Return to Dark Earth

by Anna Hackett

  He noticed Nera tense. She was looking down the street, past the remains of the buildings.

  “What is it?” He searched where she was looking, didn’t see anything.

  “I thought I saw movement.”

  He frowned and checked his Sync. “The other teams are nowhere near us.”

  “It was…furtive movement. Like someone was hiding. And watching us.”

  “Nothing on scans, although once you get over seven meters out, the radiation makes them unreliable. No one could have survived here. Seeing shadows?”

  Her mouth flattened. “No. I saw something.”

  If she did, he believed her. “Okay. What could it be then? No wildlife survived in this part of the planet. The jungles to the south contain…things.” Mutated things. He figured they really didn’t want to run into whatever had managed to survive Earth’s destruction.

  Finally, Nera shook her head. “Let’s check out the last part of this sector and get back to the ship.”

  They walked to the end of the street and the final structure. Nik frowned. Here, the black sand looked like it had been subjected to intense heat. It formed a solid sheet of what looked like black glass.

  Nera tapped it with her boot. Parts of it broke off. “It’s gone brittle.”

  “It could be covering something.” Nik looked back at the other buildings. “Probably another shop.”

  “Wonder what caused this?”

  “Some sort of localized blast, maybe? Who knows?” And they’d never know. It was the frustration of his passion for the past. For every one of history’s secrets he revealed, he uncovered several more that would always be a mystery. It took him a long time, but he’d learned to celebrate what he could and not let the rest drive him crazy.

  He pulled his multi-tool off his belt and dialed up the hammer. He hit the black glass and it chipped away.

  He worked for a bit, just to see how thick the layer was.

  Suddenly, a portion the size of a dinner plate gave way, leaving a gaping hole.

  Nera crouched and flicked on her ion light. She shone it into the hole, but all they could see was impenetrable darkness.

  “It appears there’s a space under there,” she said. “Want to take a look around?”

  “We should maybe send a probe in first. And we don’t have much time left—”

  She stood and kicked the edge of the hole with her boot.

  A huge slab broke off, leaving a hole large enough for a person to crawl through.

  “Nera…”

  She shone the light again. This time, it gleamed off…something.

  Nik’s pulse tripped. Damn, now he wanted to know what the hell was in there.

  “Come, Dr. Phoenix. Live a little.” Nera leapt into the hole.

  “Nera!” Dammit to hell, they had fifteen minutes left.

  Grinding his teeth, he followed her in.

  The drop was only a few meters, and his feet hit concrete. Smooth, well-preserved concrete.

  Nera appeared out of the darkness and shone her light in his face. “Come take a look.” She swung the light away from him.

  It illuminated a… He took a deep breath, his eyes widening. “Oh my God.”

  It was a perfectly preserved car.

  Its body was long and stylish, and glossy red. There was only room for two people to sit. It was long in the hood, and short at the back.

  God, it was beautiful. A work of art.

  Nera touched the still-shiny metal. “It seems…far less modern than I imagined Terran transports to be.”

  “It’s not a model that was manufactured at the time of Earth’s demise. It’s a classic car.”

  She frowned. “It was already old.”

  “Yes. A collectors’ item. I have some records on ancient automobiles. I think this is one of the cars listed. A 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang.”

  “Priceless,” she murmured.

  “Yes.” It would fetch a fortune on the open market. And would look very nice in a museum where the galaxy’s children could marvel at a piece of their ancestry.

  Nera moved through the darkness. “There’s another one.”

  “God, a 1965 Shelby Cobra.” Also in pristine condition, as though the apocalypse had never happened. “The glass covering outside seems to have preserved everything in here.”

  “I like this one.” It had a sportier look to it. It was a royal blue, with two white stripes down the center.

  There were three cars in total. A 1966 Dodge Charger rounded out the small collection. Avril was going to go into convulsions.

  “Look at this.” Nera called out.

  He moved to join her. Saw she was looking through what had been an office. There was a late-model Terran comp on the table.

