The Belt - Complete Series, page 38
Ahead of him, he could see Cyrus crouching behind a large boulder, weapon in hand, ready to fire. Steph, Spinner, and the mule with the EPR device were working their way in farther down the entrance.
“Where’s Jonesy and the other mule?” said Cyrus as he poked his head out from behind the boulder.
Scott turned around, facing down the tunnel back toward the opening just as Jonesy scrambled in. Behind him, Scott could see the mule—the one with all the mining equipment and explosives—making its way up to the entrance, unaware of the drama playing out around it. It was just about to cross the threshold when it was struck by a short laser burst from above.
It exploded with such force that Scott felt the impact of the shockwave like he had been hit by a small planet. He went careening down the mine entrance, tumbling and bouncing off the walls and the floor for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally stopped tumbling, he could still feel the ground shaking and trembling as the mine entrance collapsed under several tons of rock.
He tried to move, but his body didn’t respond. Then his EVA suit electronics flickered and fizzled, and Scott’s world went dark.
5
VANHEILDING
Fredrick VanHeilding sat comfortably in an antique leather wing-backed chair in his personal study on board the family’s vast and luxurious orbital space station. It was currently parked in a geosynchronous orbit high above the central Pacific Ocean. His study was a voluminous, circular area, with most of its walls and the floor manufactured from a thick polymer glass. Through this, the gentle arc of Earth’s curvature could be seen in all its glory.
He had been observing a tropical storm as it tracked its way east across the ocean. It had made landfall over the edge of the North American continent some time ago and was now beginning to dissipate. He enjoyed this simple pleasure: observing the great meteorological weather systems play out in real time, the slow and ceaseless meandering of powerful forces as they moved and shifted across the planet’s surface. He found it deeply soothing, even hypnotic.
An alert flashed in the corner of his eye, by virtue of his biological lenses having been enhanced for a multitude of communications and data display. It was the orbital’s AI, Marlyn.
He sighed at this intrusion into his meditations. Nevertheless, he gestured with one hand to confirm the alert and open comms. “What’s so important that I need to be disturbed?” His voice did not disguise his irritation.
“Please forgive my intrusion on your meditations, sir. However, the algorithm has recently acquired new data that may be of interest to you.”
VanHeilding sighed again. “Somehow I doubt it. But go on, if you must.”
“Approximately three hours ago, a Belt-registered shuttle landed near a region of the Wasteland formally known as Death Valley. It was transporting a scientific survey mission.”
“And I should care, why?” VanHeilding punctuated this response with yet another sigh.
“A team of five persons in full EVA suits and two robotic mules disembarked and headed on foot toward the eastern mountain range. The shuttle, however, remains in situ. We suspect it may have developed some technical issues during its descent.”
“I’m going to give you three seconds to get to the point, otherwise I am terminating this conversation.”
“Yes, sir. I will try to be as succinct as possible.”
“Just get on with it.” VanHeilding’s voice rose a few decibels to signify his increasing irritation.
“The algorithm that controls this region extrapolated a risk variance level sufficient for it to deploy a scout drone to investigate this mission. Unfortunately, when this drone made contact with the team, it was shot down and destroyed.”
“I can’t see how this needs to be brought to my attention. Just arrest them, or eradicate them—I don’t care which—and let me get back to my meditations.”
“If I may, sir, there is more information that you need to be aware of. Prior to the destruction of the drone, it managed to perform a biometric scan of the party to identify the individuals. One of whom is Commander Scott McNabb, formerly of the scientific survey vessel Hermes.”
This finally got VanHeilding’s attention. He sat forward in his chair. “McNabb? What the—”
“He is also accompanied by two other members from that crew, namely Chief Engineer Cyrus Sanato, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephanie Rayman.”
VanHeilding stood up. “What the hell are they doing there?”
“Good question, sir. The algorithm escalated the incident and invoked level one security protocols, enabling it to deploy a number of security drones and a contingent of security personnel to investigate the shuttle.”
“And…?”
“They have taken the pilot after a brief exchange of weapons fire. She is now in custody, undergoing interrogation in a local facility. The shuttle was extensively damaged in the firefight, however. There is a cyber-forensics team on site analyzing all information contained within what remains of the shuttle’s dataset.”
VanHeilding stood up and started pacing. “So, what are they doing here? What’s in the Wasteland that could be of interest to them?”
“The interrogation of the pilot has revealed that their mission involves entering the old Dyrell Labs facility and reactivating the quantum intelligence known as Athena.”
“What? But…that was destroyed during the Rim War. There’s no way into that facility—all access has been buried under tons of rock.”
“Be that as it may, that is their mission.”
“But why? What do they hope to achieve?” VanHeilding was pacing furiously now.
“The algorithm has analyzed all the current data and extrapolated a likely scenario. Would you like to hear it, sir?”
“Damn right I would.” He stopped pacing and moved over to the observation window, casting a glance down to the region of Earth where the storm was now clearing.
