Season of Passage, The (29 page)

her head. Her suit was intact and she was breathing normal y, but she was unconscious, and he couldn't wake her. Lauren said she would come.

Jim said something else as she got up but his remark was lost in the growing static. Lauren thought he might have used the word pushed.

Lauren turned on her headlamp, out of necessity, and began to trace her friends' steps at a brisk pace. It took her only a few minutes to reach

Hummingbird. The craft appeared undamaged. She tried contacting Jim but couldn't get him. She briefly contemplated flying Hummingbird inland to

where Jessica lay injured. Then she vetoed the idea, remembering that Ivan might have Bil 's laser. If he did, it would be a snap for him to blow her

out of the air. Damn the president, she thought, for giving them such dangerous weapons. They would have been better off with nothing.

Jim's markers were readily visible, eerie X's of phosphorescence. She scuttled from one to the next with her head low and her legs bent, like an

animal on the prowl. But who was chasing after whom? Her every step generated a trail of false echoes, creating the il usion that she was being

fol owed. Perhaps because she was so thirsty, she suddenly felt dizzy. She had felt the same way aboard the Gorbachev, just before making Carl's

acquaintance. She didn't like it. The funny thoughts came into her head, the thoughts that were more like whispers in a dream, a very bad dream

that was taking her forever to wake up from. Or maybe she was just talking to herself, and that was al there was to it. She had to talk to somebody.

She could see it now. The papers would say what a brave woman she had been. She went to Mars and never returned. She left behind one darling

sister and one lovely fianc6. A sad tale but true, and the later expeditions never found her body.

Lauren reached the hil s Jim had mentioned. Here the ground lost it hard smoothness, becoming rough and brittle in texture. She tried her radio

again. 'Jim? Jim?' There was no response, and the silence made her worry, boy did it make her worry.

She plowed forward. The ground rose gradual y at first, and then began to seesaw sharply. Aiming her lamp upward, she realized she had moved

beneath an overhang of rock. She tried to convince herself that was the reason Jim couldn't hear her, but since he hadn't heard her before, when

there was nothing overhead, she doubted she was on the right track.

Ivan couldn't have gotten him. I was just talking to him.

Lauren slowed her pace a notch as the ground became extremely uneven. She should have slowed down a couple of notches. A few seconds later

the ground disappeared altogether beneath her left foot as she tripped into a smal hole. She hit the ground with both hands outstretched and thus

saved her faceplate from damage. But her left leg twisted out at an awkward angle and she heard an ugly pop in her knee. A burning liquid

sensation throbbed through her calf and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. She climbed to her feet careful y. She suspected that she

had torn her cartilage, and maybe even injured one of the ligaments in the knee. Walking was barely tolerable, but she kept going, al the while

cursing the planet. It wasn't fair, she thought. Just when she needed al her strength, Mars had to slip a hole under her foot. It was almost as if the

place, as wel as Ivan, was after her.

Oh, Lori.

Lauren whirled and snapped up the laser. But no one was there; no one ever was. It was just like the Gorbachev and the Karamazov al over again.

Invisible corpses and zombies cal ing to her between her ears, where they had no right to be. A second wave of dizziness swept over her. For a

moment she feared the light atop her helmet was failing, for it flickered. But perhaps it was her eyes that were the

problem, she could not be sure. She wished she could remove her helmet for a moment to rub them. They seemed to be reflecting on her faceplate

inside her helmet; she would have liked to have rubbed the glass as wel . Just to be sure it wasn't Carl's eyes she was seeing again. Yes, Lori,

wouldn't that be amazing. We could rub our special parts together and enjoy every inch of our duty. Surely that wouldn't make us evil.

Lauren came to a pond. Focusing her helmet light on the water, she noticed that, although the bedrock was clearly visible near the edge of the

pond, it dropped off sharply only a short distance out. The pond must be deep.

What is that?

