2313-35

Buck smiled sadly as Lou turned the corner and came sauntering across the yard, seeking their companionship. Knowing exactly where to find them. The air was chilly, it was early November and the evenings were getting shorter and the nights longer. Winter was fast coming their way. But Buck often found himself sitting here, on the far end of the house, under the naked branches of the birch-tree. It's now barren twigs occasionally scraping against the wall as the wind blew. The low sun making faint shadows dance in rhythm over the porch. It was a peaceful place, apart from the main entrance, shielded from sight. A place to rest and contemplate.

He elbowed Jimmy to get his attention. Jimmy looked up, spotted Lou and locked his gaze on the girl. A mixture of concern and anger crept up on his face.

"She's such a sorry sight right now," Jimmy grunted, "I should really wipe the floor with the dude."

"I thought she was the one breaking it up," Buck remarked, "but of course you take any chance you get, right?" He looked at Jimmy, wondering how close the two had gotten these past weeks, if there was something else going on? They had repeatedly sought each other's company. And avoided the rest of them.

"It's hard on them both," Buck corrected, "it's just been three weeks, they'll get over it, eventually."

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" Lou replied irritably, "of course everything is all right! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I think I'll be going," Buck excused himself as he rose to his feet, "I think I still have some work undone."

"It's all right Lou, really," Buck said and threw Jimmy a quick glance, "I'll have Ike check that thing out."

"Nope," Jimmy said, tapping the porch to have Lou sit down, "we always come too late."

"Fifteen families, 45 people in all," Jimmy grimaced, "you'd think they'd have enough for a while don't you."

"I have no idea," Jimmy admitted, "but it seems it's their only fund right now and this whole operation must be costly."

"All it takes is a call, but somebody has to take the first step. Somebody has to cave."

"As you wish," Jimmy leered at her, draping her with his free arm and pulling her close to him.

Lou sighed and leaned into his side, grateful for the warmth and comfort. Snuggling into his coat she reveled in being close to another human being once again, Jimmy had been there for her all these dreadful weeks. They hadn't said much, but it was like they shared a broken heart.

"It won't go away you know," Jimmy mumbled, "it won't go away unless you want it to."

"What are you talking about?" She raised her head and looked into his eyes. The ones smiling down at her, a small knowing smile.

Jimmy framed her face with his warm hands, looking at her. "Oh, I've let go, when will you Lou?"
Then he kissed her, fast and unexpectantly.

Lou answered the kiss, grateful for some tenderness, she answered it in kind. Jimmy was warm and tender, taking her sorrows away. He always did and she loved him for it. She embraced him, hugging him close. Then tears started rolling down her cheeks and Jimmy broke the kiss.

"It's not you Jimmy, it's me," Lou hiccupped, "I hate myself for crying, it wasn't you Jimmy!"

Lou buried her face in Jimmy's coat, drying her tears on it. Snuggling closer to him.

Buck pushed the door open and nodded to the two inside, Ike looked somewhat conscious but Cody just groaned.
"I'm relieving you Cody, cheer up, Emma has some surprise for you in the kitchen."

"Probably there waiting for me with the dishes," Cody grinned. "Ain't trusting her surprises any longer."

"She got you good last time, didn't she," Buck chuckled, remembering Cody's exuberance cut short at the pile of memoslots in the soup-bowl, all waiting to be filed.

"Well it's true now ain't it?" Buck mused and tapped the desk in front of the blond logger that seldom logged anything. "Now scoot!"

"The boredom is weighing me down," Cody shot back. "He's not a barrel of laughs," he clarified in Buck's direction. "He's been moping ever since I beat him 3 to zip in Tetris."

"Sore loser," Cody chuckled, "he owes his first born to at least three people by now."

"Emily's gonna love to have to squeeze out triplets," Buck shook his head in his friend's direction.

"Before this is over she's gonna have to come down with sislets, or whatever it's called." Cody laughed and proceeded to the door, his shoulders shaking of laughter.

Buck cleaned the table of Cody's slots and coupled his EA in. "Everything all right?"

