The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) (15 page)

Val steered the shuttle over the bumpy foothills of the mountain, following its curve. Kalish walked up to stand beside Sedge.

“
It was the vacuum that turned you off, wasn’t it?” Tick asked her.

“
What?” she asked.

Sedge knocked a knee into the back of Tick’s seat and issued his best icy glare.

Fortunately, the second shuttle came into view, hovering in front of a near vertical cliff, and everyone turned their attention forward. Kalish consulted her tablet. “That should work, if you can blow away about a hundred feet of rock. Get as low as you can. It looks like the cavern ceiling reaches about a third of the way up this mountain.”

“
A hundred feet?” Tick asked. “We should have stolen one of those ships with the giant drill heads.”

“
Our weapons will be sufficient,” Thatcher said. “Backing up to a safe distance to strike. Approximately twelve hundred and... thirty meters.”

“
Does he grab those numbers out of the air,” Kalish whispered, “or is he pulling up the calculator on his tablet?”

“
Math is involved,” Val said, “but I couldn’t always tell you the formulas he uses. I’ve never seen him use a calculator.”

Val guided her shuttle into a stationary position behind the other one and faced the cliff. “We’ll be safe and go with twelve hundred and
fifty
meters.”

“
Engaging in a sustained laser burn,” Thatcher said.

“
Engaging in watching you,” Val said.

Tick snorted.

“
Let us know if you need help,” she added.

The forward shuttle fired a single beam from one of its laser cannons, the crimson rope of power cutting into the cliff wall. Shards of rock flew everywhere, and within seconds, a beige cloud of dust obscured everything.

Val glanced at her controls. “This could take a while. He’s not using anywhere near the maximum setting.”

“
Obliterating the entire mountain would not be useful,” Thatcher said.

No, it wouldn’t. Sedge pictured the entire slope self-imploding and burying the caverns and all access to them.

Kalish shifted her weight. Was she impatient? Or glad for Thatcher’s reserve? The bigger of a hole they made, the bigger the chance that one of the compound’s ships would find it. He doubted the miners would give up the search, now that they were certain someone was here.

“
I can’t see a thing through all that dust,” Tick said after a few minutes. “Is he making any progress?”

Val leaned forward, eyeing her displays. “My instruments... can’t see much through that dust either.”

“
How far in does Ms. Blackwell estimate the cavern to be?” Thatcher asked. “Did I hear one hundred feet?”

“
About forty meters,” she said.

“
Then I estimate penetration at twenty-five percent.”

Tick smirked over at Val. “Does he say sexy things like that to you in bed, LT?”

Val gave him a baleful look, and Sedge thought Tick might get a smack on the back of the head. Instead, she said, “Not unless it’s on my list.”

“
There’s a
list
?” Tick asked. “For the bedroom?”

“
A happy lover is one who gets exactly what she wants,” she informed him sagely.

Tick started to laugh, but cut it short, scratching his head thoughtfully instead.

“
We’re still working on the gift-giving list,” Val added, a little ruefully as she smiled toward the comm. “I keep putting frivolous things on it, and he keeps getting me practical things. When I wrote chocolate, he ordered a box of chocolate protein logs from Mandrake’s supplier.” She wrinkled her nose. “When I wrote sexy underwear, he got me thermal longs. I’m learning to be more specific with my request lists.”

“
Did you not comment on the usefulness of the heated undergarments just this morning?” Thatcher asked.

“
Yes, I did.”

“
What kind of gifts do you get him?” Tick asked.

Val smiled. “Ones that are appreciated by all.”

Sedge shook his head in bemusement at the conversation. He wasn’t surprised that Thatcher made lists in his personal life. At work, he was always making them for himself and others and insisting on precise adherence to them. If he had somehow convinced Val to find that trait endearing, then maybe there was hope for Sedge to convince a woman that sneezing was attractive. He kept himself from eyeing Kalish with speculation, since he had already told himself his interest wasn’t professional at this time. Perhaps later, after the mission was over, they might...

What, Sedge? It’s not like she’s going to join Mandrake Company. And you’re not ready to quit flying around the system and pitting your mind against opponents, right?

He was chewing over that last question when Thatcher said, “Seventy-five percent penetration.”

The comm beeped, announcing another caller. Val waved at the sensor, and Captain Mandrake’s head appeared in the air in front of her and Tick.

“
Calendula here, sir,” she said. “Thatcher is busy penetrating things.”

Sedge struggled to hold back a choking noise in his throat. He might make jokes with those of his own rank or below, but he would never speak so lightly to the captain or anyone his senior. He wasn’t sure whether to admire Val’s irreverence or be shocked by it. She hadn’t spent as many years in the Fleet as he had, having mandatory military courtesy drilled into him, but she had gone through the flight academy and been an officer for a year or two. Of course, pilots throughout the Fleet often believed their jobs extra important and themselves equally important. Irreverence wasn’t that uncommon.

“
Is he,” Mandrake said, his voice flat. “Will you be in the caverns soon?”

“
Should be.”

