A Cold Black Wave (4 page)

The shuttle roared in low over a desert of evergreen trees, the blazing engine engulfing the tops with fiery orange flame that consumed dozens of trees per second.  The shuttle desperately maneuvered above the pinetops to keep from crashing at such a speed as to turn the entire thing into pieces spread about the land.

The damage on the port side wing succumbed to airborne stress and sheered off at the tip.  The shuttle careened to the right as it favored the remaining intact wing, dipping and brushing the canopy below with the right wing shearing off the crowns.  The computer rebalanced the engines to give the shuttle more tilt to the left but there was little the computer could do to compensate for the structural damage.  Just as it passed over a clearing, the shuttle nosed up as the belly landed hard in the soft, loamy soil of a clover field.

It ground through the green matted landscape and left a blackened furrow three hundred yards behind it as it ripped apart everything in its path, sending dirt and roots and small trees aside.

Once it came to a rest, t
he engines smoldered and smoked under the afterglow of an evening sun.  Steam mixed with the black smoke and wafted into the still sky with the engine giving off staccato pops as it cooled against the frigid air.  The sudden cacophony of the crash was immediately followed by a tombly silence.  Inside, Josh and Leah remained unaware of their predicament and miraculously intact.

Warm blood flowed through their veins as the dying computer diverted the last vestiges of the shuttles energy to resuscitate them.

Two days passed as Josh and Leah slowly returned to consciousness.  Josh was the first to awaken.  All he could see were blurry outlines and his body felt stiff, slow, as if he were underwater.  Josh instinctively reached out with both hands, his mind so slushy and disoriented that it couldn’t piece together a single cohesive thought.  When his hands clumsily pressed against the glass, he couldn’t figure out what it was or why he was touching it.

Leah came to in the same way, and they both fumbled about in their chambers for nearly another day.  When Josh’s mental faculties returned, he was able to locate the release valve and open the glass chamber.  He righted himself straight and his momentum nearly toppled him over the other way.  The air inside was cold and crisp, the shuttle now allowing outside air to flow in.  Josh violently coughed and hacked as the air hit his lungs and pain flayed every nerve ending in his body.

He focused on Leah who was trying gently to figure out how to get out of the glass chamber.  He almost collapsed to the floor when he stood, but caught himself and found some strength in his legs to stand up next to her.  He reached over and pulled the lever from the outside, and the glass casing lifted.

Their bodies broke out in a drenching sweat, shaking.  He tried to speak but nothing came.  He sucked in some more air, coughed, and a sensation of fire gripped his chest.  Leah’s hand found his arm and the familiar touch registered, her hand gripping tightly as if to say, “Don’t leave me.”

His mouth was dry and his body started to convulse with shivers.  Leah’s body quickly followed suit as frostwhite air came out with each of their breaths.

Supply.  Josh remembered the supply room and stumbled away to find it, leaning and grabbing onto the walls.  He hit the button to open the door, but it only slid open a foot before stopping.  Josh hit the button again and again but the wiring was fried.  He squeezed through the opening but, was not thin enough to slip through, despite having not eaten in years.  He pushed it hard but his strength wasn’t there and it only moved an inch.  Boxes of food and clothing awaited them on the other side.  He slammed a weak fist against the wall.  Ice formed in the shuttle and crystallized against the metal surfaces.

He fumbled his way over to the shuttle’s main console.  The three separated windows above it had been the viewscape to the cosmos, and now it allowed Josh to catch a glimpse of their new home.  The hard landing dug the shuttle deeply into the earth, edging the nose farther and farther down as it went so that almost three quarters of his view was nothing but black soil.  The other quarter revealed green grass and the base of a vast forest in the distance, which was being lost under the retreating dusk.

The console was working and Josh brought up the date to compare it to the time they had left the Westbound.  When the number appeared, he couldn’t help but speak, and his voice eked out a dry whisper, “Can’t be ...”

Josh carefully made his way back to Leah who was sitting up, her breathing rapid and shallow as she shivered.  He cleared his throat in frustration and attempted to speak, but still nothing came.  She coughed violently and thick mucus jumped out of her mouth.

She too tried to speak but nothing came.  Josh walked to her and put a hand on her arm but she startled at the touch.  Leah coughed some more, doubled over now as the coughs pushed every last ounce of air out of her lungs.  The freezing air was punishing.

