Chapter 21

"Mom?"

Skye tried to sit up, but quickly fell back, gasping in pain.

"Mom?!"

"Shh .. it's okay." A dark shadow slipped in from the hall and moved toward the corner of the room. One swipe of the hand later and the little cubicle was enveloped in soft light. Elisabeth checked Skye's chart quickly and then came and sat by her bed, placing her coffee on the bedside table.

"Skye, you're in the Infirmary. Do you remember?"

Skye nodded slowly.

"I .. think so .."

Elisabeth smiled.

"It's about 3:30 in the morning. Your mother's down the hall getting some much-needed rest. I had the nurses set up the bed for her. They looked like they were making plans to camp out in the hallway."

"They?"

"Lucas." Elisabeth explained. "I sent him home. Your mother wanted to stay in here with you, but she was falling asleep where she sat. We didn't send her home on the condition that she did as she was told and went to bed."

Elisabeth leaned forward a little and lowered her voice.

"Though, to be honest, it's so wet out there, I don't think I would have had the heart to turn her out anyway. But let's keep that between you and me. Don't want to damage my reputation as the sternest doctor in the colony."

Skye - like the vast majority of Elisabeth's patients - had responded almost immediately to her calming manner and now smiled back at her.

"I'm glad you made her get some sleep. She never remembers to take care of herself." She winced as she rearranged herself into a more comfortable position. "And me? Am I .. ?"

"You're going to be just fine."

Skye seemed to relax a little.

"How long will I be in here?"

"Just a couple of days if you continue to heal as well as I believe you will. Though I think you owe Carter a thank you. You're very lucky he found you when he did."

Skye frowned thoughtfully.

"Carter .. I heard him, I think." She grinned at Elisabeth. "Remind me to get him some flowers when I get out of here."

Elisabeth laughed softly.

"As much as I'm sure he'd appreciate the gesture, you'd be hard-pressed to find any flowers around here at the moment, I'm afraid."

"True."

Skye fell to looking glum for a moment and then suddenly gasped.

"The multimeter-!"

"Hush." Elisabeth put out a hand and threw a gentle look of rebuke at her patient. "I'm sure they have other multimeters. No one will jump on you for drowning that one."

Skye smiled wryly.

"I feel like someone already jumped on me."

Elisabeth took a sip of her coffee.

"You'll feel increasingly better over the course of tomorrow, just take it easy, okay?"

The patient nodded dutifully and sank further down into her pillow, watching Elisabeth quietly.

"Shouldn't you be at home?"

"I'm on shift." Elisabeth paused and looked up as Ogawa poked her head in to check on them. When she saw all was well, she smiled and quickly disappeared again. Elisabeth turned back to Skye.

"Jim's with the kids."

"He's a good Dad."

Elisabeth caught the touch of wistfulness in the girl's voice and smiled warmly.

"Yes, he is."

They both fell silent for a minute as each wandered off into their own thoughts. Jim and the children would be asleep right now, Elisabeth hoped. Even Josh, who had insisted on trudging the short distance home in the pouring rain and flooded streets. She had offered to make up a temporary bed for him in the storage room, but he had stubbornly insisted on going home to his own bed, maintaining that he never slept a wink anywhere else. His mother shoved down a twinge of worry. He was an adult now. He had to be allowed to make his own choices. Didn't mean her driving instincts to protect him at any cost suddenly vanished overnight. It just meant that now she had to bear them in helpless silence. She turned back to Skye, who was in the process of studying the storage cupboard opposite her.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Skye glanced up at the IV bag that still hung over her and shrugged wearily.

"Not really."

"Back to sleep then." Elisabeth nodded decisively, draining the remnants of her coffee and standing. "Rest is the best thing for you at the moment."

Skye submitted reluctantly as Elisabeth pulled the blankets up and settled them snugly around her, much as she still did with her own daughters on occasion.

"Goodnight, sweetheart. See you in a few hours."

"Goodnight."

