The colony. Chapter 4: Old Military Base

A powerful shot smashed a part of a tree trunk into slivers that scattered in all directions with great speed. Many fragments hit him in the legs and body, but the military overalls protected him from damage. One of the fragments tangentially touched the head and cut the right eyebrow strongly, making the surrounding landscape even more red and ominous. He was not wearing a helmet - he did not have time to put it on, but he did not feel the pain.

Barney was standing two meters from the rover. With his right eye, he saw almost nothing because of the blood falling into him, and with his left he looked to the point where he had just aimed. Time seemed to stop - Barney noticed how the rover sank, and its second front wheel touched the ground, creating a better grip. The rear wheel has ceased to rotate helplessly in the air and is now beginning to scrape the trunk, scattering the chips and sawdust remaining on it.

Either live or die - there was no third option. Barney ducked, preparing for the decisive leap. Hands themselves unclenched, allowing the machine, just made his most important thing, to succumb to the laws of gravity and begin to fall. Bounce! - but the hands never felt the cherished rail, - the rover has already broken from the dead center.
Giving a slight slip on the trunk, the last wheel slid off the ground, causing the depreciation system to work, and the rover jumped slightly with its rear axle, creating another split second of delay.
Barney made the last spurt.

10 minutes remained until the end of the route, and now the rover was moving almost in complete darkness. Despite the powerful searchlights, the road was not visible well enough to operate it at high speed manually, so Gordon resumed the automatic navigation program. The place of the second pilot next to him was empty.

“After only ten minutes, we will arrive at the scene,” Isaac said quietly, “but now the three of us.”

Gordon turned to him and nodded knowingly. He regretted Barney no less, but answered in an even and calm voice:

“It happens, Isaac, the soldiers die.” But they always die for the common cause. Barney gave his life to save ours, and before that he saved me from the wolf. He is a true professional in his field, and his sacrifice will not be in vain.
“He will not,” he agreed, “we must understand what is going on here.”

Emilia had calmed down a bit and just looked at the door of the rover. She wanted the door to open now, and Barney entered the salon. And do not care that the rover is moving at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, and Barney is no longer alive.

Gordon opened a list of recent connections. He chose the latter, and the inscription appeared on the monitor: “A connection is being established via a secure channel”.

- Hello! - Raytnova’s voice came out a few seconds later, - Barney, is that you?

Gordon hesitated for a moment.

- No, this is Gordon. Alex, exactly ten minutes later we will be with you, what are our actions upon arrival?
- I understand you and I am glad that you are in order. The first building you see is the hangar, and I am in it now. I will follow the road, and as soon as I see you, I will immediately begin to open the doors. How did you understand me?
“The first structure,” the pilot repeated, “accepted.

He wanted to ask another question, but then Isaac ran up to him and started shaking him by the shoulder.

- Gordon, look! He shouted loudly near his ear, pointing his finger somewhere ahead.

From surprise, Gordon mechanically reached for the autopilot off button, thinking that Isaac saw another obstacle ahead. But he never pressed the button, because in fact he was pointing at one of the monitors of the night navigation system.

- Damn it! - only Gordon was able to pronounce, but far from the intonation with which these words are usually spoken. Rather, it was an exclamation of joy, albeit slightly distorted by military nature.
- What? Are you alright? - in voice Raytnova read obvious anxiety.
- Yes, Alex, all is well. Wait for us, we will arrive soon, - with these words Gordon ended the conversation, and having forgotten about his question.

Rover began to stop quickly.

- What happened? - approached Emilia, and immediately stopped in a daze.

“Barney ...” she whispered, in disbelief.

One of the cameras "nightie", located in the back of the rover, something fixed and displayed the image on the monitor. Barney waved his hand vigorously, attracting the attention of the crew.
Rover stopped, and Gordon rushed to open the door. A few seconds later, Barney entered the salon. Except for the bloodied face, he was completely unharmed.

- And here it is more comfortable than there, outside, - “lost” said from the threshold.
- Barney !!! “Emilia still could not believe her eyes — we thought you were dead!”
“To be honest, I thought so too in an instant,” he answered, closing the door behind him, “but it did.” Only the machine lost.

It was unusual to see him without a weapon.

