In Situ (9 page)

God, I wish I had my camera, she thought. She stood on her toes and ran her hands over the opening. It was smooth and the material looked like it had been purposefully placed there. How in the hell had they missed this? Maybe I can get some of this material off, she thought. Alex trie
d with her hands, but the amber-like coating was as impervious as stone. She needed something like a hammer, but there were no tools that she could see in the cave. Damn it! I should have told Tom to bring some tools down here. Then she remembered. The gun!

She quickly threw off her
backpack and pulled out the Ruger. Perfect, she thought, examining it. “If you’re going to use my favorite pistol as a hammer Alex, at least make sure it isn’t loaded,” Simon advised her. She took out the clip and tossed it back into the pack. You’re right, Simon, no sense in shooting myself, she thought. Alex took a soft whack at the material by holding the barrel and striking with the butt of the gun, but it didn’t budge. She stepped up on a small outcropping, a precarious foothold at best, but it gave her a much better angle. As her light pierced the amber, she noticed something darker in the center of the hole. Alex pressed her face closer but her hard hat got in the way. She tossed the hat to the floor, and it clattered and rolled into one of the holes. What the heck
is
that? She held the light at various angles but still could not see what might be behind the amber façade. It was difficult to hold the pistol and the light and balance on the wall, but she needed to do all three to get the job done. Alex began to gently tap again with the butt of the gun, and then more forcefully. She realized she was probably going to ruin the weapon but it might be worth it, and that her father would agree. Finally, after several strikes in the same area she began to see progress. Some of the material was flaking loose, and a long crack was developing. She gave it some more whacks, and felt as if she were almost through it before she lost her grip and fell.

Alex tried to
react, but she could see nothing behind her. She tumbled backwards into the dark and struck her head on the stone floor. Alex had only had a millisecond to think about what a stupid move she had made before she blacked out completely.

*

It hadn’t taken Tom long to make the ascent back to the main construction area, but he immediately sensed trouble when he got there. His crew was circled around an area near the wall where they had been installing the reactor. Andy looked up when he saw Tom approaching and waved him over.

“What’s up
, Andy?” The pale look on his foreman’s face was not a good sign.

“Look
, Tom, over here.” Andy pointed at a section of floor. It was wet.

“I don’t get it
, Andy, did someone spill something?”

“No, we’ve been working here all day
, and this is the first I’ve seen of it. The place was as dry as a bone until just a few minutes ago, as far as I can tell. But what’s even weirder is that, not only is it getting wetter, but the water is warm to the touch. You don’t know of anything that says there is supposed to be a hot spring or anything down here do ya Tom?”

Tom was concerned, “No, there was nothing in any reports that said anything about geothermal springs. There are some in the area, but we haven’t run into any natural water during this whole project so far. Of course,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder, “
those caves weren’t supposed to be there either.”

Tom moved closer to get a better look. There was no question
about it, water was seeping through, a bad sign. Just what he needed, another delay. “Andy, hand me that hammer, would you?” Tom took the claw end of the hammer and gently tapped on a section of the wet surface. He turned back to Andy. “I have no…”

An explosion of rock threw him to the ground. A fissure had opened, about a foot in diameter and it was suddenly gushing hundreds of gallons of hot sulfuric water that
was headed directly toward the opening of the lower cave. As Andy helped to pull Tom back to his feet, the fissure expanded and thousands of gallons began pouring out. The water was suddenly a river, moving straight toward Alex.

“We’ve gotta block that entrance Andy,” he screamed above the roar of the water, “Alex is still down there!” Tom immediately scrambled his crew to try to stop th
e torrent already beginning to cascade into the cave opening. He fought to stay calm as he issued orders, but his mind kept screaming, I’ve killed Alex.

When Alex finally did regain consciousness and managed to open her eyes they were met by another pair across the room not ten paces away. She immediately wanted to move, run, scream
, anything but lie there and wait to die, but she could not. For the first time in her life, she was paralyzed with fear. Her heart felt like it was going to explode and her head was throbbing with pain. She hoped that she was dreaming, but she knew that she was not.

The creature sat
there, its eyes boring into her, studying her, circles of amazing red and yellow color around large black pupils that were clearly reptilian. They looked simultaneously intelligent and deadly. The beast attached to them was enormous, and Alex imagined that it would top seven feet when and if it decided to stand. Its facial skin was translucent and grey—like a giant lizard. The creature sat on the stone floor, legs crossed Indian style, with its hands-if you could call them hands-resting on its knees. Its eyes were somewhat shaded by a large brow which converged at the center and dropped to form a small nose that disappeared into a pronounced upper lip and large lower jaw that was sure to house a number of very sharp teeth.

This was impossible
. Such a thing did not exist! Alex knew she must be dreaming, but she felt quite awake. She tried not to look away, afraid that the minute she did she would be torn limb from limb.

