Alone in Paradise (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 2) Read online

  She had struggled to find some way of breaching the field for some time – to at least get a message to Kate. She’d tested the height of the field by throwing rocks as high as she could, but hadn’t found an upper edge. Then she’d contemplated digging her way out, but soon realized she didn’t have the proper equipment to break through the paved stones. With the drone currently out of commission, she couldn’t move any of the large rocks, either.

  As she sat up, Anna winced from tension in her neck. Throwing her hand to the source of the pain, she massaged the muscles and popped her neck back in place. She sighed with relief as the stabbing discomfort subsided. After a few more seconds of massaging her neck, she walked outside and looked across the abandoned plaza.

  Nothing had changed much since she went to sleep. The smaller, unoccupied buildings still circled the pyramid, staring at it like lost children. The trees still stood just outside the paved area, swaying in the gentle breeze. Seventeen still sat on the ground next to the pyramid, its glowing indicator lights barely visible in the sunlight. Wait a minute…

  Shaking the last of her drowsiness from her head, Anna rushed to the ground and darted for the tree line. Tempted as she was to just run for it, she skidded to a halt at the edge of the plaza and looked around for a pebble or some other small object. Her eyes fell upon a small stone a few meters away, which she picked up and hefted toward the trees. The rock soared through the air and bounced off a nearby tree, much to Anna’s delight.

  She didn’t know how long the field had been down; she didn’t care. All she thought about right now was getting back to the ship and leaving the ruins behind her for a long time. “Seventeen, let’s get out of here.”

  While Seventeen powered up its engines, Anna sprinted toward the drone and vaulted onto its back, grabbing for one of the handles to stop herself. But she missed her mark, slid across and over the side to land on the pavement. She laughed at herself and climbed onto Seventeen’s back in a more orderly fashion. Once in place, she gave the order to take off and flew back to the ship without further incident.

  * * * * *

  Anna hopped out of the airlock onto the bridge and announced with a flourish, “I’m back.”

  Kate greeted her with a pleasing smile. “Welcome home again.”

  “Yeah, I know,” replied the blonde with a smirk. “Well, don’t worry. I’m not going near that place again for a long while.”

  “What happened? I noticed the EM field grew about ten hours ago, but shrank back again a few hours after that.”

  Anna began removing her clothes. “I’m thinking that whatever is controlling the energy field thought that the scanning attempts were some sort of attack and increased its defenses to stop it.”

  Kate watched Anna strip for a second. “Anna, what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to take a desperately-needed shower. I’ll be done in about twenty minutes or so.”

  Kate raised an eyebrow. “That’s a long shower.”

  Anna dropped her pants and kicked them next to the growing pile on the bridge floor. “I plan on…uh, relaxing while I’m in there.”

  She tossed her panties behind her as she retreated from the room. “See you in a bit.”

  * * * * *

  Anna, still nude, returned to the bridge about a half hour later eating the last few bites of a sandwich.

  Kate stood by the pilot’s chair, and turned toward her as she entered. “Better?”

  With a slight laugh, Anna answered, “Much better. Thanks.”

  “So, what are you going to do now?”

  “I…” Anna paused long enough to take the last bite, chew, and swallow it. “I am going to relax on top of the ship for a little bit. After what I’ve been through, I think I deserve a little break.”

  Kate nodded and watched Anna step toward the airlock. “What are you going to do about your clothes?”

  Anna looked over her shoulder at the clothes. “They’re filthy. I’m not going to wear them until I wash them.”

  “Could you not have done that during your shower?” Kate crossed her arms.

  Anna gave a sweet, innocent smile. “Yeah, I suppose I could have. Next shower, I promise.”

  “But, what about the clothes now?”

  Anna stepped into the airlock. “I’ll pick them up later.”

  “Anna…”

  “Going to relax now. Bye!” Anna pressed the door switch, invoking a frown from Kate as the airlock closed.

  After climbing out of the airlock, Anna sat on the hull and watched the mining drones in action around the clearing. While she’d been back at the pyramid with Seventeen, the drones had leveled and plowed three decently-sized plots of land for crops, and filled several containers with locally grown food. Now, they were transporting the containers out of the clearing. She guessed they were dropping them into the river to keep them cool; that is what she would do.

  At that moment the sound of engines reached her ears. Looking over her shoulder, Anna spotted two drones descending into the clearing near the ship’s engines. She trotted aftward to watch them in action. The drones landed near the ship’s fuel port, where one maneuvered behind the other and used its manipulator arm to remove the storage tanks from its partner. Impressed by Kate’s ingenuity, Anna nodded her approval and watched the other drone reciprocate the action and proceed to connect each of the eight tanks to the ship and transfer the mined gas into the fuel tank. “They must have finished patching the fuel tank.”

  Wanting to see their handiwork for herself, she raced to the nose of the ship and across bare ground for a few meters, before stopping to comfort her foot after stepping on a rock. Fortunately, she was not bleeding, but suspected a small bruise may appear later. Slowing her pace, she walked the rest of the way to the engines, and studied the repairs on the fuel tank.

