Chapter 7
“Understanding that would let us understand more about the parasite,” Orlean said. “I mean, looking at it logically.”
“Da’ boy’s right,” Dublin said, scrubbing the gruff stubs of hair on his face. He remembered shaving yesterday morning. “Jus’ got to have some purpose for the security,” Dublin said.
“Security?” Helena asked.
“Aye, whatever built that underground facility didn’t want just anyone to access it, so that means there’s something inside, right?”
“Has to be,” Athen agreed.
“So, Austin is right. There is something inside worth protecting.” Dmitry added.
“Without doubt,” Orlean said, excusing himself to go retrieve his prosthetic arm.
“Be honest, who needs to go back to sleep?” Dmitry asked.
“Like any of us can sleep now,” Athen huffed. Dublin chuckled.
“Tis’ so, we all pretty awake.”
“Carolina is up!” Orlean said, popping his head out. Austin flew past Helena almost pushing her over.
“Daddy?” Carolina said. Her eyes were still closed.
“I’m here, honey, I’m right here,” he assured her.
“I’m scared daddy,” she said. It was such a relief to hear her talking.
“There’s nothing to be scared of, everything’s going to be okay,” Austin told her. He hoped it wasn’t a lie. There were only two weeks left before the return trip home, assuming that was still true. Then he wondered, with all of this, would Dmitry find a way to delay their return? No one back home still had any idea about their discovery. Austin took a long breath, he had a hard time smiling when Carolina looked at him. Worry riddled him, worry about the unknown. He had promised Dmitry he wouldn’t go and try to contact command by himself, but that was before Carolina was attacked. Austin felt her forehead. “Are you feeling better?”
“A little,” she said.
“Good,” he answered, fetching some water for both of them. He took a sip and let her try to sit up. She took the cup carefully with another soft smile. Austin sat there, studying her, thinking about what to do. It was important to give the team what they wanted, a chance to take advantage of this discovery. But he couldn’t let anything delay their return trip home. He needed a way to pressure Dmitry, to keep him honest. A way to keep all of them honest, Austin knew what greed could do. He shut his eyes and gathered the resolve he needed to buy his insurance. If the people at command at least knew something, that would be enough. “Wait here, honey,” Austin said, handing Carolina the cup of water. Keeping his ear on the conversation outside, Austin walked down the hallway to the com equipment inside the lab. He sat down in front of the computer and prepared to send a quick message before anyone came to check on him. He hoped this was a good idea.
FROM PAPHOS CREW: BE ADVISED, WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED A FOREIGN ELEMENT. STAND BY FOR MORE.
He just wanted something small, something simple, so that it didn’t sound like an accusation. He didn’t want to implicate any disobedience by his fellow crew, not until they were all safely home. Austin sent the message.
Outpost operators would transfer the message back to Earth, wondering what the Paphos crew meant by ‘foreign element’. The implications would start rumors, all of which were controllable, and encourage the company to follow up on any claim Dmitry might make for needing a delay. So at least, if all else failed, there was someone back home who knew something. The dye was cast, as they say.
He stood, and with his back to the com equipment he prepared himself for his crew’s response when they all found out. But it was okay, because now they had to be on their best behavior, and now Carolina was ensured a safe trip home. Then a bleep from behind turned him back around.
Error: unable to send
“What?” Austin asked. He sat down, typing on the screen again. The computer thought for a moment.
Error: unable to send
“Come on, stupid thing,” he said to the computer. Austin ran a troubleshooting diagnostic, it reported a cable problem. Austin reached behind the com equipment to feel for loose cables or wires. Something poked his finger. “Ouch!” Austin yanked his hand back and instantly nursed it, a dot of red blood formed on the end of his pointer finger. He poked his head around the unit and stopped. Several wires were torn. They were frayed and uncut as if something just ripped them apart. Austin felt his face go pale. He stared at the wires, feeling the seriousness of the situation weigh down on him. All at once he was stranded and vulnerable. How would he send the message? How would they even be able to connect to the Orbiter? Austin bit down hard. He could not imagine something like this being an accident. Austin slapped the radio unit and stormed out of the com room.
“How could you do it?!” Austin shouted.
“Excuse me?” Dmitry asked, wide eyed.
“You bastard!”
“Start making sense, Austin, before I cite you for insubordination.”
“I saw what you did to the radio!”
“And what’s that?” Dublin asked.
“Is something wrong with the radio?” Orlean added.
“No, nothing is wrong with the radio. Austin, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what I’m talking about!”
“Athen, go check the com equipment,” Dmitry ordered.
“Why were you in the com room?” Orlean asked. Austin didn’t answer.
“Yes, Austin, tell us… Why were you in the com room?” Dmitry repeated.
Austin glared, pursing his lips.
“Even if something is wrong with the radio, there’s nothing Dublin and Athen can’t fix,” Dmitry said. “And you should be careful with your accusations.”
Austin stopped talking but he could do little to change the look on his face.
“Aye well, this is exciting,” Dublin said. Helena seemed utterly lost, like she was naked at school. Athen was right behind Dublin.
“Austin is right, the radio is down, all the wires are split,” Athen said.
“Who was the last one in the com room?” Orlean asked.
“I sent my weekly report two days ago, before the discovery,” Dmitry said.
“I was in there yesterday,” Orlean said.
“I saw someone… ” Helena said, almost too soft to be heard. Everyone looked at her. Helena looked like she wished she didn’t say anything, huddled in her own skin. “I saw Carolina come out of there when we swapped shifts…”
“Oh come on!” Austin cried.
