Below

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  She sighed. The problem was, she didn’t really know what she wanted. At the moment, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than to wrap herself up in Raphael and ignore the troubles of the world she found herself in, but she cared too much for him to toy with his emotions. He’d said he loved her. Perhaps he did ... or maybe he didn’t know any more than she did, but she couldn’t bring herself to risk wounding him deeply.

  He smiled faintly. “I’ll accept that ... for now.”

  Victoria shook her head, but found she didn’t give a damn about that particular rule. Raphael was the only thing that offered her comfort and relief. She needed that if she was to have any chance of getting any of them through this alive. She’d deal with the consequences later. Leaning up, she kissed him briefly. “Sleep. God only knows what we’ll find tomorrow.”

  When tomorrow came, they discovered something no one had noticed during the turmoil Brown and Quinton’s near confrontation had caused. One of the searchers hadn’t returned.

  * * * *

  Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings.

  It was dark, but he knew he wasn’t in his quarters.

  He felt strangely detached, but he knew he wasn’t sleeping.

  Around him, as he pondered the curious circumstances, the waters lightened, showing him that he was in the sea ... drifting. He frowned, realizing that something wasn’t quite as it should have been. He could see movement, but he couldn’t feel it.

  He realized then that he could feel nothing at all and fear surged through him. Why could he feel nothing? Why could he not lift his hand, his arms, his legs? He struggled for a while, willing his body to respond to his mind, trying to sit upright.

  Slowly, inexorably, pain began to spread through him. At first, he was almost relieved. He thought it meant that the strange paralysis was wearing off, but he found he still couldn’t move any part of his body. He couldn’t move away from the pain that became steadily worse until he felt as if he was on fire with it.

  When he felt that he couldn’t bear it any longer and live, the pain ceased almost as abruptly as it had begun. A sense of peace flowed through him, and relief.

  But darkness flowed in the wake of it and he found he was afraid of the dark. He struggled against it.

  Abruptly, he felt his head lifted up. He opened his eyes, tried to focus. Slowly, his sight cleared.

  And then he screamed and kept on screaming, because he could see where his body should be, but it wasn’t there.

  Raphael cried out, coming awake with a jerk. His heart felt as if it was beating a hundred miles an hour and he clutched his chest, massaging it.

  Victoria complained sleepily, but roused enough to notice that Raphael was sitting up in bed. “What is it?”

  Raphael turned to look at her, but already the images were fading from his mind. “I dreamed I was someone else,” he said slowly. “I was there, I could see, but it was as if I was looking through someone else’s eyes.”

  Victoria sat up, looking at him in concern. “What did you see?”

  Raphael shook his head, trying to remember. “I can’t remember. Only that it was horrible.”

  Victoria lay down again, pulling him with her and snuggling against him. “It was just a nightmare,” she murmured, rubbing his chest.

  “A nightmare?”

  “Bad dream. They always seem scary at the time, but when you wake up you either can’t remember what you dreamed, or it seems ridiculous that it scared you to start with.”

  Raphael shuddered. “I don’t think it was a dream.”

  * * * *

  The transition from air breather to gills was a little easier to bear when Victoria joined Raphael the following morning, not much, but somewhat. They divided the miners into two groups, one to handle moving the ore, the rest they broke into three smaller groups and sent out to search for Roach.

  Victoria stood at the opening to the mine shaft for several moments, looking down and finally glanced at Raphael. Ready?

  He nodded, his expression grim. If we run into trouble....

  Victoria shook her head, knowing what he’d been about to suggest. She held her weapon up. We go in together. We come out together. No heroics.

  Raphael lifted his brows but neither agreed nor disagreed, merely stepping off the rim of the opening and allowing himself to drift downwards. Victoria dove head first, clutching her laser rifle at the ready and using only her feet to propel her forward. As she passed Raphael, he bent double, twisted and, with a flick of his tail fin, shot past her, leading the way. He settled on the lip of the tunnel they had come to investigate, waiting until she caught up with him before he moved inside.

  Lights had been secured into the ceiling of the shaft every ten feet or so. They bathed the walls with a dull yellow glow, chasing most of the shadows away. Victoria examined the walls in a cursory fashion as they made their way deeper into the tunnel, but could see nothing that seemed even a little irregular or out of place. They’d been traveling down the tunnel for nearly twenty minutes when Raphael stopped, looking around.

