It was not something she was prepared for or wanted to do.
Chapter 12
Water
Kyber stared at the figure striding away from him. He discovered his hands were clenching and unclenching, as if they wanted to reach out to touch her. To draw her into his arms and hold her close. He put more distance between them.
The female was beginning to bother him in ways that were pleasant, yet uncomfortably not. While her intelligence and bravery spoke to his military soul, her beauty and compassion whispered to his heart. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way about her but he no longer had any control over his emotions at this point. Too much had happened. Their uncertain future promised more uncertainty to come—most of which wouldn’t be good.
There was no sense in trying to convince himself they would be rescued. He had resigned himself to the fact that they would never get off this planet. Once they were sucked into the unknown vortex, their future, both Seneecian and Terran, became inevitable.
“Hey, folks! We found it!” someone called out.
Kelen threw him a grateful smile and hurried to reach the end. Kyber rushed to catch up.
As Kelen had suggested, the door leading out of the maze wasn’t a tall structure as people would have expected. It was an angular opening in the wall that could easily have been overlooked as part of the labyrinth. Kelen ducked through. Kyber almost had to get on his hands and knees to enter.
Once inside, he paused, too astonished to move. Too confounded to comprehend all he was witnessing.
“Can you believe it?” Fullgrath voiced. “It’s a fucking paradise!”
They stood at the top of a series of steps leading down into the valley overflowing with a rainbow of color. The light from the pale sun streamed through a series of irregularly-shaped windows, which seemed to magnify the strength of the rays. As a result, bright yellow light filled the cavernous room. It brushed over the plantlike growth, illuminating furry fronds and leaves with spikes, and countless supple trunks bending under the weight of what appeared to be flowers or fruit. It was hard to tell from where they were standing.
“Now we know where the wooden doors originated,” Sandow remarked.
“How big do you think this place is?” Jules wondered.
“This indoor forest? Or everything including this temple?” Fullgrath countered.
Dayall shook his head. “This one room alone could fit a small city.”
“Or a hundred warships,” Kelen added with a grin.
“There’s the water.” Dox pointed down to where a small stream meandered between the cracks in the rock floor. In some places, it was wide enough to where they would have to leap over it to reach the other side.
Almost as one, they started down the roughly-carved steps. “Don’t drink or eat, or touch anything until I’ve tested it,” Sandow reminded them.
“Stay together,” Kyber added. “There could be other living things here besides us.”
Once they all reached what appeared to be ground level, they spread out, yet continued to stay in everyone’s sight. Down here, the plant growth extended high over their heads, nearly blanketing out the sunlight. There was no wind, and the humidity was high.
Kyber sniffed the air. It was purer than what they’d breathed inside the main hall of the temple. It also held a bundle of aromas that tickled his palate. Something here was edible. But he would trust the Terran physician to perform his scans before sinking his teeth into it.
“This is incredible!” A few meters away, Kelen turned around, her gaze taking it all in. “It’s like a giant greenhouse!”
“More like a giant terrarium,” Sandow countered. Kneeling down, he stuck the end of the probe into the swiftly rushing water and checked his readouts. A big smile spread across his face when he glanced up at those who’d gathered around him. The man’s gaze fell on Kyber. “Normally this scope is meant for me to place into my patient’s mouth, and it would tell me what germs or viruses are present. It’s not intended to be used in this fashion, but I’m glad it does. This water’s fresh. There’s some alkaline and a pinch of sulphur, but on the whole it doesn’t appear to harbor any dangerous residue. Or spores, or fungi that could harm us.”
They spent the next few minutes drinking the slightly warm liquid and refilling their bags. Rather than press his face into the stream, Kyber dipped his hand into the water and lifted it to his lips. The water helped to ease the fire in his throat, but not the clenching in his belly. He knew he could drink enough to fool his stomach into thinking he’d eaten, but it wouldn’t last. He sat back on his heels to find Gaveer motioning upstream.
“It looks like it’s coming straight out of the rock. I wonder how deep it is.”
Kyber looked again at the stream, noticing for the first time that he couldn’t see the bottom. He debated whether or not to plunge his arm into it to see if he get an estimate, but decided against it. There was no way of knowing what may be lurking beneath the surface. On a strange new world, there was always that possibility.
“On Earth, we call this an artesian spring,” Jules told him. “From an underground well.”
“But artesian springs are normally cold,” Dayall commented. “This stuff is tepid.”
“Hey, guys?” Fullgrath waved for them to join him close to where the temple wall would be overlooking the abyss. All he had to do was point down. “I think we found our waterfall.”
The stream gushed through the narrow channel before pouring out of the room, arching through the air on its descent. Tojun leaned over as far as he could. “There appears to be more of this building below us.” He frowned. “What could be down there? More plant life? Living quarters?”
“Let’s regroup for a second,” Dayall insisted. They joined him on a large slab adjacent to the stream. All except for Sandow, who remained within earshot as he tested various plants for toxicity. Kyber chose a spot close to the water where he could keep an eye on both the steps leading up to the temple and the vegetation.
“All right.” The commander tried to wipe the perspiration from his forehead, without success. The transparent suit smeared the sweat, rather than remove it.
