CHAPTER 5

A New Direction

Bosch was lying down on the small platform, trying to conserve his strength as best as possible. He knew once the others arrived, he would have a lot of work to do, which meant he was going to need to be at his peak condition for it.

Two hours had already passed since he gave up writing his log. Bosch couldn't help but wonder where everyone was, or what they were doing for that matter.

Most probably carrying out the plan that had been created earlier. He couldn't help but think to himself. Upon recollection, Bosch realized that he did know where they were. He doubted they would just stay in one place and do nothing. More than likely they were carrying out the original plan to go and scout for food and resources to fix the transport, even though they would be now doing it with three less men...

Before he could think any further on the matter however, Bosch's thoughts were interrupted by a loud clank sound coming from the engine room to his right. It was slightly muffled, but it was also very loud.

Then it came again, this time followed by the high-pitched screech that came with something metallic and heavy being dragged along the floor. The previously low howl of wind outside increased in intensity, creating a deafening echo in the rest of the transport and bringing with it a chill unlike anything he had experience before. The bitter cold touched his skin - exposed with an environment suit to protect him, there was little he could do to stop it.

Over the loud din, Bosch could barely make out a few voices shouting at each other as they came into the transport. This was shortly followed by another screech as the heavy metal object was once again pushed into place, cutting off the loud howl and bringing the ringing sound back into Bosch's ears. The cold went away as well, although not as completely as he would have hoped.

Bosch decided to get up and face whoever was coming in. Leaning on his left arm and using whatever strength he had, Bosch got himself up carefully, making sure not to cause any strain or problem to the broken right arm. He then swung his legs out to the right and sat up. He looked at the engine room and waited for whomever it was to come walking past the large pipes that blocked most of his view of the section.

The voices grew louder but were still somewhat muffled by the pipes in front of them, but Bosch was still unable to make out what they were talking about, hearing only pieces of the conversation.

Then as they came closer, the voices became a bit clearer. He still couldn't figure out who it was, but at least he could understand what they were saying. From what he could tell, they were two of them, and both were arguing with each other quite loudly.

"I know that, but our time was up! If he hadn't returned back then, we would have both frozen to death, not to mention the others would have gotten worried!"

One of voices spoke; obviously in response to something Bosch had not been able to make out earlier. A different voice spoke up in response to this, the tone one that of impatience and irritation.

"The others aren't even here yet! We're the first ones here damn it! It would taken less than three minutes to simply go up to the panel, opened the door and then taken a peek inside!"

"And what if a full, goddamn army was behind those doors, waiting to blow us to kingdom come simply because we didn't knock?"

The first voice retorted. Bosch couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. Had they discovered something? They still hadn't rounded the corner yet, meaning they were probably standing somewhere behind the pipes and arguing with each other. This assumption was backed up by the fact that he could no longer hear their footsteps either.

"You don't know that! If there was an army, they would have gotten us long before we even went up to the top of the damn thing!"

"I may not know whether it's true, but neither do you! There is a good chance it's booby-trapped, so I'd rather have the others come in with us in case something went wrong."

The second voice sighed a bit, conceding defeat on the matter.

"Fine then, but we better send the next team down ASAP. If that thing's got potential as shelter, we'll need to move in quick."

The first voice's tone calmed down a bit before continuing. The person started walking towards the end of the pipes as he spoke, as evidenced by the footsteps that they could hear.

"Agreed. The transport's environmental systems won't last too long as it is. Once it goes, we'll most likely end up freezing to death."

Bosch watched as a foot came past the pipes, followed almost immediately by the leg, then the main body of the person. Finally, Sargo came into view, still looking at someone to his right. As he turned the corner, Sargo's face turned around to see the main hallway area, which was when he saw Bosch.

Bosch suppressed a small smile at Sargo's surprised expression. From behind him, Terrick rounded the corner, unaware that Bosch was seated at the platform and watching the both of them. He glanced at Sargo, saw the surprised expression and then turned to look at Bosch. His expression changed to one of surprise as well. Sargo reacted first, rushing forward to Bosch. Terrick snapped out of it as well and came just behind Sargo.

Bosch simply put a hand up, signaling he didn't need any help, and before Sargo could say anything, he simply nodded over at the white sheets and asked a simple question. "Who?"

Sargo looked at the sheets, his expression turning somewhat grim. He stared at it for a few seconds, before looking back at Bosch, a somewhat sad expression on his face. Finally, he looked down before speaking. "Ramayan and Sarno. We found Sarno dead after the crash. Ramayan suffered massive injuries….we weren't able to save him."