  The panel she’d surrendered earlier had been put to good use. With its integrity intact, the hydrogen mined by the drones was being safely stored.

  With Kate and the drones doing the lion’s share of the physical labor for her, all Anna had to do was make sure they remained operational. This sounded a lot like the job she’d had back on the station. However, she would reap the rewards instead of passing them off to a faceless corporation back on Earth.

  She lifted her arm to call Kate through her wristcomp but, finding her bare wrist instead, remembered that she’d left it in the head. Smiling in spite of herself, she picked herself up and climbed back into the ship.

  “Kate, I need…” She stopped after walking out the airlock a couple steps and spotting Kate standing in the middle of the bridge, a hardened expression on her face and pointing to the pile of clothes on the floor.

  “You need to pick up your clothes and do something with them.”

  Balking at the verbal attack, Anna backpedaled. “Now, wait a minute. I said that I was going to pick them up…”

  “And, I do not like having to look at your dirty knickers.”

  “Stop right there! Did the real Kate Mitchum act like this, when she was alive?”

  The hologram paused for a second. When she spoke again, her words were calmer. “I have no record of such behavior on file.”

  “Then, you need to start acting more like her and a lot less like my mother. Or so help me, I will shut you down. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior from my computer. I am the human here. I am the one in charge. You need to respect that right here and right now. If you have a problem with me, you discuss it with me civilly, or you get over it. Understand?”

  Kate bowed her head. “Yes, I understand.”

  Anna continued with her voice raised. “As for these clothes, I will move them to the back part of the ship. However, I am going to retrieve my wristcomp first. Agreed?”

  “Yes, Anna.”

  “Thank you.”

  Cursing under her breath, Anna snatched her wristcomp from where she’d left it on the sink and strapped it back on her wrist while walking back to the bridge.

 
Anna passed through the hatch, fuming. Seeing Kate stand with her head bowed and her hands clasped behind her back, she paused and calmed herself before saying anything. “The other reason why I came back in was to let you know that I want to set up a preventative maintenance schedule with the drones to keep them functioning. I want to look at Seventeen first, since it was with me at the pyramid, and may have been affected by prolonged exposure to the EM field. After that, I want to inspect two drones per day…um, actually make that every twenty-four Earth hours. Please set that up.”

  “Yes, Anna,” Kate’s response sounded passive.

  Anna paused for a second as she weighed Kate’s recent responses.

  “Kate, I need to ask you this. Was the real woman this wishy-washy?”

  Kate glanced at her. “Is this not to your liking?”

  Anna rolled her eyes. “Look. All I want is for you to behave as close to the real person as possible. Is that too much to ask?”

  A couple of seconds passed in silence before Kate responded in a more normal tone. “No, that should not be too difficult.”

  “Brilliant. Thank you.”

  “I do have a question for you, though.”

  Anna nodded. “Okay.”

  “Do you prefer to walk around without any clothes on?”

  Anna rolled her eyes again. “Why do computers have a problem with this?”

  “The act of a human remaining nude for an extended period of time is not the norm, so we do not expect it.”

  “That was a rhetorical question.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “Up until a few months ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of taking my clothes off except for stepping into the shower. But I was thrust into a situation where I had to move about without wearing anything for a short time, and I found that I liked it. It gives me a feeling of freedom that I would not normally experience.”

  “Are you comfortable like this?”

  Anna paused for a second. “Actually, yeah.”

  “Would you feel more comfortable if I also presented myself without clothes?”

  Amused by the question, Anna cracked a smile. “That’s not necessary, Kate. I will more than likely go without for a while longer, after I inspect the drones.”

  “Alright.”

  With a smile, Anna gathered her clothes from the floor and dropped them off in the head before grabbing a light blue T-shirt and black shorts from the pile of Ryan’s discarded clothes, retrieving her tool belt, and returning outside to begin her inspection of Seventeen.

  * * * * *

  About an hour later, Seventeen passed its inspection with flying colors, with only its visual receptors needed cleaning. Anna breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Okay, Seventeen. All done. Go play!”

  The drone lifted off from the top of the ship and flew to its previous assignment of patrolling the clearing’s perimeter. Anna stood with her hands on her hips and watched it leave, smiling as it merged back into its circular flight path.

  “You know, I kind of missed doing this.”

  Slipping the shop rag back into its pouch, she walked down to the ground and over to the tilled soil at the west end of her developing compound. She knelt at the edge of the plot and lifted up a handful of the soft, cool dirt. The small, dark clods of soil broke apart with little effort and sifted through her fingers, exposing tiny bits of stone and plant fibers. She rubbed it between her fingers for a few seconds before dropping it.

  Brushing her hands together, Anna stood back up and turned to regard the ship. As she stared at the white-hulled craft, she appreciated having it for shelter while marooned on the moon. She now understood why Ryan had liked it so much. But, looking at the way the ship rested on the ground made Anna feel like it wasn’t being treated very well. That was when she remembered the landing strut. Were the others still out there, waiting to be found?

  Anna opened a channel on her wristcomp. “Seventeen, meet me at my current location. Bring the other drones from the patrol with you.”

