Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [52]
“And, uh, let’s watch our step, people,” Jackson said calmly. His hands were on Sulati’s shoulders, and he could feel her trembling, but he was impressed when she drew a deep breath and stood on her own.
“Thank you,” she said to Ruiz.
“No problem, ma’am,” the chief replied with an easy grin. He wiped the blade on some leafy ferns before sliding it back into the sheath on his thigh.
“Where are we headed, sir?” asked Ensign Sanders, settling a heavy pack on his shoulders. He carried his assault rifle in one hand while he checked a compass with the other.
“Only one place makes sense,” Jackson said, stopping to think about it. “This whole planet looked like a wilderness from up there except for that huge installation we spotted. It’s somewhere over the northeast horizon. I guess we’d better head in that direction and see what we can make of it.”
“How far do you think it is?” Dr. Sulati asked hesitantly.
No point in sugarcoating it, Jackson decided. He spoke bluntly.
“If that city was New England, then I’d guess we came down somewhere in Ohio. That means that we’ve got a long walk in front of us.”
The unrelenting jungle covered them with an upper canopy of foliage, blocking any view of the sky except for an occasional gap where a beam of hot sunlight spilled all the way down to the sTeaming, fern-shrouded floor. Fortunately, the underbrush was not terribly thick. The SEALS moved in standard file, Chief Harris starting out at the point, followed by Falco and then Jackson. Parker, Consul Char-Kane, and Dr. Sulati walked as a group in the middle of the column; G-Man and Chief Ruiz brought up the rear.
Jackson noticed suddenly that the forest in front of them was growing much brighter. Harris crouched down at a screen of daylight and peered through a dense frond as Jackson silently moved up to join him. A quick glance at his watch showed that they’d left the crash site about ninety minutes earlier.
“That’s the biggest goddamn marsh I ever saw,” the chief said in disgust.
Jackson had to agree. There were wide swaths of open water surrounded by reedy plants. The whole place had a fetid air, and he saw some insects that looked to be the size of small birds buzzing low over the muck.
“I guess we’d better try to go around it, Chief,” he said. Jackson squinted into the distance. To the right, the flat swamp seemed to extend all the way to the horizon, with no promise of any resumption of the trees. To the left, the fringe of forest seemed to extend outward and onward; that pretty much made the decision for him.
“Harry, can you make like a monkey and climb one of these trees for a look-see?” Jackson asked the nimble corpsman.
“I thought you’d never ask, LT,” Teal replied with a grin. Shucking off his pack, he handed his weapon to Chief Harris and selected one of the tallest trees. The trunk was bigger around than a man’s waist, and though the bark was rough, there were no branches for the first fifteen meters straight up from the ground. The corpsman wrapped his belt around the bole and leaned back for leverage, bracing his feet against the rough surface. In a matter of moments he had scrambled up to the first of the limbs, and from there he pulled himself easily upward. The foliage was so thick that he vanished from sight on the ground, leaving the rest of the SEALS to wait around uneasily for several minutes.
Finally he dropped back into sight, retrieving his belt from where he had left it on the lowest branch. He dropped down to the ground in a swift plummet, bouncing easily. But the grim shake of his head belied the apparent ease of his climb.
“We got grass and patches of water