Bosch nodded grimly, not sure exactly what to say in reply to this. Although it had been expected, there was little that could have prepared him for the news. An uncomfortable silence fell over the group for a minute, before it was broken when Bosch looked up directly at Sargo and spoke in a somewhat low voice

"At least we tried our best….they wont be forgotten……none of them will."

Sargo only nodded, but the expression didn't leave his face. Rather than let the silence return, Bosch pushed matters ahead by clearing his throat and continuing.

"Status update?" he asked.

Sargo looked up at Bosch and gave out a sigh. Clearing his throat, he nodded and glanced back, indicating for Terrick to continue with the work they had come back to do. Terrick simply nodded back and moved off towards one of the corners. Bosch watched as he switched on the environment suit's flashlight, lighting up the corner and revealing the ladder that led down into the transport's cargo hold. Terrick turned around and carefully descended the ladder, into the darkness below. Bosch looked back to Sargo, who was now towards the right side of the hallway near one of the outcrops they were using as a table of sorts. He was rummaging through a small bag for some supplies.

Finally, he withdrew two small cups, along with a bottle of water. Placing both cups on the outcrop, he poured some water into both and then placed the bottle back on the outcrop. Wielding a cup in each hand, he turned to the platform and walked towards Bosch, holding one out towards him.

"Drink first, you're de-hydrated." Sargo spoke. Bosch just nodded his thanks as he accepted the cup. Bringing it up to his lips, he took a sip first. He was somewhat surprised as to how cold it was, but then Bosch realized, he should have expected it in this sort of weather conditions.

Sargo sat down on the ground next to the platform, taking a few slow sips from his own cup, waiting for Bosch to finish drinking.

Bosch was the first to speak up once he was done with the water.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

Sargo didn't look up; only staring at the cup he was holding in both hands.

"Very….." He shook his head towards the cockpit. "The transport isn't in good condition. Even if we could repair the engines, I doubt it will be anywhere near flyable, much less space worthy for that matter. Fortunately, environmental control is still online - if only barely. Venson says it will fail soon though, so we need to find some sort of shelter."

Bosch looked down. The situation appeared grave indeed.

"What about our stores? How bad is the situation there?"

Although it shouldn't have been possible, Sargo's face actually became grimmer. Looking at this, Bosch braced himself for even more bad news as Sargo continued on.

"The stores are even worse. We lost nearly half the cargo due to damage from the crash. We're down to a day's worth of food, and now that Ramayan's dead, we're pretty much dead in the water in that regard….as for medical supplies, we've got none left. Most of the surgical nanites were finished when we tried to save Ramayan, while the rest went on patching up your leg and neck. Other than that, there isn't much left intact. Only the basic stuff survived: stuff like ropes, chains, some field equipment, along with a single stove."

Sargo paused, looking at the cup and frowning. Bosch could see he was trying to remember if that was it. Then a thought occurred to him, a rather urgent and horrifying one at that.

"What about the ETAK?" he asked. Without it, they would not be able to communicate with the Shivans at all and then they would be really stuck here.

Sargo looked up in surprise, not expecting that question. He nodded to his right, towards something beyond the pipes in the engine room.

"That? It's still online and working. We re-enforced it enough that it survived the landing intact - hell, it's about the only thing here that's survived and working at a 100."

Bosch breathed a sigh of relief at this. At least now they had a way to communicate with the Shivans when they came…He nodded before continuing.

"That's good then. At least we can communicate with the Shivans when they come down for us. It should be soon, if we can't get a signal back to them first."

Sargo frowned a bit, but didn't say anything to this, allowing the silence to hang over them for a full minute before he got up off the floor and headed back to the outcrop for more water. He first poured himself more water, before turning around and offering Bosch some more as well. Bosch nodded and accepted the refill. Rather than let the silence continue however, he looked at Sargo and asked him a question.

"What were you and Terrick talking about just now? What did you find out there?"

Sargo didn't look up from the cup. Taking a sip from it, he replied.

"We found something……strange, to say the least." He paused, frowning to himself a bit before continuing.

"It's a structure, a rather odd one at that. It's similar to some of those Inca temples we studied in history class, sure as hell looks like a temple for that matter. It's not very far from where we are right now, but the fog out there is so thick we didn't spot it till were right on it! Both Terrick and I climbed to the top of it, and found a massive entrance, along with a control panel. Terrick wanted to open the door and see what was behind it, but couldn't figure out the control panel before it was time to come back. It looks well-built though, and in good condition. If the weather was always like this on this part of the ring, then the inside should be insulated enough for us to survive."

