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Chapter 58

Chapter 58

February 2nd, 2158 (station time)

Shortly after the group arrived back to base, both Mike and Nassor each reported goliaths in the area. The satellite confirmed at lease a dozen goliaths. Each goliath moved around the area, but kept a respectable distance from the base.

Mike and Nassor rotated watch with Chuck and Aashif. Their role now was less about keeping and eye out for possible danger, but now was simply to give the rest of the team time to suit up when and if an attack happened.

Aashif skin was almost back to its natural tanned tone, and was healing nicely. Chuck on the other hand had a worse reaction to the chemical bath and had several spots on his back legs and arms where the skin had blistered. It was obvious that he was in pain, but he never once complained about it.

The team packed the entirety of the base, except for the building itself. It took nearly twice as long to take it down as it did to set it up. It's possible that frayed nerves played a major role in that.

The team was now taking shifts sleeping in the common room, while others waited for time to pass in the storage room. Other than those on guard, Taavi didn't want anyone to suit up in their mech before they had too. It was possible to sleep in a mech suit, but it wasn't very comfortable. Taavi wanted everyone to be as rested as possible if an attack from the goliaths actually came.

Darkness fell, and the long day finally came to an end. However, with the ending of the long day, Logan knew began what would most likely be the longest night of his life. Clotho Three's night was six hours longer than a night on earth, but the length of the night was only part of why this night would be long.

With over a dozen goliaths staggered around the base, Logan and the team found themselves besieged on an alien planet. The tunneling device could only be opened from the other side, and there wasn't a scheduled opening for another ten hours.

If an attack came, the team would have to choose between standing their ground and fighting, or retreating from the base and keeping the goliaths on their heels burning time waiting for the gate to open. Either way, the more time that passed with the goliaths not doing anything the better.

Manuel spent over two hours working on Gantulga and his leg. Manuel wasn't a doctor, but he was the closest thing the team had. Aashif assisted, he had been trained in Tactical Combat Casualty Care but knew little compared to Manuel about the anatomy of the human leg.

The rock had landed on his knee, and resulted in a comminuted fracture of the lower part of his femur, and the upper portions of his tibia and fibula. Due to the injection of the nanobots, there was little concern for infection.

The injection of the local coagulant had done its job by not letting Gantulga bleed to death. However, the blood clots cause inflammation and damage to the cells near by. This would have to be addressed as soon as possible. However the resources to give Gantulga proper medical treatment were not available.

With the pain managed, and the chances for infection low, Manuel and Aashif removed Gantulga's leg half way down his femur. Special care was taken to preserve as much of his nerves as possible. Higher functioning nerves in his leg meant a better and more naturally controlling prosthetic.

Only a local anesthetic was used on Gantulga, so he was awake through most of the procedure. But exhaustion caught up with him, and he fell asleep during the surgery. After finishing, and cleaning up, both Manuel and Aashif also took the opportunity to sleep.

Logan wasn't sure exactly what Taavi said to Eamon, but what ever was said scared him. Ever since, Eamon followed Taavi around like a personal assistant. Eamon was visibly not happy with his situation, but he still did every last task Taavi assigned to him.

Logan, Josh and Suke finished attaching the new mech leg. Slight changes were made in the programming to compensate for the lack of one leg. Now Logan found himself with nothing to do. Josh and Suke each began their own side projects.

Briefly, Logan tried to fall asleep; after all he was very tired. But sleep eluded him, and he got up to find something to occupy his mind and time. After wondering around the common room and the supply room several times, he sat down in the storage room and started to browse files on his DNAC.

Logan never stayed too long in a file. He read a few chapters in a few books, he listened to some music, and he watched several videos. He even spent a good portion of time reading through and listening to Jacob's files again. But nothing grabbed him and made him want to spend too much time.

Hours must have passed, when Logan overheard Mike on the comms channel. "Taavi, I'm picking up some seismic activity. I'm not sure what... EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE BASE NOW!"

Mike's sudden yelling filled Logan with adrenaline and fear. He quickly got to his feet and out the exit door of the storage room. Standing outside the base, Logan felt something strange in the air.

Josh was the next person out, and he looked half awake. "What is he going on about?" Josh asked.

Mike yelling immediately answered Josh's question, "AVALANCHE!"

Logan looked up the mountain and could see a river of rock flowing towards them. In a blind panic, Logan ran to the ridge to get to higher ground where he would hopefully be out of the slide.

He had climbed this ridge a few times before, and knew the easiest path to take. The loudest sound Logan had ever heard chased him up the slope. He feared that each step would be his last.

Finally he made it to the top of the ridge. His body shook with adrenaline, and his legs refused to hold him any longer. He sat down hard, but was able to turn himself as he fell. Looking down at where he had been standing only seconds before, he found the landscape had completely changed.

The base was gone, not a trace left to mark where it had been. Several small slides of rock continued trying to find a good place to stop. The sound of the avalanche had mostly stopped replaced by subtle shifting of those last few rocks sliding.

Looking down the mountain to see if he could see any sign of the base, Logan realized that the fog had rolled in from the ocean and he couldn't actually see all that far.

A realization hit Logan hard, except for Mike and Nassor, the rest of the team had been inside the base before the avalanche. Logan realized that he was in shock because he was having a hard time recalling events that just took place. He and someone else, Josh, yes Josh had been out side the base. There were others too, right?

Logan couldn't work any farther though what had happened. But he was also having a hard time remembering actually having climbed up to the ridge.

For some time, Logan sat and stared down at where the base had been. There must have been other survivors; surely Josh is somewhere close by. Maybe he went up the other ridge.

Logan's DNAC bipped, it took him several seconds to realize it was a message. Because of the bases communication system, there was no need to send messages in this slower manner. His DNAC bipped a second time before he managed to open the message.

From Mike: Are you OK? Please respond! Is there anyone with you? Please respond!

The second message was a duplicate of the first. Logan tried to manually type the response, but his muscles protested every move, and his hands shook too much. He activated the voice command and spoke into the DNAC's microphone. His voice cracked and shook under strain but he managed to get his message across.

"I am OK... am alone. On the east ridge."

After sending the message, Logan could feel some of the adrenaline leaving his body and he began to shack even more and he felt cold.

Logan's DNAC bipped again, this time Logan opened it quickly.

From Mike: Keep your messaging system on. I will use it to find your location. I am on my way.

Logan could hardly hold himself up any longer. He lay down on the ground. His mind was becoming more and more muddled. His body refused to work for him. Nausea made itself present. Logan rolled over and threw up. He thought, that was unpleasant, before falling into unconsciousness.