The Caverns of Mare Cetus (34 page)

   She smiled meekly, realizing only Trent would care enough about her dignity to do something like that. Then she sighed deeply. "You know there's going to be an investigation. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"No one's going to get hurt."

   She hugged him tightly. "Nothing seems to make sense down here. It's hard to trust anything."

   He returned her embrace. "Even your friends?"

   "No, not my friends."

   "We have to work together, Rene. Make sense out of this nonsense. Trust me. It's the only way."

   
Rene?
She suddenly realized Trent had been calling her Rene through their entire confrontation. That bothered her. Despite their friendship, he had always persisted in calling her by her formal name.

   Edison put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Everything's settled now, right? Isis had a terrible accident, that's all there is to it."

   "I am so sorry," said Renata.

   Trent put his fingers to her lips. "Enough. Okay?"

   "Let's get back," said Edison. "We've left the women way too long."

   "I'll need a moment," said Trent. "With all that's happened, I need to relieve myself." He turned and began walking toward a secluded spot in the passage.

   Renata turned to Edison. "What you heard down here about Ramon—I don't want you repeating it to anyone."

   "Hey. You know me. I heard nothin'."

   They waited in silence for several moments, then when Trent started coming back, Edison spoke. "I know things suck, but you guys need to lighten up. What's with you two?"

   "I'm not sure," said Renata. "The conclusions are evasive." She stooped close to the ground and started into the narrow passage.

   During the crawl, Renata told Trent what had happened to Richelle and how Richelle thought she was infected by something. Trent didn't say much but seemed concerned. When they reached the women, Richelle was still sitting next to Isis, her back against the wall, a glazed look in her eyes. Arielle was standing over the Kalo, which was now powered up, the electra set on top of it.

   Upon seeing Trent, Arielle gave him a hug, then moved up to Renata and began whispering. "Boy, I'm glad you're back. Richelle's getting to me. She keeps telling me it's growing inside of her. I wanted to run some scans, but you had the Vimap. Then we had that quake— a pretty good one, wasn't it—she just about went berserk. After the quake, she kept telling me she was hearing something. Down that way." She pointed down the passage in the direction they had originally come from. "I didn't hear anything myself, but damn if I was going to check it out."

   Renata just shook her head in dismay.

   At once the ground began rumbling again.

   Richelle sat up straight, her eyes widening with fear.

   "Another quake," said Arielle. "Give me your Vimap." She took Renata's Vimap from her and began working with it.

   As a few small rocks dropped from the ceiling, Richelle stood up and ran to Renata, grabbing onto her and nearly pushing her into the wall.

   "Come on, Richelle," said Renata. "Let go of me. It'll be over in a minute." She tried pushing her away, but Richelle continued to press her arms around her. As Renata saw the fear in Richelle's eyes, she gave in and hugged her in return. After a moment, the tremors subsided.

   Immediately Richelle pushed Renata away from her. "What're you doing? Get your hands off me. What do you think I am?"

   Renata stepped back, astonishment coming to her eyes.

   "See what I mean," whispered Arielle. "She's as nutty as they come. Frankly, I feel sorry for that girl."

   Renata took off her hardhat and ran her fingers through her hair.

   Trent tapped Renata's shoulder, causing her to face him. "I need to show you something," he said. You're going to find this very interesting. Follow me." He started walking.

   "Let's stick together this time," said Edison. He took Richelle's arm and started dragging her with him.

   Arielle touched a button on the Kalo, and it began to power down. She grabbed the electra off the Kalo and put it in her pocket.

   Renata took a long glance at Isis. She was wrapped in a blanket now, her hands placed on her lap, her head propped up. It almost appeared as if she was sleeping.

   "Come on, Rene," said Trent, waving her forward. "With me."

   Renata hesitated for a moment, then started toward him.

   "The first thing you need to know, if you're not already aware of it," said Trent, "is either the Vimaps aren't functioning properly, or the Kalo maps are inaccurate. The measurements aren't checking out."

   The group hurried down the passage, and when they reached the first marked side-channel, the large hole that was two meters above the floor, Trent stopped. "See that brownish-orange block marked on the map." He pointed toward a large pear-shaped block laying in the center of the passage. "Look at the readout I get." He held up his Vimap, a round green laser of light flashing on the rock. 12.7 Meters read on the screen. "Now check the map."

