07: Ousted

This is the seventh chapter of Part 1: First Mover Advantage, in which Doctor Linton gets to Verdant.

If it’s your first time here, check out the Table of Contents. You’ll probably want to start with the Prologue.

07: Ousted

Doctor Linton makes it to Verdant. The trip is long and boring, until he finally arrives. His skimmer slows down as it enters the Demeter system, heads towards the giant green planet.

He looks out the window, takes in the sight. Verdant is a Gaia world, the breadbasket of the sector. It’s huge and lush and beautiful. Puffy, artificially seeded clouds ensure the hundreds of thousands of farms covering the surface get enough rain to thrive. The view is a welcome change from the rocky moon of Eureka Base and the dim glow of NS-36-A. He savors every second of it as his skimmer descends through the atmosphere, towards the large port of the capital city. Sylvan Prime is a sprawling metropolis, glass buildings reaching out into the sky. Outside the city, as far as the eye can see, the ground is a patchwork of farms, fields, and orchards in different shades of green and gold. He wonders which one is his destination.

He lands, more than ready to start the next part of his adventure. A part with solid ground under his feet, a real atmosphere, and space to move. Heck, space to run if he wants to. Being cooped up in a skimmer for such a long time really does a number on you.

First order of business: do some minimum covering of tracks. He scuttles the ship, removes the onboard CPU and memory banks, and incinerates them. Erases all ship identifiers. Satisfied that the skimmer can’t be traced back to Eureka Base, he steps out of the docks into a sunny morning.

It’s eerily quiet, very few people around. Unexpected. Shouldn’t this be rush hour? He embeds to catch up on the news, learns that large swathes of the population are leaving the planet and the sector. The brief Tauran war scared them bad. Many left already, many are preparing to leave.

He takes a hover rail, mass transit to maintain anonymity, but doesn’t manage to get lost in the crowd – there is no crowd. The car he is in is almost empty, two other people inside. By the time they reach the suburbs, one of them gets off. The rail goes on, past the suburbs, through a satellite town, then out into farmland. He looks out the window, enjoying the scenery, soaking up the sunlight. He notices some farms are abuzz with activity, robot harvesters, farming drones, and people working the fields. Other farms look abandoned, crops wilting, machines offline.

He gets off at Amberfield, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. The town is a few miles away from his destination, the BioFields farm, property of the Ardens. They are expecting him.

He sends them a brief message, another codeword – puts in an order for wheat flour and starplums. This lets the Ardens know he made it to town; they can come and pick him up.

Doctor Linton is looking forward to a hot meal and a comfortable bed. Some company wouldn’t hurt either, he only had his grim thoughts for company for far too long. He walks up and down main street, impatient. Like Sylvan Prime, Amberfield is nearly a ghost town. Most stores are closed; most window blinds are shut.

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to wait long. A dusty Ridge Rover drives up main street, stops in front of him, and a smiling, sunburnt man waves him inside. Doctor Linton gets in. He has never met the Ardens. They’re a Spark-arranged connection. He shakes hands with the man.

“Elias Linton” the doctor introduces himself.

“Caleb Arden” the man replies.

Caleb turns the Ridge Rover around and heads back the way he came. On the short drive to his farm, BioFields, Caleb lets the doctor know that they were waiting for him, but they are getting ready to leave the planet soon.

“I have two young ones, you know?”

The situation is too scary for their comfort. Rather than risking life and limb, they’ll be translating out of the sector.

“You know what happened to Echo Point,” Caleb reminds him.

The doctor is about to ask what this means for him, since this was supposed to be his hideout. Caleb has already thought of this. “You’re free to use the house, make yourself comfortable. I’ll introduce you to our neighbors, the Blackwoods. They’re still around and can keep you company, help out if needed. You won’t be staying here too long yourself, right?”

“Right,” he replies, though he’s not sure when he will be picked up.

BioFields is a medium-sized farm, they grow crops, sell grain, flour, fresh fruit, and wine. The house is big, he notices, as the car pulls into the Ardens’s yard. A large dog runs to greet them, wagging its tail.

“This is Rusty,” says Caleb, tussling with the dog.

He meets Maren, Caleb’s wife, and their two children, Ethan and Lily. He has a late lunch with them. The conversation is awkward, they keep apologizing, keep talking about their travel plans, keep reassuring him.

“How soon are you leaving?” he asks them.

“Tomorrow morning,” replies Caleb. “We were just waiting for you to arrive.”

He is touched – it seems like he was the reason they’re still here. He thanks them profusely, tells them there is no need to apologize, they should do what’s best for their family.

After lunch, Caleb walks with him across a field to the nearest house. He introduces him to the Blackwoods. Jake Blackwood is a tall, strong-looking man. Streaks of gray in his black hair. He has temple grafts, something you don’t see very often. Probably NSRS, Linton doesn’t ask. He meets his wife Emma, their twin sons Logan and Ryan, and their grumpy toddler, Ivy.

“You’re always welcome here, mister Linton” Jake assures him. “In fact, come have dinner with us tomorrow.”

Back at BioFields, the Ardens are busy packing, shutting down the operation. He isn’t too happy to be left alone in their big house, especially after the lonely skimmer trip he just took, but he is grateful considering the circumstances. That night, he sleeps in a large bed with clean sheets and wakes up refreshed, early enough to catch a beautiful sunrise. He watches raptly as Demeter climbs its way slowly up in the sky, shining over the endless plain.

