Odyssey Rising (16 page)

It was morning now. For this planet, it was beautiful. But beauty was far from anyone’s mind.

On the floor of the common room, Theo was in a pool of his own sweat. He hadn’t moved more than a few feet since he collapsed the night prior and Ellie nor Ravi tried to move him for fear of making his health even worse.

The silver fragment from the silverfly was still in his hand, but the glow had faded late into the night. Harry Wolf was asleep by Theo’s midsection, pressed tightly into his side.

Ravi slept in his bunk writhing in pain from the stomach flu.

The buzz of the medical alarm program woke Theo. When he opened his eyes he predicted the program would tell him that Theo or Ellie had already gone into cardiac arrest. But this wasn’t the case.

The medical program alerted Theo to some kind of a double miracle. He had a newfound vitality and strength.

Also, for the first time in five days, his and Harry Wolf’s medical prognosis had entered into a favorable condition due to a fairly sharp decline in the parts per million of the alien Yin-Yang Twins infesting his blood.

It couldn’t be a coincidence. Even though Theo was groggy and exhausted, he knew without a doubt that the reduction he was seeing was connected to the silverfly sting that had infected his hand and apparently his bloodstream. It was acting like an antibody and attacking and devouring the Yin-Yang Twins. Not exactly a virus, but maybe good enough to be some kind of cure that would prolong their lives.

He heard his father’s words: “To find a cure you have to go to where the problem lives, all things have an enemy close by, just lying in wait. Remember, Theo, biology is a constant battle and one species always wins or adapts.”

Theo read a note generated by the medical program and the big brains back at the Ark.

Your immune cells recognize just one protein found in the Yin-Yang Twins. This means we have identified the specific part of these infectious invaders that can be the protective marker we need to make a vaccine. For the future health of visitors to GidX7, we need this vaccine in order to speed up the natural process of our body’s immune system. Please follow Protocol 2011 for further instructions.

Theo noticed that his hand was especially red and almost the size of a grapefruit, having swollen more than he knew a hand could swell. The silver crystal vein was still visible, though it was no longer glowing. It looked as if the crystallized fragment was imbedded somewhere in the mess that was his swollen hand and had caused some sort of infection. He wasn’t in any pain. In fact, he was feeling much better. While it was swollen, his fingers produced an amazing tingling sensation. It was his crippled hand and his fingers almost felt brand new, not at all crippled anymore.

Harry Wolf’s body was warm, soft and comforting.

“You son of a gun,” Theo said as he tugged at Harry Wolf’s collar. “The silverflies are our cure. You hear that Harry? They’re helping us get healthy.”

Harry Wolf was safely and serenely asleep at the foot of the bunk and Theo stretched down toward him.

The dog woke, shook off his sleep and then Harry Wolf’s tongue slobbered around Theo’s face. The dog was back in good graces.

“Look at the results. Look,” Theo said as he brought his current condition up on the Medical Program computer console. “We wanted a miracle. I think we just got one.”

“A pretty drastic reduction in the parts per million of our invasive, non-friendly parasitic invaders – our enemies the infamous microscopic Yin-Yang Twins,” Ellie said. “Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah, we need to find more silverflies,” Theo said.

“Exactly,” Ellie agreed.

“Where’s Ravi?” Theo asked.

“Still asleep.”

Theo ran to his brother’s bunk. His door was locked and so Theo pounded on it.

“Hey Ravi. Hey! You awake?”

There was no answer and so Theo texted him.
Wake up. Come on. Wake up. Check the medical program.

Through the sleeping closet window, Theo saw his brother stand up and open the door. Ravi had blood running down his nose. He took a few steps out into the common room, lumbering with the grace of a punch-drunk middleweight about to take a tumble to the canvas.

“You look like hell,” Theo said.

“Thanks,” Ravi said. “I hadn’t bloody noticed.”

“I have great news,” Theo said.

“I already saw the Medical Program,” Ravi said.

“Then let’s go hunting,” Theo said.

“You’re not cured,” Ravi said. “You still have like eight million Yin-Yang Twins growing inside of you,” Ravi said.

