Waiting (10 page)

'You aren't
dying on me, are you?'

Jacobs didn't
answer, his face looking pale and drawn, all energy drained.

'Just stay
put,' said Lee. 'I'll see if I can get this rust-bucket
rolling.'

Knowing it was
all down to her, Lee sat at the controls. 'Moment of truth time.
Don't let me down.'

When things lit
up as she flicked switches she was relieved to see it all spring
into life. 'Good. At least the controls are well labelled and
simple. Track locks off.' Something under the vehicle clicked and
moved. 'Forward drives engaged.' An unpleasant grinding noise told
her something was wrong. 'Not now. I'm not in the mood. Try again.
Forward drives engaged.' There came a snapping sound as long idle
solenoids forced mechanical parts to move and the terraformer
juddered as it started to inch along. 'Nice one. All I have to do
is input the coordinates to get us back to the shuttle like so. And
there we go.'

It didn't seem
like an unreasonable request, but the vehicle stopped dead and half
the panel lights went out. 'Not good. Ok. Time for some tough love
and to show you I'm boss.' Lee aimed a padded gloved fist at the
control panel and thumped it. 'Don't you piss me off.'

Lights
flickered back on, the vehicle lurched forwards and they were on
course to the shuttle and Clifton at a respectable speed of thirty
miles per hour.

'Now that's
what I'm talking about. You keep going, I'll go see the
captain.'

Lee was about
to get out of her seat when she saw Jacobs standing behind her.
'Back in the land of the living I see. Take a seat and relax. We
are on our way.'

Without a word,
Jacobs sat in the co-drivers seat and stared at the screen, seeing
nothing but the yellow fog. Somewhere in the skies ahead of them, a
dozen flashes of lightning beckoned them on through the unknown
landscape of Spero.

Chapter 25

'Calling the
Goliath. Dale. Tell me what I already suspect.'

'You are
ugly?'

Friar moaned.
'I guess I'm not your type. I'll get over it. But anything from the
captain?'

'Negative. I'm
beginning to fear the worse.'

'Only
beginning? I feared the worse from the moment they set off. At
least
our
signals are clear.'

Polowski said,
'The intensity of the storm seems to have lessened a little in the
last few hours. That could be a temporary thing or it is actually
is dying out.'

'We can but
hope. Another seventeen hours before I'm in orbit.'

'I suppose on
the bright side that if they are ok and the storm is dying down,
that should make it safer for them to leave the planet. No need for
you to land.'

Friar said,
'Fine by me. I don't want to land until she's all pretty and
green.'

'I knew we had
something in common. I don't mind a little delay.'

'Depends on
your definition of little. The Goliath could well be home for a
year or two.'

Polowski said,
'As long as I don't have to share a room with you, I'll
survive.'

'The rumours
about my snoring are grossly exaggerated.'

'But not the
smell of your feet. That's legendary.'

Friar said,
'Dale. I'd love to trade more insults with you, but I'd have an
unfair advantage as you are far more obnoxious than I am. I'm off
to bed. Anything exciting happens, like you find a cure for your
halitosis, don't wake me up to tell me. Over.'

'Sleep tight. I
hope the bed bugs eat you alive. Over.' Polowski sat in silence,
his dislike of Friar growing by the minute. The man had a sleazy
quality about him that clung like a damp shirt. So Friar didn't
have a perfect start in life. So what? He was too damn fond of
telling people how tough he'd had it and how he'd had to fight for
everything every step of the way. Nobody had a perfect life, right?
The truth was he just didn't trust Friar. 'What is it you are up
to, Friar?'

On the shuttle,
Friar stared out at the strange planet for a moment, unbuckled his
seat and went to bed.

Chapter 26

'Now I've
agreed to help you,' said Bridget Loretti, 'What do you expect of
me?'

Gunther was
more relaxed now his daughter had agreed to join forces. Her
mother's coldness and lack of affection for everyone including her
daughter had made for an easy transition from dependable warrior to
a champion for the last vestige of humanity as it made it to the
last hurdle of a new beginning if given half a chance.