“The algorithm has postulated that Athena has not been destroyed. It still functions—at least, it has done so up until recently. This has been ascertained from the events surrounding the Europa incident. It has hypothesized that the QI, Solomon, used the original EPR device to make contact with Athena, its original developer. So Athena was functional back then, even though the facility was assumed destroyed. Our assessment is that they intend to reestablish this superluminal connection with Solomon, and by extension the QI, Aria, and others. In effect, they are attempting to undermine the efficacy of the inter-AI network that manages all Earth-based systems.”
“Holy shit, can they possibly be that stupid? Do they really think such a ludicrous plan will actually work?”
“It seems so.”
VanHeilding paused for a moment and rubbed his brow, thinking. “Where are they now?”
“They were confronted by three security drones a short time ago. However, they took evasive action by utilizing one of the many mines in that area as an escape route. The mine entrance collapsed during the confrontation, so scout drones are now searching for another way in.”
“They must be stopped, you hear? And if they have an EPR device with them, it must be acquired—intact.”
“It will be so. Just one question, sir.”
“What?”
“Our understanding is that the entity known as Scott McNabb has a significant relationship factor with your extended family by virtue of his association with Miranda Lee-VanHeilding. What outcomes would you prefer for this entity?”
“Kill him…without prejudice. And please ensure that the rest of his associates do not leave this planet alive.”
“Understood, sir.”
- Connection Terminated -
6
THE MINE
From the depths of the utter blackness two motes of light appeared, dancing in rhythm, growing in size and brightness. As they moved closer and closer, Scott’s brain tried to make sense of this phenomenon. Was he really seeing this, or was it just in his mind—a dream perhaps, or maybe a hallucination?
The lights began to take form and shape, and soon he began to make out two ghostly figures moving toward him. They stopped and knelt beside him. He recognized their faces—Cyrus Sanato and Dr. Stephanie Rayman.
Cyrus reached out and fiddled with Scott’s helmet, finally popping open his visor. Scott coughed and retched as his lungs took their first taste of the stale, dusty air.
“He’s still alive,” someone said. Scott wasn’t sure who.
“Scott? Scott…are you injured?” This time he recognized the voice as Dr. Rayman.
He mentally examined the extremities of his body and tentatively moved his head followed by an arm. This last action sent a wave of pain rippling down his right side. He gasped.
“Easy, buddy,” said Cyrus.
“Just take it slow,” said Steph.
Scott eased himself into a sitting position and rested his back against the wall, which resulted in another stab of pain rifling through his body. He clutched his ribcage, and his face contorted in pain.
“Can you feel your legs?” said Steph as she moved closer to remove his EVA suit helmet.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Does that hurt?” Steph poked at the ribs on the right side of his body.
Scott yelled.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. “You’ve got a couple broken ribs there. Looks like that EVA suit took most of the blast. Can you stand up?”
“Yeah, maybe. Can you give me a hand?” Again, pain rifled down his right side as Scott tried to move. Cyrus and Steph came to either side of him and grabbed an arm each, helping him up off the floor of the mine entrance and into a standing position. He gasped several times as the pain in his broken ribs made itself known.
“Shit, what a mess.” He clutched his ribs.
“You need to get out of that EVA suit. I can bandage your ribs and give you something for the pain, but that’s the most I can do.”
Scott looked up and tried to see around him, but it was difficult as the space was dark, and dust filled the air. “Spinner? Jonesy?”
Steph and Cyrus looked from one to the other. “Jonesy’s dead,” Steph finally said. “He was crushed by falling rock when the entrance caved in.”
“Goddamnit.” Scott shook his head. “I shouted at him to hurry, but he just kept on shooting at that drone.” He reached up and rubbed his skull. “And Spinner, is he all right?”
“He’s okay, sort of.”
“What do you mean, ‘sort of?’”
“He was farther down the entrance tunnel, so he escaped most of the blast, but…he’s taking Jonesy’s death pretty bad.”
Scott lowered his head and sighed. “Where is he now?”
“Up near the entrance, sitting beside the body,” said Steph as she began to help him out of the EVA suit.
“I better go and check on him,” said Cyrus, who walked off toward the entrance. “What are the radiation levels like in here, Steph? I feel a bit exposed with no suit.”
“Fine for the moment. And it’s probably a lot less if we move farther in.”
“Did the quantum device survive?”
“Cyrus thinks it’s okay, and the mule survived, too. Just as well, because it was carrying this medical kit.” Steph knelt and broke out a syringe from the kit as she spoke. She cracked open the seal and jabbed it into Scott’s side. “This will help reduce the pain.”
It took a few more minutes for Scott to gather himself together and put the EVA suit back on. He left his helmet visor open, and the suit powered down. He did not want to use any more of its resources than necessary. When they had finished, the two of them slowly made their way back up to the entrance.