Bosch was intrigued….a temple, out here? On this ring? He had suspected the ancients were religious in nature, but enough to create a temple on the ring? Or was it something else? Such questions perplexed him, not to mention piqued his curiosity.

"Once Gibson is back, we should be able to set out again and investigate it. If it's a viable alternative to staying here, it won't take long to move into it." Sargo continued.

Bosch simply nodded. His curiosity would have to wait for now. But if his hunch was right, then this would be a rather amazing find indeed.

"We'll wait for Gibson then." Bosch replied, sitting back. From the looks of it, this was going to be a long wait indeed.

Around a half hour later, the entire group had gathered inside the transport, busy getting everything ready to move. Most of the activity was focused on the once-dark ladder in the corner of the corridor, which was now brightly lit by one of the portable lights. The constant noises of people rummaging through the debris in the cargo hold could be heard, and every so often, someone would either come up the ladder or go down it. The corridor itself had people running around, and was full of bags littered all over the place. The bags themselves weren't very large, being standard battle order for most space crews, it was light and most of its storage capacity was in the numerous pockets all over it.

Meant for carrying any random mixture of tools, the bags were ideal for most emergency occasions. But its designers would never have imagined it being useful on an alien ring world in a hostile environment not that much warmer than that of space itself, after being involved in a crash landing that killed several people and damaged almost everything else.

In the sea of chaos, was a small island of order. Or, rather, in this case a platform of order. Seated pretty much in the centre of the corridor and with Gibson, Sargo and Venson surrounding him Bosch was conducting the final briefing before the four of them would head out. So far things had gone without a hitch. When Gibson and the others returned, Sargo had immediately debriefed them on the find. It had been an almost unanimous decision then that they would head out towards the structure, and do so almost immediately. They had only paused to rest a few minutes and gather what equipment they could, leaving only one last issue to be dealt with before they could go.

How was Bosch going to get there? Unlike the others, he was no longer dressed in an environmental suit, and with the broken arm and cast, there was no chance he was going to wear any above the chest either. The others were still aurguing about how exactly they would get here, with Bosch in the centre of it all, watching them.

"Look, I'm telling you, there's no way any healthy human being could survive for long in the atmosphere out there, much less one that's only recently been injured and not in the best of conditions."

Gibson spoke, his tone one of irritation and slight anger. His concern for Bosch's safety was evident indeed.

"Yes, but you forget - we're only going for a few hundred meters for heaven's sake. It's just through to the other side of the damn fog and we're pretty much home free!"

Sargo interrupted. His tone was equally annoyed, and he probably had a right to. They had been sitting here and doing nothing but argue for the last 5 to 10 minutes, and it was fustrating him to no end. And in turn, his sentence was cut off as Venson replied to both the gentlemen gathered.

"Yes, but you're also forgetting the fact that we'll be going there at a rather slow pace. It's not like we can just run over or something? Have you even tried running with a broken arm on flat ground? Much less on snow out there!"

Finally getting a bit sick of this, not to mention feeling a bit more confident in getting onto his feet, Bosch decided to end this right here. It would do no use to have his crewmen bickering amongst themselves, especially in their current situation.

Without saying a word, Bosch slowly put one foot on the ground first, and gradually shifting his weight, he put down the other. His legs nearly buckled on him, and he had to grab the platform for support. The others noticed this and stopped arguing immediately. They rushed to Bosch's side to help him, but Bosch waved them away.

"Either we go now, or we're not going at all. We can't stay here forever, and we need some other place with a working power source to activate the ETAK."

He looked at first Gibson, and then Venson before continuing.

"Gibson, Venson, I understand your concern for my safety, but we're all dead if we stay here anyway. There is no use waiting any longer. Let's go."

Both nodded rather reluctantly. Gibson then turned around and went to get one of the bags. Bringing it back to the platform, he opened it and took out a loop of rope. As he uncoiled it, Bosch saw that it was rather long - long enough to probably hold all of them. Tying one of the ends around his waist, the offered the other to Sargo and the other to Venson. Finally, taking the other end of the rope, he tied it around Bosch's waist. Bosch only nodded. This was pretty much the plan they had all agreed to. It would keep them all together, despite the thick fog, and if anyone had problems, at least the rest would know.

Once everyone was done, they picked up their bags and gear. Only Bosch remained without carrying anything - which was almost impossible given his broken arm and weakened state.

