Valya, Zack, and Makali had to hurry to catch up, essentially having to take two steps for each one of the alien’s, like children struggling to keep pace with their parents.
“About time,” Dale said when they caught him. “Do you really want to linger here?” he said.
Valya was willing to concede that Dale had a valid point; the less time they spent here, the quicker they would reach the control center or power core, wherever the Sentry was leading them.
She was tired beyond belief, panting with every step. Hungry. Thirsty. So afraid that she was growing numb to fear.
And she hated everyone now. The stupid, unhelpful alien Dash. Dale, of course. And now even Makali and Zack.
The only encouraging thing about knowing she was likely to die…was that they would all die, too.
Zack hustled forward, closing to within earshot of Dash. Valya, Makali, and Dale did, too, even though it almost killed Valya to expend the extra energy. In fact, she lagged, and earned this: “Goddammit, Valya, will you fucking try to keep up?” Zack said. “I really need you.”
So she closed on the leader, even though she wanted to either kill him or die…or kill him, then die.
“When we emerge,” she heard him ask the Sentry, “where do we go next? And how far is it?” He smiled unsympathetically at Valya, as if to say, Feel free to answer, too.
“Exit habitat,” Dash said.
“I understand,” Zack said. “But where are we then? Which way do we go? Where is the control center?”
“Goals remain the same,” the Sentry said.
“Can we fly Keanu?” Dale said. “Whatever he calls it, the ‘warship’?”
“Control means control,” Dash said.
“So we could turn it around and head back to Earth,” Dale said, as irritating as he was persistent.
“Yes,” the Sentry said, its translator voice neutral.
“Why didn’t you do that?” Zack said to Dash. “Why didn’t your people head home?”
Dash never broke stride. “No control,” it said. “Before I was born.”
They were three quarters of the way across the dead habitat now. Valya searched for their way out the other end as she considered the possibilities.
While the translator offered the same words and phrases as before, there was something in Dash’s manner—the Sentry’s posture, even the pitch of its real voice—that had changed somehow.
Of course, Valya knew that the Sentry, communicating in a vastly different language, with its own matrix of habits and assumptions, might very well kick into a second mode when revisiting the same subject at a later time. That was certainly a possibility—
Before Zack could probe further, Valya stumbled and sprawled face-first in the dirt.
It was her feet; she had been barefoot so long that her feet were raw and numb. Makali was first to offer a hand. “How is it?”
In her former life, Valya had had a propensity for collecting foot injuries. Stubbed and broken toes, ripped-off nails; if it could be done, she’d done it repeatedly.
And her usual method of dealing with it was to delay looking at the damage as long as possible, in the silly hope that it would be less than feared.
That was where she was now, turning over her blackened feet and seeing that she had worn the skin off the soles.
“Oh, shit,” Makali said.
“We’re all this way, aren’t we?”
“Not all of us,” Dale said.
Makali was wearing the kind of durable footgear an experienced hiker or climber wore under boots. Zack had the soiled and torn footwear of his EVA undergarment. Even Dale still wore battered sneakers. “I wish I had something for you,” Makali said.
“Help me get her up,” Makali said. Zack was still closely following the Sentry.
“Fucking leave her,” Dale said.
“What are you talking about?” Makali said. “We don’t leave people.”
“She’s been dragging us down ever since we got out of Dash’s prison.”
Valya sat on the hard-packed ground, its texture like asbestos, and listened to this exchange with little interest. Even though she found Dale’s attitude unfriendly and even infuriating, she wasn’t sure she could get up and walk again.
But she was growing less happy with Makali, too, in spite of the fact that the woman was trying to help her. Why wouldn’t she just let her be!
And as for Zack…what had possessed him to go to the Beehive—
Valya stopped. “Zack,” she said, her voice a croak. “Zack!” she called.
But Zack had already turned back. “What is it now?” he said. In his impatience, Zack sounded just like Dale—or Zack talking to Dale. Which was exactly Valya’s worry. “How are you feeling?”
“Awful,” she said.
“Come on, Valya, Dale,” Makali said. “Can we just keep moving? Why does everything have to be a debate?” She, too, was uncharacteristically impatient.
“Listen to yourselves,” Valya said. “We’re all on edge.”
“Don’t we have every right to be on edge?” Dale said. God, he was annoying. She fought the urge to slap him—
Steady; remember your discovery. “This environment is doing it,” she said. “At best we’re starving for oxygen. At worst, poisoned.”
Zack, thank God, was quick to make the adjustment. “You’re right: I’ve been out of breath since we entered. And I’ve been…really, really angry and suspicious. I thought I was just worn out.”
“You are,” Valya said. “We all are.”
“Then it’s more important than ever that we get through this,” Makali said. She and Zack helped Valya to her feet….
Her feet were numb and aching. She felt that every step scraped more flesh from the soles. But she realized the truth of Makali’s statement. She had no choice but to go forward, as they had done ever since leaving the human habitat….
The forced march resumed, though it was more of a shamble. This end of the destroyed habitat was a mess, reminding Valya of Japan or Bangladesh after the big tsunamis of the past decade, where entire cities had been scraped off the face of the Earth, scrambled into tiny pieces, then crushed into a lumpy field of junk. There was nothing recognizable—not that Valya expected to recognize anything.
But it was still a horrifying reminder of the destructive power of whatever had wiped out this habitat.
Just as they closed in on Dash, the Sentry suddenly veered off to the right side, likely in search of the exit.
Valya was turned toward Makali when her peripheral vision lit up with a flash. A moment later, he and the others heard a cracking honk.
A ball of light rose to the high ceiling and floated there. The center of the habitat looked as though day had broken…revealing even more devastation than Valya had realized.
The improved lighting also revealed that some structures were intact here, rounded, irregular domes like termite mounds three or four stories tall.
“A flare,” Dale said. “Someone’s looking for someone.”
“Connate,” Dash said. “My pursuers.”
Zack could see big, mobile Sentry-like shapes at the north wall of the habitat.
“Shit,” Scott said, “we should have realized they’d get through that passage.”
Now the Sentry kicked into a higher gear, literally running away from Valya and the others, disappearing between the two nearest termite mounds.
“Why is it leaving us behind?” Dale said.
“Maybe Valya was right,” Makali said. “We got him out; he doesn’t need us anymore.”
“Let’s not get lost,” Zack said, though the exertion was wearing on him; his voice was growing weaker.
It had been painful for Valya to walk at a steady pace. Running was agony. She quickly lost the others as they entered the shadowy, debris-strewn alleys between the termite mounds.
Even though she tried to keep up with the others—and Makali, in particular, kept looking back for her—because of the lack of light, the rough surface, and the tight clearances between the structures, Valya found herself alone.