Hidden in Predator Planet, page 30
“Yeah,” I said.
“I think the Black Mist got in through the joints and penetrated the gel layer under CeCe’s armor,” she said. “Same thing probably happened to the guys.”
“No,” Joan said with concern. “We have to go back and get them,” she said. I’d never heard that steel in her voice.
“CeCe can’t go back down there,” Amity said.
“CeCe shows signs of recovery,” VELMA announced, and I collapsed back onto the ground with an exhale.
“Okay, look,” I said. “The guys are going to be okay if we can get them out. But the problem is, we have to find the entrance to the nesting grounds and take them out that way, if they haven’t already made it. Pattee’s about dead from carrying CeCe. There’s no way we can bring them up the ladder unless we use mechanical advantage—we don’t have time to rig up pulleys and wenches.”
“I hate to do it,” Joan said. “But we need to split up. I can go, or I can stay with CeCe, but everyone else needs to go back and find them.”
“Agreed,” said Pattee.
“Okay,” I said, making fast decisions. “Joan, stay with CeCe. The rest of us will go back. The guys had the presence of mind to bolt that guide rope in, so we’ll follow that as far as we can. I think it’s safe for those of us with flight suits and helmets; we’re hermetically sealed inside. As soon as we get out of the chamber, our comms should start to function again, and we can plan from there. Let’s roll.”
“Godspeed,” Joan said. She was already holding CeCe’s helmet in her lap. “I think she’s stirring. Hurry! And don’t be afraid to try comms. I managed to get the last T-sampler into the ground under the ladder. They might work.”
With a nod, I entered the shaft once more. “Girls, once I reach the halfway point, I’ll ladder surf down.”
“Got it.”
“Okay,” they both answered.
Heart racing, I tramped down the rungs as quickly as I could while the ladder swayed. I tried not to think negative thoughts about the men who stole our hearts and protected us from the countless dangers on Ikthe. I had no idea how we were going to find them in the pitch black. I didn’t know how we’d get them out or even find our way to the next milestone, and I couldn’t figure out how we would reunite with Joan and CeCe.
“VELMA, I need you to run simulations,” I said. Running down my list of problems, I put the AI to work and paused on the ladder, grasping the sides in a loose hold, and surfed down, using the distance gauge in my IntraVisor to mark the time so I could brace for landing.
“Clear!” I shouted at the bottom and reached the side where I knew the guide rope to be. Snagging it, I breathed a sigh of relief and waited.
Amity came next, announcing her presence, and I grabbed her hand and put it on the rope.
When Pattee landed with a soft thud, I got their attention.
“Amity, keep hold of the rope,” I said. “Pattee and I will hold hands, and I’ll hold your other hand. Let’s go as quickly as we can, but hopefully we’ll run into their—” I almost said bodies. “Them.”
“Let’s go,” Pattee said, and we gripped each other’s hands with determination.
“I have an idea,” said VELMA. “If there are distinguishing characteristics in your current environment, you may describe them to me, and I can create a digital map. Over some distance and time, we may create a navigable chart from which I can extrapolate important information and relay it to you.”
“Excellent,” I said. Moving as fast as was reasonable in the situation, we made some distance before Amity cried out.
“The guide rope ends here,” she said.
“I feel something,” Pattee said. “Don’t move; I’m going to let go.”
Shuffling and a grunt.
“I’ve got one,” she said. “Hang on. VELMA’s inserted a digital overlay.”
The same overlay showed up in my helmet, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though it was a simple grid of shapes and topographical lines in white over black, it was better than staring into nothingness.
“I’ve got three hunters,” Pattee said.
“Letting go,” I said. “I’ve got a basic map. Headed to you, Pattee.”
“I’m going to keep mapping by following the wall,” said Amity. “Everyone keep talking so we can place you.”
“Got it,” I said, narrating my walk toward Pattee’s voice.
“Natheka, thank God,” Amity cried. “He’s by the wall. I think he’s still alive. I’m going to keep going. Please, Santa Maria let the next tunnel be close.”
