by Thomas Stone
“I wonder what that means?”
“They want us to go there -- a circle for each of us. Maybe that’s the way out of here. It has to be. Seems obvious they want us in those circles.”
“Why should we cooperate?
“I don’t see where we have any choice, that is, if we want to change our situation. I mean, we’re not getting anywhere stumbling around in the dark. I say we make our way over to the circles and stand in the light, so to speak.”
“I don’t know...” Kathleen’s voice trailed off.
“Come on,” urged Bobbi.
Reluctantly, Kathleen agreed and, holding hands, they walked to the nearest circle. Bobbi squeezed Kathleen’s hand prior to entering. The light fell over them as they both squeezed into the same spot. Kathleen considered Bobbi’s face for a moment.
“You could do with a little attention to your hair.”
“Well, there’re no mirrors around here that I can find. And I’ve looked.”
They both laughed in the tension draining moment.
“There’s not enough room for us to sit,” Bobbi said, observing the constraints of the radiant circle.
“One of us is supposed to go to the other circle. One for each.”
“I don’t want to,” Bobbi said.
“Well, it’s either that or we stand here like lesbian lovers for God knows how long.”
“All right,” Bobbi said, finally, “but hold my hand as I go across.”
“I will.”
“Here goes.” Bobbi, maintaining her grip on Kathleen’s hand, stepped out of the circle of light, back into the darkness that separated one circle from the other. The darkness was so complete, Kathleen could not see anything of Bobbi when she left the light.
Bobbi’s voice came out of the dark. “I can’t reach it without letting go of your hand.”
“Then let go.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Just let go and take a step.”
“What if something happens?”
“It won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Bobbi?”
“Yes?”
“Let go and take a step.”
“Okay, here goes, but if something happens it’s your fault.”
“Mea Culpa,” said Kathleen.”
“What?”
“Mea Culpa. The first planet I ever visited. I named it Mea Culpa -- it’s Bedor , where Arai’s species was originally from. Mea Culpa means...”
“’My fault’ in Latin. I know. I’m letting go now.”
Bobbi released Kathleen’s hand and a moment later stood in the light of the second circle. She sighed and looked at Kathleen. “That’s a relief. You know, when I was a little girl, I was always terrified of the dark. I thought I’d gotten over it.”
“Everybody’s afraid of something.”
“I don’t think Edward is afraid of anything. Or Harry, for that matter. Have you ever really stopped to consider how lucky we are to have...”
Bobbi never completed the sentence. In an instant, she was gone. She was in the light one moment and gone in the next.
Kathleen stared in shocked disbelief. “Mea culpa,” she whispered to herself, “mea culpa.” And then both lights were extinguished and Kathleen once again found herself in crushing, complete darkness.
*
Harry materialized on the sands outside an outcropping of rocks that denoted the entrance to a Crevah. He looked about and immediately noticed Fagen’s tracks even though they were rapidly fading in a slight wind. He sniffed and recognized Fagen’s scent still lingering in the air. Projecting himself, he passed through the opening and followed the passage until he came to the block. At that point, his psychic exploration failed. His mind could not pass the obstruction. He withdrew and once again surveyed his surroundings. He was hundreds of kilometers from the abandoned Braithwaite base and farther still from anything else. From a device attached to his wrist he initiated a locator beacon but discovered another dampening field resulting in a dispersion of his signal. It didn’t matter because as he had traversed his ethereal path through Minerva’s computer, he had insured his destination’s coordinates were saved. Eventually, Bart and the others would locate him.
Harry faced the entrance and entered.
