by D. M. Pruden
“I hold a black belt in jujitsu.”
“Of course you do,” I say under my breath. Advanced combat training is a necessary part of every young lady’s formal education where you come from. Makes me wonder how good you are, if you ended up getting yourself kidnapped.
I am immediately ashamed of my cattiness. Her father wanted her to be able to protect herself. Given who he is, that was not an unreasonable precaution. Every parent should be so concerned for the safety of their children. And no matter how well trained she is, even a martial arts expert is no match for a bunch of armed goons who want to take you hostage.
“When we get to where the lights end,” says Chambers, “try to hug the wall and stay low. It will be awkward because the decking narrows, so be careful. Mel, keep that gun holstered until I tell you to take it out. I don’t want to get shot accidentally in the back by you.”
“The safety is on.”
He frowns. “In the holster, Destin.”
“Fine.” I double-check that the safety is, indeed, still on, then do as I’m told.
Chambers and Chloe attach torches to their automatics and begin ahead of me. I keep my light pointed at the ground immediately in front of me to make sure I don’t step off the narrowing decking.
Our pace slows to something easy for me to manage, though the contortions Chambers expects me to perform to stay close to the wall are almost impossible. I’m like an unbalanced tightrope walker as I lean against the rock and mechanically put one foot in front of the other edge of the metal decking. Even though a misstep won’t prove fatal, Phobos’s gravity will make it difficult to regain my footing if I make a mistake.
We come to a halt after ten minutes of creeping in the dark. The way is blocked by a two-metre-high pile of rubble.
“Shit,” says Chambers as he plays his light over the rocky debris. Boulders the size of my head and smaller litter the floor and reach up to the ceiling.
“What the hell happened here?” I ask.
“A tunnel collapsed?”
“Is Willis under these rocks?” says Chloe.
Chambers says, “No video record shows him leaving, so maybe.”
“We don’t know how old this rockfall is,” I say, remembering the dead Martians. Willis somehow managed to exit this place to dispose of their bodies.
“Mel, look at this mess,” says Chambers despairingly. “We didn’t see any other doors or openings on our way here. He came in and never left. He must be buried beneath this.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” I say without conviction. I want to tell them about the men Willis murdered and why I’m certain he’s not here. I do not, however, want to endanger them. It is far healthier for them to end this search and return to Requiem. If my investigation with Owen turns anything up, I’ll find a way to tell them, but for now, it is better to let them be disappointed.
“Wait, there’s something here,” shouts Chloe. She shines her light at the ceiling. Chambers and I join her. Just visible as a shadow from our lights is the barely discernible the edge of a square cut.
“A door?” I say.
“Maybe,” says Chambers. “A person could pass through it.”
“How does it open?” Chloe asks.
“It’s high up,” I say. “Someone would need to be tall just to reach it.”
She hands her gun to me and deactivates her magnetic boots. With a small jump, she floats up to the ceiling. With plenty of time before the almost nonexistent gravity coaxes her back to the ground, she probes around the opening until she finds a handhold.
Hanging effortlessly by one arm, she grins down at us.
“Brilliant,” says Chambers. “Look for some kind of switch.”
She feels around the doorway.
“I think I found something.”
A blinding flash erupts, and I’m knocked violently to the floor, my ears ringing.
Then, blackness.
Chapter Sixteen
Am I alive?
Where am I?
Am I injured?
I can’t see.
Panic tightens my chest.
Through the buzz in my ears, I hear a scream.
My throat is raw, and I realize the screaming is mine.
Breathe!
A deep gulp of air fills my lungs with dust and sends me into a coughing fit.
I’m vibrating from the flood of adrenaline blasting through my system, but my sputtering is enough to pull me from my panic.
I need to hide.
I need to run but can’t move my legs!
My spinning lizard brain beats back sluggish rational thought. It only wants me to hide or run.
White splotches before my eyes morph through a kaleidoscope of colours when I squeeze them shut.
I remember a bright flash.
An explosion.
I try again to shift my legs, but something has them pinned down.
Reaching down, my hand touches a blanket of rocks covering my lower body.
Don’t panic. Take stock. Think, dammit!
Against every instinct screaming in my brain, I force myself to control my breathing and slow it down. I lie against the rocky ground and go through an inventory of my body parts.
I can wiggle my toes. Now the legs...no pain. Good. Try the hips...
Nothing appears to be broken. I’ve probably got multiple contusions, but I won’t feel much of that until the adrenaline rush subsides.
The white splotches in my vision are diminished, but I can still see nothing. Then I recall there is no lighting in this section.
My ears no longer ring. I call out, “Hello?”
Gratified that I am not deaf, I try again. “Chloe...Chambers?”
There is a groan from the darkness.
“Roy, are you okay?”
“Yeah...maybe. I can’t move my arm; it hurts like hell, and I think I busted some ribs too. Are you all right?”
“Nothing broken, but I’m pinned under a bunch of rock. Do you know where Chloe is?”
