The Scythian Crisis by J J Green

Author:J J Green [Green, J J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InfiniteBook
Published: 2018-11-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Someone had discovered a roadmaker a kilometer or so away from the settlement and Garwin had been able to get it running again. The machine seemed capable of using the tsunami mud to create roadways as easily as it had formerly converted dirt and stones. Yet, as Leader, Ethan was having second thoughts about putting the roadmaker back to work.

A road leading to or from anywhere in the colony would be a clear indication to their enemy about where the humans were to be found. Though at some point the colonists would have to continue settling Concordia, it would be unwise to continue as normal in the current crisis. Their focus had to be on defense, at least until the window of the aliens’ immediate return to complete their job of annihilating the colony had passed.

Ethan’s basic plan was for everyone to return underground. The old bunkers had protected the colonists from the aliens’ bombardment and though they were now useless due to the tsunami, the principle remained the same: a few meters of soil and rock between the colonists and the surface would be their best protection.

But where should they go? They could not remain in the old site any longer. It would be the first place the aliens would look. Yet they also couldn’t travel very far. Transporting the materials and people to a distant site would take too long, and they didn’t know what other problems or predators they might have to contend with. Ethan had sent out scouts to search the surrounding landscape for an appropriate place to construct a settlement—somewhere everyone could hide and live, perhaps for many years.

One of the tasks Ethan had set himself while he waited for the reports to come back was to speak to Cariad and attempt to re-establish friendly relations, but he’d discovered she’d left to go to the Nova Fortuna. She would be gone for a while, the doctor at the clinic had said.

Stymied in that direction, Ethan decided to do the other thing he had in mind. He’d sensed the mood of the colonists settling lower and lower as the days passed. He was worried that the incident with the young man in the shuttle field was only one symptom of a wider sickness.

He set off along a makeshift path and stopped at the first shelter he came to. It was a simple tent made from a rug, similar to Cherry’s. Lacking any door or other way of announcing his presence, Ethan coughed loudly. An oldish woman poked out her head.

“Ethan,” she said. “Nice to see you. Or should I call you Leader?”

“Call me whatever you like,” he replied. “Though I prefer Ethan.”

“Ethan it is. What can I do for you, Ethan?”

“I’m just checking to see how you’re doing. Is there anything you don’t have that you need?”

“Oh,” the woman said. She called a name over her shoulder and a man’s head joined hers at their shelter entrance.

“He’s asking what we need,” the woman repeated to the man, who was presumably her husband or boyfriend.

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