The Far Field: A Military Science Fiction Epic (Seedlings Book 1) Read online

  “What are you doing?” Neil said, his shoulders slumped.

  “This isn’t going to work. Are you sure this is it? The location must be perfect. We don’t have a backup if something gets messed up.”

  “Yeah, this is going to work ‘bro’ I did all the calculations last night.”

  Rik inspected the map carefully unsure. “Last night? You slept. I didn’t see you working last night. Something isn’t right. This is too far. Mom can’t run far.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? Mom can outrun both of us in a dead heat. She won’t need to be running here. This is the closest I could calculate, it’s what it is. Man, you worry all the goddamn time. Give me a little credit.”

  “If you want some credit do something right for a change. Someone needs to watch our asses, that’s all I am trying to do. Gods, I am only asking you to do this one thing.”

  Neil repeated in a made-up whiney voice. “I am only asking you to do this one thing,” he threw up his arms in frustration, “right as if I am a child? I don’t need you to ride me. Work with this. I am tired of this shit from you.”

  Rik bit his bottom lip, held back a curse. “I didn’t ask for this, I don’t have any options, god damn you.”

  Neil fought to keep his face from showing disgust but lost it. His face contorted with hatred. “Remind me again bro. Oh yeah, I remember now, you ran like a coward. Great option dude. Now we live this shit life. Thanks for leaving dad to die.”

  Rik grabbed his brother roughly by the collar. “I didn’t have a choice. Damn you. At least we’re alive. You little shit.”

  He violently pushed Neil to the ground but on the way down Neil punched his older brother hard directly on the face. Rik’s head jerked back violently, and his ears rung. Without a second thought, he leaped at his younger brother and landed punches on his face, but Neil was already blocking, and he swept his leg behind Rik’s knee, knocking him off his balance. Rik punched Neil’s thigh as he tried to move away from a kick aimed at his groin. They both executed perfect kip-up maneuvers, Rik flipped backward and stood, Neil, kicked out and stood, fists ready. They charged each other and exchanged punches. Rik connected a solid hit on Neil’s face and ‘the kid’ stumbled sideways and fell to the ground. Rik shouted, “You don’t know shit. Damn you.”

  Neil was upright in a single motion again and swung punches wildly at his brother. Rage. He rushed his brother. “I know you left him to die. You left dad to die. I hope that eats you alive.”

  Before Neil could get his full balance, Rik leaped at him using his younger brother’s charging momentum to trip him. They both fell hard to the ground. Neil felt his head get slammed on the concrete. Rik raised his fist and powered several blows into Neil’s face but his younger brother blocked and kneed Rik in the groin. Rik almost choked from the pain. He rolled off and on to the ground while his little brother punched him in the back and kidney like a berserker. Rik tripped him. They rolled around grunting, intent to hurt each other with no energy to continue.

  A harsh voice boomed out from a woman crossing the street. “Hey. You two stop fighting. The gym is two blocks up the street. Go kill yourselves there, not here. Animals. You’re acting like animals. I have a mind to call the police.”

  Rik looked up at the elderly lady, noticed his hand was balled in a fist and stood up slowly. He pretended to dust himself off and regarded his brother on the ground like a stranger then extended a hand to assist him up. “He’s my little brother. I am just trying to help him out.”

  Neil rolled on his side and stood without Rik’s help and smiled at the woman. “Help me out? This guy is a mental deficit and he thinks he’s my brother. He’s an alien from a far-off planet called Vega Seven. Help me. Please call the authorities to lock him up.”

  “Shut the hell up,” Rik said in a lower voice, “just shut up.”

  The woman stared at them for a long second pondering her options then walked away. Other citizens passed by to stare at them with stern smug puritanical expressions. Rik turned away feeling his head where a welt was developing and he walked deeper into the alley away from his brother, “I didn’t just let him die, Gezz. I didn’t. You know that. I didn’t leave him to die. I didn’t have a choice.” He scratched his head hard trying to rub away the pain and compose himself. He looked around resigned, “O.K. this will due. The cover is good. We’ll work with it. Besides, it will be early in the morning, right? We have a few days from now and we can even make time to do a dry run, right?”

