“I don't know. But somebody has to stop it before more people get sick."
“We have to get out of here."
“You know how?"
“Sure. I grew up here.” The older boy grinned. “Uncle is going to be storming mad when he finds out."
“Good.” Bain grinned back.
“How do you blow up a plague bomb?"
“I don't know ... exactly.” His grin faded as he thought. The dangerous part of a plague bomb was the virus it spread, so, the virus had to be killed. “I think we need to make it burn. Really hot and really fast. And make sure nothing gets away, so it all burns up."
“Mine sludge burns forever."
“What's that?"
“The sludge that gets all over the floor in the mines. It makes the air really stink and sometimes it's hard to breathe. It's like lubricant for the machines, but comes out of the ground and it's dirty. Aunt Morna says it never comes out of our clothes and we're in deep trouble if we get it on us."
“How much do we need?"
“I don't know.” Gorgi shrugged. “How big is the plague bomb?"
“About.... “He gestured, measuring a distance off the ground level with his shoulders. “Round. Kind of. With all these bumps all over it, like sting yams."
“What are sting yams?"
“They're from Lenga where I was born.” Bain shook his head and waved his hand to brush the question aside. “Think we'll need enough to cover it?"
“There's lots of mine sludge underground by the swimming hole. We can get buckets on our way out.” He frowned, concentrating. “We just cover it with sludge and set it on fire and that ought to take care of it. You think?"
“I guess. We have to do something."
“You know.... “The older boy nodded slowly. “I think, the thing you described, I did see it. Up in the rocks where the water comes through the crevice and down the inside waterfall. It's ugly. Weird."
Bain nodded. He shivered a little, remembering his first sight of a Mashrami plague bomb. How could something so stupid?looking be so dangerous? But it was, and that was what mattered.
“When can we go?” he asked, his voice dropping down to a whisper again.
“Tonight. When everybody else is asleep."
* * * *
Bain wished he could have taken one of the blankets from his bunk. The tunnels were cold and damp once he and Gorgi stepped out of the areas that had heaters and dehumidifiers. The blankets had to be left behind, though. Gorgi insisted. He rigged up the blankets to look like he and Bain were huddled under the covers, sleeping. Bain knew that was necessary, to keep from being chased. That didn't keep him from wishing for at least one blanket. The jacket Devon gave him so long ago wasn't nearly warm enough.
It was hard to believe that only a few dozen meters over their heads, above ground, everything was hot and dry and dusty and the winds blew with enough force to scour surfaces and drive grit into unprotected eyes and mouths. Bain hoped the sun would be rising when he and Gorgi reached the falls area by the swimming hole, where the children had found the plague bomb.
Right now, Bain huddled in a dark little corner in a tunnel, arms wrapped around himself, waiting for Gorgi to come back. The older boy had insisted Bain stay there. He knew where everything was underground, after all. Gorgi reasoned that he wouldn't run into things in the dark and make noise and bring people running after them. He would go and get the buckets to hold the mine sludge and the igniter Snowder had used for the gas welding tanks, and ropes. Gorgi knew a short?cut to get to the falls and the swimming hole, but it meant climbing up a steep hill and over rocks and crevices instead of taking the long way up and down paths. The adults didn't know about the short?cut. Bain was counting on that. Once someone discovered the boys had vanished, they would come looking for them. They had to get to the plague bomb fast, cover it with mine sludge and set it on fire before anybody could stop them.
Bain didn't like the darkness. Not this total darkness with no sound, no color, no feeling of movement in the air. The damp smell of rock clung to the back of his nose and mouth and made him feel soggy inside.
In space, it was never dark. Not total darkness. There were always the multi?colored lights of the control panel or the stars or the streaks of energy trails and the flares of stellar dust when it ignited. Never total darkness. Bain pressed back against the gritty, damp rock wall behind him just to reassure himself he wasn't floating away in nothingness.
Something scraped, rock against rock, then metal against rock. Bain sat up straight and strained his eyes, trying to see something, anything in the utter, enveloping blackness. Nothing moved. Nothing changed.
