Published: 13 Apr 2023

Even Silent Secrets Are Hard to Keep

⚫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
⚫Alex: – San-San Forest Mountain Team 2 Leader
⚫Andre: – San-San Forest Mountain Team 2 Psionic
⚫Zach: – San-San Forest Mountain Team 2 Mauled right leg
⚫Jordan: – San-San Forest Mountain Team 2
⚫Hoyt: – San-San Forest Mountain Team 2 Sick from Slime Salamander poisoning

Mario looked out into the storm. The nearest treetops were only about twenty meters away, but they were mere outlines in the blowing snow. He toyed with his collar-mounted T&R for a few seconds. It took a great deal of effort to not check on the progress of the younger kids. He clenched his fist. He was the oldest, almost two months older than Dakota. He should have gone instead of sending three kids who were at least two years younger than he was. He wondered, as he watched the shapes of the trees sway back and forth, what Commander Montgomery and Captain Umber would say about his decision to let the others go. He bet it wouldn’t be a good or friendly conversation.

Behind him, Diane helped Zach change places with Jordan. As the younger boy came out and eagerly dug through brand new gear, he listened as Jordan talked about the last few months of San-San Forest Mountain 2. The boy talked about the panic as things with batteries started to heat up. He also gave the weird kid, Andre, full credit. The kid told everyone to drop packs and toss everyone with a power cell off to the side. The warning had come with no time to spare. Items including note-puters started to overload and in some cases exploded within minutes after they had emptied their packs. However, Andre had gone one better. He had the group toss much of the battery-powered items into a nearby stream. While some still melted or were damaged beyond use, the cold water cooled some items enough to where they weren’t destroyed. Among the most important items to survive because of this ingenious idea, were three arc lighters. This meant the group had an easy way to start fires and cook food.

This forewarning and quick thinking on Andre’s part had not only saved a huge amount of valuable equipment it had prevented major burns. It also probably saved Zach’s life, since the boy had been carrying the long-distance communication array. Jorden talked about how it didn’t just burn up, it exploded with enough power to send up a shower of dirt, pebbles, and water from the stream they had tossed it into.

Even with their quick reactions to things going bad, both Jordan and Zach got burned because they hadn’t thought about their transponders before they suddenly heated up and melted. The chatty ten-year-old, who said his age was ‘almost eleven’, seemed to have a weird pride about the round burn scar on the back of his right wrist. He talked about showing friends back on Earth proof of how tough he was to have it and still make it in the wilds of Zong. Mario bet few, even those who had been in regular Adventure Quest camps, would be able to relate. However, at the academy, where Jordan was still dead set on going, Mario knew the scar would be seen as a badge of bravery. In some strange way, it made him jealous.

The team had a couple of other fortuitous things occur even as things went horribly wrong. First was their rifles. All but one of them had rifles with less than fifty percent power because they were hunting birds. It sounded like Alex and Andre had talked the others into shooting only at flying targets because food, while low, was not a pressing issue. It was both fun and challenging but expended a lot of power. Because of this, only one rifle was lost to the star storm.

As the conversation about reorganizing gear and sticking his burned hand into a stream, continued, Mario moved around the shelter the kids from San-San Forest Mountain 2 had set up. While it was a natural shelter, it was a good one. The large rock above overhung a spacious ledge. He could tell the kids had been here for quite a while since there were beaten paths coming up from both the west and east. However, the way the storm raged with very heavy northeast winds, the eastern path was totally buried. He bet the drift was well over two meters and getting deeper. The west path, while still covered in a thick layer of snow, was constantly wind-swept. This meant the only drift was at the base of the path up.

Mario studied the way up. As he did so, he realized the Double X’s had been correct, the final drift, the one he and Diane had almost stopped in the middle of, was the last barrier before it got a great deal easier to get up. They very well might have gotten stuck had it not been for the two SLOs urging them forward with a grit Mario admitted, yet grudgingly, admired. Yet as he replayed the whole trek to get here, he was certain he was missing something. The Double X’s were resourceful and observant, but there was something else. They were always on the same page. Even weirder, Andre, a kid none of them knew, seemed to get on the same page with them, all within moments of his appearance. He had seen the same thing between Robin, Gavin, the Double Xs, and even the Mars kid. The question was what was he missing and how were they able to do it.

