Zero Recall (44 page)

Before Joe could reach
the Dhasha, the Baga dropped from the ceiling and hovered above the prince’s
head.  He spat a wad into the Dhasha’s face, dousing the flaring air-hole
beside an egglike emerald eye in gray slime, plugging it.

The prince went stiff,
then roared as Flea spat another glob, covering his other nostril.  Watching
it, Joe almost felt a pang of pity.  Even if he weren’t pinned to the ground,
the prince would never be able to breathe again.  The Dhasha struggled, slowly
suffocating.  As Joe watched, his body went limp and he slid to the ground,
still propped up by the way his stubby legs were fused to the floor.

Joe stared.  He had been
ready for a fight, ready to hack open a hole in the monster’s chest so he could
blast it with plasma.  He’d never imagined a creature as tiny as the Baga could
kill a beast like the Dhasha.  It defied imagination.

“
You kick ass, Flea,
”
Joe said. 

“
I know,
” Flea
said, calmly dropping to the floor near one of the Dhasha’s front feet.

“C’mon, let’s get out of
here,” Joe said.  He got nervous watching his groundmate scuttle closer to the
Dhasha’s scythelike talons. 

“Give me a sec.”  Picking
a black claw that hadn’t been doused in glue, Flea snipped it off at the finger
joint with his beak.  Then he held the rainbow digit and its evil, gleaming
ebony talon up for Joe’s perusal.  “My first prince.”

“Great,” Joe said, “Now
get your ass back in the tunnel.”

Flea, however, took to
the air and glanced at the prince’s niche.  “I hear all princes hoard
treasure.  Think this is where he buried his wealth?”  He swung over the
squirming stomach of one of the females and let out an excited cry.  “It is! 
The fight kicked up a statue and a necklace.  They look like they might be
ruvmestin!”

Joe glanced at the nest,
which was littered with writhing bodies of dead females.  He’d heard tales of
Dhasha caches from other PlanOps veterans.  Until now, he’d never had the
opportunity to check for himself.

“Doesn’t matter,” Joe
said.  “Don’t have the time.  We’ve gotta get out of here.  Daviin’s alone up
there.”

Flea dropped down between
the golden bodies of the Dhasha females.  “It
is
ruvmestin!  The miga’s
so heavy I can’t carry it!”

“Ghosts,” Joe muttered. 
A single bead of ruvmestin would buy his entire groundteam a drink every night
for twenty turns.

At that moment, Galek
shouted, “
A horde of Takki just crawled out of the tunnel.  Couldn’t take
them all.  They disarmed me, but they can’t get through my biosuit.  They’re
dragging me into the tunnel Daviin took, toward the surface.
”

“
Burn!
”  Joe ran
toward the ditch.  “Flea, let’s go!”

“Come grab this
necklace!” Flea cried.

“No, goddamn it!  Get
your ass over here!”

“It’s ruvmestin and Space
Corps is gonna
bury
it!” Flea shrieked.  “All you have to do is grab
it!”

“Now, Flea!”

Flea rose from the nest
with his wings working hard to keep him afloat.  In his upper arms, he carried
a small white statue the size of a
nuajan
stick and in his lower arms he
grasped the truncated prince’s claw.  The Baga gave Joe a nasty look as it sped
across the room and followed him to the trench.

“
Galek, what’s
happening?
” Joe asked.  “
Flea and I are coming to help.
”

“
No,
” Jer’ait
said.  “
I’m already in the tunnel after him.  You won’t get here in time.
”

Joe blinked.  “
I
thought you said the temperature would kill you, Jer’ait.
”

“
They’re backtracking
towards the surface.  I might be able to reach cooler temperatures before my
zora
overheats.
”

Joe cursed.  “
We’ll be
there soon.
”  He glanced at the Baga.  “Drop those.  They’ll slow you
down.”

Flea gave him an
irritated look and tossed his trophies onto the floor of the den.  Then, before
Joe could say anything else, he sank into the water.  Joe followed at a wary
distance.  He’d dealt with too many Baga not to expect something psychotic. 

