STARGATE UNIVERSE: Air (29 page)

Rush held up the glass flask and sighted through it. The liquid within remained resolutely red.

“Struck out again,” muttered Greer. “How many is that now?”

Scott ignored the comment. “All right, come on. We keep going.”

The scientist paused for a drink, tipping back his canteen to take a long draught.

“You better save some of that,” Scott warned him. “We got a way to go yet.”

Rush screwed the cap back on to the bottle and clipped it to his belt. “We need to slow down.”

Scott shook his head, walking up to the top of the closest dune. “What we need is to cover more ground.”

The other man sighed. “It’s going to be impossible to maintain this pace on the way back.”

“Maybe for you,” said Greer, with a sniff.

Rush shot a narrow-eyed glare at the Marine. “Both the lieutenant and yourself are boys playing soldier. But I’ve got no interest in that game.”

Scott saw Greer stiffen at the insult. “I’m not playing anything,” he said firmly. “I’m trying to save the lives of everyone aboard that ship.”

Rush cast around. “If you continue at this pace, we’re going to die out here.” He upturned the beaker in his hand and angrily shook out the solution inside, spilling it across the sand in a ruddy patch.

Scott looked away. “Maybe we will—” He began; he suddenly trailed off as he caught sight of a strange swirl of sand blowing toward them. It looked like a tiny dust devil, and for a second Scott was certain that it was moving
against
the direction of the breeze over the tops of the dunes.

Rush was still talking, his irritation rising. “Look around, man. You’re light-years from the admiring eyes of your father, or your drill sergeant or whoever’s approval it is you’re trying to get with all this macho posturing—”

Greer rocked forward and grabbed the scientist by the shoulders, dragging him to his feet. “That’s enough outta you. Get up and move,
now
.”

“Get your hands off me,” snapped Rush, pushing Greer away. His temper flaring, the Marine immediately leveled his weapon at the other man.

Scott turned back from the sight of the swirl. “Hey, did you see that?”

“What?” Greer snarled.

The lieutenant’s eyes widened as he saw how the situation was turning. “Sergeant, lower your weapon,” he ordered, and Greer reluctantly obeyed.

“Did you see something out there?” asked the Marine, still glaring at Rush.

Scott looked back in the direction of the blowing sand, but the eddy of white dust was gone. It had to have been a mirage. “I don’t know… nothing.” Scott shook his head, dismissing the thought. “Let’s move on,” he ordered.

“One hour,” insisted Rush, determined to have the last word. “Then we start circling back.”

Scott shrugged. “Fine. One hour.”

The three men continued their course to the northwest, leaving behind the depression in the dune where Rush had scooped out his sample, and the streak of red fluid across the white sand.

Unseen by any of them, a complex, ever-turning matrix of spinning mineral particles rode up the curve of the dune, following the path they had taken. The swirl of sand moved over the patch of liquid, back and forth, dithering by it.

Then swiftly, far faster than the sunlight would have dried it out, the moisture was drawn off beneath the passage of the tiny funnel of dust.

With the fluids absorbed, the swirling sands drifted away, shadowing the footprints of Scott and the others.

Tamara opened the door to the sleeping chamber being used by Colonel Young, and Telford hobbled past her. His irritation was increasing by the moment, and his pain was doing the same, even if he refused to admit it to her.

The man’s behavior was reckless; Young’s body had suffered severe injuries and it needed time to heal. Telford was treating it like a rental car, pushing it too hard with no regard to the consequences. And when the communication was cut, it would be Young who would have to deal with those consequences, not Telford. She frowned. Tamara Johansen wasn’t the type to buck the chain of command if she could help it, but right here and right now, she was the chief medical officer aboard the
Destiny
, and that gave her the right to protect her patients. No, scratch that, she was the
one and only
medical officer aboard the
Destiny
.

Telford rolled up his sleeve and offered her a bicep. Tamara rooted around in her pack, quickly loading an injector pen.

Doctor Mehta, who had followed them back, shot a look at the drug ampoule she was using and frowned. Before Mehta had a chance to comment, Tamara stabbed the injector into the arm and discharged it.