“No. Until I heard you scream, I thought you were both...you know.”
Without thinking, I say, “She was closest to the blast...”
After a long pause, he says, “Yeah, I know.”
He groans and makes noises as he moves in the dark. “Keep talking, Mel. I’ll come to you.”
“Okay.”
I listen as his feet scuff against the rocks. His blind progress toward me is painfully slow.
My back is beginning to hurt. I try to shift position, and a shot of pain blasts down my legs. I cry out, clench my teeth, and fall back until the wave of agony subsides.
“Mel! What’s wrong?”
“My back might be buggered.”
“Broken?”
“I don’t know. I can still wiggle my toes, so the spinal cord isn’t damaged. It may be a cracked vertebra, a disc herniation, or just a badly injured muscle or tendon. I need a doctor.”
“That’s a bit ironic.”
“You’re just to the left of me, Roy.”
A hand brushes against my arm.
“Okay,” he says, relief in his voice, “I found you.”
“I think we’re fucked,” I say.
“Naw, this is just a setback. The tunnel’s air seal isn’t breached.”
“Yeah, but I’m already half buried under rocks.”
“So, we’ll dig you out.”
Stones grate together as he picks one up. “They don’t weigh all that much in this gravity. Even with one arm, I think I can manage this. Hell, you might be able to kick a lot of it away.”
I grunt under the effort, but I’m shut down by the stabbing agony in my lower back. “Nope.”
“I think the ceiling collapsed in the explosion,” says Chambers.
“Chloe was right under it.”
His steady rhythm of rock picking does not let up. “Yeah, I know.”
He moves boulders for a few more minutes. “Try now.”
I fight through the pain to flex my
right knee. “I’m almost free.”
A minute later, I scream as I pull my leg out.
“Mel, are you okay?”
“Fuck, that hurt!”
His hands search for me, locating my hip and following it down to my liberated stocking-covered foot, magnetic boot long gone beneath the rocks.
“You could at least buy me dinner before you grope me.”
“Humph, you haven’t lost your sense of ha-ha. Your other leg is still buried. Can you move it?”
I brace myself and flex the knee. It moves to the sound of rocks cascading off the pile. Wiggling my foot, I ignore the torment in my lower back and slowly exhume my trapped leg.
Realizing that Chambers heard only my grunts, I say, “I’m free.”
“Can you stand?”
“Let’s not rush things,” I say as I fall to my back to let the stabbing spams subside.
After a moment of rest, I say, “Roy, even if I can manage to walk, in which direction do we start groping? I’m totally disoriented. All I know for certain is where the floor is.”
“The walls shouldn’t take long to find. After that, we head away from the rock debris.”
A moan comes from the dark.
“Chloe!”
She doesn’t answer. Chambers is already moving in her direction to locate her, but in the darkness without her voice to guide him, the task is impossible. Maybe if we had one of the torches...
Destin, you dumb shit!
My hand finds the comm interface on my jacket sleeve. It flickers briefly when I turn it on, then a blue glow shines steady and bright through its smashed screen.
I raise my left arm and hold it like a beacon in the dark.
“Chambers, wait. I have a light.”
I tear the sleeve away and hand it to him so he can begin the search while I struggle to stand.
Fortunately, on Phobos I only weigh a few grams, so the only stress on my injury comes from twisting or moving. One small, spastic leg jerk could send me flying in any direction, so I take slow, deliberate steps, babying my back. The movement is kind of like walking in a swimming pool but without the resistance of the water. The motion is unnatural, and I move deliberately to become accustomed to it.
Even with the dim illumination helping, it takes almost thirty minutes to find Chloe amidst the rubble, with Chambers doing most of the work.
The force of the explosion threw her out of the path of the collapsing ceiling. She was dashed against the wall like a rag doll. She is in bad shape, drifting in and out of consciousness. Her face is a bloody mess, but a quick assessment reveals no obvious broken limbs. I can’t rule out internal injuries, however.
“She needs immediate medical care,” I say.
Chambers sighs. He doesn’t need to state the obvious. Given our situation, she won’t last long.
“Is this comm unit working?” he asks as he turns it over to examine it.
“No. We are lucky the light still works.”
“And we’re too deep for Requiem or anyone above to pick up our CI signals.”
“What should we do?” I ask.
“I can hike out and get help.”
“I don’t think Chloe has that much time.”
“Then there’s no choice, Mel. Nobody is going to come looking for us. We need to make our way out of here.” He looks at Chloe. “Even with only one arm, I can carry her, no problem. In this gravity she weighs next to nothing. The question is, how are you to travel?”
“I think I’m okay.”
Without another word, he gently lifts her with one hand, like a magician.
“Take your time, Mel. Call out if you fall too far behind.”
“Don’t wait for me to catch up, Chambers. Get her to a medical centre as fast as you can. You can always send someone back for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Get going,” I say. “She’s running out of time.”
“I’ll stay with you until we get to where the lights are working. I don’t leave any of my team behind.”
