Enigma: A Space Opera: Book Six of The Shadow Order

by Michael Robertson

  As he looked from Reyes to SA and back to the drop, Bruke whined. “So even if we had survived the fall …?”

  Reyes shrugged. “Let’s not worry about what could have gone wrong. As long as we stay up here, we’ll be okay. Come on, let’s get moving before we get buried in this snow.” Then to SA, Can you tell them we’ve landed and we’ll be at our destination shortly?

  A nod to acknowledge the request, SA’s eyes glazed as she pulled into herself to contact the others.

  CHAPTER 25

  We’re just checking in. We’ve landed and we’re safe. Just about.

  Regardless of his current surroundings, Seb perked up to hear SA’s voice. As the three of them plummeted into the watery depths in a sub designed for two—two beings smaller than a human—it did him good to connect with her. What does it look like where you are? he asked.

  Bleak.

  Like it had been when they were in the depths on Aloo, the water had turned dark on every side. They’d plunged deep enough for the light above to be barely perceptible. But everyone’s okay?

  For now, yeah. Are things good with you?

  For a moment, Seb didn’t reply. Not only had they gone past the point of no return if they got into trouble, but the low glass roof of the Piscents forced him to bend his neck forwards in his seat. It sent a sharp pain into the base of his skull. As if being bent over where he sat wasn’t enough, he also had a squirming Sparks on his lap, her bony little arse digging into his thighs. Yeah, things are fine. He looked around them again and still saw nothing. So—

  Get back in touch when you need to.

  A strange silence filled Seb’s head. The sound of SA’s absence. When Sparks squirmed on his lap again, he spoke to her through clenched teeth. “Will you sit still?!”

  She wriggled, pushing down so hard against his thighs, he could feel them numbing.

  “I swear, Sparks, if you do that again, I’m going to force you out of here through the glass roof.”

  “You’ll drown too.”

  “It’ll be worth it.”

  “Watch yourself, Seb.” Sparks held her computer in his direction, showing him the end that fired electricity. “You’re not in a position of power here. One shot from this in the wrong place, and SA will be none too pleased with me.”

  It robbed Seb of his fight and he stared out of the window.

  Sparks then went on to say, “I’m the navigator; Owsk is piloting this thing. You’re a passenger, so just sit back and enjoy the view, yeah? Oh, and try not to get in the way.”

  Maybe the silence showed Sparks she’d gone too far. Softening her tone, she held her computer up at Seb again, showing him the information on the screen. “This shows us heat and movement signatures. Although creatures generate heat when they move, Reyes insisted on us being able to see both because of what happened to her dad. Not that she told me any more than that.”

  The vibration of the ship’s engine ran through Seb’s seat as he shook his head. “She doesn’t like to talk about it. Although I heard it was something to do with the Faladis.”

  “The Faradis?” Sparks said.

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “She was on there?”

  “Apparently. So was her dad.”

  “Oh.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, I think we should respect that. I didn’t think anyone survived, that’s all.”

  “Come on, Sparks, don’t leave me hanging. What happened?”

  While waving her device at him, Sparks moved the conversation on. “The point I was trying to make is that if anything’s out there, we’re going to see it on here.” A tap against her screen, she turned the image on it from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. A cluster of red dots pulsed on the map. They were still quite far away from them. What looked like a wall separated them and their target. “It looks like we need to make our way through a maze of tunnels to get to the other side.”

  “Tunnels?” Seb looked up at the darkness above them. It held the slightest glimmer of daylight. In a tunnel, he wouldn’t even be able to see that. As his panic rose inside him, he dropped his head with a sigh and closed his eyes. “I should have gone with Reyes.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Reyes hugged herself for warmth and squinted against the snowy onslaught. When she looked at the other two, she saw them do the same. They’d all put their ski masks on, and although it helped protect against the cold press of melting snowflakes against her exposed skin, it did nothing to improve her vision.

