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Chapter 71
Temporary Truce
The sun shone quite brightly outside the bunker so after a spending a week deep underground, Shifty had to shield his eyes until he could become accustomed to the light once more. All around him people were busy loading and unloading supplies and equipment as the weekly swap over hit full swing.
"Want a hand with your gear son?"
Shifty squinted and was pleased to make out the silhouette of Jack Sumner walking towards him.
"I haven't seen the Cap'n" Jack noted "I assume that is a good thing."
"It almost didn't happen" Shifty revealed "Everything went well but they didn't grab him until the very last minute; so unfortunately I don't have any information to tell you yet."
"Never mind m'boy; your dad and I have got everything ready so we'll just stick to Plan A for now and hope for the best."
As soon as the gear swap was complete, Jack mentally readied himself for a week underground. He was in no way claustrophobic but deep dark tunnels and aging sailors were not usually a very comfortable fit.
"Wish me lu..."
"METEOR!" a cry from behind Jack warned the crowd.
High in the sky and far to the northwest, a line of bright light streaked towards the northern horizon.
"IT'S GONE ATMOSPHERIC" someone else noted as everyone dashed for any cover they could find.
Everyone knew the canyon around them would afford some protection, but it was impossible to know exactly what would happen in the immediate future. The shockwave from the atmospheric explosion sent dirt and rubble from the hilltops raining down on the people below. They sheltered behind trucks and busses, while those close enough to the tunnel entrance had run inside. A short time later when the dust was starting to clear, another bright light lit up the sky to the north.
"IT'S A STRIKER" somebody else's voice boomed "EVERYONE STAY DOWN!"
It took almost thirty seconds before the ground began to rumble again, but it was the overhead fire that caused the most worry. It had been many years since Jack had felt so much radiant heat and he knew it meant disaster for anyone above ground. As the second shockwave dissipated, anyone still able to walk began fighting fires and helping those who were not so lucky. There were several people who were badly burned and the nauseating smell of singed hair hung in the air like an olfactory warning of what the people would find back at their homes.
Once those needing medical attention had been transported back inside, everyone remaining on the surface began to work on checking over their vehicles and making them ready to start work again. The rear tarp on one of the trucks had caught on fire, but now it had been beaten out so the people began re-loading some of their food supplies back inside.
"HEY!" the head guard called out "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT FOOD?"
"Are you kidding?" one of the farmers answered "After a strike that big, they're gonna need fresh supplies all across the settlement."
"You know how it works; you leave the food here now and come back when you know for sure what is needed and where."
"But this is our chance to get help out quickly" the farmer argued "You've still got plenty in reserve and we'll bring back anything not needed."
On the order of their leader, all the guards took up their weapons and pointed them at the people from El Centro, who stopped moving about and slowly raised their hands.
"Leave the food and go find out how bad things are" the head guard repeated "When you bring back your report, we'll talk about what supplies you need."
"But you already have so much stored here, surely it wouldn't hurt..."
The farmer jumped back in surprise as a bullet hit the ground half a meter to his left. Jack Sumner spun around and looked up to see the sun reflect off the lens of the snipers scope.
"There will be no more arguments" the guard hissed "Now repeat what I just said."
"Th... there will be no more arguments" the farmer replied.
"I will go now and prepare a damage report."
"I will go now and prepare a damage report" he repeated.
"And I will not be so presumptuous as to question your orders ever again."
The farmer stood defiantly for a few seconds until the guard took out his side arm; there was a very distinct click as he pulled the hammer back.
"And I will not be so presumptuous... as to question your orders ever again."
"That's better" the head guard sneered as he replaced his weapon.
As the rest of the guards backed off, everyone lowered their arms and returned to work.
"Is it always this bad?" Jack whispered.
"Not really, but we've never had a strike occur during change over" Shifty noted "and I don't remember ever seeing one so big before."
"How far north of El Centro does your community reach?" Jack asked.
"About fifty or sixty kilometres" Shifty replied.
"I'd guess that would be almost halfway to the impact zone; it's not gonna be pretty up there."
Shifty looked around at the damaged vehicles and infrastructure.
"And we had some protection from the canyon walls too, but the people up north didn't" Shifty sighed.
Jack noticed the last of the people going in were making their way towards the tunnel entrance so he knew he would have to hurry.
"Talk to my people" he told Shifty "They'll help where they can and may even be able to evacuate some of your community to somewhere a little safer till you can rebuild. I'll try and let the Cap'n know and we'll talk again about it next week."
