The Caverns of Mare Cetus (59 page)

   "If anyone can hear us, reply!" Devon's voice abruptly spilled across the ship's com, sending shockwaves of astonishment through Renata's weary body. "Respond, please!"

   "Oh, my God!" cried Trent—Edison and Richelle adding their own exclamations of surprise. "She's alive!"

   Renata immediately boosted the reception of the receiver.

   "This is Devon Snow! Explora Expedition MC-101C. Anyone! Anyone at all! Please respond!"

   "This is Rene!" shouted Renata into the ship's com, her voice cracking, tremendous jubilation overpowering her initial astonishment. "We read you! We're in the Canopus. We need to pinpoint your location."

   "Sister!" shouted Devon. "Thank God you heard me. I'm with Hunter and Ramon. We're in a passage near the surface. We need you to come and get us out of here."

   "Hunter here! Rene! You can't believe what hearing you has just done for us. Can you get a fix on Kalo Four?"

   "It's a miracle." Edison shook his fists. "It's a fucking miracle."

   "Renata!" exclaimed Ramon over the com. "Your voice is the sweetest sound I have ever heard. Ari, baby! I'm coming home!"

   Renata looked at Trent. "Kalo Four. What do you read?"

   Trent scanned the screen in front of him as he typed commands into the CPU. "There. There it is. I've got a fix on it. It's thirty meters beneath the surface. About four thousand meters distant. In Level One."

   "I need you, Rene," came Devon's voice through the com. "I need you badly. Please. Get here as fast as you can."

   "Let's get them," said Renata. She began running a wide circle with the Jumper, nearly a thousand meters above the ground.

   "How?" asked Trent as he watched Level One passage diagrams come up on his screen. "That's roughly nine thousand meters of passageways. That's a long haul after what we've been through. Our best bet is for Edison and me to enter via the second entrance. It would cut off about two thousand meters. Take a look." Trent sent his display to Renata's screen.

   She played with the screen controls, viewing the display from a variety of angles. "Look at this," she said, stopping the rotation of the image. "The Level One passage comes close to the surface not too far from here." The screen zoomed in to the location, highlighting it in yellow.

   "What about it?" asked Trent.

   "There's less than three meters of cap rock above the cave at that location."

   "What are you getting at?"

   "Give me a moment and I'll let you know." She began sifting through readouts and passage diagrams while continuing to slowly circle with the Jumper. "Look at this. Look at this analysis I've run on the passages between our present location and the Kalo. Those passages were thoroughly mapped by Kalo Four on day one. If we can trust the maps, there's not a passage the ship couldn't fit through all the way to Kalo Four. It's about four kilometers of passageways." She piped the view to Trent's screen.

   Trent studied the readout. "You're not thinking what I think you are?"

   "You bet I am!" snapped Renata. "We've got HV charges on board for bolide disruption. We can use those to punch a hole through the cap rock and get the ship into the passage."

   "You know we'd be violating scores of government codes, and they'll probably lock our butts in jail for the next ten years…" He flashed her a cagey smile. "But I'll figure out a way to keep that from happening."

   "Make sure Arielle's secure," said Renata, glancing back. "We're going for a ride." She returned her attention to the console.

   "It's going to be real tight in some places," said Trent, continuing to examine his screen. "Not many pilots would even attempt to fly in there."

   "So, am I just any pilot?" Renata increased the thrust of the engines and moved out of the holding pattern she had been engaged in. Within minutes she was skimming the Jumper just a short distance above the surface, calling to Hunter they were on their way. When she reached the target area, she cut the Jumper's speed and began circling. Then she positioned the ship nose down, hovering about fifty meters above the ground.

   "HV Charges armed," said Trent as the ship lurched forward, caught in a gust of wind.

   "Lock on and fire," she said.

   He pressed a button, and his screen responded with HV CHARGES LOCKED ON. He pressed another button, and a red blob shot from the front of the Jumper, hitting the ground and exploding, sending debris and dirt skyward.

   "Again," said Renata after she had checked her console readings. "Fire!"

   He fired again, then twice more. After the dust had cleared, they could see a huge hole in the cap rock—large enough for the ship to enter.

   "All deflection arrays and sensors at max," said Trent as Renata began circling again. "Computer assistance locked in."

