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On the Surface: Bleu Reinier
Knowing how many lives depended on his success, Bleu rushed to activate his breath warmer and then rechecked everything.
“Okay, ready.” He could open the door himself, but, apparently, the Control Room wanted to live up to its name.
The door cracked open, and the temperature dropped. I hope this outfit is as good as they promised. He leaned forward in his rover seat to get his first view, but the door crept too slowly. He jumped out, unable to stop himself, and peered into the widening space.
Bleu stood still, jaw dropped, head tilted upward. Time and space lost all meaning. The whole universe opened before him, dark and luminous at the same time. Light from somewhere made the snow and ice sparkle like millions of miniature silver candles glowing, lighting his way. Above, Nature had strewn stars across the sky like diamonds on velvet.
He slowly turned his head, taking it all in. The light came from the moon, a full, round glowing orb of beauty. A warm sensation began in his chest, and, despite the cold, it spread throughout his body. When it reached his face, it blossomed into a smile.
I’m home. The expansiveness of the sky overpowered his senses. It was like nothing he had ever experienced; the sheer intensity of his joy threatened to explode him into a million elementary particles that would surge upward into the star-strewn heavens.
Just get to the camp. He snapped back to normalcy. With the door fully open, he needed to get the rover out.
He tore his gaze from the sparkling stars and forced himself to turn back to the metal and machinery of his home. He checked that no gear had fallen out of the rover and then climbed back into the driver’s seat.
As he turned it on, the engine’s familiar vibration grounded him in the mission ahead. Just get to the camp. As the rover lurched forward, the treads shifted from metal to the crisp crunch of the ice. His smile returned.
“I’m out.” He hoped his enthusiasm sounded appropriate. They might suspect him of the Sickness.
“Good luck, Bleu. We’re closing the door. Head straight to camp.”
‘’I’ll radio in half an hour.” This was the agreed upon protocol during training.
“No. Maintain constant radio contact. Just in case.”
“Yes, sir.” Apparently, Neviah wouldn’t be the only one listening now.
Bleu headed the rover in the direction indicated by the detector. He wanted to push the vehicle to its limits and go at top speed, but he had strict orders to go slower. If the engine went, there would be no rescue.
Just get to the camp. Still, urgency to reach Josefina as quickly as possible coursed through his body, and he itched to test the vehicle at higher speeds. Why build a rover with higher speeds if I can’t use them?
He felt strangely alone in the darkness. No, not alone. Isolated. Another strange thought. Isolated from what? He continuously swiveled his gaze, peering into the deep-blue darkness around him. The thrum of the rover’s engine pulled him from the majesty around him. He checked the gauges, rechecked his direction, and then allowed his gaze to wander upward toward the blanket of stars covering the cold Earth.
He had seen stars, of course. Pictures in books. Holographs of night skies. But seeing them in person had a very different effect. He became puny and insignificant and surrounded by vast swathes of emptiness.
A bloodcurdling howl pierced the darkness nearby. He startled, and the rover lurched to the side, the treads grinding against the ice. In all his years of secret studies, he’d never considered studying animal vocalizations. Anything, including the Undescended, could be making the howls beyond the range of his snow rover’s headlights. As much as he had longed for this world, he was lost here.
As he scanned the inky horizon, a large dark blob drew his gaze to an elevated area of ice. Did it move? He narrowed his eyes, straining to confirm reality. Just get to the camp. Just get to the camp.
It moved.
“Base, something’s out here...pacing on a hill above me. I’m maintaining course, but I’m going to have to pass below it. Should I change course?”
“You heard Commander Savas. Shoot it as soon as it’s in range. Continue course.”
“Continue course. Got it, sir.” Bleu hastily checked his gun, wishing for Stamf’s longer-range rifle. It’s not close enough yet...
His hand tightened on his gun. I don’t even know what it is, and I have to kill it? The rover sped along as his indecision churned within him. Trust your instincts, Bleu, his mother had said. It lured us, Savas had said.
In his mind, Bleu replayed Neviah’s terrifying video footage. That creature could be stalking him right now. Orders were orders. He raised his gun.
Just like in the games with Stamf. He steadied himself, slipped his right index finger out of the slit in his glove, and readied it near the trigger as he’d been taught. He waited. It wasn’t attacking or luring him. He stood ready.