Skye smiled as Elisabeth turned the lamp off and left the room, closing the curtain quietly behind her. When she had first awoken, the room had appeared to be pitch black, but now Skye realised there was still a dim light coming from the middle of the building and glowing faintly through the curtain. As the lonely silence deepened in the room, the ceaseless patter of the rain outside seemed to grow louder. More often than not, there were now plips and splashes as well as the rain came to land in the mounting water on the other side of the sturdy wall. Skye turned toward the window. The street lights had been turned off for the past few days to save on power, but she could just make out the light of the large moon through the foggy plexiglass. Even on overcast nights, the clouds had a near impossible task in covering it up. It always managed to break through somehow. She stared at it, snuggling down into her bed a little further and listening to the pouring rain on the roof. There was something comforting about being in the Infirmary when you weren't feeling well. She felt safer here than in her own house. Every now and then, she would hear the sound of soft shuffling as someone passed close by, reminding her she wasn't alone. Her bed was growing more comfortable by the second. Still exhausted from the events of the previous day, it wasn't long before she drifted back into a peaceful sleep.


"How is she?"

Elisabeth stifled another yawn and looked past Lucas to an impatient man that had just entered the waiting room. Night had faded and another day was rapidly getting underway.

"One of my nurses will be with you in a moment, Mr. Daniels."

She turned back to the two in front of her with a smile. Having woken when the daily buzz of activity began to creep into the Infirmary, Deborah had now been up and about for an hour or so and as a result, was looking fairly presentable. Lucas, however, had just arrived, and judging by the unruly nature of his hair and the gravelly note to his voice, had gotten up much more recently.

"She's doing much better. She was a bit restless last night, but I sat with her for a while and she seemed to sleep okay. In fact, she was still sleeping when we - Deborah and I - went to look in on her a little while ago. She only just woke up, but she's quite a lot brighter already."

Lucas grinned.

"Let me guess: You started telling her the muesli story and she was out like a light."

Elisabeth laughed at Deborah's bewildered expression.

"Actually, no. That was a you special, I'm afraid."

".. pity. I'm sure more people would benefit from a retelling."

Elisabeth pointed to his smug smile with a raised eyebrow.

"That's enough cheek out of you. One more word and I'll send you packing."

Lucas raised a hand in surrender and remained silent. Elisabeth nodded her approval and threw a smile at Deborah.

"It's about time she had something to eat. You can go in and sit with her and I'll have Ogawa bring you both some breakfast."

Deborah smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Thank you, Elisabeth. For everything."

"All part of the service." Elisabeth stifled yet another yawn and turned back to Lucas. "You can go in too, if you like. I wouldn't mind betting you haven't had anything to eat since last night either."

Lucas shrugged a little, willing himself not to yawn in sympathy.

"Thank you, but I told Malcolm I'd go and help him run some tests this morning. He's planning .. something." He frowned at Elisabeth. "What about you? You going to go home and get some rest soon? You look half dead."

Elisabeth choked back a laugh.

"Thank you very much! You're one to talk." She paused and examined the dark circles under his eyes severely. "But yes, I'm just heading out actually. I've been on shift for 36 hours. I have gotten some sleep in that time, but it hasn't been much."

She shook her head in mild annoyance as she hastily covered up another yawn.

"Sorry."

Lucas frowned and shook his head at her in mock disapproval as he backed up a few steps before turning to Deborah.

"Tell her I'll be back to visit her later, Deb."

Deborah smiled and nodded toward the door.

"Sure. Go save the colony from impending doom."

Lucas paused.

"I know you're joking, but unfortunately, you're not far wrong."

With that foreboding statement, he made his exit, the sound of the rain bursting suddenly into the quiet room before subsiding again as the door closed behind him. As Deborah turned to walk back toward Skye's room, Elisabeth put a gentle hand on her arm.

"Hang in there."

Deborah smiled soberly and nodded.

"I'm trying. Now go get some rest."

"Yes, ma'am."


Maddy rolled her head back and stared at the roof of the Lab, listening to the almost inaudible tapping above her. The rain, true to aggravating form, had lightened up again as the morning progressed and was now only a sprinkle here and there. She was grateful for the shelter from the incessant damp, but being stuck inside the Lab all day was getting very old very quickly. With little else to do, Malcolm had suggested she "update the database" .. and Malcolm's suggestions were usually taken as orders. Her train of thought deserted her as a high-pitched squawk came from a few metres away. She groaned and looked over in annoyance at the small Ovosaur's cage. Inky had been chirping almost incessantly to himself the entire morning. Thankfully, Lucas and Malcolm had gone into the other room to work, or she had a feeling the head researcher would be throttling the vocal creature by now. Maddy smiled as she pictured herself attempting to pry Malcolm's hands off the Ovosaur's scruffy neck.

