The Caverns of Mare Cetus (45 page)

   "Rene," said Arielle. "Trent's telling you the truth. I read it too. It's a poem. Kind of quaint if you ask me, but then no one's asking. I kinda' like—
For it is pale, the valley, its time grows near."

   "You're telling me you don't see a BIO?"

   Arielle shook her head, then nodded, then abruptly shook her head again.

   "Does that mean—yes, you do, or no, you don't?" asked Renata, irritation in her voice.

Arielle shook her head once more. "No. No. I don't see a BIO."

"Edison!" exclaimed Renata. "Come over here."

   Edison hurried over to them, Richelle by his side. "What's up?" he asked. "Is another com coming through?"

   Renata handed him the Vimap. "Tell me what you see."

   He looked at it for a moment. "A poem. It's a poem. I don't like poems, but that's just me. Organized confusion in my opinion."

   "Give me that." She snatched the Vimap from his hands and looked at it again. She saw Devon's BIO—bold and bright—nothing else. "There's no damn poem here. You three are fucking with me, aren't you?"

   "Rene," said Trent, putting his hands out toward her. "You don't look like you're feeling well. I think you're having delusions."

   "Trent's right," said Arielle. "There's nothing on that screen but a poem."

   "Let me see that thing," said Richelle, suddenly grabbing the Vimap from Renata's hands. She stepped back as Renata stepped toward her. "I won't try to break it, I promise." She looked at the screen and began reading. "Devon Victoria Snow, 5 Generation Mendrax, Born, Baykonyr, Kazakhstan, January 20, 2141. Say—did you know I was born in Russia?"

   "You can see the BIO?" asked Renata in shock.

   Richelle nodded. "So, what's the big deal?" She handed the Vimap back to Renata.

   "Rene," said Trent. "What happened to Richelle might be happening to you too. You're seeing things that aren't there."

   "The hell I am! You're telling me Richelle and I are seeing exactly the same thing on that screen, while you three see a poem? How can we both be having the same exact delusion? That's crazy!" She reached into her jacket and pulled out the Iravano. She pointed it at Trent. "Get back. Stay away from me."

   "Rene!" cried Arielle. "What are you doing?"

   She pointed the gun at Arielle. "You three. You're in some kind of conspiracy together. You've been using some kind of drug on me. And you used it on Richelle."

   "Exactly," said Richelle. "They've been drugging me."

   "Rene!" exclaimed Arielle, stepping back with Trent and Edison. "You're talking crazy. I would never do anything to harm you. You know that."

   "I don't know what I know anymore," said Renata as she began slowly moving the gun between the three. "Trent. Release Richelle."

   "What?" he exclaimed.

   "Release her!" ordered Renata. "Now!"

   "Don't do that," said Edison. "Don't you remember what she did to you?"

   "Release her now," said Renata, changing her aim to Edison. "I will pull this trigger."

   Trent entered a code into his Vimap, and the handcuffs fell off Richelle's wrists. She began rubbing them together.

   "Richelle," said Renata. "Over by me. Take my electra out of my pocket."

   Arielle gasped. "Rene! Don't let her have that."

   Renata pointed the gun at Arielle. "Shut up!"

   "Renata," said Edison. "You're not thinking right. You don't know what you're doing."

   "Can it," said Renata.

   Richelle began feeling Renata's pockets. "Which one? Oh. Here it is." She took it out of Renata's left pocket and pointed it at the three. "What are we going to do with them?"

   "I don't know," said Renata.

   Edison began slowly moving his right hand toward his jacket pocket.

   "Put your hands down," said Richelle as she aimed the electra at him. "Keep your hands at your sides."

   He dropped his hands to his sides.

   "Good girl," said Renata. "I can't believe what they've been doing to you. I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. Damn, my face feels dirty." She put her Vimap in her pocket and pulled the cloth out. She began wiping her face with her right hand as she kept the pistol aimed with her other.

   "That's okay," said Richelle. "I'm sorry I called you a bitch. It's not your fault. It's the drugs they've been giving you that made you act like something was stuck up your ass."

