The Scythian Crisis

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Cariad left the cabin and wandered over to the Mistral’s hold, feeling confused and resentful. She’d contemplated going after Ethan when he left but had decided against it. Better to let him cool off. She hoped that when he had time to reflect on what had happened he would realize his response was a massive overreaction. She was also mad at him for thinking she’d planned everything just to persuade him to be Leader. His insinuation had been insulting and mean.

Was something wrong with him? Had something happened to Ethan while he’d been held captive by the fila? Had the stress and deprivation affected his mind? Cariad hadn’t imagined that her idea could be so objectionable. Ethan had always been a modest, self-effacing man, yet it didn’t seem reasonable that he wouldn’t put aside his reluctance and help out when the colonists needed him.

As she walked, stronger emotions welled up inside her. Sadness pooled in her heart and stomach. Bitterness cut through her thoughts. Just when she finally thought she could regain the deep closeness to another human being that she’d lost when she left her family behind on Earth, and she might only have a few days left to live, this had to happen.

Everything had been going so well. It had all been perfect with Ethan and she’d been so happy after their weeks of separation, regardless of the doom that hung over them all. Then, when she made an obvious suggestion, Ethan had to react like a cat with a firework up its ass.

She smiled at the image, calming down a little, and noticed that a box of emergency rations was approaching her along the corridor. Two familiar legs were walking beneath it and hands gripped it on each side. They belonged to Cherry, who peeked out to see where she was going.

“Hey,” she said when she saw Cariad, “I was comming you but you didn’t answer.”

“Uh, sorry,” Cariad replied. She’d turned off her comm so as not to be disturbed while she was with Ethan. She turned it on again. “What did you want me for?”

“I was wondering if you were ready to go planetside. We thought we’d take down some more supplies.”

“Yeah, I am. If you can wait a minute I’ll grab a box too.” She went around Cherry and continued until she reached the hold.

After the Guardians had revealed their true nature, Cariad realized that she’d never seen any of them eat. Consequently it didn’t come as much of a surprise when no food stores were found aboard the Mistral except stacks of boxes of emergency rations. The Guardians’ creators had probably thought they might help the colonists if they experienced delays in making the colony self-sustaining. Cariad doubted the creators could have even imagined what had actually happened, but their forethought had indeed been life-saving. With the loss of the colony ship, the devastation of the first crops, and the annihilation of the settlement, the settlers would have quickly faced starvation without the ration bars.

It was entirely possible that eventual starvation was likely only put off, though as far as Cariad knew no one had mentioned the idea yet. Everyone was focusing on surviving until the next day.

She lifted a box down from a stack and carried it out to where Cherry was waiting.

“It’s a shame the secret to anti-grav technology was lost,” Cariad said, speaking over the top of the box in her arms. “It would have been nice if the Guardians’ creators had included a mini flitter to carry these around.”

“That’s right,” Cherry replied. “And it’s a damned shame we can’t use the big flitters at the moment either.”

“They haven’t been dug out yet?”

“Nope. They’re still buried. The flitter shed wasn’t burned in the bombardment but the tsunami collapsed it and tonnes of mud and wreckage have piled up over it. Didn’t you know?”

“No,” replied Cariad, “I’ve been busy helping with the water supply and latrines.”

“It’s more trouble to recover the flitters than it is to move everything ourselves by hand,” said Cherry. “We know exactly where they are, though. They’re still transmitting and the satellite is picking up the signals. But it might be weeks before we can spare the time and manpower to dig them out.”

“I have an idea,” Cariad said, looking at Cherry’s tired features. “Why don’t you spend a day or two here on the ship and rest up?”

“Thanks,” Cherry said, “but I’m okay.”

“Are you? You look exhausted.”

“You’re right. I am tired, but we’re all tired. Why should I get to rest? Besides, I don’t like sleeping aboard ship. Concordia’s my home, and if I’m going to take a break I’d rather do it there. Thanks for the thought.”

They’d reached the shuttle bay. One of the Mistral’s two shuttles sat with its ramp down and its hold open, awaiting the passengers who would be going planetside. Cariad resigned herself to returning before she had a chance to speak to Ethan about what had happened between them. The destroyed settlement was barely hanging on with the essential aid the Mistral was providing.

