First Contact

by Charlie Forêt

A short story set in the Integration era.

Ebook ISBN: 979-8-9985516-9-7

Part Two

Nev's face hadn't said no yet.

Harko had already expressed his thoughts, but he wasn't the one facing a useless stat that was "Flagged."

The system had been telling me to engage for four years. Tonight I would.

Nev's blue eyes stayed focused on my face. "You'll go alone if we don't come with you, won't you?"

I hadn't expected that question. At least not from her.

I nodded, my mouth suddenly dry.

"Don't tell me you're actually considering this, Nev. He won't go if we don't. He's not that dumb."

She ignored him. "When would you go?"

"Tonight. There's a gap in the sensor field. I watched to see if the patrol covers it. They don't, not consistently. We'd have at least forty minutes after a sweep to clear the personnel gate." I'd timed them and double checked the schedule.

"Forty minutes to cover two klicks to the forest and not leave an obvious trail? You're trying to kill us."

We could all travel farther, faster. "You're not that out of shape, Harko. Nev could cover it in ten minutes."

She likes to run.

"It's a class two rift? We're just kids. Class two has killed adults, Kes."

Nev's lips pursed. "Harko, when was the last time a person died in a class two? It sounds like you've studied them."

He was surprised to have to defend his position. Me challenging him, he would expect. Nev questioning was new ground.

"I can look it up."

Nev nodded. "He'll go without us, which will make it more dangerous."

"So you're in?"

She looked me in the eye, holding my stare to the point it was almost uncomfortable. I blinked. Her shoulders loosened, not quite a slump. Then she nodded.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you."

"Which part of random variance in flux and anomalies in local environments don't you two understand about flux rifts?"

"You want to see one, too, Harko," I teased. "Admit it."

He grumbled.

"Let's do it." Nev punched my shoulder. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't playful either. It put me on notice that I owed her one.

"I've got a test," Harko complained.

"So take the test," Nev said. "We'll get some supplies."

Ditching school was frowned on, but not that uncommon. Nev and I skipping out together was unique.

I thought about the punch as we walked down the paved road toward what passed for Main Street. Finley's was our general store in town. I had no idea what we should get, so grabbed regular stuff. Some snacks and water, mostly. Nev added a small first aid kit, which was a good idea.

Nev stopped between the rows of canned goods. "Are you trying to impress someone from the cafeteria?"

Her words were rushed and her eyes wouldn't meet mine directly.

Someone there? Yes, partially.

"No."

Now her eyes found mine. She searched for something, then nodded.

"You mentioned a patrol gap," Nev said after we finished shopping and headed toward our side of town.

"Yeah. There's a gap in the sensor field, which is why I went to see if they were covering it with people. That's when I saw the patrol."

She snorted. "How do you get access to see where sensor gaps exist?"

"Mom. She's a little sloppy with security on her work gear. It's not like we have a real enemy out there, from her perspective. We're in the Fringe. Flux rifts are a fact of life. That's why they put up the warning signs on the gates and activate the fence at night."

"Yeah, you never know what might come out in the Fringe. Did you hear about the crestpelt that tried to jump the fence in the north west quadrant?"

I laughed. "Of course. Mom's handheld buzzed like a banshee. She said the guards almost pissed themselves."

Nev shook her head. "We probably would, too. What are we going to do if there's a crestpelt around on our way going out or coming back?"

"They're just big, overgrown cats. They'll avoid us. Dad's got some cans of pepper spray in the house. I'll grab three, one for each of us."

Mom and Dad were both at work. Nev followed me into the house and stopped in the kitchen while I went to the storage closet for the spray. When I came back she was reading the calendar on the wall. Mom kept it on paper, saying it reminded her of her own childhood.

"Your dad's birthday is a week from tomorrow," she said.

I'd forgotten, despite Mom writing it down in blue ink. Nev said it the way she'd said everything this afternoon: a fact she'd noted. I handed her one of the cans of spray. She checked the simple safety trigger, nodded, and put it in her bag.

Curious that she mentioned Dad's birthday.

She left before dinner and I reminded her to set an alarm.

Then I nearly forgot to take my own advice.

I was puffing from my jog to the warehouse one street from the gate, worried she would think I had chickened out. She was still there. So was Harko.

"Changed your mind?" I asked. Nev shook her head.

Harko pointed at the small pack I had, then the larger one sitting at his feet. "I figured you'd just go running off and get yourself killed, so I decided I could at least come and bear witness."

"We've got food, water, and a first aid kit. Oh, and I brought pepper spray for us." In the dim light, I saw his eyes widen.

His foot tapped his pack. "Shelter. Flares. Fire kit. I'm still an idiot."

I'd packed snacks. He'd brought a survival kit.

"We should get going."

Nev grabbed the larger pack from Harko, who did not protest. I shouldered mine. We glanced up and down the road before crossing to the gate.

