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CHAPTER THREE

  Mackenzie and Ethan were walking away with the rest of the crowd, all moving slowly and without much talking when Mackenzie felt someone gently grab her shoulder. Turning around, Mackenzie came face to face with her father, Joseph Miller. He was smiling at her, but his dull blue eyes looked disheartened. Mackenzie knew that days like today were never easy on him and he always took it hard. As though he was responsible for someone having committed a crime.

  "Hey, Kenzie," Joseph greeted, drawing his daughter in for a hug. Joseph was the only one Mackenzie let call her that.

  Knowing that her father was likely feeling down after Estrada's choice, Mackenzie hugged him tightly in return while Ethan stood by awkwardly.

  "You okay, Dad?" Mackenzie asked when she was able to step out of the hug, though she kept her hand on her father's arm in a comforting gesture.

  Joseph chuckled softly. "I came over here to ask you that," he said. "And to say happy birthday, of course. I'm sorry I had to go before you woke up."

  Mackenzie shrugged. "No big deal."

  Joseph suddenly seemed to notice Ethan hovering nearby, because he turned his gaze on him. Ethan looked nervous, but Joseph was smiling at him.

  "Ethan," he greeted. "It's been a while since I've seen you. I hope they're not working you too hard over at the shop? We don't see you around for dinner anymore."

  "Yeah, Mr Miller," Ethan replied, swallowing hard. "Not too hard. But still pretty hard, that is. I mean, I'm not lazy or anything, I do what needs to be done. I mean, um... yeah, working hard, sir."

  Mackenzie hid a laugh behind her hand. Despite Joseph Miller always being nothing but friendly towards him, Ethan was strangely intimidated by Mackenzie's father. A fact that always caused Mackenzie endless amusement.

  "Hey, uh..." Ethan stammered, glancing nervously between Mackenzie and Joseph. "I better get going, Mackenzie. They'll be expecting me at the shop soon."

  "Oh, okay," Mackenzie replied, flashing a smile at him. "Don't work too hard."

  Ethan blushed and glanced at Joseph, who was smiling and holding back a chuckle. Ethan waved goodbye to both of them and then hurried away as quickly as he could without seeming like he was hurrying.

  "Still a bit of a nervous lad, isn't he?" Joseph observed.

  "Only around you, Dad," Mackenzie laughed. Now that the morning's events were over and done with, Mackenzie felt surprised at how easy it was to laugh and smile again, when only an hour ago she dreaded the thought of even opening her eyes.

  "Must be my terrifying physique," Joseph grinned.

  "Yeah, right," Mackenzie said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not saying you're fat, but it looks like you were poured into your clothes and forgot to say 'when'."

  Joseph threw back his head and barked out a laugh. "I see you're doing fine, that cutting wit of yours hasn't suffered any. Sorry for worrying, Kenzie. I guess I just wish that stuff like this didn't happen."

  "It’s okay, Dad," Mackenzie shrugged. "It's not your fault. Estrada did the wrong thing. I know he was trying to look out for his kid and everything, but by doing that, he might have put someone else's kid in danger. Right?"

  Joseph opened his mouth to answer, but seemed suddenly distracted by something low on Mackenzie's left. She looked down at what he was looking at and was surprised to see her new bionic hand at the end of her arm. She had almost forgotten about it.

  "What is that?" Joseph asked, his tone full of amazement.

  "Oh my God, I can't believe I almost forgot!" Mackenzie breathed excitedly. She lifted her arm to allow Joseph a closer look at the hand. "Ethan made it for me! It's not just a prosthetic; it's called a bionic hand. It can move and everything, just like a real hand. Look!"

  Mackenzie focused on moving the fingers and turning the wrist a little, showing off the ease with which she could now move the metallic appendage. Joseph gently took her arm in his hands and examined the bionic hand closely, clearly amazed by what he saw.

  "Wow," he said. "This is incredible. Ethan made this, you say?"

  "Yeah," Mackenzie nodded. "He said it was a birthday present."

