Chapter 14

"There's a tree that goes over the river," Gino said.

They looked at where he was pointing. It wasn't the tallest tree around them, and a couple of branches were stretching across the gap like arms linking together.

"That's pretty tall," Addison said. "Wouldn't it just be easier going across the water?"

"We don't know how many alligators are in the water," Mark said. "We can't risk it. If one of those even grabs and arm or leg, we're for sure dead. They roll and drown their prey. Good call, Gino. We're going up. Blaez, stay."

The tree wasn't hard to climb up. The branches were thick enough to hold a person's weight, and there was a lot of them. Mark was glad no one was afraid of heights. He had climbed trees before in simulations. They weren't so bad. This felt about the same way except for the smells. The bark smelled like pine, and the leaves looked like flat needles.

"This is going pretty high, guys," Austin said. "Are we sure it's safe to cross?"

"Well, the higher you go, the weaker the branches get," Addison said, "and we're nowhere near the top, so I think we'll be okay."

"Just don't grab any branches that have brown needles," Mark said. "Those are brittle and break easy. Watch."

He grabbed one and pulled on it. It broke where he had grabbed it. It didn't fall and only caught on a healthy limb.

"Good to know," he said. "Speaking of break, couldn't we have just cut some trees down and made a bridge?"

"Maybe," Mark said, "but we don't have the tools."

"You have Wolfbane," Addison said.

"It's a sword, not an axe," he said. "It would have taken all day to cut down enough trees to make a bridge with."

Mark reached the top of the tree. He bounced on the branches wrapping around like a vine braiding the truck of a tree. The branches formed a thin bridge with the tops of the trees on the other side. The bouncing shook the tree, and Austin hugged the trunk like a child would hold a teddy bear. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Oh, ooh," he whined. "I hate this. I really hate this."

"It looks safe to cross," Mark said.

Austin heard a loud buzz and opened his eyes. A large beetle the size of his fist landed on the same trunk he was holding. It was a shiny black with what looked like a rhino's horn. He smirked a little bit. The pictures he saw didn't do it justice. It was pretty cool to see one.

It opened its shell and buzzed its wings, making Austin shout and lose his grip. He teetered over the branch and started falling.

"Austin!" Mark shouted.

He grabbed a branch with his hand and looked down at the ground. He was able to grab with his other hand and pull himself up. He hugged the trunk again, tighter this time.

"I should have just swum across," he said.

"Baby," Addison muttered and continued climbing.

They made it to the top. Mark was already on the other side.

"It'll hold," he said. "Crawl on your knees. It makes it easier to balance."

Gino went first. He looked down at the river and gulped. Hitting the water wouldn't kill them, but the alligators would. He moved along slowly, taking each movement with careful consideration. They stayed about ten feet apart. The branches were sturdy and held them without bowing or snapping. Austin looked at the alligators gathering on the shore below.

"You know what I wonder tastes good? Alligator meat."

"Don't talk about food," Addison said. "I'm starving."

"Think about it," he said. "It lives on water and on land. Would it taste like seafood or beef? Or both?"

"Ugh, I would put it in a stew with some carrots and some Cajun spice," she said. "I read that recipe somewhere. It would be so much better than the food they had in lockup."

"What kind of food do they serve in there?" Mark asked.

"We called it slop," she said. "It wasn't bad. It was all we were fed every day. Just thinking about makes me want to puke."

They crossed to the other side. Austin watched them go down. Addison caught his eye.

"I thought you weren't afraid of heights," she said.

"It's not going up that I'm afraid of," he said.

"Hey, at least you'll survive if you fall closer to the bottom," she said.

She continued her descent.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said.

They made it to the bottom safely. The alligators paid them no mind. They were too lazy sitting in the sun.

"Well, that was fun," Austin said.

"Look," Addison said. "There's a break in the trees."

Snapped trees could be seen from a short distance away.

"The ship could have bounced," Mark said. "It might be farther than that."

"What are we waiting for?" she insisted. "Let's find out."

On a closer examination, they found it was not where the supplies were. They did, however, find something interesting.

"Is that what I think it is?" Austin asked.

They used to have it on the colony, and lots of it. Ears of it were growing, glowing bright yellow in the sunlight. It wasn't on stalks like before. Rather, they were on vines, climbing trees to the top.

"It's corn," Addison said. "So much corn."

"Food," Gino said.