  Close enough to the other two to see them through the snow, Reyes said, “At least we didn’t go over that cliff.” Then showing them her computer, she added, “Our destination isn’t far.”

  Reyes looked at SA, who nodded, but when she looked at Bruke, she gasped to see his hollow stare. “Are you okay?”

  Both Reyes and SA were shivering, but the state of Bruke looked to take it to a whole new level. His voice wavered and he clearly struggled to get his words out. “So cold … I can feel it in my heart … in my blood.”

  A look at SA, Reyes saw her own anxiety in her friend’s eyes. She then patted the large lizard on the back and said, “Let’s get moving. Hopefully it’ll get your heart pumping faster.”

  Her computer in her hand, Reyes led the way and SA took up the rear. With Bruke in his current state, they needed to keep him in the middle. Some creatures just weren’t built for the cold. Although it seemed like something more with him. As a lizard, he probably had cold blood to begin with, but it looked like something deeper than a drop in temperature haunting his gaze.

  Each of Reyes’ steps sank into the deep snow. The crunch and pop ran through her feet as she progressed. With no more than a couple of metres’ visibility, she kept checking her computer. The heat signatures and movement showed her a lot of bodies ahead. Were the weather better, the journey would have taken a matter of minutes. She hoped they had nothing in their path that would slow them down too much more.

  As they made progress, the shadow of a huge mountain peak rose in front of them to their left. Reyes could see the bottom spread out beneath it. It looked to stretch wide, maybe even impassable.

  The effort of the walk helped Reyes warm up, and she sweated beneath her thick winter suit. A glance behind and she saw SA looked to be loosening up too. Bruke, on the other hand, appeared to be getting worse. His bright green scales had turned pallid, and his eyes rolled every few seconds as if he might pass out at any moment.

  When Reyes turned back around to check their way, she stopped dead. The extra few metres had made all the difference for her sight. The ground dropped on their right, and the mountain spread so wide on their left it left them with a ledge to cross that was no more than a metre wide.

  Both Bruke and SA moved to Reyes’ shoulder and peered down.

  “Is there another way?” Bruke said, his words rattling with his perpetual shivering.

  A tap against the screen turned their map three-dimensional. Instead of replying to him, Reyes simply showed him the image, confirming the reality of what lay ahead.

  “Damn it.”

  “Look,” Reyes said, “this isn’t going to be easy to get past, but we can do it.” She pointed at the ledge that ran along the mountainside. “Sure, it’s narrow, but not so narrow that we can’t walk along it.”

  At that moment, a strong gust of wind crashed into the three of them. All of them stumbled from its force.

  Bruke sniffed against his running nose and pointed down at the drop. “A gust of wind like that while we’re trying to cross and we’re done for.”

  A look at SA, Reyes got her approval with a nod and said, “We’d best not slip then, eh?” And with that, she turned back towards the path and set off again. The longer they stood around talking about it, the less likely they were to take action.

  When Reyes reached the start of the ledge, the mountain shielded the snowfall enough for her to see across to the other side. “We only ha
ve to walk for about twenty metres before it gets safer.” Again, she chose not to wait for a response, stepping onto the path while looking down to watch her step.

  After just a few metres, another hard gust of wind crashed into them. Reyes pressed herself against the rocky mountainside. She looked back to see the others had done the same.

  Once it had passed, she nodded at Bruke, who nodded back. You okay? she asked SA.

  Yep. Let’s keep going.

  About halfway across, adrenaline running a destabilising wobble through her legs, Reyes turned back to the other two. “We’ve gone past the halfway point. We’re doing well.”

  Exposed on the ledge, the wind deafened Reyes as it billowed in her ears. Had Bruke tried to speak to her, she wouldn’t have heard it. So when the shriek exploded through her mind, she jumped. Instinct took over and she pressed herself against the rocky wall again.

  Reyes looked back at the other two and gasped to see Bruke holding onto SA. With nothing to anchor himself to, he stood on the tiny ledge, his right arm at full stretch, his grip the only thing keeping SA alive.