He was still crawling
through the body-fitting waste tunnel when Flea reported, “
Found your gun,
Galek.  They tried to hide it under some rocks about twenty rods into the
tunnel going up.
”

“
Leave it out for him,
”
Jer’ait said.  “
We’re killing the Takki that captured him as we speak.
”

“
You need help?
” Joe
asked.

“
No,
” Jer’ait
said, “
Just guard the way back.  Galek won’t be armed.
”

“
What about you?
”

“
I won’t be going back
that way.  I’m almost overheated as it is.
”

By the time Joe made it
to the Trosska mining shaft and reached the upper slave tunnel, Flea and Galek
were already on their way back.  He met them at the entrance and they left the
Baga hidden in a crevice in the ceiling as he and the Ooreiki climbed back
towards the Grekkon.

“
Jer’ait, how you
doing?
”

“
I’ll let you know in
a couple tics,
” the Huouyt responded.

“
Hang in there.
”

Joe received no response.

“
Now what?
” Flea
asked when he met up with them at Scarab’s tunnel, a note of petulance to his
transmission.

“
Daviin, Jer’ait,
we’re back at the exit tunnel.  Where are you?
”

 “
Lost,
” Daviin
said.

“
Jer’ait?
” Joe
asked.

Jer’ait did not respond.

Chapter 23:  Can’t Take the Heat

Jer’ait felt the heat
creeping into his body like a sedative drug.  It was taking too long.  His
zora
was close to overheating.  The team was somewhere behind him, killing the Takki
Jer’ait had passed in his desperate quest for cooler grounds.

“
Jer’ait, how you
doing?
” the Human asked.

“
I’ll let you know in
a couple tics.
”  He’d been following an upward shaft for two tics now.  The
air was cooling slightly, but he was sure it wasn’t enough.

“
Hang in there.
”

Jer’ait said nothing,
knowing that their sentimental Prime would make a mistake and send someone back
for him, which would be a disaster.  Jer’ait could not return to the heat of
the lower tunnels without sinking into a coma.  He was already facing certain
unconsciousness—he could feel his
zora
straining against the Takki
pattern, seeking escape from the heat.  Jer’ait tried to breathe as shallowly
as possible, knowing that drawing the heated air into his lungs only hastened
the reaction.

He ducked into another
sloped side-tunnel, hoping it continued on its upward climb.  He felt numb and
dazed, like he’d accidentally poisoned himself.  It was hard to keep a level
head as he continued his climb—the urge to lie down and go to sleep was almost
overpowering.  He gripped a forearm and dug the blunted claws into his skin
hard enough to puncture the flesh.  The pain grounded him somewhat, though the
drowsiness was still there, on the edge of his awareness, growing stronger with
every second.  He continued on in a daze, blindly taking the path leading to
the surface.

Because of this, he did
not realize he’d mistakenly taken a downward-sloping tunnel until he felt the
heat increase against his face.

It was then that
Jer’ait’s
zora
failed and he passed out.

#

Daviin hesitated at the
entrance to the larger corridor.  Somewhere far below, he heard several heavy
Dhasha retreating at a jog.  The cavalry returning home.  But did that mean he
was near his original penetration point?  He could have sworn it was on the
other side of the tunnel.

Damn
the Takki and
their mindless burrowing!  There was no scheme to their digging, no logic to
their creations.  And, unlike the tunnels of his home on Va’ga, there were no
signs, no maps, no hallmarks of civilization whatsoever.

They were so utterly
irrational that Daviin was beginning to believe the haphazard layout was
intentional, that it was calculated to trap fools like him.

“
Daviin?
” the Human
interrupted.  “
It’s been three hours.
”

“
And I’m still lost,
”
Daviin said.  “
I told you, Commander, I got a sense of direction like a
Takki’s got courage.
”

“
Maybe you could
capture a Takki and make it tell you where to go,
” Galek suggested.

Daviin snorted at the
Ooreiki’s innocence.  “
Takki will not betray their masters.
”

“
But everyone says
they have no honor,
” Galek said.

“
That is not honor,
kid,”
Joe interrupted. 
“That’s fear.  They’re more terrified of the
Dhasha than they are of a giant Jreet with his
tek
in their face. 
Forced to choose between the two, they choose the Jreet every time.
” 

Daviin grinned at Joe’s
interpretation.  Then he realized that Joe knew of such things firsthand.  He
grimaced.

