Published: 30 Mar 2023
Explaining the Unexplainable
⚫Corporal Diffuso: Explorer Corps – Trainer/Tester
⚫Dakota: Cadet Sergeant Explorer Corps Academy – Leader of Rescue Team One
⚫Mario: Cadet Corporal Explorer Corps Academy – Member of Rescue Team One
⚫Fairfax: – Senior Private Explorer Corps Member Mountain ISTAZ Team 5
⚫Ajax: – Senior Private Explorer Corps Member Mountain ISTAZ Team 5
⚫Diane: – Specialist Explorer Corps Forest Mountain Team 19
⚫Sean: – Specialist Explorer Corps Forest Mountain Team 19
The outline of the rocky ridge came into view through the blowing snow. Sheets of blowing white launched down off the top of the rocks. While none of the four kids thought it was possible, this only added to the intensity of the blizzard. Mario leaned forward and forced himself to continue to advance. Next to him, Diane turned sideways and gritted her teeth as icy shards lanced into her cheeks. Yet she still used side steps to help pull the skid.
Directly behind the older kids, Fairfax and Ajax exchanged glances. Mental talk wasn’t needed. Years of street-level living took over. Huffing and puffing they surged forward. Drifts of snow closer to the rocky face were well over their hips. They moved past Diane and Mario, their faces a mask of determination.
“Careful!” Mario shouted. “We can’t even see where we are walking!”
“Careful, nothing!” Ajax barked back. “We keep moving or we get stuck! Getting stuck at street level is death by rats or worse, so we move! Don’t stop!” He shouted again as he and Fairfax leaned way forward and pulled on the ropes even harder, “DON’T STOP!”
Fifty meters seemed like five hundred. Suddenly two slender fingers appeared in the swirling snow. Both were wearing what appeared to be tattered layers. It gave the illusion of snow blowing through them. As they got closer, Fairfax realized they were actually wrapped in sections of an E-dome. The taller one moved to help Ajax and Fairfax. The second pushed through ever-deepening snow and grabbed the skid line Diane was struggling with.
The taller one shouted so everyone could hear him, “Let us lead! Jordan, cover the left path with the rifle! Zach, spot for him!” the boy pointed to the west, “The safer path is totally snowed over. We’ll have to angle to the west, then angle back up!” The boy spotted the packs with the rifles hanging off them. He grabbed two. “Andre! Laser rifles!” he quickly tossed one to the boy who had moved over to Diane and Mario.
The second boy caught it, flipped the power level, and nodded. “Full power on mine! Alex! Take the rifle and cover the path! Jordan, come down and help! When we get close to the cave, I’ll cover!”
The urgency of the two new arrivals eliminated a greeting, however, Mario adjusted his pack so he had easier access to his own rifle, “Problem with a cave?”
The taller boy pointed further to the west, “Damned wolverine den! We killed the big one when it went after Zach, but there’s a few more. We think Mom and a couple of little ones. We haven’t seen them since this storm started, but…” He stopped as a particularly vicious gust of wind send a deluge of snow from above into all of them. “We found out the hard way they got no problem with moving around in snow and ain’t nothing nice!”
A third, smaller boy appeared between waves of snow. He looked to have on several ragged layers. Like those with him, gloves were makeshift. Fairfax identified them as socks right off. It was a common easy thing to put over hands. After all, socks were basically mittens without a spot for a thumb. Even as the kid grabbed the rope and helped pull, he knew he and Ajax would have to show them tricks, like using a small strip of cloth to better separate the thumb so they worked more like true mittens.
The distraction of thoughts actually helped the situation since he was more focused on what he could teach the kids around him than the struggle of pulling the skid up a hill through stupidly huge drifts. Out of the snow, a large natural shelter of an overhang with three small caves going deeper into the ridge face appeared. The whole thing was lit with the inviting glow of a large campfire.
The singularity of mind of all seven kids and the need to complete the mission did what words alone couldn’t. before they could even feel the warmth of the large campfire, the two groups were more than friends. They were comrades.
Nothing needed to be said even as the two skids got into the shelter of the overhang. Gear was pulled off in an assembly line and quickly stashed deeper inside where the winds and snow couldn’t reach.
A boy with a very bad limp was the only exception. The moment he saw a new sleeping bag and mat he grabbed them and then moved with what looked to be more like a hop followed by a leg drag toward the middle cave.