Sargo stood next to Bosch, and would be accompanying him throughout the journey, providing support in case he fell or needed help. Just before they were ready, Sargo took one of the blankets they had and wrapped it around Bosch's upper body. They had managed to get him into some of the environmental suit earlier, but it was only up to his waist, meaning that his chest, face and hands would still be vulnerable to the cold. They did not even have a pair of goggles with which to cover his eyes, and the only thing that would be protecting Bosch's head was the admiral's hat that had accompanied him for the entire journey, along with a long piece of cloth that would serve as a scarf, covering his mouth and nose. Amazingly, unlike the things surrounding or Bosch himself, it had escaped the crash relatively unscathed and still looking as brand-new since the day he had been awarded it.

Well, at least, the blanket should assuage this, and keep him safe from the cold to a certain extent….he hoped.

Once they were all ready, Bosch nodded and spoke.

"It's time then. Let's go."

Taking one step at a time, Bosch took it slowly at first as he tested his unsteady legs. He could walk, and should be able to reach the temple without much of a problem. Then he corrected himself. He didn't have a choice in the matter. He would get to that temple, and he would walk there, no matter how bad it seemed it was what was needed to be done.

With that, the entire group slowly moved towards the rear, past the pipes and into the engineering centre. As they did so, the ambient lighting reduced significantly. Few lights had been placed here, with the priority being the central corridor as well as the cargo hold below.

Here there were simply more pipes and various systems that Bosch only had an inkling as to how it all worked together. Some pieces and components of the structure were organic in nature, while others were metallic in nature, meshing together to work with almost complete harmony.

Of course, he had read the reports on their technology, and had some understanding of how it worked, but to actually look at it and be able to feel it was a different matter.

The group walked through the short maze of pipes and walkways, till finally Gibson - who was in the lead - turned right, which lead into a small corridor ending at a wall. When Bosch looked at the wall, he saw that it wasn't exactly a wall. It was more of a large metal piece covering up a fair portion of the wall. It was made up of the same material and color, but in the dark lighting conditions it wasn't too easy to see where exactly it had come from. Perhaps the others had salvaged it from somewhere, but Bosch couldn't be too sure.

Gibson and Venson stood to either side of the metal piece. They nodded to each other first, and then placed their hands on the metal piece. Venson pushed the piece from the right, while Gibson pulled it from the left, causing the piece to release a high-pitched screeching sound as it was moved out of the way. As the piece moved, it uncovered a large hole in the rear of the ship. Judging from the seared edges, it appeared to have been burnt or cut off somehow. But this made little differences as, suddenly, the wind started blowing through the hole at full-throttle, bringing with it's loud howl snow, hail and what may have been Bosch's worst enemy in this case: the bitter touch of the coldness that billowed past him and everyone else.

Nobody else would - no, could - feel it quite as much as Bosch could right now. It had caught him somewhat-off guard, and not even the blanket he had draped around his shoulders could prevent the wind from covering his entire body from its icy touch. Visibly shuddering, Bosch turned his face away from the breeze, somewhat thankful of the small scarf-like cloth he over his face.

But still, not this would stop him. Bracing himself, Bosch made eye contact with Sargo and nodded. It was time to go. Taking one step forward, and then another, Bosch brought himself to the lip of the hole, on the verge of stepping out, but at the same time not quite there. Sargo went out first, before turning back and waiting for Bosch to step out.

Holding the edge of the hole, Bosch's took another step forward, his foot leaving from the relative safety of the ship into the deep snow that surrounded it. He was rather surprised when it sank further than he expected. The snow here was quite deep, and it threw him somewhat off-balance. Leaning on the hole, he regained his composure and brought his other foot out and alongside the other. Glancing down, he made sure to watch his step as he slowly moved forwards, Sargo next to him every step of the way.

The cold seemed too much, seemingly unrelenting and overwhelming. It beat at Bosch, causing him to shiver almost continuously as his body tried to preserve its heat. Realizing that exercise would help him keep it up, Bosch tried quickening his pace a bit. Ahead of them was nothing but fog, covering the ground and the canyon from wall to wall. It was behind this veil that their goal hid.

A few more steps and several feet later, Bosch paused, before turning around to see where the others were. Gibson and Venson were right behind them, and someone else inside the transport itself was closing the hole again.

Looking at the transport itself from the outside, Bosch realized just how bad the crash had been. Half of it was buried in the snow, but from what he could see of the visible damage, he knew enough to know he was very, very lucky to survive the crash indeed.

Internally thanking his luck, as well as sturdy Shivan shipbuilding, Bosch looked to his left and nodded to Sargo. It was time to go onwards.

And so, the entire group walked onwards, slowly disappearing into the thick fog.