What Kate Found in the Fringe

by Nemo West

Table of Contents, parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

part 6

An ugly feeling hovered over Kate’s shoulder as she made her way back to camp. She could sense it but stubbornly refused to acknowledge it. Yet she caught herself speeding her pace more than once, as if subconsciously hoping she could somehow outrun it.

When she reached camp, she summoned enough dignity to appear calm as she made her way to the administrative tent. Patricia seemed surprised to see her. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I... wanted to know if I could come back to work tomorrow,” Kate answered.

“Oh.” Patricia blinked. “But I thought you and Quince would enjoy having a few days off together.”

Kate couldn’t restrain a sudden blush. “We’re not... Um, no.” She grimaced. “I’d... like to come back to work tomorrow, please.”

Patricia’s focused demeanor softened slightly. “Of course,” she said. “You can start at your usual time.”

“Thanks.” Not wanting to reveal anything more, Kate quickly left.

Afraid of running into Quince if she stuck around, Kate grabbed some food from the mess hall and marched out of camp with that ugly feeling still looming behind her. She and Quince had gone farther up the mountain for their morning hike, so that afternoon, Kate headed down the mountain instead. Soon she was deep in the pine forest.

After finding a secluded glen, she slumped down on a bed of pine needles and reclined against a tree. Refusing to dwell on the things Quince had said to her, she fidgeted with a few games on her Digit, listened to music, tried to read an ebook, and flicked through some of the pics and vids she’d captured of the expedition. But she couldn’t really concentrate on anything. Every time she thought about what had happened up on the cliff that morning, she felt her face flush and that looming feeling seemed to inch closer.

As the afternoon gradually wore into evening, Kate picked at the meal she’d brought with her until she heard footsteps crunching toward her through the forest. Unnerved, she jumped to her feet. “Who’s there?” she demanded.

“It’s Patricia,” the Chief Surveyor answered.

“Oh,” Kate said as Patricia stepped into the small glen. “What are you doing here?” Kate asked. “And how did you find me?”

“I tracked the location signal on your Digit,” Patricia replied.

Kate blinked, dumbfounded. “But... why?”

Patricia reached into a pouch slung over her shoulder and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. “I thought you could probably use a drink.”

Kate felt impossibly flattered. “You... want to have a drink... with me?”

“Unless you’d rather be alone.”

“No, please, a drink... would be great, actually.”

Patricia crossed the glen and sat down among the pine needles against a tree next to Kate’s. Then she opened the bottle, took a sip, and passed it to Kate. “So, what happened?”

Kate sighed and felt that ugly feeling suddenly flutter close enough to graze her shoulders but she refused to let it in. “We... had a fight.” She sat down heavily, took a drink and passed the bottle back.

“About what?”

“I think it was us realizing we don’t have as much in common as we thought.”

“That’s a shame. I’m sorry.”

Kate leaned back against the tree behind her. “He doesn’t respect my reasons for being here.”

Patricia pursed her lips. “And why are you here?”

Something about Patricia’s expression made Kate blink. She’d seen that look before, when her mother questioned her about things she already knew the answers to. Kate narrowed her eyes. “Why are you asking?”

Patricia sighed and took a drink. “Kate, you’re the most overqualified admin I’ve ever hired. You already have two degrees and you’re halfway through a third.” She arched her brow. “Yet instead of starting a career, or finishing grad school, you chose to sign up for this?”

Kate shifted a bit. “So?”

Patricia offered Kate the prompting look of a teacher coaxing answers out of a reluctant student. “Why?”

Kate shifted a bit more. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. And you think nobody else understands or sees it, but everyone does.”

“Sees what?”

Patricia took another pull from the bottle. “That you’re afraid.”

Kate suddenly felt exposed. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“You don’t need me to spell it out for you,” Patricia replied with a shake of her head.

“What if... I do?”

“Come on, Kate. Two and a half degrees? By now, I’m sure you’re sick and tired of people asking you when you’re finally going to get out of school and get on with your life.”

Kate stiffened.

“But you’re afraid,” Patricia continued. “You’re afraid to leave school and choose a career or settle down, because you’re afraid you’ll be stuck with your choices for the rest of your life, and you’re not sure you like anything enough to be locked into that kind of commitment.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Right?”

Kate suddenly thought about her parents and all of her siblings. “Everyone can see that?” she asked quietly.

Patricia offered a patient but knowing smile. “Yeah.”

Kate swallowed.

“Look, I get it,” Patricia said, “You’re out here trying to run away from it all.”

“No, I’m not,” Kate protested weakly.

Patricia eyed her. “You’re trying to avoid decisions that you’re afraid to make,” she said. “Maybe you’re hoping for some sort of sign or revelation while you’re out here, something that will make those decisions easier.” She shrugged. “But at some point, it has to come down to you.” She passed Kate the bottle. “Because you don’t want a life that’s been handed to you by chance or coincidence; you want a life you choose for yourself.”

Kate let the bottle rest in her lap and stared at it “But what if I choose something and then end up hating it?”

“So, what if you do?”

“Wh-what?”

“Not many people get it right the first time. You’ll make mistakes. We all do. Just keep trying. Until you get what you want.”

“But... what if I don’t even know what I want?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Patricia assured “Trust me, once you jump in and get started, you’ll figure it out.”

Kate drew a deep breath and then took a long drink. “You sure make it sound easy.” She returned the bottle.

Patricia chuckled. “If you think it sounds easy, then you weren’t paying attention. It’s supposed to be scary; that’s how you know it matters.”

Kate balked. “It’s supposed to be like this?”

