All updates won't be this quick, but I had this in my head already, so here it is!
This is set in the context of my other stories, post-series.
Disclaimer is as usual – no profit, not mine, just borrowing.
Northernmost Outpost
Alicia pulls her rover into the gated area just outside the outpost, and she listens as Reynolds follows her in. Carter and Jim immediately jump out of the rover and close the gate behind them. The trip had been uneventful, but no use in courting trouble.
Some members of Malcolm's science staff along with Curran and a few more soldiers are already here at the outpost, and they come out to meet the group. Curran immediately approaches Alicia. He salutes. "Ma'am."
"Any dino activity today, Corporal?" She looks up at him.
"No ma'am. It's been pretty quiet. Is there anything I can help to unload?"
"I'm good, Curran," she motions to the rhino with her head, "Check on the eggheads."
He smirks a little at that and nods, heading over to offer assistance to Malcolm. Alicia shakes her head, still not believing that he's the same young man who has required not one but two second chances. The first was before the first pilgrimage. He'd been in the running to join them then, but his attitude had gotten him in trouble.
She and Nathaniel decided to give him another shot, and he'd come through with the third pilgrimage. His history only got worse before finally starting to improve after Nathaniel allowed him back to the colony when he had Deborah Tate in tow.
She shoulders her pack and heads into the outpost, followed closely by Jim and Carter. She finds a small, empty room, and she claims one of the beds in it as hers for the night. There are actually four beds in the room, and a moment later, she hears thuds as Carter and Jim each dump their packs on one of the other beds. She lifts an eyebrow at them, and Jim laughs. Carter says, smirking, "Hey Wash, can we sleep in here too?"
"You're both overgrown children."
Jim pipes up. "Was that a yes?" He looks at Carter. "I think that was a yes."
Carter nods. "Definitely a yes. Let's go find some food."
She laughs softly to herself as she follows them out. They head for the kitchen as she turns towards the communications room, wanting to check in with Nathaniel. She knows he'll be hanging around the command center, probably with Gracie, so she can say good night and maybe tell Gracie a story.
A couple of hours later, Alicia, Jim and Carter are seated at a small table talking with Malcolm and Maddy. Malcolm is showing them the scanner and how it works.
Alicia had been examining the small scanner, and she hands it back to Malcolm. "So, we still don't know what the signal is, but we're still picking it up?"
He nods. "Correct on both counts."
She leans back in her chair. "What do you think it is, Malcolm? Just a guess."
He hesitates, but then he says, "Honestly, Wash, I think it's something Lucas built. The signal seems too strong and, more importantly, too constant to be time distortions."
Carter looks pensive for a moment. "You know, I've been thinking about it, and once we moved to the new camp, the one we established after we let you escape," he nods to Alicia, and she nods back with a smile, "Lucas would disappear into the rocky hills near the new camp. He'd usually be gone for hours, but more than once, he was gone for days."
Jim looks at Malcolm. "You said it might be some sort of protective field? How could that be powered?"
As Malcolm offers, "Well, he could've set up solar cells like we use, and in the hills, there's also geothermal, wind or possibly hydro," Alicia looks over at Maddy, who has a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Maddy?" The girl looks up in surprise. Alicia gives her a reassuring look. "Did you have another idea?"
"I, um," she looks hesitantly at Malcolm and then back at Alicia, who nods to encourage her. "Well, I was wondering if maybe the Phoenix Group brought through some other sort of power source? That maybe Lucas could have used?"
She nervously looks back at Malcolm, who is frowning slightly. Alicia is intrigued, though, and Jim, sitting next to Maddy, puts a supportive hand on her shoulder. Alicia cocks her head. "What makes you think that?"
She swallows hard. "Well, I was just thinking that while the solar or other alternative energy sources could work, all of our systems generating those kinds of power require a lot of constant maintenance. We've always got crews out. For solar in particular, we have a dedicated team doing maintenance."
Alicia has to admire Maddy's knowledge base. In general, you'd have to look it up in order to know those things. For the most part, the only people aware of the full extent of their maintenance across all areas are Nathaniel, herself and Guz.
She nods, looking at the others around the table. "That's right. For the solar power grid, it's pretty constant work, and for the outposts and few other systems we have running on geothermal, wind or hydro, I send out teams at least four to six times a year. Since both Lucas and the Phoenix Group have been gone for over three years, that would be an awfully long time without maintenance. It would have to be one hell of a system to still be going." She shoots Maddy a smile. "What do you think the power source could be, Ms. Shannon?" Alicia knows that Maddy still uses her maiden name for work, just as Alicia does.