His breath sounded too loud in his ears. Bain held his breath and then all he could hear was the panicky thumping of his heart.
Light burst into his eyes, blinding him. Bain closed his eyes and held up his hands, and still the light burned into his eyes.
He was caught. He just knew it. In two more seconds, Snowder was going to reach down and grab him by the arm and drag him into a wet, dirty hole worse than the place where Bain woke up. He would never see Gorgi again. He would never see Sunsinger again. He would never see Lin.
Lin was going to be furious.
“Come on,” Gorgi whispered. He grabbed Bain's hand and yanked him up from his half?crouch.
“What are you using the light for?” Bain whispered back. He stumbled and nearly ran into the wall with his face.
“We're far enough away from the living area, nobody'll ever see us. Here.” He shoved two nested buckets into Bain's hands.
Rope was crammed into the buckets and spilled over the edges, rough with sharp fibers that bit at Bain's hands until he adjusted his grip.
The boys ran. Bain could hardly hear the thudding of their boots on the damp stone, echoing off the jagged sides of the tunnel walls. His heart jerked and skipped and thundered in his ears loudly enough to drown all other sounds.
If they got caught now, Bain knew Gorgi would be in just as much trouble as him. He supposed that wasn't very nice, but he felt a little less worried. Maybe if he got thrown back into that cave to wait for Lin to free him, Gorgi would be with him.
“Okay,” Gorgi gasped, after they had run for at least eighty meters. He reached out and grasped Bain's arm, slowing the younger boy with him. “Here it gets really slippery. We should tie ourselves together, so if we fall we won't get separated."
“Separated how?"
“You'll see.” He stuck the end of the light tube into his mouth and aimed it down. Gorgi reached for the ropes in the buckets Bain held and pulled out a length. He tied one end around his waist, and the other around Bain's waist, manipulating the light tube in his mouth to illuminate his work.
When he was finished, the boys had nearly three meters of scratchy, finger?thick rope between them. Bain clutched the buckets under one arm, leaving one hand free.
“Now what?” he whispered. He supposed it was stupid to keep whispering, when they had just made so much racket by running, but he couldn't help himself. Lin had raised him to be careful all the time.
“It's really cold,” was all Gorgi would say when he took the light tube out of his mouth. He turned and continued down the tunnel.
With the light pointed ahead again, Bain saw the slick, glistening black wall where the tunnel abruptly came to an end. Gorgi pointed the light down—into a hole. Water trickled down the sides of the rock, into the hole. Faintly, like the sound came from kilometers away, the water tinkled into a pond.
“I'll go down first.” Gorgi put the light in his mouth again and knelt on the edge of the hole.
He turned around, on his knees, and braced himself on his elbows. He grimaced, nearly dropping the light tube, and slid down to his chin. Then he stopped. He slid his arms off the edge of the rock, and didn't go down any further. He took the light tube from his mouth and grinned at Bain.
“Not as cold as last time."
Bain nodded, feeling stupid. He stepped up to
the edge of the hole. With Gorgi standing in the hole now, and the light illuminating it from within, Bain could see the opening in the rock was a little more than a meter deep, filled with black water up to Gorgi's knees. It extended under the wall, into darkness.
Bain knew without asking that he and Gorgi would have to duck and slosh through that water, under the wall, into that darkness. He told himself to be glad Gorgi knew the way, because he wouldn't have found it on his own. He wouldn't have dared go into that darkness on his own.
It took a minute or two to force his body to follow Gorgi's example. Bain was a head shorter than the older boy; the water rose higher on his body than it did on Gorgi. He found out that even though the water wasn't as cold as the last time Gorgi had to take this route, it was still cold enough. Almost liquid ice.
“Hold on like this,” Gorgi instructed, and showed Bain how he gripped the rope with enough slack between his hand and his body so it hung down almost to his knees. Bain copied the grip. It was hard, holding the buckets under his arm, but he managed. “And reach out with your other hand like this.” He bent over and held his arm out almost straight before him, shielding his face. The beam from the light tube penetrated the darkness and was swallowed up by it.
