Cleon Moon (16 page)

“Was he… in his room?” Alisa assumed that all of the living people were gone, but it was possible Abelardus's brother had been among those who had died defending the outpost.

“I didn’t see his body, no. It looked like he left in a hurry.” He waved to the netdisc, something most people would have packed if they hadn’t been rushed. “All of the staff rooms were like that.”

“So were the children’s rooms.”

He looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time. “You found where your daughter was?” He looked toward her pocket, the one where she had tucked the bracelet.

“Why do you ask questions if you’re just going to dig into my thoughts and find the answers for yourself?”

“That’s not always my intent. But I have trouble with patience. I’m glad I could at least lead you to the place where she was being held.” He shifted his attention to the holodisplay. “I hope I can find out where they went as well. But there’s something disturbing here.”

“Your brother’s porn collection?” Alisa asked, then immediately felt bad for making jokes as she glanced again at the fallen. She was irritated with Abelardus and irritated with his brother too. Leonidas shouldn’t be distancing himself from her, and Jelena shouldn’t be in trouble.

“No, that’s not disturbing. He has fairly pedestrian tastes.”

“Glad to hear it,” she muttered.

“I’m looking at his inbox, and my messages never reached him. He doesn’t have any messages at all from off-world, not for the last three months.”

“Could he have deleted them?”

“It doesn’t look like he deletes anything—there are dozens of junk messages inviting him to bet on the dinosaur hunts and the bike races in Terra Jhero.”

“Maybe he’s more interested in doing that than in talking to you.”

Abelardus chewed on his lip instead of rising to the bait. “I’m not a computer expert by any means, but I wonder if it’s possible that someone was interfering with this outpost’s ability to receive messages from the other Starseer outposts and temples. Or maybe keeping them from receiving messages from anywhere outside of Cleon Moon.”

“Wouldn’t someone have to know this outpost was here to interfere with it?”

“Clearly someone did.” Abelardus waved his hand toward the bodies and scowled. “I wish I could see the netdiscs of some of the others, but I haven’t seen any more lying around. Even if they were here, I wouldn’t likely be able to guess the passwords. Not everyone uses the name of their first pet snake for their entire grownup life.”

“Is Durant younger than you?” Alisa asked, getting that feeling, though she had previously assumed he might be older. It seemed like someone involved with nefarious plots should be out of his twenties.

“Yes. In addition to the lack of personal netdiscs, there aren’t any other computers here I can check. I already looked. They kept it simple down here. There’s an environmental control station that filters the air and provides some lighting in the buildings, but that’s it. Even though this is technically a listening outpost for Cleon Moon, and reports back to our main temples, the true point of this place is to practice one’s skills without interruptions.”

Alisa’s comm beeped, and she jumped. The fortress was so quiet and isolated that she had forgotten about the outside world.

“Captain Marchenko,” she answered, assuming it would be Beck.

“Someone’s trying to get into the ship,” Alejandro blurted.

“Is the Starseer back?” Alisa found that notion far more alarming than she had when Beck had originally mentioned a robed visitor. What if whoever had come knocking was one of the people who had attacked the outpost?

“They’re overriding the lock,” Alejandro said. “I have to hide. Damn it, they’ll find it in that cubby.”

“It? The staff?”

“Of
course
the staff. What else would I be worried about?”

Alisa glanced at the bodies. “
Is
it Starseers again? And is Beck there?”

“No, I already tried comming him. He’s not answering. Get Leonidas and hurry back, Captain. These people are breaking into your ship. They—” The words halted.

Alisa frowned at the abrupt end. Alejandro hadn’t simply stopped talking; he had closed the transmission.

She tried comming him back. He did not answer. She walked toward the courtyard as she tried getting ahold of Beck. She got an automated reply.

“Leonidas, Mica, Yumi,” she called, leaning out the door of the gym. “Come join me in the courtyard. We need to get back to the ship.”

“Wait.” Abelardus slid out from behind the desk, pocketing his brother’s netdisc. “Call them in here.”

“There’s no time for more looking around,” Alisa said.

“Before I got distracted with Durant’s files, I noticed this.” He jogged over to one corner and pointed to something on the edge of one of the mats.

