Building New Canaan - The Complete Series - A Colonization and Exploration Space Adventure
Page 46
Erin nodded. She’d been thinking something along the same lines. Pippa must have expected—not incorrectly—that the ‘accident’ would be blamed on the universally disliked supervisor.
A sound from behind Erin distracted her, and she turned to see Usef. Clad only in the kinetic baselayer he wore under his armor, he was easing himself through the crack.
He made it through the gap this time, though only just. Immediately, he reached back for his armor to bring that into the tunnel too.
Knowing it would take Usef just as long to gear up as it had taken him to remove it, if not longer, Erin wandered a little farther down the passageway.
As she pondered the problem of what Pippa intended to do with the antimatter, she remembered that she’d meant to ask Onyx about Samuel Jefferson’s land holdings. She tried to reach the AI, but as she took another step deeper into the tunnel, she lost access to the Link.
“Dammit,” she muttered.
She was about to turn and report the issue to Usef, when movement further down the tunnel caught her attention.
Someone had appeared around a distant bend in the passageway and was running up toward her. The figure’s head was down and they didn’t seem to have noticed her yet.
Cycling her vision for the low light, she almost swore aloud as she recognized the figure.
Pippa!
They’d found her at last.
Then Erin saw the woman’s gun, and she backpedalled until she had Link access once more.
Usef had been in the process of stepping into the legs of his armor. In one smooth motion, he stepped out again, picked up his weapon, and reached back into his armor for something.
Seconds later, he was running down the tunnel, and Erin pressed herself against the wall as the human maglev blew past her.
Without a thought toward any danger, Erin ran after him.
At the sight of Major Usef bearing down on her, Pippa wasted no time and turned about, running back the way she’d come.
“Hold it!” Usef commanded.
He fired, but Pippa had disappeared back around the bend.
Usef ran on, his great feet slapping against the smooth tunnel floor. Erin raced along in his wake, rejoicing that they’d finally found the foul woman. Now, if Usef didn’t kill her first, the woman would pay for Jacob Cimorelli’s and Max Rasner’s deaths, and Erin might finally get some answers.
Usef fired a second time. He must have caught sight of Pippa again. It was irritating that the tunnel twisted and turned so much. If Usef could get one clear shot, Erin was sure he would take Pippa down.
She noticed he was dropping something from his free hand as he ran.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Link relays,” he called back. “Should be up in a minute. Then I’ll order my team in.”
Erin nodded as she noted her HUD warning her that the temperature and humidity were rising quickly, though her armor kept her cool. Usef lacked that benefit, though, and she suspected that he would soon be suffering.
Her own armor wasn’t powered to a great extent, and the additional weight was taking its toll. She was relieved to see that, according to the map, they only had a short distance to go. They had to catch Pippa before she reached the cave of crystals, or they would have another long search to conduct. Still, there was no other exit to the place. No matter how long it took, they would find her. She was a rat in a trap and so were all her friends. Erin wondered where they’d gotten to.
Usef rounded another bend and Erin soon followed. In the distance, a light shone from an opening. It had to be the entrance to the cave of crystals…. But the tunnel was empty.
They’d lost Pippa for the moment.
Without breaking pace, Usef sped down the remaining stretch and reached it way ahead of Erin. He stopped and scrutinized the interior, then waited for her to catch up, his great chest heaving, but he wasn’t sweating.
He must have some sort of internal mods for heat regulation, Erin surmised.
Erin followed close on Usef’s heels, and they entered the cave of crystals. In all her centuries and time spent on the worlds of Sol, the Kap, and now in New Canaan, Erin had seen few places as amazing as this. If she hadn’t already been exhausted, the sight of it might have taken her breath away. Even so, the gigantic crystals that protruded from all sides briefly transfixed her.
Her HUD told her that the conditions inside the cave were extreme. She hoped, if only for Usef’s sake, that they would find Pippa and her accomplices before too long. She worried that he wouldn’t last forever in there without his armor to help cool him.
Erin was battling to stick close to the man. The nature of the terrain made it hard for two to walk side by side or on the level. The place was like an obstacle course laid across broken down stairs.
Everywhere Erin looked, the cavern was a picture of utter stillness, there wasn’t even a hint of motion in the reflections from the copious hard, angled surfaces. Erin gazed off into the distance. The crystals seemed to go on forever. Even when backup arrived, it would take them an age to root out Pippa and the other suspects.
They had arrived at a pit that blocked their path. Rather than waste time going around it, Usef jumped over it, but Erin’s stature made the same feat impossible. She was forced to take the long way while Usef waited on the other side. She followed the edge of the pit to the right, planning on catching up to Usef a few moments later, but something anomalous attracted her attention. She could see a patch of blue in the sea of white.
