The Caverns of Mare Cetus (57 page)

   "Hardly. Among other nasty things, KNA tends to migrate to a female's reproductive organs. Once it hits them, it's a literal cannibalizing free-for-all. And what's worse…"

   Hunter raised his hand. "Cool it! She's never going to eat again if you tell her that."

   Devon threw her swistras on the ground like they had burst into flames. Her eyes widened.

   "Don't worry." Hunter placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "This stuff's okay." He picked up one of the swistras and popped it in his mouth. It was like eating mellow Swiss cheese with a refreshing, lingering, strawberry-like aftertaste. "See."

   "What is KNA?" she asked.

   "Well, it's like DNA, but it isn't DNA," said Hunter. "Most of the life-forms on Novia are DNA based, but some are KNA based. That's Kinetic Nucleic Acid. It's a triple helix—composed of many of the same molecules that make up DNA, but there are some major differences. It's called kinetic because it has the propensity to aggressively incorporate DNA into its helix."

   "What he really means is—it's some bad shit you never want to eat," said Ramon.

   Hunter pointed a finger at Ramon. "You're not helping." He turned to Devon. "I promise you. Our food is safe."

   Devon picked up a swistra but continued to eye it with suspicion. "What does KNA look like?" She began trailing a finger along the grain of the fruit.

   "I said the food is safe."

   "But what does KNA look like?" she repeated.

   "Enough about the KNA already," said Hunter gruffly. "Explain what you said about Abby. Why is it you say she doesn't run Explora?"

   "Yes," she said as she continued to study the swistra. "Now you have it right. She doesn't."

   "How can you say that? Abby Kensington is the CEO. She's owned the Novian branch of the company for years."

   "I don't care if she's CEO, owner, and god. That doesn't mean she runs the company."

"Yes, it does."

"It doesn't."

"Then who does?" asked Ramon.

"Angie," said Devon.

"Who the hell is Angie?" asked Hunter.

Devon looked up. "Who the hell is Abby?"

Ramon chuckled.

"Damn it, Devon," said Hunter. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

   Hunter picked up his canteen and took a long, slow drink, trying to calm his nerves; she was driving him crazy. "Listen. Abby and her chief VPs run the show. Cae, Semira, Dalia, and Lysandra. I've never heard of any Angie."

   "Of course you have," said Devon. "She controls the company."

   "That's crap, Devon. There is no Angie. I should know. Abby and I are pretty tight."

   "So I've heard," said Devon, sighing. "Well, you may think Abby runs the company, but she doesn't. I should know. I met with her. We even had dinner together a couple times—just her and me. She spilled her guts to me. I can tell you everything about her, including the last time she had an orgasm and who gave it to her and how long it took. Is that the kind of woman you want at the helm, one who can't hold her mouth shut long enough to keep from babbling about her most private moments to anyone who crosses her path? She's totally naive."

   Now Hunter was infuriated. He slammed his canteen down, water spraying out of it. "You've got some gall to call her naive. And talk about running at the mouth—you're the queen of babblement, honey. You need to listen to yourself sometime."

   Devon huffed. "I'm nothing like her. That woman shoots her mouth off at the drop of a hat."

   "Quit slandering her, will you? Abby's a private person. And she's brilliant. She would never do something like that."

   "I didn't say she wasn't smart. But that doesn't mean crap."

   "Bullshit, Devon! It does!"

   "No, it doesn't."

   Ramon cleared his throat, loudly. "So just who is this Angie that now runs our company and none of us have ever heard of?"

   "He won't even tell me what KNA looks like," she said. "Why should I tell him who she is? Personally, I've never met her, but both of you should have by now. I mean, she runs your company. Don't you think it's wise to know who's in charge of your destiny?"

   "She doesn't run the company," said Hunter, anger still in his voice.

   "She certainly does," said Devon.

   "She does not!"

   "Come on, you two!" exclaimed Ramon. "Lighten up already. Let's end this battle—now. Here. Have some piece offerings." He tossed them some chocolate nut bars. "I assure you. There's no KNA in them."