*
Fagen fished a hand into one of the pouches of his utility vest. Withdrawing a flashlight, he pointed it at the opening and flicked it on. The light sprang forward, illuminating the natural corridor beyond. The rock walls were damp, the path ahead flat and barren of dust or any other form of detritus. Warily, Edward moved forward. In moments, he had turned a corner and could no longer see the underground lake. The atmosphere was quiet and close as he worked his way farther into the unknown. He thought about the conversation with Eli as he moved the light over the blank stone walls and onto the path before him. “Eli” or whatever its real name was, had not been what Edward expected. Fagen still had it in mind that the kitzloc was a ferocious alien beast, not a being that could somehow project an image of a human being and then hold a conversation. He’d seen a lot in his travels, probably more than any other human being, but he had never encountered a shape-shifting, super-intelligent alien that apparently commanded the secrets of quantum manipulation. There was nothing to compare it to, except perhaps Harry -- and he had assumed Harry was nearly out of his mind. The alien had not killed him outright as Fagen had half-expected. There was a purpose to everything. Harry had told him as much. Fagen shook his head. There was no use trying to figure it out. He was there to find Bobbi and Kathleen, if he could, and simply get away with their lives intact.
Fagen played the light over the path and stepped ahead. Somewhere in the darkness ahead, he heard a cough. It startled him and he moved up against the wall, listening intently. It was quiet again. Had he actually heard something or was his mind playing tricks? He started forward again, shining the light across the floor and along the stone walls and ceiling. The light revealed nothing but the natural tunnel, three meters high and two meters across. A quick scraping noise gave Fagen pause once again. He shined the light up the tunnel as far as it would reach.
“Who’s there?” he called out. “Show yourself.” Fagen removed the handheld blaster from its holster and held it before him as he warily stepped forward.
“I’m armed,” he said.
A feeble voice came from the darkness. “Don’t shoot me.”
Fagen peered ahead but saw nothing. “Where are you?”
“I’m here.”
“Come forward.”
“I... I can’t. My ankle’s broken, I think.”
It was a male voice, one that was familiar to Fagen. “Ellis? Is that you?”
“Yeh. Who are you?”
Fagen stared forward again. “Fagen.”
“Fagen? What are you doing here?”
Edward shined the light in the direction of the voice and finally found the man in its beam. He was sitting with his back against the wall, a hand raised to shield the light from his eyes. Questioning what he saw, Fagen approached with trepidation.
“Do you have any water?” croaked Peter Ellis.
Fagen knelt beside him and looked him over. It was the senior Ellis, all right. He was caked in dust from head to foot, lips whitened and cracked. Fagen removed his backpack and fished out a water container, then handed it to the man. Ellis took it and drank in great gulps, a considerable amount spilling down his grizzled chin and neck.
“Whoa there, take it easy. I only have what I’m carrying.”
“Where are the others?” Ellis asked. “Are they behind you? How’s my boy?”
“He’s all right,” said Fagen, “but I’m here alone.”
“Alone?” Ellis shook his head. “Then it doesn’t matter. We’re dead. We’ll never get out of here.”
“Take it easy. We’ll get out.”
“Do you know where we are? Because I don’t. I’ve been lost in here for days. There’re others, you k
now. I didn’t see ‘em, but I heard ‘em.”
“Others?”
“Yes, damn it, others like me. We need to find ‘em. You can’t leave people in here.”
“I’m not leaving anybody. Have you seen Bobbi, or Kathleen?”
“No, not them. I thought I heard people from Jennings Bank. Did you see ‘em?”
It dawned on Fagen that Ellis was near insane, such was his panic. “No, I haven’t seen anybody, except, well never mind. How did you come to be here?”
Ellis looked down and shook his head. “I can’t remember.” He rubbed his head with both hands. “I can’t remember anything except waking here in the dark. I tried to feel my way out but ended up tripping over my own feet. That’s how I busted my ankle. I can’t remember anything.” He looked at Fagen. “Where is my boy? Where’s Jennings?”
Fagen took a breath and told him what had happened up to that point, leaving out the part about his conversation with Eli.
“So you’re here to find your women?” Ellis began to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“You won’t find ‘em. I’m sorry, but you won’t find ‘em in here. Hell, even if you did, there’s no way out of here. We’re dead meat.”
