“That’s a good thing,” Kelen murmured to herself.
“Why is that?”
Kyber stayed directly behind her. Every so often, she could feel his hand on her back or shoulder, and she wondered why. It felt good, those gentle brushes across her blouse that she could easily assume were accidental, but she would swear they weren’t. She felt no pressure, but it was enough to remind her of his presence. His large, very masculine presence. His warmth. His…
She shook her head. She couldn’t afford to let her mind wander into places she had no business going.
“Can you see in the dark?” She turned her head to whisper at him.
“No.”
“Then why do you keep touching me?”
She sensed him hesitate. In the gloomy semi-darkness cast behind the tube light, he nearly blocked all the other light coming from behind him. After another moment, she saw him motion for her to continue moving forward.
“You never answered my question,” he softly reminded her.
“Neither did you.”
“Whatever you two are discussing up there, stop and pay attention to where we’re going,” Fullgrath grumbled. He had placed himself at the end of the line to protect their rear with the rifle. Kelen took the hint and clammed up, but she noticed Kyber didn’t touch her again. Oddly enough, she regretted the loss.
Like the temple and the gardens, the floor here was smooth, and tilted noticeably downward. Every few meters she felt a breath of air tickle her face.
“There seems to be some sort of ventilation down here.”
“Probably leading from the cliff face,” Mellori surmised. “It smells of water.”
“It would make sense,” Tojun interjected. “It would be too difficult to draw any sort of ventilation from the surface.”
“Why’s that?” Jules asked from near the head of the line.
“Too dry and arid. The dust alone could clog the system. And that doesn’t take into consideration the increasing length of piping they would need to reach this far underground.”
“Don’t forget those creatures beneath the planet’s surface,” Massapa reminded them.
A loud clatter forced everyone to freeze in their tracks. Kelen held her breath as her heart raced in her chest. No one dared to speak for fear of attracting the attention of whatever had caused the sound, when an embarrassed voice from in front apologized.
“Sorry. Dropped it.”
Someone chuckled, and presently they resumed their trek.
Glancing overhead, she could make out the top of the passageway. At the way it slanted, meeting the opposite wall at an angle. They passed another air duct, and this time she noticed its cool flow. Pressing her face to the narrow slit, she gave herself a few precious seconds to let it evaporate the sweat coating her skin before moving on.
No one spoke again for the longest time. They continued to descend at a definite angle. Twice she had to blow out her ears to counteract the change in air pressure. Although the tunnel wasn’t steep, after a while her legs began to protest. She was close to exhaustion, and she knew the others were in the same shape. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed a pained look on Kyber’s face. The Seneecian was definitely on his last reserves. He hadn’t had enough rest or time to heal from the blood loss he’d sustained. And after battling those eye worms, then the smoke creature, it was a wonder he could stay upright.
“Okay. I hate to be the stick in the mud, but someone’s gotta ask. How far down do you think we are? How long have we been descending? And when do you think we’ll reach the end of this fricking tunnel?” she finally voiced aloud.
Dayall called a temporary halt to let everyone catch up. “We’ve been at this for over an hour. And I have no idea when we’ll reach the end, or what the end will look like. As for how far below the surface we are, Mellori? You’re the math whiz here. Want to take a stab at it?”
“Don’t quote me, but judging by our rate of descent, and the fact that we’ve been moving at a pretty constant ten to twelve percent grade, I’d say we’re probably a good kilometer and a half below those gardens.”
“Does that satisfactorily answer your questions, Lieutenant?”
She heard a mixture of irritation and humor in the commander’s voice. She nodded. “I just need to say one more thing, if I may.” She knew without looking that Kyber was staring at her curiously, and she wished she knew what he was thinking. “I think we’re taking the alternate route,” she remarked.
Dayall sighed loudly. “What makes you thi—”
“She’s right,” Kyber agreed. “This shaft is too narrow, too long, and too steep for normal foot traffic. If one was to use it to go back up top, they would tire long before reaching the gardens.”
“What are you saying?” Fullgrath chimed in. “You think this place has an elevator?”
Kyber shook his head. “I don’t know what an elevator is, but I believe there is another route. A route with stairs.” He pointed back the way they’d come. “I think this is an escape route, but it wasn’t intended as a method of reaching the gardens.”
Another clatter interrupted them. Dayall barked at the engineer. “Dox, you’re making way too much noise.”
“Lights!” the young man exclaimed.
The commander aimed his tube light at the engineer, who was examining the wall running perpendicular to the floor. The young man was using his fingers to walk up the carvings in the rock, until he found one particular graphic. Giving everyone a big grin, he proceeded to poke the hieroglyph. When nothing happened, he frowned, until inspiration struck, and he slapped the picture.
The walls hummed. A definite glow began to emanate from behind the structure. The brightening gradually increased in radiance, until the walls were no longer solid, but instead became semi-transparent. Kelen gasped as the individual symbols took on a series of colors—reds, blues, greens, and yellows, and all variations and shades. Purples, browns, oranges. Most were scattered randomly, or in what seemed to be an indistinct pattern. But here and there two, three, or more symbols were the same hue, forming a row or column of solid color. To Kelen, it was as if someone had embedded the walls with sparkling jewels.
