The Caverns of Mare Cetus (9 page)

   "Embustero! Admit it already, will you? You followed me to the spring and took my clothes, didn't you?"

   "I don't know what spring you're talking about."

   "You set me up. You planned on taking advantage of me, didn't you?"

   "Renata, the last thing I remember is you coming on to me. Then it's all a blur. I'm telling you the God-honest truth."

   Her voice rose. "I came on to you? I'm to blame? Oh…no, no, no."

   "I didn't say you're to blame."

   "Liar. You're not going to pin this on me."

   "On you? Dios los cría y ellos se juntan, hacen no ellos?"

   "Dispénseme?"

   "Oíste decirme."

   "Tú echarte flores," she said. "No somos de la misma calaña. Eres un podredumbre."

   "Y tú eres una puta patética," he said.

   "How would you like Arielle to know you were kissing a pathetic whore?"

   "That wouldn't be healthy," he said, shaking his head. "I'm not sure what happened here, but it was a big mistake. Say, where did you learn Spanish?"

   "De una puta Español," she said.

   "I was wrong about ice caverns. Eres toda una mujer. Tienes una lengua mordaz, piernas hermosas, figura de la primera. Es malo que tienes malas pulgas."

   
She was quite a woman, had a sarcastic tongue, beautiful legs, a good
figure, but she had bad fleas?
She smiled at him spitefully. "Es malo que mediste mal te propias fuerzas."

   His expression seemed suddenly distant. He put his hand to his forehead. "Arielle me matará," he mumbled. "Tengo la culpa. I've never done anything like this before, I swear."

   She let out with a scornful laugh. "Suddenly you remember everything?"

   "Si. I mean, I don't know. I know it happened, but I don't…I am sorry, Renata. I am truly ashamed."

   "Hah!" she exclaimed.

   "I'm telling you. I thought you were Arielle. It was so real. I must have zoned out or something. I'm not kidding."

   "Shut up already, will you? Your lies are tasteless and flat."

   "I'm not lying. Look, we need to get back before someone comes out here. Can't we just keep this our little secret?"

   She sighed in disgust. Sadly, she realized in her impetuous actions she had risked killing her relationship with Arielle, one that stood strong before Ramon came on the scene. "I'll keep it our secret but on two conditions. Remember. El que la hace la paga."

   "And around and around it goes," he said.

   "First. Carry me back to camp. I don't think I could walk that far with the way my feet are."

   "Simple enough. And two, lay off you, right?"

   "No. Don't change that. That would be the first thing to tip Arielle off that something happened."

   He nodded. "You're right. You are so bright, Renata."

   "Two. Devon. Use the suave Ramon charm, and find out what makes her tick."

   His eyebrows rose. "What do you need to know about the Iob? And why me?"

   "Because something's not right down here," she mumbled, then raised her voice. "I don't know why I need to know more about Devon—but I do. Okay? Condition three. Don't question me. Just do it. And don't let Hunter know."

   Appearing puzzled, he nodded. "Whatever you say. Even if it makes absolutely no sense at all…"

   Renata held her finger to her lips. "Shush." She was immediately taken by a bitter chill that rang from the base of her spine and seemed to explode through her body. She shuddered. Her eyes began dancing back and forth, searching the cavern walls, looking down the passage. She felt
watched
again. Before it had been Ramon, but now he was here, right here. She turned her head quickly and gazed down the passage in the direction of the spring, but she saw nothing but the bleak, lifeless emptiness of the cave.

   Ramon picked up her socks and boots and put them in his pack. "Looking for something?" He paralleled her gaze.

   She slowly drew her eyes away from the passage. "Algo? No. Nada. Se está haciendo noche. Vámanos de aqui—ahora mismo."

   She put on her jacket, then he picked her up and started toward camp. After some bickering, they agreed on a story to tell the others. Then a tense silence enveloped them.

   When they arrived at camp, Trent, having been forewarned by a transmission from Ramon, was waiting to administer first aid. Ramon set Renata down on her thin orange sleeping mat, and the others watched as Trent began cleaning and tending to her cuts.

   Almost as soon as Arielle sat down beside Renata, she asked what had happened. That was not what Renata wanted. In brief sentences, Renata told Arielle what she had contrived with Ramon—he had taken her boots and socks—nothing more. Still, she kept watching Ramon, increasingly worried he wouldn't hold true to his word.

   He never got the chance.

   "Ray-mond, you creep!" exclaimed Arielle. "How could you do that to her? Did you want her to cut her feet?" She stood up, and like a cobra going in for the kill, she began lashing out at him. At once the others joined into the fracas.

   Ramon fought back, denying nearly everything and trying with little success to place suspicion on Garrett and Devon.

