Project U.L.F. (30 page)

He could see the game she was playing with him. A knowing smile crossed his face. “That is something only he can tell you.”

Kate sighed. This was getting her nowhere. Then, to her surprise, Byron spoke again.

“Young lady, I will tell you what I can about Wyatt…about most of us in fact because it is something you should know and something I don’t think you realize. You are here only through a series of coincidences…unfortunately for you,” he added hurriedly. “Wyatt has been called back into service for this one job. Alan knew Wyatt as a friend. The mission was assigned routine status.” Byron counted them off on his fingers. “Alan probably thought Wyatt wouldn’t mind having you along, in fact he probably took a shine to you, thought maybe Wyatt would look after you. But I’ll tell you this for free. If any of those components hadn’t fallen into place with all of the others you wouldn’t be sitting here talking to me now. Any other day of the year and you wouldn’t have been assigned to a U.L.F. mission. A nice CSETI exploratory cruise to one of the desert moons of the Rona system, perhaps, but not here. Not with us. You see, Wyatt and I, and some of the others, we are men with…” He paused, his mind searching for the right word, “…histories,” He nodded, to confirm to himself that his choice was the most descriptive and yet least offensive. “We all have secrets,” he said with a sad smile. “Some of us more than others. That’s what makes us what we are. Molds us. It’s what makes us different from the next person. Some of those secrets weigh us down and they need to be shared to let us carry on with our lives, but some are burdens that are meant to be carried. We know that.” He indicated the others asleep behind him with a backward tip of his head. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Kate nodded. “I think so.”

“We don’t ask any questions. Anything we know about each other is decided upon by what individuals wish to volunteer about themselves. I know Wyatt as a colleague first and a friend second. That’s why I can’t talk to you about him. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Kate said quietly.

Silence fell on the campsite once again for a few minutes and then Kate said, “So what’s he like to work with?” Byron smiled in spite of himself.

“Well…” he began.

Behind them in the darkness, Chris smiled as well. He knew this was a private conversation but he could not help but overhear it. With one hand he pulled the inadequately thin blanket closer to him, the other tightly clasped one of Bobby’s hands. He was worried about her. He hoped, that even though she was feverish and unconscious, somehow she would sense his closeness and take some comfort from it. He knew he would not sleep tonight.

The night passed without event, or at least if anything had occurred after Kate’s watch she had been blissfully unaware of it. Par and Kit, who had taken last watch, were clearly wide awake, but the others still stirred where they had lain themselves down the night before or were sat rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Chris sat up next to her.

“God, you look awful,” she said.

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t sleep a wink last night.” He gave her a knowing look. Kate’s heart leapt into her mouth. Had Chris heard her conversation last night? She and Byron had handed over to Wyatt and Chris. Could he have possibly discussed her conversation with Byron to Wyatt? Chris could obviously see her train of thought in her eyes.

“No, I didn’t,” he said, almost apologetically.

Kate still reeled with shock. She felt exposed in front of him. Almost as naked as when they had opened her cryosleep chamber and found her there. That conversation was supposed to have been private. It was meant only for Byron to hear. She wanted to scream at Chris, to do something, anything to correct the violation she felt but she stopped herself. She was over-reacting again. Chris hadn’t said anything. He admitted that. What was she getting so upset about? Byron’s words from the previous night rang in her ears. “
We all have our secrets
,” she heard him say again, “
Some to be shared, some to be carried
.” Chris had elected to carry this one for her. The look of astonishment faded from her face. Chris had already turned his attention away and to Bobby.

“How is she?”

“I really can’t tell,” he said. “It worries me…the not knowing. The uncertainty. Not just with Bobby but with all of it. Whether these ships are here and what state they’ll be in when…if we find them. What lurks behind the next bush or up the next tree. Whether we’ll…live.”

Kate felt her stomach knot. Chris had just put a voice to her fears. It had seemed okay when she had hidden them, forced them to the back of her mind, but now she was confronted with them. She had thought as well that maybe she was alone in those thoughts, that no one else had spoken of worry because they genuinely were not worried. She had taken some comfort from that—if they weren’t worried, why should she be? Now she realized that she was not alone. For a moment she was lost for words but then she put a hand on Chris’ arm. “Wyatt says we’ll reach the shuttle by tomorrow if we make as much progress as we did yesterday. There will be plenty of food and water there.” It was the only two things she was sure about. She didn’t want to hazard a guess at their chances.

They dressed quickly and ate a small breakfast of the same dried fruit that they had eaten for supper the previous night. Then they packed and were gone, following Wyatt through the trees towards the shuttle and their ticket home.

By mid-afternoon they had cleared the forest and found themselves hiking across a vast plain of waist-high grass that rippled and swayed in the blustery wind. It was not the cane that they had encountered on the day of Alex’s death, but it was of the same straw color and it had Chris looking about anxiously, as if, at any moment, he expected a curled black tail to rise from out of sight and finish the job it had started.

