Tundra 37 (32 page)

The air crackled above her head. Gemme opened her eyes to gray skies churning in a brewing wind. She stood on the porch of an old log cabin looking upon soft meadow stretching to the far horizon. She tried to comprehend so much vegetation and resources, wondering how humanity could have floundered all of it.

A jolt of lightning cracked the sky in half. Gemme stared, waiting for another as a deep rumbling shook her stomach. The humidity in the air covered her like a blanket, clinging to her many layers of aprons. She wiped he forehead with her sleeve. Her tightly strung knee-high boots hugged her calves, and she staggered in them before she got used to the feeling of her muscles cramped. She jumped off the porch and waded through the long-stem grass. The stems tickled her elbows.

“Miles!”

Her voice didn’t carry well over the wind. Gemme contemplated leaving the log cabin, but no other landmarks stood on the horizon, and if she left, she’d risk never finding him again. No, this time he had to come to her.

She climbed the steps back onto the porch and pulled open the wooden door. A warm fire cast a flickering light inside, inviting her in. She slipped through the door, smelling spices. A caldron brewed a thick stew with chunks of carrots and meat and she picked up the ladle and stirred. Steam rose up to the brick chimney. Hopefully, he’d smell her cooking and come home.

A loom sat in the far corner displaying a half-done purple blanket threaded with yarn. Gemme ran her hands over the fabric, wondering if she’d done this, and what it was for. Her fingers paused over the undone weave work. On her left hand, third finger, she wore a thin band of gold. A wedding band.

A horse whinnied from outside and Gemme stumbled to the door. Dark clouds had brought rain, and it pelted down, misting the horizon. A figure riding a spotted horse galloped through the meadow, cutting a line in the parted grass. She recognized the broad shoulders and the way his head tilted down just a bit. Excitement shot through her.

Yanking back on the reins, Brentwood pulled the horse up beside the porch. Gemme threw herself down the stairs. The sky opened up and rain poured, cooling her forehead. She tore off her bonnet and the water trickled down the sides of her cheeks.

He dismounted and walked toward her, and she ran to his arms and nuzzled against him.

“Isn’t this wonderful?” He spoke into her ear as he held her. “Our own little paradise.”

Gemme gazed up at him. “How many of our lifetimes have we been together?”

His face was steadfast and sure. “All of them.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

A connection that lasted past the grave, a love that lasted forever. And she had it. Gemme gazed up, watching the raindrops fall on his mouth. Her cheeks flamed with his proximity and her desire. Brentwood must have seen it, because his eyes held such longing, such intensity. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She tasted cool rain on his mouth and pushed into him, wanting more.

“Wait.” He pulled back, gasping for breath. “Not now.”

She moved her hand up his chest, feeling lean muscle. “Why? I have a warm fire going in the cabin and hot stew.”

“Sounds delicious.” He smiled and she wondered if he even thought of the soup. “But we can’t.”

Her heart tore with need. “What do you mean? There’s no one here for kilometers around. It’s just us.”

“The
Expedition
. They need us.”

A flash of bright snow and bone-chilling air seared her memory. Why would she want to go back there? “Can’t we stay just a little while?”

“No, Gemme.” Brentwood pulled away from her. “If we stay, we’ll never leave. At least I know I won’t.”

Realization flooded her system and this place no longer felt like home. “That’s what the chest wants, isn’t it?” She bit her lip. “It wants to keep us here, but why?”

“Who knows? I don’t want to stay around to find out.” Brentwood challenged the sky. “We want out.” As if in answer, another streak of lightning webbed out in all directions, spreading through the sky and vanishing in a second. This time the rumbling came much sooner.

Golden swirls spread through the sky. Gemme tugged on his arm, suddenly anxious. “The storm is getting closer. We have to go inside.”

“That’s what it wants.” He closed his eyes and held her close.

She buried her face in his chest, the winds picking up speed around them, whipping her hair. “How are we going to find our way out?”

“The chest is only so big. We’re probably still standing in the same place right now while our minds travel. It’s an illusion. It’s not real.” He put his hand on the back of her head. “Close your eyes, Gemme. Think about Tundra 37, think about your brother and the others on the
Expedition
.”

