Reckoning by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781988380063
Publisher: Mirth Publishing
Published: 2017-04-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 41

Which to Let Burn

Even assuming the allied species won the war, which seemed to Husher like a more and more dubious proposition, he never would have expected to set foot on Earth.

And yet here he and Caine were, stepping out of a floating research station located near the north pole of humanity’s original homeworld.

They strode into the same wall of humidity that had greeted them when they’d disembarked from their combat shuttle. The researchers assured them that the humidity was much preferable to the intense tropical storms that rolled through, ending all field work for as long as they lasted.

The regions around Earth’s two poles were the only regions with temperatures low enough to live in. Intense storms ravaged the rest of the heat-baked planet on a regular basis, and the planet’s population numbered in the dozens—just the research teams that remained to document the ongoing changes to the planet’s climate, to inform terraforming efforts, including the eventual effort to rehabilitate Earth .

That terraforming effort was now delayed, probably indefinitely. A UHF shuttle had already collected the two teams of scientists from the planet’s south pole, and now Husher and Caine escorted the single team from the north onto their shuttle.

With the population of Mars mostly dead, along with those of every other colony in Sol, it was too risky for the scientists to remain. Their logistical support had evaporated, and there was always the chance that the Ixa would return to pick off any survivors at their leisure.

“I doubt we’ll find every survivor in the system,” Husher said. “Not nearly.”

“Yeah,” Caine said, staring out over the nearby ocean, which surrounded the artificial island atop which the research station was built. The island formed a crescent, and was kept firmly anchored to the ocean floor using carbon nanotube ribbons. “Even if we had time to track them down, not all of the survivors will have access to transponders.” She sighed. “There are probably hundreds alive in the system right now who will be dead in a few weeks. Maybe thousands.”

Husher followed her gaze to the horizon, where it looked like a storm was forming. “Let’s get on the shuttle.”

The scientists had already chosen crash seats toward the back, all of them grouped together, away from the two soldiers. To be sure they weren’t overheard, Husher and Caine kept their helmets on, to continue speaking over a secure channel as the craft leapt into the sky and made its way through the atmosphere .

It was nice to talk with her. They hadn’t had much chance to spend time together, with the battle to reach the AI followed so quickly by the devastation of Sol. It also meant no one had really had time to process what Husher had done in releasing the AI. He’d half expected to get court-martialed, but no one appeared to have the time nor the inclination to raise the subject. That worried him a little, just as it had worried him when Keyes had failed to discipline Wahlburg.

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