“No, we’re not.” Fagen reached for his arm. “Come on, get up.”
Ellis jerked away. “Leave me be. I told you, my ankle’s broken. Even if I could walk, this place is a maze. Don’t you know anything?”
“I guess not,” Fagen admitted, “but I hope this passage leads to the outside.”
“Yeh? Outside? And then what? You’re smack dab in the middle of the largest desert on Mirabel with no way to get home. Go, if you think you can make it, but I know better.”
“You don’t know shit,” barked Fagen, suddenly angry at the colonist. “If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you. Now, get up.” Fagen took a grip on Ellis’ tattered sleeve and pulled the man to his feet.
Ellis winced as Fagen helped him up, but no longer argued. With Ellis leaning on Fagen, they continued up the tunnel passing through vaulted chambers, some with pools of water the two men had to cross by wading. To Fagen’s relief, a tunnel always opened on the opposite side of the chambers. Their progress was sometimes impeded by narrowing spaces, but they managed to pass these constrictions without delay.
An indistinct murmur of conversation stopped Fagen. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeh. I told you there were others in here. Set me down. I need to rest.”
Fagen managed Ellis’ request by placing him on a rocky bench beside a collected pool. The voices did not abate. Rather, there seemed to be a quiet but consistent conversation farther ahead between two or more people. Fagen strained to make out words but could not.
Fagen stepped to where the natural corridor resumed on the far side of the pool. Ellis started to say something but Fagen halted him by putting up a hand. After a moment, Fagen returned to Ellis.
“I’m sure those are human voices. I can’t make out what they’re saying but they’re not far away. I’ll move forward to see who they are. Stay here. I’ll be back.”
“Where would I go?” Ellis replied.
Fagen moved again to the open passage and shined his light into the darkness. There was nothing to see but more of the darkened trail. The faint smell of charcoal floated in the air. Fagen took a few steps forward and switched off his light. Barely perceptible at the far end of a stretch of the underground trail, he saw a dim glow. The voices were louder and he caught a few words now and again in low, guarded voices. Fagen moved closer and the glow on the rocks at the end of the tunnel increased along with the volume of the conversation. Edward paused in the dark to listen.
“[a woman’s voice]...thought I heard someone yesterday...a woman, I think [male voice interrupting] ...not that it would do any good...you want to look for her there? I certainly don’t...food and water here...no sense in trying to walk out...suicide...”
The voices fell silent and Fagen edged closer to their source. The tunnel veered to the left and the glow had turned to a flickering light that rose and fell on the unyielding rock faces. The smell of smoke was strong and the first thing Fagen saw as he peeked around the corner was a small fire burning on the floor of a cavern similar to others he and Ellis had already passed through. A man and a woman sat on opposite sides of the fire. The ragged, bearded man sat cross-legged and stared into the flames. The woman reclined with her back against a rock -- a bundle of rags supported her. She ran dirtied hands through the unruly mane of hair atop her head in an attempt to control the chaos there. Another silent figure lay on his side some distance away, bound by hands and feet.
Fagen watched for several minutes before making a decision and then silently stepping from the darkened corridor into the flickering light. They did not see him immediately and he was able to take several steps closer before the woman, alerted by his subtle step, suddenly looked up and saw him. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes grew wide. Across the fire, her companion noticed and, in alarm, sat up stiffly before jerking his head in Fagen’s direction. When he saw Fagen, he jumped to his feet and moved so that he was between Fagen and the woman. Fagen threw out his hands and froze. “Easy,” he said in a low voice.
The man found his voice. “Who are you?”
“Edward Fagen. Who are you?”
“I’m Tobias.” He motioned backhandedly at the woman, who had risen to her feet and was watching Fagen closely. “This is Lisa.”
Fagen jutted his chin toward the reclining figure who still had not stirred. “Who’s that?”
Tobias looked at the reposing man before answering. “That’s Lisa’s husband, George.”
