The Red Rover: Clash Of The Celestials

The five cadets trudged their way through the terrain, walking in silence. They all held their weapons in the ready position as the ambient noises coming from this part of the jungle were unfamiliar. Andrew stopped for a moment, turning back.

The Red Rover could no longer be seen. Everywhere he looked revealed more jungle. He hadn’t been tracing his steps and by the purpose in which everyone else was walking, it was doubtful that they had either.

Not that it mattered. Going back to Marius was a non-starter. If they did that, that would’ve been a clear admission of guilt on their parts. There was definitely some ego at play for them, but returning to him with their tails tucked between their legs would be letting him off the hook as well.

Perhaps he would modify his leadership approach with only Callista and Jovan under his command. If he was as good of a leader as he thought he was, he would use what had happened today as a lesson for improvement. It was like June said—Marius was not without faults.

Andrew turned back to see the other cadets had nearly disappeared from sight. He hurried to catch up to them as they really couldn’t afford to lose track of one another. Not now anyway.

“I can’t believe Marius let us go like that.” Gordie said.

June stopped abruptly, turning back to the group.

“Let’s get one thing straight Gordie. Marius didn’t let us do anything. We decided that we weren’t going to allow him to control our fate. There’s a difference.”

“O-kay. Got it.”

Gordie recoiled with his hands up as June turned back to their path. While she was definitely a handful, no one could ever say that she lacked courage or that she was afraid of a challenge. At least that hadn’t been the case for a long time.

Their experience on Cnaeus could have been the spark, but there could be no doubt that their time wandering around aimlessly in space on the Red Rover had impacted her attitude in relation to the rest of the team.

Before that—June never actively worked to make herself a part of the group. Now that may have been because she didn’t have much of a choice—but that wouldn’t have been a fair assessment either. Andrew had grown up with her since they were four years old. He saw with his own two eyes just how spoiled she was on a daily basis.

But that was the old June. This was the new and improved one. She had confidence and courage. And she treated people with respect. It had been a long time since she had said any-thing mean-spirited about anyone.

Even with Marius, she was so patient. They all were. But at some point, everybody had to put their cards on the table. Marius kept refusing to do so—thinking they were bluffing. Well he lost that bet. Just another lesson that he needed to learn. Gordie tapped Andrew on the shoulder as he leaned closer to him.

“Okay. I get it now.” Gordie whispered.

Andrew chuckled. Gordie didn’t want any parts of an argument with June. Not that anyone could blame him. She was not the type to back down from a fight. No matter how much she had matured in other ways.

Tears landed against the crushed front hood of the HoverSol as Jovan had leaned against it. His head concealed within his arms. The fact that the other five cadets had willingly left him behind was devastating.

Did they really believe that I would think they were looking out for my best interest by doing that? If they did, then they must think I’m an idiot. Gordie basically came out and said I’m a liability. If anyone’s a liability, it’s him. Not me.

Jovan slammed his right fist into the hood. This was all his fault. He had spent so much time working to become the best in the class and for him to lose it all in an instant like that was—stupid. For lack of a better word. He was stupid.

When they were still on the Rover Base—he had seen firsthand what trying to impress a girl did to his older brother and yet there he was doing—exactly the same thing—only in a different way. And because they didn’t have the proper medical equipment on the Red Rover, who knew if he’d ever be able to walk again.

Hell, they didn’t even know if they’d get the ship working again and now five-sevenths of their team had left them behind. This whole situation sucked and was getting worse every single day.

“Jovan.” Callista quietly called his name.

He lifted his head, revealing his red eyes as he wiped the tears away. He turned around to see Callista holding his helmet. The red shield was cracked with a hole in the center. That must have happened when he threw it against the ship.

“What do you want?” He said—not wanting to be bothered.

“Just wanted to give this to you.”

Callista extended the helmet to him. He wiped away more tears before accepting it from her.

“I know you might not feel like it, but you’re still a part of the team.”

Jovan looked at his helmet as it sat in his lap. He ran his fingers across it. With the damage to the shield, it was no longer useful. More tears ran down his cheeks as he caught them with the back of his hands. A healthy version of himself would have never let Callista see him cry.

“Except I’m not.” He looked up at her. “I’m just some guy in a chair now. I’m useless.”

He handed her back the helmet as she accepted it from him. He reversed his wheelchair and rolled towards the ramp so he could be left alone.