   Devon, who was slowly pacing back and forth a short distance in front of Renata, began repeatedly glancing at Renata and then Ramon. As IO, she should have asserted herself in this situation, but she remained silent, fueling Renata's suspicions.

   As Trent looked over Renata's lacerations again, then began placing thin healing overlays on them, she realized he was more so prodding her, in his own delicate way, for answers, which was beginning to make her nervous. When he had finished with her feet—and his inquisition, he gave her some terra inhalants for her pain.

   "Mala suerte, Señor Ramirez," whispered Renata as she watched Hunter and Arielle blasting Ramon. "Donde está su sonrisa ahora?"

   She smeared a dab of the terra paste inside each nostril and inhaled deeply. Within seconds a lightheaded rush swirled into her head, and she imagined she was soaring above Novia. She saw her home perched at the base of a long sloping mountain, the ground covered with a heavy snow, the branches of the trees swaying in the wind, snow peeling off them like dust. And her three younger brothers were standing outside the door, resolute, like granite, each in turn telling her how special she was to them, how she was the greatest sister alive, how much they loved her.

   Then, like a rug had been pulled out from beneath her feet, her euphoria vanished, her shame brutally returning. She tumbled back into the inky blackness of the caves. As she laid back on her mattress and pulled her green thermal blanket up to her chest, she groaned in disgust.
What had happened to the intelligent, proud Second in
Command? Where was her logic? It seemed to have completely failed her.
Something seemed wrong, with her—here.
She stared blankly, seeing only Devon's eyes intently watching her. Then Renata slipped into sleep, the inhalant having drained her of all emotion and energy.

Chapter Four

Explora Corporation's MC-101C Expedition

Hunter Larson: 44, Commander, Cavern Scientist, Pilot

Renata Stone: 37, 2nd in Command, Cavern Scientist/Systems Engineer,
Pilot

Trent Logan: 45, 3rd Command, Neo-Archaeologist, Robotics Expert
Ramon Ramirez: 41, Subsurface Engineer/Groundwater Specialist
Arielle Talarian: 35, Planetary Geologist
Edison March: 35, Subsurface Engineer

Garrett Jansen: 53, Security Specialist, Pilot, Ex-mercenary
Devon Snow: 24, Internal Observer

Isis Sandalo: 29, Biochemist, Subcontractor to Explora

Richelle Ivers: 32, Organic Sedimentologist, Subcontractor to Explora

(All ages in Earth Years)

   Hunter had grown weary of the group's admonishment of Ramon and raised his hands to quiet them. He gave Ramon a final, wellspoken warning and told everyone to pack in for the night.

   "Hunter," said Garrett. He was on one knee and was attentively gazing around the chamber and at the several passages leading out of it. "I'll take the first two-hour watch. You decide who's next."

   "Watch? For what?"

   "Just a precaution," he said in a soft, deliberate tone. "If what happened to Rene wasn't Ramon's doing, as he still insists…"

   "Ramon did it," snapped Hunter. "Even I don't believe him. I can't imagine how you could."

   Garrett continued his probing gazes into the passages.

   Hunter waited a moment for a reply. "If Ramon didn't do it, then tell me who did?"

   "If word leaked out about the velandrite," said Garrett, "we could have some company."

   "Like who?"

   "Bedras, Neurox Minerals, TC Mining and Discovery, the Adventurers—does it matter?"

   "Our mission has been covered too well for that. If any ships approach the entrance to the Complex, we'll be the first to know. The detect-sensors on our Jumpers are premium."

   "So they say. Believe what you want. You've been warned."

   "Damn it, Garrett," mumbled Hunter as he laid back on his headcushion. "You're paranoid." He pulled his green thermal blanket up to his shoulders, then glanced at Garrett once more. Then he set his watch for a two-hour alarm. Perhaps having someone on guard duty wasn't a bad idea. Despite his concerns about Garrett, though, within minutes he had fallen asleep.

   When his soft chiming alarm woke him, Hunter rolled on his side and peered over toward where he had last seen Garrett. He wasn't there. Hunter sat up and began searching the sleeping bodies. Arielle and Ramon were next to him, curled up together like two pieces of a puzzle. He saw Edison, Trent, Devon, Isis, Renata, but no Garrett and no Richelle.

   Hunter put on his hardhat, slipped on his boots, then stood up. He took out his Vimap and called up a display of the party's homing identifiers. Eight yellow dots appeared on the screen, all within the campsite. He counted them again just to be sure. He entered a command to locate Richelle and Garrett. The immediate response was an ominous flashing red message:
Unable to Locate Ivers and
Jansen.

