2288: The Skotadian Experiment Page 10

  The Topographical Creator collects data on what an individual “sees” and then it creates a 3-D map of the terrain. The problem for Task Force ZH-3C is that it demands either a satellite or a starship link up in order for it to work properly. Without that type of link up, each team member would need to download their data into the Topographical Interface Network. Normally the TIN would do it through the app in their radio, but if there is a communication blackout, each team member would need to manually download the data from the TIN into the Topographical Creator. They also could share the data with one another. But no one in Blue Team remembered to share that data. Task Force ZH-3C had to go by Sanders’ map data. It was a recipe for disaster, and it didn’t take long for it to strike.

  “I’m lost,” Venito said through the radio to both Brewster and Anderson.

  “I thought we weren’t supposed to use the radio,” Anderson said to them.

  “Well I’m certain that Skotadi can defeat us, because, I’m lost!” Venito said. She was getting frustrated because she couldn’t see where she was going.

  “Where are you?” Brewster asked her.

  “If I knew the answer to that question then I wouldn’t be lost,” Venito responded.

  “Well, look up at the sky and tell me what you see?” Anderson said in almost rude manner.

  “You look up at the sky and tell me what you see!” Venito said. She was starting to get annoyed.

  “I’m asking you. You dumb bitch,” Anderson said.

  “Okay asshole. Now let me see. I can see the top of trees and . . . um . . . oh yeah . . . rain,” Venito said. She was getting frustrated with Anderson and the weather.

  “Man, you dumb-asses are going to get us killed,” Caparzo said through the radio.

  “Hey, where are you Caparzo?” Venito asked.

  “Standing here soaking wet looking at you,” Caparzo responded.

  “Really . . . where? Where am I in relation to you?” Venito asked.

  “You’re north-by-southwest of my position. It looks like you are fixing . . .” Caparzo was saying.

  “Hey, wait right there I’m going to come to you,” Venito said.

  “No wait. I said it looks like . . . hey Venito stop! Don’t turn around!” Caparzo yelled at her through the radio when he realized where she was.

  “What? I . . .” Venito stated. The only thing that they could hear after that was the sound of her screaming and then silence.

  Venito tumbled down an embankment when her quad-walker lost footing in the saturated soil. Her quad-walker landed upside down. As luck would have it, she wasn’t carrying the communicational array which is needed to create a secure link-up to Galactic Prime. But what she was carrying was just as bad, if not worse, than losing the communicational array. No one wanted to hear what she was carrying.

  Caparzo was first on the scene. He climbed on top of the underbelly of the quad-walker and opened the emergency escape hatch. Venito’s right arm was broken and her right shoulder was dislocated. She was in a lot of pain. Caparzo helped her out and gave her an injection of nanoprobes that repaired her broken arm. Caparzo then had to reset her dislocated shoulder.

  “Ma’am, I hate to break communication blackout, but we have an incident with Venito,” Caparzo said through the radio. He had to manually open a channel to Vaistll.

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “She was lost and her quad-walker lost footing on a saturated embankment.”

  “Is she alright?”

  “Yes ma’am. But I’m going to need help in order to recover the cargo,” Caparzo said, thinking that Skotadi might be listening.

  “Understood. Do you have a . . . uh . . . a flare?” Vaistll asked.

  “Uh . . . um . . . yes ma’am. Why?”

  “Use it in the next minute.”

  “Copy that.”

  The problem for Caparzo was that he didn’t have any flares. He only had a beacon that could be picked up by both a starship and a starbase. Caparzo was confused by Vaistll’s order. What did she mean by “flare”? The only thing that he had was something that could be picked up by anyone with a receiver. Didn’t she know that he didn’t have a flare, but a beacon? Caparzo thought that she knew that the flares were already boxed up and ready to be moved.

  In truth, Vaistll knew that he didn’t have a flare. But she knew that the quad-walker had an emergency flare. It is so rare for a quad-walker to land on its back, that most people don’t know that there is an all-weather emergency flare in it. Vaistll knew this because of her age and experience, and because she was an officer.

