Copyright 2016 (c) Objurgation
All content created by Objurgation and used fictitiously. All characters, companies and places are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or business entities, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Terra-33
Episode 0.8
"They are herding us, that much is obvious. The question is... Where?"
Trix glanced over at Ida, who was watching their pursuers in the console's view of the rear of their buggy. Remi didn't respond, but she knew his silence probably just meant that he was thinking. The cab was quiet for a time, each occupant lost in their own dark thoughts.
"I've been thinking about their attack," Remi began, chewing on the words. "The slumpers only killed one buggy, and disabled or killed one APC. They were planning all along to capture us, I think it was just a question of how much force did they need to use to do it."
Trix knew he was right, but Ida beat her to speaking it.
"You're right, Remi, we should have taken multiple direct hits long before they loosed those missiles. That mortar strike alone would have been enough, they simply led us more than they should have, on purpose."
"Well, what can we do now?" Trix finally spoke up. Both Remi and Ida turned partially, as if they had forgotten about her in the back.
"I don't think we can fight. There are five of them, even if we had the firepower, I think as soon as we started shooting, they'd take us out. Plus, they have enough speed and agility to catch us if we try to run. Our only option seems to be continuing. I just wish I knew where they were driving us."
"I don't think you do..." Trix said despondently, glancing at Ida's screen.
The view from behind was provided by one of the two directional cameras attached to the top of the technical, set into the base of the gunner's nest. They were well-protected and hadn't been damaged by the afternoon's violence. Their low-light optics were engaged and Trix watched the muted gray and green landscape roll away with them. About five kilometers behind, fully visible on the relatively flat terrain, the five alien ground ships hovered. They kept a tight formation, which shifted around the rear of the buggy whenever it altered course. Remi had tried a few times now, and each time, the two vehicles on either side would accelerate and begin maneuvering around the side until they readjusted their course. The odd thing was that they were far away from the pillars now and Trix didn't see a lot going on through the windshield ahead of them.
Their buggy was paralleling the coast, clipping along at a steady eighty km/h. They had passed some hills and small clusters of trees, but the pseudo-desert landscape hadn't changed much in hours of driving. Her biggest worry was that instead of capturing them, the aliens had some weird scheme or another that would end up being a much worse fate. She really had no idea what capture would entail, probably slow dissection or attempts to communicate, but it might be a blessing compared to whatever was looming in their future. Trix had even considered suggesting to Remi that they just go out in a blaze of glory, but her fear of her own death, and her friends' was enough to put that aside for now. If it got desperate though...
As soon as she had spotted the slumper vehicles approaching, Trix had asked Remi what his plan was. Luckily, he had one, and had ordered her out of the vehicle to inspect the damage to the front of their ride. That had been a frantic two minutes, as she scrambled up and over the nest, finding that they were simply stuck atop a large rock. The front axle and wheels were raised above the ground by the uneven terrain where they had landed. Trix shouted as much to Remi, who told her to get back inside. To her ecstatic surprise, she heard the engine turning over with a dirty-sounding cough as she mounted the small ladder leading to the cab. Later, Remi had told her that he spliced two wires that had been split by Ida's knee upon landing. He then engaged the manual-start override and was able to get the engine turned over. She hadn't been aware of this fun fact, but the buggies had fully shielded backup batteries which provided just enough power to get the engine started in an emergency. The alternator and spinning wheels took care of the rest.
In less than twenty minutes of driving, the alien vehicles had closed with them and assumed the positions which they were in now. Around that time, Ida awoke with a start, Trix's HUD reengaged and Remi stated that the main battery was now charging. No one had any idea exactly what kind of weapon had been employed against them, but it had at least partially disabled the operation of batteries and cut power instantaneously. It seemed that once they reached a certain range though, the phenomenon ceased abruptly. Ida suggested that it was some sort of dampening field, similar to chaff used to distract radar in one of the historical World Wars of Earth. She thought the missile had strewn a huge radius of some physical electronic dampening agent above the battlefield and they had simply exited its effective radius. It was as plausible an explanation as Trix could come up with, not that she had tried.
"Trix, throw in another fuel cell," Remi said over his shoulder.
She popped the hatch on the cargo bay and fished around for one of the canisters. They were bulky rectangles with lots of handles. Conveniently, her suit's servos were able to be called upon to drag the sixty-five kilogram units out of the hold and into place. Once she had ejected their auxiliary cell, she replaced the now feather-light box with her much heavier one. Remi thanked her and the quiet drive continued. Trix leaned up in the seat, glancing all around the barren landscape for any sort of sign that they were nearing whatever their destination was. Disappointed once again, she sat back to stew in fearful anticipation.
"Ida, you can remove your helmet. You know, if you want, that is."
The construct just glanced over at Remi before returning her attention to the console in front of her. Trix laughed to herself, already aware of Ida's feelings regarding maintaining proper combat readiness. Remi was too, but that didn't stop him from offering it up as an option every hundred klicks or so. She knew that he just wanted them to be as relaxed as possible, but it seemed they each achieved that in their own way. Trix's own helmet was lying on the floor between her boots, removed as soon as they realized what the situation was. Her hair had been matted to her neck and face and it had taken over an hour to get it dry and reassembled in some semblance of order.
Trix broke into the ration pack on the seat beside her, silently offering a few shrink-wrapped nutrient bars between the front seats. Ida took one, but Remi just shook his head. They hadn't been able to get out of their suits yet, even to relieve themselves. None of them wanted to stop and find out what would happen. Trix assumed the others were doing what she had been and letting the suit remove her waste along with her body's sweat. The suit would reach capacity eventually unless they were purged and Trix didn't even want to think about what would happen if she had to use her other hole. Urine was one thing, the suits got the warm dampness out quickly, but she had never been unfortunate enough to find out what happened if one was forced to defecate. She hoped that she never would. At that thought, her eyes narrowed and she set aside her half-eaten bar, planning to stave that degradation off as long as possible.
"Remi," she began slowly, "What do you think will happen if we stop?"
None of them had voiced that concern yet.
