Victoria looked around and finally shook her head. There’d be a fairly regular pattern if they’d done anything like that. I don’t see any other holes like that around here. Turning back in the direction from which they’d come, she scanned the tunnel as she moved through it slowly. I counted almost a dozen, she said as she reached the mouth of the tunnel once more.
You think it’s significant?
Victoria shrugged. I don’t know. I didn’t see anything else.
Raphael frowned. I can’t imagine that anything small enough to fit through one of those holes would be much of a threat.
Victoria glanced at him. A fairly large sea snake? Something like an eel? Piranha aren’t large fish, but they can eat the flesh from a large man in minutes. Or, it might be nothing more than air holes for something much larger that burrows into the sea bed.
This deep?
Unfortunately, we can’t limit our thinking to what something on Earth might do.
As they stood considering the possibilities, the ground beneath their feet began to shake slightly. Victoria glanced back over her shoulder, noticing with more than a little alarm that the lights in the tunnel were flickering. Quake!
Launching herself from the tunnel, she swam for the mouth of the main shaft as fast as she could, fearing the quake would knock the power out. Without the pressure unit, the walls of the shaft might well collapse upon them.
Raphael caught her around the waist and shot through the tunnel at blurring speed. Behind them, Victoria could see the lights winking out, one by one. She blacked out as they shot out of the mine shaft.
Chapter Eleven
The next moment that Victoria was aware of, she was heaving water from her lungs, choking. When the spasms finally passed, she felt the warmth of Raphael’s body as he pulled her tightly against him. He was trembling, as if he was freezing. Or maybe it was her? It filtered through her mind, finally, that they were laying on the floor of the lower level of the habitat beside the access pool. “What happened?”
“I pulled you out too quickly,” Raphael said apologetically. “The pressure....”
Victoria nodded. Her head still felt as if it might explode. She discovered, to her embarrassment, that her nose was bleeding and pulled away from him. Leaning over the access pool, she bathed her face until the bleeding stopped. “Thanks,” she finally said shakily.
“For almost killing you?” Raphael asked tightly.
She glanced at him. “For saving my life. Did the shaft collapse?”
Raphael shook his head. “I didn’t take the time to assess the damage. A shock wave hit me as we came out of the shaft, though, so my guess is, yes.”
“Guess that’s what happened before, huh?” Brown asked.
Victoria glanced at him. She hadn’t realized until he spoke that they had an audience. She looked away. “Maybe.”
“I sent for Tuttle. She’s coming down to have a look at you now,” Brown said.
Victoria shook her head. “I’m all right.”
“You’ll let her examine you,” Raphael said coolly.
Victoria looked at him in surprise. Before she could inform him that she didn’t take orders from him, however, Brown spoke again.
“It’s procedure.”
“Fine!” she snapped irritably and lay down once more, massaging her pounding head.
When Tuttle arrived, she checked Victoria’s vitals. “I need to get her up to sick bay to give her a thorough examination,” she said, glancing from Brown to Raphael.
“I’ll carry her,” Raphael said.
Victoria looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Up four levels? I’ll travel under my own steam, thank you. You need to go check the progress of the searchers and assess the damage to the mine.”
He scooped her up. “As soon as I deliver you to sickbay.”
Brown trailed after them. “I can help.”
Raphael paused, studied him a long moment and finally nodded.
Fighting the darkness that threatened to descend once more, Victoria held her head up with an effort. “You’re both crazy. You’ll both end up in sickbay if you try to carry me all the way up!”
Brown and Raphael exchanged a grin and ignored her protest. Locking their arms beneath her, they formed a ‘chair’ between them. Each time they reached another level, Victoria informed them that she was better and thought she could walk the rest of the way. Brown was breathing noticeably heavier and sweating by the time they reached the fourth level, which contained the crew quarters and the sickbay. Dismissing him, Raphael took her the remainder of the way, shouldering his way into the room and settling her on a gurney.
“I am better,” Victoria said, somewhat petulantly. “Thank you,” she added stiffly.
