Trapped on Predator Planet, page 27
Not waiting for VELMA’s answer, I deactivated thermal and walked forward several steps until I could see the soft glow of BoKama’s ship’s ground lights through the branches.
There was no time.
BoKama was steps away from dragging Rax’s inert body up the ramp and onto the ship. I had no idea where the others were, how close, but I still did not hear the crashing of heavy boots through the brush. Was the Ikma on the ship? Or was she back on Ikshe, directing BoKama’s actions? How had they known Raxkarax was here?
It didn’t matter. I’d wanted to show Raxkarax I could be brave but his vicious queen who liked to crochet with people’s intestines would know about humans if I took one more step out of the woods. If I took one step back into the trees, neither the BoKama nor the queen would know I was here. If the others arrived in time ….
Sick fear and dread chilled me to the bone, and I took a long stride forward.
“Unhand Rax,” I said, my voice deeper and colder than I’d ever heard myself speak.
BoKama’s helmet shot up; her light shone on me, a spotlight in the dark.
“VELMA,” I said. “Is there a nosecone nearby?”
“What are you?” BoKama breathed, and I realized she was concealing her knowledge of my race from the queen. I suspected the queen was still on Ikshe, as well. A gift.
“SLO nosecone 4 approaching in eight minutes, twenty-seven seconds,” VELMA said.
I took another step forward and ripped my machete from its Velcro strap.
“Drop him, and I won’t kill you,” I said, taking another step toward the ramp. I was about one meter from Rax’s boots. If I had to, I’d dive onto him, and BoKama could take us both to our deaths.
“VELMA,” I said. “Mark the time.”
“SLO nosecone 4 approaching in six minutes, fourteen seconds,” she said.
“Which is it?” BoKama hissed. “The hunter or the alien? I cannot subdue them both!”
“You will subdue neither of us,” I said, my voice loud, clear, and speaking in perfect Theraxl. “I have a weapon trained on you that will drop you in a jotik.” I pointed my machete at BoKama’s helmet where I hoped the camera was trained on me. “And if I have to kill BoKama, then I’m coming for you next, Ikma Scabmal Kama.”
“SLO nosecone 4 approaching in three minutes, four seconds.”
“I’m laying Raxkarax down,” BoKama said.
I nodded but kept my machete pointing at her. Privately, I spoke to VELMA. “Fire a shot close enough that the queen will see it via sight-capture and then disable all communication devices in BoKama’s helmet and ship.”
“Complying,” VELMA said.
BoKama protected Rax’s head from dropping on the ramp and withdrew her hands from his body; one of them held a small device she let dangle from a graceful finger.
Raxkarax stirred, and my heart resumed its beat.
“Firing LASER scattershot,” said VELMA. “Do not move.”
Blue streaks shot from the sky lightning fast, and smoke hissed up from a writhing rotaxl I hadn’t seen that was a meter to my left.
BoKama took off her helmet and sank to her knees at the same time I heard shouts, cracking sticks and loud footfalls from the woods behind me.
The group crashed through the woods with weapons drawn, and I looked back at BoKama who held her hands up.
“You should be free to speak,” I told her. “I had VELMA disable all of your comms.”
The clearing lit up with everyone’s helmets and the ship’s interior light casting a yellow rhomboid onto the ramp and grassy ground.
BoKama stood and bent to take Raxkarax’s arm in a firm grip, helping him rise to standing.
“You should get your equilibrium in a rotik,” she said. She held the device out so he could see it. “It pulses a vibration that renders the Shel immobile; they excrete a sedative into the bloodstream.”
Rax pushed her hand away and looked up at me.
Standing with my machete at my side, I could feel that the tension in my body had cemented my posture. Feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms in a defensive position: I was still ready for battle.
“May I approach, Raxma bi Woa?” he asked, and I melted when I nodded. He held me to him in a single stride, and I wept.