“If deciding what to do with the rest of your life doesn’t scare the hell out of you, then you’re not doing it right.”

Kate let her head rest against the tree and stared into the distance. “Huh.” They traded the bottle for another round before Kate collected herself enough to say, “Um, thank you.”

“Sure,” Patricia replied with a nod. “Although I have a hunch you’ve already heard most of this before.” She eyed her admin sidelong. “But maybe you just weren’t ready to listen until now.”

Kate felt a flush of guilty embarrassment, as when her mother revealed that she’d known all along who really broke the antique mirror in the dining room. “Maybe,” she admitted.

Patricia took another drink and offered the bourbon to Kate, but this time Kate shook her head. The Chief Surveyor nodded and tucked the bottle back into her pouch. “Well, I think I’ll head back,” she said. “Care to join me?”

“No. I... think I want to be alone for a while.”

“I understand.” Patricia pushed herself to her feet and offered Kate an encouraging smile. “I’ll see you back at camp.”

Kate couldn’t help returning a grateful smile of her own. “Yeah. See you there.”

As the Chief Surveyor departed, Kate sat alone in the approaching dark of night. That ugly, looming feeling slowly returned and crept toward her. This time, Kate drew a deep breath... and embraced it.

* * *

A few weeks later, Kate could tell something significant had happened. The normal flow of incoming data suddenly slowed to a trickle. People scurried around with a cautious, tight-lipped demeanor, but practically trembled with nervous energy. No one dared to talk about it, but everyone could tell: they’d found something. By the end of the day, Patricia and Janco had collaborated on a special report for Quince to upload.

Later that evening Kate heard some commotion at the edge of camp. As the noise grew louder and closer, the staff in the administrative tent paused their duties and stepped outside to investigate. Kate followed just in time to see Janco marching in their direction at the head of more than twenty Raumstrasse commandos.

Only a small squad had accompanied the expedition from Cinder Pointe. Kate had never seen these new troops before. They wore combat armor and mountain camouflage, and carried large, frightening assault rifles. By their appearance, they must have been hiding in the mountains near the expedition’s camp, waiting to be called in.

The sight of fully-armed soldiers with weapons at the ready filled Kate with instant, ice-cold dread. All of Quince’s prattling about the dangers of the Fringe suddenly leapt into sharp focus. Could this be a corporate coup? A broke, insignificant little mercenary company with nothing to lose violently seizing a claim from a big mining conglomerate? There were no Federal agents stationed on Oberon to intervene, and it could take days for a Colonial patrol to reach the system.

Rapid-fire images flooded Kate’s thoughts with all the horror stories she could remember about the Fringe: news headlines, snippets of documentary footage, and rumors of massacres, abductions, and pirate raids. When Janco announced that the camp was surrounded, her heart raced. When he then ordered all the expedition officers into the administrative tent, her limbs began trembling. The commandos didn’t seem to care that she was just an admin assistant as they rounded up the group of officers she was standing with and herded them into the nearby tent.

Soon afterward, Janco and four of his men stood at the front of the tent facing a fearful audience. For several moments, Janco glared at them in silence, his grimace revealing ominous rows of teeth. At length, he stepped forward and spoke.

“An hour ago, a cutlass gunship entered the Arcturus system on a course for Oberon.” He paused, allowing the impact of that news to register. “We ran its markings and found a Colonial shoot-on-sight order tied to a smuggling cartel. Now, I’d have to be a fool to believe the timing of this ship’s arrival is a coincidence. We discover gold on Oberon and, within hours, a cartel gunship enters our system?” He shook his head. “There are no other settlements nearby, which means that ship has been waiting in deep space... waiting for a signal from someone here.”

“Wait, what?” Patricia said.

“This was all planned from beginning,” Janco replied. “The cartel has an informant on Oberon who tipped them off.” He glared around the room. “Now we’re going to find out who that informant is.”

“Hold on,” Captain Bucknam interrupted. “If there’s a cartel gunship on its way to Oberon, do you seriously intend to just keep us all sitting out here in the open, right beside the gold deposit? This is the first place they’ll come, and if they have any brains at all, they’ll paint this entire plateau with artillery before they even put boots on the ground.”

Janco glowered at the interruption for a moment before chewing a reply. “I’m sure they will,” he agreed. “If they make it this far.”

Bucknam scowled. “What does that mean?”

“I’ve already alerted the nearest Colonial outpost,” Janco said.

Bucknam’s scowl deepened. “What good is that supposed to do? It could take days for a Colonial ship to reach us.”

“And we’ll have days,” Janco replied.

“How? Even light passenger craft could cross this entire system in a matter of hours. What’s going to delay a gunship for days?”

Janco smiled with grim satisfaction. “An otter.”

From the corner of her eye, Kate noticed Quince suddenly stiffen. She glanced his way just in time to catch him turn toward Captain Bucknam. The two of them shared a brief look that Kate couldn’t decipher before they quickly returned their attention to Janco.

“Oh,” Bucknam said, sitting back in resignation.

“Then... what are you going to do with us?” Patricia asked.

“Nothing,” Janco answered with a shrug. “Colonial investigators will get to the bottom of this. But until they arrive, my men will make sure none of the suspects escape.” He glanced over his shoulder and signaled to one of his officers before continuing. “So, from now on, you’ll all be confined to quarters.” In response to Janco’s signal, teams of commandos entered the administrative tent. “My men will escort you to your tents.” He glanced around the room before adding, “Good night.”

* * *

Proceed to part 7...

Copyright © 2021 by Nemo West