The Caverns of Mare Cetus (48 page)

   "I had a rough childhood, okay? I don't want to get into it."

   "Rough is right," said Ramon. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

   "Why?" she asked. "You didn't do it."

   "I didn't mean to laugh. I don't want you to take me wrong. I joke about a lot of things, but physical violence against women—that's not one of them. I'd like to wring the necks of the mothers who did that to you."

   Devon sighed. "You know, honestly, that's kind of ironic."

   "I don't care who you are, stabbing you to watch you bleed is barbaric. And the thought of you being attacked as a child makes my blood boil. Let me tell you, those types of things rarely happen on Novia. That's one reason I left Earth. Stay here. Don't go back."

   She gave Ramon an unassuming smile. "It comforts me to know you feel that way."

   Hunter was horrified with where the conversation had gone. No matter who this woman was, the thought of anyone hurting her made his stomach turn. "Look. I want to apologize for kissing you. Knowing all that's happened to you—I feel like a louse for doing that."

   "Why? You couldn't have known."

   Hunter leaned forward and put a consoling hand on her shoulder. "We still need to run a Mediprog on you. Just as a precaution, okay? You've lost a lot of blood." He had her turn around, and he placed the Vimap against her back. When the scan had finished, he had to stifle a cry of both astonishment and horror.

   "Well?" she asked.

   Hunter shook his head. "This can't be right. Let me run another scan."

   Ramon came over to Hunter as he ran the scan.

   "Well?" she asked again.

   Ramon's eyes opened wide. "Ay, Dios mío!

   "This just can't be right," said Hunter. "Something's wrong with the program."

   She turned around, her eyebrows narrowing, her lips pulling back in a frown. "Well? What is it?"

   "It says you have a broken neck," said Hunter, scratching his head. "That can't be right."

   She put her hands on her neck and began feeling her spine as she turned her head to the right, then left, several times.

   "And it says you've lost over 54 percent of your blood volume."

   "That I can believe, but I can't," said Ramon, looking at the floor. "But the neck…"

   "It's a clean break," said Hunter. "Between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. It says your spinal cord is severed. But that just can't be."

   She continued to probe her neck with her fingers. "Yes. I've verified it now. But that's kind of funny. Not even knowing I broke my neck."

   Ramon suddenly backed away from her. "She is a robot! She has to be! No one can lose that much blood and have a broken neck and do what she's doing."

   "What am I doing?" she asked. She stood up and stretched her arms, yawning.

   "Uh, by the way," said Hunter. "The radius on your left arm has a slight fracture as well."

   She held up her left arm and wiggled her fingers. "Hmmm. Didn't pick up that one either. I have to recalibrate."

   "There it is again!" exclaimed Ramon. He shook his finger at her. "She just said recalibrate. She's a synthetic. She has to be. We're at risk even being with her."

   "Christ. You men are so irrational sometimes. Quit reading into everything I say. That's just DRAX."

   "Scan her again, will you?" asked Ramon in an anxious voice. "At the very least she has to be part robotic."

   "Calm down," said Hunter. "There's nothing robotic inside of her. The Mediprog would have picked it up if there was."

   "Not if she's using a screen to block the scan," said Ramon.

   "There was certainly nothing synthetic about her kiss," said Hunter, smirking. "I know a woman when I kiss one. Trust me."

   "We have to get out of here," she said. "Which way?" She pointed at a passage, then another.

   As Hunter began calling to Renata on his com, Ramon stopped him.

   "They're not working, señor." He stood up. "I tried the coms while she was doing whatever she did to you. I called out too, but I think we're too far down for them to hear us. Besides, how are they going to help us anyway? You two realize why we're alive, don't you?"

   "Because we didn't fall down the shaft," said Hunter.

   "We didn't?" asked Devon.

   "No," said Ramon. "Tuvimos suerte. Muy afortunado. There was a pipe—hidden at the base of the ledge. We fell on the ledge and bounced into that pipe. Don't you remember? It was like tumbling down a giant melondite-covered slide. I think this shit saved our lives." He pointed at the masses of melondite nodules that were all around them, thousands and thousands of them, covering the floor, the walls, almost every exposed surface.

