Saturnius Mons (Ruins of Empire Book 1) Read online

  Behind him Isra’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Viekko. Focus.”

  His world snapped back. He was on Titan. Deep in a lush, green forest. There were footprints on the ground. Bare, and larger than average, but human. Next to that, a tree with a scratch in the bark.

  He turned to Isra. “They’re headin' west.”

  And again they were moving, Isra right beside him trying to read the same trail marks that he saw. Althea and Cronus struggled to keep up.

  The Haze hit again. This time he was strolling through the slums of Rome looking for a shard of ‘T. Then, flash, he was a child running through tall fields of barley away from the raiders attacking his village.

  All hallucinations. More frequent. More vivid. He needed a shard of ‘T’. Now, before he lost himself completely.

  But that was impossible. If Althea saw him, if Isra saw him, it would be over. They would kick him back to Earth where he would die in some gutter.

  He forced himself to focus. They were heading east now and there was a trail of footprints in the soft ground.

  The forest started looking the same. The trees, the shrubs, the rocks and lay of the land all seemed familiar, like a memory replayed in his mind. Even the trail signs he followed started to repeat themselves.

  Then he stopped and looked at a set of bare footprints. Next to that, a tree with a scratch in the bark.

  Behind him, Isra snapped, “Viekko! What is wrong? We need to keep...”

  Viekko had a moment of clarity. Things didn’t look the same because his mind was turning into mush. Things were really the same. Whatever, whoever they were tracking was aware and leading them in a circle.

  “We have to stop,” Viekko slurred.

  Isra walked in front. “Why exactly?”

  Viekko raised his head and scanned the canopy. “We’ve been here before. They’re swinging back around taking us the way we came.”

  Isra started to say something when Althea walked up. “He’s right.” She pointed at a set of boot prints in the mud; Viekko’s prints. “We just came this way not too long ago.”

  “They know we’re followin’ ‘em,” said Viekko desperately. “They’re lettin’ us know that they know. This is a message. ‘Back off’.”

  Isra put her hands on her hips. “And if we do not?”

  “Followin’ ‘em will do us no good. They know we’re here and know these forests. There ain’t no reason they won’t jump out of the trees right now and slit our throats. We have to go now. It’s over.”

  Isra looked around the forest, taking full stock of their situation. It should have been an easy decision, but she hesitated. Why? What was so damned important? Then she spoke in a strange, resigned tone, “Fall back to camp. We need to regroup and come up with another plan.”

  Sergeant Carr crouched in the dense underbrush and watched the members of the Human Reconnection Project. They were just standing in the middle of the forest and…talking. He remained as still as he could. His knees and lower back throbbed in pain from being stuck in the same position for so long. But, he waited.

  For a moment, he wondered if Viekko hadn’t picked up his scent again. Something was wrong. For the last hour, they had been wandering the forest like blind dogs in a squirrel enclosure. They weaved and zig-zagged and then did a giant three-sixty turn. It made not a lick of sense and he couldn’t get close enough to hear what, if anything, their reasoning was.

  He set his rifle down as slow and gently as he could so as to barely disturb the foliage around him. He fished a transmitter Laban gave him out of his pocket, lifted it to his mouth, and whispered, “This is Carr. Subjects are engaging in some kind of reconnaissance action in the woods near the city. No contact with native civilizations yet. There’s a possibility my position has been compromised. I’m falling back for now. Next report in two hours.”

  He replaced the transmitter and picked up his gun with the same precise, paranoid care he used before. At that moment, the whole group turned around and started heading in his direction. Shit! Had they heard him or were they just lost?

  He picked a direction and started to ease himself out of their path. He had to put some distance between himself and them and, hopefully, get behind them. Once he felt he was safely out of their way, he started moving faster. He planned to move in a wide arch around their position and come up from behind. Even if they had detected him, they might get to a certain point, find no evidence, and assume they were hearing things.

  He came to a narrow clearing where a stream ran down a short, rocky cliff and formed a little waterfall. He set his rifle down next to it and examined the water. It looked clear but reeked of ammonia. Carr grimaced and retrieved his own canteen.

  He sat on a rock near the stream, sipped water, and relaxed for a moment. He would let them get a ways away before he picked up the trail again. For now, he found himself enjoying this peaceful little place.

  He screwed the cap back on his canteen and replaced it on his belt. Leaves and branches rustled around him as something or someone moved through them. He grabbed his gun and looked up to find his position covered on all sides by men. Long, gangly-looking men completely covered in thick animal skins. They didn’t speak, but they all pointed rifles in his direction. Rifles more advanced than the weapon he carried and far too advanced for this moon.

  Carr grinned, placed his gun on the ground, raised his hands and clasped his palms behind his head. One by one they started to converge on his position, keeping their guns pointed directly at him.

  Carr laughed, “Come on there, little fellas, no need to be afraid. You caught me fair and square.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  For those stranded far from Earth, the first years of the Fall must have been a supernova. Bright and all-encompassing for a short while and then like nothing ever existed. Far from the influence of a global culture, I often wonder what we will find as we return to worlds we left behind so long ago. Will we find long-lost friends and family welcoming us with joy and celebration? Or will we find ourselves looking at each other as strangers with all the distrust and animosity that comes with it?

