Critical Path (The Critical Series Book2) (21 page)

“And we’ve got something to show you that might be of interest to Charlie if he’s going to one of their worlds,” Mai said.

Mike opened the door and held it open as Mai, Maria, and Layla headed inside. Mike ignored the nervous feeling in his guts.

***

Mike cleared some space in his and Mai’s lab and pulled a pair of stools out from beneath his workbench. The bench’s surface was littered with parts, mechanical and electrical, and numerous sheets of paper with his notes scrawled on with scratchy biros. Of all the stationary to have survived the apocalypse, it had to be crappy gel biros. What he would do for a decent, working fountain pen…

The computer screen was covered in dust. Mai must have noticed Maria’s and Layla’s expressions and grabbed a rag to wipe it clean. One of the solid state drives from the harvester lay by the side of the screen, a convoluted set of cables connecting the two devices. The drive itself resembled a power brick—solid, black and incased in the alien polymer material.

“Before we get to the details of Charlie and Denver’s new mission,” Mike said, “I think you ought to see this. It might prove useful, or at least help prepare them for what they might encounter on the alien world.”

“Where did you get this?” Maria asked.

Mai pointed out the window to the harvester. “It’s an older model than we usually find. The system was easier to hack into. We’ve found all kinds of information.”

“Like what?” Layla said, leaning forward as Mike fussed with the cables.

“It appears that this particular harvester has quite the travel history,” Mai said. “From the data we managed to pull, we found at least a dozen unique locations. I can’t tell what or where they are, as they use a croatoan system of identification, but one thing that is clear is that most of those locations are from planets in our solar system.”

“We were hoping you could help us decode the identification system,” Mike said to Layla. While she worked at the farm with Gregor, she had picked up a good amount of the croatoan language and writing. “But that can wait, for now. Let’s watch a movie.”

Mike finished connecting the drive and the screen. Using his custom-made operating system, he entered a series of commands that would decode and play the film clips he and Mai had taken off the drive earlier.

“Sorry we don’t have any popcorn,” Mai said as she switched off the lights and joined the others, sitting on a free stool. Mike finished his setup and sat beside Mai as the first video clip played.

It was from the external camera situated on the front of the harvester. Mike and Mai hadn’t yet been able to transpose the audio tracks, so in silence they watched a trembling image as the harvester ploughed through a dirt track.

At first, it would be easy to think it was taken on Earth, but as the video continued to play, Mike watched Layla and Maria lean closer to the screen and their eyes widen as they saw it for the first time: three moons in the sky. In a triangular pattern, they dominated the horizon.

Each moon was a different size; the one closest to the planet had clear markings on it.

“A base of some kind,” Mai added.

“We zoomed in and noticed a regularity to the shapes. It seems like some large infrastructure was built there. Given the scale and shape, they resemble the design cues of the farm facilities, making us believe that that particular moon is host to a considerable croatoan infrastructure.”

The two women nodded and remained silent as they continued to watch the footage.

From the edge of the frame, shadows shifted at the line of large alien vegetation. Almost prehistoric-looking palms stood what must have been hundreds of feet tall. Their trunks sprouted numerous spiked woody branches. The shadows continued to shift as the camera began to pan the horizon, finally coming to a stop on the left side of the frame.

It zoomed in and held steady, the harvester apparently having stopped. From within the tall, alien trees, a group of five figures exited.

Maria and Layla gasped.

The figures, at Mike’s estimation, stood approximately twenty feet tall. Although bipedal, they hunched over and used their massively muscled upper limbs to propel them forward, not unlike a great ape.

Their heads were triangular and heavily scaled. In the blue atmosphere of the planet the aliens’ scales and body fur appeared to be purple with gray accents. As a group they stopped just outside the edge of the trees and lifted their strange heads into the sky. They trembled and raised their arms.

“I think they’re howling or something similar,” Mai said. “We’re working on the audio track encoding and will confirm at a later date.”

“It’s… incredible,” Maria said.

