The Reef
Lumiara, Survivor’s Refuge
4454.2.3 Interstellar
Janus, Mick, and Fury rode the cargo elevator down. It was two hundred meters from the rim to New Prometheus—about forty floors, including maintenance and security crawlspaces—and the nearest lift could carry heavy equipment, but it was slow.
It gave Janus time to appreciate the sheer size of the Cult presence on Lumiara. They’d built a colony around the upper reaches of the Borehole called The Reef. It stretched all the way around the cylinder from the rim to around two-hundred and sixty meters down. They called it The Reef, but it was actually a multitude of colonies, each divided between sections and floors, with observation decks and clear walkways facing the Borehole and extensive structures melted or mined into the surrounding ice and rock. Janus had done the math once, and across an average of forty-four floors, there were close to fifteen hundred colonies—an estimated 790,000 Cult members from almost every faction in the Consensus. That was nearly eight times the size of Prime Dome, the largest habitat on his homeworld of Irkalla.
“Long way down,” Mick commented.
Janus nodded. The length of the elevator ride notwithstanding, it was only a fraction of the overall journey they would be taking when the Alignment started. It was two kilometers down to the submarine docks and the roiling water, and the Borehole extended another eighteen kilometers below that.
The lift started to slow down. Fury bounced up and down on her front paws, excited to be home.
The doors slid open, and Fury rushed out. Mick and Janus looked at each other and laughed.
“After you,” Janus said.
“Thanks, mate,” Mick said, swaggering out with the pack of supplies Janus and Fury had dragged casually tossed over his cybernetic shoulder. The Hunter had made no attempt to hide the prosthetic, even wearing a jacket was cut to show off the smooth, white ceramic, although Mick was a bit more coy about his other augmentations. Janus knew he’d had some leg work done; no sense being able to hit like a sledgehammer if you couldn’t carry the weight. He was pretty sure Mick had asked for other extras while he was on the cyber-surgeon’s slab. As his friend was fond of saying, As long as you’re polite about it, mate, the worst they can do is say no.
Janus stepped out onto the flying bridge, and his stomach lurched. The “bridge” was actually a tunnel between New Prometheus and the nearest Cult colony. It was glassed in because of the weather, and the glass was curved to allow people to look down.
The sound of laughter made him look to the right. Mick was the one laughing; Syn was trying to fend Fury off as the big animal tried to jump up and lick her face.
Janus brought his fingers to his lips and whistled. Fury looked at him, then back at Syn. “Fury!” Janus said, putting a little snap into the word.
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The jungle dragon let out a mournful yelp and loped back to Janus.
Syn gave him a wry grin. “I swear, she knows I’m scared of—”
“Forty-kilo hunting animals with teeth and claws as big as your thumbs?”
“They’re not that big, are they?” Syn said warily.
“Pretty close,” Janus said, reaching down to pat Fury’s head as she nuzzled into his leg. “How are things in there?” he asked, looking at the blast door that led to New Prometheus.
“Tense,” Syn said, a little of her natural good humor slipping. “It’ll be good to have the two of you back.”
“You’ve been out?” Janus asked Mick.
“Ivan’s been sending the aspirants out in pairs. I’ve been shadowing them on some of the more dangerous runs.”
“Shadowing?” Janus asked, not quite believing Mick was quietly tagging along.
Mick bobbed his head. “Let’s just say they’ve had an unusual lucky streak, but not enough to make them overconfident,” he said with a wink.
“I’ve been taking a few trips myself,” Syn said. “Anything to get out, right?”
“You’re both supposed to be keeping the colony safe,” Janus said a little more sternly.
“Right back at you, mate,” Mick said, crossing his arms.
Janus sighed. He could have claimed he was out on colony business, but he knew as well as they did it wasn’t the only reason he’d spent so much time out on the ice.
Syn punched him in the shoulder, the standard way dusters got each other’s attention when suited up back home. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Lira’s in charge of the colony, Ivan’s running training and security. We need the support of the other factions more than we need you scowling at everyone.”
“Why would I be scowling at everyone?” Janus said, knowing full well why he’d be scowling at everyone.
Mick and Syn looked at each other.
“Let’s just get inside,” Mick said. “Lira wants to see us.”
“Lee’s in town, too,” Syn said. “You could visit for once.”
“I always spend time with Xander,” Janus protested. “He’s my son!”
“I didn’t say Xander. I said Lee,” Syn said. “You know, there’s nothing there that couldn’t be solved by you two talking to each other.”
“I agree,” Janus said, walking toward New Prometheus, his good mood at being home shot to pieces. “There’s nothing there.”
Syn and Mick followed as he headed toward the blast door.
“I just think he should—”
“Drop it, Syn,” Mick muttered. “If we were in Irkalla, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Because Janus would be stuck with her?”
“The opposite,” Mick said. “Janus would never have found out he had a kid.”
Janus swallowed bile. He’d been shocked and, after due consideration, overjoyed to find out he was a father. He’d been cautiously optimistic about Lee. They’d shared a moment. He’d hoped there might be more to it than that, but instead, he’d been constantly reminded of their irreconcilable differences until they’d finally driven him out onto the ice.
“Welcome back, sir,” the security officer manning the gate controls said.
“Good to be back,” Janus lied. He stood in front of the blast door, waiting. “What’s taking so long with the inner lock?”
“Small hydraulic issue, sir,” came the reply.
Janus felt a chill run up his spine. This whole misadventure had started because of a malfunctioning door. “Do you need me to check on it?”
He heard the smile in the other man’s voice. “We’ve come a long way since Prime Dome, sir. It’s a self-healing system, and we have enough mechanics to check it for you.”
After a few more moments of tense silence, the heavy blast door lifted in its tracks. It wasn’t good enough, though. That door wasn’t just a pressure seal. It was an armored portcullis, their first line of defense against the kind of invasion that had wiped out the original Prometheus Base.
“I want a full system check,” Janus said. “No remote diagnostics. You have them open every panel and look.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll schedule it.”
“You’ll get it done today.”
“I’ll get it done today, sir.”
Janus walked into New Prometheus with Syn, Mick, and Fury in tow. He wasn’t sure what other problems had developed while he was out on the ice, but he needed to solve all of them so his family would be safe, and he had less than a week to do it before the Alignment forced him to leave on what might be his final run.