The Tracker's Dilemma: (A Mandrake Company Science Fiction Romance) (24 page)

“Starting our descent,” Jamie announced to the cabin.

“Let’s skim over the top and look for druids and caves from the shuttle instead of landing,” Ankari said. “Then if someone starts lobbing explosives, we can fly out quickly.”

“Not sure how we’re going to look for anything in this.” Jamie waved toward the dense fog obscuring everything on their view screen. “If not for the sensors, I wouldn’t know the difference between up and down.” She frowned at the control panel. “Actually, I’m not sure the sensors are that accurate, either. I’m reading… anomalies.”

“What kind of anomalies?”

Jamie lowered her voice to reply, but Tick heard her, anyway. “The kind that might result in us crashing. Again.”

“Mind if I grip your hand?” Lauren whispered to Tick.

“Not if I can grip yours back,” he replied.

He ended up gripping the armrest while she latched onto the back of his hand as she stole uneasy glances toward the fog. Under other circumstances, Tick would have enjoyed holding hands with her, but Jamie’s comment about crashing put all thoughts of romance out of his mind.

An alarming jolt went through the shuttle, as if some deity had reached down from the heavens and grabbed them.

“Now what?” Striker asked. “Thought we left Hemlock behind so this wouldn’t happen again.” He frowned back at Tick.

As if
he
had anything to do with this.

Jamie shook her head, grumbling under her breath as her fingers flew across the controls. “We’re caught in… I’d guess it’s a force beam, but I can’t tell where it’s originating.”

“It must be the military ship,” Ankari said.

“Maybe. But it’s not that close to us, and Thatcher and Frog should be more on their sensors.” Jamie lifted her hands from the control panel. “Nothing I’m doing is affecting our path.”

“This moon is getting creepier by the minute,” Striker said.

“Isn’t this all just fodder for your comics?” Lieutenant Sparks asked.

“Only if I survive to write about it.”

“Does he actually write?” Lauren whispered. “As in putting down words that make up sentences?”

“They’re short sentences,” Tick replied. “And half the words are things like boom and pow.”

Striker glared over at them. “I liked it better when she didn’t come out of her lab.”

The shuttle shuddered again, and the conversations fell silent.

“The force beam is taking us down,” Jamie said quietly.

“What’s down there?” Ankari asked. “Another canyon?”

Jamie waved at the mist. “Who can tell? I read a long, wide valley ahead before we flew into this.” The shuttle quivered, the engines sounding like they were straining. She sighed and poked a button. “I’m turning everything off and letting it take us.”

Someone’s comm patch beeped as the shuttle descended, and Mandrake’s exasperated voice filled the cabin. “
Now
where are you going, Flipkens?”

“Something’s got ahold of us, sir,” Jamie said. “I don’t have any control.”

Mandrake cursed. “It’s not the GalCon ship because it’s busy glaring at us as we fly around. It—”

“Incoming fire, sir,” Thatcher’s voice sounded in the background.

Lauren’s fingers tightened around Tick’s hand. He groped for something reassuring to say, but his own bravery would be dubious until they landed and he had solid ground under his boots. Instead, he brought his other hand over and patted the back of hers.

“We’d appreciate it if you kept that ship from bombing the valley while we’re down here, Viktor,” Ankari said.

More curses came over the comm. Tick wasn’t sure if they were Mandrake’s or his crew’s. Or both.

“He’s ecstatic to help,” Ankari translated.

The shuttle bucked, as if they were flying through turbulence. The mist darkened, seeming to grow denser.

“Are we in a cave?” Ankari asked.

“You keep asking questions as if you expect me to know the answers,” Jamie said.

“You
are
the pilot.”

Jamie lifted her hands. “Not right now, I’m not.”

Abruptly, the shuttle lurched to a halt. Tick tightened his grip on the armrest as he imagined them plummeting to the ground. The craft
did
start descending, this time straight down instead of at an angle. As far as he could tell, the thrusters hadn’t been activated. Whatever held them in its grip was lowering them.

“It’s clearing.” Striker pointed at the view screen.

“We
are
in a cave,” Ankari said. “Sort of.”

“Or a crater,” Ms. Keys suggested.