For a while, she just l
ay there motionless, trying not to blink. Then the thought occurred to her: if she were going to be the beast’s dinner, she probably already would be. If it was a killer or even a scavenger, she would be watching it eat her small intestines right now. In a stare down, however, there was simply no contest, this thing had her beat. She finally surrendered and looked away and was relieved when the animal seemed to take no action.

Alex noticed her flashlight lying on the stone floor of the cave next to the beast, its lens showing the clear signs of a fading battery. The beam cut weakly through a fine mist that seemed to be gr
owing thicker by the minute, and threw just enough light to allow her to clearly see the creature and little else in the cave.

Alex gulped. This is not going to be fun when that battery dies, she thought. And was it her imagination
, or was it getting warmer? She was still wearing the heavy coat that she had borrowed from Tom’s foreman, but now she was extremely hot and noticed that it was downright balmy in the cave. She wondered what had happened to Tom and where all the sudden heat was coming from. She wanted to take off the jacket, but she was afraid to move.

“Ugg,” the creature grunted deeply, as if suddenly bored.

*

Mot was equally frightened. He had just
awakened from what he thought was a very brief sleep, only to find himself trapped in a room with this smooth skinned creature that reeked of some sort of sweet fruit-like smell. He had never seen anything like her or smelled anything like her. Worse than that, he had found himself, aside from this strange female, quite alone.

Where was his mother? Where were the Elders? Where was Ara
? Where were all of the others?

When he had first opened his eyes, he had expected
to see them, but his vision had been completely blurred from the animal fat he had been packed in. He tried to breathe but realized he could not until he escaped the confines of his resting place. Mot had fought his way toward the dim light he could see through the amber window and kicked his way out, the animal fat that had held him captive having grown warm and soupy. When the amber finally fell away he had been able to slide from the hole like a greasy piece of meat and almost landed on the creature that now faced him. It took him several minutes to cough enough to get a proper breath.

It seemed to him as if it had only been moments ago that he had felt his mother’s hand on his face, only moments since he had been drugged and sealed into that disgusting hole. He resolved that
, if the Elders were to give him a second chance, he would never again break any rule.

Now, he was stiff and sore and starving. The only thing that had kept him from pouncing on the female and having her for dinner was her strong unnatural odor and the fact that she was unconscious. His stomach had said eat, but his nose and his instincts had told him to be wary. So he had taken up a
position across the cave as the creature slept and studied her from a distance, considering at the same time a possible way out.

“Perhaps this is a test,” he thought. “Perhaps the Elders have placed me in this room with this creature as some sort of test.”

While he had pondered the sleeping female and the fact that he had obviously been left trapped in the cave alone with her, Mot had also realized that he was insatiably thirsty. Once he was able to rise and get his body working, he located a cistern. He buried his head in it and sucked in water until he could take no more. At the same time, he fully washed out his eyes. The water was warm and slightly sulfurous, but it quenched his immediate thirst and helped to temporarily stave off his ravenous hunger.

Then, even in the low light, he was able to locate a pool of deeper water further back in the cave. He waded in and carefully washed himself of the rest of the animal fat
, glad to be rid of the obnoxious odor. It felt good to be clean again, and as he moved around, he could feel the strength returning to his muscles as his body warmed. He checked on the female again. When he determined that she still appeared to be unconscious, he quietly found a place in the back of the cave to relieve himself-an act that was, at that point, one of the highlights of his young life.

When he returned, Mot noticed that the empty spots in the floor were filling with water and the level was slowly rising. The water was just about to engulf the female. At first, he was reluctant to do anything, but he eventually picked her up, sniffing her unusual scent, and carried her to one of the stone tables that had been carved into the cave wall. She was wearing thick clothing made from hides he had never seen before and had something strange and soft growing from her head. Mot set her down gently and then sat down across from her and tried to think
, nervously tapping his foot on the floor of the cave. He was very confused.

Why was it so hot when it had been so cold before? He looked around and suddenly realized that the cave was indeed filling with water and the flow was becoming more rapid. Mot was no stranger to hot springs. There had been a whole series of them in the upper caves that the Arzats enjoyed as baths. It occurred to him that this was what was now filling the cave and heating it. Perhaps it was the heat that had allowed him to escape from the confines of his miserable bed, he thought.

Mot was not overly concerned about the rising water. He would simply go up the way he had so recently come down. He sat for a while longer and considered leaving the strange creature, and making his way to the Great Chamber on his own.

As he sat, he finally noticed the only form of light in the cave and got up to inspect it. He picked up the object, expecting it to be hot to the touch, running his hands over it, turning it over and over. It was like magic. How does such a thing exist?
Light with no heat? He accidentally pointed it directly into his eyes and saw spots afterward. Mot sat back down with the strange light in his hands and shot it around the room. Whatever it was, it was way better than a torch, he thought. Mot eventually set it by his side and considered the female.

Her skin was white and soft and so thin it appeared to be almost nonexistent. She was the size of a very young Arzat
. Her clothes were very strange. He had never known any other animals that wore them as the Arzats did. Was she intelligent? He watched her for a long time, trying to imagine where she had come from. Had the world really ended? Perhaps she had come with the death star. She appeared to be so fragile that Mot could not imagine her living in the world he knew for more than the blink of an eye. Perhaps she is a god, he thought, watching her more closely.