   Hunter nodded as he took his KSDM out of his pocket. As he scanned the local area to generate a map, he remembered smashing his head against the rocks after losing his hardhat during the fall. Certainly that's where he got the skull fracture. He looked at Devon. The poor girl looked completely baffled, like she had no idea how lucky they had been. Still, he owed his life to her. He was certain of that too.

   Hunter walked over to the pipe and looked up. Though it was a slide, it was still a very steep one. "Well, there's no way we can scale this thing." He turned toward them. "So we have to try one of these. The left passage heads up for about two hundred meters, then levels out. The right one goes down—we don't want that." He pointed to the left passage, a nondescript, rounded, wide tube.

   On Ramon's suggestion, they went through their backpacks and threw out everything they felt was unnecessary, then began hiking, walking slowly for a time, hardly a word being spoken. When they reached the section of the passage that leveled out, the melondite clusters suddenly disappeared, as if they had come to the end of a rolled-out carpet.

   "Who are you?" asked Hunter.

   "What are you doing here?" asked Ramon.

   "Listen, guys," she said. "You know too much about me already."

   "Come on," said Ramon. "How can you deny us? It isn't everyday we can claim to have walked with a woman who has a broken neck."

   Hunter reached out and slapped Ramon's hardhat.

   "Listen," said Ramon, giving Hunter the eye. "I promise anything you tell us will stay here." He motioned a zipper across his lips. "Right, Hunter?"

   "Of course," said Hunter.

   "Like tell me how I can be walking on a broken leg. What did you do that makes this possible?" He patted his right thigh.

   "I said I didn't fix it. It's still broken."

   "But it's a bad break. How are the muscles, tendons, and ligaments still working properly with the way it's broken?"

   "They're electro-chemical, aren't they? So am I. Isn't that answer enough?"

   "Wait, wait, wait," said Ramon. "That doesn't explain anything…"

   "Look," she said. "Do you want to know something about me, or do you want to continue talking about yourself?"

   Ramon grew quiet.

   "I'm not a lesbian as you implied before, Ramon. You may think I am, but I'm not."

   "Hey," said Ramon. "I never said that. I think Edison said that. He's completely out in left field, right Hunter?"

   Hunter didn't answer. He was thinking about his kiss with Devon. Despite her anger after the kiss, the way she had first responded to him was passionate. She wanted him to kiss her. He was sure of that.

   "On the other hand," she said, "don't go falling in love with me, okay? That wouldn't be a good idea."

   "What brings that up?" asked Hunter, startled from his daydream. "Did you just read my thoughts?"

   "No. I can't do that. Why does everyone think I can do that? And what were you thinking anyway?" She suddenly seemed nervous. "Look. Are you two going to let me speak or not?"

   "Go ahead," said Hunter as he checked out the map on the KSDM. "Take the passage to the right. It looks like it continues up a ways."

   "Okay. I was born in Baykonyr, Kazakhstan. Let's see. I didn't live there long. I lived in Russia for a short time, then my parents immigrated to America. I came out from Earth about two months ago, Novian months that is. A Novian month is twenty Novian days, isn't it?"

   "Two months?" asked Hunter. "Your BIO says you came out a year ago."

   "Must be a mistake then." She held up two fingers. "Two months, that's it. Say. Why are there so many women on Novia? I didn't expect that, not that it bothers me, well actually it does bother me. Someone told me that 58 percent of Novians are women."

   "Doesn't bother me," said Ramon. "That's the other reason I came out here…"

   "As for the trip from Earth, I didn't like it. I don't understand that slipping-through-doors technology that allows us to move between Earth and Novia like that."

   "Well," said Hunter, "it's not really a door, but it's…"

   "Frankly, it made me sick. I threw up a lot after I came through. Is that normal? After I got my stomach back, I had this unreal craving for a Reuben. Did you know I love Reuben sandwiches? Love Swiss cheese too. I don't like anchovies on my pizza, which is one of my favorite foods. In fact, I don't like any of the dried fish at all. I came here for my Sister. But now that I've found her, I have to find her again."

   "Sister?" asked Hunter.

   "I usually like my hair long and my nails painted." She held out her hands for them.

   "Sweet color," said Ramon. "Maroon is cool. Arielle wears it a lot."

