First Life, page 23
part #1 of River Saga Series
“No. It’s on a loop.” Volins didn’t look proud of the deception.
I figured it was worth questioning him. “Are we in danger?”
“Don’t tell me why you’re here,” he grumbled. “Get whatever it is you seek, and leave.” He shook his head. “You’re not trying to blow anything up, are you?”
We weren’t even armed. “Nothing like that,” I admitted.
“Then you’d better hurry. The dropships leave in an hour,” he said.
“An hour?” Des barked. “We were told it was tomorrow.”
“Then I ruined the surprise.” Volins stayed at the exit, his back to us. “Don’t be too upset. They do it to all of us.” And he was gone.
Desmond and I stared at one another in the supply closet, and threw on the masks. The visors were tinted, concealing Desmond’s face. “What was that all about? He said they, not we.”
“First Leruf, now Administrator Volins, of all people…” Instead of contemplating his words, we left, continuing to our goal. We passed a few Angor on duty, but no one paid any attention to us. We were just a couple of cleaners, about to scrub a latrine. I carried the bucket, while Des used the tablet to ensure we were on the proper path.
I stopped in my tracks when I heard Indie’s voice from ahead. “Director Ulison, perhaps there’s another way. We’re willing to work with the Angor in any fashion…” The door closed, and she was gone.
We moved past the meeting room, and I lingered there momentarily, hoping I could catch another snippet of the conversation. I jogged to catch up to Desmond, who marched like he had an important task that needed tending to.
He finally reached the right location, and I turned, guarding his back as he opened the storage chamber. When he accessed it with the keycard, we slipped inside. A gentle light flickered on at our movement, and I gasped, seeing numerous rows of confiscated contraband. With my mask off, I wiped my sweating brow and explored the countless items.
“We have to find the device and return within an hour,” I told him.
Desmond’s mask fell to the floor, revealing a half-chewed toothpick between clenched teeth. “Then we’d better hurry.”
____________
By the time we entered the hangar, I’d miraculously fended off another Xeno attack. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to control them in this stressful moment, but I wasn’t going to question the blessing. It took us forty minutes to inspect the items inside the chamber, but eventually, I spotted the photo tablet under a box of chocolate-covered peanuts. Desmond snacked on the treat while I struggled to access the device.
It prompted me for a password, but I didn’t know it. The tablet still showed images from the home screen, even without being unlocked, and it flashed through photos of my childhood. My parents’ wedding day. Dad’s first promotion at his old job. Instead of becoming caught up in old memories, I put the tablet away.
We returned to the training facility, which was empty except for a few Angor cleaning it up. The screens had already been dismantled, and the lights were dim. After a confusing conversation, one of the Angor communicated to their personnel officers, and we learned what hangar Team Blue was departing from.
Relief shone from our friends’ faces the second we ran into the bay. Abbyl stared at the pair of us. Most of Orange had already entered the dropship. They looked small in the hangar, but were entirely capable of carrying a full team to the surface.
“Miya, you don’t want to miss your ride,” I told her. She rushed me before embracing Desmond.
“Did you get it?” she whispered.
“I did.” We’d been hoping for a full night to break the password, but that was out of the question now.
“We can deal with it on Dicore,” she said.
Willow and Carly waited for her near the boxy vessel’s ramp, as the last members of Team Orange entered their transport.
“Where were you?” Abbyl watched me, then Desmond.
“I told you.” Franklin arrived. “Col isn’t feeling well.”
She appraised me. “You were fine an hour ago.”
It probably helped that I was covered in sweat from wearing two uniforms simultaneously. We’d ditched the blue ones and masks before venturing back to our half of the ship. “Probably something I ate.”
Desmond nodded. “Didn’t want to leave him behind. I had to drag him out of the bathroom.”
“Board the craft,” Abbyl said. Her smile had vanished.
Ambrose tapped his toes impatiently. “What took you so long?”
“Never mind, Ambrose,” I said.