“I know, but yesterday I had twelve million. The reduction has to be the silverflies. Maybe I’m just a crazy optimist with a silverfly stinger thing glowing from my hand, he thought, but there’s a connection, right? There has to be a connection.”

“It’s still not a cure. You’re not cured. None of us are cured!” Ravi was yelling and Theo got worried.

“It’s okay. Come on Ravi. It’s okay. This is very good news. Dad would call it an eradicating reduction, or something like that,” Theo said.

“Great. I’m doing back flips,” Ravi said dryly. “Can’t you tell?”

“Either the silverflies are the virus that kills the Yin-Yang Twins, or they harbor the virus that kills them or they’re some kind of medicine. Whatever they are, they’re helping us win the microscopic war,” Theo said.

“It’s still not a cure if you have millions of the Twins in your system and it’s already too late,” Ravi said.

“You’re all breathing, so it’s not too late.”

“It feels that way, like a ton of bricks on my chest and pounding in my ears and blood and snot are coming out my nose. Okay?”

Theo took his brother’s forearm, pulled him close. “Listen to me,” Theo said.

Ravi snapped his arm down in a chop. “How about you look at my medical program?”

“I have.”

”Don’t I have to face it? I’m going to go blind just like Sam? Don’t we all have to

face it?”

“It’s not a fait accompli,” Theo said.

“Screw the Latin,” Ravi said.

“I think the silverflies are what we were sent here to find,” Theo said.

“How do they work?”

“I don’t care and I really don’t know. The important fact is that our infection has

reduced drastically.”

“
Your
infection has reduced.
Not mine
.”

“Because you didn’t get stung by a silverfly and you didn’t eat some of it like Harry Wolf. I’m going hunting so we can get you healthy. Okay?”

“I can’t see well,” Ravi said, “so I can’t go.”

Theo held up three fingers on his left, crippled hand. “How many fingers do I have up?”

Ravi squinted a little. Sweat ran down his forehead.

“Two?”

“It’s going to be okay,” Theo said.

“Is it? I don’t bloody know anymore. I really don’t,” Ravi said.

“Come on out,” Theo said.

Ravi nodded and he and his brother walked to the main console.

“Last night,” Ellie began to say as she walked over to the computer console, “I had a breakthrough thought. What if we haven’t been looking in the right places? There’s always been something odd about the tectonics of this region, especially the Not So Grand Canyon. And so I did another cartographic analysis.”

On the console, she retrieved a map of the area.

“There’s always something odd about that stretch of land. The tectonics didn’t quite add up around Mount New Acadia and the Not So Grand Canyon. And now I think I understand what I was missing. And so I reviewed the chemical composition of the silverflies with hundreds of samples taken by our drone probes.”

“And?”

“I found that the area near this set of canyon hills has the highest concentration of alkaline and is the best match.”

“What kind of match?”

“A match with the silverfly composition,” Ellie answered. “And based upon this analysis, I have a theory. Actually, it’s more than a theory, it’s my firm belief that there is a vast subterranean terrain down there. And that’s where the silverflies live. That’s where water flows. Where life, here, developed and possibly still lives.”

“You mean caves?” Theo said.

“Yes. The data supports this assessment. Let me show you,” Ellie said as she sat down at the computer console and brought up a geothermal map of the area. It was shaded red, yellow and green.

She continued, “We know that we’ll find them where there’s a high concentration of silicon, methane and ammonia, which. The soil samples with the highest concentration of those chemicals was found at the base of Mount New Acadia.”

“You’re really sure of this?” Theo asked.

“Yes, the tectonic resonant imaging indicates this jagged edge is the beginning of a labyrinth of caves,” Ellie said. “Consider it the San Andreas fault crossed with the Carlsbad Caverns of this region. At least that’s what the data indicates.”

“But you could be wrong,” Ravi said.

“But she could be right,” Theo said.

“It’s a bloody shot in the dark,” Ravi said. “All of this has been.”

“Come on mutant,” Theo said. “I need –

“—what? What do you need? You’re cured. You don’t need anything!” Ravi shouted with all of his strength.

“Okay. First, I’m not cured. I’m on my way to expelling these little buggers to kingdom come. And second, mutant, I don’t want to do this alone. Okay?”