Mario noted this. “Ajax grab a full pack and follow him! There must be at least one more who is in bad shape!
“Diane, Fairfax, as soon as both skids are cleared, grab the extra pack Dean sent down. It should have a pair of E-domes, hammers, and rock piton stakes! Get them set toward the back!”
“Get one up now and get a heater in it!” Ajax shouted from inside the middle cave. “Hoyt is shivering super bad!”
The taller kid pointed to the smaller boy with the sock mittens. “Jordan, help get an E-dome up. As soon as one is set, get two of the bags put together, strip and get in them. You can warm up the bags. We’ll get Hoyt in with you!”
The smaller boy didn’t complain or hesitate. He dashed over to help Diane and Fairfax.
Little was said as the natural shelter quickly become something much more. Finally, Mario and Ajax helped slide a badly shivering and weak-looking boy back inside the E-dome. Fairfax joined the two smaller boys with several insta-heat meal packs and some fresh water. At this point, work slowed and the first round of hugs was exchanged.
Even though older and bigger, Mario found himself lifted off the ground in a bear hug from the taller boy, “I… I… Just THANK YOU!”
Ajax found himself in an equally hard embrace from the boy with the bad leg. “Heroes… you are all my heroes…” Ajax glanced around as if looking for a way to easily pull free, but he noticed the other kid was hugging Diane. There was no help to be had.
“There’s got to be stronger words,” The other boy who first came down stated with arms wrapped around Diane. “But, yeah! You’re all heroes and Thank You!”
The taller boy finally put Mario down. “You got to us just in time…” He rummaged through the pile of gear. A smile crept across his face as he dug through a mound of insta-heat food packs and grabbed two ‘pork chili stew’. He tossed a pair of ‘chicken goulash’ over to the boy with Diane. He slid two ‘pork fried rice’ over to the kid with the bad leg. Finally, he procured four of ‘spaghetti in meat sauce’ and tossed them in the E-dome with a shout of, “Jordan! Spaghetti incoming! Two of those are for Hoyt when he gets better, though!”
He turned to face those in the rescue party with a sheepish grin, “Sorry, but we have talked for weeks about what the first food we’d eat if we ever found a bunker…”
Mario snickered as he pointed at the pile, “If anyone deserves first pick it would be you all!”
The kid squished the bottom of the packet to activate the heating. Ajax could have sworn he saw some anticipation drool come out of the corner of the boy’s mouth even as he spoke, “You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this! So, um, I’m Alexander, Alex… The weird one with the other E-dome suit, who swears he talked with you and made you come back, is Andre. Zach is the one with bad leg over there.”
Alex pointed to the E-dome, “The sick one is Hoyt. He’s our youngest. With him, and the other one who came down to help is Jordan. Welcome to the shelter and unofficial home of San-San CHZ’s Mountain Forest 2.”
Mario did a quick round of introductions as Alex put his back to the rocks and slid down with an insta-heat meal pack in his hands. “Oh… wow… I can’t tell you how good this tastes!”
Mario did a walk around of both E-domes to verify there were secure even as he responded. “We have plenty more with the others, so eat up.”
Andre let go of Diane and spun with concern, “Others?”
“My team leader and one of Diane’s team members is with an Explorer Corps trainer and tester. Our only adult got all messed up on the way down, so you get us.”
Andre quickly dug into the piles of gear, grabbed a pack, and started to pull on a new coat, gloves, and boots. “We’ve got to get them here!”
Ajax sent a quick telepathic message over to Andre. The boy’s eyes went wide but responded.
“Crap!” Ajax suddenly blurted out. The odd outburst caused most to look at him with bafflement.
Alex continued to eye Ajax, but jumped up and moved to the gear, “Do you have T&R contact with them?”
“Yeah.” Mario looked around even as Ajax secured his dropped pack. “Why?”
Before more could be said, Ajax double-tapped the plastic collar around his coat to put his T&R on speaker mode, “Sean! Dakota! Can either of you hear me?”
Dakota’s voice came back within moments, “I Got you clear Ajax, you sound like there is a problem.”
“There is! One of you needs to get a rifle and be on guard!”
“Guard? Why?”
“We got to them, but this area is not safe! A wolverine tore up the right leg of Zach and he got hit again by a lynx while gathering firewood only a couple weeks ago! They also say there is at least one pack of grey wolves and a couple of cougars in the area. We are gearing up to come get you!”