“Commander, do we need to continue wearing these?” Kelen spoke up. “This place is like a sauna already. And the coolant system in these things doesn’t seem to be working.”
“It’s for your own protection, Lieutenant. Besides, we need them for the translators.”
“We can speak Terranese,” Massapa admitted.
Kyber saw Kelen shoot a look of surprise at him. He nodded. “In the event we needed to question a prisoner, and had no means of translating at hand.”
“It won’t matter in a couple more days, anyway,” Mellori said. “We’re slowly draining the power packs. It would be smarter to turn them off and save them in the event we need the energy in an emergency.”
Dayall acquiesced, and the Terrans quickly shucked the suits as Dox gathered the small power packs to add to his collection. For the briefest moment, as Kelen sat down again, Kyber saw her glance at one of his hands where it rested on his knee. A flush of warmth spread under his skin at what she might be thinking, and he wondered if it was the same thing he’d been deliberating—how would her smooth skin feel against him?
“Head’s up!” Sandow laughed and tossed cylindrical-shaped objects of a dark blue color at them. “I can’t vouch for its taste, but it’s edible.”
“It looks like blue thumbs, minus the nail,” Fullgrath groused, but bit into his anyway.
“How do you know it’s viable for us?” Tojun inquired.
Sandow paused in his chewing. “Not too bad. Crunchy, but not much of a taste. To answer your question, I’ve done a lot of studying on Seneecian physiology. It’s required by the potentate when entering the space force. Other than a few minor DNA strands, both of us are very similar. So what’s the verdict, gentlemen? Gentle lady?” He winked at Kelen and took another bite.
“Doesn’t taste like chicken,” Dox rema
rked sourly, earning a laugh from the other Terrans. Kyber made a note to ask Kelen later to explain the joke.
Sandow went back to his examinations, and Dayall continued. “We have water, we have sustenance, but we may not be safe. We have no way of knowing what creatures could be watching us this very minute, or if those eye worms can infiltrate down here.”
“What is this place? Any idea?” Fullgrath glanced around at each of them. “Is this a city? A temple? A garden?”
“Whatever it is, it was abandoned,” Kyber answered.
Kelen frowned slightly. “Abandoned?”
He looked over at the thick brush. “The vegetation. You can see where it was set into the stone. It was laid out. Designed. Planted in a pattern. That’s civilization. But the plants are overgrown. They’ve grown out of their planters, and the bearers haven’t been cultivated in at least one season.”
“How can you tell?” Dayall questioned.
“By the amount of deadfall on the ground. By the number of rotting fruit…or whatever we’re going to call this food.”
“So you think whoever, or whatever built this place, or lived here, may be gone for good?” Mellori probed.
“Gone or dead.”
Dayall cleared his throat. “Jules, how many hours of night did we have?”
“Six hours and six minutes, but that’s an estimate, since we have no idea what time of night we landed. And the fact that it’s freaking difficult to tell when this sun rises and sets, since we don’t have a horizon. I’m judging from the moment we noticed the sky getting brighter. We should know after another full cycle how long the days and nights are here.”
“Which still leaves us guessing about weather, the seasons…” Mellori’s voice trailed off.
“Are we settling here?” Gaveer inquired in Terranese.
“Settling?” Dayall scratched his chin. “Do we have any choice? For now, we’ll make this our base camp. There is no telling how far down this place goes. There could be another garden like this on another level. There could be another stream.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “We have no idea what we’ll find.”
“Lights.”
Dox’s interruption got their attention.
“What lights?” Mellori questioned the young man.
Dox waggled a finger, pointing at the windows. “Those are solar. They make the sun brighter. Stronger. Better for the plants.” He cocked his head. “Listen.”
Everyone stilled. It took Kyber a few seconds to catch on.
“It sounds like a machine. A motor or an engine.”
“A machine?” Kelen got to her feet and scanned the area. “Where? In here? Or on another level?”
“It sounds like it’s coming fr—”
Something moved behind them. Kyber caught a glimpse of it, and threw out an arm to shove Kelen onto the rock. He acted instinctively, launching himself at whatever appeared to be tracking them from the other side of the stream.
Before anyone else could question his actions, the plant life exploded.
Chapter 13
Escape
Kelen felt the hand on her back, shoving her face-forward. Her forehead slammed into her legs, bruising both. She was aware Kyber was the person who’d pushed her. She was barely able to roll on to her stomach and look up at where he’d been sitting, when she saw the dark, winged shape rising above the tops of the tallest plants. It was a mist, quickly coalescing into a solid, multi-headed creature. As it grew larger, each head opened its mouth, until it appeared to bloom like a bush with a dozen golden blossoms.
It didn’t cry out. The sound it made wasn’t audible, but the vibrations thundered against her eardrums, threatening to burst them. Kelen pressed her palms to her ears to dampen the assault and got unsteadily to her feet. They were vulnerable, out on the open rock. Like a meal being served on a platter, if the creature’s intent was to eat them.