Even weirder, over the last several days, he had seen his own team leader, one of his best friends seemingly do the exact same thing when around Robin’s team. Dakota was one of his most trusted friends, but it seemed he was growing closer to Robin and the others by the day. Yes, Dakota had brought both Dean and him in, and he was happy about it. The extra training and the promise of more time in the deepest backcountry areas of a largely unexplored world were dreams coming true, but… Questions were mounting, and the compounding of unexplainable occurrences troubled him greatly.

With a long, worried breath, he played with his T&R yet again. Radioing them would do no good. Worse, it could distract them. He pulled his hand away and started to take a closer look at what had clearly been a long-term camp for the stranded team. Under the rock overhang, the five kids had built several makeshift pieces of furniture including a set of six rock chairs, each with a table-like pedestal. They surrounded the central fire pit. A second smaller fire burned just outside the cave with the slime Salamanders. The massive stacks of firewood showed the kids were ready for the storm.

Mario started to turn and ask Alex but stopped. A smile crept across his lips as he saw the kid, in a new sleeping bag, with a matt under it had fallen asleep with his head on a new pack. His left arm protectively wrapped around it. To Mario, it looked like the kid was smiling even as he slept. “Rest, you deserve it.”

Mario added some wood to both fires before he continued his explorations. Another look back actually let him focus on the positive. Regardless of the oddities he had seen, without them, without the Double X’s, Alex would not be sleeping comfortably with a smile on his face. Hoyt probably would have had no chance of surviving the next few days, Zach wouldn’t have new antibiotic fast-heal bandages on his wounded leg, and Jordan wouldn’t be all but attached to Diane. But his real focus returned to Alex. Without the events of the past few hours, poor Alex would be a team leader running out of options, with little food or supplies, a dying teammate wrapped in what remained of two sleeping bags in the warmest spot in the makeshift shelter, with a gargantuan storm roaring down on him.

This let Mario brush off some of his troubled musings. Instead, he focused on the shelter he found himself in. What little they had left were on wooden shelves made of thick sticks and tied together with vines, but it was beyond ingenious. Somehow, the vines had been harvested by the roots and had been planted in the dirt. The kids had then woven the still living and growing vines to tie the sticks together. Dirt on the floor showed they had planted the vines. Even more impressive, the half-living structures were built along the east side so they would get sun part of the day. By late spring, the vines would put out bright red seeds. They were very sweet. All Frist Year ISTAZ teams learned about them. Every ISTAZ training camp he had been to, had several of them close to the camp buildings. They were great for making jam and loaded with vitamin C, B6, calcium, and riboflavin.

Additionally, it had a secondary benefit to the camp instructors. The pollen was already out by the time most landed at their training camps. Because of this, it allowed medical to see who had major allergy problems. Those who did, get a different transponder with stronger long-term allergy-suppressing doses. The only problem was, the plant had a strong smell before it flowered, when it flowered it got very powerful. Mario was certain many of the kids who dropped out of ISTAZ did so to get away from the intense smell. Which was too bad, because after a few weeks, most found it both pleasant and comforting once their noses adjusted to not breathing purified air all the time.

His examination continued. The shelves closest to the edge of the shelter held a couple of score of seedpods, ragged strips of tents and e-domes, four spare battery packs, a pair of fishing poles with the reel of a third, and some various fishing gear, two stun rifles, a single solar charger, two backpacks, three arc lighters, five canteens, five cooking sets, three knives, two axes, parts of two laser rifles and remnants of what appeared to be three backpacks and two E-domes. There was also a spot with plastic boxes of expended items like first aid kits and tackle boxes. The way the empty containers were arranged led Mario to believe they were for storage of berries and other edibles.

Between the shelves against the rocky wall of the shelter were nine long straight branches with sharp metal stuck into the top and tied in place with strips of an E-dome. The color of the metal varied. He bet the tips had been made out of what had been left of the shells of their note-puters since colors of note-puters were often customized. Yet, the makeshift weapons were taken care of. They were carefully leaned so the points were toward the rock wall but didn’t rest against it. Four of them had a red tinge around where the wood and metal met. He wondered what creature’s blood had dyed the wood.