While most in the shelter stared at Ajax in disbelief, Sean’s voice responded. “Grabbing rifle now! But Corporal Diffuso is hurt bad. We need a safe way to transport him.”
Dakota’s voice reentered the conversation. “Bring back one of the skid things you built! It’ll be better than the collapsible stretcher that comes with the full medic kit. We won’t have to put him down in the snow and grab rifles if we need to defend him. We can just let go and circle him!”
Fairfax shouted from inside the E-dome, “Ajax, take it apart. It’ll be faster to just take the cut-open bag and build another. There is plenty of rope and the laser cutter is back with Dakota. When you get there, see if the big first aid kit has slime salamander anti-toxin. I heard Robin talking about them when he was studying with Dwight. It sounds like one got into their seed pods and Hoyt ate some even though they tasted kind of funny. I bet he poisoned himself!”
Dakota’s voice again came over the radio, “Fairfax, you were transmitting. How long ago and how bad is he?”
Fairfax got a telepathic message from Andre and responded. “Just over three days ago and he is shivering bad and his eyes are like… I don’t know how to put it… like foggy or something.”
“Slime Salamander for sure, and it’s bad!” Dakota barked. “We need to keep him warm!”
“Already in a bag with his teammate and a heater in an E-dome.”
“Then you are on the right track…” there was a distinct pause, “OK, I am pulling up my class notes from the academy… Do they know where the damned thing came from?”
There was another quick telepathic exchange between Fairfax and Andre. It was so quick, Alex barely got out, “Left cave. We…” before Fairfax spoke into his radio. “There are some in a small cave up here. It is where they are getting water from a small waterfall coming out of a crack in the ceiling. It goes into a pool on the floor that disappears into the back wall. It was also where they stored food including seedpods. They have moved the food, and it sounds like the Salamanders come and go from the far back of the cave where the water goes, but it’s too cold for them to come much beyond the edge of the pool.”
A, “How did you…” came out of Jordan.
At the same time, Zach blurted out, “What the hell?”
Mario blinked.
Daine’s jaw fell open.
Alex let out a gasp.
However, other reactions were cut off as Dakota’s voice came back over the speaker on Ajax’s collar. There was urgency in his tone as he spoke. “OK, I have my notes up. And whatever you all do, don’t drink from the pool!”
“Only from the water that falls into it,” Alex responded with uncertainty, “but how…”
Dakota’s voice interrupted. “Slime salamanders secrete a strong deliriant along with a mild nerve depressor. It is normally easy to counteract, but the longer in the system, the harder it is to flush out. It sounds like the kid has an acute case, so I need you to do exactly what I tell you.
“First grab one of the emergency transponders. Open your note-puter and tell it to ready for transponder sync. Once you have the holo-display up with a spinning medic icon, I need you to pull off the backing and put the transponder on his lower arm, right where we all have ours. Press the center hard until it blinks green. This will fully seat it and let it link it to your note-puter so you can input the kid’s ID number.
“When it syncs, I’m sure it will flash on your holo-display that it cannot send or receive. There’s no almost chance it will be able to find a signal without a relay because of the star storm. So we’ll have to tell it what to do. The holo-display will turn orange once it accepts the combo of ID number and transponder number. This is its way of telling you it cannot connect to the central computer network. His transponder number should then appear below the spinning medic insignia. Read off the number and say override. You will be given the option to take over on manual. On the left side of the holo-display is an override button. Tap it. The medic icon should turn green. If it does, voice order it to disperse a dose of Slime Salamander anti-toxin immediately then another in four hours. Once it pushes in the second dose the transponder will be out. So pull it off and stick on another. If he is not better in twelve hours, we do it all over again.”
“How many times?” Fairfax asked as he scrambled out of the dome and grabbed a handful of emergency transponders.
“No way to know. Normally the instant someone gets poisoned the auto-injector kicks in. It destroys the poison before it can really get going. But even then, the kid would get sick for a few hours and act stupid for a day or two.”
“Hard to tell the difference on the acting stupid part,” Andre stated with a smirk.
This got a laugh out of the others from his team.
Fairfax snickered but stayed focused on the task. “What then?”
“We keep him warm, and hydrated and if possible feed him,” Dakota answered. “Then I guess it’s a waiting game. I remember the class well because my team had a slime Salamander incident on our second ISTAZ. My academy class didn’t give more details. Probably because no one expected us to need to have to spend more than a day without advanced medical aid and transport.