Chapter 72
Raxkarax
“You are safe, my heart,” I said to my little sky warrior and caressed her shoulder and back in one long stroke. Looking at the others who stared at us, the BoKama, her ship, or the smoking rotaxl, I gestured with my free hand. “You see my Joan has bested the Ikma Scabmal Kama.”
“How did this happen?” Naraxthel asked.
“Forgive me,” BoKama said, walking down the ramp. “I convinced VELMA to help me. I explained every detail in advance and how I thought the Ikma would respond. VELMA ran her own simulations as well, and this was what we came up with.”
“What does the Ikma know?” I asked, holding Joan tighter to me. She trembled in my arms.
“Very little,” BoKama said. “It is regretful that she has now seen a human, but of the hunters, she knows only that Naraxthel’s Tech-slave has been active and that a single hunter lives—as I was able to kidnap him. I did not identify you by name,” she said to me.
“What was the plan intended to accomplish?” Hivelt asked, stepping into the light cast from BoKama’s ship.
“I hated that you were here without a ship,” she said. “When I was alerted to the Tech-slave’s movements, I had the idea that I could convince the Ikma to let me investigate. We were going to open the hunt in two days.
“I told her a rogue hunter could pose a threat to the Ikthekal and that I could subdue him,” she said. “But I trusted VELMA to alert someone in enough time to foil my attempt.” She shot Joan a glance. “I did not know it would be a human.”
Joan finally pulled away from me. “VELMA didn’t ….” She said and cocked her head. Her mouth moved, but we heard nothing. She spoke again. “I woke—and all I knew was that I wanted to talk to you immediately.” She looked up at me, her dark eyes piercing my very soul. “I wanted you to know how much—how much I love you.”
Hands resting on her spare shoulders, I gazed into her eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered. She nodded and sagged into me again.
“What did you think we would do to stop you?” Natheka asked the BoKama.
She bowed her head a jotik and looked back up at us. “I told VELMA to take my life if you couldn’t do it.”
Taken aback, I didn’t speak.
“Did VELMA agree to that?” Amity asked in disbelief.
“VELMA was cryptic,” BoKama said. “But she assured me that our plan would result in your company obtaining a ship.”
“Since we arrived too late to help,” Esra said. “Or to see what went down.” She gestured to the dead rotaxl. “What do you think the Ikma thinks happened down here?”
“I tried to make it look like a LASER scattershot destroyed BoKama’s ship and possibly BoKama,” Joan said. “Hopefully that buys us a little time before the Ikma sends an army down here.”
“She won’t,” BoKama said.
“Why not?” Pattee asked.
“She will not want the people to know that she sent her Sister-Queen to Ikthe to die,” she said. “She will make up a story about me having an illness, and she will delay opening the hunt again.”
“This gives us time to travel to Black Heart and find CeCe,” Joan said, her voice hopeful.
“And to complete the quest at long last,” Raxthezana said. “I propose we send sight-captures to Ikshe once we have collected our treasure. The people will know then of the Ikma’s lies and subtleties. Let them call the Tribunal.”
“Hunger will vote with its teeth,” I said, and my brothers nodded.
Chapter 73
Joan
Strapped into the BoKama’s ship, I marveled at my life—at everything. Alien technology. An alien lover and confidante. Having survived the Agothe-Fatheza. The amazing women who were now my friends.
After collecting provisions, we all sat in the jump seats of BoKama’s ship, and she piloted us to the Black Heart Mountain. Turbulence rocked the ship so much that I could feel my face turning green, but then we were over the range and lowering into the meadow where the P-MIV had made a ghastly black scar drawing the outline of a doughnut, with the doughnut hole being the P-MIV’s point of entry.
BoKama flew her ship so that she could shine lights down into the hole, but we couldn’t see anything.
VELMA still couldn’t pick up any communications.
BoKama landed, and we struck out across the meadow, lighting the path before us with our helmets and bearing our weapons, just in case animals were around. It was still night.
We reached the outer ring first.
It was a meter wide but probably about five meters deep. Shining flashlights down into the ring, we could just make out the metal.
“Were the blast nodules armed?” Pattee asked VELMA.
