Independent Means by Simon Kattenhorn

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Chapter Two

The rock came loose in Julia's hands. It came out of the rock face so suddenly that the sheer surprise nearly made her loosen her grip with the other hand. But much to her relief, instead of feeling her body tumble back down the slope, she instead dangled precariously from one hand while the rock she had dislodged exploded into a thousand pieces at the bottom of the cliff. Her grip was firm, and she managed to maneuver her body back to where she faced the rock, then reached up with her free hand for a better handhold.

"This had *better* be the right way," she muttered to herself.

She had been working her way up the rock face for over an hour now, and the beads of sweat that had formed along her brow were starting to form dirty rivulets down the side of her dusty face. She looked up and cursed the early afternoon sun almost directly overhead.

"I should have waited until it cooled down," she croaked. The extreme thirst she felt was beginning to play on her every thought.

Julia realized that having been recently knocked into a state of unconsciousness by a bad fall was not particularly conducive to embarking on a rock climbing expedition. Her head was starting to throb and she realized she was beginning to dehydrate.

"Now why do I get the feeling I'm not going to find a refreshing stream at the top of this," Julia half laughed, although without the slightest indication of amusement. She knew the chances of that happening were about the same as having Reilly suddenly glide down out of the sky in a Terrashuttle, ready to whisk her back to the stations. Having a river at the top of an isolated hill was geomorphologically improbable as landforms go; moreso considering the fact that the plains as far as she could see were as dry as the plains of Utopia Planitia. There didn't appear to be a drop of water around.

Julia reached up with her right hand for a new hold, then brought her left leg up to the next foothold. This was the steepest part of the climb by far, and she silently thanked her lucky stars that the sandstone cliff she was currently scaling was only a minor level of difficulty as rock climbing faces went. It didn't make matters any easier though having a diaglove on. She dare not take it off for fear of losing it, but she also had to be careful not to damage it as she climbed. The loose sand from along the climb had worked its way between the glove and her skin, and combined with sweat, it was making for a most uncomfortable experience. She looked up and felt reassured by the sight of the top of the cliff only a few meters above her. After another five minutes of fairly simple maneuvers, she hauled herself over the edge and onto the grassy top, where she rolled over onto her back to catch her breath.

Her mouth was extremely parched and she fought back the urge to conjure up large glasses of icy water in her imagination. Feeling confident that it would be safe to do so, she removed the diaglove, placed it on the grass next to her, and scratched at the itchiness of her arm.

After a few moments, Julia stood and glanced around her. The wind was blowing swiftly up here, and she was surprised at the near deafening roar it was making. With her hair billowing around her face, she looked out over the plains and wondered again where on Earth, or G889 to be precise, she was. Reaching up to push the hair back out of her face, Julia took a step backwards and felt...nothing. With a sudden squeal, she felt herself falling, tumbling, down a grassy slope covered in small shrubs. She tried desperately to claw out for anything to grab and halt her downslope progression, but momentum was getting the best of her. Before she had a chance to clutch onto a blurry shrub, she suddenly catapulted out into empty space and began falling. She waited for that sudden darkness to envelop her as she hit the ground, but instead found her senses jolted to attention as she landed in icy cold water. After a second or so, her head popped above the surface and she gulped at the air.

It was immediately obvious to her that she was being moved by a strong current. Julia was being carried along briskly by a geomorphologically improbable, but highly real, river.

***

"This way, Yale."

Devon pointed off in the general direction of the route they had traveled earlier up to their present camp location. The terrain had started getting rougher a few days previously, and Yale had indicated that they were probably moving from the southwestern edge of the Farka Plateau into the foothills of the Granito Range. The trek to New Pacifica would continue in an almost continuous southwesterly direction from here on. But that was still many a month away. Assuming they ever made it any further than the present circumstances.

"That looks like where we brought the transrover and dunerail through," commented Yale.

The underbrush had been flattened and scarred by the passage of the two vehicles up the slope from the pass at the base of the hill. The pass was bounded to either side by high walls of granite, and the passage through it might be compared to stepping through an airlock on the Lunar surface back near Earth, into a terrarium. The contrast from one side of the pass to the other was striking. Where before there had been little sign of life, suddenly there was a plethora of plants and animals. They were even initially concerned that the vegetation would be too thick to permit a passable route. But before they could further consider their possibilities, the sickness had set in rapidly, and they immediately set up camp. Beyond the pass, Devon could see the wide expanse of vegetation-devoid land they had traversed to get to this point. The land that had seemed at least partially forgiving four days ago when they had encountered the apparently edible root.

