Expendable Heroes, page 6
“There are those, too, but they’re likely to need charging, for which we need to uncover the solar panels first.”
She gave Steven a dirty look. “Fuck you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Steven realised too late what he’d just said. He held his breath, waiting for the outburst that didn’t come. Rollo was the only one who dared laugh.
Jack pushed himself up from the table. “Enough with the immature clowning. Let’s go.”
They went to the storage compartment where they found all those tools Xander had listed, including a chainsaw and a wide-beam laser, both with flat batteries. There was a battery charger on the wall, the panel dark and lifeless.
Rollo inspected the main power battery unit on the other wall, also dark. “It’s going to take a long time to charge those babies.”
“Yes, get the fuck dressed and go out there,” Jack said.
“Whoa mate, take it easy.”
Luciane had dragged her mech suit away from the wall. She hopped into the foot pedals and jumped a few times to turn on the mechanism and strapped herself into the harness. Her face was red with the exertion.
“You’re OK?” Steven asked.
“Of course, why not?”
When she opened the outside door, purple dawn light came in. It was a really strange colour. Pretty, almost.
Steven and the others followed Luciane’s example, grabbing the rakes and shovels and went outside.
The craft sat lonely and forlorn in the waist-high field of vegetation tangle. The path they had made when they arrived yesterday was the only break in the vegetation.
“Look at how quickly these fucking plants grow,” Luciane said. “We’re going to want to burn them away.”
Yes, new growth of fresh leaves was already encroaching on the path.
“Let’s get started, then,” Jack said, and he pointed. “The solar array is over there, probably under that hump of plants. We need to be methodical about this so we don’t trample stems into mush over the ground we’ve uncovered. We have to remove the plant material and dump it away from the array or the buildings—”
“Or the craft,” Luciane said.
“Or the craft,” Jack agreed.
“Hey, wasn’t there supposed to be an escape craft here?” Rollo asked.
In the intense silence and horrible realisation, they all looked over the clearing. A surface-to-orbit craft was a big thing. Certainly it would poke through the plant cover?
“It will be under the vegetation, too,” Jack said.
“Well, we better make sure we fucking find it today,” Rollo said.
“Or what? You’ll resign from this job?”
Jack stood with his back to Rollo as he said this, so he couldn’t see Rollo dive for him, but Steven did, and he threw himself in between Rollo and Jack, while Luciane yelled out, “Stop it, fucking idiot!”
Steven tumbled backwards, while Rollo fell on top of him. The harness and suit were heavy, but fortunately, it also protected the wearer. Steven pushed Rollo off, and jumped to his feet.
“We didn’t need to come to this planet for something to kill us,” Jack said. “We’re perfectly capable of killing ourselves.”
Luciane jumped in front of him. She was quite tall naturally, but with the harness, she was taller than Jack. “Just shut your arrogant trap if you want to survive, Mr. Smugface!”
There was something about Luciane that made her act out Steven’s deepest emotions. He could not approve more of her action. Whether it was a wise action, that remained to be seen.
Jack retreated, and said nothing.
Steven made use of the silence by suggesting they start the job. Take things one by one. First, the solar array, then the food, then they could investigate the ascent craft.
Using the rakes and shovels, they cleared a path to the hump of vegetation and found the solar panels underneath, exactly as Jack had suggested.
They worked out a procedure. They found that if they trampled the stems, they exuded sticky and slippery slime, but if they left them to dry out in the sun a bit, one could rake up the mat of stems and cart it away to dump it under the trees where the cover thinned very quickly with the lack of sufficient light.
Yes, they used a wheelbarrow. That was Rollo’s job.
The solar array was still intact but completely overgrown. They raked and pulled and shovelled to free the panels.
Rollo checked the connections and followed them to the battery inside the building. He declared everything in working order and said they’d have power inside the building in about two hours.
“I vote that we take a break and use the power to charge the wide-beam lasers,” Luciane said.
“They’ll need to charge overnight,” Rollo said.
“What’s this talk about lasers?” Jack said. “We’ve only found one.”
“The other one will be somewhere in the mess in that lab.” Luciane pulled a face. “But once we get them going, that will be much quicker to burn all this shit out of the way. Have you seen how those creepy plants have even started growing up the undercarriage of the landing craft?”
Yes, Steven had seen that.
And the researchers had used this area to grow crops? That would have been hard.
Also, there was still no sign of the ascent craft. No obvious place where it could be.
When Xander came back online a bit later, Steven checked. The booster stood fifteen metres tall. There was nothing in the clearing of that height.
He strongly suspected that the first report to the orbiting ship would be, Hey, send us a new ascent craft, because it isn’t here.
Even if Xander had said it would be.
And while Steven slashed at the vegetation and threw it into heaps, he thought of the lone mech suit in the building, and wondered where the others were—in the craft obviously, and the researchers had attempted to leave the planet and had left one person behind.
Because they were dead? Because they didn’t want to come? Because they were the problem?
