But before long things began to look up. Commander Douglas wasn't a woman to give up without a struggle, and soon organised them to dig into the snow for shelter. That was when Nick came up with an idea. Hilarity was right at the end of the concourse, far away from the base, and the snow had built up around her in the days since she had been there. It should be possible to dig a tunnel in the snow that would allow them to reach the ship unseen by the dragoons. The whole group set to work, and after some time they reached the ship.
Hilarity was not quite ready to take off, with some repairs, mainly to the navigation computer, not completed. But she could serve as a shelter, and there was enough food on board to keep them going for a few days. Even better, once they were there, Nick and some of the engineers from the base were able to use the GilBot to send a distress signal to the other bases in the area. Help would soon be on its way.
But there were mutterings among the travellers. Some, with Zoe as their leader, wanted to take their chances and take off now.
"But we can't do that," Will protested when the travellers met upstairs in the green room to discuss the situation. "We can't just leave the others here- they could die without shelter."
"Well then, take them with us. We can drop them off at one of the other bases."
"Commander Douglas says she won't leave the base until it has been re secured," Agnes said.
"Anyway, the ship isn't ready yet," Nick put in.
"We could manage. It'll be a bit of a risk but we can do it," Zoe replied eagerly. "Look, Will and I have got to get home."
"But it's our lives you're risking, as well as your own," Tom said.
"Well then, you can stay behind," Zoe said. Everyone stared at her.
"No," Will said. "We're not leaving anyone behind."
"It's our fault that they're in this situation," Nick said. "We brought the virus here which transformed the dragoons into zombie robots. We can't just leave while they're still in danger."
"If you do go you'll have to go without me," Will said, looking at Zoe. "We've got to stay."
Zoe looked round at them all. Some people looked back, showing their agreement with Will. A few looked at the floor, but no one supported her.
"Damn you," she said. "So we stay."
They turned around as someone knocked on the door. "Come in," Will said, and Mondeo entered. "Can you come downstairs?" she asked. "Captain Douglas has got a plan to defeat the dragoons."
The plan was to lure the dragoons into a trap. Douglas had seen how the dragoons had struggled with the snow, and she had come up with a plan to lure the dragoons down a snow-built tunnel and, using some explosives from the Hilarity's weapons store, blow up the tunnel with them inside. So they all set to work, most digging the tunnel with whatever implements they could find, and others getting to work on the explosives.
It was surprisingly hard work, digging snow. First of all they dug a small tunnel as an experiment, and used a small explosive to test whether it would indeed bring down the tunnel as they had planned. It did, but they could see some modifications needed to be made to the tunnel design. When that had been done they started digging the main tunnel in shifts. But it was slow work. They had to begin at the end of the tunnel further away from the base and dig back towards it, hoping that the dragoons would think they were trying to force entry to the base, and would come up the tunnel to stop them. Yet after several hours hard work there was still some way to go.
A group of the travellers were helping to dig, deep inside the tunnel. With them were several of the engineers from the base, including Mondeo. She had been chatting to the travellers, and one or two of them were starting to notice that she was paying more attention to Patrick than to any of the others, and to wonder what this might mean. He, as always, was friendly, and seemed to be pleased by and responding to her attention.
Emma and Sarah brought round a tray with cups of hot drink. Patrick, being polite, allowed the others, including Mondeo, to get their drink ahead of him, and by the time he got there all the cups had gone. Mondeo said he could share hers. There were one or two sly chuckles and knowing looks among the travellers. The local engineers nearby seemed to take note of them too, and there were a few whispers and raised eyebrows.
So when someone was needed to return to the ship to fetch some tools, and Patrick volunteered, no one was surprised that Mondeo volunteered to go with him. They started back towards the ship, keeping out of sight of the base until they could reach the access tunnel. But just as they reached the entrance Mondeo stopped.
"Is something wrong?" Patrick asked.
"No, no...I just wanted to talk to you..." she replied, suddenly seeming shy. "Patrick...I've known lots of men, but never one like you. You're...special. I don't want you to leave, I want you to stay here with me, forever. Won't you stay with me?" She looked up at him, pleadingly, her eyes soulful.
He stared at her, and took a step backwards away from her. "I...I think there's a misunderstanding," he said hesitantly. "I mean...I like you, I think you're a nice person, but I mean...I've only known you a few days. And I can't stay here- I've got to get back to Earth..." He sounded embarrassed.
Her whole manner changed in a flash. "I see," she said, her voice as cold and frosty as the air around them on that snowy planet. "Well then, perhaps I should tell you about a certain custom we have on this planet. It is recognised as law that when an unmarried, unrelated male and female have drunk from the same cup, then they are required by law to marry. As you can see, that puts us both in a difficult position."
Patrick just stared at her. Then he turned and ran.
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