Harvest Time

22 - Home Sweet Home

"Emla and Toquin returning," I shouted as I raised the hatch and peered out. A girl, not a breeder but one who appeared to be no more than eight years of age, cowered near the partially blocked entrance door. Then, after taking a good look at us, stood up and came a few steps closer.

She shouted back down the corridor behind her, "They're back."

A few minutes later several elders, with Kelsonna at their head, appeared.

"It's been five weeks. We thought you were dead," Kelsonna said.

"Five weeks? But we only stayed for less than an hour on the jungle world," Emla said.

"The other Harvester who went with you hasn't returned, either," one of the other elders said.

"Same reason," Emla said. "We've left about half the troops on the jungle world and the other Harvester will be trying out the two places on the sheets. What about the other two?"

"One came back but the place was dead."

"Which one?"

"That piloted by Tatrin," Kelsonna said as she produced the sheet representing that world. It had a thick red cross marked on it. Emla sought out the original plastic version from her backpack and, with the metal pen, scratched a line across it.

"No sign of the other one, then?" I asked.

"No," Kelsonna confirmed with a shake of her head. She showed us the corresponding sheet. "Languill's Harvester is still missing."

"He may be lost then," I said sadly.

"Or maybe time is even more screwed up between here and that one," Emla added more positively.

"It's... possible," Kelsonna said slowly.

"We could take a quick look and come straight back," Emla suggested.

"Dangerous," Kelsonna said. "If something there has killed the troops we dare not risk you two. I say we stick to the original plan and use you to get more troops into Harvesters to explore different worlds."

Emla nodded. This had been the final plan. Transport as many troops as possible back to the jungle world to commandeer more Harvesters to explore potential new worlds.

"How many more troops do we have?" Emla asked.

"Thirty or more," an elder said, as Kelsonna turned to him for an answer she didn't have herself.

"I'd say each Harvester needs at least five crew to be safe," Emla said. "And we can transport around fifteen crammed into the base of one, along with two of us at the top controlling it. Of course, if we managed to get rid of the big glass tank at the centre, they could be made to carry more."

"Shall we assemble some troops or do you need to rest first?"

Emla glanced across at me.

"I'm ready to go again," I said. "Especially as it's only been a short time for us since we left here."

Twenty minutes later we were packing the last of the new troops into the Harvester and, shortly afterwards, we were back at the Harvester depot.

The original troops we'd left there were surprised at our reappearance, declaring that we had departed no more than a few seconds before. Many of the rats, while still disabled, had yet to be rendered permanently harmless. We allocated a mix of the new and previous troops to fully charged Harvesters. Emla and I then selected a different Harvester and returned to Nervanna.

This time we had only been gone for four days but more than a handful of new troops had been declared fit for duty. Apparently, news of our exploits had started to travel to other citadels. We were informed that potential troops were going to be sent to Newhold for training.