“There’s a difference between being strong and just plain bull headed,” Raphael said coolly when she dismissed him again.
Victoria opened her mouth to give him a blast of temper, but Tuttle grabbed Raphael and pushed him toward the door, closing it behind them. “Wait here. I’ll let you know how she is once I’ve run some tests.”
Raphael nodded and Tuttle left him pacing the hall and went in again.
Pushing the gurney over to the examination chamber, she helped Victoria shift onto the padded table within, closed the clear panel, and punched the code for a thorough examination on the buttons on the antiquated piece of equipment. She frowned as the data began to spill across the screen, comparing the data to Victoria’s healthy norm and finally concluded that Victoria was more shaken than anything else. She didn’t appear to have any serious damage from the abrupt change in pressure.
When the computer concluded it’s assessment, she helped Victoria from the chamber onto the gurney once more.
“Well?” Victoria asked as Tuttle moved to the supply cabinet and took a syringe from it.
Without a word, Tuttle moved back to her, jabbed the syringe into her upper arm and depressed the plunger. “You’ll be fine. You just need a little rest.”
“What’d you give me?” Victoria asked, feeling a strange lethargy creeping over her.
“Something to make you rest.”
“Damn it, Tuttle! I don’t have time for this!”
Tuttle smiled faintly. “Somehow I knew you’d say that. That’s why I didn’t ask.”
As she started to move away, Victoria grabbed her wrist. Tuttle paused and glanced at her questioningly. Victoria bit her lip. “Am I ... did I ... abort?”
Tuttle gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I think it weathered the shock better than you did. It seems to have dug in with real determination.”
Victoria smiled faintly at the comment, trying to decide whether or not she was relieved. She found, however, that she was far too tired to consider it at the moment.
Having reassured Victoria, Tuttle moved to the door, opened it, and ushered Raphael in. “She’s fine. A little off the norm, but not dangerously so.”
Raphael glanced at Victoria and then at Tuttle. “She’s unconscious.”
Tuttle smiled faintly. “Not yet, but she will be ... for several hours. I gave her something to make her rest.”
A look of alarm crossed his features. Tuttle studied him a moment before realization dawned . “She told you?”
He shook his head, studying Victoria. “I knew.”
“I keep forgetting you’re telepathic.” She smiled faintly. “It won’t hurt her or the baby. I’m no doctor, and I know my limitations, especially since I’m completely unfamiliar with this particular situation, so I checked the medic files so I’d know what I could give her and what I couldn’t.”
Raphael nodded and moved to stand beside the gurney, caressing Victoria’s cheek.
“Insubordination,” Victoria muttered, her speech slurred by sleep. “Throw you all in the brig.”
Grinning, Raphael glanced at Tuttle. “She’s all right,” they said in unison.
* * * *
Victoria woke sometime later to the clank of metal on metal. Opening her eyes with an effort, she saw that Raphael had set a tray of food on the metal cabinet next to the bed. She stared at it blankly for several moments and finally sat up. “What’s this?”
“Dinner. You missed lunch.”
Victoria stared at him, torn between irritation, amusement, and an odd sort of warmth at his thoughtfulness. “I’m not an invalid.”
His smile was a little crooked. “No, but you had me worried for a little while.”
“I did?” Victoria asked, warmed inexplicably by the admission.
He nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand. “You’re such a strong person, it hadn’t occurred to me before that you were strong in spirit ... not necessarily physically.”
Blood rushed into her cheeks. She made a rude noise. “I’m hardly delicate!”
Raphael smiled faintly. “You are exactly that. No one’s ever noticed, though, have they?”
Victoria glanced away uncomfortably. “I’m starved. Have you eaten?”
“I thought I’d wait for you.”
“Let’s go into the dining hall, then.”
“You’re sure you don’t want me to coddle you?” he asked pensively.
Victoria laughed. “I’m afraid I might get attached to it ... which would be a bad thing since you’d get tired of it in a hurry.”
He rose, helping her from the bed. “You don’t know me nearly as well as you think if you believe that. I have infinite patience.”
