The Caverns of Mare Cetus

The Caverns of Mare Cetus

Jim Erjavec

PublishAmerica
Baltimore

© 2007 by Jim Erjavec.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

First printing

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

softcover 1-4241-8026-0
hardcover 978-1-4489-0622-2
Ebook 978-1-4626-1551-3
PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHAMERICA, LLLP
www.publishamerica.com
Baltimore

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife Nina…

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Sherri Lewis, Dave Russell, Rich Abitz, Thea Layne, and Michael Metzger for their willingness to read early versions of the novel, and more so, for their willingness to objectively discuss what they saw. Much gratitude goes to my daughter, Kelly Kemper and her husband Paul, for their insightful comments on the storyline, writing style, and grammar during all stages of the project. Thanks to my sons, Tyler and Jared, for providing inspiration in even the smallest of ways. Finally, much love and thanks goes to my wife, Nina, for providing encouragement and putting up with the many days and nights when I was on Mare Cetus and not at home.

Chapter One

Tau Ceti

Distance from Earth: 11.9 light years
Spectral class: G8 Vp
Luminosity: 0.45
Absolute magnitude: 5.7
Solar system: 13 planets, 144 satellites

Mare Cetus—3 planet orbiting Tau Ceti. Laramax Cave Complex.
Explora Corporation's MC-100J Expedition. Earth year 2164.

   Horrific screams instantly obliterated the stillness of the murky, bleak cavern, puncturing the dense air like shards of glass flying through skin. As Jennifer Astoni heard them, her gravity meter froze in her hand. The ghastly cries seemed to have funneled down her throat and surged into her stomach, bloating her with a paralyzing fear.

   Then, at once the screams trailed into nothingness, seemingly inhaled by the stillness. Jennifer stood like a statue, and with only her diligent blue eyes, she searched the gray limestone walls that surrounded her, her shoulder lamps illuminating them with what now appeared to be a malevolent glow.

   "What in God's name…" gasped Jennifer just as Jonathon Powell placed his large gloved hand on her shoulder. Startled by his touch, she dropped the gravity meter from her hand. She glared at Jon, then glanced at Lee Ononi and Aggie Livingston, who were about five steps behind him.

   "Sid!" cried Aggie into the communication's device attached to the collar of her dust-covered jacket. "Sid! What happened?"

   Lee also began calling into his com. "Sid! Saroja! Anyone! Respond!"

   As Jennifer's initial shock left her, a horrible thought occurred. "The shaft! Oh, no! We've got to get to the shaft."

   Jennifer scrambled into a twisting, claustrophobic passage, the others right behind her. As they contorted their bodies through tight openings in the rocks and scraped themselves against cold, barren limestone, their voices rang out with a fear that heightened in a frantic crescendo.

   The passage opened up, and as Jennifer got to her feet, her head hit a stalactite above her, sending her hardhat spiraling to the floor. "Commander!" she shouted into her com after shaking off her stun. "Danielle! Saroja! Zeke! Respond please!" She started forward again, leaving her hardhat in her haste. After a short distance, the passage opened even wider.

   "It's these caves!" cried Jon who was right behind her now. "They're cursed!"

   "That's a bunch of crap!" snapped Jennifer. "Get a grip. We have to keep our heads level. Keep level to keep right."

   "Don't hand me that," said Jon. "Nothing's right down here because of what Parrolli did four years ago on the Severon Mission. You damn well know that. With the way he killed that woman—he opened up a Pandora's box."

   "Screw Severon and that sick bastard Parrolli. What happened in a cave on another continent has nothing to do with us."

   "And what happened between you and that VP has nothing to do with Hunter Larson not being on this mission either, does it?"

   "Screw Larson, too. I told you—I don't want to hear that crap anymore." She picked up her pace, putting some distance between her and Jon. Then she slowed down and took her Vimap computer out of her jacket pocket. She looked at the screen. The shaft was only meters away now—she knew that, but the screen flashed its distance as over a kilometer away. What was wrong with her computer? Jennifer looked up; tremendous pain racked her forehead. She collapsed to the ground, darkness immediately covering her.

   When she came to, Lee and Jon were carrying her through the passage by her arms and legs. They set her down on her back, and Aggie dropped Jennifer's backpack beside her. Seconds later, Aggie shrieked, frighteningly, agonizingly. There were groans of dismay from the men. Jennifer's coherence returned. She sat up and felt a gash on her forehead, blood trailing down the side of her face and clinging to her long sandy brown hair. Idiot! She had run into another stalactite. Lee pressed a cloth against her head and Jennifer took it from him. She crawled toward the brink of the shaft.

