“What do you look at pictures of?”
Talia flashed her lopsided smile.Callie shoved her.“Wait until the tent looks like the picture.”
Tundra swamps stretched out as far as Callie could see.“This is very different from when I was out here in the winter,” she muttered.Her boots sank deep into the mud.She lifted her knees to her elbows.Foul-smelling roots and slimy plants clung to her feet.“Did Sparx say anything about snowshoes for swamps?Swampshoes, maybe?”
Talia shook her head.She didn’t complain, but her posture betrayed her disgust.She marched on ahead.
Callie followed, feet squelching with every step.“How are you not sinking?”
“I am.I’m just moving quickly enough that I don’t sink as far,” Talia called from several metres ahead.
Callie grumbled and picked up the pace.
The sun began to set and the insects descended like a dark cloud.Even Talia’s stoicism broke.They ran, mosquitoes quickly filling up the viewports of their masks and a string of curse words trailing behind them.
“Oh my god, I’m sweating so much,” Callie heaved.
“Keep your suit on!”Talia yelled.“Sparx said these things suck blood.”
“What!”Callie shrieked.“How do people live up here?”
“Maybe it was better before the climate catastrophes?”Talia suggested.“How far are we from the river?”
Callie pulled out her sat receiver.“It’s not going to be that accurate because we’re using the geostationary system,” she warned.
“Just give me an estimate,” Talia sighed, exhausted.
Callie fiddled with the screen for a few moments.“Uh, another day, I think?”
Talia’s shoulders slumped.“Fine.”Callie put the receiver away and looked at Talia, hoping she had an answer.“I saw a bigger rock over that way.Let’s set up the tent.”
An hour later, the tent still did not look like the picture.
“At least there’s still light?”Callie attempted to break the tension.
Talia sat hunched over on the ground, attempting to pound a stake into the rock.Callie swatted at the mosquitoes landing on her back.
“Fuck it.”Talia swore, storming off.Callie panicked for a moment, thinking that Talia was abandoning her out here, but she returned carrying a large stone.
“You’re good at knots, right?Tie the rope to the stone.I’ll go get more.”Callie felt a spark of hope.If Talia was still dropping innuendo, she couldn’t bethatangry, could she?She busied herself tying the rope.Talia returned with another large stone.
Callie wasn’t sure how someone with her wiry frame could lift it without a strength amplifier patch, but the feat caused her no small amount of issues concentrating.She snuck another glance as Talia walked away to find another.
Another hour passed and the tent stood adequately enough.“Does it look like the picture?”Talia sat on the rock, thin legs akimbo.
“Yes,” Callie lied.
They crawled inside, lugging the survival gear with them.Talia demagged her mask and the mosquitoes that had followed them inside immediately attacked her.She waved her hands in a futile effort to kill them.Callie blasted her in the face with a spray of insecticide.
“Ohmygodimsorry” Callie sputtered, hurling the can across the tent like it was glowing hot.Talia squinted her eyes shut and wiped furiously at her tongue.“What the fuck, Cal?”
Talia had spent decades being enraged.Anger had fuelled her every thought.Her every action, but she had never lost control.Today that might change.
Talia tried to look around, but her eyelids felt like someone had stapled them together.Only a sliver of bloodshot pink remained visible.Callie grabbed the bottle from her hip and sloshed Talia’s face.Talia sputtered and swatted her away, trying her level best not to say anything mean.Callie backed off and she tried to let her eyes adjust.Everything was tinged red and blurry.
Callie demagged her mask and stared up at her apologetically.Even blurred, it was the most pitiful thing Talia had ever seen.She moved to embrace her when a mosquito landed on Talia’s ear and Callie slapped it, knocking her head to the side.Talia shrieked and fell backward.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!Again!”