  “Hey Caparzo . . . what did she say?” Venito asked him.

  “Weren’t you listening through the radio?”

  “No because we’re in a communicational blackout. So what did she say?”

  “For me to use a flare.”

  “What!? Doesn’t she know that we don’t have one?”

  “Apparently not. So what do you think we should do?”

  “Don’t you have a beacon?” Venito asked him.

  “You got to be shittin’ me,” Caparzo responded.

  “Does it look like I’m shittin’ you? Just use it.”

  “What, and give away our position?”

  “I thought I already did that when I broke communication blackout. Besides what could it hurt? Other than the obvious. Look . . . either Skotadi already knows where we are or they don’t.”

  “You know that in all likelihood they are probably listening in on our conversation.”

  “Yeah . . . and don’t forget what is in my quad-walker.”

  When Venito said that, Caparzo got the point and activated the beacon. It didn’t take long for both of them to be found. But since he used the beacon, it put everybody on edge. Some of them chewed him out for using the beacon. But as for Vaistll, Taylor, and Ramirez, they just remained stoic about it.

  Yes, Skotadi did in fact pick up the beacon, but it was only the TIA starbase. Neither Lenkov nor Omori did anything about it. In truth, they didn’t care. Galactic Prime also picked up the signal and they saw it as a sign of urgent help. Mad Dawg ordered maintenance to hurry up and finish repairing communications.

  A few hours after both Venito and Caparzo were found, Brewster arrived at the crossroad that led to the small town. He was the first to arrive in a quad-walker. After he waited for nearly thirty minutes for a vehicle to come and collect the supplies, he left and headed into town. Quad-walkers were never designed to travel in the city or upon city streets. They were designed to travel over rough terrain. As Brewster was walking down the street, he was damaging the roads and some of the buildings.

  “What in the fuck are you doing!?” Sanchez screamed at Brewster.

  “Ma’am, I thought a vehicle was supposed to be at the crossroads and . . .” Brewster said through the quad-walker’s loud speakers.

  “Get the fuck out of there you dumb-ass!”

  “Ma’am I need to . . .”

  “No! You’re obviously too goddamn fucking stupid to know what the word wait means! Now get out of there. Now!”

  “Yes ma’am,” Brewster said as he got out of the quad-walker.

  “Now you listen to me you little shit. Stay right here and don’t move. Got it?” Sanchez ordered him after he got out of the quad-walker.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Sanchez then left, went back to the boat house, and got Guerrero to come with her.

  “What are you smiling at?” Brewster asked Guerrero.

  “Shut the fuck the up,” Sanchez snapped back. “Guerrero, teach this dumb-ass how to use a quad-walker and take it back to the crossroad,” she added.

  “Yes ma’am,” Guerrero said while smiling at Brewster.

  When Guerrero got the quad-walker back to the crossroad, he was met by Anderson, Caparzo, and Venito. Anderson had already climbed out of his quad-walker.

  “Hey Brewster, you major dumb-ass! Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to use those in a city?” Venito said when s
he saw Guerrero coming in the quad-walker.

  “Close,” Guerrero said through the quad-walker’s loud speakers.

  “So what happened to Coté?” Caparzo asked after Guerrero got out of the quad-walker.

  Before Guerrero could say anything, they heard a truck honk its horn. Hoffneisten was driving and Brewster was in the passenger seat.

  “Hey Brewster, what did she say?” Anderson asked.

  “She said that Guerrero is assigned to my quad-walker, and I have to help with off-loading the deuce-and-a-half,” Brewster said in an embarrassing tone of voice.

  “Hey Venito, where’s your quad-walker?” Hoffneisten asked.

  “I got lost in the thunderstorm and I uh . . .” Venito was saying.

  “She tumbled down an embankment, losing our weapons and ammo,” Caparzo said in a dejected tone of voice.

  “What!? Oh no you didn’t!” Hoffneisten yelled. Guerrero said something in Spanish at the same time that Hoffneisten said that.

  “Wait . . . let me get this straight. She lost all of our weapons and ammo?” Guerrero asked. He was in disbelief about what he had just heard.

