by M. D. Cooper
She peered up toward the mountain’s peak, looking for her pinnace, which was on its way down to her. As she waited, she made a mental note to invite Erin and Martin to Tyre. When Erin’s investigation was over, they could continue their vacation, since it had been cut short on Athens.
She also debated where to go next. Placement Services had given her free rein on what to include in her infomentary. Her former boss had said that she would know what the clients would be interested in, so he wouldn’t try to guide her. But Tony had opened up such a wealth of possibilities, she hardly knew where to start. Or rather, riding the chute through Mount Athos had been the obvious place to begin, but it was what to do next that had her stumped.
The narrow, black triangle of her pinnace appeared against the snowy slopes of Mount Athos. As the vessel flew closer, she made up her mind. The mountain range that stretched away from Athos and formed the backbone of Tyre’s eastern continent held many possibilities for treasure seekers. What could be more enticing than the crystal caves and gem-studded caverns Tony had mentioned?
The pinnace came to a rest in the lot, and Isa walked over to it. At her touch, the driver’s door lifted, and she climbed inside. According to the sparse information on the Link, the entrance to one of the most spectacular caves lay nine hundred and ten kilometers away—a mere hop.
Isa input the destination into the pinnace’s system, and it lifted up and away, speeding around Mount Athos and into the mountain range beyond. Though she wasn’t traveling far, Isa soon found the skies empty of other vessels, and the mountain slopes devoid of human activity. To pass the time, she wrote a message to Martin and sent the packet.
When the pinnace set down in the lot outside the cave entrance, it was the only one there. She climbed out, bringing the a-grav pack that Placement Services had loaned her and a pack of remote recorders to help her make the infomentary. She’d also brought water and snacks to last her.
Above the entrance to the cavern, a name was eloquently carved into the rocks: Mount Ida Caverns.
A mild trepidation caused Isa’s innards to tense. If something went wrong, would she be able to access the Link deep within the cave? Possibly not. But, she told herself, the place can’t be that dangerous if it’s a playground sculpted by the FGT.
Isa put her fears aside. She picked up one of the helmets available for visitors to use, put it on, and walked into the cave.
She thought it would add authenticity to her infomentary if she recorded her thoughts and impressions as she visited each place on Tyre, yet as she walked into the cave and prepared to say something, she found she was immediately tongue-tied. She reminded herself that she could delete whatever sounded awkward or stupid. Looking up at the cave ceiling, she began recording.
“I’m at the south-eastern entrance to the Mount Ida cave system. The ceiling is about nine meters above me, and already I can see an entrancing aspect of this site. Let me show you.” She focused on a spot on the cave roof.
Within each crack and crevice of the cave’s ceiling, small birds nestled. Most were babies waiting for their parents, their small, black-capped heads poking out. The adults swooped in and out of the cave, their wings forming crescents.
She looked up the information on the Link. “They’re swallows, and they come here during summer. The birds take advantage of the natural cragginess of the rock for building their nests. In winter, they migrate to lower altitudes where it’s warmer so they can fatten up on insects.”
Isa sent a drone up to record an eye-level view of the chicks. As the drone neared a nest, however, one of the adult birds swooped toward it.
“Whoops,” said Isa. “I don’t think it appreciates aerial intruders.” She directed the drone to move away from the nest to avoid disturbing the birds, and then zoomed in. After recording a cute episode of a parent swallow pushing fat caterpillars into its babies’ beaks, Isa said, “Let’s go deeper in.”
She left the entrance and walked down the sloping floor of the cavern, sending drones ahead to record her progress. She had no desire to be any kind of celebrity, but she thought the sight of a person in the infomentary would make it relatable.
Motion-activated lights turned on as Isa moved deeper, and the wide cavern soon narrowed to a tunnel. Before long, she hit branching passageways. Looking up the map of the cave system, she saw that some areas had no network repeaters and would be off the Link.
No matter. She could drop relays as she went. As the only visitor that day—perhaps the first visitor ever—if she had an accident, she wanted to be able to call for help.
Isa decided to take the route that led to the largest cavern in the Mount Ida cave system. It was a hike of several kilometres, and the passage that led to it sloped steeply downward for much of the distance. Not wanting to bother with a long walk, Isa tightened the straps on her a-grav pack and activated it, setting it to one-eighth normal gravity.
Half-running, half-skipping, Isa bounced down the slope in long strides. The tiny drones sped up ahead of her, recording as they flew. She pulled their feed and watched it as she went along. As well as showing herself, the drones were picking up streaks appearing on the tunnel walls, glimmering faintly in the subdued lighting. Curious about what she was seeing, she looked up more information. The cavern was in an area rich in rare mineral deposits.