  -from The Fall: The Decline and Failure of 21st Century Civilization by Martin Raffe.

  Isra used the satellite uplink on her EROS suit to navigate back to the makeshift camp where they left the crawler. It took time, too much time for a crew that was on the brink of total exhaustion. It was up to Isra to lead the way again as Althea’s drug cocktail was already wearing off. She would look back every once in a while and, every time she did, she saw more and more lucidity drain from Viekko’s eyes.

  By the time they arrived, Isra and Althea led Viekko with his arms over both their shoulders to the crawler where they set him down. If anything, Viekko was worse off now than ever before. His eyes were glazed over and he stared off in the distance not really focusing on any one thing. His mouth moved in some silent conversation.

  Cronus walked beside them and set himself down on the back of the now-empty crawler bed. Even through the breather, he struggled to catch every breath in between fits of coughing.

  Althea went to work downloading the readout from both of the men’s medical regulators while Isra watched. “Any idea what is happening to them?”

  Althea shook her head, “Whatever they have, it’s not related. Cronus got better inside the spaceport where the air was filtered. Viekko has been getting progressively worse since before we landed on Titan.”

  Isra stopped. “Before we landed?”

  Althea turned off her screen. “His endorphin production was a little low during his post-hibernation checkup.”

  Isra felt a swell of rage flash inside her. “Are you telling me you knew about this the entire time and you did not inform me?”

  Althea held out her hands. “There was no way of knowing it would progress this far or this fast. Hibernation has vast and unpredictable side effects some of which are not completely understood, but they tend work themselves out—”

  “T
end to work themselves out? The best medial mind the Ministry could find and all you have is ‘tend to work themselves out?” Isra paused and gathered herself. “I am sorry. It is not your fault. I am afraid my feelings are getting the best of me. The mission is over. We need to go back to the base and persuade Laban to form a reconnaissance team.”

  “A reconnaissance team? A…Corporate reconnaissance team? Isra, you’ve spent the entire time trying to prevent the Corporation getting anywhere near the city.”

  Isra started taking down one of the shelters. “The situation has changed, Althea.”

  Althea got out of the crawler and slowly approached. “This has something to do with the crates, doesn’t it? Isra, what were we carrying?”

  Isra set a collapsed shelter next to Cronus. “You are mistaken. My rapid change of approach is in response to our current situation and resources. Viekko, even in peak condition, would not be sufficient to provide security for this mission. What we saw at the spaceport proves that. We will need armed mediation if we are going ensure the survival of any civilization on Titan…what’s left of it at any rate.”

  Isra felt a twinge of guilt lying to Althea. It was a lie of omission, but a lie. But if Althea knew what she did—what the Ministry forced on her, she corrected herself—what would Althea think then?

  “But what about the Corporation?” asked Althea. “You said yourself that without Ministry protection, they will move in and enslave the entire population. We’ve seen it before.”

  Isra paused, then activated the satellite map on her EROS computer. “It is best if we follow the coastline back to the base. If we head approximately east-northeast, we should pass right by the area where the assumed city is. Maybe we will get lucky and find solid proof of civilization, or at least enough to get Ministry protection before we hand the whole thing over to the Corporation.”

  Althea sat back down at the driver's side of the crawler. The tension in her body told Isra that she had serious reservations about the whole idea, but her downcast eyes said that she didn’t have a solid argument against it, either. “If you think it’s best.”

  Isra grabbed the tow cables from the back. “I am afraid all other options have been exhausted. Help me pull out the crawler. There is not much time before the eclipse.”

  Twenty hours, maybe twenty-four...Isra was starting to lose track of how long she’d been awake. By keeping to the less densely wooded area near the edge of the tarmac and following the tree line into a relatively open plain, the travel itself was far less grueling than cutting straight through the forest. Now, it was pure exhaustion that proved to be the hardest obstacle and, at the same time, a force that propelled her forward.

  Isra glanced at Cronus who passed in and out of sleep, awakened in between by fits of coughing and wheezing. Whatever Viekko was doing, it wasn’t sleeping. He slumped in his seat, breathed in short, sporadic bursts while his eyes darted wildly in all directions. But Althea kept driving and Isra kept moving at a steady pace at the edge of the forest.

  Until the constantly shifting ground of Titan played its part.

  Isra kept trudging along until the high-pitched whine of the electrical engine straining made her turn around. The left-back wheels of the crawler fell into a mini-sink hole and, as much as Althea gunned the throttle, the wheels sunk deeper and deeper into the ground until they were buried and the opposite corner raised up several centimeters.

  Althea released the throttle and banged the wheel with both fists. “Damn….damn this bloody moon and its bloody useless ground. We’d be better off driving on a bloody lake.”

  Isra raised an eyebrow. The fact that Althea still had the energy to be frustrated surprised her.

  “Get the tow cable,” Isra half-mumbled. “I will find an easier route.”

  Isra stepped over some fallen logs and through a patch of dense ferns. They had been avoiding the wide open plains nearby fearing that it would leave them too exposed. But there had been no sign of another human since the spaceport and keeping themselves hidden was taking its toll.

