1

They were both very subdued on the way back. Neither of them had fully realised the scale of the task…and the sheer size of the area they were now searching…! Mission AI had divided the search zone into sectors, and Priya and Marta had managed to search eight, adding to the ten the boys had searched the day before. That left dozens to go, even in the high priority areas shrouded by the cloud. The drone had dutifully patrolled the areas closest to the cloud edge where it was possible that the runaways might have sneaked in without Earthcomm downlink registering their presence. It was true that the boundaries of the plume constantly shifted, meaning that areas obscured two days ago were now revealed, but Marta doubted the usefulness of the drone’s work.
The strain of constantly looking was exhausting. They’d quickly realised that the person flying the ‘plane had too much to think about to be much use as an observer, so the search pattern had to involve flying across the quadrant in one direction and then turning and flying back on a parallel course a few hundred metres further across to make sure the girl observing could see equally well in both directions. This was a feat of navigation in itself, but fortunately one their interfaces in conjunction with the ‘plane’s navigational intelligence was up to. Visibility was still extremely poor as the air below the cloud was filled with particulate matter,
“I can’t help thinking,” said Marta, “that we’ve already flown over where they’ve landed, and just missed them…”
“We can’t start thinking like that…” replied Priya, “look, they’ve got to have landed somewhere flat enough to put the aircraft down safely…that cuts down the possible landing sites…”
“…the trouble is” interrupted Marta, “is that it’s really difficult to tell from up here how flat the topography really is…”
They flew in silence for a while, before Priya said,
“You know, I’ll think we’ll find them when they want to be found…”
Rai had been inconsolable when they’d got back to their camp. Jorja realised that the ‘chai’ had been his ‘big idea’, the food source that made their surviving independently of the Dome feasible. But it appeared that, rather than a source of food, the sap was a dangerous narcotic, best avoided. Jorja, as the nutritionist, had calculated how long the rations they’d brought with them would last…and the news was not good… If they stuck to the recommended minimum calorie intake, no more than three weeks. Of course, they could go on to reduced rations but that would just prolong the inevitable. She tried to talk to Rai about this but he had refused to listen and had stormed off. She didn’t follow this time and he’d been in a much better mood when he’d returned…leading her to suspect that he’d visited the grove…
This was confirmed an hour later, when Rai said out of blue,
“Me tru ting pas pod…”
“Ke tru…?”
“De jan, fem! Yo dek!”
So she’d followed him back to the grove, noticing with sinking heart the axe lying by the nearest pod stem…and the sap dripping from a fresh cut. But they didn’t stop there, carrying on into the grove itself… Rai explained that for some reason he’d decided to have a look at what lay further in the grove of pseudo-plants…and he’d made a surprising discovery…
Rai led her right to the heart of the grove and they finished up squeezing between two large boles…into a space hidden behind them…
“Oh my…!” Jorja felt her blood run cold, “Is it alive…? She was so astounded that it was a few seconds before she realised that she’d spoken in Standard,
“Me ken na…!”
The pseudo-crustacean was wedged into a space made by the ‘roots’ of the largest pod. The creature lay absolutely motionless, but appeared otherwise completely intact,
“Hap es dor…” said Rai.
Their lack of knowledge about the crusty lifecycle included not knowing if the creatures did indeed sleep…but Rai said that, if pressed, he would have said that the creature was in some form of suspended animation, or hibernation… Rai also noticed something that he’d missed earlier… The creature seemed to be connected by some sort of tube…connected to the pseudo-plant…
Marta had spent a rather sombre evening with Jorge, neither of them sure how long she would be gone,
“Do you think you’ll find them…?” asked the boy,
“I think Priya got it right when she said we’ll find them when they want to be found…”
“They can’t stay out there forever…they’ll starve…! And besides, it can’t be very nice out there, surely they’ll get tired and get in touch when they want to be rescued…”
“We don’t actually know how many rations they took, it seems there are some shortcomings in the nursemaids’ accounting procedures…”
“Surely we must have some idea… the ’plane’s not that big…”
“…not much more than a month…”
They were both silent after that sobering thought, eventually Marta said,
“The other problem is we might have to be really close to receive a signal…when they send one…
Jorge knew that communication by ’face needed proximity, but surely they could pick up a radio signal. He said as much,
“Unfortunately, it really depends on the topography…if they’re in ‘radio shadow’ then we could be five kliks away and not hear them…”
“They’ve really got themselves in a fix, haven’t they…?”