“Barney,” Gordon began, “I'm sorry.” We left.
- Do not apologize, Gordon. I told you, don't wait for me.
- I know. But I had to ...
“You did exactly what you had to do,” Barney interrupted, “if you hadn’t pulled ahead, the second barrel would have fallen exactly on the rover, and one devil knows how it would have ended.” As the saying goes, the military sometimes die, and certainly there was no point in risking three lives at once in an attempt to save one of them.
“Thank you, Barney,” Gordon replied, laying a hand on his shoulder.

He responded by patting his comrade on the shoulder, and then continued:

- Is there a bottle of water here? Her throat was dry.

Isaac quickly climbed into the crate and handed Barney the bottle, which he drank greedily. Immediately after that, Isaac got into another drawer and took out a portable medical laser:

- Let's quickly patch you up, you'll be like new.

After a few seconds, the eyebrow was already tightened, there was only a barely noticeable scar.

- How did you manage to move the rover off? - asked Isaac.
- I shot the log, which we ran. And then, when the rover regained its grip, miraculously managed to grab onto the rail.
- And titanium? - Immediately joined in the conversation Emilia, - was it really him? Did you see him?
“I didn’t see it, but I have no other assumptions,” Barney replied, “I swear I thought he was behind my shoulder, but I didn’t even look towards the forest.” By the way, Gordon?

He was already sitting in his place and resuming the autopilot program. Hearing his name, he turned his head and nodded inquiringly.

“Maybe the cameras recorded something?”
“They didn't even fix you,” Gordon said with a smile, “we were stuck at an angle, so all the rear cameras looked at the tops of the trees.” And when you lowered the rover, and we started off, I was looking for you on all monitors. But to no avail, and I thought you were dead. And then, when we had already driven away a little, I once again reviewed the recording of this moment from all the cameras - I still did not notice either you or the titan. Apparently, he was somewhere a little distance away.

Gordon thought for a second and then added:

- Now I understand why I did not see you. You have been under the camera all this time, in its blind zone ... I hope you haven't waved your hands for too long?
“Well, I had to wait a little while,” smiled Barney, “but I deliberately waited a bit before it seemed that we had time to drive off.” But, I tell you, it’s rather hard to go outside, so now I don’t mind to lie down and rest.

He squeezed into his bunks, lay down on his and closed his eyes. According to Barney, it was obvious that he was under great stress, so now he really looked tired. But the magic “resurrection” of the comrade gave the team new strength and additional motivation.

Emilia made her assumptions why the titan never stepped onto the road and did not chase the rover:

- It may sound silly, but it seems to me that he simply did not wake up to the end. I still tend to my theory that they don’t go on the hunt until the darkness comes down at all. And this explains the fact that he did not follow us.
- And what speed can they develop, according to research results? - Gordon clarified.
- Small. From 35 to 50 kilometers per hour. He could not keep up with us.
- And then it makes sense to chase?
- Titans are creatures rather primitive, similar to terrestrial dinosaurs. He is driven only by instinct, and, seeing the prey, he always chases after it.

Thinking a little, Emilia continued:

“Although, probably, he simply did not regard us as prey.” Surely, he first sees a riding piece of metal.
“Hopefully, for the last time,” Isaac said.

Until the end of the route remained less than a kilometer. Gordon expected to see the gates of the hangar from minute to minute. The titan's roar was almost quiet and did not put pressure on the ears, so the internal audio system continued to project into the rover all the sounds outside.

Suddenly, from somewhere nearby, quiet sounds began to be heard, as if clapping sounds, which gradually grew stronger. Barney, hearing the noise, got up from his bed and immediately took his place as the co-pilot, his eyes fixed on the radar. However, its screen was clean and did not record any activity. The glances of both pilots jumped from one monitor “nightie” to another in an attempt to see something and determine the source of the sound.

“Look,” Barney pointed to one of the monitors.

Gordon looked closer and saw a multitude of barely discernable points that quickly moved between the trees.

“Birds,” he answered, “no big deal.”
“Nothing in the birds themselves,” Barney agreed, “but something scared them off?”

