by Lynn Rae
Gesturing with her water bottle, she decided to get them back on track. “Drink up and let’s keep moving.”
*
After their water break, they both pulled out scanners and began to slowly survey the area, taking the time to poke the instruments in between folds in the rock and hold them up high to get better range. As they approached a narrow part of the gorge, filled with numerous fallen rocks ranging in size from mere pebbles to several meters, first Lazlo’s and then Del’s scanners began to hiss. Checking the displays, they found there were several open areas behind sections of eroded cliff. Lazlo was excited and turned to Del with a questioning look.
“So what do you think?” He watched her as she sank down to an awkward slump on the sand, too engrossed in the readings to pay much attention to what her body was doing. Del muttered under her breath for him to let her alone and he tried to stay quiet and let her concentrate.
“Either we’ve reached an area full of natural caverns and fissures, which is possible with this particular strata, or we might have something.” Del peered up at him and he crouched down next to her, not too close, but close enough to look at her display over her shoulder. Her shirt was unbuttoned enough he could just see the tops of her breasts if he were so inclined. Which he wasn’t. But the initial curves were pretty.
“Do you like the size?” Del asked.
“The size?” Lazlo reacted belatedly, sure that she had been reading his mind. From what he could see, their size was perfectly wonderful. Embarrassed by his juvenile reaction, he frowned and tried to reorient himself.
“The size of any of these readings? What is your guess about the dimensions of the cave they would have excavated? Standard size, do you think?”
“I guess so. Nothing in the old reports was very specific.” Lazlo tried to sound intelligent while fighting back a vivid fantasy of unbuttoning her shirt as she did the same for him. Oh they needed to find these weapons and get out of this canyon.
“That puts us at about ten by ten, which means…” Del stopped staring at the display and craned her head up to look at the cliff to their right. Her neck curved up and out of her collar as she looked and Lazlo wanted to lean forward and sniff. Falling back onto his heels, he instead followed her gaze.
“We should look right over there. It has good indicators. If there’s nothing there, there are a couple of others to check farther along. But I’m liking this one.”
“Right. Let’s go then.” A whisper of sound caught his attention and Lazlo stilled. “Wait, do you hear something?” It had been so quiet in the small canyon, aside from their conversation, that the faint rattling sound was obvious, at least to him. Del stilled, turning her head back the way they’d come and narrowing her eyes. They waited for a moment but the noise did not occur again. Reaching a decision, Lazlo leaned close and whispered in her ear.
“Stay. I’m going to take a look.” As he drew away, a tiny whiff of her scent curled in his nose and it was good. He wanted to lick her like a sorghum candy. Stars, get a little control, he chided himself as he stood. Del looked up at him with concern. If she’d known what he was really thinking, she’d be dashing away from him down the canyon, brandishing one of her sharp hammers.
*
Lazlo returned from his quick reconnaissance back up the canyon floor to find Del running her fingers through the sand, little lines and mounds of disturbed material all around her. He hadn’t thought he’d been gone that long. “No sign of anything, but it doesn’t mean no one was there. Let’s power everything down again. I thought we’d be shielded by these canyon walls, but better safe than sorry.”
Del moved to comply by turning off her datpad and the scanner and stowing them in her pack. Standing next to Lazlo, she gestured for him to follow her as she walked toward the hollow they had detected earlier. Crawling around several rose-colored boulders, they slithered into a rock fall that crowded the face of the cliff.
“Careful,” Lazlo cautioned as he grabbed on to her pack to prevent her sliding down between two slabs. He lifted her as if she were a sack of tender peaches, careful not to bump her anywhere, and Del thanked him as she wedged her boots and back against the rocks to hold steady as she looked over the enormous field of debris.
“Look at this. The whole side of the cliff fell down. See how the color is brighter and clearer all along the top?” Lazlo looked up at what Del indicated and noticed big swathes of bright-pink rock overhead contrasting with the paler rose of the rest of the cliff.
“That’s because it hasn’t weathered much yet. This rock fall was pretty recent.”
