Chapter 8: Cast Off

Later that day...

Time: January 15, 9570 11:41 PM UCT

Eliana looked at Basel across the Level-2 control center. "You don't mind, do you, that I'm waiting till the last moment to send the final Go code?"

"No, I guess not. It's a bit unusual, but I like your thinking. There's no advantage to sending it early. Your way maximizes our safety, and there's no downside to waiting." He paused to look at the clock and added, "Assuming, of course, we actually get around to sending the code by midnight."

Eliana grinned. "I must say, even our partial isolation thus far has had a certain weight to it. I send reports out, and absolutely nothing comes back, not even an acknowledgment of reception. I've never experienced anything like this. It's a little spooky."

Basel nodded. "I have the advantage on you there. I've talked with lots of Rangers. It'll be even spookier after we send the Go code. Except for the station's encrypted link with the CAT, we will be completely communications isolated. We won't be able to cry for help, scream that our partner is trying to kill us, plead that we're mortally injured... We will be completely isolated from the rest of the world. Even our link to hologram entertainment will shut down. No matter what happens, we won't see another human or hear a news report about the world until July 7th."

"Well, we do have the CAT. We could abandon the station, head south. Water won't stop us, the CAT is submersible."

"It's not the water. The CAT has a governor built into its global positioning system. If we try to leave the area..."

Eliana stared at him. "It'll die?"

"Nothing quite that dramatic. It just won't stray too far. The CAT will start to get sluggish."

"So how far can we go?"

"The Guild doesn't tell the cadets the exact limit, there's a random element involved, certainly less than a hundred kilometers though. Still quite a distance, and heading back to the station will always work at full power. And on July 7th, all the restrictions will disappear."

"Any way to fool it before then?"

"Oh, it's been tried, never successfully. There are some real horror stories in Ranger history."

Eliana looked at the clock and then leaned back in her chair. "We still have some time. Amuse me!"

Basel thought for a moment and then laughed. "Okay, you asked for it! About seven-hundred years ago, there was a Ranger test at a desert station where ancient Lebanon used to be. This was in the late 8700's, when the isolation candidates were never contacted but were still supposed to make daily reports to Guild headquarters."

"Uh huh."

The test seemed to go fine for about four months. Then both Rangers reported that their station was infested with giant poisonous ants, claimed they had giant ant bites covering their bodies. They begged for medical help..."

Eliana frowned. "... and got nothing."

"No, not during an isolation test. Two months later the pickup team found their two bodies. The women were trying to take shelter in the cold storage food lockers. Their notes said the cold was keeping the ants out. Their bodies were covered with tiny puncture marks, and the autopsy concluded they died from formaldehyde injections."

"What?! The ants were real?!"

"That's the spooky part. No trace of the infestation was ever found. The station was clean, no ants, no ant droppings, nothing. And the outside environment was examined and found normal."

Eliana blew a full load of air through her cheeks. "Oh hell..."

"Yeah. The official conclusion was that the two cadets snapped, became delusional, even to the point of self-inflicting their wounds, jabbing formaldehyde into themselves. There didn't seem to be any other explanation."

Eliana looked at the clock. "Basel, let's send the code now."

Basel nodded and turned to his console. He lifted a clear protective cap and inserted a small orange key into an orange slot and turned it full left. "Ready Commander."

"On three, One, Two, Three!" Five meters apart, they turned their keys full right. At another part of the control room, their main communications console blacked out, displaying only a security lockout warning and a countdown clock with 171 days, 0 hours, and some minutes and seconds on it. The second phase of their test had begun.

Six hours later...

Time: January 16, 9570 5:57 AM UCT

Eliana was standing alone at the southern end of the observation dome, waiting for the year's first sunrise. She was expecting Basel to join her momentarily, and for a while was lost in quiet contemplation as she watched the pre-dawn sky.

She felt a tingle and thought she sensed Basel quietly sneaking up on her on her left. Smiling and about to laugh that she had sensed him and foiled his surprise, she turned her head and realized there was no one there.

She looked around the observation room, her eyes drawn to the eastern horizon for no particular reason she could understand. She saw peaceful rocks and snowy evergreen forest deep within its winter's sleep. Eliana finally heard her companion climbing up the ladder and decided to laugh at herself. "Basel and his ghost story! I didn't realize I was so susceptible. The total isolation is affecting me more than I anticipated." She put the issue out of her mind, and a moment later Basel emerged from the ladder. Eliana offered her hand to Basel, and enjoying the simple human contact, they waited for the dawn.

"Well, this is nice," commented Eliana at 6:03. "Beautiful pink sky, a tip of yellow light, spring is on the way!"

"Well, sort of, it's more than two months till the equinox! Enjoy this while you can. A big storm is moving in tomorrow."

She glanced to the eastern horizon without realizing it and nodded her head. "Tell me Basel, originally you were going to stay here after the isolation testing, right?"