Before he could finish his sentence, a rather fat point appeared on the radar. Fat enough to display a warning sign about a nearby large predator. An unpleasant sound made everyone shiver, and the pilots continued to persevere in the direction in which the radar spotted the animal. It did not take long to search - after a couple of seconds, Gordon noticed quite clear on one of the monitors, but at first glance the outlines hidden in the thick of green. The animal was quite tall and massive, and its size quite resembled a wolf.

“Damn,” Gordon began to curse, already rather tired from a long trip, “we’ll have to contact Reitnov again - you cannot open the hangar when you’re near ...”

He did not finish and approached closer to the monitor, examining the animal more closely. His hand was already reaching for the control panel, but stopped and returned to the arm of the chair.

“Elk,” he said, “it's all right.”

Indeed, in size, local elks were quite close to wolves, but because of the night cover and quite a long distance, they did not manage to immediately notice the impressive horns of the animal, which Gordon at first took for tree branches.

- Is it really impossible to understand at a distance whether it is a predator or just someone large like an elk? - asked Isaac approached, pointing at the radar.
“Let him yell,” answered Barney, “and the moose can cause a lot of problems, so it's better to be aware of his approach too.” Information is not superfluous.

The headlights of the rover slowly began to whip out of the darkness the outlines of a small square structure. The closer the rover approached, the clearer they became, and from the darkness appeared the other blocks that were behind the first and larger ones. Apparently, they were not connected to each other - in any case, the transitions were not noticeable.

“I suppose this little block is the hangar,” Gordon suggested, and he was right.

Raytnov, seeing the approaching rover, pressed the door open button in advance so as not to force the crew to stop and wait in the dark outside. Immediately, as soon as the rover drove inside, Raytnov pressed another button, and after ten seconds the doors were tightly closed again. He stood next to them for the duration of the closing time, and just making sure that no one had slipped inside, he turned and headed for the new arrivals.

The team was already standing next to the rover in full force and was looking around in the hangar. It was quite large and would accommodate a couple of such rovers. Or even three, if you put them more tightly, as in the parking lot at a popular supermarket. On the side, to the left of the entrance, there was a repair area with a lift and various mechanical manipulators to support and install heavy components. There was another rover on the lift, a little smaller and lighter, and next to it was a large rack with various tools, each of which was in its place. Everything looked pretty neat. The hangar had several small round windows on each wall, so the almost complete absence of natural sunlight was more than compensated for by the high-quality and bright lighting from the lamps.

“It seemed to me that something happened at the time of the last connection,” Raytnov said loudly almost from the door.
“Almost,” Gordon smiled, “we were sure that this guy,” he slapped Barney on the shoulder, “died.” But, as you see, he is almost completely intact, and I found out about this just during our conversation with you.
- Glad to hear it! Have you lost?
- No, no. Not to say that we arrived without incident, but here we are.

Raytnov already came close to the team and extended his hand to Gordon, who was closest to him, and their hands met in a ringing clap. His handshake was strong, as befits a man. Then it was Barney's turn, and the clap was repeated. Shaking the hand of the “deceased”, Raytnov nodded his head in respect, seeing the blood on his face and uniform. He shook Emilia’s outstretched hand gently, but still firmly, and then the traditional cotton again repeated itself during a handshake with Isaac.

“I propose to go to the next block where you can eat and rest,” said Raytnov, and pointed to the old-fashioned door at the back of the hangar, “there are hot and cold drinks, food.” There are a lot of stocks left. After that we can already talk and share the news. And don't worry, it's safe here.
“This is a conversation,” Barney said.

Raytnov was the first to go to the door, and she, with a soft hiss, obediently opened up before him, without scanning the person who was approaching her or even greeting him.

Just outside the door was a small square room. In its left part there was another door - the elevator, and on the right was a staircase that went down below, under the ground. Raytnov went to the stairs, although the elevator was here, on the first floor.

Now Gordon understood how the blocks are connected. Well, a rather interesting decision - instead of massive perimeter defense, it was quite reasonable to spend the same amount of armor on strengthening the blocks themselves, and to give the residents of the base the opportunity not to go outside without much need, going from block to block through underground passages.

The colonists descended the stairs to the ground floor and got into a straight and rather long, thirty meters, corridor. It was also quite wide, so walking along it was very comfortable, considering also the pleasant light colors of its walls and good illumination.