“We’re going straight down,” Jamie said, glancing at readings that might have cleared with the mist. “Does Sturm have craters?”

“It
is
a moon,” Ankari said. “Maybe before the terraforming...”

Once again, the shuttle fell silent. Everyone’s gaze was locked on the screen. The mist had cleared completely, revealing vertical walls carpeted with lush greenery. Here and there, full-sized trees thrust from tiny shelves that didn’t look like they could have supported root systems. In fact, it looked like all of the greenery was growing out of solid rock. Vibrant yellow and orange fruit hung from the branches on more than one tree. Here and there, broad leaves glowed, illuminating the cavern—or crater. Whatever this was.

A stream meandered along the wall. Tick blinked, not trusting his eyes.
Was
that the wall? That seemed unlikely. Maybe the shuttle had been turned sideways without him realizing it, and they were now looking at the ground.

“I’d have to be on ramps to come up with a place this odd in my drawings,” Striker said.

The craft stopped again and shifted directions. This time, they traveled over the ground, or what Tick
thought
was the ground. He swore he caught another stream meandering along, this time on what appeared to be the ceiling of the cavern they were entering. It grew darker as the craft moved away from the crater—the entrance to this strange place.

A soft thump came from the hull. Something striking them? Tick didn’t think they had bumped against any walls or formations. The cavern stretched to either side, the space almost vast.

Another faint thump sounded, then something floated past in front of them. It looked like a flying lily pad. It drifted toward them and affixed itself to the front of the shuttle.

“Are we under attack?” Striker asked, his hand straying to his bandolier of grenades. As if he was going to open the hatch, leap out, and start shooting lily pads.

“I don’t know.” Jamie’s eyes were locked to the sensor display.

Tick was tempted to go up there and look for himself, to see what the computers thought of this place. But that would have involved unbuckling his harness and leaving his seat. That seemed unwise. Besides, Lauren was still gripping his hand. She needed him. He would be strong for her.

Another lily pad wafted toward them, and a flash of insight overtook Tick. For a moment, he saw the shuttle from the outside, through the eyes—or senses—of those floating plants. This one attached itself to the hull, where several others had already docked. It started analyzing the craft, scanning the interior.

“Oh, that’s odd,” he murmured.

Ms. Keys looked back at him, her eyes narrowing. She couldn’t know he was receiving one of his odd intuitions, could she?

Tick almost stopped himself from explaining, not wanting to admit that he was seeing the world from the point of view of a plant, but the knowledge might be crucial.

“I think they’re scanning us,” he said.

“The flying lily pads?” Striker asked, his fingers curled around one of his grenades.

“They’re plants, but they’re also computers—sensor units, at the least.” Tick thumped his head back against his seat, trying to get his mind out of the plant’s awareness. It had been bad enough when he’d been getting glimpses into
people’s
thoughts. This was too weird.

“Do they like what they see?” Ankari asked.

“They’re probably not real happy that Striker is fondling his grenades,” Tick said, though he hadn’t gotten any such sense from the plant. Instead, it emanated curiosity, almost like a kitten exploring its world for the first time.

Striker scowled, but he did drop his hand.

Your craft is not in danger
, a voice spoke into Tick’s mind.

“Uh.” He looked around. Had everyone heard that, or just him? And was that one of the
plants
doing the talking?

Nobody else reacted.

The light grew once again, not from any shafts of daylight seeping into the cavern, but from an increase in the number of illumination leaves. The shuttle headed toward a wide ledge covered with more foliage and more trees. A space just large enough for their craft lay mostly clear, except for a carpet of grass.

“Looks like we’re invited to land,” Jamie said. She still wasn’t steering. Her hands were folded in her lap.

“Excellent,” Ms. Keys said. “I hope someone is actually here that I can talk with this time. Maybe they knew I was coming and that’s the reason we’re being invited down.”

Tick resisted the urge to ask Lauren if her sister was always delusional.

“The other shuttles weren’t pulled in, were they?” Ankari asked, tapping her comm-patch. “Viktor? Can you still read us?”

A distant boom sounded, coming from somewhere above them. Tick eyed the cavern ceiling, as much of it as he could see through the view screen.

“Was that a no?” Lieutenant Sparks muttered.