  “This must have been some sort of car showroom,” he mused. “Collect what you can. I’ll contact Avril. She’ll need to organize a team to retrieve these.” He tried the comm, but all he got was static. “We’ll need to go topside.” He checked his Sync, his pulse jumping. “We have seven minutes to get back to the ship before the radiation starts to affect us.”

  Nera carefully placed the comp in a net bag she’d opened. “Roger that. Let’s go.”

  As they headed back past the cars, Nik was already planning. “Avril said the Drake is equipped with a cargo lift. We’ll need to widen the opening, and then bring it down and use an exosuit to get the cars onto the lift.”

  He looked up at the place where they’d climbed in. “What the hell?”

  The opening was closed. Covered over by rocks.

  Nera pulled out her laser pistol. “Stand back.”

  She shot at the opening and rocks rained down. She’d opened a small hole, but it wasn’t big enough for them to fit through.

  “Lift me up,” she said.

  Nik gripped her waist and hefted her up. In a lithe move, she leapt up and settled on his shoulders.

  As she pulled rocks out of the opening, Nik clamped his hands on her slim, muscular thighs to steady her. He tried to stay focused on getting out alive, and not the fact that Nera’s legs were wrapped around his head.

  “There.” She threw a large rock down. “That’s enough.” She gripped the edge of the hole and pulled herself out. She looked back down. “Come on.”

  Nik backed up a little, then ran and jumped. He grabbed the edge and with a grunt, pulled himself out.

  An alarm on his Sync chimed. A warning flashed on the screen and a modulated computer voice said, “You have reached maximum radiation exposure limit.” He looked up and met nebula-colored eyes. “Run.”

  They took off, arms pumping. They sprinted past the buildings, scrambled up the dune. As they crested the mountain of black sand, Nik felt his chest tightening, his breathing becoming labored. He glanced back behind them.

  Everything was still, but now he got the feeling that someone was watching them.

  “Faster, Phoenix,” Nera yelled.

  He focused back on running. Nausea hit him and he gritted his teeth.

  The ship loomed ahead.

  He heard a tinny, frantic sound. A voice in his ear. “Dr. Phoenix! Darc! Please respond.”

  Nik touched his nano-earpiece. “We’re coming.”

  An expulsion of breath. “You’re over the exposure limit. Hurry.”

  The ship got closer, but Nik was starting to feel dizzy, and his head was pounding. He stumbled.

  “Keep going.” Nera gripped his arm. “We’re almost there.”

  “If…I fall, you keep going,” he said between gritted teeth.

  She raised a brow at him. The rest of the galaxy would translate that to be “you bet your ass I’m leaving you and saving myself” but he knew it wasn’t true. If he fell, she wouldn’t leave him.

  He pushed harder.

  Finally, they reached the ship, its shadow covering them as it hovered above.

  Nera clipped a line onto his belt and pressed the retraction device. He whizzed up, his vision becoming blurry.

  Hands were
grasping at his body armor as people pulled him onto the ship. He lay sprawled on the floor, dizzy and confused. Lights were shone in his eyes, and someone was tugging at his trousers. He felt a pressure injector pushed against his butt cheek. “Nera?” He couldn’t see her. “Where is she?”

  “Here.” She shouldered past a med tech and pressed a hand to his shoulder. A second med tech hovered beside her, holding a pressure injector. He looked too afraid to inject her. Finally, she snatched the device from him, shoved her trousers down over one hip and injected herself.

  “You’re both very lucky. Ms. Darc was showing fewer signs of radiation poisoning, but you, Dr. Phoenix…a few minutes more out there, and you would have been confined to the medbay for the next few days.” The tech fumbled around in his med kit. “You’ll feel a little groggy for a bit, but you’ll be fine.”

  “What happened?” Avril pushed forward, looking extremely pissed off. “I was trying to contact you.”

  Nik smiled at Nera. “We found something.”

  Avril went still. “What?”

  “Three classic cars. In pristine condition.”

