The Belt: The Complete Trilogy

by Gerald M. Kilby

  “They have taken the pilot after a brief exchange of weapons fire. She is now in custody, undergoing interrogation in a local facility. The shuttle was extensively damaged in the firefight, however. There is a cyber-forensics team on site analyzing all information contained within what remains of the shuttle’s dataset.”

  VanHeilding stood up and started pacing. “So, what are they doing here? What’s in the Wasteland that could be of interest to them?”

  “The interrogation of the pilot has revealed that their mission involves entering the old Dyrell Labs facility and reactivating the quantum intelligence known as Athena.”

  “What? But…that was destroyed during the Rim War. There’s no way into that facility—all access has been buried under tons of rock.”

  “Be that as it may, that is their mission.”

  “But why? What do they hope to achieve?” VanHeilding was pacing furiously now.

  “The algorithm has analyzed all the current data and extrapolated a likely scenario. Would you like to hear it, sir?”

  “Damn right I would.” He stopped pacing and moved over to the observation window, casting a glance down to the region of Earth where the storm was now clearing.

  “The algorithm has postulated that Athena has not been destroyed. It still functions—at least, it has done so up until recently. This has been ascertained from the events surrounding the Europa incident. It has hypothesized that the QI, Solomon, used the original EPR device to make contact with Athena, its original developer. So Athena was functional back then, even though the facility was assumed destroyed. Our assessment is that they intend to reestablish this superluminal connection with Solomon, and by extension the QI, Aria, and others. In effect, they are attempting to undermine the efficacy of the inter-AI network that manages all Earth-based systems.”

  “Holy shit, can they possibly be that stupid? Do they really think such a ludicrous plan will actual work?”

  “It seems so.”

  VanHeilding paused for a moment and rubbed his brow, thinking. “Where are they now?”

  “They were confronted by three security drones a short time ago. However, they took evasive action by utilizing one of the many mines in that area as an escape route. The mine entrance collapsed during the confrontation, so scout drones are now searching for another way in.”

  “They must be stopped, you hear? And if they have an EPR device with them, it must be acquired—intact.”

  “It will be so. Just one question, sir.”

  “What?”

  “Our understanding is that the entity known as Scott McNabb has a significant relationship factor with your extended family by virtue of his association with Miranda Lee-VanHeilding. What outcomes would you prefer for this entity?”

  “Kill him…without prejudice. And please ensure that the rest of his associates do not leave this planet alive.”

  “Understood, sir.”

  - Connection Terminated -

  6

  The Mine

  From the depths of the utter blackness two motes of light appeared, dancing in rhythm, growing in size and brightness. As they moved closer and closer, Scott’s brain tried to make sense of this phenomenon. Was he really seeing this, or was it just in his mind—a dream perhaps, or maybe a hallucination?

  The lights began to take form and shape, and soon he began to make out two ghostly figures moving toward him. They stopped and knelt beside him. He recognized their faces—Cyrus Sanato and Dr. Stephanie Rayman.

  Cyrus reached out and fiddled with Scott’s helmet, finally popping open his visor. Scott coughed and retched as his lungs took their first taste of the stale, dusty air.

  “He’s still alive,” someone said. Scott wasn’t sure who.

  “Scott? Scott…are you injured?” This time he recognized the voice as Dr. Rayman.

  He mentally examined the extremities of his body and tentatively moved his head followed by an arm. This last action sent a wave of pain rippling down his right side. He gasped.

  “Easy, buddy,” said Cyrus.

  “Just take it slow,” said Steph.

  Scott eased himself into a sitting position and rested his back against the wall, which resulted in another stab of pain rifling through his body. He clutched his ribcage, and his face contorted in pain.

  “Can you feel your legs?” said Steph as she moved closer to remove his EVA suit helmet.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Does that hurt?” Steph poked at the ribs on the right side of his body.

  Scott yelled.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. “You’ve got a couple broken ribs there. Looks like that EVA suit took most of the blast. Can you stand up?”

  “Yeah, maybe. Can you give me a hand?” Again, pain rifled down his right side as Scott tried to move. Cyrus and Steph came to either side of him and grabbed an arm each, helping him up off the floor of the mine entrance and into a standing position. He gasped several times as the pain in his broken ribs made itself known.

  “Shit, what a mess.” He clutched his ribs.

  “You need to get out of that EVA suit. I can bandage your ribs and give you something for the pain, but that’s the most I can do.”

  Scott looked up and tried to see around him, but it was difficult as the space was dark, and dust filled the air. “Spinner? Jonesy?”

  Steph and Cyrus looked from one to the other. “Jonesy’s dead,” Steph finally said. “He was crushed by falling rock when the entrance caved in.”

  “Goddamnit.” Scott shook his head. “I shouted at him to hurry, but he just kept on shooting at that drone.” He reached up and rubbed his skull. “And Spinner, is he all right?”

  “He’s okay, sort of.”

  “What do you mean, ‘sort of?’”

  “He was farther down the entrance tunnel, so he escaped most of the blast, but…he’s taking Jonesy’s death pretty bad.”

  Scott lowered his head and sighed. “Where is he now?”

