The Caverns of Mare Cetus (43 page)

   As if someone had pressed the button to start an arcade game, the blades and tools began randomly punching out from the robotic, one after another in rapid succession, Richelle frantically blocking each and every blade before they could reach them. As Edison crouched beside them, he kept trying to take aim on the appendages, but he was bamboozled by the speed with which they moved out of and back into the slots. Then all at once the blades simultaneously stopped their forward motion and began slowly retracting.

   "Jesus Christ" cried Richelle, sweat pouring off her face in torrents. "Get your head out of your ass already. Shoot the slots. Will you?"

   Edison immediately fired. He blew a large hole into one of the slot areas, the base of its appendage shattering and falling to the ground. He aimed at another slot and let go with the gun at the same moment Arielle finally got her gun unjammed, shooting three rapid bursts into the robotic's frame. Renata and Richelle had their backs turned toward the robotic now, their bodies pressed against Trent, trying to protect him, their eyes glancing at the slots.

   "Take this, you bitch!" cried Arielle. She placed the barrel of the gun into a small jagged hole she had just blown through the cerametal plates. She pressed the trigger, and the entire robotic rattled for a few seconds as if it had been hit by an earthquake.

   As sparks began spraying out of the hole in its side, the Kalo's blades instantly fell silent, its lights powering off.

   Renata and Richelle scooted toward Trent's outstretched hand and grabbed onto the appendage and his arm.

   "Blow off this appendage!" shouted Renata. "Now!"

   Edison put the barrel of the gun against the appendage, as close to the robotic's frame as possible. As he fired, the appendage frayed and broke off, jarring Trent's arm, causing him to cry out in pain. Renata and Richelle grabbed onto Trent and the partial appendage and pulled him away from the machine.

   "So much for our Kalo mystery," said Renata as she and Edison began examining Trent's hand, trying to see the best way to get the knife out. "I just want to know why the hell it has those blades."

   Arielle was kneeling beside them, waiting with the blood-clotting agent; Richelle had her hands on Trent, consoling him.

   "I see it now," said Edison. "Hold onto him. Hold him tight." As Renata held onto Trent, Edison grabbed Trent's wrist with his left hand and began pulling the blade slightly up and out with his other, doing his best to keep the serrations from catching and causing more damage to his hand.

   As Trent let out with a series of pain-filled groans, Renata felt his muscles grow taut. Within seconds, Edison had the blade out, a gush of blood covering Trent's hand. Arielle sprayed the clotting agent on it, then wrapped a shirt around his hand.

   As Edison and Arielle worked on Trent's hand, Renata picked up her Iravano and slipped it into her inside pocket, then sprayed some of the clotting agent on the stab wound in her leg. When her bleeding had stopped, she ran through the Kalo's internal operating diagrams on her Vimap, but she didn't see any blades other than the interchangeable saws. As she studied the front of the partially blownout robotic, she suddenly realized. She had seen this type of Kalo before. The tools it had were used for landscaping on Novia—for trimming trees and shrubs and maintaining gardens and the like.

   She checked its service history, and not to her surprise, it had been used for landscaping right before being retrofitted for Mare exploration. She carefully ran through the service logs. There was only mention of adding the saw blades and other exploration specific features and tools. Nothing was logged about its landscaping tools being swapped out.

   She checked on Trent, whose hand had already been bandaged by Arielle, and told him what she had discovered, but he seemed to be in too much pain to care.

   "Trent's really lucky," said Arielle. "The blade only nicked his bones. It went between the lower bones of his middle and ring fingers." She held up her hand and pointed to the spot on her palm. "It's mostly soft tissue injury, but it has to hurt like hell. I've sprayed the area with a painkiller. Once it gets working, it's going to make his whole hand numb."

   Richelle, who was sitting next to Trent, looked right at Arielle. "I told you I didn't do that to Isis. Now cut me free." She held up her hands.

   "Sorry," said Arielle. "They stay on because of what you did to Rene and me…and Edison."

   Richelle frowned, then turned to Renata, as if expecting her to agree with her. Renata shook her head, Richelle glaring at her in return.