   "Speaking of battles," said Hunter, "what happened at Minneapolis? You never told me. You said you were there."

   Devon stuffed several pieces of chocolate in her mouth. "You're right," she mumbled. "I can't taste any KNA."

   "Uh, you can't taste…" said Ramon.

   "What happened in Minneapolis? asked Hunter again.

   "What about Minneapolis? Did I say I was there or something? I must have been hallucinating because of my attack. I've never been to Minneapolis."

   "Hold on," said Hunter. "You clearly told me you were there."

   Devon stuffed two more pieces of chocolate in her mouth. "Ramon. Give me some more to eat. I'm famished." She reached over and scooped the rest of the food out of his lap.

   Hunter continued to seethe. What was with this girl? Did she have to one-up them on everything? What she had said about Abby was crap. And now she was lying about Minneapolis. He wasn't going to let her get away with that too.

   He took out his Vimap, then glanced at Devon. It looked like she couldn't stuff the food into her mouth fast enough now. He brought up the search menu and ran a query on the Battle of Minneapolis.
Searching
…came to the top of the screen. He waited a moment for the results, but
Searching
…continued to sit on the screen. He set the Vimap down and ate his chocolates, following them with some water. Then he picked the Vimap up—
Searching
…was still on it. He reset the Vimap and ran the query again, getting the same result. After a moment, he reset the Vimap again and ran a search on the Laramax Complex. Instantly pages of links and information about the Laramax Complex flooded the screen. Once more he ran a search on the Battle of Minneapolis.
Searching
…came back to the screen. He shook his head. What was wrong with the Vimap?

   "What are you doing?" asked Devon. She was next to him now, on her hands and knees, trying to look at the Vimap's screen.

   Startled, he hastily set the Vimap on his lap, turning it screen-side down. "Nothing. Just running a few queries."

   "You know, it's not nice of you to keep me in the dark on that KNA stuff. You might not value my reproductive organs, but I do. I have to know what KNA does. Tell me."

   "You don't want to know."

   "But I need to know."

   "I said—you don't want to know." He smirked. "Get it?"

   She humphed. "Yeah. I get it all right. Be that way. Two can play at that game."

   "That's an understatement," he muttered. He turned the Vimap over, keeping the screen out of Devon's view.
Searching
…was still on the screen. He reset the Vimap again.

   As his eyes were drawn to Devon, who was still on her knees, both of her hands now planted on his right leg, it suddenly dawned on him how gorgeous she was. There wasn't a trace of mottling on her skin anymore, and even though she had a dirty face, dusty hair, and a bloodied forehead, she looked better than ever to him. In fact, she looked magnificent.

   She yawned, then lied down on the ground and placed her head against his thigh. "I'm tired," she said.

   He scooted down and stretched out on his back. Devon put her head on his shoulder and snuggled up to him as he placed his arm around her.

   "I'm tired too," he said.

   Ramon leaned back against the rocks, stretching out his legs and placing a small pillow from his backpack behind his head. "Me too, señor. Let's take a nap." Within minutes, all three of them had fallen asleep.

*****

   When Hunter woke, Devon was beside him but no longer against him. She looked like she was asleep. His eyes fixed on her face, he sat up slowly, hoping he wouldn't wake her. He picked up his Vimap and ran the search again on the Battle of Minneapolis. Immediately
Searching
…came to the screen. He sighed in disgust, then nudged Ramon awake. "Run a search for me, will you?" he asked in a whisper. Then he told Ramon what to search on. He reset the Vimap and handed it to Ramon.

   Ramon ran the search, then showed Hunter the screen.
Searching
…was all that was on it. "Doesn't look like you're going to get any results. It must not be working. What's your fascination with Minneapolis anyway?"

   Hunter put two fingers to his lips, then pointed at Devon. "It's her," he whispered. "She's doing something."

