Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones
***
He had been very fortunate last year when a research vessel landed only a few days hike away. He hadn’t known what they were going to do to him since most of the research teams avoided the survivors and the few that didn’t always contacted those far away from the Rift. But since they had items that he needed, he had to risk it. He’d taken as many trade goods as he could carry and went to meet them.
They had surprised him with their friendliness and generosity. They’d wanted everything he’d brought with him and he’d gotten almost everything he’d come for, the most important being a gauss rifle capable of killing someone in powered armor. The military officer with them had argued against them trading it to him, but the scientists were in charge and they very much wanted the blood samples from the demons Daemon had killed. He’d only gotten ten rounds of ammunition and they’d used up four making sure he knew how to shoot it.
He hadn’t told them he’d been a marine and was fully trained in how to use the rifle—the lieutenant would have tried to use the information to force Faust to just give them everything; he was already willing to shoot Faust and take the items. The scientists wouldn’t allow him to as long as they thought they were dealing with a civilian.
The instructional programs they’d given him covered all the topics he’d hoped for and more. He had tried to teach Angelica and Daemon everything they would need to know once they reached a civilized planet. Now they would be able to learn about the full history of the Federation and how society worked there. They would also learn what technological advances had been made in the last eighteen years. Faust had been so pleased with the outcome of the trade that he’d taken the time to explain to them one of the most dangerous effects the Rift had on people. He couldn’t explain how the Rift caused every living thing on the planet to become more aggressive, but it did. Strangers unused to these new feelings could find themselves fighting over the smallest things and the closer you were to the Rift, the stronger the affect. Some people were driven insane quickly by the constant agitation and became homicidal maniacs.
The lieutenant had listened intently to what Faust had to say. He realized as Faust went on that he was being affected which meant that the others must also be feeling the strain. Even before Faust was finished, the lieutenant gave the order to break camp immediately. They had left within the hour.