Erin stopped and looked more closely at the spot of color, just visible in a gap. She realized she was seeing part of a leg in dark blue pants. The leg was horizontal, as if the person was lying down.
Erin didn’t recall Pippa wearing blue clothes at the airport. Was this one of the Tyrians? She raised her weapon in front of her and, keeping low, crept closer. By angling her head to the left, she was able to see more of the leg.
A feeling of familiarity grew on her. The leg seemed to belong to a man. Was she looking at Samuel or Rahmin? But Erin didn’t think she’d had a close view of either of the male Tyrians—not enough of a look to be able to recognize one of their body parts by itself, anyway.
Then it hit her. She was looking at Martin’s leg.
Immediately following that realization, she saw the blood. Deep red on white in a wide pool. Martin was injured and bleeding.
She ran forward without hesitation.
She didn’t slow, jumping a crystal that jutted into her path.
She sped around another crystal and halted, standing stock-still. A dreadful scene confronted her.
<
br /> Martin was sprawled on his back, his eyes closed, his chest still, and his skin colorless. The blood Erin had seen lay all around him. So much blood.
Isa was kneeling next to him, her long, black hair in disarray.
At Erin’s sudden appearance, Isa looked up, horror and grief carved on her features. Blood trickled down her face and stained her knees and hands.
Above Isa stood Pippa. Her legs were spread wide, her arms held out straight, both of her hands gripped a pistol that she was pressing against Isa’s head.
She gave a ghastly grin as her gaze locked on Erin’s helmeted head and said, “She’s coming with me, and you’re going to let me out of here.”
Isa looked down at Martin, her spirit crushed and devoid of hope.
Erin lifted her eyes from Isa and Martin, and in one smooth motion, she raised her weapon and fired.
LOST
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Crystal Cave, Mount Ida Caverns
REGION: Tyre, New Canaan System
Isa knelt by Martin’s side, holding his limp, cooling hand, wishing she could will life back into his body, wishing she’d had the strength to defeat Pigtail when they’d fought, wishing she’d done something, anything, to stop her from shooting the sweet, kind, loving man who had tried to save her life.
If she hadn’t had her stupid episode in that cave, she wouldn’t have had to be rescued, Martin wouldn’t have heard about it, and he would never have come to Tyre; instead, he would be at his beach house on Landfall, swimming, diving, and tending to his sea creatures. He would never have been dragged into this ridiculous, deadly intrigue with the crazy Tyrians and their mad, evil friend. He would still be alive.
Isa could not even cry. The tears wouldn’t come. She could only sit and stare at Martin’s still face, utter helplessness and regret overwhelming her.
Pigtail seemed to have gone. Isa had heard her movements for a short while, and then nothing. She must have left the cave. Isa wanted to go after her and try to warn Tyre’s authorities about Pigtail’s plans, but she found she couldn’t move. Even if she’d found the emotional strength to leave Martin, she was beyond exhaustion. She could barely remain upright, and her head and leg throbbed with a vicious intensity. All she could do was remain with Martin and wait for death to take her too.
Then there would be four dead bodies in the crystal cave: Samuel, Rahmin, Martin and her. If Pigtail’s plans succeeded, they would stay there forever, burnt by lava or buried in an earthquake.
Isa wondered what had happened to Ada. The last she’d seen of the Tyrian woman, she’d been lying somewhere further back in the cave, injured and incapacitated. Had she somehow made it out? Had Pigtail returned to her and helped her?
Isa heard soft footsteps. They were firm and regular, which meant it wasn’t Ada she was hearing. No, the footsteps had to belong to Pigtail. For some reason, she’d come back.
Isa tensed. She knew she should move. She should hide from the maniac. But she lacked the strength to stand and she didn’t want to desert Martin—not again. She couldn’t leave his lifeless, bloody body alone in that horrible place. The crystals had lost all their wonder and splendor now; the cave had turned into a venue of terror and death.
Pigtail’s footsteps came closer. She wasn’t even trying to be quiet. Isa waited for her, defenseless. Pigtail had taken her weapon when she’d knocked her out, and the weapon Martin had snatched from Samuel lay somewhere else, perhaps where he’d been shot, or somewhere along the trail of blood he’d left while he was dying.
Isa had known for so long that her life was a fluke, a miracle that she’d done nothing to deserve. Everyone she’d grown up with remained enslaved at Sirius or had died in the massacre at Victoria. People who were better than her, smarter, more skilled, more able at everything. What right did she have to live? None at all. And now her time had finally come.