The following day Marta and Priya were back in the aircraft. Han had managed to wedge himself along with a tent and essential stores in the cramped cargo space. He was wearing cold weather survival gear as the temperature would drop well below zero in the unpressurised hold. He positioned himself against the bulkhead nearest the cockpit, hoping to benefit from any heat that bled through…the nursemaids had also printed an oxygen mask, necessary at the altitude they would be flying.
Marta had taken the controls for take-off. The ’craft was very unresponsive, and for a horrible moment she thought it wouldn’t take off at all. When it did struggle into the air, the rate of climb was significantly less than they were use to,
‘Um, we might be pushing the envelope at bit,’ she thought…

---

The flight had been hairy and exhausting for the pilots. Things had improved once they were flying properly rather than using the propellers for lift, but it was still like ‘flying a brick’, as Priya put it. Once over the barrier range, Marta had relinquished control to the younger girl. She didn’t trust herself to land the thing safely with all that extra weight…
They could see something was wrong even before they climbed out of the cockpit…the drone was not where they left it… Marta wanted to go and investigate,
“Better get Han out, first…”
“Good thinking, batman…” said Marta, remembering her twentieth century popular culture.
Han could hardly stand when they got him out, so cold was he… His oxygen had also given out when they were still over the mountains, and he’d found himself starting to pass out,
“Why didn’t you give the signal…?” said Priya.
They’d agreed he would knock on the bulkhead if he found himself in distress,
“I thought I did…!”
“We wouldn’t have been able to do much anyway…” said Marta, “…besides, something’s happened to the drone…”
They’d eaten and given Han a hot drink before they decided to investigate, but once Han was able to walk unaided they went over to where the machine lay, slightly battered.
The drone had been dragged at least fifty metres and was covered in dents and scratches. Han straightened up after examining it,
“It’s not going to fly, not without repairs…the prop’s damaged…! said Han, standing back to let them see,
“Those look like crusty tracks…!” said Marta, pointing to the disturbed soil,
“Good job we brought the rifle…!” said Priya, hefting the weapon,
“Maybe we should go back…” said Han,
Nobody said anything to that, but it was clear that none of them fancied a return journey like the one they’d just endured…
“Jo jan pas …?” Jorja couldn’t understand what had drawn Rai into the grove in the first place…and how he’d found the sleeping pseudo-crustacean,
“Ken na….!”
They’d been arguing about the chai, Jorja saying that not only was the stuff dangerous, but it was crazy to go and get it when there was a dangerous animal only metres away… She was rapidly coming to the conclusion that the whole enterprise was a terrible idea. She was fed up with being dirty, fed up with being cold, fed up wearing the same clothes all the time…fed up with the tasteless rations, scared of the chai and the effect it had on them, especially Rai…scared of the sleeping creature, what if it were to wake up…? And terrified of starving or freezing to death..!