   Renata pressed a red button. "No. No CA."

   "No CA? You're kidding, right?"

   "No, I'm not. The ship could pull that neurotic crap through its intakes. If that stuff messes with our CPUs, we'll end up flat on our ass."

   Trent began to key commands into the ship's computer. "Without the wings and stabilizers, your minimum velocity is going to have to be pretty high to keep airborne. That's going to put a big strain on the engines. You'll also have to rely on the thrusters for all maneuvering and stability. That's pretty difficult under normal circumstances, isn't it?"

   "Yes," she said. "It can be. But I'll fly by Synchronic Profiles." She pressed a button; a small round display screen dropped in front of her face from the ceiling.

   Trent's voice rose. "The SPS is for pilot training only, not for running through a cave. By the time you read those profiles and react, we may be splattered into a wall."

   "I've tested with the SPS hundreds of times. Reaction times are always fastest using the Synchronics." She began to enter codes into the system like she was taking a typing test, despite her broken finger. "My reaction times have always been rated superior. I know what I'm doing."

   "Please reconsider. I think I know what to look for now. Our sensors should be able to pick that stuff up."

"No. You may be able to see it, but you can't control it."

   "Trent!" shouted Richelle from the back of the ship. "Pipe down already! She knows what she's doing. If anyone can fly this bucket, my sister can."

   Trent looked toward Richelle, a puzzled expression on his face.

   Renata continued to dump her flight test results into the Synchronic Profile System. When she was finished, she retracted the Jumper's wings, a green light on her console indicating they had been pulled inside. After she had pulled in the vertical stabilizer and the forward canards, she pressed the Jumper forward and began to turn the ship into position for its entry into the cave. The Jumper was erratically rocking side-to-side now, Renata using the thrusters to keep the ship from inverting as she fought against the forward power of the tail engines.

   "We're on our way," whispered Renata as she hit the throttle. "I'm coming to get you…Devon."

   As the ship continued to shimmy, Renata took it forward and downward, her right hand clutched to the throttle, her left to an eight-pin joystick that controlled the vertical and horizontal thrusters. Her eyes became focused on a white triangle, which represented the Jumper, in the center of the small round screen. The SPS was normally used to test pilot reaction times using simulated radar profiles. If a large red dot popped up on the screen to the right of the white triangle, it indicated Renata needed to push the ship left to avoid an obstacle on the right. Blue on the left meant push right, yellow in front—push down, green in front—push up. The intensity of a dot's color indicated the relative proximity of the obstacle to the ship's flight path. Two dots would indicate two maneuvers were necessary. If the screen was clear, it meant the Jumper was in no danger of imminent collision. Renata took a deep breath. She knew what she was up against. She had to keep the screen as free from dots as possible—nothing else mattered.

   She pushed the ship through the opening in the rocks and immediately leveled it out. The strain on the engines was almost instantaneously felt as a loud, pulsating whine spilled through them. The forward lights of the ship lit up the cavern, but she wouldn't be seeing them—she had to stick to the profiles—only the profiles.

   She began maneuvering the ship down the passage. Immediately there was a yellow dot—stalactites. She pushed the Jumper down using the thrusters, getting it below them. Blue dot—there were jutting blocks on her left. She pushed the ship to the right. Yellow— more stalactites. As she pushed the ship down again, a red dot appeared—she immediately pushed left to avoid more rocks—a yellow dot appeared—she went down again to get beneath some stalactites. A green dot appeared. She had overcompensated—the nose was headed down. She pushed the Jumper up, narrowly avoiding running the ship into the ground. The screen went clear— she was back in the center of the passage, features flying by her she was never going to see.

   Yellow. Stalactites. Renata pushed the Jumper down. Green dot— she pushed it immediately up, avoiding some blocks projecting up from the floor. She overcompensated again, brushing the ship's roof against the cavern ceiling, some spinning limestone shards and tornoff solar panels rattling along the hull and falling past the view ports.

   Renata pushed right, then right again to avoid a number of large limestone blocks, but she couldn't get past a third set, an ugly reverberating crash echoing through the cabin as the port-side hull was hammered against the rocks. She pushed left, then right, then left again, narrowly missing more rocks. She pushed the nose of the Jumper down, then immediately leveled out, just getting below some stalactites. Sweat pouring down her face in torrents, her eyes hadn't moved once from the profile screen.

