Whispers of Long Lost Voices

6. Trouble Appears

The trail came to an abrupt end, releasing into an area that, while not incredibly open, gave them more room to breathe. The air was still humid and laced with humus and decay, but out here, it moved. Tara relished it, some of the claustrophobia melting away.

Despite dusk being upon them, it was brighter here, too, as more light was able to break through the thinner canopy, illuminating the still-standing carcasses of long abandoned buildings. While most of the structures in human cities beyond the jungle were made of wood and stone over metallic frames, these were mostly metal and had the familiar forms of the colonial starter pack humans had been using for hundreds of years. Handy flat packs of the pieces to build homes, community centers, and government buildings, perfect for intergalactic travel. They were utilitarian, but went up easy and were sturdy enough to withstand a variety of natural disasters. One could find these buildings at the center of hundreds of cities across the Known Universe, the structures built from the world's natural resources growing up around them.

There had never been any reason to change the design.

"I'm picking up life signs now. Humanoid, but I can't tell how many or what species," Brenn said, her eyes shifting the way they did when she used her Interface. For the time being, she was focused and much more herself. Thank goodness.

Tara pulled up an extrapolated map of her surroundings, watching the Interface place diagrams of buildings and roads where her eyes could only see the impression of them; only hints of corners and bits of metal shining out from gaps in flowers and leaves. At first the life signs remained vague, but as the Interface's built-in sensors took the time to process, they solidified into four. Two moved around near each other, some distance from the other pair. The second set remained stationary and were far fainter than the others.

Their distance could be the reason for the faintness, or the fact they appeared to be indoors. It'd make life a whole lot easier if that were the case, but the truth was, life was never easy. These were faint enough to be unstable—faint enough for one or both to disappear in a moment. Speed was imperative. Unfortunately, the fates had seen fit to send them an obstacle.

"I think we've finally found that trouble we've been waiting for," she said.

"Aye."

How long would this focus last? Over the last thirty minutes things had deteriorated despite the stim. Stims were heavy hitters; sledgehammers of adrenaline and focus boosting drugs mixed with a cocktail of painkillers and even more drugs to counteract negative side effects. They were safe to use one or two days to overcome injuries and bodily fatigue when lives were at risk. Concussions were the first condition they'd been approved for. Brenn should have snapped back to her typical, energetic, self fueled by a massive dose of borrowed energy.

Instead, she'd vacillated every few minutes between moments of clarity like this one and times when she'd grown more distant. Sometimes she answered direct questions in a language Tara had never heard before, but it must have been her native tongue, because it had the same cadence and quality of her accent. She'd caught it and switched back to the Creole each time with a wrinkled brow and deep frown, just as confused as Tara. Twice more, she'd been sick, painfully dry heaving on her hands and knees. The red splotches on her cheeks and lack of color anywhere else spoke of fever, but her vitals continued to check out.

Logic couldn't explain any of this. Prospero Hab didn't have such incompetent doctors they'd mistake a major traumatic brain injury for a mild traumatic brain injury and it'd be a rare bug bite or environmental toxin that could cause neurological issues at this scale while only manifesting as stress in scans. She was ill, and not ill at the same time.

"Are you good right now? We need to figure out who's here with us and neutralize them if necessary." Sure would be easier if she didn't have to do it alone.