Maddy smiles back, clearly feeling a little more confident. "I went to the eye yesterday after Dr. Wallace told me I was coming with you and what we're looking for. I read some of Lucas Taylor's papers from university. He did a lot of research and experimentation with energy sources that could be self-sustaining. They were mostly using radioactive materials, which is why they were rejected for Terra Nova. The idea for the colony was using completely renewable resources like solar or wind."
As the young woman pauses to take a breath, Alicia notices that they're all listening with rapt attention, even Malcolm. "I read that a few of the materials Lucas favored could actually be used in very small quantities, and that they could be self-sustaining for years in the right conditions. If Lucas was able to develop a field of some sort, he could have used the energy source itself to sustain the field that would create the right conditions for the self-sustainability. It's circular, of course, but it's perfect. And there would surely be enough power left over to run equipment for Lucas' work to try to reopen the time portal."
She goes silent, blushing lightly when they realize that they're all staring at her. A moment later, Jim leans over and hugs her to him. "That's my girl."
"Dad!" Maddy looks even more embarrassed, but she also looks to be pleased by his reaction.
Alicia just grins at Maddy before turning to Malcolm. "Malcolm?"
He blinks, going from staring at his apprentice to looking at Alicia. She gives him a questioning look. He sighs and stands up. "Good job checking the eye, Maddy," he turns to the others at the table, "Good night, all."
Maddy looks a little concerned at Malcolm's reaction, so Alicia decides to put her mind at ease. "Maddy?" She turns to look at Alicia. "That's really good thinking. And don't worry about Malcolm. You're his student. This is a good reflection on him, and he knows it. Now give a little thought to the type of material we could be looking at and potential safety concerns, OK?"
Maddy glows under the praise, and she nods vigorously. "Yes, ma'am!"
With that, she kisses Jim on the cheek and rushes off, presumably to find Mark. Alicia allocated one of the other private rooms to them when they arrived, giving the third and final one to Malcolm.
Alicia turns to Jim and Carter. "Shannon, Carter, meet me back in our room in a few minutes," she looks at Jim, "I'm going to go talk to Malcolm, make sure he doesn't give Maddy a hard time over showing him up a bit."
Carter nods and stands, and Jim follows him. He turns back briefly. "Wash, thanks for giving Maddy a chance and for looking out for her."
"No problem, Shannon." She grins at him. "Doesn't hurt to keep Malcolm on his toes."
Alicia goes to the room Malcolm is using and knocks on the doorframe. He's on his bed, staring at a plex, and he jumps at the noise. "Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"
"Not be hard on Maddy." Alicia answers him directly.
He looks confused and mildly irritated. "I'm sorry?"
She steps into the room, closing the door behind her. "Especially if she turns out to be right, you need to give her credit where credit is due and not be unpleasant to her for showing you up."
His eyes narrow at her, but she isn't exactly easily intimidated. "Malcolm, you know I like you, and honestly, our relationship got pretty strong when the Phoenix Group took the colony. But you can be petty, especially when it comes to things involving Shannon. Just in case you're irritated at Maddy, I'd like to remind you that she's a bright girl and learning a lot under you. Three years ago, she wouldn't have come up with that. That's on you. So, just keep that in mind." She pauses. "And if I see you get snippy with her, I'll kick your ass. Or maybe I'll just hide your inhaler or something."
He rolls his eyes, but to his credit, he also laughs. "Fair enough, Wash. And as much as Shannon annoys me, I like Maddy. I think I can restrain myself, though it's never easy when a teacher is outpaced by his student."
She smiles and opens his door. "Thanks, Malcolm. Have a good night."
"You too, Wash."
She waves an acknowledgement and heads back to the room she's sharing with Shannon and Carter. When she gets there, they're both sprawled out on their beds, talking. Once again, she closes the door behind her, and they look up at her. "Am I the only one a little concerned that we're going after a signal potentially being sustained by a nuclear power source put in place by a crazy man?"
Carter laughs out loud, and Jim just snorts and says, "No. You're not. That's what we were just talking about, though I'll admit we weren't quite that succinct when expressing our concerns."