Bain kept his mouth shut tight, to keep his teeth from chattering. He bent over and held his arm out and followed Gorgi when the older boy ducked under the edge of the wall and started wading.
Gorgi fell.
* * *
Chapter Ten
Gorgi stumbled and his leg buckled and he went down almost to his chin in the black water. He lost his grip on the light tube and it went flying.
Bain let out a yelp and threw himself after that beam of light. He dropped the buckets and they splashed in the water, spattering his face with icy wetness. A moment later, Bain went down into the water, grappling for the sinking light. He didn't feel the bone-chilling water close around his body and soak into his clothes. His panic kept him warm.
His fingers scraped against rock and then closed around the light. Bain clutched the light tube close against his chest and pushed for the surface. It felt like he had been underwater, hundreds of meters down, for hours when he finally broke the surface. He struggled and kicked and gasped for breath, then finally found his legs and stood upright.
“Are you okay?” Gorgi asked. He grinned, his face sparkling with drops of water, when Bain held out the light.
“Are you?” Somehow, Bain managed to speak clearly despite the tripled chattering of his teeth.
“Stepped in a hole.” He held up the buckets, which had floated when Bain dropped them. “No, you take that one,” he said, when Bain held out the light tube to him. “I have another one."
“You have another one?” Bain didn't feel cold anymore. His voice cracked six times and he thought his throat would shatter from the effort. “Why didn't you tell me?"
“Didn't think about it. Sorry.” The older boy really did sound sorry. It was hard to tell by his expression in the shadows with his face glistening wet.
“Rangers have to think of everything,” he grumbled.
“Sorry.” Gorgi gestured out into the darkness again. “Come on, it's only another twenty meters maybe. When we get outside, it'll be hot and we'll get dry fast."
“I hope so."
Bain waited until his friend had pulled the other light tube from his pocket, then they headed out again. His teeth chattered and shivers worse than his fever rippled through his body before they had taken ten more steps. Bain concentrated on counting his steps, telling himself every two steps was another meter closer to the end of the water; another meter closer to dry air and heat.
Gorgi miscalculated by fifteen steps. Bain didn't hold it against him, though, when they reached the upward-angled tunnel and felt the air moving, sucking damp air up to the surface. That movement meant a difference in temperature and humidity between underground and the surface. Dry and hot above, damp and cold below. They were heading toward the heat.
They stayed tied together until they reached the top, just in case. Bain went on his hands and knees, with the bucket handles slung over his shoulder. Gorgi did the same with the other bucket. The surface of the tunnel was smooth, carved out by water some time in the past. With their wet, cold clothes, their boots soaked thoroughly, their footing was uneasy at best. Every time Bain tried to rest on his feet instead of his knees, his boots started to slide. He only needed to be slammed down to the ground twice to give up and stay on his knees. Bain imagined huge purple, sore bruises growing on his knees, and grimaced.
“We're almost there,” Gorgi hissed back to him. “You can turn off the light now."
“Huh?” Bain stopped until the rope between them tightened again, then he continued climbing. It took three tries, in momentary pauses, before he could find the control and switch off the light.
Darkness surrounded him again. He flinched and listened to the sound of Gorgi crawling a meter or so ahead of him, the hiss of the rope on the rock, the wet slaps of Gorgi's hands and knees.
Then, gradually, a soft silver glow spilled down the tunnel from the top. Bain nearly stopped again, momentarily stunned with delight at the sight of the moonlight filling the darkness and washing it away.
As his eyes adjusted, he could make out more details of the tunnel. The sides were smoother, softer in the moonlight than they had been in the golden glow of the light tube. More important, Bain saw the end of the tunnel and the star-speckled expanse of sky.
“Getting on toward dawn,” Gorgi said. He paused for a moment and gestured at the starry sky through the opening only three meters ahead of them. “See that little bit of silvery-peachy color on the bottom there?"