She put down her box of rations at the edge of the shuttle’s hold and slid it over to the others already inside. She estimated there was room for three or four more.

As Cherry handed her the box she was carrying, she asked, “Do you know what’s happening with Garwin?”

Cariad was leaning over as Cherry spoke, and at the mention of Garwin’s name she abruptly straightened up, hitting her head on the ceiling of the hold.

“Ow,” she exclaimed. “Damn.” She carefully backed out of the enclosed space and rubbed the back of her head. “I’d forgotten all about him. Is he still confined to a cabin?”

“As far as I know,” Cherry replied. “Unless you heard something different?”

“I haven’t heard anything about him at all.” Cariad’s eyes widened. “Do you think everyone on the ship’s forgotten about him?” She slapped her comm button. “Addleson. Has anyone been looking after Garwin?”

The pilot’s rich, modulated voice was reassuring as he replied, “Yes. Don’t worry. He’s okay. But he’s still confined. Did you have any thoughts about that?”

“Maybe we need to make a decision about him,” Cariad replied, though she was looking at Cherry too as she spoke. “Cherry and I are coming back to the bridge. Are all the others still there?”

“Aubriot’s wandered off somewhere, but Phy, Anahi, and Vasquez are here.”

“I think that’s enough people to decide what to do,” said Cariad, “don’t you? I’m not sure we’re justified in keeping him locked up any longer.”

“Okay,” Addleson said. “I’ll explain to Anahi and Vasquez. See you soon.”

Cherry said, “We’ll have to be fast. If we don’t leave soon it’ll be dark by the time we arrive, and you know how much harder that makes everything.”

Only external lighting had been restored at the settlement, and that was sparse. Inside the shelters darkness reigned from sundown to sunrise.

Cariad wondered if she should contact Ethan and invite him to the discussion about Garwin. He was somewhere around and he knew Garwin better than any of them except for Cherry. But she put aside the idea. After what had passed between her and Ethan over the last couple of hours, the awkwardness would be too great. Cherry could serve as Garwin’s character witness.

When they arrived at the bridge they found Vasquez and Anahi arguing.

“No,” Anahi said emphatically. “We can’t risk it. We’ve antagonized the aliens in this part of the galaxy enough as it is.” She was flushed with emotion.

“And I say again,” Vasquez said, leaning forward in his chair, “we can’t afford not to risk it. We have to find out what kind of threat these creatures might pose. What’s the point of trying to defend ourselves from an attack from outer space if the organisms in our own backyard are out to get us? We have to try to communicate with them.”

He was referring to the fila, Cariad realized. Vasquez seemed to be arguing in favor of establishing contact.

Addleson was sitting in his pilot’s seat, resting his forehead on the tips of his fingers. Cariad had the impression that the argument had been going on for a while and it probably wasn’t the first that had occurred while she’d been gone. It wasn’t surprising: Anahi and Vasquez had been antagonistic right from the beginning of the Nova Fortuna Project, and stressful situations brought out the worst in both of them.

“Isn’t the idea moot?” Cariad asked. “Unless we want a shuttle to take a detour to the lake and wait around, we can’t do anything about the fila whether we want to or not.”

Vasquez said, “Kes could travel out there and try to make contact with them.”

“Kes?” Cariad’s stomach muscles tensed at the mention of her ex, who remained a good friend. Vasquez’s proposal had suddenly become personal.

Cherry said, “The lake’s only reachable if someone feels like trudging through mud for kilometers and fighting off sluglimpets if they don’t manage to return before dark. Those things are back just as bad as before, by the way. They don’t seem to know how to die.”

“Then contacting the fila is out of the question for now,” said Cariad. “Anyway, we have a more urgent problem. What are we going to do about Garwin?”

“I’ve already thought about this question,” said Anahi. “I say we leave him where he is. It was never clearly established that he isn’t a Natural Movement follower like his dead wife. It’s safer to keep him confined.”

“I disagree,” said Vasquez.

Anahi rolled her eyes.

“We need the help of every able-bodied person we have in order to prepare for the aliens’ return,” said Vasquez.

“One man isn’t going to make any difference either way,” Anahi countered.