Lauren took a step closer to the water, and as she did so, she listened closely. Tiny ripples had begun to arise on the surface of the pond, and she

was hoping that a breeze was causing them. But of course she didn't hear any breeze because she was miles under the ground. Something else

must be causing the ripples.

Something beneath the surface of the pond.

Lauren slowly began to back away from the water's edge. It wasn't fair. She didn't want to die. Not in this hel . Anywhere but here. The planet was

supposed to be uninhabited. Everyone knew that. The best scientists on Earth had written books about how total y uninhabited Mars was. She had

read their books. Yet there was only one thing wrong with those scientists. They had never been to Mars.

Something beneath the surface began to splash loudly.

Lauren turned and ran.

It wasn't fair. She tripped in another hole.

A spray of water erupted at her back, as a creature quick and terrible emerged from the cold wel . Lauren froze -for a split second - and then leapt

to her feet. But she

jumped up without first figuring out what she wanted to do. For starters she tried to flee, but her injured knee buckled after only half a dozen steps

and down she went again. Even in her extreme terror, she quickly realized she was not going to be able to outrun it. Without looking, she could hear

it coming, coming fast.

Yes, Lori.

Frantical y Lauren moved up onto her good knee and pivoted her body, bringing the muzzle of the laser to bear while simultaneously reaching for

the trigger. But then Mars itself betrayed her again. The rifle weighed thirty pounds on Earth, but only ten on Mars. The mass, however, and

therefore the inertia, was unaffected by which planet the weapon was on. The laser might have felt light, but it was in reality stil a respectable chunk

of electronic gadgetry. As she spun around, she generated enough momentum to swing her wel past her target. In fact she spun almost an

additional half circle around before she could stop herself. As a result she placed her back directly in the path of her assailant. Before she could

straighten out, a wet and powerful arm wrapped around her neck.

'Jim!' she screamed.

The arm tightened and lifted her off the ground. Lauren pounded wildly with her fists. It was dragging her toward the pond. Cal ing upon every

muscle in her body, she yanked herself to the side. Its grip was awesome, impossible. She didn't budge an inch.

'Kil you!' she cried. 'I'l kil you!'

Her laser swung freely at her side. If she had but a few inches, she could revolve it around and fire. She kicked at the ground, arched her back, and

swung with her elbows. She accomplished nothing. It wrapped a second arm around her. It could have whispered in her ear. Suddenly she knew its

purpose. It was going to drag her into the water

and hold her head under the black surface until the cold penetrated her brain and poisoned her mind. Then she would be just like it was. Just like

Carl.

They were almost there. Lauren heard splashes. Time to swim. Just the two of us, naked together, Lori.

'No!' Lauren screamed.

Abruptly the grip loosened, as the creature stumbled on the underlying bedrock. Lauren heaved to the side. Incredibly, she broke free.

'Bastard!' she cursed.

Lauren dashed from the pond, water spraying her faceplate. But in her hurry, she failed to establish her balance properly, and stumbled once more.

Passionate claws chased after her. Wait, Lori. Let's talk. Let's discuss. I love you, Lori.

She was learning. She was going to run no further, and she was not going to lose her balance again. Careful y rotating through a half-kneeling

position, she brought up the laser. She took quick aim. She was barely in time. The creature's fingers were reaching for the tip of the muzzle when

she pul ed the trigger.

There was a blinding explosion. The shock of it threw Lauren to the ground, where the top of her helmet hit a rock. For a minute she lay dazed,

pulsating spots of gray and brown clouding her vision. When she tried to sit up, her head sagged on her shoulders as if her neck had turned to putty.

There was red everywhere. At first, she attributed the color to the shock her eyes had received with the firing of the laser. But then she blinked a few

times, and the red became clearer. She was a doctor. It shouldn't have mattered that the red was blood - splattered everywhere. But al her training

had not prepared her for what she saw.

