The Caverns of Mare Cetus (51 page)

   "Stop what? I don't see anything."

   "How can you not see it? It's right there, in the middle of the passage."

   The light from the electra's burst began to fade.

   "Fire again!" she cried. "Fire again!"

   He aimed and fired the electra again, the dim light being refreshed with the new blast. "Show me where it is. Show me where it is, and I'll stop it."

   She pointed toward the center of the passage. "It's there. Right there."

   Hunter still didn't see anything. Then he noticed her fingernails were green. "Your nails. They're not red anymore."

   "They've never been red," she said, her voice rising. "And they're never going to be red if that thing gets to me."

   As Hunter's head began to ache, he realized whatever control she had over his pain was leaving her. He had to do something, but he had no idea what she was seeing, if anything at all. "What does it look like? Tell me."

   She replied to him—in Russian.

   "Say again? You just spoke to me in Russian. I don't know Russian."

   "No, I didn't. I don't know how to speak Russian."

   "Describe it again for me. This time in English."

   She nodded but answered again in Russian. Then she pulled herself against him and buried her head in his chest, continuing to rattle off something in Russian.

   "Devon!" he exclaimed. "Stop speaking in Russian. I can't protect you if you keep doing this to me."

   "Do what to you?" She stood up straight. "You aren't helping me. Do I have to do this myself?" She grabbed the gun from his hand and began moving down the passage.

   "Come back!" he cried, then started after her.

   She fired the gun into the passage, a burst of three tremendous lightning-like bolts crackling through the air, lighting up the passage. "Die!" She fired the gun again. "Die already!"

   Hunter grabbed her around her waist and began pulling her back toward the wall as she struggled against him.

   "I have to kill it!" she cried. "Bastards! They tricked me. They knew I couldn't resist. They used Rene to get to me. They did this. They set me up to murder me…"

   At once he felt her body stiffen like a board, then she fell back into his arms, the electra dropping from her hand. Her eyes were staring blankly, her teeth held against her tongue. Her head began to shake, then her arms; it looked like she was having a seizure. As her shaking seemed to spread to every part of her body, her eyes rolled back in her head. A low groaning began spilling from her lips. As he set her on the ground on her back and stretched out her legs, their symotes came back on. He sat down beside her and quickly found two OPPs in his pocket and placed them in her nostrils, then began caressing her clammy face, not knowing what else to do for her. Her eyes were still rolled back, her lips quivering incessantly, her tongue still held between her teeth.

   At once he heard Ramon shouting in the passage.

   "Ramon!" he shouted. "She's having a seizure of some kind. What do I do?"

   "Give her oxygen!" shouted Ramon.

   Hunter told him he already had.

   "Lay her down and leave her alone then!" shouted Ramon. "You've done all you can for her. She won't swallow her tongue. She'll come out. Promise! I'm coming as fast as my screwed-up leg will let me."

   Hunter continued to watch Devon, but as soon as he saw Ramon's lights, he ran to him and helped him back to Devon. Ramon was limping severely, using a camp light pole as a staff to help him walk.

   "Am I ever glad to see you," said Hunter as he helped Ramon sit up against the wall. "This has been a nightmare. Did your lights go out?"

   Ramon shook his head; he looked exhausted.

   As both men kept their eyes on Devon, Hunter began explaining what had happened to her after the lights went out. By the time he had finished, Devon seemed to be coming out of her seizure, her eyes returning, her mouth opening, her trembling vanishing.

   "What happened?" she asked in a whisper. She smiled at Hunter, then noticed Ramon. "I'll help you. But I'm so damn thirsty. I need a drink."

   She sat up, and Hunter gave her a canteen. She began guzzling the water, but he put his hand on the canteen, slowing her down.

   After a moment, a broad smile came to Ramon's face. "Girl. You're fabulous. The pain. It's gone. How did you do that? You didn't even look at me."

   She glanced at Ramon as she took another sip from the canteen.

   Hunter took out his Vimap and began running scans. "Can you walk?" he asked after a moment.

   Devon nodded, and he helped her to her feet.

   "Whatever it was that was in the passage, I can't even pick up a reading of it on the Vimap." He suddenly noticed the right side of Devon's face and neck had red irregular-shaped splotches on them— and the back of her right hand as well.

   She looked at her hand curiously as Hunter did too.

   "Is that blood?" he asked.

   She shrugged, then wiped off the back of her hand on her pants.