“Garwin isn’t just any man, though,” said Cherry. “He’s a our best mechanic. We could use his skills. And despite his faults, I’m sure he was never a terrorist.”

“To be fair, Cherry,” Phy piped up, “you are biased.”

“Okay, I was sleeping with him,” Cherry retorted. “That’s no big secret. So what? It wasn’t like we were in love or anything. I knew exactly what he was like. But he led us well, didn’t he? You have to admit that.”

Phy looked down, noncommittal.

“We need his expertise,” Cherry stated again. “Now more than ever.”

“So what are we going to do?” Addleson asked wearily.

“Let him out of course,” said Cherry. “He’s been locked up long enough.”

“Yes,” Vasquez said, his gaze on Anahi. “It’s time to let the man go free.”

Addleson nodded, probably because he had enough to do without also dealing with a confined mechanic. Phy pointedly folded her arms across her chest. Cariad wondered if they should ask Aubriot for his opinion. Would the bullish ex-financier agree to let Garwin out? She doubted it. The thought helped her to confirm her opinion on what to do. She deeply feared another Natural Movment terrorist attack. It would be the final blow to the colony, whether or not the attacking aliens returned. Yet she really didn’t believe that Garwin was a Natural Movement follower. He had only had the bad fortune to be married to one. “I think we should let him out too.”

“Right,” Addleson said. “That’s a majority. So who wants to do the honors?”

Cariad volunteered. She felt bad for entirely forgetting about the man’s existence for the last few days. He’d helped her in the Natural Movement investigation, confirming that her suspect, Dr. Montfort, had been in contact with Twyla, his dead terrorist wife.

She quickly left the bridge and jogged to Garwin’s cabin, mindful of Cherry’s warning that they had to hurry. When she unlocked and opened the door, Garwin was lying on his bunk watching something on an interface. At Cariad’s appearance he sat up. Compared to the healthy looking, well-muscled man of only a few weeks previously, he was barely recognizable. He looked old and thin. It was hard to believe this was the man who had led two thousand Gens to rebel against the Woken and Guardians.

“Cariad,” he said, smiling, though his smile was sad and empty. “What can I do for you? I thought the Natural Movement investigation was over. I heard you got your man in the end.”

“Yes, well, he kind of got himself, along with a friend of his. Garwin, I’m here to deliver some good news. We decided to let you out. You aren’t under suspicion any longer. You can go free.”

Garwin had been idly holding his screen as they talked. He put it down on his bunk. “I can leave my cabin?” He looked uncertain, like Cariad might be joking. As if she would joke about something like that. Why was everyone misunderstanding her lately?

“Yes,” she reiterated. “You can leave. You’re needed at the settlement. It’s a real mess down there.”

“What, now?”

“Of course now. There’s a shuttle leaving very soon. You’ll have to be quick if you want to be on it. But I can see this is a shock. Maybe I should have prepared you better. Do you want to stay on the ship for a while to get used to your freedom?”

Garwin rubbed his beard, which was noticeably grayer. “It is a shock. I’d gotten used to being in here, thinking about Twyla and everything that’s happened. I didn’t expect to be let out for a long time, if ever. But if that’s the decision... ” He smiled again, a little happier this time. “I guess I have a shuttle to catch.”

“Great. Cherry will be on it too. She’ll be glad to see you again.”

“Cherry,” Garwin said, his expression turning pensive. “It’ll be nice to see her. I hope she’s doing okay.”

“She’s fine. Mellowed a bit in fact, I’d say.”

“Mellow? My Cherry? I find that hard to believe.”

Cariad laughed inwardly at his use of my. She didn’t think Cherry saw herself as belonging to anyone, but she didn’t mention it. “Why don’t you head down to the shuttle bay and find out?”

Garwin stood up. He turned to take a final glance at the small room that had been his prison before walking over to Cariad where she stood in the doorway. She moved aside to make room for him to pass. He stepped over the threshold hesitantly.

“I’ve forgotten which way to go,” he said.

“The shuttle bay’s that way,” Cariad replied, pointing.

“Right. Are you coming too?”

“No,” Cariad replied. “I’m going to catch the next flight. I realized there’s something else I have to do.”

There was another question that required an urgent answer: should they reactivate the Guardians?