“This base is already more than fifty years old,” began the short excursion of Raytnov, “nevertheless, it is in a very tolerable state. It is called “Demetrion-1”, but almost no one knows. Here all the blocks are separate and have, so to speak, their area of ​​responsibility, and transitions between them, as you already understood, are laid underground. Now we are going to the dining room, it is on the first floor, and on the second is the living area - Dr. Angus and I have settled there for the time being, and there are more rooms for you there. All amenities available: shower, bed, shelves for clothes. In general, all that is needed first.

Raytnov turned around to make sure that no one was behind. Stopping his gaze on Barney’s impressive figure, he added:

- Sports corps too, even two. In one gym, cardio and rings, and in the other pool, tennis courts and volleyball courts. They are farther, behind the dining room.
- And how many corps? - clarified Emilia.
- Just eight. About four you already know: hangar, dining and two sports. There is also a laboratory combined with a medical building. At the other end of the base, again on the edge, is the second hangar, more of this, but I was not there. And there are two closed buildings - I do not know what is there, but it isn’t marked on the plans. Apparently, something secret.

With these words, Raytnov began to climb the stairs, and after a minute all five of them were already in the dining room. It was a large rectangular room with ten points of food and drinks and five dining areas. The entrance to the dining room was exactly in the middle, opposite the central zone. In both ends of the dining room there were bar counters where mechanical hands poured strong drinks.

Dr. Angus was sitting at one of the dining tables and wagging awkwardly with his hands in the air. His tablet lay nearby, projecting a hologram above the table surface. The doctor ran the projection with quick finger movements, watching several articles and videos at once. At the moment, several columns were opened about the preparation of the expedition and the various stages of scanning the planet, and the videos told about the features of the anatomical structure of the Titans, which the doctor studied and studied.

Noticing the arrivals, Angus got up and with quick energetic steps headed towards them. He was tall, but thin, with outstanding cheekbones and a bit of a hunchbacked nose. His hair was neatly laid on the left side, and his face was smoothly shaved with a laser. He was dressed in a uniforms researcher in dark gray, completely devoid of armor and with an abundance of pockets. There was an interesting feature in his appearance - he wore simple old-fashioned glasses with a rectangular frame and without electronic stuffing. They did not distort the image, so apparently it was just an element of style.

“And I am just re-studying all the materials on the preparation of our expedition,” Angus immediately informed everyone.
“By the way,” answered Barney, “I’ll have a few questions on this topic.” You were the head of research?

Gordon cast a quick glance at his comrade, as if telling him that the time had not yet come for such questions. The doctor pretended not to notice this, and continued with a smile:

- You are probably hungry? There are quite a few strategic reserves, do not hesitate.

With these words, he circled the dining room with his hands and walked away a little to the side, as if letting the guests pass, although there was already enough space.

“Let me show you,” Raytnov took the initiative and suggested that the rover’s crew follow along.

“The food here is quite tasty and satisfying,” he continued with a smile, “I have already managed to try potatoes with poultry meat and steamed vegetables with him. It's too late for coffee, but for this, ”he pointed to the bar,“ it's about time!
“Thank you, Alex,” Emilia thanked him.
- And yet - there is quite old equipment, so your portion will be prepared for two whole minutes! Well, bon appetit!

All four went to the point of issuing food and began to choose their own dinner. The choice was not very large, but there was still a certain variety. However, no one thought for a long time, and everyone except Emilia chose poultry with mashed potatoes, and the latter took the vegetables for a side dish. Barney thought a bit and added a burger to his order.

They all sat down at the same table and began to eat. Having a little satisfied their hunger, the team began to share their impressions among themselves, and the theme of the “wonderful resurrection” of Barney resurfaced. He, having finally settled down, was able and even in the mood to tell everything in and out. Despite the fact that the whole team was present at this incident, everyone could hardly believe what happened. Hearing this a couple of days ago, no one would have believed it.

“And when I saw with one eye that the rover had amortized, I, like a mongoose, rushed to it a second time.” Well, here I am, ”Barney modestly concluded his story and heard deserved applause from his team.

Raytnov at this time talked about something with the doctor. The latter looked somewhere past the interlocutor and looked rather absent-minded. He scratched his ear with his left hand.

