The Battle for the Ringed Planet (18 page)

“Don’t they have a pill for that?” Torian flattened his sleeping bag and Siiri copied him.

“They don’t work for me, so I hope you have a sleep aid.”

“I do, it’s called exhaustion.”

Siiri grinned at Torian and he pulled open a small control panel near the front of the sleeping bag, with several round plastic buttons flush with the material, “This controls your sleeping bag, inflating a built in pillow and mattress. These are the temperature controls, warm or cool, and …” he ran his finger along the seam which opened with a touch, “open it here, or you can keep it closed and just lie on it.”

As May spread out her bedroll Siiri opened hers marveling at the design. Torian dug out his toothbrush and toothpaste with his water bottle and began brushing and a moment later Siiri joined him. Torian retrieved their assault rifles and put them on either side of the beds. Then they both inflated and crawled in to their sleeping bags next to each other, she still wearing his shirt and he in his jockey shorts.

“Oh, that feels nice against my skin.” she snuggled inside.

“I could feel nice against your skin.” May smiled coyly.

Smirking, Siiri replied, “I think you would be too rough.”

“Sorry to interrupt your pillow talk, ladies, but did you set your proximity alerts May?”

“Yep, you?”

He tapped his ear, both their Cons were set to sound an alarm of anything entered a secure radius, “Good, get the light.” he grinned. May padded over, switched off the main overhead light, and left the room in an eerie colorful glow from the crystals in the walls.

In the dim rainbow shadows, Siiri reached out and caressed Torian’s hand, “Are you going to be all right? No nightmares?”

“I think so. What about you, I know it was rough killing that Imperium marine.”

“What?” May exclaimed.

“I’ll be fine, Torian.”

 “Good. Don’t worry about wolves, they’ll eat May first.”

“Then I hope it they like plasma!” The dragon marine called out.

Chapter 13: The Outlawed Lands

Torian was the first one up and with a flashlight made himself a cup of coffee, well, actually, he put a small cube inside the mini-processor and it poured into his cup, nice and hot. The chestnut eyed young man then soaked his feet in the warm water and glanced up at a movement behind his back.

“Sleep well?” he inquired as a blonde female in a navy blue T-shirt sat down beside him stretching and dangling her feet with his.

“It was nice, just like my goose down bed at home. No bad dreams.”

“I have a gel bed in my room.”

“I’m not even going to ask what that is. Did you sleep all right?”

“I don’t remember, so I must have been totally out. Want some coffee?”

“I’ve never had any. Father Jarlan hoards it and makes all the scavenging parties bring him any they find.”

“I’ll have some.” May stirred from behind.

“Bring your cup.” Torian replied, and then offered Siiri his and she took a sip.

 Wrinkling her nose she declared, “Hmmm, it will take a while before I get used to that.”

Then he shined his flashlight on Siiri’s legs, “How are your feet? Any blisters?”

The blonde girl held up her foot and wiggled her toes, “They’re fine. I’m used to walking long distances.”

“Good, we have a long one today.”

May plopped down next to Torian holding out a green cup with a red dragon logo and he made more coffee with another cube.

“How does that tube thing work anyway?” Siiri watched.

“Each food square is coded and packaged by another type of processor. This one decodes it and you get whatever it was originally. It uses biochemistry or something.” Torian explained.

“That way you can get a week’s rations in one box.” May added. 

After brushing their teeth and Torian shaving again they all dressed and checked over their gear. Siiri was curious about May’s armor that fit over her shoulders and chest.

“It can stop most projectiles and is resistant to plasma. It covers your vital organs.” May explained as the other girl tapped it with her hand.

“Is it heavy?”

“Light as a feather, you hardly feel it.”

They ate rations for breakfast and then geared up for the long trek to the mysterious lands to the south. The two women and young man marched underground along a stretch of caverns that eventually became the familiar smooth walled tunnel. There were many branches but Torian kept them generally south, trying not to be lead off course.

“Deep shafts ahead,” May reported behind Siiri who crept up to Torian slinging her rifle and watching the holos on the Con over his shoulder, keeping close.  