He rubbed her arms a bit and then went to the broken supply door and with renewed strength, pushed as hard as he could.  Mechanically operated, but without power, the door began to slide but it resisted as if rusted to its frame and took every ounce of mental and physical strength to budge it another inch.  With each push his muscular arms regained their old strength and he forced it harder each time, straining red in the face until it was forced open.

Josh slumped to the ground next to all of the supply containers.  He rummaged through until he found winter gear, taking an oversized coat and a blanket back to Leah who was shaking and curled up on the floor.  Josh wrapped the blanket around her and put the jacket over it.  Nearly frozen himself, he went back and bundled up in a large parka, gloves and heavy boots.  He needed to keep himself and his blood moving.

There was everything they needed in storage.  He grabbed a Mason rifle off the wall and checked it.  It was an old carbine that required no external energy source, just bullets and a finger.  Josh grabbed the bullets and loaded them before setting the rifle down to scrounge through the rest of the room.  There wasn’t a lot in there.  It would be just enough to set up a shelter and get their feet down before having to survive on their own.  Josh slung the rifle and made his way to the compression door, briefly checking on Leah before he did.  She was still recovering from stasis shock, just staring through disheveled hair but now only shaking in intervals.  He would leave her there to recover as he examined the new world.

With a few pulls of the lever, the door to the outside world sprung open and clanged loudly against the side of the shuttle.  Sandy ice blasted him in the face as he stepped down from the threshold.  It was quiet.  Ice on the ground, but it was new ice.  It hadn’t yet frozen the ground solid.  The shuttle sat in an open field full of thick, short grass nestled with the clover which danced with each gust of wind that breezed through the thickets of pine trees that lined the plain, like some frigid beast blowing the contents of its lungs across the valley.

The sun had just disappeared behind the slope of a mountain and the shadow of night crept upon them.  He wouldn’t be doing much tonight except staying inside to keep warm.  Josh squatted and grabbed a chunk of earth with his gloved hand.  It all seemed too familiar.  He was born and bred on the Westbound, never having set foot on earth, but everything that he had learned about it seemed to be staring at him in the face.  It was impossible that this was earth, however.  Earth had been left behind because it was dead.  This place was very much alive.

Josh leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath of air so pure it made him light headed.  He felt invigorated here as if life had been restored to his body and soul.  Here, he was free.  All those that had come before him were dead, and now this was his place, his time.

Before heading into the shuttle for the night, he remained there marveling at their predicament, the lush world at his feet, and the untamed freedom of it all.  The air was turning far south of freezing, and in their current condition, he needed to make sure they stayed warm all night.  In the morning, he’d try to figure out where they were and what kind of dangers awaited them on this alien planet.

The next morning
Josh was up early.  Leah slept soundly under multiple layers.  The ship was freezing and Josh quickly put his winter gear back on.  The floor was so cold he did a one-legged hop as he slid on his thick snow pants and boots.  Once dressed, he rummaged through the supplies and found some energy bars and water, placing some next to Leah for when she’d wake up.

Josh eagerly left the confines of the shuttle and emerged into the cool morning air with his rifle in hand, consuming his densely sweet energy bar and water as he sat on the edge of the shuttle.  As he ate his breakfast he again admired the stunning beauty of the world.  There was nobody to tell him what to do now, no forced routines, no study classes, no watchful eyes, always watching, examining, and judging his every move against that of his peers, or that against himself.

Yes, very familiar.  The trees, the grass, the mountains and sun before him were like living pages from the historical records he read at the Academy.  But they had only been images back then, two dimensional representations of a world that no longer existed.  To be standing in its natural presence, to feel the clean breeze and the fresh smell of pine and hemlock, it was as if he had been borne of the shuttle, his constructed mother’s womb.

His body buzzed with a light and agile energy as he breathed in deeply the pure air.  His body and mind were invigorated with a strength and energy that defied the effects of cryostasis.  Josh briefly considered that it was possible they had died and this was some sort of afterlife, if he was one to believe in such a thing.  If so, he had no objection to it, whatever it was.

He stopped eating and gazed at a floating object in the distance.  He jumped off his seat to give chase until it was right over him.  It was a red-tailed hawk, except it wasn’t red, but shimmering yellow.  It cruised in the sky as it looked for prey until it disappeared over the forest.