“At this point, all we can do is hope for the best. The poison is throughout his system by now, so it may take several doses or maybe a stint in a full auto-med bed. One way or the other, we keep doing it this way until we get told differently, get help, or he recovers! But again, we need to fully take care of his needs. If he can swallow get him water and if possible, some broth flavor packets. Squirt in a vitamin pack as well. If you get lost on what to do, radio me back. We need to get the anti-toxin in now!”
“I got it.” Fairfax stated with an undertone of annoyance. “But you need to be careful. Wolves are no joke. From what the Hazardous Earth Creatures class says, wolves hunt in packs and may try to focus you so one or two can come in from behind, so watch your back if you see one!”
Diane poked her head in the dome, “Fairfax, you and Ajax can get back to Sean and Dakota faster than I can. Let me take care of him, you go.”
Fairfax finished setting the transponder and had it administer the first dose. “OK, he should be good for four hours. You hear to give him water broth and vitamins, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”
“Great! I’m sure we’ll be back before he will need a second transponder, but you know how just in case?”
“As soon as Dakota started talking, I recorded it to my comp-puter. I’ll replay it so I know I do it right.”
Fairfax fought not to roll his eyes, but couldn’t hold his tongue, “You know how lazy those stupid things make people?”
Diane pulled up her note-puter and clutched the small yellow-green block into her chest, “How can you say such a thing!”
Ajax answered as he pulled on his coat, pack, and readied his rifle, “We’re SLO. We didn’t get a note-puter in a crib, and we sure didn’t keep the ones we got when put into SLPH. They would have tracked us.”
Fairfax pulled his off his belt, “First time I’ve looked at mine since I checked O2 levels in the tent last night… Oh, nope, used the flashlight for a few minutes while you were sleeping.”
“That was hours ago!”
“Remember the chat on the way here?”
“Yeah,” was her response, but her voice told of her confusion.
Even as he slapped his comp-puter back onto his belt and secured his pack he shot Diane a smirk, “Your reliance and our distrust of this stupid hunk of metal-plast coated pico-chips and multiple lenses is another thing we need to understand about each other.”
“Big time!” Ajax agreed with a snort. “Except for school, I’d turn it off completely and keep it that way if it would let me.”
“No joke!” Fairfax stated as he verified his rifle was ready to fire. He quickly paused and looked around. “Remember what we were told about leaving a base camp? We should go out with at least one more.”
“Good call.” Mario stated. “Three minimum when leaving sight of any base camp. If anything qualifies, this is certainly one of those times!” He let out a long breath, “Let me lighten my pack. I’ll go with.”
Andre shook his head, “You looked wiped and had to pull the equipment. Let me finish my first real meal in days and I’ll go.”
Alex spoke up as Mario started to protest, “While it feels like I am caught in some kind of twisted space warp after what has happened in the last couple of hours, one thing I can tell all of you is this: Andre is the best on my team at almost everything and knows the surrounding woods better than anyone in your group. He also has a weird knack for sensing danger.”
“Yeah,” Zachery stated as he lowered himself down and stretched out his bad leg with a wince. “Without him, the wolverine would have had me for sure, and I still can’t figure out how he knew about the lynx jumping on me from the tree. But he did and shot it off me before it could more than claw at my leg. Even more important, you would have never found us. He’s the one who had us throw the burning seedpods as you were circling above us.”
“And somehow got you to turn around in the first place!” Jordan called out from inside the E-dome.
Andre said nothing but tried to get the others to stop by extending his hands. It didn’t work.
“Don’t go pretending you didn’t do anything,” Alex barked at him. “And now this… all of this is just… We wouldn’t have made it without you, so don’t even try to get us not to talk about how fast you are at noticing danger!”
“And you have six times more seed pods than all the rest of us combined,” Zachery added as he rubbed his leg. “Um, any of you got anything to help this pain?”
Mario finally relented, dropped his pack, and grabbed a new first aid kit. He glanced over to Andre, “Sounds like you and a new team leader from Philli-York by the name of Robin are cut from the same mold, kid. Let me guess, you got your camp’s first outstanding, too?”
Zachery snickered even as he rubbed his leg, “Yeah, and ended up with two outstanding, four Excellent, and four good.”
“Thanks to him all of us here got an Outstanding,” Alex stated with clear pride. “But only our camp’s golden boy maxed out on the number of courses he could take and never failed a test!”