Worried about Alejandro, Beck, and her ship, Alisa did not want to take the time to go look, but it would probably take the others a moment to appear. She ran to the corner. “What is it?”

“Blood.” He pointed to a dark smudge on the edge of a tan mat.

“So? This is a gymnasium, isn’t it?”

“For training Starseer skills, not for pummeling each other. Also, I sense an opening down below.” Abelardus waved her back so he could bend and lift the mat.

She was about to point out the times she had seen him hurling Leonidas against the walls, but stopped when something came into view on the floor under the mat.

“Is that a door?” she asked.

“A trapdoor. A big one.” Abelardus shoved the mat away, revealing a square in the floor, one with several hinges. “We could ride our bikes through here if we had to. Or if there was a reason to.”

He pointed to another smear of dried blood, then lifted the handle, unfolding the trapdoor in segments.

Leonidas strode into the room with Mica and Yumi behind him.

“Trouble at the ship,” Alisa said. “The doc said someone’s breaking in, and he’s the only one inside. I can’t reach Beck.”

“Shit, someone could get the staff?” Abelardus asked. He must not have been paying attention to Alejandro’s transmission.

“Among other things.” Alisa had no love for Alejandro, but she didn’t want to see him end up dead, like the people here.

“We’re heading back then?” Leonidas jerked his thumb in the direction of the courtyard.

“Bring the bikes in here,” Abelardus said. “If they went this way, we’ll want to follow them. There’s a tunnel leading away from here.”

“Someone needs to get back to the ship,” Alisa said, though she badly wanted to jump through that trapdoor. What if Jelena and the others were hiding in some subterranean encampment somewhere? What if they were only a short distance away?

“Isn’t that why you have a cyborg?” Abelardus pointed at Leonidas. “If anyone is going to stop a Starseer from taking that staff, it’s him.”

“Not you?” Mica asked.

Abelardus shrugged. “I can go, but I care more about finding my brother and Alisa’s daughter than that staff at the moment.”

Alisa stared at him in surprise. Was that true? He had wanted the staff as badly as Alejandro when they had been flying into that quarantined zone. Maybe he was telling her what he thought she wanted to hear.

Or maybe I’m not a total ass and I care about my brother.
Abelardus arched his eyebrows at her.
Send the mech. He’s better in a fight than I am. It’s what he was built for.

Though annoyed that he was giving her orders, and that he might also be trying to manipulate her with more than words, she had to admit that he was right. In this case, splitting up the party made sense.

She turned to Leonidas, but he was already nodding. “I’ll go.”

Alisa opened her mouth, feeling she should thank him and warn him to be careful, but she was still stung over his rejection, and the words froze on her tongue.

He turned away, his professional facade locked onto his face.

“Are we going with him or staying with the captain?” Yumi asked Mica as Leonidas disappeared out the door.

“Are those our only options?” Mica asked. “Jumping into a tunnel that could take us into the depths of one of the hells or heading back through that dinosaur-infested swamp?”

“Well, we could stay here, but this place isn’t very cheery.”

“And it lacks mushrooms.”

“It does.”

“Come on.” Alisa waved them toward the trapdoor. Even though Mica could be handy in a fight, she and Yumi would only slow Leonidas down in the swamps. He would worry about keeping an eye on them. “I’m sure this tunnel leads somewhere besides a hell.”

“Given all the bad things that keep happening to you, I’m not sure how you can keep spouting such optimism,” Mica said.

“It’s logic, not optimism. The people fleeing the intruders went that way. Presumably, they had a reason.”

“Are you
sure
anyone
went that way?” Mica arched an eyebrow as she eyed the dark passage.

Alisa thought about pointing out the blood, but that might not be reassuring. “We’ll find out.”

Abelardus hopped down into the hole, and he soon spoke from the dark bottom, about ten feet down. “There’s a door down here that I have to open. Guarded with runes. Get the bikes, will you? We don’t know how far they had to travel. If they were on foot, and the tunnel was taking them to one of the more distant cities or another hideout, it’s possible we can catch them.”

Even though Alisa felt guilty about leaving Alejandro to his fate, the prospect of catching up with Jelena gave her energy, and she raced out to the courtyard to do as Abelardus requested. She touched her pocket as she ran.