A river raged in front of the five cadets. It had split the jungle in half or at least that’s what Rio thought. Unless they somehow became airborne there would be no way for them to tell exactly how large the jungle was.

“Gosh. I’m burning up. I thought our spacesuits were supposed to protect us from the elements. Like some kind of temperature control.” Gordie said.

“I think that’s only for the cold unfortunately.” Orion responded.

“What? Well, that’s just stupid. I’m getting all wet down there.”

“We really didn’t need to know that Gordie.” June added, shaking her head. Cleary too much information.

Rio scoffed as she turned back to the jungle shoreline. She removed her backpack, dropping it along with her weapon on the ground as she knelt by the water. She got down on her stomach and totally submerged her arm in the water.

She felt around the wall of the shoreline, before fanning her hand out further. All she felt was raging water. She took her arm out—before pushing herself back up to her feet.

“So?” June said.

“I don’t know how deep it is, but it’s definitely deeper than the length of my arm.”

“Duh. Your arms aren’t even that long. That was a waste of time.” June shook her head.

“Well, we could always swim across.” Rio shrugged.

“No, we can’t. I’m not getting in that water.” Orion said.

“Because you can’t swim.” Gordie chimed in.

Orion turned to him. “I can swim. Just not that well. And we’re wearing these suits. Look how fast the water’s going. We could be swept away.”

“So what are our options? We’re not going back to Marius, are we?” Andrew asked.

“Hell no!” June yelled. That got their attention.

June had hit the nail on the head. They hadn’t come all this way just to turn around and go back before the end of the day. The least they could do was make it through a single night without Marius and the Red Rover. Anything else would be devastating. What would have been the point of leaving in the first place if they were just going to do that?

“What if we used our grappling hooks like before?” June went on.

“Now there’s an idea.” Gordie said.

The other four cadets began removing their backpacks as Rio knelt down to retrieve her grappling hook as well.

June was the first of the group to remove her grappling hook. While they definitely weren’t in a race against one another, lately June was carrying herself like she had a lot more to prove than everybody else. It was true that her words were one of the motivating factors in them leaving Marius.

She had never been much of a competitor beforehand, but with the changes happening all around them, she was fast becoming the most competitive one of them all. Not that Rio was ever going to idly standby and let her run roughshod over her or everyone else.

But credit needed to be given when credit was due. This was not the same June they had grown up with. She had become a fierce young woman who didn’t take crap from anyone and who refused to be silenced. She was a perfect example that sometimes people really did change for the better. Alas, maybe there was hope for Gordie after all.

June walked to the edge of the shoreline. She held her left arm out—pointing it towards the trees on the other side of the river.

“Here goes nothing.” June said.

She hit the button on her grappling hook as it flew out. The hook soared over the river for over forty feet before eventually landing in the water with a splash. June stood frozen as Andrew rolled up behind her.

“Well that didn’t work. Anyone got any better ideas?”

June rolled her eyes as she recoiled the grappling hook back to her arm. While Andrew was technically right, they now had a better idea of just how wide the river was. The chances of them being able to swim across in their suits with all of their gear against the river’s momentum didn’t look promising either. Better they found out in this manner than be headed downstream over a waterfall or into some other dangerous situation that they weren’t aware of.

“Maybe we should travel downstream and see if the river narrows at all. I mean there has to be a way to get across.” Orion said.

“And if there isn’t?” Gordie asked.

“Then we can go back to Marius with our tails tucked between our legs.”

“Downstream it is.”

Gordie nodded before swiveling his backpack over his left shoulder. He slid the other side through to his right arm and grabbed his weapon. He began walking downstream as everyone followed his lead.

Daylight was disappearing fast as the five cadets continued to move downstream along the river. Although they had been walking for a while, there had been no letup or narrowing of the river at all.

While Gordie had initially led the charge on this leg of their journey, by this point he was bringing up the rear. He was already running out of steam and they still weren’t any closer to their goal. It was one thing for them to have to walk in their suits and helmets, but they also had their weapons, along with their backpacks—which were filled with their hooks, fusion cartridges and more of that fuzzy fruit.

If any danger appeared from their jungle surroundings, there was a possibility they might be too cumbersome to engage in a battle. While the others were understandably excited about exploring this new world, it was strange that none of them ever stopped to express what they would do if they actually found an alien civilization.