“Do you?”
He nodded. “It comes from being part fish.”
Victoria glanced at him sharply, but saw that he was teasing. “And fish are patient?”
“They have to be. They’re on the hunt constantly for food.”
“Single minded,” Victoria said succinctly, picking up the tray he’d just deposited.
He took it from her. “That too.”
She was taken aback when she reached the dining hall. All conversation ceased abruptly as everyone turned to look at her, but not nearly as disconcerted as when a cheer went up. Blushing profusely, she struggled against a strong urge to retreat to her room once more. Mastering it, she bowed to the assembly and thanked them before taking her seat.
To her relief, everyone returned their attention to their food.
What was that about?
Raphael glanced at her in surprise, but in a moment a look of pleasure crossed his features. They’re glad you’re all right. They were worried, too.
That pleases you? she asked him curiously.
Yes. But it pleases me more that you addressed me telepathically. Except for when we’re in the sea, you hadn’t done that since....
Since?
Since we became lovers.
She glanced at him, studied him for a long moment. I can’t help it. I need to keep at least a part of myself for me.
I know.
Victoria studied the food on her plate for several moments and finally began to eat. “What happened while I was out of it?”
“I’ll give you a full report as soon as we’ve eaten.”
Victoria gave him an indignant look.
He shook his head slightly. It’ll be best if we’re alone.
The comment made her uneasy, but she could see his point. Everyone seemed far more relaxed than they had in a while. It didn’t seem right to risk taking that away from them by discussing bad news where they might hear.
Mentally shrugging it off, she focused her attention on her food. When she’d finished, she cleared her place and headed for the room. Raphael followed her, closing the door firmly behind him.
“Now. Tell me what happened,” Victoria said, facing him.
Raphael frowned. “I’m not sure that what we felt was a quake. Something showed up on the readings, but it didn’t read like a quake.”
“What then?”
“I wish I knew. We had a power spike, which shut the system down just long enough that we had several collapses along the shaft ... not as much damage as one would expect, but it’ll set us back at least a day in the clean up.”
“All right. What do you think it was?”
“I haven’t got a damned clue. But I will tell you one thing, if that wasn’t a quake, then that wasn’t a shock wave that hit us as we emerged from the shaft. It was something.”
“What did you see?”
“Nothing ... just like we’ve seen since we’ve been here. Not a thing!”
Victoria frowned. “A belch of gases, maybe? Some sort of sonic wave?”
Raphael began pacing. “It could have been anything, I suppose. I felt it, I know that. We both did. Did you see anything? Feel anything at all?”
Victoria thought back to her last moments of consciousness. “Heat. Or warmth anyway. I thought it was just the blood pressure surge, though. It might have been, for that matter. Internal, not external.”
Dismissing it, she asked about the search for Roach.
Raphael shook his head. “Still no sign of him. We found his tablet, though.”
“You think he could still be alive?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve no idea of what the limitations might be on the artificial gill.”
Victoria frowned. “I should know, but I can’t remember. It was only intended for limited use, assuming we would have to be in the water a few hours occasionally. Our skin’s not like yours. Even with the wet suit, prolonged exposure of the unprotected skin areas would cause problems. Then, too, there’s the pressure to consider, lack of food and water, exposure to temperatures below our norm.
“I’d have a better idea of his chances if I could get into the computer system. I think it’s time I took you up on your offer to hack in.”
* * * *
After several hours of trying to hack in, Victoria began to lose hope that he would actually accomplish it. She glanced at her watch. “I should get back down and take care of my paperwork. I’m a day behind already.”
Raphael nodded. “I’ll stay with this a while longer. If I can get in, I’ll patch it through to the computer in your quarters.”
Victoria shook her head. “The rule stands. No one goes off alone.”
“I’ll escort you down then.”
She gave him a look. “That applies to you, too.”
He studied her a long moment and finally shrugged. “In the morning, then.”
Victoria supposed she should have been suspicious at how easily he gave in. Raphael was patient, and even tempered, but he was also stubborn.