Because the human body was mostly water, the laser beam had vaporized the liquid within his midsection, which is where she had been aiming

when she pul ed the trigger. The pressure of the steam had caused a violent internal explosion and torn him into two gaping sections, and a number

of smal er pieces; there was seared flesh al over the entire area. Stil , Lauren had seen some pretty messy bodies in her days at the hospital. She

might have held on if her lamp had not accidental y flickered onto the edge of the pond, and revealed his faceplate. His head and face were stil

there, clearly visible atop a mound of dripping white ribs and spongy pink lungs. His skin was stil pale and his lips stil red. But it was just too much,

too much by about sixty mil ion miles, that Ivan was stil grinning at her. Lauren fainted.

She could hear someone cal ing her name from far away. It didn't sound like anyone she knew. It was probably a policeman. Over here, officer. She

remembered being in a terrible accident. I'm in the bushes, officer. She remembered blood, everywhere. She opened her eyes and winced as a

bright light stung them.

'Please help me, sir,' she whispered.

'It's Jim, Lauren.' He knelt by her side. 'Everything's al right. You kil ed him.'

Lauren sat up slowly. One glance at the pond was more than enough to bring back the attack. She felt sick to her stomach.

Would someone please close his eyes.

'He won't be bothering us anymore,' Jim said.

She looked away. "That's for damn sure.'

'Are you hurt? Is your suit damaged?'

'I'm fine.' Jim helped her to her feet, and her left knee reminded her that she was not perfectly fine. The joint felt like burning mush. 'Where's Jessie?'

she asked.

'I left her where she fel . I couldn't raise you on the radio,

and you were taking so long to reach us. Then I heard an explosion and raced here.' He hugged her. 'I don't think I've ever been so glad to see

someone in my entire life. I take it Ivan attacked you?'

'Yes.' She shivered. 'But let's talk about it later. Let's get Jessie. I hate the thought of her lying out there al alone. Even with Ivan dead.'

'I know what you mean,' he said.

Jim carried her laser, and offered his arm for support. Jessica was half a mile away, and Lauren limped the whole way. The terrain continued to

climb, and the number of ponds and pits only increased. Jim thought the hil s had been created by recent volcanic activity. He cal ed them an

afterthought.

Jessica was not alone in the crevice when they reached her. Her husband knelt by her side. He stood quickly at their approach.

'Bil !' Lauren exclaimed.

'Man, are you OK?' Jim cried.

They climbed into the wide crack in the ground. Their commander greeted them quickly and efficiently, as though nothing extraordinary had

happened - the same old Bil . Of course, he was concerned about his wife. He wanted to know what had happened to her. While Jim explained the

situation, including Ivan's attack, Lauren gave Jessica a brief examination. She said she wasn't bleeding and nothing appeared to be broken.

However, she had an ugly bruise on her forehead and her breathing was not normal; it was definitely slow and shal ow. Lauren feared she had

suffered a serious concussion, and was now slipping into a coma. Lauren told Bil the bad news and he took his wife's hand and placed his left

palm on the top of her helmet. Almost immediately Jessica's eyes opened.

So much for my diagnosis.

'Don't touch me,' Jessica whispered.

'Jessie,' Lauren said loudly. 'It's us. Stay awake. Bil 's here.'

A slow smile fil ed Jessica's face. 'You got away, Wil iam.'

Bil helped her up and Jessica hugged him. The enemy was dead, and her friends were alive. Lauren began to relax. They had been lucky, she

thought, very lucky.

Bil related his story. As they had surmised, Ivan had surprised him from behind and pushed him in the water. The water didn't harm his suit, but

when he climbed back on the shore and tried to shoot Ivan, his laser was dead. The liquid must have got into the electronics. Ivan wasn't through.

He attacked Bil again, and he was fierce, and remarkably strong. He tried to rip off Bil 's oxygen tanks, and Bil was barely able to escape in one

piece. But he had nowhere to flee except inland. It was his hope to lure Ivan away from Hummingbird, and then circle around and leave in the

hovercraft. Unfortunately, without visible landmarks, he got lost in the dark. He had been wandering around for what seemed an eternity when he

chanced upon Jessica.