“So, you admit you need my help?”

“Yes,” Theo answered, “of course I need your help,” Theo said.

Ravi smiled. “It’s nice to hear you finally say it.”

“You are such a pest.”

“I know. Just try to swat me away,” Ravi said with a soft laugh…

“…and you keep coming back for more,” Theo added. “Dad and the big brains have already sent instructions on how to start the process and they’re working on a preliminary vaccine. But without more silverflies, we’re screwed.”

“How many do we need?” Ravi asked.

“As many as we can capture,” Theo said.

“Then what are we waiting for? Lets go,” Ravi said.

Theo took hold of his brother’s hand and stopped him.

“I’m going to give you the rest of the silverflies. You need rest.”

“I’m okay.”
“Buddy, you need to stay here. Protect the Pod. Work on a vaccine. Dad and his big brains will send instructions. Okay?”
“I will do what I can do to help,” Ravi said.

“We have an N of 2. Harry and me. We’re both getting better, and that’s enough evidence for me. You will get better, too. Okay?”

Ravi nodded.

Theo went to the remains of the silverfly. They were in a small bowl and they hadn’t changed, nor had they moved. By all measurements, the silverfly thing was dead
The group was left to wonder how quickly and how effectively the silver and black goo from the silverfly would help Ravi, the sickest of their group of Positives.

As the Pod door opened, Theo and Ellie stood for a moment before jumping down on the soil. They were ready to hunt and had packed a parachute pack as their primary accessory. It was folded neatly and strapped to Ellie’s shoulders. They also had a portable light, some water, their goggles and climbing ropes. Each had a taser gun strapped to their belts. And even if there were only six shots left between the two of them, they could officially be called alien hunters.

With his health nearly back to normal, Theo had a spring in his step.

“So,” Ellie sighed, “we have a plan that doesn’t include Charles Mingus or Charlie Parker or Ella Fitzgerald scatting and riffing?”

Theo grimaced. “I could tell you everything is figured out.”

“I gotcha,” Ellie said. “Let’s go play some free-jazz.”

Ravi looked at his brother with concern. “Be careful out there. Please,” Ravi said.

“No worries,” Theo said.

“None,” Ellie added.

“Seriously, be careful. And come back quickly,” Ravi said.

“You got it, mutant,” Theo added.

“With dozens of silverflies,” Ravi added.

“You want fries and a chocolate shake with that?” Theo added.

“Make it a silver one,” Ravi answered.

Theo and Ellie left the Escape Pod. Golden dust fell from the sky. The wind was swirling. They went to the storage area of the Pod and rolled the ATV out onto the flats of the campground area.

Theo and Ellie jumped on the ATV, fired up the engine and sped away in a cloud of GidX7 dust.

At full speed, off solar power, they made a speedy five minute trip trek over hill after small hill of the golden brown dust. When they got to the edge of the Not So Grand Canyon, they were within a hundred yards of the last known coordinates of the swarm of silverflies.

They had the coordinates from the geothermal and sedimentary soil analysis and zeroed in on a triangular opening in the folds of limestone rock.

Once they jumped off the ATV, Theo and Ellie hiked toward the highest plateau in the area where they had a three-hundred sixty-degree view of all the canyon cliffs around. There were folds of sandstone that rose and fell.

“We’re looking for an opening,” Theo said. “A hole. Anything unusual, especially something like a mighty rupture in the soil. Ms. Esparanza has been right about this place.”

“She knows it better than anyone,” Ellie said.

Once they reached the edge of the canyon cliff, they spotted a dark open hole carved into the canyon about twenty feet straight down. To reach it, they would need to rappel down.

“There it is,” Ellie said. “At least that’s what it looks like.”

“Within a stone’s throw of where you calculated,” Theo said.

“Isn’t it strange to think there’s an underground labyrinth right where our feet are now? Right where we stand there’s a tectonic rupture of epic proportions,” Ellie said.

They got their climbing gear ready. This was the location where they suspected the silverflies had flown into the previous night. They had speculated that it was an entrance to a subterranean set of caverns, just a theory, though one that was slightly more than an educated hunch.