A step sounded behind her.
“So glad to see you again,” Pigtail said. A metal barrel pushed against Isa’s head.
She didn’t know why Pigtail had returned to kill her, but she wouldn’t fight her fate. She couldn’t. She didn’t even cringe or hold her breath as she waited for the shot to come.
It didn’t.
A second passed, then another. The hard muzzle remained firmly pushing into the back of her head. What was Pigtail waiting for?
Isa wondered if she was dreaming. Had she slipped into another waking nightmare? But this wasn’t like any other nightmare she’d ever had.
She turned and peered upward to see the underneath of Pigtail’s chin, and her long arms extending downward to the weapon she held in two fists. The woman was looking to the side, casting about as if watching for something or someone.
Pigtail felt Isa’s movement and shoved the weapon harder into her head. “Don’t move,” she said between her teeth. “They’ll be here any minute. Then you and I are going for a walk.”
Isa had no strength or willpower left to argue. Time inched along. Isa, Pigtail, and Martin remained frozen in their grim tableau. Isa closed her eyes and gently gripped Martin’s hand, replaying in her mind scenes from the times she’d spent with him. She recalled the dinner he’d cooked for her and Erin at his beach house, and the magical evening they’d spent outside eating it, their meal lit only by candlelight and the Cradle. She remembered getting drunk with him on the Odyssey, bound for Athens. She recollected his ridiculous surfing competition with Usef.
Perhaps it was because she was so lost in her thoughts, or perhaps it was because the woman moved so quietly, but Isa didn’t notice the Marine until she’d crept into the narrow space where Martin lay and Pigtail held her hostage. When Isa saw her, the Marine was already standing upright, though she was the shortest Marine Isa had ever seen.
Pigtail certainly seemed to be taken by surprise too. Her arms jerked, knocking her gun against Isa’s head at exactly the place where she’d previously struck her with a rock. Agony surged from Isa’s skull, and her stomach threatened to empty out its contents.
“She’s coming with me,” said Pigtail, “and you’re going to let me out of here.”
The Marine didn’t speak. Almost faster than Isa could follow, the woman lifted her weapon and fired.
The barrel that had been pressed against Isa’s head disappeared. Less than a second later, Pigtail’s body crashed to the ground behind her.
Isa spun around. Pigtail had a hole in her head. Blood was soaking into her blonde hair, and her eyes were wide and unseeing.
The Marine ran to Isa and grabbed her, crushing her. Isa was relieved but confused. Though she was grateful for the woman’s intervention, she seemed excessively emotional. The Marine said something, but her voice was muffled by her helmet.
The Link is back!
Then, as Isa realized who had spoken to her, the Marine’s visor became transparent.
Erin.
Isa could barely believe it. She crushed Erin to her, finding new strength in her happiness.
“How long’s Martin been…like this?” Erin asked urgently.
Then Isa remembered what had happened, and grief engulfed her again. “I—I don’t know.”
“How long?” Erin urged, tightly gripping Isa’s upper arms.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know,” Isa repeated. She’d lost all sense of time.
Usef appeared, drenched in sweat and, for some reason, not wearing his armor. He took one look at Pigtail and cursed.
“She was an information source,” he barked at Erin.
Then he saw Martin. His arm dropped, and his weapon hung loose.
Erin jumped up and faced their bulky Marine friend. “He hasn’t been dead long,” she said.
Usef hesitated. “We have to—”
“Usef, please,” Erin said, her voice choked with emotion.
Another moment’s hesitation later, the major nodded. Slinging his weapon over his shoulder, he lean
t down and grabbed one of Martin’s arms. He pulled his limp form upward, put his other shoulder into Martin’s stomach, and hoisted him up onto it.
He took a moment to balance Martin’s body, then said, “Stay right here, and don’t do anything else this stupid. Backup’s on its way.”
Then he turned and sped from the place.
“What’s happening?” Isa asked. “Where’s he taking Martin?”
“There’s a chance…” Erin said, then her words dried up.
She was chewing her lip and blinking away tears. Her visor became opaque and she swung around, watching. When Isa also tried to stand, she pushed down on her shoulder.
Isa said.
Isa nodded. She would find the energy from somewhere. But when she stood up, she wobbled precariously. The cave was moving toward and away from her like waves on a beach. Erin slipped under her arm and grabbed her hand so that Isa’s arm was resting on her shoulder. With Erin supporting her, Isa thought she could manage to go a little farther.
Erin said.
said Isa.