CHAPTER 8
LOST
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We wandered for what I thought were hours, tossed about in the currents, in the dark. I passed out several times and came back as many times, only to hear screams or people puke.
Something hit us or maybe we hit something. The capsule began to rotate, rubbing against something with each spin. The friction noise continued for a while as did the spinning and jerking and then diminished. Something was rhythmically hitting the capsule more or less at three-quarters and some speculated it was wave motion. We had been stable for a few minutes, so we gathered our courage and prepared to try to get out. As soon as Asif opened the entrance, he was hit by a stream of icy, brackish water.
We were all afraid of drowning but fortunately the water was carried by the waves and flowed unevenly without inundating us.
Asif went out into the night struggling against the sea followed by Deena dragging me helped by Hank. Dr. Bancroft helped Jake with the poor surviving pilot and finally Christelle took charge of carrying the duffel bag with the weapons. I let myself be pulled by floating at dead weight, the salt water that got into my nose made it burn as well as the still open wounds burned.
Our group finally made it to the beach, trudging along. There was no fine tropical sand to welcome us: our backs rubbed against a surface of stones, some of them quite large and treacherous. It was pitch black and we could barely make out the silhouettes of trees in the distance. All around us was mostly grass and shrubs moved by a cold, damp wind.
I was dragged near a palm tree and gently laid with my back on the trunk. I could barely keep my eyes open. I was seized by a terrible spasm and I turned around violently a few inches from the tree. Deena kept stressing the poor doctor to come and take a look at me. Hank, on the other hand, was wise enough to bury what I had just returned to nature and helped me lie down: he took off my tattered raincoat and stuffed it into a rudimentary pillow. Then he looked at me worriedly. "They've made a mess of you. In all honesty, I think there's little we can do”.
"It's just scratches. I'll be better tomorrow”, I reassured him.
"Boy, I don't think you'll make it to tomorrow”, he said greedily.
"Bullshit. You've seen what I can do”, I said searching the darkness for a look of understanding.
"Can you heal that far? Are you sure?", he asked hopefully.
"Deena has a bad wound. Fix her instead”, I said.
"Good luck then”, he took his leave, perhaps to go check on his second pilot. Deena returned to pester me with questions after the doctor had kicked her out to prioritize her unconscious pilot.
"Take it easy”, I reassured her. "Get my personal medical kit, it's in an inside coat pocket. Have Bancroft sew your hand first”.
"Assez, assez with this hero act of yours, I can see the mess here!", she exclaimed as she watched my blood gush from my shoulder. "Take off your shirt, I'll medicate you. Guide me, I can do it, I can…”.
"Don't touch. Trust me! Save the bandages for yourself and the poor guy. I'll be fine”, I insisted.
"Are you in a hurry to die? Are you? Stop it, fool!", she yelled hugging my head. She looked like she was crying. "Fool, fool, fool! Always acting like that! Always!”.
"I'm not just like any another person... my body will be fine... you just have to let me rest... trust me”, I asked her again squinting my eyes. I felt like hundreds of burning blades all over. I had lost a lot of blood but I decided that I could still afford to let it drain away. A matter of moments and the wounds would close on their own. My wound was already glowing and the blood was diminishing.
I had covered the cut as best I could, hoping no one would notice the bioluminescence from the serum in my bloodstream.
Deena looked into my eyes and I had confirmation that hers really did glow in the darkness. Something in her let her know that it wasn't false bravado that time and she trusted me by going to deliver my first aid kit to Agatha. After maybe half an hour the surgery, performed on the sand with the visual aid of a flashlight that Asif held to illuminate the wound, was over.
The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. It was the turn of stitching up Deena, a less complex operation but one that worried Agatha quite a bit because of some slight tendon damage that she was unable to ascertain in that condition. They dragged the patient next to me and Hank went to lie down next to him. Jake collapsed into a deep sleep near a nearby tree. Asif helped Agatha set up the equipment and curled up next to his leader.
"I need to go to the bathroom”, Deena suddenly said.
"Me too”, Christelle, whom I had totally lost sight of, joined the chorus.
"So do I. But I don't see the ladies' room”, Agatha noted.
"The queens will have to make do with the bushes, it seems. Take these and go”, Hank said, handing a flashlight and a pistol to Deena, who hurriedly handed it to the disgusted Christelle. She then let her friend lead her by the hand and with Agatha they secluded themselves in the jungle. After a few minutes, the girls lay down on the ground with their backs against the trunk of a tall palm tree. They fell asleep almost simultaneously. After a very short while, the whole group, exhausted, followed them.
Only I was struggling to stay awake. Not that the pain allowed me to sleep. I gathered what strength I had left and staggered to the shore, sank my feet into the water and struggling against the waves I entered the capsule. The salt water inflamed my wounds and the sand, mixed with gravel, got everywhere and filled me with itching. I sat on one of the seats of the emergency vehicle and waited for nature, my nature, to take its course. I thought about John. About his betrayal, about what he had done to my friends, about the pain in my grandmother's face at finding out what had happened. I was furious, I let out a scream full of hate and my body reacted. After that long agony, finally a blue light flooded the inside of the cylinder and filtered through the portholes. A few moments and my pain was relieved.