   He then asked if she could describe what had attacked her, but she said she couldn't remember much of what had happened. He couldn't be sure if she wasn't
Devonizing
again, but he wasn't about to press her on that now. He picked up his electra, then helped Ramon stand, and they started forward.

   As Hunter led them through several steep, narrow passages, he kept a close watch on Devon. Though she was hiking well and had apparently completely recovered from her seizure, her vivaciousness seemed to have been taken from her. The only thing she would talk about were the OPPs he had given her and how she couldn't get used to them and how she thought they were asphyxiating her. Despite her concerns about the OPPs, she asked for two more after an hour had passed and two more an hour later.

   After they had hiked for a couple hours more and were about to enter a side passage, Ramon put up his hand. "Hey. What's that?"

   Hunter listened. "It sounds like something clicking." He took out his electra and slowly pressed forward, the passage jogging to the right a short distance ahead of him. When he reached the jog, he waved for Devon and Ramon to hold back, and he peered around the corner. Then he saw it. A Kalo. Its frame was against a wall, its lights out, but its sampling claws were clicking together every so often. He used his Vimap to determine which identifier it had. It was Kalo Four.

   "Come on," he said. "I think I've found our salvation." He held the electra on the Kalo as he cautiously stepped toward it, Ramon and Devon coming up behind him.

Chapter Twelve

Overview of the Novian Government's
Mare Cetus Biological Contamination Policy (MCBCP)

   
No life forms other than human beings shall be introduced into the
Mare Cetan Environment, either willfully or by accident, with the
exception of biological forms necessary for human bodily functions.

   
All humans and equipment designated for work within the Mare
Cetan Environment shall undergo stringent biological decontamination
and sterilization procedures as designated in the Mare Cetus Biological
Controls Act (MCBCA) of the Novian Year 53 (Earth Year 2134).

   
All non-human life forms necessary for human bodily functions, such
as bacteria that aid in digestion or respiration, that are introduced into the
Mare Cetan Environment shall consist of genetically altered forms
engineered to die in less than one hour when free from contact with the
human body. Refer to the Mare Cetus Genetic Modification Procedures
document for the procedures and standards required by the MCBCP.

   
Self-performing Robotic Biological Exterminators (SeRBEs) will
maintain biological quality control over all areas of the Mare Cetan
System as designated in the MCBCA of 53. The SeRBEs are programmed
to exterminate all non-human life forms that have been willfully or
accidentally introduced into the Mare Cetan Environment. The SeRBEs
shall use biological extermination methods as defined and described in the
MCBCA of 53 and its subsequent technological revisions.

No operations on Mare Cetus or its satellites will be authorized without
the addition of Novian Government quality control SeRBEs as part of an
inclusive Mare Cetus Work Plan.

   
It is unlawful to destroy, damage, alter, interfere with, or incapacitate
Novian Government SeRBEs that are used for quality control in the Mare
Cetan Environment or on its satellites.

   
All robotic equipment used on Mare Cetus or its satellites will
incorporate Novian Government biological detectors as defined in the
Mare Cetus Biological Detection Guidelines (latest revision, 98 (2163)).

   
Biological contamination on Mare Cetus, whether introduced
willfully or by accident, will be dealt with in accordance with the
Penalties and Infraction Guidelines of the MCBCA.

   
The Novian Government's Mare Cetus Biological Control Board and
its Novian Military Authority Attachment maintain sole jurisdiction over
responses to contamination incidents in the Mare Cetan System.

   
Mare Cetus and its satellites fall under the dominion of the Novian
Government for all matters related to exploration, construction, mining,
and all other operations performed within the Mare Cetan System. The
Tau Ceti Solar System is under the sole jurisdiction of the Novian
Government. The Earth and all its governmental bodies relinquished full
control to the Novian Government in 50 (2132).

   Renata was utterly stunned. As she stood motionless, unable to take her eyes off the blank screen, a tremendous chill stormed up her spine, followed by another, then another.

   "Who sold you out?" asked Trent. "And why you?" He placed a hand around her upper arm, realizing her trembling.

   "I always knew Keyes couldn't be trusted," said Arielle. "I'm sure that bastard's done something."

   "What in God's name was that all about?" asked Richelle. "That guy has spooked every bone in my body. Let's do what he says. Let's get out of here." She yanked on the cuffs, pulling Renata's hand toward her. "Come on."

   "Devon," said Renata, pulling back on Richelle's hand.

   "Devon sold you out?" asked Trent.

