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Voyager: Chapter 15

I woke up to the view of a page with small text scrawled across it. Groggily, I shoved aside the book which flopped off my face and onto the ground next to me. It wasn't that good of a read, most of it was filled with boring politics with small bits of action that failed to make up for the dull moments, but after so long without reading anything, it was alright. I would need to talk to Susan about potentially going on one of her patrols that she spoke of so I could try and get to a library. Paper books were still very popular, digital had a strong foothold, but it just couldn't beat the feeling of actual paper in your hands.

Crane was still sleeping, he had a small thin space blanket lightly laid atop him. I don't know how he was comfortable with that. I was freezing now that my body was starting to wake up. I breathed out and watched as my foggy breath floated away from me and eventually dissipated. Winter was definitely coming and the need for proper equipment for that was going to slowly become more apparent as it became colder.

I left Crane to sleep, he would be tired after running for so long and headed outside to enjoy the morning sun. I took along a can of what I think was chili and a pocket knife to open it with, the label had been torn off some time ago so it was a bit of a pot luck, I just remembered having a can of chili that had it label torn off.

The morning air stung my face as I stepped out into a slight breeze that was pushing the ash from Central Park past the gate. There were two people guarding the gate. They stood on platforms made of large chucks of debris that must have fallen into position when the buildings on either side of the coms base fell. The debris was large enough for them to be able to look over the gate. Each was bundled up in several layers of clothing and had their rifles on slings while they rubbed their hands together in an attempt to stave off the cold.

There were a few others around. Two women, one in a grey sweater and the other in a red windbreaker, were talking as they made their way to the back where the garden was. I hope they were planning on getting those tomatoes if the cold hadn't already gotten them.

I sat down at the steps that led into building and began to pry open the lid of the can with my small knife that was so dull, I had to repeatedly stab the top of the can to make any progress. The smell that came out of the holes I was making confirmed that it was chili and was still good. Crane may have had the better nose, but I didn't need his nose to know when canned food went bad. Canned food never smelt good in the first place so rotten canned food was easy to smell out. Rule of thumb, if it burns your nose hairs out, then it's bad. Simply making you gag wasn't a dead giveaway that it was bad.

Once I had the lid off, I bent the lid into a scoop shape making a pseudo spoon since I had left mine back in my pack up with Crane. I at the chili slowly, making sure to avoid the sharp edges of the can lid as I did so. I was starting to really hate beans and all of its sub foods, such as this chili. For some reason, beans were the most plentiful of the canned foods, followed closely by corn which needed salt. I didn't know about the food situation on Mars, but I did know that there were large wineries and grape fields. Once I got there, the plan was to get drunk one night just for fun. Though I had absolute faith that we would be getting off eventually now, it was only a matter of waiting for the damn politicians to make the decision.

"Morning." I turned around to see the source of the voice. It was Tom. He walked out in sweats and a grey suit jacket that was over another jacket to block out the cold. He took a seat next to me and looked out beyond the gate to where the sun was just moments from peaking over the city scape.

I nodded to him and also watched the sun. Its rays of light broke through the concrete and just about blinded me.

"Whoever designed this old building knew exactly where to put it to see the sun rise." Tom muttered, he didn't seem all that affected to the sun, though he did squint and look slightly away from it.

"Yeah, sure. It would be nice to be able to see as well." I spoke through my fingers as I waited for my eyes to adjust. I really did like it. Truly beautiful things were hard to come by in the city. Some swore that the art at the local modern art museums was some of the best in the world, but I never got modern art. Was it supposed to look like garbage or something that a three year old put together?

"Carlos thinks he can get a message sent out in the afternoon, but in the meantime, it's time to start giving some back." He held up a small leaflet to me and I took it. It was a work schedule. "Everyone has one, today, you're cleaning out a few rooms up on the top floor which had nearly collapsed a week ago. We have some people already working on repairs, but they need someone to just get some of the junk out of the way."

"Doesn't sound hard. When am I expected to start?" I pocketed the paper and shoveled a bit of the cold chili into my mouth.

"Anytime. As long as it gets done today." He told me and then got up. He stretched his arms over his head. "So you're planning on introducing Dana to Crane?"

I nodded since I had food in my mouth.

"I'm sure Crane is a good guy, but just make sure you don't push her too hard. She is just a child." He said it casually enough but there was a warning in it. Don't do anything that will harm my sister.

"Understood." I replied and looked at him to let him know that I got the undertone of the message.

He left me to finish my breakfast which I quickly ate. If I ate too slowly, my brain eventually got the idea that it tasted like shit and I wouldn't be able to finish it.

Might as well get the work out of the way now or I'll forget later in the day.

The upper floors were pretty torn up. Parts of the ceiling were collapsed and I could see where people had begun to patch it up with rebar. There was lots of small debris around, small clusters of bricks that were still being held together with mortar and just the usual clutter. There were already some others up here who were doing various jobs, some were cleaning like me, others were trying to fix a hole that had appeared in a crumbling section of wall. There was no single person in charge, but everyone was working in a semi-organized way that got the job done.

