Natheka punched Raxthezana in the arm. “You are stuck with me, Old Hunter. I, too, am a mighty warrior, but I am not half as beautiful to look at!”
Raxthezana grunted. “At least it is dark in the Tunnel.”
My fellow hunters chuckled, and we bundled our packs, but the human females were subdued. I spied Esra stowing a black rock the size of a jokapazathel into her pack. She didn’t mind the heavier weight?
When everyone was ready, I chose a path leading to the base of the escarpment.
“When we are a few more veltiks above the Burst Field, your technology’s scanning equipment should function properly,” I told Pattee. “It would be helpful to have access to this array you have spoken of.”
Pattee hummed. “The transospheric nanosatellite array,” she said. “When the pods enter the atmosphere, these tiny satellites spread across the atmosphere and transmit data to VELMA’s neural network.”
“‘Neural network’? What are these terms?” I asked.
“It’s like a brain outside a body,” she said. “VELMA is part of the Machine Learning Division of the company I worked for. She’s an Artificial Intelligence, so she thinks on her own, but she is not a person.”
I studied the rocky path. “We do not have this level of technology,” I said. “We have our tech slaves. They are robots programmed always to serve. They do not speak or think.”
“Sometimes I think that would be preferable,” Pattee said. “No offense, VELMA.”
“None taken,” VELMA answered in my helmet as well.
“I would be worried if you fiddled with the internal mechanisms of our tech-slaves, VELMA,” I said, concern seasoning my voice.
“I have no desire to create a robot uprising,” VELMA said. “I am entertained by the current intrigues my human charges have stumbled across on their own.”
I grunted. The quests ahead for my brethren and myself seemed to grow daily. “I am thankful you have preserved the humans,” I said. “I am fond of Pattee in particular.”
“Pattee is right here,” Pattee said with a nudge to my arm.
I laughed. “Hivelt is very fond of Pattee.” I snagged her hand in my own. The path was wide enough to walk two by two for a few veltiks. “VELMA, are you able to use your scanners to detect signs of a crash on Black Heart Mountain?”
“Anomalies present,” she said. “I will isolate signatures and attempt to create a map.”
“In the meantime, everyone, look for anything, any trace,” Pattee said. “Metal fragments, scars in the ground, broken rocks, that kind of thing.”
“Can everyone zoom in with their camera technology?” Esra asked the company in general.
“Ik,” Natheka answered.
Zatiks later, our single-file group stopped to drink and rest. The suns sank to our left, heating the black face of the mountain and casting harsh shadows against the rock. We had climbed to a narrow ledge.
“We’re high enough,” Pattee told Esra. “Why hasn’t VELMA detected anything?”
“I don’t know,” Esra said. “It’s almost like there’s a hole in the array. Isn’t the array supposed to cover the planet like a net?”
Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. I glanced at my brethren. Their helmets were on, but their postures were tense. Waiting.
“Why is there a net entrapping Ikthe?” Raxthezana asked, a blunt edge to his voice.
Pattee shifted her boots. She peered around me to meet his helmeted gaze.
“It sounds bad, doesn’t it?” she asked. “It’s not an actual net. The satellites collect information, that’s it.”
“And do they also transmit information?” he asked. “Do you think my people’s guards can detect this net?”
Pattee’s skin flushed.
I glanced at Esra to see her skin pink up as well.
“I don’t know,” Pattee said. “The purpose is to collect information about the surface of the planet to aid the miners.”
“To aid the miners to do what?” Raxthezana asked.
I took a step toward him, but Pattee held my arm. “It’s okay, let him ask,” she said. “In a normal expedition, the entire ship of miners would select a large landing site,” she said. “The ship becomes a home base, and the miners go out in teams to search for ores. Uninhabited planets are mined for ores, and once the expedition meets its goals, the ship takes everyone to the next place.”
Silence from my brethren.
Pattee cleared her throat. “This isn’t normal, right?” she asked. “There was an event, and that’s it. No ship. No mining expedition.”
