This bit follows 'New love and Danger'
Twenty-Three come home
In an isotopic blur, Red fumbled with the door, opening it expecting a bottle of iodine pills or fluid; instead all he saw was a little red button. He was in no state to react and the confusion of his discovery stopped him mid-motion. Adelo scuttled up his arm, curled up into a little ball and threw all his weight at the little red spot, depressing the plastic button and activating the improved radiation shield. The hum of the carbon vibrating the graphene was strangely comforting.
The van seemed to lurch forward a little, without knowing, Red and Adelo had saved many lives – including the Camels, whose extra-radiation shield source was connected to the van. Now their chances had risen from absolutely none to a slither. All of this drama unfolded in a matter of minutes, they still had approximately an hour to survive upon the most inhospitable area of Earth – the surface.
It took about a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes before the radiation poisoning symptoms subsided. Everything seemed to be finally going smoothly, when there was a loud metallic clang and what sounded like bullets hitting the under-carriage of the van. Then the safety-van came to a complete halt! Red’s mind began racing with the questions of who or what would be capable of attacking them in this kind of extreme harsh environment!
But his foremost thought was that they would not survive here, they had to keep moving! There was nothing else for it, he had to go outside and investigate. Whilst recovering from the radiation Niqua had discovered half a dozen heat shield blankets, these Red tied to his extremities, feet, legs, arms and hands; he also combined his own heat-cape with Niquas, which was the best that he could do to protect himself from the surface environment.
Niqua retreated behind a small barrier at the back of the van as Red opened the door to outside. Adelo seemed naturally more immune to the harsh heat and radiation, possibly because in his era of existence, that was the natural environment! So it was up to the little scaly rodent to close the door behind Red. Although both Red and Niqua had thought Adelo should accompany Red in his reconnaissance, Adelo would not leave his beloved mistress.
Niqua, like an automatic reaction, did lose consciousness the moment the seal was broken on the door. Adelo had already thrown a small rag into a container of water and immediately dragged that rag across to Niqua and onto her face. Red felt as if his bones were burning, even with every heat shield cloth available to him. He forcefully propelled himself toward the maintenance door of the Camels shield-shelter. Luckily the mobile heat-radiation shelter of the camels, very similar to the van that carried the passengers, also had been updated and the door opened upon touch.
It would also have closed automatically, but something had fallen down when it slid open and jarred its ability to shut. Though feeling as if his movements were in the dreamlike state of a mirage, Red bent down and gasped the object, pulling it up and out of the way. When the door shut there was instant relief, though it took a few moments for Reds eyesight to adjust. When finally he could focus on the object in his hand, it almost made him laugh.
A bone, just a dried-up, splintered old bone! But why had running over an old cow skeleton stopped the van? He had to step sideways to make his way along the gap between the side of the shelter and the camels themselves. The first thing he noticed was that the beasts feet were all bloodied, then, what he thought was blood that had splattered up from their feet, he realized was falling down from their mouths. Although not a man-off-the-land, he was also realizing that the bone that he held was much larger than any from a cow.
As he reached the head of the Camel train the puzzle started to unravel, the four lead Camels were missing. The harnesses of the second row still held some bones and even some small tuffs of hair and lumps of flesh. The beasts of the third and fourth row had many lacerations as the forefront harnesses had become entangled around their legs. As the scene began to register in his mind, a feeling of awe for these animals took over Reds thoughts.
Mindless beasts of burden these animals were often referred to, but Red was seeing the most loyal and courageous creatures he had ever laid eyes on. Despite watching their leaders slowly succumb to super-heated radiation and having the front harnesses strangle and cut them, they kept moving forward at the greatest speed they could muster. There was a maintenance box on the front wall of the shelter, there Red found a strong, sharp object and began cutting the useless harnesses away.
There was no water storage for these animals, Red felt an undignified anger wash over his soul. These animals were being used merely for the purpose of transferring Human Beings to the safety of underground core scrapers – there was very little consideration for saving the beasts of burden. They were intended to burn up with the rest of the surface of Earth when inhabiting her skin was no longer a possibility.
Whilst cutting away the harnesses a few of the Camels placed their soft muzzles into Reds hands, as if resting the weight of their heads for just a moment would help them continue the gruelling journey. As they did this Red could not avoid looking into their eyes, what he saw, more poignantly than pain and exhaustion, was hope. When he opened the door to the Camel shelter, it had been like opening a bonnet to a motor – when he exited to retrieve water and bandages, it was like a mission to help true heroes.
Upon re-entering the safety-van Red winced at watching Niqua succumb to unconsciousness again. He would wait until she regained her senses before returning to the Hero’s, he would have to, to overcome the physical exhaustion of being exposed to the surface. For the first time he wondered how long the power storage of this surface-van would last. How long had they been out here already? A quick check worried him, already and hour had passed – the journey was supposed to be over.