"You're starting to sound like a book." Buck sighed and leaned back into the chair, his feet finding a comfortable position on the desk. "How long will we be at this? Nothing's happening here."

Buck sighed again and closed his eyes, listening intently for sounds of intruders in the territory's airspace.

"Noah, you think we'll ever know for sure?" Rachel asked, "will be ever get to the roots of this mess?" She was packing medicines into boxes, readying the final move of the clinic to the new location in Sweetwater.

"I'm not so sure I wanna now," Noah admitted morosely."Knowing I existed before boggles my mind. I don't wanna think about it."

"You sound like Kid," Rachel peered at him over the edge of the box she was holding in her lap. "Deep in denial."

"I swear, you don't wanna see that something's going on around here and he's blind to most things right at this instance."

"I'm not denying strange things have happened, Rach, I'm just not so sure of the reasons."

Rachel looked up at him, surprised. "You call 45 people dying of bullet holes in their skulls natural?"

"Knowing human race I put nothing past it," Noah mumbled. "I can think of a million reasons that might turn man on man. Money, beliefs, greed, rumors, ill-will, you name it."

Rachel opened her mouth but was silenced but the door that flung open with force.

"Intruders!" Buck announced, short of breath from his run up the stairs. "We got distress calls from lot A13 and D33."

"What?" Rachel stood up, throwing the box to the floor."How's that possible, they're at different ends of the territory!"

"You two get to the control room, me and Ike are getting the first ASA outta here. The second one is coming right away, call for Kid, Lou and Jimmy. Teaspoon and Cody will stay back for a while and wait for Sam and Emma, you're on medical alert."

"So you don't know what you're getting yourself into?" She asked, holding on to Buck's arm, not wanting to let go.

Kid appeared out of the tack room, fighting to get his coat on while he walked, "I heard," he replied curtly. "You and me?"

"Why thank you Kid," Lou snorted from the door. "You'll just have to survive the sight of me for a couple of hours."

"You don't understand," Kid said, his eyes on Jimmy. Disbelief and desperation evident in his expression. "Jimmy? She can't come!"

"You told Teaspoon?" Lou hollered."You too Jimmy? Well thank you so much for the vote of confidence, I'm flattered."

"I'll be in the ASA," Lou informed them before slamming the door shut in Jimmy's face.

"Me?" What the hell did I do?" Jimmy wheezed and grabbed Kid's collar, dragging him out. He didn't get far before Kid's fist contacted hard with his shoulder, sending him staggering onwards. He would have loved to give Kid one in retaliation, but now was not the time.

"I'll kill you if something happens to her Jimmy, I really will," Kid warned him in a low voice.

"You and your promises," Jimmy snapped, "not worth much are they? Not when push comes to shove." He knew he was rubbing it in, hoping Kid would give him a reason to deck him and leave him behind. But Lou hollered for them from the ASA's entrance, hurrying them along.

Amanda held her breath, watching the lines forming on the noppo. Knowing the codes for the territory perfectly she instinctively reacted as the numbers flashed on the screen. Flinching when the communication between HuRec and Team 41 appeared transcribed on the bottom of the screen. She couldn't make out what to think of this, HuRec seemed unaware of the vessels in the area. But there they were, plain as a day. Two ASA's at the outer limits of the territory's borders, one further inside, still, probably on the ground.

There was a frenetic hassle in the HuRec headquarters, orders being given to the left and right. ASA's on standby, lifting off asking for directions. The operational unit seemed to be totally lost.

Amanda's felt her mouth go dry, her muscles tense and ready to react. It didn't seem anybody else but she was seeing the tracks of the vessels. They were acting blind at the headquarters, but was it intentional?

"Genetic codes! You bastards, this is it!" She looked around for more EA's, coupling them together, calling for Ike at the Sweetwater station. Getting him online in no time.

"Turn all positives to negatives and vice versa. Now subtract one from all the former negative values." Amanda rolled her eyes at the operations, she had never been good at calculus.

Then take the third digit and divide it with the fifth, divide it with forty-five and you have the original x-value. Run the algorithm and you should be given a code for the location. The give it to me and I'll check it out."

