Once through the Ghe Wespero, Jon and Dina opened the throttles, and the machines sped smoothly through the desert air across the Albho Mar. Dina watched the undulating waves of white sand move beneath her and felt almost mesmerized as the endless patterns of light and shadow passed. She took note of the small way stations that appeared every five decbars, like silent sentinels, and, remembering Khilioi’s warning, forced herself to keep her line of sight high and to keep shifting her gaze to prevent the hypnotic effect of the waves of sand from distorting her perception.
For all her dislike of Khilioi’s condescending ways, she was grateful he’d taken the time to explain “desert hypnosis” to her and Jon, and had given them tips on how to prevent it. Moving her head slightly and skating her eyes across the landscape gave her a good excuse to watch Jon. He was a little ahead of her and to her left, and rode his skimmer with a relaxed seat, as if he had been born to the desert world. Dressed in a white weather suit, he looked strong and sure of himself. She had to force herself to shift her eyes to the trail finder, the skimmer controls, and the horizon, but her gaze always seemed to fall back to Jon.
Soon she could see that the skyline was no longer flat, but humped with the tops of white and gray peaks, like the sails of giant ships that sprout on the horizon as they approach the observer. As she neared the tall crests, they seemed to multiply, like an armada spread across the sea. They teased her vision, seeming, through the wavering heat shimmer, to extend endlessly in either direction along the horizon. But as she neared the base of the Chayne Gwer, she saw that the range of low mountains diminished to the south and extended only to the north.
Dina knew from the maps that the mines were at the foot of the Chayne, dead ahead, and that the low mounds snaking their way north, like large naked children crawling over the sand, made up the range known as the Wiara Gwer. As they approached Dheru Kel, Jon and Dina cut back on their throttles, easing the skimmers to a slow drift. They could see a large metal structure built flush against the gray granite mountain. Signs announced “Dheru Kel, Operated by Mother Lode Mining Consolidated, Access Beyond This Point Restricted.”
Jon and Dina parked their skimmers in an area where numerous other skimmers, huggers, and a large transport were also parked, set the parking braces, and strode to the structure’s entrance. Dina, for one, was eager to get out of the sun. At the door an amplified voice requested their ID chips and audio identification. After a moment, the door slid open, and a man wearing a gray uniform sporting a “Mother Lode Mining Security” patch beckoned them in. After the security check was completed, another man, similarly dressed, approached.
He was of medium height, with cropped brown hair and eyes so dark she couldn’t see their color. It was difficult to guess his age, for though his features appeared young, black circles collared his visage, making the dark eyes appear almost unholy.
“Agents Rzije and Marlijn, welcome to Dheru Kel. I’m Kalyo Rhoemer. Chief Hrothi is aware of your arrival. However, he asks that you have some time to freshen up from your trip before you see him. Follow me, please.”
Jon and Dina followed Rhoemer to a comfortably appointed room stocked with water, cleansing cloths, weather suits, and various pieces of miner’s gear. Restrooms were off to one side, and private dressing rooms were on the other.
“If you plan on a tour of the mines, you’ll need a miner’s hood. Choose one that fits, and please avail yourselves of anything else you need. When you’re finished, ring the buzzer.” Rhoemer indicated a button near the door and left.
Jon was just about to touch the button several moments later when his hand froze in midair.
“Hold on. My comm is sounding.” Jon paused. “Yes, sir . . . We just arrived at Dheru Kel, sir,” Jon answered into his commband. He listened, and Dina waited. Finally, with a final barrage of “yes sir, no sir, yes sir,” Jon disconnected the call.
Dina didn’t like the look on his face. The green eyes glowed like light shining through emerald, and tight lines played with the corners of his mouth, pursing it, relaxing it, then twisting the curve of his lower lip up and down. “That was Chandhel. Something’s come up. Something important. He’s requesting—no, ordering—us to meet with him immediately at his office.”
Dina let out a long breath, not realizing she’d been holding it while she waited for Jon to speak. “How can they expect us to make progress this way?”