  Avril gasped and yanked out her Sync. “Give me the coordinates. We need to bring them aboard.”

  As Avril started chattering at crew members and planning their retrieval strategy, Nik just smiled at Nera. “We’re not a bad team.”

  Her lips lifted at the corners. Nik let his heavy eyelids close. Smile number two. It appeared he was on a roll.

  Chapter Seven

  Nera watched the cars being lifted up into the hold of the Drake. The Institute team were treating them as though they were made of glass. A few other archeologists and crew members hovered around, snapping images, taking measurements, and scribbling furiously on their Syncs. Avril was extra perky, which made Nera feel a little ill.

  “They are something,” Niklas said.

  She glanced at him. He looked fine now, the pale pallor of the radiation poisoning replaced by his usual tan skin. She’d hated seeing him ill and flat on his back.

  Her jaw tightened, and she looked back at the cars. Someone…or something…had tried to trap them down in that hole.

  And that made her mad.

  “What do you think of them?”

  She focused on what Niklas was saying. “Well, they aren’t gold, but they are shiny.” She studied the lines of the cars. “I appreciate their design. There’s something stylish about them. I imagine driving them fast would have been a pleasure.”

  “Yeah, I can see you driving the Cobra. It’d suit you.”

  His blue eyes caught her, pulled her in.

  Avril rushed over. “Well done, Nik. They are fabulous.”

  Nik looked over his shoulder at the archeologist. “Nera deserves half the credit. Maybe more, because without her, we would have died out there.”

  Avril’s smile slipped. “Yes, it was a close call. Well…good work, both of you.”

  Yeah, Nera was really feeling the love from Luma-Symthe.

  “This is exactly the kind of find we’re after,” Avril continued. “My team will decontaminate them shortly. It’s standard procedure for all artifacts we bring aboard. We clear the cargo area and let off a decon light bomb to reduce the radiation to safe levels and kill any stowaway bugs.”

  “Someone trapped us in that car showroom.” Nera knew the hard edge in her voice was obvious.

  Avril blinked. “But no one was near you. The other teams were already back at the ship.”

  “Something was near us,” Nera insisted.

  Avril lifted her Sync, her brow furrowed. “I’ll have the science team on the Magellan run more detailed scans. Perhaps some wildlife has survived in this area? However, most of the mutated animals are difficult to spot on the scans. They are so irradiated, they blend into the background.”

  “When can we head back out?” Niklas asked.

  Nera straightened. She was eager to get back out there, too…with Niklas. Like he’d said, they made a surprisingly good team. She appreciated his steadier approach, the way he evaluated and assessed everything.

  “The med techs have given everyone the all-clear.”

  “Excellent.” He looked at Nera. “Ready?”

  She nodded. “Ready.”

  They didn’t waste any time. After suiting up again, they headed down to the surface and were soon wandering through a new part of the ruins. Steel framework protruded from the sand, spearing into the air.

  Nera touched the metal, wondering at the people who’d made it, built the structure, and called it home.

  “Makes you wonder what life was like here, doesn’t it?” Niklas was staring down the dune. More of the structure was visible above the sand. It formed a giant metal framework.

  “Whatever it was like, they destroyed it.” Nera climbed up a steel truss. “I might get a better view from up here.”

  “You climb like a Zamorian leopard. It’s extremely sexy to watch.”

  Nera almost lost her footing. She leapt up onto a flat part of the structure and looked down at him. “Are you flirting with me?”

  “I don’t flirt.”

  She was pretty sure he was flirting. She tilted her head, considering him. She didn’t think anyone had ever flirted with her. Most people were too afraid of her. Although, she guessed the little cat-and-mouse game she and Niklas had been playing the last few years might qualify. “Sexy is you without a shirt on.”

  He went very still.

  “Your muscle tone is unexpected in a man who enjoys books and e-records as much as you—”

  “Nera—” His voice sounded a little choked.

  “And that light dusting of dark hair on your chest is very attractive.”