“Lights!” Dox proudly announced again.
Kyber leaned closer and lightly grazed the tips of his fingers across the double concentric circle that shone a pale blue. “It makes sense. The symbol for light resembles their sun in shape and color.”
“What’s the green one?” Jules asked, pointed to a glyph that looked like a backwards check mark.
“Door,” Dox explained, and began pointing out other motifs. “Food. Water. Way in.”
“Wait! Way in?” Kelen stared at the little man. “Dox, you can read these markings?”
Dox paused to shake his head. “Not markings. Instructions.”
Sandow spoke up. “Instructions? For what?”
The question seemed to puzzle the little man.
“Dox, you said there were instructions for a way in?” Kelen reminded him. “In where? Into what?”
He pointed to a series of four horizontal carvings located at knee level on the wall. The entire set glowed yellow. He traced the carvings with his hand, then pointed in the direction they had been heading. “The hall is there.”
Before they ask what hall, he disappeared down the tunnel. The rest hurried after him.
It was only minutes later when they emerged in another open area. But instead of windows letting in the sun’s light, the wall gave off its own radiance, thanks to Dox finding and turning on the illumination.
The group got unnaturally quiet. Kelen pushed her way forward to find out why the silence, when she caught sight of what they were staring at. A mixture of fear and sorrow crowded in her chest, and tears blurred her eyes.
“Oh, dearest God.”
In the center of the room lay a massive pile of bones. Skeletons.
The last remnants of the planet’s humanoid inhabitants.
Chapter 15
&nbs
p; Remnants
As the others fanned themselves around the room, Kelen and Sandow approached the pile of what once were the inhabitants of this world. There was no doubt in their minds, they had found the remains of the last living beings who, for some unknown reason, had gathered in this room to die.
Kelen stared at the small bodies with their box-shaped skulls. The skeletons were still encased in the remnants of whatever they wore as clothing. “They were humanoid. They had two arms and two legs. They lived in a community.”
“Any clue as to why they’re there?” Dayall asked.
“None,” the physician remarked as he scanned the pile. “It appears they either laid on top of each other before succumbing, or the bodies were piled here after their deaths.” Straightening, he glanced at the commander. “If it’s the latter, don’t ask me who piled them up. I’m a doctor, not an archeologist.”
Kelen continued to circle around the stack. One skeleton caught her attention, and what she saw brought more tears to her eyes. “Oh, sweet Jesus.”
“What?” someone called from the other side of the room.
Crouching down, she stared at the slight figure clutching the tiny replicate to its chest. A mother and infant.
A figure cast a shadow over her shoulder. She knew who it was without having to look. “She died comforting her baby,” she murmured.
“Physician, can you tell what killed them?” Massapa inquired from a few meters away.
“No. But I can tell you they died all around the same time. This wasn’t something that occurred over time. From the condition of the remains, the amount of decay is consistent with each skeleton.”
“Can you determine how long ago they died?” Kyber inquired from behind her.
Kelen heard the doctor sigh. From the sound of it, she knew what the man would say.
“There is no way I can deduce that. I don’t know the cycle this planet makes around the sun. I know nothing about the length of its days and nights. Even less about its seasons and weather patterns. Plus, there could have been insects and other creatures which may have feasted on them. These people could have died years ago, or weeks.” He closed his scanner with a click. “There is one thing, however, I can tell you. These people weren’t in any physical agony when they passed away. In total fear for their lives, yes. But they didn’t suffer.”
“I don’t get you, Doc,” Fullgrath rumbled.
“I do.” Kyber placed a hand on Kelen’s shoulder. She felt the slight tug, beckoning her away from the bodies. She obeyed without question, although she couldn’t tear her eyes from the fragile skeleton that would forever clutch the tinier one to its nonexistent chest. The sight of it would haunt her forever.
“What kind of room is this?” Tojun inquired. “Why would they come here to die?”
“I would think the more important question would be what were they hiding from?” Jules observed. “What terrified them to the point where they’d all gather here?”
Kelen paused as an awful thought came to her. “Doc, you said the bodies didn’t show any signs of trauma?”
“None that I could see. Of course, they could have been struck by a weapon that wouldn’t leave a mark on the bones.”
“Is it possible they could have starved to death? I mean, enclosed inside this room, what if they weren’t able to get to any food source? Or water? What if all they had was air?”
“And time,” Kyber added.
Kelen raised a shaky hand to her cheek. If these people had succumbed to starvation, it would be even more tragic to imagine the mother trying to nurse her child, to feed it when there was nothing left in her to give. That, or she’d died giving comfort to the baby as their life energies slowly ebbed away. Both were tragic and heartbreaking scenarios that turned her stomach thinking of them.
She glanced over at Kyber, who was staring sadly at the pile of bodies. She started to comment about the tragedy to him, when the lights began to flicker. Everyone froze.
“Dox, what’s with the lights?” Dayall called out, but the little engineer didn’t reply. Kelen looked over where she’d last seen him, but he was no longer there. It was Mellori who voiced her thought.