She drops onto her own bed. "Reynolds isn't going to like it, but I want Maddy with the three of us tomorrow. I want to ask her some questions, and I'm guessing she won't be as forthcoming in front of Malcolm, who, by the way," she looks at Jim, "Has promised not to give Maddy a hard time over tonight."
Jim looks relieved. "Good, and thanks, Wash. Once I got over being proud of her, I got worried. And I can talk to Mark if you need me to."
"That's OK. He can gripe all he wants, but regardless of how much I treat him like he's my little brother, I'm still his C.O. And I can take the heat. He actually is family for you, so you don't need to mess with that."
Carter looks somewhat concerned. "Wash, radiation poisoning is nothing to screw around with. Do we have any toxicity sensors?"
She nods. "Since we didn't know what natural resources we'd encounter here, we brought an array of stuff. They're old, but I'm guessing they still work. I have a few of them in my pack."
"Are you serious? You brought some? Why? How did you know?" Carter looks perplexed, and so does Jim.
Alicia grins and digs her bathroom kit out of her pack. "Maddy's not the only one who can read, boys. I'm going to go brush my teeth." She gives them a little wave and heads for the bathroom.
**WT**WT**WT**
The Next Morning, En Route to The Badlands
"I don't think that anything he would have used would be of the sort that was significantly dangerous. A lot of progress was made in the last fifty years refining the types of nuclear material that could be used. Those experiments caused a lot of deaths, horrific deaths by different types of cancer and radiation poisoning, but while the ends do not justify the means, they did go a long way towards identifying the safer materials." Maddy, sitting up front next to Wash, is explaining about the different types of radioactive material Lucas might have used to power a shield. Jim and Carter, both in the back, are leaned forward, listening closely.
Alicia nods. "I lost an uncle and a grandmother to the work." Maddy looks at her in surprise, and she just gives her a game smile. "I may have ended up a drop out myself, Maddy, but I didn't come from a long line of them."
Maddy turns bright red, trying to sputter out an apology, and Alicia waves her hand. "Maddy, I'm teasing. I don't get my feelings hurt that easily. Anyway, I think you're right about one thing, Lucas would have used the safer materials, if only out of self-interest. If he'd died of radiation sickness, as awful as this sounds, he wouldn't have gotten to see Nathaniel suffer, and that was his number one goal."
They all go quiet, and Alicia shakes her head. "I don't have a good feeling about this, guys," she addresses Carter and Jim. "Shannon, you and Reynolds keep Maddy close to you, understood? And Dunham and the two kids are on Malcolm and the other scientist. I want them all held back." She looks at Maddy, "Sorry, I know you might be curious, but I'm not letting you or Malcolm near any of the equipment until we know it's safe."
Carter pipes up from the back, "I notice I didn't get a babysitting assignment. I take it I'm with you on lead?"
She nods, catching his eye in the mirror. "You and I are the most familiar with Lucas. We take point on this."
"Sounds good, little sister." He gives her a half smile in the mirror, and she responds in kind.
"Lieutenant?" Maddy's suddenly shy demeanor makes Alicia look over at her. "What was he like before, well, before whatever it was that happened?"
Alicia sighs, not sure how to answer. Eventually, she just says, "He was the most curious, intelligent, sweet kid I'd ever known. In all seriousness, Maddy, he was a male version of you, but if possible, even smarter."
Maddy smiles a little at that and looks down at her hands. Alicia notices that Carter and Shannon sit back, maybe trying to keep clear of this conversation. "He changed after his mother died, didn't he?"
Alicia is quiet for a moment, and then she glances over at Maddy. "He did, but honey, it's not that simple, and it's not a story that's mine to share."
With a nod, Maddy says, "Whatever did it, I'm sorry. I know it still bothers the commander."
Keeping one hand on the wheel, Alicia reaches over with her other hand and grips Maddy's. "It does sometimes, but he's OK, Maddy. The simplest way I can put it is that you don't live as long as he has, as long as we have, with no regrets. But there are just some things that can never be mended. This is one of those things. All that any of us can do is learn to live with our regrets, learn from them and try to move forward."
"Is Gracie his second chance?" Alicia glances over at Maddy again, and she can tell that she immediately is sorry for her words.
She squeezes Maddy's hand again. "No, honey. She's not his second chance. She's his heart. Mine too."
