RS01 The Lost Night

by Jayne Castle

  “I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re dangerous,” Nathan said. He grinned humorlessly. “That’s what makes them so valuable on the black market. Don’t worry; I’m not going to try to take all of them. I’m just going to grab some of the small stuff. I had plans to haul everything out of here, but that’s not possible now. I can only take what will fit in my pack, but that should be more than enough to set me up for life.”

  “Something tells me that may not be the way it goes down,” Harry said.

  “What are you talking about?” Nathan demanded.

  “The potential customers for those gadgets will be just as dangerous as the artifacts. Think about it. The only people who will want to buy Alien technology will be those who can sense the power in the relics, folks who have enough talent to rez them.”

  Nathan narrowed his eyes. “So?”

  “High-end talents who deal in the black market tend to be a tough crowd,” Harry said. “They like to keep a low profile. And they like to keep their secrets.”

  “Not a problem,” Nathan said. “I’ve been doing business with customers like that for a long time. I know the players.” He gestured with the device in his hand. “Open the chamber, Rachel, or I’ll start showing you what this thing can do. Dillard will provide the first demonstration. If that doesn’t impress you, I’ll use it on Sebastian.”

  “All right,” she said.

  She did not look at Harry but she sensed the readiness in him. He would know what to do when the time came, she thought.

  She raised her talent and waded through the ice-and-fire currents of energy until she stood directly in front of the frozen rainstone. She flattened her hand on the surface of the crystal. Energy stirred in response to her touch, thrilling her senses. The charms on her bracelet clashed. The small stones glowed hot.

  She got a fix on the latent energy locked in the rainstone and generated a counterpoint through her charms. It was no more difficult than the little magic tricks she did for Devon and his buddies when they brought rainstones to her.

  The rainstone unfroze with astonishing speed. Suddenly a cascade of shifting energy filled the doorway of the vault. She walked through the shimmering torrent of liquid crystal. There was a tingling sensation, but she felt no ill effects.

  She moved into the chamber and turned to look at Nathan.

  “Like walking through a waterfall,” she said. “But you don’t get wet.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Nathan said. “You do it with the charms, don’t you? Figured that out yesterday at the tea-tasting. Throw the bracelet out here, now. I’m not going to give you a chance to refreeze that stone.”

  She tossed the bracelet through the liquid crystal doorway. It landed on the floor a few feet outside the chamber. She heard Darwina squeak from somewhere close by.

  Nathan moved toward the doorway of the vault, careful to keep the Alien weapon aimed at Rachel. She looked at Harry and knew from the heat in his eyes that he understood that she was about to give him the opening he needed.

  “Darwina,” she said quietly. “Come here, sweetie. Bring Amberella to me, please.”

  There was a low growl from beneath one of the quartz lab benches. Darwina, sleeked and in full combat mode, Amberella clutched in one paw, dashed across the floor. She zipped past an unheeding Nathan, and through the doorway. She bounded up onto Rachel’s shoulder.

  “Keep the rat under control or I’ll kill it,” Nathan threatened.

  But he was not paying any attention to Darwina. He stood in the entrance of the vault, the liquid crystal flowing around him and stared in wonder at the objects on the quartz shelves.

  “So many relics,” he whispered. “So much power.”

  Rachel reached up as though to pet Darwina. Her fingers brushed Amberella’s crystal-studded ball gown. The energy in the tiny gems whispered through her. She touched the edge of the doorway.

  Nathan was so distracted by the wonders of the vault that he did not realize immediately that the waterfall in which he stood was starting to harden into its crystalline state.

  “Shit.”

  He yelped in rage and panic, dropped the weapon, and scrambled backward out of the vault. He barely managed to yank his leg out of the doorway a split second before the waterfall refroze.

  “Damn bitch,” he shouted.

  Rachel knew the exact instant when Harry sent the full weight of his coffin-cold talent slashing across Nathan’s senses. She could feel the ice even through the now-solid rainstone.