   Ramon seemed puzzled. "Doing what?"

   "She's blocked the Minneapolis search on the Vimap. She doesn't want me to find out what happened there."

   "You're talking crazy, señor. How could she do that? And why would she care what you know about Minneapolis?"

   "I'm telling you, she's blocked the search somehow."

   "The Vimap's just not working right. That's all it is. Chill out."

   Hunter slowly leaned over Devon. Then he touched her cheek with his hand.

   Her eyes opened wide. "Is it time already? I was having such a wonderful dream…" Her expression soured. "…that is if being hunted down by KNA that's trying to suck DNA out my body— could be called wonderful." She turned to Ramon. "Thanks."

   "Don't mention it," he replied.

   "We need to go," said Hunter. "We need to make as much distance as we can."

   Within minutes Ramon and Hunter had their backpacks on, and the Kalo was moving out of the water. The three started through the passage again, the Kalo leading the way. Hours passed. Most of the hiking was up a moderate grade, and the men spoke little, except when Devon spoke. It was as if they were keyed into her moods in some eerie way. When she smiled, they smiled; when she complained, they complained; when she needed a break, they needed one too. Hunter began to take notice of that connection, and try as he might to deny it and counter it, it seemed to be impossible for him to do so.

   After they had hiked for a couple hours more, the Kalo suddenly took a turn into an extremely steep passage on its left. Hunter halted the Kalo and peered past it into the wide tube, which seemed to go almost vertical just a few meters above his head.

   He checked out his map. "Wow! This is our lucky day."

   "Why?" asked Ramon and Devon in unison.

   "This tube—it's nearly vertical all the way up to Level One. We're going to cut off two day's worth of hiking because we're going for a ride—Kalo style."

   Ramon nodded. "I'm with you." He took off his backpack and pulled out some straps, belaying clips, and what was left of their rope.

   Within minutes, Ramon had them all securely harnessed together. Then Hunter commanded the Kalo to bring its back appendages tightly together, forming a loop of sorts. Ramon tied the free end of the rope around the loop, checking it several times, then gave Hunter the OK.

   "Hold on to me, Devon," said Hunter.

   She grabbed onto him tightly, and he put an arm around her in return. Ramon grasped his hands around two of the straps forming the harness.

   Hunter entered some commands into the Vimap, and the Kalo began moving up into the steep passage, its frame molding itself to wedge into the tube, its mobility appendages catching into rockholds to help it climb. As the rope grew taught, the three were pulled slowly upward, the robotic continuing to mold itself into any areas of the tube that it could, its now amoeba-like form flowing into cracks and crevasses as it found them. It began to increase its rate of climb.

   After a short distance skyward, the three began laughing like children.

   "This calls for a drink." Ramon took a small silver flask from his pocket, opened it, and took a swig. Then he gave it to Hunter.

   Hunter took a sip. It was bourbon—very mellow, very fine. He held the flask out to Devon, and she shook her head. He offered it to her again, and she repeated her headshake. He put the flask to her lips. "Come on. Just a sip. I promise. There's no KNA in it."

   She nodded. He tipped the flask, and she took a sip, some of the bourbon spilling down her chin. At once she put her right hand on the flask, tipping it upward, taking in the bourbon in large gulps. Then she pushed the flask away, placing her arm back around Hunter.

   "You really love Rene, don't you?" she asked.

   He nodded, then looked up at the Kalo, which was climbing through the rocks with unparalleled dexterity and speed.
Damn, he
loved Rene. He loved her so much his heart ached. He could hardly wait
to see her again…

Chapter Thirteen

Explora Security Communication's Room Two—Novian date 100.9

   "Glad you're back," said Gakuto Shimohira, a middle-aged security operations officer for Explora. "We've had six punches from Earth overnight. About one every hour or so."

   Garrett had just walked into the room. "Six punches? Strange. We don't usually get more than twenty a month."

   Gakuto nodded and took a sip from his cup of coffee.

   "Security breach?" asked Garrett.