“Me wis me Dome…!” she whispered
Rai had been arguing that the sap was safe provided they didn’t drink too much…that it made them feel better…and that he was convinced it was highly nutritious, as was evident by the fact it seemed to be keeping the pseudo-crustacean alive…
“De na crusty…!” she’d snapped back, but that just led to an extended sulk from the boy as they made their way back to the camp…and to make everything absolutely peachy, she needed to go again, and couldn’t stand the thought of another trip to the stinking place in the rocks they had designated as their latrine…
After that they’d have to make another fire, and then there were the rations to look forward to…

---

2

In the end they’d decided that Priya would fly back by herself that evening. Marta and Han would stay with the rifle, and guard the camp. They’d tried following the tracks made by their visitor but these had disappeared once they’d reached a patch of stony terrain. In truth, none of them was particularly good tracker, and they started to worry about the safety of the camp in their absence. In the end they’d pitched the tent as far away from any patch of pseudo-vegetation as possible, leaving Priya to finish setting up the camp while Marta and Han set off to fly search and rescue,
“Keep the rifle with you at all times…” said Marta, “keep a look out and remember to listen….” The hissing sounds made by the crusties’ primitive lungs were very distinctive, and carried well in the silence…
The afternoon passed without incident. Marta and Han searched another five quadrants, without success…and then took a detour via the nearest open water, landed and filled several collapsible water containers before flying back to the camp,
‘At least we won’t die of thirst…’ thought Marta, she’d been rather apprehensive approaching the water’s edge, thinking about what Han had seen from the ‘plane,
‘I’m not sure I like the Equatorial regions,’ she had concluded.
When they got back Priya had sorted the camp and was cooking the evening meal. She had nothing unusual to report. Over dinner they’d made a list of items they needed from the Dome. With Sal riding with Priya in the cabin, they could fill the hold with cargo. They needed another tent, more food, another gun and more ammunition, a portable latrine…but they also needed spares to repair the damaged drone, and with a possibly hostile crusty lurking, they needed security countermeasures… In the end it was decided the latrine could wait, they would have to continue taking a spade out onto the plain and digging…!
After dinner Marta and Han waved Priya off, and were left alone in the wilderness,
“I think we’ll be safe until nightfall…” said Han, but that left nearly ten hours of darkness…
Once night fell they’d decided to take it in turn to stand watch, while the other tried to sleep. The first six hours passed uneventfully, after three hours standing guard and two hours trying to sleep, Marta had finally dropped off…
…She was suddenly wide awake…and completely disoriented…she checked the time on her ’face. She’d been asleep for nearly three hours…! Han should have woken her two hours ago…she had a horrible sick feeling…
There was definitely something outside, she could hear it hissing…and the small noises it made while it investigated the camp. She had her knife, but no firearm…that was with Han, wherever he was… Marta tried to slip out her sleeping bag as quietly as possible…every slight noise seemed impossibly magnified in her heightened state of fear and alertness. Next, she had to find her shoes…and put them on. A horrible moment when the thing outside appeared to approach the tent, but the sound retreated again,
‘Can’t go out the front…’ she reasoned, ‘…so try the back!’
Her knife was very sharp and managed to slice through the material and make a hole big enough to get through…and then she was off into the darkness. The soft sandy soil made no sound…and she didn’t look back until well clear. She could just about see the creature…it was a crusty, alright…rather a small one. Alpha 5 has no moon, and both primaries were below the horizon…but Prox was in the sky, low down to the West and this provided just enough light to see,
‘But where’s Han?’ thought the girl. She didn’t like to think about the possibilities too much. Hopefully, the thing would eventually lose interest and go. She needed to stay close to the camp, as she didn’t like to think what else might be out there… She tried to calm herself and think rationally,
‘If it’s a crusty then there’ll only be one in this area,’ she reasoned, ‘We haven’t seen any around in daylight, so presumably this sub-species is nocturnal…’
She was working herself ‘round towards the drone hoping to hide behind it. The creature hadn’t shown any signs of being aware of her but she didn’t want to take any chances. She almost tripped over Han…
He was slumped beside the drone…the boy wasn’t moving, but Marta couldn’t see in the dim light if he was injured. She moved her face close to his…he was still breathing,
‘Thank God…’
Then another discovery…the rifle lay at his feet. She checked it, it hadn’t been fired,
‘This changes the game…’ she thought grimly and taking the rifle she marched out into the open…
The crusty seemed to be preoccupied with one of the water containers. Marta cocked the rifle and fired into the air…the retort was deafening in the stillness…the creature spun ‘round to face her, hissing loudly… She didn’t want to kill it but needs must,
‘One more warning shot…!’