With the solar array uncovered and the batteries being charged, they had a quick lunch break and turned their attention to the building. Luciane climbed up the roof and pushed the stems off with a broom while Steven and Jack collected the vegetation in heaps, which Rollo carted to the edge of the clearing.
In the eight months since the pictures he had seen aboard the Marmoset still showed the buildings free of plants, the covering of vegetation had only left faint stains of discolouration on the outside, but none of the stems had penetrated the shell of the building. He’d heard that this happened in some places on Earth.
They even found the remnants of the vegetable garden.
A yelp echoed over the empty clearing.
Steven and Jack looked at each other.
Luciane called down from the roof, “Did you guys hear that?”
“Yeah.”
She slid off the roof and together with the others, they made their way to the edge of the clearing where Rollo had dumped the mountains of vegetation and where he stood staring into the semidarkness of the jungle.
“What’s up?” Stephen asked.
Rollo didn’t reply, but continued staring into the forest.
Luciane repeated, “What happened? Did you see something?”
Rollo finally turned around. “I don’t know.” He wiped his face. “I thought for a moment… But I was wrong.”
“What did you think?” Luciane insisted.
“Nah. It was a trick of the light. Sweat in my eyes or something.”
Only now, Steven noticed that splatters of plant sap had collected on his skin.
“You better go and wash that off. Anyway, I think we’ve done well enough for the day. Let’s go inside and wash and eat. The electricity should be on by now.”
No one protested, and that was a sign of how tired they all were. They went inside and collected a packet of food rations each, and sat at the table without saying much.
“What did you see that made you cry out?” Stephen tried again.
Rollo shrugged. “I thought I saw something move. But I must have been mistaken.”
“There are animals on this world. We haven’t seen too many yet. But we need to be vigilant about them.”
“That’s why we have you, huh? Biologist,” Luciane said.
“Actually, I was a plant biologist. I know how to grow shit.”
“Might come in handy if we can’t find that fucking ascent craft.”
Jack plonked down his cup. “And then you accuse me of being a smartarse? It’s got to be somewhere, right? They told us it was here.”
There was an edge to his voice that Steven didn’t like.
Yes, he also worried about the ascent craft that clearly wasn’t there. That they’d been told was there. But Jack had received more instruction and more data than most, being in charge of communication with the orbiting ship. What had he been told?
He asked Jack, “What are you going to tell the ship, when the receiver is charged and back in action?”
“Just what we’ve done and found so far, which is not very much.”
“And send them our shopping list,” Luciane said. “A new ascent craft and fuel. The buggy is gone as well. And we want better quick-charge lasers.”
“I doubt they’d send us weapons,” Jack said. “They already said as much.”
“I’d like some beer,” Rollo said.
Luciane turned to him. “Excuse me, did you say beer?”
“Yeah, I said that. You know what I think? They don’t care what happens to us. They’ve sent us here to die. And I’d like to have a beer in my hand when I die.”
Steven snorted. “You get points for being morose. I don’t know what’s happened to that craft and where it is, but I’m determined to get out of here, with the information they want or not, I don’t care. I have a young daughter out there. She’ll probably be a teenager when I get to see her, but see her, I will. For as long as I’m alive, I’ll be fighting to get off this fucking planet alive.”
“Yeah.” Luciane crossed her arms over her chest. “What he said.”
CHAPTER 9
The night was somewhat better, knowing that the batteries were charging and would be operational soon, that they could turn on lights and the water purifier and have a proper shower.
Also, Steven was just so tired that he fell into bed and pretty much slept like a log.
Even if Rollo still complained that he couldn’t sleep because his skin itched.
In the morning after breakfast, the power panel in the living room showed a green light, and Luciane flicked the main switch.
Lights came on in the kitchen and in the dark hallway and in the bedrooms. A pump started humming to bring water up from the tank through the filter.
“Ah, will you fucking look at that,” Rollo said. “The most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.”
“Have you ever tried becoming a poet?” Luciane said.
“I have, actually,” Rollo said.
Luciane raised her eyebrows.
“It’s when you find out that people are arseholes. They tell you not to bother because you’ll never be any good and anyway, you suck. They tell you you’re a loser. They tell you to get a job. And then they want you to give them your work for free.” He gave her a hard stare.
“Oh man, I was only joking.”
“It wasn’t funny, Luce,” Steven said in a low voice.
She snorted, all defensiveness and prickles.
Somewhere in Luciane’s life was a big hurt that had made her the way she was: foul-mouthed, defensive. Not allowing anyone to get close. Not even if they were there to help her.
One day, during this trip, she was going to blow up in their faces and they would find out what ailed her, and hopefully, they would all still be alive at the end of it.
“Let’s get started,” he said.
They suited up and went first to check out the spot where the ascent craft was supposed to be, according to Xander. Steven asked if Jack could check that they had the latest map, but the communication with the ship in orbit was still patchy and they couldn’t establish contact. Interference, Jack said, and Steven remembered Jeremy talking about communication difficulties with the team of scientists.