   "This can't be," sobbed Aggie as she gazed into the pit. "This is awful." She scurried away from the edge, then bent over and began retching.

   Jennifer timidly stared into the enormous vertical gouge in the planet, her lights reflecting off the crumpled, lifeless bodies of Sid and the other members of the party, which were on a wide rock ledge a good distance below her. "Oh, shit." She groaned.

   "It killed them!" cried Jon, coming up behind Jennifer. "It's Hell incarnate. You can't deny it now." His deep blue eyes were blazing with rage and fear. "And now it's coming for us." He began glancing around, anxiously.

   As Jennifer sat up and held the bloodstained cloth against her throbbing head, she glowered at Jon. "Shut up already. We have to handle this. It's a horrible accident. But it's only an accident."

   "What kind of accident, Jenny?" asked Lee who was standing over Aggie. "Sid seemed obsessed by this shaft. Could they have tried to descend it?"

   Aggie used her sleeve to wipe off her chin. The contours of her dark-skinned face were contorted with agony, her eyes glazed with tears. "Why?"

   "Jenny!" called Jon. "Look what I found."

   The others looked toward him.

   Jon was crouching by a jumbled pile of equipment and backpacks near a passage wall. "Looks like they were in a rush to get somewhere. Their rappelling gear is here too, so maybe they took to the air…you think?" He turned toward the equipment and picked up a medical kit, opening it.

   Jennifer scowled at Jon, then leaned forward and began scrutinizing the rock face above the ledge.

   Lee stepped up to the edge of the precipice and looked into the shaft. "Damn. This whole thing is creepy."

   "There aren't any GCs secured to the rocks," said Jennifer. "If they weren't rappelling when they fell, then what were they doing—freeclimbing?

   "I don't have a clue," said Lee as he continued to gaze into the pit.

   Aggie was sitting cross-legged beside her backpack, checking the readouts on the screen of the Vimap computer in her hand. "Jenny, look at this."

   Jennifer stood up, stepped behind her, and gazed down at the screen.

   "Their coms are turned off," said Aggie. "Their homing identifiers too."

   "Don't you see it now?" cried Jon, storming up to them and pushing on Jennifer with his hands. "It's these caves!"

   "Watch it!" cried Jennifer as her left foot came precariously close to the edge of the shaft. "You almost knocked me in the shaft."

   "You watch it!" Jon tore off his backpack and heaved it into the pit. Then he did the same with his hardhat. "You watch us die, just like that."

   "Jesus!" cried Jennifer. "Have you lost your mind?"

   "Calm down, Jon." Lee stepped up to him. "Take it easy."

   Jon suddenly slugged Lee in the face. Then he hit him again in the chest, and Lee staggered back, stunned, blood streaming down the side of his jaw. As Jon pressed into Lee with more blows, more hits, Jennifer bounded forward like a jackrabbit, grabbing Jon's shoulders and jumping up on his back. She wrapped her arms around his muscular neck and her legs around his waist. "Stop it! Stop! That's a command order!"

   "You have no command!" shouted Jon. He hit Lee once more, sending him careening into the ground, Lee's backpack contents spilling out.

   Aggie looked terrified. She began to get up, but Jon let his leg fly, his boot striking her forehead. She slumped to the ground and groaned.

   "You and Sid got us in this mess. I ought to throw you down there with him." Jon stepped back as close as he could to the edge of the precipice, then began trying to work Jennifer's arms off his neck.

   As she glanced down at the vast void below her, she was taken by an uncontrolled fright. "No! No! Get me away from the edge!"

   He wrenched her right arm from his neck and held it by the wrist. He stretched out her arm. "You should pay. You've doomed us all."

   "No!" She squeezed her legs even tighter. "I didn't cause this."

   "I warned you. You should have listened to me."

   "Okay! I'm listening! I'm listening now."

   "Too late," he said, his voice becoming hollow. "The caves. They're asking for you now. They want you."

   "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense…"

   His voice strengthened. "You don't understand. You're not in control here." He snatched her other arm off his neck.

   She shrieked, then began wrestling against his iron grip, but as his body teetered toward the pit, then away, she stopped fighting against him. "You're going to fall in. You're going to kill us both."

   "Are you afraid?"

   "Jon. Please. Don't. Don't do this to me…"

   "Listen," he said. "Quiet now. They're talking to us again."

   "Listen to what? There's no one talking. It's all in your head."

   His voice rose. "Can't you see? We have to close the door Severon opened. I need your help." He squeezed her wrists.

