Copyright© 2025 by Lynn Patterson All rights reserved.
Sci-Fi Friday
Chapter 70 Epic Fail
Borrabi and the others waited in the operations office, glum and downcast despite our relative success.
“I’m sorry about Howell. A brave and competent leader. I made a grave error to allow the two of you to go in there without backup. My desperate concern for my daughter clouded my judgment. I am responsible for his death. He is the only casualty. A team is on the way to recover his remains.”
“He died valiantly,” I said. “Trying to protect me.”
“I will note it in my report.” Borrabi paused and leaned against the concrete walls. “Wilder, I need to speak to you privately for a moment.”
My gut told me that something had gone wrong with Brian’s rescue, but I held my tongue until the others filed out of the office.
“Brian?” I cried when they were gone. “What happened with Brian, Admiral?”
“Wilder,” Borrabi began. He looked everywhere except my face.
A cold sweat rushed across my skin. “You fucked it up. Goddamn you, Borrabi! You promised me! You promised to save my son.”
“Listen to me,” Borrabi said. “The Nacondi attacked Eridani. I don’t know if—”
Pure panic hit me then. The Nacondi attacked Eridani.
“You lied!” I screamed. “I asked you if it was Nacondi. Damn you, damn you…”
I rushed from the building, leapt from the porch, and activated the skis in midair. I was gone in that instant, skiing for my child’s life, past the startled glances of Bjork and the others.
I navigated the minefield outside the gate and sailed up the hill before Borrabi’s angry voice reached me on the comm-link.
“Wilder, I order you to stop! Return to the camp immediately!” he said. “Listen.”
I turned off my comm-link. At the top of the hill above the camp, I paused there and checked my WATTS’ chronometer. The path back to the portal led down a steep slope. It would take ten minutes or less. I checked Valdor’s map; except for Fay’s dig site, there were no portal coordinates listed for Eridani.
“I’ll do it the hard way.” I dialed in the coordinates for Eridani on the Gravity Key, then cross-selected an open field near Fay’s house from a topological map of the planet. Without a portal at the other end, the experience would be dangerous, but in my panicked state, I could think of no other way to reach them.
I pushed off and tightened to the fall line, running on pure adrenaline. A soft whoosh of snow kicked up as I rushed to the bottom of the hill. The fastest schuss of my life, and one goal lay ahead: my son.