Peering back, she saw that she’d reached treetop elevation, a beautiful view of the curving valley behind her. In the distance, the rocky spire that marked their hideout appeared as a rough-edged toothpick before the darkening western sky. She thought about sending John an M to check in, but didn’t want to wake him. Besides, she might’ve been mere minutes from finding Ish camped out in a nearby cave. John didn’t need to be involved with wherever that led.
She switched to therm and unholstered her MW, setting it to nonlethal.
Here we go…
She opened her visor and attacked the loose scree slope—two steps forward, one back; one step forward, two back. It felt like paddling up a waterfall. Discovering she needed both hands, she reholstered her MW.
One foot after the next! Get those knees high!
More time on the station’s legger would have been advantageous. Hell, fitness minimums should have been double the prescribed total, but she admitted it would’ve been yet another complaint she’d have sent John’s way.
Finally reaching the top of the scree, she huffed more oxygen and waited for the thumping all over her body to wane. She peered left to the floating red guide line gently arcing round a bend.
Beyond the blind curve, the guide continued briefly as a short dashed line before ending abruptly at a white circle. Therm revealed nothing through the dense rock, but upon switching to mag, Minnie held her breath for a beat, swallowed, and proceeded forward.
Dry purple lichen crunched beneath her boots as she moved along the mostly flat terrain. The sky grew darker by the minute. She wasn’t worried about her ability to see, but while Hynka weren’t strictly nocturnal, most of their prey were, so she figured it’s when they’d be most active. It would explain the massive horde that had greeted them upon landing. However, if the glowing green sphere in her optic was as perfectly intact as she thought, she may not need to worry about Hynka tonight.
As she rounded the final bend, Minnie paused and leaned out just enough for a direct view. Indeed, EV5 was not only sitting in a convenient little saucer of a depression, it appeared to be in pristine condition. Its hatch hovered above the opening as if someone had just landed and stepped out. Multicolored lights illuminated the interior and visible porthole. Its parachute had retracted upon its pilot’s command during landing, as evidenced by the closed doors at the top of the sphere—an evac step she and John forewent.
Minnie switched back to therm and surveyed the scene for lifeforms. Nothing bigger than a worm for 100m around the hillside. She held her breath and had her sensors listen for disrupts—sounds that defied the local din pattern. Nothing.
Venturing forward, Minnie stepped out and walked cautiously toward the EV, noticing halfway there that the hatch faced the wide mouth of a cave. Her optics wouldn’t have picked up anything inside it. She halted, sidestepped to the cave entrance (possibly wide enough to roll the EV into), and ran the same scans. Still no lifeforms, but mag picked up a collection of disparate metals on the ground about 20m in. Minnie activated IR and crept inside, MW held steadily before her.
Just beyond a slight curve, Minnie recognized a familiar glow: the little red LED atop a survival heater. She crouched down and activated her helmet’s floodlights. The scene gradually illuminated before her as the floods brightened. Calorie bar wrappers, an opened SSK and backpack, both raided by rodents. She brushed aside the gnawed shreds of foil on top of the SSK and found an untouched, sealed brick of eight bars. The bunnies mustn’t have smelled anything of interest. Nor did they appear interested in meds. Ish had left behind some critical items. Indicative of plans to return?
Minnie noted what she didn’t see: no MW or ammo packs, no multisensor, no tent or survival bag, no suit or helmet. Ish had taken some essentials, though without a backpack. What was she carrying it all in? Suit pockets? Maybe the EV had been supplied for two occupants like all the others.
Skimmers!
Minnie snatched up the brick of bars, medkit, and heater, and walked out of the cave. She set her booty on the ground outside the EV and stepped around to the rear. There she found the empty, zigzagging depression of a skimmer bay: former home of the vehicle Ish had apparently taken on her field trip. But right beside it, in its familiar mirrored position, Minnie beamed up at the exposed edge of the second skimmer, nestled right where it belonged, blending perfectly with the curvature of the EV.
“Well, hello, sexy,” she said, and gave the exposed edge two taps. “I’ll be back for you shortly.”
She returned to the pod’s front and peered into the open pod hatch. Apparently unconcerned with power conservation, Ish had left everything on.
Minnie felt nervous excitement tremble in her sternum as she climbed in and connected her fone to the EV’s wireless.
ALERTS: ID mismatch.
She enabled security? Wow.
Minnie grunted smugly and connected as a root level account.
ALERTS: ID disabled.
What? Bitch!
Minnie clenched her jaw, her hatred of Ish soaring to a previously uncharted realm. The system had to have been completely wiped and replaced to disable root access. And there was no way that happened down here. Minnie was at a loss. The pod could have received hundreds of new messages from the BH or elsewhere and she’d have no idea without system access.
Well, I don’t need access to steal your damned comms.
Minnie plunked down into one of the seats and bent over to access a panel. Behind the sheet, she found the laser comms unit, flipped the four mounts out of the way, and pulled the handle. The unit slid out with a satisfying shink.
She had to remove the bottom of the other seat to access the primary comms unit—about ten minutes of work—and soon found herself standing outside the pod with a cache of gear and supplies to take back to John. Thankfully, her body wouldn’t have to bear the weight all the way to their hidey hole. The real gem of her find was still parked in its bay. And she decided to strut her way back to it.
Reaching up, Minnie twisted the skimmer release knob three times counterclockwise, pressed it inward, and sighed with satisfaction as muffled machinations hummed and whirred, and the transport emerged smoothly from its home. The warning beeps were strangely soothing, grounding—the emblematic call of all the magnificent technology that defined her species. And though she hadn’t designed the thing herself, she watched with pride as the mounting arm continued outward, fully extending, while the skimmer blossomed like a smooth, white flower.
Fully deployed, the skimmer pad looked like a shiny white disk, flat on the top, and with a convex underside, like a shallow saucer. Noting she could fit her helmet in the space between the pad’s outer edge and the ground, Minnie squatted for a peek below. Like an EV, retractable stabilizer legs around the perimeter kept the unit from teetering on its rounded center.
Minnie peered up at the skimmer’s curved console, rising from one side of an otherwise wide-open platform. The power supply was fully charged, system checks had come back optimal, and a big blue “READY” shone on the screen. Minnie stood and pressed the release button on the EV. Two claws disengaged and the arm slowly retracted into the empty skimmer bay.
She stepped up onto the pad and ran her gloved fingers across the dashboard’s screens. At waist height, just beneath the screens, three extendable safety lines sat in individual chrome recesses. And below them, a row of panel walls concealed the control console’s inner workings. Above the dashboard, a short transparent windshield rose just a hand’s length higher. Probably the perfect height for Minnie, but maybe a bit low for those of “normal” stature.