I passed out for a couple of hours at least, waking up by pure chance from the water level that by now had reached my navel. I breathed deeply with my eyes closed and felt my wounds. They were almost all closed but I had to move carefully or they would open easily. I got out of the vehicle and soaked and finally went back to where the group was sleeping. I turned my eyes to the two girls who were sleeping peacefully, Christelle's head on Deena's shoulder, I approached them and gathered my coat, covering them with it as a blanket. I exhaled a deep breath. Finally, for a change, something good I had done.
"I did it Matt”, I said to the wind. "It wasn't just a game”. Satisfied I decided to find a place for the night. I then climbed a palm tree that had grown almost parallel to the ground not far from where everyone was sleeping. With my hands on the butts of my guns, I gave in to my weariness.
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"When are you going to tell me how you got those scars?", I asked curiously in that umpteenth dream about the past.
"Never”, replied my brother with an air absorbed in distant thoughts. After his return from Mars he had become strange, silent and had reappeared with his hands completely ruined, his palms scratched and scarred as if he had had to slide on the asphalt for dozens of meters. "Do you remember Daith, the day Dad died?", John asked me, wiping condensation from the kitchen window pane with his hand. Outside, summer rain insisted on the ochre lawns of Misty Knoll, our home in Ohio.
"Yes”, I replied sadly. "I remember. Why are you reminding me today of this?". The day of my fifteenth birthday could not have continued any worse. Rain, loneliness on the family farm, Grandma sick in bed, and now that unpleasant conversation. John had arrived as I expected to wish me a happy birthday but I didn't expect him to be so sad and empty handed.
"What do you remember about that day?", he asked again with his gaze distant far beyond the wet hills.
"Not much, I was sad... Not that I care to remember much. I was crying... as soon as I realized what had happened. It was a hard blow to swallow…”.
John didn't seem satisfied with my answer. "Didn't you ever wonder why?".
"Why?".
"Yes, why. Why Dad died”.
The question seemed nonsensical to me. "Sean I know why. Dad was on a mission. An insurgent worker shot him in the back and he died. There is little question why. He was doing his duty, they were there to preserve order in the colony. He fell for peace and for Humanity”.
John sneered. "Peace and Humanity... they're doing a great job on you in that academy”.
"What do you mean?".
"Daith would you be happy to die now or tomorrow?".
"Well no...”.
"How about for peace and Humanity?".
This question also seemed out of place. "Happy seems too much to me... but since we all die sooner or later, better tomorrow for these values than in a hundred years after a life lived for nothing”.
John weighed my words for several moments. They were certainly not the result of a natural and genuine conscience, he knew this well. Academic education was taking deep root in my heart and he, who had been the first to go through it, knew those concepts inside out.
"I'm proud of you Daith. You are following in our father's footsteps. A strong, motivated soldier and loyal to Humanity... you've earned your birthday present. It's outside waiting for you, too bad it's raining…”, he smiled.
"Ah! What is it?", I asked finally happy, amazed and excited.
"He's in the barn at the moment, they're foraging him and checking his irons. You can give him a brush down later, not before you help me make dinner for Grandma...”.
I squealed excitedly and ran to hug him. "No way! But tell me is it by any chance…”.
"Sure Little D, just the black stallion you were telling me about, the one who grew up on Mike's farm... that redneck bastard took a long time to part with it, but he finally unhitched it. If the weather turns, you'll be able to enjoy some good riding before the end of your leave”.
"Thanks, you're the best!", I shouted running up the stairs to tell Grandma the news. "April! Listen to that bombshell! John has...!".
"Hey Daith!", he called out to me loudly.
"Yeah?", I replied from above the stairs, not looking back.
"Enjoy it thoroughly, in twenty days, we're going on a mission together”.
I opened my eyes aroused by the sunlight, struggling to focus on the horizon in front of me. Before I could even see the sea and the bay where we had ended up, I noticed something fall to the ground roughly from my belly as soon as I had moved.
I let out a high-pitched scream of terror with all the breath I had in my body. More than high-pitched, it was a real girly scream. Deena and Asif, who had just woken up and were talking around a small fire, turned to look at me with wide eyes, while the others woke up scared and Christelle continued to sleep. A huge centipede-like insect, dark and thin, was pawing sinuously under the log where I rested. The thing definitely sent me into a panic. I quickly pulled out my pistols and with fury and hatred I fired one shot, another, another, until I reduced the poor beast to a bloody pulp writhing in the sand. The insect hadn't moved in a while and as soon as I realized I had no more shots, I started spitting at it from the top of the palm tree, cursing. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath, breathing heavily. In the meantime, Deena had run to the scene with Asif behind her, who was laughing out loud. I looked irritated at the colonist, who didn't stop laughing.
"Daith, what happened?", asked Deena, disgusted by the remains of the poor creature.
"That ugly beast”, I exclaimed still shocked by the sudden awakening.
"I wonder what kind of bug it was”, she wondered curiously.
"It looked appetizing”, chuckled Asif behind the girl.
"You brainless ape! I have to assume this is a joke of yours!", I shouted in anger, pointing one of the unloaded guns at Asif.
"Joke? Letting all that protein get away from me? Don't you joke!", the man laughingly defended himself.