   Renata glanced at Richelle. "Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically. She slipped the cloth in her pocket, then focused her attention on the three, increasingly worried one of them was going to make a move.

   As they began to plead with Renata to put down the gun, she tried to block them out—she couldn't believe their audacity
. Even Arielle
was involved. They had been screwing with Richelle and her since the
beginning of the trip. It was some kind of psychological experiment. And
Devon and Hunter had been in on it too. The whole Mendrax thing was
a farce. What had Devon actually done? She was a walking medical
analyzer, and most of what she told Renata could have been accessed on
the Vimap. The rest was bullshit. For all she knew now, Hunter and the
others were sitting safely in some room on the surface of the planet,
watching what was taking place—and probably laughing. How could
she have been such a fool? Trent was right. Richelle and Isis were the keys.
But Isis must have found out what they were
doing.
That's why they killed
her. They staged the Kalo malfunction, just as Trent had told her, and
Trent and Garrett killed Isis. Poor, poor girl. And Garrett must have
dumped Danielle's body in the underwater passage, knowing Renata
would find it. As she thought about it, just about everything seemed to
have happened to her. Who did the Kalo grab? Who was forced to take
command? Who was in command when the lights went out? Who was
singled out by Devon? Who found the body in the water? It was some
goddamn psychological experiment, and she and Richelle were the lab
rats. She had an urge to shoot them all right now, one by one. They had
put her through a hellish nightmare from which she would never recover.

   Renata took the cloth out of her pocket again and wiped her forehead.

   "Come with me," said Richelle. "We can get out of here together. Let's just leave them here."

   "No," said Renata. "They need to confess. They're going to confess." She stepped up to Trent and put the gun to his head. "This is your last chance. Tell me what you've been doing to me, or I'm going to shoot you."

   "N-n-nothing," said Trent, his body shaking, sweat streaming down his face. "Think about it, Rene. If we've been drugging you, how is it I got knifed by the Kalo?"

   "Because that never really happened," said Renata, glancing at his bandaged hand. "You staged that. Just like you staged the malfunction on Kalo Two to kill Isis."

   Arielle gasped. "Rene! What are you saying?"

   "I'm on to you, you know. I know why you didn't find any blood on the Kalo. It's because you wanted to frame Richelle."

   "Yeah," added Richelle. "You got it, Rene. They wanted to frame me."

   "You programmed the Kalo to chop Isis up so they'd cart Miss Loony Tunes off to an asylum. Then you'd have only me to dispose of. Tell me, how were you planning on doing it?"

   "Rene," said Arielle. "Listen to what you're saying. You're not making any sense."

   "Come on," said Trent. "I didn't kill Isis, I didn't program the Kalo to chop her up, and I would never hurt you. I'm telling you, you're having some kind of delusion."

   "Hey," said Edison. "You're right. I did see the BIO on Devon. You're right. We have been drugging you. It's all out now."

   "Jesus Christ," bemoaned Trent. "I know what you're doing, but your timing is horrible."

   Renata stepped back and aimed the gun at Edison. "I ought to make you first for trying to trick me into letting you go. I know damn well you haven't been drugging me—I mean, you have been drugging me. But I know you're not the brains behind the operation."

   "Let's get out of here," said Richelle. She tugged on Renata's sleeve. "While we can."

   "Rene!" sobbed Arielle. "I'm begging you. Please put down the gun. Something's happened to you. We haven't done anything to you. I swear. You know I've never lied to you—ever. If you're going to kill someone, then you have to kill me first, and you have to look me in the eyes when you do it."

   "Rene," said Richelle. "What are you thinking? You aren't going to really kill them, are you? This is an execution."

   "You didn't seem to have any problem threatening to execute me when you were off your rocker," said Renata. "If you want to live— get out of this nightmare, just keep your gun pointed on them and your mouth shut."

"This isn't right," said Richelle. "This isn't right."

   Renata stepped up to Arielle and placed the barrel of the gun beneath her chin. Renata's hand was trembling; tears were welling in her eyes. "Ari. You know I don't want to do this. For God's sake, please tell me what you've done to me!"