  “Okay, let me elaborate a little better. Her quad-walker landed on its back and it’s on a steep embankment. All of the weapons and ammo are on it. It is considered a loss unless we can get them out,” Caparzo said under his breath. Guerrero then turned away and cursed in Spanish. Hoffneisten just stood there in shocked silence.

  “How much of our weapons and ammo do we still have left?” Guerrero asked.

  “Enough for two teams,” Caparzo said under his breath.

  “You fucking dumb-ass bitch! How could you be so fucking stupid!?” Hoffneisten yelled at her.

  “It’s not my fault! I couldn’t see and . . .” Venito said.

  “And what!?” Guerrero said.

  “My map data was based upon on Sanders’ map data! He or Lieutenant Sanchez forgot to upload their map data into . . .” Venito was saying.

  “Oh, so now it’s our fault!” Hoffneisten said.

  “No it’s . . .” Venito was saying.

  “Come on guys, lay off her. I was on the ground and I got lost. We all did to some extent,” Caparzo said, defending his team mate.

  “I was lost too,” Brewster added.

  “No . . . you were lost because you’re a dumb-ass. Big difference,” Guerrero said.

  “Hey!” Brewster said. He was getting upset with constantly being put down.

  “What the fuck are you dumb-asses doing just standing there!?” Sanchez said. She was under a lot of stress at that moment. She saw them down the street not doing anything other than talking.

  “Nothing ma’am,” Caparzo said.

  “Get those supplies on that damn truck and . . .” Sanchez was saying.

  “Ma’am, Venito lost our weapons and ammo,” Guerrero said.

  “Then pick up some stones and throw them at the enemy. Furthermore, shut up, load the truck, and get our supplies to our new base,” Sanchez ordered them.

  “Roger,” all of them said together.

  Thirty-six hours passed before the rest of the supplies got to their new base. They arrived without further complications. Within that time period they suffered another major headache. But on a positive note, as soon as they got their communicational array back up and running, they picked up static with some audio that was coming from Galactic Prime. It took a huge weight off of everybody’s shoulders in knowing that the crew of Galactic Prime was still there, and they hadn’t abandoned them.

  (3)

  When Ellis, Wexler, and Moriarty got to the boat house, Sanchez told them everything that happened. She told them how Coté was behaving, that she volunteered to cross the waterway, and that she would not let anyone approach her. All three then suited up (in the bio-suits) and went to see Coté. Coté was still on the beach, naked and scared. She let them approach her without incident.

  “Elisabeth, we’re here to help,” Ellis said in a gentle tone of voice. Coté only nodded her head. They began to check her using their bio-reader. After they finished doing a thorough search of her, they looked at one another and said nothing.

  “What? What did you find? I can take it,” Coté said, bracing herself for the worst.

  “Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with you,” Wexler said with a smile.

  “How can you be so sure? Neither one of you is a doctor,” Coté said.

  “Ma’am, she’s okay! There’s nothing wrong with her!” Ellis said out loud to Sanchez. Sanchez started to come closer.

  “Wait! How can you be so sure that I’m not infected!?” Coté yelled.

  “If I wasn’t so sure, I wouldn’t do this,” Wexler said. He then deactivated his bio-suit. When he did, the nanoprobes destroyed themselves along with any contaminant on the suit. After he did that, Moriarty, and then Ellis, deactivated their suits.

  Coté stood there taking in the fact that she was okay. Sanchez came near and put a blanket around her. Sanchez, with her arm around Coté, led her back to the boat house. Moriarty picked up Coté’s clothing and took it to the boat house. He then handed the clothes to Sanchez, who took them to Coté.

  “I want you to sedate her,” Sanchez told Moriarty after she gave Coté her clothing.

  “Why?”

  “She’s been through a lot and she needs her rest.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  After Moriarty sedated Coté, both he and Sanchez went outside so that she could talk to Ellis, Wexler, and Moriarty.

  “I need for the three of you to suit back up and go over there and check out what got Coté so upset. Also, I want you to do some recon. But don’t travel too far,” Sanchez ordered them.

