Asimov's SF, April-May 2009

by Dell Magazine Authors

  “You all right?” Meklos asked.

  Yusef opened his eyes. He focused on Meklos and then his eyes filled with tears.

  “My ears,” Yusef said too loudly. He reached toward them with his uncovered hand. The fingertips were black. Why wasn't he wearing gloves?

  Meklos turned Yusef's head. Blood had oozed out of his ears and frozen onto the side of his head. His fingertips were probably not frostbitten; they were covered in blood.

  “Can't stand,” Yusef said, again speaking much too loud. “I'm so dizzy.”

  The siren must have been particularly loud in here. Whether the cavern was the source or whether the sound had just echoed off the enclosed space—and the water—Meklos didn't know. “I'll get you out,” Meklos said.

  He didn't want to. He wanted to make sure the divers were all right. But he had to take care of this man first.

  “Can you stand?” Meklos asked.

  Yusef put a finger up toward his ear again. “I can't hear you.”

  His eardrums must have ruptured. Meklos didn't even want to think about that kind of pain.

  “Can you stand?” Meklos asked slowly, making sure his mouth formed each word carefully.

  “I think so,” Yusef said. He struggled to his feet, using the wall to brace himself.

  Meklos slipped his arm around Yusef's back and half-carried him toward the stairs. The slippery stairs. This would take longer than he wanted it to. But he had to do it. Then he would come back for the divers. If it wasn't too late.

  * * * *

  32

  Navi swam into the larger cavern, happy to be out of the passageways. She didn't try to walk this time. She wasn't moving slowly. She was swimming as hard as she could.

  The cavern looked bigger than it had on the way in, but that was probably because Roye wasn't with her. His presence had put the place into perspective, giving her something to concentrate on besides the snowy water and the curving walls.

  She had nothing to concentrate on now except getting the hell out of here.

  She slowed as she reached the first archway and gingerly extended her hand toward it.

  They had both touched the walls in here, looking for niches or anything that could be valuable, and they hadn't set anything off. So either that other cavern had been more valuable or the barriers didn't exist this far in.

  She made herself concentrate on her fingers, reaching, reaching—

  —and finding nothing. They slipped into the next cavern, just like they had on the way in.

  She swam through, her heart pounding.

  Why have barriers on that side? Why not here?

  She couldn't figure it out.

  But it kept her brain busy while she swam to the next cavern.

  It kept her busy while she did her best to get out.

  * * * *

  33

  “We have to figure out how to shut this off,” Gabrielle said. She was standing on the temple steps. Most of her team had gathered here, apparently looking for instruction.

  If they wanted instruction, she'd give it to them.

  She waved her hand at the wave of light. “This thing could be dangerous.”

  The light bath that she enjoyed every day hadn't been a brighter moment in the sun. The system had run some kind of program, one she'd been too stupid to understand.

  She'd never been inside the temple when it ran. She had always come outside to bathe in the light.

  If she had been inside, would she have seen that the temple's ceiling grew clear, and the light illuminated parts of the drawing below? She had no idea, and she couldn't think about it now.

  “There's a silvery black thread running through the light,” she said. “I don't like it. I've never seen it before.”

  She didn't tell them that the light illuminated the drawing inside or that the drawing was really a map. Nor did she tell them Meklos's theory that the entire thing—the Spires, the map, the temple—was some kind of defense system.

  “I'm convinced, though,” she said, “that this is all manmade. If there's a way to turn it on—and something clearly did—then there's a way to turn it off. We have to find it.”

  “The light is focused on the temple,” said one of the graduate students. “Does that mean the controls are inside?'

  How am I supposed to know, you ass? she nearly snapped, but she caught herself just in time.

  “Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe there's something near the Spires. Spread out and look. Those of you with engineering experience, look around here first. Use scanners and communicators. If the Spires can survive that loud siren, they can survive anything.”

  She hoped. It was all a guess now. And so far, at least when it came to the Spires of Denon, all of her previous guesses had been wrong.

  * * * *

  34

  By the time they reached the ground floor of the building that hid the cavern's entrance, Meklos was carrying Yusef. The man had fainted halfway up, which was probably a blessing.

  Meklos carried him through the door and into the street. Several members of Dr. Reese's team were running by.

  “Hey! Hey!” he shouted. “I need help here.”

  Chavo stopped. So did two others.

  “He needs a doctor,” Meklos said. “Get him to the doctor. And send my people here. They need to go to the caves.”

  “Caves?” Chavo asked.

  So Dr. Reese hadn't told the rest of her team.

  “Caves,” Meklos said. “Through this door is an entrance leading down. I need at least three of my people, preferably the ones who can dive.”

  “Dive?” Chavo asked.

  “Just tell Phin that,” Meklos said, realizing he had no time to explain. “He'll understand.”

  Meklos passed Yusef off to two of the students, then ran back into the building. He heard steps behind him, turned, and saw Chavo.

  “I gave you instructions,” Meklos snapped.

  “I just didn't believe it. Do you think the controls are in here?”

  “What controls?” Meklos asked.