  SA’s lithe body swung in the wind, her legs kicking as she tried to find something more solid than the air beneath her. Despite her squirming, Bruke appeared to hold her with ease, slowly lifting her back onto the ledge. When he put her down behind him again, Reyes saw SA’s eyes glow as she looked at him. She then pressed her hands together as if in prayer and bowed at him. Once a monk …

  Are you okay? Reyes asked her.

  I’m not sure.

  Are you able to move on again?

  Yes! Let’s get out of here now.

  WHEN SHE STEPPED off the pathway on the other side of the mountain, Reyes fell forward, her knees sinking into the powdery snow. The other two stepped off beside her. She jumped up and hugged them both.

  Although Bruke looked awful, he clearly still had the strength in him if he needed it. As she looked into his glazed eyes, the weather’s effects seemingly dragging him under, she said, “You were amazing just then.”

  Bruke nodded. He didn’t look like he had much else in him.

  The full force of the weather rocked Reyes again before she pointed where they needed to go. “I reckon we’re past the worst of it. Come on, let’s keep moving.”

  With such limited visibility, it took them to walk about another fifteen metres before Reyes saw them. Two mountain peaks. This time they had to walk through them rather than around them. It had to be better than the ledge they’d just walked along.

  While pointing at the valley between the two mountains, Reyes said, “We just need to get over that ridge and we’re there.” The sooner they got Bruke in the warmth, the better.

  Before she could set off again, Reyes heard SA’s voice in her mind. Wait.

  Reyes watched SA bend down and dig into the ground by her feet. I think I just stood on something. I think there’s something buried here.

  Another look into Bruke’s tired eyes, Reyes’ heart sank to have to say it. “SA’s found something. I’m sorry, but we need to check it out before we move on.”

  Such a violent shake running through him now, Bruke clearly fought to speak. “Why? What will it tell us?”

  But SA came through to them before she could answer him. What was the name of the ship we were following?

  “The Quartz. Why?”

  As SA pulled some more snow away to reveal part of a buried ship, Reyes read the name and gasped. “It crashed?”

  Both Reyes and Bruke moved closer to SA, watching her as she revealed more of the dented metal vessel.

  It seemed to take him a great effort, but Bruke forced his stuttered words out. “Do y-you th-th-think anyone s-survived?”

  All the while, SA continued to pull the snow away. Down on her knees, she threw clumps of it behind her.

  Hard to see in the blizzard, Reyes squinted as she watched on. It looked like the edge of the front windscreen. When the hole was large enough, she jumped down next to her friend and helped her dig.

  Reyes gasped as she uncovered more of the ship’s front. The glass might have been cracked, but not so cracked they couldn’t see inside. It looked like the chin of a creature. The shadow of Bruke loomed over her as he looked in too.

  A large chunk of snow then came away with Reyes’ next pull, and Bruke jumped backwards, yelling out with the shock of it. Even with the fierce winds, his voice took flight in the mountains.

  A dead creature stared through the ship’s windscreen at them, its mouth open wide as if it had frozen mid-shriek. Its eyes were bulbous, showing a snapshot of its terror when it had died. Before Reyes could speak, she heard it. Something other than the wind. It started in the distance. High up in one of the mountains.

  Although she couldn’t see much, when she located the source of the sound, she saw all she needed to. More than the white sheet of falling snow in front of them. It looked like smoke in how it kicked up from the ground. Quickened breaths, the heat of her body steamed her mask up as she grabbed SA and pointed. Bruke’s cry must have started it. She finally got the word out as a desperate shriek. “Avalanche!”

  CHAPTER 27

  Seb felt an itch inside his nostrils, the urge to sneeze gathering momentum within him. He scrunched his face up and wriggled his nose as if he could stop it. As his vision blurred, he pulled in a deep breath to try to snuff it out. It didn’t work. “Achoo!”

