Aftermath - Charles Sheffield by Aftermath

Author:Aftermath [Aftermath]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

23

Celine had been awake for more than twenty-four hours, and the week before that had been one long effort. Fatigue and the familiar-yet-strange air and gravity of Earth gave to everything a dreamlike halo. She stared at the red utility vehicles in the opened A-frame barn. She could hear running engines and see spouting black smoke behind the rear balloon tires.

Two of the trucks moved out of the building and came rolling toward them. One woman and one man sat in the front seat of each, apparently identical people dressed in identical tunics. They halted ten yards in front of Reza and Jenny, blocking progress toward the barn. One of the men descended.

Celine froze, and her dream mood vanished. The man in front of her was holding a light submachine gun, which he swung easily in an arc to cover the whole of her group. The woman in the other truck had a second weapon, raised and ready.

Celine became unnaturally alert. Who greeted strangers—unarmed strangers, who had made an obvious emergency landing—in such a fashion?

"You probably think that guns don't work no more," the man said in a Texas twang. "Well, folks, that sure don't apply to this one. You wouldn't like it one little bit if I have to demonstrate. In one minute, you're going to tell me why you came here. First, though, I want you to explain how you could fly that danged thing." He pointed his gun toward the Clark orbiter. "It's recent make, an' it sure has to be full of chips."

"It is full of chips." Celine disliked everything about the man. Belts of ammunition hung over his shoulders and around his chest. Two handguns sat in holsters at his waist. His smile was fixed, without a trace of humor, and he had the cold, unblinking gaze of Celine's own abusive father.

"As you can see," she went on, "we couldn't fly the orbiter too well even with working chips. We were lucky to be able to make a landing at all. We need help."

The man nodded slowly. His brow furrowed, as though he understood—or listened to—only a few of her words. "Now, lady, was your ship stored underground? So that the gamma pulse didn't ruin it?"

"No. The chips in that orbiter were a long way from Earth when the pulse hit." Celine gestured, to include Wilmer, Jenny, and Reza. She spoke slowly and carefully, seeing his finger tight on the trigger. "We were in deep space, returning to Earth from Mars. We landed at this location because we had no choice. We had to adapt an orbiter using our own equipment and programs, and this was the only landing site that we could reach." She hesitated before the next words. "We are the only surviving members of the first Mars expedition."

It was a bad moment. Nowhere near as awful as watching Zoe and the others immolated on their attempt at reentry, but piercing and heartbreaking in its own way. Talking about the expedition made the contrast more striking.

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