The colony. Chapter 10: Barney's Quest

- Here is the devil! - shouted Raytnov, dropping the machine gun.

He looked around and made sure that there was no other wolf near him, and then he kicked the armored wall of the hangar with his boot and swore again. Gordon put his hand on his shoulder and slightly shook.

“Let's go,” he said, and ran to the entrance to the hangar, “Alex, rather!”

Raytnov once again looked in the direction where the wolf dragged Barney, and then raised his machine gun and headed for Gordon. Leaning behind the weapon, he once again glanced at the red spots on the sand, trying to assess the nature of the injury of his friend. There was not too much blood, but she could quickly soak into the sand, so it was difficult to make any assumption. But, at a minimum, Raytnov did not notice the red marks in the furrow itself, and this gave him hope that the bleeding was not very strong.

Noticing Gordon, who ran to the entrance to the hangar and was actively waving his hands, Isaac quickly approached the doctor.

- Angus, get up! - he said, - it is necessary to return soon, it is not safe here!

He didn’t have to persuade the latter - he quickly got to his feet and, throwing one last look at the carcass of the dead wolf, ran to the hangar. Emilia moved next to him and looked around, while Isaac covered them from behind.

Gordon was the first to run to the entrance and, noticing new wolf tracks on the sand, threw up an automatic rifle and began to inspect the hangar from the inside. Emilia arrived in time to join him, and Isaac remained to cover them in the doorway.

“Clean,” said Gordon, dropping the automatic and running towards his rover.
- He could go there? Asked Emilia, pointing at the door to the dining room with her trunk.
“No,” answered Angus, “such doors only react to people.” The wolf could not penetrate further.

Gordon started the rover, turned on the searchlights and began to turn around. Raytnov was the last to run into the hangar, looked around and immediately understood the plan of a comrade.

- Close the door behind us! He shouted to Isaac, running up to the table with the tools and putting Barney’s blood-soaked gun on him.

Gordon has already deployed the rover and sent him to the exit.

- What happened? - with concern in her voice asked Emilia, - where is Barney?

Raytnov jumped into the open rover on the move, and then leaned out of it and repeated:

- Close the door!

Isaac glanced at the street and again made sure that there were no predators within sight. Then he looked at the table with the tools - there was almost perfect order, and each tool lay where it should be. Here are just a bloody machine there was not a place. Isaac understood immediately.

- Emilia! - He shouted, taking off, - close the door!

With these words, he also jumped into the rover, as Raytnov had just done. As soon as they drove out, the radar immediately began to work, detecting all the predators around - now a thick layer of hangar armor did not interfere with it. Emilia quickly ran to the wall and pressed the door closing button.

Once inside the rover, Isaac immediately interrupted the already open mouth and was about to say something to Raytnov:

- I am with you, and this is not discussed!

The last questioner turned to Gordon, who was sitting on the pilot's seat and was watching the road, then the radar.

- He's a medic, Alex. So it will be ...

Gordon did not finish speaking, because once again he glanced at the radar and realized that one of the wolves was right at the entrance to the hangar.

Emilia followed the rover with a look, standing near the door and waiting for them to close completely. Suddenly, she saw an unintelligible wolf from where, just a few meters away, and began to throw up the machine gun, but she did not have time to take aim. The wolf was already ready to jump and bared his jagged teeth, but suddenly became limp and wheezed. Emilia turned around - the doctor stood next to the table with the tools, and in his hands was holding an automatic Barney. Smoke from the heated plasma barely noticeably emanated from the barrel.

“I will explain later,” said the doctor, never taking his eyes off the sight and watching the entrance.

Finally, the doors finally closed.

“It did,” Gordon said, when the red dot disappeared from the radar, “Emilia killed him.”

They moved along the furrow the wolf had left, dragging Barney along. Isaac took the place of the second pilot and immediately checked that the radar works not only to detect predators, but also to receive signals from sensors located on the overalls of each colonist. Raytnov sat down at the open door of the rover and looked out for at least some clue that could help find and save a comrade. He still did not notice other traces of blood, which gave him hope.

About a hundred meters from the hangar, the rover began to meet the first sequoias, and soon was surrounded by them from all sides. The sand and dust were replaced by thick grass, and the furrow disappeared. The grass was too harsh, and in view of the coming twilight it was impossible to determine whether it was at least somewhere wrinkled. Perhaps an experienced tracker would have noticed something, but the team did not have a person with the appropriate skills.

Gordon stopped the rover and looked at Isaac. The radar subsided, showing the complete absence of large predators nearby. Signal from the jumpsuit Barney also did not arrive.

“I don't know where to go,” Gordon admitted.
“A little more forward,” said Raytnov from the door, “I think I still see the furrow.”

Rover started off. Raytnov deceived himself and his comrades — he did not see the furrow and only looked around to no avail, trying to find at least some traces on the grass. Gordon also carefully looked out the windows and suddenly gasped in surprise, and after a couple of meters he stopped the rover again.

- What was there? - asked Isaac, looking away from the radar and just in case tightly clutching the machine gun in his hands.