   As Trent rested, the others began quietly discussing why the Kalo had the blades, how it had attacked Isis, and why they didn't pick up the blade configuration on the diagnostic scans, which they clearly didn't. Renata was certain the Kalo had used its siphoning tubes, which were normally used for collecting water samples, to suck some of Isis' blood and tissue into the 2A slot. Why Trent's organic scans hadn't picked up traces of blood within the tubes and on the tools— she had no idea. With the mention of Trent's name, he began to stir. Then he abruptly sat up, as if he had woken from a bad dream. Renata looked over his hand, giving him words of sympathy, then a strong hug.

   "I hate to bring this up, but we need to contact Novia," she said as she helped him stand. "Not only is all our equipment crapping out, but they've stuck us—literally—with a landscaping robotic."

   He nodded. "You were right about Isis. I should have listened to you."

   "Water over the dam," she said. "What matters now is letting the company know everything that's happened, as ugly as that's going to be. Do you think we have any chance of punching out to Novia?"

   "We can give it a try," he said as he gingerly touched his bandaged hand. "But we'll need to locate one of the RTs that's down this way. The closer we get to the entrance the better. I'm feeling well enough to hike. Let's go."

   They quickly gathered their things and began hiking, Edison and Renata staying close to Trent, Edison gripping the Machine Cutter like it was part of his hand, Isis' pack still held in his other. After a couple hours, they had made it to the steep stair-step passage that led back into the Long Hall. After a short, strenuous climb, they arrived at the remnants of Hunter's last camp. Upon seeing some of Ramon's things, Arielle began sobbing, Edison coming to her side.

   "Do you think we can punch out to Novia from here?" asked Renata. She helped Trent remove his backpack, then handed him some food from one of the bags on the ground.

   He took out his Vimap and briefly looked at it. "Robotic Transport Four is nearby. I'll call it in."

   As Renata munched on some nuts, her eyes became fixed on the "step pyramid." She blinked several times. The rocks of the pyramid seemed somehow darker than they had before.
Was it just her
imagination, or was it perhaps the futility of their situation?
She continued staring at the pyramid as she ate, her eyes scanning it with the intensity of a hawk searching for a rabbit
. No. The rocks were
definitely darker now.
She looked at her symotes.
Were they working
correctly?
Suddenly her vision momentarily softened into a blur. She rubbed her eyes, then shook her head as if trying to get something out of her eyes.

   "Here comes RT4," said Trent, pointing at it. "I need to find some more units—maybe a couple of the Robotic Collectors or the BAT."

   Renata watched as the robotic carrier came toward them down the Long Hall. It didn't move as fast as the Kalos, but it could still move pretty quickly. It looked like a large silvery cerametal container on treads with eight flattened, segmented, bi-clawed appendages sticking out of its sides. It had two orange disk-shaped guidance modules on the front of it, which looked like eyes, and scores of wiry sensors and probes that extended from the front beneath the "eyes," giving it an insect-like appearance, hence the often used name—"Bug Box." The Bug Box rolled up to Trent and stopped, its rows of lights turning yellow.

   Renata refocused her attention on the pyramid of rocks.

   "This is encouraging," said Trent, cumbersomely holding the Vimap in his left hand as he worked with it. "There's a collector, SRC2, parked near the middle of the Long Hall."

   Renata's head turned toward him with a snap, her thoughts suddenly coming back to Isis.
What did Trent know about Isis he wasn't
telling her?

   "Of all things, I've just located Kalo Three," he said. "It's in the Great Lake. Appears stalled, but we can punch a signal through it."

   Renata took off her hardhat and set it on the ground. As she slipped off her backpack, she noticed Isis' pack on the ground a short distance away. She walked over to it, sat down beside it, and began to look through Isis' things. She pulled out a canteen, a small chisel, sampling bags, the Sticky, an IR scope, and some shirts and undergarments. She then took out three pairs of socks, which were rolled into balls. She began squeezing each of them in turn. The blue pair—they seemed damp. She squeezed them again.
Hadn't Trent
told her he had used Isis' socks to gag her before he shot her?
Renata squeezed the blue socks again. They were definitely wet—and sticky—like saliva. Her heart began racing in her chest. She abruptly set the socks down and reached into the pack, pulling out three small green satchels. She opened one of them and spilled the contents on the ground—perfume, makeup, feminine hygiene items, combs, and a mirror.

