Alone in the Dark, page 22
part #3 of Lunar Age Series
The first thing I did was to tear up the note. I got dressed in the dark and then quietly said, “Okay, Kat, she said to trust you. Let’s see if we can sneak out of the house without waking up my parents. We made it down the stairs and out the door without alarming anyone. Kat led me through the quiet halls of the Habitat, scurrying along at some points and pausing at others. No one saw us. At the lock doors to the Vehicle Bay, she sat down and watched as I opened the door to the bay. The note had said that Kat would remain behind and provide me support. I had no way of triggering the outer lock doors from Megan II so I had to believe that somehow Kat was going to handle the doors for me, either that, or this was going to be a very short trip.
I made my way to Megan II and climbed on board. I was almost finished with the power up checklist for the rover, when the lock warning lights started flashing to warn that the doors were about to open. I pulled Megan around and into the airlock. The doors swung closed and then I watched the internal pressure gauge in Megan to make sure the rover really was sealed up and I wasn’t loosing any life giving air. Soon the pump down was complete and the wide vehicle doors swung open. I pulled Megan around and into the second of the lock chambers. The doors closed behind me. While I was waiting for the third door set to open, I couldn’t help wondering how much trouble I was going to be in if anyone discovered this little joy ride. I was trained on the rovers and had permission to drive them, but the safety standard said you never did this alone. They also said in a case like this, you didn’t go out in a rover without wearing a pressure suit. With the fresh injuries to my ribs, I don’t think I could have got one on in a reasonable amount of time anyways. Time we didn’t seem to have.
I made it on out to the landing pad where the USSF CLT30 sat waiting for me. I felt really exposed. I could see the ruined CLT30 laying on its side by the edge of the pad and couldn’t help thinking that the CLT30 sitting before me had to be under all kinds of scrutiny to prevent a repeat of the sabotage the other CLT30 had suffered. With everybody watching the USSF CLT30, here I was trying to sneak someone off it. I was pretty sure that Habitat security would be waiting for me when I got back.
I had been worried about mating airlocks with the CLT30 because I had never done that procedure before. The lock for the big rovers was on the back. Megan II had the side lock. It turned out the monitor you watched while lining up had visual telltales to get you close. Once you were in position, the rover wheels pirouetted ninety degrees and the rover autonomously approached the CLT30 sideways. Once we were in place, I hit the switch and the cabin rose up to the right height for the locks to match. The locks automatically extended and engaged and I had a green light on my dashboard showing I had a safe lock with the CLT30. I got up from the driver’s seat and moved over to the lock as two quick raps came from the door. I opened the door and a woman with sharp green eyes and short dark hair was looking at me. She turned to the flight officer behind her, said a brief word of thanks, and then handed me her duffel bag as I backed out of the way to let her in the cabin.
She wasn’t what I had been expecting. She was petite. She didn’t look like she could hurt a fly. When Dr. Ashton said she needed someone retrieved from the CLT30, I assumed it was someone to protect her. The conversation Sam and I had about the mysterious passenger on the CLT30 left me with the impression that it was some kind of spy. What I was expecting was a man or woman patterned after the hero from one of the latest adventure movies. You know, someone who could kick some butt and intimidate you just by looking at you. This lady looked like a librarian. She must have sensed what I was thinking because the first words out of her mouth after I got the lock closed up were, “Not quite what you were expecting, am I?”
“No, uh, oh, hi. I’m Bryce.”
I stuck my hand out to shake hers. She looked down at my hand, then reached out to take mine slowly. She said, “Hello, Bryce. It’s probably safer for you, the less you know about me. If you think about this night after today, just go with whatever you were imagining before I got here. Now, perhaps we should git while the gittings good? Kat can’t wait for us forever.”
I jumped in the driver’s seat and hit the switch to lower the cabin. As soon as we were down, I scuttled the rover sideways, out away from the CLT30 and then switched the wheels back into the normal driving mode. With the rover headed back to the habitat, I said, “So you know about Kat?”
“Elina said you were smart. Why are you asking questions?”
“Oh, sorry. I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m a little nervous.”
She gave me a brief smile, and with a gentler voice said, “Elina trusts you with her life. Kat likes you. That’s good enough for me. What I’m concerned about is you. You need to forget this ever happened. If we meet again, remember to act like we’ve never met before. Get me to the Habitat. Go home, go back to sleep, forget this ever happened and never, ever mention it to anyone.”
We did the rest of the trip in silence. Kat must have been watching the monitors, because as I pulled up to the first airlock door, the doors swung open so I could pull in.We made it through the remaining locks and I pulled Megan up to where she had been parked before. That’s when I realized there was a flaw in the plan.
“Oh crap, what do I do about the logs? We used power and air from Megan. If the trip isn’t logged, then the power and air won’t be replaced. The next time someone goes to use the rover, they’ll discover the shortage.”
“Don’t worry about it. The logs have been adjusted to make up the difference. There’s a note in the log complaining about a small leak. The rover is down until it’s serviced. It’s okay, we’ve got this covered.”