  “For the light,” Chavo said.

  “I don't care,” Meklos said. “Go get Phin. I need help here—experienced help—and I need it now. You got that? You can search for whatever it is you're searching for after you get me some assistance.”

  “Yes, sir,” Chavo said and sprinted for the door.

  Meklos was halfway down the stairs before he realized what Chavo was talking about. The controls for the defense system. Dr. Reese must have sent them in search of the controls.

  Stupid woman. Didn't she realize that a group of dirt scientists wouldn't know anything about ancient technology?

  If they found controls, they might make things worse. But he kept going down into the cold. He needed to get those divers out before the archeologists screwed things up again.

  * * * *

  35

  Finally, Navi's head rose above the water. She let out a relieved breath and almost removed her suit, then remembered how cold this cavern was.

  It was completely empty. She'd thought Gabrielle Reese had left someone to watch for them, but no one was in the cavern. And their packs were gone.

  She swam until she had to walk, and then she hurried out of the water, her breath coming in small gasps. As she got closer to the water's edge, she scanned the cavern.

  It looked like the one she had left, but she wasn't sure. Caverns could look alike down here, with their niches and their archways—

  And the stairs.

  Not only were there stairs, but the stairs had footprints. She made her gaze follow the footprints until she saw a huge disturbance in the cavern floor. It was right next to the wall, near where the water ended.

  Someone had been sitting there, and someone else had come down. One set of footprints came down, and two went up, although one seemed like that person dragged their feet.

  The fact she could see prints registered for the first time. The water wasn't the only thing filled with more
sediment. The walls had flaked, and the flaking had been severe.

  The flakes had fallen throughout the cavern like snow.

  Which meant that this had happened before. Because of the sediment in the water. That had come from somewhere before the barrier came down.

  She stepped out of the water and searched for her pack. It had to be here. It was probably just covered in sediment.

  The sediment clung to her feet and legs, coating her in white. As she disturbed it, more and more covered her. Then she heard something from above.

  She looked up. A man came down the stairs, sideways, holding the wall. The man's head suddenly came into view. It was Meklos Verr, the head of security. The competent one.

  She let out the breath she was holding, relieved.

  “Oh, thank god,” she said, and realized her voice was muffled by the suit. She pulled it off her face.

  The air wasn't just cold.

  It was frigid.

  “Where's your partner?” Meklos said. “Is he all right?”

  “I think so,” she said. “We'll know soon enough.”

  “What does that mean?” He finally reached the bottom part of the cavern. “Is he behind you?”

  “No,” she said, then glanced at the water.

  “Then where is he?”

  If she told Meklos, she would have to tell him about the map. She would have to explain her scans. She would probably have to admit who she was. She glanced at the stairs.

  “Are you alone?” she asked.

  “At the moment. I sent for reinforcements. Some members of my team have water diving experience. I was going to use your extra suit.”

  Something passed across his face then. His expression sharpened for just a moment.

  “The suit,” he said, “adjusts to the wearer, doesn't it?”

  She nodded.

  “And you can stay underwater for a very long time,” he said.

  “It's designed for that,” she said.

  “So you and one of my team can get him.”

  She shook her head. “We probably won't have to.”

  She hoped they wouldn't have to. She never wanted to go into that water again.

  “You triggered something down there,” he said.

  “A barrier. Roye was on one side, and I was on the other.”

  “So he went out the passageway to the ship you have waiting.”

  She blinked at him, not sure if she had heard him correctly.

  “I found your map,” he said. “How did you get that?”

  She had heard him right. This day was full of surprises.

  “He'll contact me when he gets out,” she said, choosing not to answer Meklos's question. “I'm not sure how long to wait.”

  “What were you planning to do? Rob the lower caverns? Take all the loot and fly it out of here without any of us being wiser?” He took a step toward her. “What even made you think there's something down in those caverns?”

  “There's nothing in those caverns,” she said.

  “You know that now,” he said. “But you thought something was down there before.”

  “I did,” she said. “I was told this might be a museum. For the Denonites. They would have used it for all the spoils of the various wars they fought.”

  “And you came to rob it,” Meklos said.

  “I came to save it,” she said.

  He glared at her. “Really?”

  “Really,” she said.

  “How did you plan to do that?” he asked.

  She took a deep breath. She was going to have to trust him. “By getting enough evidence to arrest Dr. Gabrielle Reese.”

  * * * *

  36

  A light was moving along the interior lines of the Spires. Gabrielle had gone inside the temple to watch. Looking up at the Spires hurt her eyes, but in here, in the dimness, she could watch the light move.

  It moved as if someone were shining a light source on a particular area. Then, once that area received a thorough examination, the source moved to the next area.

  If she hadn't learned long ago that there were no light sources underneath the drawing of the Spires (at least none that she recognized), she would have thought someone was playing with lights underneath the floor. The movement unnerved her. The way everything had changed in just the past hour had unnerved her.