  This is where they stopped excavating.

  Victoria stopped, as well, glancing around at the ceiling, the walls, the floor of the man made cavern. It just stopped abruptly here? Who was in here first?

  Me.

  You didn’t see any sign that they might have dug something other than ore from the walls?

  He shook his head. It looks like the same tools were used to excavate this part as the rest. I suppose they might have run the tunnel into an existing cavern, but if they did I don’t see any sign of it. You didn’t notice any mention of anything like that in the reports?

  Victoria flushed uncomfortably. I haven’t had the time to go through all of the reports. I decided to start with the last and work backwards, but I haven’t gotten very far.

  Raphael nodded without comment. It doesn’t look like we’ll find anything here.

  Victoria looked around the cavern again and finally moved closer to one wall, reaching out to touch the surface. The pressure field that supported the tunnel against collapse yielded as she pushed against it until her hand was resting on the rock surface. She found a small, round hole about two inches in diameter. What’s this?

  Raphael moved closer, looked at the almost perfectly round hole with a frown. I don’t know. I hadn’t noticed it before.

  None of the equipment would have made anything like this?

  He shook his head. Nothing we have. Nothing I’ve seen that the crew before us might have been using. Maybe they set up some kind of pole system to support the tunnel until they had the pressure system up and running?

  Victoria looked around and finally shook her head. There’d be a fairly regular pattern if they’d done anything like that. I don’t see any other holes like that around here. Turning back in the direction from which they’d come, she scanned the tunnel as she moved through it slowly. I counted almost a dozen, she said as she reached the mouth of the tunnel once more.

  You think it’s significant?

  Victoria shrugged. I don’t know. I didn’t see anything else.

  Raphael frowned. I can’t imagine that anything small enough to fit through one of those holes would be much of a threat.

  Victoria glanced at him. A fairly large sea snake? Something like an eel? Piranha aren’t large fish, but they can eat the flesh from a large man in minutes. Or, it might be nothing more than air holes for something much larger that burrows into the sea bed.

  This deep?

  Unfortunately, we can’t limit our thinking to what something on Earth might do.

  As they stood considering the possibilities, the ground beneath their feet began to shake slightly. Victoria glanced back over her shoulder, noticing with more than a little alarm that the lights in the tunnel were flickering. Quake!

  Launching herself from the tunnel, she swam for the mouth of the main shaft as fast as she could, fearing the quake would knock the power out. Without the pressure unit, t
he walls of the shaft might well collapse upon them.

  Raphael caught her around the waist and shot through the tunnel at blurring speed. Behind them, Victoria could see the lights winking out, one by one. She blacked out as they shot out of the mine shaft.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next moment that Victoria was aware of, she was heaving water from her lungs, choking. When the spasms finally passed, she felt the warmth of Raphael’s body as he pulled her tightly against him. He was trembling, as if he was freezing. Or maybe it was her? It filtered through her mind, finally, that they were laying on the floor of the lower level of the habitat beside the access pool. “What happened?”

  “I pulled you out too quickly,” Raphael said apologetically. “The pressure....”

  Victoria nodded. Her head still felt as if it might explode. She discovered, to her embarrassment, that her nose was bleeding and pulled away from him. Leaning over the access pool, she bathed her face until the bleeding stopped. “Thanks,” she finally said shakily.

  “For almost killing you?” Raphael asked tightly.

  She glanced at him. “For saving my life. Did the shaft collapse?”

  Raphael shook his head. “I didn’t take the time to assess the damage. A shock wave hit me as we came out of the shaft, though, so my guess is, yes.”

  “Guess that’s what happened before, huh?” Brown asked.

  Victoria glanced at him. She hadn’t realized until he spoke that they had an audience. She looked away. “Maybe.”

  “I sent for Tuttle. She’s coming down to have a look at you now,” Brown said.

  Victoria shook her head. “I’m all right.”

  “You’ll let her examine you,” Raphael said coolly.

  Victoria looked at him in surprise. Before she could inform him that she didn’t take orders from him, however, Brown spoke again.

