Second Chances (52 page)

Sergeant Phyllis Yeager was an army ground pounder. She'd been happy when the chief and gunny had shown up but hadn't been thrilled when they'd taken over the security side from Brian. She'd been pretty cool and quiet to them for a while, usually avoiding their company with work. Hopefully working together would work out any rough edges they had.

Arby O'Gill was his slim computer nerd. The kid was good with computers; he was absorbing Mitch's windup toys like a sponge. He would oversee the robotic probes they were carrying. He was festooned with a padded tablet to allow him to view things from the bot's viewpoint.

Akira and Tina were solid. Akira the Korean enlisted soldier was more at home in the machine shop or hangar than this, but at least he had combat training and experience. He'd held up like a trooper on the march despite losing his wife.

Tina was just good troop. She was also a damn good medic. He hoped they wouldn't need her services but knew better than to try to tell her she was staying home. She locked and loaded her Mp-5 and then attached it to her harness, moving with professional grace.

Gina frowned, nervous but excited like Vance. The chief wasn't thrilled about having the teens along, but hopefully it wouldn't be a problem. They needed the experience, and he may need the backup. At the very least, they could play pack mule he thought in amusement. The one person with experience he'd counted on going was bowing out. He shut down the hologram and turned to Althoga.

“I'd go with you, I've done rock climbing but well...” the physics student shivered. “I'm not all that thrilled about caves.”

“Bad?” the chief asked, now concerned as the others geared up. He'd planned on her coming along, he knew from their history that she could climb. He'd seen her free climb a rock face twice.

“Not here,” she said, indicating the high ceiling. “But I'm a little squirrely in the lower levels or tight corridors so I don't go there,” she said, shaking her head. He frowned thoughtfully. “I was fine as a kid, but I had a bad experience in a cave as a kid. We were trapped for days.” She frowned, looking away. Gunny Hodges slowed what he was doing to look at her. The German student was a good woman; she'd never shirked a duty. “I'm sorry,” she said.

“I can handle it,” the chief said gruffly. “I've done enough rappelling as a SEAL. This is recon, just a quick look around.”

“I did plenty in the corps,” Gunny Hodges said, taking a harness and clipping carabineers to it. “We ready?” he asked, hefting a coil of climbing rope. Mitch had some good toys he had to admit. He checked the others carefully. All were set up in the harnesses and had plenty of gear including canteens, lights, and weapons. Good, he thought. Hopefully they wouldn't need the weapons. He nodded to Althoga. “We'll be back by supper,” he said, nodding as he trotted off. The others followed. Althoga bit her lip then walked off, feeling guilty but unsure what to do about it.

------*------

Mitch was put out when word got back that the security crew had gone into the lower caverns without giving him a heads-up. He ordered a heads-up to Doc. “Why let her know?” Althoga asked, feeling a bit like a tattle tale.

“Because I want her to know she may have injured incoming if things go south,” Mitch said firmly. “It pays to cover all bases.”

“Should you be going too then?” Althoga Raynes asked. The physics student had been working with Piotr to get a handle on their understanding of their new home planet and star system. She'd been after him to set up some simple tests, but he didn't want to divert some of the equipment she wanted to “borrow” from other more critical projects. She'd dropped by his office to apologize for not going with the chief.

“No choice. I know those caverns better than they do,” he said grimly. He turned to his personal locker and started pulling equipment out. He grabbed some gear, a set of lights, a robot probe, and then went in after them. “Computer, put a GP and Mini-Me on security by the airlock,” Mitch said when he got to the airlock and found Travis hadn't left a rear guard. “When was the last time the team reported in?”

“Security Chief Roberts just departed.”

Mitch frowned thoughtfully. They had a copy of his map. He'd sent robots in to probe the base and map it when he'd first set up the base. He'd deliberately cut the lower caverns off since he had known he would be overextending himself and possibly endangering himself if he'd tried to go in too deep. Chief Roberts had a good point about the water draining out and, therefore, the shark hounds or other animals could get in, but did he have to play hero now? Mitch thought sourly as he put his light on.

He had low level LED lights on his helmet. He checked the chin strap then patted the helmet. He double checked his night vision goggles, then marked the start with a glow in the dark marker.

“Radio check. Roberts, you read?” he asked, touching the transmit button on his throat. He frowned when he didn't get a response. “Computer, alert Brian and security. I'm going in,” he said, moving out.

------*------

Chuck Atom shook his head in disgust. He had wanted to get out, to do some caving ever since he'd heard they were coming to a base built into a cave system. He'd been a bit disappointed to see most of it had been turned into a warren of corridors and compartments. It felt like rape to do that to nature's splendor. He looked over to the chief and gunny. He was the real reason they were down here; he'd nagged them for months to get into the cave. They'd finally agreed when insects started to come up from below. He didn't care about that; he just wanted to look about.

He'd known Chief Roberts for a couple of years, ever since Roberts and Hodges had taken command of their village. He'd thought they were committing everyone to suicide by that march after the Leviathan had stomped their village flat, but he'd gone along with the majority. After all, they'd lived that long by working together.

Now though...it felt like he was living in someone else's house. That bothered him. When spring hit he was planning on going to the mountains to set up that village. Hopefully, in a cave system so they wouldn't have to worry about any damn big predators, he mused.

“It looks like the caverns below us are filled with water,” Hodges said, looking into a hole. “I think it's stagnant water too; it's not moving,” he said.

“But it's water? Not water ice?” Chuck asked.

“Looks that way. At least some of it. I'm wondering about the heat. Isn't heat supposed to travel up? So...why are the animals in here...wait, we haven't seen any have we?”

“They could be hibernating. Only a few in the walls above could be active.”

“I don't know. We came here to find out,” the gunny said.