   "How can that be?" he whispered. Even if the identifiers were destroyed or damaged, the Vimap should tell him that. He woke Trent and filled him in.

   "That doesn't make sense," said Trent groggily. He put on his boots, hardhat, and jacket, then yawned. "Let me see that." He took the Vimap, and they began slowly walking away from the camp. He input a series of search commands, but it continued to flash:
Unable
to Locate Ivers and Jansen.

   A nasty bile rose in Hunter's throat. He swallowed hard.

   "Calm down," said Trent, noticing Hunter's nervousness. "Maybe there's some strange metal in the rocks or frequency absorbing substance that's blocking their signals. I'll run some signal analyses through one of the Kalo ACPUs and see what I can determine." Trent input some commands, and after a moment a wide smile came to his face. "There. There they are. On the other side of the spring."

   Hunter looked at the screen; two yellow dots showed Garrett and Richelle were about fifty meters away in a passage about four meters below them. "How come I didn't find them before?"

   "Hard to say," said Trent, shrugging. "Let's find out what's going on." He began walking around the edge of the spring, following the route of a magnified map on his screen, his symotes turned to maximum.

   Hunter followed anxiously.

   When they reached the passage, which was wide but had a low ceiling and a shallow downward grade, they stood at its entrance briefly, then stepped inside. Within just a few minutes, they were standing at the top of a keyhole passage in the floor, its walls comprised of blocky greenish-gray limestones.

   Trent checked the Vimap again. "Follow me." He sat down and entered the passage, clinging tenaciously to some foothold rocks on the walls.

   After a moment, he was out of sight, and Hunter began climbing down the winding, steep, narrow hole. About two body lengths beneath the top, it leveled out. He began pushing himself feet-first through it.

   "Garrett," he heard Trent's voice call over his com.

   Once Hunter had worked his way out of the keyhole, he stood up and brushed off his hands. Then he hurried after Trent, watching the glow of Trent's lights. After a short distance, the passage widened and he could see the lights of all three ahead. He broke into long strides. "Didn't you hear Trent's transmissions?" he asked angrily.

   Richelle was sitting on the ground, her legs crossed beneath her; Garrett was standing over her. Neither wearing a hardhat, they shook their heads in unison.

   Trent spoke into his com, his voice coming clearly over theirs.

   "What gives?" asked Hunter. "What are you doing here?"

   Richelle turned off her Vimap and placed it in her pocket. She looked up. "I needed to urinate. Garrett thought it b-b-best to accompany me."

   "Why down here?" asked Hunter.

   Garrett slung his rifle over his shoulder.

   "It's secluded," she said.

   Hunter began searching the ground. "Okay," he said after a moment, even though he hadn't found anything to corroborate her story. "You've relieved yourself, so let's get going."

   "Quite a distance just for a potty break," said Trent.

   "You heard me," said Richelle.

   "There's no suitable place up above?" asked Trent. "Even though everyone's asleep."

   "You aren't. W-W-What do you want, proof or something?"

   "Why? Should I need it?"

   "Listen, Trent. I d-d-don't need your approval to take a pee."

   "Appreciate your concern, boys," said Garrett, "but we've got this covered." He gave Richelle a hand to help her to her feet. She thanked him, then sauntered past Trent and Hunter. Garrett started after her, leaving Trent and Hunter staring at each other, not a word coming to their lips.

   Hunter went after them. He put a hand on Garrett's shoulder.

   Garrett stopped and turned around.

   "We weren't finished," said Hunter. "I don't give a rat's ass if she pisses on a mushroom. That's not what I'm concerned about."

   "Then what?"

   "It's the homing identifiers and coms. They're not working right."

   "I'm aware of that," said Garrett. "Richelle only walked about thirty paces from me, and our communications went out, almost like a switch had been turned off."

   "So, what do you think's wrong with them?"

   "Not sure. But you need to do something about it." Garrett started walking away.

   "Maybe it's the particular frequency we're using," said Trent as he came up behind Hunter. "As a precaution, I'd recommend everyone carry a Vimap at all times. We can set the HIDs for maximum signal generation and try some different frequencies. I'll run some tests."

   When they got to camp, Richelle was already lying down and none of the others had wakened. The night proceeded without further incident, but Hunter kept the next watch, Trent and Edison following. Still, Hunter slept fitfully the rest of the night. He was worried something was wrong with their HIDs and coms. He was worried too about the actions of his team. It was as if a plague of quirky behavior was spreading through the group, the encounter with Richelle and Garrett more than enough to reaffirm his concerns. He was beginning to have second thoughts about taking this team to the shaft that killed Sid, which was what he hoped to do after they staked the velandrite claim.