Ignoring danger, Austin jumped down and pulled one off. Addison touched it, the surface smooth and bumpy. Austin took a big bite and started chewing. He immediately spit it out.

"Gross!" He acknowledged.

She took a bite and spit it away.

"That's so bitter," she said dryly. "Oh, my god."

Mark laughed. He already knew what it was and didn't say anything just in case he was wrong.

"What are you laughing for?"

"That's field corn," he said.

"Why does it taste awful?" Austin asked.

"There's two different kinds that used to grow on the colony. The kind of corn you eat is sweet corn. The kernels are like small bubbles. Field corn has dents in it. They're used for livestock and making ethanol."

"Why did you tell us before we ate it?" Addison accused.

He shrugged. "I thought maybe I was wrong. Now I know I wasn't. Come on, it was a little funny."

"Not funny at all," she said. "I want some food. I feel cheated."

"There's another patch of sun," Mark said. "It might be over there."

"I feel like I just ate gasoline," Austin said. "I'm never eating corn again."

~~~

Sara's heart raced. It had been a while since she exposed herself to Zero-G. She remembered what her father said about the dangers of floating in space. The one rule that she had to follow was never cut your tether. Chances were you would float away before anyone knew you were gone. Oxygen deprivation, followed by asphyxiation, was a painful way to go. All alone in darkness with no one to talk to. That happened to a friend of his, and he made it clear that she should avoid similar circumstances.

She put on the space suit over her uniform. She wasn't going to be afraid. There were worse things to be scared of and worse ways to die. She locked her comm in the suit, activating the one attached on the outside. The officers helped them put the suit on, making sure that there were no air leaks and tanks were full.

"Nervous?" The woman asked her.

"No," she said quickly.

"You should be. There's a lot of debris outside. Collisions are your biggest worry. You can control the motor on your tether with your comm. If you're in any danger, activate the emergency throttle. It'll pull you back quick enough to get you out of the way."

"Okay..."

She wasn't feeling so confident about this drive-by that the captain had planned. She felt a large hand on her shoulder and looked up at Tim's emerald-green eyes. His smile was soft.

"Everything will be alright," he said. "If anything happens, I'll keep you taken care of."

"Thanks, Tim," she said.

"Are you confident in your team's capabilities, officer Whitfield?" She asked.

Sara looked at the group of four. She had asked Tim only because she didn't know anyone else, and his strength was probably unmatched. A woman who used to work in space with space scrubbers volunteered, and two other men who were limber and could maneuver in space easier were her last two picks.

"Yes," she said. "We're ready."

The officer left the airlock. The captain was on the bridge watching them in case something was coming toward them that they couldn't see. The door shut. Tim looked down at Sara.

"If I'm completely honest, I'm a little scared," he said. "But that fear will help keep me alive. It's okay to be scared. Just don't let it get you killed, laddie."

Tim's thick Scottish accent helped calm her a little. She wouldn't have asked him to help her if she didn't trust him. The air was vacuumed out of the room. Gravity seemed to disappear. She felt herself start floating. The tethers in the wall kept them from floating without control. The door opened, and the rod in the wall holding the tethers extended out into the debris field. She was second to the front with Tim and the others lined up behind hers. One of the guys led them. She turned on the motor, and it started pulling her along the tether rod.

She couldn't hold her breath. Hyperventilation was dangerous. Should anything happen, she needed as much air as she could keep. Each suit had about two hours of air in the small canister on the back. They had on backpacks to stuff full of goods. She looked behind her and watched Tim motion his motor forward. She looked at the expanse of destruction. When Pluto exploded, it wasn't as big of a blast as they had thought. Because it was a dwarf planet, everything in and around it would have blasted off into space. Maybe there was more to learn about the encounter.