“Negative,” VELMA said.
The outer ring’s diameter was eight meters, but we found a place where the ground had partially collapsed into it forming a bridge. VELMA’s scans showed it would hold our weight, so we crossed it and circled the “doughnut” hole, wary of the edge.
“Keep back one meter,” Pattee said. “I’m going to lie down and army crawl closer.”
We circled the hole, standing well away from both deep gouges in front and behind, and watched as Pattee edged closer to the sinkhole and shone her light down into it.
“I can’t see anything,” she said.
“Let us rest and try again when the suns rise,” Naraxthel said.
Biting my lip, I wanted to protest, but I knew it was the best decision for now. We were exhausted and stressed, and it was too dark to see anything. We needed the bright perspective of a new day.
Filing back to BoKama’s ship, we collapsed in bunks and pallets on the floor, and for once, enjoyed a full night’s sleep without anyone standing watch.
In the morning, BoKama gave everyone their own loaf of sister-bread, and Amity and I exchanged glances when we took our first bites—smitten.
After breakfast, we gathered for a short meeting.
“I’ve asked VELMA to keep tabs on the fortress as much as possible,” Esra said. “BoKama left a spare helmet in the queen’s chambers as if she’d forgotten it, so VELMA can pick up occasional audio from there, and of course, she can scan activity in the hangars and archives.”
“We have climbing gear,” Pattee said. “Whoever wants to can rappel down into the P-MIV tunnel. The P-MIV has an access panel we’ll be able to open as soon as we touch metal. Because of the lack of communication, I think there’s a good chance that CeCe is safely tucked inside in cryosleep.”
“I’m going to wait up top with med kit supplies,” Amity said. “Want to join me, Joan?”
Biting my lip, I didn’t answer right away.
“The guys might be too big to help at the P-MIV,” Pattee offered me with a smile.
“I’ll come with you,” I said to Pattee, even though the thought of rappelling down forty feet or however many it would be from the base of the P-MIV to the entry point made my knees shake.
Amity smiled. “You’ll do fine.”
Trussed up with Pattee’s rope, she and I made our way down the side of the hole, belaying rope one length at a time until our feet touched the base of the P-MIV.
The access panel was actually a solid hatch complete with external latches and controllers. Taking a deep breath, I met Pattee’s eye and then activated the controllers and pump handle, releasing the internal locking mechanism and equalizing the pressure at the same time.
There was room for us to scoot out of the way and open the door, but it took both of us to lift it back.
The interior of the P-MIV was dark.
With shaking hands, I found my flashlight and shone it down into the cylindrical space decked out much like you would expect of a space station, with curved walls lined with cubbies and handles, and streamlined storage and computer monitors.
The pilot’s chair extended from a bank along one side and was empty.
Lump in my throat, I flashed my light farther down along the bulkhead until my beam intersected with Pattee’s.
The P-MIV was empty.
“Hang on,” I said, frustration coating my voice with a rasp. I lowered myself into the opening, suspended from the edge by my hands, and found the rungs of the ladder with my boots. I climbed down and shone my light at all the monitors and at the chair and robotic arm. I leaned off a rung and jumped to the ladder on the opposite side and pressed the power button on the nearest CPU.
While it booted up, I looked up at Pattee who was now a silhouette with the bright peach sky behind her.
“Greetings, K-90 Miner 108,” VELMA said.
“VELMA?” I spoke into my helmet mic. “Did you hear that?”
“Error,” VELMA said in my ear.
“What?” I looked up at Pattee again, but she was waving for me to come back up.
“Hurry!” She shouted, and nausea burped in my gut.
“Shit,” I said and started climbing the ladder as fast as I could. Shaking rattled the equipment inside the P-MIV and then I was being hauled up faster than I had descended.
Dirt sprinkled down from the sides of the P-MIV’s tunnel, and the dirt turned into gravel. The circle of bright sky shimmied when I looked up at it, but it grew larger and larger as someone pulled up my rope.