  “Roger,” all three said.

  After the bio-suit was finished recharging (creating more nanoprobes), Ellis, Wexler, and Moriarty suited up, got into a rowboat, and traveled across the waterway. They landed on one side of the pier. As they went up the beach and stood near the pier, they saw what got Coté so upset.

  “What is that orange stuff?” Moriarty said. He was pointing at an orange-colored pool of water that was lying on the street. There was also an orange stain on the street.

  “It’s an orange-colored cinnabar.” Wexler said.

  “What’s a cinnabar?” Ellis asked.

  “Vermilion,” Wexler responded.

  “What’s vermilion?” Ellis asked.

  “A different shade of the color red,” Wexler said.

  “Look man, I’m in no mood for your sarcasm,” Ellis said, annoyed by Wexler.

  “I wasn’t being sarcastic,” Wexler said.

  “Well let’s just call it orange. Okay?” Ellis said.

  “Sure,” Wexler responded.

  “Moriarty, go and take a sample of that water,” Ellis ordered him.

  “Yes sir,” Moriarty responded. He then went to collect some of the water. When he stood up, he just stood there, looked around, and did nothing.

  “Moriarty, what in the hell are you doing?” Ellis asked him.

  “Wait sir.”

  “Don’t tell me to wait. You cracker.”

  “Listen sir.”

  “Boy I’m fixing to go over there and . . .”

  “No sir. Listen.”

  “Listen to what?”

  “Sir, just listen.”

  “And I said ‘to what’?” Ellis was starting to get upset with Moriarty.

  “Hey Triple-T, I think he means to pay attention to our surroundings,” Wexler said.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Ellis said after he listened for a while.

  “Exactly. There’s no sound,” Moriarty said.

  “So what? There’s no sound,” Ellis said.

  “Sir, shouldn’t there be the sounds of nature? You know, like birds or something?” Moriarty said.

  Ellis started to listen again and realized that Moriarty was right. Something must be wrong. There were no sounds of nature. It had a sobering effect upon him.

  “Alright, let�
��s go and check out these houses,” Ellis said under his breath.

  The houses that Ellis was referring to were six buildings that either directly or indirectly dealt with fishing. While they were searching the buildings, the storm struck. They then went back to the nearest building closest to the pier.

  On the western side of those buildings was a road that ran north-to-south. The road had a crossroad, and all six buildings were on the northern side of the crossroad. South of the pier was the mouth of a river. The river ran from the north-by-southwest. Like the small island that they came from, the place was heavily forested.

  Ellis made the decision to wait out the storm. He felt that if they were to travel in the storm, they may get lost. He also didn’t want any unexpected thing to occur to either one of them while they were in the storm. After the storm passed, Ellis made the decision that Wexler should head north, he would head south, and Moriarty would take the road that heads west. Because of the order that Sanchez gave them, he didn’t want them to travel any more than ten miles (16 kilometers). As luck would have it, there were bicycles there at one of the houses.

  The road that Wexler was on was constantly within sight of the waterway. Other than the occasional skeletal remains of a dead animal, he didn’t see anything that could be called important. After Wexler traveled for 7.5 miles (12 kilometers), both the road and the shoreline curved to the west. He then stood there to see if he could see anything of importance. He then left and headed back to the house that Ellis told him to return to. He was the first to arrive.

  While Moriarty was traveling down the road, he saw the remains of a human and a dog. The dog was obviously a pet. Moriarty started to record what he saw through his visor. He squatted down and began to investigate both of the corpses. He then noticed bite marks on the bones of the human remains. It was clear to him that the dog was eating its master and then someone shot the dog. But did the dog kill and then begin to eat its master, or was it eating its master after the person had died? There was no way to tell, so Moriarty pressed on.

  Off-and-on Moriarty would come across the remains of either people or cars that had been shot up. In one case, he saw a car that must have plowed through a crowd of people as someone shot at the crowd, and then it ended up in a ditch. What Moriarty found so strange about it was that nobody in the crowd seemed to have panicked. Moriarty recorded what he saw, stopped the recording, and left.