   Renata took her Vimap back from Arielle. "23.5 meters. That's not even close."

   "There's no pattern to the errors," said Trent. "Some measurements are off like this, others are accurate to a thousandth of a centimeter."

   As Arielle stared at Renata's Vimap, she began nervously twisting strands of her hair around her fingers.

   "I've been running diags continuously," said Trent, "trying to figure out where the errors are, but all the diags check out. I've been scanning for any minerals that could affect the operations of the Vimap but have come up dry."

   "That's b-b-because the Vimaps are infected," said Richelle. "You're only seeing what they want you to see. Isn't that right, Renata?"

   "No lotonite?" asked Arielle, ignoring Richelle.

   "None," said Trent. He looked with puzzlement at Richelle, then Renata. "This way. Follow me."

   As Trent continued to point out features in the passage and problems in the maps like he was an esteemed museum curator leading a party of visitors, Renata's eyes were glued to his actions, her ears tuned to his words. The entire setting beginning to seem surreal to her, she felt as if she was in a play that had been rehearsed countless times, and it was Trent who had determined the roles and the script. A powerful chill squirmed up her spine, spreading through her body like water being pumped into a pool. At every stop, each time he pointed out something new, her body trembled, her teeth chattered, the chill growing deeper, more pervasive. She couldn't fathom her reactions, but in his calmness, his thoroughness, he was disquieting to her, almost frightening.

   When Trent reached a large side-channel on their left, he stopped. "Not even on the map—this one. Strange, isn't it?"

   Renata looked at her Vimap.

   Arielle touched Renata's hand.

   Renata looked up.

   "You're trembling. What's wrong?"

   "It's just these maps," lied Renata. "They're giving me the willies."

   "Rene," said Arielle, her voice becoming light. "What's going on?"

   Trent put his hand on Renata's shoulder, and she flinched. "Seen enough?"

   She forced a smile but seemed to read beyond his charisma, seeing a malevolent, demonic presence whose eyes were boiling with deception. "Y-y-yes," she stuttered. "I've seen enough."

   Trent took her hand, and her trembling vanished, as if he had willed it so. He waved the others forward and began hiking. After a long distance, they reached two more side channels, the main passage terminating just a few meters beyond them. "These two aren't on the map either. I haven't had time to check them out for signs of Garrett. I went a long way in the passage we met in. From what I've seen, it's my hunch a side-channel from that passage links up with one of these. Your call, Rene."

   She glanced at the passages, then pointed to the one on the left, a wide channel with a low ceiling and walls that were dotted with clumps of the grayish-black metallic mineral. There were also coatings and streaks of the yellowish-white mineral scattered haphazardly along the walls. "What's this mineral?" she asked as she tried to breathe life back into her deflated self-esteem with anything she could think of. She pointed to a distinctly rounded metallic clump.

   Arielle put her face up to the wall and examined them. "There are actually three minerals here. One is definitely tetrahedrite, the other looks like pyrite, but I know it isn't, and the third is some kind of encrusting mineral. Doesn't look familiar to me." She took Renata's Vimap from her and brought up a mineralogical analysis program. Then she slowly waved the Vimap over the minerals, scanning their structure. After a moment, the results appeared on the screen.

GEAN ANALYSIS

Tetrahedrite (Cu,Fe) Sb S
12 4 13

Color: Grayish Black to Black
Hardness: 3.0-4.5
Crystal System: Isometric
Habit: Tetrahedral
Class: Sulfosalt
Specific Gravity: 4.6-5.1
Fracture: Uneven
Cleavage: None

Other Properties: Opaque, Brittle, Luster Metallic to Submetallic Origin: Low to Medium Temperature Hydrothermal

Deposit

Jamesonite Pb FeSb S
4 6 14

Color: Gray to Grayish Black
Hardness: 2.0-3.0
Crystal System: Monoclinic

Habit: Acicular Crystals, Fibrous (Feathery)