I opened the door and exited the rover. I watched as my guest came down the stairs and immediately noted from the way she walked that she had never been to the Moon before. She was going to stick out like a sore thumb because no one new from Earth had arrived for months, not counting the Marines.
“You walk like someone just up from Earth.”
“Yep, I know. It’s not like anyone will see me for the next couple of days.”
By then we had cleared the doors back into the Habitat. Without a word, she headed off down the hall towards administration. Kat was on the ground at my feet and gave me a short “Meow” hello. She led me back to my house and disappeared as I entered the door. I fell asleep as I laid there wondering if I had just dreamed the whole thing.
GOODBYE & OTHER SURPRISES
Breakfast in the morning was bright and cheerful and noisy. Myra had called early and somehow managed to talk my mom into dumping me out of bed. Maybe Mom felt she and Dad needed a little more alone time. Between the stress of the long journey, yesterday’s events, and my middle of the night wanderings, I really, really wanted to just stay in bed. Myra was a force of nature this morning and not one to be denied so after barely letting me get cleaned up and dressed, she dragged me down to the cafeteria. Part of the reason for her over the top exuberance, this morning was Kat was accompanying her. She’d woke up this morning snuggling with Kat, who had chosen to suddenly reappear this morning. That made me think about my little middle of the night adventure and wonder what the mysterious newcomer and Dr. Ashton were up to this morning. Obviously, they had decided there wasn’t an immediate need for Kat’s services.
There still weren’t as many breakfast choices as I would have wished, but we both grabbed some food and made our way over to a table where Paul was waiting.
Myra set her food down next to Paul and then gave him a hug and kiss before saying, “Good morning, sweet stuff”
Paul yawned, gave me a nod and said, “Morning.”
I sat down across from them and tiredly said, “Morning, I see she dragged you out of bed, too.”
“Yeah, Kat is back. You’re back. Your mom is back, and now Myra doesn’t have to try to make the Farm work all by herself. She wanted to celebrate a little.”
I just stared at Paul for a minute. Paul rarely says much. The sentence he just uttered was the most I’d ever heard him say at one sitting. Before I could respond, Nina and Ananyu plopped down on either side of me with their breakfasts. Well, Nina plopped, Ananyu was too graceful to ever plop, she quickly, but gently settled in next to me. Another round of “Good mornings” swept through our group and then Nina said, “Hey, Kat is back. What else is new?” Laughing, she leaned over and gave me a hug and said, ”Welcome back, Bryce. Tell us all about your trip.”
Between bites of breakfast and everyone’s questions I had almost managed to get the tale of my adventure to the arrival at the Far Side Observatory when a tall figure I hadn’t expected to see appeared next to Myra. Lieutenant Hughes was holding a tray with his breakfast and looking down at me. He said, “Bryce, would you mind if I joined you for breakfast?”
“Sure, Lieutenant Hughes, have a seat.”
With a brief glance at Kat, who was sitting on Myra’s lap, the Lieutenant sat down, gave a quick greeting to everyone, and began eating his breakfast. I was sitting there, very surprised that the Lieutenant had joined us for breakfast, but before I could ask about it, an incensed Myra spoke up.
“You’re not taking her from me.”
The Lieutenant calmly finished swallowing his food, took a drink of water and then said, “No, Miss Cherneski, I am not going to take Kat from you. Kat is outside the purview my orders. That said, I am concerned for your safety.”
“I’m safe with Kat. She and Bryce saved my life yesterday.”
“Miss Cherneski, I didn’t intend to come here and have a confrontation with you this morning. As long as you brought it up, you were going to get saved yesterday, either by my Marines or your friend. I’d like to think we could have done it without the complications your friend’s actions entailed. Kat saved you by pumping fifteen thousand volts through a woman’s brain stem. She could have died. My medic had to restart her breathing. As it is, she’s suffering from both long and short term after effects, memory loss being the most serious issue.”
“She had a gun to my head, Lieutenant. I’m having a little trouble feeling much sympathy for the woman.”
“Perhaps not. I think you—”
Clearly, the Lieutenant was on Myra’s bad side and I didn’t think he had much chance of improving the situation. I was sure he had sat down to talk to me so I tried to get back in the conversation by interrupting him to ask, “What complications?”
The Lieutenant paused and took another bite of his breakfast and then said, “There are two. The first is relatively minor, but may cause Miss Cherneski problems in the future. During the rescue, Kat revealed behaviors that will bring unwanted questions and attention. Those UN Monitors will be reporting back to their countries. I’d downplay Kat’s role in your rescue and keep a low profile for a while , if I were you.”
He said the last looking at Myra with no trace of animosity. Myra responded by shifting her anger to concern and held Kat tighter.
I said, “What was the other concern?”
“You were correct in everything you said about Regina yesterday. She did make a lot of stupid decisions and yet, she had an organization that let her take control of the habitat.”
“She got lucky? Did a good job and then rose to her level of incompetence?”
“Maybe, or maybe she was—”
Paul spoke up again, clearly concerned for Myra, “She was a pawn.”
We all looked at Paul, comprehension dawning on our faces.
I asked, “So if Regina was a pawn, was she set up to take a fall? Was she sacrificed for a possible later gain? Who would do that and what do they hope to accomplish?”
