Approaching Oblivion (Jezebel's Ladder Book 4)

by Scott Rhine

  “Just doing my job, convict,” she said with the same tone guards had used with her.

  “I mean it. Technically, we’re going to be alone most of the time like we are now.” Oleander froze, aware that he was correct, and he was in violation of his parole agreement. In fact, he had his sweat-stained shirt stripped off.

  “I think we need lockers in here, or maybe in the distillery. That would be a better place for you to change. We could install a second door to keep the air inside breathable,” she babbled nervously.

  “If you’re worried, you can have other people monitor the link, but I swear I won’t harm you. I’m assuring you because we have to rely on each other seamlessly.”

  “Okay . . . I believe you because you can’t lie, but what happens when you run out of your medication in the field? How do I know you won’t ambush me then?”

  “You’re not my type.”

  “I didn’t know rapists had a type.”

  “I give you my word I will never touch you or consider you in that manner. Since your talents complement mine so well, I will do anything in my power to keep you safe.”

  “Thanks?” she said, feeling like a cat had just offered her a valuable dead bird.

  Having said his piece, he offered no further conversation for the evening, for which Oleander was grateful.

  ****

  The next morning while a roll of solar fabric recharged the shimmer armor, Oleander explored the base of the mesa in astral form, locating the missing rock hammer and a few small caves along the river. Risa agreed to put in some modifications to the distillery dome. If nothing else, they needed somewhere outside the main complex for Toby to store his biological samples, and the distillery was the only building outfitted for hazardous materials.

  Meanwhile, Herk kept Toby company, helping him to attach a water bladder and drinking tube to the back of the armor. Herk also helped the nanobiologist fasten a bottle to the suit’s belt.

  “It’s called a camel pack,” Toby explained. “I’m going through water too fast to rely on tablets. This bottle has a built-in nanomesh filtration system so I can restock in the field.”

  “I know. I’ve used these before during earthquake relief,” Herk replied.

  “I forget you were active-duty military for a while.”

  “While you’re below the mesa, I’ll keep watch of you through the sniper rifle.”

  “From fifteen hundred meters up?”

  Herk handed him a bullet the size of a pencil. “Lethal to three klicks from the roof of a parking garage and farther from up here.” When Toby gulped at the potential threat, the head of security intoned, “Yea though I walk through the Valley of Death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother in the valley.”

  Once the sneak suit was charged, Toby hiked down to plant perimeter sensors: visual, audio, and thermal. Between the three types, they could filter out false positives and detect the approach of an L panda. East of the river, Toby chose a cave where they would park the rover, which was even now on the way back. Now that Oleander could spy Out-of-body or in invisible armor, the solar-powered vehicle was too risky. It could break down or expose their presence to the natives.

  Toby added gravel and sand to the garage floor to create a dry, long-term storage vault. They even placed a mock-stone door over the entrance with a touch combination lock. Adding a mattress, toilet paper, a cache of food bars, and a first-aid kit, they made the garage into the first ground-level observation outpost. With a range of only five kilometers for her talent, any boost helped. In her new camouflage jumpsuit, desert on one side and jungle on the other, Oleander could safely descend to the outpost without risk of discovery.

  While the engineers built feverishly, the pair of scouts played leapfrog. Oleander kept lookout while Toby collected samples and snapped photos. Once they reached the limit of Oleander’s safe astral-projection range, Toby planted their remaining sensors. Then he picked four more outposts, one on each side of the river in each direction, where he erected and camouflaged shelters.

  After outposts were secured and stocked, Oleander could rest in the hidden cocoons and cover Toby as he ranged even farther abroad, gathering more native food and animal scat for analysis. Within the perimeter, he marked where passive defenses would be necessary to discourage trespassers.

  During her off hours when fog covered the mesa top, Oleander had to sweep dust off the solar collectors and skylights. Sand could get into any crevice or pit any surface. In spite of the importance, Oleander felt like a high-tech window washer.