"You're an animal!", yelled Hank in the distance behind him. "Could it be that you can't be left alone for a moment? Come back here!".
"I didn't do anything! Ugh...”, Asif replied, starting to run towards Gage. I looked around suspiciously and then under the plant with a piercing gaze, almost demanding to see under the sand, then jumped off the log.
Deena had stopped to watch me carefully. She looked in me for some sign of the wounds of the day before, reassured to find nothing but a few light marks under the holes left on the shirt by the bullets. I looked at her not appreciating that analysis and she smiled at me.
"Bonjour Davì. You're back in perfect shape”, she greeted me, perhaps hoping to reset the negative start to the day. She looked particularly radiant and I couldn't help but wonder why. She had removed the white tunic given to her by Charon returning to her old worn-out clothes.
"Um... Daví?".
"Oui, that's a diminutive... may I?".
"Just stick with my name”.
She seemed to be sorry. "Do you even have a cute nickname? I think Matt called you... Little D?".
"That's more of a tease. I was short as a kid”, I explained seeing my mood deteriorate even further. "I have a code name if you will, used during the course of a mission”.
"Well, it's better than nothing. What is it?".
"Devil”, I replied rather annoyed. I had no desire for small talk after such an awakening. "And now if you don't mind, I'd like to think”.
"Devil. Do your fellow soldiers call you that?".
"Sometimes, on duty”, I confirmed. Deena seemed inexplicably dumbfounded.
"How could you even think of telling me to use that! Ah, tu es impossible...”, she grumbled as she left, turning her back on me and calling me an asshole under her breath. Actually, I wanted to ask about her hand but seeing her so lively I realized that there was nothing to worry about at the moment.
She also didn't look like she was really angry and I didn't mind her too much. I sighed and shook my head in resignation.
I turned to scan the sea or maybe the ocean. It was a deep blue down there, along the flat horizon. The sky was blue and free of the trails left by the condensation of the ships. Daylight finally allowed me to see where we had ended up and to see the geography of the coast. The jungle inland was quite thick and for someone not very fond of thickets like me, it was not a reassuring sight. I looked to the east and noticed a small flat peninsula that gently penetrated the ocean. It was totally surrounded by greenery and seemed uninhabited. However, it was several kilometers away and I could not see perfectly because of the mist. I lost myself in my thoughts in search of a solution. The SAI was practically out of order, it didn't respond to half of my requests let alone connect to the network.
The place was filled with wild beauty and it was hot. Maybe it was a tourist spot, the season was high and maybe we would find visitors or some kind of facility. Even a village with two houses would have sufficed. I needed to get on the net and fast. I had to warn the authorities right away about what was happening under our noses, about what that filthy traitor was up to.
"Bang!".
"What the f…”, I shouted with a jolt. "You again! I'm really going to kill you this time!".
"Take it easy and come eat something”.
"Just the idea of seeing one of those horrible things makes me sick to my stomach let alone eating one. I'll leave the bug protein to you starving people!".
"Yank, do you think the boss would have sent for me to offer you a giant saucer on a spit? He's an earthling like you! There's fruit and some water”.
"Good thing. Ah...”.
"What?", asked Asif in a suspicious tone.
I took a step and found myself on my knees, my head spinning and my vision filling dangerously with black dots from the outside in. "Nothing but I'm definitely down on sugar. I've lost blood and healing wounds takes a lot of energy. That bullet in my shoulder must have cost me a year of gains”.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but it's an Ag job, so come to camp”.
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"Come on, crybaby”, the doctor intimated.
"I told you it's not serious now. Ouch! I mean, it's getting better”, I tried to defend myself. I was resting with my back on a palm tree a few feet from the beach. On the shore the Navajo's men were trying to bring the life capsule, half of which was still submerged in the sea, totally dry to try to use it as a makeshift shelter. The girls, on the other hand, were swimming carefree not far from the shore, apparently without a care in the world. A few meters away from me, in the middle of the soft grass that sprouted from the crushed stone mixed with sand, lay the pilot of the shuttle injured during the impact with the Charon base. A few steps away from him was our only luggage: Deena's bag, which had survived two shipwrecks, still held her Rouen shopping and all our weapons. The doctor forcibly stripped me of my coat and the black sweater I was wearing underneath, both of which were strained, shredded and stained with blood. He couldn't help but arch an eyebrow in puzzlement.
"Boy”, she began, "what exactly is your life? I see more cuts than moles. How many missions have you been on?".
"I'm not authorized to answer that. Thank you, but the hole in my arm won't bother me too much. It's a prosthetic”.
"You can see, a pretty big graft. Is it going to risk a short circuit? Maybe we should detach it”.
"No, we don't have to. As long as the SAI works well enough for me to move it, I'd rather keep it”.
The doctor had me turn and inhale deeply a few times. She was truly amazed when she put her ear down and began to hear my heart and breathing.
"What... what... what is that?", she asked surprised. "A bypass? No, it doesn't sound like it...”.
At first, I didn't understand, it was the first time a doctor who wasn't from the academy had treated me. "What?".
"Is there some kind of.... buzzing? In your chest... it seems to be in sync with the beats of your heart. One every four”, she explained.
"Oh yeah. Just ignore it”.
"But...”, she frowned.