But this wasn't getting her work done.

Maddy sighed and went back to her computer, pausing half a second later with a frown already creeping onto her face. Something was wrong. The hair stood up on the back of her neck as she looked around. The Lab was empty, save herself and the young Ovosaur. She caught Inky's eye and realised he had suddenly fallen very silent. The little dinosaur stared back at her accusingly. What was wrong? Was he hungry?

As Maddy stood out of her chair, a dull metallic chorus began to ring in her ears. She looked to her right to see the scientific implements on a nearby bench beginning to clatter softly. She looked quickly back at Inky. The Ovosaur was beginning to cower in the bottom of his cage now. As the symphony rose in volume, the ground began to shudder alarmingly along with it.

Malcolm suddenly appeared from the back room, tools still in hand, with Lucas close behind him.

"Get outside. Now!"

Maddy needed no further encouragement. She fled outside to join the already-gathering crowd in the street. As she stepped out into the open, a faint roaring sound reached her ears. She stared around. A nearby mother was trying to comfort her sobbing toddler. A young woman was chatting to a friend with wide eyes. An old man was staring grimly out into space, as if waiting for the end of the world to overtake him. All were standing in nearly a foot and a half of faintly rippling water. Maddy frowned up at Malcolm in confusion.

"Earthquake?"

He said nothing, but shook his head, raising his hand to indicate some unknown entity behind her. Maddy turned and followed his line of sight. He was staring up beyond the perimeter fence to the mountain that formed the majority of their southern horizon. Maddy squinted as the view seemed to shift unnaturally before her eyes. Then she understood the reality of what she was witnessing. Part of the far side of the mountain near the top was giving way and tumbling down. She continued to watch in surprise as Malcolm's low voice arose from behind her.

"Landslide. The ground's too wet. Just wait."

Maddy waited. Everyone waited. The slide had occurred mostly on the other side of the mountain, so they lost sight of it pretty quickly. Before long, the rumbling ceased as well. After several minutes of silence, scattered conversations began to break out around them. When he had finished answering several questions put forward by a few particularly concerned citizens of the colony, Malcolm turned back to his own staff.

"Right. Back to work."

Maddy frowned.

"But .. there was just a landslide. Isn't there something we should .. do?"

Malcolm folded his arms and fixed her with a somewhat patronising stare.

"Do? Nothing we can do, unless you want to try and hold it together yourself. If it's going to slide, just be glad it's decided to slide away from us. Now." He raised his eyebrows at his youngest assistant and deliberately changed the topic. "How are those entries coming?"

Despite Malcolm's best efforts, very little work was done in the next fifteen minutes, his members of staff preferring to hypothesise among themselves rather than deal in facts. He was preparing the tongue-lashing he was about to unfurl upon them when his morning plans were further obliterated. He looked up in annoyance as Jim burst into his office and threw a dirty satchel onto his pristine desk.

"Malcolm. Suit up."

Malcolm attempted to look bored as he met the other man's gaze.

"Why? Where are we going this time?"

Jim frowned as though the answer was obvious.

"Snakehead. We're going to assess the damage."

Malcolm nearly choked.

"What?! Now?!"

Jim had turned away and begun rifling around in one of Malcolm's previously well-organised drawers. Now he glanced over his shoulder in agitation.

"Yes, now. Come on, let's go."

The head researcher shook his head in amazement.

"This is insane, even for you. You can't be serious. You must be kidding! You - Jim, for goodness sake, will you be careful with that - You can't even get out the front gate!"

"So we'll go around the back." Jim threw another couple of odds and ends into the questionable satchel and turned to his reluctant colleague. "Malcolm, we'll be careful, but if another part of the mountain gives way and falls into the river, we're in serious trouble. I need to know when and if that's going to happen. I need to make decisions that affect the entire colony and I need someone I trust to advise me. That's why I need you along. Now come on."

Malcolm shrugged helplessly, shoving down the unacceptable spark of excitement that was beginning to grow inside of him.

"Well, how can I possibly say no to that?"


"There." Harlon finished putting the final touches on his new crossbow and stared at it with pleasure. "Another one done."

The older Sixer beside him was silent for a moment before throwing his bow down on the ground in annoyance, half-secured handle and all. As it crashed loudly on the rough wooden floor, Harlon watched him in amusement.