“Lots of nickel deposits, I think they are mines.” Torian turned back to Siiri, “Remember anything about that?”

“No.”

Passing an old grav sled, a flat metal bed with handle bars and a control panel, laying on its side so that they could see the four round thruster units underneath, the group began to see rusted mining equipment, power compressors, and drills. The tunnel ended at a huge round deep shaft.  

Shining their powerful small tubular flashlights inside, no one could see the bottom and the top was over a hundred meters up. A small rusted ladder was a couple meters from the tunnel.

“Doesn’t look safe to climb,” May cautioned.

“One way to find out,” Torian removed his backpack and handed Siiri his rifle.

“Torian …” the blonde girl began but he was already leaning towards the metal rungs.

The dark haired marine grasped his other hand as the wiry young man grabbed hold of the side of the ladder.

“Its holding.” he announced kicking out his foot and landing on a rung. Then there was a sudden crack and dirt began to pour down. The metal ladder snapped off the shaft wall and Torian slipped as sections of metal tumbled down into the deep hole.

Siiri screamed, but Torian clung to May’s hand while his other arm and legs dangled.

“Torian!” the blonde girl wailed, but May grunted and with her one arm lifted Torian up by his wrist and brought him back to the tunnel, setting him down. The dark eyed marine let out a sigh.

“That was stupid!” the blonde girl in the green shirt covered with camouflaged webbing chastised.

Brushing dust of his navy flight suit, Torian nodded, “You’re right.” then he grinned and felt May’s arm, “Damn you’re strong.”

“You’re too short for me, Space Jockey, I like them well over seven feet, and female…” then she winked at Siiri, “…or blonde.”

Ignoring May the blue eyed girl punched Torian in the shoulder, “Don’t do that again!”

“Ow!”

Then she folded her arms, “What now? There must be another way around.”

Rubbing his shoulder, “Yeah, maybe one of the branches we past.”

Backtracking they tried other tunnels and eventually entered a tunnel with a half buried magnetic strip for heavy sleds carrying ore, with a few box like carriers still in little trains. The tunnel with the magnetic track ascended at a slight angle and Torian led the others quickening their pace when they observed daylight.

Outside the bright mid morning sun temporarily blinded the young trekkers and when his eyes adjusted Torian saw several buildings and large industrial hover dump trucks abandoned on gravel roadways. In the far distant south, a long dark strip in the sky with streaks of different colored lights raining down on the surface captivated all three.    

“The ring,” Siiri whispered.

Reading her Con, May reported, “About 30 clicks. There’s an escarpment or canyon or something under it, readings are kind of fuzzy.”

“All right, that road goes south, let’s follow it and we should get there by nightfall.” Torian glanced back at the other two nodding in reply.

The road was packed gravel and wide enough for two hover vehicles. A magnetic strip underneath the gravel showed in spots where the small rocks and stones had worn away, caked in rust. Hover cars and trucks were independent of the metal magnetic strips, but in most colonies, major roadways used them so that the vehicles could conserve energy and it was easy on expenses.

The chocolate haired flight specialist kept a good pace, ensuring that it was not too hard on Siiri, who had the shortest legs, but May did not seem to mind even though she could outpace him easily. In silence for most of the morning, they kept their eyes on the barren terrain and the clear blue morning sky, dotted with a few cirrus clouds high up. The landscape, filled with rolling brown hills, showed patches of dirt covered with scant vegetation. In the distance was a herd of large horned animals that grazed and watched the three humans.

“What are they?” Siiri inquired watching them in awe.

Torian started a reply, “Blue wildebeasts …”

“…and a pair of female lions stalking them.” May added, and then she mused, “They never finished this planet, just built parts.”

“What do you mean?” the blonde girl peered back at May.

“A lot of planets are unfinished, even Kanata.”

“How does it all work? I mean, making colonies like Kaarina?” she came up alongside Torian.

“Well, first they have to survey an earth compatible planet, and they find a few every year. It has to be the right rotation, gravity, temperature, seasons … that stuff.”

“Then what?”