The dropship was quite basic in design. There was a Vezo in the cockpit, piloting us. Then we had four rows, facing off in pairs. I sat with Franklin, Desmond, and Adley. Of course Ambrose was beside her. Now I understood his change of attitude. Since she was part of our smaller group, he wanted to ingratiate himself with us. I couldn’t blame the guy for trying.
I glanced at the doors, wishing I could see Indie one more time before Dicore. This was happening so suddenly. Administrator Volins had told us the footage was altered, and then they’d accelerated the plans without our consent.
“It’s a common tactic,” Des told us as the dropship’s exit sealed. Our packs were stowed to my left, and I spotted my brown bag.
“What is?” Ambrose asked.
“Changing plans at the last second creates confusion. We’ve been building this up for a few months, expecting to leave tomorrow. The Angor took away any sense of complacency we were holding on to,” he said.
Steven sat across from us, cleaning his glasses with his sleeve. There were no Angor on this ship, and for some reason, that made me feel better. My chest was still constricted, my heart beating faster than normal, but the pressure kept my concentration.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Steven said.
“Sure you can.” Desmond smirked at him, rising to his feet. There were no windows or screens available, but I’d already felt us lifting from the hangar. I suspected we were on our way to Dicore as we spoke. “Team Blue, we’re about to face something new, a planet no human has ever beheld. There is little information available, but I am confident that we’re up to the challenge, whatever it is. Our colony will be established with courage, strength, and teamwork.”
My friend’s words struck a chord. Franklin held his chin up, and even Ambrose appeared to be motivated. We’d briefly warned our team of the dangers they might encounter. The team had accepted the news without any issues. They trusted Desmond to take care of us, and I hoped that was enough.
“When those doors open, and we inhale our first breaths on Dicore, we do it as Team Blue. Protect one another like we practiced. If anything happens to me, I want you to listen to Franklin and Colton.” Des hovered two fingers toward us.
“You’re worrying me,” Gwen, our resident doctor, said. She was an older lady, with a puff of white hair and a youthful gait.
“Perhaps my concerns will be unjustified.” Des returned to his seat as the dropship shook within Dicore’s atmosphere. I wished we had a visual, but for now, there was nothing we could do but stare at each other.
During our descent, I began to distract myself by pondering what my father would have chosen for a password. Using my Angor-issued tablet, I noted a few possibilities, deciding to try them later. I had about ten options, but none of them felt right. Variances on our old address, or birthdays. My dad wouldn’t have used any of those. Not the man that had raised me. He liked to think he was a tough guy, but he was softer than he gave himself credit for.
When I’d first heard he was a Loyalist, it had pissed me off. Until a few months ago, I’d had no idea how widespread the distaste for the Angor was, mostly because I’d sealed myself off from the world. Living on the barges, working twelve-hour days before retiring to my private quarters. My Xeno gave me an excuse not to become close to people, so I never really had any genuine friends. I’d led a lonely existence, but now, flying to Dicore, I felt like I was among colleagues.
The brief future I had remaining was burning up quickly, and despite the trepidation I felt at our imminent arrival on the colony world, I was ready for whatever came. If I could help these people accomplish their goals, then I’d do so at any cost.
But I’d spent nearly a decade in Fayetteville with my parents after the Angor came, and had heard countless tales of customers’ distaste for the occupation.
“You have that look again, Beck,” Ambrose said.
“And what is that?” I asked him.
“That smug expression. You’re hiding something,” he muttered.
“I am.”
“Then out with it. I thought we were a team.” Ambrose crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at me.
“I’m sorry. That’s not going to happen.” I smirked and felt the trajectory change. The straps dug into my shoulders as the dropship erratically lowered.
“My apologies.” The pilot’s translation echoed from the speakers above. We moved to the side again, this time harder. The gear in the cargo cage rattled and shook.