“
Good, because Mandrake Company will be sending out search teams to hunt for the wayward crew members who stole two shuttles and who attacked the mining complex down there for their own gain. The miners have agreed that these miscreants must be captured and punished. They’re aware that said miscreants stole data.” Mandrake’s eyes narrowed to slits, and even though he wasn’t looking in his direction, Sedge squirmed, feeling they hadn’t done as well as they could have to salvage that situation and keep everyone’s identity secret. “The miners would be assisting us in our search,” Mandrake went on, “but they’re busy with a new problem of their own, down in the tunnels. A ship drilled into a new area, and they believe that’s what caused a strange gas to seep out of the rocks. It’s corrosive to their drilling equipment and has unpleasant gastrointestinal and neurological effects on humans who breathe the air as well. You’ll want to avoid it, but its influence shouldn’t extend too far past the opening in their compound. I gather you’ll be entering the caverns elsewhere.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Good. Consider the miners distracted, Ms. Blackwell. I can’t promise the gas will keep them out of the mines indefinitely, as they’re already trying to figure out how to move in ventilation equipment without the corrosive element affecting it, but you should have a few days. After that, we’ll see what we can do if you need more time.”

Mandrake lifted a hand to cut the comm, but Sedge spoke before his face disappeared from the display. “Who came up with the biological agent, sir? That sounds like a complicated compound.”

“
You can thank Microbacteriotherapy, Inc. for that, specifically their microbiologist. I would thank her myself, but she never comes out of her lab.”

“
Ah, Lauren.” Tick smiled as the captain’s face vanished. Wistfully? Odd, there was definitely an atypical dreaminess to his expression.

With so few women on board the
Albatross
, the men often speculated about the three women who had their own company and worked out of the ship’s new laboratory, but Dr. Keys wasn’t the one who was usually the recipient of the speculation. She was pretty enough, but older than the other two and, as far as Sedge could tell, utterly oblivious to men, women, and the human need for social interaction and companionship. He had spoken to her a few times, curious to know if the gut treatment they were working on, one that incorporated the microbiota that the extraordinary hale and long-lived ancient aliens had been hosts for, might be of some assistance to him when they finished their research and tests. None of the ruins that had been discovered had ever mentioned allergies in the writing, music, and art samples that had been left behind. At his behest, Ankari had put him on the list for when the company was ready to begin clinical trials.

“
We’ve reached the one hundred percent mark of Ms. Blackwell’s estimate,” Thatcher said. “Forty meters. No end to the rock wall yet.”

“
No satisfaction even at a hundred percent penetration, eh?” Tick asked. “The list may not be working.”

This time, Val did smack him.

“
Continuing to cut into the rock,” Thatcher said, without acknowledging Tick’s humor.

“
You’ve been bunking with Striker too often,” Sedge told Tick.

“
Probably true. I’ll leave you with him next time, and
I’ll
go sleep with our employer.”

Kalish had pulled out her tablet to study the maps again, specifically the area they were hovering over. If she had heard any of the penetration conversation, it wasn’t apparent. “He should have broken through by now,” she murmured. “Unless our cartographers weren’t very accurate.” She grimaced. “Given the pencil nature of those maps, that could be a possibility, but you would think they would strive for accuracy. They have to have good maps to program their mining ships to go in there, right? Lazy charts could mean a ship crashing into a wall.”

“
A reasonable argument,” Sedge said.

“
The laser has broken through,” Thatcher announced. “All of the dust is muting the sensors, but there’s at least an air pocket. Perhaps more.”

Kalish leaned forward, her eyes intent on the view screen, even though the dust still hid everything—they could barely see the back of the other shuttle. She clasped Sedge’s hand. He wasn’t sure she was even aware of doing so, but the simple touch sent a spark of electricity through his body. He returned the handclasp, gently wrapping his fingers around hers. He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand, enjoying the smooth warmth of her skin.

Val’s fingers danced over her panel, and she eyed the display to the side of her seat. “Our sensors are working, Gregor. Definitely detecting a big empty space in there.”

“
Confirmed,” Thatcher said. “The laser caused a few rockfalls that we may have to clear along the way, but with sufficient pilot attentiveness, the hole is large enough for us to fly through.”

“
I promise to be attentive and not scrape up the captain’s shuttle,” Val said. “You can even send me a list if you want.”

Tick snorted.

Sedge barely heard the conversation. Oh, he knew they were about to head into the mountain, but he was far too aware of Kalish standing beside him to do more than follow the gist. The warmth of her hand, her shoulder brushing against his upper arm, the way her braids of hair fell over her shoulder and traced the curve of her breasts... It was a good thing Thatcher wasn’t physically present to observe this inappropriateness.

“
We’re ready whenever you are,” Val said when a couple of minutes passed without a comment from the other shuttle.

“
Excellent,” Thatcher said. “I am transmitting the list.”

Val rolled her eyes and mouthed, “I was joking,” to Tick.

“
I don’t think that works with him,” Tick said.

“
Entering the orifice now.”

A snicker from Striker drifted over the comm as the shuttle floated toward the gaping hole now visible in the side of the cliff.

“
I’ll refrain from further penetration jokes and let you concentrate,” Tick said. “Oh, there’s your list.” He poked at the comm panel, and no less than fifteen numbered items floated in the air beside Val.

“
Fabulous,” Val muttered, and eased the shuttle forward.

“
We’re going in. Finally.” Kalish squeezed Sedge’s hand and beamed up at him.