  Neil noticed a tear in his brother’s eye. “Yeah, we can work with it. Bro, these people don’t give a shit about anything except themselves. They move fast and slow, they’re cattle. You could be a green monster from planet AssTar and if you don’t cut in front of them in line or take their parking spot, they don’t give a shit. You sneak around as if they give a damn about what we’re going here. Don’t worry so much.”

  “If they discover you’re different they will seek you out and lock you up where no one can protect you. Lots of us have died in confinement. They call them ‘psycho’ cases,” Rik said nodding ‘no’ at his brother’s assessment. Neil was incredulous and Rik pushed, “it happens all the time. I’ve seen it before. Closer to the harrowing time it will get worse.”

  “You give them too much credit. I don’t know what you mean, psycho cases? These people are clueless and stupid,” Neil laughed nervously.

  “I hope you’re not telling your new girlfriend she’s clueless and stupid. That’s not the right way to get her to like you.”

  “I don’t have a girlfriend. Next time go easy on the face.”

  “Sorry I didn’t mean to explode. You know how to push the right buttons. You made me lose control.”

  “That’s not an apology, you’re such an ass.”

  “You had it coming. Don’t act all innocent.”

  Rik stood and clamped his teeth in frustration, crushed fingers into his tired eyes and looked up at the sky. He remembered the layout of the city from flying to other places. The city’s tall futuristic grey buildings twisted skyward and there was an alternating patchwork of green open space parks, where the soil was too contaminated for housing development. The green rings radiated outward like a large target with the city center as its bull’s eye. The river passing through the city moved slowly choked with sludge and toxic metals and now he knew the large pipes he saw coming out of the river were for that state-of-the-art filtration transporting sludge and sewage for future drinking water.

  “This alley is safe and not too visible to anyone passing. Thanks, bro good job. Look, I am sorry I hit you,” Rik finally offered, “I am.”

  “I am sorry I let you. You’re such a dip shit but believe it or not I do give a damn about you,” Neil grabbed his older brother’s arm, “let’s go home I am hungry.”

  “You go ahead, I still have some work to get done, and I’ll catch up. Take my laptop and note pad. I am going to be climbing and crawling, I don’t want to damage it.” Rik looked down at his brother’s hand on his arm and then back at the alley.

  “I can wait then, where’s your jacket?” Neil stared at his brother’s face for a long moment.

  “No, no need to wait for me. This is something I need to take care of on my own, besides I want to stop at the bakery on Pine Street. Just go. Go home. Take the laptop.”

  “Then I’ll take your bag.”

  “No,” Rik said.

  “You’re going to say bye to your girlfriend? Look, next time, I’ll let you win. Come on, let’s go home. Come on bro.” Neil studied his brother’s face and frowned at Rik. He reached again for Rik’s arm and when Rik pulled it away, Neil held on saying, “Mom’s going to kick your ass for being late, but she’s going to give me shit for not bringing you home right now.” Rik looked back longingly at the alley as they left.

  They walked through the park and headed home. Rik changed the subject. “Hey kid, ever notice all these cities have a central core urban center and radiating circles. It
’s a target you think that’s intentional. It sure stands out from above.”

  “You’re never off the job, are you?” Neil felt his face again where a welt was starting under his eye.

  “Everything has to be perfect,” Rik felt for his laptop.

  “Yeah, I get that but why are so intense about this?”

  Rik let out a breath, he focused on something far away, “I am scared,” he said softly.

  “You’re what?”

  “I am scared. O.K. Satisfied, I scared God damn it. I have nothing else. I can’t mess up again.”

  Neil’s regarded his brother for a long moment. “You have your health, mom and me? Isn’t that something?”

  Rik inspected his brother and pointed at his face, “that’s going to leave a mark. Tell mom that the wild six-year-old next door slapped you up.”