  Several seconds, later as the three drones rendezvoused with her, Anna mounted Seventeen and called the ship.

  “Kate, I need you to scan the area for any metal. We’re going to find the landing struts and see if we can get this ship off the ground.”

  Chapter 17

  “Remind me to wear more clothes the next time I go up.” Anna slid off Seventeen’s back onto the top of the ship. She combed her fingers through her blonde hair, tousled by the wind from her flight around the area, before rubbing her arms to warm them up a little.

  Turning to the drone behind her, Anna thanked it and waved as it returned to its duties. She directed her gaze at her salvage, now assembled on the ground a few meters from the vessel. Able to locate the two remaining landing struts and a few other pieces that had broken off during their descent, she felt confident she could repair the damage to allow the ship to rest level with the ground. The dilemma at hand now was to figure a way to raise the ship off the ground so that the repair work could be done. Without a dry dock handy, something needed to be done to grant her access to the underbelly.

  The first thought that crossed her mind was to use the drones, but she knew they didn’t have enough fuel to keep them running for as long as she needed them to work. The weight of the ship itself would crush a single drone, so using them to prop the ship up for a lengthy period of time would also be unwise.

  Anna’s thoughts shifted to using materials from the moon itself. The only rocks she saw in the area were the ones that formed the rapids in the river and the worked stones in the ancient pyramid, so that possibility was out.

  As she contemplated the situation, she looked around the clearing at her patch of land, and the line of sturdy trees that formed its boundary. The trees…wood! It’s been used for countless centuries back on Earth. Why not?

  Now, she just had to figure out how to cut it down. Her survival knife was too small for such a task. None of the tools on her belt were powerful enough for it. She could always shoot each tree with her laser pistol, but she would probably drain the power pack before she could fell just one trunk. I’d love to get my hands on a plasma cutter right now. I’d cut through each tree like butter without breaking a sweat.

  As she looked out over the cleared terrain, Anna smacked her forehead and chuckled at herself for missing what was right in front of her.

  Anna called Seventeen and the other two drones on patrol to join her in searching the clearing behind the ship for timber.

  Hours later, the four of them had brought back several logs and laid them together on the ground next to the craft. Anna believed them to be strong enough to hold the ship aloft if assembled the right way. However, the amount of timber she had brought back didn’t seem to be enough to raise both ends of the ship simultaneously. She would just have to prop up one end at a time, starting with the aft section.

  A yawn sneaked its way through Anna’s lips, reminding her that she should call it a day. Returning inside, she grabbed some food from the ship’s larder and walked to the bridge, sitting in the pilot’s chair while taking a bite of meat.

  “Kate?” Anna watched her fade into existence out of the corner of her eye. “What music is on file?”

  “All of the music on file consists of Broadway show tunes from sixty-four different musicals. Shall I list them for you?”

  Anna looked over her shoulder with a frown. “Show tunes?”

  “Yes, Anna. I have tracks from Aida, Annie Oakley, Bayside Boys, Cats, Crossing Over…”

  Anna shook her head in disbelief and waved her hand at her. “Yeah…never mind. I’m going to bed.”

  “Have I done something wrong?”

  Stopping in the middle of the bridge, Anna turned toward her. “No, it’s not you. It’s just…”

  She paused, collecting her thoughts, “I knew Ryan was a lot of things, but I would have never pictured him as a lover of Broadway.”

  “I understand.”

  Lost in her thought
s, she left the bridge. “Good night.”

  Several hours later, Anna woke up and looked at the shirt and shorts she’d worn the day before piled on the floor next to her cot. Deciding it was time to do laundry, she gathered the garments and took them to the head. She showered, washing both sets of clothes as she did. Afterwards, she took the laundry to the top of the ship and set them out to dry while she sunbathed next to them.

  Her stomach grumbled after about half an hour, reminding her she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. Dining on fruit and a cereal she found in her larder, she walked onto the bridge and found Kate looking outside at the drone digging rows in the tilled soil.

  “Kate,” Anna said. “I am going to begin reattaching the landing gear to the ship, so please don’t be alarmed if you suddenly find yourself at an odd angle.”

  Kate regarded her over her shoulder. “That is fine. Thanks for letting me know.”

  Anna glanced around the bridge, looking for her tool belt but not seeing it anywhere. She stepped up to the pilot seat and searched around the workstation, but still didn’t find it. “Do you remember where I left my tool belt?”

  “I believe you left it in your cabin.”

  Anna snapped her fingers as the memory entered her mind’s eye. “That’s right. Thanks.”

  “Before you go, you should check this out.” Kate pointed a finger in Anna’s general direction while still looking outside.

  Walking up to stand next to her, Anna gazed out at the same angle but saw nothing more than the mining drones hard at work. She shook her head after a few seconds. “I don’t understand. What am I supposed to be looking at?”

  “This.”

  The control panel with the sensors display appeared in the air beside Kate, who pointed to the frozen sensor image.

  “What do you make of this?”

  Despite being annoyed at her for not presenting the image in the first place, Anna brushed it aside. She leaned back on one leg and examined the picture. “If what I can tell is correct, it appears another energy field has appeared around the pyramid.”