She was vaguely aware of someone crossing in front of her. A stream of blue-white light struck the creature at the juncture between one of the heads and its neck. Miniature fireworks went off as the beam sliced through, and the dismembered head fell into the plants below. Two more beams followed suite, aiming to remove the heads, rather than try and hit them directly.
She jerked when a circular flash of red flew past her. Ducking, she ran over to where Fullgrath continued to fire the pulse rifle at the creature’s main body. Her eyes scanned the stream, searching for Kyber, when the thing suddenly evaporated in a cloud of gray-black smoke. Residual wisps dissipated within seconds, along with the throbbing in her head.
Cautiously, she removed her hands from her ears and stared at where the thing had been. Her heart thudded with relief when Kyber emerged from the bushes to pause at the edge.
“It’s gone,” he announced. His voice sounded thick. Distant. She shook her head, hoping her hearing would clear up quickly.
“What about the heads?” Dayall shouted.
“Gone, like the body.”
“What was that thing?” Jules asked as they cautiously regrouped. They no longer stood with their backs to the plants or to the steps leading up to the temple. They stood in a circle, all facing outward as everyone remained on edge and on guard.
“A better question would be why did it try to attack us?” Sandow countered. “Was it because we’ve encroached on its territory, and it was defending its home? Perhaps its young? Or were we a convenient food source?”
“If we’re the food source, I’d hate to think what else is slinking around that’s been its meal ticket all this time,” Kelen commented. “I seriously doubt it’s survived all this time on those measly eye worms.”
Kyber strode up to stop beside her. Knowing he’d had her back made her feel safer, although she’d prefer to have her own pistol.
“She’s right,” the Seneecian acknowledged. “There could be more creatures, not counting the eye worms and that smoke thing, and whatever is lying in wait outside the temple. Whatever we encounter here, we have to assume they are all dangerous. We need to find a place of sanctuary. We cannot remain here, out in the open where they can easily spot us and hunt us.”
“What do you propose? That we go back upstairs?” Jules challenged, then pointed at the vegetation. “Or hide in that stuff?”
“Go down further,” Dox answered, almost nonchalantly. “Lights are below. Maybe dwellings.”
Fullgrath gave the little man a doubtful look. “Yeah, and there could be more monsters down there.”
Kyber stepped forward. “It doesn’t matter if we go up or down. We’re going to encounter things no matter which way we turn. Our safest bet is to find three walls with a ceiling and a door where we can enclose ourselves. Or three walls, and put a guard at the opening. Either way, we know we can’t stay here or return to the temple. I vote for down.”
Fullgrath’s face darkened. “Let’s say we do it your way. Let’s say we go down, and we find ourselves trapped by more of those smoke monsters. Or by other creatures we’ve yet to run across. What then?”
Dayall stepped in. “Down below, here, or up top. It doesn’t matter, Fullgrath. Our days are numbered as it is. All we can hope for is to extend that time for as long as we can.” The commander turned to Kyber. “I’m with you. Let’s go down. But, again, we’re left with the question of where’s the entrance?”
As one, everyone turned to Dox, who was busy juggling his armload of confiscated odds and ends from the ship. Kelen glanced about, and realized that something wasn’t right. Something didn’t add up.
Add up.
They were a man short.
“Hey, guys? Where’s Cooter?”
Fullgrath whirled around, as did Dayall, but the man they’d left sitting against the wall was no longer there. Sandow scanned the area.
“He must have slipped into the plants during the attack.” He held up his biometer. “I can’t get a reading on him…but I do detect another life form.”
“Is it Seneecian?” Kyber asked. It was then Kelen
remembered one of his own had decided to stay topside. Maybe the guy had had a change of heart and followed them, but they hadn’t noticed.
The physician slowly shook his head. “No, not Seneecian. Commander, I strongly suggest we seek other accommodations, and quickly.”
“Could it be that smoky thing?” Gaveer questioned.
Sandow shrugged. “I can’t tell. I was too busy trying to stay out of harm’s way to scan it.”
Kelen took a couple of pieces of equipment from the little engineer to help ease his burden. “Dox, can you find us another way out?”
“Just further down. You already know up,” the young man told her.
“Further down is fine, but we need to hurry.”
Dox grinned. “Okay. Follow me.”
Before anyone could ask him how he knew which way to go, the man took off at a brisk pace in the direction going upstream. Kelen and the others struggled to keep up.
“Well, you did tell him we needed to hurry,” a voice rumbled.
Kelen snorted in amusement as Kyber pulled even with her. She noticed how he continued to glance over his shoulder, and resisted the urge to look herself.
“Is it back there? Watching us? Maybe looking pissed because we managed to get the upper hand this time around?”
His answer was to place a hand at the small of her back and silently urged her to go faster. When he finally answered, it sent a shot of pure adrenaline through her.
“I believe a most accurate answer would be that it has invited its friends and family to join it. And, yes, Kelen, they look very pissed.”
Chapter 14
Descent
This doorway was smaller and narrower than the one separating the temple from the gardens. It was also pitch black. No light filtered in from the room with the vegetation.
Dayall shone his tube light over the walls. As above, they were covered with the familiar markings seen in the temple.
Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 1) Page 7