"Just ignore it”, I reiterated. "Think about the rest”.
"Whatever... I'll check the prosthesis then, seawater got in”.
"But I think...”.
"Shut up and let me take a look”, she insisted as she began to feel her forearm. As a doctor, she knew where to put her hands and with a precise touch activated the control under the skin located near the elbow. There was a hissing sound, then the synthetic skin lifted as if an extra bone had appeared beneath it. In reality, it was the emergency control console.
The woman found a sort of cauterized cut: it was the camouflaged opening leading to the controls. She pulled the cut apart and could finally see the console. She touched a few buttons almost at random and as a result my arm began to react to the stimuli.
"Fancy model this. One moment I'm looking for test mode”, she explained.
"Yellow button”, I replied boredly.
The doctor pressed the right button and my arm first stood completely straight with my hand fully open, then it beeped twice and began checking the device: first it moved all its fingers, then its wrist, and finally it did several combinations by rotating its wrist and elbow together. Another friendly sound announced the success of the test. I hated doing that check. Not being able to control my arm and having my sense of touch disconnected, I had the feeling of being mutilated. The test ended with the usual easter egg of the developer making the hand do ok with its thumb up. "Everything seems to be working... how far does the prosthesis extend?", she asked.
"All the way to the scar”, I said pointing to the healed gash almost at the shoulder.
"Gosh... how many have you changed?"
"About... three or four”.
"If you've changed that many, then you lost your arm very young and have grown a lot since then. And you must also be very rich... this is very valuable technology”.
"It's on the Grand Master. Accident in training and not my fault”.
"What's this?", she asked noticing a red button. She pressed it curiously, and as a result a mechanical click was suddenly heard coming from its forearm, a noise similar to a gun firing a blank.
"Oh, that's so cool! You have a hidden gun”, she commented enthusiastically.
"Yep”, I explained unenthusiastically that she had discovered it. "It only has one round. The barrel is aligned with my forearm frame and to shoot it I am forced to pierce my hand every time, as you see”. I showed her the hole in my palm that I used to cover quietly with a glove. "I knocked out with this Jo... Charon. I had it mounted because I thought it was a cool thing to have... I honestly didn't think I'd ever use it”.
"A bluster but smart”, she said with a fascinated expression. Her interest as a doctor had to go in that direction. "Would you like me to close the hole? I could use a flame to seal it with plastic”.
"Negative. That's not necessary. At most, if you give me a hand sewing up the cut on my leg. It bothers me, it keeps opening up”.
"Bothers you, you say?", she asked puzzled. That wound should have been more than a nuisance.
"I'm just well trained. Pain is easy to manage”, I explained posturing a bit. The doctor helped me pull my pants down and began stitching the smear shot that wouldn't close.
"How did you lost your arm?", she asked between stitches.
"I'm not allowed...”.
"... to answer”, she concluded, finishing the sentence herself. She shook her head, smiling.
I felt like a fool for always replying that way, so I mumbled, "a dumb cadet mishandled some explosives and blew my arm off. My face was messed up too... plastic and facial reconstruction. At least I didn't lose my eyes”.
The woman arched an eyebrow. "How old were you?".
"We were twelve. Happy now?".
"It doesn't hurt that much to have a little conversation”, she replied. I smiled without giving it away. She was a smart doctor and had a way with soldiers. I wondered what her story was. "That's why you can't grow a beard at your age”.
Shortly after Agatha had finished humiliating and stitching me up, the two girls arrived with their hair still dripping. I had just finished getting dressed when I heard myself being greeted. "Hi”, Christelle said good morning to me in a squeaky voice. I turned to look at them and my tongue suddenly went dry.
"G-Good morning to you”, I replied, swallowing and trying to remain indifferent. There really was something for everyone. Christelle was tall, her fair skin flushed by the sun, her breasts firm and sensual and the bearing of a goddess. Deena shone with a thousand reflections with her dark skin bathed by the sea, shorter and her physique was leaner but at the same time even more harmonious. "Where did those come from?", I asked noticing the bikinis. Christelle was in red while Deena was in white.
"Bought them in Rouen. On a whim, I admit! You said you were taking me to the beach and I said to myself... Anyway, it's incredible where we've crashed”, Deena replied, moving her wet fringe that covered her bright eyes. In Rouen I had paid without looking at the list of things I had bought. I swallowed a second time. "Luckily, we're the same size”.
"It's a little tight up here”, Christelle observed, looking at her breasts and adjusting the top with her fingers.
"You'd like it!", Deena replied, first casting a glance at her friend and then laughing with her.
The situation had become surreal. Next to me was a badly injured man on the ground and men dragging an escape pod back to shore. In front of me those geese thought they were on vacation. I lost my patience.
"Do you have any idea what kind of shitty situation we're in? My brother must already be looking for us and maybe he's already found us! We're being hunted by a madman, unarmed, without supplies, medical equipment, transportation, means of communication! That poor man has been lying dead since last night, he needs a hospital right away! How can you behave like this, we are not on vacation and I don't know what to do! You're bloody useless!".
"Daith don't be a party pooper”, Christelle replied contritely. "We are not doctors, nor soldiers, nor do we have the physical strength to pull that big wreck. A useless operation that your enemies have already given up. Rather than brooding, we might as well go for a swim, right?".