My foot bumped armor and I squatted down. Patting up the body, I found the helmet. “Naraxthel,” I breathed.
“Yes, here’s Hivelt and the other is Raxkarax,” she said. “Oh shit.”
“What?” I said, patting Naraxthel and wishing I could test for a pulse or access comms.
“Huge body,” she said. “I’m guessing ikadax. They were attacked.”
“Another body over here!” Amity said. “This is good; they had to emerge from somewhere.”
“Miners,” VELMA announced via my external mic. “Pouring water in the space between neck and helmet may aid the hunters with marginal results.”
“On it,” I said, pulling my canister out. “Naraxthel baby,” I said. “I’m right here. We’re gonna get you out.” I poured where my other hand rested in the neck joint until it was empty. He stirred.
“I’ve got a tunnel!” Amity shouted. She mumbled and sounded like she was getting closer. I realized she was mapping the area that led to us.
“Once we clear the Black Mist, VELMA can integrate all the maps,” I said. “One of us can go back and get CeCe and Joan. I think CeCe can last a few minutes before succumbing to the toxin.”
“I’m way ahead of you,” VELMA said. “I’m using everyone’s voices from external speakers to triangulate and extrapolate navigational information.
“Let’s hit it,” Pattee said, and I heard her grunting.
“My head,” Hivelt groaned. “There are a thousand chisels grinding in my head.”
“If you want it to stop, follow me,” Pattee said through what sounded like gritted teeth. She must be hefting Raxkarax. I didn’t blame her; Hivelt was the largest of the five hunters.
“Wait,” I said. “Where’s Raxthezana?”
“No sign of him yet,” Pattee said.
My heart hurt. He had to be okay; CeCe hadn’t come all this way to find him and lose him.
The map started filling in with greater detail, revealing a huge chamber.
“What’s happening?” Amity asked.
“Joan’s T-sampler has restored comms as well as my wireless capability,” VELMA said. “Integrating maps now.”
Another groan, this one from Raxkarax.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I heard Pattee say. “We’re headed out.”
“Joan,” he said.
“She’s fine,” Pattee said. “She’s the current hero at the moment.”
“I heard that,” Joan said with a small laugh. “CeCe’s almost back to her old self. We’re waiting until everyone is through the next tunnel, then we’ll come down.”
I started dragging Naraxthel who couldn’t shake the toxins yet.
“I hear music,” he said. “Is Natheka singing again?”
“Is that a request?” Natheka’s voice came through the comms.
“Goddess no,” Naraxthel said on a moan.
“Come on, help me out Red,” I said with a huff.
A groan was his reply, but his dead weight eased the slightest bit.
“Alright, we’ve got good news and bad news,” Amity’s voice rang clear through comms.
“Natheka and I are out of the tunnel; it’s an easy slope. Air’s clear up here. Great visibility.”
“What’s the bad news?” I said, pulling Naraxthel’s heavy body another few feet.
“The visibility is great because it looks like the fires of hell up in here,” she said. “But purple.”
“Then you are in the right place,” Raxthezana said.
“Where are you?” I said, waiting to hear CeCe any minute as well.
“I am in the nesting grounds,” he said. “Not far from where Amity and Natheka emerged.”
“We see him,” Amity said. “Dammit.”
“What?” CeCe said.
“He’s—how did you get up there?” Amity said.
“Only recall how Esra rode the grass-eater,” he said.
“Kathe,” CeCe uttered over the comms. “You rode an ikadax, didn’t you?”
74
Raxthezana
The comms started working about the time I had determined to make my way back to the annex, climb an unclimbable wall, and take my chances down in the Black Mist Chamber again.
Now I could see down into the nesting grounds, another cavern so large as to be a world beneath a world. As Amity described, countless fires burned, dotting the vast area some forty veltiks below. I didn’t know how I was going to join the others, but having heard CeCe’s voice and knowing she was safe eased my worries. All would be well soon enough.