  “No, I am going to tell her that my girlfriend doesn’t want me to leave and I had to fight her off.”

  Rik pondered. “The first lie is more believable. She knows you don’t stand a chance fighting a girl and the girlfriend part, well that’s preposterous, not going to fly at all.”

  They walked in silence then as they came closer to the house Rik wondered, “You think we’ll ever find a place where we can stop running?”

  “There’s no place safe,” Neil said, he stared at his older brother to gauge the impact of his words, “we will run out of options someday and die in a backward hole like this planet, or we’ll kill ourselves.” Neil studied his brother’s face. Rik frowned and scrunched his face like he ate something sour.

  They entered the yard but stopped in their tracks when Sarah met them standing outside the door. “You two are late any problems?”

  “It took us longer to identify the location and it’s going to work. I rechecked all the math,” Rik reported, and he glanced at his brother to back up his words. Neil just stood silent.

  Sarah looked at each, in turn, the way only a mother does when the kids have been bad. “What about the damn fighting in the street part? How did that turn out?”

  “Ma it was my fault,” Neil stepped forward, “I started the fight with him, and he took the bait.”

  Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “Both of you should know better. We can’t get incarcerated or identified by the authorities this late in the cycle it will mess everything up. All the planning and timing will be shit. Do you understand? Do you?” She gave each a hard glare, “go clean up, damn you. Dinner is ready. After dinner, start loading up everything. Don’t miss a damn thing.”

  “Why are we hauling that shit with us all the time? It doesn’t even work anymore,” Neil complained, “it’s making our run more dangerous and needlessly difficult.”

  She turned on her youngest. “That’s our equipment, your father’s equipment and we’ll get it repaired. We don’t know if we’ll need it in the future and until then we pack it. Do you hear me? Don’t question me. Take turns at the sentry, that’s an order. Damn you both, I can’t believe both of you were fighting in public.” She turned on her heels and walked into the kitchen. Rik fought an automatic reflex to salute.

  Sarah, Rik, and Neil rented a small flat on Pointer Street. Sarah’s silvery gray hair, light blue eyes, sharp facial features combined with a commanding continuance from years as a military leader grabbed the attention of anyone she addressed. Her wiry frame was muscled and her attention to precise detail had been honed from experience as an infantry leader in strategy.

  After dinner, Neil busied himself and packed equipment in three shoulder duffle bags and other heavier equipment in large wheeled duffle bags. Rik found his mother in the storage area attached to the kitchen. “Mom,” he was cautious, “I wanted to apologize about fighting with Neil.”

  She eyed him with a sad expression. “I hope you found a location that is close to a transport station, so it appears like we are going to the bus with all this shit,” she crushed her hand into her eyes, “I am tired, Rik. I am tired of keeping us under the radar and just being focused on our next run. You have to know what a pain in the ass you two have become.”

  “Yeah that was one of the criteria for Neil to use in site selection,” Rik glared over where his brother was working, “Neil thinks I left Da to die, I couldn’t let that one by.”

  “He’s said that since he was twelve. Get past that and focus on our mission. Now that you two are men…I don’t know. I know I’ve made the right choice, you both faced increasing danger. It was only a matter of time before I lost one or both of you. This is how I protect you. It’s better to run and stay ahead of the war, to survive, and for all that we’ve been through it’s still a small price to pay for both of you to be safe. I am sorry that Victor put that burden on you. As a mother I have a say in this, I’d rather have to live this life and put up with you two stupid goons than have your bodies rotting in a battlefield somewhere. But I am tired.”

  “Mom, we can manage. You don’t need to baby us.”

  Sarah watched her son for a long moment as if assessing his words and remembering. “When you two were small and we lived on Jekraha, remember that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We had this period of stability and it was the only time I was a real mother to you two.”

  “You always put us first, even at your own expense.”