“How recent?”
Del shrugged and kept looking over the rocks as if she were reading a datpad display. ”In geological terms this all happened a second ago. For us, maybe fifty or a hundred years. We could do some tests, but why bother? If something is under there, it’s no wonder no one came back for it. We just need to get back there and have a look.”
Del indicated a dark shadow between the cliff bottom and an enormous boulder that had fallen from the top. There was more sunlight in this area due to the rock fall and it illuminated a bewildering chaos of tumbled pink rocks.
“I don’t know if I’ll fit,” Lazlo admitted as he peered into the darkness. The opening looked like it was only about fifty centimeters at its widest.
Del huffed. “You won’t. I’m going. You hold my pack.” Before he could caution her, she was off, disappearing from view in moments.
Lazlo waited, half of his attention listening for any unusual noises, the other watching for her to return. He felt on edge, worried about what Del was doing out of sight and wondering why he was starting to feel like danger was approaching them. The sooner they investigated the holes in this claustrophobic little valley and left it behind, the happier he would be.
Actually, he’d be happy to leave this whole project behind. Lazlo wasn’t contributing much to the search and his attraction to Del was distracting and unprofessional. Two traits he was trying to avoid, considering his last relationship where he’d been distracted enough to be labeled unprofessional by many. But it was hard to ignore how good Del still smelled, even after hiking for hours.
The shafts of sunlight shining down had moved along the sandy floor of the canyon a few centimeters by the time Del emerged from the shadowy opening like a burrowing rodent. Her face was glowing and Lazlo felt a rush of excitement. It didn’t look as if she’d discovered another abandoned still. Reaching down for her, he grabbed her hands and pulled her out, setting her down on the closest level surface.
“So?”
“We’ve got it.” Del was laughing and hopping and Lazlo felt a glorious rush of accomplishment. Success was sweet and so was she. Lazlo couldn’t resist and he grabbed her up in a hug. Del twisted her head up to look at him with surprise, which brought her mouth ever so close to his and in the excitement of the moment, Lazlo leaned down and kissed her. She felt really good, soft and wet and warm, and the hot urge to keep on kissing her flared strongly enough in him to startle him. Letting go of her quickly, Lazlo tried to appear nonchalant rather than as hard and eager as he actually was. Del looked flustered as she adjusted her footing.
“Congratulations!” Lazlo managed to say, feeling like a dolt. “Good job.”
Del peered at him as if she was going to say something, but she shook her head and pulled out her datpad instead.
“Here, I took a few digimas, so you could see.” Del opened up her datpad but stopped. “I know I was supposed to leave it off, but I guessed back in there behind the rock it wouldn’t matter. And I didn’t want to move anything. I thought they might explode or leak or start ticking.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let me see the images and then power back down,” Lazlo reassured her and Del activated her device and showed him a dimensional image of a shadowy cluster of grayish blobs. Better to look at indeterminate grayish things than to think about how soft her lips had felt and wish he could taste her again.
“No
t seeing it.”
“That’s a bad one, the next one should be better.” Del scrabbled at the datpad and another image popped up and showed a dark gray case with some identifying numbers and letters visible under a thick coating of dust. Lazlo rotated the resolution and spotted similar cases stacked below.
“How big was this?” Now he could concentrate. This was very promising. The shape looked right as long as the dimensions were a match.
“About a meter long.” Del glanced from the digima to his face and then back again, peering at the tiny cases with determination, as if she could will them into being the correct items.
“Looks good. Did you open one?”
“No. I didn’t want to touch anything.”
“How many were in there?”
“I counted forty-three.”
Lazlo smiled. They’d done it. “Amazing. We need to get back and report this so the major can send out a recovery team immediately.”
“They’re going to need some equipment. I don’t think those cases can be moved out of there without widening the opening. I really had to squeeze to get in there.” Del pressed at her stomach as if she were remembering how tight it had been.
Lazlo worried she’d been hurt. He reached out to touch her shoulder but she shifted away. Fine, so the hug and kiss hadn’t been well received. “Did you get an abrasion?”