   Gakuto shook his head. "Not sure."

   "Who's trying to contact us?"

   "That's the funny part," said Gakuto. "The punches are addressed to you." At once the small com screen on his desk in front of him sprang to life. "Well, we might find out now, here comes another one." He looked at his watch. "Right on schedule."

   Garrett poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down beside Gakuto.

   A picture of a rotating Earth had formed in the center of the screen, Garrett N. Jansen running through the center of North America. Garrett pressed his right thumb on the globe, and it instantly filled the screen, the coding system responding with BFV-DNA match— Garrett N. Jansen after a short moment.

   Immediately a picture formed, showing the upper body of a young woman wearing a green University of Minnesota sweatshirt. She had brownish-black hair and a sparkle in her eyes.

   "This had better work," said another woman's voice in a hush. "Go ahead. His name is Garrett Jansen. Say hello already…"

   "Garrett Jansen?" asked the woman. "Hi. I'm Devon Snow, and I'm calling from Earth."

   Garrett studied the informational display at the bottom of the screen. "That's me all right. Who do you represent, and why have you been punching through? Interstellar coms fall under strict ISEC regulations. Right now you seem to be violating about all of them."

   "I'm sorry," said Devon. "Maybe I have the wrong number…"

   Gakuto put his hand to his chin. "What the hell…if this isn't bizarre."

   "Do it," whispered the other woman. "Do what you need to do and get off."

   Devon turned her head to the right. "Will you let me take care of this?" She turned forward and gave them a big smile. "Can you tell me how to get in touch with Renata Victoria Stone? I've been trying to get through to her for awhile."

   "Look," said Garrett, "this isn't some kind of telcom system here. I don't know how you've managed this, but if you want to get in touch with Renata, you need to go through proper channels. Unless you have something more to say, I'm going to close this down."

   "Please don't do that," said Devon, her face appearing sad. "How are we ever going to get to know each other if you cut me off?"

   "I don't have any idea who you are," said Garrett, anger in his voice, "and I'm not in the mood for some crazy interstellar joke."

   "Are you finished?" whispered the other woman. "Did it work? We have to get out of here."

   Devon turned her head again. "Of course it worked." She turned forward. "Well, got to go for now, but we'll be meeting again soon. Have a great Novian day!" The screen went blank.

   "What the hell was that all about?" asked Gakuto.

   "No idea," said Garrett, shaking his head. "I have no idea."

*****

Suddenly Renata saw it. Light. She hurried through the last few meters of the passage, then scrambled over some limestone blocks, being careful how she placed her right hand on them. Though Edison had put a splint on her broken finger when they had taken a short break, her finger was still giving her a lot of pain. She worked her way through the cleft and stepped into the daylight, squinting her eyes. A brisk wind caught her in the face. Expecting to see the orange disk of Tau Ceti, she was surprised to find the sky filled with low, thick, menacing grayish-orange clouds.

   Arielle stepped beside her. "Oh, swell." She placed a hand above her eyes and looked toward the horizon. "Hasn't enough gone wrong already? This isn't even the time of year for these things." She grabbed Renata's shoulder, turning her around. She pointed toward the east. "Look. Vortex storms."

   A distance away there were a number of twisting and spiraling dark brown funnels hanging out of the blanket of clouds, tearing up soil and rocks from the ground as they moved uncaringly across the landscape. Renata counted—there were eight of them in all.

   "We're free!" exclaimed Richelle after she and Edison had climbed out of the cave, Trent only a few steps behind them. She started into a celebration dance, immediately stopping when she saw the ominous sky.

   Arielle took off her hardhat and threw it on the ground in disgust. "Of all the goddamn luck."

   A strong gust of wind pounded into them. "Let's get to the ship," said Renata as she held her hair out of her face. "Let's get off this rock already."

   Richelle scampered forward, leading the others toward the ship. Within a moment, they were standing in front of the Canopus. Its brilliant white surface had been transformed into a collage of patchy dirt and sand that clung to the solar reflectors like it had grown on them.