Other totally broken equipment was in stacks below what was on the shelves. The second shelf had small stacks of threadbare clothing and various natural trinkets including a few broken open geodes, a score of round stones, he bet were also geodes, numerous tree cones, neat-looking rocks, a pair of snake skins, one snake head with fangs and several buffalo horns. He bet these were the individual stashes of the kids. On the far side was a final storage on a fairly deep rock ledge. This was hunting trophies for sure. A half dozen deer antlers, over two dozen rabbit pelts, a small stack of raccoon pelts, and one wolverine pelt with a trio of laser burns right behind the left ear. Between the pelts and antlers was a stack of five actual paper books with thin plast-steel covers and latches designed to protect the pages as best as possible. He moved over to them. He started to reach out but stopped himself.

He glanced back at Jordan who was still talking but doing so while sitting on Diane’s lap with his head on the older girl’s shoulder. This brought a genuine smile to Mario.

He looked over, “Hey, Jordan, can I take a look at these books?”

“Sure! But please be careful. They’re all signed by Campbell Allen, Whitaker Ormazd, and Jasmine O’Bannon.”

“Wow!” Diane stated as she gently stroked Jordan’s shoulder, “You have books signed by members of the mission that found Zong?”

“Yeah! Thanks to Andre, our team won first place in our camp. We got to pick prizes. We each took one of those. Real lucky Andre asked Campbell Allen if he would sign one if he picked it. One he did and got the others to come to the camp and sign, the rest of us each grabbed one too! They helped a ton!”

Mario carefully picked up the first book, expecting the one under it to be the same. He could tell by the color of the cover it wasn’t. He turned it over in his hand and read the cover, ‘A Crash Course of Space Survival’ On the bottom were the names of Campbell Allen and Jasmine O’Bannon.

He opened it and found a dedication page ‘To fellow explorers who contributed to this project with all the insights they showed from the first moments on Zong.’ It included five more members of the crew including Whitaker Ormazd. Below this were the signatures of all three with notes praising Hoyt for scoring an outstanding on Climbing and Repelling.

He did a quick scan of the table of contents: ‘ Animals of Another World, Navigation: More than one Moon Lights the Night, Are These Plants Edible?, Waters of Zong: Life-Giving and Taking Water, It Has Fangs- Tastes Like Lamb, Sounds and Smells -Distractions or Warnings’ and, ‘Signs and symptoms of Open Space Sickness.’

The second book, “Making Homes on a New World’ was just like the first. It was signed under the dedication to others who were on the mission that found Zong. Notes praising Alex for scoring his outstanding on Wilderness Survival accompanied the signatures. This one had several sections about finding and making shelter, along with the dangers and benefits of each. The third was about hunting and trapping bigger game. Zach had clearly selected this one since there was heavy praise for two outstanding grades, one in Hunting and Gathering, the other in Laser Rifle. It talked of the meat, how some was bad, and some flatly dangerous. It also listed what the authors thought of the flavors of edible animals and even what would could help spice them. One chapter, ‘The Loss of April Maddy’ caught his attention. He found himself drawn to it. He ended up reading the whole thing. It talked about how the woman had gone against the normal convention of letting lizards feed on the meat of an unknown animal before she attempted to eat it. Her thoughts were if it was eating plants they had found to be edible it was probably OK to eat the meat and they were running really low on food. It was a heart-rending account of the loss of their lead botanist from a horrible wasting sickness. It ended with a tribute to the woman.

He glanced at the final two books, ‘Plants: Oh the Varied Smells and Uses,’ and finally ‘Animal Skins: A Guide to Making Them Useful.’ This caused him to smile since Whitaker Ormazd and Jasmine O’Bannon were the primary authors of this one. At the bottom of the dedication page, Campbell Allen had written under his signature the following words of warning: ‘Andre, wear a tent if you have to! Dead skins stink, so do it right or don’t bother.’ He could swear as he read the words, he could hear the gruff tone of the man speaking to them. If there was ever someone to say something like that it would be Campbell Allen.