The Ardens say their goodbyes, take the Ridge Rover, and drive away. Rusty is watching him from the pickup bed. Caleb waves at him through the open window.

The doctor is waiting. All alone now, in the big empty house. He is looking forward to dinner, looking forward to some companionship. After a slow day, he makes his way across the field, towards the Blackwoods.

Dinner is delicious. Afterwards, he and Jake sit on the porch. It’s a warm evening, the fields give out a rich aroma, and fireflies are starting their twilight rounds. They make small talk. He learns Jake has some strange theories about a staged alien invasion. Linton could tell him a few facts that would shatter his worldview, but he must stay tight-lipped. He nods, fakes interest, lets Jake talk. Jake hates mega-corps, starts on a tirade against the Abyssal Mining Consortium. Doctor Linton lets him go on, mostly because he craves social interaction. Any social interaction. The skimmer trip took its toll on him. He is too afraid to embed, spend time in the digital, because of the secrets he now carries. He indulges Jake. The man has some very outlandish theories, but outside of that, he is a very nice person. He welcomed him, a stranger, into his home. As long as he doesn’t go down some conspiracy rabbit hole, Jake is good company. The doctor tries to gently steer the conversation away from corporate politics.

He walks back to the Ardens’ place in the dark, listening to crickets chirping around him. A big bright moon lights his path.

The days pass and Linton is starting to become restless. Waiting makes him feel powerless. He stole a skimmer, ran away from a lab surrounded by the military. He’s very likely wanted by now. The longer he stays here, the likelier he’s going to be found. Where is his contact? He realizes he doesn’t have a Plan B. They were supposed to meet, leave.

Jake announces one evening, during their now customary porch chat, that he’ll be taking his family to the Gateway Ring. They’ll try to translate out of the sector. They’re up to date on the news and the rumors. There are traffic jams, the jump gate is monopolized by the military and corporate paramilitary (fucking mega-corps!), people get stranded on the ring. Still, Jake wants to risk it. For a moment, Doctor Linton considers going with them, trying to make his own way out. But that’s insane. Rural Verdant is a great place to lay low, unlike the Gateway Ring, where everything is tracked, recorded, analyzed. How can he even book travel out of the sector if he’s wanted? He doesn’t have a fake ID. He doesn’t have contacts. He needs to stay put, wait for extraction.

A few days later, Jake makes a final run to town while the family finishes packing. Doctor Linton offers to help with whatever – he cherishes these last few hours of human company he’s likely to have until who knows when. He’s observing a couple of hover luggage bags navigate the front porch stairs when he sees Jake coming back in a big hurry, large dust cloud behind his pickup.

“Doctor,” he says as soon as he steps out of his vehicle, “there’s some people asking around about you.”

Doctor Linton feels a void in his stomach. He can’t make up his mind whether he should be happy (they’re finally coming to pick him up!) or afraid (what if it’s not Spark?)

“Who?”

“A bunch of mercenary types. I think they call themselves Eclipse Corps. They’re going around town, asking about you. Anyone seen you? Where do you live? Stuff like that. Are you in some kind of trouble Doctor?”

Shit, thinks Doctor Linton, and the uncertainty solidifies into pure dread. Spark doesn’t use mercs, they’re subtle. That means this isn’t his way out, it’s way worse. At least if it was the police looking for him, even if caught, he would stand trial, pay for his crimes. But mercs? They would probably disappear him, torture his secrets out of him, and dump him in an acid vat – maybe while still alive. He shakes the thought away.

“What did you tell them?”

“Nothing, of course. Fuck them mercs and their employers! But Doctor, please be careful.”

Doctor Linton has no answer to this.

“Those are some very bad people.” Jake sighs. “I really wish I could help you somehow. Maybe…” He trails off.

Jake is a good guy; it pains Doctor Linton to see him torn like this. After all, Jake doesn’t owe him anything. Still, he is terrified and soon to be alone.

“What?” he asks, “What?”

“There’s absolutely no way you can get to the Gateway Ring any time soon. With so many people leaving, it took weeks of waiting in line for us to secure transport.”

Doctor Linton knows. He curses himself for scuttling the skimmer – he thought he was smart, covering tracks, but he pretty much scrapped his only ticket out of here.

“I don’t think you can go anywhere except…”

“Except what?”

“Forge! Hear me out Doctor. Abyssal Mining…” he spits, as if the name tastes bad. “Abyssal Mining is always looking for workers. Corporate citizenship. If you enlist with them, they’ll take you to Forge. They don’t give a shit who you are, where you’re from, what you did. Sign up for a year-long rotation and you’ll be safe.” He pauses, then adds “I can’t believe I’m fucking telling you this” and spits again.

Doctor Linton never considered this, but it is an interesting idea. Corporate citizenship means handing his life to Abyssal Mining and a year of hard labor which he doesn’t feel fit for. But it beats torture and an acid vat. If he can somehow leave a message for his contact, pointing them to Forge, they will find him, help him, buy out his contract. It’s a bad solution to his problem, but it is a solution.

Doctor Linton says goodbye to the Blackwoods, sees them off, thinks hard about what message to leave. How to tell someone he never met about his new destination, while making sure the mercs can’t also learn it? He ponders, periodically looking across the fields to see if anyone is coming. After a while, he has an idea.

By the time the black vertibird dives low and the mercs jump out, with tacticals ready, he is off planet.

Next chapter:

08: Desolation