Impulse, page 5
part #12 of First Colony Series
Isaac nodded quickly. “I understand. I’ll get out of your hair. If you need me for anything, just let me know. Even if it’s later today or this evening. Middle of the night. Sunrise. Anything.”
She smiled. “I like the enthusiasm, Isaac. If you don’t hear from me later today, I’ll see you here bright and early tomorrow morning,” Dr. Rostova said.
She turned her attention to her holoscreen.
Isaac walked out of the office. Taking a deep breath and blowing it out with a smile, he pumped his fist into the air. He heard people talking from farther down the corridor and glanced to see if anyone was watching him. Agent Franklin stood outside Townsend’s lab with a couple of people. He raised his chin and touched two fingers to the side of his head in acknowledgment.
Isaac waved and then headed toward the elevators. As he entered and selected the ground floor, his thoughts turned toward informing his family. He could almost imagine their reactions. He was a middle child, with two older brothers and three younger sisters. Would they even notice that he was gone? His father had tried to recruit him to work in the family restaurant, but that wasn’t what Isaac wanted. He’d spent plenty of time working there while growing up, but the Salty Soldier wasn’t for him. Endless cleanup, meal prep, or cleaning the coffee makers came with the added bonus of watching his father swap stories with the CDF soldiers who frequented the place. He wanted something different. The question of what he wanted had come up often, especially as he’d gotten older, and Isaac didn’t know the answer. He only knew that there were things he wasn’t interested in, and that included the family business.
Isaac used the public tram system to travel back home and spent the time preparing what he was going to say to his parents. He was under no illusions that they’d like what he was going to do, but they were his parents and they deserved to hear it from him in person. They were probably at the Salty Soldier, but he didn’t want to show up if they weren’t there. It was Tuesday. His mother would be home in the afternoon. He could tell her first before approaching his father.
Sanctuary had an elevated train that made it easy to travel the entire city. There were offshoots for tram systems that had expanded the city’s interior. Sanctuary was always expanding, and Isaac had become quite familiar with public transit since he was no longer allowed to operate an aircar.
The tram reached his stop and he got out. The walk home passed by in a blur of half-formed thoughts. His neighborhood was still mostly forested, but there were other houses that had been built in the area. He’d seen pictures of the basic HAB units the early colonists had used and was glad he’d never had to live in one of those.
As he approached the property, he saw several aircars taking up all the designated landing pads, along with one N-class rover that he recognized immediately. Connor must be visiting. It looked like he’d have an audience when he told his parents that he was going to live in Shetrian for the next six months.
Gritting his teeth, he walked determinedly toward the front door and entered his home. He walked through the entranceway into a grand, open kitchen. Beyond was a wall of windows to the outside courtyard. There were a dozen people outside, lounging and looking to be having a good time.
His mother spotted him through the window and waved. She wore a concerned frown.
Isaac walked to the nearly transparent door that slid to the side, allowing him to pass.
“Is something wrong? You’re home so early,” his mother said.
“We finished up sooner than I thought. What’s all this?” he asked, inclining his chin.
“This is just an after-war-game get-together that I convinced your father to have here instead of at the restaurant. You know how he gets. If he’s there, he’ll start working instead of relaxing,” she replied.
Isaac scanned the crowd but didn’t see his father anywhere.
“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong? Is there something on your mind?” she asked.
“I need to talk to you and Dad about my internship.”
His mother frowned and was about to say something when his father entered the room.
“Isaac, give me a hand with this, will ya?” his father said.
He was carrying a cooler of beer, and Isaac grabbed the handle on one side.
“We’ll set it over here.”
They walked through the throng of people, carrying the cooler off to the side and out of the way.
Connor joined them, helping them lower the cooler to the ground. “How much of this stuff do you keep here?”
His father grinned. “I have a small brewery in one of the sheds out back. I’ve been practicing with a couple of recipes. Going to add a few of them to the menu.”
Connor smiled at Isaac. “Hey, Isaac, how you doing?”
“I’m fine. How were the games?”
“They were fun. Next time you should join the civilians. Might be fun.”
His father grinned and took a swallow of his beer. “You’ve got the wrong one for that. Isaac hates that stuff. You should get Tomasz next time. He should be finished with SAR training by then.”
Isaac looked away, clenching his teeth a little. Slighted already. That hadn’t taken long.
“I’m sure he’d do just fine,” Connor said.
Isaac smiled a little in response.
His father looked at him and frowned. “You’re home early today. What happened?”
Simple enough question, but it sent spikes of irritation along his scalp. His mother joined them, grabbing a beer from the cooler and opening it.
“I need to tell you both something. It’s about my internship,” Isaac said.
His father’s gaze hardened. “You didn’t get kicked out, did you?”
Isaac shook his head. They always seemed to expect him to fail. “No, I didn’t get kicked out. There’s a big project that became available at the Research Institute and I volunteered to participate. I’m going away for a while—six months. It’s for a field assignment.”
His mother’s eyes widened. “Six months! Where is it?”
Isaac licked his lips and swallowed. “It’s in Shetrian. At our embassy there.”