"Ok, hang on I have two! There's a duplicate setting. First one is 0.45363456789876754565."

"Ike!" Amanda groaned but did as she was told, carefully repeating the digits 0.45363456789876754565.

"Where are we headed?" Kid asked as he flung himself down at Lou's side in the cockpit. Jimmy took the piloting seat and ordered the take off.

"Half an hour or so, maybe less. If Jimmy don't make this thing explode before that," Lou warned, glaring at the pilot taking everything out of the vessel. The march now approaching 250 mph.

"I'm just using the only thing this model has to it's advantage Lou, the speed." Jimmy said, totally concentrated on the coordinates on the panel. "This damned thing isn't even armed, " Jimmy groaned, "this is a surveillance ASA!"

They sank into silence, their eyes glued to the panel, waiting for indications on the radar. Minutes crept by and mile after mile was covered, but there was absolutely nothing on the radar. Except the blinking speck that represented the fast movements of Ike's and Buck's ASA, going in the opposite direction.

"What's that?" Lou interrupted them, pointing to the windshield. "Look! 45 degrees west at the horizon."

Both men turned and squinted their eyes. The gray clouds up ahead dimmed their view. But one of the clouds was moving a little too fast.

"Call'em!" Jimmy leaned in over the instrument board. "Call'em and ask 'em who they are."

"Yeah, " Kid muttered, "and while you're at it flip this thing so they can get us with one shot at the engines while you're at it."

"Not HuRec Jimmy, I now have their ASAs are all on the screen, this one isn't," Lou declared calmly, "this one is going in for a landing. And we're gonna follow." She glared at the men by her side, waiting for objections.

Lou typed the coordinates for the closest farm's landing platform in. Hoping to get there and warn the settlers. But they didn't seem to have their EA's on, she got no answers however much she was alerting them.

"Right into the wolves' den." Ike shook his head in disbelief, "why did we let her go off alone on this hunt?"

"Call that woman at the HuRec, tell her we have them pegged, tell them we know it all and we're gonna go public with what we know."

Ike nodded and sent a red alert to the woman leading the organization. "You warn the rest," he told Buck.

"Stay back Lou, please!" Kid grabbed her coat as she ran down the landing platform, managing to momentarily hold her back."Stay by the vessel, we need someone here."

"Stay here yourself," Lou grunted, shaking herself loose."I gotta see if there's someone in there."
She started running for the house. The wind was picking up, throwing hard cascades of icy rain over them. The house looked abandoned.

She called the inhabitants on the EA's, but nobody answered. Reaching the door she pulled hard at it, it didn't give.
Jimmy was at her side, shoving her to the side and drawing his gun. Lou jumped when the shot rang out and the lock on the door turned into a cascade of metallic splinters.

"It's okay, I'm Louse McCloud from the Sweetwater headquarters, we can take you into safety!" She screamed into the house, realizing she probably sounded like a mad women. "It's safe, I promise."

Jimmy opened the the first door to the left, another empty room. "Where the hell are they?"

"It's too late," Kid spoke from the door. "They already took off but we've got company."

"We gotta get out of here," Kid yelled, grabbing for Lou, jerking her to the door. "Now Jimmy!"

The first hail of bullets reached them as they crossed the sandy yard. Projectiles rained over them while the wind roared. Lou stumbled and fell to her knees, Kid stopping to help her. Jimmy shielding them both.

She was scared, so scared she could hardly move. Instinctively she grabbed for something to hold on to, something or someone she could rely on. Reaching Kid's pocket, it gave away as she pulled herself to her feet. For a moment she was left staring at the torn pocket, wanting to tell him she was sorry. But Jimmy backed into her, sending her stumbling forward. Then she caught a glimpse of Kid's face as he lifted his gun and shot before his left arm came out and he shoved her to stand behind him. The grimness terrified her for a moment. She looked in the direction and spotted three men running toward them. Another pack of shadows behind them. The man in front was Longley. He was still far away but she recognized him at once. Her anger drew the fear away.