   "No…no. I don't know who sold me out. I'm not even sure what that means. But Keyes. The guy's never liked me. Now he's warning me and telling us to run?"

   "I can tell you the second time wasn't any easier than the first," said Arielle. "He tells us to run, but where are we going to run to?"

   "The data packet from Kalo," said Renata. "What was it?"

   "I don't know," said Trent. "I haven't seen it."

   "Why not?" asked Renata.

   "Because I can't. It's for you—only. BFV-DNA encoded." He called up the Kalo interface on his Vimap and held the screen in front of Renata. In the top right corner of the screen was a slowly-rotating yellow sphere with R. V. Stone in bold letters across its center.

   She took the Vimap from Trent with her right hand, pulling Richelle's hand with her.

   "Cut us loose!" exclaimed Richelle. "Didn't you hear what he said? We have to get out of here!"

   Both Trent and Arielle decisively shook their heads.

   Renata pressed her left thumb on the sphere, and the sphere instantly ballooned to fill the entire screen, scores of DNA helixes flashing within it as well as statistics about Renata's heart rate, blood pressure, and other bodily functions. After a few seconds, BFV-DNA Match—Renata Victoria Stone began flashing in bright green letters in the center of the screen.

   As the others crowded around the Vimap, a picture formed, showing an ICCB setting on a dark red table. The ICCB was an exceedingly complex piece of equipment for interstellar communications, and superficially it looked like a box-shaped structure comprised of a host of connected, variable-sized, multi-colored cones, cylinders, spheres, and hexagonal prisms. If anything, it looked more like something a toddler might put together with a set of toy blocks than the awesome creation of dozens of physicists, stellar-communication's scientists, and com-system engineers. The room containing the ICCB was barely illuminated by two green lights off to each side. Not far behind the ICCB was a large, wide, rectangular communication's screen. As someone's hand reached out and pressed several controls on the ICCB, a picture formed on the large screen behind it, showing a man flanked by two women.

   The cleanly-shaven, stern-faced middle-aged man was dressed in a crisp blue and gray military uniform adorned with a number of medals. He had on an officer's hat and was standing with his legs spread in an at-ease position, his hands held behind him. Renata immediately recognized the uniform—it was an ARC uniform—the American-Russian Confederation. To his right was a tall fair-skinned brunette who looked to be about thirty. She had on a green and gray military field uniform, and she was wearing an officer's hat that covered her straight hair, which came to just below her ears. She was standing like the man, her hands held behind her. On the man's left was a black woman of medium height and thin build, wearing a black blouse, a black knee-length skirt, and dark nylons. Her face was partly shrouded by her long brown hair. The three were in a deep, dark room with a long conference table stretching out behind them, a number of chairs pushed up against it.

   "HSE Icom open," came a man's voice. "Go ahead."

   "This is an encrypted punch out to Earth," said Trent. "Big stuff. Doesn't happen often. Looks like Com Room D."

   "Are we a go?" asked the soldier in the center.

   "Yes, Colonel Statliss, we're a go," said the man's voice again. "Garrett Jansen's here as you requested."

   "Garrett?" asked Renata. "Why would Dr. Kalo send us something about Garrett?" She noticed the time-stamp counting at the bottom right of the image. "Look. This is from nearly three months ago."

   "Maybe Kalo didn't," said Trent. "Maybe Keyes used a ruse to…"

   "Shhhh," said Arielle.

   "Is everything on schedule?" asked Statliss.

   "Yes," said a voice, definitely sounding like Garrett's. "Plans are in the works to head back to Mare soon, very soon."

   "Good," said Statliss. "We'll be shipping her out in three Earth days." He cleared his throat. "I hate to belabor this point, but I want to make certain you clearly understand the consequences of what we're attempting."

   "Yeah, yeah," said the other man, sounding irritated. "We know what we're up against. Jansen and Keyes will take care of everything on this end. We won't have any problem handling her. Piece of cake."

   "That's a bold fucking statement," said the brunette, appearing angered.

   "My apologies for Major Aris' rough greeting," said Statliss. "She just returned from the field this morning—had a tough go of it. Since she's head of MCIO, I'd advise you to take her seriously. There
is
no handling them."

   "And who is she?" asked the man after he and Garrett had greeted Aris. A hand came into view, pointing at the black woman.

   Renata suddenly recognized the large nugget ring on the hand. "That's Ben Fallingwood's hand. Explora's VP of Security Operations. He was found murdered in his home right before we left Novia, wasn't he?"

