The Chara Talisman

by Alastair Mayer

  “Hannibal? Elephants? Alps? We’re crossing a mountain, but—”

  “No, no. Hannibal, Missouri, Earth. Don’t you read anything besides your archeology journals? Come on, Carson, I hate having to explain jokes.”

  “Then find better ones. What about Hannibal, Missouri?”

  “The Mark Twain cave. Tom Sawyer, the cave where Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher get lost.”

  Carson groaned. “Roberts, you are worse than sick! And before you get started, let’s not even mention Ali Baba or King Solomon’s Mines, all right?”

  “If you sesame so, chief.”

  Marten had been mostly ignoring the banter; the cultural references obviously meant little to him. Instead he’d been staring at the stream flowing along the cavern floor. “I hate to interrupt,” he said, “but am I mistaken in thinking that the water level has risen since we stopped to rest?”

  Chapter 30: Getting Wet

  The surface

  Rico swore as the cold rain drizzled down the back of his collar. He’d been one of the few who had even thought to bring a rain poncho, but his was wrapped around the gizmo, keeping it dry. Hopkins had appropriated a poncho from one of the others, so most of them were trudging along, wet and miserable.

  “Hey boss,” he called. “How about we double-time it for a while? Warm us up and get us back to the ship sooner.”

  “Works for me.” Hopkins raised his voice to the others. “All right, let’s pick it up. But watch your step, I don’t wanna slow down for a twisted ankle or broken leg.” With that he moved out in an easy jog, taking the lead.

  “You heard the man,” Rico said, “let’s double time. Move it!”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Carson and Roberts both looked at the stream. It didn’t look any different to Carson, but he hadn’t looked at it closely when they’d stopped. He got to his feet, they’d better keep moving. “All right. Roberts, you seem to be too rested anyway. Let’s go.”

  Jackie moved to take the lead, and they began again to descend the cave, following the stream. Was it running a little fuller? He couldn’t be sure.

  There was something else bothering Carson. “By the way, Jackie, they took our weapons. Where’d you get the knife?”

  “What? Oh. Boot knife. They were looking for guns and big knives, not this little thing.” Her grin faded. “Besides, they were more interested in checking my boobs than my boots.”

  “Oh. Sorry I asked.” Carson clenched his fists. That was something else Hopkins would answer for.

  They pressed onward, quickening their pace.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  They continued their descent into the blackness, their lights cocooning them in little bubbles of illumination as they went. Somehow this reminded Carson of warp bubbles. Perhaps it reminded Jackie, too. She said: “I will be so happy when we’re back aboard the Sophie.”

  “So will we all. I'll be even happier if we can somehow get the Maguffin back. But let’s get out of this cave first.” The tunnel here varied from five to eight feet wide; sometimes high enough to walk comfortably, sometimes the ceiling came low enough that he and Jackie had collected some nasty knocks on the head. Marten had managed to avoid those. The stream on the floor of the tunnel was six to eight inches deep at that point, perhaps three feet wide, and flowing swiftly with the downward slope of the tunnel. But all things considered—the bumps on the head, Marten’s wounds from the cat attack—the going was fairly easy. At least they weren’t doing a belly crawl through mud.

  “Carson, how do we know this stream doesn’t just end in an underground lake or a tunnel full of water with no way out?” Jackie asked.

  “There’s still a slight breeze in the tunnel, and the water has to go somewhere, otherwise it would have just filled up the whole mountain.” Carson knew that water could seep out through cracks or small openings that no human—or timoan—could ever hope to squeeze through, and also aware of the possibility of a sump, a dip in the cave tunnel that was filled to the ceiling with water even if the tunnel ahead were clear, like the U-shaped trap in the drain pipe under a sink. He avoided mentioning any of this to Roberts.

  “Anyway,” Carson continued, “remember the springs we saw on the way up? There’ll be others, bigger ones.”

  “If you say so,” said Jackie, “I hope you’re right.”