   As she took the ship toward the left wall and began running along it to avoid irregularities of the right wall, the engines sounded like they were ready to explode, their deafening pulsations filling every corner of the ship. She hit the vertical thrusters and pushed the Jumper down, pressing it into the tightest section they would encounter.

   Trent gritted his teeth as the passage walls seemed to close around them. Renata had only several meters on each side of her to maneuver in, yet the screen remained clear.

   After a moment, the passage opened up. Bright blue dot—she suddenly pushed right to avoid some blocks on her left but missed. Slam! Slam again! The ship was bounced toward the right wall, but she pushed it to the left and got it back in line. Yellow dot. Stalactites again. She tried to get under them but couldn't, the roof of the shuttle crashing against them, large pieces rumbling off the Jumper's fuselage as they fell to the cavern floor. Red dot. She pushed the ship left—too hard—blue dot—she knocked it against the wall, sparks spilling across the port side of the ship. An ominous rattling began pouring through the ship, coming from the engines.

   As the others cried out, Renata's eyes caught a blazing red dot indicating head-on impact was only seconds away. She frantically hit the thrusters, pushing the Jumper hard left, careening into the left wall with a shower of sparks. The ship bounced off the wall and began to roll to the right as it headed toward a gigantic block near the right wall—another red dot screaming at her from the screen. More cries echoed through the cabin as she punched the ship to the left. Blue dot. She had gone too far. She knocked the port side of the ship into the wall again, more sparks flying across the fuselage. As she steadied the ship and pushed it into the center of the now rapidly widening passage, Trent cried out.

   "Lights! Dead ahead!"

   She looked out the cockpit windshield, seeing the lights of her comrades. She lowered the struts, powered the engines down and hit the reverse thrusters, the Jumper's struts screeching forward along the cavern floor for a short distance as the ship ground to a halt. She, Richelle, and Trent went to the door, scrambling out as soon as it opened wide enough for them to fit through it.

   Renata hurried down the steps and right to Devon who was standing a short distance back from the Jumper. They hugged each other tightly as the others let go with cries of reunion and relief. "Devon," she said. "I can't tell you how much I've missed you. I'm so thankful you're alive. We thought for sure all of you were dead. You won't believe what's happened…"

   "Rene," said Devon as Renata began to spout off about their mishaps. "I know you want to tell me everything that's happened…" She rested her right hand over Renata's heart and put her left hand on Renata's cheek.

   Instantly Renata's mouth seemed to freeze in place, her words trailing off. She tried to speak again but couldn't. She went to move her left foot forward, but it didn't respond. She tried turning her head, moving her fingers, even wiggling her toes, but nothing worked, as if the connections between most of her body and her brain had been completely severed. Fright took hold of her. Renata's eyelids began fluttering as she took short, shallow breaths. Devon's hands still held on her, Devon seemed to be looking right through her, oblivious to what was happening.

   Renata's arms suddenly went limp, falling to her sides. Her stomach becoming queasy, she felt hideously lightheaded and thought she was going to pass out. Her lightheadedness leaving her as fast as it had come on, it seemed to transform itself into a chill that flowed from her head down through her spine, saturating every inch of her body. She felt cold, very cold, as if she was back in the icy waters of the cave. At once everything began slowly spinning around her— Hunter, Ramon, Trent, Edison, Richelle—only Devon remained unmovable. As the spinning got faster, Renata felt dissociated—from the caves—from everyone—everything—all except Devon.

   Like she had just been thrown into a fire, Renata's chill changed to a warm tingle that swiftly spread from her chest to the tips of her fingers and toes. It seemed like an electric current was running through her now, but there was no pain. As the current seemed to quickly grow in strength, her mind felt numb. She tried to count but couldn't. She tried to think, but nothing made sense. Faces, names, places—they were all a blur—all except Devon. Devon Victoria Snow. Then abruptly she thought she could see an inflow and outflow of images gradually building in her thoughts, whooshing back and forth, gaining in speed and intensity. Everything in her life seemed to flash out, and things she didn't understand seemed to flash in. The flashing intensified, the images moving faster and faster, then faster still—the pace becoming frenetic…everything went black.