“What? No, it was just tight.” Del glanced at him and looked away again quickly.
“Let’s go after we set some perimeter monitors.” Lazlo shut down his regret about making her feel uncomfortable and pulled the small devices from his pack and handed a few to Del, showing her where he wanted them placed.
Once they were set, he activated them from his datpad, wincing as it powered up for a few moments. It couldn’t be helped and Del was likely correct in thinking most of the signal would be lost or garbled down among the rocks. Tucking everything securely away in his pack, Lazlo looked for Del and found her crouched down and inspecting something intently. Scrunching up her face, she tossed aside a smallish rock and rose.
“Nothing good?”
“Nothing good enough to carry out,” Del replied and moved to stand next to him with a questioning look. “Ready?”
“Let’s move. If we keep up a good pace, we should get back to the port by dinnertime.” Lazlo started walking, confident he could retrace their path. Elated by their success, he nearly had a spring in his step, but the sand they trudged through kept him firmly on the ground. “Do you want to have dinner?”
“Together?”
“No, I thought we could just go to the same place and sit separately.” Lazlo waited for her answer with some anxiety. “Of course we should go together. We have something to celebrate.”
“That we do. So I will.” Then Del grinned at him and Lazlo felt happy. He hadn’t felt happy in so long it was an almost uncomfortable sensation. So she wasn’t too bothered by his spontaneous show of affection. He just needed to go much slower.
They walked for a few hundred more meters and the canyon began to widen top and bottom, allowing more sunlight to reach them. Del slipped on her shades and Lazlo followed suit.
“And we’re not going to some quick counter either,” Lazlo continued. “I want to sit at a real table and not have to be bumped by people walking by. Tell a servbot what we want and have it delivered to our table.”
“Sounds nice,” Del agreed as she walked along in front of him, their boots digging in to the deeper sand and leaving tracks. Dinner would be nice. Del was good company and he felt a little disappointed they wouldn’t be working together anymore. But she was his friend now and he looked forward to spending some time with her after all of this was concluded. Maybe an entertainment, certainly dinner.
And he was going to follow up on his offer to help her salvage the old still equipment. It was the least he could do for her. She might even agree to go to the hot springs with him—or she might know someplace even better, secluded and scenic. He could bring a blanket and some wine. Maybe try another kiss sometime.
Chapter Eight
They rounded a corner of canyon wall and Del stopped in shock. She’d been obsessively replaying that quick kiss and had stopped paying attention to her surroundings. That had been a mistake.
A few meters away stood Avo Kirk and immediately behind him was Sheriff Harata. Both men were wearing packs and boots and a light layer of dust, clearly out exploring like her and Lazlo.
The sheriff smoothly drew his stunner and pointed it directly at Del. The muzzle of the weapon looked as if it were a meter wide to her frightened eyes as her stomach contracted in terror. She heard Lazlo curse behind her and realized he could not draw a weapon because she was in the way. Everyone was single file along the narrow canyon floor.
“Move it, Avo,” Harata barked out and the man scuttled sideways. Del spared him a quick glare. At least he had the sense to look shocked. Then she turned back to watch the sheriff as he stepped their way, careful not to lose sight of his target, which happened to be her.
“That’s Casta back there, right? Step on out and keep your hands where I can see them, portie.” Harata grinned as if he’d won a prize at the Harvest Festival. She sensed Lazlo move and then she saw him stand next to her, standing still and focused entirely on their enemy. Trying to swallow some of her fear, she breathed in and out with effort when all she wanted to do was scream.
“Stop there. Now, Kirk, you go and grab our cute little scout there and keep her under control while I deal with our larger problem,” Harata ordered and Avo crept her way and grabbed her arm, trying to push her to her knees, which made Del very angry. She refused to cooperate, straining against his grip and hissing curses at him. Del lost sight of the other two men as she struggled against Avo, who finally shoved her into the sand and put a heavy boot on her back to keep her down.