"Need some help, Paul?"

"Why are we stockpiling weapons anyway?" A wry female voice piped up from across the room. "We have more than enough, we're running out of places to put them, and it's not like we're constantly losing our supplies anymore. We could be out there hunting, rather than stuck in here."

She gestured vaguely around the dark shed as Harlon raised his head slowly to meet her eyes.

"We're stockpiling them because if things go south here, we want to be better armed than they are." As she shrugged in resignation, he added. "And I need to be able to make up for your lack of commitment somehow."

She looked up in surprise as he smiled dangerously.

"Someone has to be onside to rescue you when you inevitably get into trouble, and that someone has a better chance if they're properly armed."

He went back to his work calmly as she sat in stunned silence. Regardless, he was fully expecting some form of retaliation, and as such, didn't even flinch when a sharp stone suddenly became lodged in the bench beside his hand. He did, however, smile to himself as she stood angrily, evidently annoyed further by the fact that her attempt to intimidate him had had little impact.

"I don't need you. I can look after myself."

Harlon's other companion whistled softly as she stormed out of the shed, slamming the rickety wooden door behind her.

"You're in for a rough time if you don't apologise. C'mon, man, you know better than to mess with her. Knight's got a short fuse and a long memory. We'll never hear the end of it."

Harlon shrugged.

"I can handle Charlie." He suddenly looked up and signalled for quiet as a couple of unexpected voices drifted in from outside. After a moment or two of listening, his features darkened grimly and he rose to investigate.


"Yeah, well, you try keeping your boots clean in this weather."

"You're wearing boots? I thought you'd just caked mud on your feet and called it a day."

Malcolm smiled irritatingly at Mira. She threw a disdainful glare at him and kept walking. A few paces ahead, Mark stifled a laugh and shook his head at Jim. The commander smiled briefly in return. Getting the Sixer chieftess and the head science officer together was always a recipe for disaster, but in this case, he didn't have a choice; he needed them both. He glanced behind him just in time to see Malcolm gesturing to the top of Mira's head.

"You know, it's very interesting. Your hair always reminds me of the ancient peawarbler." Mira watched him in silence and waited for the inevitable barb that was coming. Malcolm ignored her icy glare and continued his conversational chatter as they walked.

"They make a very distinctive nest, you know. Always collecting bits of twigs and small bones to supplement-"

He was up against a nearby turbine before he could take another breath, Mira holding him firmly by the collar. She twisted it slowly so that it grew increasingly tighter around his neck. This close to his face, her bared white teeth stood out strikingly against her dark features.

"Shut. Up."

Malcolm nodded hurriedly, wincing as she gave his collar a last sharp jerk.

"Noted."

He wheezed in a few desperate breaths as she released him, then stared indignantly at Jim and Mark, who had paused to wait patiently a few metres away.

"You couldn't have helped me? Called her to heel or something-" He raised his hands abruptly in an attempt to pacify Mira as she swung around again.

"Alright, alright, sorry."

The irritated woman pointedly ignored him this time, turning abruptly and stalking away without a second glance. Malcolm watched her for a few moments, but she showed no sign of stopping. He finally turned to the two who were still waiting nearby for him and shouldered his crumpled backpack with an injured expression.

"Let's just go."

Harlon slipped easily out the door of his shack and crept silently around the side, his feet sinking alarmingly in the mud. Unlike the majority of the colony, his small establishment had refused the installation of the flood shields, but truth be told, they weren't in need of them yet anyway. While Mira and several others had been happy to resume their lives in regular houses, the remaining Sixers, used to having to fight for their survival, had rejected the offer of shelter and had subconsciously congregated toward the highest point inside the colony instead. Not wanting to accept the (admittedly reluctant) help of the colonists, Harlon and his small group had built their own shack as far away from anyone else as possible. It was becoming quite obvious that this philosophy, though frowned upon at the time, had its benefits after all. While most of the ordinary houses were now knee-deep in floods, the water still hadn't quite reached their doorstep yet.

Harlon leaned casually against the outside wall of the shack and watched the intruders walk away. Another side effect of their isolation was that they rarely got passers-by. Especially not the commander of the colony. After debating with himself for a few moments over whether to confront the group or follow silently, the Sixer raised his voice.

"You have a death wish, don't you?"