   "What are you going to do with that thing?" asked Richelle, nudging Edison, then pointing at his pack.

   "Taking it with us," said Edison. "What did you think?"

   Richelle began trying to open his backpack.

   He pulled away from her. "What are you doing?"

   "I just want to take a look at it again, that's all."

   Edison reluctantly took off his pack and pulled out the container. He held it out in front of him.

   She stooped and looked at the container for a moment, then slanted her head to look at it from the bottom. "What are those?" She pointed at the bottom of the container.

   Edison held up the container. The creature was sitting on top of what looked like ten pea-sized gray pebbles, its legs wrapped around them.

   "Crap. It's laid eggs or something," said Arielle, her head bent over as she looked in the box. "That's insane. That thing was born only hours ago."

   Trent ran a Vimap scan. "Odd. I'm not picking up any organic signature. I wonder if they're viable."

   Suddenly Richelle lunged at the container. Edison tried pulling it back, but like a bobcat going after its prey, she had already closed her hands around it and was using her weight to pull it toward the ground. He began to grapple with her, seeming unprepared for the ferocity with which she fought. In a flash they were both on the ground on their sides, facing each other, their hands locked around the container.

   Trent threw off his backpack and grabbed Richelle by her arms. He made several attempts to wrestle her away from the box, but she wouldn't let go.

   Both Renata and Arielle placed their hands on their hips as they watched the tussle.

   "Let go already!" shouted Edison.

   Abruptly Richelle pulled away from him and rolled on her back. She was holding the lid in her hand.

   Edison cried out. He put his hand over the open box, but the creature slipped past his hand and was at once crawling on him. As Edison cursed at Richelle, Trent fell forward and began grabbing for the creature, which, as before, wasn't about to let itself be easily captured.

   Richelle sat up and flung the box lid like a Frisbee, a gust of wind catching it and sending it back toward her, then into the sky.

   Renata folded her arms in front of her. "The Vimap entry for disaster—see the Explora MC-101C Mission. The entry for failure— see disaster. The entry for psycho-ladies—see Renata Stone and Richelle Ivers. We're going to be the case study at Explora for everything not to do on a mission. My career is utterly gone." She broke into a chuckle.

   Arielle turned Renata's face toward her. "You've changed, Rene."

   "So you do see it," said Renata.

   "Yes. I do. Something's different with you that I can't explain. I hope now that we're out of the caves, things will get back to normal."

   "What's normal anymore?" Renata watched Trent and Edison comically trying to nab the creature, which just seemed to be playing with them, never venturing off Edison and into the sands where it could easily escape. She pointed at them. "This? You know, I came within a moment of shooting you, and at that moment I didn't care. There can't be any normal for me anymore. And yeah, I forgot one last Vimap entry—friend—see Arielle Talarian."

   Arielle bit her lower lip; tears welled in her eyes. "There you go again, making me cry." She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "What's normal is the spark I still see in you that has always set you apart from anyone I've ever known. What's normal is Rene is about to chew out Richelle for her twentieth stupid move…"

   Renata put a hand on Arielle's shoulder. "I'll talk with her." She went to Richelle and sat down beside her.

   "We ought to leave it here," said Richelle. She was making letters with her finger in a small pile of coarse gray sand that was between her outstretched legs. "It belongs here. Not on Novia."

   "If we leave it here, the SeRBEs will surely get it. After Novia studies it, they'll bring it back." Renata glanced up; Arielle was standing behind them. "A lot will change on Mare because of what we've found." She put her arm around Richelle's shoulders. "You know, I like you, Richelle. We've been through a lot of crap together, but we've survived."

   "I like you too. A lot. I never planned on hurting you—really." Richelle looked down. "I feel so bad about that. You've been like a sister to me since that happened. Like Isis."

   Arielle tapped Renata on the shoulder. "I'm getting out of this wind. I'll be in the ship. You guys need to come in too. The storms seem to be holding their distance, but you never know."