“Good questions, Bryce. If Kat hadn’t scrambled Regina’s brain with that shock, maybe we could have gotten some reliable answers out of her. Based on the propaganda her group pumped out, I’m willing to bet that part of the goal is to gain control of your mother’s business.”
“I don’t understand why they used Regina. Why go to all that trouble just to let her fail?”
“It’s how I would attack you. Your mother is smart and has strong allies. Trying to take the business head on would be difficult, if not impossible. Better to come at you sideways. Regina’s group put the idea out there that CDB Farms can’t always feed everyone here and—”
The Lieutenant had a knack for irritating Myra and she wasn’t having anything he was saying now.
“That’s not true! No one starved. We have kept everyone fed even during the worst of the emergency.”
Lieutenant Hughes turned to Myra and gently said, “I’m not saying the shortfall caused by the storm was the fault of CDB Farms or that you or Bryce’s mom did anything less than everything you could to make sure everyone had something to eat. What I was trying to say was, justified or not, the emergency put doubt in people’s minds about the certainty of getting fed. It also pointed out how you people living here have a very limited say in your governance. It’s a sure bet that there’s going to be demands now for some kind of council to provide the residents here with more of a voice in what happens to them. When that council is seated, watch for reasonable voices to question whether or not allowing CDB Farms to provide so much of the food is a good thing to do. Whoever was pulling Regina’s strings will be pulling other strings then. Your family and friends would do well to keep a close eye on things.”
“Lieutenant, could I get you to tell my mom this? I think she ought to hear it directly from you.”
“Sorry, I would if I had the time, but we’re pulling out shortly. I’ve got one final meeting after this and then we lift off.”
“You’re leaving? What about the investigation? What about finding out who was behind Regina?”
“There are treaties that limit what countries can do with their militaries in outer space. Those treaties were bent when my unit was sent here because of the hostage situation. With the hostages safe, the politicians want us out of here now. Habitat security will take over the investigation until someone from Earth shows up to take over the investigation. I’m leaving a small detachment to assist security if they need it. That will give us room on the CLT30 to get the prisoners back and assure things don’t deteriorate after we leave.”
“But that might be months before someone from Earth gets here.”
“It might be, and that’s why I’m telling you about my suspicions. Maybe Regina was just an idiot that got lucky. Maybe there’s nothing else going on. If so, you have nothing to worry about, if not, well, you’ve been warned and your family is smart and have friends in high places. Stay on top of things and I think you guys will be okay.”
“I hope so. Thanks for the warning. You and your men have a safe trip back.”
“Oh, one final thing, make sure you get some rest. Wandering around the habitat last night left you looking pretty tired.”
I about fell off my seat when he said that. I’d been left with the impression that no one had any idea what Kat and I had been doing, not even the Lieutenant. I was so shocked I stammered out, “You know what I was doing last night?”
“I had my suspicions. You just told me for sure now. Be careful of traps like that. That brings up another asset you might be able to call on in need. They owe you a favor. Bryce, take care of yourself.”
With that, the Lieutenant shook my hand and then looked over at Nina.
“Miss Schubeler, I’m short on time. General McNabb asked me to look in on you if I had a spare moment. Would you be available now to walk me back to the Transport Bay? We can chat on the way there.”
Nina jumped up like a scalded cat and was very quickly escorting Lieutenant Hughes on his way. I don’t think she had considered that the General might have one of his officers check in on her. We watched them go and then Paul stood up. He gave me and Ananyu a nod goodbye while Myra scrambled after him laughing. I felt the light touch of Ananyu’s hand on my shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
I took a minute to think about it. On the down side, my ribs were still on the mend and a little sore. I was tired, both from the trip, and the events of yesterday. Beyond that, it had been revealed that my friend’s cuddly cybernetic companion had the capability to kill along with the ability to pass through the habitat undetected, while maybe being controlled by a nebulous person or persons. My mom had been held hostage, then released, and now there was possibly a shadowy threat against the family business.
On the up side, my mom and dad were safe now, I was back home, and I had friends. There were problems facing me, but they could wait and solutions would be found. I was sure of that. Since going through Wyatt Saner’s CLT30 training, I had a lot more confidence in myself.
“Yeah, I think I’m good now. Nothing a nap wouldn’t make better.”
Ananyu looked at me with a smile on her beautiful face and elegantly rose from the table. Maybe it was corny, but watching her move always made me feel like if I were to look up the phrase, poetry in motion, I’d find a picture of her for a description of the phrase.
“I know you are tired and probably want to go home and crawl back into bed. I missed you while you were gone. Do you think you have enough energy to walk me to work so we could spend a little time together? I’d really like that. Maybe you can tell me what you were up to in the middle of the night.”
“Sure, we can walk.”
With that, we wandered off together. I was trying to live in the moment and appreciate the time I was spending with my pretty friend. I was coming to realize that life would always throw curve balls at me and when I had a pleasant, quiet moment, I needed to take advantage of it. I now had less than eighteen months left at NLH. Time I was sure would flash by quickly, but not without some drama. The Lieutenant’s warning guaranteed that.