  He made a sound like a growl. “Nera.”

  She couldn’t control her smile. This was kind of fun. “You started it.”

  He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly the ground started shaking.

  “Earthquake!” he shouted.

  Nera lost her footing. She didn’t panic, even as adrenaline surged into her system. She rode the beam down to the point where it was sheared off, then leapt out into the air. She hung there for a second, could hear Niklas cursing.

  She grabbed another beam, her fingers curling around the length of metal. She swung around the beam like a space circus performer, and ended up with her hips pressed to the beam.

  But the shaking continued. She wasn’t going to be able to hold on. She slid off, dangling from one hand. And her tenuous grip was slipping.

  She looked down and saw Niklas running toward her. A huge metal beam crashed to the sand, just missing him.

  Her fingers slipped even more. She’d probably survive the drop…but it would hurt. And she’d break a few things.

  Nera fumbled for her grappler, the trusty tool of every treasure hunter. She snatched the device off her belt.

  Her fingers slipped off the beam and she fell.

  “Nera!”

  She blocked out Niklas’ shout. She aimed the grappler, focusing on the sturdy beam far above her head. She shot out the grappling line.

  The thin, ultra-strong line whizzed out with a quiet ticking noise. She kept falling, the ground rushing closer.

  Then the grappler hook hit the beam.

  Her fall was stopped with a sharp jerk. She hung there for a second, then the grappler retracted and she zoomed upward.

  Once she pulled herself safely onto the beam, she sat there for a second to catch her breath.

  Belatedly, she noticed the earthquake had stopped.

  Niklas stood below, his face stark, his hands on his hips. “You okay?”

  She nodded.

  “Come down. Now.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. He didn’t often put on that autocratic, bossy tone, and it should grate on her. She would never take orders from anyone ever again. But somehow, with him, it was different.

  She shimmied down the beam, walked across another, and then when she was low enough, she jumped down to the bl
ack sand.

  In an instant, strong arms engulfed her, yanking her in to a hard chest. Her face was pressed against his shirt.

  “Don’t do that again.” His voice was raspy.

  “I am not responsible for an earthquake, Niklas.”

  “Just… Be quiet. Let me hold you.”

  So she did. Because he seemed to need it. She let herself relax into the solid warmth of him. She liked it. Most of all, she liked the fact that he cared whether or not she lived or died.

  Yelling from the bottom of the dune had them pulling apart.

  One of the Institute security team was jogging toward them.

  “What’s going on?” Niklas asked.

  “Solomon. Quake knocked him off the structure he was exploring and it opened up a huge chasm in the earth below him. He’s going to fall into it any second if someone doesn’t help him. I’m headed back to the ship now to get help.” The man took off at a run.

  But Nera read what the man wasn’t saying. Solomon didn’t have that long.

  “Come on.” Niklas jogged down the dune. Nera followed.

  They passed Gunn trudging back up the slope.

  “Where are you going?” Niklas demanded.

  Gunn scowled. “I’m hungry. Time for a snack.” He ignored Nera.

  “That man needs your help.” Niklas stabbed a finger to where they could see Solomon’s lean body was dangling from a beam. As they watched, the beam slipped a little bit farther, dropping him toward the huge, cavernous hole beneath.

  Gunn shrugged and turned away. “Not my problem. I’m not risking my neck for anyone.”

  Icy rage slid through Nera’s veins. “Don’t you mean, you’d like to reduce the number of people the e-creds are divided by?”

  A snake-like grin. “There’s that, too.”

  Nera wrinkled her nose like she’d sniffed something bad. “Coward and an asshole. How shocking.”

  Gunn’s jaw tightened. He looked like he wanted to confront her, but they both knew he was too afraid of her. He stomped up the hill.

  Niklas reached the edge of the chasm first. “Holy shit.”

  That was putting it mildly. A ragged gash had opened up in the dark sand, like some sort of horrible gaping maw.

  He peered in. “I can’t see a bottom.”