She looked at the floating body of a woman. Her face was unrecognizable. Her eyes were gone, and her face was swollen in. It reminded her of a dried apple. She almost gagged.

"Keep going, Sara," Tim said. "Almost there."

The rod attached to the ship we were moving toward. She urged her tether to move faster, but it was at max speed. She slowed down when they reached the other side.

"We tried to communicate with the ship, but there was no response," Sara said. "We need to check for the crew before taking food."

"The tether doesn't go that far," the woman said.

"Exactly. The main reason why I'm here is because I'm the only one that can travel without a tether. I can get to the other side of the ship and get inside. There's a failsafe release valve on the that opens the storage compartment to the outside."

"Be careful," Tim warned.

"It's okay to be a little afraid," Sara said.

She took a deep breath. She hit the release switch, and the tether floated out. She grabbed the bar and pulled herself along to the ship. She grabbed a rung and pulled herself to the top. She kept looking around, watching for debris to come flying at her.

"Watch my six," she said. "I'm about to enter the ship."

She opened a panel and pulled the manual override for the ship's airlock. The doors hissed open. No one came flying out, so she made her way inside. The doors locked, but no air flushed inside.

"There's no Oxygen in the ship," she said. "Possible breach."

"Careful, Whitfield," Mansell said.

The other set of doors opened. She looked up and down the hallway but saw no one. She walked to where the passengers would be and stopped at the door.

"I... found the breach," she said.

The whole roof was ripped away. Bodies still strapped in seats dangled like string puppets caught in a draft. She swallowed the taste of vomit and grabbed a seat. She pulled herself to the side opposite of the maintenance shaft. There was still power in the ship, so all she had to do was hit the button on the wall to lower the stairs. They went down without trouble. She went down them and saw the containers of food.

"Cargo is intact," she said.

"Thank god," Tim said.

"The crates are definitely too big to carry," she said. "Opening external shaft."

She pulled the lever with the giant *WARNING* label. The wall opened, and she could see the others waiting. She opened her bag and stuffed it with canned food. Tim opened a box and pulled out a can of beans.

"Well, it's not beer, but at least I enjoy them," he said.

She grinned. The food would buy them a few more days. Water went through fine-grain and UV filters, so it would last for a little longer.

"Sara, picking up a large object closing in on your position," Mansell said. "Impact in twenty-three seconds."

She zipped up her bag and followed the others to the outside of the ship. They reattached their tethers. One of the guys was having trouble with his.

"Ten seconds," he said. "You need to hit that button, Whitfield!"

She grunted and jerked the tether in his hand, fixing it in place. She tried to grab her line, but it had floated out too far. Damn it. She was supposed to wrap it around something so she could she could reach it.

"Five seconds!" Mansell shouted.

Tim grabbed Sara and hugged her.

"Hit it!" He shouted.

She pressed the button. They jerked at the sudden force, but Tim held her tightly. They were pulled along the rod. Sara could see the large piece of metal spinning toward them. Her eyes widened when she saw it was a piece of the wall inside the colony. Wires of different colors whipped like snakes in the amazon. They were actually sending sparks. Where was the power coming from?

Tim saw it, too.

"Shit," he said. "Hold on tight!"

He hit a button on his comm. The tether got short enough for him to kick off the rod. He hit his comm again, and the tether gave slack. At the speed they were going, it was enough force to push them farther than the tether was pulling them. The guy behind them screamed before he and the rod was hit by the debris. They bounced on the remaining piece of the rod. Sara couldn't help but scream. Tim didn't let go.

"Whitfield!" Mansell shouted.

They smacked into the side of the ship. It didn't damage their suits, but even Sara's brain rattled. She opened her eyes and looked at Tim.

"You... saved me."

Through the heavy breathing, he tried to smile.

"We lost one," the woman said.

"We should probably take a break," Sara said.

"I agree. Everyone rest for a minute," Mansell said. "We'll try again in a few. Whitfield, the bridge. Now."