  Not only did he let out a loud screech when he sneezed, but the action ran a violent snap through his legs. It sent Sparks crashing into the glass ceiling head first with a loud tonk! He also nudged Owsk, who temporarily lost control of the Piscents, throwing Sparks down again as she tried to get up.

  Still kneeling on the floor, Sparks raised her small computer at Seb, who showed her his palms by way of defending himself. “It was an accident. I can’t help when I sneeze.”

  “Maybe I should accidentally shock your balls.” Sparks rubbed the top of her head before checking her long palm for blood.

  Not only had Sparks laid into him, but Seb could feel Owsk glaring at him too. When he turned to face the angry troll, he said, “What? You think I did it on purpose as well?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” Owsk said. “You don’t seem like someone who has an ego that can cope with being put in its place as efficiently as Sparks just did it. Nobody puts Seb Zodo in the corner.”

  “You think I did it because I wanted attention?”

  “I don’t not think that.”

  Although Seb opened his mouth to reply, Sparks cut him off by pointing at the dark wall of water in front of them. She looked down to double-check her computer before looking back up again. “That’s it. That’s where we need to go.”

  At least it took the attention from him. Although Seb would have rather had the other two laying into him than deal with what he now saw in front of them. He’d taken the darkness outside the sub to be due to the depth of their dive. But when Owsk turned the front of the Piscents in the direction indicated by Sparks, he saw the small opening in what he now realised was a vast wall. It stretched in every direction farther than he could see. “Uh, I’m not so sure about this.”

  Gritted teeth and a deep frown, Owsk said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re sure or not. I thought we’d already established that? On this sub, you don’t count for much.” He then glared at him. “Now, before I go in there, I need to know you’ve had enough attention on you. It’s going to be dangerous going through those tunnels. The last thing we need is your drama.”

  Heat flushed Seb’s cheeks and he wanted to shove Sparks from his lap when she climbed on again. Instead, he looked at the wall in front of them and chewed the inside of his mouth to bite back his reply.

  “Well?” Owsk said. “Have you?”

  “I didn’t sneeze on purpose.”

  “Have you?”

  “Yes!”

  And with that, Owsk headed straight for the tunnel.

  Surrounded by porous rock on every side, the tunnel’s widt
h gave them about a metre’s space all around. Seb had thought their surroundings were dark before, but now they’d gone inky black. He saw no extra light when he looked up. The pathetic beam on the front of the sub did little to help their sight.

  As if highlighting Seb’s worry, Owsk only saw the turn he needed to take at the last minute and suddenly threw the ship to the right. He caught the left side of the Piscents on a wall, sending a grinding crunch through the vessel.

  Seb looked at the part of the sub that had taken the blow, searching for a leak, his pulse quickening. As his chest tightened and a hot flush ran through him, he said, “I bet the Shadow Order sub would have lit the way better. I bet it would be able to take more whacks than this piece of tin too.”

  Owsk threw the sub to the left this time. Were he not clearly locked in scowling concentration, he would have probably replied to Seb. Probably would have told him to shut up again.

  Another sharp turn, Seb’s pulse ran completely beyond his control. No matter how many breaths he pulled in, he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs, and he still couldn’t see any kind of useful distance ahead. “How the hell are we going to get through here with that pathetic light?”

  “Finally!” Owsk said. “You’re looking for solutions rather than moaning. Sparks, any ideas?”

  Because she sat on his lap, Seb could see the screen on Sparks’ computer. It still had a three-dimensional map on it detailing the tunnels they were moving through. Her attention firmly on it, she said, “I can direct you if you’ll let me?”

  “Do we have any other choice?” Owsk said.

  “Not unless that beam gets any stronger.”

  “Like that’s going to happen,” Seb said.

  Owsk tutted at him before replying to Sparks. “Okay, tell me where to go and when. Try to give me as much warning as possible for each turn, yeah?” Suddenly Owsk dropped down, diving with the tunnel.