The Season of Passage

by Unknown

  Lauren rubbed Jessica's shoulders. 'We'll work on the boat with the assumption that he's still alive,' Lauren said. 'We'll work as fast as we can.'

  'If the boat idea does work,' Gary said. 'We'll be prowling around down there in the dark with a lunatic lurking nearby. He'll probably have Bill's laser.'

  'It's something to keep in mind,' Jim said. He stood slowly. 'I guess the bottom line is that we won't go home without him. Gary, notify Mark and Houston of our plans. We'll work on the boat immediately.'

  'What if Houston objects?' Gary asked.

  'Let them object,' Jim said. 'It won't bother me.'

  Jessica began to cough. 'I need water,' she whispered.

  Lauren went into the basement and returned with their final one-gallon jug. She let Jessica drink about ten ounces before taking the bottle away. She handed the water to Jim. 'Your turn,' she said.

  'Maybe later,' he said. 'I'm feeling pretty good right now.'

  Lauren shoved the jug in his face. 'Drink ten ounces right now. That's a medical order.'

  Jim took the water after a moment's hesitation. Lauren knew he was close to dehydration. Outside the porthole, the sky had cleared, and Olympus Mons's full majesty stood uncloaked. Stars twinkled around its broad caldera like jewels in a king's crown.

  'I keep thinking of all those cubic miles of water underneath that volcano,' Jim said. 'And then I think about how thirsty I am.'

  Lauren nodded. 'That's bad.'

  Jim screwed the top back on the water jug. 'I think it might be part of the plan,' he said.

  They ended up dismembering the jeep after they had driven it to the canal. Jim figured it would save them time and energy. He was right about how simple it was to modify the vehicle, much to Gary's surprise. The most difficult part was unscrewing the engine and lifting it out. Here the low Martian gravity came to their aid. They used more of the same metal sheets they had used to patch the hull of the Hawk to plug around the jeep's gas pedal and steering column. Gary took less than twenty minutes to weld the metal in place. One thing for sure, Jim said: they weren't going to be able to fix the jeep again so that it drove on land. If the modifications went better than they hoped, lowering the jeep down to the water proved to be a bitch. The Hawk's stores contained an excellent set of pulleys and ropes. Unfortunately, they had difficulty fastening the equipment to the smooth black floor of the cave. The material was not simply hard; it was next to impenetrable. Studying the area around the Russian's spike, Jim figured they had melted the ground in order to put it in. He decided to do likewise to secure their pulleys. Watching the ground turn red and soften under the fierce green laser of the welding gun, Lauren couldn't free herself of the idea that the ground was really composed of an intelligently formulated alien alloy. Jim said it was as hard as anything he had ever seen.

  Finally they were in a position to lower their makeshift boat, and Gary's muscles came in handy, never mind the low gravity. It was two hundred feet to the water, and they all sighed with relief when the jeep didn't sink.

  'Of course, it will be worse if it sinks when we're in it,' Jim said.

  Houston had not approved or disapproved of their plan, but Houston had made one thing plain, and Jim had agreed. Under no circumstances was Gary to accompany them on the rescue attempt. He was the only one who could fly the Hawk now that Bill was missing. In fact, Jim and Houston didn't want Lauren to come, either, but she had insisted. Jessica was a fine biochemist but Lauren didn't think she'd be of much help to Jim in the event Ivan came after them.

  The Hawk also carried a lengthy rope ladder in its stores.

  Jim and Jessica climbed down to the boat first; it appeared to support them without strain. Finally it was Lauren's turn. Gary gave her a goodbye hug.

  'If you see the bastard, shoot first and ask questions later,' he said.

  'Are you talking about Ivan or Bill?' she said.

  He swatted her on the butt. 'Keep your head low, Doc'

  Lauren started down the ladder, knowing that if she slipped, she would probably die in the icy waters of the canal. She tried imagining she was in the forest in Wyoming near Terry's cabin, climbing out of a green pine tree into the blue lake. Those days seemed centuries ago.

  'Ten more rungs and you're down, Lauren,' Jim said a minute later, shining a light at her feet.

