Athena laughed. “That is true. I am still on track.”
“What will you do then?” Tohba asked calmly.
“Make sure that you have a good home for you and your wife, make sure that the boys can find a nice young lady to knock up, and then, I am going to look at my options.”
The boys were seventy years and barely adults by their species conventions. They had been working for the overseer for decades when Hyrnan had become an option.
“When are you going to make the med appointment?”
She picked up her tablet. “Now.” The tablet had cost her two weeks of pay, but it was base pay, and the bonuses made up for any small luxuries.
She went to request a med appointment during the overseer’s visit. She blinked. “Can they deny a medical appointment?”
Hivr shrugged. “The med staff enjoys meeting the overseer as well. They often lock out non-essential appointments.”
Athena mumbled and said, “There must be something that I can do to get me out of the base.”
She flicked through available tasks to grab, and most activities had been suspended for the grand visit. After six months, she knew the most easily accessible places to get money, but there was nothing.
“Aha!” She found one.
Tohba chuckled. “What did you find, and where are we going?”
“Not we, just me. This is a rider mission into the lava fields. There is a sensor that has been missed on retrieval, and I can head out and grab it tomorrow while you are meeting and greeting the overseer.”
Tber frowned. “That is a dangerous spot. Didn’t we get mineral samples there once?”
She held up two fingers. “Twice.”
Hivr chuckled. “Oh, when the gas jet nearly flipped us. I remember that.”
Tohba frowned. “It is dangerous. Are you sure you don’t just want to get an appearance generator for the day?”
She shook her head. “Nope. They don’t care what I look like if I am compatible. From previous reports, if I am compatible, it’s going to be very obvious to him. I don’t want to be anywhere near that.”
Tohba nodded. “Fair enough. Check in regularly with two clicks, and we won’t send out a search party and put it on your bill.”
Athena held out her fist and bent down. He bumped it, and the other guys gave her a thumbs up. The plan was set.
The trip out to the lava field was easier on the rider. It was a motorcycle mounted onto a hovercraft with a magnetic pulse engine. It was a lot of fun.
She used the tracker on the rider to find the sensor and worked out a careful and safe path that would take her over the cooler portions of the field. She hummed to herself and landed the rider in a safe zone. She settled and clicked her com twice to keep Tohba calm.
The ground under her feet was warm, and she felt a disturbing flexing. There wasn’t time to fool around. If they wanted the sensor back, it was in danger.
Athena sprinted to the sensor and wrapped it in the thermal protector before yanking it out of the ground. She hiked it onto her shoulder and ran as fast as she could as the rock flexed upward. She strapped the sensor on, fired up the rider, and got the hell out of there.
She tried to focus on getting to the coastline. The wind might give her some protection from the pyroclastic cloud.
She throttled the rider faster, but the rumble was starting behind her. The Broken Coast was under her, and she used the cliff face for protection when the explosion happened. A glance behind her showed that she was racing against the cloud of molten minerals and gas.
She kept the rider low and finally came to a halt and tucked it against the cliff face. When the cloud hit her, she had chipped a safe haven into the sandbank with a thermal blanket over her. The roar of the cloud rushed past her, and she heard the ticking of the hot rocks against the blanket. She hoped that it was quick because the thermal blanket wasn’t rated for lava chips.
Athena slumped down as a wave of fatigue rippled through her. Her plan to get treatment for the K’liir venom had been genuine. She had been feeling dragged down recently but had been trying to space out the treatment.
When the ticking on the blanket ceased, she checked her com. No signal. Of course. Why would it have a signal? She was in the centre of a magnetic particle storm. Nothing would work. Athena sighed. The air outside stilled, and she removed the blanket and checked on the rider. She could possibly have lifted off to continue over the sand, but the rider hadn’t had protection on it. It was pitted with punctures from the mineral shower.
“Right. Step one. Check the atmosphere.”
The world was coated with grey and small black particles. She covered her hands and swept as much of it as she could onto the ground, and checked the systems of the rider. She sighed in relief. The rider’s com system was intact, and it was shielded against the magnetic interruption.
She called the base and winced at how much a rescue was going to cost. “Base, this is Theena of Team Vel calling for immediate assistance.”
“Very funny. Team Vel is with the overseer.”
She winced. “Not a joke. Check the roster. Theena of Team Vel took a retrieval mission to the lava fields. Check on it. The place has blown, and I am stuck on the Broken Coast.”
“Remain on standby while I verify.”
Athena had nothing else to do but stand by.
* * * *
Tohba was smiling and conversing with the overseer, talking about his looking forward to having his family with him. Theena’s absence had been brushed aside. The overseer was curious but not intent.
A messenger came up to Tohba and handed him a slip. Tohba read the message and got to his feet. “Please, pardon me, Overseer. Our fourth has had a problem during the retrieval we mentioned. She requires our assistance.”
Hivr got to his feet reluctantly. “Please, pardon us, Overseer.”
Tber nodded. “We need to make sure she is okay, Overseer. She’s our meal ticket.”
Tohba elbowed him, and he looked to the overseer. “May we be excused?”
The overseer paused. “Where is she?”
“She was at the lava fields, but there was an eruption. She is now sheltering on the Broken Coast.”
The overseer got to his feet. “I will retrieve her, and then, we can all have a proper meal.”
Tohba paused.
“It is not like I am giving you a choice, Tohba. Do you have the location?”
Tohba winced. Theena was going to be furious and terrified. He handed over the message with the origin coordinates.
The overseer nodded. “I know the area. I will return in two hours.”
Tohba stared as he left the private dining area that overlooked the colony. “She is going to be pissed.”
“You heard him when he met with us. He wants to make us his primary foraging team. She was going to meet him eventually,” Hivr murmured.
Tohba watched the black wings fly off, and then, the overseer shot out with incredible speed. “She is still going to be pissed.”