~~~

"We found it," Addison said. "It was closer than we thought."

Amidst the fallen trees, the cargo was seen scattered on the ground. Mark was relieved to see most of it accounted for.

"Thank god," Austin said. "We have food."

"Dehydrated food," Mark said. "With some water, we could make the food last for weeks."

"There's water on the ship," Gino said. "The whole tank is there."

"This is amazing," Addison said. "We have a chance."

"Fill your bags with as much as you can carry," Mark said. "Meat, vegetables, fruit, protein bars."

They broke open the dented containers and filled their bags. Just looking at the food made Mark's stomach growl, but it wasn't the only thing he was looking for.

"Medicine," he said. "Where's the medicine?"

"I... don't see it," Austin said.

"It's probably somewhere we can't see it," Addison said. "Look around."

They scattered around the fallen trees. The crate with the medical supplies had a big, red cross on it. Mark wasn't seeing it. He was starting to panic.

"Found it!" Addison said.

He looked over at her. She was on the ground. It looked like she had fallen. She had her head up but didn't move.

"Addison, are you—"

Austin was going to ask if she was alright, but he stopped and moved like he was being attacked by a swarm of bees.

"Snake!" He screamed.

"Quiet!" Gino said. "Addison, move slowly and quietly."

The red serpent's head was the same size as hers. Its yellow eyes bore into hers, daring her to blink. She moved as slow as she could. It hissed, and she jumped back. Mark grabbed her arm and helped her up. She kept her eyes on the snake. It hissed again and wrapped around the red crate.

"It's guarding the supplies," Gino said.

Mark could kill it, but he didn't want to risk damaging the crate itself. If any of it survived the fall, it definitely wouldn't survive a blade as sharp as Wolfbane.

"I have an idea," Gino added. "Stay here and watch it."

He ran off into the woods.

"Gino!" Addison said. "This isn't the time for a hike!"

"Do we need it that badly?" Austin asked.

"Without that medicine, James's father will die," Mark said. "He just lost his mom. He can't lose him, too."

"We don't know who made it," Addison said. "She could have survived."

"For all we know, we're the only ones left," Mark pointed out. "I'm not the most qualified to lead right now."

"Wasn't this supposed to be part of your training or something?"

"Yes, but... as far as I know, we were supposed to land somewhere in a city. That's why the TransArk was built like it was. It was equipped to be hooked into the power grid, not crash land in the jungle!"

"Don't you yell at me, Mr. Captain or whatever you are," Addison said. "It's not my fault we're in this mess."

Before Mark could say more, Gino came back, holding the corn with his shirt.

"How is that supposed to help us?" Addison questioned.

"Fire," he said. "We need fire."

"Everything is wet," Austin said. "There's nothing to burn."

He held up an ear of corn. The tuft of hair at the top was browning.

"Snakes hate fire," he said.

"Great," Addison said. "How do we make fire?"

He pointed to Mark.

"Sword," he said.

"Wolfbane? It can't start fires. That's not how it works."

"It's made of energy, right?" Austin asked. "It doesn't make heat?"

Mark was stumped. He didn't think of that. He summoned Wolfbane. Gino took a corn and held the tuft over the blade. Mark focused. He wasn't used to increasing the energy, so conjuring it took some major concentration. The blade started glowing blue. A small patch of smoke rose from the corn.

"It's working?" Addison couldn't believe.

The hair caught. It started as a small yellow flame, but it got bigger.

"I think that's enough, Mark," she said.

"I'm not doing it," he said. "It's going on its own."

It sizzled and popped. They jumped back.

"Get rid of it!" Mark screamed.

Gino threw it at the snake. It hissed when it hit its body. All of a sudden, there was a loud *pop*. Guts from the snake flew everywhere. They shielded their faces. Mark looked and saw the head loll over, mouth wide open. It writhed on the ground.

"Well, that works," Addison said.

Mark walked to the crate and kicked the snake away. He opened the top and felt like he could breathe. He unwrapped the medicine and looked at the vials.

"They're still intact," he said.

He grabbed the painkillers, antibiotics, and gauze out of the crate.

"That's everything Judy needs," he said. "Let's get back before it's dark."

Now that they had the medicine, he wanted to get back as soon as possible. He was running out of time.

"The sun is going down," Austin said. "It's going to be hard to get back when it gets dark."

"Then we better get moving," Mark said.

They made it back to the river. The alligators were gone, possibly into the water. With their packs heavy, it was more difficult to climb than before. A piece of corn fell out of Gino's pocket and hit Addison on the head.

"Ow!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry."

"That was a pretty cool idea with the corn," she said. "I don't think anyone was expecting it to explode."

"It's a food grenade," Austin said. "Very cool."

Gino smiled. He felt accomplished. They made him feel more normal than his family ever did.

He made it to the top and started crossing. Mark had just reached the top when Addison said something.

"What is that?" Addison asked.

He looked down and saw it. Small glowing lights were rising up through the trees. She laughed, her eyes reflecting the balls of light. He watched as a small swarm rose and circled around Gino.

"Are those fireflies?" Austin said in disbelief.

Gino laughed. They wrapped around him, hovering around his pockets. He took out some corn. A few landed on the corn.

"They're eating it!" He said.

Mark smiled. He had never seen someone so happy. Gino turned the corn from side to side, trying to get a better look. Most of the bugs, disturbed from the motion, flew off. One remained. He had never touched an insect before. This was probably the first time anyone had seen one alive for the past millennia. He was going to be the first. The bug was about to fly off; he didn't want it to go just yet. He put his hand over it.

That's when everything exploded.