  When the first week of scouting was almost completed, Rachael summoned Oleander for a meeting in the spaceport, the only room in the complex with a door other than the distillery. Oleander was holding her breath in fear. Rachael saw Johnny pat me on the butt yesterday, and she’s going to send me back to Sanctuary. As the door closed, Oleander searched the room to make sure the rifle was still locked in place. Rachael’s wavy hair was bound back in a twist of wire because no one had elastic handy.

  “How’s the water project going?” Oleander asked as a polite distraction.

  Mentioning Rachael’s pet project caused her face to animate. “We have the plastic sheeting to collect water on all the land with cracks. We’re funneling the fluids down in a controlled manner rather than have it dripping from the ceiling. The main cave floor was completely dry for the first time yesterday. As soon as we plug the downspout a third of the way down the cliff, this reservoir will be completely under our control. We’ll have so much surplus that I’ll need to open the sluice gate to bleed off excess.” Without warning or preamble, she switched topics. “So tell me what you think of him.”

  Her brown eyes were unreadable, and her Israeli accent reminded Oleander of an assassin on a TV show. Is there enough wire in her hair for a garrote?

  “Who?” Oleander asked, mouth dry.

  Rachael snapped, “Toby, you ninny. I need to know if he’s going to make the cut before the others arrive.”

  “Oh, that. Here at the top, the air is pretty tame. At the bottom, it’s a sauna. Walking in the heat without a suit kicks you in the lungs and drains you in no time, but he doesn’t complain. Actually, he’s scary good at sneaking up on things, and nobody has the depth of knowledge he does about nature. We record everything he says. I watched him read the climate-cycle history from tree rings. There are about nine L weeks to a growing season, and a hundred growing seasons in a cycle around the sun. At the closest points to the sun, there are nasty storms when there are a lot more lightning fires. I’m guessing the natives know these cycles too, which is why they stockpile food. They probably hide underground until it’s safe.”

  “Sounds like you admire him.” Rachael raised her pitch suggestively.

  “God, no. If we were nominating psychopath of the year, I’d vote for him. If he could lie or kill humans, I wouldn’t sleep at night. I watched him sneak up on a damn bobcat. He judged the wind and moved patiently until he could slit its throat with a knife. He didn’t bat an eye.”

  “Why?”

  “The cat had eaten part of an L panda, and he wanted to retrieve the specimen while it was still intact. A gunshot might have damaged the sample. He can’t wait to get to the avalanche site to dig up the bodies. It’s going to be like ghoul Christmas for him, but I can’t fault his scouting.”

  “If the gravesite is so important to him, why hasn’t he visited yet? It’s only a few klicks north.”

  “Lou is demanding we plant listening devices and use the parabolic microphone in Green territory, which is about fifteen kilometers the other direction. Toby is delaying out of protest. He’s been given the most dangerous job on the mission for no reward.”

  “Could he be replaced by another doctor?”

  Oleander laughed. “Not Auckland, the old man. In addition to his medical skills, Toby’s too important in designing our gardens and passive defenses around the mesa. Until our crops are growing, we need his help to gather food in the jungle. We sh
ould have brought ten of him for this mission. He’s irreplaceable and resents being treated as some dogsbody.”

  “Huh?”

  “A dog robber—a naval term for a junior officer and gopher for really despicable jobs.”

  “What does he want?”

  Oleander didn’t feel right ratting out another inmate, but his health was at stake. “The one thing he asked for last landing: time with Yvette.”

  “He’s talked to her twice on the computer.”

  “It’s not the same as in person. The pair-bond has affected him more than we realized. He’s eating less and gets distracted easily. If this continues too long, he’ll slip up, and we’re all toast.”

  “Having her visit would be too expensive,” Rachael said with a grimace. “We can’t allow him to blackmail us. I’ll contact Z.”

  Chapter 28 – Persephone Lost

  Yvette only attended the special meeting in Olympus to hold baby Stu while his parents participated. Crew members in Sanctuary met to view new satellite footage of a small bamboo plantation set into a niche in the hills. Unlike the other bamboo fields, two panda guards patrolled the perimeter of a low, stone wall between two rocky outcroppings.

  Red said, “One of the L pandas must have stumbled on mature plants and figured out the plants are good construction material.”