  "Amazing," Joseph said, still studying the hand. "Ethan clearly has a lot of talent. Maybe he'd be put to better use on some larger projects in future. I'll have to talk to him about this bionic hand. So you..." Joseph looked into his daughter's eyes, suddenly serious. "You're happy about this? Because you don't have to feel like you need two hands to fit in. You've done an amazing job with everything you do with just one hand. I don't want you to feel like this is something you have to have. Understand?"

  Mackenzie nodded. "Yeah, I get it. But Dad, seriously, this is so cool. Not just because I have two hands now, but because it gives me more options. Like, maybe I don't have to stay working at the wells forever. Maybe I could do something more important, you know?"

  "Don't sell your work at the wells short, Kenzie," Joseph said. "You're the best hydrologist we've had in years. And we need that water to survive. Without you testing it and purifying it, well... Let's just say your work keeps us alive."

  Mackenzie nodded, withdrawing her arm from Joseph's grip and looking down at the bionic hand, almost wistfully.

  "I know," she admitted. "I get that it's important. But now that I have this hand, I don't know. I feel like maybe I could do more. Something that really makes a difference."

  Joseph grinned down at her. He wasn't much taller than Mackenzie, but just enough to make her have to tilt her head back slightly to look him in the eye.

  "You make a difference every day," Joseph said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me. A big difference."

  "Mr Miller! Sir!"

  Joseph and Mackenzie turned to see a man in uniform approaching in a hurry. He was less imposing than the two guards who had walked Estrada to the town line, being dressed in the same tan clothes, minus the combat armor and rifles. He was one of the law enforcement officers, or LEO's. Just like the 'cops' Mackenzie used to read about in her old books and in school.

  The young LEO hurried over to Joseph Miller and stopped, glancing uncertainly at Mackenzie, but he plowed on when he recognized her as Joseph's daughter.

  "Sir," he said. "They're back."

  "They are?" Joseph almost shouted, but not angrily. He was surprised. So was Mackenzie. She knew who they were, and no one had expected them to show up today.

  "Almost, sir," the LEO nodded. "They're approaching the town line from the east. They'll be here in a few minutes."

  "Well, let's go, let's go!" Joseph cried, already heading off and slapping the LEO on the back to make him move. Then Joseph turned back to glance at Mackenzie. "You want to come?"

  Mackenzie nearly fainted with shock.

  "You want me to meet them with you?" she asked, her voice strangely small.

  "Sure, come one!" Joseph laughed.

  "But... but..." Mackenzie stammered, faltering in her grasp of the English language. "But don't I have to get to work? I mean, the wells, and the water, and..."

  "It's your birthday!" Joseph cried, walking back to Mackenzie and placing an arm around her shoulders, guiding her along with him as he walked. "You're not allowed to work on your birthday. It's the law, you know."

  "You work on your birthday all the time!" Mackenzie accused.

  "Well, that's the beauty of being the one who writes the laws," Joseph winked, walking back to Mackenzie and throwing an arm around her shoulders and starting to guide her along with him. "I can change them whenever I want. Now come on, we might finally get some good news for a change!"

  Moments later, Mackenzie found herself standing at the east side of the town, staring out at the horizon with her father and a dozen or so others, not including LEOs. She felt dazed and her heart was racing. She found herself wishing that she had taken thirty seconds to at least brush her hair that morning. She gulped nervously as she, along with all the others in attendance, stared out at the expanse of desert, watching a cloud of dirt rising from the ground in the wake of the appro
aching vehicle.

  "They're early," she heard her father say to someone nearby. "They weren't scheduled to return for another two weeks."

  Mackenzie watched the vehicle speeding closer and closer. It was an 8-wheeled truck, painted to match the dirty rust color of the environment. The tires kicked up the dirt as the powerful truck powered forward, the sunlight glinting off the tinted windscreen. The truck appeared pinched in two locations along the body of the vehicle, creating three different sections, giving it the appearance of an enormous ant with wheels.