The sky was covered with a blanket of cloud which completely blotted out the suns and added an additional chill to the wind which whipped past them. Soon it began to rain, a few small isolated spots at first which rapidly became a deluge. A downpour that turned the ground beneath their feet into mud and the sky dark before its time. The wind became a gale which howled and raged, slapping the rain into their faces and onto their cold exposed skin so hard that it stung. Caught in the open, they had no choice but to go on and hope that the change in the weather was a fleeting one. In the distance they could see another clump of trees and a rocky incline. Perhaps there was shelter to be found there, but Wyatt guessed it was more than ten miles away and they had to get there first.

They marched for hours, slowing considerably as the time went by. The constant, drubbing rain had soaked them through, drenching clothes and equipment, making both heavier and more cumbersome. Cold, fatigued limbs twinged with cramp and their spirits fell as the forced march seemed to be bringing them no closer to their destination on the horizon, but eventually the trees started to grow in stature and the outcrop of rock could be seen for what it really was—a scree of boulders, rocks, stones and pebbles packed solid from the sheer weight above it and scattered here and there with saplings, daughters of parent plants which grew on the plateau below or the ridge high above.

It was dark when they reached the cover of the narrow band of trees at the base of the slope and picked their way through it. It was not yet night time, the weather had cut their day short by at least a couple of hours, but Wyatt saw no reason and no point in going on. Despite their slowed pace today, they would still make it to the shuttle tomorrow. At present they needed to find a place that would get them out of rain and allow them time to dry off.

As they emerged from the trees at the base of the slope they found themselves standing at the entrance of a cavern. A gaping maw in which they could see nothing. Wyatt sighed with relief.
Not all the gods hate me,
he thought. Carefully, he picked his way over the boulders that lined the mouth of the cave like teeth.

“No, no, no,” Chris said, shaking his head with a smirk of disbelief. The others all turned to face him.

“What is it, kid?” Wyatt asked.

“You’re not seriously going in there?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

“You’re kidding me! That could be a home to something!”

Wyatt laughed. “I doubt it. These are all natural fault lines,” he said, pointing to structures in the rock, “And besides, I doubt anything that would need to build a hole this big to live in would survive out here. After all, what would it live on? I didn’t see another living thing out there today.”

“I’m not surprised. Nothing else is stupid enough to go out in weather like this,” Chris retorted.

“Well, have you got any better suggestions? If you have I’m sure we’d like to hear them.”

Chris looked around him at the assembled faces. None of them had to say a word for him to realize that it would be in his best interests to stop this line of argument now. They were cold and soaked through and this place offered the best opportunity for shelter since they had set out this morning. “Well,” he said quietly. “I’m still not convinced this is wise. After all, you saw the size of the thing that killed Alex, and look at that thing from the lake yesterday. I just don’t…”

“Well I’m with Wyatt,” Par interrupted him, coming up close to Chris. His face was hard and spattered with drops of water which met and then streaked down his forehead and cheeks to drip off his nose and chin. “If he says there’s no animal down there then I believe him and if he’s wrong, well I’m quite happy to risk that. Anything to get out of this God-forsaken rain. If you want to stay out here, then fine. Maybe we’ll throw you out some food, but me? I’m in there.” Par turned on his heels and followed the others over the rocks and into the mouth of the cavern.

“Okay, okay,” Chris sighed. “I’m coming.”

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They camped about ten yards inside the mouth of the cave, far enough to be out of the wind and rain and yet close enough to the entrance to make a hasty exit should they need to. While Wyatt very much doubted whether Chris’ fears were rational, it would not hurt to exercise a little caution. Water seeped through from above and dripped in numerous places forming puddles where it fell, the drips regular as clockwork, the sounds they made like single piano notes being played over and over again. The sequence of drops sent a haunting melody echoing away into the blackness.

Finding somewhere to bed down and yet avoid the dropping water proved challenging but it was far more agreeable than spending the night outside in the storm. They tried to gather tinder wood from beneath the small clump of trees outside, but the ground was sodden and nothing they found would burn with any great success, or it belched great clouds of smoke. It was a futile effort. Tonight they would have to go without fire and hope that they had found a safe place to sleep. They would still put one person on watch.

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Kate could not tell what it was that woke her but she guessed it was the sound of the storm. The inside of the cave flashed white, lighting it up in a brilliant frozen image which seemed burnt into her mind. Outside lightning arced across the sky like a silver whip and the crack followed shortly afterwards. She sat herself up and spotted Kit’s dark form seated on a large rock near the mouth of the cave. He was turned away from her, gazing out at the rain which still fell in sheets outside. The tip of his cigarette glowed in the darkness as he inhaled on it.

Leaning back on her elbows, she took a quick look around her. Wyatt was asleep right next to her, wrapped up tightly in his blanket with his back to her. She wanted to cuddle up to him, even though they were under cover, the chill in the air was substantial and they could keep warm by staying close to each other. She thought that Wyatt might misinterpret the gesture and that he would do well to do so, since warmth was not the only reason she wanted to be close to him. She wondered whether finding him next to her was also indicative of his feelings towards her. Wyatt had taken first watch and so had chosen to come and sleep next to her after the others were asleep. She wondered if he was aware of her growing feelings towards him, or whether he even thought about things like that. She lay awake and wondered about a lot of things before she drifted back to sleep, and all the while the storm raged on outside.