   Arielle's entire body was shaking; tears were streaming down her face. She began gasping for breath. "I haven't done anything to you. I swear. I love you, Rene. I love you so much. I know you love me too." She bit her lower lip as more tears raced down her face. "If you do this now, you'll never be able to live with yourself." She tried to smile. "And I won't be able to either."

   Suddenly everything went black.

*****

   When Renata woke, she was lying on the ground on her back, the back of her head throbbing in pain. She sat up and immediately realized her right hand was cuffed to Richelle's left hand.

   "Good morning, love," said Richelle who was sitting up. "Have a nice nap? You're a restless sleeper, you know that? Sorry I had to knock you on the head, but I couldn't let you kill your friend in cold blood. What she said just about broke my heart."

   Anger flared in Renata's eyes. "You hit me on the head? What's wrong with you? Don't you realize what they're doing to us?" She rubbed the back of her head with her hand, feeling a knot. "You stupid witch."

   Richelle pulled Renata toward her with her cuffed hand. "There's still a spot of dirt on your nose. Hold still." She brought a wet cloth to Renata's nose, wiping it, then she wiped both of her cheeks. "That's better. Such a pretty girl."

   Arielle stooped in front of Renata. She was holding out a cup of water in her trembling hand. "Here. I've brought you some water."

   Renata knocked it away with her free hand. "Get away from me. You're trying to poison me now."

   Trent sat down cross-legged in front of Renata, and Arielle sat beside him, laying her head on Trent's shoulder, her cheeks and eyes reddened from tears. Edison stood behind them, looking down on Renata and Richelle.

   Trent sighed deeply, then tears started to fall from his eyes. He placed his right hand over his mouth, his fingers covering his nose. "I am so sorry we ever came here," he said, his words choked. "I have lost my friend, Hunter—and now I'm losing you, too. I've spent the last hour trying everything I can to find out what's happened to you and Richelle. I've scanned these passages with every conceivable program we can come up with."

   "Bullshit!" said Renata. "You know exactly what you've done to me."

   He took deep breath, fighting back his tears. "I want my girl back. We all want her back. And we want you back too, Richelle. You were right, Richelle. There's something in the brain scans."

   Arielle sat up straight. "We ran neural scans on both of you while you were out. Dozens of them. And they show that both of you have significant holes in your neural networks—the Tural error. But it's not a neurasilica error. We're sure of that now. The holes are real. You're experiencing B neuron flushes. Your brains are shortcircuiting. Rene, you have over thirty spikes on your scans now. Richelle, you have nearly twenty-five."

   Renata spit on the ground by her feet. "Will you finish this nonsense already so you can kill us."

   "They're going to torture us first," said Richelle. "I think they're going to saw off our fingers, one by one." She held up her right hand and lowered her fingers, one after the next, until she had made a fist. "Then they'll go to our toes."

   Both women scooted back until their backs hit the cavern wall.

   Arielle put a hand over her eyes in dismay.

   "It's a dementia," said Trent. "No doubt about it." Edison leaned over and dropped four OPP tablets into Trent's hand. "We're already on these things. Have been for ten minutes. It's actually Edison's idea." He looked directly at Renata's face. "After you just about scared Arielle to death, she had another asthma attack. We had to give her two more OPPs."

   "What you did to me was rotten," said Richelle. "I was only trying to help her, and you stunned me with my own gun."

   "Don't blame me," said Edison. "You pulled the trigger when I tried to get it away from you."

   "You're pretty lucky the electra misfired," said Trent, looking up at Edison. "That rarely happens with electras. Both of you are damn lucky."

   "Back to the point," said Arielle, appearing annoyed.

   Trent continued. "After you and Edison were knocked out by the electra's misfire, we woke him up and…"

   "You didn't wake me," interrupted Richelle. "How come you didn't wake me?"

   "Shut up," said Arielle.

   "We started comparing our experiences in the caverns," said Trent, "and came to realize Arielle seemed to be having the fewest problems with her thinking. We went through some logic tests on the Vimap and found out Edison and I were scoring pretty poorly in some areas we should have had no problems with, while Arielle did much better. Then we ran some neural scans and noticed Arielle had the fewest spikes."