"The salt also disinfects my wound”, smiled Deena, not at all touched by my reproach. "Rather, why don't you take the opportunity to catch your breath too? You can't change things anyway Daith, just take it easy”.
I resented those comments quite a bit. To be lectured by two civilians was unacceptable.
"Goldilocks there is right. What kind of soldier are you if you can't keep your cool in these situations?", asked a wet and sweaty Jake, returning from the capsule that was at the moment firmly anchored on the shoreline and almost completely submerged.
"I'll show you right now what a soldier I am!", I replied, standing up menacingly.
"Let's all get a grip”, Hank interjected. "This attitude is not good for group morale. If the pod doesn't have a beacon, they won't find us. So shut up and try not to make things worse”, he scolded. Behind him was Asif who was also sweating and fatigued.
"We should have listened to her, what a useless effort…”, he complained throwing himself into the sand in the shade of the palms.
"It's Christelle”, she told him slowly.
"Cristal”, he repeated with considerable mental effort.
"Elle! Elle! Ce n'est pas difficile”, she repeated patiently. "Christelle!"
Asif moved his mouth without making a sound straining to learn the pronunciation.
"Good job, teach this monkey French”, laughed Jake. "Although I don't think he can drool and talk at the same time!".
"Poor thing!", she exclaimed. "He's from Io, he's probably never even seen a woman in person!".
"How... do you know?", asked Asif confused.
"What group?", I returned to the charge. "There's no group here! There's me, two civilians, and some criminals who kidnapped them!".
"The alliances have rather changed, haven't they?", Hank patiently pointed out. "We are no longer working for him”.
"You're still those criminals!", I insisted. "Or do you think when you're done clocking out you'll go back to being respectable?".
"This one believes in it too much”, Jake commented.
"Yeah”, nodded Hank. "Listen I don't care about your respect or forgiveness. Here Humanity, Domains, Law, Charon... we don't know where we've landed and therefore, they don't matter for now. We are just human beings, all in trouble. So, see if you can cooperate with us and put in your own for the common welfare”.
"He's right, Daith”, Deena said leaving me stunned. "We're all in the same boat now”.
I looked at her disappointed. "Matt got shot”, I reminded her.
"And you shot them back”, she retorted. "You shot each other and both of you for the wrong reasons, at least in the beginning! If I can forgive them, so can you”.
Forgive? I would have liked to see them all dead, more than forgive. I struggled to see the logic in Hank's words. I was alone anyway, debilitated and unarmed. They could have overpowered me in that condition, in sunlight or in my sleep. I couldn't fight them and my goal was to survive to warn Humanity of the danger and protect the girls.
"I don't take orders from you Gage! You and your friends watch your backs when this is over!".
"Are you threatening me kid?", Hank approached aggressively.
"You don't scare me, clown. We can end this right now if you'd like”, I proposed approaching in turn.
"Knock it off, fools!" intervened Deena. "You, stop sulking and grumbling! You Hank, leave him alone! You should have realized that he's very tried and tested. He's suffered the most so far!".
"And haven't we? We lost our ship!", said Asif. Jake agreed with a nod of his head.
"Yours?", I asked sarcastically. Asif made to jump on me but Christelle stood in front of him, making him give up the fight momentarily. I spat on the ground and with my back to them I walked away to blow off some steam.
I sat down under the usual palm tree followed by Christelle and Deena who sat next to me. I closed my eyes and lifted my chin. The warm, humid wind caressed my forehead and cheeks and tousled my hair. I breathed deeply, searching for calm and clarity. "What am I doing?", I asked in a low voice, staring at the rough sea.
"Don't scold yourself”, Christelle told me. "We'll put up with your childish temper”.
"I wasn't talking about that. I'm complaining instead of finding a solution. I'm standing here doing nothing under a stupid tree when I should be setting out and finding signs of civilization”.
"Daith?", called Deena to me.
"What?", I asked turning to look her in the eye.
"You're still here”, she replied staring at me with tight lips.
"Right”, I exclaimed leaping to my feet. "No more wasting time. Let's go get help”.
"Finally, man up”, Christelle laughed, engaging Deena as well.
"You're coming with me. Go get dressed, we're leaving right now”.
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The girls "dressed up", that is, they wore shorts (Deena mutilated her jeans with my knife) and sneakers, and despite my recommendations, in addition to this and to the bathing suit, they did not cover themselves further.
If nothing else, away from prying eyes and ears, I could talk to Christelle about what we had experienced.
"So many questions”, she said smiling and anticipating my intentions. "Why don't you just ask them all one at a time instead of picking them out?".
"This reading in my head thing is pretty uncomfortable”, I admitted.
"I know. I usually pretend I don't know how to do it but when I'm with people who know, I can't help myself. It's fun to create that weird awkwardness”.
"You were thinking dirty things about her admit it!", Deena pressed me.
"What? No!", I defended myself almost innocently.
"Actually Deena, Daith is a very shy boy”, she said without any regard for my privacy. "Not that he hasn't peeked here and there but... he only has eyes for you”.
"Shut up!", I protested. Deena became embarrassed and Christelle let out a giggle.
