Borderlands: The Fallen by John Shirley

Author:John Shirley [Shirley, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 1439198470
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2011-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Zac was out of water, nearly out of food, and running short of hope.

It was early evening. He was in the shadow of an overhang under a ridge, on the edge of a glassy plain, still a long way from the volcano cone. And there was no hope of getting across the glass plain without being spotted by some predator. No cover at all. No water likely out there in that flat emptiness. As for food—he was more likely to become food.

Zac took out his telescope and turned it on the horizon, made out some skags, off in the distance between him and the volcano. Flying creatures circled over the skags.

He swept the horizon but saw nothing else. Then a sound prompted him to look up at the ridge. Dust was sifting down from the edge of the ridge, about an eighth of a kilometer away, and light glinted on metal. He turned the telescope that way and after some fiddling with it, made out an outrunner poised on the top of the ridge, and a couple of men standing near it—judging by their outfits, they were mercenaries. Maybe ex–Crimson Lance.

Great, he thought as he lowered the telescope. Now what do I do?

If he set out across the plain, they’d probably see him and head out after him. The presence of mercenaries suggested one of the big corporations—they had their own little armies but they used mercenaries when they were trying to keep something quiet. They were probably after the same thing he was. Maybe they worked for whoever had sent the security bot to sabotage his DropCraft.

They were looking toward the old volcanic cone, just like he was …

And maybe they were looking for him too, so they could finish what they’d started on the Study Station.

Even if they didn’t go after him, he’d run into those skags and rakks out there, and who knew what else. There was no cover on that plain.

There was one chance—a slim one. He could wait here, till it got dark. Then head out in the dark and hope to elude both the human predators and the animal ones.

Of course, the mercenaries would go on ahead. But this was Pandora. Who knew what they’d run into?

A squadron of mercs in big outrunners, they’d call attention to themselves. They could draw off whatever he might have to face—they just might accidentally keep him safe …

He’d come too far to give up now. He had to try it. He would go after dark—the moon had been setting earlier at night, so it’d be mighty dark. If the moon set and he got lost in the dark, he’d use the alien artifact that pointed the way to guide him. The night would be his cover.

But that meant he would have to wait here, right here, crouching under this outcropping, until nightfall …

Zac sighed. He had a little food. He had no water. But now, anyway—he had a little hope. Just a little.

The flatbed truck emerged from a canyon and Vance brought it to a skidding stop on the edge of a cracked, glassy plain.

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