“I know, I know. But we can’t ignore his summons.”
“Jon, do both of us have to go? What if you go and I stay to tour the mines? This is important. If I at least stay, we won’t lose valuable time.”
Jon hesitated before answering, lowering his head. Finally he raised it and nodded. “All right. But I want marks every half hour. And safety, I repeat, safety, is your number one concern. You don’t go anywhere alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Get someone from the mine to escort you back to the city.”
“Yes, if I can. Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s part of my job to worry about you.”
“You’d better get going.”
“Not before I see you set your commband for those marks.”
Dina let out an exasperated sigh, but did as Jon requested, revising the setting on her commband to remind her, through both a tone emitted through her earpiece and a vibration on her wrist, to send a mark to Jon every half hour.
He put a hand to Dina’s shoulder, then pressed the button to summon Rhoemer. Jon explained the change in plans, and Rhoemer escorted him out.
Dina was on her own. She drew a deep breath, and faced the security officer when he returned. “Tell me, do the miners use the areas we’ve been in?”
“Oh, no. The miners have a separate entrance and facilities for cleanup and refreshment. This area is reserved for visitors and administrative personnel only. This way, please, Agent Marlijn. Chief Hrothi is waiting.”
Dina followed Rhoemer to the rear of the building and stopped before a door that was marked “Chief of Security.” Rhoemer announced them, a door slid open, and they passed through an anteroom to an inner office. A tall, middle-aged man stood and came forward to greet them. He was handsome, with dark gray hair, long silver sideburns, and clear cerulean eyes.
“Thank you, Kal. Agent Marlijn, please come in and sit down. I’m Karsa Hrothi, Chief of Security for the Mother Lode mines here on Exodus.” Hrothi continued speaking as Dina made herself comfortable. “We’ve been awaiting your arrival with great anticipation. I’m prepared to answer any questions you have and to cooperate fully with any request you have. Too many good men have died, Agent Marlijn. The matter needs to be resolved before anyone else loses his life.” Hrothi made a gesture with his hands. “Please, I am open to your questions.”
“First, tell me about your security measures, both for the gems and for all personnel. Then I’d appreciate a tour of the mining facility.”
“Of course. Historically, Mother Lode has had very few problems with theft, or with its personnel. All miners hired are members in good standing of the Synergy Mining Guild. Mining is a hard job, but for those who don’t mind the travel or being away from family for long periods of time, it’s a good-paying job. All miners sign a contract for a particular job for a particular length of time. The contract-fulfillment bonuses are quite high. Punishment for theft or smuggling of gems is very severe. Anyone caught with even a single stone in his possession illegally is subject not only to criminal prosecution, but forfeits his fulfillment bonus and good standing in the Guild. Administrative personnel are screened just as carefully for hiring.”
“Can you give me the specifics of your security here at this mine and Kewero Kel?” asked Dina.
“Certainly. All mine personnel go through a security check upon arrival similar to the check you went through, and an even more stringent one when they leav
e. Visitors and administrative personnel come in the front entrance, the one you came through. The miners have their own entrance on the north side of the building.”
“Is there any other way into the mine except through these entrances?”
“Not into the active areas, no. But there are numerous tunnels, shafts, and crosscuts—especially in Kewero Kel, the original mine—that are worked out and abandoned. Originally the abandoned areas were of little concern. There is a negligible amount of gem-bearing rock there. The miners have no business there and know to stay out. However, since the murders, we have made attempts to close up as many of these areas as possible.”
“‘As many as possible.’ That sounds rather vague. Do I understand you to mean that it is still possible for an unauthorized person to gain access to one of these abandoned areas undetected?”
Hrothi met Dina’s gaze without wavering. His reply revealed no discomfiture or annoyance. “The fact is, either someone working for Mother Lode is responsible for the murders, or, yes, an unauthorized person has found a way to gain access. I can’t rule out the second possibility completely.”
Dina paused before answering, her eyes still locked on those of Hrothi. “I appreciate your frankness, sir.”
