1:4:2 Tarthesis (Part 8)

There was a huge commotion outside. As they left the town hall, they saw waves of civilians being corralled towards the police station and barracks. The building was the most unique of all in Treenam, matching the prefabricated style while not being exactly the same. As they focussed on the station, time seemed to bleed away.

“Are they planning on flying the building?” Char looked on dismayed.
“Looking at that plumbing, that bit over there.” Lore gestured vaguely at the barrack wing of the station. “Is a ship, perhaps a shuttle or drone from the main colony ship. It’s been common practice since forever in human cultures to use the vehicle you came in as temporary or even permanent housing. A lot of human shuttles are designed to fit with the prefabs to give the colonists a guaranteed home. Saves weight.” Lore smiled. “Got to admire the ingenuity.”
“Weight isn’t an issue in space…” Char looked at them confused.
“It is when you have to get everything into orbit.” Lore scoffed.
Char looked around. “Fair enough but if that’s a shuttle, where’s the ship?”
Lore just shrugged.
The ship itself was old, much older than the prefabs attached to it; It was nearly old enough to collect its pension and looked as though it hadn’t moved in nearly as long. Despite its age, the lights were on and the engines cycling. Years of use as a barracks was proving useful, allowing the ship to be ready for its new duty of transporting and housing the people of Treenam. Wreaves stood frozen, harrying people up the docking ramp as engineers started frantically removing the connections to the surrounding prefab structures that had been added over the years.
Char shook her head, acknowledging how impressive it was. As she did, both she and time realised they had been stood still too long and so, time began again. The sound was near unbearable; it had barely made it to Lore’s ears before Char’s hands were clapped around them.
“Thanks.” Lore mouthed as they fumbled in their pockets for their Sonics. Char somehow knew exactly when to raise her shields.
Defences up, they walked together. The human sea separated them from their goal; they forced themselves past Lore and Char. The intangible bubble that had once surrounded Char had popped, the people of Treenam had more pressing issues than their xenophobia to worry about.
“We aren’t getting any closer.” Lore shook their head. “Head back to The Destiny?”
“Sounds good. We should be able to track their progress better from there. Treenam isn’t the only colony.” Char nodded. “Ready when you are.” She nodded at her wrist.
Lore took her hand and together they made a little more room for the locals to escape. The Destiny’s bridge may have been empty but, for the first few moments after they appeared, the noise of the crowds seemed to linger. They took just a second to themselves before leaving to find where the rest of their crew had gotten to.

