A cool breeze tickled his cheek. Eyes wide, he sensed escape. A chance to be free of the cave network completely. That spurred him on but he had to remove the backpack. Slipping it off, he pulled himself through, letting out a scream as the walls tore at his skin through his pants. Once he felt himself break free, he turned to grab his belongings.
Somewhere along the way, he lost his gun. It’s useless anyway. He tried to assure himself. Lysa still has her pistol. Dragging the pack through, he continued up the way until dim light from outside filled the tunnel with a dull glow. The dark sky loomed from a cave above him. We made it! Holy shit!
“I’m out!” Lysa called after him. Her voice sounded dead in the cave, absorbed by the porous rock. “Come on, Kyle! Move!”
“I’m working on it!” Kyle got close enough to see her hand poking through. He gave her the bag rather than using it for himself. She pulled it away, allowing him to focus solely on getting out himself. He drew a deep breath of fresh air before slumping on his side, legs still inside the tunnel.
Lysa dragged him the rest of the way out. “It could still collapse. The last thing we want is for your foot to be caught.”
“Christ…” Kyle closed his eyes. “I… I’m sorry, back there. I lost it. Panicked. The situation, the rocks, the dark… I… when you said you were stuck, I…”
“It’s okay.” Lysa took his hand. “Really. We’re fine. We made it. Everything’s fine.”
“At least… at least we won’t be crushed to death.” Kyle tried to sit up. His muscles wouldn’t respond. “God, where are we? How far away from the site?”
“Far.” Lysa showed him her tablet. They were five miles from their campsite. Local time showed there’d be six hours until dawn. “Notice anything scary about these readings? The topography of the map?”
“I don’t… know?” Kyle peered at it. “What am I looking at?”
“The site’s been buried,” Lysa said. “Our camp’s gone too. Everything. Our supplies, the computers, the ship… we lost it all.” She patted the pack. “Hopefully this cube is something or we will be seriously screwed. In ways I cannot even fathom.”
“We’re alive.” Kyle closed his eyes. “All that matters right now is we survived. The rest… we’ll worry about later.”
“Like the fact we’re still being pursued?”
“Not by the soldiers,” Kyle pointed out. “They died for sure, but yes. We’re not out of this yet. Though I think we’ve got a minute to breathe. We need to use it resting.” He gestured to the pack. “Break out the water and rations. We’ll need our strength for the hours to come. Especially when our pursuers regroup.”
Chapter 12
Titus didn’t like having to rush off on a mission so soon. Around the seven week mark, the preparations felt like they were taking forever. When the distress call came in, he wanted another two months. Half a year. Anything to prove out the systems better, to ensure his people had the best understanding of their equipment possible.
But intelligence didn’t agree. They wanted proof of concept. High command agreed. It was the first time the two groups found common ground since they’d met the Prytins. Titus figured they were desperate for a way to spin the introduction of aliens to the rest of the human race.
Analysts worried about the colonies losing their minds with worry about threats from beyond the borders. Part of the plan involved assurance they could be protected. That meant updating more ships. Much as the engineers had a blast updating the Triton, they wanted a field test before fully committing the fleet.
This was a sentiment the military leaders fully endorsed. Admiral Maxwell Porter became Titus’s new direct commanding officer. He visited the Triton early on in the process, then came back for the quiet, unassuming promotion ceremony. Besides those two visits, he’d been hands off.
When they got the distress call, he made it clear how important the trip was to not only the military but humanity itself.
“Even if you don’t find anything out there,” Porter said, “you’ll show everyone at home what your ship can do. Your crew will have an opportunity to prove out technology we’ve never even seen before.”
“I appreciate your confidence,” Titus replied. “I’m sure we won’t let you down.”
“You’ve always shown more flexibility than Captain Barrington. He tried to spin it as reckless, but I knew the difference. Your promotion came because you earned it more than as a battlefield boost. Don’t think you were lucky or that you’ve stepped over a body to get here. In all frankness, you’re the perfect person for the job.”
That conversation had continued to resources and personnel but the praise stuck with Titus. He hadn’t received much feedback from the admiral up to that point. The man must’ve been somewhat happy. Every request had been approved. After putting in a request to have Rhys reassigned, it went through without a hitch.
I need to learn how that guy works.
They’d been at warp for just over two and a half hours. All reports showed the Triton handled the trip well. No shorts, no problems with Engineering. Chief Huxley considered the test a success though he had serious reservations about going so far their first time out. Their initial trip was supposed to take a half hour.
Titus leaned to Rhys. “How’s it going?”
“Violet helped a lot,” Rhys replied. “You were right. The interface hasn’t changed but it’s way faster. Actually, just about every system on the ship can be described that way. I’m fairly confident in most of it.