"Okay no more jokes”, she said getting serious again.
"Let's start at the beginning. I found you at Hobson's Rock. A base razed by Charon. Why?".
"You should have figured it out why. He wanted me”.
"Razing Hobson's fucking Rock just for you?", I fretted at the very thought. "Because of that mechanism?".
"I was there to support a research study”, he explained. "I didn't even know the Charon base existed”.
"And the focus of that research was?".
"It was me”, she answered simply.
"They want to replicate your skills?".
"You're thinking of what they tried to do with your family all the way back to your father but you're way off. It's a technology they were developing, nothing that relates directly to this story. Rather the real question is how did Charon know I was there”.
"John has the resources of a nation”, I said. "You have no idea how...?".
"No”, she replied. "I read some of his people. They joined him after the organization was already a thing”.
"He needed you and Deena to unlock that deal. What's it for? Why you?".
"What's it for, huh? Well, like I told you, it's a weapon of mass destruction. I don't know how it works but I know what it's for. To exterminate entire species”.
"Deena did you know that?", I asked her.
She lowered her gaze. "Yes”, she admitted. "He told me that in order to remove the safety from that weapon he needed my intervention. I had to be the one to act on a switch that would hurt me, and plus I would have to really want it”.
"Did you want it?", I asked dumbfounded stopping to look at her.
"No. But I did, the moment it… hurt you”, she explained. "I wanted that thing to activate so it would stop”, she interrupted herself suppressing a cry.
"Honey”, Christelle said going to hug her. She looked at me and made a strange face as if she wanted me to say something.
"Why did that weapon need the two of you to activate? With such a strange ritual”, I continued to investigate ignoring Christelle.
"Who knows”, she huffed ahead of me holding Deena's hand. That "who knows" hadn't convinced me and was probably just payback for ignoring her incomprehensible requests. I would have other opportunities to question her and I decided not to insist.
We were walking along an asphalt road that was now reduced to little more than pavement eaten away by nature. It climbed south-east to our left up a steep hill. The beach where we were stranded was actually the mouth of a stream enclosed by an amphitheater of mountains whose tops were almost always shrouded in a cloak of clouds. Mostly covered with grass and shrubs with a few trees and palms, the land was black in several places, as if burnt.
The climate was hot and extremely humid, fortunately mitigated by the constant sea breeze. Going up that road was exceptionally exhausting, not because it was steep or difficult, but because of the lack of food.
Once at the end of that first climb, a wonderful horizon opened up before us. In the distance to the south-southeast, beyond an arm of blue and seething sea, was a mountainous island shrouded in mist.
Deena smiled enthusiastically, abandoning herself to a scream of joy. I looked at her smiling discreetly, infected by her happiness. I thought about how little she needed to take flight and I envied her without rancor.
I put my feet back on the ground and looked towards the southwest, in the distance. The vegetation was getting thinner and some open fields were opening up to the sun. I noticed something metallic sticking out of the grass oriented toward the sea ahead on the edge of the cliff.
I approached with caution and did well. I backed away, retracing my steps carefully, leaving the girls puzzled.
"A light mortar”, I explained. "There may be unexploded bombs around here”.
"A what?", asked Deena.
"A weapon”, Christelle summed up briefly.
"A piece that throws self-propelled bombs”, I explained in more detail. "This location was abandoned leaving it in pointing. The crate with the bombs could be half-buried or hidden by tall grass. They're old and unstable, you definitely don't want to accidentally step on them or kick them”.
"What's something like that doing here?", sighed Deena seeing her dreams of pristine paradise shattered.
"We're probably in an old battlefield”, I speculated. "During the Fallow they were the first places to be depopulated”.
"Fallow?" asked Deena.
"Didn't you learn anything in school?", I asked impatiently. "The Fallow, after the war! The concentration of the population in the cities to let the ecosystems recover? Remember?".
Deena lowered her gaze, crossed her arms, and walked down the cracked asphalt path alone, continuing in the direction we were going.
"Idiot”, Christelle scolded. "She couldn't go to school”.
I was left alone with my ineptitude marinating in guilt. The gaffe had been made and, besides being insensitive, I was also very bad at apologizing. I put off any personal matters until later, resuming my walk at a safe distance from the two who were ahead of me.
We entered a wood whose vault had transformed the little road into a green tunnel. Once out of the oppressive humidity, we breathed our way back past a stream and into a clearing. To our right we noticed an old abandoned house and had to continue on.
I began to fear that we were in an Alienation Zone which would be dramatic if we found sudden pockets of radioactivity with no way to detect them.
Continuing on for a little while longer, always finding some ruins of abandoned houses, we arrived near a large grassy clearing on the slope of the mountain where we were walking. We were almost on the crest of a mountain range that stood out against the sea.
A collapsed concrete and rusted iron hollow brick building stood over the remains of several old vertical takeoff warplanes and the carcass of a cargo plane.
"A C-130!", I exclaimed as I recognized the remains. "How did they get it to take off from here?". It was a hastily pulled up airfield, strenuously defended before being abandoned after its bombing.
"What is it?", asked Christelle. She knew what it was; she could read it in my head. The question was a courtesy to Deena who was curiously observing everything around her.
