Aurora (The Exodus Trilogy) (16 page)

The shuttle quickly taxied onto the lift-off pad, and the soldiers kept their distance. Thomas grinned, this time from relief. No shots had been fired, and he didn’t think there would be any, as long as he didn’t linger. As soon as the shuttle was in place, the rockets fired, and he felt the craft moving. It rattled as it ascended. The vertical takeoff was something entirely different from a plane taking off, and he was surprised by the shaking and shuddering of the craft as it lifted away from the pad. Then another rocket fired, and the shuttle moved forward, away from Fort Andrews. He had set an eastward course, to circle the town from a distance. If a late order came through to shoot him down, he wanted to have as much distance between himself and the soldiers as possible. A surface-to-air missile had tremendous speed, but the shuttles had been fitted with some decent missile-defense systems. Another of Havelar’s ideas, born out of paranoia, now working against him. Still, he felt much better as the lights of the city vanished in the distance, hidden by both distance and the low-hanging clouds.

The shuttle was flying itself, and the flight would only last for a few minutes, so Thomas sat back and looked out the window, lost in thought. He had finally blown his cover. The lie he’d been living for so long would come to an end. He smiled to himself in the dark cockpit. Then he decided there wasn’t really much to smile about. Soldiers were heading for Port Hammer, and he had a growing concern that whatever defense the admiral and his people might be putting up would be pitiful against the column coming their way. He only hoped he’d get there in time. Those snowmobiles moved awfully fast, and they had a head start.

A few minutes later, the shuttle started its descent. Thomas thought he could see tiny specks of light in the far distance. That would be Port Hammer. He strapped himself in, and adjusted the straps to his facemask. There was no turning back now. There would be war, if it could be called that with sixteen hundred people divided into two camps. If he didn’t get there in time though, it might be a damn short one.

Chapter 11

TINA HAMMER

Tina exhaled heavily, as she watched Thomas Dunn round up his team, picking up a few ration bars and a few extra boxes of ammo, stuffing everything in his pockets, before exiting the cabin door. He had come less than thirty minutes ago, in a hijacked shuttle, warning them of an imminent attack. Tina didn’t need an explanation to know he was the contact Kenneth had mentioned. She was surprised though, because she had been under the impression that Thomas Dunn was one of Havelar’s closest henchmen. Also, he didn’t seem the type, but then again, who did? He seemed to have a good grasp of what was going on though, and when she heard the kind of force they would be facing, Tina cursed herself for letting Greg go off like he had.

Greg had left with his group of about thirty armed men and women, less than an hour before Thomas Dunn arrived. They were to set up defensive positions on the north bank of the Trickler at the nearest crossing. The soldiers would cross about two kilometers upriver, where the ice would be safe to walk on, and the plan was to use the ice-covered river as a virtual kill zone. They had no illusions that they would be able to hold off an attacking force, but the plan was to slow them down and make them take the longer route, further west, in order to give the rest a chance to flee. Greg said he would take his team up north and harass the attackers after Port Hammer was effectively abandoned, and he’d been really confident it would work. But even before Thomas Dunn brought word of the kind of equipment he had observed, and the size of the force, Tina had had doubts of whether the plan was good enough. Now she almost felt as if the former commander of the Exodus had taken on a suicide mission.

Walking outside, she noticed the snowfall was easing up again, and a few stars were visible in between the clouds. The night was still freezing cold though. She shivered lightly, but not just from the cold. There was so much at stake at this point. Thomas Dunn had been very clear. There was no way Greg and his team would slow the soldiers for long, and as soon as he heard what Greg had done, he insisted he’d take a team out to set up another line of defense in the foothills of the Rockies. The only way to put up some real resistance, he’d said, would be raids and limited assaults on their flanks and supply lines, where the terrain worked against the soldiers.

Tina had her own tasks to worry about though, and as she watched the last of Thomas Dunn’s team dart off into the shadows, she turned her attention to Maria and Geena, who stood by the still-unconscious kids. The kids were crammed together on a sled pulled by one of the snowmobiles, tucked into sleeping bags.

“All set?” she said, and Geena nodded.

“They will be all right,” she said. Tina told them to get the snowmobile started, and went over to Kenneth, who was carrying a backpack and a sidearm he’d borrowed from Dean.