   After everyone had wakened, they had a quick breakfast and began hiking out of the Steambath Chamber as they now called the area. Within a short time, they were back in the tremendous Hall of the Great Lake as Isis had proclaimed it. Hours passed. When they finally had traversed the Great Lake, which at times seemed to stretch on into an inky infinity, they were confronted with three side-by-side exiting passages, all appearing similar in form, each passage being about two meters wide and three meters high. A small blinking light was attached to a wall in the far right corridor.

   Trent reached up and tapped the light with his index finger. "What are we looking at from here, Hunter?"

   "It's a bit more than what we did yesterday. Some low ceilings. Steeper gradients. A couple keyholes. Then a steep, narrow passage leads down into Level Two. After that, a short connector opens up into a long, long hall."

   "Should we expect any serious climbing?"

   "No, not yet," said Hunter. He started into the passage, Trent following. "Not until after the Long Hall."

   "Good," said Trent. "It's probably going to take Renata another day to recover completely. She could do with as little climbing as necessary today."

   "I still can't believe what Ramon did to her," said Hunter.

   "Perhaps," said Trent. "But could there be more to that story?"

   "What do you mean? It's just another one of his sad-assed jokes."

   "That doesn't put my mind at ease," said Trent. "Ramon's a glorious liar. Renata, on the other hand, she's not a good liar. It's in the way she told the story. It was like she was corroborating rather than giving her own view. In its simplicity it seemed forced—no, contrived. She finds a spring. Takes off her boots and socks so she can soak her feet. Then she leaves them while she walks around the spring for a look. When she returns, they're gone. She cuts her feet. Ramon did it—case closed."

   "Sounds plausible to me, but you know her better than I do."

   "No. Logical," said Trent. "Of a logical design."

   "Are you guys talking about me?" asked Renata.

   Trent and Hunter looked back; she was directly behind them. "Only in good ways," said Trent. He stopped and took his Vimap out of his pocket. "Hunter, I'm going to lag back and run some com tests, the ones we talked about earlier."

   "Okay," said Hunter waving his approval.

   Renata glanced back at Trent. "I want to know. When are going to get Ramon under control?"

   Hunter put up his hand. "Look. That's the last practical joke he's ever going to pull down here."

   "What he said to me was rotten. If I decided to press our IO to report that, both of you could have your butts in a sling."

   Hunter frowned. "Leave her out of this."

   "Frankly, her behavior baffles me. She seems so remotely passive."

   "Unlike you," he said, "she knows I took care of the problem. Besides, she's just an insecure kid. Her BioForm says she has caving experience, but I really doubt that."

   "An insecure kid, huh? That's not what I see."

   "Well, I do know what I see."

   There was a burst of laughter behind them. When it passed, they could hear Ramon telling a joke.

   "So, what
do
you see?" she asked sarcastically.

   "Come on," he said. "I'm on your side, not his."

   "Proving what?"

   "It means I respect you. You're smart, damn smart. The best Second in Command I could ever have."

   "Don't patronize me."

   "I would never do that."

   She rolled her eyes.

   "You know, if you want to tell me what happened with Ramon— in confidence, you can talk to me. Is there something I should know?"

   "You heard everything you need to know," she said. "If you respected me, you'd realize that."

   "If for once you'd give me the benefit of the doubt, you'd realize how much respect I've always had for you."

   "Really?" She began trailing her fingers along the passage's smooth brownish-gray limestone wall.

   He smiled, first playfully, then arrogantly.

   "You know, to be frank with you, you made a poor decision in finalizing this team. I don't fit. Not with Ramon. I don't like his games."

   "My decision? No. You're mistaken. The company gave me a personnel list. My choices were limited to that list."

   "A list I originally wasn't on." She pulled her hand away from the wall.

   "Your exclusion was an oversight. Like Richelle's. It was corrected. I needed a solid Second in Command."

   "Don't feed me that. Ivers is a sub from Ceti Exploration—as is Sandalo. Ivers became our ninth when a VP added her. And now we have a tenth. An IO. Did you put in a request for her too?"

   "You know I didn't."

   "No. I don't know that. But what I do know are the steps you had to take to get me assigned. What surprises me is you worked just as hard to keep management from excluding Ramon once they knew you wanted me. Renata—Ramon. That's like throwing a chicken into a lion's den. I want to know why you kept his continuation a secret from me until I had no chance of backing out. Ramon could have jumped, but because you locked on Arielle—he didn't. Did you think Garrett was the key to closing Pandora's Box? Well, you were wrong about that, too."

   Hunter felt some relief—Renata had just given him an escape from the painful accusations she was throwing at him. "That's right. Garrett. We never got the chance to confront him. Do you want to do it now? Your call."