Hrothi inclined his head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. “We have a tour waiting. Perhaps it will answer many of your questions.”
Dina had expected him to call for Rhoemer or someone else to take her on the tour, but to her surprise, Hrothi rose, picked up a miner’s hood, and indicated that Dina put hers on. He gave her a very leisurely, complete tour of the mines, describing the mining procedures and answering all her questions.
The tour over, they unhurriedly made their way back to Hrothi’s office, the Security Chief casually chatting about exodite’s merit compared to other gemstones. Dina looked up, and from the far end of the corridor saw a tall, striking man approaching them. The man had brown hair that gleamed with red highlights each time he passed beneath a ceiling light, and as he came to a halt before her, she saw that he had eyes the color of the richest mocava.
“Agent Marlijn, this is Rum Ctararzin, our Operations Manager. Rum, Agent Mondina Marlijn of the IIB. She and her partner, Karjon Rzije, are here to help with the investigation.”
Ctararzin greeted Dina with a very proper bow. “Excellent. Welcome to Exodus and the Albho Mar. I trust your trip across the desert was not too uncomfortable? The desert sea can be a little daunting to those not used to it.”
Rum Ctararzin. The name was familiar. This was the man who had signed the revocation order banning the miner Raethe Avarti from the Guild. “Thank you, sir. I fared well.”
Ctararzin nodded, a small smile on his face which he promptly dropped. “This is a tragic, tragic situation. We’re family here at Mother Lode. These are honest, hardworking men. That they should be taken in this senseless manner is intolerable. I blame the government for their laxity in keeping this colony safe, especially the desert. Everyone knows there are dark outworlders and illegals roaming the desert at will, and yet nothing is done about them. I hope you and your partner can truly do something to stop this insanity.”
“We’ll do our best, sir.”
With another nod, this time of dismissal, Rum put a hand on Hrothi’s shoulder. “Karsa, if you have a moment . . .”
“Surely.” Hrothi turned to Dina and extended his hand. “I hope I was some help. Rhoemer will see you out. Good day, Agent Marlijn.”
Dina thanked Hrothi for the tour, and Kalyo Rhoemer arrived seconds later. Dina watched as Hrothi and Ctararzin ambled down the corridor, their heads close and their voices low. She couldn’t pick up their conversation.
At the front entrance, Rhoemer offered to send an employee back to Aeternus with Dina as an escort, but she declined. The road back to Aeternus was well traveled, and Dina was armed. Standing close to Rhoemer, she could see that his eyes were actually blue, but a blue so deep that it was like the color of the deepest ocean. A light probe picked up no malice, but a guardedness that made Dina wonder what he was shielding.
She left the building and thought about the other people she had just met. She had liked Hrothi. It had been difficult to probe him while asking him questions at the same time, but she had picked up strength, integrity, and intelligence as well as a disturbance that Dina couldn’t pinpoint. It was part fear, part hatred, and had been very strong. Dina had also picked up a strange feeling about Ctararzin. Though his words had meant to sound sincere, his speech had sounded trite and prepared to her. She wished she’d had time to probe his mind as well.
As Dina left the mine and approached her skimmer, the full force of the sun at its zenith hit her, sending a wave of heat over her. Even with her hood on, Dina felt dizzy, and her head started to pound. She stood at her skimmer for a moment, waiting for the feeling to pass, but it didn’t.
She leaned on her skimmer, the silence of the Kewero seeming to beckon her. During the tour, she and Hrothi had traveled to the rim of Kewero Kel, but the labyrinth of abandoned crosscuts and tunnels spread far north of where they had traversed in the hugger. She mounted her skimmer and, vaguely aware that she was disobeying Jon’s orders, slowly skirted the perimeter of Dheru Kel. Her head still throbbed. The sun didn’t usually affect her this much, but today it was as though the yellow heart was beating all around her, sending pulses of fire straight to the back of her eyes.