  Nathan screamed. He stared at Rachel with horror-filled eyes. He fell to his knees and continued to scream until he went limp.

  Harry looked at Rachel. “You can come out now.”

  She heard him clearly through the crystal. She unfroze the waterfall and emerged from the storage chamber. She rushed out to retrieve her bracelet.

  “Are you all right, Harry?” she asked, securing the bracelet around her wrist.

  “Yes,” he said. He went past her into the vault. “You?”

  “I’m okay.” She turned to Calvin. “What about you? Are you all right, Calvin?”

  “I’m not hurt,” Calvin said. He was not looking at her. His attention was on Harry. “What are you doing?”

  “Retrieving an old family heirloom,” Harry said.

  He walked out of the vault with the murky gray crystal in one hand.

  “What is that?” Calvin asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” Harry said. “We need to move now. Something happened when Grant dropped the Alien weapon inside the vault. Take a look.”

  Rachel turned quickly and saw that the artifact was glowing with paranormal fire.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Grant probably rezzed the artifact with the energy of his panic,” Calvin said. “There’s a tremendous amount of psi-heat in raw fear, but it’s terribly chaotic and unpredictable. I think that a moment ago when the relic came in contact with the overheated atmosphere inside that vault it set off a chain reaction. All of the relics are starting to overheat.”

  Several of the relics inside the vault were now glowing with various shades of paranormal fire.

  “You’re right, Harry, this is not good,” she said.

  “Let’s get the kids and get the hell out of here,” he said.

  “Can you wake them up?” Rachel asked.

  “Yes, but they’ll be groggy. Calvin, you handle one, I’ll take the other.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Calvin said. “Wake them up. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” Rachel called after him.

  “There’s a small utility sled in one of the side tunnels,” he shouted over his shoulder. “The same kind of vehicle that they use down in the catacombs. It can function in this heavy psi. I brought it in piece by piece a few months ago. We won’t be able to use it to get through the Preserve because it wasn’t designed for rough terrain, but it will get us out of the aquarium complex.”

  “Get it,” Harry said.

  Rachel looked back at the unconscious figure of Nathan Grant.

  “What about him?” she asked.

  “Can’t save everyone, Rachel, you should know that by now.”

  “We can’t leave him here.”

  “Give me one good reason why we should save that bastard?”

  “You know the reason,” Rachel said. “We’re the good guys.”

  “I hate it when you pull that HE philosophy crap.”

  “Okay, here’s another reason,” she said. “When this is over, we’re going to need answers and he’s got some of them.”

  “Good point.”

  He went back to where Nathan lay sprawled on the floor and did something that made Nathan stir. Harry got him to his feet and hauled him forward into the crystal tunnel.

  Rachel heard the faint whine of a simple, amber-based motor. A few seconds later a small, open-sided utility sled emerged from the tunnel. Calvin was at the wheel.

  Rachel ran toward the
sled, Darwina clinging to her shoulder.

  Harry pushed the half-conscious Grant into the rear of the sled. Then he roused the two youths and dumped them in with Grant. Rachel hopped up onto one of the bench seats.

  “I’ll drive,” Harry said.

  Calvin didn’t argue. He shifted to the far side of the front seat.

  Harry got behind the wheel, put his foot down hard on the pedal, and drove back toward the entrance to the cave.

  Nathan levered himself to a sitting position in the rear of the sled.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, his voice slurred.

  “You ignited the contents of that vault, you damn fool,” Harry said.

  “The para-radiation levels are getting too high,” Calvin said. “I think the vault’s going to blow and it will probably take most of this complex with it.”

  “But the artifacts,” Nathan said.

  “If you want to go back for them, feel free to do so,” Harry said. “Hauling your ass out of here was not my first inclination.”

  Rachel glanced back toward the far end of the crystal tunnel and saw that the lab room was now glowing with a fierce paranormal radiance.

