The Season Of Passage Part 24

Her laser swung freely at her side. If she had but a few inches, she could revolve it around and fire. She kicked at the ground, arched her back, and swung with her elbows. She accomplished nothing. It wrapped a second arm around her. It could have whispered in her ear. Suddenly she knew its purpose. It was going to drag her into the water and hold her head under the black surface until the cold penetrated her brain and poisoned her mind. Then she would be just like it was. Just like Carl.

They were almost there. Lauren heard splashes. Time to swim. Just the two of us, naked together, Lori.

'No!' Lauren screamed.

Abruptly the grip loosened, as the creature stumbled on the underlying bedrock. Lauren heaved to the side. Incredibly, she broke free.

'b.a.s.t.a.r.d!' she cursed.

Lauren dashed from the pond, water spraying her faceplate. But in her hurry, she failed to establish her balance properly, and stumbled once more. Pa.s.sionate claws chased after her. Wait, Lori. Let's talk. Let's discuss. I love you, Lori.

She was learning. She was going to run no further, and she was not going to lose her balance again. Carefully rotating through a half-kneeling position, she brought up the laser. She took quick aim. She was barely in time. The creature's fingers were reaching for the tip of the muzzle when she pulled the trigger.

There was a blinding explosion. The shock of it threw Lauren to the ground, where the top of her helmet hit a rock. For a minute she lay dazed, pulsating spots of gray and brown clouding her vision. When she tried to sit up, her head sagged on her shoulders as if her neck had turned to putty. There was red everywhere. At first, she attributed the color to the shock her eyes had received with the firing of the laser. But then she blinked a few times, and the red became clearer. She was a doctor. It shouldn't have mattered that the red was blood - splattered everywhere. But all her training had not prepared her for what she saw.

Because the human body was mostly water, the laser beam had vaporized the liquid within his midsection, which is where she had been aiming when she pulled the trigger. The pressure of the steam had caused a violent internal explosion and torn him into two gaping sections, and a number of smaller pieces; there was seared flesh all over the entire area. Still, Lauren had seen some pretty messy bodies in her days at the hospital. She might have held on if her lamp had not accidentally flickered onto the edge of the pond, and revealed his faceplate. His head and face were still there, clearly visible atop a mound of dripping white ribs and spongy pink lungs. His skin was still pale and his lips still red. But it was just too much, too much by about sixty million miles, that Ivan was still grinning at her. Lauren fainted.

She could hear someone calling her name from far away. It didn't sound like anyone she knew. It was probably a policeman. Over here, officer. She remembered being in a terrible accident. I'm in the bushes, officer. She remembered blood, everywhere. She opened her eyes and winced as a bright light stung them.

'Please help me, sir,' she whispered.

'It's Jim, Lauren.' He knelt by her side. 'Everything's all right. You killed him.'

Lauren sat up slowly. One glance at the pond was more than enough to bring back the attack. She felt sick to her stomach.

Would someone please close his eyes.

'He won't be bothering us anymore,' Jim said.

She looked away. "That's for d.a.m.n sure.'

'Are you hurt? Is your suit damaged?'

'I'm fine.' Jim helped her to her feet, and her left knee reminded her that she was not perfectly fine. The joint felt like burning mush. 'Where's Jessie?' she asked.

'I left her where she fell. I couldn't raise you on the radio, and you were taking so long to reach us. Then I heard an explosion and raced here.' He hugged her. 'I don't think I've ever been so glad to see someone in my entire life. I take it Ivan attacked you?'

'Yes.' She shivered. 'But let's talk about it later. Let's get Jessie. I hate the thought of her lying out there all alone. Even with Ivan dead.'

'I know what you mean,' he said.

Jim carried her laser, and offered his arm for support. Jessica was half a mile away, and Lauren limped the whole way. The terrain continued to climb, and the number of ponds and pits only increased. Jim thought the hills had been created by recent volcanic activity. He called them an afterthought.

Jessica was not alone in the crevice when they reached her. Her husband knelt by her side. He stood quickly at their approach.

'Bill!' Lauren exclaimed.

'Man, are you OK?' Jim cried.

They climbed into the wide crack in the ground. Their commander greeted them quickly and efficiently, as though nothing extraordinary had happened - the same old Bill. Of course, he was concerned about his wife. He wanted to know what had happened to her. While Jim explained the situation, including Ivan's attack, Lauren gave Jessica a brief examination. She said she wasn't bleeding and nothing appeared to be broken. However, she had an ugly bruise on her forehead and her breathing was not normal; it was definitely slow and shallow. Lauren feared she had suffered a serious concussion, and was now slipping into a coma. Lauren told Bill the bad news and he took his wife's hand and placed his left palm on the top of her helmet. Almost immediately Jessica's eyes opened.

