Children Of Gaia

Chapter 23

"Yes!" screamed Maddison triumphantly as she plunged her head deep into the refrigerator. "I can't believe it, real food!" She held the doors wide open as she allowed herself to tip backwards. Her extended arms kept her balance as she bathed in the frosty currents that spewed fourth. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh. So gooooood," she purred.

"And just as I was developing a taste for Tarraxen gruel," laughed Felix. Maddison shivered at the thought he had given her.

"Yuck! I'll do just fine without it thank you very much," she stressed trying to forget their vile textured and flavourless elixir. She closed the fridge with what Felix could only assume was a roasted chicken drumstick in her mouth.

"You know that came from an animal don't you?" He jested.

Madison plucked it from her mouth about as gracefully as anyone half starved could, in her mind she was at least. She chewed her prize quickly whilst preparing her rebuttal, "survival comes before morality baby."

Felix snorted. "Indeed. "Now what was that Oscar Wilde quote about, mind over morals?" He mumbled to himself causing her to shoot him a glance. "Anyway first up, we should go check out the infirmaries and designate who will run them for each section," suggested Felix as he skimmed over the data pad Joseph had given him.

Maddison with bright eyes and a mouthful nodded and they headed off with Gaia as their personal manifest of all the refugees. Luckily, she knew who had medical training out of those who survived.

Unable to contain himself further, Lloyd made a beeline for the largest structure in the community centre which was the gymnasium. Eva had been so out of character since the news came through that they were granted asylum, she blissfully ran off with Lloyd without a care in the world. Rather exhausted by the whole ordeal Bligh retired to bed for a kip whilst Emelia went for a walk exploring the grounds. All around as far as the eye could see there was red earth and sparse grasses, there were trees to be seen but one could count them in each direction on one hand. If there was anything of interest around, it would have arrived with the supplies provided.

The afternoon sun baked the ground around them, the air rippled and danced at ground level often giving the illusion of water in the distance. Maddison made a point to her father that he was free to explore but given the heat he decided to wait until the sun went down. The buildings were all fully self-contained and the internal temperatures were maintained at a rather comfortable 24 degrees Celsius. Within the hour most of the refugees had braved the squelching heat to move about and visit the recreational centres. Though all their physical needs were met on the Tarraxen transport, they still had little to do to keep their minds off the loss or their station and loved ones. For the first time in months they were beginning to smile and were actually excited by the dawn of each new day.

As promised and on schedule, Joseph returned, along with ten additional transports to ferry the medical staff to their objectives. There was a hypnotic wave of fluorescent yellow as they all stepped out of their ships in full CBRN suits, waddling over to greet them. Gaia spotted Dr Walden and gave her a friendly wave, which seemed only to cause the Doctor to blush from embarrassment.

Felix waved after making eye contact. "Hi Joseph! Pffft-pffft bah! bloody flies!" Felix fluttered his arms vigorously trying to keep further flies from entering his mouth.

Joseph along with a few dozen doctors tried to remain composed biting their lips instead of laughing. "You know there's repellent in the houses, don't you?" asked Joseph almost mockingly.

"Good to know," Felix wiped his mouth, "I've probably eaten a dozen just today. So shall we get started?"

"Yes. Our staff will proceed in pairs to each dwelling. Hopefully they will get through them all within the scheduled four visits." Joseph gave his signal and the Doctors spread out to make their house calls. "So, how are you finding it?" Joseph asked as he skimmed through data on his pad.