"Wild West my foot," Jimmy yelled while reloading, "I'll get you yet Longley, I'll get you! You don't know who you're up against!"

Lou woke from her torpor, turning to Jimmy she grabbed the backside of his coat and pulled hard. "Com'on Jimmy!" She hollered into his ear. "We gotta get out of here!"

They reached the entrance and scrambled inside, both Jimmy and Lou hitting the sealing button at once. The door seemed to take forever to close.

"Manual Jimmy, switch to manual!" Lou hollered while fighting her way through to the cockpit. The wind was hard now, the vessel pending as it started hovering.

She never got to the cockpit, the ASA was standing on its side in a 45 degree angle, fighting to get off ground. She slid down into the passenger unit, helplessly grabbing for something to stop her descent. The ASA shook as Jimmy pushed the throttle. When it finally did take off, it sighed like in protest and slowly steadied itself. Lou smiled and looked over at Kid, her breath labored; "we made it!"

But Kid was looking out the screen, a dark shadow getting closer. Lou turned her eyes to the direction. Blinking twice before she froze to her place, staring disbelievingly. There was another ASA right above them and it was a combat vehicle.

She let the AMD run as fast as possible along the corridors, pushing people out of her way, yelling warnings as she speeded through the winding hallways. Right now she was glad this technology existed, it was her only chance to get there in time. She'd finally have her answers. The decent in the end of the hall had her gasp for air. The last turn in the underground culverts stirred up dust and had her cough. But the blue-painted door finally emerged before her eyes.

Surprised she watched a young woman hammering desperately on the door. She didn't recognize her at first, then it dawned on her who the dark-haired, frantic woman was.

"Step aside," she shouted, "away from the door Amanda!" Stiffly she dismounted the AMD and walked up to the bunker.

"He's in there." Amanda panted, tugging at the door, "he's getting rid of the evidence!"

"Catharsis," she told the door. Wanting to close her eyes and not really see what she knew she would see inside. For a brief moment she hoped and prayed she would be wrong. She knew full well she wasn't but she still hoped. The door slid open with merciless speed.

On the huge wall-screen opposite the door images of an ASA being attached by an unmarked combat vehicle told the full grim tale she had feared. The man in a chair slowly turned around and she was faced with the man she had sheared her life with. He seemed baffled. The man she obviously didn't know at all. A man she had told secrets and trusted. A man that had fooled her completely. She hated him.

But there was no time for explanations, the Sweetwater ASA had taken a hit and was sinking rapidly, the combat vehicle following, canons locking onto the target.

"Annaina," she said, hoping the code was the right one, the name of the daughter they had lost before she was even born.

When they took the first near-hit Lou bit down on her lips, struggling to get to Jimmy and help him with the maneuvers. He was strapped to the seat, he'd be the first one to die if they were hit. Her nails broke as she fought to get to him. The ASA reared again and she slid back down, cursing vehemently. The fall forced the air out of her lungs and she panted for air. Then the combat vessel was straight in front of them, so close she saw the windshield's dark surface contrast against the metallic gray camouflage.

Then everything turned upside down. The ceiling came rushing towards her and the pandemonium of loose boxes, sharp metals and tools sailed weightlessly around before her eyes. A large bulk of silvery metal shot a perfect curve in the air, the marking Oxygen, catching her attention. The lights flickered and went out. Then she gasped for air as she found herself falling freely.

|Prologue||Chapter 1||Chapter 2||Chapter 3||Chapter 4||Chapter 5||Chapter 6||Chapter 7||Chapter 8||Chapter 9||Chapter 10|
|Chapter11||Chapter 12||Chapter 13||Chapter 14*||Chapter 15||Chapter 16||Chapter 17||Chapter 18||Chapter 19||Chapter 20*|
|Chapter 21||Chapter 22||Chapter 23||Chapter 24||Chapter 25||Chapter 26||Chapter 27||Chapter 28||Chapter 29||Chapter 30|
|Chapter 31||Chapter 32||Chapter 33||Chapter 34||Chapter 35||Chapter 36|