“You’re ready?” she said to him as she approached. He smiled back at her.

“We’re just about to get moving,” he said, and gestured to the group standing nearby. She recognized some of the scientists, a couple of armed men that looked about ready to go to war, and a few of the refugees that had arrived in the last few days before the perimeter was shut down.

“Dean’s route looks difficult at first, but as soon as we pass the first hills, he thinks we’ll be able to move faster,” Kenneth said. Tina nodded. Dean had done a good job scouting, but they still needed somewhere to go. She knew Dean understood, and as soon as he’d delivered the escape route, directing them through the first mountain passes, he’d gone off again to scout further north, deeper into the Rockies. She was confident she would see him again in a few days, as long as they managed to escape the attackers.

Tina walked over to a vantage point where she had a good view of the Trickler, both east and west. A few months ago, boats had dotted the river, boats that she and her friends had built. Now there was nothing left out there. The boats were being moored through winter a few kilometers to the east, where the ice never grew thicker than a thin film across the surface. A small group had already moved out to take the boats downriver to the coast. The first priority was simply to avoid them being taken by the soldiers. If they could get away, they might sail north along the coast and join up with the ones on foot later.

Tina looked around. Port Hammer had awoken, and everyone seemed busy with one task or another. There were a thousand different tasks to be done, and not nearly enough time. Tina gave it another moment before she decided enough was enough. The longer they lingered, the less time they would have to escape the soldiers, which had to be the number one priority. She let out a deep breath as she realized this was the end of this town she had built.

“All right, everyone,” she shouted, loudly so that everyone would hear.

“Time to go. No more time, folks. Whatever you haven’t already packed, just leave it.” As she watched everyone picking up their belongings and start moving out, she wondered how these people would manage out there in the unknown. She sighed before she picked up her own backpack, encouraging others while desperately trying to keep up her own spirits.

BEN WATERS

Ben vaguely felt a drop of water on his cheek, making him slowly open his eyes. The light stung, but his eyes quickly adjusted, and he could make out the branches above. The sky was blue and Cancri’s rays warm. For a moment, he thought it was summer still, but then he remembered Harry, and his mood sank as the bits and pieces of what had happened started falling into place.

The last thing he remembered was reaching Port Hammer, with Lisa and Drew. They had finally been happy, free. The first time he had felt that way since Harry died. Then suddenly, another memory made him jump. The masks! They had removed the masks. He reached up to touch his face, and discovered his hands were restrained by something. He moved his neck slightly and realized he was tucked into a sleeping bag. He looked around and saw tired-looking people sitting nearby, drinking hot brew and eating. Some were cradling guns on their laps. Some were sleeping.

He managed to get his left hand up to the zipper and opened the bag. Then he carefully sat up. He realized he was on a sled attached to a snowmobile. For some reason, he knew he’d been sick. Why else would he be tucked in like this? But he didn’t feel sick. On the contrary, now that he noticed, he felt better than ever, except for a slight blurring of his vision that sort of came and went. He touched his face and found his mask securely in place again. He hesitated for a second, and then ripped it off. He filled his lungs with the cold air, and savored the sweetness once again. Yes, that was it. He needed the air. Something in him made him crush the mask in his hand, cracking the delicate filter within. He felt a deep hate toward the mask, as if threatened by its very existence. Then he shook it off, and wondered what he’d been thinking. He looked around. No one had noticed. He let the mask fall to the ground and freed himself from the sleeping bag.

He took a tentative step, before realizing his feet were bare. Strange. The cold didn’t touch him. He took another step, and then an impulse made him reach for his backpack. It was strapped to the back of the sled, and he unclipped the lashes that kept it in place. Then he lifted it up, and his eyes widened. It was too light. He opened it, to check if someone had removed anything. But no, everything was just as he’d packed it. He picked it up again, and realized it wasn’t any lighter that it had been. It was he who was stronger. Actually, he felt super fit! He let the backpack drop to the ground and took another step, still barefoot, and another, and another. Whatever it was, it made him laugh as he quickened his pace. He realized people were staring, but he didn’t care. He ran, an easy pace at first, but before he knew it, he was running faster than he’d ever run before. And he wasn’t even exerting himself. After five or ten minutes, he stopped in a clearing and felt his pulse. No higher than usual. This was getting a little freaky.