  So did Carson.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Hopkins’ party had reached the foothills when the rain began to let up. “Okay, rest break,” he said, and pushed his poncho back to check his omni.

  “How much further, boss?” Rico was breathing hard, but nothing like the heavy panting that was coming from a couple of the team members. Wimps, Rico thought.

  “Just a few miles, we’re almost there. How’s the gizmo?”

  “Fine. Nice and dry.” More than I can say for myself.

  “Good.” Hopkins checked his omni. “Okay, men. Ten minutes and then we go.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Marten had the lead when he suddenly stopped and called back, “Hey, I think I see daylight ahead! Just a glimmer.”

  “Really? All right, everyone stop. Let’s douse our lights for a moment,” Carson said, and switched off his own. The others did so in succession, the cave growing darker—but not pitch dark. There was a paler patch ahead; they could actually see a vague, not quite so dark outline of the cave wall ahead against the darker black near them. They must be near an exit; further back in the cave there had been only one shade of dark—pitch black. Carson hoped it wasn’t just some small gap impossible to squeeze through.

  “Great,” he said. “Not much further now, let’s go.” He turned his light back on, the others doing likewise, and they continued down the passage, a bit more spring to their steps.

  They continued another fifty or sixty feet down the tunnel. The light from ahead was now bright enough that their flashlights made little difference. The flat area between the edge of the stream and the cave wall had narrowed, and the sideways angle of the floor was steeper. Carson was in the lead. He heard Jackie’s surprised yelp from behind him, and a splash. He whirled at the sound.

  “That is freaking cold!” Jackie was standing in the stream, the water up past her knees, shaking water from her hands.

  “What happened? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, I just slipped. Good thing this stream isn’t any deeper.” She reached a hand to Carson. “Here, help me up.”

  The footing was awkward. He leaned across the narrow stream and braced his left hand on the opposite wall of the cave, then reached out to Jackie with his right. They grabbed each other’s wrists and with Carson’s help, she pulled herself up and out.

  “The stream bed slopes downward faster than the cave floor,” she said. “And the water’s too cold to walk in for long anyway, we need to keep to the ledge.”

  Carson nodded. “Right. Like me, feet on the ledge, brace yourselves against the opposite wall.” He demonstrated, leaning across the passage at an angle, doing a sideways shuffle with both feet and hands to keep out of the stream.

  “That’s easy for you primates. My arms and legs are shorter,” Marten grumbled. He dropped himself across the tunnel, bridging the stream at a shallower angle than Carson or Roberts. “Never mind. I’ll manage.”

  A few yards further on the cave ceiling lowered to where Carson and Roberts had to duck their heads. The second time Carson banged his head on the rock overhead, he said to Marten, “You know, there are advantages to being short.” But the light was getting brighter. They had to be close to an exit.

  As they rounded the last corner, daylight reflected through the water and made patterns on the cave walls and ceiling. Carson looked back at the others.

  “It looks like we’ve got some good news and some bad news,” he said. Indeed. There was a day-lit opening that should be large enough for them to escape through. But the cave roof sloped down, and that opening was under water. “I think you’re going to have to go for a swim, Marten.”
/>   Marten muttered an oath under his breath. “I do not swim,” he said in a louder voice.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Jackie moved up to where Carson was standing, and examined the opening. The stream filled the whole width of the cave—only about five or six feet at this point, and the ledge on the left side that they were crouching on just merged with the wall. There was a ridge descending from the cave ceiling, parallel to the wall. Jackie put her hands on it to steady herself as she leaned across the stream to peer beyond it, and saw another ledge on the opposite side, just a few inches below the water surface. “Hang on, I’m crossing over.” She followed word with action, taking one large step across and standing, feet wet, on the other side. She crouched down even lower, trying to see that part of the cave mouth that the dip in the ceiling blocked from the others.