"I thought that perhaps something Julia saw on the hike up here triggered something in her memory, and so she came back this way looking for it," said Devon as she worked her way back down the slope towards the pass. "A type of plant perhaps, or mineral outcropping."

"That would be a logical deduction Devon," said Yale, "assuming Julia was involved in logical action at the time of her departure from the camp."

Devon stopped and glared at Yale.

"What are you implying, Yale?" she snapped. "That Julia went crazy and just ran off in the night?"

"I cannot answer that Devon. But she *did* eat the root too. Maybe she started having some form of delayed toxic reaction."

"But then why not me?"

Devon was quite obviously not at all convinced that Yale's suggestion held any merit.

"*I* ate the root too. So did Bess, and True, and Magus, and Denner. And *you* for that matter. None of *us* got sick, Yale. How can you explain that?"

"Again, I cannot. I'm just cautioning that we shouldn't assume that it's necessarily true that every female member of the group is immune to this toxic reaction."

It was apparent to Devon that Yale wasn't exactly convinced of the likelihood of this possibility himself. But it was good to hear alternate postulates to her own. It was easy to become overly influenced by one's own opinions, and so a second one was welcome, if not prudent.

"Okay," said Devon. "But the odds are in our favor. Now if only we knew why *you* didn't get ill."

The two of them were approaching the base of the incline, close to entering the pass again. The steep granite walls were starting to provide soft echoes to their voices as they spoke.

"I have no idea," Yale lamented. "Cameron was just lucky that he didn't eat any of the root. I, on the other hand, seem to be a bit of an enigma. It must have something to do with the implants and the chemical effects on my immune system. Other than that I cannot venture."

"Well I'm just happy to have you around to help us, Yale," Devon said gratefully. "See anything?"

Yale was looking around them, searching for possible signs that Julia may have come stumbling through during the night.

"Nothing," said Yale.

They proceeded into the pass.

***

After leaving Bess, Denner and True behind at the camp to tend to the sick should they awake, Magus and Cameron headed off in the direction Devon had suggested. Devon's plan called for them to proceed further in the direction in which the group was originally trekking before stopping to set up camp, then work their way back around to approach the camp from the side.

They had been incrementally working their way forward through the underbrush, stopping occasionally to retrace their steps and attempt an alternate route whenever the vegetation became too thick to allow easy progress. Besides, it was highly unlikely that Julia had come thundering through in the darkness where it was difficult to get through even in daylight.

Magus had been keeping up a stream of talking that bordered on prattle, while Cameron remained silent, responding with only facial gestures that included numerous backwards rolling of the eyes. As well as everyone got along in the group, it did help to have numerous people to turn to for conversation. Over the last few days, Devon had kept pretty much to herself, tending to Uly, or conversing occasionally with Julia and Yale. Denner had probably been working harder than anyone barring Julia, keeping the day-to-day camp responsibilities going. True spent most of the time watching over her father, except when Bess dropped in to give her a little moral support and words of hope. Bess was good at that sort of thing, and Cameron admired her for it a great deal. Most of the time, however, Bess was glued to the side of her husband, which left Cameron with a single avenue of conversation: Magus. And Magus definitely enjoyed conversation. A lot. At one stage, Cameron had even tried holding a conversation with Zero, but that had proved more frustrating than it was worth. It was a bit much to expect Zero to be philosophical.

"...but I think Devon wanted us to go a bit more in that direction, don't you think?"

Cameron shrugged in response for the umpteenth time in the last hour.

"Or maybe we can work our way down there and cut across," continued Magus.

No response.

Magus looked across to Cameron, who was wiping away at his sweating forehead with the back of his forearm. He was gazing off into the distance, taking in the splendid view of the mountains of the Granito Range, which extended as far as the eye could see, similar in appearance to the Sierra Nevada Range back on Earth in the pre-deforestation days that Magus had read about once.

"Or we could slip on our hoverpacks, and fly over there," Magus said bitingly.

Cameron remained staring off into the distance silently. Magus snarled under her breath and continued leading the way.

"I *really* miss Eben," she said, while Cameron fell into step behind her.