   She picked up the mirror and looked at her face. It still looked dirty. She grabbed one of Isis' shirts, poured some water on it, and began wiping the dirt off her nose and cheeks. Then she moved to her forehead and around her eyes. She finished with her chin and neck. She looked in the mirror again and smiled widely, examining her teeth, lips, and tongue.

   "Whatcha doin'?" asked Arielle.

   Startled, Renata set the mirror on the ground and looked up. "Just looking through some of Isis' things. It's so sad."

   Arielle had a cup of coffee in each hand. "Think your stomach can handle some coffee? It's not as good as Ramon's."

   Renata took the coffee, and Arielle sat down beside her.

   Renata set the coffee cup on the ground, then reached in the backpack and pulled out some 3D "Living" Pictures. She began leafing through them. "Her boyfriend, I'll bet." She showed the LP to Arielle. Isis was smiling and holding her arms around a handsome young man with dark brown hair and a kindhearted face. "I don't want to be the one to tell him what happened to his girl," said Renata as she watched the two embrace and kiss.

   Arielle looked at the picture briefly.

   As Renata looked through more pictures, seeing Isis' parents and perhaps her brothers and a sister, a deep sadness took hold of her.

   "Aren't you going to try my coffee?" asked Arielle.

   Renata gave her a halfhearted smile, then picked up the cup and sipped. "Not bad, honey." She flipped through more pictures, stopping when she found one of Isis and Richelle who appeared to be at a nightclub of some kind. Richelle's arm was around Isis' shoulders as they sat at a bar. Then at once Richelle leaned toward Isis and placed a quick kiss on her lips. Isis pulled away from Richelle, anger in her eyes. They exchanged what looked like heated words, then Isis broke into a laugh. They both let out with wide smiles and turned back toward the camera. "Whoa," whispered Renata. "If that isn't freaky." Renata wondered…why wasn't there audio with this clip? Isis had a boyfriend…Richelle and Isis couldn't be…could they? Besides, Richelle had a fit about Renata holding her after the marequake. No. They were obviously drunk. Things happen when you get drunk. Renata knew. She set down her coffee cup and the pictures, then peered into Isis' backpack.

   "Looking for something?" asked Arielle.

   "I'm not sure. Got a flashlight?"

   "Here. It's Ramon's." She handed Renata a thin white flashlight.

   Renata began searching the pack, shining the light toward the bottom. There were two pairs of pants at the bottom as well as a few other personal items. She reached in and grabbed the pants. "What's this?" She pulled the pants out and spread them out on the ground. "What are these stains?"

   "They look like blood to me," said Arielle.

   "What are they doing on these pants? She wasn't wearing these."

   Arielle shrugged.

   Renata looked in the pack again, seeing more stains at the bottom of the pack and a few on one of its sides. "I don't get it."

   "Get what?"

   Renata glanced at Trent. Then she began rifling through the other clothes she had taken out of the pack. She saw them now—blood stains on a shirt, a couple small stains on her bra, and even a few spots on her underwear. "I know Isis didn't go through her pack after she was shot. How did all this blood get in here?"

   "Trent probably got it in there. He was probably looking for first aid supplies or maybe something to use as a tourniquet."

   Renata opened one of the small satchels she had laid aside. In it were several bottles of pills and some first aid supplies. One of the bottles was for sedatives, but it was empty.

   "I've punched through to the Canopus signal booster," said Trent, looking over at Renata and Arielle. He stared at them for a moment. "Are you two looking for something in particular?"

   "Just looking through some of Isis' stuff," answered Renata. She gave Trent a really sad look. "Her pictures just make me want to cry. It's so sad, don't you think?" She stood up. "What about the link?"

   "Just about ready. Let me show you the connection."

   She stepped beside him.

   "We're going out through the Bug Box with a boost from SRC2 at the end of the Long Hall, then to Kalo Three in the Lake, then through the BAT, which I did find—it seems to be nonfunctional, but I can still punch through its signal booster—then to the SIP at the entrance to the cave and into the booster on our ship. Easy as one, two, three, if you know what you're doing."