She did as he said, imagining Ferris, not as a teen studying for his math exam, but as a full-grown young man in the present. She thought of her parents, performing their jobs in a crashed ship that would never fly again. They needed her. She had to go back.

§

The atmosphere changed from hot and humid to frigid and dry. Icy air wrapped around her and she peeled open her eyes. She stood in the chest with Brentwood, solid crystal beneath their feet. They stepped out together onto the snow. Brentwood retrieved the lid and slipped it on. The cosmic swirls eddied around it, then dispersed.

“Why would the Seers want it?” Brentwood said, disgusted.

Gemme shrugged. “Maybe they want to study it, protect us from whatever it is? Maybe they don’t know what it does.”

“Or maybe they do.”

She froze, giving him a meaningful look. He spoke treason. Knowing Brentwood, for him to say such a thing would mean he had more to go on than just a hunch. She heard him out.

“When the ship crashed, the Seers were unresponsive. I went to check on them.”

Gemme gasped. “Face-to-face?”

He nodded. “Much closer than I would have liked.”

He shook his head as if trying not to remember with too much detail. “When I got to the control chamber, everything was damaged. I found one of them unconscious on the floor and plugged her back in. The first thing she asked for was her sister. I didn’t know if the ship could survive without both of them, so I frantically looked for the other one. I found her sister hanging from the ceiling, also unconscious. After pressing a respirator to her face, she woke up asking about the location of the beacon. You’d think she’d ask about the ship’s status, or the number of survivors, but no, she’d distinctly referenced the beacon. Come to think of if, her sister interrupted right after and sent me away, as if she didn’t want me to notice her sister’s slip.”

“You mean the beacon the chest gave off here on Tundra 37?”

His eyebrows rose. “I can’t think of anything else.”

Gemme flicked a glance over at the chest. “But why would such a chest be important to them?”

“Maybe they miss their former lives. I know I’d go crazy hooked up to a machine for three hundred years, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know.” Anger hardened in her stomach. “They’re supposed to put us as priority. They’re supposed to protect us.”

Brentwood nodded sadly, “I know. To lose faith in them would be to lose faith in the entire system. This is all speculation. I’m not even sure what to believe. All I know is it’s suspicious they’d crash land us on a planet that has a corresponding beacon to the orb in their chamber.”

Brentwood’s voice grew firm. “I say we take the chest back to the
Expedition
.”

“What?” She spread her arms through the air. “Are you out of your mind?”

Brentwood shrugged. “Maybe I am. But if we take it back, we’ll know just what they wanted it for. We’ll know who to trust and who’s in it for their own good.”

“What if they’re both in it for their own good?”

“Then they’ll get stuck inside.”

“But who’s going to run the ship?”

“We’ll find a way. Do you really want those twins overseeing operations if they sacrificed all those lives for their personal gain?”

Gemme sighed. “I guess not. No.”

“Then, are you with me? I could use your help.”

“I’m always with you.” Gemme stepped toward him and reached out for his hand. “Isn’t that what we’ve learned from this?”

He took her hand in his. “Only if you want to be.”

She spoke with conviction. “I do.”

Brentwood drove like he transported hazardous material as he carefully maneuvered the landrover with the chest inside back to the mining site. Every bump and turn he calculated carefully so the lid didn’t open, even a crack. They’d tied it down with rope, but who knew how much it took to hold the powers of the chest back. Even now he felt it’s beckoning like the chest tugged on a string tied to his gut. Gemme kept glancing back over her shoulder, making him even more uneasy.

“What’s wrong? Is it moving?”

She shifted in her seat as if she were uncomfortable. “No. Shivers keep crawling down my spine. It holds so many answers, maybe even answers to the mysteries of the universe, yet I know how much danger is involved. I almost lost myself in there. I almost lost you. Even now it calls to me and I have to force myself to ignore it. I don’t think my mind would be able to handle all of the truths it holds.”