At that, Maddy smiles. Alicia looks up into the mirror and sees both Carter and Jim smiling too. She shakes her head, but before she can make a smart ass comment, she sees the rhino, driven by Reynolds with Malcolm navigating, slow down and come to a stop. She can see that they're near the foothills, due north of the northern outpost, and she pulls up next to the rhino.
She climbs out of the rover, holding her hand out to Maddy to indicate that she's to stay by the vehicle. Carter follows Alicia while Jim stays put with Maddy. As he gets out of the rhino, Alicia calls out to Malcolm, "Close readings?"
As Reynolds, Dunham and the other scientist and soldiers follow him out, Malcolm nods. He points up the hillside. "I think it's coming from somewhere up in the rocks. I'm betting there's a cave up there, one we can't see from here."
"OK." She holds her hand out for the scanner.
Malcolm looks surprised, but hands it over. After a moment, his face falls. "Wash, I…"
She shakes her head, beckoning Carter over. "No, Malcolm. Something feels off here. I don't know what it is, but I don't trust Lucas. You and Maddy can follow, but you hang back. Shannon is staying right with you. Dunham, Reynolds?" The last two turn to her at loose attention. "You're to stay with Maddy, Malcolm and Shannon. Keep an eye on things." She looks at the others. "You all can stay here with the vehicles."
The rest of them nod their agreement, and even though he looks like he wants to argue, Malcolm stays quiet. Alicia goes back to the rover and shoulders into her pack. She has water and climbing gear in it, along with the radiation sensors. She pulls out two of the latter, clipping one to her belt. She hands the other to Carter, and he does the same.
She picks up a sonic rifle from the back of the rover, and Carter grabs a similar weapon. She turns back to the group. She addresses Malcolm and Jim, who are standing near one another. "Until I give you the high sign, I want you at least twenty feet behind us. Am I clear?"
"Crystal, Wash." Jim speaks up for both of them, not giving Malcolm the chance to disagree. He indicates Carter with his head. "You two be careful."
She smirks at him. "Aren't we always?" She turns and heads up the hillside, rifle in one hand, scanner in the other.
Carter laughs, and he follows close behind her. She has to chuckle when she hears Jim's voice behind them. "You know, last time you two went off alone, I nearly fell off a mountain. Can we not have a repeat of that?"
As they ascend the hillside, she and Carter get serious again, both watching out for any sign of a cave or any sort of manmade objects. About halfway up, they hit a small plateau. At the back of it, they see a narrow opening, maybe two or three feet wide at the most. When Alicia shines a light into it, though, something reflects the light back.
"Bingo." Carter grins.
Alicia hands him the scanner, and she carefully begins to move towards the opening. When she gets to it safely, she peers inside. It appears to be dark inside, but then she detects a faint glow from the back of the cavern, which looks to be decently large.
Taking a deep breath, she slips inside. When she clears the opening, she swings her light around. The light reflects again, and she can see metal at the back of the cavern. She furrows her brow, approaching whatever it is that keeps reflecting the light. Carter follows her in, and she can hear him behind her.
She slowly and carefully makes her way back to the metal she keeps seeing. As she does, she hears more movement at the cave opening, and she sees Jim and Malcolm peer in. She rolls her eyes at that and continues advancing. Carter is less than five feet behind her when she turns, shrugging, about to say that it seems safe to her.
In that moment, she must trip some sort of proximity sensor, because just as she's about to give an all clear, everything near her lights up, far more equipment than she expected, and she hears a buzzing sound. Carter is closer to her now, so, instinctively, she puts out both hands and shoves him backwards towards the entrance. The motions send both of them tumbling away from each other, him towards the cave entrance and her towards the back of the cave.
She lands hard, her pack taking the brunt of the impact, but before she can struggle up, the buzzing gets louder. The lights get even brighter, and suddenly, there's almost a ripping sound. She realizes that she and Carter are now separated by a shimmering wall of light. As she gets to her feet, Carter grabs a rock and tosses it towards her. It passes clean through the wall of light, coming to a stop near her boot.
She bends down and picks up the rock, and she goes to toss it back to Carter. Instead of passing through, though, the small rock bounces off of the barrier, rolling right back to her. She looks up and her eyes meet Carter's, realization likely passing across both of their faces.
As Jim, Malcolm, Reynolds and Maddy rush forward, Alicia sits down hard on the cave floor, the light still shimmering happily. "Oh crap."