Both his parents frowned at him, and his father’s mouth hung open a little. “What? Say that again?”
“The field assignment is in Shetrian. There’s a group of scientists going to our embassy there and I was one of the interns selected to go.”
A blast of breath came from the back of his father’s throat that sounded like a berwolf about to howl. His father glanced at Connor for a moment. “Uh, no you’re not. Are you crazy? You can’t go live with the Ovarrow. Six months! No.”
Isaac felt the heat rise to his face. “I said I’d be living at the embassy.”
“Don’t give me that. The embassy is right smack in the middle of their city. What are you thinking? It’s crazy there. You don’t know anything about the Ovarrow. What the—Never mind. Tell them you can’t go.”
“I can’t.”
His father seemed to puff up. “Yes, you can. You can finish out your internship here. They’re not making you go. You said yourself that you volunteered. Well, un-volunteer yourself.”
Isaac shook his head and his nostrils flared. “No.”
His father’s eyes flared in anger. “What!”
“Juan,” his mother said.
Isaac locked stares with his father. His back was straight, and he tried to relax his hands to keep them from clutching into fists. “I said no. I’m going with the science team.”
“The hell you are. You’re not even qualified for this. Did you lie about your qualifications? That’s it, isn’t it?”
Isaac gritted his teeth. It felt like everyone was staring at them, and they all seemed to go quiet. He stepped back away from them. “This was a mistake. I just came to tell you I was going.”
His father stepped closer to him. “And I said you weren’t going. Listen to me. I just have to make one call and I can stop all this from happening.”
Isaac’s hands balled into fists as he glared at his father. A scream gathered in his chest, moments from erupting.
“Maybe we should take a minute here to calm down,” Connor said.
“Yes. Juan, go cool off,” his mother said, moving between them.
Isaac stared at his father. He wouldn’t look away. “I’m going with them. I don’t care if you try to stop me. I’m going.”
“Isaac,” his mother said, “this isn’t helping. Go and wait for me in the kitchen. Go.”
His father’s face was purple with rage, and he didn’t care who saw him. They’d been building to this for years. His father spoke to his mother in angry bursts that Isaac couldn’t hear. He clenched his teeth, wanting to scream in defiance. Then he glanced at the onlookers. He felt like they were all judging him, and he hated it. This had been a mistake and he needed to get out of there. He turned around and stormed into the house, hearing his mother calling after him, telling him to wait in the kitchen.
He didn’t.
He strode to the front door and walked out, getting nearly to the road before he heard his father shouting for him. He quickened his pace. He wouldn’t go back. He’d rather camp out in the forest than go back home. He started to run, pumping his arms and sprinting away. His breath came in controlled bursts, some of which carried a slight growl. All the pent-up frustration scattered his thoughts until the only thing he could focus on was the path in front of him. In the early evening, with blood pounding in his ears, he felt as if he were running for his life. But a small, rational part of his mind knew the truth. He wasn’t running toward something; he was running away from everything, and he didn’t care. He couldn’t afford to care about it anymore. If he stayed, he’d never be free, but if he left, he might not ever be able to come home. But he couldn’t go back, so the only choice he had was to keep going forward. Each step took him farther from home, and an ache formed at the back of his throat. When the six months were over, he’d find a way to stay there or go somewhere else. No matter what happened in the next few months, he was certain that going back home would never happen.
5
“Do we get hazard pay for this?” Jackson asked.
Riley kept his gaze on the video feeds from the reconnaissance drones they had deployed. “Absolutely, plus bonus pay and an all-expenses-paid vacation to a destination of your choice.”
Corporal Jackson looked at him. “Why do you have to ruin it for me, Sergeant? Bad enough we’re deployed way out in the middle of nowhere.”
Riley inhaled deeply and sighed with contentment. “The CDF provides travel to exotic places with sterling accommodations. Nothing like some fresh air in the morning. Could be worse. You could’ve drawn rabbit duty on this fine day, Corporal Jackson. Would you like to be one of the rabbits?”
“No, thank you, Sergeant Riley.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, Sergeant!”
Riley wasn’t surprised. It took a special kind of crazy to run with the ryklars, but he’d done more than enough of that over the last eighteen months. The best way to lead was by example.
“Those things scare the crap out of me.”
“Well, gosh darn it all. We can’t have that!”
Jackson grinned. “Why do they have four arms? It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. And those damn nasty-looking claws… or are they talons? Whatever they are, they can tear through the battle steel of our combat suits, you know.”
“That is true. It is a pickle. I’ll give you that.”
Jackson’s helmet turned toward him. “I don’t talk like that.”
“Why Corporal Buck Jackson, you do too. I love it. It’s one of the reasons they promoted you. You’re a good old boy. You work hard, and you’re trained in the use of deadly weapons. You just have some ryklar phobias to work out.”
Jackson sighed. “Kristensen, Rockwood, Zerneck, and Green are moving into position. There has to be more than one pack of ryklars here.”
“You’re right about that. There are several in that cohort. It’s mating season.”