***

Bess wrung the cloth dry then began dabbing again at Baines' forehead. Most of the sick had already experienced the feverish stage of the toxic reaction, but Baines was only now starting to burn up. Since Devon and Yale headed out of the northeast side of camp, and Magus and Cameron had headed out the opposite way, she had spent much of the time tending to Morgan. But he seemed to be more or less stable and so she began feeling a little guilty about neglecting the rest of them. True had been watching over Danziger and Uly, who were now in the same tent. Devon had carried Uly over to Danziger's tent before she headed out to look for Julia, to make it easier for the three of them remaining at camp to watch over everyone. Baines and Walman were sharing one tent, and Alonzo was sleeping soundly in another. Mazatl was also still quite unconscious in another tent. Denner had been alternating between watching over Alonzo and Mazatl, and preparing food for the noontime meal, should anyone feel up to eating.

After tending to Baines, Bess went outside to stretch her body in an effort to soothe the dull ache in her lower back. It had been a while since she had allowed herself some personal time. Looking out over the splendid view in the valley before her, she wanted nothing more right now than to put on her running shoes and head out for a few kilometers of exercise. There was no doubt about it- Bess loved this planet. It looked like everything she had ever read and dreamed about Earth a long time ago. Despite all the hardships of the long, transcontinental trek to New Pacifica, Bess relished each new experience on this planet, lapping up the beauty of nature here with a hunger that could not be quenched. She was, at last, in her element.

She only wished that Morgan could feel about G889 as she did, although, she couldn't help but notice that he was gradually being won over by the planet. It was obviously so foreign to him having grown up on the stations, where dealing with government bureaucrats was the order of the day, rather than facing off against seven-foot aliens popping out of the ground, or drooling kleptomanic Grendlers. Bess thought it was a toss up either way as to which was worse anyway. For a long time, she had been worried that the arrival of the colony ships at G889 and New Pacifica would provide the escape route Morgan wanted, trampling all asunder in the process if necessary, to get off of this "damn planet". But now she wasn't so sure. Morgan had changed in so many ways in the five months since they arrived on the planet. He was slowly evolving away from the attitude that the universe was unleashing upon him the greatest of injustices by the fact of his mere presence here, to one in which he was coming to appreciate the near-magical wonders of the planet. And his role within the group itself was being forged with increasing clarity. Even Devon was more inclined to entrust Morgan with more responsible tasks lately.

No, Bess was sure Morgan would want to stay. Once the foundations of New Pacifica had been laid, she was sure that Morgan would decide to stay and resume the duty he had originally come here to perform, as a government liaison to the Eden project. Why would *anyone* want to leave this beautiful world?

Bess took a deep breath of the fresh, pine-scented air, and began ambling around the camp. The sun was getting fairly high in the sky now and she could feel the chill of the valley air being slowly eradicated. She popped her head into Danziger's tent, where True was sponging gently at Uly's forehead.

"Hi True," Bess said softly. "Everything okay?"

True spun around, momentarily startled by Bess' voice.

"Oh...yeah, okay." True looked at Uly then gave Bess a sidelong glance. "Uh...now you can't tell Uly I was being nice to him or anything, okay?" True mustered up the most adamant look that could be expected from an eleven-year old girl.

"Sure True," Bess smiled. "I didn't see a thing!"

True gave Bess an appreciative smile, glad that they understood each other. Bess backed out of the tent and began walking towards hers and Morgan's tent when an idea suddenly popped into her mind. She had been in Julia's tent earlier, and had focused only on the fact that Julia wasn't there. She hadn't really looked carefully at anything else in the tent, and neither had Devon for that matter. Maybe they missed something- some kind of clue as to what had possessed Julia to walk off in the middle of the night.

"Well I may as well do something constructive if I'm stuck here in camp," she muttered to herself.

Bess walked over to Julia's tent, and disappeared inside.

***

Julia gaped in horror as she hurtled towards the rocks in midstream. At the rate the current was carrying her, she would undoubtedly be badly injured if she were dashed against the angular rocks. Probably, she would be knocked unconscious again, in which case her greatest problem would be drowning.