Appearance

Class: Sulfosalt
Specific Gravity: 5.63
Cleavage: Good—{001} Face

Other Properties: Opaque, Brittle, Luster Metallic

Origin: Low to Medium Temperature Hydrothermal

Deposit

Unknown Unknown

Color: Gray to Grayish Black
Hardness: 1.7-2.1
Crystal System: Isometric

Habit: Cubic, Octahedral Class: Unknown

Specific Gravity: 8.50-8.77

Cleavage: Perfect {001), Good {011}
Other Properties: Opaque, Brittle
Origin: Unknown

Unknown Unknown

Color: Yellow to Yellowish White
Hardness: 88.3-900
Crystal System: Monoclinic/Triclinic

Habit: Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/

Indeterminate

Class: Unknown Specific Gravity: 2.11-49.79371.222.77

Cleavage: Unknown/Known/Imperfect/Imperfect

{120} {011} {501}

Other Properties: Luster Brittleness 37.33335

                  Absolute 22.7 Refraction 99 Origin: Unknown Unrecognizable Oxide—

                  
Calibration in Progress…

   "Guess again," said Arielle as she examined the screen, Renata looking on. "I didn't notice the jamesonite, but I see it now." She touched a tiny growth of fibrous material next to one of the tetrahedral masses.

   "What's with the unknowns?" asked Renata.

   "No big deal," said Arielle. "The FLA only tries to match the crystals to known minerals using physical properties. It's not uncommon to get that kind of a result." Her eyes were drawn to the screen. "Damn. That last one—the yellow stuff. Now those results are really squirrelly. What's wrong with this machine?" She hit the side of the Vimap into her palm. "Come on. Function already." She held the Vimap up to the wall and pressed a button. A small claw extended from the back of the unit and latched onto one of the pyrite-like crystals, breaking it from the rocks and sucking it inside. "Let me run a quick chemical analysis."

   After a few moments, a preliminary analysis flashed up on the screen.

GEAN ANALYSIS

Composition

44.0% Sulfur
22.5% Iron
13.7% Tellurium
6.3% Hydrogen
4.2% Oxygen
4.4% Silver
2.1% Gold
2.0% Osmium

   "Odd," said Arielle after a moment, confusion reigning in her intelligent eyes. "I'm not sure those metals should even combine atomically, let alone have a crystalline structure. But even without this mineral, tetrahedrite and jamesonite are rare enough. I've never heard of those two being found in the caverns. They're generally found in low-temperature hydrothermal veins in association with other silver, lead, and copper minerals."

   Renata glanced at the screen and shrugged. "I was just a bit curious, that's all. Well, let's find Garrett."

   "Hold on," said Arielle. "Give me a sec to run this other mineral."

   After she had run the analysis on the yellowish-white mineral, she called up the results, but the screen looked as if it had lost its mind. Dismembered numbers and words were scrolling and bouncing all over it, some flashing, some rotating, their colors changing constantly. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" She hit the side of the Vimap with her palm a couple of times. "Come on already. Am I going to have to reset your stupid ass?"

   "I don't have a clue what the problem is," said Renata. "But we need to get going." She entered the passage, the others following. The passage almost immediately began turning and twisting, its elevation and grade changing often. Once they had hiked a ways into it, they began calling out to Garrett.

   "If only we had a KSM," said Trent, sounding frustrated as they came to a fork in the passage, "we'd at least be able to get a map of the local area."

   Renata pointed to the left again, and the group started in. She couldn't help but wonder. Was their entire trip destined for failure? Even their own technology was going against them. If it had been three years earlier, they would have been able to create limited maps with the Vimaps, but as exploration teams became more reliant on Kalo technologies, that feature, as well as a number of other basic functions, had given way to more process-intensive and hardware hogging-programs, such as the Mediprogs and the GEo-ANalyst or GEAN. The MAP had truly been taken out of the Vimap.

   She sighed. How she wanted Hunter now—wanted him so bad it ached. Despite his zealousness, she realized it was his intuition that made him a strong leader. But what she had and what she wanted were light years apart. What she had was a Trent she wasn't sure about. Why had he been so melodramatic about Isis? Was it just to shock her back to reality, or was there something more?

   At once her eyes were drawn toward the walls. A striking transformation had just occurred. The walls were now indented with pockmarks where acidic waters had dissolved some of the rock matrix. The framework had been loosened around scores of small, rectangular-shaped reddish sandstone blocks that were embedded in the brownish-gray limestone. As a result, the passage floor was littered with sandstone blocks.