Threshold Shift (24 page)

Jake
walked across to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I
didn’t want him to go either.”

She
bowed her head.

An
electronic hum signalled the activation of the lounge’s door
mechanism. Jake turned to see Jeremiah enter the room. This time
attired in a lime green flight suit.

“I
wondered what you three were up to,” Jeremiah said, surveying
the blackened console. “Not a bad effort.”

“How
is he?” Roe asked, forgetting her hand.

Jeremiah
smiled. “Fine, fine,” he replied. “We have
encountered a few roadblocks, taken some fire, but we are already at
the border of the compound.”

“Good,”
Jake said.

“Too
bad about this,” Jeremiah said, wiping the console. “It
might have even worked if I had not already disabled the spaceport
array.”

Jake
heard Roe expel a deep breath.

“I
digress,” Jeremiah said. “It has recently come to my
attention that a large number of human survivors are making their way
to this location.”

“How
many?” Jake asked.

“Perhaps
fifty,” Jeremiah said. “But my mission is not to shelter
humans from the uprising. You are here only on sufferance, and I will
not suffer any more of you.”

“We
can’t just leave them out there,” Andy protested.

“I
want you to meet them before they arrive,” Jeremiah said. “And
turn them back. If you do not, I will be forced to act. The results
will not be pleasant”

“You
wouldn’t,” Roe said.

“Yes
I would, Miss Jenkins. The spaceport is required, the humans are
not.”

“But
Jon’s negotiations?” Jake implored.

“Are
doomed to failure, he will learn that soon enough and return. After
that I will arrange to transport him, and... yourselves, safely off
planet.”

“I
think I understand,” Jake said.

Jeremiah
smiled. “I thought you would, if no-one else.”

“What
does he mean?” Roe asked.

Jake
closed his eyes. “He means, ’a man can only learn from
his own mistakes’. Those were the words of my father, Jeremiah
Asher, a man who made more mistakes than I care to mention.”

“An
enlightened soul,” Jeremiah said. “Time is short, will
you meet them or will you force me into my alternative?”

Jake
looked down, his knuckles had turned white. “OK,” he said
and motioned to Roe. “Get that hand sorted.”

*

Roe
followed Jake and Andy outside into the sunlight. Jake paused by the
spaceport entrance, appraising the weapons the Jeremiah avatars
carried. She could see that the rifles they held were considerably
bulkier and more hi-tech than the rifles she was used to, each one
pulsing with a clear blue light.

Jake
opened his mouth to speak, but then seemed to think better of it and
marched away.

“What
is it?” Roe asked.

“Incendiary
weapons,” he said. “Designed specifically to burn organic
tissue, they make our weapons look like children's toys.”

“Jeremiah
wasn’t bluffing.”

“He
never bluffs.”

Beyond
the field Roe could see a line of ancient trees that bordered the old
forest. Older than man’s habitation of Threshold they reached
high up into the sky, probably waiting patiently for man to leave.
She found herself wondering how many of those beautiful trees had
been felled to make room for the spaceport when there had been no
need. It was a big planet and there was plenty of waste land. As she
walked closer, two indistinct figures stepped forth from the tree
line.

“These
people are going to be frightened,” Jake warned. “Keep
your weapons pointed at the ground.”

Roe
nodded, and followed closely. The figures soon resolved into a pair
of armed men. Something about the way the figure on the right moved
was very familiar.

Andy
reached out and grasped her arm. “It’s Dad.”

She
wanted to run to him.

“Just
keep walking normally,” Jake said. “I don’t want
Abe shooting one of his kids by mistake just because they got a
little excited.”

The
two men put down their weapons. Her father was waving, and from his
smile, she could tell he knew who he was waving at.

“Go
on, then,” Jake said.

Roe
ran to her father, Andy almost overtaking her. “Daddy!”

The
old man hugged his children close. “Thank God you’re
alive.”

Roe
closed her eyes for a moment. Her father smelt of old manure and
stale sweat. It was wonderful.

“What
happened to you?” She asked. “You didn’t answer my
calls.”

Abe
Jenkins disentangled himself from his children and rubbed a round red
mark on side of his thick neck. “One of them got me with a
haski dart and then left me hanging from a tree. I think I was almost
on the dinner menu.”