So much for my diagnosis.

'Don't touch me,' Jessica whispered.

'Jessie,' Lauren said loudly. 'It's us. Stay awake. Bill's here.'

A slow smile filled Jessica's face. 'You got away, William.'

Bill helped her up and Jessica hugged him. The enemy was dead, and her friends were alive. Lauren began to relax. They had been lucky, she thought, very lucky.

Bill related his story. As they had surmised, Ivan had surprised him from behind and pushed him in the water. The water didn't harm his suit, but when he climbed back on the sh.o.r.e and tried to shoot Ivan, his laser was dead. The liquid must have got into the electronics. Ivan wasn't through. He attacked Bill again, and he was fierce, and remarkably strong. He tried to rip off Bill's oxygen tanks, and Bill was barely able to escape in one piece. But he had nowhere to flee except inland. It was his hope to lure Ivan away from Hummingbird, and then circle around and leave in the hovercraft. Unfortunately, without visible landmarks, he got lost in the dark. He had been wandering around for what seemed an eternity when he chanced upon Jessica.

'But one good thing has come from this,' Bill said. 'While I was lost, I stumbled upon a volcanic cavern. It's beneath a hill close to the center of the island. A narrow cave leads down into a huge room filled with bubbling lava pits. There's a dig in there - it's obvious the Russians were working on it. You must visit this place, Professor. All of you must go there. It's a fascinating place.'

'Shouldn't we just return home?' Jim asked. 'Our water supply is almost gone.'

'Not yet,' Bill said. 'We have a job to do. Billions have been spent on this mission. We can survive another day or two. For now we will return to the Hawk, and Lauren will examine Jessica more carefully. We will rest. But tomorrow I want to explore further.' Bill paused. 'We still have to find out what happened to the Russians.'

TWENTY-TWO.

Professor James Ranoth awoke from an uneasy doze, feeling dry and troubled. He checked his watch and sighed. It was late afternoon on the day after the day they had set out to examine the Karamazov. He had been in bed for three hours, but he couldn't have slept more than twenty minutes. Insomnia had been his lifelong companion, but unlike most people, he always enjoyed the hour or two before sleep came; he used the time to think long and deep, or just to daydream. But what plagued his mind now, and refused to let him rest, was far from pleasant. He felt dread, pure and simple. He had felt it since the first night they spent on Mars. Only now it was much worse.

Jim sat up. Gary slept peacefully in bed on the other side of the room, but Bill was missing. Lauren had ordered the entire crew to rest for a minimum of six hours, when they had finally returned from their adventures beneath the surface. To simply ignore Lauren's order, Bill couldn't have been that tired, or else he had felt there was something that needed his immediate attention.

Jim stood and went into the empty living area. It was then he noticed the odd odor. It smelled unlike anything he had encountered before, sort of a cross between spoiled eggs and drying blood. He reminded himself that their recycling systems were damaged, but the reminder did nothing to soothe his nerves. At the same time he wondered whether he was really smelling anything at all, whether it wasn't just in his mind. In either case whether inside his nostrils or inside his head, the smell was repulsive.

Jim decided to check on the women. He opened their door quietly. Jessica lay on her side without a cover, her mouth wide open and snoring. Lauren was flat on her back, her pretty features at peace. She, also, was uncovered, and Jim had a fatherly urge to tuck the sheet around her. He had never understood why he loved her so much, but he knew that his love was the one thing he didn't need to understand. She was special to him, it was that simple. What was more complex was how he was going to keep her safe. The possibility that she might not return home was unbearable to him.

Jim was on the verge of leaving when Lauren's forehead suddenly creased. She was having a nightmare, he thought, and he considered waking her. But if she regained consciousness now, he knew she would probably remember the nightmare, and for no reason that fact disturbed him. He continued to watch her. She raised and moved her arms above her chest as if she were trying to push something away. Her breathing became rough, and her exposed flesh was suddenly covered with gooseflesh. Finally, however, she relaxed, and her arms dropped to her sides. Jim closed the door.

He was climbing the ladder that led to the control room when the pain started in his chest. It was like a heavy weight on top of his ribcage. The pain spread quickly across his shoulders and down into his arms. He closed his eyes and took slow deep breaths. He didn't need Lauren to tell him it was his heart. The long sleep had been unkind to him. Since awakening from hibernation, he'd had trouble catching his breath. He knew Lauren suspected he had a problem, but he had fooled her the last time she had examined him aboard the Nova, just prior to the Gorbachev rendezvous. He had tampered with her medical computer, and made it register the same EKG tracing as the person who had been examined before him, which just happened to be Gary. He'd done this so he wouldn't be disqualified from the second landing. He wanted to be with his friends when they learned the fate of the Russians. He believed then, as he did now, that they would need his help.