People around us were talking about the weather outside. Wondering what kind of terrain we were landing on, and where the other teams were being set. I overheard a man and woman betting on how long it would take before the River Checkpoint was built. They were plotting a decade into the future, and here I was, trying to survive this drop point. Their enthusiasm for Dicore was comforting. Hopefully, that didn’t change in the next few minutes.
The dropship thrust us down and forward. We must have crossed a jet stream, because we shook violently again. Then it was smooth sailing until the landing gear protruded. It vibrated the floor, and Desmond kept his eyes closed, as if he was certain that things would spiral.
The pilot stayed planted in his seat. “Remove your gear.” He remained still in the barricade between us.
“Welcome to Dicore.” Franklin took the lead, unstrapping first. Soon we were all up, unclasping the storage compartments to grab our packs and begin unloading our supplies. We’d been given ten crates in total, but the contents remained a mystery.
“What are you waiting for?” Desmond asked a group of lingering Team Blue members at the ramp.
“For you, Desmond. You’re in charge. It’s only fitting you get to land on Dicore’s soil before us,” Len told him. The small man had worked for the last twenty years on a sustainable water business in the Middle East, under the Angor’s direction.
Desmond stepped down the short flight and stopped a foot shy of the surface. I joined him and looked out to the horizon. The sun had a reddish tinge, but otherwise seemed familiar. There were hills in the area, leading to a mountainous range some miles in the distance.
“Wait, where are the other teams?” Adley asked.
I spotted one descending a couple miles ahead and gestured to it. Another came into view on the right. “We’re being dropped off in different locations.”
“You heard the Vezo. Bring the gear!” Desmond walked onto the ground. It was covered in a fine red shale. I crouched, rubbing some of it between my fingers. It was almost greasy. There were patches of vegetation, just not in the immediate area. The air held a sharp scent to it, like we were downwind from a mineral mine.
“What is this?” Franklin kicked at the shale, and I shrugged.
“Better get used to it.” I’d been so nervous the Angor would betray us, but as far as I could tell, there was nothing around for miles in any direction. We didn’t have a good lay of the land, since our arrival had been shrouded in mystery.
I ran up the steps, helping a couple of the guys carry our crates outside. We made fast work, with all one hundred people pitching in, and I scoured the dropship, ensuring we’d left nothing behind. The pilot stayed in the cockpit, and had a clear barrier erected between himself and its rear. “Can you tell us what we’re supposed to do now?”
After a few seconds, he turned to face me. “That’s not my job. Tell your Lead to check his tablet. There should be incoming. Now if you don’t mind, I have other orders to carry out.”
“Don’t let me keep you.” I exited the dropship, and the ramp began to recess even before I was clear. I spread out as the thrusters kicked on, shooting our only mode of transportation into the sky.
Team Blue was alone on Dicore.
“What’s first, Des?” Franklin asked.
“Prime the weapons,” he whispered. “We’re setting up camp.”
His tablet beeped, and he retrieved it hastily. A map showed our position on a satellite image. There was a red X quite a distance from us. “It appears we have an objective.”
SIXTEEN
“That’s forty miles!” Franklin grabbed the tablet, using the program to determine the distance.
“As the crow flies.” I gawked toward the mountains. “I have a feeling it’s a lot farther to reach the X.”
Desmond appraised the image as he sat on one of the crates. “Why do this?”
“What?” Franklin asked.
Des waved his arm around. “Any of this. Bring us to Dicore and throw us to the wolves.”
“It’s a test. That’s why Volins felt bad for us. And Leruf.”
“I was expecting something worse. He said we needed safety in numbers.” Des’ eyes were wide as he surveyed the landscape. There wasn’t much to see from our vantage point, but we were lower than most of the terrain. I gazed at the satellite image again, where a colorful display of small dots littered the map.
“These are the other dropships,” I said.
Franklin looked over my shoulder. “You certain?”
“Have to be.”
“Which one do you think is Orange?” he asked.