“Then they make it like earth in every way they can. It is what they call terraforming. First, they fix up the atmosphere, teams come with aircraft add oxygen or nitrogen and mix chemicals to make air. It takes about 10 years and sometimes it doesn’t work and they abandon the planet.” Torian glanced at Siiri watching him intently with her blue eyes, “Once the atmosphere is stabilized with normal weather conditions, the ecology teams come. They add plants, animals, and balance the flora and fauna according to earth models. And sometimes they do only part like here. It depends on expenses and priority, but they usually do 10,000 square kilometer chunks.”

“So …” Siiri thought aloud, “that’s what they did here, they only did enough ecology to support the city.”

“That’s what I’d guess,” May spoke up.  

Siiri frowned, “Have they ever found anyone else on a planet first?”

Shaking his head slowly Torian pondered the question, “Never, in all the worlds we’ve explored, have they found some sort of indigenous intelligent life. Though there are lots of people who try and prove the existence of other life, I guess we’re the only ones out here.”

“That’s fine by me,” remarked the tall almond-eyed marine.

Peering behind at the tall marine who hung her helmet from her web belt again and let her long jet black hair hang loose, Torian looked past her at a couple of smoke columns in Kaarina. Siiri followed his eyes and May turned back to see what he was watching.

“More downed space craft?” May pondered.

“I think they’re shelling each other’s lines again.”

“Oh, well then I’m glad I with you guys today.” The dark haired beauty replied.

“Stars again,” Siiri pointed, and all three watched a line of three stars, battle cruisers in low orbit, race across the sky until they were out of sight.

Later, towards midday the wind began to pick up blasting sand and small pebbles stinging their faces. May slipped on her helmet and transferred her Con imaging to her visor while Torian sheltered Siiri with his arm around her shoulder blocking the wind with his body. The howling was frightening and they ducked under a small hill near the road and ate a hasty lunch. By early afternoon the fierce wind had died down and they were marching at full pace again.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful except for a frightening moment when a flight of Starhawks flew overhead high in the sky, but either did not see the group or ignored them. Up closer to the rings, darkening the lands ahead, they observed long black string-like streaks across the sky blotting out the sun except for spots where the light passed through in spectral rays.

“That looks scary.” May admitted.

“Aye,” Torian agreed.

In a dried creek bed, the three crouched and broke out their rations for dinner. The wind whistled above their heads as they dropped their packs and laid down assault rifles. Torian filled his mess kit reluctantly with steaming rice and pork while Siiri read the clear plastic packages each containing meals and fruit deserts.

Eating in silence, hungrily, Siiri stretched out her legs against his while Torian cleaned his mess kit with a little water from his bottle, glancing over at the dark haired marine, “So May, what did you do to earn your sentence, sleep with a general’s daughter?”

“If only.” she finished the last bite of her meal and tossed the mess kit down on the ground next to her pack.

“Possession or trafficking?”

“Neither.”

“Embarrassingly drunk.”

“That would be Torian.” Siiri jumped in.

“She got you drunk, Space Jockey?”

“No, he did it all by himself.”

“We’re going off topic, back to your criminal past, May.”

“All right, burglary.”

“Really?” Torian grinned, “What kind of stuff?”

“Jewelry mostly, I worked in my uncle’s security shop, and then I was part of crew, led by the father of my child, rotting in real prison now, the scum.”

Then the dark haired marine quickly added, “But I’m done with all that. Once I do my tour I’m going back to school…” then quietly sighing, “…I hope you don’t think less of me now.”

Torian shrugged, brushing his teeth, “No jewelry stores out here.”

Loading up their gear flight specialist took the lead with Siiri walking beside them while May watched behind, scanning the darkening skies for fighters. The chocolate haired young man gazed to their south, the sky partially blocked out by the shadow of the rings as the sun began to set in the orange eastern horizon.

“How wide are the rings across?” Siiri glanced at Torian’s Con attached to his assault rifle.

“I think about 2000 kilometers.”

“What are they made of?”

“From what I remember, mostly ice and crystallized gases. They’re actually pretty cool to look at from space.”

“I’d like to see them …” then suddenly Siiri gripped her forehead and fell to her knees.