Telford blinked, suddenly looking confused and faint. “What have you…?” he managed; then the life went out of him and he slumped. Tamara caught the body —
Young’s body
— and lowered it carefully to the bed.

Mehta gave her an accusing look “That was supposed to be for the pain. What did you give him?”

“A strong sedative, which we are desperately short on and I should not have had to use in this case, just so that Colonel Young can return to a body in working condition,” she snapped back.

“You’re out of line, Lieutenant,” Mehta began.

Tamara shook her head. “Disregarding the health of another human being is out of line. I’m well within my rights as ranking medical officer. He’ll be out for an hour or two.”

As she made to leave, Mehta’s expression became animated. “Wait! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

Tamara shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t care. I have other patients to attend to. Unless you can help, just try not to get in anyone’s way.” She stepped out and let the hatch close behind her.

They could try to court-martial her if they wanted, she reflected, but considering she was already technically supposed to be out of the Air Force by now, and the fact she was a hell of a long way from any board of inquiry, Tamara wasn’t going to let it bother her.

Eli reflected that his new role as ‘squad leader’ wasn’t really being taken that seriously by Palmer and Franklin, and Sergeant Curtis seemed only capable of responding to him with a nod or a grunt. He started wondering if having a name for their group might have helped strengthen the bonds of shared duty. Maybe ‘Bravo Team’, or ‘Unit Delta’, that kind of thing.

“Stop here,” said Palmer, and the group halted.

“Yeah,” Eli added quickly. “Here. That’s, uh, right.”

The geologist ran the test for the umpteenth time; water, sand and heat, red acid stuff into the mix. Swoosh around the beaker and wait. And wait.
And wait
…

Palmer shook her head and sighed. “I take it that’s not good?” said Eli.

“No,” she retorted irritably. “Red means bad.”

He turned and looked over at Franklin and Curtis, who were perched on the lip of a dune, conferring over the kino remote. The drone itself was sitting in his backpack, inactive and inert for the moment. Eli wondered how powerful the suite of sensors inside the device were; if only they had a manual, he was willing to bet it could find the limestone they needed on its own. Of course, right now the thing was little better than an RC toy. “Hey guys, another negative over here,” he told them, walking over. “I’ll radio Scott and tell him we’re moving on.”

Franklin didn’t look up from the remote’s screen. “Yeah, that’s not what’s going down.”

That stopped him dead. “It’s not?”

The two men stood up, and suddenly Eli felt an old and hatefully familiar sense of intimidation. “No,” said Curtis.

 “There are four other viable addresses in this thing.” Franklin waggled the remote in his hand. “I think I found an override that will allow us to dial them from here.”

“Yeah, but—”

Curtis cut off Eli’s reply. “Look around. This planet is a dead zone.”

He tried again. “But—”

“We should’ve been trying to dial these other planets from the start,” said Franklin.

Eli held up a hand. “Doctor Rush said that—”

Clearly, neither of them wanted him to finish a sentence. “We don’t care what Rush said,” Curtis replied.

Franklin nodded. “We don’t trust him.”

Eli looked to Palmer, wondering if that
we
included her as well. “He doesn’t want us to all die.”

It clearly
did
. “That doesn’t mean we trust him to make the right decisions,” she said.

“You too?” He frowned. “But what about the lake bed?”

She threw up her hands. “It could be hundreds of miles from here. We could be blowing our only chance of finding a decent place to evacuate to.”

Franklin took a step forward. “Maybe the ship did bring us here because there’s lime on this planet. For all we know, the Ancients had a way of locating it that we don’t. But right now, that’s not helping us.”

Curtis was nodding. “For that matter, I’m sure they could have stopped the ship for more than twelve hours to find it, and recover it with the proper tools.”

The other scientist was nodding too. “The fact is, the Ancients wouldn’t have let the life-support system get that screwed up in the first place. Rush is set on fixing the ship. He’s deaf to any other logic. We need to find a planet that we can survive on.” He gave Eli a hard look. “This might be our last chance.”

“That ship jumps to FTL, we could be dead before it drops out again,” Curtis added.

Franklin pocketed the control pad. “We’re going to the gate. I’m going to dial out and see what’s there.”

