Semper Pluvius
The Long Rain Redux, with a Twist
Author's note:
This is a sort of homage to Ray Bradbury, for those who have enjoyed his far-ranging science fiction. I had intended it for the Geek Pride event, but didn't make it, so I'm submitting it standalone. Obviously, there's quite a bit more 'randy' in this work, but hey... we Geeks can be randy, too! The premise is based loosely on Bradbury's short story,
The Long Rain
, which is an interesting read all on its own. Votes and constructive comments are always appreciated. I hope you enjoy the story. Cheers!
*~*~*~*~*
"The Lieutenant didn't even hear the sound of the gun."
"What?" Lt. Jennings looked back over his shoulder, rain dripping from the brim of his bush hat, to the Corporal following him.
"An old quote, Lieutenant!" Corporal Kinney virtually shouted at him, to be heard over the deluge. "Never mind!"
"We've got to find some kind of shelter, Lieutenant," his medic leaned into his ear to be heard. So close, she was brushing up against him. "Where we can get some kind of rest!"
"Well unless you've got some kind of pop-up hidden under that uniform, Sweets," Sergeant Blake yelled at her, "we bloody well don't have anything with us. We're gonna fall down from exhaustion and drown in the fucking pools." Sergeant Blake was a very unhappy man. Soaked to the skin and unhappy.
"Look, men..." the Lieutenant tried to explain loudly, against being drowned out by the rain. "We're walking uphill! There's got to be some kind of ridge! We can make a lean-to out of the inflatable! We've just got to find the damned top, where we won't get washed away!"
He turned to continue the climb, working from twisted Shroom to Shroom. The lighter gravity made carrying more gear easier, but it also meant every one of them was encumbered by the bulk and slogging through this mess wasn't easy.
Why I ever got posted on this God-forsaken swamp is beyond me
, Lt. Jennings thought.
I have no idea who I pissed off that badly
.
Corporal Kinney was thinking approximately the same thing. In his case, though, it didn't help to be a Ray Bradbury fan, nor to have read The Long Rain. Two days ago, they'd gone down in the jungle of fungus and he'd faced the very real fear of the incessant rains driving them crazy or beating them into submission before a rescue party could show up. It got worse when the power cells on the transport had started to go critical and they'd had to abandon what shelter they'd had, with whatever they could carry.
Water and air weren't going to be a problem. Water purification was. And fighting infection. And keeping skin sheltered from the steady downpour. Food after that. Those were the priorities that drove what they'd grabbed. Only two of the portable radios were working, and one of them shorted out in the rain within an hour of leaving the transport. The other was being jealously protected by the Lieutenant.
Corporal Sweets, their medic, had done an admirable job of ransacking the supplies on the transport and putting together a small field hospital with everything she could carry. She wasn't some whiny, weak bitch. She was a strong, competent bitch who pulled her own weight. It didn't hurt that she was also pretty damned attractive under all the protective gear. She got razzed about her name, though. A lot. She'd learned to put up with it or punch the asshole out, whichever was the better solution at the time.
Why he had to be the Official Nerd on this patrol was another one Kinney didn't understand. He'd been trained as an Engineer, a Specialist in all the tech they had to use exploring this planet. He was damned good at what he did. He was not good at dealing with people, and especially not good at getting laid, and to have someone like Sweets around just seemed to be the perverse humor of the Universe in action.
Simple patrol, right?
he thought.
Anyone could do it. Ferry a bunch of tech and weapons from Gamma Base to the new outpost in Delta Sector, train the people there how to use the shit, and then beat feet back to the warm, dry confines of Gamma Base. Setting aside why anyone gives a rat's ass about this planet, it's a simple task. And it
was
simple... until we went down.
Lt. Jennings was having his own thoughts.
One way or another, I've got to get this team out of this mess and back to safety,
he thought as he trudged through the soft mud, moving from handhold to handhold.
Before we go deaf, crazy or drown. Shit, that's my job... Command. Sarge is the weapons specialist, Kinney is the tech nerd. Sweets is... well, Sweets is just that. If I didn't think she'd rip my nuts off, I might try something. But not out here. Not when wrinkling to death is the least of our worries...
"Lieutenant!" It was Sweets, shouting through the rain. "What's that?!" She was pointing off to their left and uphill. There was the faintest outline in the green haze of some kind of possible outcropping.
"Some kind of ridge?" Jennings shouted back. "Sergeant! Ready a slug-thrower! The lasers won't work in this rain!"
"Aye, Sir!" was Blake's simple reply. He stopped, opened his weapons pack and dug out a carbine, readying a magazine.