  Isra stepped out of the forest and found herself face to face with a towering grey wall and a wooden gate both larger than anything seen on Earth. Neither were ornate or complex but utilitarian to an intimidating degree. The gate was as high as the wall and made with several planks of wood held by a series of ten crossbeams. Each vertical plank looked like it was made from a single piece of wood. The sheer size made that an impossibility on Earth. Even the now-extinct California redwood would barely grow large enough for such a project.

  Behind the wall, just beyond the perpetual haze of Titan, she could make out the remains of an ancient city complete with skyscrapers that extended into the clouds. At one time, this little plot of land was likely a glowing jewel in the rugged wilderness of the extraterrestrial colonies. Now, several of the larger buildings ended in jagged ruins, suggesting that the upper floors had long since collapsed in on themselves. There were no lights in the windows, no gleam of polished metal or glass. It all felt like a cold, dark reminder of what existed a millennium ago.

  Isra turned back toward the crawler. “Althea, come look at this.”

  Althea reluctantly moved out of the forest to join Isra and marveled at the sight in front of her. “Oh my…we found it. The City. It’s still here.”

  “Was,” said Isra, activating her EROS screen. “Was here. It does not prove anything we did not know before. Ruins are not proof of civilization.”

  “Isra, the gate is moving.”

  Isra stopped and watched as the wooden gate large enough to accommodate a shuttle slid open a few meters. A small group of about ten emerged from the crack. At that distance, Isra could only make out the fact that they wore long brown coats and they were human-shaped.

  Isra opened the bionic applications in her EROS suit. She selected the optical recorder and felt a slight tingle behind her right eye. Now, what she saw would be recorded to the computer memory so it could be sent to the Ministry.

  She watched the people leaving the city closely.

  “Isra,” said Althea nervously, “is it quite safe to stay here?”

  Keeping close to the forest, it would be hard to pick her and Althea out at this distance unless they were looking for them. All the same, they were getting closer.

  Isra stopped the recording. “You are right. We should get back to the crawler and avoid contact until we know for sure that it is safe.”

  They turned to go back. Cronus was still fitfully laying on the empty bed but Viekko was conspicuously missing.

  Althea looked around and, with a hint of panic in her voice, said, “Where’s Viekko?”

  Isra had a feeling. A sick, twisting in her gut that said that she already knew the answer and she didn’t like it. She cursed under her breath and bolted back toward the clearing and, to her horror, found she was right.

  Althea wasn’t far behind. She stopped next to Isra and gasped, “Oh no! Viekko! What they bloody hell are you doing?”

  Isra watched that damned fool walk out into the open field toward the small group of natives alone and completely exposed.

  Viekko was too far gone now. He could see that. All he could do was just sit in that crawler and stare off into space. How pathetic. There was once a time he was a fearless, near invincible warrior. Now he saw himself like his mind was outside his body looking back at it. Looking back at that worthless fool in the off-white khaki suit and wide-brimmed white hat. That waste of flesh that still dishonored his heritage by wearing his long, black hair in a warrior’s queue.

  When the crawler got stuck and Isra and Althea left, there was a powerful fear that became the only focus of his mind. Fear that they were wandering into danger. He should be there to help them, to protect them. If he couldn’t do that, he should do the right thing and stop being a burden.

  Get up, you worthless zondin. Get up and do something. Anything.

  He saw his body start to move.

  That’s it…On yer feet. Now move.
Walk, you bastard.

  He watched his body lurch forward like a drunk who’d just been dragged from the bar stool and shoved down the street. He stumbled out of the grove of trees and into the open field. He could see the city gate in the distance and the people emerging from it.

  A few meters away, he saw Isra and Althea retreat back into forest. He wanted to call out to them. He wanted to ask why they were running away. Everything they worked so hard to find was right in front of them. Why wouldn’t they go out and meet them?

  He looked back at his own body barely standing on its feet, looking bleary-eyed into the distance.

  They’re retreatin’ because they have no protection, you idiot, he thought. That was your job. Your one kharasaasan job and you can’t even do that. Well, he might as well do something useful.

  Somebody had to be first. Somebody had to walk out there with their head held high and let their presence be known. Yeah it was dangerous, of course it was. There were hundreds of people lying dead in front of the spaceport that would attest to that. That’s why he had to do it. So what if he got killed? It would be a goddamned yallagdakh blessing. At least he wouldn’t be stuck in that useless body.

  He started to walk toward the small group.

  Somewhere behind him he heard Althea cry, “Viekko! What the bloody hell are you doing?”

  It’s okay, Althea. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I promised to protect you. I can do this.

  Althea was back at the tree line and, for a moment, it looked like she was ready to run after that stupid idiot. Thankfully Isra held her back.

  Don’t go, Althea. Leave me to die. I can’t do anythin’ else for you, but I can do this. I can sacrifice myself.

  There were shouts from the group in the distance and they started running toward him. They were wearing some sort of heavy brown coat that extended all the way to their ankles and had collars that extended as high as the top of their heads. They brandished batons and snares as they ran at him.