  “Well. I remember when I could send you to the chair in the corner and that was enough to get you in line. Neil was a bit more hardheaded.” She smiled to herself and silently said to herself softly, “The dreaded chair discipline. It worked.” She sighed while looking back into the kitchen window and turned to Rik. “Those were the days. I miss them. Look, I know I’ve been hard on you but you’re going to get through this. I believe in you. Victor would be proud of both of you, but not today.”

  “Mom, how did you hear about us fighting?”

  “I have eyes on the back of my head. That nice lady on Bank Street, she told me. Go help your brother he’s a mess,” she continued to look in that direction, “he’s struggling with the math, he’s supposed to be the whiz kid. What’s going on?”

  “The equipment is failing.” Silence as Sarah contemplated the impact of his words. “But if it helps,” Rik offered, “do you want me to beat the hell out of him in our room, I can see if that works,” Rik smiled at the image in his mind.

  “Get out of my sight, you, disobedient child,” Sarah moved into the house.

  The brothers worked together without a word between them, inventorying the items and carefully reloading them in the duffle bags. Neil broke the silence between them. “What if we haul this stuff to the site and hide it?”

  “Stop trying to cut corners. It might get stolen.”

  “Who the hell is going to steal this shit? Besides its useless stuff.”

  “Shut up. I am glad I made you repack, you made Mom’s duffle too heavy. Let’s hit the sack. Set your alarm and take the first watch.”

  Chapter Two

  Rik’s head jerked forward as he fell off into deep sleep and then he opened his eyes halfway struggling to clear his brain to wake up completely. He lost the fight to stay awake.

  ***

  A Milky Way-like ribbon of hazy stars crossed the night sky like smoke and the horizon was lighter than the dark sky. Everyone was sleeping and then a Garfer barked a few fenced yards away. His eyes followed up into the sky and scanned it. Suddenly a bright light flashed over him and instantly this child was running. He’s panicked and ran with all his strength across an open field. The grass was tall, and his small shoes were wet, saturated, and heavy. His small legs worked hard to traverse the uneven ground as his steps sunk in the mud. He stumbled and fell face first in the cold mud then got up to run harder unable to make any headway. More lights flashed around him, like a rave show, and the small legs morphed to the limbs of an adult, a young man, a soldier, stumbling, scrambling wildly, frantic, panting in fear. He fell again into the mud and frantically pushed off with his feet on the slippery surface to stand and without a sense of di
rection ran wildly into the blackness of the night. He looked back and it’s there right behind him. Its long thin legs leaped, covered the ground between them easily. He choked out a primal scream, ‘No.’

  ***

  Rik twisted violently from his dream then bolted up on the bed while breathing hard. Sweat was on his face and neck and his blankets were tangled around his arms and legs. He whispered to himself, “God damn it. Geez.” He put his face in his hands and then his hands through his hair. He peered over at his brother who was buried under a heap of blankets in the darkroom, “Sentry. Are you awake? Hey, you awake?” Rik whispered.

  Neil rolled over. “Crap. I am now damn it. Go back to sleep.” Neil pushed his blankets over his head, turned over to face away and mumbled, “take something and go back to sleep.”

  Rik stared at nothing in the blackness. Silent snores from Neil filled the darkroom, Rik said to no one. “It’s too late.”

  Chapter Three

  In the darkness of space, cold, lifeless, the silence of it screamed to the universe. Suddenly, thousands of gray spherical-shaped objects appeared as miniature bubbles gathered like foam and bopping into existence like popcorn. They flashed for a nanosecond in a pinprick of light in the vastness of space. They arrived from a distant galaxy through unknown hyper-travel portal technology. They gathered in clumps and then moved quickly into the solar system. Within twenty hours they were crowded around the exosphere of the familiar blue planet that had a thin almost invisible Saturn-like ring around it. These machines have technology that very accurately pinpoints locations in space by complicated mathematical triangulation of large stars and planets to smaller ones. Eventually, they isolated the microscopic solar system, its sun in the middle. They moved silently towards its third planet.