"A military transport plane”, I explained. I approached, looking carefully at where we stood. The flag on the rudder of the plane's tail was still partially recognizable. "It's from the WWTO!", I exclaimed.
"The proto-Humanity”, Christelle said. "What was it like? World Wide Treaty Organization?”.
"Yes, I think it's from the 2108 war against China”, I speculated. "American forces from WWTO were defending these places. Maybe we're in America?".
"If it's an Alienation Zone there will be radioactive pockets. How do we detect them?", asked Christelle.
"Not necessarily and you already know the answer. We can't”, I replied. "They didn't use a lot of nuclear weapons in that war. If this stuff is from back then, we might be okay. I'm much more concerned about landmines. If they fought and defended these places, there will be some. Stay on the road and rocky terrain whenever possible. Don't wander off on your own and don't walk too close together if you can't see where you're putting your feet”.
"Why?", asked Deena.
"So we don't explode together”, I replied.
"How cruel”, she commented. "What do we do, we go back?".
"We've been walking for three hours already and haven't solved anything”, Christelle concluded. "Hank went in another direction, maybe he had better luck”.
"That's fine”, I agreed albeit reluctantly.
We retraced our steps, appreciating that it was mostly downhill. We returned in much less time, finding Asif standing guard always stoking a fire.
"Where's the doc?", I asked noticing he was alone.
"The water sucks”, he explained. "She went down the river to find a cleaner spring”.
"Alone?", I asked worriedly.
"Yes”, he confirmed. "Why? She's not afraid of bugs”.
I growled under my breath in accusation of provocation and announced my intention to set out on Agatha's trail. I was concerned that she might not know about the danger of mines and unexploded ordnance in the area and a river is a key water supply area that a soldier would want to undermine to strike the enemy.
The girls insisted on accompanying me and following the flow of murky water backwards we set off towards the mountains.
It didn't take long to find Agatha intent on sniffing the water of a small pond beneath a very high waterfall.
"This is wonderful!" exclaimed Deena.
"Beautiful indeed”, Agatha replied. She was holding a half-rotten plastic bucket in her hand. "Where did you disappear to?".
"Is it okay to drink?", asked Deena as thirsty as everyone else.
"Maybe we'll all get diarrhea”, Christelle answered for her.
"Stay out of my head, I can talk to myself!", the doctor scolded her. Christelle smiled. "Anyway, don't drink the water downstream anymore!".
"But we already drank it!", observed Deena in bewilderment.
"A bad idea that is better not to have a second time”, reiterated the woman.
"I don't care, before I die of poisoning I'm going to take a bath in that pond. I really need to get all this salt off of me, or my hair will curl”, Christelle suddenly said. Deena grabbed a strand of hers over her forehead and tried to look at it. I had a feeling she was studying Christelle's more refined ways.
"Hey easy, remember the dangers!", I said.
"You always make everything complicated Daith. As of today, I'm naming this place the women's bathroom, off-limits to all men”, Deena said.
"I have a better idea. This is the shower for both of us, in the morning for the women and in the evening for the men”, Christelle pointed out. "We can camp near those houses down the valley, we'll be more sheltered”.
"Hank went for a ride along with Jake”, Agatha continued. "Maybe he had better luck than you did, how about we go back to the beach?"
"Surely he's not lost, unlike someone”, Christelle said, twisting the knife.
"What's wrong with you both, today?", I huffed irritated by that constant hammering. The girls simply laughed, adding to my puzzlement.
"Get used to it kid”, Agatha said handing me the bucket full of water. "They will never stop testing your coolness”.
"Why?", I asked confused sensing all too much of the weight handed to me in my hand.
"You'll figure it out maybe in about ten years”, she said smiling almost sympathetically at me.
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"...so this crazy guy jumps out of the car dragging me with him down to the river below!". Deena was telling Christelle and Agatha the details of our second encounter.
"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't know you weren't lying!", the blonde girl exclaimed.
"My boys weren't thrilled at all”, added Agatha who had experienced everything from the other side of the fence. "Our car shot up to almost two thousand feet and we had to airlift them back with the Navajo! Never heard so much profanity in my life!".
I laughed under my breath imagining the scene of those damned criminals desperate in the clouds. It made me feel terribly strange to hear Deena and Agatha talking about those events like two old friends.
We arrived at the shore to find Asif still sitting alone watching over the injured pilot. His expression was sad and absorbed, perhaps because of his friend's condition. When he saw us from a distance, he laid his eyes on Christelle and returned to smiling with a toned-down look as he always did.
"He sure has a soft spot for you”, Deena commented.
"Io's men are almost all radical Islamists”, she explained. "That's not his case but he grew up there. Women are segregated and forced to wear burkas, he didn't see many of them”.
"Isn't that illegal?", I asked puzzled. I had never been that far from Sol and to me the law on the Domains was the same as on Terra.
"Of course”, Christelle confirmed. "Unfortunately, the Islamic survivors of the war have all concentrated and ghettoized there. In order not to lose the Dominion and to avoid constant riots Humanity turns a blind eye”.
"What's a burka?", asked Deena.
"A piece of junk”, Agatha judged. "They force women to cover themselves from head to toe with a tablecloth with holes to see through. They are never allowed to leave the house unaccompanied, forced to marry at a very young age to whoever their father chose for them, and other shameful monstrosities”.
