Borderlands: The Fallen (36 page)

M
arla felt strange, waiting for Roland in front of the orbiter, as dusk extended the shadows and cooled the air. She stood with her arms around Cal—who kept staring at the seared spot where his father had died. She wondered if she and Cal would ever completely get over this planet.

“The orbiter’s ready, and the arrangements are made with Atlas,” Roland said, coming out of the metallic step pyramid of the shuttle. Berl shuffled about with his hands in his pockets, staring at his feet, looking uncomfortable. Nearby were several fresh graves, oblong mounds of piled up gravel. The melted outlines of the elite soldiers’ armor, inhabited only by bones, still stood where they’d burned, like a melancholy monument. “All you have to do is close the hatch, take your seats in the cabin, and it’ll do the rest. It’ll dock for you, right inside the starship’s shuttle hangar—the whole thing.”

“Can we … trust them?” Marla asked. “Atlas?”

“They made a deal with me. I’m—a former employee. I know the starship commander. Old friend of mine. I
trust him. We bring them Gorman—and one of the two artifacts left, the ones Berl had. That’s the deal. And they give you a ride to your next stop. Xanthus. They’ll get you there.”

“But they sabotaged the DropCraft,” Berl said suddenly. “Zac told me about it.”

Roland shook his head. “Commander says no. Says there’s traces of some outside transmission. We think that was the alien—it was watching for crafts sending homing signals to its area. It transmitted over rides. Took over the security bots … Trying to keep people from interfering with it, when it was so close to leaving, I’d guess.”

“Xanthus, huh?” Berl said. “Mostly water, that planet. Kinda pretty there, though. A lot of tropical islands on that planet and not much else. You might like it.”

“Least we can do for Zac,” Marla said sadly. “It was his dream to resettle there.”

Cal was gazing at Roland, his eyes moist. “You could go with us. There’s a lotta work there. We could be partners again.”

Roland smiled sadly. “I’ll see you again, partner. But … I’m staying, for now. I’ve got a lot of missions to run on this big ball of confusion for a while yet …”

Cal swallowed and looked toward the lander. “How’s … the ‘suit’?”

“Gorman? He’s sedated. Bandaged up. I expect they’ll grow him some new eyes. But he’s maybe damaged in some other way they won’t be able to fix.”

“Screw him,” Cal said, shrugging. “If he’d done things differently my dad wouldn’t have had to die.”

Marla nodded. Cal was going to be a handful on Xanthus.

“It’s ready to go,” Roland said. “Just—head on into the shuttle, take your seats.”

“Hey—
Bizzy
!” Berl yelled.

They looked around to see the drifter stumping toward them down the gulch, swaying along, eyes glowing.

“What
is
that?” Cal asked, aghast and fascinated both. “It looks like a giant daddy longlegs—but … its body is … huge!”

Roland grabbed his Eridian rifle from its strap-down on his back, swung it toward Bizzy—but Berl stepped up and pushed his rifle down. “Hold your fire, there, pal. I think I might have my ol’ buddy back.” He strode confidently toward the drifter and whistled, chirped, murmured to it.

It clicked happily back at him and bobbed assent on its stiltlike legs.

“Ha!” Berl said, gleefully, as he turned to them. “You see that? That alien’s gone and Bizzy’s free now! He’s back with me! We’re pards again!”

Roland chuckled. “That’s an, uh, imposing ally you have there …”

“Could be yours too, pal!” Berl said, grinning at Roland. “I’ve had my eye on you! I’ve got a place out in the country I was fixing to show Zac—a kind of oasis, it is. Safe and green and pure. Make a fine home base. I’ll need a partner there. I’ve got a plan for finding Eridian treasure, tell you about it on the way.”

Roland shrugged. “Sure. Why not. We’ll talk it over.”

He turned to Cal, put out his big hand—and Cal shook it gravely. Marla felt her heart wrench. It was as if Cal was losing a second father.

“I’ll see you again, partner, I promise,” Roland said.

“Wait—Mom, I promised him a reward!”

“Kid, forget it,” Roland said.

“I was thinking about that,” Marla said. “There’s a lot of money, taken from Grunj—it’s buried under the floorboards of a shack on the Trash Coast.” She gave him directions. “It’s all yours. And Berl’s.”

Roland nodded, looking steadily at her. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll use it to visit Xanthus sometime …”

“Roland …” Marla wasn’t sure exactly how to express what she wanted to ask him. “Why do you have to stay on this planet? It’s so
harsh
.”

Roland shrugged ruefully. “Well I’ll tell you—out here, a man never has to get bored, never has to feel stuck in one place. Out here—there’s always a mission. On this world”—he turned and looked at the rugged landscape—“a man is free. Really free.” He smiled at them. “Gotta go. I’m burning daylight.”

He nodded to Cal, and turned to walk away with Berl and Bizzy. Marla and Cal watched till they were out of sight.

Then she took her son’s hand, and they went up the ramp. At the top of the ramp they stopped to look toward the place where Zac had died. “Bye, Dad,” Cal said, his voice hoarse.

They went into the shuttle, found the main cabin, took their places. The seats strapped them in, they triggered takeoff, and the ramp drew into the orbiter. The hatch shut, and an impersonal robotic voice announced, “
Prepare for orbital acceleration
.”

The orbiter shuttle vibrated, whined—and lifted off. Ten minutes later they were in orbit, feeling light, and a
little lost, though they were headed right for where they’d longed to be: a ship that would take them away from Pandora.

Marla and Cal looked through the viewscreen at the curve of the planet, receding below, glowing like a dying ember against the dark of space.

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