Isa smiled. She had a special appreciation for rare ores, even though in her past as a miner, their presence had meant that simply blasting the asteroids containing them was out of the question. Precious seams like this had meant using manual labor to drill them out of the surrounding rock.
She couldn’t help but smile at the knowledge that she could leave these be and enjoy their natural beauty. All the minerals that the people of New Canaan would ever need were held in the system’s moons, asteroids, and outer planets. The terraformed planets would never be mined.
She bounced to a stop and turned off her a-grav, the sight of a streak of soft, glittering, yellow halting her progress.
“Whoa,” she breathed. With a jolt, she remembered she was supposed to be recording what she saw. Isa swept her gaze over the rock surface. Wherever she looked, it faintly glittered. According to the description, what she was seeing was gold. She was surrounded by heavy deposits of the lustrous metal. As an experiment, she rubbed a fingertip hard against a thick strand of color. When she pulled it away, her finger glittered.
“This is astounding,” she said for the benefit of the recording. “I’ve never seen deposits so rich. Kids would love this place. Free sparkles.”
She checked the map. The entrance to the large cavern that was her destination lay only a few more meters away. She walked the final steps and pulled off her a-grav pack before turning sideways to ease through a narrow break in the rock.
The moment she was through, lights burst to life from where they were tucked into the vaulted ceiling, hundreds of meters above her head.
The space was so vast, Isa could hardly believe the cavern didn’t open to the outside somewhere. Then she remembered that, although she’d entered the caves high on the mountainside, she’d since traveled a considerable distance underground, as she’d bounded down the slopes with her a-grav pack.
But the cavern’s size wasn’t even the most spectacular thing about it. The walls were coming to life with colors. They were crowded with more of the bands of gold she’d already seen, and mixed in with them were red streaks that she guessed were probably magnesium ferrite or a red hematite. She also saw the brass-yellow of pyrite, and bands of sparkling green and blue that could be malachite and azurite.
As if the cavern walls weren’t enough of a spectacular sight, the effect was doubled by a wide lake that spanned most of the cavern’s floor. The water lay perfectly still and gave such an exact reflection of the walls and ceiling, Isa got a sensation of vertigo. She felt as though taking a step into the lake would cause her to plunge to her death.
Struggling with what to say that would do justice to what she was seei
ng, Isa sent her drones up to record details of the ore strands and masses of semi-precious gems.
“What an amazing sight,” she said eventually, feeling the inadequacy of her words. “I feel like I’ve stepped into a sim. I’ve always appreciated the efforts of the FGT in terraforming New Canaan’s planets, but I don’t think I really understood the technical skills and artistry that went into their work. This geological wonder has been left here for us to enjoy forever, and it’s only one of the many amazing places on Tyre.”
She could have spent hours in the cavern, just studying the stunning patterns on the walls, but if she took as long as she wanted at all of Tyre’s amazing sights, it could take her years to finish her project. Instead, she left her drones to survey and record the cavern walls. She would use the extra material in appendices for her infomentary.
Another wonder lay beyond the cathedral-like cavern that she knew would appeal to potential settlers just as much. Isa skirted the edge of the lake and then slipped through a narrow crack in the rock wall on the opposite side.
To reach the next part of the cave system, Isa would have to walk down a low-ceilinged passage through the rock. The passage led even farther underground, but the incline was gentler than the previous one. The grade and the lower height meant she couldn’t employ the a-grav pack to speed her progress, so she had more than half an hour’s walk ahead of her. She had a hunch it would be worth it, though.
The air temperature grew steadily warmer. Isa could feel a breeze, which meant that the FGT had cut vents into the rock, or perhaps installed hidden fans to create an air flow, but she still began to sweat freely. Ceiling lights flicked on in response to her movement, but they were few and far between, and for short distances, she was forced to rely on her headlamp to guide her. Isa didn’t mind. She’d endured far worse conditions when she’d been under the control of the Lumins, but she made a note in her record about the problem; perhaps the Tyrian authorities could install more lights.
Partway down the tunnel, her network connection was lost and Link access went out. She began dropping relays, which would also serve other visitors who came along the route. Deeper she went into the hot, humid dimness of the tunnel. All she could hear was the echo of her boots on the floor and her breathing. Millions of tons of rock surrounded her on every side, and she was a very long way from another human being.
For the first time in her life, she began to appreciate the notion of carrying an AI in her mind. It would be good to have someone to talk to in such situations.
Finally, she was nearly at her destination. She halted.
“So,” she said to her imaginary viewer, “when I read about this cave, I knew I had to see it—especially because there are no recordings of it. All that’s generally known about it is that it’s here. All my life, I’ve wanted to visit somewhere like this, but I’ve never had the chance. Now that I’ve finally made it here, I’m a little bit worried.