  Lauren stepped carefully onto the wobbly craft and quickly dropped to her knees. They distributed their weight about the boat and Jessica handed her a shovel to paddle with. 'How long will it take us to go three miles, Jim?' she asked.

  'It depends on which way the wind is blowing,' he said.

  After some experimenting, they decided that only two should paddle at one time. Because Jim was showing signs of fatigue, Lauren suggested she and Jessica take the first shift. Lauren was pleasantly surprised to find how easily the boat moved once they got going. The calmness of the water helped. Lauren and Jessica slipped into a steady rhythm, keeping the raft close to the wall of the canal lest they accidently reverse their direction. Time flowed by, measured in strokes.

  'Hold,' Jim said suddenly, after about forty minutes. Lauren relaxed, glad for the break. Her right biceps was beginning to cramp. 'Still there, Gary?' Jim asked.

  'Yes,' Gary said. 'Have you reached the end of the tunnel?'

  'Yes. Now all we have to do is cross over to the island.' Jim paused. 'How are you sitting, Gary?'

  'Huh?'

  'Sit with your back to one of the walls so you can see in both directions at once,' Jim said.

  'Why?' Gary asked.

  'I don't want anyone to be able to sneak up on you,' Jim said.

  'Now you're making me paranoid,' Gary said, his voice uneasy. 'Hey, your signal's getting dim.'

  'It's the same pattern as before,' Jim muttered. 'When we reach the island, we'll probably lose contact altogether. When you think you've waited long enough...'

  'Understood,' Gary said.

  Jim reached for a paddle. 'Let me give one of you girls a break.'

  'I want to keep paddling,' Jessica said.

  'We're a team,' Lauren said. 'We're training for the Martian Olympics. You take it easy.'

  'Sure?' Jim asked.

  'Sure,' Lauren said. 'What now?'

  Jim dimmed their lamp. 'Ordinarily I would send up a flare, but surprise might be a strong element in our favor. Of course, that means we might miss the island altogether and get lost in the dark. Try to paddle as evenly as possible so that we go as straight as possible.'

  The last half mile seemed to take far longer than the previous mile. Lauren found it difficult to reach forward on her stroke; she kept expecting to see Ivan's face grinning at her from beneath the water. Eventually, though, without warning, they bumped against a sharp-edged four-foot natural wall. They hauled themselves onto the desolate beach and secured the raft. The ground was similar to the floor of the tunnel, and for the short distance they could

  see with their lights, it was also flat. Regrettably, Hummingbird was nowhere to be seen. They didn't know whether to head to the right or the left, or straight ahead. Plus, Gary was no longer answering their calls. And on top of everything else, they realized that one of them had to stay behind and guard the raft. Lauren volunteered.

  Jim and Jessica went to the right and hugged the coast, searching for Hummingbird as a starting point. Lauren killed her light and sat down in a night so black she could have been in a buried coffin. She kept her back to the water, and had her vocals turned to maximum reception, straining to hear even the faintest sound of approaching feet.

  After approximately fifteen minutes, Jim's voice whispered over her headset. They had found Hummingbird, undamaged and deserted. They were starting inland. Jim said he would spot the ground every hundred feet with phosphorescent paint. Lauren wished them good luck.

  More time passed. Lauren's legs began to stiffen. She stood and walked back and forth on the empty beach, stretching. She knew it was psychological, but the darkness seemed to be getting thicker, c
rowding down upon her. She even began to have trouble breathing, and had to check her suit monitors every few seconds to convince herself she was not running out of oxygen. Jim spoke again in her headset, and this time she jumped. They had found hills, he said, and ponds of water, and dangerous crevasses. But no Bill. The interference must indeed be radiating from the island. She could scarcely hear him. She told him to be careful.

  It was a shame they were not able to follow her advice. Only a few minutes later, Jim was on the radio again. Jessica had fallen into a gully and hit her head. Her suit was intact and she was breathing normally, but she was unconscious, and he couldn't wake her. Lauren said she would come. Jim said something else as she got up but his remark was lost in the growing static. Lauren thought he might have used the word pushed.