With a warning look at Malcolm, who had begun to roll his eyes dramatically the second he realised who was speaking, Jim turned to Harlon. The young man had pushed himself away from the wall and was now slowly approaching them. Jim waited until he was within normal speaking range before replying.

"Why do you say that?"

Harlon folded his arms and shrugged.

"I assume you're trying to sneak out. Why else would you come this way?" He threw a veiled look at Mira, who didn't look in the least bothered by his apparent disapproval. "And you still haven't given the word to evacuate. You're sentencing these people to death."

Jim held back a weary sigh and surveyed the surrounding area calmly. From their position on the low hill, they had a decent view of the lake they were currently inhabiting. How long before the water swallowed them up completely?

Harlon waited.

A few moments later, Jim turned back to the Sixer with an air of finality.

"I don't have time to go through this with you again. We're going up to check on Snakehead. You're welcome to come if you leave your broken record behind."

Harlon smiled sardonically.

"What will it take for you people to see reason? This is your last chance."

Jim shrugged and turned away, evidently done with the conversation.

"Up to you."

They hadn't gone more than a few paces before Harlon's voice once again halted their retreat.

"Mira!"

The leader of the Sixers appeared to have been expecting the summons and turned to Jim almost immediately.

"I'll catch up."

After receiving a brief nod from the commander, Mira hung back and waited for Harlon to approach again. She wasn't about to be subject to his beck and call. If he wanted to talk to her, he could do the coming and going himself. Upon reaching her, the Sixer didn't waste any time getting to the point.

"You've thrown your lot in with them." If he had expected a response, he was out of luck. Mira simply watched him. After a few moments of silence, he sighed impatiently and continued.

"The commander's determined to go down with his ship and everyone in it. We're not going to sit around and watch it happen."

Mira nodded her understanding.

"Where will you go?"

"Higher ground. Above the river."

Mira frowned a little.

"The animals will be heading that way too. There's a couple of slasher nests-"

"I know. We'll be careful." Harlon looked up and met her gaze for a few seconds in a rare moment of genuine concern. "Goodbye, Mira. I'll see you if you make it through. Good luck."

Mira nodded.

"You too."

After leaving Harlon, she managed to catch up to the others again quickly and they accepted her back without question, wandering along in silence until they came within sight of the back fence. It was here that Mira drew Jim aside to talk to him.

"He might not be wrong, you know. We can rebuild houses, but we can't replace people."

Jim met her gaze with an equally serious one.

"My point exactly. How many of these colonists do you think will survive out there? How do we charge our weapons? How will we replace our equipment? If we lose this colony, we strand ourselves. If we abandon it, the floodwaters rush through and we lose everything. We can't get any more supplies from the future. Out there, we're unprotected."

"We survived."

"And how many people did you lose, Mira?" As she remained silent, Jim shook his head. "The scientists believe they can preserve the colony and I believe them."

He raised his eyes to the top of the tall fence nearby as something else occurred to him, a thought that had been playing on his mind far more than he would have liked recently.

"We're still humanity's last hope .." He gave a sharp nod as if he suddenly agreed with his own decision. "We stay."

Malcolm looked uncomfortably at Mark as Mira subsided, but nothing more was said on the subject. The fence was very close now, though in its current state, they would just about have to hold their breath and dunk themselves to get under it. This process, however uncomfortable it may have been, was completed uneventfully. Within a few moments, the four explorers had left the safety of the colony.


Back at his shack, Harlon had gathered a few central members of his own group together.

"I'm not staying here to die just because our fearless leader refuses to abandon ship. We need to get out while we can. Tell everyone you see that we're leaving and they're welcome to join us."

The man on his right laughed weakly.

"'Everyone'? I assume that excludes the colonists, right?"

Harlon shot him a withering look.

"Even Taylor's sheep deserve a last chance to survive. Most of them are innocent civilians after all. Everyone means everyone."

His companion shrugged.

"Fair enough."

"But what are we gonna do about the other problem?"

Harlon's gaze shifted to the new speaker.

"What?"

The woman across from him explained patiently.

"Well, Shannon's not gonna let us just walk out, is he?"

Harlon smiled a little.

"He won't have a choice. He'll let us leave or he'll have a war on his hands as well."

This seemed to satisfy the uncertain members of the group. Harlon looked around the dishevelled room with a critical eye before returning his attention to his listeners.

"Get ready. And get this place sorted out. As soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, we're leaving the colony."