  The windscreen was too dark for Mackenzie to see inside, but she already knew who was driving. She also knew who was sitting beside her in the passenger seat, navigating their way home. She also knew the names of the four other occupants. Everyone knew their names. They were legends. They were rock stars. They were heroes.

  As the truck came closer still, Mackenzie could see the head and upper torso of a person sticking out of the roof of the truck. He was casually holding a long rifle with a scope attachment, squinting into the wind towards home. Mackenzie licked her dry lips nervously; her throat feeling like she'd just swallowed a mouthful of sand. She tried to think of something to say when the people in the truck finally arrived.

  Welcome back? she thought. Hi, I'm Mackenzie Miller. No, stupid... S'up? I'm Mackenzie. Oh my God, I'm so lame!

  Finally, the truck slowed down and stopped a few feet away from the spectators, who had suddenly increased in size as word spread of the returnees. Mackenzie could feel sweat that had nothing to do with the heat beading on her forehead and under her arms as she watched the doors to the truck open.

  They stepped out of the giant ant-like vehicle and, with seemingly practiced efficiency, closed ranks and walked directly towards Joseph Miller, with one man leading the way. Mackenzie frowned suddenly, counting only five. There were supposed to be six.

  The people were all dressed the same, but in varying degrees of dirtiness. They wore khaki pants and long sleeved T-shirts with vests that seemed to be made almost entirely out of pockets, which bulged with strange and unknown objects. They all wore the same brown boots and hats that matched their pants.

  They marched from the vehicle and stopped directly in front of Joseph Miller. They stood to attention and all snapped out a salute with such unison, Mackenzie wondered if their commander had signalled them somehow.

  Joseph smiled and returned the salute with similar robustness.

  "At ease, Vasseur," Joseph said, lowering his hand. He then stepped forward and the two men shook hands in welcome, like old friends. Joseph was glancing around behind the man named Vasseur, though, looking concerned. In a low voice, he asked, "Where's Inglis?"

  Vasseur scowled at the question and simply shook his head. In a French-accented voice he replied, "He didn't make it, Joe."

  Joseph sighed heavily and Mackenzie felt almost heartbroken. Roger Inglis, the specialist, the missing member of the squad. Lost in the endless deserts of the planet.

  Mackenzie tried to distract herself by studying the remaining members of the group. There was their leader, Commander Sacha Vasseur, a grisly old Frenchman of African descent with graying sideburns who was built so tightly with muscles, he looked like he could lift 200 pounds with only his bulging neck.

  Behind him, there was the squad's driver and the only female in the team, Rebecca Bell. She was an Australian woman with a dark tan and darker freckles on her nose and cheeks. Bell had dark brown hair, which she had pulled tightly back into a ponytail that just reached between her shoulder blades. Bell was fairly short, probably no more than five-and-a-half feet, but was athletic with muscular arms.

  Beside Bell, there was a man who looked to be roughly 40 or so, still standing to attention. His back was so straight, Mackenzie thought he might prop himself up with a steel rod. He had a square jaw behind a dark beard, dark brown skin and eyes that studied everything he looked at like he was calculating a complex math equation. His name was Kian Abbas, the squad's navigator/mechanic and second in command.

  Then there was Seth Lowe, the meteorologist and doctor. In addition to doing his best to make sure nobody died on mission, he kept an eye on the wild and sometimes erratic weather conditions out in the field, making sure that they weren't about to get caught in a sandstorm or any of the other dangerous weather conditions that could occur. He was much shorter than the others, even Rebecca Bell stood a few inches taller. His hairline was also receding somewhat, despite not even being 40 years old.

  Finally, Mackenzie studied the youngest member of the team. She recognized him as being the one she saw standing in the open hole in the vehicle with a scoped rifle in his hand. The gun was now hanging from a strap over his shoulder as he stood at ease beside his unit. He was a couple of years older than Mackenzie, but the dark stubble on his face gave him the appearance of a man who had seen far more than most others his age. He stared out over the heads of those who had come to welcome him and the unit back home, not making eye contact with anyone as he stoically waited for his next order. He had dark black hair, which looked wild and untamed, and his eyes were equally dark. He wore a shirt that was much more fitted than those the others wore and Mackenzie couldn't help but study the outlines of his biceps and triceps under his shirtsleeves.