“Truly,” Layla replied. “It’s not like it’s surprising; the croatoans have done the same on our planet, and we’ve come to terms with them being aliens to us, but to see another world, another species… that’s just… I’m lost for words.”

“You weren’t the only one,” Mike said. “It took me a good few minutes to compose my thoughts.”

“The most amazing thing, though, is that this is just one location of many. We don’t know where it is yet, but it seems we’re not unique in our treatment by the croatoans; they’ve done this to hundreds of other planets,” Mai said.

“Also worth noting,” Mike added, “is how close to Earth this place is. It seems that the croatoans have identified a criteria not just for their harvesting, but also planets that support life, with an atmosphere not too dissimilar to Earth’s.”

“So you’re saying the croatoans have done the very thing we’ve been trying for so long?” Layla added.

“Yup,” Mai said. “But this is just the start. We’ve got a lot of video to filter through, but we’ll compile the most interesting footage and put in a drive with a portable player for you to take back to Charlie and Denver in case any of it will help them prepare for their mission.”

As the footage turned to black, Mike switched off the system and leaned against the workbench to face Maria and Layla. He recognized the look of wonder and fear in their eyes. It was quite the experience to see proof of a new alien world, let alone a species. Sure, it wasn’t especially new after the croatoans rose up, but it confirmed something humankind has searched for hundreds of years for: that there are many Earth-like planets out there populated by intelligent species.

And like those species, they had one thing in common.

The damned croatoans.

Destroying their gate world wouldn’t just keep Earth safe, but if that’s what the bastards use to travel throughout the galaxy to other planets, then perhaps they could help keep other species safe from their voracious root appetite.

“So,” Maria said, clearly anxious about something, “about this mission. We didn’t quite tell you everything.”

“Oh?” Mike said, crossing his arms across his chest. “What else is there?”

Maria hesitated, unable to find the words. Layla stepped in, placing her hand on the younger woman’s shoulder as if to absolve her of the guilt. “Basically, we need you and Mai. They have a ship in Unity, but it’s damaged. When they first rose up and joined the fight, they were cut off just before the ice age after suffering huge losses to their engineers and leaders. The remaining aliens worked with the humans and thus settled Unity. Over time as they lost people during the ice age, they also lost the knowledge of their ship.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Mai said.

“Go on,” Mike said.

Taking a breath, Layla continued. “When the pods landed, they captured the council members from the mother ship: only one survived. One they call Hagellan. Quite the head honcho, by all accounts. Now, he knows what’s wrong with the ship and how to fly it and engage the jump engine back to the gate world, but…”

“But he needs someone to get the parts necessary and help fix it?” Mike finished for her, clearly seeing where this was going.

“Yes,” Maria said. “But that’s not quite all.”

Mai rolled her eyes, losing her patience. “Just get on with it, girl. What is it you want from us?”

Maria seemed to shrink away from Mai’s tone. Despite her age, Mai could be quiet fierce, not that she meant it personally; she just wasn’t one for wasting time. People of his and Mai’s age didn’t have the time to waste with nonsense.

“It’s Charlie,” Maria said. “He’s agreed to the mission, but he doesn’t trust them and wants a backup plan. He wants you to build him another bomb in case they try anything once they’re airborne.”

Mike looked to his wife. It was like looking in a mirror sometimes. Her eyes glinted and a smile stretched on her lips. At the same time, they said, “Count us in.”

“And as it happens, we had already started on another,” Mai said. “We like contingencies.”

“We can have it ready within a few days,” Mike said.

“They sent us to bring you back to them tonight,” Layla said. “Hagellan wants to speak with you personally to help get the engineering team set up and to brief you on the parts he needs from the wreckage of the others ships.”

“It’s okay,” Mai said before Mike could protest. “You go with them, love, and I’ll stay behind to finish the bomb. Our time is short; it makes sense for us to use it as best we can.”

Of course she would say that. It’s one of the qualities he had come to love about her. She would always see the logical path even if it meant personal pain. Since they met, they’d never spent a single day apart. Even now, the thought of leaving her behind while he went with the others gripped him with a paralyzing fear. But he knew she was right. If what Layla was saying was true and he could help, then he couldn’t say no, even if it meant spending time apart from Mai.

