Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

Terra Mater

Madeline Bernard heaved a deep sigh as she stretched out on her cot aboard the Dove.

The research mission to Terra had been the most thrilling, but also most exhaustive of her career. Merely obtaining the permission to access the cradle of humanity had taken months. Authorities had only allowed her to bring three other researchers along, all of which had had to prove impeccable citizen records. Even so much as a parking offense had not been tolerated. In the end, she had had to resort to a trick or two, because these days, nobody really had a perfect record, especially not herself.

She cast a sideways glance to the other side of the room, where a lanky young man lay awake on his cot just like her, staring up at the ceiling with an empty gaze. Data scientist Booker Clyde was a peculiar kind of genius. When talking to him, one might have come to the conclusions that the taciturn young man with the distant look on his face and the messy hair was not particularly smart. But eloquence simply wasn't one of his talents. He had many others, though, and one of the lesser obvious ones was hacking. He had been the key to bringing all of them here, because Booker had polished their records to a sheen without leaving a digital trace of his doings behind. All he had asked for in return was to be brought along on the mission himself. He had wanted to see Terra with his own eyes.

The next member she had picked for their team was a xenobotanist from Madeline's own research group, Irina Petrov. She was terrifyingly quick-witted and smooth-spoken. Her academic record was stellar, and she was one of those odd cases where a brilliant brain could be found inside a stunningly beautiful head. Irina knew how to use all of her qualities very well, and her charming demeanor had provided all of them with a certain leeway under the otherwise strict scrutiny of their chaperones.

The fourth person on this mission was ecosystem engineer Hank Barnes. He possessed a unique combination of the curiosity of a child, the foolhardiness of a young explorer, and the moral flexibility of a man who had spent decades of his life watching entire planets wither and die due to the indecisiveness and incompetence of authorities. Barnes had a deep-seated dislike for the laws of man. Madeline was certain that even if they hadn't been friends for decades,and even if the mission hadn't led them to Terra freaking Mater, he would have agreed to it all in a heartbeat. If only because it involved fucking over the authorities in order to get here.

Madeline still didn't understand why they kept the planet under such a tight lock down. Neither did she understand why there had been soldiers escorting them every step of the way, as if they were scared that the team of expert scientists were nothing but a bunch of kids with grabby hands on a school trip. They had spent twenty exhausting hours on the surface of the planet, collecting samples without a break. Not a split second longer than scheduled, and all of it under the cold eyes of the grey-clad, armed men and women. And on their way back now, the Dove was flanked by a dozen Aedes fighters, like a pesky mosquito swarm.

Now that the Dove was on its way back to the Atrahasis, their research vessel that had carried them here and that they had been forced to leave behind at the outer edge of the solar system, Madeline found herself unable to fall asleep, despite her exhaustion.

"Maddie," a voice whispered from the door, "You awake?"

She sat up on her bed and found Hank standing in the doorway, casting a lance left and right along the corridor before entering. He was not exactly known for his cheerfulness, yet the extent of the frown on his face made her wary.

"What's up?" she asked as she sat up.

"There's something I need to show you..." the man whispered.

He planted himself on the bed next to Madeline and handed her a tablet. In the bunk bed overhead, she could hear Irina rustle in her sheets. The tips of her long blonde hair hung down like a curtain as she peered over the edge of her bed to look down at what Hank had brought.