Thomas's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Thomas had lost a man to a cook fire three years ago. Tonight he lit one anyway. Emmy sat beside him with her arms wrapped around her knees, shivering in the thin t-shirt she had worn when she climbed into his supply pack back at the station. Third time she'd done it. Third time he hadn't checked the weight. The station crew thought he was on a routine survey run. By now they thought he was dead, and the launch window would close in two days whether he made it back or not. He fed another split of dry brush into the pit. The flames climbed higher than they should have. " "The others were already down for the night. Four sleeping bags ringed the stone pit, each one holding someone he'd found walking the flats after the Vael hit the big camp last week. Emmy had found them first, actually. She'd walked three days alone before he caught up to her. She didn't talk about it much. "You warm now?" he asked. Emmy nodded once. "Warmer." He watched her hands. They were still blue at the tips. He added another piece. " "He knew what heat did out here. He knew the Vael tracked it the way a dog tracked blood. He'd told that to every new hire at the station for three years, standing over the rusted hood of the old pickup with its canvas tent strapped in the bed. Don't cook after dark. Don't build up coals. Bank it small and bank it early. He looked at his daughter's blue fingers and let the fire burn another twenty minutes. When he finally kicked sand over it, the smoke rose in a thick white column straight up into the still air. He watched it climb. He knew, before he heard anything, that he had done it again. " "The sound came from the ridge above the camp. Not footsteps. A dry click, like two stones tapped together, and then an answering click from the other side of the wash. Emmy's head came up. Thomas put his hand flat on her shoulder and pressed her down into the sand behind the fire ring. He counted shapes against the sky. Three on the ridge. Two more moving low along the wash. They hadn't rushed in. They were spreading. He shook the nearest sleeping bag hard. "Up. Quiet. Now." The man inside blinked at him. Thomas pointed at the ridge without looking. "I lit it too long. They're here." Emmy's hand found his belt and held on. He pulled her to her feet and started moving her toward the pickup.