The Dragon Circle (50 page)

“Damn it, Loki, not now!” Konner grabbed two handfuls of moss and tore them free of one of the rocks. The moss that chinked gaps in cabin walls, lined baby diapers, and served as a fire starter. “Stuff this into your ears. Tight. Follow me. And hurry.”

He pulled himself up onto the ford, pausing only to grab Dalleena's wrist and haul her up. She choked off a scream.

Still holding her hand, he ran as fast as he could for the opposite shore.

“St. Bridget and all the angels, save me!” Kat stared at the sunken lander through the faceplate of her EVA suit. The long vehicle tilted on the edge of a trench. If it had touched down three meters farther, it would have plunged thousands of fathoms deeper, well beyond her reach, possibly beyond hull tolerances.

“You say something, Lieutenant?” the sergeant asked over the comm unit.

“Nothing worth repeating. Stay close, Sarge.”

“Will do. Easier keeping this hunk of bolts in one place than swimming to the surface.”

“Until the currents get you,” Kat subvocalized. No need scaring the man into doing something stupid.

Kat half swam/half walked the twenty meters to the rear air lock of the lander. Her heavy magnetic boots dragged her down to the sandy bottom. The water felt as thick as soy pudding. Her suit kept beeping alarms, not liking the pressure she endured at this depth.

She punched in the codes to work the air lock. The keypad responded sluggishly. She checked her air supply. At this rate she'd be breathing water by the time the chamber pressurized to equal that of the ocean bottom.

“We're sinking!”

“Give her a little juice, Sergeant Brewster,” Kat ordered. She fought to keep her voice calm.

A blast of water swirled around her. She braced herself against the air lock, desperate to keep her feet. A hasty glance over her shoulder showed the other lander swaying back and forth, creating its own current.

Her lander rocked in response.

A flood of curses spilled out of Kat's mouth.

Then the air lock opened. The change in pressure rocked the lander again.

Kat held her breath, praying it did not tip over into the trench.

A few rocks back and forth, then it settled into the sand. Was it a fraction farther forward?

“Don't go anywhere just yet, Brewster. Gotta make sure I can get this baby off the bottom.” She stepped into the air lock and closed it behind her.

Agonizing moments passed before the automatic system flushed out the water, replacing it with air. Her wrist monitor looked stuck in the hazard position. Finally, the numbers crept upward showing breathable atmosphere.

“You still there, Brewster?”

“Barely. I'm really uncomfortable at these controls, Lieutenant.”

“Can you fly an air car? Take your girl out on a date back home?”

“Yeah.” He sounded hesitant.

“Real hot shot, I bet. Show off for the ladies.”

“Yeah.” His voice brightened.

“Same thing. This is just a bigger vessel, a little clumsier, a lot more powerful.”

“You make it sound easy, Lieutenant.”

“ 'Cause it is. Now stick around until I give you leave. I want this thing off the bottom before I see your tail in the viewscreen.”

Kat opened her faceplate. The air tasted stale and salty. She hadn't much time.

Edging forward on the slightly tilted deck, she stayed near the outer bulkhead as much as possible, keeping the lander balanced. “So far so good,” she breathed as she neared the cockpit.

Her third step toward the middle of the craft sent shivers through the hull. She grabbed the nearest handhold, riding out the rocking of the hull. When the lander finally settled, the deck tilted forward at least five additional degrees.

She gulped and waited.

“You okay, Kat? That thing looks mighty unstable.”

“Yeah, Kent. Give me a few more moments. I think I can get to the copilot's seat without any more disturbance. Firing up the engines could shift the balance.” Before she lost her courage, Kat slid into the nearest chair. She unlocked the legs and scooted along the rail that ran along the deck at the base of the circle of terminals.

Halfway to the viewscreen she found systems control. A quick check showed the essentials working, navigation, weapons, environmentals, hull integrity, and fuel. When Konner had ditched the vehicle, he'd set it to go through automatic shutdown at some point after launch. The family mechanic couldn't kill a machine any more than he could kill a king stone.

Kat fully intended to take advantage of her brother's weakness.

She breathed a little easier as she ran through ignition. A comforting rumble answered her commands. Ever conscious of her precarious position, she edged her chair further along the rail. She came to command position and looked out the viewscreen. The trench yawned before her.