“Me neither. That’s why we shouldn’t leave it alone with the Seers. We’ll make them open it with us present.”

“How are you going to do that?”

Brentwood patted his laser. “If it comes to it, then laser negotiations.”

Gemme gave him a nervous look. “Like with the mammoths.”

Regret panged in his chest and he winced. “Hopefully, this time no one will get hurt.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Brentwood thought of all the possible situations that might play out with the Seers and the chest, and wondered if he could manage running the ship without them. The systems necessary for survival were primarily the energy distribution and the air ventilation. They didn’t need to steer the ship through space any more. How hard could that be?

Probably harder than he could have guessed. He was never good at computers, and electrical wiring made as much sense to him as the chest. Brentwood realized he gripped the steering wheel too tightly, and relaxed his fingers. Maybe someone like Tech could rewire the systems. Or maybe he was wrong about the Seers, and they had the crew’s best intentions in mind.

The vehicle crested the snow mounds surrounding the valley and the mining site came into view. Tech had the drill in full force, the equipment shining like a new tool in the rays of Solaris Prime. The sight gave Brentwood a small measure of comfort. At least his first mission had been successful. No matter what happened with the Seers, they’d have more energy to survive.

Tech jumped off the mining rig and ran in their direction when they approached.

“How much should we tell him?” Brentwood took in a ponderous breath as he parked the landrover. “I don’t want the old man worrying too much.”

“Someone’s got to know in case the whole situation turns bad.” Gemme placed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“Okay, we tell him everything then.”

Gemme nodded. “I think it’s best.”

When the hatch opened, Tech stood there with an expectant look on his face. “Find anything good?”

“We found something, all right.” Brentwood jumped out, eager to stretch his legs, and Gemme followed. “But we think it’ll do more harm than good.” They explained to him what had happened, leaving out the details of their romance.

“Does it really show you the past?” Tech leaned inside to peek at the chest.

“All the way back into former lives on Old Earth.” Gemme answered. “But I’d be careful if I were you. You could get stuck reliving old memories and forget about the present. We almost did.”

“Don’t worry ’bout me.” Tech inched back from the landrover to join them. His face paled like he’d seen another mammoth horde lurking in the back of the vehicle. “Made too many mistakes. Hell, I wouldn’t go back to my past if someone paid me with all the wheat beer on the
Expedition
.”

Brentwood laughed, but he didn’t sound lighthearted. His face turned serious. “We think that’s what the Seers want.”

Tech sobered from his joke quickly and adjusted his collar as if the thought choked him. “You’re going to take it back to them?”

“That’s the only way we’ll know what they truly want and if they value the crew of the
Expedition
more than their memories of the past.”

Tech patted Brentwood on the back. “You’ve got a heavy duty, my friend.”

“Don’t worry about us.” Brentwood reassured him. “We’ll figure out this chest business. Just keep mining that hyperthium. You have the most important job out of everyone.”

“Speaking of hyperthium…” Tech pointed to two large containers beside the mining platform. He had a sparkle in his eyes. “I’ve got a shipment to take back with you.”

“Already?”

“Yessir. Tell them there’s more where that came from. A whole lot more.”

Brentwood’s chest warmed with pride. “Excellent, Tech.”

Tech waved off his accolades. “I was nervous for you all. Couldn’t eat, and you know how much I love to eat. So I figured
—
keep myself busy until they get back.”

“Looks like you did more than keep busy.” Brentwood smiled. “Job well done.”

They loaded the containers in next to the chest. Brentwood thought the added weight against the crystal would keep it from rolling around in the back. He turned to Tech. “Great job. I’ll send more workers your way when I get back.”

“I could certainly use some help. It would speed up the process. And my wife, I bet, wants me back soon.” Tech pulled on the end of his beard. “So you guys won’t stay for dinner?”

Brentwood shook his head. “I want to straighten things out and move on. Besides, the chemists on the
Expedition
could start processing the hyperthium right away, and we should bring Luna’s body back as soon as possible.”

Tech extended his hand. “It was an honor working with both of you.”

Brentwood shook it first. “You too, Tech.”