  Was that a gap above the water surface? Jackie inched forward, looked again. Something was touching the surface of the water, but . . . it was leaves! There was a gap of perhaps eight or ten inches between the surface of the water and the roof of the cave on this side of the exit, and vegetation—a tangle of vines or bushes—was growing from the outside rock above and hanging down over the entrance down to the water level. But how deep was it?

  “Here, take my light,” Jackie said as she passed it across to Carson. “There’s a gap on this side, I’m going to see how deep the water is.” Steadying herself with her hands on the wall and low ceiling of the passage, Jackie eased one leg off the ledge and down into the pool. The coldness of the water bit into her leg and she sucked in a breath. The bottom sloped away and she groped around with the toe of her boot, the water up to her thigh now. Nope, she couldn’t quite touch bottom; it was deeper than that.

  She shifted her body to sit on the ledge, back to the wall, leaning a bit forward to steady herself with her hands on the opposite ceiling, where it dipped. Her butt was wet now, sitting on the underwater ledge, and the water was cold. Here goes nothing, she thought, and slipped off the ledge, stretching her legs down and bracing for a complete submergence.

  She slid down as far as her waist, and her feet touched bottom. Yes! She took a few quick breaths, panting as her legs numbed to the frigid water.

  “Okay, it’s about waist deep here, I’m standing on the bottom, I’m going to check out the exit.” Jackie called back to the others as she eased herself forward toward the lowering ceiling and the leaf covered exit. She bent over, trying to keep her head and as much of her torso out of the icy water as she could, but her shirt wicked up the water, leaving her chilled. As she reached the exit, she took a deep breath, held it, and waded forward. She felt the leaves brushing her head, the ripples from her motion splashing against her face, and she was through.

  She stood up and wiped water and muddy leaves from her face with her hands. She was about to let out a whooping cheer when she remembered that somewhere out there there were Hopkins and his thugs, and she had no idea if they were in earshot. She stifled the yell.

  She turned back to tell the others, ducked her head to go back into the cave, and stopped. It was pitch black in there, her eyes were now used to the outside light and she couldn’t see a thing. She couldn’t yell into the cave from here, she might be heard by somebody else. But it was so damn dark. No, she remembered, there’s plenty of light in there. Just sit here a moment with eyes closed and adapt to the dark. Ignore the freezing water. Okay, deep breath, in you go.

  It was only a couple of steps until she could stand up straighter, and yes, there was light in here. Carson and Marten were still waiting patiently, anxiously. “What kept you?” asked Carson.

  Jackie ignored the question. “There’s a way out. It’s a little overgrown and the water’s going to be about chest high on you, Marten, but there’s a small gap between water and roof all the way out. It’s only a few steps, no problem.”

  “All right. You lead. Carson, can you follow close behind please?” said Marten.

  “Of course. Here, give me your stuff, keep your hands free.”

  Marten did not like the water, and cursed bitterly about how cold it was, but they managed the exit without serious mishap. They were all soaked, and cold, but forced themselves to do a quick reconnoiter of the area. They found no sign of Hopkins or his men. Above, the overcast was breaking up. Blue sky showed through, together with a few rays of sunlight.. Safe for the moment, they found a clearing where the ground was already warming in the sunlight and sprawled out to dry off, savoring their freedom.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Carson didn’t give them time to rest. “Come on, we have to get a move on. Hopkins has already got the Maguffin, but there may still be a chance to get it back.”

  “What chance? For all we know he’s already off planet by now. And besides, he’s got a half-dozen armed men, we’ve got nothing.”

  “With that many men he had a bigger ship, which will take more time to refuel, and—”

  “Not that long, they’ve had time.”

  “—and,” Carson went on deliberately, “it will have taken them a couple of days to get down from the pyramid. We may even have taken a shortcut.”

  “It would help if we knew where we were.”

  Carson looked around. Pyramid Mountain was there, and that hill looked like one he’d seen from the trail up. “I do. The hogback we landed near is over this hill and across the valley. Five, eight miles tops. Let’s go.”

  Jackie looked at Marten. “Does he really know that? How?”