Eli shook his head. In a day that had more than its fair share of bad ideas, this was one to put right at the top of the list. He moved toward Franklin, drawing up as much of an assertive tone as he could muster. “Give me the remote,” he demanded. Curtis had his gun raised in an instant, drawing a bead on Eli’s chest. “Or not,” he amended hastily. “That was optional.”

“You give me the kino,” said the sergeant.

“I’m supposed to be in charge,” Eli piped. “Isn’t this mutiny?”

Curtis’s lip curled. “Not sure that applies on the other side of the universe. Now give it up.”

It was like Eighth Grade lunch hour all over again. Eli glumly reached into his pack and removed the kino. Franklin snatched it from him and turned it over in his hands, studying it.

“Besides,” Curtis continued, “my orders were to keep searching and then head to the gate.” He looked at Palmer. “Are we done?”

She nodded. “We’re done.”

The sergeant lowered his weapon. “Go ahead and tell Scott we’re headed for the gate, if you want.” He gave a sneer. “My radio doesn’t seem to be working.” He set off, and Palmer fell in behind him.

Franklin glanced over his shoulder as he followed along. “We’ll let you know if we find a planet everyone can survive on.”

“That remote is our only way back to the ship!” Eli fumed.

Curtis kept walking. “Guess you’ll have to get another one.”

Scott took the tail-end charlie position, trailing Rush while Greer, as ever, took point. Rush was laboring now, panting and trying hard not to keep diving for his canteen every few minutes. The lieutenant kept one eye on him, but for the most part his attention was being pulled back the way they had come. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head, the same sort of weird animal sense that warned you someone was watching you, following you.

Despite the oppressive heat, Scott shivered and he turned to look behind him. There was nothing out there, no one. Only the dunes and a swirl of sand twisting along the ridgeline, blown by the wind.

“Something wrong?” The scientist had halted and was staring at him.

Scott looked away. “No. It’s fine.”

Rush shrugged and bent down, unlimbering his sampling kit. “Well, then. This is as good a place as any to stop and test.”

They stood in silence as Rush performed the analysis once more; and once more the red fluid did not turn clear. Rush shook his head in disappointment.

Scott adjusted his pack. “Okay. We’ve got to keep going.”

Rush made no attempt to get up. Instead, he sat back on the sand, exhaustion heavy on his sunburned face, and took a drink before offering it to Scott. “Here. Take it. You look like you need it.”

“I have my own,” replied the lieutenant. “Come on. We’re burning daylight.”

“The daylight’s burning us,” replied Rush, shaking his head. “I can’t go on. I know it’s here. You have to find it.” With effort, he got to his feet and put his canteen in Scott’s hand. “Go on, take it.”

Scott hesitated, on the verge of giving the man a rebuke; but then he checked himself. Rush was right, he
couldn’t
go on. One look at him made that clear. The lieutenant accepted the water bottle, and started packing up the testing gear.

“We’re just going to leave him here?” said Greer.

“I’ll head back to the gate,” Rush told him.

Scott gave a shake of his head. “Greer, go with him.”

The Marine shot him a look. “What? I’m not leaving you alone.”

“Make sure he gets back alive,” Scott went on.

Greer snorted. “What difference does it make?”

The lieutenant picked up the pack and shouldered it. “Because if I don’t find what we need, he’s the one who’s going to work out some other way to save his own ass…and yours along with it.”

Greer shook his head. “You’re losing it.”

“I’ll be okay,” he replied. “You have your orders, Master Sergeant.”

The radio crackled at that moment, and Eli Wallace’s voice issued out from the speaker. “
Scott, this is Eli. Come in. If you can hear me, please respond
.”

Eli sounded scared.
Not good
, Scott thought. “This is Scott, what’s up?”

The reply was breathy, as if Eli was walking and talking at the same time. “
We have a problem here. Franklin, Curtis and Palmer have given up and are headed back to the gate to try dialing the other addresses in the remote
.”

Rush stood up in alarm. “They have no idea what they could be walking into.”

“
They have the kino
,” added Eli, hearing him over the open channel.

“There are a myriad of dangers the kino data cannot foresee,” snapped Rush.