Jackson looked at the drone video feed that showed clusters of ryklars scattered throughout the hillside. Ryklars looked as if they wore the pelt of an old-Earth leopard, tannish and spotted, which allowed them to easily blend into the multiple New Earth landscapes. “So?”
Riley shrugged. “They can get it on all year long, but this is where they gather to see who gets lucky and who doesn’t. Tensions are high. Those ryklars will be in a killing mood.”
Jackson nodded. “I haven’t seen so many before. The mission must be working because there are fewer ryklars around.”
“That it is, in this region of the continent anyway.”
“Should I send an update to Lieutenant Harlan?”
Riley glanced at the time. “Go ahead and give him a time estimate for when our squad will get into position.”
Jackson recorded a quick update and sent it via comlink. “How many of these missions have you been on, sir?”
Riley had to think about it for a few seconds. “A lot. I’ve been doing it a while. Spent my fair share being the rabbit for those ryklars to chase.”
“Have there ever been any casualties?”
Riley stared at him. “You kidding me?”
Jackson didn’t respond right away. Then said, “Uh, no, sir.”
“There’s a reason we’re doing this. Ryklars are dangerous to keep around. The control signals help, but they’ve been genetically modified for war. People have been killed by them. We can either keep culling their numbers or find them another planet to live on. Relocation is the best option.”
“I know that. I meant on these missions, sir.”
“Yes, Corporal Jackson, soldiers have died on these missions,” Riley said.
Jackson checked his rifle. It was almost an unconscious, conditioned behavior.
Riley closed the video feeds and started creeping forward up the hill. The ryklars were extremely difficult to sneak up on. They could conceal their body heat from sensors and had a highly acute sense of smell.
Jackson followed him. He should probably say something to help calm him down. He wasn’t the first soldier to get the jitters before an op like this. Riley had them himself sometimes, but he embraced them. Others called him a thrill-seeker, but he’d take this duty over a dull guard stint any day of the week.
They reached the top of the hill and stopped. There were several small hills for the next kilometer, forming a shallow valley. Ryklars were an apex predator. They were highly efficient killing machines that could be controlled by high-frequency sound waves that drove them into a frenzy. Ryklars in a frenzied state would attack anything that crossed their paths. Certain frequencies enticed the ryklars toward the source. Ovarrow had used these signals during their wars to force the ryklars to attack their enemies. But the Ovarrow also fought among themselves, as well as the Krake. Ryklars were set loose in their cities, and anyone who didn’t get to shelter quickly enough became collateral damage. It was a brutal tactic, but Riley knew some of the Ovarrow’s history. General Gates had made sure they knew the importance of their mission, along with guidance to refrain from judging the Ovarrow too harshly. The Ovarrow did what they had to do to survive. Riley wasn’t going to judge them, but they’d created a problem that needed to be addressed. Ryklars roamed the continent, and sometimes the old automated ryklar-activation signals triggered the apex predators into a frenzy. The CDF had made a concerted effort to disable the signals, but Riley was under no delusion that they’d found them all.
He opened a comlink to Lieutenant Harlan.
“J squad is in position, Lieutenant. As soon as you give the word, we’ll execute,” Riley said.
“You’re the one.”
“Linson still not in ready position?”
“That would be affirmative.”
“The longer my squad has to wait, the more of a chance our asses will get burned in the fire.”
Harlan didn’t respond right away, so Riley waited him out. “Give me options,” Harlan finally said.
“Send the mobile gateway to our waypoint first and make Linson’s team wait. They’re already running late. Couldn’t they just slow their approach and adjust accordingly?” Riley asked.
He didn’t know Linson’s precise location, but Lieutenant Harlan did.
“Approved, Sergeant. We’ll do it your way. Good luck.”
“Thank you, sir,” Riley said and closed the comlink. He activated a comlink to his squad. “J Squad, thanks to my awesome powers of persuasion, I got us moved up to the front of the line. You can thank me later. Are you ready to kick a nest of ryklars?”
A chorus of “Hell yeahs” came over the comlink in response.
“I’ll take on a whole cohort of them, sir,” Emma Zerneck said.
Rockwood laughed. “See, I told you. Put a tiny woman in a Nexstar combat suit, she goes from unobtrusive to mighty and ready to kick ass.”
“Who needs a combat suit?” Zerneck replied.
“Easy there, tiny,” Rockwood said.
“We’ll settle this in post-op, Rockwood,” Zerneck said.
“Only if we’re naked. I’d be down with that.”
“Dream on, big guy.”
“Sounds like we’re all ready. I’ve pushed the location for the mobile gateway out to all of you,” Riley said.
“Serious question, Sergeant,” Rockwood said.
“Go ahead.”
“Since there are more ryklars here than expected, why don’t we use the control signal to send them through the gateway, sir?”
“Oh geez, why didn’t I think of that? The key is to get them to go through the gateway in a somewhat controlled manner. Just tossing a gateway near them with a signal going creates a killing frenzy among them. We’re not trying to hurt them. We just need them to go away,” Riley said and paused for a moment. “Right then, Rockwood, you get to go first.”