  “If they can keep the other pandas from eating it,” Mercy said.

  “This wood matches the color banding and diameter of the tool we saw the second gathering tribe using to dig up tubers,” Pratibha said, displaying a close-up of a curved scoop. “Here’s their version of a shovel. It has no handle, but they burn out claw holes on the sides to grip it better. These fellows seem to fire-harden a lot of implements. We may see other tools and construction as we get closer to the lake region.”

  “The fact that they have this same bamboo on the other side of the river may be an indication of inter-tribe trade,” Zeiss noted, “but that wall is too low. Adult L pandas can climb it in no time.”

  Lou said, “I saw those in Haiti. People use them to keep out the rabbits and goats to give the young plants a chance. Otherwise, you get no crop at all. Mostly, the wall lets your neighbor know that you’re serious.”

  “They have a guard shack under this overhang. We found this site because of the smoke. By the way, they burn branches that fall from other trees, not the bamboo.”

  “Interesting,” Lou said. “Maybe we could slip a bug into that hut.”

  “Speaking of bugs,” Red said, “the far side of the fence has a nest of flying insects, and these burly guards keep well away from it. They cover their noses whenever they get close. Maybe we could use some of them on the Elysium perimeter.”

  “We’ll discuss that tomorrow when we take down the final load of cargo,” Zeiss said.

  Yvette had already tuned out and was planning her next Magi hunt when the image on the screen changed to a hive. Yuki cringed dramatically. Yvette looked from the image back to the technician who had been victimized by the aliens. She was afraid of bees because of her run-in with the Magi.

  The only place with bees was the barn. Yuki had been found not far from there. The entrance to the alien stronghold wasn’t in the distant hills at all, but right under their noses. After the meeting, Yvette handed Stu back to Lou. Before anyone else could stop her, she ran back to the Hollow.

  ****

  Alone, Yvette crept stealthily into the barn and touched the detector against each wall panel in turn. On her own portrait, the light on the device turned green. “Merde.”

  A breeze fluttered behind her, and a mechanical voice said, “Surrender the device and report to the exit.”

  She dropped the detector in shock. Turning slowly, she couldn’t see the robot but heard the whine of a propulsion system. “What exit?”

  Snowflake spoke over her badge. “We apologize, Yvette-Mercy-friend, but you are no longer welcome in Sanctuary. Your influence is too corrosive. Don your spacesuit and leave by the exit in the ceiling of the storage unit. You may travel to Labyrinth unmolested.”

  “I can’t. I haven’t prepared. The shuttle is already full.”

  “The doctor can be replaced.”

  “He wants to be healed.”

  “He still may be at a later date. If you do not comply, we will not expend resources on that function ever again. Speak to no one about what you have discovered, or the ship’s functions you rely on may begin to degrade.”

  “That’s extortion,” Yvette complained.

  “Our hands would be tied if you persist. Zeiss-Index-mate has been informed of our decision.”

  The materials tester was already gone from the floor, all evidence eradicated. Yvette wanted to cry. She felt like breaking something. Worse, she regretted that Ethics took away her ability to kill. White with rage, she swore, “Some day, everyone will know the truth.”

  “The test must continue.”

  ****

  Auckland shouted until he almost fainted from the exertion. Pratibha wept. Mercy kept asking questions, all of which Snowflake rebuffed. Mute, Yvette sat in the landing bay radiating anger. Red had to ask her to wear the mental-buffering headgear; otherwise, Zeiss couldn’t even board the shuttle.

  Only Lou took the news philosophically. “At least the Magi haven’t taken away her memory.”

  Facing the video screen, Mercy said, “I love you. I’m sorry. They won’t let me leave, or I’d go with you. I had just enough time to pack some things you’ll need. Since you weigh fifteen kilos less than the doctor, we had room.”

  The nurse made the American Sign Language symbol for ‘I love you,” with her right hand before the Magi scrambled the video feed. “Communication with this one is forbidden.”

  For the first time, Red didn’t smile as Ascension left the hangar.