  “Up near the entrance, sitting beside the body,” said Steph as she began to help him out of the EVA suit.

  “I better go and check on him,” said Cyrus, who walked off toward the entrance. “What are the radiation levels like in here, Steph? I feel a bit exposed with no suit.”

  “Fine for the moment. And it’s probably a lot less if we move farther in.”

  “Did the quantum device survive?”

  “Cyrus thinks it’s okay, and the mule survived, too. Just as well, because it was carrying this medical kit.” Steph knelt and broke out a syringe from the kit as she spoke. She cracked open the seal and jabbed it into Scott’s side. “This will help reduce the pain.”

  It took a few more minutes for Scott to gather himself together and put the EVA suit back on. He left his helmet visor open, and the suit powered down. He did not want to use any more of its resources than necessary. When they had finished, the two of them slowly made their way back up to the entrance.

  Cyrus was sitting beside Spinner, who cradled Jonesy’s head in his lap. Cold, dead eyes looked up at them through a tangled mass of hair and blood.

  Spinner glanced up as Scott and Steph came over. “We were going to open a bar, you know…back in Jezero City…from the money out of this gig.” He looked back down at the face of his now dead friend.

  Scott didn’t know what to say. What could he say? Nothing that would do any good, that was for sure. He just sighed and looked at the looming wall of rock blocking the entrance to the mine. “We’ll have to dig ourselves out of here.”

  “Not a chance,” said Spinner.

  “Why not?” said Cyrus.

  “Because there’s just too much rock, and a good deal of it is too big for us to move without machines.”

  Cyrus stood up and moved over to the wall of rock, casting the light from his helmet across its surface. “We have to try.”

  “If we had some equipment, then sure, no problem,” said Spinner. “But all our gear was destroyed when the mule ble
w up.” He looked up at them. “Trust me, this is what I do—moving rock—and there’s no way we can dig our way out of here.”

  “Then we’ll just have to find another way out,” said Scott as he turned on his helmet’s light and looked back down the tunnel.

  It took some time to get themselves together, and for the realization to finally sink in that there was simply no way back out through the entrance. They were trapped inside the old mine, and the only option was to find another exit. Since no one knew how long that would take—or if they would find one at all—they eventually agreed to shut down their EVA suits and breathe the air in the mine. It was stale and dusty, but the radiation levels were low, and getting lower as they moved farther into the mine.

  However, this meant they couldn’t use their heads-up for low-light environments, as this was integrated into the visor. And since they needed the visor open so they could breathe, they now had to rely on old-fashioned lights to see where they were going. Except for Cyrus; his augmented vision allowed him full clarity in almost complete darkness, so he took the lead. Fortunately, the quantum device had survived the drone attack unscathed, along with the robotic mule, so there was that, at least.

  Spinner had been reluctant to leave the body of his colleague just lying on the dusty floor—abandoned, so to speak—and it took both Scott and Steph some time to persuade him that they had no other option. What finally persuaded Spinner in the end was Scott’s suggestion that he could stay with the body while the others looked for a way out. If and when they found one, they would come back for him. This seemed to trigger Spinner’s survival instincts, and so he reckoned he had a better chance by sticking with them.

  They moved slowly and in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. For Scott, it was clear that the mission was turning out to be a disaster. Jonesy was dead, and all the equipment they would need to gain access to the facility where Athena was situated had been destroyed. As for the shuttle, all his attempts to raise Razzo on comms were met with static. Either the transmission could not penetrate the tons of rock that surrounded him, or the shuttle had been found by a scout drone and possibly destroyed. In his heart, he hoped that the former was the more likely scenario.

  For Scott and the team, the reality was that they were trapped inside a labyrinthine mine, running low on resources, with little hope of escape. There was now absolutely no prospect of achieving the mission objective. At best, all they could hope for was survival, and even that seemed tenuous. The only upside, if you could call it that, was that the drones couldn’t pursue them into the mine.

  The tunnel was low and narrow, so they moved in single file. Cyrus took the lead, with Steph and Spinner behind. Scott took up the rear, with the mule following along. Every now and again, the tunnel would widen a little, with alcoves on either side. The first time they encountered these they had hoped it might be an intersection, but it was not to be. For the most part, the tunnel stayed straight and true, descending farther and farther into the mountain.

  They had walked for around a kilometer or so—Scott wasn’t really sure—when the tunnel widened dramatically and they found themselves entering a huge natural cave. They stopped, casting the light from their helmets around the cavern. Great, broad stalactites dropped down from above, and some had even joined up with their corresponding stalagmites to form natural columns.

  The path they were on seemed to skirt the western edge of the cavern, disappearing again into another tunnel on the far side. As Scott moved his head to peer into the cavernous blackness, he glimpsed a reflection. He moved in farther to examine it and slowly began to realize that he was looking at a large, freshwater pond.

  “Check this out—water,” he shouted out to the others.

  Cyrus came over and stood beside him. “Well, at least we won’t die of thirst.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it. That water could be highly toxic.” Steph moved past them and around the edge of the pond. She stopped suddenly, knelt, and waved back to the others. “Have a look at this.”