He carefully put the books back and shook his head. He had seen the digital copies for sale on the lists of items at the Explorer Academy Learning Center store. He had also seen the actual books on sale at various events but had never done more than glance at them. One thing he did know, was there were five others in the series, but he had no idea what they were about. At the end of testing, he had seen them offered as possible gifts for the best-rated ISTAZ team. His team hadn’t been one, but he knew the team that did win, chose gear they could take home, not the books. As he eyed the books again, he realized this team had certainly made the better choice. Additionally, he knew, upon arrival back at the academy, all ten of the real paper books would be on his shelf in his storage cubby and they would come back to Zong with him.

He moved back from the supplies and over toward the caves when the T&R activated. It was Dakota’s voice, “Mario, Diane, either of you hear me?”

Mario spoke moments before Daine, “Got you Dakota, but there is a weird whistling coming over as well.”

“Wind!” Dakota barked, “Stupidly strong wind! Just letting you know they reached us and we are heading to you. Our Double Xs think we are probably an hour and a half out, but I am guessing probably two or three. We are walking straight into the wind, and pulling Corporal Diffuso and the rest of the important gear is going to mean a slow go. With that said, I’d love to lighten the load. Is there anything we absolutely don’t need?”

“I’d drop all the axes except one big one. I’d bring a couple of the ropes but ditch the others. We don’t need all of them… Um, I think the Corporal grabbed way too many batteries. We got at least one spare for everything we brought and what little they have that still needs one but keep a few extras. Hard to tell when we’ll get enough sunlight to recharge them.

“Um, let’s see… yeah, don’t get how, but our Double Xs were dead on. There are five on the team. We have new packs for each of them. I’d bring two extras just to be safe, but I know Diffuso stuffed at least four into the big bag Dean and him hefted up onto Diffuso’s line. Oh, then they have plenty of firewood. It’s almost like they knew this storm was coming, so keep one big saw, but ditch the rest. All the backup packs have hand saws, and they already have four here.”

“Great!” Dakota shouted. “You just let me get rid of over a hundred kilos of crap! Keep the fire going! We’re going to need it!”

“Will do. Just be careful.”

“Such is the plan. But do me a favor and keep someone up with a T&R on in case we run into problems.”

“I’ll be on and ready to help until you get here.”

“Same here, Dakota,” Diane announced. This was flowed by a giggle, “Jordan says he’ll come down and help as soon as you get close, so shout. He says to remind Andre to use the west path. The east is even worse than what it was earlier!”

Andre’s voice came over the radio next, “Diane, make sure the fire close to the water cave stays burning as well. We set it to prevent any chance of those stupid slime lizards or whatever they are from venturing out into the main cave.”

“Already added wood, and will make sure it stays hot,” Mario responded. “We’ll take care of the rest of your team. You help get the rest of ours to get back here.”

“Such is the plan,” Andre stated. “But remember, there are wolverines in the lower cave. They haven’t tried to come up to the shelter, but keep an eye open just in case.”

Jordan leaned in and spoke into Diane’s collar. “We all have laser rifles ready.”

“Good to hear little buddy but remember everything Alex and I have worked with you on. You didn’t pass certification, so be real careful with it.”

“I will. Promise!”

“I’m sure you will, little buddy. See you soon.”

As the radio chatter stopped, Jordan looked up at Diane with worry, “You’re not going to make me take a stunner, are you?”

Mario responded, “If anyone earned the right to carry a laser, it would be anyone stuck out here for the last few months. It’s yours and I’ll throw a fit if anyone tries to tell you, you can’t have one. If anything, the second we get back to a camp, I’ll take you out for a few hours to make sure you’re ready then demand one of the instructors gives you a chance for a retest!”

“Same for me,” Diane stated, and he gave the boy a harder hug.

The kid’s eyes gleamed as he put his head back on Diane’s shoulder. It wasn’t long before he was asleep.

Mario continued to watch the snow swirl. So little light penetrated the sky it looked to be late in the day. Too dark even though it wasn’t even mid-day yet. He kept the rifle ready and panned it down the west path a few times, but as best as he could tell nothing moved.

He glanced back at Diane with a warm smile, “I can help you get him into a bag and tucked into the dome with the others.”