  Lauren turned on her headlamp, out of necessity, and began to trace her friends' steps at a brisk pace. It took her only a few minutes to reach Hummingbird. The craft appeared undamaged. She tried contacting Jim but couldn't get him. She briefly contemplated flying Hummingbird inland to where Jessica lay injured. Then she vetoed the idea, remembering that Ivan might have Bill's laser. If he did, it would be a snap for him to blow her out of the air. Damn the president, she thought, for giving them such dangerous weapons. They would have been better off with nothing.

  Jim's markers were readily visible, eerie X's of phosphorescence. She scuttled from one to the next with her head low and her legs bent, like an animal on the prowl. But who was chasing after whom? Her every step generated a trail of false echoes, creating the illusion that she was being followed. Perhaps because she was so thirsty, she suddenly felt dizzy. She had felt the same way aboard the Gorbachev, just before making Carl's acquaintance. She didn't like it. The funny thoughts came into her head, the thoughts that were more like whispers in a dream, a very bad dream that was taking her forever to wake up from. Or maybe she was just talking to herself, and that was all there was to it. She had to talk to somebody. She could see it now. The papers would say what a brave woman she had been. She went to Mars and never returned. She left behind one darling sister and one lovely fianc6. A sad tale but true, and the later expeditions never found her body.

  Lauren reached the hills Jim had mentioned. Here the ground lost it hard smoothness, becoming rough and brittle in texture. She tried her radio again. 'Jim? Jim?' There was no response, and the silence made her worry, boy did it make her worry.

  She plowed forward. The ground rose gradually at first, and then began to seesaw sharply. Aiming her lamp upward, she realized she had moved beneath an overhang of rock. She tried to convince herself that was the reason Jim couldn't hear her, but since he hadn't heard her before, when there was nothing overhead, she doubted she was on the right track.

  Ivan couldn't have gotten him. I was just talking to him.

  Lauren slowed her pace a notch as the ground became extremely uneven. She should have slowed down a couple of notches. A few seconds later the ground disappeared altogether beneath her left foot as she tripped into a small hole. She hit the ground with both hands outstretched and thus saved her faceplate from damage. But her left leg twisted out at an awkward angle and she heard an ugly pop in her knee. A burning liquid sensation throbbed through her calf and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. She climbed to her feet carefully. She suspected that she had torn her cartilage, and maybe even injured one of the ligaments in the knee. Walking was barely tolerable, but she kept going, all the while cursing the planet. It wasn't fair, she thought. Just when she needed all her strength, Mars had to slip a hole under her foot. It was almost as if the place, as well as Ivan, was after her.

  Oh, Lori.

  Lauren whirled and snapped up the laser. But no one was there; no one ever was. It was just like the Gorbachev and the Karamazov all over again. Invisible corpses and zombies calling to her between her ears, where they had no right to be. A second wave of dizziness swept over her. For a moment she feared the light atop her helmet was failing, for it flickered. But perhaps it was her eyes that were the

  problem, she could not be sure. She wished she could remove her helmet for a moment to rub them. They seemed to be reflecting on her faceplate inside her helmet; she would have liked to have rubbed the glass as well. Just to be sure it wasn't Carl's eyes she was seeing again. Yes, Lori, wouldn't that be amazing. We could rub our special parts together and enjoy every inch of our duty. Surely that wouldn't make us evil.

  Lauren came to a pond. Focusing her helmet light on the water, she noticed that, although the bedrock was clearly visible near the edge of the pond, it dropped off sharply only a short distance out. The pond must be deep.

  What is that?

  Lauren took a step closer to the water, and as she did so, she listened closely. Tiny ripples had begun to arise on the surface of the pond, and she was hoping that a breeze was causing them. But of course she didn't hear any breeze because she was miles under the ground. Something else must be causing the ripples.

  Something beneath the surface of the pond.