"Good luck" Shifty said.
"Thanks; but I think you'll need it more than I will."
Back onboard the MTV at last, Blue made his way straight to the Artificial Gravity Ring and to Calla's sleeping quarters in the habitat section. He knew he had to try and make peace with her once again and just hoped she had calmed down and was ready to hear a reasonable apology.
Blue found his young companion sitting at her desk, perusing the schematics of an ore processing robot on the computer screen.
"Hi Calla" he announced himself "Can I come in?"
"Doors open isn't it?" she replied without looking up.
Blue stepped in and went to sit on the end of the bed before realising what he was about to do; clearly embarrassed he stumbled back onto his feet.
"It's err... more of a hatch than a door but... oh never mind; whatcha doin'?" he asked nervously.
"Abby's going to do some preventative maintenance of a few of these machines tomorrow and she said it would help if I could disconnect the electrical leads and remove the motors" Calla told him "Even if I can't work it out myself, she said it would good if I knew what to look for when we opened 'em up."
"I... I'm glad you and Abby are getting along so well" Blue admitted.
"Yeah she's cool" Calla nodded.
"Can... we talk for a minute?" Blue asked.
"We are talking" Calla replied.
"Yeah... well... it's about me going back to Earth; Dad and Abby helped me to understand why you were so upset about it."
"Really?" Calla looked up from the screen "And what great insights have they bestowed upon you?"
"They said I failed to realise that although you don't want to go back, maybe you still want us to stay together for..."
"WHOA hold on there a minute" Calla interrupted.
"W-what?" Blue spluttered.
"Before you embarrass yourself any further..." Calla stopped and thought for a moment "...maybe I should take a leaf from your book."
"My book? I don't understand."
"It's like Doctor Spencer once told me" Calla explained "you tend talk about what you're feeling, but I've never been able to do that before."
"What you're feeling?" Blue gulped.
"I hate to admit it but... I feel..."
Blue failed to notice he had stopped breathing in anticipation and so when Calla paused for such a long time, the young man truly lived up to his name.
"...scared" she finally said.
Blue exhaled and started to breathe again.
"You feel... scared?" he repeated, unsure if he was disappointed or relieved.
"Do you remember when I first arrived inside the Railgun Complex?"
"I don't think I'll ever forget it" Blue declared bluntly.
"Well up to that point, I'd travelled everywhere with the rest of my family and Dad was always close by" Calla explained.
"But when Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she found herself all alone for the first time" Blue realised.
"Who's Alice?" Calla asked confused.
"Book reference; never mind."
"When you took me back to the staging area and all those engineers started chasing me, I must admit... I was terrified."
"I can understand why you'd feel that way" Blue nodded.
"I was alone with all those strange people and I wasn't sure if I'd ever see my Dad and Emerson again. And when you said you were going back to Earth recently, those same fears came flooding back, but it was far worse this time. If Dad had been with me on that fateful day, I wouldn't have been so scared then and I wouldn't have had the flashback of terror now."
"Would it help if I promised not to go until someone else from Earth gets here?" Blue offered "Maybe your parents..."
"No!" Calla held up her hand "It was just the shock of finding out. I'm getting use to the idea now and besides, I don't want to keep acting like a frightened little kid all my life; it's embarrassing."
Blue smiled at Calla; he was still quite surprised she had admitted what was really wrong.
"Did I ever tell you how grateful am?" he said "Without your help I would have lost my father and sister... and you came up with that trick with the inflatable life raft."
"If you're trying to make me feel better, it's kinda working" Calla smiled back.
"I wouldn't worry about not being perfect" Blue offered "Not everyone can be like me."
He turned to leave but before he stepped through the doorway, a small pillow hit him in the back of the head.
April Dias awoke with a start. She had forgotten to turn on her alarm and knew she had overslept. In her hands she held on tightly to a small metal floral pin with petals encrusted with brightly coloured ground glass. It had long been her habit to keep it with her whenever Luis was away in space but with all the recent trouble, she could not even bring herself to place it on the bedside table last night, so her left palm now bore a flower shaped indentation.
"Where are you rushing off to?" Saffron asked as her mother hurried out of her room, heading for the front door.
"The medical staff are checking in on the MTV this morning" April informed her daughter.
"Can I come too?" Saffron rose from the breakfast table.
"Sorry Saffy but I don't think they even want me to be there."
Talon Descott fell in behind April as she flew out the doorway and hurried off down the corridor.
"Running a bit late this morning, eh Mrs Dias?"
