also.
She recalled there was one cubicle, approximately halfway along this long corridor on the right that had a particularly large storage trunk, tucked discreetly behind a rocking horse that had been crudely welded together long ago no doubt by some doting father from scraps of metal; a sad looking hand-made toy, with a multitude of rough edges, and sharp protrusions that must have chafed any poor child riding it.
She made her way as quietly as she could up the corridor, with her torch still on and covered by her fingers, listening carefully for the slightest sound of movement up ahead. She hoped to God Ellie had heard her warning cry and found somewhere to hide too. Ellie seemed to know this place like the back of her hand. Hopefully, she had found some little nook in which to lie low.
A noise up ahead
.
Above the ever-present moan of wind, the slightest scrape of movement. Very close. She quickly snapped off her torch, pulled her oxygen mask away from her mouth and held her breath, waiting to see if another sound followed.
Clink.
A foot placed down just a little too heavily.
Shit-o-la.
Someone was up ahead at the other end of the corridor and moving down towards her. In the pitch black, Jez decided to feel her way forward to the next cubicle doorway, and if she could do it without noisily bumping into anything, she would silently slide into it, and let the party up ahead pass her by.
She crouched down and put one hand out in front of her face, feeling for any dangling nooses of wire, whilst her other hand fumbled ahead in the space in front of her feet for anything she might trip over. And, as quietly and quickly as she could, she scuttled forward.
She heard another footfall and then labored breathing; two masks clicking as the oxygen valves opened and closed. Whoever that was, they were very close.
Those sons-of-bitches had wised up and turned their flashlights
off
and were stalking her in the dark now. They probably even had night-vision goggles, similar to ones she had seen on a toob drama once; goggles that let you see anything in the dark, albeit with a spooky green tinge. One of
them
was probably already lining up a shot on her in the dark. She involuntarily cringed, her eyes clamped shut, her mouth hung open with a silent scream, dry as a desert, waiting for the inevitable echoing crack of gunfire.
Oh crud, get it over with you-
Her hand, stretched out in front of her and dug into something soft and wet.
‘Ouch!’ a voice yelped.
‘Ellie?’
‘Yes dammit! You just poked me in the eye,’ she hissed angrily.
CHAPTER 15
Aaron checked his navigation display once more. He was nearly there. The floodlights of his shuttle lit the dark landscape below and ahead. He began to slow Lisa down. He would have thought by now that the glow of lights from the Quin farm would have been visible. It was late, but there would be some lights on, surely, somewhere. He scanned the horizon again, looking for the faint glow of some internal light even, diffused by the foggy transparency of a plastic dome.
Nothing.
He was almost upon the farm according to the navsat co-ordinates he had logged in after dropping the girls off. It had to be somewhere up ahead now.
All of a sudden, the brilliant glare of his floodlights was reflected back from something out there in the thick darkness of the night. A moment later the hemispherical outline of one of the smooth enviro-domes loomed into view.
There it is.
He slowed the shuttle down to a crawl, wary that the roar of his engines on full blast might wake up the whole family. He could settle her down gently on minimal power, not exactly a silent landing, but a little less of a disturbance. He circled the farm slowly, looking for a suitable place to set down. There was not a single light on anywhere, not even any faint night-lights in the central dome in which they lived.
He put the shuttle down in front of the entrance to one of the agri-domes and turned off his floodlights.
She recalled there was one cubicle, approximately halfway along this long corridor on the right that had a particularly large storage trunk, tucked discreetly behind a rocking horse that had been crudely welded together long ago no doubt by some doting father from scraps of metal; a sad looking hand-made toy, with a multitude of rough edges, and sharp protrusions that must have chafed any poor child riding it.
She made her way as quietly as she could up the corridor, with her torch still on and covered by her fingers, listening carefully for the slightest sound of movement up ahead. She hoped to God Ellie had heard her warning cry and found somewhere to hide too. Ellie seemed to know this place like the back of her hand. Hopefully, she had found some little nook in which to lie low.
A noise up ahead
.
Above the ever-present moan of wind, the slightest scrape of movement. Very close. She quickly snapped off her torch, pulled her oxygen mask away from her mouth and held her breath, waiting to see if another sound followed.
Clink.
A foot placed down just a little too heavily.
Shit-o-la.
Someone was up ahead at the other end of the corridor and moving down towards her. In the pitch black, Jez decided to feel her way forward to the next cubicle doorway, and if she could do it without noisily bumping into anything, she would silently slide into it, and let the party up ahead pass her by.
She crouched down and put one hand out in front of her face, feeling for any dangling nooses of wire, whilst her other hand fumbled ahead in the space in front of her feet for anything she might trip over. And, as quietly and quickly as she could, she scuttled forward.
She heard another footfall and then labored breathing; two masks clicking as the oxygen valves opened and closed. Whoever that was, they were very close.
Those sons-of-bitches had wised up and turned their flashlights
off
and were stalking her in the dark now. They probably even had night-vision goggles, similar to ones she had seen on a toob drama once; goggles that let you see anything in the dark, albeit with a spooky green tinge. One of
them
was probably already lining up a shot on her in the dark. She involuntarily cringed, her eyes clamped shut, her mouth hung open with a silent scream, dry as a desert, waiting for the inevitable echoing crack of gunfire.
Oh crud, get it over with you-
Her hand, stretched out in front of her and dug into something soft and wet.
‘Ouch!’ a voice yelped.
‘Ellie?’
‘Yes dammit! You just poked me in the eye,’ she hissed angrily.
CHAPTER 15
Aaron checked his navigation display once more. He was nearly there. The floodlights of his shuttle lit the dark landscape below and ahead. He began to slow Lisa down. He would have thought by now that the glow of lights from the Quin farm would have been visible. It was late, but there would be some lights on, surely, somewhere. He scanned the horizon again, looking for the faint glow of some internal light even, diffused by the foggy transparency of a plastic dome.
Nothing.
He was almost upon the farm according to the navsat co-ordinates he had logged in after dropping the girls off. It had to be somewhere up ahead now.
All of a sudden, the brilliant glare of his floodlights was reflected back from something out there in the thick darkness of the night. A moment later the hemispherical outline of one of the smooth enviro-domes loomed into view.
There it is.
He slowed the shuttle down to a crawl, wary that the roar of his engines on full blast might wake up the whole family. He could settle her down gently on minimal power, not exactly a silent landing, but a little less of a disturbance. He circled the farm slowly, looking for a suitable place to set down. There was not a single light on anywhere, not even any faint night-lights in the central dome in which they lived.
He put the shuttle down in front of the entrance to one of the agri-domes and turned off his floodlights.
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