   "Indeed he was," said Trent. He folded his arms in front of him.

   "This is Kori," said Statliss.

   "Kori?" asked Fallingwood. "Just who is Kori? Why is she here?"

   "A security gaffe has recently come to light," said Statliss. "We're looking into it. It's nothing serious enough to compromise our plans, but we've had to make some adjustments. That's all I can tell you right now."

   Fallingwood's voice rose. "Wait a minute. Adjustments? W-wwhat's going on?" He seemed rattled. "You're not trying to pull a switch on us, are you? What we're paying for your top-of-the-line bitch is premium…"

   "Relax," said Statliss. "You're getting who you paid for. Nothing's changed with that…"

   "And she's not a bitch," interrupted Aris. "Let me tell you who's the bitch." She pointed her thumb at her chest. "I'm the bitch!" She glanced behind her. "Let's pull the plug on this, Payat. I told you I didn't like working with the civils. For them, it's all about the bottom line."

   Garrett cleared his throat. "Major Aris, you're not going to be working with Ben. You're working with me. I am the military presence here."

   "I know," said Aris, nodding. "But she's different. She's going to be working you from day one. I truly don't think you understand the implications of that. Any of you."

   Statliss held up his hand. "Don't do this now, Alexa. We've been through this ad nauseam. You've coached Garrett as well as anyone could. This isn't war, it's matchmaking. He'll be able to negotiate around her if he has to."

   "Negotiate with a Mendrax?" Her voice grew angry. "There is no negotiating with a Mendrax, especially this one."

   "We can, and we have been," said Statliss, turning toward Aris. "Even this one. Besides, whose side do you think she's on?"

   "I'd just like to know who's on my side," said Aris.

   Statliss looked at his watch. "Look. Time's short. We need to get back on track here. Garrett. Does this woman know?"

   "No," said Garrett softly.

   "Are you absolutely certain?" asked Statliss.

   "Yes," replied Garrett. "She's totally unaware."

   "That's good," said Statliss. "It's better to let nature take its course. What about timing? Are you positive she'll be assigned to the team."

   "That's actually the easy part," said Garrett. "The commander of the mission will take care of that for me. He has every reason to make certain she's on that mission."

   "This woman, Renata, she had better be everything you claim," said Aris.

   "Rene!" gasped Arielle. "Oh, my God…"

   At once every hand seemed to be on Renata's shoulders, consoling her.

   "She is," said Garrett. "She's everything I've told you—and more."

   "I take it this commander has feelings for her then?" asked Aris.

   "Yes," said Garrett. "Is that a problem?"

   "No…" Aris paused for a moment as if in thought, then held up her left hand. "Extreme LH-Logical, right?"

   "Of course," said Garrett.

   Statliss looked irritated. "Alexa, you've already agreed to this. I don't understand why you're doing this now. Please give it a rest."

   Aris began slowly rocking side-to-side on her legs. "This had better be worth what I'm going through."

   "Look, Alexa," said Fallingwood. "Everything's going to work out. Trust me. We'll get our claim, ARTEC will get the velandrite it needs, and your little dilemma will be solved."

   Aris sighed, loudly. "It's hardly a little problem. Why is it my stomach burns every time I think about this?" She glanced behind her as if she was looking at something.

   "What's back there?" asked Renata. "What is she looking at?"

   "I understand your concerns," said Fallingwood, "but Garrett's the best. Keyes is top-notch too. They've never failed me."

   "On this I have to agree with Alexa," said Statliss. "Downplaying this would be a big mistake." He glanced over his shoulder as if he was looking at something as well.

   "What's back there?" asked Renata again.

   "Have you talked to her yet?" asked Kori abruptly.

   "No…" said Garrett. "Of course not."

   "Are you certain of that?" Kori took a step forward and gazed ahead, as if she was searching for something.

   Aris continued to rock side-to-side, appearing nervous.

   "Is that some kind of trick question?" asked Fallingwood.

   "Kori," said Statliss. "She says she hasn't talked with them. If you aren't going to believe your own, then whom are you going to believe? Tell me. Do you see anything now?"

   Kori stepped back. "No. Nothing."

   "Besides, we already have full Council approval," said Statliss. "This is going to happen. This is going to work."

   "I know Abby's already been in touch with her," said Fallingwood. "And Cae and Lysandra too. Those were the only three—just as we agreed upon. Abby told me everything went well at their meeting. Said the girl was very sweet. Pffff. Talk about someone who has no idea. Right, Garrett?"