“You all are from Jennings Bank?”
“That’s right. How did you get here?”
“Long story.” Fagen took a step forward. Lisa had not said a word, but still watched him carefully as she wrung her hands. “Is there anyone else here?”
“Here? In the caverns?” Tobias shook his head and shrugged. “Could be, can’t say for sure.”
Lisa finally spoke. “There’s nobody here.”
Tobias looked at her. “We don’t know that for sure. We hear things but we haven’t seen anyone.” He looked back to Fagen. “We’re trapped here. We’ve been here I don’t know how long, a week or so, I guess, it’s hard to tell even though I go outside at least once every day.”
“So there is a way out?”
“A way out? Sure, there’s a way out.” He turned and pointed to another opening large enough for a man to pass through. “That passage eventually leads out into the desert, but it won’t do you any good unless you’ve got some sort of transport. You have transport?” Eagerness suddenly entered Tobias’ voice with the last question.
“No,” admitted Fagen, “but I may be able to arrange it once I’m outside.”
Tobias glanced at Lisa. She stepped closer to Fagen. “Get us out of here, if you can. We’ll pay you, we’ll do what you want, just help get us out of here.”
Fagen’s gaze wandered from the woman’s almost frantic expression to the man lying on the ground. His eyes were closed and he had shown no indication he was even conscious. “What’s wrong with your husband?”
“I don’t know exactly. He’s sick. He’s been like that since we got here.”
“How did you get here?”
Tobias answered. “We don’t remember. We woke up here. The last thing I remember is camping with George and Lisa out in the desert.”
“What were you doing in the desert?”
Tobias looked at Lisa and hesitated. Finally, he admitted, “We were hunting the kitzloc.”
Fagen nodded in understanding. “And how have you survived?”
“There’s water here. Food is left for us every day.”
“How?”
“We don’t know. We go to sleep and when we wake, there it is. Listen, if you can help, we’d be grateful. We just want to return home.”
“Okay,” said Fagen, nodding,
“I’ll help you. There’s someone with me, back in the tunnels. His ankle is busted so I need to go get him. I’ll be back shortly.” Fagen turned to leave.
Tobias called after him. “You are coming back?”
“Yes, yes, I promise.”
It took Fagen only minutes to return to where he’d left Ellis. He was relieved to see Ellis still there. Fagen told him what he’d found and helped him to his feet. Together they made their way back to where Tobias and Lisa and the unconscious George were waiting. There was an awkward silence when Fagen re-appeared with Ellis.
As Fagen helped Ellis sit on a rocky bench, Ellis eyed Tobias and Lisa. Finally, he said, “Jennings was looking for you.”
Tobias nodded slowly. “I imagine he was. Pretty angry, was he?””
“You know Jennings. He didn’t have to say much to show how he felt. That was a pretty stupid thing to do anyway.”
“Yeh, well, why not? Nobody was using the truck. The simulcons were going to waste...”
“It wasn’t yours to take.”
Tobias shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter anyway,” continued Ellis, “cause they found the truck.”
Tobias sighed and looked to Fagen. “What’s the plan here?”
Fagen looked at Tobias and Lisa before speaking. “I came here with one purpose -- to find my people. Finding Ellis here tells me I’m on the right track. There are three others still lost. Before we go, I want to search as thoroughly as possible. I would be obliged if you could render assistance along those lines.”
Tobias and Lisa exchanged a glance. Tobias stammered, “I-I don’t know how we could help...”
“Is there any other way out of here?”
Lisa laughed, a hysterical edge to her voice. “There’re lots of ways out of here but most involve dying.”
“Are there any other tunnels?”
The woman took a step toward Fagen. “Listen, Mr. Fagen, if you’ve got access to transportation, we should just go now. You were lucky to find Ellis. We’ve been here for days and haven’t seen a soul. Sure, there are other tunnels, but it’s like a crazy maze. Take my word, you don’t want to go wandering around down here.”