Timothy

A short story....

This is the start of a short story I am writing.... if anyone has any
comments, please, by all means, make them....

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As the near silent whisper rose from the frozen blue lips, the man's
last breath blew forth, his last words "Titan",
died as just as quickly he did. Audrey swore harshly, and rose, her
eyes searching the horizon for the airlift. She
shifted her feet and swore venomously, her companion stood by, merely
a few meters away, unfazed by her
anger.
Minutes later, the roaring gale of engines echoed throughout the
canyon of snow and ice. Audrey had messaged
for an evac unit an hour before, when they found Marlowe's shuttle in
the canyon; they had hoped they would
arrive in time. They didn't. The airlift rose above the wreckage and
slowly hovered to the ground. It was an
imposing site and a marvel of 23rd century technology, 15 meters
long, with a dark, sleek canopy, aero-dynamic
wings for upper atmospheric flight and huge thrusters for lift. A
pair of soldiers piled out of the craft, after them
came four medics, probably field or combat medics by the look of
their uniforms. As the medics rushed over to
Marlowe's now near frozen corpse, Larek just stared at Marlowe's
corpse, not even looking towards Audrey,
hoping for a miracle.
A voice called out behind him, "Sorry sir, there was nothing we
could do for him. He was, by the readings we
made, been out here for a couple of days, dehydrated and wounded,
with multiple impact wounds in his upper
torso. It was a miracle he made it as long as he did." The man
walked away, oblivious to who the dead man was,
Larek simply took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, breathing
deeply, he once again gazed out along the
horizon. Turning, he walked across the cliff to his own aero-lift,
which was a little battered and beaten, from the
steam wafting forth, icicles formed around the bottom of the open
door. He slipped in, the smoke plumes from his
nose rising into the air. He coughed once and threw the cigarette
away.
Audrey started up the small craft, as the engines roared to life,
Larek closed the door and they lifted off. The
medics were leaving at the same time, soon no one would know that
Eric Marlowe had died up here, or that he had
been the one person on the planet who knew why and where the Regent
was hiding. The falling snow drifted over
the landing site, soon it would be as though none had stood there.

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Copyright ©2002 T. F. Coles