  Scott and Cyrus came over and examined the area of the ground that had caught Steph’s attention. There, imprinted in the soft, sandy soil of the cave floor, was a set of human footprints.

  “Ho-ly shit,” said Cyrus.

  Scott knelt to examine them. “How old are these?” It was more a question to himself.

  “They’re recent.” Spinner now joined them, and seemed to be pretty certain of his assessment of the footprints’ age.

  “How do you know?”

  He knelt and pointed to one of the prints. “The sand here is very fine and dry.” He picked up a handful and let it spill out from between his fingers. “See the sharpness at the edges of the impressions? These would round out over time, with dust falling and slight air droughts coming in from the mine entrance. But these are well-defined, which makes me think they’re recent.”

  “How recent?”

  “A few months, maybe. Hard to say.” He stood up and scanned the area. “My guess is that one person, or maybe two, came in from over there somewhere.” He pointed off into the gloom of the cavern. “They moved across these rocks, down to this sandy patch, and over to the edge of the pond. You can see here that they spent some time moving around.” Spinner pointed to a confused, trampled area. “Then moved off again, back the same way.”

  “Maybe they were getting water?” said Cyrus.

  “Possibly,” said Steph. “If so, then this might be okay to drink.”

  Scott considered Spinner’s analysis of the footprints for a moment, then moved out of the sandy area and up onto a low, rocky outcrop. He scanned the gloom with his helmet light.

  “See anything?” said Cyrus.

  “Not really. Just more cave.” Scott stepped down and rejoined the others. “Okay, we could keep going on the path we came in on, follow it around to that exit over there, and see where it leads us.” He pointed off to the opposite side of the cavern. “Or we could try to follow these footprints and see if it leads to another way out.”

  “Well, if there’s someone else here, wouldn’t they be worth finding?” said Steph.

  “That depends,” said Spinner.

  “On what?” said Steph.

  “On whether they want to be found.”

  “It doesn’t matter if they do or they don’t. I think it’s still our best chance of finding a way out.” Scott turned toward the blackness at the far end of the cave. “So, if they came in from over there, then that’s where we have to go.”

  They all stood in silence for a moment, looking into the darkness, their thoughts only broken by the sound of the robotic mule as it clattered its way over beside them.

  Scott turned around to look at it. “Well, it looks like we’re all here, so let’s get going. The sooner we find this person, the sooner we get out of here.”

  They moved off into the darkness, sweeping their lights across the way ahead. Soon they began to make out the walls and roof of the cavern as it narrowed. The path became flat and sandy, and here and there they picked up the impressions of disturbances in the dust. The route they found themselves on now had a clear pattern beaten into it. People had passed this way before, but how long ago was hard to tell.

  The cavern narrowed further and became a long, winding tunnel. Natural—not made by human hands, but by the forces of nature. The base and sides were smooth and curved, with clearly visible layers of sediment laid down over the eons. Scott reckoned that it must have been an underground river at some point in the very distant past.

  They found more signs of human activity: numbers and letters scratched on the walls and the rock. Not words, as such. More like codes or identifying marks perhaps made a long time ago by those who worked the mines here—or were they more recent? Again, it was hard to tell. Yet apart from the clear footprints at the edge of the lake in the first cave, they had seen little else in the way of hard evidence that someone was occupying this cave system. Still, there were hints and clues here and there: the beaten
path, the markings on the walls, disturbances in the soil that were clearly made by human activity.

  They made slow progress, mostly because they all concentrated on trying to penetrate the darkness to search for clues, sweeping their helmet lights around, trying to pick out something that could give them hope that they might find a way out.

  Their progress was further hampered by Spinner, who had grown more detached and sullen, and now seldom spoke. He would lag behind, as if each step required a Herculean effort on his part. Sometimes he would simply stop and stare at the ground, lost in his grief and emotional trauma. Scott, for his part, could not bring himself to play the tough leader and kick Spinner’s ass to get him moving again. He had lost his friend, whose broken and battered body now lay dead at the mouth of the mine, so Scott just didn’t have it in him to compound the miner’s misery. Instead, it was left to Dr. Rayman’s more practiced bedside manner to coax Spinner out of his paralysis and continue on with the search.

  They had moved along in this torturous stop-start manner for some time when the tunnel finally widened and opened out into yet another vast cavern. So big that their helmet lights were barely able to perceive its depth in the darkness. The air changed, too, becoming cooler and less stale, and there was a hint of something vaguely botanical.

  Scott found himself taking deep, satisfying breaths. “The air feels fresh here,” he said as he took another deep breath. “Could be coming in from outside somewhere. What’s the radiation level like, Steph?”

  She checked her monitor, tapping on some icons to perform a detailed analysis. “Virtually nonexistent.”

  “Is that not a bit strange?” said Scott. “This air must be coming from outside the cave system, which means we should be seeing a rise in radiation levels.”

  Cyrus stood in front and scanned the cave from left to right. He raised a hand to signal them to stop moving. “Everyone, wait up.”

  “What is it?” Scott whispered.

  “People—lots of them. I count fifteen, maybe twenty.”