"Just keep up or I'll leave you behind" she called back.
"I don't doubt it in the least" Talon replied.
After a long walk through the base corridors, they arrived to find two members of the medical staff standing by with Florian Klein, while Marshal Barron attempted to make contact with Luis on the MTV. The base leader was certainly surprised to see April and Talon enter the room.
"What the hell... who told you we were making contact this morning" Marshal barked his question.
"I did!" Florian admitted bluntly "Why shouldn't she be allowed in here?"
"Well... just keep quiet while the doctors check on the MTV crew" Marshal insisted.
"I'm not a doctor, I'm a Paramedic" one of the medical staff noted.
"Just shut up and do your job" the obviously upset Marshal hissed.
"What's got his panties in a bunch?" April said quietly to Florian.
"Shh" Florian replied while trying not to laugh.
April was relieved to hear Luis's voice soon after as firm contact was made at last. Marshal Barron handed over his headset to the one Med Staff member present who was a doctor, before stepping aside to stand menacingly close to April.
"You; go sit in the corner" he barked at Talon, who did as he was told.
"There's no need for you to treat my bodyguard like that" April whispered.
"He works for me and I'll treat him however I want" Barron replied.
"You're turning into a right little dictator" April added fuel to the already out of control fire.
She could almost see the steam shooting from Marshals ears but instead of continuing the fight, the angry man just listened closely to the information Luis was providing the doctor. There were readings on blood pressure, eye scans, skin condition, urine samples, body temperature, oral swabs and more, for each of the four crew members.
As she continued to wait patiently for all the figures to come in, April was surprised to notice Marshal Barron looking over towards the Paramedic with a look of annoyed confusion. The Medic looked back equally confused and just shrugged his shoulders. Unable to accept the situation, Barron strode over to the Comms Desk and picked up on one of the headsets.
"Dias, this is Marshal Barron; can you verify the authenticity of the figures you have just sent through?"
"I can indeed sir" Luis replied "I triple checked all the readings myself before recording them."
"How old are these readings Major?" Barron asked.
"All readings are between twelve and thirty six hours old" Luis informed them.
Barron and the medic seemed to be trying to converse through eye contact alone which made April even more suspicious.
"Tell me Major; how is the supply situation up there?" Marshal Barron asked.
"No shortages to report Sir" Luis replied.
"How long has it been since you accessed the Supply Ship we sent you?" Barron checked.
"Supply Ship not accessed yet Sir" came the unexpected reply.
"Why not Major? By our calculations, you would have been close to exhausting your supplies a week ago."
April looked over at Florian Klein and whispered a question.
"Why is Marshal so concerned about what food they've been eating?"
"I... I don't know" Florian replied.
"Doctor Spencer sent us a six month supply of consumables, so we have not needed to use the supplies sent from Mars at this time."
"There were some personal items sent up for you as well, maybe you should go and retrieve them" Barron suggested.
"Oh no... don't tell me..." Florian realised something.
"Thank you for thinking of us Sir, but we are unable to access the Supply Ship because we are currently orbiting asteroid 16 Psyche."
If the top of Marshal Barron's head was hinged, April felt sure he would have blown his top.
"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING IN THE ASTEROID BELT?" Barron shouted, even though none of them were on Earth.
"Because we were given such a long quarantine time, I thought it would be nice if we returned the favour we owed to the people of the Railgun Complex; so we are giving their base plans a little kick start."
"What favour?" Marshal asked in desperation.
"They did save our lives after Sage cut us loose... remember?" Luis pointed out the obvious.
"I'm giving you twenty four hours to finish up there and start back for the orbit station" Barron ordered.
"I'm afraid I can't comply Sir" Luis informed his red faced Commander in Chief.
"And why not?" Barron steamed.
"Well... my son's co-pilot is rather suspicious about food sent from Mars and would rather not come into contact with any of it for now. Call it a two way quarantine if you like."
"AND WHY SHOULD I CARE WHAT THAT LITTLE EARTH BRAT WANTS?"Barron exploded again.
"As I said, she did help save our lives and has been kind enough to indulge our quarantine requirements."
"Listen to me very closely Major" Barron said through clenched teeth "There will be no more of this insubordination; you will turn the MTV around right now and return to Mars Orbit Station for the rest of the quarantine period. Do I make myself clear?"
There was a short silent pause before Luis dropped his last bombshell.
"If you say so Sir, but we will not be accessing the contaminated food in the Supply Ship" Luis declared, leaving a sea of shocked faces on Mars.
Bye :D