  By the May seventeenth landing, Yvette’s anger had cooled, and she removed the headgear. Toby carried her personal luggage to the spaceport himself, but she said nothing. When he offered her wildflowers, a water bottle and advice about the heat, she ignored him. While others rushed to unload cargo, she patiently scraped her helmet’s nameplate off with a pry bar. Grabbing the marker from the encryption box, she wrote the title ‘Persephone’ on the helmet. Hugging Zeiss good-bye, she turned her back on Red and strode off the shuttle to the shelter of the greenhouses.

  Toby watched with a sick expression on his face. “She didn’t want to see me.”

  Red put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s not it. The Magi forced her to leave Sanctuary. You didn’t do anything else wrong. I’m sure she’ll join the rest of you eventually.”

  ****

  Despite Yvette’s silence, Toby kept his end of the bargain with Lou. The next morning before the twin suns rose, he escorted Oleander to her post at the edge of the base perimeter. Crawling under the fake boulder, she said, “I’ll follow you Out-of-body for as long as I can. I already checked your usual sample bags, water, knife, and first aid kit. Do you have the parabolic microphone?”

  Toby nodded and held the scoop of clear plastic up for her to see. Normally, he snapped at people for such questions because they implied he was stupid. Because she had kept him from embarrassing himself on numerous occasions, he respected this query like a friendly tightening of his parachute before a jump.

  Before she sealed the rock-covered door, Oleander muted her microphone to say, “Lou wants that within fifty meters for best results, but don’t take unnecessary risks. This is just a practice run.”

  “Understood. I have my helmet camera clipped to the epaulet on my shoulder. You’ll all see what I see.”

  Over the radio he heard, “This is Specialist Dahlstrom at outpost five beginning native scouting expedition one. Commencing theta state.” Once she entered the coma-like sleep and left her physical form, only Quantum Computer talents like the Zeisses could see her, but he had every confidence that she was guarding his back.

  When he reached the place where Elysium’s short north-south canyon i
ntersected a long east-west corridor, he chose the eastern branch downstream. Another five kilometers of following the widening river into the jungle, just as he felt the heat of the day building, Oleander spoke over the radio, “Switching to ears and radio tracker only. You have a two-hour gap before the Aetos satellite picks you up on visuals. Do you wish to hold your position until then?”

  Toby took a swig of his purified water, with his filter mask dangling to the side. Talking, eating, or drinking was impossible with the mask on. He had learned to do without for short periods. “I’d boil by then. It’ll only take me an hour to walk to Green tribe’s last position.”

  “Roger. Perform a suit check before I let you go, please.”

  Rolling his eyes, he crouched behind a tree and triggered the two-minute self-test. “Everything is copasetic. Proceeding.”

  Before he took ten more steps, the panda proximity sensor went off. For crying out loud, don’t they test this stuff? The self-test must have triggered a glitch, he thought. Toby stood tapping the damn detector on his belt, trying to get the light to go off. Then he heard the twig snap on the path four meters away. He had almost missed it in the shadows due to the dappled colors in the fur. Only the pale, wooden spear stood out starkly. A panda was trundling straight toward him at about two-thirds the rate of a human. From the size and face ruff, this was an adult male. Toby’s heart was pounding faster than when he’d accidentally locked himself in that gorilla cage. If he moved, the creature might notice him, but if he stayed, it certainly would.

  Without looking, Toby dove into the brush. The ground was hard and bumpy. Several rotting pear-like fruits jabbed him in the small of the back as he slid to a halt. The panda tilted his head at the disturbance. He had an uneven mane, and a few tufts of light-brown ear hair much longer than the others. Glancing up at the pear tree, Toby grabbed one of the fruits and tossed it against one of the low-hanging branches. The lobbed fruit bounced off the branch and onto the ground in front of the powerful native.

  Sniffing, the panda picked up the bruised pear and placed the entire thing in its mouth at once. The grinding sounds were formidable, causing Toby to hold his breath. The panda picked three more pears and somehow fit them into its maw as well. Toby snapped a photo with his shoulder-mounted camera and decided to nickname the alien ‘Blutarsky,’ from the movie Animal House. The creature wrinkled its lip at the tartness, snapped off a twig to pick its teeth, and then shambled on its way.