With the laser now charged, they cut a path through the plant cover, but, as Steven had already suspected, the only thing they found was a concrete slab where the craft was meant to be. The craft itself was absent.
Well, fuck.
“Where is it?” Luciane asked. Her cheeks were bright red.
They all looked at each other, tired, dirty, and covered in plant sap. Rollo was scratching the side of his neck.
For the first time, Jack looked out of sorts. “I don’t understand. Jeremy said it would be here. He showed me images of it sitting here on the slab. You’ve seen them, right?”
Luciane nodded. Steven nodded. Rollo also nodded, while still scratching.
“The images I saw also showed gardens where they grew their food,” Steven said.
There had been neat paths between the plots, and a shed where they kept the buggy. All those things might still be there, under the mass of greenery, but the ascent craft was definitely not.
“So, what now?” Steven asked.
“Ask them to send a new one,” Rollo said.
“How long can we survive here?” Luciane asked, looking at Steven.
He shrugged. “With the rations we have, months, but if we can grow things, possibly forever.”
Luciane spread her hands. “Yet, the scientists tried that. And whatever happened to them, obviously Jeremy didn’t tell us the full truth, the fucking lying bastard. They just sent us here to watch us suffer. I bet they’re laughing at us up there.” She balled her fist at the sky. “You see this, you fucking arseholes? Are you all pissing yourselves laughing at the stupid bitch who dared meddle with your fucking precious software?”
“Luce…” Steven said.
She whirled at him, her cheeks even brighter red than before. There was a level of madness in her eyes that shocked Steven. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“The fucking hell you are,” Rollo said. “They sent us here to die!”
Jack said nothing. His face twitched.
Steven took a deep breath. “Look, we have to stay calm and rational.”
Rollo whirled at him. “Yeah, so we can die in a rational way!”
“No, no, guys. It does not make any sense. No company would go through all this expense just to send us to our deaths. Not unless any of you have given them a reason. I mean, I’ve never personally worked for the Merlin company before. Have you?” He looked at Luciane. “Have you messed with their software?”
“Not them, personally, no.”
“They just hate us because we are difficult,” Rollo said.
“That also makes no sense. I may be stupid, but I assume that if they’d really wanted to kill us, they would have done so already. And also, I still believe that justice systems at least attempt to do the right thing.”
“Even while they put you in prison for some rubbish reason?”
“Yes, because there are laws against sharing confidential information, and although what I shared didn’t strictly fall under that law, it could be interpreted as such. I don’t agree, but I have always accepted that interpretation.”
“Man, fucking listen to yourself. That system is set up to fail the ordinary workers. It’s rigged against us.”
“No. The system is stupid. But once you believe there is intentional malice, that’s when you let the criminals win. That’s what they want: for us to distrust.”
Luciane spread her hands. “Then tell me, Mr. Know-It-All, how would you convince me we haven’t been sent here to die?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
“Fuck finding out. It’d rather find a way out of this fucking jungle.”
“Yeah, mate, quit talking sanctimonious shit,” Rollo said. “They sent us here to die.” He jerked his head at Jack. “He agrees with us, too.”
He gave Jack a challenging look, but Jack didn’t reply.
“See, it’s three against one.”
“None of that matters,” Steven said.
It was sure hard to disagree with Luciane right now.
And at the same time, that attitude was not going to help the four of them survive.
“Listen, this is what we’ll do.” He had to think on the fly. Rollo faced him like he was some sort of demon, with red welts down the side of his neck, sweat dripping from his face, his overalls smudged with dirt. The expression in his eyes frightened Steven more than anything. Heck, if rumours were true, he had already murdered someone.
“The scientists took the craft somewhere, or they took it apart.”
“You get points for being smart,” Luciane said.
“Yes, but maybe we can find out where they took it.”
“Like, to the other side of the fucking planet? Or into orbit where they burned up?”
“That’s not helpful, Luciane. I’m trying to think aloud.”
“I didn’t come on this mission to be helpful.”
“Yes, you did. We all want to get out of here.”
“I’m here to provide some fucking arsehole in orbit with entertainment as they watch us die!”
“I told you, there is no need for us to die if we’re smart about it. We have food for months. We have water. We can grow more food. What we need is to find out where the ascent craft is.”
“No. We need to find out what happened to the scientists. That’s why we’re here,” Jack said.
Steven and Luciane both said at the same time, “We don’t give a fuck about the scientists!” while Rollo said, “Shut the fuck up!”
And they all looked at Jack, who appeared distinctly uncomfortable. He shrugged. “Well…” and after a brief silence, he said again, “Well… I think he’s right. We do need to find where the ascent craft went.”
“You get points for kicking in open doors,” Luciane said.
Jack opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, shrugged, turned around, and started making his way back to the building. Steven waited until he made sure that both Luciane and Rollo followed him without killing each other.