"Sir!" he yelled, getting the Lieutenant's attention. He threw him a semi-auto pistol and a couple of magazines. He did the same for Kinney.
"Give me a fucking rifle!" Sweets yelled, "not a fucking peashooter!" So Blake dug out another carbine and extra mags, handing them over to her. Their Mollies were already overloaded with what they'd salvaged, but they could still wield weapons.
"Sergeant! Take point!" Jennings shouted. "Sweets! Cover him! Kinney! Flank left! I'm flanking right! Let's see what we've got!"
He signaled his team to move out, all at the ready. It was another thirty meters of slow, sloshy, uphill crawl before Blake held up his fist in the universal "halt!" signal.
"It's a rocky ridgeline, Sir!" he called over to the LT. "Maybe a crevice!"
"Advance on it with caution, Sergeant!" Jennings called back.
Blake did so, watching carefully for any indigenous threats. It was, in fact, a rock wall maybe 5 or 6 meters high with a crevice in it. Blake thumbed on his weaponlight and moved forward. Slowly, carefully, he eased into the crack. Moments later, he called out, "C'mon in!"
The rest of the team eased forward, squeezing into the crevice, the Lieutenant first, then Kinney, with Sweets bringing up the rear.
In the light of Blake's torch, they could see they were in a small cave, maybe three meters high by four meters wide and ten to fifteen meters deep. More importantly, it was dry and the sound of the incessant rain was muted.
"Thank the fucking Powers," the Lieutenant muttered. "Sarge!" he barked, his voice sounding ridiculously loud in the relative quiet. "Check out the back of the cave. Sweets... guard the entrance. Kinney... see what we can do about fire and food."
Blake and Sweets did as ordered after dumping their salvage packs in front of the corporal. Kinney started going through them.
The Corporal was still sorting through equipment when Blake returned to report.
"Dead end, Lieutenant," he told him. "A little twisty, but pretty much a blank wall, no crevices or drafts. Nothin' bigger than fungus comin' in that way."
"Okay, Sergeant, relieve Sweets and send her back here."
Blake moved off to do as ordered and Kinney held up the collapsible flash-cooker and several charges.
"We've got about three dozen charges for the 'cooker, Sir," he reported. "And a couple dozen or so Heatpax. One of those would heat this cave for a good while, except that it'd all go right out that crevice. In this humidity, I don't think we're going to find anything to burn, even if we brought it in here to dry out."
"Block the entrance with the inflatable, then pop one of those Heatpax. If we don't warm up, we're going to die from hypothermia or pneumonia or some shit," Jennings decided. "Sweets, what have you got in the way of prophylactics?"
"Standard medkit, Sir," she answered. "Antibiotics, antiviral inoculations, antihistamines, decongestants, pain killers and condoms. And as soon as it's warm enough, we should get out of these wet clothes, Sir."
Jennings eyed his medic and tried very hard to get his thoughts off the lust and on to business. The
pop!
and
hissss...
of the inflatable drew his attention to the door where Blake and Kinney were wedging the expanding raft into the crevice. He noted they were leaving small vent spaces on the sides. The cave, though, got noticeably quieter and darker.
Good enough,
he thought as he dropped his gear in a pile.
Air, water, heat, food... getting dry is next, then thinking about getting some rest.
Two days of slogging through the fungus forest, with only brief rests under the larger overhanging Shrooms, made for one bone-weary team. They needed the break and the Universe, for once, provided.
"Kinney... get us some hot food and potable water. Sweets, pop a Heatpax. Blake, find a place to wedge your torch for general illumination. We're going to need to conserve batteries, unless by some miracle we've got any of those spring-driven torches."
"Sir, there are six spring-lights in the gear," Kinney told him as he rummaged for the collapsible water jug and collection unit.
"Then get two of those out, Sergeant, place 'em and douse yours," Jennings decided. His team went about their business and soon they were standing in a dimly lit, warm cave waiting for reconstituted food to finish heating.
"Excuse me, Sir..." Sweets addressed the Lieutenant. "But,
fuck this!
" She started pulling off her boots, socks and jumpsuit, wringing the water out of them and spreading them out to dry. It was obvious she wasn't wearing anything else. The only reason the men hesitated in following her lead was the sight of the now naked, busty, sexy woman bent over, digging one of the super-thin, superabsorbent towels out of her pack and starting to pat herself dry with it. They were, in essence, staring. Sweets looked over at them and realized the problem.
"You guys need to get outta those wet clothes," she told them. "You try anything funny with me and I'll bust your balls. Or break your neck. Whatever. I don't know if I have enough meds to treat three cases of whatever the fuck you're gonna come down with."