  Her staff crowded parts of the temple. They were using scanners and talking loudly. Before people had spoken in hushed tones here. Now the voices were raised, excited, the way people talked when they were panicked and thrilled at the same time. Her team thought this new development interesting. It worried her.

  Not just because it could be dangerous. Hell, it was dangerous. She had seen Yusef as the staff carried him to their doctor. He was so pale she thought he had died. Blood blackened both of his ears, and his lips were blue. Something had happened in that cavern. Chavo ventured a guess that the sound was magnified down there. But she wasn't so sure. She wasn't sure about anything. She wasn't even sure why that light was moving.

  The only thing she could tell was that it was heading away from the caverns. And she couldn't figure out why that would happen, either.

  She rubbed her hands over her upper arms, feeling the gooseflesh along her skin. In all her years digging and searching, finding ancient burial sites, ancient treasure, she had never experienced anything like this. And she never wanted to experience anything like it again.

  * * * *

  37

  “Arrest Doctor Reese?” Meklos couldn't keep the shock from his voice. He'd researched Dr. Reese before taking this job. Even though she wasn't yet fifty, she had discovered several important sites, including this one. She'd made large contributions to the fields of archeology, art history, and general history in this sector.

  Granted, she was a loner and not always liked by her crews, but that hadn't bothered him. Most people in positions of power weren't liked. Although he hadn't liked her either, partly because of her attitude and partly because she had hidden information from him. Like these caves.

  “Yes, we were looking for reasons to arrest her.” Salvino had found the packs. She picked one up, making the sediment float around her like a dust storm. Some of the whiteness adhered to her right thigh, her belly, and her lower arm.

  Then she let the pack fall. She opened her suit and slowly pulled it off, sliding it off her right arm and hand first, and then going to her left. Meklos was torn between two questions. He wanted more information on Dr. Reese and this startling announcement.

  But, over the years, he had learned that startling announcements were often diversionary tactics, to make a questioner forget his line of questioning. He had asked Salvino if she was going to steal the artifacts from this area, just before she had said she was going to prevent a robbery. She hadn't answered his first question. So he decided against pursuing that tack and went for the other.

  “I checked you out,” he said, not adding that he had done it as best he could in a limited amount of time. “You're a cave diver, not a police officer.”

  “Technically, I'm neither.” Salvino stepped out of the suit. It crumpled against the ground. The water dripping off it made a little trail back to the pool.

  Then she opened her pack. She slid her hand inside, grasped a seam, and peeled it back.

  Meklos cursed. How had he missed that? Not once, but twice.

  She glanced at him. “You couldn't have found it without very specialized equipment,” she said as if she were reading his thoughts. “It's keyed to my DNA, and my DNA only. That's why I wasn't worried about leaving the pack behind. You'd never find this pouch and if you miraculously did, you'd never open it.”

  He pressed his lips together. He didn't believe in never. He would have gotten it open, eventually.

  She slipped her hand into the pouch and pulled something out. It was some kind of data on a drive as thin as a fingernail. She handed it to him, but he didn't have a scanner on him.

  “What this will tell yo
u,” she said, “is that I'm Navi Salvino of the Interagency Arts and Monuments Protection League. We're a squad of investigators authorized by various governments, including the Unified Governments of Amnthra, to protect historic sites and properties throughout the sector. If we do find a problem, we turn that problem over to the enforcement arm best equipped to handle it.”

  He slipped the small dataport into a pocket of his shirt and sealed the pocket. He'd heard of the Interagency Arts and Monuments Protection League mostly by its acronym IAMPL. In the last decade, they'd stopped some spectacular thefts throughout the sector. But that didn't mean she was a legitimate part of the organization. Only that she had heard of it, along with everyone else in the sector.

  “Dr. Reese has a fantastic reputation,” Meklos said.

  “I'm sure you noted that when you decided to take this job,” Salvino said. “You probably also noted that she had a significant amount of money in various accounts.”

  He had. He hadn't thought much of it. She was an in-demand expert in her field, a woman who commanded high prices for almost anything she did.

  “That wasn't my concern.”

  “It was ours.” Salvino pulled the thin heating blanket from her pack. She flapped the blanket open, then wrapped it around herself. “No matter how well known they are, people in Dr. Reese's position don't make a great deal of money. Everything they do is paid for. The Scholars funded this expedition, and will continue to fund it for all the years of its lifetime. They funded her previous expeditions as well.”

  “So?” Meklos was getting cold. He'd run around a great deal since the sirens went off, sweating through his clothes. Now the clammy material was starting to freeze. “That proves nothing.”

  “In and of itself, you're right.” Salvino pushed her hair out of her face. Her hand was trembling. “But we also found a lot of small items with dubious provenance that we could later trace back to her earlier digs. At some point, she takes items from her sites and sends them through a series of dealers. She sells these small items to private buyers for a great deal of money.”

  “I don't know how she could,” Meklos said. “This dig is well known.”

  But as he spoke, he understood. The dig was well known, but the location of the so-called museum wasn't. If the caverns were as billed, then Dr. Reese could have taken items from here before they were ever recorded. They would have been deemed lost, if their existence was even known.