“Yeah.” Bain felt warmer just looking at it.
“That's where sunrise is going to be."
“Good."
The two boys grinned at each other in the silvery shadows and by unspoken agreement, started crawling again. Bain kept his gaze on that bit of growing color among the stars and darkness. He wondered if he had ever really looked at sunrise before and appreciated it.
Their hands were raw, their knees bruised and holes worn nearly through their pants when they reached the top. Gorgi climbed out and perched on a shelf of rock and stared down into the river splashing silver only a few dozen meters below them. Bain paused on the lip of the tunnel mouth and grinned, panting a little.
“Feels like I've been down there forever."
“I grew up down there,” the older boy said, shaking his head. “I don't ever want to go back."
“You don't have to. You're old enough to join the Rangers, I'll bet."
“I have to prove I'm good enough to be a Ranger, first.” He grinned and stood up slowly, wincing at the aches from being cramped into one position too long. “Let's go blow up that plague bomb."
They untied the rope now, and jammed it back into the bucket that Gorgi carried. He led the way down the rocky slope, to a faint path worn along the bank of the river. It was an animal trail, he told Bain, worn by all the animals in the area as they came down to drink.
“See that sparkle up there?” Gorgi said. He pointed at a rocky formation perched at the bend in the river. Beyond it, the land sat higher against the sky, as if someone had drawn a line and dropped the riverbed dozens of meters lower into the ground.
“I think so.” Bain strained his eyes and thought he caught a glimpse of water sparkling in the rising sunlight.
“That's the falls. We go through, underneath the falls, and that's where our swimming hole is. The meteorites are in a little clump at the top of the inside falls."
“The grown-ups don't know about that?"
Gorgi just shrugged for answer and started walking. Bain followed. It felt good to put the rising sun to his back and feel the cold wet slowly seep out of his clothes. The rocks under their feet still retained some heat from the day before, radiating into their wet boots. They left wet footprints that evaporated visibly as the boys walked away.
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The river ran deep and ragged over the rocks filling its wandering bed. Bain wondered if there were as many rocks in the river as littered its banks. He couldn't look at the river much as he walked—he had to keep watching his feet to avoid stumbling or stepping into holes or twisting his ankle.
Warmth beat down on them, and a dry breeze tugged at their hair. Bain grinned despite the ache of the sunlight flashing off the water into his eyes. It felt good to be warm. His clothes were still damp, but they weren't chilly, clinging to his body and sucking at all his warmth.
Now all he needed was something to eat.
“Wait a minute,” Bain said. He held up the bucket he carried. “What about the mine sludge?"
“We'll get it when we get there. We found a crevice in the rock that leads straight down to the storage room. All the sludge you could ever want. It'll last forever."
“Why do they store it?"
“I don't know. Some of the old people on Council are kind of crazy. They think everything has some kind of use and they've been working for years trying to figure out how to sell mine sludge."
“What's it good for?"
“Burning. Smells something awful, so nobody will buy it.” He shrugged again. “Like I said, they're kind of crazy."
Bain nodded. It made sense to him.
They kept walking, stumbling through the rocks, periodically changing the buckets from hand to hand. After an hour of walking, they had dry clothes. Their boots were still squashy wet inside. Bain wished they could stop and take off their boots, but then their soaked, tender feet would have no protection on the jagged, wobbly, hot rocks.
After another hour, Bain's stomach stopped complaining of its emptiness. His lips started to crack from the heat and dryness. He stole longing glances at the river, only arm's reach away.
It wouldn't be smart to drink from that particular river, even if he could manage to get down to the surface without falling in. The plague bomb was upstream from the river. Everything that came down it would be contaminated with the Mashrami virus. Morna had taken away all his vaccine gels and the injector and there would be no more for him to use until he found Dr. Anyon or Lin again. Bain doubted his first aid kit would be any good against the plague.
Fever [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 5] Page 9
