chests. Siobhan made a point of frowning at the weapons they were carrying. Stubborn jerks, she thought, but she didn’t say anything out loud. She’d tried to convince Parry and the others to put their guns aside before they met the truck’s crew. A heavily armed reception committee was bound to upset Sue and Thaddeus, and it was certain to stoke the fires of Alec’s anger. But Parry had dismissed her arguments, and Ben and Cate had followed his lead. Now, Siobhan sighed under her breath and took her own seat, sitting down heavily and folding her arms. If they didn’t have the sense to listen to her, then she wasn’t going to waste any more time arguing with them.

  “I know you mean well, Siobhan,” Parry said, “but when your dad brings this guy out, we need him to see that we mean business.”

  Siobhan tried not to roll her eyes too dramatically. “Please yourselves, but there’s nothing to be uptight about. Dad can handle Alec.”

  Parry nodded. “I know. We
’re not going to start anything, but you said that Alec was in command of this truck. His instinct will be to defend his territory. If he sees a chance to throw us out and take off, he’ll go for it. Believe me.”

  “You mean, that’s what you’d do,” Siobhan said.

  “Damn right.” Parry stood still then tilted his head to one side. “No more talking now. I hear them coming.”

  Siobhan turned in her seat, and sure enough, Sue and Thaddeus were emerging from the short corridor at the front of the truck. They glanced nervously at Parry and the others then took a few steps toward the circle of chairs, moving hesitantly and keeping to the edge of the compartment. Next, Alec appeared, striding confidently forward, his head held high and his shoulders square. A moment later, Jim Clennan hurried in, but Alec ignored him and marched straight across the compartment toward the chairs. For a split second, Siobhan thought Alec might charge headlong into Parry, but he stopped short, and the two men stared at each other in defiant silence.

  Connor strolled into the compartment at a brisk pace, rubbing his hands together, looking for all the world like an enthusiastic teacher about to address his class. “Okay, everybody, sit down, please. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can resolve the situation.”

  “Suits me,” Alec said. He pulled out the nearest seat and sat down, his back straight and his hands resting on his thighs. Jim sat on Alec’s left, then Sue and Thaddeus stepped forward and took the seats on Alec’s right.

  They don’t want to sit next to Jim, Siobhan thought. Interesting.

  Connor stood quietly, waiting, but Parry, Cate, and Ben didn’t move.

  “Come on, guys,” Connor said firmly. “Sit down. And please, put your rifles over by the door—you don’t need them here.”

  Ben took half a step forward, but Parry put out a hand to stop him. “We’ll stay standing,” Parry stated. “And we’ll keep our rifles if it’s all the same to you.”

  Connor raised his voice. “No, goddammit! It is not the same to me. Now, please do as I ask, Parry. And let’s see what we can do to straighten this mess out.”

  A tense silence hung in the air while Connor, Parry, and Alec engaged in a three-way staring match. For God’s sake, Siobhan thought. Men! She shook her head in dismay. It looked as though it was up to her to break the stalemate. “Parry, perhaps you could sit down and put your rifle on the floor for now. It’ll be right next to you, but we can all talk a little easier if everyone has their hands free. What do you say?”

  Connor gave an approving smile, but he didn’t say anything; he didn’t need to.

  Parry drew a deep breath. “All right. Seems like a reasonable compromise.” He sat down and laid his rifle on the floor, keeping his eyes on Alec. Ben and Cate followed suit, taking the seats on either side of Parry.

  “Good.” Connor sat next to Siobhan and leaned forward, scanning his audience. “The first thing to say is this—nobody wants to engage in further conflict. Let’s not forget that one man has lost his life already. Finn’s death was pointless, and if we have any more fighting between the two sides, it can only hurt us both.”

  “Then, you’ll let us complete our mission?” Alec asked. “You’ll allow us to take the truck and rejoin the fleet?”

  Parry let out a snort of contempt. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Connor held up his hand for quiet. “With respect, Alec, it isn’t as simple as that.”

  “I disagree,” Alec stated. “We have a job to do. We’re carrying out a lawful mission sanctioned by the Galactic Resettlement Corps. We’ve worked hard for the last seven years, and we have a schedule to keep.”

  “A schedule of slaughter,” Siobhan blurted. She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, but she wasn’t going to let Alec get away with that kind of bullshit. “So what, you’re just following orders? Is that it? Is that your justification for destroying every living thing in this world?”

  Alec stared back at her, his eyes cold. “You know damned well that this planet was supposed to be uninhabited. And yes, I follow orders, because if I don’t, thousands of settlers will be stranded in deep space without the fuel to reach their new homes. Do you want that on your conscience, Siobhan? Because I’m damned if I do.”