“Commander, he’s not here.”
“Where the hell did he go? Dox? Dox!”
Kelen walked around to where the others were gathered. Together, they scanned the enclosure. Other than the narrow entrance that led from the gardens, there seemed to be no other doorway.
The lights blinked again. This time, when they remained on, they were noticeably dimmer.
She peered back at the section of wall where Dox had been examining the glyphs. The jewel tones were barely distinguishable. One symbol in particular caught her eye. Door? Didn’t he say the green backwards check mark meant a door? There was one of those greenish glowing marks where Dox had been standing. Was it possible the engineer had opened a doorway and disappeared without anyone noticing?
She whirled around to mention it to the others, when the lights dimmed a third time, leaving them in semi-darkness.
Then everything went totally black.
“Don’t nobody move,” Dayall commanded. He fumbled at his belt for the tube light, turning it on. The beam struck the pile of corpses, throwing eerie shadows across the walls.
She started to walk over to rejoin them, when a warm hand again touched her shoulder.
“Kelen, freeze.”
Her heart began thudding in her chest. His voice had been low and terse, sending chills throughout her body. Her eyes remained riveted on the play of the beams as the three tube lights seemed to dance about the room, searching for the missing engineer. Kyber’s hand remained on her arm, giving her an unusual sense of security despite her growing fear.
“Back up. Slowly.” His murmur was barely audible.
Carefully, she lifted her foot, placing it behind her without making any undue noise, then then the other foot. She wanted to ask what had alarmed him. She needed to know to make sense of the trepidation attempting to overwhelm her.
“Hey! Did you see that?” Fullgrath called out.
“See what?” Mellori questioned.
A beam riveted on a section of the pile. “There. I thought I saw movement.”
The other two beams joined it.
Before anyone could comment again, the mound exploded outward.
The scream stuck in Kelen’s throat as the eye worms skittered across the floor and raced directly toward the lights. In the next instant, she was thrown against the wall, and Kyber pressed his back against her, shielding her with himself.
The rays from the Seneecian pistols were blinding. The circles of heat from Fullgrath’s pulse rifle began to incinerate the creatures, as well as the corpses. The smell of burning flesh quickly filled the room, but it didn’t stop more eye worms from emerging from where they’d either been nesting or hiding.
Kyber continued to shove her against the wall as he fired at the advancing horde. Being in the dark, the worms weren’t as attracted to them as they were to the light source.
Kelen watched as the Seneecian took careful aim, making every shot count as she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. Knowing any sound they made could bring more of the deadly creatures their way.
Kyber aimed at a large eye worm descending from near the top of the pile, when his weapon clicked. Seconds later, Fullgrath swore.
“I’m out!”
Someone yelled. Kelen heard a shrieking sound. She clutched the straps on Kyber’s uniform as he tossed away his weapon and began attacking the horde with his bare hands, tearing into them with his talons.
One eye worm leapt onto his chest. Kyber roared, grabbed the creature, and threw it away. Another one scuttled toward her, and she kicked at it. The action made her lose her balance, and she threw out her arms to keep from pitching to the side.
The fingers of one hand felt the rough carvings. Without thinking, she slapped her palm against it.
Suddenly they were falling backwards. Kele
n tried to brace herself, when her head hit something hard, and she blacked out.
Chapter 16
Isolated
Slowly, she gained consciousness, totally disoriented and confused in the total darkness, when the muffled sound of hundreds of little legs scratching at the wall jerked her fully awake. She started to scramble backwards on her hands and feet to get away from the eye worms, when a warm hand clutched her calf.
“Kelen.”
She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him along with her, but he was a dead weight. Too heavy for her to move.
“Kyber, we have to get out of here! Those worms—”
“Are on the other side of the door.” His voice sounded weak.
She tried to see him, but the blackness was absolute. However, by the lack of echo, she guessed whatever room they were in wasn’t that large. “What happened?”
“I think you opened a doorway and we fell inside.”
“Did any of those things fall in with us?”
“I don’t…believe so.”
She strained her ears for the sound of one of them nearby, but there was only the noise coming from the other side of the wall.
“Kelen, can you see if you can find one of those light symbols?”
His grip relaxed on her leg. She reached over, feeling for him, when her hand encountered something furred. Hard. His body. She quickly jerked away.
“I’ll try.”
“Two concentric circles.”
“I know. Hold on.”
She managed to get to her feet, using the wall to help brace herself. Methodically, she felt the carvings, looking for the simple sign for the sun. After a few minutes, she paused, letting out an irritated sigh.
“There has to be one somewhere,” he muttered.
“I know. But all I feel are slashes.” She paused as a thought burrowed its way from her subconscious. “Wait a minute.”
“What?”
She didn’t answer him. Instead, she got down on her knees and started searching for the swirls. It didn’t take her long. “Ah! Found one!” She slapped the symbol and waited. Slowly, luminescence brightened the walls until she could finally see Kyber lying on his back on the floor in the middle of the small room. He saw her grinning at him, and started to say something when she spotted a movement along his hip.
Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 1) Page 8