   "Be in, in a sec," said Renata. She found it hard to believe she was acting this way toward Richelle. During most of the mission she could barely stand her. Now she felt as if she had some connection to her she couldn't explain. Richelle pulled her close, and Renata shivered, deeply. A tingling sensation seemed to blossom in her hands and feet, goose bumps spreading over her arms and legs.

   The women abruptly turned to face each other.

"Richelle?"

"Rene?"

   "Got it!" cried Edison, pressing his hand on the creature as it tried to run over his stomach. He followed with his other hand. "Get me another sample box. Hurry!"

   Trent pulled another container from Edison's pack.

   "What did Ari just say?" asked Richelle.

   "She's going into the ship. We need to get in too."

   "In the ship…" Richelle snapped her head toward the ship. "Uh, uh…"

   Renata followed Richelle's gaze. Arielle had opened the ship's door and was at the top of the steps. Trent and Edison were between them, putting the creature and its
eggs
into another container.

   Renata gulped. She could feel the color drain from her face. "Oh, my God! Arielle!" She watched in horror as Arielle entered the Canopus, a flash of light and a pop coming from the ship. Arielle staggered back out of the ship, screaming and holding her chest. She tried to back down the steps, but her bloodied hand slipped off the railing, and she tumbled down the steps. As she landed on her back at the base of the steps, she let out with a loud, agonized cry.

   Renata sprang to her feet and bolted toward Arielle, Richelle right behind her. They skirted past Edison and fell on their knees next to her writhing body.

   Arielle was struggling to breathe, her hands clutched over her chest as blood squirted through her fingers, her legs thrashing at the ground. Her neck and chest badly burned, blood was racing across her white blouse like water spilling out of an overflowing lake. Renata knelt over her and pulled Arielle's hands away. She gasped. Arielle had a deep blackened wound running from below her neck to her right breast, blood squirting out of it unchecked.

   Renata placed her hands over the wound and pressed her weight against Arielle's body, Richelle placing her hands on top of Renata's. Edison fell down beside them and dumped his pack on the ground. Trent grabbed Arielle's legs to hold them down.

   "Use this!" Edison threw a shirt at the women.

   Richelle caught it, and as Renata pulled her hands off Arielle, a jet of blood shot out of Arielle's artery, a gust of wind catching it and spraying it over the sand beside them. Richelle covered the wound with the shirt, and the two women pressed their hands on top of it.

   "Where is the clotting factor?" exclaimed Edison. "Where is it? Where is it?" He began raking through his stuff.

   "Don't die, Ari," sobbed Renata as she looked into Arielle's eyes, which were now devoid of everything Arielle.

   "She won't die," said Richelle. "Keep pressing. Keep pressing."

   "Got it!" Edison held up the tube.

   As Richelle pulled the blood-soaked shirt away from Arielle, a pulse of blood spattered across the women's faces. Edison ran the tube along Arielle's neck and chest, a thin white mist mixing with her blood. Then he pressed the tube on top of her wound, the squirting almost immediately dying away. He placed the bundled shirt back over the wound and pressed his hands on it.

   Richelle and Renata looked up at each other—their faces and hair were dotted with Arielle's blood. "It's the SQUID," said Richelle. She turned her head toward the ship.

   Renata saw something silvery skirting past the doorway of the ship, low to the floor. She stood up, took out the Iravano, and aimed it at the doorway, holding it with both hands.

   Trent stood up next to her. He began inputting codes into his Vimap. "I'm entering the codes Garrett gave us, but it's not responding." As he entered the codes again and again, the system repeatedly came back with a No Shutdown response. "None of the codes are working, even the overrides. If they don't work, there's no way to shut it down."

   Renata continued to hold the gun on the ship's doorway, watching for even the slightest movement. "That thing is a monster. If we can't get it out of the ship, we're never going to get out of here. Why did it fire at Arielle? Shouldn't it have known it was her?"