Her second shot thudded into the dust in front of it…slowly, hissing all the while, the creature started to back away. Marta cocked the rifle again and pointed it at the monster…it continued to retreat, before slowly turning and heading off at greater speed… She followed from a distance until she thought it was far enough away…then turned and loped off back to the camp…reaction took her and she sat down hard, shaking uncontrollably… A sort of groaning sound bought her to her senses,
‘Han…’ she thought
His eyes were open when she got there, but unfocused…one pupil seemed to be bigger than the other,
‘Concussion…’ she thought grimly,
“Can you speak…? What happened…?” she whispered.
Han looked at her but appeared confused and wasn’t able to say anything. Getting a sleeping bag from the tent she made sure he was warm before standing guard with the rifle…the sky was beginning to lighten over in the West…
Once Alph had risen, Marta took stock. The camp was a bit of mess. The creature seemed mainly interested in the water containers and had ripped two of them apart. Nothing else seemed damaged. Han was sleeping, but breathing regularly…she could see a patch of dried blood on his scalp, but nothing else seemed amiss…
Just after 11.00 the aircraft returned…
They were in slightly better spirits when dawn broke. The atmosphere was definitely improving. The ash cloud seemed higher in the sky, and the rain of particles was definitely easing… Against her better judgement, Jorja had allowed Rai to take her back to the grove where she’d had a short sip of the chai. A feeling of euphoria took her and things suddenly didn’t seem so bad. She even followed Rai into the grove to check on the sleeping crusty, which hadn’t moved… Rai was talking about powering up the ‘plane once the skies cleared, they could use it to charge some of the power tools he’d brought…he was talking about building a permanent shelter… But by afternoon the feeling had worn off and she felt as desperate as ever…
Rai left abruptly mid- afternoon, presumably to get another fix…! While he was away, she had an idea. She’d read that the aircraft’s solar panels worked whenever there was daylight…the current wouldn’t be much, but maybe it might be enough to power the emergency beacon… She was able to scramble up onto the deck of aircraft and clear the vegetation from a small section of the solar panels. Then she switched the beacon on… The signal was very weak… Making sure that she replaced the camouflage carefully, she returned to their camp and started preparing the dinner…
Rai wasn’t hungry when he got back from the grove. They’d argued again and he’d stormed off into the night…wiping her tears Jorja had retired to the tent…
“What the hell happened….?”
Marta had done her best to restore some order to the camp, but the large damp patches where their precious water had leaked into the sand were plain to for Sal and Priya to see,
“We had a visit…from our friendly neighbourhood pseudo-crustacean,” said Marta,
“Are you OK…?”
“I’m fine! But Han isn’t…! He’s in the tent…!”
They went in to see him. The boy was semi-conscious and ‘though he tried to talk, nothing he said made sense,
“We need to get him back to the Dome…” said Sal
“Agreed…I’ll fly him back..!” said Marta,
“Are you sure you’re up to it…?”
“I’d rather do that than stay here…!”
“OK, we’ll stay…! We’ve bought another rifle, plus the rest of the gear. I’ll set up the defensive perimeter and then we can have a go at repairing the drone. Hopefully we can get it in the air today…and the day won’t be completely written-off…”
“This is not going very well, is it…?” said Marta gloomily,
“What happened last night…?”
“I don’t really know…I handed over to Han after three hours, and then tried to sleep… Something woke me, and I realised that Han should have relieved me hours ago…and I could hear the thing outside the tent…!” Marta could feel herself beginning to shake again,
“What did you do…?” Priya put her arm ‘round her friend comfort her,
“Well, I knew I couldn’t go out the front of the tent…and I didn’t want to wait until it found me…so I cut a hole in the back wall and managed to escape…”
“I wondered about that…” said Sal,
“I’m afraid it may not be much use now…” said Marta, with an attempt at a smile,
“So what did you do then…?” Priya was insistent,
“Well, I skirted ‘round in the darkness until I was behind the drone… That’s when I found Han, and the rifle…! And I used the gun to drive it away…”
“You were very brave…!” said Priya,
“I don’t feel very brave…! I just feel very stupid, like everything is going pear-shaped…and there’s nothing I can do to stop it…!”