She shook her head, “I’m fine. I’ve always wanted a younger brother or sister, but I’m number two, and my folks only rate two.” She stroked Jordan’s hair gently. “Besides, I think he has wanted a chance to drop his guard and let someone take care of him for a while. I’m happy I’m the one who got the first chance.”

Out in the storm, four kids pulled while one took point with a rifle out. The wind continued to get worse as did the snow. A couple of times the person on point had to check a compass and walk a zigzag path to find the next marked tree since visibility continued to decline, and in a few cases the trunks of the trees were coated with so much snow it hid the ropes.

Sounds of branches cracking above, and occasionally breaking and falling not far away kept everyone nervous and adrenaline flowing. Still, a couple of breaks were required. As they hunkered behind some trees and replaced spent hand and feet warmers, Dakota had to put bandages on both Sean and Ajax, since the intensity of the blowing snow and ice had opened up the skin around the facemasks.

This caused Andre to pull out one of the extra packs and cut up the attached sleeping bag. He showed all four of the others how to make a face wrap to augment what they already wore. Even as he did so, he had to yell so Sean could hear him, even though it was only a meter or so away. The others were easier since he was able to telepathically communicate the need to keep it loose enough around the nose, mouth, and neck so it didn’t ice up and constrict breathing.

After nearly an hour, Andre held up a hand and looked around. He nodded. He glanced over to Dakota, ‘I know this spot! There is a void in the rocks over there.’ He pointed. ‘Let’s dig it out and stash most of the stuff here. We can come back after the storm and get it.’

Fairfax nodded and thought back, ‘We need a lighter load! We keep food, one extra pack, and the trainer. We really don’t need anything else!’

Before Sean knew what was going on, the Double Xs moved over to the spot Andre pointed to and started to dig. At the same time, Dakota and Andre started pulling stuff out of the collapsed E-dome.

Sean looked around in confusion and moved toward Dakota, but was stopped by shouting from Ajax, “Keep us guarded! Andre knows this spot and can get us back here later! We’re lightening the load!”

Sean moved his rifle to a ready position and scanned the area, but shouted back, “How? How did he tell you? None of us have said a word since he helped with the face wraps!”

“You just didn’t hear him!” Fairfax yelled. “In this wind, snow, and with my ears and mouth covered, I’m surprised I heard him!”

“Bullshit! All of you reacted at the same time! Are you on a different T&R channel just to screw with me?”

“NO!” Ajax bellowed. “While a great prank, this ain’t the time for one! We need all of us on the same page. But I’ll sure remember it, ’cause it’s a great idea for messing with someone!”

Dakota gave Ajax a playful shove as laughed hard enough for Sean to just make out. He frowned deeply. There was no way they had all talked without him hearing them. He was between Dakota and Fairfax and Andre was on point. There was simply no way. But if they weren’t on a separate T&R channel… Nope, he was missing something. He eyed the group again, but all four were actively pulling items off the skid and out from around Diffuso. They worked as a team. A close team. A couple of times there were odd nods like they were talking to each other. The more he watched the more certain he became there was a shared secret. What he couldn’t understand was why he was being left out.

It hurt his feelings. He kicked at the snow as he once again scanned the surrounding forest. This only increased his sense of unease. Visibility was down to less than fifteen meters. Something could be out there watching, even hunting them, and there was no way for him to know until it was probably too late.

His musings were stopped as Andre moved up and patted him on the shoulder and shoulder, “Thanks for keeping an eye open! You want a break from pulling?”

“No…” Sean let out a deep breath, “You seem to know the area. You stay on point!”

“OK, but don’t lose heart! We are less than a kilometer out from the ridge. This was a bobcat den. They kept eating the rabbits out of our traps, so I shot them. The meat didn’t taste very good and we screwed up on the pelts and had to toss them but at least they stopped eating our rabbits!” He again patted Sean on the back, “That’s how I knew about the hollow!”

Sean nodded and moved back to the skid, He eyed the others, each of whom gave him a friendly nod of thanks as they all grabbed the ropes to the skids. He chewed on his lower lip as he started to pull. Once again things didn’t add up. They didn’t act like they were keeping secrets, but there was no other explanation, was there?