Something was here. Something important. She wove her skimmer through the carcass of Kewero Kel, passing the scars of sealed adits, that, like wounds under a surgeon’s care, had been carefully closed. Farther on, though, the wind whistled through punctures in the hillside that remained neglected, open tunnels and shafts that had no more than a warning sign posted. Like silent open mouths, they seemed to be alternately screaming in silent terror and shouting soundless warnings to her.
She slowed her skimmer at the gaping hole of a long abandoned tunnel entrance on the far northernmost Kewero rockface. This was it. Something vital to the investigation was here. She knew it. She also knew she should return to Dheru, or at least summon assistance, but she couldn’t. Dust rose in lazy ribbons around her skimmer as she dismounted and approached the adit. She realized she had left her rez gun on the skimmer, but she couldn’t turn back. She had to move on.
The pounding in her head blossomed like an explosion, and the desire for the shade of the entrance overwhelmed all else. She stumbled forward, and as she lunged from the blinding blood of the sun into the black breath of the shade, she fell into the arms of a man swathed in full desert regalia. She tried to adjust her eyes to the shadowed interior, but none of her senses or reflexes were as swift as the stranger’s, who snagged both her arms and held her as if she were nothing but a doll.
Dina tried to speak, but she seemed sapped of both strength and will in this man’s grip. Brief, disjointed images were all that flashed through her mind. Power. Blackness. A malevolence. All as tangible as the brawn of his muscles. A helplessness that was foreign to her drained the strength from her legs.
She sagged in his arms, seeing nothing but the visor of a dark sunshield, its shiny surface ringed by layers of a colorless scarf that hid all identifying features. He jerked her closer to his body, and she gasped. She heard laughter, and felt a red-hot heat radiate from the man straight through to her bare skin. A dagger seemed to pierce her skull, laying her bare to her soul, and she collapsed, moaning.
The man said nothing, but with two efficient tugs stripped her of her commband and utility belt. He then shoved her into the murky depths of the tunnel, and the last thing she knew was a fear and vulnerability greater than anything she had ever experienced.
The fear lasted only a heartbeat. The force of a stun gun blast drilled her, enveloped her like a shroud, and sent her into a world of blackness where not even dreams lived.
Five
Dark Star
; MONDINA’S CONSCIOUS mind struggled to take control, but she couldn’t move her head or limbs. She felt disassociated from her body, as if she were floating high on the desert air currents, looking down. Just like the dream. The dream with the eagle-man. The pleasant thought was the first to filter through the clouds of her dazed mind, but the blistering air that scorched her throat as she gasped for breath quickly told her otherwise. Her mind fought harder as she realized that her body was indeed helpless, and that this was no dream.
The echo of the resonance blast that had sealed her in the mine tunnel resounded again in her mind, and every pulse told her that if she couldn’t escape, she would be the killer’s ninth victim.
Panic welled up, and with it, stinging tears. The irony swam before her. She, the hunter, had now become the prey. Dina squeezed her eyes shut and forced the fear down with an effort. As she did so, her academy training kicked in. She knew if she surrendered to hysteria, she would die in this dark pocket of hell.
No. An Interplanetary Investigation Bureau agent would not be a victim.
Her training mantra sang to her mind. I will never give up . . . never give up. The familiar words, recited over and over again in the Academy, shielded her mind from the panic, and her thought processes went to work. She had to get help, that much was obvious, but how?
Review your options, she thought. She forced her eyes open, but in the belly of the rock-ribbed desert beast called Kewero, she saw no more than a black haze that swam before her like the secrets of the dead. Did she still have her commband? Not able to see it or to move her arms to feel it on her wrist, she shut her eyes and replayed the attack in her mind, trying not to let the terror strip her memory of the facts.
She saw the faceless stranger in her mind’s eye. Cloaked in the shade of the tunnel entrance, he had seized her before her eyes could adjust to the darkness and had torn off her commband and utility belt before propelling her deeper into the bowels of the abandoned mine. The commband was gone. She couldn’t contact Jon, and she had sent her last mark to him just before she had left Dheru Kel, just before she had made her foolish decision to view the Kewero mine on her own. Why hadn’t she thought to tell someone of her plans?
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