I crouched, ready to jog again, but Nev touched my shoulder and shook her head. "Act normal. We'll just stroll over to the gate like we belong. Crouching and running will look wrong if anyone does see us."

Harko nodded and stepped off. "Yeah, we're just out for a stroll in the wilds of the Fringe in the middle of the night. Nothing strange to see or report here."

I took a deep breath, straightened, and then followed. Nev stepped out beside me. "What do you think the rift looks like?" she asked as we walked.

"Shimmering light," Harko said. "I read a little this afternoon."

"Preparing for a test?"

"Isn't it?"

I had meant it as a tease, but he was right.

"I suppose it is. What else did you learn?"

"It's always random. A lot of people have reported different things. Some say the geometry of the world is wrong inside a rift, like they were in five-dimensional space or something."

"I heard people saying it's like a slightly different world, as if they stepped into a new dimension," Nev added.

I had read some of the same stories. "Maybe we should have planned to bring some weapons." A few of the stories talked about strange creatures needing to be fought.

"I did," Nev said. The sheathed machete on her belt was hard to miss now that she'd mentioned it. She had a machete. I had a utility knife.

"I've got a field shovel in that pack," Harko admitted. "Ancient stories talk about using a trenching tool as a weapon."

Idle conversation ended at the gate. Harko and Nev stopped, turning to look at me. "We'll be going past the bamboo forest to get to the rift. Nev can cut us some spears, just in case."

Harko shrugged and Nev nodded. I slipped the latch on the gate and opened it. I stepped through, holding the metal frame until my friends passed through, then closed the gate behind us.

Despite the occasional crestpelt hunting close to town, there wasn't much dangerous wildlife in the surrounding forests. It felt different in the middle of the night, traveling without adult supervision. The two moons shone brightly, making it almost a cheerful outing.

We stayed quiet until we reached the far edge of the fields surrounding town.

"The potatoes look healthy," was Harko's only comment. We were careful to walk along the rows of plants.

Once under cover of the shrubs and smaller trees, we paused. "Where now?" Nev asked.

We had planned our route together this afternoon. I pulled out the compass and map I had printed. Harko used his handheld as a dim light and looked over my shoulder. I pointed. "South, south-east. We should reach a stream, then follow it to the left."

"Why not cut straight through?" Harko asked, pointing toward the rift location.

I tapped the contour lines bunched together about halfway to the rift location. "That's the start of a rille, running nearly a hundred klicks. We'd get there, then have to turn south anyway to get to a passable area."

"No rock climbing in the dark," Nev said. Even with the moonlight, that would be too dangerous.

"The stream will keep us from going too far south. The rift is between the creek and the rille, and this bluff," I tapped the map, "is on the far side of the water and due East of the rift."

Harko nodded. "So we reach the bluff, then turn back toward town?"

"Yep."

He studied the map for a moment. "I guess you have a plan. Let's get going."

I took the lead and Nev brought up the rear. The density of the forest prevented us from walking side-by-side.

Twenty minutes later, in a bamboo thicket, we stopped and Nev cut Harko and me serviceable staves. She used her machete to put a point on one end of them for us. Then we resumed our trek.

Carrying a spear in the dark sobered our mood. We reached the stream, turned left and followed it to the northeast. I noticed the shadows shifting as Ravik, the smaller moon, moved toward the horizon. Silune, the larger moon, still lit our path along the sparse vegetation of the stream's bank.

In my overlay, I spied a flicker to the northwest of us. Nothing obvious, just an off-note, almost a hint of static, which was absurd.

The bluff rose on the far side of the creek sooner than I expected. I stopped our march, turning back to the west. The forest was eerily quiet, leaving us with the babble of water behind us and no sounds of animal near. My overlay brightened when I looked west. Even if I minimized it, the view was brighter that direction.

Harko looked back along our path. I forced my grip on my spear to relax. Nev eased her machete in its sheath, then looked at me, almost daring me to turn back. Harko looked from Nev to me and back. His face went still, the way it had at the table when she'd arrived.

He's reading something. He isn't going to share it.

"Do you guys need a break or should we push onward?"

"It's not too late to call this off, Kes," Harko said. "I mean, we had a little adventure, nobody got hurt. We could just go home."

I glanced at Nev, wondering what she really thought.

You'll go alone if we don't come with you, won't you?

Her question rang in my ears. Measurable engagement. I glanced toward the flicker in my overlay.

"You guys can go back, if you want. I want, no, I need to at least see the rift."

Nev gave Harko a look that I couldn't decipher. Then started walking.

Harko sighed. "Okay, then let's go look at this rift that's calling you. Just remember, if something happens and you get killed, I'll never talk to you again."

I had to laugh.

"Good to know."

"If something goes wrong, I'm not leaving either of you. For the record."

First Contact - Part 2

First Contact

by Charlie Forêt

Part Two

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