“We'll keep looking,” Chuck said soothingly. “Me, I'm going to enjoy the scenery,” he said with a grin.

“Whatever floats your boat I suppose,” the gunny grunted.

------*------

Mitch saw a few puddles but not much sign of animals. He had to be careful around the stalagmites and flowstone. He also wasn't happy about moving under the straws. He had his helmet on, but he was very much aware that not only could a rock or straw break loose and ruin his day but also something with claws and teeth could drop down from above too.

Following their path took a little initial detective work. Fortunately by studying the freshly damaged stalagmites he got a bearing on their direction. From the look of it they were planning on exploring the lower caverns below the base, working in a spiral outward from the airlock. Without sunlight the caves were inky black, so they had brought in work lights to help light the area and keep them from tripping over their own feet. Mitch first saw the lights behind a series of columns and then called them over the radio. He didn't want them shooting blindly at him after all. He saw one of the team turn and wave to him so came forward.

“Decided to come take a look?” Gina asked, grinning from ear to ear. “Just couldn't stay away? What is Sandra going to say?”

“You guys could have let me know. Not telling people what you are doing and where you are going is stupid,” Mitch fumed, glaring at the military crew.

“We're big boys; we can handle it,” the gunny said.

“It's still stupid,” Mitch growled. “See anything?”

“Some stalactites, Stalagmites, a few creepy crawlies, some moss, not much of anything. We're still trying to work our way around to below the great hall,” Akira said. He nodded to Arby who was intent on his monitor. “Arby's got the probes out. Your bots mapped a lot but they missed some areas.”

“They also didn't get into areas that were too small. And if the terrain was impassible, they either found an alternate route or logged it,” Arby said absently, still looking at the tablet. Mitch went over and checked over the young man's shoulder. He was looking at a four way split screen, apparently monitoring the feed from four robots. He nodded. The kid could certainly multitask.

“You didn't mark your path,” Mitch said, holding up a marker. He ripped the velcro on his breast pocket and pulled out another marker as he tossed the first to the gunny.

“Graffiti?” Akira asked over his shoulder.

“No, a trail of bread crumbs,” Mitch said. He went over to a reddish colored flowstone and drew an arrow on it. It flared a white color in the lights. “Phosphorescent paint. It'll glow in the lights, and it'll take time to fade. Mark your path.” He took another marker out and handed it to Akira, then a fourth was passed to Phyllis. He tossed another to Chuck who caught it with a grunt.

“But we've got the lights,” Gina protested.

“Still a good idea,” the gunny said, nodding. “Thanks,” he said, holding the marker up then pocketing it.

“Next time clue me in. I have other gear too,” Mitch said.

“Still on that?”

“A bit.”

“We needed to show you we can handle it. We don't need you underfoot holding our hands,” Phyllis said defensively. Mitch looked over to her and stared at her. She stared right back. After a long moment, he looked away looking at the others. The chief and Vance were out on the perimeter arguing over where to go next. Gunny Hodges, Akira and Phyllis were on perimeter, each with their backs to the group and focused on their zone.

Gina, Chuck, Tina, and Arby were in the center of the group, each being protected. He nodded in grudging approval. Arby was totally absorbed by the tablet; he had little if any situation awareness. Everyone had the minimum equipment: hard hats, good clothing, pads on their knees and elbows, a pick ax, and harness. They all had radios and lights too. They had canteens, but no one had thought to bring food. They'd considered this a short trip. He frowned thoughtfully and then grimaced. He'd done the same thing. Well, hopefully it would be he thought.

“These things give me the creeps,” Gina said, reaching over her head to knock down straws. She cringed as they fell, then moved about, using her ax to knock others down. A couple she had to go on her toes to get or jump.

“Leave em,” Hodges said. He looked over to the chief. “Figure out where you want to go next?” he asked, pitching his voice to them. The chief turned and came over to them.

“No. Oh, hey Mitch,” the chief said, waving a hand. “Decided to join us?” he asked.

“Something like that,” Mitch said wryly as the chief went over to Arby and looked over his shoulder.

“Well Brainiac?”

“I've...just a minute,” Arby muttered. After a moment he pulled out a cable and plugged his tablet in. Then he took out the holographic projector and plugged it in.

“That thing is so cool,” Gina murmured.

“A toy,” the gunny grunted.

“Volumetric display device. Useful to see things in 3D,” Mitch said, nodding as the map came up, then was updated.

“Okay, blue is where we've been, yellow is unknown but mapped, the red which you can probably not see well is where the bots think the corridors keep going,” Arby explained.

“So...”

“KISS. I suggest not taking any of the tight quarters,” Gunny said, looking over his shoulder briefly to the map. “We don't want to get into any tight places and have things come out after us.”

“Agreed. I'd rather not get trapped or lost that way,” the chief said. “What are you going to do?” he asked, turning to Mitch.

“I'm going to play rear guard. This is your show as Phyllis said. But someone needs to watch your back and call for help if you get in trouble,” Mitch said.

Gina opened her mouth but the chief just waved a hand and then studied Mitch. Finally he nodded slowly. “Fair enough,” he said.

------*------

“You know, it's nice that you worry about us, but we're all adults. Or well, most of us are,” Vance said to Mitch.

“Not exactly why I came,” Mitch said, trying to understand just why he had rushed headlong after them. Something was there, nagging at his sub consciousness. He didn't know what it meant, but he knew he had to be here. They'd been at it for three hours and nothing, but the hairs on the back of his neck were still up. Something was bothering him, putting him on edge.

He'd planned to stay in the base camp and keep a daisy chain radio signal back to base but the gunny and chief had decided to keep everyone together and moving. He could see the wisdom; it probably was stupid to be on your own inside the cavern. But he still didn't like it.