The Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic SF - Mike Ashley [194]
It was not moving. I guessed its occupants had seen us and halted, wary.
Edvard brought the truck to a stop and called out to Danny.
Seconds later Danny and Kat squeezed into the cab and crouched between us.
"What do you think?" I said.
"Big," Danny said under his breath. "Impressive arrays. Of course, they might not all be in working order." He screwed up his eyes. "I don't see any evidence of a rig. Wonder what they do for water?"
Kat said, "What should we do?"
"Break out the rifles, Pierre. Ed, take us fonvard slowly."
I slipped from the cab and hurried into the lounge. I unlocked the chest where we kept the rifles and hauled out four, one each. I carried them back to the cab and doled them out as the truck crawled fonvard.
The occupants of the other vehicle were doing the same, advancing carefully across the desert towards us. We slowed even further, and so did the other truck. We must have resembled two circumspect crabs, unsure whether to mate or fight.
"It's a hovercraft," Kat said. Despite her years, she had sharp eyes. Only now, with the vehicle perhaps half a kay from us, did I make out the bulbous skirts below the layered solar arrays. As Danny had said, it was big; perhaps half the size again of our truck.
"Okay," Danny told Edvard. "Bring us to a stop now."
The truck halted with a hiss of brakes. Edvard kept the engine ticking over.
The hovercraft stopped too, mirroring our caution.
My heart was thudding. I was sweating even more than usual. I gripped the rifle to my chest. Minutes passed. Nothing moved out there. I imagined the hovercraft's occupants, wondering like us whether we constituted a threat or an opportunity.
"What now?" I asked Danny. I realized I was whispering.
"We sit tight. Let them make the first move."
This was the first time I'd seen a working vehicle, other than our own, in more than three years, physical proof that other people beside us were out there.
"What's that?" Kat said.
Something was moving on the flank of the vehicle. As we watched, a big hatch hinged open and people came out. I counted five individuals, tiny at this distance. They paused in the shadow of the craft, staring across at us.
Minutes passed. They made no move to approach.
Edvard said, "Looks like they're armed." He paused. "What do we do?"
Danny licked his lips. "They made the first move. Maybe we should match it."
"I'll go out," I said.
"Not alone." This was Kat, a hand on my arm.
Danny nodded. "I'll come with you." To Edvard and Kat he said, "Keep us covered. If they do anything, fire first and ask questions later, okay?"
Kat nodded and slipped the barrel of her rifle through the custom-made slits in the frame of the windscreen. Edvard crouched next to her.
Danny and I left the cab and hurried through the lounge, grabbing sun hats on the way. Danny cracked the door and we stepped out into the blistering heat. I stopped dead in my tracks, drawing in a deep breath of superheated air, thankful for the shade afforded by my hat. This was the first time in months that I'd ventured from the truck in the full heat of day, and I felt suddenly dizzy.
I expected the ground to be like the desert, deep sand making each step an effort. Instead it was hard, baked dry. We paused by the truck, staring across at the five figures standing abreast.
"Okay..." Danny said.
We left the truck at a stroll, our rifles slung barrels down in the crooks of our arms. Ahead, there was movement in the group. One of the figures ducked back into the hatch and emerged with something. At first I assumed it was some kind of weapon; evidently so did Danny. He reached out a hand, staying my progress.
As we watched, four of the figures erected a frame over the fifth. It was some kind of sun-shade. Only when it was fully erected, and the central figure suitably shaded, did the entourage move fonvard.
"Christ," I said. We were a hundred metres from the group now, and I saw that the central figure was a woman.
She was tall,