She kicked out with her legs with as much force as she could summon. Resistance seemed futile. The river was becoming more and more constricted downstream, and in the process, the rate of flow of the water was increasing rapidly. The more Julia struggled, the greater her risk of exhausting herself, so she tried rather to use the current to her advantage. Instead of kicking against the current, she attempted to propel herself along more or less with the current, but slightly oblique to it. The rocks were so close now that she feared her efforts had been nothing more than a doomed attempt by a pathetic creature at resisting the force of nature. Nevertheless, she instinctively drew upon a final boost of energy and shot out a few final kicks of her legs. Just as she was about to collide with one of the rocks, the current seemed to grab her and thrust her away into another part of the river's flow.

This would have seemed like a stroke of luck to Julia if she had been afforded the opportunity to think about it for a few seconds. Instead, she was trying her best to evaluate what was happening next, which seemed to be that she was being sucked under by a particularly strong undertow. It was as if her legs were being gripped in a vice that was sinking slowly into the depths of the river and indomitably dragging her down with it.

This time, no amount of kicking seemed to help. She could sense that in addition to being held under the water, the current was also spinning her around in a large counter-clockwise circular swirl. Julia guessed that she had somehow been spun out towards one edge of the river, and was caught in an eddy current within an embayment of sorts along the river bank. Like a giant pothole. She had lost track of how long she had been under the water, but already she could feel the burning sensation in her lungs, from craving air. In her wildest dreams, Julia had never imagined that being trapped underwater could be so terrifying. This was nothing like the artificial lakes on the stations that she had swam in so many times since she was just a young girl. The forces with which the water of this river tugged at her body were simply unimaginable.

Fighting her body's desperate urge to open her mouth and breathe in the dark, deathly fluid, Julia began flailing with her arms and legs in an effort to kick against something; anything. Her lungs were now screaming for air and she could feel her head starting to spin again as her thoughts became increasingly muddy.

Seconds later, Julia felt her body pushed against the side of the river bed and she immediately clawed at the mud and gravel, trying to sink her fingers in and stop the water's grasp on her body. Her first few attempts failed, and she could feel the pain in her fingertips from clawing at the gravel. Then, a few fingers sank into the mud. Her body twisted round in the current and swung against the river bank as she brought her free hand up and grasped a stronger hold. She could see the surface of the water only a few feet above her head and began incrementally moving upwards by releasing one hand at a time and reaching up for shallower holds.

The pain in her chest was excruciating. It was incomprehensible that she might drown here, just a few feet from the precious air that offered her life. Her fingers were numb from digging them into the river bank but she persevered despite the messages of pain that were being broadcast to her brain from various parts of her body.

Suddenly, just as Julia felt like she had depleted her final reserve of strength, her head broke the surface of the water. She gulped at the air greedily, filling her lungs with the beautiful sensation of oxygen. Julia was never before so grateful for something that she had always had the liberty of taking for granted.

***

Devon stared up at the immense granite wall on one side of the pass she and Yale were walking through. It was at least five hundred meters straight up on either side of the pass. Devon couldn't imagine what forces could possibly have cut such a gaping swath through the rock to form the pass.

"It looks like someone came through here with a Class One laserminer and cut away part of the mountain," Devon commented to Yale. "Like the old mining methods on Mars."

"Oh this is the work of something far more powerful," chuckled Yale.

He gazed up at the walls of granite and compared the visage with images stored in his memory bank.

"This is the work of a glacier."

"A glacier?" Devon responded incredulously. "You mean a river of ice?"

"Exactly. Probably thousands of years ago during an ice age or period of global cooling. We're too near to the equator now for it to get cold enough for glaciers here anymore."

Devon contemplated the walls of granite with renewed awe.

"This pass," continued Yale, "actually resembles a similar feature that once existed on Earth, called Yosemite. That was also carved out of granite by glaciers. Of course, it's long gone now," he lamented sullenly. "It was buried by fresh volcanic lava after the area was rendered geologically unstable and volcanically active by deep mining."

Devon squinted a final time at the canyon walls, then continued along through the pass. She had heard so many stories of what Earth had been like so long ago. Long before she was born, or her parents, or their grandparents. She had always been fascinated by descriptions of old Earth, but the wonder of those images in her mind when she was growing up couldn't even begin to compare with the reality that had greeted her on G889.