I surmised the ikadax had flown so high in the Black Mist Chamber that she soared above the toxic cloud and followed a familiar route leading to the annex where I killed her. From the annex I’d found the narrowest of traverses necessitating the temporary removal of my chest armor and shoulder plates, but I’d made it through to find it opened onto a ledge high above the fires. Below the ledge lay a wide swath of smoking ash hills: the nests in which the ikadaxl eggs incubated. No adult ikadaxl were visible; it was likely they hunted.
The rest of the group emerged from a shadowed smudge in the cavern wall, and they waved their hands to me. Huddled together, one of them would look up at me every few rotiks. I thought I saw Amity raise her thumb at me, one of the human symbols signifying a positive omen. I returned the symbol.
At last, I spied Joan followed by CeCe emerge from the opening, and I stood nearer the edge. Would that I could fly to her arms.
“Raxthezana,” Pattee said. “We’re going to introduce you to the joys of zip-lining.”
Following VELMA’s instruction, I secured a bolt into the ledge on which I stood and tied my longest piece of rope to it. Using a heavy rock tied onto the end, I threw the line as far out from the wall and the ash hills as I could, as if casting a fishing line.
It landed near a towering formation that jutted upward from the smoking ground.
Now it was up to the others to link one more length of rope and tie it around the formation, tightening it until it was as taut as a stiff pole.
“Hey,” CeCe’s warm voice startled me from my observations, and I looked down at the group. Her pale gray armor stood out among the darker armors and flight suits, but I would have eyes for her if she blended into the very rocks.
“Greetings,” I said. “You were late joining the others.”
“Yeah, turns out the shel armor can’t protect against everything,” she said. “But that’s okay. It’ll keep us humble.”
“You’re in good health?” I asked.
“I’m doing alright,” she said. “A little shaken up. I heard my mom’s voice and reality blurred with the past. I’ve had better trips eating German chocolate cake.”
“I do not understand your meaning, but it sounds like you are grateful to be out of the chamber.”
“You are correct,” she said. “The second time wasn’t as bad. We had a fully drawn map and Joan pushed me past my limits to get me out before the toxins could penetrate the gel.”
“She is a good friend,” I said. “I owe you an apology, CeCe. I said we would act together in all things, and yet we were separated.”
“It couldn’t be avoided,” she said. “I think it turned out for the best in this case, because you and I wouldn’t have been able to help each other. Once you get down here, I’m giving you a huge kiss.”
“I would leap off the ledge for such a kiss,” I said.
Her laugh warmed me from the inside. “You’d better not. This might be your only chance to try a zip-line.”
When my entire company performed the thumb omen ritual at me, I clipped my harness as VELMA directed and stepped off the ledge without fear because CeCe waited for me, and I would do anything to reach her.
75
CeCe
“I’d give up my last ice cream pouch to see the expression on his face,” Amity said. We laughed, but I was on edge. Where were the ikadaxl adults? VELMA’s digital map of the Black Mist Chamber showed three dead, and Raxthezana had reported one kill. Surely the number of eggs required a greater number of guardians than four? But as long as we had been in the cavern and scanning what we could see of the distant perimeter, we hadn’t seen any others. The enormous smoking ash piles were filled with their eggs, and the entire cavern floor was populated by flaming pools. It was the kind of place where one wrong move could end in disaster. The zip-line stretched over a number of pools but the ground near the formation was free of them.
Everyone sent him a thumbs up, and I held my breath.
He stepped off the ledge, and before I could even exhale all the way, he was at the formation, having stopped himself with a smooth braking technique that made him look like a pro.
Tilting my head, I watched him swagger—straight toward me.
One of the girls whistled, but then I was in his arms, and we stared at each other’s helmets. “This isn’t going to work,” I said.
“Never before has my helmet driven me to irritation as it has since we met,” he said.
I grinned. “I’m not the biggest fan of it myself, other than a few times when I was glad no one could see into my eyes—and know what I was thinking.”
Squeezing me tighter, his voice lowered in our private comm. “What were you thinking?”
Staring at his chest panels, I swallowed before speaking. “At times, I was thinking I wanted to feel your mouth on me. Anywhere on me.”