“Do you know what happened to him…?”
“No idea…! Priya, I thought he was dead…!”
“It’s all right…”
“Look, I just think I should get him home…!” insisted Marta.
With difficulty, they managed to get the semi-conscious boy into the cockpit, Marta fired up the ‘plane and they set off on the return journey,
‘Please don’t die…’ she thought…
Rai didn’t come back that night and by daybreak Jorja was close to panic. Convinced that the crusty had woken and killed him, she took the rifle and went to look for it…
The area in front of the pods was deserted, but she could see evidence of Rai’s recent presence… The axe lay discarded by one of the maroon boles, and fresh cuts showed where he’d been harvesting the sap,
“What do I do now…?” she realised that she’d spoken the thought aloud…but there was no-one to hear her…! She hated the thought of going anywhere near the pseudo-crustacean, but she had to know if it had left the grove…so, screwing up her courage she forced herself to go back into the purple shade…
To her huge relief the creature was still there, as before…and next to it, curled up like child, lay Rai…! She tried to rouse him, but he wouldn’t wake…and she lacked the strength to lift him… Eventually, fear that she would wake the creature drove her from the place, and there was nothing to do but to trudge back to their camp…
Once back there, she cleared all the mauve pseudo-vegetation hiding the aircraft, hurling it in all directions in her frenzy…It made her feel better. Once she’d calmed down the girl climbed into cockpit and used her interface to check the instruments…the beacon was still working and the signal strength had climbed, but the aircraft wasn’t going to fly anytime soon…
Han didn’t die on the way back, even Marta’s ultra-hard landing didn’t do the trick…! She’d radioed ahead and a whole phalanx of nursemaids was waiting outside the Dome to meet them… Once she’d helped two of the Nurses lift the unconscious boy from the cockpit, she more or less collapsed and remembered nothing more until she found herself in a bed in the Infirmary. Gee was waiting to see her,
“How’s Han…?”
“He’s recovering…he had a bleed on the brain but we were able to operate successfully, and he will be alright… Thanks to your bravery, my dear…”
“It’s not going very well, is it?”
“Hopefully, Sal and Priya will be safe thanks to our new security measures…and if they can get the drone working then we can still search…”
It suddenly occurred to Marta how tenuous their hold on Alpha 5 really was…all it took was a few things to go wrong and the colony was virtually helpless,
‘We know so little about our home,’ she thought,
“I need to get out there…” she said suddenly, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed,
“Not today, dear…You must rest…”
Things became fuzzy after that…

---

3

Jorge was waiting by her bed when she awoke,
“What time is it…?” she asked as soon as things swam into focus,
“19.00…”
“Another day wasted…!”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, you were absolutely exhausted when you got back yesterday… And I don’t think the aircraft has forgiven you yet for that landing…!”
Jorge said this with a smile, and she relaxed a little,
“I’m sorry…it’s just that everything seems to be going to hell at the moment…”
“But that’s not your fault…”
“How’s Han…?”
“He’s still unconscious…they’re keeping him in intensive care for the moment… Do you have any idea what happened to him…?”
“Not really… It had to have been sudden, because he didn’t have time to get a shot off…! It must have been the crusty…” she had a sudden thought,
“Are Sal and Priya alright…?”
“We don’t know for sure, but Earthcomm downlink has been keeping its sensors trained on the camp… There appear to be two tents there now, but resolution isn’t good enough to see anything much smaller… One worrying thing, ‘though! The sensors picked up a flash at those coordinates during the hours of darkness…”
“I just feel so helpless sitting here…!”
“The good news is,” said Jorge, “I think the Nurses are going to let you fly back there tomorrow…!”
