Darkness Rising by Gockel C

Author:Gockel, C. [Gockel, C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781093672114
Amazon: 1093672110
Goodreads: 45063290
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2019-04-22T07:00:00+00:00

“You have axes,” Volka said. She’d wondered when 6T9 said to build up the fortifications with rocks and trees how they would do it, but all the Marines had them. They were chopping down smaller trees, avoiding the places where the ground was dark and wet from the earlier barrage.

“Standard kit for planet-side wilderness extraction, ma’am,” said the Marine with orange eyes, bending over a fallen sapling that, with her helmet on, had no smell.

“How can I help?” she asked. Idleness was making her think too much about Sundancer, how much being severed from the ship had made her feel empty and alone. It also made her think of what was to come, about the way the patches of wet ground made her hair rise and remember how the gull had felt wrong.

The Marine regarded her a moment and then, with a clumsy gloved hand, slipped what looked like a knife without a blade from his belt and handed it to her. “You can clean off the leaves.” She stared at the handle, uncertain, and he chuckled. “Phase blade, see?” He pressed a button and a hot plasma blade about fifteen centimeters long shot from the handle.

Volka took it. “Thank you. I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

“You can call me Ben,” he said, and then set off to the nearest sapling. Volka touched the plasma blade to a branch and it cut through it like butter—if cutting butter made it smolder. Volka tossed the smoldering pieces onto the dark wet patches. The sound of sizzling gave her a sense of deep satisfaction. She was sure she was hurting It, whatever It was. It spurred her on to strip the saplings quickly, and she was disappointed when they began hauling them to the outcropping around the cave entrance.

They set the trees at an angle in holes that had already been dug by other Marines.

“Are shovels standard, too?” Volka asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Ben, drilling a sapling into the earth with a grunt. Volka bent down to pack dirt around the end but paused, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Turning to the horizon, she saw nothing, and with the helmet on, she smelled nothing, but a chill started in her gut and started radiating outward.

“What is it?” Ben asked.

“I feel it…it’s coming…it’s…it’s…big,” Volka whispered.

“Keep packing,” Ben said, stomping clods of dirt around another sapling.

He was right. Volka resumed furiously packing earth around the poles, but occasionally she couldn’t help looking over her shoulder. She saw sunshine, but as soon as she turned her back, she felt as though there was a shadow gathering behind her.

Ben cursed. Volka’s head jerked up, and she found the Marine staring out at the horizon. “The ‘bot was right,” he said. “And so were you.”

Around him, Marines stopped what they were doing and gazed out at the horizon.

Young shouted, “Get the blankets and the sleeping bags lashed to the frame and take your positions.” Marines jogged out from the cave, unfurled medical blankets and sleeping bags, and used duct tape to attach them to the saplings.

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