  Lauren slowly began to back away from the water's edge. It wasn't fair. She didn't want to die. Not in this hell. Anywhere but here. The planet was supposed to be uninhabited. Everyone knew that. The best scientists on Earth had written books about how totally uninhabited Mars was. She had read their books. Yet there was only one thing wrong with those scientists. They had never been to Mars.

  Something beneath the surface began to splash loudly.

  Lauren turned and ran.

  It wasn't fair. She tripped in another hole.

  A spray of water erupted at her back, as a creature quick and terrible emerged from the cold well. Lauren froze -for a split second - and then leapt to her feet. But she

  jumped up without first figuring out what she wanted to do. For starters she tried to flee, but her injured knee buckled after only half a dozen steps and down she went again. Even in her extreme terror, she quickly realized she was not going to be able to outrun it. Without looking, she could hear it coming, coming fast.

  Yes, Lori.

  Frantically Lauren moved up onto her good knee and pivoted her body, bringing the muzzle of the laser to bear while simultaneously reaching for the trigger. But then Mars itself betrayed her again. The rifle weighed thirty pounds on Earth, but only ten on Mars. The mass, however, and therefore the inertia, was unaffected by which planet the weapon was on. The laser might have felt light, but it was in reality still a respectable chunk of electronic gadgetry. As she spun around, she generated enough momentum to swing her well past her target. In fact she spun almost an additional half circle around before she could stop herself. As a result she placed her back directly in the path of her assailant. Before she could straighten out, a wet and powerful arm wrapped around her neck.

  'Jim!' she screamed.

  The arm tightened and lifted her off the ground. Lauren pounded wildly with her fists. It was dragging her toward the pond. Calling upon every muscle in her body, she yanked herself to the side. Its grip was awesome, impossible. She didn't budge an inch.

  'Kill you!' she cried. 'I'll kill you!'

  Her laser swung freely at her side. If she had but a few inches, she could revolve it around and fire. She kicked at the ground, arched her back, and swung with her elbows. She accomplished nothing. It wrapped a second arm around her. It could have whispered in her ear. Suddenly she knew its purpose. It was going to drag her into the water

  and hold her head under the black surface until the cold penetrated her brain and poisoned her mind. Then she would be just like it was. Just like Carl.

  They were almost there. Lauren heard splashes. Time to swim. Just the two of us, naked together, Lori.

  'No!' Lauren screamed.

  Abruptly the grip loosened, as the creature stumbled on the underlying bedrock. Lauren heaved to the side. Incredibly, she broke free.

  'Bastard!' she cursed.

  Lauren dashed from the pond, water spraying her faceplate. But in her hurry, she fai
led to establish her balance properly, and stumbled once more. Passionate claws chased after her. Wait, Lori. Let's talk. Let's discuss. I love you, Lori.

  She was learning. She was going to run no further, and she was not going to lose her balance again. Carefully rotating through a half-kneeling position, she brought up the laser. She took quick aim. She was barely in time. The creature's fingers were reaching for the tip of the muzzle when she pulled the trigger.

  There was a blinding explosion. The shock of it threw Lauren to the ground, where the top of her helmet hit a rock. For a minute she lay dazed, pulsating spots of gray and brown clouding her vision. When she tried to sit up, her head sagged on her shoulders as if her neck had turned to putty. There was red everywhere. At first, she attributed the color to the shock her eyes had received with the firing of the laser. But then she blinked a few times, and the red became clearer. She was a doctor. It shouldn't have mattered that the red was blood - splattered everywhere. But all her training had not prepared her for what she saw.

  Because the human body was mostly water, the laser beam had vaporized the liquid within his midsection, which is where she had been aiming when she pulled the trigger. The pressure of the steam had caused a violent internal explosion and torn him into two gaping sections, and a number of smaller pieces; there was seared flesh all over the entire area. Still, Lauren had seen some pretty messy bodies in her days at the hospital. She might have held on if her lamp had not accidentally flickered onto the edge of the pond, and revealed his faceplate. His head and face were still there, clearly visible atop a mound of dripping white ribs and spongy pink lungs. His skin was still pale and his lips still red. But it was just too much, too much by about sixty million miles, that Ivan was still grinning at her. Lauren fainted.