Free Outpost by Adam Baker Page B

'Yeah.'
    'And
we have you.'
    'Sure.
When we run out of food I'll be first in the pot.'
    'I
saw a kid on TV a few years back,' said Punch. 'He went hiking in the Rockies.
He got hit by a landslide. He woke up with his arm pinned by a boulder. He lay
there for a couple of days hoping for rescue. Nobody came, so he used his belt
as a tourniquet, then sawed off his arm with a penknife.'
    'Good
God.'
    'Picked
up his canteen and walked back to civilisation minus an arm.'
    'Damn.'
    'This
is your moment. You know that, right? I've seen you, since this shit kicked
off. It's like watching someone wake from a long sleep.'
    'But
what good is it?' asked Jane, looking out to sea. 'In the face of this. All our
heroism. All our will to live. It's a bad joke.'
     
    Sian
cleared Simon's room in Medical. She gathered up his dog- tags, his signet
ring, his watch. She found a heavily annotated copy of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations in his coat pocket. She put it
all in a plastic box and gave it to Nikki.
    Nikki
was in the observation bubble staring out to sea.
    'Thanks,'
she said, as Sian handed her the box. She tossed it aside without looking at
it.
     
    Nikki
spent the afternoon scanning wavebands.
    She
turned up the volume and put her ear to the speaker.
    'Are
you sure you heard it?' asked Sian.
    'There
was a voice. Male. English. It faded in and out. Has done for days.'
    She
turned the dial.
    'There.
You hear it?'
    '. . . elp . . . ear us?..urgent assis . . !
    'Get
your coat. We have to boost the range on this thing.'
    Nikki
found a coil of steel cable in the boathouse. She carried it to the upper deck.
    'What
do you have in mind?' asked Sian.
    'When
I was at university I had a crappy transistor radio on my desk. It had a broken
aerial. If I let the stub of the aerial touch my anglepoise lamp I got a
signal. Maybe we can lengthen the antenna and pull the same trick.'
    'Perhaps
we should talk to Ghost. He might be able to help.'
    'Girl,
you've got to shake off that passive mindset. We're in deep shit. You can't
constantly rely on Ghost to kiss it all better. You've got to start taking care
of yourself.'
    The
short-wave antenna was a scaffold spike four metres tall. Nikki climbed the
spike and lashed the cable to the top. She climbed down. She tied the other end
of the cable to a balloon pod.
    'Okay.
Stand back.'
    She
pulled the red rip cord. The plastic case split open. Silver balloon fabric
spilled, unravelled and began to inflate. An explosive roar as the helium
canister discharged. The foil swelled and rose. The balloon lifted skyward
taking the cable with it. A silver teardrop shimmering like a globule of
mercury. The cable extended the antenna ten metres.
    'Let's
see if that does any good.'
    They
returned to the observation bubble and threw their coats over a chair.
    'This
is refinery platform Kasker Rampart, can you hear me, over?'
    ' Hello? Hello? '
    'This
is Rampart. Go ahead.'
    'Thank God. Thank Christ. This is drilling station
Kasker Raven. Hope you're in better shape than us, Rampart. We could use your help . '
     
    Kalashnikov.
Four rotting cabins facing the sea. A wooden Orthodox church with an onion
dome. Wooden grave markers.
    Jane
tethered the boat to the jetty. She climbed ashore. Punch passed her backpacks.
    The
cabins had been built by whalers. They had partially collapsed. Rooms choked
with roof beams and snow. The little church was intact. Some of the fittings
were a hundred years old. Rotted pews. A rotted altar.
    The
back room. A blubber stove with a cobwebbed flue. A shelf loaded with antique
supplies. Fry's cocoa. Heinz Indian relish. Tins of boiled cabbage.
    The
floor was littered with modern camping detritus. Empty stove canisters. Food
wrappers. A ripped sleeping bag.
    Jane
found a box. Calorie bars and a couple of cans.
    'Eight
years old,' said Jane, checking the expiration date. 'Probably still edible.'
    'Bit
of a wasted trip. The place is good for firewood, I suppose.'
    'What's
worth more right now, do you think?