   "Get your eyes checked, Ramon. That's cherry red. Rene wears that color—that is when she dusts her nails."

   "No, you get your eyes checked," said Ramon. "They're maroon…"

   "Sometimes I like to be a blonde," said Devon as her voice picked up speed, "but it depends on my mood. I like wearing long black dresses and high-heeled shoes now and then. I haven't been to many places on Novia. I love nature. Adore flowers. Love animals. The life forms on Novia are absolutely fascinating, but some of them are really bizarre. I'll never get used to seeing trees with orange wood and blue leaves. That's crazy. Don't you think?"

   "Uh…" started Ramon.

   "Falling in love with me isn't a good idea as I said. It's also not a good idea to cross me. You know about that already. I basically have this thing with Richelle. She pushes me away, and because of that she draws me toward her." She sighed deeply. "That is so typical. I'm not sure about her yet, but I have my suspicions. Actually, I think I am sure. I think she's able to transform. Novia isn't going to like that, anymore than they're going to like finding out about me…"

   "Transform?" asked Ramon. "What's that?"

   "Just what is a Mendrax?" asked Hunter at the same time. "What's this about the Novian government?"

   She continued rattling. "I didn't do anything to Richelle in the passage, even if Rene thinks so. You might think I hate men, but I don't. I like dancing and I love jewelry. Do you like my earrings?" She slanted her head toward her left shoulder and pulled back her hair from her right ear.

   Ramon looked at Devon's dangling earrings, then sent Hunter a look of bewilderment who returned it in kind.

   "Did I tell you falling in love with me isn't a good idea? Oh, yeah, I did. Garrett was supposed to protect me, but I actually think he ran away from me. I think I upset him. You know, I wouldn't be here except for my Sister. I think Rene's going to make a great Sister, don't you?" She glanced between both of them, waiting for their response.

   They both nodded but again looked at each other with bewilderment. At once they both blurted out questions, but Devon was already back on her way.

   "Rene's bright. She's gorgeous. She's mature. She's sweet. She has a great sense of humor…"

   "Do I know this woman?" asked Ramon.

   "And you know. I'm not easily impressed, but I am easily impressed—now that doesn't make sense, does it? I like chocolate and sweets…"

   "Pssst," said Ramon to Hunter. "What have we started? How do you turn her off?"

   Hunter shrugged.

   "She's telling us everything," whispered Ramon, "but telling us nothing."

   "I'm not so sure," whispered Hunter. "Richelle, Garrett, Renata, the Novian government. I think there's something there."

   "…school was fun. I like geology. I don't know very much about it. But Arielle. She's sharp. You are one lucky guy, Ramon. Dancing. Oh, yes. Dancing. I love to dance. And I like to wear short skirts when I dance. I was told I have the legs for it. Not the dancing—but the skirts. You do think my legs are pretty, don't you, Hunter? You certainly spent enough time ogling them—well at least my left leg. I love my legs. Don't you?"

   Hunter stammered. "Uh, uh, I, I…"

   "Let me tell you about the last time I went dancing, oh, that didn't turn out good. I probably shouldn't have done that. But then I've been told I don't listen well. I can only imagine how ridiculous I must have looked—drunk, blood all over everything including my nice new skirt, wrists pinned to a table…" She chuckled. "Fucking glory seekers."

   Ramon's voice rose. "You were attacked when you went dancing?"

   "I think these caves are pretty," she said as if she hadn't heard him. "But they give me headaches. There's something down here. I can tell. I think…"

   Ramon asked about the dancing again, but she continued rambling. He motioned with his hands for Hunter to do something to get her to stop.

   Hunter began spitting out questions. "Devon. Hold on. You need to clear some things up. Garrett. What about him? What did you mean about Richelle? And what about Rene? Why do you call her your sister?"

   "You need to slow down a bit," said Ramon, raising his hand as he looked at Hunter who was looking back at him, nodding. "No offense, but you're mouth is running like…Devon? What…" He stopped hiking and began looking around the passage.

   Hunter stopped dead in his tracks. Where was Devon? He swallowed hard, then anxiously looked behind them. "What the…" He continued glancing around the passage as Ramon moved next to him. "Devon. Devon?"

   "Ay, mierditas!" exclaimed Ramon. "Es el Diablo!"