The Descent

Chapter 57 - Recovery

"Can we get more lights on it?" he asked as he squinted through the front window. Next to him, he heard Tanner flip a switch, and a couple of spotlights were pointed directly at the snowtrekker. Even though the extra lights also illuminated the snow more than before and made it more difficult to see through the curtain of snow, they did give him enough visibility to be able to tell that the cockpit was indeed empty.

"Where's Jarell? The cockpit's empty."

"His location is currently unknown. I am picking up no trace of him," Tanner said.

"Why would he leave the snowtrekker? It's suicide in these conditions."

"Also unknown, although I suspect the leak I mentioned earlier may have caused a malfunction. I will need to run a full set of diagnostics on the snowtrekker to determine the actual reason."

"Ok, let's go," Denton said and reached for his facemask. "You better bundle up, it looks bad out there," he said to the three behind him.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Tanner said and put his metal hand on Denton's shoulder. "Look at the outside temperature. You'll freeze to death in no time out there with the wrong equipment."

"That's no different than before."

"That is technically correct, Denton, but we've traveled even further away from the sun, to the more extreme temperature areas of the Shadowlands. This is not a place for humans."

"What do you suggest?"

"I'm more likely to be able to find him and survive than you are."

"Metal and extreme colds don't get along last I checked."

"Even so. I'm a machine. I have infrared vision capabilities and a variety of other tools I can use to find him. If he's alive, I'll find him. I'm confident I'll be fine."

"If you say so. What can we do to help?"

"Retrieve the snowtrekker and stow it in the back. We'll need it for further analysis when we get back to base."

Denton turned to the others. They nodded and began to zip up their jackets.

Tanner was the first one to leave. When the rear ramp was lowered, he wasted little time and disappeared around the side of the transport without even a good-bye. By the time Denton made it down the ramp and to the front of the transporter, Tanner had already disappeared into the snow, his rapidly disappearing footprints the only evidence of the direction he went.

Denton and the others got to work on the snowtrekker. It was already partially buried in the drifting snow, which forced them first to dig it out and then try to move it to the rear of the transporter. Even after clearing the drifts around it, it didn't take them long to realize that the frozen trekker would be difficult to move very far without a working engine. Denton decided that it would be more efficient to just turn the transporter around than to wear themselves out.

They all returned to the warmth of the cabin, and after fiddling with the controls for a few minutes, Denton was able to turn the transporter around and back the rear ramp all the way up to the snowtrekker. From there, they were able to push and lift it onto the ramp and into the transporter. As soon as they were all inside the cargo area, he closed the ramp, and they regrouped in the cabin.

Denton turned up the heat while Carter threw his gloves on the floor and vigorously rubbed his fingers together.

"Man, it's cold out there," he said, his cheeks red despite the protective facemask he had worn.

"Yeah, I'm a bit worried about Tanner," Leah said and leaned towards the front window. "Shouldn't he be back by now?"

Denton sat down by the controls. "Maybe we can follow him?" he said and turned the transport around so that it faced the same direction it had when Tanner left.