“Hello
Abe,” Jake interrupted.

“Marshal
Klein,” Abe said, appraising the sim. “You’re
looking well.”

“I
was sorry to hear about Kathy,” Jake said.

Roe’s
father nodded. “Thank-you for keeping my children safe, you
don’t know how much it means to me.”

“They
kept me safe,” Jake replied. “You should be proud of
them.”

“I
am,” Abe said. Roe felt a large arm hug her again. Like her Abe
Jenkins was short, but letting Andy handle the harder work on the
farm had considerably thickened his waistline. In many ways he
resembled her, except that his cheeks and chin were more spread out,
and his hair was shorter, grey and fraying.

Letting
her go, she saw the man who had accompanied her father appeared a
little embarrassed. He was a little older than her and wore the dirty
brown uniform of the mining engineers. His skin was very pale.

“You
came from the spaceport, Marshal,” the engineer said. “Have
you already sent for help?”

Jake
paused for a moment before answering. “No, I’m afraid
not. The spaceport is held by a hostile force.”

“But
you came from there,” the pale man said. “We saw you.”

“You
can’t go to the spaceport,” Jake replied sternly. “Trust
me on this. If you go, the hostile force will take action.”

“Roe,
what’s going on?” Abe asked.

“I,”
she didn’t know what to say. It was complicated.

“Roe?”

“The
Marshal’s right, Dad,” Andy interrupted. “You can’t
go to the spaceport. Not yet, maybe not at all.”

Abe
was speechless.

“How
many of you are there?” Jake asked.

“There’s
about fifty of us,” Abe explained. “Most are from the
northern mine, but we’ve picked up a few stragglers along the
way. Look Jacob, tell me more about this hostile force. I don’t
see any Threshians. They look like men from here.”

“The
Threshians have allies,” Jake said. “They took out the
Espirnet communication satellites from orbit.”

Roe’s
father appeared thoughtful. “That explains a lot. Well, we’ll
just have to take the spaceport back from them.”

“We
can’t,” Jake said.

“Marshal,
I have fifty tired and bedraggled people behind me. The Threshians
have been picking us off for sport. We need shelter and we need
help.”

Jake
held up his hands. “It’s not possible, Abe. We need to
find somewhere else.”

The
engineer pivoted his rifle and pointed it at Jake. “You’re
in league with them. That’s why you can walk from there freely.
You’re Threshian allies.”

Roe
instinctively swung a punch and knocked the man down. Andy followed
her lead by snatching away the engineer’s rifle and putting a
foot on his chest.

The
man’s nose was bleeding. “Abe?”

“Roe,
Andy, stop it.”

“We
are not Threshian allies, Dad,” Andy said. “We just want
to keep everyone alive.”

Roe’s
father aimed his rifle at Andy.

“Dad!”

A
loud burst of gunfire echoed from the forest.

Abe
snapped out of it. "They’ve found us,” he said
turning back to the forest. “We have to hurry.”

“Hold
it,” Jake ordered. “All of you, just stop.”

Another
three gunshots were heard, echoing through the trees.

“We
need to get as many out as we can,” Jake said. “Roe,
Andy, and…” he motioned to the fallen engineer.

“Jason,”
the man said.

“Take
position here, and take down any Threshian that gets through the tree
line. Abe,” he clapped Roe’s father on the shoulder.
“Let’s get your people.”

The
two men disappeared into the forest. Andy took his foot away from
Jason’s chest and gave him back his rifle.

“Sorry,”
Andy said.

“I
think my nose is broken,” Jason said as he rolled into
position.

“Don’t
worry,” Andy said, crouching down beside the engineer. “She’s
hit me a few times too. It’s her way of saying she likes you.”

“Shut
up,” Roe said, and drew her gun, wishing she hadn’t left
her rifle in the spaceport lounge. The pistol would have to do. She
ducked down beside her brother.

“Well
you have,” Andy said.

Roe
kept her eyes on the tree line. It was too green.

“Concentrate.”