“
But—
”

Daviin interrupted the
Ooreiki.  “
Take the survivors and go, Human.  Jer’ait is dead or captured.  I’m
only exhausting myself.  Four returning tonight is better than none.
”

“
Screw that,
” Flea
said.  “
You’ve still got two thousand credits that belong to me, Jreet.
”

“
I left them in my
locker at the barracks,
” Daviin said. 
“They’re hidden under the
shea
I brought from Vora.
”

“
Ha!
” Flea cried. 
“You think I didn’t watch where you hid them?  If I’d wanted to steal them,
I’d’ve done it as soon as you left your room.  I’ll take them back fairly,
Jreet.
”

Daviin chuckled. 
“If
I didn’t know better, little Baga, I’d say you liked losing at dice.”

“
I’m not losing.  I’m
gaining your confidence.
”

“
Of course you are,
”
Daviin said.  “
That’s why I had to pay for your meal this morning.
”

Daviin could feel the
tiny creature bristle.  “
I overjudged the amount of money in my accounts,
”
Flea said.  “
It was nothing but a calculation error.
”

And it could have been,
too.  The Baga had no sense for numbers whatsoever.  At the last meal, Daviin
had watched the poor creature count its six legs in order to assure itself that
everyone in the team was present.

The Human said, “
Daviin,
my PPU says you’re two hundred digs under the surface.  If you could hold still
long enough, maybe Scarab could burrow down to you.
”

“
A few hours is not
long enough to recover those kind of excretions,
” Scarab said.  “
Besides. 
The prince is dead.  The mission is over.  We go back.”

Daviin heard a long pause
over the communications line and he had a feeling that their Prime was having a
private discussion with the Scarab.  After a moment, the Human came back over
the common band to say, “
Daviin, hold tight.  Scarab’s going to burrow to
you.”

The Grekkon sounded much
more subdued when it said, “
I will re-open the entrance to a main shaft.
”

“
And you’d have to
fight hundreds of armed Takki to get to it,
” Daviin said.  “
No, just
leave.  I’ll find my own way eventually.
”

“
You’ll find your own
way into the grave, you stubborn Jreet.  We’re coming for you.  Climb up the
main shaft you’re in.  Get to the surface and we’ll meet you there.
”

“
Weren’t you
listening, Human?”
Daviin snarled. 
“Four survivors is better than
none.  Without me and the Huouyt, you’ll get killed if you engage them up
there.
”

“
Let us worry about
that.  You just get to the surface.
”  The Human’s tone of voice let Daviin
know that to disobey would be to break his oath.  Grimacing, Daviin began the
slow, tedious process of feeling his way up the corridor.

#

The path to the tunnel
entrance had been abandoned.  The Takki had either been called back to defend
the main den or had fled after hearing their master was dead.

The lack of resistance
was almost eerie.  Joe and Galek took opposite sides of the entrance while the
Baga perched in the dense foliage above, watching for intruders.

“
Nothing coming,
Commander.
”

Joe lowered his weapon
and sought out his PPU.  Orienting it toward the entrance of the tunnels, he
punched in the eleven-digit local frequency their chips and headcoms were
using, then frowned at the five hard green dots that appeared on his screen.  Three
were clustered around himself, the last was marked as negative twenty-six rods
on the Z axis, twenty rods on the Y and fifteen rods on the X, using the PPU as
the point of reference.

One other, dangerously
flickering green dot was marked negative one hundred rods Z, a thousand rods Y,
and negative three hundred rods X.  Its blinking had been increasing in urgency
over the last six hours.  Joe activated biometric stats for the sixth point.

“Ghost-bones,” Joe
whispered.

“What?” Galek asked.  The
Ooreiki’s sticky brown eyes were watching the foliage in twitchy jerks, his
rifle pointed at the alien forest.

“Jer’ait’s still alive,”
Joe said.

“
What is this?
”
Daviin demanded, pushing his head through the hole the Grekkon had made in the
collapsed rubble.