“What the hell are you doing?” he heard a voice bark from behind him. He hadn’t realized someone had followed, but when he turned around, he saw a woman, black, forty-something, slowing down from her sprint. A man, younger, came behind, clearly having trouble keeping up, based on his heavy panting.

“And why have you removed the mask? Again?” Ben felt anger well up in him, but he forced it down. This was Tina Hammer. She had welcomed them to Port Hammer, and he remembered the way she’d been there for them when they had escaped Earth in the last shuttle. He didn’t know why he felt so angry, but something about her scared him, and he wanted to keep his distance from her. He took a step back. She stopped, surprise apparent in her face.

“What is it? Hey, kid, I’m not gonna hurt you. If you wanna die from the parasite, that’s your call. Just thought you should know.” She looked down on his feet.

“Wow, that looks cold…” she said. He suddenly laughed.

“Yeah, you would think so,” he said slowly.

“Parasite you say… In the air?” She nodded. Ben flexed his fingers, his arms, and looked down at his own bare feet. Still untouched by the cold. The snow felt soft between his toes. He looked around the empty forest, realizing everything looked more vivid, the colors stronger and contrasts sharper. His vision blurred again, as it had back on the sled. He blinked a few times, and the blurring faded. Something made him look up. A rahrah flew high above, and as he focused, he suddenly felt something happening to his vision again. The rahrah seemed to draw closer, out of focus, and then sharp as if it had been just a few meters in front of him. Like he’d just... zoomed in on it.

“My God,” he whispered. “My eyes…” Then he looked at Tina again, vision adjusting.

“I don’t know about parasites, Major…” he said. “I just… Look, my feet are bare, I just ran faster than I’ve ever been able to, and I didn’t even get tired.” He laughed.

“And that rahrah, it looked like it was no more than five meters away from me…” Tina said nothing. He shook his head firmly.

“I have no idea what’s happening to me, but it feels great. Whatever it is, it’s no parasite, that’s for sure.” Tina took a step closer, then stopped. It looked like she was going to say something, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Major, where are we?” he said. “Last thing I remember is coming to Port Hammer with Lisa and Drew. Where are they anyway?” he asked. He suddenly felt a chill in his bones that didn’t come from the cool gusts that never seemed to touch him.

“Are they okay?” he almost whispered.

“They are fine, Ben,” Tina said, smiling.

“From what I gather, they haven’t run anywhere either. But I think they are affected the same way you are.” Her smile vanished, and her face darkened.

“We are somewhere in the Rockies, the mountains north of Port Hammer. They came for us,” she said. He motioned for her to continue.

“Ben, we had to leave last night. Admiral Hamilton took an armed force to hold the Trickler, to buy us time.” She looked sad, Ben thought. As if she didn’t expect the admiral to return. An urge welled up in him again.

“Let us go,” he said. When Tina looked at him quizzically, he went on.

“Me, Lisa, and Drew. We’ve seen war before. We know how to handle ourselves. I guess the admiral could use all the manpower he could get. You’ve seen what we can do. We could make a difference.” Tina smiled, a sad smile that immediately told him what her answer would be.

“Ben, I can’t let you do that,” she said.

“They are doing this for us, and much as I hate it, I have to accept it. But I won’t let you go. You just woke up. Besides, you’re too young, especially Miss Hayden…” Anger stopped him from hearing the rest.

“Fuck it, I don’t have time for this,” he said, almost to himself, and darted around her. It took him less time to return to the camp, and he saw no sign of Tina following as he discovered Lisa and Drew by the snowmobile.

“Hey, where did you go?” Drew shouted. Ben didn’t answer. He looked around and saw a woman whose shoulders slumped as if she was falling asleep where she sat. She had a gun on her lap. He went over to her and snatched the weapon from her. Her eyes opened as she almost fell backward. He didn’t wait for her, as he snatched another two guns from some fellows he’d never seen before. He gave one of the guns to Lisa, another to Drew, and checked the magazine on the one he kept for himself. A full hundred. That would just have to do.