Dawn of Procyon by Mark R. Healy Page A

happened to be incredibly expensive to manufacture, which was why it wasn’t used in most other parts of the outpost.
    “Just stay there,” Cait called out to the agitated Cultivators. “We’re on it.”
    She moved on to the next bulkhead, and the omni-device indicated that the breach was a short distance away. It also displayed a secondary destination—the location of a repair closet. She hastened across to the closet and used the omni-device to activate the door. Inside were two EVA suits and an assortment of tools that could be used in the event of a breach.
    Everything was covered in dust, and the gear looked as though it hadn’t been used in a long time.
    That wasn’t necessarily surprising, she figured, considering this was an unusual event. Although there were around ten other repair closets situated around other parts of the outpost epidermis, Cait had never had cause to crack one open before today, and she doubted many of the other Optechs had either.
    She turned at the sound of a bulkhead opening behind her and saw Spud ambling through. The old Optech looked as though he’d been interrupted from a nap, his wispy grey hair sticking out all over the place.
    “So you drew the short straw too, huh?” she said.
    “Just my luck,” Spud grumbled. “I’m gonna die a month away from retirement.”
    Cait began to fumble with the first EVA suit. “You’ve said that every month for the past three years, Spud.”
    “And this time it’s true.”
    “Cheer up. Don’t they say it’s better to burn out than to fade away?”
    Spud reached her and grabbed the second EVA suit. “Not when burning out means turning into an Argoni’s breakfast.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “The breach,” Spud said. “It’s an attack. Isn’t it obvious? The Toads are moving in. This is their big assault on the outpost.”
    “Relax. The Marines would be crawling all over the place if that were true.”
    “Trust me. When we open that bulkhead, they’ll be waiting for us.”
    Cait slipped into the top half of the EVA suit and poked her head from the top. “Just get in your gear, Spud. Time’s wasting.”
    “They snap your head right off your shoulders, I hear,” Spud said. “Then they drink your brains out through your ears.”
    “There’s only one person who’s been drinking around here,” Cait said drily, “and it’s not the Toads.”
    “Not me,” Spud said earnestly. “I’m sober as can be. Wish I weren’t—”
    There was a loud thud from beyond the bulkhead, and Spud abruptly stopped. He glanced nervously at Cait.
    “Get in your suit,” she said again. “We’ve got work to do.”
     

 
    Chapter 18
    PSD 29-213: 1300 hours
    Hauling the toboggan across the terrain was a lot harder than Landry had anticipated. For a start, he couldn’t afford to have it tip on its side. If the solar panel fell awkwardly it could crack, or another component could break in a way that Landry couldn’t repair—even with his magic roll of gaffer tape. With that in mind, he needed a relatively smooth surface on which to pull the load, and that meant clearing a path where none existed. There were spots where he found a good run—perhaps ten or even fifteen meters of clear ground that wouldn’t slow him down, but those were few and far between. More often than not he was forced to stoop and wrestle with rocks and small boulders, prying them free of the dirt and hauling them aside so that the toboggan could slide past.
    It was a time-consuming and exhausting process, and before too long Landry felt as though his back was about to give out. Turning around, he saw the wreckage and Gus’s cairn perhaps only fifty meters away.
    “Good progress,” he huffed, taking a sip of water. “Fifty meters down, two hundred and ninety-nine kilometers to go.”
    “Your calculations are short by nine hundred and fifty meters, Landry.”
    “Thank you, HAIRI.”
    His other problem was the elevation of the ground. There were sharp