“But this nano-satellite array you speak of,” Natheka said. “What is its purpose if this is not a mining expedition?”
I watched Esra and Pattee exchange looks.
“Well, it’s a matter of survival,” Esra said. “VELMA provided me with maps when I was trying to place my rescue beacon. Or find fresh water.”
“A beacon?” Raxthezana’s voice was deadly quiet.
My fists clenched.
Pattee sensed the danger and slid her hand from my arm to my hand.
“Raxthezana, all due respect to Theraxl,” Esra said. “But we didn’t know this planet was your sacred hunting ground when we landed here. We set beacons in hope to summon help.”
“And do you expect help to arrive?” he asked.
Pattee scoffed. “No. VELMA informed us there is a one in one-quintillion chance of our beacon being detected. Naraxthel and Hivelt here are stuck with us. Permanently.”
Raxthezana’s shoulders dropped a fraction.
I relaxed my fists.
Pattee squeezed my hand.
“We will continue our search for the crashed pod.” I turned my back on the group and looked ahead, capping my drink canister and replacing my helmet. I used my sight-capture to zoom in on the ridges and spikes of the black mountain. Nothing except unwelcome terrain. We would need ropes soon, if we were to travel farther.
“Hivelt, hold,” Natheka said from behind me. “I have a suggestion.”
I turned, my armor creaking as I folded my arms to listen.
“Why do you not let me go alone to find this human?” he asked. “I am one Iktheka. I can travel faster, search farther.”
I considered. “Pattee?” I asked my heart mate. “Is this acceptable to you? The rest of us may travel back to Moon Shield in preparation for the quest for woaiquovelt. Natheka is a capable and mighty hunter.”
“I hope your human does not mind his looks,” Raxthezana said with a chuckle.
Natheka slugged Raxthezana on the shoulder, which caused him to laugh the harder.
“Let me talk to Esra privately,” Pattee said. I then saw her lips move. She and Esra had switched to their private channel.
I turned away and scanned the face of Black Heart again. The suns made a slow arc across the sky. At length, it would be dark and impossible to search effectively. Helping a group scale the mountain consumed time and resources. Natheka had a wise plan.
“Naraxthel, what say you?” I asked on our channel.
“It is sound,” he said. “I do not wish to endanger Esra more than necessary. A fall from one of these ledges would be disastrous.”
“I agree,” I said. “And yet, is there a safe place on Ikthe?”
“Only in our arms,” Naraxthel said.
I grunted.
Pattee touched my arm. “Yes,” Pattee said. “Natheka can travel much farther and faster. Time is essential. VELMA can upload our language into his helmet. Esra and I will give him a couple food pouches for the survivor. They’ll know he’s an emissary from your people.”
“Very well. The rest of us will journey to Moon Shield,” I said. “Raxthezana? Does this meet with your approval as well?”
“Ik,” he said. “We will battle the Agothe-faxl soon. Now, I will place myself in the center of such mighty Ikthekal to be protected.”
Esra and Pattee laughed this time.
I watched their faces: dark circles under t
heir eyes, creases beside their mouths, and yet … a lightness. They trusted Natheka to find their comrade. This lightened my heart as well.
They opened their packs to give Natheka supplies.
When he saluted us, I grabbed his arm. “Be well,” I said. “Beware the rodaxl.”
“They do not fly this far north,” he said.
I scanned the skies. “They do not,” I said. “And yet the rains came early. The pazathel-naxl attacked. Be wary.”
“I will,” he said. “May the life of Shegoshel shine upon us and our offspring.”
“May the death of your enemies bring peaceful slumber.”
We watched him lope along the trail until he came to a ledge. He scaled it with ease and traveled farther along the mountainside. He would cover much ground in the waning light.
The rest of us would find the entrance to the Agothe-fax Tunnel and travel into eternal darkness.
My hand tightened around Pattee’s. I cleared my throat. “We will away.”