Time he would never get back, and time that could be his last.

“Okay,” Mike said reluctantly, keeping his eyes locked with Mai’s. “I’ll go. Give me an hour or so first; I need to make plans.”

“Sure,” Layla said, standing and urging Maria to follow her. “We’ll fetch you at 1900.”

Mike just nodded to her as they left the lab. He approached Mai and brought her in close for a hug.

“I’d rather not leave you behind,” he said, whispering into her ear.

“I know, but they need you. And you’ll be fine. It’s just an engineering problem. You’ll be back here in no time.”

Mike wasn’t so sure. He didn’t trust the croatoans as far as he could throw them. Working on their behalf felt like a betrayal of everything they had done to survive, but if Charlie needed him, then he couldn’t say no, especially after the sacrifice the boy was prepared to make for them before.

For now, though, he would enjoy Mai’s company until he had to go, knowing this might be the last time he saw her. He hugged her tight and tried not to suggest they run off together. The world was bigger than them. Sacrifices had to be made.

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you too. Now, let’s go over the final plans for the bomb. There’s a few snags I’d like to put past you before you head off.”

“Always the practical one,” Mike said, releasing his hug.

“One of us has to be,” she said with her mischievous grin.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Shadows moved in unnatural ways, catching Denver’s attention as he himself stood shrouded in the darkness that haunted the corners of the room.

For an hour or more Denver had paced the living area of their new, guarded abode. From his position, he watched through the plastic-sheet windows out into Unity from approximately halfway up the steps carved into the basin of the drained lake.

Charlie snored from the other room, the tiredness caused by days of struggle and uncertainty expressed in the sound of a man who probably hadn’t slept as deeply for weeks. Even when they were in one of their shelters, Charlie always slept light, alert, and ready to move at a moment’s notice.

Just like Denver. Which was why, as the sun came up to the east of the settlement, and the low-raking light cast its shadows, Denver spotted deliberately concealed movement; someone was stalking through the shacks and light-constructed dwellings. From one alley to another, this robed figure wove a maze-like pattern of progress, double-backing on themselves, checking for followers, but always heading to the north of the basin—to Charlie and Denver’s new prison by another name.

Definitely human, he thought, spying them through the window from his dark corner. The robes reminded him of the people he saw when observing from the root field. The swollen lump on the back of his head throbbed a reminder. This time, he kept his back to the wall of the chalet.

Warm light, fractured by tall pines on Unity’s perimeter, gave the living room more character than it deserved. Built from old reclaimed sheets of plywood, the interior wasn’t exactly plush. With no soft furnishings or furniture beyond a wooden bench and a rickety table, the place felt more like a cell than it did a home.

The human guards outside didn’t give it that homely feel either. They were relieved by a new shift three or so hours ago in the predawn. For someone who said she trusted and needed Denver and Charlie, this Aimee woman certainly had a funny way of showing it.

A dripping tap was at the end of the open-plan room. A basin, made from a bucket fixed to a wooden cabinet, echoed with each drop from the hosepipe. It snaked its way out of the chalet to a water tank he had spotted on the roof that caught and stored rainwater.

The stale taste was still in Denver’s mouth. They had assured him it was filtered, but he had tasted fresher from the root-infested rivers and brooks he and his dad frequented.

At least those had some active root compound in them.

Denver’s muscles protested with tiredness as he slid closer to the window for a closer look. His body ached to their bones. Root withdrawal. Layla would be so pleased for him, but he just felt like a weak puppy. Like Pip. That was the reason he took care of her. The runt of the litter, she didn’t get what she needed from her mother—she needed Denver.

And now, apparently, so did the world—if Aimee were to be believed.

This time, however, if there was a sacrifice to be made, then his dad wouldn’t have to do it alone. Denver was more than happy to accompany him. Layla aside, he felt no real connection with anyone else to stay behind.