Raytnov, without waiting for Gordon's answer, cautiously came out of the rover and saw the reason for the stoppage - not far from under a tree lay a wolf carcass in a pool of blood. Isaac and Gordon also came out, and, covering each other, headed towards her.

- Is it titanium that worked for him? - Isaac asked uncertainly when they approached the carcass and were able to see what was left of the wolf.

However, the injuries only touched the head, but, nevertheless, it looked rather creepy - the lower jaw was practically torn off and held on the tendons alone.

“It seems to me that titan would inflict damage of a slightly different nature,” suggested Gordon.
- Another wolf? - asked Isaac.

Raytnov, meanwhile, bent down to examine his head more carefully.

“The local wolves are collective animals and do not kill each other,” Gordon replied, “on the other hand, hell knows what you can believe in now and what you don’t.”

Raytnov continued to examine the head of the predator and noticed a strange bleeding hole in the palate of the upper jaw. He suggested that the hole appeared here for a reason, and turned out to be right - looking at the back of the wolf's head, he found a large but neat hole that was not immediately noticeable due to the thick fur. There could be only one variant of such an outcome of events.

“This is Barney,” said Raytnov, jumping up and looking around, “do you remember he wore a pistol in a holster?”

Gordon also began to turn his head, but to no avail - the comrade was nowhere to be seen.

- Barney! Shouted Isaac, but there was no answer.

The radar was silent, making it clear that there are still no predators within a radius of one hundred meters. Gordon bent down and looked at the hole in the wolf's head.

“I don’t know how he managed to do such a thing with this monster,” he said, getting up and pointing at the severed jaw, “but the hole does have distinctions characteristic of a plasma shot.” The flesh is scorched around the edges.

For some time the guys looked around and shouted Barney's name, each time unanswered.

“Let's think logically,” said Raytnov, after a short pause, inspecting the grass next to the carcass, “the wolf dragged him just to this place.” The grass is not crushed nearby and the branches of the bushes are not broken, so I do not see any traces of other wolves either. So they could not be. From this it follows that Barney may be somewhere nearby, and he may be unconscious.
“But at the time of the killing of the wolf, he was conscious,” Isaac said, “which means he would go towards the base.”

The guys decided to test the theory. To do this, they stood in a row at a distance of several meters from each other and began to slowly move toward the hangar, not forgetting to listen to the radar - they would have heard its loud and unpleasant sound through the open door of the rover. They walked about fifteen meters this way, never finding any clues, but suddenly Isaac darted off and ran ahead, seeing something. The rest rushed after him.

“He fell here,” said Isaac, and showed his finger to his feet.

Blood spots were hardly noticeable at the place indicated to them, but the grass itself was not crushed. Raytnov turned to find his footprints, but they were not there - the grass quickly rose, and this complicated the search. On the other hand, now they had at least Barney's motion vector, and they decided to continue the movement in the same system. Heading to the hangar, Barney got off the course a bit and took it a little to the left - this explained the fact that their trajectories did not intersect.

“I’ll just move the rover,” Gordon said, running off.

A minute later, the rover was a little closer to the base, so that in case of danger it could be more likely to return to it. The radar was still silent and did not receive a signal from Barney’s sensor. Gordon returned and took his place in the ranks, and they continued to move in a corrected direction, constantly shouting Barney's name - but each time only silence was their answer.

They walked about another twenty meters, still not finding new tracks. Once there was a warning sound of the radar, but then it disappeared - probably some predator appeared in the zone of its action for a moment and immediately left it. Gordon once again moved the rover closer to the hangar.
The sun was already leaning towards the horizon, and after a couple of tens of minutes it should have disappeared behind the redwoods on the opposite side of the base. The guys were getting closer to the sandy platform on which the base was located, and the trees became less and less.

“Twilight is coming soon, damn them,” Raytnov cursed, “and we still haven’t found Barney.”

He angrily kicked a small stone that was under his foot. The stone flew far ahead, and Isaac watched him go. However, Raytnov’s gaze remained under his feet — he noticed on the grass another drop of blood, still fresh, not clotted.

- Barney! - that there are forces shouted Raytnov.

This time there was no answer, only the radar began to emit a warning sound again. Gordon returned to the rover to find out the predator's location, and at the same time moved him even closer to the hangar and stopped next to the guys. The radar showed that the predator was seventy meters to the left, just on the border of the forest thicket and the sandy platform, but slowly moving towards them.

“There's a predator here,” he said to Isaac, who looked into the rover to find out the situation, “a little closer to the hangar, and sixty-five meters to the left of us ... at sixty.”
“Got it,” he answered, and jumped out.

Isaac gave this information to Raytnov, and they began to peer at the direction indicated by Gordon, keeping the machine guns at the ready. Rytnov's gaze attracted some sort of stain near the bushes.

“Look, over there,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “I can't understand what it is.”

Isaac followed the direction of his gaze and noticed a human figure lying motionless in the tall grass. Offhand, he was about forty meters from the rover, and the predator, judging by the radar readings, was already fifty. He was still not visible - thick bushes blocked the review, but he clearly could smell the blood.