  Jesse Greaves. The sharpshooter. The hunter. The tactician. The one who made sure that no matter which direction they were going, nothing got in their way.

  Mackenzie peered at him intently, realizing that she had never stood this close to him, or any of the others for that matter. She could just make out at the edge of his shirt collar what looked like a patch of scarred flesh, as though he had suffered some kind of burn.

  As Mackenzie stared, Jesse Greaves' eyes suddenly snapped in her direction and locked onto her face. Feeling caught out, Mackenzie jumped slightly as she stared into his dark eyes, then felt her face burn hot as she blushed bright red. She averted her gaze, damning herself and feeling humiliated, but then looked back to Jesse, hoping that she might be able to save face by playing it cool. Maybe smile and shrug, possibly wink at him jokingly, but he had already looked away again, staring at nothing over the heads of the crowd.

  The squad was known as The Diviners. They were the ones who were responsible for the survival of the human race. They had been founded by an Ensign named McLernon and a few joint international soldiers when they realized that their water supply was running out. The Diviners were tasked with locating natural water resources and food on planet Icarus, then reporting that location back to the colony. There were underground wells with water that was drinkable, but they were few and far between. The Diviners had to find it, which was no easy task. But they had so far managed. When they found a new water source, they would report back to the colony, which would then relocate the entire human population to the new well, which would last long enough to sustain them until a new water source was found, and so on.

  The Diviners' job was easily the most dangerous job that anyone on this planet could have, but it was also the most respected. They kept people alive, by placing themselves in danger. There was far more on Icarus that could kill you than just dehydration. For this reason, they were revered by almost everyone as heroes.

  Joseph Miller had once been a Diviner Commander, having actually trained the current Commander, Vasseur. It was how so many came to respect him and trust him. They knew he would always look out for them, because that's what Diviners did. They were celebrities, but they spent more time out on the planet, away from the colony than they did at home. Mackenzie thought it must be lonely, but they at least had each other.

  "I'm sorry about Inglis," Joseph said, snapping Mackenzie out of her fan-girl admiration. "He was a good man."

  "Yes, he was," Vasseur said gruffly. "I apologize for returning sooner than expected, but Inglis, he had... he had a child. And a wife. I'm afraid I have to go inform them of his passing."

  "Of course," Joseph nodded solemnly. "Do what you have to do, Sacha."


  Vasseur half turned and gestured to Abbas. "Kian can brief you on our findings, but the short version is that we are yet to locate a new water supply. And without our specialist, it may prove difficult to do so. We will need to have further conversation about this, but I must go for now."

  "Yes, definitely," Joseph agreed. Then, to the rest of the Diviners, he said, "You're all welcome to join me for some food and water, I'm sure you all need it. We're on tight rations right now, but I'm sure people would agree that you've earned your share."

  "Thank you, sir," Bell said, unable to hide the grateful tone in her voice.

  "Very kind of you, sir," Abbas agreed.

  Joseph placed his hand on Mackenzie's shoulder, making her jump. She had been staring at the Diviners again and she was starting to feel self-conscious.

  "Why don't you come, too?" Joseph suggested kindly. "You can meet the crew properly."

  Mackenzie found she was suddenly unable to speak so she simply nodded. As they all began to head off together (except for Vasseur, who went a different direction to find Inglis' widow), Mackenzie noticed Abbas staring with interest down at her bionic hand. She noticed Bell looking sideways at her, curious. Lowe was already in animated conversation with Joseph. And Jesse Greaves was somewhere behind her, walking silently. Mackenzie could almost feel him back there and she felt increasingly awkward just by walking, like she had suddenly forgotten how to do so and her arms felt stupid by her sides.

  Just what the hell do I say to these people? she thought desperately as she walked in the company of legends.