No-one had come to tend to the Camels, replenish supplies or render maintenance to the van. This was a double trip for Hero’s and they weren’t even half-way yet. As Niqua began to open her eyes Adelo pulled away the re-wetted rag, “What was it” were her first words. As Red told her of what he had discovered, Niqua began to cry. Her tears were for the Camels, for their suffering and their bravery; her tears were for Red and Adelo, for their very lives were in such danger: Her tears were for herself, for she felt such fear as she had never known.
Red embraced her and Adelo clung to her cheek as he wiped at her tears, it was the proverbial ‘group hug’ bond. Suddenly all three of them at once remembered that the bravest members of their group needed their help. Bitten by the sting of guilt, they all began scavenging for whatever they could find. Leaving two litres of water for themselves they filled four containers with five litres each, but twenty litres for twenty Camels was not going to do a lot.
Adelo threw medical supplies into a knapsack bag, at least there was enough concentrated iodine to be properly diluted into the water. In fact there was a reasonably large supply of iodine, enough to use it straight as a powder on the wounds, this would be the most efficient and ease the most pain, due to the Hero’s extreme exposure to the super-heated radiation. This time Niqua laid down before Red opened the door, she was sporting too many bruises already!
Although he had watered and tended the Camels, Red had no idea how to get them moving – he did not want to hit them. He returned to Niqua and Adelo, again exhausted by the searing surface. He was about to apologize and explain that the safety van had a limited power supply; that when it ran out the radiation shields would fail, there would be no survival. Then there was a bump and jiggle and the van began moving forward.
Since they had left Broken Hill an hour and a half had passed, with at least over half an hour to go. Red sipped a little of the water and Niqua dabbed his brow and checks with the damp rag. He was red raw with a burn that was greater than the sun could create, with grey green blisters forming on has jawline and nose. Though they were moving again, a feeling of doom was overtaking them. Red had suffered lethal doses of decaying radiation, he would not be able to save them again.
He would deteriorate rapidly, once they reached the home bound tunnel, there would be medical assistance that would be able to stabilize him enough until they made it to Doctor ‘C’. Earth had downloaded a method of de-radiation, it would not mend the damage that was done, but it would halt it! For now all Niqua and Adelo could do was encourage him to keep taking the iodine and make him as comfortable as possible.
Somehow the twenty Camels that were left, four of which were badly injured, continued on their journey. Though their speed was slowing and the comforting hum was getting fainter. Red was becoming an empty shell, there was nothing left within him that he could vomit forth, but his muscles continued with the motions. Through a tiny spyhole on the forward facing wall of the van Niqua finally saw they were approaching the tunnel entrance.
The camels completed their duty and pulled up outside shelter 023. So close but yet too far! Niqua remembered how traumatic it had been, watching people fall and transform in a shimmer, into bleached white bones. Through the spyhole she could see a message projected onto every available surface; “Surface inhabitation shut-down in 14 minutes 39 seconds” For a moment she was mesmerized by watching the seconds count down.
Adelo was fanatically leaping in front of the door, shivering in a fit-like manner. In all this life and death scenario, Niqua had all but forgotten her connection with Earth. She had never ‘called’ upon it herself, now she knew she had to try. She imagined her soul resided in the centre of her brain, she envisioned herself letting it go, watching it rise. A calm and understanding settled beneath it.
A plan formed, but it was not her own. She remembered the door-lock and realized it had to be disengaged. She covered Red with every heat-shield blanket, wrapped herself in both capes and pressed the button simply marked ‘un-lock’. A nano-second of blinding light and then she was unconscious. What happened from now was up to her prehistoric pet, her last thought was ‘perhaps Adelo might make it’.
Adelos scales bristled up and curved, a reaction to the high levels of radiation; like a built-in heat-cape. Not all pre-historic scales worked like solar panels, absorbing as much heat and light as possible; in this position Adelos scales would protect his soft pink core for many hours. In his original life, that would have enabled him to hunt and forage – now all he had to accomplish was moving twenty Camels twenty feet.
Transforming his scales into a rock solid armour slowed his movements, but his mind was racing. Unlike Niqua, Adelo was in consent communication with Earth. It was she who had resurrected him, using her own metabolism to reconstitute his perfectly preserved remains. The first upload of data that she sent him was to flick his tail to the inside of the surface van’s door to make it close. He did not need her assistance to know the next step was to enter to Camels safety van.
Making his way to the new leader of the Camels, Adelo knew he must make a connection with it, as he once had with Niqua. But upon seeing the bloodied beast he shared his concerns with Earth, “This poor creature will not survive the distance, I should choose another”. His thoughts were over-ridden and his actions were not his own. Climbing the beasts’ body was slow work, then the animal, known amongst its herd as ‘Lemac’, raised its leg and lowered its neck.