- This is a man! - Isaac shouted and rushed to the figure.

Raytnov ran after him, holding the machine gun at the ready, but the wolf was faster. When he finally showed up from behind the bushes, two shots rang out - and both did not reach the goal, leaving the man to be torn apart by a predator. Between the shots there had to be at least half a second — obviously more than the wolf needed to grab the victim and dig his teeth into it.

The wolf already opened its mouth when it was struck by the third shot - from the opposite side. He collapsed next to the lying figure, and Raytnov and Isaac looked at each other in bewilderment. After a couple of seconds from the bushes seemed ... doctor. With a gun in his hands. In his movements there was no longer that clumsiness, on the contrary - he confidently held a weapon and moved rather quickly. A second later, a second rover appeared, driven by Emilia, from behind the bushes.

Isaac darted off, and, reaching the reclining Barney, gently turned him over on his back and began to examine the wounds. Then he shook his head doubtfully and waved his hand to Gordon to get closer.

“The carotid artery has been bitten through, but for some reason the blood stopped,” he said quickly, and dived inside the rover that approached.

Rummaging in the medical box, Isaac took out a synthesized tissue designed to block wounds - she instantly fused with the skin and peeled off after a while. Such fabrics are usually called patches. Isaac jumped out and began to treat his comrade's wounds - at first he rubbed the bite spots with a disinfecting solution, and, wiping off the slightly dried blood, immediately applied a patch.

“Very strange,” he said to the other members of the group who were standing around, “the wound is deep, but there is almost no bleeding.” The pulse is rather weak, but he didn’t lose too much blood.

After making sure that the patch was snug and already grabbed with the skin, Isaac returned to the rover and soon went out with a syringe-pistol in his hands.

“This is a disinfecting injection,” he explained, sticking three small doses along with the bites.
- No other wounds? Asked Raytnov.
“The armor protected,” answered Isaac, “so there are no more serious injuries.”

Gordon looked closely at Barney's overalls and noticed that the small sensor located in the collarbone area was broken up by the wolf's teeth - this explained why the radar could not detect the signal. There was simply no signal.

Emilia, at this time processing Barney's split forehead, turned her attention to his hands and asked Isaac to take a look. The latter took Barney's left hand - his hand was bitten through. Apparently, he grabbed the wolf's jaw and tried to pull it off, but unsuccessfully got right on the sharp tooth. Isaac began to treat the wound, but suddenly the doctor gave a voice:

- It's getting dark. We need to quickly return to the hangar.

Gordon, who was sitting next to Emilia and helping her handle wounds and cuts, abruptly stood up and grabbed Angus by the collar of his jumpsuit.

- What the hell, doctor? I am so defenseless, I can not shoot? What is going on here?
“Gordon, calm down,” he answered calmly, “Barney was dragged off by a wolf, not me.” Now I want to help him, but we have little time.

Raytnov came up and put his hand on Gordon's shoulder.

- Easy, friend. We will sort everything out at the base. Now the main thing is to deliver Barney to the medical building where Isaac can put him on his feet.

Gordon, without weakening his hold, slowly turned his gaze to Rytnov, and then down at Barney Isaac, who was sitting next to him. The latter positively nodded his head and continued to process the palm of his friend. Gordon opened his fist.

“I'll explain everything to you as soon as his life is out of danger,” Angus promised.
“Yeah, be kind,” Gordon said gloomily.
- How much time do we still have before dusk? - said Isaac.

Raytnov looked at the red sun, which was already beginning to hide behind the treetops.

- Ten minutes is still there, but no more.

The doctor adjusted his glasses and looked around.

“We don’t have ten minutes,” he said, and showed with his hand to the depths of the forest, “titan is there.” Less than a kilometer away from us. It goes quietly, but very soon we will begin to hear the crackling of breaking branches.

Everyone turned his head in the direction indicated, not understanding where the doctor had made such a conclusion. Meanwhile, he continued, pointing in the opposite direction - to where the sun was setting.

- And there, on the other side of the base, is another titanium. He is a little further, but very soon he can reach the hangar, so we need to hurry.
- Where does this awareness come from? Asked Raytnov.

Angus pointed to his temple and lightly touched the handle.

“Glasses,” he answered shortly.

Without asking any questions, Raytnov and Gordon raised Barney and brought him to the rover. Isaac and Emilia stayed with him and continued to treat the wounds, and Raytnov sat in the pilot's seat.

“Go to the medical building,” the doctor said at last, “and Gordon and I will drive the second rover into the hangar.”

Gordon went into the cabin of the second car and, giving Angus the place of the first pilot, asked venomously:

“I guess you know how to control the rover too?”
“I can,” the doctor said dryly, and took the proposed place.

He took off and drove behind the first rover, which was controlled by Raytnov. The sun finally hid behind the treetops. It was twilight - morning titans.

Soon the trees were over, and the sand began to rustle under the wheels again. The radius of the review has increased significantly, but because of the twilight, both Raytnov and Angus were forced to turn on the “nightie” of their rovers.

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