“Here in the realm of the fire pools,” he said. “I burn for you hotter than those flames. Let us walk farther from these good people and remove our helmets for a rotik.”
Slipping out of his arms, I grabbed his hand, and we strode from the crowd, wandering between the fire pools until finding an isolated alcove free of the dangerously flickering liquid and curious eyes.
Without a word, we took off our helmets and let them fall at our feet, clutching at each other in desperation. Our lips met and the conflagration engulfed me. He was more to me than my rescuer. He was more to me than a companion and friend. As our lips parted and we shared more than breath, tasting and trying each other, his soul sunk deeper into mine. He was more to me than a lover or a mate. In a star system with two suns, he was my sun, and I knew I couldn’t flourish without him.
Kissing me with a groan, he skimmed wet lips and glistening fangs along my jaw and neck and muttered endearments in both our languages. I let my fingers tangle in his unique hair fronds, and I soaked up his fragrance: a mix of exotic spices reminiscent of piperine and star anise.
Pulling him back up to meet my kiss, I explored him with my hands and mouth, pressing kisses to his lips, his chin, his cheeks, his eyes. Where my kiss went my fingers followed, tracing over his face and marveling at a texture so like some of the undersea creatures I’d had occasion to meet during free dives in the ocean. But instead of a cool temperature under my fingertips, he was hot. It could be the cavern. Or it could be as he told me earlier; he burned for me. As I did for him.
Several countless moments later we drifted apart, and I smiled and grabbed his hands. “I guess I’m still not clear what the difference is between a jotik and a rotik.”
His feral smile speared my heart, but he laughed. “A jotik is but a small moment. A rotik is much longer.”
“That was a rotik, then?” I asked.
“Nay, that was several rotiks,” he said with a frown. “And not nearly long enough.”
Shouting sounded from the greater area, so we put our helmets back on and ran out to see a trio of ikadaxl flying toward the formation where the others still stood.
Their magnificence in flight took my breath away. Even at a distance, their immensity was evident in the powerful beat of their wings, their broad chests and muscled flanks, the sinuous grace of their long necks and undulating tails. But then one dipped and another wobbled, and I frowned.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, enhancing the sight-capture feature to zoom in on the reptiles. “Unless—do they always fly lopsided like that?”
“They do not,” Raxthezana said, his voice grim.
The closer they neared, the more evident it was they flew with difficulty.
“Kathe,” Hivelt said. “They’re covered in lesions.”
At that second, they dove in three separate directions and our friends leaped behind the cave formation. The creatures swooped over the nearest fire pools and settled beside them, close enough for the purple flames to singe their scales, their throat sacs semi-inflating in whatever silent death cry they made: a lullaby full of pain and goodbyes to the steaming ash piles five or six meters from where they landed.
I didn’t know I was crying until Raxthezana stepped beside me and put his arm around my shoulder.
“Why don’t they move away?” Amity’s anguished question wavered in my helmet. “Can’t we save them?”
With tears streaming down my face, the irony wasn’t lost on me. Had they been full of health, they would have battled to the death to protect their broods from us. The intruders. And we would have fought to protect ourselves. Now we could only witness their throes and question the future of a creature I would have loved to see patrolling the sky aboveground, and not just here in this bastion of the underworld, scorched around the edges and dimmed by shadows.
“Pattee?” Amity said, and I realized what she was asking.
“I’ll take the farthest from us,” Pattee said and lifted her spear for a throw.
“I’ve got the one on the right,” Hivelt said.
Removing the Blade of the Ancients, I strode towards the ikadax on the left. It was the smallest and nearest. At my approach, it reared its head and inflated its throat sac, but not with a sound I could hear. It stretched toward me and turned its head so it could inspect me with one beautiful green eye. With the fire burning bright, its light reflected off reddish scales and in the wide jeweled iris. She turned her head the other way and blinked, studying me with her other eye, though it was cloudy. The lesions burned her face and along the length of her white throat. They could be burns from other fire pool landings, but I wouldn’t know.
