Mother
Behind him there were bird calls, in front of him only the occasional sizzle of sand running downwards.
It wasn’t natural, something had created it and Ian kept wondering what it was. He was pretty certain that there was a deep crater or canyon out there in the middle of this desert as you would see plumes of dust rising vertically once in a while, but it was impossible to say if this was a sign of Others or just air currents kicking up.
There was no going out there to see though, as the desert was still one of the many Forbidden Zones that had not yet been mapped and analyzed by Mother.
Home World was resource rich meaning there were lots of edible plants and animals but there were just as many plants that would kill you outright (or make you hallucinate for a week) and animals that could rip your hide off and eat you in less than a minute.
There were one hundred and twelve species of vicious parasites and seventy-two deadly predators catalogued so far. Every acre of Home Word had to be painstakingly mapped, measured, analyzed and purged of hostile life forms before it would be declared a Safe Zone.
Suddenly a jagged scar of bluish-white light cut the sky out over the desert. Ian’s communicator chip in the sleeve of his biohazard suit flashed the yellow warning light.
‘Father, approaching at 20 kilometers per hour. 36 degrees NW. Return,’ it said on the small screen.
Ian picked up his helmet and sent an acknowledgement. As he began to jog down the trail back into the jungle, Buzzy flew down and followed him above his right shoulder. Buzzy was one of Mother’s ‘little helpers,’ a drone basically, with a sensory array and firepower. Buzzy provided surveillance and protection on Ian’s excursions into the field.
The shadows were long and vertical, going from tree to tree and fading to darkness deeper in. The tree branches were swaying in the wind, which was gathering force.
Fortunately it was not far to Home Base and Ian reflected again on how unusual it seemed that the desert was so close yet they had not mapped a foot of it, instead mapping acres of forest stretching off in both directions.
Soon Ian came up over the rise just before the clearing where Home Base was. Home Base was a group of buildings made of metal and connected by above ground tunnels.
There was a larger structure in the center that connected to the surrounding smaller ones in a spider-like fashion. The central building had a very large tower on the top that sent Father’s force to ground. The tower also had many step-down transformers to collect some of the power.
All around Home Base was a fence made of tightly woven wire. The fence was electrified and cameras and communication antennae were perched all along the top.
Ian took off a glove and placed his hand on a sensor panel that allowed Mother to verify his identity. Ian found this kind of odd as well since, in the fifteen years of his life on this Home World he had never seen any sign of Others. Still, Mother insisted on the possibility of Others, either supplanted Others like himself or indigenous Others.
The gate slid open and Ian went into the first building, which was Decontamination. He had found a new species of frog today and he slipped the jar that it was in into the Holding Bin, then started to remove his suit.
“Did you put the new specimen in the bin?” Mother asked.
“Yes, Mother,” Ian answered.
That was the other thing about their current work that bothered Ian; new species were constantly popping up in the Safe Zones.
Ian removed his shorts and stepped into the next part of the complex, which was where the showers were. He showered quickly and dried himself, putting on another pair of shorts.
Even though there was a small counter with a mirror and hairbrushes Ian just passed it by as usual, letting his dark hair remain a disheveled mop.
“Why don’t you ever comb your hair?” Mother asked.
“There’s no point, is there?” Ian asked.
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