“I’m coming, Jelena,” she whispered. “I’m finally coming.”

• • • • •

The tunnel was different from the one they had used to enter the underground compound. Carved out of the native rock, the rough and uneven walls stretched away into blackness. As soon as the group passed through the doorway Abelardus had opened, they had to put their masks back on, for the air grew noticeably foul. The only light came from the lamps on their bikes, the only sound from the soft hiss of the hover technology.

“I hope we’re not going in the opposite direction from the city,” Mica said, riding beside Alisa.

“Are you worried that dastardly things are happening to our ship?” Alisa asked, because she definitely was.

The tunnel offered room for two bikes to float side by side, at least for the women. Abelardus and his broader shoulders rode alone, leading the way, his staff jammed onto the back along with those odious dinosaur heads. Yumi, floating after Abelardus, appeared small behind him. Sometimes, Alisa forgot that he was a big, muscular man, since Leonidas made everyone appear slight in comparison.

“I’m worried that grubby Starseers are flinging things around in my engine room,” Mica said. “I’ve finally gotten everything organized and cleaned in there. I don’t want to come back to a mess.”

“Your concern for Alejandro is touching,” Alisa said.

“Alejandro is a persistent rash on our asses. I wouldn’t cry if he and his staff disappeared.”

Abelardus frowned back at them. Surprisingly, Yumi did too.

“So long as the people who make them disappear don’t make a mess in engineering?” Alisa asked.

“Precisely.”

“Beck may be missing too,” Alisa said. “Wouldn’t you be upset if you didn’t have anyone to exercise with?”

Mica looked sharply at her. “You think him not answering his comm has something to do with the Starseers knocking on the cargo hatch?”

“We don’t know for sure.” Alisa had tried again to comm Beck once they had settled into their ride, but still had not received a response.

“He’s probably busy trying to impress that chef with his jars of sauce.”

“Let’s hope that’s all it is.”

“Or he managed to offend another mafia outfit, and he’s being strung up by his nails for torture as we speak.”

Yumi frowned back again, this time specifically at Mica.

“You’re full of cheery thoughts today,” Alisa said.

“It’s hard to be cheerful when you’re riding behind a bike loaded down with dinosaur heads. Three suns, Abelardus, couldn’t you have put a bag over those? That one’s leering at me.”

I hear something
, Abelardus spoke into Alisa’s mind. Maybe he spoke into all of their minds, because Mica stopped talking.

A faint rumble came from somewhere ahead of them. Abelardus kept flying, but he held onto the handlebars with one hand and pulled out his staff with the other.

The tunnel widened, and the ceiling grew higher, with old, rusty excavating equipment abandoned to the sides. Alisa hoped that meant they were nearing the exit.

The rumble came again, sounding like it came from something mechanical rather than animal. They had been attacked by robots and automated combat machines before, so Alisa would not assume they were safe. She looked toward the dusty pumps and carts near the tunnel walls, wondering if the noise had to do with excavation, but that equipment did not look like it had been used for decades—or centuries.

The noise increased in volume until it seemed to come from directly overhead, from above the ceiling, which now rose some twenty feet above them. The tunnel trembled, and dirt and small pieces of stone tumbled down.

“Ouch,” Mica said, grabbing her shoulder.

Abelardus slowed his bike to a stop. Alisa frowned. Her instinct was to go faster, to get away from the raining pebbles.

“Do you know what that is, Abelardus?” she asked over the noise, noticing a lot of stone on the floor of this section of the tunnel, stone that had been there before this batch started falling.

“Yes.” Instead of expounding, he slid off his bike, leaned his staff against it, and bent to pick up something half-buried by the rocks. “Stonetart,” he said, holding up the brown seed-pocked core of the fruit. “From the gardens in the city. It hasn’t decomposed yet. Someone cast this aside recently.” He met Alisa’s eyes. “Our people came this way.”

“Good, but maybe we should keep moving.” She waved at the ceiling. The trembling had ceased, the noise fading, but that did not lessen her concern. It was as if a spaceship had flown low to the ground overhead. Someone looking for them? If so, would they be back?