“Let’s find out.” I pulled the earpiece from my pocket and stuck it into my right ear. Miya had made it as simple as possible, by creating a solitary link between them. The question was, would we have a network to feed off of? She’d connected it to the one on Palora, assuming the primary ship was remaining in orbit. “Team Orange, come in. This is Beck of Team Blue.”
Nothing.
“Team Orange, do you copy?” I watched the nervous people milling about, wandering the edge of our camp. One young soldier went beyond the last crate, walking toward a hillside.
“Justin, stay put!” Desmond ordered, and he stopped, returning to our group. “We have no clue what we’re looking at here.” Des hopped from the crate and surveyed the site. “The Angor have given us a destination. We’re going to bring our supplies, set up camp each night, and protect the team at all costs. The terrain isn’t lush and forgiving, but we’ll do all right. If we can manage ten miles a day, we should be able to finish this within a week.”
His optimism was commendable. The crates each weighed about three hundred pounds or so, and we’d brought ten. I wasn’t the only one who was concerned with this. “What about those things? Can we leave them? We could make a hell of a lot faster time without the burden. Arrive in two or three days.” Justin had been trained by one of the Angor military facilities in Alaska, making him an asset.
“It’s part of the exercise, or they wouldn’t have given them to us. Remember what they preached. Self-preservation. Water drilling techniques. Fire making. Camp basics,” Franklin said.
“Not to mention how to blow a hole the size of a basketball into a metal target,” someone shouted from the rear of the group.
“Where are the guns? I’d take a GR-852,” another voice said.
Desmond jumped onto the farthest crate and whistled with two fingers in his mouth. “That’s enough. This could be life and death. Dicore may seem calm, but I have a feeling there are as many things vying to kill us as on Earth. Pick a buddy. Watch and protect each other. Never leave them.”
People starting chatting, and he raised a hand. “Now!”
They wandered off in pairs. Ambrose was close by, and he asked Adley to be his “buddy.” She rolled her eyes, but sighed and said yes. Soon the entire camp was paired off, and Desmond didn’t even have to intervene.
“Don’t worry, Colton, my friend,” Des said, returning to our side. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He smirked. Franklin and Steven became a duo, and it was done.
“I want an inventory of everything we have.” Des stared at the sky, probably trying to gauge how much daylight we had remaining. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a clue. “Catalogue everything.”
He appointed two inventory specialists, and they began giving orders to the rest of the team. “I hope we have sufficient food. A hundred people can go through supplies quickly.”
“It’s water we need,” Franklin said. “Five days. A week. Ten days, even. We can temporarily survive without sustenance. But water will keep us alive.”
“Then I pray they packed us some,” Des muttered.
While everyone worked on distributing our gear, I repeatedly tested the earpiece. I heard a voice, but it wasn’t Miya or Willow. “Beck, is that you?” Bull asked.
“Team Black. Where are you?” I inquired, holding the map in front of me.
“You were right. What an irritation, dropping us off in the middle of nowhere. What kind of game is this?” Bull sounded pissed.
“I guess they want to test our capabilities. Maybe it’s just a rite of passage for their partners,” I said.
“Either way, Gordon isn’t pleased.” I heard him mutter to someone else; then he was back. “You see the triangle of peaks in the lower right corner?”
I searched the map, locating that landmark. “Got it.”
“We’re smack dab in the middle of it.” That put them a good ten miles nearer to the colony’s ground zero.
I explained our location. “Tough break. Guess we should attempt to meet up. Let me talk it over with Gordon, and we’ll come up with a solution.”
I let him go. It was time to help set up our camp for the first night. The air was sticky, a humid heat I wasn’t expecting in this arid land. I tried to determine whether the star had moved in the sky, and found I couldn’t tell yet. If it had, Dicore was spinning very slowly.
An hour later, we’d spread our gear out on the shale, and each piece was itemized in a comprehensive list. Des and I assessed the spreadsheet. “This is worse than I thought,” he said.