Like what if that hypothetical civilization hated humans or was antagonistic because they felt the cadets were invading their homeland? They had the right to defend themselves against any perceived threat. Gordie and the others were not from this planet. The same would have applied if an alien civilization sought to seek refuge on the Rover Base, but the Rover community said no.

That would suck for those aliens no doubt, but that would just be the way the cookie crumbled. They were never offered refuge in the first place and no one would have been required to accept them. Their reasons for their arrival to the Rover Base would have received zero consideration.

Moments later, the five cadets came upon a makeshift bridge of thick vines leading to the other side of the river.

“Look. There goes our way across.” Orion said.

Gordie looked back the way they came. There was no telling just how long they had been walking nor if the river had narrowed at all. It looked exactly the same as before.

“In the time it took us to walk down here, we could’ve just swam across. But I forgot, you don’t like swimming.” Gordie remarked.

“Don’t you ever get tired of complaining?” Orion asked.

“Since when is speaking the truth a complaint?”

“Guys, come on. Enough already. Let’s just cross it.”

Rio pushed past them—heading towards the bridge. Now everyone seemed to be in a hurry. After all that walking, they had been doing for so many hours. And yet they wondered why Gordie said the things he said. Somebody had to call out the stupidity—otherwise they would keep doing stupid things.

Rio stepped on the bridge first. It looked sturdy enough as everyone gathered behind her. The vines were even thicker up close as they were probably quadruple the width of their grappling hook lines. The vines were connected to stone blocks on this side of the bridge. The bridge itself had wood planks, which were combined with smaller vines.

Rio stomped on the bridge a few times as the water continued to rage below the bridge. A look towards the bridge center revealed that it was partially under water. While the vines were still connected, the only way they would know if the planks were sturdy—was if they passed through it.

“I’m thinking we go one at a time. Yes?”

Ro turned back to the group as June gestured for her to lead the way.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Gordie said.

Rio scoffed. She had been so gung-ho about them going across the bridge, it was only fair that she had to go first. This was what happened when someone decided to take up the leadership mantle. She needed to lead by example. And if not her, then June did. They were the reason they were out here in the first place.

Rio cautiously began to walk across. She eventually picked up the pace until reaching the center. She paused as her lower calves could no longer be seen. The bridge had sunk that low into the water. She turned back to them.

“The bridge is still here!”

She trudged her way past the center as they could see her boots again. She then ran the rest of the way until she reached the other side and jumped off. She turned back to them again.

“All right, she made it. Let’s go.” Andrew said.

Gordie went next as June followed his lead a moment later. He was making good progress until he reached the bridge center. The water crashing into his lower body had immobilized him.

“Gordie, what the hell man? Keep going.” June said.

She pushed him as he hesitated, gripping the vines with everything he could. He turned back to her.

“I am. Stop pushing me.”

“Oh, forget this.”

June put her left arm up, exposing her grappling hook to him. She pointed it at a skyward angle to the other side of the river. She shot her grappling hook out as Gordie flinched sideways to avoid it. Her hook connected with a tree just beyond the shoreline.

“See you on the other side.”

June winked at him before hitting the return button on her grappling hook—whisking her away. Gordie watched as she landed on the other side. He shook his head.

“I should’ve taken my chances with Marius.”

He noticed Orion and Andrew moving closer towards him as he clung tight to the vine. He began to move again, turtle-like—one slow step at a time.

Orion said as he and Andrew had finally crossed the river bridge to greet the other three cadets.

“It’s getting dark. We should probably setup camp.” Rio answered.

Orion looked skyward. The stars in the sky were starting to emerge as the haze dissipated. The sun was nowhere to be seen, but its rays still battled with the darkness that would soon arrive. This was the first time since they had arrived on this planet that he was able to watch the sky’s transformation.

“Good idea.” Andrew said.

Orion turned back to see the others beginning to move once more. After the emotional day they had endured with Marius—wherever they ended up camping needed to be comfortable at the very least.

This would be the first time in their lives that they were truly on their own—without the cover of the Red Rover or the ship’s forcefield or the androids. From this moment for-ward, they would be responsible for each other and any petty differences that arose between them needed to be kept to a minimum for the good of the team.

Tomorrow would be a brand-new day for the five of them. They would finally have something that motivated them to wake up in the morning. They were only doing what so many others in human history had done before them and that was taking control of their own destiny.