  Siobhan narrowed her eyes. “I’ll bet those settlers are still back on Earth. You already said you haven’t finished your mission, and the grunge sure doesn’t look like any kind of fuel to me. I’ll bet there’s nobody on their way here, not yet, anyhow. It’s not too late to stop this. You’ll just have to tell them to come up with another plan.”

  “That easy, huh?” Alec asked. “Have you any idea what you’re talking about? This sector has five planets with the potential to host long-term colonies. Five! Think of that, Siobhan. That’s a lot of homes for families just like yours.” He turned to Connor. “You understand. You were colonists yourselves. You were looking forward to a fresh start, weren’t you?”

  “We relied on the GRC,” Ben put in, “and look where that got us.”

  Alec nodded solemnly. “Your ship broke up. I heard the distress signal.”

  Parry stood up so quickly his chair toppled behind him. His face was white with rage, and when he spoke, his words were edged with steel. “You knew? You knew our ship went down, but you did nothing? You son of a bitch!” He lunged across the room, arms outstretched to grab hold of Alec, but Connor was suddenly standing between them. He put his hand on Parry’s chest. “Stand down!”

  Parry bared his teeth. “Did you hear what he just said? They knew all about it, those bastards! And they did nothing to help. We struggled every damned day to scrape out a living on this godforsaken rock while they drove around the place eating three squares a day and bitching about the air-con.”

  Siobhan jumped to her feet and stood at her father’s side. “Sit down, Parry. This isn’t the way.”

  For a heartbeat, Parry stared at her, his face twisted in anger, but then he stepped back, breathing hard. He looked Connor in the eye. “You have to tell him how it’s going to be, Connor. You have to make him understand. They can’t treat us like this. There’s no way we can let his stand.”

  “I know,” Connor said calmly. “But we have to go about this the right way, Parry. We have to be smarter than this. We need to find a way forward before the situation gets out of hand. For all we know, the other five trucks could be gunning for us right now. What do you want to do, go down in a blaze of glory?”

  Parry threw Connor an icy look. “You know damned well that’s not what I want. But I’m not going to stand back and wave these jerks goodbye.”

  Connor crossed to Parry’s chair and picked it up, setting it back in its place. “Just, sit back down, would you? Give Alec a chance to explain. I want to hear what he has to say.”

  “Okay, I’ll go along with it for now,” Parry said. “But it had better be good.” He returned to his place and sat down, leaning toward Alec. “Let’s hear it.”

  Alec cast a glance around the group, and Siobhan took in the way Sue and Thaddeus were staring at him, their eyebrows lowered. They didn’t know about the distress signal, she realized. They’re hearing this for the first time.

  “I understand your concern,” Alec began. “But it wasn’t like you assume.” He cleared his throat, his eyes flicking to Sue and Thaddeus before settling on Connor. “When your ship went down, we picked up a distress signal, but it was clear that there was nothing we could do. We tracked some kind of shuttle, but it was in deep trouble and it was heading out over the ocean. We had no way to reach it, and we couldn’t raise them on our comms. We tried, we really did.”

  “That tallies with our recordings,” Ben put in. “We always knew the other lander was out of control when it hit the atmosphere.”

  “But our lander sent out distress signals too,” Cate protested. “Are you saying you didn’t hear them?”

  Alec nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. You know how comms on this planet are sketchy at the best of times, but they were especi
ally bad near that high ground where you’ve been living.”

  “That’s true,” Ben said. “There’s a magnetic anomaly in that whole area. We think it’s because of the underlying bedrock, but—”

  “That’s all well and good,” Parry interrupted, “but didn’t you think to take a look around? Didn’t you send out search parties?”

  Alec held out his hands, his fingers stretched wide. “Where would we have looked? As far as we knew, the only survivors were heading out over the water. We had absolutely no idea there were two landing craft. No idea at all.”

  For a full five seconds no one spoke, then Thaddeus raised his hand. “Excuse me, Alec, but did no one think to tell the rest of the crew?” He looked at Sue. “I mean, you didn’t know about this did you?”

  Sue shook her head firmly. “Of course not.”

  “There was no sense in upsetting everyone,” Alec said. “There was nothing to be done. We didn’t even tell the other pilots until recently. That was Doctor Teare’s decision.”

  Thaddeus grunted and looked away from Alec, but Sue turned to Connor and Siobhan, her eyes soft. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “That’s just about the worst thing I ever heard. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Sue, it’s not your fault,” Siobhan said. She hesitated, looking around the group, searching their expressions. There had to be someone who could make Alec see sense. Her gaze fell on Jim. He’d been quiet so far, but she’d managed to get him to help before; perhaps now, he could be the go-between for both sides. “Jim, what do you want to do?”

  Jim looked up with a start. “Me? I figured I’d go back to your settlement or whatever you call it and wait for the rescue mission.” He shrugged. “Seems like the only option to me.”

  “But what about the other trucks?” Siobhan asked. “Are you content to just let them get away with what they’re doing?”