“Not quite Robin, but… yeah… Impressive, Andre.” Daine grinned. “But…” she shot Fairfax a grin, “We had a few in our camp who could go head to head with you on grades.”
“Yeah,” Mario answered, “but getting their golden boy here, together with Robin will be interesting to watch. You all going to the academy?”
“Planned on it, yeah, Zach stated with sadness, “but this leg might mean I’m out.”
Mario shook his head. “Don’t worry. There will still be a slot for you if you want one. There are a few in the academy who have medical issues because of ISTAZ stints. There are still things you can do, and if you have been out here this long, they’ll take you.” He knelt next to the suddenly very hopeful boy. “Let me take a look at a future fellow academy cadet. I can do some basics until my team leader gets here. Bet he’ll be able to help way more.”
However, he did glance over his shoulder, “Double X’s, tell Dakota I recommend abandoning anything other than food that will slow you all down. We need everyone here and safe as soon as possible!”
“Already talked about it,” Ajax stated. “The Explorer Corps guy brought way too much crap.”
“Talked about it? When?”
Fairfax pulled on gloves and motioned for Ajax and Andre to follow, “You need to pay better attention, Mario.”
As they walked out into the snow, Ajax snickered, ‘Oh, that was mean!’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t lie. We did talk about it just like we are now. Besides, it’ll keep him guessing.’
‘And don’t forget about Diane. You know, she likes you A LOT!’
‘Who do you think likes me more, Diane, or Oliver?’ Fairfax responded with merriment in his eyes.
‘I think Diane has dibs, ‘cause one on one, I’m sure she can take Oliver.’
As Fairfax erupted into audible laughter, Andre spoke with astonishment tinged with disbelief. “I can hear you!”
‘Think to us,’ Fairfax demanded. ‘We can show you some tricks on control, but we really don’t know much. There are some who can help you way more.’
A whole series of stray thoughts, including the return of, ‘I really am nuts,’ spilled out of Andre.
Ajax let out a long breath as he moved down and through the path in the drift they had made on the way up. It was already blowing over. He was certain the path would be gone well before they got back. ‘Andre, once we are well clear of the others we can talk normal. But, um, until you’re done with all the thoughts about being crazy, think of putting a door between your mind and everyone else’s. Then think about the door closing. It will prevent all your thoughts from being heard, but you can still hear us.’
‘And you’re not, by the way,’ Fairfax added.
‘Not what?’
‘Nuts. There are more of you. Our team leader Robin is one of them.’
Where there was nothing but silence, Ajax smirked, ‘If you’re trying to talk to us, but already shut the door, you have to make it open again, or we can’t hear you.’
Several seconds went by before Andre answered. ‘But I can hear you with the door shut?’
‘Yeah,’ Fairfax shrugged. ‘If there is a way to block hearing we haven’t been told or figured it out. I tried thinking of a door closing to my ears, but it didn’t work. But there are so few who can talk this way, and most of the time we keep the door closed, we really don’t need some kind of silence button… At least not yet.’
The conversation about telepathy continued until Andre knew everything Ajax and Fairfax did, along with how they got the ability. After half a kilometer they switched to talking since all three started to get hungry. Fairfax used this as another teaching lesson, “So it sounded like you know how to do the tele… um, Hey Ajax, what is the mind move stuff called?”
“Telekenipsis or something like it.”
“Close, but I don’t think that’s right… but whatever. We can’t do it much no matter what it’s called.” He turned back to Andre. “Sounds like you are a good mind mover.”
“Mind mover?” Andre asked.
“Yeah, your teammates said you are good at getting seedpods, so I figured you mind grab them.”
“No… just throw rocks or snowballs at them.” He paused, packed a handful of snow, and threw it up at a cluster of seedpods. Both Ajax and Fairfax watched with a smirk as he missed with the first then threw a second. This time the snowball curved in the air and hit the pods. A couple fell. Moments later the branch wiggled and the rest of the cluster came down.
Andre pulled a few out of the snow and popped one in his mouth. “See, just throw snow till I hit them.”
Ajax shook his head. “No. You mind cheated.”
“What are you talking about? I threw snow… you just saw me. I even missed with the first.”
Fairfax patted Andre on the shoulder even as he giggled, “Mind cheated! I like it Ajax!”
Andre turned both palms face up while his brow furled, “What are you two talking about?”
“Just like Robin,” Ajax snickered. “Bet you use your mind warlock crap and don’t even realize it!”