The gorge opened up a few hundred meters in front of them, where the canyon rim swooped down to meet the plains that stretched out into the distance as far as they could see. Devon felt her body give a slight shudder as she looked at the wide expanse of barren land. It had been a difficult crossing despite the lack of topographic difficulties. Reaching the mountains had happened not a moment too soon. At least they hadn't been left wanting for water during the trek across the plains. The groundwater table was unusually shallow beneath the surface, which had made for unencumbered access to drinking water. Given this fact, it was perplexing that vegetation was so scarce. The soil must have been incredibly infertile.

"I can't imagine that Julia would have gone back out into *that*," Devon ventured. "There's nothing out there."

Yale considered this, then nodded in agreement.

"No, I can't imagine that she would have headed out that way either."

Yale had been meticulously scanning the ground around them as they proceeded, looking for any sign that Julia may have passed through this way. It was difficult to determine, as the ground was still freshly disturbed by the passage of the group through the pass a few days earlier.

They were almost at the head of the pass. Devon collapsed beneath a small tree alongside a stony wadi- the final tree before the pass gave way to the inhospitable semi-desert. She unclasped her water bottle from her belt and took a few, much needed mouthfuls.

"I think we should turn back and search the eastern approach to camp," Devon suggested to Yale, who had joined her beneath the tree, thankful for the small patch of shade against the glaring sun.

Devon pulled the eyepiece of her gearset into place over her right eye and began transmitting.

"Magus? You there?"

She waited a few seconds while Magus initiated her own gearset, then saw the image of Magus' face appear before her with the usual red coloration around the right eye.

"Hi Devon. Any luck?"

"Nothing down here. How about you?"

"Well the undergrowth is pretty thick here. I don't think she headed south. We're about to head back to approach from the west side."

"Okay. We'll be heading back soon too. Let me know if you find anything."

"Will do."

Devon saw Magus lift her hand to her face, then the image abruptly vanished.

Devon pushed the eyepiece back against the side of her head, and began rubbing at her temples. Her face was pensive as she stared blankly ahead of her for a few seconds.

"Oh Yale. What if we don't find her?" She looked up at him and the worry in her eyes was clear. "What will we do?"

"We'll find her Devon. I mean, how far could she possibly have gotten in a few hours? For all we know, she's already headed back to camp all by herself." Yale tried his best to give Devon the reassurance she needed.

Devon recognized his attempt for what it was and gave him a wan smile.

"Yale..."

Devon sighed and gazed off across the barren plains.

"...what on Earth was I thinking? Dragging these people halfway across the sector, only to drag them halfway across a continent on foot. How could I have not realized Blalock would also try something when we arrived here to prevent us landing at New Pacifica? After the bomb..."

Yale rested his hand on Devon's shoulder and spoke gently.

"Devon, don't do this to yourself again. None of this is your fault. You have been nothing less than remarkable in leading these people. They look up to you, and you know it."

"But look at what we've got going against us Yale," Devon sprang up and began pacing back and forth, gesticulating as she spoke. "Deranged criminals. Then the ZED The Council trying to stop us. And disease...how many more times are we going to have to face illnesses we've never even heard of? What if this is the one with no cure? There's no putting everyone into cold sleep here, and even if we *had* the facilities, what if there's no Julia to figure out the cure and bring everyone back like she managed to do for me?"

Just the mention of her cold sleep experience was enough to fill Devon with anxiety and initiate a shudder.

"I don't know how much more we can take, Yale. How much more *I* can take."

Yale stood, saying nothing, brushed the dust from his clothing, then held out his hand, palm upwards. Suddenly, a holographic projection appeared above his palm. It showed a representation of the colony ship, in orbit above G889.

"This is why you can take more, Devon. This ship is full of Ulys, hoping beyond hope that New Pacifica will offer them the ultimate gift. A chance at a full life. A chance to run through the fields without an immuno-suit holding them back. A chance to breathe a single breath without it being a difficulty. When they arrive, they are placing all their hopes in the existence of New Pacifica, with all of us there to meet them. This is why we can *all* endure so much more."

The hologram disappeared and Yale lowered his arm. Devon stood there silently, her eyes still locked on the space where the hologram had just been.

"We can't give up now, Devon. We will fight, and we will fight some more until we beat this."

Devon snapped out of her inner thoughts and stuck out a determined jaw.

"Yale, what would I ever do without you?"

Yale smiled as they began heading back into the pass. "Why, Devon? Are you thinking of trading me in for a better model?"

"Not in a million years, Yale. Not in a million years."

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