A
young couple emerged from the trees to her left, immediately followed
by two Threshians running on all fours. The couple would be overtaken
in seconds. Roe took aim and fired her gun, the bolt glancing off one
of the Threshian’s shoulders. A succession of rifle shots
followed from her two companions, and both Threshians fell down. The
couple didn’t seem to notice, in fact they kept running.

“Stop,”
Roe shouted.

The
couple was running towards the spaceport.

“Heads
up,” Andy said as a middle-aged man ran into view. She fired
two shots at his pursuer, one in the leg, one in the head, and the
Threshian was down. She turned towards the couple. They were getting
further away.

“I
have to go after them,” she said to Andy.

Jason
shot two Threshians chasing a mother with her little boy. The
concussion bolts from his rifle connected, but not before the woman
received a vicious claw swipe down her back. The little boy took one
look behind, and let go of his mother’s hand. He couldn’t
have been more than three or four.

“Get
the boy,” Andy said.

Without
thinking, Roe did as she was told and ran after the child, catching
him in her arms. A volley of bolts took out another Threshian that
had almost been upon them both.

“It’s
OK, it’s OK,” she said as he swung into her arms. “Calm
down.” The boy buried his head in her shoulder, and she felt
the dampness of his tears. A few metres away the mother’s eyes
were open but lifeless.

“Don’t
look,” she said and held him tight.

The
young couple who had cleared the forest first were almost at the
spaceport. As the distance closed the two Jeremiah’s stepped
forward brandishing their rifles.

“Stop,”
Roe shouted. But the couple didn’t hear. She was helpless to do
anything as Jeremiah lowered his weapons and fired, unleashing two
jets of flame into the path of the young man and woman. Within an
instant they were alight and flailing. Roe felt the tears fill her
eyes. They never had a chance.

At
the sight of the carnage, the other survivors ceased their flight to
the spaceport and beat a hasty retreat towards the tree line, a few
streaks of flame lazily trailing them. Between Jeremiah and the
Threshians, there was nowhere to go.

*

The
little blond boy was called Stefan and he wanted his mother. She
cautiously led him away from the body, but it wasn’t a sight
she could ever erase from his mind. Other survivors soon found her,
asking her for guidance she didn’t know how to give. All they
saw was her uniform and assumed she knew what she was doing, not
knowing they couldn’t be further from the truth. Putting on a
brave face she assessed the situation. Nine survivors had broken
through so far, with one rifle, two pistols, and twelve shots between
all of them. She stationed the three armed men to reinforce the line
and tried to find somebody to take the boy.

“I
want my mummy,” Stefan said, repeating his plea.

“I’m
sorry little one,” she replied. “You mummy isn’t
coming.”

The
boy screamed at her, pounding her knees with his little fists. She
had never felt more useless.

“I’ll
take him,” a young woman said as she scooped him up. “He’s
my sister’s boy.”

“Thank-you,”
Roe said.

Stefan
glared at her from the arms of his newfound protector. She tried to
ignore the accusation and ran over to her brother.

“How
are you?”

“Four
shots left,” he said. “But they keep coming.” He
fired again. “Make that three.”

The
wind must have been blowing for the direction of the spaceport. She
could smell cooked flesh. It wasn’t pleasant. Jeremiah had ably
demonstrated that he was not unwilling to use his incendiary weapons.
To take the survivors to the spaceport was a death sentence.

Taking
a few shots herself, she managed to stop another two Threshians, but
another three had broken through the tree line and were running
towards the spaceport. She imagined they would turn around soon
enough and they would face attack from both sides. They wouldn’t
hold. Then to her surprise Jeremiah’s weapons fired again, this
time setting two of the three Threshians alight. The third one dodged
the blast and fled in the direction of the road. Apparently there
were some lines that could not be crossed, not even by allies.

More
gunfire, this time from the forest, and she hoped it was her father
and Jake. None of the Threshians that had harried the survivors so
far appeared to be armed; instead they seemed to prefer running on
all fours and leaping onto the backs of their prey. None of them wore
vocoders either. She concluded they must have been imported from the
southern continent, where the Threshians barely knew man and were
especially primitive as a result. Michael had unleashed them like a
human might unleash a pack of dogs. She swallowed nervously and fired
one of her last two bolts. She considered keeping the last one for
herself.