“Your stupid idea of teamwork might sound fine to you in principle, but by waiting for me, you’re putting Chloe’s life at risk. Her need trumps mine. Go!”
The blue glow from the comm unit makes his face a macabre mask. He stares at me as he considers my irrefutable logic, then he turns and moves quicker than I possibly could up the tunnel.
I follow the light until it eventually is swallowed by the darkness.
When it vanishes, and the black presses in on me, any sense of connection I had to him goes with it. I am alone, lost, injured, and blind on an alien world. Unable to see, I can’t risk taking a step, especially with my delicate back. I grope my way along, shuffling my feet to avoid invisible obstacles. My progress slows significantly until I finally give up. I slide down the wall to sit on the floor and wait for help to come.
There is no telling how long it will be until someone comes for me.
Chapter Seventeen
A noise from the tunnel startles me. I think I dozed.
A light bobs up and down in the darkness in time with the sound of footsteps on the metal deck that draw nearer.
Alone, I lost all track of time, but I doubt Chambers has been gone long enough to send someone back for me. I want to call out, but I’m frightened. I know I am irrational. In my condition, I won’t get out of here without someone’s help. Still, fear of revealing myself grips me. What if Willis is returning?
I press against wall and crouch as much as my aching back permits me. Like a terrified rabbit, my breathing shallows. I dare not tear my eyes from the approaching light.
The beam settles on me, making me feel naked and vulnerable.
“Mel?”
It takes me a moment to recognize his voice.
“Owen!”
He hurries to my side.
“I came as soon as I could. What happened to you?”
I explain everything to him.
“You’re lucky to be alive,” he says. “You know that, right?”
“Chloe took the brunt of it. You must’ve passed her and Chambers in the tunnel?”
“No, I didn’t come across anyone.”
“How long since I sent you my message?”
“I opened it two hours ago, but you transmitted it yesterday,” he says.
“Shit.”
“Can you walk, Mel?”
“As long as I don’t make any sudden movements, I should be fine.”
He effortlessly helps me to stand, then he shines his torch on my feet.
“Where are your mag boots?”
“Under a pile of rocks back there.”
“That’s okay,” he says. “I can carry you out.”
He puts an arm around my back, and I cry out in pain. We try several times until we find a way for him to support me that doesn’t hurt. He ends up carrying me like a new bride across the threshold.
“I’m fucking useless,” I say as he starts back up the tunnel with me holding the light.
“We’re fortunate you don’t weigh much here. Anywhere else and we’d be taking you out on a stretcher.”
“Anywhere else and I might be dead.”
“Perhaps,” he says. “Luckily we didn’t have to call the paramedics. You’d be asked what you were doing in a restricted area.”
“There wasn’t a barrier or a sign.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of how Mars works. You don’t know you broke the law until they tell you.”
“Well, how is anyone supposed to know?”
“It’s a subtle way of encouraging a more tightly knit society. If you’re integrated into the community, you’re privy to all the rules, spoken and unspoken.”
“Are you? Integrated, I mean.”
“It goes with the job. Mars is still very much a frontier. Survival depends on working cooperatively.”
“Humph,” I say, “more of that shit.”
“What are you talking about, Mel?”
“Oh, Chambers is on me a
bout not being a part of the team. I grew up in a place where if you depend on others, they’ll eventually betray you. Being a loner is a hard habit to break.”
“I’m from Terra too, remember?”
“So, how did you do it?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “It comes naturally from the way I was raised.”
“You mean you learned it from your family.”
“Yeah. After they died, it took me a long time to realize not everyone is trustworthy. That was hard for a young boy.”
“You trusted me when we met.”
I can’t see his face, but I detect the smile in his voice. “Sometimes, I just know.”
“I don’t know why you did. As I recall, I wasn’t too nice to you.”
“That’s not how I remember it, Mel.”
“I pushed you into a fucking river.”
“We’ve already discussed that.”
“Yeah, water under the bridge, I suppose.”
“You must be feeling better.”
We continue through the lighted part of the tunnel in silence. When we emerge into the central corridor, I catch sight of a camera in the ceiling. Owen sees me watching it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go into the system later and erase all records of you coming and going.”
“Is that an easy thing to do?”
“Only if you know your way around it.”
I ponder his words. “Willis was a Morality Officer on Luna. If anyone could get around security, it would be him. It was bait,” I say.
“What?”
“Don’t you find it curious that the only surveillance video that he shows up in conveniently pointed us at his booby trap?”
“You think he’s been in the system already and deliberately lured you in there to kill you?”
“Not me, specifically; I doubt he’s aware I’m after him. But the image was difficult enough to discover that he knew anyone who found it would be searching for him.”
“Hmm, possibly. I can check for any tell-tale signs of tampering. If there is anything odd, a review of the backup record might prove fruitful.”
“If he didn’t erase that as well.”
“Yes, but it still might be worth a peek.”
“You surprise me, Owen. At this point I expected you to encourage me to drop it and be grateful I wasn’t killed.”