A behemouth swam across her bow. It flipped its tail twice and shot upward. The crush of water pressed downward against the nose of her vessel. She tilted farther forward and slid . . .

“Sonics, now,” Loki ordered Kim.

His little brother reached for the red interface on his screen in the upper right-hand corner. Out of the way of any casual brush of his fingers.

“No. Wait!” Loki stayed the command with a tight grip on Kim's shoulder. “That's Konner and Dalleena down there.”

“IMPs taking aim at them.” Kim hesitated, his index finger one micro above the screen. “I've got to down the IMPs.”

“If Konner and Dalleena fall off the ford, they'll either drown or break their necks going over the cascade.

“If the IMPs shoot them, they face the same choice.”

“Two more femtos and they'll be on firm ground.”

“Damn, there's Taneeo and his knife. He's going to kill one of the IMPs.” Kim dropped his finger onto the blinking red interface.

Muffled echoes of the piercing blast of sound penetrated the hull. Annoying. Almost painful.

The figures below doubled over in pain, hands holding ears, grimaces of agony on their faces.

Loki could not find Konner among them, or on the opposite bank.

K
ONNER DOVE behind the upended roots of a huge fallen tree. The tangled roots, rocks, and mud, with infant ferns growing in the middle stood between him and
Rover
. Dalleena crawled behind him, burrowing deep into the leaf litter that collected between the root ball and the tree trunk.

He mounded more of the plant debris around their heads as he lay on top of her, shielding her head with his body.

Less than a heartbeat later his ears rang with the harsh pulses of a highly illegal sonic weapon. Every hair on his body felt as if it stood on end. His teeth ached. Tears streamed down his face.

“I love you, Dalleena,” he whispered, fighting to stay conscious.

“Loving you can be very dangerous, Stargod Konner O'Hara.”

Kim counted each IMP as he fell victim to the sonic blast. Taneeo fell last, his wickedly curved knife still clutched in his hand.

When the traitor's body stopped twitching, Kim breathed a sigh of relief. But he left his hand upon the sonics trigger.

The moment Taneeo succumbed, Loki signaled Kim to cease firing.

The silence after the sonic blast seemed to echo around Kim's head. Unnatural. Surreal. How much hearing had he lost? How much had the IMPs lost after the full exposure?

“Where's Konner?” Loki's eyes were wide, nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Kim searched with his eyes and every other sense he could muster. He saw fifteen IMPs and Taneeo all lying unconscious at the edge of the pool. Konner remained elusive.

“I have to land this thing, quick. We have to find them.” Loki sounded as frantic as Kim felt.

Loki moved
Rover
into the center of the clearing and dropped to the ground. Not the smoothest of landings. Kim hardly noticed. They ignored Cyndi, still gagged and bound, slumping against the tree where they'd left her hours ago. The sonics had silenced her, too.

Together, Kim and Loki pelted down the narrow path toward the creek.

“Konner!” Kim yelled across the water.

Taneeo moaned and twitched. Loki pulled a set of force bracelets out of his pocket and slapped them on the little priest. “What's this?” he held up the missing second beacon. Ungently, he yanked it away from Taneeo, snapping the leather thong that suspended it.

The strained leather did not leave so much as a mark on the traitor. Loki felt along the man's neck.

“
St. Bridget
! Hide toughening, exoskeleton forming. He's turning into a dragon. Just like Hanassa.”

Kim examined the man's neck and torso. His fingers met hard cartilage becoming as dense as bone.

“We'll have to make another trip back to the volcano and destroy that beacon, too,” Kim muttered.

He pulled a length of vine away from the shrub it nearly choked. Viciously, he twisted it into convenient lengths, ignoring how it looped back upon his hands and arms, trying to snare him. Bloody welts appeared beneath its thorns. Devil's vine the locals called it, with good reason.

He used it to bind the wrists and ankles of all of the IMPs. The thorny weed gouged any skin it contacted, wrapping easily where Kim guided it. If one believed the locals, the plant was almost sentient. Kim had a hard time keeping it from tangling his own hands. The IMPs would not break free easily.

“Konner!” Loki called again.

“Here,” came a strangled voice.

“Can you handle these guys?” Loki asked.

Kim nodded grimly. “We can dump them a few kilometers from their camp after dark. Make them walk back.” He twisted a length of vine securely on the last of the IMPs. Then he yanked off their boots. All fifteen of them began to stir and moan.