  Marten nodded. “Probably. Same way you know your stars.”

  “Okay then, let’s go.” Carson strode out, leaving Jackie and Marten to pick up their meager possessions and jog to catch up.

  They caught up, and after walking a hundred yards or so together, Jackie spoke up. “Hey Carson,” she said, “you didn’t say what we’d do about the half-dozen armed men.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t.”

  “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “What are we going to do about a half-dozen armed men?”

  “I’ll figure that out when we get there.”

  “Oh, great.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Back at the Hawk, Hopkins was directing his men to stow the gear and generally make ready for takeoff.

  “Sir, we ought to top off the tanks. You were in such a rush to get after Carson when we landed, and it was dark . . .”

  “Very well. Run a hose out to the stream. Rico, post a guard, just in case Carson does show up.”

  “You don’t really think . . .” asked Rico.

  “No, but he can keep an eye on the hose, too.”

  “Okay, boss.” Rico turned and signaled to one of his men. “Joe, guard duty. Walk the perimeter, I’ll have someone relieve you in two hours.”

  “I hope to be out of here in two hours,” said Hopkins.

  “Boss? What about testing the gizmo?” Rico had been looking forward to it.

  “Oh, all right. Rig up some kind of remote for it. And we’ll test it away from the ship. Might as well set up cameras for the test too. But I want to lift by tonight. We leave in five hours, you’ve got four.”

  “Got it, boss. Thanks.”

  Chapter 31: The Test

  The Hogback

  Jackie crept up to the ridgeline of the hogback and peeked over. Their landing area lay below. The Sophie was where she had left it, still secure. But that wasn’t all. Hopkins was also down there. At least his ship was. It—Jackie could make out the name Hawk painted on its side—was parked near the stream. A thick hose snaked out from under the ship’s belly and into the water. One of Hopkins’ goons wandered around the ship, casually holding an assault rifle, apparently standing watch. Jackie backed away from the edge of the hill and returned to her companions.

  “They’re refueling their ship, piping in water from the stream. I see one guard walking perimeter, no sign of the rest of them. They’re probably in the ship,” she told the others.

  “Maybe they’re not back yet,�
� Carson said.

  “They are. I think I recognized the guard, he was at the pyramid.”

  “Damn. And the Sophie?” asked Carson.

  “She looks okay, we’ll have to get down there to be certain. If I still had my omni I could log in to the ship’s computer from here, but . . . Well, never mind.”

  “So, what is our plan?” asked Marten.

  “Plan?” Jackie shrugged. “I have no idea. Hannibal?”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Carson had been thinking about that since they reached the ridge. “Give me a moment,” he said. “It looks like they may have been waiting for us to come back. Perhaps Hopkins thought we might find a way out.”

  Carson considered the implications. They’d be expected, although if he were Hopkins, he would have left someone or some gear to monitor the pyramid and the trail back, to alert them. Carson smiled a wry smile. This gave them a slight tactical advantage, the opposition would be expecting some warning of Carson’s approach that they weren’t going to get.

  But could he and the others get to the Sophie? And if so, then what? “Jackie, if you can get to the ship, how long to prep it for takeoff and be ready to go?”

  Roberts thought out loud. “Key the door code, wait for the hatch to open, get through it, and close. Initiate the emergency takeoff checklist on the computer. Spool up the thrusters.” She paused to add up the times. “About two minutes. But won’t they be shooting at me?”

  “Not if our distraction works, they’ll be headed in the opposite direction.”

  “What distraction?”

  “I’m still working on that. I’m making this up as I go along.”

  “And how do you get aboard?” asked Roberts.

  “The theory is that we distract and run, and you come pick us up. It’ll be tricky . . .”

  “Damn right.”

  “All right, listen up. Marten, can you take the man on watch? Sneak up on him, take him out?”

  “Yes, that should not be problem.”

  “Good.” Carson outlined his plan, filling in details as the others raised questions.

  Suddenly Marten raised his head and looked around. “Did you hear that?”