54
I watched Esra’s face as we neared the cavity in the rocks at the base of Black Heart. Naraxthel boasted she had killed three of these legendary agothe-faxl. What did they look like? How did they battle? Her face had paled, her lips compressed into a thin line. Perhaps I shouldn’t ask her.
“VELMA,” I spoke into my helmet. “Do you have video of the agothe-faxl?”
A tiny vid popped up in the corner of my IntraVisor. I stopped walking and watched it as gigantic spiders jabbed and crawled in the harsh, dodgy light of someone’s headgear. It looked like amateur horror night. My heartbeat quickened, and I found myself panting and leaning against the rocks.
“Pattee?” Hivelt interrupted me.
“End video,” I said.
The video disappeared, and the darkness of the cave loomed ahead.
“I was looking for hope in the wrong place,” I muttered.
“Ah,” Hivelt said with a reassuring pat on my shoulder. “It may not be the wrong place if you seek hope in the darkness. Hope shines.”
I stared at his broad back as he entered the cave. His profound words sunk into my soul. He hadn’t known I’d been watching a video in my IntraVisor, had only seen me staring into a black cave.
Raxthezana took the lead rather than stay in the middle as he had joked about and belted out a harsh word.
VELMA translated it to mean light.
Light brightened the dripping black walls. It originated from something as small as a button.
“Hivelt, what is that?” I asked.
“We carry several bead lights with us on our hunts. They respond to voice command. Ikthekal have been in this tunnel many times. There are lights throughout. It may help keep the agothe-faxl at bay.”
“Right,” I whispered. Flashes of exploding crabs clamored for my attention. Scuttling, scurrying creatures with many legs bothered me. A lot.
“I’ve always been afraid of spiders,” Esra volunteered from ahead of me. She tailed Naraxthel.
Hivelt was behind me.
“So the agothe-fax are basically my worst nightmare come true,” she said. “And yet they’re kind of like ferocious dogs. I think if I saw a tarantula now, I would think it was cute and harmless. It’s all about perspective.”
“Ferocious dogs,” I said, my voice wavering. “Okay.” I thought of the pazathel-naxl swarming and attacking the giant rokhura.
“With your javelin, you’ll have a definite advantage,” Esra said. “You’re going to do great.”
I bit my lip. She made the battle sound inevitable. I contemplated watching the vid again but decided against it. It wouldn’t help my nerves.
Hivelt’s hand on my back calmed my racing heart. “We are together, Pattee,” he said. “We will triumph. And the tunnel is not long. Maybe a half zatik’s travel.”
“Okay.” I swallowed.
“Esra is mighty,” Naraxthel said. “She will slay many, leaving very few for you to battle.”
“Great,” I whispered to myself.
The tunnel dipped. We walked in silence, with Raxthezana muttering the word ‘zagoshe’ every twenty-five yards, followed by a gradual increase in light.
It cast harsh shadows against the dripping, black walls. The constant bobbing of helmet shadows gave me the sensation of motion sickness. We traveled on, and my nerves eased. My IntraVisor showed we had traveled for thirty minutes.
“Esra,” I said on our private channel. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Sure,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I don’t really know how to ask, so I’m just going to blurt it out,” I said. “What exactly is the nanosatellite array for?”
I could hear her soft chuckle. “I thought you were going to ask about sex,” she said.
Flames burned up my cheeks. “Ha!” I said. “Uh, maybe later.”
“Well, that would have been easier to talk about,” she said, her voice sounding serious. “I’ve been thinking about it too. It’s overkill, isn’t it?”
“We sounded like idiots back there,” I said. “Defending this technology we know so little about.”
“Well, we know how it works,” Esra corrected me. “But we don’t know why IGMC programmed the EEPs to have them.”
“Right,” I said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have access to worldwide weather patterns and all the maps. Is it so the survivors can act as an ‘Away Team’? You know, learn the lay of the land so when they’re picked up by IGMC rescue missions, they can inform the company if the planet is worth their while?”
“I guess that would make sense,” Esra hedged. “In theory.”