“Ugg,” he had muttered, trying to wake her from
where he sat. Mot was sore and tired from waiting, and oh Great Creator, was he hungry, and the water was rising. Something had to be done. “Ugg,” he said again, fidgeting and making noises. Finally, the creature’s eyes had fluttered open.

*

Alex looked back, not staring this time but trying to understand what the creature was up to. She felt as if her heart was about to explode with adrenaline. The beast, its eyes never wavering, suddenly raised its right claw to its mouth, yawned widely and belched. It shifted position, as if it were trying to get more comfortable, then looked down and picked up her flashlight and shined it in her direction.

OK, Alex, you can relax now, she tried to comfort herself. You are either dreaming or dead because this is impossible. There is absolutely no way this can be happening. And that is no claw, my friend-Mister Opposed Digit. Even in the dim light, Alex could see that the creature had three long fingers and a ‘thumb,’ which he was now using to hold her light. Its arms bulged with muscles and were much longer than she would have expected; proportioned to its body much like a human’s. Her mind raced to come up with some sort of explanation.

She was lying o
n her left side on a flat stone bench, perhaps three feet from the floor, her head resting on her arm. The creature across from her might as well have been an alligator or a Komodo dragon, with that one major difference, it had a thumb! Were the light any better, she might have confirmed her suspicion of the second major difference, that the creature had no tail! And was it actually possible that it was tapping its foot on the floor? Was it intelligent? Again, she looked into its eyes.

The beast
tilted its head, studying her, and then suddenly its tongue darted unexpectedly from its mouth. Alex flinched and the creature flinched in response.

“Arrrrrrrrr,” its eyes narrowed suspiciously,
then became neutral again. It sat back, still looking directly at her, and began tapping its foot again. Alex did not dare move.

They stayed that way for some time. Alex wasn’t sure, perhaps ten minutes, perhaps an hour. Her head was throbbing, she was frighte
ned and she had to pee. Uh oh, now what am I going to do? The more she thought about it, the more she had to go. Minutes passed, the creature sat, quietly tapping. Alex finally could stand it no longer. She either had to urinate right where she was or she had to make a move. Make a move, she decided.

Carefully, slowly, she raised her head and the pain in it intensified. The creature twitched. She immediately stopped
.

“Ew, ew,
Zatan. Zatan.” The creature said, lifting its arms.

The hair raised on the back of Alex’s neck. This thing, whatever it was, had language! Amazing. It seemed to be telling her it was
OK to get up, in fact, encouraging her to do so.

“Zatan, zatan.” The tone was light, not menacing. It waved its arms, but stayed seated.

Alex carefully pushed herself up, her head on the verge of exploding. She raised her hand and felt for a wound but was relieved to find that there was only a large knot where she had hit the stone. She was extremely hot and the heavy jacket made her feel as if she were in a sauna.

“En tew abba?” the creature asked.

Suddenly she realized that the lizard was actually asking her if she was alright.

Alex shook her head and pointed at her groin.

“Ew, zatan.” The creature rose and started towards her. He was seven feet tall and several hundred pounds of scary reptile. Might as well have been a raptor. Alex’s bladder let go.

Mot hesitated. It was clear to him now that he had frightened the Smooth Skin. In Mot’s world, the side
-to-side movement of Alex’s head was a positive. It meant ‘yes’ to him, so he hadn’t meant to scare her, he was just trying to get her to move. They needed to go. Suddenly, the most intoxicating smell Mot had ever experienced filled his nostrils and caused him to involuntarily flick his tongue. He stood there, mid-way across the floor, in absolute shock, trying desperately to suppress his almost overwhelming desire to flick again. Mot stayed motionless, embarrassed about his wayward tongue, bad manners for an Arzat.

Alex could d
o nothing but look at the beast and continue to pee. It was a mixed blessing. She was so scared on the one hand that she was about to be eaten, and on the other, so glad to finally relieve herself, that she no longer cared that she had done it in her pants.

Then
, there was a loud crack somewhere in the distant rock above them, and the warm water that had been slowly creeping into the cave began to rush in. Mot turned just in time to snatch the flashlight from the floor before it was washed away. He rushed up towards the stairs. Water was flooding down them and came to Mot’s knees, almost sweeping him away. There was no way to get out that direction. He ran to the back areas of the chamber and looked upward, searching for another exit. He was not panicked yet. While he had only been in this part of the cave once, his overall experience having lived and played in the caves since his childhood told him that there were usually always several ways out of any large chamber.

Mot quickly reached out and pulled himself up the wall
and found an opening. It was about three sticks above the ledge the female was on, and he felt like he could easily carry the creature up to it if he had to. There was only one problem. The passage was too small for either of them to squeeze through. Have to try something else, he thought. He looked down at Smooth Skin and thought that he saw her shiver even though the cave was now warm from the vapors of the rising hot water.