“Angus, are you listening to me at all?”
- And what? I again plunged into my thoughts. Excuse me, Alex, where are we staying?
- I asked you, from what exactly did the titans die? There are no craters or anything else on the planet explaining their instantaneous disappearance.
- Where are you aware of this?
- I, like you, have a tablet and access to information, and I studied a lot of materials even before their mysterious awakening.
“Well, that's true.” The extinction of the titans is a mystery of riddles, my friend. And we are all now in the same position.

Raytnov rose from his seat, hesitated a second and added meaningfully:

- Probably.

After these words, he went to the table, at which the guys were having dinner. Gordon had already finished his meal and was now leaning back in his chair, arms folded on his stomach. Raytnov caught his eye and nodded toward the bar.

- I understand that you are the crew commander? - He asked the pilot who approached him.
“If there is something important,” he answered, looking into the interlocutor’s eyes, “this should also be discussed with Barney.”

Raytnov was not against it, and Gordon called out a friend:

- Hey, Barney! Do you want a little drink?

The latter nodded in agreement, and, on the move, chewing on the last piece of burger, headed for the bar. All three ordered double whiskey with ice. Raytnov raised the glass to his lips and took a small sip to taste the taste of the drink, and then asked the question:

- You already understand what is happening here?

Gordon and Barney exchanged glances, the question was rather unexpected.

“It's hard to say,” Gordon said. “We understand who we are dealing with.” Actually, we faced one of them. But what happens here is an open question.

Raytnov dramatically changed in the face.

“Have you come across titanium?” - his voice did not hide surprise.
“Practically,” it was Barney’s turn to answer, “we hit a trunk of a fallen tree and sat on it with the rear axle, and it was somewhere nearby.” I managed to jump out and shoot the barrel, so the rover could continue to move, and I myself at the last moment managed to catch hold of the handrail in its rear end.
- Very interesting ... pity that I did not hear this story. Can I hope to re-sound it?
- Of course.
“Good,” Raytnov continued, “but, to be honest, I wanted to talk to you about something else.” Namely - about Dr. Angus.

With these words he turned around and looked at the doctor. He sat in the same place and continued to study the materials, controlling the projection with his right hand. With his left hand, he still kept scratching his ear.

“The fact is,” Raytnov turned back, “that I met him under extremely interesting circumstances.” I don’t know how to explain it, but he appeared out of nowhere.

He paused for a short pause, and both of his interlocutors looked questioningly at him, waiting for the continuation.

“We worked together, I mean, both on Alpha.” That night, when the titans came, all our guys celebrated the birthday of Marcus, my assistant. There were only thirty of us, and everyone had already met and made friends with everyone. I drank a little with them, but that evening I was very passionate about my discovery - this is a very interesting piece of stone that can tell a lot about the nature and history of this planet, so I referred to employment. Marcus worked with me, so everyone celebrated his holiday in the laboratory. In order not to be distracted, I took my stone and a portable scanner and went to the bunker - it’s quiet and rarely anyone comes in. It was a background, but now I will tell the most important thing, but first, with your permission ...

Raytnov raised his glass and drank the rest of the drink in one gulp.

- In the bunker, I was alone. It is quite small, and I know for sure that there was no one else there. I examined my discovery for several hours and did not notice anything around. Suddenly, I realized that I heard some strange noise outside. At first, I thought that the guys had already drunk hard and went to look for me and demand my joining their company, but when I approached the exit from the bunker and opened the door ... I saw them. And, I tell you, they do not look exactly the way our modeling system draws them - worse, much worse. They are higher than we expected, and their front paws are so massive that they easily demolished everything around them. I understand that our “base” was in fact simply a research camp, but ... it was so easy to crush partitions and case beams ...

Raytnov ordered himself more whiskey, but did not drink it, and immediately continued:

- I was afraid to go far beyond the bunker, but I called to myself those who ran out of dilapidated buildings in panic. I saw Marcus - he was covered in blood, and still held the bottle tight in his hands. He ran to me and was already very close when one of the creatures noticed him. One blow - and Marcus is not. The bottle flew far to the side, and her hand was still tightly gripping her neck.

The contents of the glass went back to Rytnov's throat. .

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. . , . A smile played on his lips.

I will be glad to see everyone in VK group :)