The opening was a slice of darkness cutting a scar into the jagged canyon of limestone rock only about twenty feet from the top of the plateau they were standing on. The canyon floor was nearly a thousand feet down.

Theo pounded a climbing stake into the soil of the plateau. They could still see the reflection of the sun beaming from the Escape Pod’s solar panels nearly two miles away.

As Theo attached the climbing rope to the stake and slipped it through the clamp, he didn’t look down. He wasn’t afraid of heights. In fact, this was one of the endeavors he had been practicing since he could walk.

Facing the canyon wall, Theo rappelled down the twenty feet and paused his climb. He was dangling from the rope in front of the triangular opening that angled into the canyon wall. From Theo’s up close, personal and dangerous point of view, the hole did look like an entrance to the underground earth. How far and how deep it went was still a mystery. The hole was an uneven arch with a somewhat flat bottom.

Theo’s hand braced against the start of the arch. With the other he flicked on his helmet light. He could see into the hole and he could tell it was an opening, almost like a cave that widened out to a width that was nearly twice Theo’s size.

“Looks like it angles down into oblivion,” Theo said to Ellie through her Communication Device.

“It can’t go on forever,” Ellie replied on the voice-to voice setting.

Theo climbed into the small hole. He was on his knees. He shone the helmet light deep into the opening. It went straight down at a decline of about thirty degrees. It was dark and long and Theo could not see a bottom. It offered a natural shelter from the swirling dust. When it was safe he unclasped from the rappelling rope.

Theo heard Ellie on her communication device. It was set to local, voice-to-voice transmission.

“What did you find?” Ellie asked.

Theo spoke into his communication device. “It’s a cave. Just like you calculated. Appears solid and stable. Come on down!”

Ellie soon climbed down the role, facing the canyon wall. Her legs were firmly rooted into the smooth canyon wall and she quickly joined Theo in the narrow crawlspace. They left the climbing rope dangling against the sheer face of the canyon wall.

“A long time ago,” Ellie said, “when I was kind of intelligent and safe back on the Ark or even Odyssey, I would’ve said that venturing into a dark cave on a crazy alien planet is the stupidest thing to do.”

“And now?”

“Let’s go hunting,” Ellie said.

Theo kind of smiled, looking at Ellie with a touch of admiration.

“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

“Nothing.”

“Then stop looking at me like that,” Ellie said.

“You’re okay, you know that?”

“I know. Women are almost always tougher than men,” Ellie said.

“Oh really,” Theo said.

“Yeah, we were born to give birth to big headed babies. Do you know how much pain a mother has to endure to give birth?”

“Hadn’t given it much thought,” Theo answered.

“Well, maybe you should,” Ellie said as she dropped to her knees and followed Theo’s crawl. It was a slow moving dance. The crevice opening was too thin to travel otherwise.

After just a few crawls the passageway widened and rose in height. It was nearly twice as wide and twice as tall as what was behind them.

Theo and Ellie were finally able to stand up and walk normally. They were partially underground. A cliff overhang curved and welcomed them into the crevice.

Each step further into the space, they found that the air was cooling and getting damper. The cavern wall was moist, almost electric to the touch. It was like walking through a shrinking closet of limestone rock.

Twenty paces in there was still sunlight from above that was cascading in.

By forty paces in darkness started to engulf them and they were forced to switch on the portable light atop their goggles.

Sixty paces in and the rush of the outside wind softened.

The brief flicker from the strobe light weakened for a moment. The darkness of this underground maze was shrouded in an increasing dark gray. The climb through the crevice narrowed once again and they wedged their bodies sideways and again they were forced to shuffle sideways.

This terrain brought Theo and Ellie back to a more primitive mindset when man believed in the monstrous creatures hidden in the shadows of such places, back when man was a savage explorer. Now, Theo and Ellie were just hoping to find the silverflies hidden in the underground of this Mount New Acadia.

They continued on the path downward.

Gradually, the crevice widened and Theo and Ellie were able to walk side by side. The angle of decline also flattened out and soon they were marching on a fairly flat surface of hardened soil and rock.

There was little sound except the repetition of their own breathing and the faint trickle of liquid. It seemed to be running through the walls of this rupture in the land. Every few seconds the wind gurgled from above and occasionally swept in a dusting of soil.