“The other two shuttles might have been left up there because they need to defend the place,” Ankari muttered.

Their craft hovered over the ledge, then settled down between the trees. Almost immediately, a man and a woman in earth-colored robes came into view, stepping out of the foliage and heading for the shuttle.

Ms. Keys leaped to her feet. “They’re here. Open the hatch.”

Tick unfastened his harness. He didn’t know what to make of this situation, but if that military ship had started bombing up above them, it would be a good idea to talk to these people and get out of here as quickly as possible.

In her excitement, Ms. Keys beat him to the hatch, almost tripping over his legs as she hurried past. Lauren pursed her lips but did not say anything. She didn’t make any move to unfasten her harness.

“Staying here?” Tick asked, pulling his mesh armor over his head and grabbing his pack.

“Nothing good happens to me when I go outside,” Lauren said.

“You got to tranq a raptor last time.”

“How is that a good thing?”

“Well, you could have gotten eaten.”

“The absence of a bad thing doesn’t automatically create a good.” Lauren folded her arms over her chest.

Another boom echoed from somewhere far above them. Dust trickled down from the plant-smothered ceiling, and Tick decided Lauren’s instincts might be right. Staying in here might be safer—moderately. He didn’t know that being inside the shuttle would make much of a difference if the cavern collapsed.

“Better put the shields up after we’re outside, Jamie,” Ankari said, her gaze flicking toward the ceiling.

Apparently, Tick wasn’t the only one thinking of collapsing caverns.

“How would that help people on the outside?” Jamie asked.

“It wouldn’t.”

Ankari strode down the aisle, fastening on a belt with two laser pistols, her expression grim as Ms. Keys slapped the button to open the hatch. She bounced from foot to foot, her tablet clenched in her hand—it looked to be the only thing she had grabbed. No weapons hung from her belt. She either trusted the mercenaries to protect her, or she was confident that the people waiting outside did not pose a threat.

Tick wasn’t so certain, so he walked right behind her when the ramp came down. These druids might not be happy with Ms. Keys—or with any of them—for bringing the military to their doorstep.

He walked around the shuttle and toward the front with some trepidation, his rifle cradled in his arms. A heavenly mix of scents floated in the air, citrus and berries and pungent herbs, some of which he hadn’t smelled since leaving Grenavine more than fifteen years ago. He’d been in the military, much like Captain Mandrake, when GalCon had targeted their home world, destroying it because the people chose not to pay taxes to the system or allow military installations, because they dared to defy a government operating from billions of miles away.

The man and woman standing outside waited quietly.
Serenely
. That was the word that popped into Tick’s mind. They were both older, their hair worn long and pulled back in braids, the woman with a handsome face, despite her age, and the man with broad, weathered features that reminded Tick of his own grandfather. A memory flashed through his mind of being a boy and hunting, learning how to follow game trails from the old man. He hadn’t thought much of home of late, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia—and loss—as the memories surfaced.

As Ms. Keys approached them, Ankari stepped closer to Tick. Striker had joined him, and she addressed both of them.

“Watch for trouble,” she murmured, her gaze flicking upward again. The sounds of explosives going off, probably explosives being dropped right on the roof up there, had halted for the moment, but that might not last.

“What do you want us to do if the roof collapses?” Striker gave Tick a these-women-are-crazy look.

“What, Sergeant?” Ankari asked. “You won’t fling yourself atop me and protect me from falling rubble?”

“I’ll fling myself atop you any time, providing you don’t tell the captain.” Striker leered at her.

“Comforting. Just be ready.”

She walked forward to join Ms. Keys. Tick debated on whether he wanted to creep closer to listen to the conversation—the women had started speaking, but quietly. The male druid, his green eyes sharp, was watching Tick. That made Tick uncomfortable—why would he be singled out? Because he was the only Grenavinian out here? The old man couldn’t possibly know anything about his odd little insights, could he?

Tick examined their surroundings as an excuse to avoid that gaze. The drop off behind the shuttle was deep—even with glowing plant leaves, he couldn’t guess how far down the chasm went. The ledge appeared sturdy, but he couldn’t help but imagine rubble tumbling down and causing it to collapse. He hoped that was just his brain conjuring fears and not some hint of clairvoyance.