Free Zero by J. S. Collyer

pulled his bike round to face south and cut the engine. Hugo pulled up beside him, slightly less skilfully. When he cut his bike's engine for a minute all he was aware of was the pounding of blood in his ears and the earthiness in the air that he tasted with every heaving breath.
    “ Still with me, Captain?”
    Hugo nodded, feeling his breathing gradually calm. He studied the display on his screen and compared it to the readings on his wrist panel. “We're early.”
    Webb nodded, stretching. “Aye, Captain. We're out of range though. Just be ready.”
    Hugo looked again at the route marked on the display in front of him and the timer in the corner. This was the route he himself had scribbled on the display in the galley, the route that should get them right up to the boundary wall. Assuming they'd got the timing of the foot patrol right. And assuming their scans of the sensors' scope had been accurate. And that Hugo could keep on course.
    “Christ,” Webb murmured.
    “ What?” said Hugo, snapping his head up.
    “ It's just...” Webb pulled off his goggles and gestured out in front of them with a wide sweep of his arm.
    “ What?” Hugo repeated.
    “ It gets me every time,” Webb said, shaking his head. Hugo peered out over the spread of the landscape in front of them. Dark pine rolled down in every direction. There was hardly a break in the thick green apart from the odd cratered clearing further downhill. The peak of the next mountain rose against the horizon, the trees at this distance looking like a deep, green carpet. The sky was an arch of clear grey above them. The breeze ruffled the trees and brought a fresh wave of pine and cold earth.
    The chill made Hugo shiver, despite the boiler suit, long coat and gloves. “What gets you? Trees?”
    Webb made an impatient noise. “Not just trees. Everything. The green. The life. Fuck, the smell of it. Of Earth. Do you mean to say you were actually born here?”
    Hugo frowned. “Not here .” He glanced about once more at the chilly, leafy clearing and then went back to studying his display. “Sydney.”
    “ Service Headquarters, huh? Figures. Not a lot of forest there, I'm guessing?”
    Hugo shook his head, checking his gun again in his shoulder holster. The countdown ticked lower and he felt his heartbeat starting to rise again.
    “What about at the Academy?”
    Hugo looked up again at the rolling view. “The Highlands are more like this. But we only went into the forests on training manoeuvres.”
    “ Well,” Webb said with a grin, pulling his goggles back on and adjusting his cap. “Guess we're about to find out if you got your credit's worth. Ready?”
    Hugo swallowed. “Ready.”
    “ Stay close, Captain,” Webb said, then his engine was roaring again and he was off down the slope. Hugo pushed the starter button on his own bike. It roared to life and he followed.
    The angles of their trajectory tightened. Struggling to control the bike, Hugo almost pulled it over twice. His teeth were hammering together as they sped over the bumpy terrain and his hands were starting to sweat inside their gloves. But he rode the wave of adrenaline and used it to anchor him. Webb managed to keep them on course to an alarming degree of accuracy, but he still expected gunshots to start exploding around him or alarms to sound any moment.
    Between the gaps in the trees ahead he could see the gleam of metal. Their route got even more erratic. They got closer and closer until Webb finally slowed. They crept the bikes along the last few feet. Their route had brought them up to a dense thicket of younger pines, and they pulled up behind the shield of the trees and cut the engines.
    For a while they just sat there and listened. Sounds of the base – voices, engines and the hum of electricity – filtered through to them, but nothing close by or out of the ordinary. Hugo let out a shuddering breath, feeling his shoulders relax.
    “ Don't let up yet, Captain,” Webb whispered.