“They didn’t specifically tell us that, though,” I said. “In all those classes.”
“In that one class,” she said. “I had one class on the EEP and survival training.”
I bit my lip and glanced once more at the glassy, tunnel walls. “Right.”
We walked a while without talking.
“What makes you uneasy about the array?” I asked.
“It is overkill,” she said. “Why would a survivor need to know what the weather was on the other side of the globe? Assuming it’s uninhabited, which the AI is programmed to search for to begin with, that survivor is never going to see the other side of the planet. They’re stuck in their little plot of land until rescue comes. If it comes.”
“But say a large group of survivors land,” I said. “Say five.”
“It does aid in communication,” she said. “I’ll grant you that. But honestly, VELMA’s SLO nosecone could do that. If there is more than one pod, she can manipulate the nosecones to always be spaced apart to facilitate communication. The nanosatellites collect so much more information than a survivor is going to need. Our situation is the exception. Most emergency landings are going to be in charted areas. Survivors would be picked up in two weeks.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Have you been thinking about this a lot?”
“Yes. And Raxthezana’s reaction made me second guess everything.”
“Everything?”
“The weapons,” she said.
“What about the weapons?”
“The Emergency Egress Pods have ordnance?” she asked. “What are we supposed to do with it? I didn’t even know the EEP had it until VELMA told me. I guess I could see the benefit with dangerous wildlife, but that’s what the hDEDs are for. Just hide.”
“IGMC mandated the weapons,” I admitted. “I had to design their placement and make room to store everything. It was non-negotiable.”
“Interesting,” she said. “The EEP is supposed to be our fortress, I guess,” Esra said. She sighed. “Mine’s gone.”
“What?” My heart raced. “Was there a malfunction?”
“No, no, it was great,” she said. “I particularly appreciated the hand-crank mechanisms when some dinosaurs tipped it over.”
I grinned. “Same here.”
“I just heard you smile,” she said.
I lau
ghed. “I designed that feature and had to use it.”
“Oh sweet! Yes, that was super. I’m embarrassed to say I needed to use that feature more than once,” she said. “But no, BoKama destroyed my pod. She wanted to make sure there wasn’t evidence of me on the planet if the Queen’s WarGuard arrived.”
“Wow,” I said. “So, it is destructible?”
“Yes.”
My boots crunched on the rock ground. “Hm, so back to the array,” I said. “What does it mean if there is a hole in it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I thought the nanosatellites just spread out across the entire globe. If there were one pod, then those satellites would spread out. If there were two, the spaces between would be a tad smaller, and so on.”
“Right,” I said. “A net.”
“Raxthezana didn’t much like that idea,” Esra said.
“He doesn’t much like anything or anyone,” I replied. “But I can see why. They’re very protective of this place.”
“I hated it,” Esra said, her voice lowering. “I wanted to die.”
“What changed for you?”
“It kept showing me things about myself,” she said. “The planet and its occupants peeled away layers of my soul. It was uncomfortable. It hurt. But in the end, it revealed my true self.”
“Wow,” I said. “Like being a new person, maybe?”
“Naraxthel told me about his ritual washings,” she said. “I kind of wish I had done that too. He said I still can.”
“You should,” I whispered. “It’s symbolic. And … full of hope.”
“That sounds nice,” she said.
“Well,” I continued. “Maybe Naraxthel can find a different pool that isn’t surrounded by poisonous flowers and fiberglass tree trunks. Because that’s where Hivelt took me.”
Esra’s chuckle was low.
“Naraxthel showed me a better place,” she said. Her tone of voice was decidedly … sensual.
“I’m not ready for that conversation,” I said. I glanced back at Hivelt, huge and powerful, graceful as the Thunderbird, walking with a purposeful gait. “But I will be soon.”
“Okay,” she said on a laugh. She gasped, then shouted. “RED!”
My gaze shot up from the ground to see what could only be … the agothe-fax.
Tracked on Predator Planet (Predator Planet Series) Page 27