'To be honest,
I have no plan as such. I think you should report in to your
general and go through your latest exploits with her. Befriend
her.'

'Seriously?
Befriend her? Are we talking about the same woman?'

Gunther said,
'I'm sure she used to have a softer spot hiding in her somewhere.
For a very short time we were even quite passionate about each
other.'

'Wow. Too much
information. Something occurs to me. You accidentally found a
partially deleted message between my mother and another person. Do
you have any idea who that could be?'

'No. It was too
fragmented and indistinct. You need to tread carefully.'

Staples said,
'Call me cynical if you like...'

'You're
cynical,' offered Willis.

'However,' said
Staples, ignoring the sergeant, 'How do we know that other person
wasn't Bridget here? It could have been a message between her and
her mother.'

'Hey. I am
sitting here, you know.'

'So you are.
I'll ask you to your face. Was it you?'

Gunther said,
'It wasn't Bridget.'

'And you know
this how?' Willis asked.

'Because,' said
Gunther, 'The few words not spoken by General Loretti, came from a
man. I've had the message analysed by our computer here, what there
was of it. One voice I know for sure was Trish Loretti. There
wasn't enough of the message to discern whom she was talking too,
other than it was a man.'

'I want to hear
it,' said Bridget. 'That would convince all of us.'

Gunther said,
'I'm afraid that isn't possible. It was stolen.'

'How
convenient,' said Bridget. 'So we only have your word that it
existed at all.'

'Why would I
lie?'

Staples said,
'What? You couldn't be capable of conspiracy?'

'To achieve
what, exactly? Saving the human race? How terrible of me.'

Willis asked,
'Who would steal it?'

'I've asked
myself that many times. It was on a disc taken from my office by
person or persons unknown. It could only have been somebody
connected with the mission. Quite possibly somebody who worked here
or at least with access at sometime to the Base.

Staples said,
'Let me get my head around this. You are setting us up against the
commander general on nothing more than some partially deleted
message between that same general and some unknown man, which was
allegedly stolen possibly by somebody who just might be working
with another somebody on the Goliath?'

'Well,' said
Gunther. 'As you put it like that, yes.'

Staples looked
at Willis and shrugged. 'Ok. Fair enough. Does Bridget go back
alone?'

'I need you
here, Lieutenant.' said Gunther. 'You two turning up at
headquarters would open up too many questions. Bridget. Your mother
knows what if anything is on Spero and for some reason as yet
unknown, is hiding it. We need to find out why and if those on the
mission are in danger.'

'In that case,'
said Bridget, 'I'll refuel and slip away at nightfall. In the
meantime, a shower and a feed will give me time to think about
meeting my mother.'

Chapter 27

Jacobs had said
nothing on the journey back and Lee had given up trying to coax
anything out of him, concentrating instead on avoiding dangers as
she drove the terraformer through dense fog. The electrical
activity had diminished to weaker, spasmodic lightning flashes.
Powerful lights from the terraformer lit up the shuttle in a
surreal way through the yellow haze.

'I don't see
Sam,' said Lee. She drove the vehicle closer to the shuttle for a
better look. 'No sign of him and the cover's back on. He's done the
repair. 'Come on, Jay Jay.' The captain made no attempt to
move.

'Jay Jay. I
can't move you by myself. I'll find Sam to help me. Now don't you
go wandering off, ok?'

Lee expected no
reply and didn't get one. She opened the airlock and jumped down,
the dust so thick it covered her boots. Banging on the side of the
shuttle, she could see the vague shape of Sam through the small
windows. 'Sam. I need help with the captain,' she yelled. Clifton
didn't hear her at first, then saw Lee's frantic waving at him. He
waved back then clicked his helmet in place. The hatch opened up
less than one minute later.

'That's a fine
looking vehicle, Anne.'

'Never mind
that, Sam. I need help with the captain.'

'He's been
injured?'

Lee explained.
'He fell, somehow. Tripped over something in the fog probably half-
buried in the dust.'

Clifton checked
his air and pressure and left the shuttle, following Lee into the
terraformer. 'Jay Jay. Are you ok?' Jacobs turned to face Clifton,
his expression blank. 'The fall must have shook him up. We need to
get him back to the Goliath.'