They were tense and alert and cloaked in the shadows of this tectonic rupture in the canyon divide and soon the jagged opening joined as one above their head, forming a ceiling of the limestone rock.

The cool air perspired a damp tingle on the base of their necks. Little hairs sprung to attention as the passageway widened out.

They were in an oval cavern with stalactites dripping from the ceiling about twenty feet above them. Drops of cool sweat fell. The howl of a light wind was quietly singing. Darts of air pricked their skin and a current of the whisper rose through the hair on their head.

Theo and Ellie were surrounded by this unnatural wind. It still sounded like an infant cry, a shriek of intense pain. A cyclone of haunts and spooks surrounded them. It was not a very inviting gesture, as if the mountain were saying in its jagged and natural form: don’t come inside me; there is no refuge from the storm outside.

The main part of this cavern, however, was wide and inviting. The ceiling was high, at least twenty feet in most directions.

“I guess we can’t judge a hole in this earth by its initial size,” Ellie said.

“Exactly.”

Theo kept walking then paused when he noticed that Ellie was no longer two steps behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Ellie was focused on an atmospheric reading on her atmospheric sensor.

“You okay there?”

“Sure. Sure. Loving this. Totally loving this. You know we’re just canaries in a coal mine, don’t you?”

“It’s methane, right?” Theo said.

“Yeah, pretty deadly and explosive mixture,” Ellie said. “One spark will do it, so no shooting your taser or lighting a match. Or we’ll both be blown to kingdom come.”

Before they said another word, a familiar shrieking overwhelmed the cave. They were getting close to the silverflies, but given the cavernous echo it was hard to pinpoint their location.

“Now that’s the sound I wanted to hear,” Theo said.

“How are we going to do this?”

“The parachute,” Theo answered.

“Right,” Ellie said, “That’s the strongest inorganic material we brought with us. Smart.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Theo said, noticing Ellie’s apprehension.

“Sure. Sure. Everything is karmically falling into place. Life down here is just a walk in the park, right?”’

“Right.”

Ellie and Theo scanned left and right. Each of their lights stopped on separate offshoot passageways, almost like inviting tunnels beckoning them to explore.

From this small oval cavern, there were three passageways, shooting off at sharp angles into narrow crevices. There was a regularity to the size of each of the passageways. Each was around teen feet high and perfectly cylindrical, almost like subway drainpipes. It was as if the walls had been worn down by another surface, perhaps running water.

“These tunnels are almost identical,” Ellie observed. “Very strange.”

“Stop spooking yourself,” Theo said.

Ellie snapped back. “I’ve studied too many caves to know they are never exactly alike. What’s your theory?”

“Unusually perfect erosion caused by an unidentified source,” Theo answered.

“I don’t like unidentified sources,” Ellie said.

“Neither do I.”

They walked into the passageway on the left.

On the ground, they spotted a collection of silver and black goo from the silverflies. It was splattered around in a couple of small clusters.

“Time to taste your medicine,” Theo said.

“Is it safe?”

“Harry Wolf sucked the thing down in two gulps and he’s doing better than ever.”

“True,” Ellie said reluctantly, “but I’m not a dog.”

“Come on, what are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know. It just looks like…well…it looks like…

“Silverfly medicine,” Theo said.

“Goo-poo,” Ellie said with a nervous laugh.

“Close your eyes and pretend you’re eating a virtual steak. Okay? Or the best virtual pizza you’ve ever had.”

Ellie dabbed her finger into the silver goo and then placed it on her tongue. She sucked it down. Theo took a small sample and swallowed it down too.

“Yuck,” Ellie said.

“I know. Nasty and acidic, but at least it’s better than cough syrup. You should take more,” Theo suggested.

Ellie cupped her hand and scooped up a large pile of the silver goo on the ground. She closed her eyes and sucked it into her mouth and swallowed.

“So disgusting! Am I going to pass out like you?”

“I don’t know,” Theo shrugged. “Maybe you need to be stung for that happen.”

Theo shone the portable light down to the ground a few steps ahead of his current position. He and Ellie both bent down to the ground, each on one knee.