  They were almost through the crystal tunnel now. The creatures on the other side of the transparent wall seemed more agitated than they had been a short time ago. They twisted and turned in the glowing waters.

  “They sense the heightened energy in the atmosphere,” Calvin said.

  “Poor things,” Rachel said.

  “Any one of those poor things would just as soon eat you as look at you,” Calvin said.

  “I know. But they aren’t responsible for what they are.”

  “I think they are all the products of some experiments that the Aliens conducted centuries ago,” Calvin said. “They survived for the same reason the underground rain forest did. The Aliens were clearly brilliant bioengineers.”

  “Not brilliant enough to survive here on Harmony, apparently,” Harry said.

  A sharp, ominous crack echoed through the transparent tunnel. Rachel turned quickly in her seat and saw a jagged fracture line appear in the crystal. It grew longer with startling speed. A spidery web of smaller cracks developed on either side of the original fissure.

  “It’s the fire in the vault,” Calvin shouted. “It’s generating so much energy it’s starting to affect the crystal aquarium.”

  Harry powered the sled out of the crystal tunnel and along the corridor that had been machine-bored centuries ago by the Aliens. When he reached the raw cave with its glittering stalactite and stalagmite forest, he slammed on the brakes.

  “This is it,” he said. “Can’t take the sled through that maze of rocks. Everybody out who wants to get out.”

  Gil and his pal were paying attention now. They stumbled out of the sled with the others and looked to Harry for direction.

  “Outside,” Harry said. “Into the Umbrella Tree. If that aquarium goes, the whole complex will flood and the water is going to pour out of this entrance. Getting into the branches of the tree is our best bet.”

  They ran toward the entrance of the cave, dodging the brilliant natural jewels in their path.

  Outside, Rachel led the way to the tiers of branches that offered a ladder up into the huge, sprawling tree. Calvin, Harry, and the two teens followed.

  Nathan Grant, however, fled straight ahead and disappeared from sight in the undergrowth.

  “I knew going back for him was a waste of time,” Harry said.

  A muffled explosion reverberated deep inside the cave complex.

  “The vault,” said Calvin, clambering up onto a massive branch beside Rachel and the guards. “It just blew. I think that the aquarium walls will give way any second now. Some of the water will flow into the side tunnels, but Sebastian is right, a lot of it will take the path of least resistance and come out the same way we did.”

  Rachel studied the cave entrance. The roof of the opening was a few feet below their perch.

  “This branch should be high enough off the ground to keep us all safe,” she said.

  “This tree has withstood a lot of major storms,” Harry said. “And this section is not in the direct path of the water. But we’re going to feel the impact.” He reached out and took Rachel’s hand. “Hang on tight, everyone.”

  There was another muffled explosion.

  “The aquarium,” Calvin said softly.

  The gushing wave of water sounded like rolling thunder as it swept through the cave. The ground shook. A moment later the deluge surged furiously through the entrance. Rachel thought she saw some dark forms twitching and twisting in the crashing waves.

  The Umbrella Tree shuddered. Several of the smaller, newer root systems tore free of their moorings, but the ancient pillars that supported the section in which she and the others crouched held fast.

  Darwina clung to Rachel’s shoulder and chortled with excitement.

  “Little adrenaline junkie,” Rachel said.

  After clearing the narrow entrance of the cave system, the water spread out across the jungle floor, its energy dissipating rapidly.

  The rushing waters surged for what seemed an eternity before gradually slowing to a river, a stream, and finally, a small creek.

  An eerie silence fell.

  Then the screaming started.

  “Grant,” Harry said. “Sounds like he made it, after all.”

  They found nathan a short time later. he was alive but he was pinned against one of the root pillars by the weight of a dying sea monster. The creature’s tentacles were wrapped tightly around him.

  He continued to scream until Harry and Calvin and the two teens hacked away the last of the tentacles.