“You know how hype can make something sound better than it is? Maybe it isn’t going to live up to my expectations…. I’m really hoping that isn’t the case. Anyway, before I go in, I’m going to take off everything I don’t need. I’m soaking with sweat already and, according to the description, the cave is even hotter.” She unhitched her a-grav pack and placed it on the floor, then took off her jacket, folded it and put it on top of the pack.
“Okay. Here we go. No drones this time. I want you to see this the same way I do: with my own eyes, firsthand.”
Isa checked the map she’d downloaded from the Link. She only had fifty or so meters to go. She walked on. The tunnel floor was plain, dusty rock, in total contrast to the cathedral-like cavern, which had been like something out of a fairy tale. The ground dipped sharply and curved to the left. She braced herself against the wall to keep her balance.
High humidity had made the rock’s surfaces slick. The temperature rose another notch. Isa was glad she’d made the decision to lighten her load. She slowed down to avoid slipping on the wet floor. Breaking a leg down here wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would be highly inconvenient.
The first signs of what lay ahead appeared in short order. Bands of crystal cut across her path, luminous white against the dark grey rock. She was nearly there. Her heart thudding, Isa took another few steps. The tunnel was widening, and the rock floor was giving way entirely to crystal.
Isa rounded another sharp bend, and gasped. No vid in the galaxy could have prepared her for what she saw.
Crystals. Gigantic crystals—some dozens of meters long—jutted out at all angles from the floor, walls, and ceiling. In fact, there was no floor, ceiling, or walls. Everywhere Isa looked was a medley of angles of crystal. Technicians had fitted lights somewhere, but she couldn’t tell where the illumination originated, because it bounced and refracted throughout the cave.
Isa felt tiny, like a microorganism that had wandered into a salt cellar. She stepped forward carefully; her eyes were so wide they were almost painful. She realized her mouth was hanging open, and she shut it with a snap.
It was hard to believe that what she was seeing was only selenite. It looked like some other, far more precious substance. She ran a hand down one of the shiny, slippery surfaces. Each crystal was perfectly formed.
Isa took another few, difficult, awkward steps, then feeling overwhelmed, she sat down as well as she could on an angled surface. What words could she record for the infomentary viewers that would do justice to what she was seeing? Nothing came to mind. She swept her gaze around, recording all that she saw.
Then the weirdness began.
The cave swirled around her. Isa grabbed at the crystal she was sitting on to steady herself. She felt sick. Her heart thumped against her breastbone. Insects were crawling all over her! No. It was the beads of sweat running down her skin. She blinked.
Where am I?
She couldn’t remember.
Was she enslaved by the Lumins again? She couldn’t be. She’d escaped from them a long time ago…but now, somehow, she was back. What had happened? She had to get out.
Isa tried to move, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t breathe. Was she missing her respirator? And why was it so dark? What had happened to the lights? Had there been an accident? She had to escape. That was it. They were going to escape and finally get away from the Lumins. But where was everyone? Had they left without her?
She’d been left behind at Sirius. She would never be able to leave. She was stuck in hell forever.
AN END
STELLAR DATE: 03.17.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: High Carthage Station
REGION: Carthage, New Canaan System
Erin sat on Max’s messy bed and wondered where in all of Carthage the man might have gone to hide.
In the two days since the incident at the cargo warehouse, there hadn’t been a single sign of him anywhere. She’d gone to his apartment in the hope of finding a clue the constabulary might have missed that could tell her where he might be.
She hadn’t found a thing.
Considering how bare the place was, it was surprisingly unkempt. Dirty clothes were strewn on the floor and, despite the air control, the apartment had a sour atmosphere.
Erin had checked Max’s contacts, but she’d only found bars and gaming halls. He didn’t appear to have any friends or even acquaintances from work. Given his attitude, that wasn’t unexpected, but it made Erin’s job harder.
She could have left the job of finding him to the constabulary, of course. Both Tanis and Martin had told her so. But she felt responsible for what had happened. She’d missed the clues about the sabotage right at the beginning of her investigation; if she’d paid more attention, maybe she could have figured out that the initial blast had been from antimatter. Then Max would have had less of an opportunity to cover his tracks. If she’d done her due diligence, she might have found enough evidence to arrest him aboard the Euphemia.
Erin stood up and walked to the window. Max’s apartment was close
to the top floor of a downtown high-rise. As she looked out over Landfall, she mentally reviewed—for what had to be the hundredth time—the moments immediately following the disaster at the warehouse, wondering what she’d missed….
* * * * *
After she’d received the all-clear that there were no hazardous materials spilled, she’d clambered out of the warehouse and waited impatiently from the outside while the troops brought in to deal with the incident entered the building.
A medic had arrived in the meantime to check her over.
“So the good news is you aren’t seriously hurt,” he said. “Just some cuts.”
Walter remarked.