'Can we do
that?' asked Lee. 'Is the shuttle ready to go?'

'Everything
checked out ok,' Clifton assured her. 'The storm seems to have died
down a little, so we need to take off as soon as we can. Let's get
Jay Jay on board.'

Jacobs did
cooperate with them as they helped him out of the terraformer and
into a bunk in the shuttle.

'The
terraformer?' said Clifton.

'It seems to be
functional. I just have to program it to continue what it was
doing. But we have to find the others and replace their power-packs
and program those, too. From here we can now locate all the
others.'

'There are nine
of them altogether, if I remember correctly?'

'Correct.
They're all over the main two land masses. They would have already
melted enough of the ice-caps to fill the oceans, but with the
cloud cover caused by the volcanic eruption they could still be
partially frozen.'

'We'll get
around the planet a lot faster in the shuttle and it will give us
the opportunity to see how she's behaving. You let this terraformer
loose and we'll find the others from the shuttle.'

'Agreed. We'll
need all the power-packs charged up in the shuttle to have all the
terraformers started and functional. As the air clears, they'll be
charged up by the solar panels and should continue working
independently.'

'Sounds good to
me, Anne. If you get back there to program that one, I'll put the
spent power-pack to charge up. This is going to take a couple of
days at least. Joe Friar will be biting at the bit to come and get
us.'

Lee asked, 'Can
the Goliath be reached by radio yet?'

'One way to
find out. Clifton calling Goliath. Clifton calling the Goliath. Are
you receiving me, over?'

'Nothing but
static,' said Lee. 'The conditions still won't let us call
them.'

'Not much we
can do about it. In the meantime, we need to do what we have to do.
We might get lucky with the radio later.'

'Ok,' said Lee.
'I'll do the reprogramming, if you can locate the next nearest
terraformer. Keep an eye on the captain.'

Lee returned to
her work on the terraformer and Clifton checked up on Captain
Jacobs.

'Hey. You're
awake.'

'Sam. What's
happened?'

'No idea. Anne
said you must have tripped over something and fell over. You've
been dazed ever since.'

'Dazed? Can I
remove my helmet?'

'Of course. I
have. I left yours on while we built up air and pressure back on
the shuttle. Here. Let me help you.'

'Thanks, but I
can manage. There. Hmm. No damage. I don't see how a simple fall in
thick dust would do this to me.'

Clifton asked,
'Jay Jay. Do you have any medical conditions I'm not aware of?
Something which could have caused you to pass out?'

'No. Blood
pressure slightly high, but nothing significant. What's our
situation?'

'Promising,'
said Clifton. 'Anne is reprogramming that first terraformer. It's
right outside. The shuttle is working fine and we'll use it to fly
around the planet to the other terraformers and get those working.
We need to make sure the shuttle is functioning properly before
risking another trip through the atmosphere. The storm has lessened
a little but I still can't reach the Goliath on the radio. That
brings you up to speed.'

Jacobs said, 'I
see. You realise Joe Friar will be heading our way by now? He'll be
considering bringing his shuttle to land.'

'I know. I
intend to keep trying to reach him and make him stay in orbit. No
point risking him and his shuttle with an unnecessary landing.'

'I agree. Sam.
I feel absolutely fine, now. Anything I can do to help?'

Clifton said,
'Anne and I have it all under control, but if if you want to make
yourself useful, you can be in charge of refreshments. Anne will be
famished by now.'

Jacobs got up
and said, 'That's the least I can do.'

Chapter 28

Under cover of
darkness, Bridget Loretti, Lieutenant Staples and Sergeant Willis
refuelled one of the stingers and strapped spare fuel containers to
the rear seat.

'Plenty here to
get you to headquarters,' said Staples.

'What will you
tell them happened to us two?' Willis asked.

'You've been
sent back to the front,' said Loretti. 'It might prove useful if
they think you aren't here.'

Staples said,
'Then we'll keep a low profile. If things get sticky give us a yell
and we'll do what we can.'