  Chapter 30

  “So you’re the one who erased my memories of getting kidnapped and waking up inside the aquarium complex,” Rachel said.

  “You probably won’t believe this,” Calvin said, “but I was trying to protect you.”

  “I believe you,” she said gently.

  They were sitting in Rachel’s kitchen. She had prepared a tisane to harmonize her inner energies and special brews for Harry and Calvin as well. She figured they could all do with some therapeutic aura balancing.

  Darwina showed no ill effects from the adventure. She was perched on the refrigerator, munching pretzels. She had Amberella at her side. The doll, amazingly, looked only a little the worse for wear. A tribute to modern plastics and synthetics and her mother’s sewing skills, Rachel thought.

  “Grant planned to kill you after you opened the vault room for him,” Calvin explained. “When you escaped, he was furious but he thought his secret was safe because he was sure that you would never survive the Preserve.”

  Harry drank some of his tisane and lowered the cup. “He didn’t know that you had given Rachel one of the crystal flutes and told her how to use it.”

  “Not at first,” Calvin said. “I was fairly certain that anyone with as much talent as you possess, Rachel, could use the flute. But if you did get out, I had to make sure that I got to you before Nathan did.”

  “He would have tried to murder me to keep me quiet,” Rachel said.

  “Without a moment’s hesitation. The flute was tuned to the location of my cottage,” Calvin said. “I knew that if you did find your way out of the Preserve, you would emerge there. I was waiting for you. I slipped some of my hypno-drug into that tea I served you and told you to forget the whole damn night and most especially Nathan Grant’s aura. I told you that if you saw Grant again, you would not be able to get a clear fix on his aura.”

  “Which was why his aura was murky when I did see him at the tea-tasting.”

  “I also planted the suggestion that it would be a really good idea to head back to Frequency City as soon as possible. Later I explained to Grant that you were not a threat.”

  “He was content with that because he didn’t want to have to kill Rachel until he could figure out how to replace her or get her back to the island to open the vault,” Ha
rry said.

  Rachel winced. “I’m that easy to hypnotize, Calvin? And here I thought I was immune.”

  “You probably are immune to psychic hypnosis,” Calvin said. “But the stuff I developed is a powerful drug. No one is immune. I made the mistake of demonstrating it to Grant. He and Marcus Lancaster saw the possibilities immediately and started experimenting with the stuff on the street kids that were filtering through Second Chance House.”

  Harry looked at him. “When did you develop the drug?”

  “Years ago in another life I was Doctor Calvin Dillard, director of research at a high-flying pharmaceutical lab in Resonance City. My specialty was marine biology. I derived the hypnotic drug from the glands of a certain species of fish.”

  “What happened?” Rachel asked. “How did you end up on Rainshadow?”

  “I succeeded in destroying my own career,” Calvin said. “Pharmaceutical research is tremendously competitive. In my rush to beat the competition, I released the results of some research done in my lab that was later proven to have been falsified by two of my assistants.”

  “But you were in charge, so you took the hit,” Harry said.

  “It was my fault. I knew there was something a little too good to be true about the results, but getting the edge on the competition was the top priority. In the end the scandal made a train wreck out of my career. I lost the respect of my peers, my friends turned against me, and my wife ended our MC. There was nothing left but my music. So I moved to Rainshadow.”

  “Where did you find the flutes?” Rachel asked.

  Calvin smiled faintly. “You could say they found me. My talent for music extends into the paranormal range. I can hear notes generated beyond the normal spectrum. About a year ago I noticed that during severe storms I could hear music coming from somewhere inside the Preserve. I thought at first that my loneliness combined with the energy leaking out of the fence was creating audio hallucinations.”

  “The music called to you,” Rachel said gently.

  “Like a siren song. Once, during a violent thunderstorm, I decided I had nothing left to lose. I managed to get through the fence and into the Preserve. Once inside, I just kept walking, following the paranormal music. I swear, at the time, I didn’t care if I ever got back out.”