As he watched it disappear, something caught his eye, and he instinctively raised his rifle and spun.  Someone was standing near the shuttle.  Leah ducked in anticipation of an incoming bullet, but he lowered his weapon just as fast as he had raised it.  She looked like some strange animal with the big coat and blankets wrapped all around her.  As he approached
,
she shifted back and forth uncomfortably.

“Sorry about that,” he said, squinting at her as he slung his rifle.  He looked to her feet and remarked, “You found some boots.”  He found his voice again but it came out thin and raspy.  She nodded.

“Where are we?”  Leah asked hoarsely.  She took a drink from her water bottle.

Josh sat a few feet from her. “I don’t know.  We’re alive so I guess that’s a start.”  He drank some water.

“It’s beautiful.”

They sat listening to the ambient world around them, enjoying the natural silence before Leah spoke again. “We’re on earth, aren’t we?”

“No.  No, this isn’t earth.  I don’t know what this is, but it’s definitely not earth.”

“How long were we ...?”

Josh drank the last of his water and tossed the bottle through the shuttle door.  He wasn’t sure how to answer because it was still unbelievable, even to him.
  What mattered was that they were alive.
  Finally he said, “
Too long
.
  We got lucky.”

Leah nodded in convincing fashion saying, “God is watching over us.  He’s taking care of us now.”

“God?  Sure.  Easy to say when you’re alive.  God has nothing to do with this.  Human engineering, luck, karma maybe, but that could go either way with me ... in that case I hope you’ve lived a better life than I have.”

“Look at this!  It’s a miracle that we made it this far and came here, of all places!”  She said excitedly, “Just look at it!”

“No miracle built this shuttle.  No miracle sacrificed its life getting us on this ship either.  You aren’t from the academy.  I can literally smell the naiveté on you.”

“I don’t have a smell,” she furtively raised an arm and sniffed.

“Every kid that grew up on the Westbound had to attend the academy.  What makes you so special?”  Before she could answer, Josh’s eyes bored into her with a callous disregard. “Yea.  You must be special.  Maybe back home you could get away with that, but out here you’re going to get us both killed.”

“I won’t.”

“What can you do?  What do you know that could possibly help us out here?” 

“Why are you so angry?”

“Look around you.  Do you see anyone?  This isn’t the Westbound.  We have to survive on our own now.  Do you know what that means?  One mistake, one false move and we’re dead.  Eat the wrong food, take the wrong step and that’s it.  There’s nobody to help us out here.  No second chances.  Scared now?  You should be.  Everything you do, or don’t do, could be your last moment alive.”

Josh backed off, it wasn’t worth the fight.  He didn’t want to be here any more than she did, but now that they were, she had no business being on the shuttle.  This mission wasn’t meant for her.  She was useless and now he’d have to do everything and take care of her at the same time.  Death would have been so much simpler had he stayed behind.

He went to say something to her again but disappeared into the shuttle instead.  The confines of the shuttle would have to be their shelter until he could assess their surroundings and see where they were located, and what they were up against.  The supplies would not last them more than a month, they’d need to set up a more permanent camp and find a steady supply of food either by fishing, hunting, or foraging.  The task was difficult even for two trained students, but nearly impossible when one mouth that needs feeding is incapable of doing so herself.

Josh rubbed his head to fight against a pounding headache while he assembled a pack full of gear in the supply room.  This must be some kind of joke, being here with her.  What a clusterfuck.  A coarse thought ran through his mind that maybe she could be useful.

There wasn’t anyone here to stop him.  He could do with her as he pleased.  He had to focus on the mission though.  Survive.  Turning her into a fearful slave to pleasure his base desires would serve no purpose and would likely put his own life at risk as he slept.  Besides, the Academy had nearly burned that desire out of him years ago.

He shook his head and laughed to himself as he packed, amused over the irony of his being here.  There were literally hundreds of students more capable than he and far more able in their abilities that should be here right now.  No wonder Marshall was rankled over the fact Josh was one of the select few capable of going on this mission.  Josh was certain that if Marshall had any say in this matter at all, he’d still be locked away in the suicide room while some other Academy student was here packing a bag.

Josh finished shoving some food and water into his backpack before leaving.  Leah was lost in her own thoughts as he walked past her.

She called after him with a mouth full of energy bar, “Where are you going?”

He turned around and walked backwards as he spoke, “Just stay there.  I mean it.  You walk away from the shuttle and you put our lives at risk.”

