The Caverns of Mare Cetus (65 page)

Authors: Jim Erjavec

Tags: #Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #General, #Suspense, #Mystery, #Science Fiction, #Sci-fi

Erica sighed. "Guess our intelligence info was wrong on that too. Well, I'd like to chat more, but right now I need to get our ship ready. I have to tweak a few things in the Canopus in prep for the Net." Erica headed for the Jumper's steps.

"Why is she helping us?" asked Hunter.

"Because she's a convert," said Renata. Empathy. Devon's insidious side. No wonder Aris seemed so paranoid about the empathics. She had lost five of her team all right, but Renata was certain none of them were dead—but they might as well have been as far as Aris was concerned.

"I need to apologize," said Hunter abruptly.

"For what?" asked Renata.

"For not going with you. Edison and I started out after you, but Trent called us back. He told us we'd get our butts shot off if we went after you. He said he was sure Devon would protect you. Damn. Protect you is right. She did all that—everything we saw. Right?"

"Just what did you see?" Renata noticed Devon and Richelle talking again, Richelle appearing annoyed with what Devon was saying.

Hunter's voice seemed tentative. "The troops—scattering? Some of them going down. Others shooting at each other. She did all that, right?"

Renata nodded.

"She plays with people's minds, doesn't she?"

"In a way. I can't really explain how she does it."

"She's not a robot, is she?"

Renata shook her head forcefully. "Hardly. She's a woman—just like me. Well, not exactly like me…" She took some food out of her pocket, which she had taken from the soldier's backpack, and began eating again.

"So, why is she here?"

"It's a long story," she said. "It has everything to do with the velandrite…"

"Yeah, Trent did say something about that. I really wonder if it isn't just some big misunderstanding."

Misunderstanding?
Renata was speechless.
Just what had Trent been
telling him? And how hard had Hunter been hit on the head?

Hunter reached into his pocket and took out a beautiful cluster of velandrite crystals. He held it up in front of Renata's face; he was grinning from ear to ear. "We did it—found the deposit! I placed the claim on it."

She frowned in disgust, then pushed his hand away from her face. "Don't ever show that crap to me again. Ever!"

His face grew serious. "What's wrong? This
is
what we came for, isn't it?"

"That crap has screwed up my life—all of our lives. Don't you get it?" Her voice calmed; there was something in the way he was looking at her. "You already made the Claim Verification Transmission to Explora, didn't you?"

"Of course I made the CVT. That's procedure. Once the claim is approved, mining ops will probably begin in a month or so."

"Somehow I doubt that's going to happen," she said. "Explora's probably been shut down by now anyway. That's what happens when you break the law. The Novies will surely expropriate Explora's claiming rights. The velandrite will become government property and will probably be put up for bid."

Hunter seemed puzzled, then he smiled. "Now it makes sense why she had me send the CVT to Veronica."

Renata's voice rose. "You did what?"

"Per Abby's orders. She didn't want the CVT going to her—she wanted it to go to her sister, Ronnie Kensington."

Hearing that, Renata wanted to scream. Ronnie Kensington was half owner of Ceti Mining, Engineering & Discovery. "Abby! That underhanded bitch! There is no way she's going to get away with that."

"Get away with what?"

"What do you mean—get away with what? Can't you see? She's trying to use her sister to get the velandrite to ARTEC. I can assure you, that's not going to happen. The Novies won't let that happen."

Hunter wasn't fazed by her accusations; instead he seemed amused. "Don't be too sure about that. You know Abby's a business genius."

Renata was totally disgusted by Hunter's loyalty to Abby. But then again, he had always been Abby's protégé, and except for the Banyon mission, he had always gotten what he wanted. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." She abruptly turned away from him. "I need to see how Arielle's doing." She started toward the Canopus, Hunter following.

"Your friend is going to be okay," said the medic when Renata reached the bottom of the steps. She gave Renata a look of reassurance. "We will need to get her and her boyfriend to a med facility though, once we get back to Novia. That's a bad break in his leg. I can't believe he can even stand." She shook her head slowly. "I will say my medical scans on her obnoxious boyfriend and your fiancé are a bit puzzling."

"My fiancé?"

"In fact all the scans I ran on your team are a bit odd, like I'm running into some kind of interference or something. But anyway, about your fiancé's skull injury—you'll be glad to know he's…"

"My fiancé?" asked Renata again. "Who told you that?"

The medic discreetly pointed at Hunter. "Why he did, of course."

"Liftoff in twenty minutes," called out Erica as she stepped up to the doorway with Trent who had the box containing the creature in his hands. "I've picked out what I think will be our first hideout. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to ditch the NMA security forces to get us there." She nudged Trent's arm. "You do realize that thing is government property." She pointed at the container.

"Fat chance I'm going to hand this marvelous creature over to anyone," said Trent. "We might be able to use it as a bargaining tool."

"Good point," said Erica. "I like how you think. Whatever you do though, keep that monstrosity locked up. I would rather not have that thing gutting me. Okay?"

"I'd hardly call it dangerous."

"That's what the Hazer Expedition said about the life in the Novian forests of Amoena Terror. Let's see. I believe only 3 of the 23 expedition members survived the harmless creatures living there."

"The name of the area is Amoena Terra," said Trent. "And it was actually 4 of 22. Augustina Evans survived too."

"Well, bully for her." Erica stepped back inside the ship.