I joined in after putting on a pair of gloves that were set aside and found that despite the size of the mess, it wasn't hard at all. Just pick up a few pieces of debris and move it off to the side where another person would move it somewhere else. It was efficient and before I knew it, most of the mess was cleaned up and judging by how high the sun was in the sky, it was getting close to noon. I finished up the rest of the floor and then made my way down stairs to where the radio was.

Carlos was there and he was doing something with the radio while mumbling curses to himself.

"Damn fucking piece of junk." He smacked one of the radio boxes on its side. "Work!"

"Need any help." I asked him. I didn't really care that he was having difficulty, I just wanted to know what the Admiral had to say.

"Unless you can get the single to magically clear up, then no." He grumbled some more at the machine. "There's some sort of interference. A bit is normal, but this is just blocking everything. I couldn't even send a message across the god damn street if I wanted to."

I didn't have anywhere else to go and I Tom or Susan was probably going to show up in a bit anyways, so I pulled up a chair and waited while Carlos busied himself with the radio. He largely ignored me as he was absorbed by his work which only made him more vulgar with time. I could hear nothing but static which just changed in tone as Carlos changed the frequency and trued to clear it up.

"Don't trust..." Something came through the radio, but was quickly drowned out in the static.

Carlos caught onto it and frantically tried to fins the signal again.

Tom walked into the room. "What's up Carlos? How's..."

"Shut up." Carlos spat as he turned dials. Beads of sweat were slowly forming on his brow and on the tip of his nose as his face turned a light shade of pink.

"What's up with him?" Tom leaned over to me and whispered.

"Something came up in the signal. He's trying to find it again."

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure." I shook my head. "I think it said, don't trust, but that was it until the static came up again."

"I think I got it." Carlos exclaimed. He was hunched over as far as he could be with his eyes mere inches away from the radio as he stared intently at every little indicator.

He slowly, very slowly, tuned a dial on the top of the radio and I could hear the static slowly fading and a robotic voice slowly coming through.

"Don't trust Crane. He's not what you think. Don't trust Crane." The message was short and repeated itself over and over.

I looked over at Tom with a confused look and he returned it. What could it mean? As far as I was concerned, Crane was the last person I wouldn't trust, he saved my life. The message didn't sound like it was coming from a person, but a computer that was set to just repeat.

"What do you think Tom?" Carlos turned his chair around to face us. He dabbed the sweat on his face with the sleeve of the flannel shirt he was wearing.

"I don't know, but I think Susan should hear this." Tom suggested and the rest of us agreed. She was in charge and though my first thought was that it was bogus, it was disturbing. Somehow, someone else out there knew about Crane as well and believed that he was untrustworthy.

A short time later, Tom had Susan down in the room listening to the message as well. It was coming in strong and clear, all traces of any static were gone. The signal was getting stronger as time went by.

Susan stood next to Carlos by the radio and had her hands on her hips. "Can you figure out where the signal is coming from?"

"No ma'am." Carlos leaned back in his chair to the point where the two front legs were barely above the floor. "The radio can only send and receive. We don't have the equipment to trace anything."

"What do we do about Crane?" Tom asked and I tried not to glare.

"We don't know if we should do anything." I countered. "I trust Crane, the Admiral on Mars seems to trust him."

"Calm down there." Susan insisted. "There isn't any reason to trust the message, but it is a cause for concern. I'll have some people keep an eye on Crane, if nothing happens, then everything will be fine." She wasn't asking for my opinion. I was still an outsider on a way, the newbie. It would take time before my word held any merit and even if it did, it was about to just be flushed down the drain.

A shrill shriek echoed into the room along with bouts of gunfire.

We sprang into action and hurried up top where guards were firing into a massive horde of collectors that were rapidly advancing across the park. There were so many of them, more than I had ever seen. Thousands, of all variety. It was still the afternoon as well, they shouldn't have been out in any large numbers. This was insane. The guards were trying their best to shoot as many as they could, but the look on their faces said it all, there was no way they were going to stop this attack.

"Carlos!" Susan yelled. "Get a message off to Mars."

"I can't, the signal is blocked." He coughed up as he switched form gaping in horror to talking.

"Do it!" She grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him into the building. He looked back for a moment, about to say something, but he turned around and hustled away as fast as his overweight body could carry him.

The few unarmed people outside began to run inside. I was about to as well until an arm turned me around.

"Go find Crane." It was Tom and he looked furious.

Now wasn't the time to argue so I nodded and went inside. I didn't know where to start so I just went from room to room. I heard another shrill shriek. I had thought that it was just from someone outside, but this one was coming from inside. I ran towards the sound of the shriek until I turned and ran into a small room.

Pain shot up from my abdomen and my hands went to where it was coming from. I looked down and saw that there was a knife there, sticking straight into my gut. Holding onto the handle was a paw with stubby fingers.