Josh spent the rest of daylight surveying the edges of the forest that ringed the grassy valley they were in.  Josh fired small Terras into the air a few hundred feet to take snapshots of the area, and he collected the images before moving on.  The serenity of this new world lured him into a sense of peace, and more than a couple of times Josh felt like resting and simply listening to it and doing nothing, reflecting on the emptiness of such beauty, how it was here before they arrived, and would be here after them, just props for two wayward travelers.

He didn’t, however, and trudged forward like an automaton.  Being raised within the Academy for so many years was impossible to unlearn, he found, no matter how much he had rebelled against it in his later years.  Every step he took filled him with a sense of remorse as if someone else was controlling his actions, like a switch had been turned on once they landed here that he could not shut off.  The only life he had known was being prepared for a day such as this, and his purpose for existing lay in the very steps he took.

When he returned to the shuttle his body was limp with exhaustion and his stomach gnawed at him.  The sun disappeared behind the mountains again as he climbed back into the shuttle and collapsed to the ground.  Leah was sitting on the other side of the room reading a book under artificial sodium lights.

“Where’d you get that?”  He asked as he drank water.

“It’s mine.  I brought it with me,” she glared at him.

“Figures.”

“There’s some food over there if you want some.  Ham or something.”

“I know where it is,” he said as he took his gloves off and put aside his gear.  “So how old are you anyway?”

“Older than you.”

He scoffed with an air of superiority, “No you’re not.  You look like you’re fourteen.”

“Twenty one.”

“Okay, sure, whatever you say.”

“Fine.  I’m seventeen.  Still older than you.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” Josh said, trailing off.  He walked over and tossed around some of the packaged food until he found what he liked and ripped it open, scooping out the contents with his fingers and eating the brown substance as it sludged down his hand.  Leah looked at him with disgust.  He licked his fingers before wiping them dry on his pants.

“I can tell the gravity of the situation has not hit you yet,” he said as he went deeper into the supply room in search for equipment.  He talked louder so she could hear, but he could have just as easily been speaking to himself.  “But we got less than thirty days before we run out of food and slowly starve to death.  Best I can tell we may be entering winter here.  If we’re lucky, it’s ending, but I can tell you right now the only luck we’ve had has been the bad kind, so I wouldn’t count on it.  The energy core is shot, so we have no way of recharging anything and you’re incapable of wilderness survival.”  He walked back out with a handful of various tools and noticed she was still reading her book. “I can tell you’re really interested in all this.”

“Well, you know everything apparently, so just tell me what to do captain.”

He coolly walked over to her and kneeled, his face very near hers and spoke softly but direct, his eyes wandering over the contours of her face.  “I don’t know how you escaped serving in the academy, but it’s obvious you wasted your time doing something else.  You know nothing about anything, so you listen to me, and we survive.  You sit here and read your Bible all day” he said, flicking the cover, “and we die.  Simple enough for you?”

She stood to get away from him and her eyes attacked him as he spoke, “I know I didn’t go the academy but they should have given you a course in manners, or was that not practical enough?”

Josh grabbed the book out of her hand and threw it against the wall.  Josh’s condescending attitude suddenly turned fierce and cold.  He leaned closer to her and spoke in a whisper that slowly turned louder, his eyes locked onto hers. “Do you have any fucking clue as to why we are here?  Everyone is dead.  Everyone!  Who brought you here, how’d you get on the shuttle?  Huh?”

“Stop it!”  She slid away from him as he had gotten so close he was nearly pressing against her.  When she was far enough away she turned around and shot back, “My father!”  When she saw him waiting for more of an answer she pulled her hair back and continued meekly, “He brought me to the shuttle to save my life.”

“Your dad?  Who the hell is he?  Are you even immune?”

“Immune?”

“You don’t know, do you?”  He derided.  He stepped towards her slowly as he spoke, calm and measured in his tone. “You will know.  Soon.  You’ll get a fever.  Then your lungs will start filling with fluid and you’ll gasp for air but you’ll never get enough.  You’ll be bed ridden and won’t be able to keep anything down.  You’ll waste away to nothing until you suffocate on your own mucus.  Then I’ll be left here alone because your father, a piece of shit who thought nothing of the human race and only himself, decided to toss your sorry ass in a shuttle.  You shouldn’t be here.”  The words hung in the air as he stood only a foot from her.