The night passed slowly…
Nurse Gee came to see her first thing next morning,
“I hope you are feeling well, my dear…” said Gee breezily, “we have, of course, been monitoring your progress and you will be discharged presently…”
“Does that mean that I can fly out to the Equatorial camp…?” asked the girl,
“In ideal circumstances, no…” said her nursemaid, “…but circumstances are far from ideal…”
And that was it in a nutshell, there was no-one else available…! Jorge, Raj, and Su-ying couldn’t pilot the thing…so it was down to her…
“We have made some modifications to the aircraft while you have been resting, my dear…”
Six Gee paused before enumerating them,
Firstly, we have modified the ’craft’s radar sensor to enable it map the topography as you fly…by this means we hope to identify suitably flat areas of terrain in advance, enabling the operators to concentrate their search efforts in high probability locations… Secondly, we have fitted infrared detectors to pick out hot spots such as cooking fires…”
Gee paused to smile at Marta,
“In addition, we have made some repairs to the vehicle’s undercarriage… Take-off is in one hour…”
It felt good to be in the air, to be doing something… Only Raj and Jorge had been there to see her off. Su-ying was at Han’s bedside. He had regained consciousness, but according to Six Gee, remembered nothing of what had happened two nights before,
‘There’s fewer and fewer of us each day…!’ thought Marta as she gained altitude prior to crossing the Asimov range.
The eruption seemed to have abruptly ceased the night before,
‘About time we had some good news…’ thought the girl, ruefully…
It had taken her all morning but she’d moved the camp to the grove. It meant she was now separated from the ’plane, but she just couldn’t bear to have that distance between her and Rai. The boy was still unresponsive. Jorja didn’t like to use the phrase in a coma…but the creature was showing no signs of waking up either… Just before leaving the campsite, she’d checked out the ’plane. The beacon was still working and the signal strength had grown steadily…but she wasn’t able get anything but static from the radio… She tried sending a mayday, but had no idea if anybody could hear her… The skies were slowly clearing so she settled down to wait…
Marta swooped low over the plain, relying on the ship’s navigational instruments to guide her back to Equatorial camp… She could now see the camp in the distance, two tents now, as Nurse Gee had said, but no people…
She bought the ’craft down in a bumpy and rather dusty landing… Cautiously, she scanned the terrain, right and left, before leaving the cockpit… Eventually she was satisfied and grasping the rifle firmly, she dropped to the sand. The camp appeared intact, but deserted. The tents were properly pitched, the stores neatly arranged… The remains of a fire in front of one of the tents…she felt the ashes, still warm… She looked in both tents. The first one still had her sleeping bag and clothes…she noticed that someone, presumably Sal had repaired the large rent in the back with tape… The other tent was filled with clothes and stuff… Marta recognised one of Priya’s tops…but where were they…?
She started to move further away from the centre of the camp in a sort of rough spiral…and came upon the security perimeter. It was a series of linked wireless motion sensors… Not knowing if it was set or not, she was wary about crossing the line. About a third of the way ’round she came upon a blackened area in the sand… She could see the remains of some kind of pyrotechnic…presumably this had made the flash Earthcomm downlink had spotted the night before,
“Marta…Marta…!”
Spinning ‘round, she could see a small figure in the distance…it was definitely Sal…! He was waving and beckoning her over to the patch of mauve pseudo-vegetation next to him… She set off at a dead run…
CRUMP…! The flash blinded her…the blast knocked her off her feet…the noise deafened her… When she could see again Sal and Priya were standing over her, faces full of concern…There was ringing in her ears, and Sal’s voice seemed to come from a long way away,
“Jesus, Marta…! I’m sorry, I’d forgotten we’d reset that…!” said the boy…
The spots dancing in front of her eyes were starting to fade…and Sal’s voice became clearer,
“Is that any way to welcome your best friend…?”
Priya helped her to her feet and they both hugged her…
“Are you alright…?” asked Sal,
“I’ve got a nasty ringing in my ears…” said Marta, “…but I’ll live…”
“Where were you…?” she continued, “…I was getting worried…”
“Well…! We, or rather I, found something, this morning…” said Priya, “It’s over this way, or at least it might still be…if the blast hasn’t disturbed it…”
Marta noticed they were both carrying rifles.
