From the Ashes Chapter 5
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Author's Note: This chapter is very short but it acts as a sort of bridge to the end parts of the story, so please bear with me.
The camp was dismantled around Julia's tent, until finally everything was ready to move out. Alonzo then lifted the still-sleeping Julia out of her sleeping bag and laid her in the back of the Transrover, deflecting questions with a simple, 'she's tired, that's all'. Danziger and Baines took her tent down and stowed it with the others. Then Danziger did a last minute check to make sure everything and everyone was present. He had to count twice, confused by getting one less person than he expected. And then angry at his confusion- it had been ten days now. He swung himself into the cab of the Transrover, started the engine – still using manual controls – and moved the caravan out.
They travelled on like that for seven more days before Danziger called a two day halt. This time it was because they had reached a large river and Danziger was worried about crossing it with the vehicles. He and Baines stood looking at the river while the rest of the group erected the camp.
"It seems shallow enough, Danziger."
"Yeah. But I'm worried about the current. I have no idea how much it would take to wash the 'rover downstream mid-crossing." Again Danziger was feeling inadequate. This planet kept throwing new challenges at them and Danziger wasn't sure how many more he could deal with. Not with the stakes as high as they were – he really didn't think they could survive without the Transrover. There was no way they could carry its load between them, even with Zero's help.
The two men turned from the river in response to Bess's yell that dinner was ready. That call caused a bit more enthusiasm than usual as a result of Alonzo's success at hunting that afternoon. He'd brought down a large deer-like creature which, according to Julia's scans, was entirely edible. The group all knew that Bess, when she was given something to work with, was a terrific cook. Danziger helped himself to a large bowl of stew and then sat down beside the Martins, ignoring Morgan's nervous glances.
"Bess, your father was a miner on earth, right?"
"Yes."
"Did he use transrovers in his operation?"
"Occasionally. Mostly he preferred to build ship ports next to his mines – then he could transport straight from the mines to the stations."
"What about rivers?"
"Rivers?" Bess's confusion was evident in her voice.
"Yeah. Can transrovers cross rivers?"
"Oh. I really can't say, Danziger. I don't know if you've been down to earth but there's not many rivers left – not that are worthy of the name anyway. And dad never really involved me in the specifics of his business – he never wanted me to stay on earth, so I didn't need to know anything about mining. I'm sorry."
"That's Okay, Bess. We'll just have to work this one out for ourselves." Danziger finished his stew in silence, a frown on his face. Then he spoke, loudly.
"Right. Listen up everybody. Tomorrow we need to find some way across this river. So Baines and I will run tests on the current and the 'rover – see if we can get it over if we make it heavy enough. Alonzo and Yale, you two can scout upstream and see if you can find an easier crossing. Walman and Martin, you can do the same downstream. And remember, it's the Transrover we're thinking about, so the crossing needs to be as shallow and as still as possible."
That night Uly woke most of the camp screaming. He had started having nightmares a few days before and they seemed to be getting worse. Danziger shook the child awake.
"It was just a dream, Uly. It's over now, you're awake." Danziger rocked the boy back and forth, trying to calm his tears.
"Shhh. It's Okay. It's over now." Eventually the tears stopped but Uly kept a tight grip on Danziger's shirt.
"Do you want to talk about it, kiddo? Sometimes that helps." Uly nodded into Danziger's shoulder but for a few moments said nothing. Then he spoke, his voice still hiccoughy from crying.
"Mum died. We opened the cryo-chamber and she died. And we had to bury her like Commander O'Neill and Eben and your friends." By the end of his explanation tears were streaming down Uly's face again and Danziger wiped them away.
"Hey, now. That won't happen, Uly. We won't open that chamber until we know for definite that we have a cure. Your mum is not going to die. You don't need to be afraid of that." John hoped the lie wasn't obvious in his voice. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd dreamed of Devon dying.
"Do you promise?"
"I promise." Danziger winced inwardly. He never made promises he couldn't keep, but Devon's recovery was entirely out of his hands. Even so, he couldn't let Uly live in constant fear – it was bad enough he was missing his mum without her having to worry about her dying.
"Now you should get back to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a hard day for everybody." Uly allowed Danziger to lay him back down.
"Will you sing to me?" Danziger's eyebrows rose.
"Sing?"
"Mum always sings me to sleep when I have a bad dream."
"Um, I don't really sing very well, Uly." Danziger saw the boy's face fall and backed down. He glared at True, who'd sat silently through all of this, daring her to laugh and then he began to sing an old children's song.
"Have you heard of the battle of the Sugar Puffs,
Where most of the fighting was done?
It was there that a wee Sugar Puff man
Was shot by a Rice Crispie gun, gun, gun…"