“Be burned at the stake as a witch in the 17th century for sure,” Fairfax retorted with laughter. He couldn’t help but smile as Andre’s face contorted with total exasperation and confusion. “Our last project before end of school was to do a report on ancient history. We picked witch trials. Pretty interesting and way less boring than what most of the others picked.”
“Way more gruesome too!” Ajax smiled with a glint in his eyes. “Pretty sure our holoteacher regretted making us do a presentation.”
“Very sure,” Fairfax agreed. However, he pointed up to a glob of seedpods in a nearby tree. “Focus on the whole cluster, Andre. Just think about them and let us guide you like we were.”
“OK…” Andre stared at them, “focus on them how?”
“Think of them breaking off from the branch,” Ajax recommended.
“I was only able to wiggle the dice and knife by adding in a twist of my hand,” Fairfax added. “I couldn’t see what they wanted until I pretended to try to grab hold.”
Andre reached out with his left arm. As he did so the pods shook enough to knock snow off them.
“You’re already doing it!” Ajax shouted. “Now pull!”
Andre jerked his hand back. As he did so, over a dozen seedpods shot downward forcing all to jump out of the way.”
“Wow!” Fairfax gasped. “Um, next time don’t pull so hard!”
“Yeah!” Ajax stated as he pulled out a seedpod sticking out of a small hole in his pack. “You could mess someone up!”
Andre gulped, “Sorry!”
“No harm…” Ajax poked at the hole in his pack. “Um, well other than a new vent in my pack… Hope they let me get a new one.”
“Swap yours with one of the new spares when we get a chance,” Fairfax stated with a dismissive flip of his hand. “If they have a problem, We’ll have Andre, here, fire a few more seedpods through yours to practice, and blame it on going through the trees on the way down.”
“Good idea. I kind of like the packs set for the bag and bedroll on top better, but they wouldn’t let me switch out. This will give me a good reason.”
Andre said little as they took a quick break and ate the seedpods. He did, however, telekinetically grab another group. Once again they shot down, but this time he jerked his arm to the side so they slammed into the snow well off to the side. “This is… How do I explain this?”
“Don’t think they will want you to.” Ajax warned
“Yeah,” Fairfax agreed. “Keep it hidden for now. We’ll have you talk with a few others who will be able to tell you way more.”
Ajax nodded as he grabbed some of the newly pulled-down pods, “Right now need to get moving.”
The trio trudged on, rifles out, scanning what little they could see. The signs of the original trail in the snow disappeared under the assault from wind and fresh snow well before they reached Dakota. Only the lengths of red rope allowed them to find their way.
Occasionally Fairfax would send out a message, ‘can you hear me?’
Finally, as they got only thirty minutes away, he heard Dakota in his head, ‘Stop asking already!’
“Where are you?” Ajax called out.
“Here!” Sean called out.
Fairfax angled the group toward the sound. He noticed the frame of a new skid already built, so he moved over to it and got to work even as Fairfax quickly introduced Andre to Dakota and Sean.
Dakota looked over the trio, “You guys need a break?”
Andre shook his head, “No time. This storm is only going to get worse. The faster we get back to the camp, the better.”
“Get worse?” Sean asked as he looked around. “How can it get worse.”
Andre shrugged, “It can and will, I’m sure of it.”
Before Dakota could say anything, Ajax sent him a warning, ‘This kid seems to be a LOT like Robin. I wouldn’t doubt him.’
Dakota scowled for a second as he eyed Andre. ‘So you can hear us?’
‘Geesh! Yes! how many of us are there?’
Ajax, Fairfax, and Dakota all winced. ‘OK, don’t shout… that hurts…’ Dakota thought back with a shake of his head.
Off to the side, Sean eyed the others. His voice told how perplexed he was, “What the hell did I just miss?”
“No time for explanations, even if I had a good one,” Dakota stated as he looked around.
“So there is one?” Sean asked. “Cause I know I have been missing something for a few days… Add in what happened in the ship and… And there is no way you should have all just reacted the exact same like I just saw.”
“We talk later!” Dakota barked out as his posture hardened. “Sean let’s collapse the E-dome with Corporal Diffuso in it, We’ll pull his head out of the exit and put a face mask on him. It will keep him as warm as we can in this storm. The rest of you, toss in the extra supplies with him and help us load it on the skid. If this is really going to get worse, we need to get to a decent shelter. Move! Move!”
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