The canteen doors slid aside. A roar of laughter diffused between them.
“No… They wouldn’t.” Curve bounced on Destiny’s lap.
“They weren’t even like that on Illia. Sure they weren’t her biggest fans but at least they were classy about it.” Ace soon realised that the laughing had stopped. They looked to the group who had all eyes on the door. Ace span on their seat. “Ah… Lore… And… Speak of the devil.”
“As you were.” Char smiled.
“We were just wondering where you all were.” Lore added. “Destiny, we could do with a hand. Tarthesis is about to be attacked, least we can do is help co-ordinate the evacuations.”
At the mention of Destiny’s name, Curve let out a disappointed sigh. “I’ll be through in a moment.” Destiny pecked Curve on the cheek before melting into the chair they were sat on. “Ready for you on the bridge when you are.” Destiny’s voice echoed from the walls.
“See you in a bit.” Lore nodded to Sky. “I reckon Dee’ll be here soon.” Sky smiled back.
Destiny’s face protruded from the corner of the viewscreen. “Suppose I best get things ready…” She twiddled her non-existent thumbs as she waited. Tarthesis span below her. The bridge doors eventually opened. “You two took your time.”
Lore looked to Char. “We were…” Shared confusion paralysed them. “We were less than a minute.” They shook their head. “Can you show us all of the human settlements across the planet?”
Destiny highlighted six points on the globe. “There are four towns of like Treenam and two cities similar in size to the London you visited. Each settlement is independently evacuating but the bigger ones seem to be heading for the same location half way between them.”
“That must be the Colony ship.” Lore circled it on the map. “Is there any way to get them all in contact? Link their comm systems?” Char started scanning for any active electromagnetic frequencies.
“If their equipment wasn’t nearly half a century out of date then we could but I’m afraid even I can’t extend the range of those transmitters. I’m barely able to decode them let alone transmit them.” Destiny scoffed.
“But you can transmit them.” Lore started.
“And receive them.” Char continued.
Destiny looked somewhat concerned. “Where’s this going?”
“You don’t need to decode them, you just need to transmit them in the correct direction.” Lore smiled. “Intercept their messages and send them to the other settlements. Like throwing and catching a ball.”
“We tell them to all aim their transmitters at us then maybe, they can all get themselves off this planet in time.” Char nodded.
“Fine… It’s worth a try. Opening communication with all settlements.” Destiny’s face vanished but a hand soon took its place. “You’re on in three, two one.”
“Tarthesis.” Lore began before clapping their hand to their mouth. They moved away from the microphone. “I can’t do this.”
“Poor time for stage fright.” Char patted their shoulder.
“No, I can’t do this because I sound like the person trying to kick them out.” Lore pointed to the countdown timer in the top corner of the viewscreen. “You’ve got to.”
“Alright.” Char stepped up to the console. “Tarthesis. We understand you’re trying to evacuate but this is a message I think you’d rather listen to. At the moment, you cannot communicate between yourselves. However, you are all in positions to be able to transmit to this location. Our ship will set itself hovering above Treenam, about ten metres in the air. Aim your transmitters at us and we’ll handle any inter-settlement communications you may need.”
The overlapping voices of the various settlement leaders filled the bridge as Destiny tried to sort and direct the new traffic.
“Look! Everyone!” She shouted. “Just hold on a moment.” The channels went silent. “Thank you. I know it’s an emergency but one at a time.”
Destiny’s edict worked better than expected as the leaders listened to one another and decided on a plan for their evacuation. The twin cities would all travel to the mothership while the other villages would continue their own, individual evacuation plans. Once those were complete, they were to meet with the mothership before leaving orbit together.
“It’s going to be tight.” Wreaves shouted over the rabble of Treenam as they barged and pushed their way onto their shuttle.
“Same here. I don’t know if we’ve got enough room.” The leader of Farnam’s voice trembled.
“How far are you from us Farnam?” Larkam’s mayor’s connection wasn’t the best but her message came through.
“Umm…” Farnam’s mayor consulted the map. “Five minutes.” Their voice faded out in defeat.
“How many of you are there?” Lore butted in.
“At least twenty.” Hope still hadn’t returned to Farnam’s mayor’s voice.
“Can the mothership take them?” Lore started typing Farnam’s co-ordinate’s into their Breacher.
“We’ve got room for everyone on the planet and more.” Millam’s prime minister sounded confident.
“Hold tight Farnam, I’ll be there in a moment.” The Bridge lit up white.
Farnam was a far sight from Treenam. Where Treenam had followed the path of panic and disarray, Farnam had gone in the opposite direction. Families waited in neat lines, slowly moving when it was their turn to board. One line was moving ahead of the others. Lore made their way to the shuttle’s ramp.
“How can I help?” They looked out at the crowd.
“That lot will need to find another way off the planet. After these have boarded, there won’t be any room.” Farnam’s mayor turned their nose up slightly, looking away from the group they had asked Lore to deal with.
Confused, Lore wrenched their neck into the shuttle to get a better look. “You sure? Your shuttle should be plenty big enough?” There were only six families, twenty two people.
“Sure as one can be when there is a potentially life ending event coming their way in the next three minutes.” his eyes widened. “There is room for them but the families have requested that they be able to enter cryosleep as soon as possible.”
“Alright.” Lore ran over to the nearest family. They suddenly realised that everyone in the line shared a single, obvious commonality: Each family had at least one member who was wearing a yellow wristband and had some form of protection against sensory overstimulation. “Everyone needs to link hands.” They tried not to shout or sound too authoritative. Once they saw everyone connected, they activated their Breacher. Multiple blinding flashes, and one child almost sent into a seizing fit, and Lore had evacuated Farnam’s neurodivergent population.
“Thank you.” The last child handed Lore their yellow band as they boarded the colony ship.
Lore smiled before handing the band to the nearby guard. “Good luck.” They Breached back to The Destiny.
“Sorted?” Char patted Lore’s chair.
“How long have they got left?” Lore sat back down.
“Two minutes.” Destiny responded. “The Razor’s weapon systems are ready and have acquired their targets… Hold on.”
“Hold on to what?” Lore braced for impact.
“They’re not aiming at the settlements. Weapons are targetting seemingly random points across the planet.” Destiny showed the predicted firing map on screen.
“That’s because they’re not trying to destroy the humans.” Char started. “They just want to return the land to the natives and that means returning the atmosphere to more habitable levels.”
“Of course. No need to risk any collateral damage when you can just target the humans.” Lore paused. “Why haven’t the ships taken off yet?”
“Good question.” Destiny scanned her backlog. The screen suddenly started flashing red. “Oh.”