Close to half an hour later Andre suddenly held up his hand. He quickly thought, ‘Above us and it smells blood!’

‘Smells blood?’ Fairfax thought back.

‘Yeah, you gotta trust me…’

‘I do!’ Fairfax fired back. ‘If it smells anything it has to be behind us ’cause there ain’t no way it can smell nothing in this wind in any other direction!’

Ajax, Fairfax, and Dakota all dropped ropes and grabbed rifles. All four boys spun and pointed rifles into the trees behind the skid. Less than a second later Andre’s rifle sent out a three-round burst. A lynx fell from a tree and disappeared into the snow. Andre rushed past and fired another three-shot burst into it. He panned the trees with his rifle for a few moments before nodding. He held up a very large lynx carcass, “We’re clear! The books say this is good eating, I’m taking it!”

He draped the fifteen-kilo cat over his shoulders and moved back to take point.

Sean stood transfixed even as the others grabbed ropes. He blinked a few times then his gut overloaded his mind, “STOP!”

All four boys turned to look at him. Dakota moved up, “What?!”

“I… I don’t know, but there is NO FREAKIN’ WAY! Yet all of you knew there was a huge cat behind us, and… and… I can’t… Not possible! Just look!” He pointed to the tree. “None of you could have seen it in this snow… and… Andre, you couldn’t have seen it at all! IT’S WHITE IN A SNOWSTORM, and… I can barely see the damned tree it fell out of, let alone something in it! You were further away! But you all knew YOU KNEW! All at the same time… you knew… WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!”

Dakota crunched off some of the snow built up on his mask and face wrap, “Sean, relax man, relax… I bet I get into trouble, but as soon as we get back to the cave we’ll talk. OK?”

“But how?!” Sean blinked and scanned the area. “There is no way anyone could have known it was up there!”

“I’m called the ‘weird one’ by my team for a reason, Sean,” Andre spoke loudly but with compassion. “But we can’t have this conversation out here. The smell of this may entice wolves or even the wolverines if they catch a sniff. We can’t afford it to happen. So let’s get to the overhang. Then… well, no one of authority has told me I can’t talk about this, so let me do my best to explain.”

“So I’m not… like crazy?”

“Nope, but I’ve questioned if I am, hundreds of times in the past few months. But nope, I’m just weird.”

“Your weirdness probably just saved us!” Ajax shouted as he grabbed the rope. “Now come on, I want to get to a fire and see what big cat taste like!”

“Yeah! Big Cat for a late lunch!” Fairfax called out, “Good idea!”

Dakota lowered his head into his hand and shook it, ‘Do you to think with your heads or stomachs?’

‘Food first!’ Ajax responded, without hesitation.

‘And second, third, probably fourth.’ Ajax added. ‘Forth, might be safe shelter, but not by much.’

Sean frowned as both Andre and Dakota started laughing, but a hard pat on the back from Dakota got him moving. He grabbed the rope and pulled. Fifteen minutes later Mario and Diane moved down to help. Above, the slender figure of Jordan stopped on the snowy path and pointed a rifle at the now fully snow-covered cave mouth further down the ridge.

Mario and Diane kept watch while Andre gutted and cleaned the lynx, so the smell of the blood and innards stayed well away from the shelter.

Above Alex helped get Diffuso into one of the E-domes with a heater while the one he had been brought up in was added as a third harsh weather shelter toward the back of the shelter.

More wood was tossed on the fire, ropes were put up to hang and dry snow and ice-coated clothing, and everyone took some deep breaths. A lookout told everyone they had gotten settled just in time. Nothing was visible beyond the overhand. Nothing. Not even a few normally visible jutting rocks ten meters out on the west side path. Silence took over for several minutes as all the kids experienced the beginnings of a true white-out.

Two hours later, while hunks of lynx meat cooked on skewers over the fire, Andre let out a long breath. He glanced out. Nothing, not even the edges of the trails down on either side of the shelter were visible through the sheets of white. “So guys, we have several hours of this, maybe more. Since we’re not going anywhere, I think it’s time I came out and said it. And I’m not lying. I really am weird.”

“Tell us something we don’t already know” Alex joked.

“I’m about to.” He glanced around. “I’m about to.”

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