Raxkarax was on the other end and he pulled me to him and we collapsed on the ring of ground as the earthquake rumbled and complained, tremors rattling my nerves and my teeth. It felt like it lasted for an eternity, but when it finally subsided, it had only been three minutes.
“Is everyone okay?” I said, sitting up. Hivelt had pulled Pattee up. When I looked across the ring toward the ship, the others were standing and brushing dirt off their legs and arms.
“Let’s move,” Pattee said. “Even without the blast nodules, the P-MIV did its job. This is going to collapse.”
We scrambled to the land bridge that was even more crumbled and unstable, and picked our way across, jogging away from the ring.
Breathing hard, I tried to process what had happened.
“Did you hear that?” I finally asked when I stopped panting.
“Hear what?” Pattee asked.
“VELMA when I was in the P-MIV,” I said. “She greeted me with my Miner ID, like when I first woke up in the EEP.”
“Okay,” Pattee said, sounding unsure of where I was going.
“Then I pinged our VELMA,” I said. “The actual VELMA who we talk to every day? In my helmet. And she said “Error.””
“VELMA?” I called her again.
“Yes, Joan?” she said.
“Did you not hear me right before the earthquake?” I said.
“I lost track of your vitals for four minutes and forty-seven seconds,” she said.
Head spinning, I sat down with a huff and took off my helmet. By now, the others had gathered around, and Amity and Esra had big eyes, the obvious question dangling from their lips.
“No one was in there,” I said. “I don’t think anyone was ever in there. It smelled brand new.”
Pattee nodded. “If I had to guess, someone, possibly CeCe? Did a remote launch but gave it the same program the EEPs use,” she said.
“But VELMA can’t tap into it,” I said. “And the VELMA inside can’t get out. Why is that?”
Pattee stared at me, but I could tell she wasn’t seeing me.
“So the P-MIV doesn’t have Wi-Fi?” Esra said.
“Something like that,” I said, but I shook my head. “I don’t understand. Why would she launch it empty? And if she wasn’t on it, then ….” I didn’t want to say it.
“Did she stay behind?” Amity asked.
“No,” Raxthezana said, walking from behind me and sitting down nearby. The others drew closer and sat as well until we were in our comfortable circle. “I don’t presume to know humans well,” he said. “But I am wont to observe and study at times.”
“Tell us,” Hivelt said.
Raxthezana smirked at him for a second then continued. “I believe CeCe hid something of value in the insertion vehicle. That was why she removed it from your mother ship and sent it out into the stars. And I believe she was close behind.”
Eyes glazing over, I remembered her face inches from mine. “Go. I’ll meet you on the Other Side.”
I nodded. “Yes. I think he’s right. She could have taken a rover or an SOO. Or maybe even run back to the pod bay.”
“I don’t think she had time to get to the pod bay,” Pattee said. “When I was programming mine, I could hear them launching. I’d put money on a Single Occupant Orbiter. If she wanted to leave fast and thought she was a target, she’d want to have as small of a profile as possible.”
“What do you mean if she thought she was a target?” I asked.
“Joan,” she said. “CeCe was running from the executive suites elevator after meeting with them.”
Blinking, I remembered her invitation to lunch. They’re shuttling somebody in from Admin. It’s related to the neural network. Anyway …
“It’s related to the neural network,” I murmured.
“What?” Amity said, scooting closer.
I looked up.
“It’s related to the neural network.”
Chapter 74
Raxkarax
Dark circles under Joan’s eyes belied her concern. There was no talk of her human friend, instead she quizzed Pattee about VELMA. I sat beside her and listened.
When she revealed the insertion vehicle was empty, my heart ached. I had hoped to witness Joan’s joyful reunion with her friend. But now our problems had grown exponentially.
Raxthezana said CeCe hid something in the vehicle.
Aftershocks rumbled beneath us, and I looked back to the holes.
I’d heard Pattee declare the area would collapse, and I believed her. But if the vehicle were to be buried, perhaps whatever CeCe hid would be destroyed. Would she not have destroyed it already if needed?