Cyrus was sitting beside Spinner, who cradled Jonesy’s head in his lap. Cold, dead eyes looked up at them through a tangled mass of hair and blood.
Spinner glanced up as Scott and Steph came over. “We were going to open a bar, you know…back in Jezero City…from the money out of this gig.” He looked back down at the face of his now dead friend.
Scott didn’t know what to say. What could he say? Nothing that would do any good, that was for sure. He just sighed and looked at the looming wall of rock blocking the entrance to the mine. “We’ll have to dig ourselves out of here.”
“Not a chance,” said Spinner.
“Why not?” said Cyrus.
“Because there’s just too much rock, and a good deal of it is too big for us to move without machines.”
Cyrus stood up and moved over to the wall of rock, casting the light from his helmet across its surface. “We have to try.”
“If we had some equipment, then sure, no problem,” said Spinner. “But all our gear was destroyed when the mule blew up.” He looked up at them. “Trust me, this is what I do—moving rock—and there’s no way we can dig our way out of here.”
“Then we’ll just have to find another way out,” said Scott as he turned on his helmet’s light and looked back down the tunnel.
It took some time to get themselves together, and for the realization to finally sink in that there was simply no way back out through the entrance. They were trapped inside the old mine, and the only option was to find another exit. Since no one knew how long that would take—or if they would find one at all—they eventually agreed to shut down their EVA suits and breathe the air in the mine. It was stale and dusty, but the radiation levels were low, and getting lower as they moved farther into the mine.
However, this meant they couldn’t use their heads-up for low-light environments, as this was integrated into the visor. And since they needed the visor open so they could breathe, they now had to rely on old-fashioned lights to see where they were going. Except for Cyrus; his augmented vision allowed him full clarity in almost complete darkness, so he took the lead. Fortunately, the quantum device had survived the drone attack unscathed, along with the robotic mule, so there was that, at least.
Spinner had been reluctant to leave the body of his colleague just lying on the dusty floor—abandoned, so to speak—and it took both Scott and Steph some time to persuade him that they had no other option. What finally persuaded Spinner in the end was Scott’s suggestion that he could stay with the body while the others looked for a way out. If and when they found one, they would come back for him. This seemed to trigger Spinner’s survival instincts, and so he reckoned he had a better chance by sticking with them.
They moved slowly and in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. For Scott, it was clear that the mission was turning out to be a disaster. Jonesy was dead, and all the equipment they would need to gain access to the facility where Athena was situated had been destroyed. As for the shuttle, all his attempts to raise Razzo on comms were met with static. Either the transmission could not penetrate the tons of rock that surrounded him, or the shuttle had been found by a scout drone and possibly destroyed. In his heart, he hoped that the former was the more likely scenario.
For Scott and the team, the reality was that they were trapped inside a labyrinthine mine, running low on resources, with little hope of escape. There was now absolutely no prospect of achieving the mission objective. At best, all they could hope for was survival, and even that seemed tenuous. The only upside, if you could call it that, was that the drones couldn’t pursue them into the mine.
The tunnel was low and narrow, so they moved in single file. Cyrus took the lead, with Steph and Spinner behind. Scott took up the rear, with the mule following along. Every now and again, the tunnel would widen a little, with alcoves on either side. The first time they encountered these they had hoped it might be an intersection, but it was not to be. For the most part, the tunnel stayed straight and true, descending farther and farther into the mountain.
They had walked for around a kilometer or so—Scott wasn’t really sure—when the tunnel widened dramatically and they found themselves entering a huge natural cave. They stopped, casting the light from their helmets around the cavern. Great, broad stalactites dropped down from above, and some had even joined up with their corresponding stalagmites to form natural columns.
The path they were on seemed to skirt the western edge of the cavern, disappearing again into another tunnel on the far side. As Scott moved his head to peer into the cavernous blackness, he glimpsed a reflection. He moved in farther to examine it and slowly began to realize that he was looking at a large, freshwater pond.
“Check this out—water,” he shouted out to the others.
Cyrus came over and stood beside him. “Well, at least we won’t die of thirst.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. That water could be highly toxic.” Steph moved past them and around the edge of the pond. She stopped suddenly, knelt, and waved back to the others. “Have a look at this.”
Scott and Cyrus came over and examined the area of the ground that had caught Steph’s attention. There, imprinted in the soft, sandy soil of the cave floor, was a set of human footprints.
“Ho-ly shit,” said Cyrus.
Scott knelt to examine them. “How old are these?” It was more a question to himself.
“They’re recent.” Spinner now joined them, and seemed to be pretty certain of his assessment of the footprints’ age.
“How do you know?”
He knelt and pointed to one of the prints. “The sand here is very fine and dry.” He picked up a handful and let it spill out from between his fingers. “See the sharpness at the edges of the impressions? These would round out over time, with dust falling and slight air droughts coming in from the mine entrance. But these are well-defined, which makes me think they’re recent.”
