Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs Book 1) by Charlee Allden Page B

domes of Roma.
    Mercury patted Carn’s shoulder. “Let me know if it changes or gets worse for you.”
    Carn nodded as they got to their feet.
    Mercury started a slow circle around the drop. Shattered wood covered the area behind the small transport device that had carried them down from a ship above the planet. His gaze followed the trunk of a tree. The cargo-drop had skimmed all the branches from one side as it had fallen to the ground. The top of the tree stretched high over head. Taller than any tree he’d ever seen. There were trees near the Arena Dogs’ training grounds, but nothing like this living tower.
    The sky overhead was a bright blue and impossibly far away. Somewhere above, the ship they’d fallen from hung in the vastness beyond the blue. He’d been told of space and the distant worlds beyond, but it hadn’t been real to him. Standing in the place that was clearly not the same as the one he’d come from, his world had suddenly become vast.
    “How will we find her?” Lo spoke from next to him.
    Mercury started to speak but a flash drew his gaze to the sky. A puffy white trail of smoke traced across and downward. Mercury pointed. “There. We will find her close to where the smoke meets the ground.”
    He glanced at Carn again. The man looked stoic and paler than usual, but he stood straight and tall. Mercury could only hope his need to get back to Hera would drive him more than it hurt him.
    “Let’s go.”
     
 

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    Roma Campsite, Planet G-45987
    Earth Alliance Beta Sector - Gollerra Border
    2210.157
     
    Samantha brushed tree bark off her hands and took in a deep breath. It was the first planetary air she’d breathed in nearly a year and it smelled heavily of vegetation. Dense forest surrounded them on all sides. She’d managed to drop the escape-pod in a kilometer square patch of barren soil.
    The cargo-drop Mercury, Carnage and Diablo were in had a much cruder propulsion system so she couldn’t be sure exactly where they’d landed, but she’d tried to put them down in the same general area. She had their promise and it was the most habitable spot on the planet.
    And her gut told her to keep them close.
    Drake dropped another branch onto the small stack of firewood. “What do you suppose made this clearing?”
    Samantha reached down and broke the seal on one of the bedrolls she’d hauled out earlier. “Probably the terraforming platform we saw.” Or more accurately, crashed into. “There’s three more positioned across the planet.” The huge equipment had been visible from orbit and easy enough to spot since there’d been no vegetation, or anything else, around them.
    “Why in the hell didn’t you put us down near one of them? There might have been supplies.”
    “None of the others are functional as far as I could tell and the areas where the other platforms are located are not nearly as hospitable as this section.”
    Drake shifted the position of the last log he’d dropped. “Makes sense.”
    “Not really. It’s like they were never activated, or they were shut down after stage one. But the one that was here must have run the full course. The vegetation here is way too advanced for recent terraforming. Who would install four terraforming platforms, activate only one, then let the planet and the equipment sit idle for fifty to a hundred years?”
    “I think that’s a mystery for another day.” Straightening, he stretched his arms over his head with a grunt of pain.
    “Hurting?”
    “Feels like someone rolled me in a metal washtub and hung me out to dry.”
    Samantha huffed, surprised he’d admit to any weakness. “You need the med kit?”
    “Just bruises. We should conserve the meds. I’ll be fine.” He hunched down and went back to arranging the firewood.
    “That’s good, because we still need more fuel for the fire.” She used the back of her sleeve to wipe perspiration from her brow. The humidity gave the air a steam-like quality and made it