Dmitry raised his hand. “Think Austin. Why on earth would I sabotage the radio? I have nothing to hide from command,” Dmitry said.
Austin opened his mouth but only silence followed. As much as he hated to admit it he may have just made a mistake. And worse, Helena said Carolina was the last one in there. “I’m sorry, I just thought…” he stumbled. Could Carolina have done this? Or maybe not her, but could that thing have done it?
“An’ we better get to fixing that radio, come on Athen, grab my tools,” Dublin said. He and Athen ducked into the quadrohuts. Orlean paced while Dmitry stared at Austin.
“Well, let’s see what Carolina has to say,” Dmitry said.
“She needs her rest,” Austin said stepping in front of the doorway. Orlean pretended to observe the ground.
Dmitry smiled. “Of course she does… I meant when she is ready,” Dmitry said. The three of them stared at each other in silence. “Why don’t you check on her?” Dmitry said.
Austin excused himself. How quickly things had changed for Austin. One moment he was ready to bust open Dmitry’s lip, and the next he was trying to defend his little girl. Dmitry was clever, far too clever he realized. And Dmitry was quick witted, always in control and blameless. He probably did sabotage the radio, knowing he could pin it on anyone in the group. Then again, Carolina was the last one in the com ro
om.
Austin found Carolina inside sleeping again and rubbed his face as he often did when stress had the better of him… he just wasn’t thinking clearly with all of this going on. He wished they never found that alien wall. He knew he only felt this way because of Carolina being here. If she wasn’t here then he’d be different, one of the guys, a scientist excited by discovery. He wished he was as clever as Dmitry. Dmitry always had a plan.
After watching her rest, Austin walked down the hall and poked his head in the com room to see Dublin and Athen working on the radio. The message Austin composed was still glaring onscreen. He realized he had stormed off without deleting it. Dublin glanced over his shoulder. He gave Austin an undecided look.
“Dublin, we need to send that message,” Austin said. “Someone needs to know what we are dealing with. Athen almost died, the parasite is hostile… we could all be in trouble.”
Athen watched Dublin’s face as Austin pleaded, waiting to see how he would respond. Austin felt for a moment that Athen agreed with him.
“An’ I’m not the captain, Austin, neither are you.”
“Athen, what do you think?” Austin asked.
Athen looked at Dublin before answering. “It’s not our call to make,” Athen said.
Austin couldn’t stand this. “Can it at least be fixed?” Austin asked.
“An’ I’m not sure, will let you know,” Dublin said. The guy who heavily boasted his fix-it skills wouldn’t give a firm answer. Dublin would agree with Dmitry and Athen would agree with Dublin. For all Austin knew the radio was already fixed. “An’ I think I’m going to delete that message, Austin,” Dublin said. Austin left the room, his attempt had failed.
Austin returned to the mess quarters and gently picked up Carolina, escorting her carefully through the hallway. He set her down on one of the female bunks, softly letting her head rest. He covered her with a blanket. He still didn’t know what to do. He knew that one way or another the team would keep exploring. If he let the others go without him… who knows what they would find or what they would try to bring back. He had to be with them every step of the way.
He couldn’t leave Carolina alone. She was attacked once, and she was lucky. Could he bring her along, inside the building? Carolina was safest with him, whether that was here or there. In the meantime, if he could stay off of Dmitry’s radar, maybe he could sway the crew to come to their senses. Carolina stirred.
“Daddy?” she said.
“Hey, I’m here,” he answered.
She sat up, clutching her forehead. “I’m thirsty.”
Austin brought her some water, he added an energy mix of glucose and electrolytes. She drank it down and smiled through sleepy eyes.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better. I think I’m awake now,” she said.
“Do you remember anything,” Austin asked.
“No,” Carolina said. But Austin knew it was a lie. The moment he asked if she remembered something her eyes went scared. Austin reached his arm around her and held her. Carolina started to sob, quietly at first but the sobs grew. Austin soothed her, not knowing what to say. She must be so terrified. What kind of memories would she have? She was just an eleven year old girl. This was way beyond his parental skill set.
“It’s okay, honey, you don’t ever have to say anything. Everything’s okay now,” Austin said holding her. Carolina held him back, trying to be strong. Austin wanted to make this better, in any way that he could. He thought back on his experiences as a father and as a child, wondering what he could do to help Carolina right now. Austin remembered when he was a kid, and when things were the hardest, it seemed that his parents had a way of making things better with breakfast. “You hungry?”
“A little.”
“I’ve got some world famous toast I can whip up,” he said. She looked confused. Austin gulped. “And, if you want, I’ll let you drink coffee.”
“Gross.”
“No really, it’s good, you’ll like it.”
“No way,” she said.
Austin returned moments later with toast and coffee.
Carolina crossed her arms. “You call that world famous toast?” she asked, a tired eyebrow raised.
“Wait until you try it,” he said handing her some.
“It looks like cardboard.”
“That’s the secret ingredient,” he said. She laughed, short and unexpectedly, and Austin smiled inside. “And the coffee makes it go down better, like mud,” he said.
“Eww!”
Austin took the first bite and pretended to enjoy it, Carolina took a bite too, trying not to spit it out. Austin looked at her, realizing that this was the most fun they’d had all summer. They both needed this moment, simple and relaxed, enjoying the world’s worst toast together. Austin wished all of their meals had been like this. It was really kind of nice.