MINNIE: Where’s your pain? You good for another 30 or so mins?
He nodded and returned to whatever zone he’d been in, remaining there until they reached their new campsite.
Dark, low-hanging clouds blanketed the region, soaking the skimmers and everything on them. Minnie had to wipe the moisture from her visor every few seconds as she flew several passes over the area, scanning as far as optics allowed. John, too, helped to survey the scene from his vantage point, agreeing that the area appeared safe.
The paired skimmers descended into a flat plain, patches of snow dotting the mostly barren landscape. Here they’d find no natural protection from beast or weather, but with this came the benefit of unobscured surroundings. The area’s largest plantlife were sparse orange shrubs, each standing alone, dozens of meters from another sprout. Growing only a meter or two high, they wore their dense foliage close to a central trunk.
Stretched sideways across a skimmer pad, John observed Minnie in front of one of the bushes. “They’re perfect camouflage for evac’d crew.”
Minnie glanced behind her, noticing the shade matched her survival suit. “Just stand up real straight and be still, right?”
She resumed setting up the tent.
Late afternoon dropped a few light waves of snow, and it appeared they’d make it through the night without any more serious systems rolling in. Fearful of sending smoke with the southerly winds, each ate one of their few remaining calorie bars. With prox alerts on guard duty, the exhausted pair turned in before the last light had left the sky.
Minnie awoke with a start.
John was snoring loud beside her. She had to pee. How long had she slept? The ever-present clock on her fone revealed it’d been less than two hours. Minnie groaned. It was so cold outside. They’d both layered up their clothes before bed. She closed her eyes and played out in her head the arduous undressing process she’d have to go through just to pee. The freezing air. Why hadn’t they made survival suits with some sort of nifty flap you could easily undo, like that old-style full-body underwear? And why in perfect hell had she drunk so much water?
Because calorie bars are like eating a brick of chalk.
Exactly.
Maybe she could fall back asleep—hold the pee for morning.
Yeah, right.
Shut up, it’s possible.
John’s version of snoring was maddening. He’d go quiet for what seemed like forever, done with the straining sounds and breathing normally, but with each stretch of silence, just when she thought she could finally doze back off, he’d groan as if constipated and striving to release a gigantic crap. It’d been like this every time he’d slept—especially so with the diclomorph—but, aside from their original cave, she hadn’t been trying to sleep at the same time. Aether must’ve worn canceler plugs every night.
Uh-oh.
What uh-oh?
Nothing, just go back to sleep.
With the snoring and the pee and now you? Impossible. Just say it. Is it about Aether? Ear plugs?
I shouldn’t say. It’s too soon for you to know.
A bolt of pain shot out from her groin. Overfull. She reached down and pressed in. Waited too long. Now the idea of sitting up, of folding her body, compressing her bladder, standing up, the cold outside—it was all too much. And she couldn’t just let it go in her clothes. It wouldn’t just be a little dribble; she’d be soaked, and that was dangerous in this sub-zero environment.
And they had a little wide-mouthed bottle they’d designated for this purpose! Where was it? Buried in a bin somewhere, outside!
Another violent groan from John.
This was hell frozen over. She knew it now: hell was the stabbing pain of an adamant bladder, and the inability to resolve it.
Just go! Get up and go!
“Fine!” she blurted, and fumbled with her bag’s zipper.
She’d disturbed John but didn’t care. He sucked in a fast breath, croaked on the exhale, and fell right back into his breathing pattern. Minnie wasn’t quiet about leaving the tent. She groused and grumbled, swore at the stubborn door zipper, and crunched across a thin layer of snow to the nearest shrub. Cold wrapped her head like a vise and tightened.
Wrestling off the top of her suit with one hand, she tried to keep pressure on with the other. With gravity against her, she couldn’t hold it any more.
Come on, hurry up! Almost there!
“Shut it! I’m not just taking my time here!”
She threw the top of her suit behind her, bent over, and pulled it through her legs, out of the line of fire. Dancing from foot to foot, she unsnapped the environment shirt from the trousers, and then, in one swoop of her thumbs, dropped her suit bottom, environment trousers, base layer, and undershorts. One hand on the shrub for stability, stinging cold raking at her exposed skin, all she could focus on was the too-slow draining. The pain had yet to subside.
There you go… yes… halfway home…
Bliss replaced anguish as the last few drops cut through the rising steam. Heaven was the relief of an emptied bladder, and she’d arrived at the gates. Not even the breeze nipping at her legs and backside could lessen her joy. It actually wasn’t so cold, now that she was in it.
She pulled up her shorts as she stood—too fast—a potent head rush. A glance down at the crumple of clothes at her ankles. What a mess. Too much to deal with right now, and besides, she was a little hot anyway. The cool air felt nice on her face, neck, and bare knees. No need for all those layers right now.
She shuffled toward the tent, suit bottom bunched around her ankles, top dragging behind her as she snickered at how this would look to a passer-by.
No passers-by out here, that’s for sure.
“Right? You know Aether would die laugh—”
Ouch. Poor choice of words there, babe.
A couple meters from the swaying tent door, Minnie stopped. With a flashing biostat alert filling her fone view, Minnie stared at the tent, at the space she knew John currently filled. She could feel her pulse in her fingers and toes, chest beating.
Feels like a big one coming on, hon. Probably best to run it out.
“Dad said never try to run it out. Said lay down.”
Dad said not to think of him. Kind of messed up, really, but I’d say the advice applies here. Feel like running?
“Yes.”
So run.
“Okay.”
She tried to start, tripping on her suit, and yanked a foot from one boot, planting the socked foot in snow. And fell over. Her hand crushed the thin sheet of snow and landed on an unseen sharp sticker.
“Dammit!”
She plucked the thing from her palm and kicked violently at the suit bunch ensnaring her other ankle. The foot broke free, and she was free.
Long-sleeved environment shirt over a tank, plus undershorts and a pair of thick envirosocks. Probably underdressed for the weather, but she’d be running, generating her own heat, and wouldn’t be gone for long.
The first few strides felt good, the next few even better. Glands rewarded her for her cooperation. A fresh wave of euphoria. She knew exactly what was happening, and sped up her pace.
Of course you know. And you’re doing what you need to. You’re doing goooood.
“Now you have to tell,” Minnie said with steamy breath.
Tell what?
“Whatever it’s too soon for me to know. Tell or I’ll stop and go back.”
So demanding… very well. You were right. It’s about Aether.