On the way Priya explained that she’s gone off early in the morning to answer a call of nature. She had concealed herself behind a patch of the low vegetation, and was just about to go…when she got a horrible shock,
“It was in the bushes, no more than twenty metres away…!”
“The crusty…” guessed Marta,
“It appeared to be fast asleep…suddenly, I couldn’t go anymore, so I ’faced Sal…!”
They had now reached the place. Marta could now see the flattened-down area within the thicket where the creature had been concealed,
“Not there now…” Sal said grimly…
They looked about warily and backed away from the vegetation, guns at the ready,
“I guess I did wake it after all…” said Marta,
“It must have concealed itself somewhere nearby…” said Priya, Marta could hear the tension in her voice.
By unspoken agreement they had started to move back towards the camp… Once back inside the perimeter, Sal set another charge and switched the sensors back on,
“So it came back, even after I shot at it…” said Marta,
“I think the problem is…we pitched our camp right in the middle of its territory…” said Priya,
“It looks like you’ve been busy…” said Marta over lunch,
Yes, as well as getting the security system up and running, we’ve also managed to repair the drone… We sent it out yesterday, and it came back, so hopefully it’s working properly, and we can send it out again this afternoon…”
“And thanks for repairing my tent…” said Marta with a smile, “…I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in the open…”
“I did that…” said Priya, “…couldn’t have you catching cold…”
“Not that the germs exist on A5…” said Sal,
Marta now thought how great it was to be with them, to have friends…and how terrible it would be if she lost one of them,
“So I assume the crusty tried to get into the camp again last night,” said Marta.
When Sal looked confused, she clarified,
“Earthcomm downlink detected the flash from space, and I saw the burn mark…before you blew me up, that is…”
“You’re not going to let me forget that, are you…?” said Sal
“Not anytime soon, leastways…”
“What really concerns me,” said Priya, “…is apparently nowhere on A5 is private anymore…with Earthcomm downlink snooping on us all the time…”
“Well, we’re used to that,” said Marta, “Seriously ’though, tell me more about the crusty…I didn’t really get a clear look two nights ago, not in daylight, anyway…”
“I can do better that,” said Sal, “I can show you…”
The boy transferred a file to Marta’s interface, and the scene sprang up in front of her eyes. She saw a flash pierce the darkness, suddenly everything was lit up clear as day and the marauding pseudo-crustacean had frozen on the act of crossing the perimeter… It swiftly turned around and headed off at pace…
“The cameras and the floodlights were my idea…” said Sal, “so we know what we’re dealing with…and of course Priya has now got really close to one in daylight…”
“They appear to be a lot smaller than the ones north of the barrier…”
“It could be a young one” said Priya, “but I think you’re right, this is a subspecies with a number of differences from our local crusties. They seem to be smaller, they also move a lot quicker…and they appear to be almost completely nocturnal… The other difference, when you see them in daylight, is the colour…! The Southern variant is much paler, rather than the deep purple of the one’s north of the mountains… Presumably to blend in with the vegetation it uses for cover…”
“What worries me…” said Marta, “is we don’t seem to be discouraging it…”
“Yes, it seems to be getting bolder…” said Priya, “It’s definitely curious about us and our stuff…in a way that the ones ‘round the Dome just aren’t… I don’t know whether that means they’re more intelligent, or just more aggressive…!”
“Hopefully we’ll find the guys soon…” said Marta, “because I don’t fancy hanging around too long to find out which it is…!”
They agreed Marta would stay at the camp while Sal and Priya flew the search Mission. They also sent out the drone. The end of the eruption meant that the robot craft could search alongside them, in the more likely areas, doubling the area they could cover. They also agreed that would take it in turns to stand watch overnight…in case the pyrotechnics failed to deter the pseudo-crustacean…
In the end, both Missions were a bust. Even in clearing skies, with better technology, there was still no sign of Rai and Jorja, and they were beginning to fear the worst…

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