"I realize I still don't have any clue as to its origins, but I do think it's a hermaphrodite. It's been laying eggs ever since we put it in the box, but oddly there's no organic signature in any of them…" Trent glanced to his left, seeming a bit startled that Erica was no longer beside him. He came down the steps and handed the container to Hunter, then gave Renata a hug. "I'm sorry we didn't come out and…"

She put two fingers to her lips. "Enough. Okay?"

Edison took the container from Hunter. "What I want to know is how come these things have never been found before?"

"Maybe they have some type of cyclical lifecycle based on changes in the subterranean environment," said Trent. "Like cicadas on Earth. What they eat though—I have no idea. They might process sediment and take out minerals, kind of like plants. Frankly, to find life on Mare is astonishing enough, to find something like this in the caves is mind-boggling."

"Not as mind-boggling as what I saw happen to the MAC," said Renata.

"Hey, Devon!" called Trent, as if Renata had sparked something in him. "We've been trying to wake these guys, but we can't seem to do anything with them." He walked up to Devon and stood in front of her, face to face. "What did you do to them? When are they going to wake up?"

"What did you do to Isis?" she asked in return.

"Yeah," added Richelle, "what really happened to Isis?"

"You know what happened to her," said Trent, glowering at Richelle. He pointed a finger at Devon. "Garrett was right, wasn't he? I should have listened to him. You were toying with us from the moment we got in the caves, weren't you?"

"Before we ever got on the ships." Devon smiled, wryly.

"How do you do it?" asked Trent.

"I can't really explain it. I didn't ask to be a Mendrax. You didn't ask to be Trent Logan. Can't you just leave it at that?" Devon turned to Hunter, flashing him her nails.

"Cherry red," he said.

Renata saw nothing—not a speck of dust on Devon's nails.

"That hit on your head must be affecting your eyes," said Trent. "Her nails are pink."

Renata didn't even try to explain. Devon had them. Completely. For a man, there was only Devon's reality.

"Mendrax," said Trent. "The name. It's derived from DRAX, isn't it?"

"What do you think?" asked Devon. "Could be, huh?"

Hunter called for Trent to go with him into the ship. Trent acted as if he was about to say something more to Devon, then abruptly turned and followed Hunter up the steps.

Renata sighed. Of course it was. DRAX. One of the dreaded supercomputer killing machines during the Techno Wars, DRAX was supposedly destroyed, but Renata was certain now that hadn't happened. The mental capabilities of the Mendrax were light years ahead of anything Renata could imagine. That jump in technology had to have come from DRAX. So DRAX never died, or maybe someone put it back together. And in a devious plot to circumvent the Edicts of 2084, DRAX was used to enhance the mental skills of special women and special girls, those with Far-Right Neural Nets. Yes—the Mendrax. As tender, loving, and caring as any man could ever hope for, but as manipulative and deceptive as the most ruthless killer—all in one. Renata smiled. She had to marvel at the idea. It was brilliant. And the Edicts of 2084 had no control over the Mendrax because the Mendrax weren't robots. She wondered what clever bastard thought of that loophole because she knew it had to be a man. But she could only believe he and his comrades were long gone—they had no idea what they had created—their own executioners.

"We're not freaks, are we?" asked Richelle.

"No," said Devon. "We're addicts."

"That's good. I like addiction. I'm going to try to help those four guys wake up, okay? I promise I won't send any of them to the psycho ward."

"Don't bother," said Devon. "You can't help them right now. I wasn't very happy when I walked out that door."

"So, when will ARTEC come?" asked Renata as she gazed at the MAC.

Devon didn't immediately respond. "Hard to say. But they will come. They'll come for me, they'll come for you, they'll come for Richelle. And they won't hold back."

"Woe to Novia," said Renata.

"Woe to ARTEC," said Devon. "And anyone who ever tries to come between us."

"I'm glad one of us isn't scared. I know—I am."

"You shouldn't be. I'm not sure I like them anymore. And I know they don't know me anymore."

Renata sighed, deeply. "Did they ever?"

"What's with this closing-eyes shit you talked about?" asked Richelle. "How does it work? I want to wake them all up at once."

Both Devon and Renata turned. "No!" cried Devon. "You goofy wench! You're not ready for that!" As Richelle closed her eyes, Devon grabbed onto Richelle's jacket, taking Richelle to the ground as she fell on top of her. After Devon had worked her way off Richelle, she sat up.

"You two okay?" asked Edison. He crouched beside them. "Devon. I know your life is complicated—I know you girls have something going on, and I wouldn't want to interfere, but, uh, I need to know something."

Devon's expression seemed both hesitant and curious. "Yesss…"

"Well, uh, I have this…uh, I'd like to, uh—will you marry me?"

Devon turned to Richelle who was still on her back, her eyes now open—sparkling, a huge grin on her face. Devon smacked Richelle's thigh—hard.

"Ow! What was that for?" Richelle sat up, then broke into laughter.

Edison took Devon's left hand in his own and placed his other hand on top of hers. The way he was holding her, it looked like a giant clam had grabbed onto her arm, swallowing her hand. "You don't need to answer right now, but, uh, before you decide—and I'll die if you don't say yes—you need to know you're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on…"

"And I'll die if you don't say yes?" Renata covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress her laughs. "Devon. How can you possibly refuse such sincerity?"

"Richelle!" Devon glared at her. "We need to talk…now!"