"It is horrible! And on the Io Domain, is this tolerated?", asked Deena in bewilderment.
"Yeah”, confirmed Christelle. "Because fighting it would bring worse suffering”.
"I'd rather die than end up there”, said Deena. I wished I could have added that not all Domains were like Me. I had been to Ceres, Mars, and even Luna. Many colonies were anything but miserable, in fact modern cities far more livable than her Paris. I didn't want to start a debate and kept quiet.
"Any news?", Agatha asked him.
"None. He snores sometimes”, he said. "But he still doesn't wake up”.
Christelle turned her back to the shoreline, looking at the mountains on the opposite side from where we had walked. A little later Hank and Jake popped out of the ridge in that very direction, walking barefoot toward us. They seemed to be in good spirits.
"Find anything?", asked Agatha as soon as they were within voice range.
"A town”, said Jake visibly tired.
"Really?", asked Deena in a mixture of relief and concern.
"Town”, Hank replied puzzled, "in a manner of speaking”.
"It's just a bunch of houses”, Jake interjected. "We haven't seen much movement though”.
"I still haven't figured out if we're in the mouth of a big river or we're in an archipelago”, Gage continued. "You can see some other landmasses in the distance, separated by arms of the sea. Maybe this is an island too, we haven't figured it out yet too much haze. There are several houses scattered along the paved road, small to medium sized. If they are inhabited there will be means of communication. The real problem will be to get there, transporting Josh will not be a joke, the road is long".
"Let's get this straight”, I said seriously. "Once we're in town, we go our separate ways. I will call the FMP for backup. We won't tell about you, you have my word of honor. The truce ends today though. Know that if my friend is dead, there will be a big problem between us in the future”.
"Your friend?" asked Asif.
"I think he was referring to the one on the stairs, the other cadet”, Jake recalled. "If I'm not mistaken that was Yang down there dead with his face blown off”.
"That's right”, I remembered with satisfaction. "Think what I'll do to you if he's dead”.
"Hey take it easy!" protested Asif. "You already got your revenge!"
"Matt is worth a lot more than just one of you”, I said planting my feet on the ground. "So...”.
"So, fucking kid”, Hank interrupted me, "I'm not going to take any more threats! I saved your ass, you put honor on the line so I trust your truce, keep talking shit and we won't all make it to the city!".
"He gets it!", interjected Deena running in front of me. "Right Daith? You'll see that Matt is fine! Damien was sure of it too!".
I exchanged another intense look with Hank, neither of us looked away. Deena took me by the hand and forcefully pulled me to her, bringing me close to Christelle.
"Jake, Ag, with me”, Hank called to them, "We need to find a way to take Josh with us”.
"Daith, here's a word if I may”. Deena took me by the hand and led me aside showing concern. "I'm sorry it's just that you said...”.
"What? I said I accept the truce”.
"No no it's just... in town you're going to call the FMP. What about me, did you forget that...”.
"No”, I interrupted her. "Things are completely different now”.
"Ah oui? I'm still an illegal”.
"But you're also a key witness and an essential pawn in Charon's scheme! Whatever he needs you for. You are no longer merely a wanted girl. I'll explain everything to the FMP and they'll have to protect you for sure. I think this could be an interesting turn of events for you, cooperate”, I said with conviction. "I've studied that the witness protection programs are all on Terra where it's safer”.
"I don't know Daith”, she faltered. "I don't trust Humanity. They don't give a damn about people, they only care about running the system”.
"Don't be so prejudiced”, I minimized. "They're certainly not going to send you into space and ignore everything that's going on. Cooperate and they'll surely reward you”.
"What if I'd rather disappear? What if you simply left me in the city without saying anything and I...”.
"Are you even listening to yourself? Charon found you while you were in Paris, mixed in with the crowd! Here in some village a stone's throw from the crashed capsule how long would it take him to sniff you out? He attacked a primary military base to get Christelle!".
Deena nodded her head. "Why me of all people? We were so close to get the papers...”.
"We have a deal, you and I”, I said seriously. "What would happen to my honor if I failed? I have friends. Well, my father had them. If it will help, I will discomfort them and make sure the FMP stands up straight in your regard”.
"Your honor”, she repeated. "What a strange thing to hear. Where I come from money is everything and people kill themselves in their sleep to steal a pair of shoes”.
"Yeah”, I included. "It hasn't been easy, for either of us, to survive this far. But I don't want to steal your shoes. I already have mine, see?".
Deena looked down at my feet and then smiled at me. "That's nice of you to say that Daith, but you don't count for that much”, she froze me. "Your father's friendships won't change the law and I doubt they'll want to do anything just to protect a ragamuffin like me”.
"You're more than that! I...”.
"Thank you for thinking that”, she shushed me by patting my chest. "Listen, let's go into town in the meantime. By the time we get there I'll have made up my mind”. Deena turned around again with a smile on her face. It wasn't a beaming smile like the one I'd seen her give on the bow of Damien's barge but it wasn't a pout either. "Daith, I trust you”.
Those words immediately seemed more precious to me than anything I had possessed up to that moment. I meant what I had said to her and I wasn't going to let anyone hurt her.
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