The pain eased. Feeling small and inadequate, Jim climbed the remainder of the ladder into the control room. Bill sat before Friend's main program console. The sky outside the windows was a dull pink and filled with clouds.

'Can't sleep, either?' Bill asked, without looking up.

'I never sleep that much as it is,' Jim said. 'Have you been talking with Mark, or is this his rest period, too? The last couple of days have got me confused.'

'I can't raise him,' Bill said.

Jim's heart skipped. 'Are the communications out again?'

'Yes'

Jim crossed to the computer board. 'When did this happen?' he asked. He checked the Hawk's electrical power supply.

'An hour ago.'

'Why didn't you wake me?' Jim asked.

'You looked exhausted. I wanted you to rest.'

'It must be the generators again. Have you cross-checked the A and C coils?'

'Yes,' Bill said. "They appear in good shape.'

'What does Friend say?' Jim asked.

'Ask him.'

'Friend, we have a malfunction in our communication systems. What is the cause?'

[I am unable to diagnose the difficulty.]

'Why not?' Jim asked.

[Because of damage to my own systems that I sustained during the landing.]

It struck Jim as odd Friend hadn't mentioned such specific damage before. He spoke to Bill. 'I want to check the generators directly. They're powered by our rocket fuel. We could have a serious pump malfunction.'

Bill looked at him for the first time. 'Why don't you have a seat, Jim, and relax.'

'OK.' Jim sat in a swivel chair opposite his commander. 'It has to be the generators. They caused the interruption the first time.'

'I've inspected the generators. I told you they're fine.'

'You may have missed something,' Jim said.

'I doubt it.'

Jim leaned back in his chair, feeling strangely trapped. 'What is your opinion then, sir, as to the source of our problem?'

Bill was unconcerned. 'It could be a million things. We can always get home without communications.'

'Are you suggesting we leave now?'

'No,' Bill said.

'But you don't want to explore that island tomorrow, do you? In light of this problem?'

'But I do. With the limited time available to us, exploration must be our first priority.'

'What did you see down there, Bill, that was so fascinating?'

His commander brightened. 'Inside the hill I spoke of is a cavern with strangely symmetrical dimensions. The place is lit by glowing pools of lava.' His tone became confidential. 'I'm not an archaeologist or a geologist like you, Professor, but I think there's evidence of an incredibly ancient civilization in that place.'

Jim tried to check his rising excitement, for he sensed danger. 'What evidence did you see?' he asked.

'Nothing specific. But the Russians were digging in a particular area. I feel certain you'll discover something there.'

The answer was ridiculously vague. Jim's feelings of trouble deepened. 'You want us all to go to this place?' he asked.

Bill rotated his chair until he was facing the ever-present ma.s.s of Olympus Mons. The caldera was lost in pink clouds. The cave into the depths was a faint black mark on the mountain's rock walls.

'Even though we're in a hurry, we have to be careful,' Bill said. 'For that reason, I will explore the volcanic room, and will take only one companion with me per visit. Because of your expertise, you will be the first to come with me. But if time permits, everyone will be given an opportunity.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Jim said, barely hiding the sarcasm in his voice. He had finally realized what had been tugging at the back of his mind since he asked Friend about their failed communications. The computer had answered him, but had not addressed him by his first name, which it invariably did when responding to a person's initial question. Was the change in protocol another by product of Friend's internal damage? Or was sabotage the answer? - Jim came to a decision. He would tell Lauren and Gary of his fears in the event he died tomorrow in Bill's fascinating cavern.

'Bill,' he said, 'I've been thinking of taking Hummingbird to where the other Russian lander once stood, and examining the area.'

'Not tomorrow. We'll be busy tomorrow.'

'I was thinking of going now,' Jim said.

'That should be OK. If you feel up to it.'

'I would like to take Lauren and Gary with me,' Jim added.

'Fine.'

'Do you have any idea what we will find there?'

Bill shrugged. 'A hole in the ground.'

'Yes. And we know what caused that hole.'

Bill nodded. 'I'm sure we're entertaining the same theory.'

'Dmitri Maximov was responsible.' Jim let the sentence trail, hoping Bill would pick it up, and tell him something new. But it was a futile attempt.

'That worries you, I know. It worries me, too.' Bill turned his attention back to Friend's console. 'Tell me what you find. Don't be gone too long.'

Jim stood. 'I'm taking one of the lasers. I might stop at the Karamazov on the way back.'

'Fine. We can't be too careful.'

Jim started down the ladder. When his head was at floor level he stopped and said, 'I was relieved to hear Lauren say that Jessie's blow to the head wasn't serious.'

'So was I.'

Jim had to ask. 'Will she be accompanying us to the underground cavern?'