Fear and rage burned through her body and she twisted her head to berate him. “Avo, you’re going to pay so much for this—”
“Shut your yak, you dirty little cycler,” Harata growled as Avo looked deeply unsure. “Your whole family earned arrests and confiscations as soon as I saw you. You are done now, all of you cruddy Browens. Hold her down, Avo, do something right for once. I can’t believe you thought they were already out of this canyon. ‘Tracks in the sand leading in and out’ my shiny arse,” Harata mocked his guide.
Well, Del could have told him Avo knew less than nothing about tracking. Not that she was going to tell the sheriff anything other than to take a flying leap off Station Seventeen. Del tried to keep struggling but fear and the pressure of Avo’s boot made it difficult.
The sheriff turned his attention back to Lazlo, who hadn’t moved a millimeter during the entire struggle. “So, Casta, you’re what, a lieutenant of Sekar’s, right? And he sent you out here as covertly as possible to steal my salvage. What a prick the man is. A monumental, arrogant prick. Marching onto my planet as if he has all rights to the place. The cache will be mine in any case. I know we’re close—I can feel it. All I have to do now is decide what to do with you.”
Del thought hard, which was difficult to do when Kirk’s boot was impeding her breathing. The two men hadn’t found the weapons—after all, they were still on their way in while she and Lazlo were on their way out. And they had traveled several hundred meters away from the cave, which meant it wouldn’t be easy for the other two to find. Unless either she or Lazlo said something. Would they torture her for information? Avo’s hard and lumpy boot was grinding into the bones of her back and she wanted to cry.
“How much would it cost me to convince you to just walk away?” the sheriff speculated, moving a little closer but keeping the stunner trained on the center of Lazlo’s body. Lazlo said nothing, just kept watching the other man approach in a seemingly calm state of mind Del could not understand. She was huffing and twisting under Avo’s boot to the best of her ability, the pain of his weight on her making her squeak as he bore down on her.
“Stop movi
ng or Harata will shoot you,” Avo hissed at Del.
“Nothing,” Lazlo finally answered Harata, as if he’d been considering the bribe.
“One of those, hmm? Too dutiful and honorable to live in the real world with the rest of us, huh, Avo?”
“Yes sir,” Kirk replied quickly as Del groaned and struggled, flailing in the sand like a broken crab. A sharp stone was digging painfully into her sternum and she tried to move to alleviate the pain, but Avo just bore down even more. She couldn’t help but cry out as she felt warm blood starting to flow under her shirt.
“Then we’re going to have to do this my preferred way. It won’t cost me a mark.” Sheriff Harata reached for his belt and slowly withdrew some bright-orange strips of plastic, tossing some to Avo, who missed his catch, allowing the restraints to fall to the sand around Del’s body.
“Balls, Avo, how many times can you crack it up today? Put a knee on her and get those picked up. Tie her up,” the sheriff ordered with a sharp tone. Del froze, deathly afraid of what would happen if she were restrained.
Del twisted her head and grunted as Avo shifted above her, moving his boot off her back to adjust his hold, and she tensed, pushing with all of her strength against his leg as he crouched off balance above her.
With a startled gust of air, he tipped to one side and she followed him, shoving her dirty fingers at his eyes and trying to knee him as she crawled away. Del heard other bodies moving, but she couldn’t pause to see what was happening. She reached for the rock hammer on her belt and swung it at Avo, who leaped away from the heavy titan head.
“You put that down, Del, or I’ll tell your daddy,” the guide threatened in a thin voice. Del looked in his eyes and saw as much stress and fear in him as she was feeling.
Del didn’t bother to reply. She just kept her hammer raised and watched him as he held his hands out as if to rush her. Her every muscle tense, Del gasped shallowly as she expected to feel the impact of Harata’s stunner bolt any moment. Two breaths later, Avo did rush her and she took another swing, which landed against his ribs with a mighty thump and crack. She’d been aiming for his arm, but he’d raised it to strike at her and the arc of her swing concluded at his torso.