   "Stop! Ow!"

   "Let's close the door. Now."

   "Let go of me. You're hurting me. Let me go!"

   Jon relaxed his grip. A demonic smile formed on his lips. "Like this, Commander Jenny?" He put a foot back on the edge of the precipice and began gyrating his hips, trying to free himself of her legs.

   She squeezed her legs around him as hard as she could. "No! Don't do this. You said you needed my help. If you kill me, then I won't be able to help you. Put me down. I'll help you. I know I can help you."

   He looked in her eyes. "You promise you won't run?"

   "I promise," she said, nodding.

   "Okay then." He lumbered away from the edge, then let go of her hands. She dropped to her feet and tried to run, but he grabbed her by an arm and whirled her around. "Such a short promise."

   As she struggled against him, he hit her in the lower back with his fist. Her knees buckled, and he grabbed her other arm, pulling it behind her. He bound her hands together with a piece of rope, ripped her com from her collar, then raised her to her feet and threw her down on her back.

   A nauseating
snap
echoed through the passage. Horrendous pain soared through her right arm and shoulder as she wailed at the top of her lungs.

   "This is sacred ground," he said when her screams had faded to anguished sobs. "And you've desecrated it. And to think I once loved you." He sat down beside her and pressed a hand on her right shoulder.

   She began squirming hysterically; it was as if a knife had been plunged into her bones. "Get off! Get off! It hurts! It hurts so bad!"

   He pulled his hand away. "You aren't taking this well. We need to close the door and end your pain—and mine."

   "Why are you doing this to me?" she choked. "My arm—you broke it! Can't you see what you've done?"

   "I see things you will never see. It is my destiny to save this planet." He patted her thigh. "Commander Jenny thought she was in control here, but she's not. There is no control here. We can't risk taking that back with us. It will spread like a disease. Novian society will crumble."

   "Jon. Listen to what you're saying…"

   "But we can stop it, end the horror like Severon began." He traced a finger along the bridge of her nose. "But only with your sacrifice."

   "Sacrifice!" she cried as new life surged into her body. She began squirming and kicking. "No! No! You're crazy! You'll never get away with this!"

   "You aren't going anywhere," he said as he got on his knees and pinned her shoulders against the ground.

   Unbearable pain radiated through her body; her eyes took on an oblivious stare.

   He pulled his hands away from her, then slipped his right hand in his jacket pocket. When he brought his hand out, he was holding a gray three-pronged oval device—a laser scalpel!

   As he slowly ran the cold tip of the longest prong along her upper lip, from one corner of her mouth to the other, her eyes bulged, her throat tightened, the color drained from her sweat-drenched face.

   He activated the scalpel, then held her torso down with one hand. He began trailing the tip of the prong along the outer side of her left thigh, toward her knee.

   "No! No…" Her words disintegrated. Though there was no pain, she could feel the laser slicing through her pants and the horrible sensation of her skin being severed, blood flooding out and flowing down her leg. As her nostrils were violated by the pungent fumes of her own burnt flesh, she began gagging, her chest heaving in response.

   He looked down at her, his eyes sympathetic. "I suppose it wouldn't comfort you any to hear my mother always wanted me to be a doctor." A smile slipped into his lips, but it immediately faded. "I guess it wouldn't now, would it?" He sighed. "I'm sorry. I just don't know what came over me."

   Her gags coalesced into a guttural sob as a stinging burn now danced along every inch of her wound, growing in intensity—she felt as if he had cut her to the bone from her hip to her knee. As she looked at Jon's face, to her utter amazement she saw Aggie standing behind him, her expression indecisive and full of fear, Lee's entrenching tool wavering in her hands. Jennifer gasped. "Please, Jon. Please don't hurt me anymore."

   He stared at her incredulously. "Me, hurt you? My love, you're the one responsible for your pain. But I can end your pain." He leaned forward and placed the tip of the scalpel on her forehead. "In a second your mind will be open. Then you'll understand."

   She spit in his face with every ounce of saliva she could muster.

   "Why, you…" He sat up straight.

   "You madman!" cried Aggie as she swung the E-tool. She landed a blow on Jon's head, causing a long gash that began pouring out blood. She grimaced in revulsion, then shock flew to her face. Jon hadn't budged! She timidly peered at him. His eyes were blank, his arms at his sides, the scalpel still clutched in his hand. She leaned forward…

   His right hand came up, grabbing for her jacket. She gasped and pulled away; Jennifer screamed. Aggie reared back and slammed the E-tool down on top of his head, blood exploding out of it like it had burst.