In an instant, dark movement flowed alongside the rover. Large shaggy animals raced alongside it, surrounding him. There’s too many... He aimed at the closest and pulled the trigger, vaguely aware of voices shouting over the radio. Like a crowd in the gaming rooms...
A spine-screeching scream echoed off the hill. This horror was nothing like shooting the stoic lions in holographic games. He pivoted to the next closest thing running alongside. Something huge galloped along on four legs, yellow teeth flashing in the moonlight. Giant wolves? He quickly glanced around him.
Four more. He aimed at the closest and again pulled the trigger. As the dark shape yelped and fell, a force slammed Bleu forward. One of the creatures had jumped on his back and grasped over his shoulder for his throat. His headpiece detached from his chest, and he gasped as the cold air stabbed his lungs. His arm flew up to protect his neck. The massive jowls locked on his upper arm, and the gun dropped to the rover’s floor.
“Base!” His yell sputtered as pain rippled through him. Stamf was too far to help even if he could hear. I’m going to die...
The dagger. His good arm yanked it from his pocket, shook off the sheath, and thrust it at the giant, wolf-like beast’s throat. Hot blood exploded all over his face. He gagged, coughing and spitting while the thing collapsed and fell off the rover.
Another one lunged and grabbed Bleu’s boot. He slipped and twisted, trying to pull himself back into the driving seat. He coughed as the frigid air constricted his lungs. He yanked the steering wheel as the creature again grabbed his leg and pulled him from the rover.
He grasped for something to hold onto, but his mangled arm was too weak. He slipped from the rover just as it flipped on its side. The toppled, spinning rover caught a different wolf in its treads. The last wolf grabbed his booted foot in its maw and pulled him into the endless darkness.
He was still grasping the dagger, but, in his bulky clothes, he couldn’t reach the snarling beast dragging him across the ice, and he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Waves of lightheadedness washed over him. The wolf-thing stopped, dropped his foot, and suddenly was airborne. Bleu lay on his back as it arched through the air, its massive jowls aimed for his exposed abdomen. In slow motion, he raised the dagger toward what he hoped would be its incoming throat.
The head hit his arm, but the dagger struck the wolf’s shoulder. Startled, the beast jumped to Bleu’s side. Bleu crawled to a crouch and roared from his gut, a foreign but animalistic threat. The wolf creature paused, growling at the bloody dagger Bleu raised in its direction, and then raced off into the night.
“Bleu! What? Are you—” Panicked voices thrummed in his headpiece from both the team and the Command Room.
Bleu grunted, stood, and examined his damage. Despite his injuries, he’d make it back to the rover. He reattached his head piece, slipped off his pack, and wrapped his ankle and arm to minimize blood loss. The voices in his radio still screamed, and they finally came into focus.
“Bleu! Bleu! What’s going on? The cameras aren’t working. Bleu, are you there?”
He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “Still here. Five huge wolves attacked. I’m walking back to the rover.”
He bit his lower lip to distract himself from the pain in his leg. The voices of Base continued to yell, but they seemed far off, almost unimportant. Background noise to the main event. They couldn’t help him, so he focused on each placement of his throbbing leg.
Limping back toward the lights of the snow rover, he hesitated at the giant wolves lying in the snow. Were they truly dead? Not wanting to find out, he hurried to the rover, which in its spinning had miraculously restored itself to an upright position. Its engine groaned as it attempted to free the treads from the two bodies crushed beneath. Bleu jumped inside, grabbed his gun, and reloaded it. The wolves on the ground still hadn’t moved. Dead.
“Bleu? Bleu? Are you there?”
“Uh...” Bleu sat straighter, even though they had said the cameras weren’t working. “Yes, I’m okay. I found my gun and got back to the rover.”
“Where are the creatures?”
“Four dead, one ran away.” The urgency returned. He had to get moving.
“Dead? Good. Are you still moving toward base camp?”
“No. The rover is stuck. Hold on.” Bleu glanced at the instrumentation, then down at the treads. “The rover looks okay. I just need to get it loose from the bodies.”
He turned off the rover and ground his teeth to keep from yelling as he climbed down and yanked dead body parts from the treads. As he pulled out the last one, he collapsed, waves of dizziness nauseating him. He barely got his hood off to throw up and then crawled back toward the driver’s seat. Everything was distant, numb...
Blackness engulfed him.