WiP - Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction: Complications in a New Beginning

The first piece of flash for the year comes from the upcoming Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction.

Complications in a New Beginning

 

“So,” Chalky asked. “We’re starting over?”

“We’re starting over,” Anders confirmed, his eyes dark with determination.

Chalky hefted her pack, and stepped toward. When Anders didn’t move, she glanced back.

“You coming?”

Anders looked at the hatch, looked at her, and shook his head. Chalky’s heart plummeted, and she tried to keep the disappointment from her voice. “But you sad ‘we.’”

Anders nodded. “I did, but I didn’t mean we’d be starting in the same place. Point of the colony is exploration. We get dropped a distance apart. If we want to stead together, we need to find each other.”

Hope surged through her. “So, we have a way of doing that, right?”

Anders sighed, and hung his head. “Beacons and comms weren’t permitted, and all they’ll tell me is they’re dropping on the same continent in a grid.”

Chalky’s heart fell, again, but she dared the next question, anyway. “So…d’you…want me to go looking for you.”

Anders stared at her in shock and consternation. “Girl. You don’t come lookin’ for me and I’m goin’ to be mighty offended.”

Chalky was about to reply, but the loadmaster stepped in. The shuttle set down and the hatch opened, and the loadie, propelled her gently to the door. “Your boyfriend will be dropped third drop from now.”

Chalky gave him a hopeful look. “You got a direction?”

He smiled at that and gave her another push. “You need to go looking,” he told her firmly. “Give the shuttle some room.”

Chalky hopped off the step and kept moving until she was sure she was out of the launch radius. As soon as she heard the shuttle lift, she turned, making sure to keep it in sight for as long as possible. At the same time, she tried to recall the pattern of the last few drops, looking for a clue as to what direction to look in for Anders.

She didn’t stop watching, until the shuttle was out of sight, and then she sat her rump on the nearest rock and dug for her water bottle. She also made sure the blaster was strapped to her waist. They hadn’t let her go armed on the shuttle.

Probably worried about folk objecting to being spread out, she thought, and dug a little deeper.

Her stomach rumbled and a packet of food followed. It had already been a long day. She pulled up the briefing, playing it in her implant as she unwrapped the sandwiches she’d been assigned.

Food was going to be a priority.

Her fingers brushed the sharp edge of an envelope, and she paused mid-bite.

“Not an envelope, she realized, looking down at the slender metal sheet. At first glance, it looked like a picture of Anders. Now, why would he…

Chalky ran her fingers over the metal, and felt a tiny bump. Its presence made her chuckle.

Someone didn’t do their job right, she observed, activating the chip. It connected to her implant right away, sending the same verification codes she’d used to communicate with Anders, and glad they hadn’t shut down the implant’s ‘local vicinity’ functions, just its ability to connect to the web and other implants over a distance.

The second it had uploaded its cargo, the chip sparked and fizzed and the connection broke, leaving a slight char mark on the back of the metal etching. Chalky rubbed it away, and vanished into her head to see what Anders had sent her.

As she did, a small dot appeared on the edge of her vision and ‘pulsed.’ Shortly after, Anders voiced sounded in her head.

“Not a lot of space on this thing, so I’ll keep it short. The beacon will lead you to me…and me to you. Mark anywhere promising you see on your map, and I’ll do the same. We can discuss where to set up home when we meet.”

Chalky pivoted in the direction of the dot, and started walking. The future she and Anders had spent so much to secure only needed them to head in the right direction.