  “It’s procedure.”

  “Fine!” she snapped irritably and lay down once more, massaging her pounding head.

  When Tuttle arrived, she checked Victoria’s vitals. “I need to get her up to sick bay to give her a thorough examination,” she said, glancing from Brown to Raphael.

  “I’ll carry her,” Raphael said.

  Victoria looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Up four levels? I’ll travel under my own steam, thank you. You need to go check the progress of the searchers and assess the damage to the mine.”

  He scooped her up. “As soon as I deliver you to sickbay.”

  Brown trailed after them. “I can help.”

  Raphael paused, studied him a long moment and finally nodded.

  Fighting the darkness that threatened to descend once more, Victoria held her head up with an effort. “You’re both crazy. You’ll both end up in sickbay if you try to carry me all the way up!”

  Brown and Raphael exchanged a grin and ignored her protest. Locking their arms beneath her, they formed a ‘chair’ between them. Each time they reached another level, Victoria informed them that she was better and thought she could walk the rest of the way. Brown was breathing noticeably heavier and sweating by the time they reached the fourth level, which contained the crew quarters and the sickbay. Dismissing him, Raphael took her the remainder of the way, shouldering his way into the room and settling her on a gurney.

  “I am better,” Victoria said, somewhat petulantly. “Thank you,” she added stiffly.

  “There’s a difference between being strong and just plain bull headed,” Raphael said coolly when she dismissed him again.

  Victoria opened her mouth to give him a blast of temper, but Tuttle grabbed Raphael and pushed him toward the door, closing it behind them. “Wait here. I’ll let you know how she is once I’ve run some tests.”

  Raphael nodded and Tuttle left him pacing the hall and went in again.

  Pushing the gurney over to the examination chamber, she helped Victoria shift onto the padded table within, closed the clear panel, and punched the code for a thorough examination on the buttons on the antiquated piece of equipment. She frowned as the data began to spill across the screen, comparing the data to Victoria’s healthy norm and finally concluded that Victoria was more shaken than anything else. She didn’t appear to have any serious damage from the abrupt change in pressure.

  When the computer concluded it’s assessment, she helped Victoria from the chamber onto the gurney once more.

  “Well?” Victoria asked as Tuttle moved to the supply cabinet and took a syringe from it.

  Without a word, Tuttle moved back to her, jabbed the syringe into her upper arm and depressed the plunger. “You’ll be fine. You just need a little rest.”

  “What’d you give me?” Victoria asked, feeling a strange lethargy creeping over her.

  “Something to make you rest.”

  “Damn it, Tuttle! I don’t have time for this!”

  Tuttle smiled faintly. “Somehow I knew you’d say that. That’s why I didn’t ask.”

  As she started to move away, Victoria grabbed her wrist. Tuttle paused and glanced at her questioningly. Victoria bit her lip. “Am I ... did I ... abort?”

  Tuttle gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I think it weathered the shock better than you did. It seems to have dug in with real determination.”

  Victoria smiled faintly at the comment, trying to decide whether or not she was relieved. She found, however, that she was far too tired to consider it at the moment.

  Having reassured Victoria, Tuttle moved to the door, opened it, and ushered Raphael in. “She’s fine. A little off the norm, but not dangerously so.”

  Raphael glanced at Victoria and then at Tuttle. “She’s unconscious.”

  Tuttle smiled faintly. “Not yet, but she will be ... for several hours. I gave her something to make her rest.”

  A look of alarm crossed his features. Tuttle studied him a moment before realization dawned . “She told you?”

  He shook his head, studying Victoria. “I knew.”

  “I keep forgetting you’re telepathic.” She smiled faintly. “It won’t hurt her or the baby. I’m no doctor, and I know my limitations, especially since I’m completely unfamiliar with this particular situation, so I checked the medic files so I’d know what I could give her and what I couldn’t.”

  Raphael nodded and moved to stand beside the gurney, caressing Victoria’s cheek.

  “Insubordination,” Victoria muttered, her speech slurred by sleep. “Throw you all in the brig.”

  Grinning, Raphael glanced at Tuttle. “She’s all right,” they said in unison.

  * * * *

  Victoria woke sometime later to the clank of metal on metal. Opening her eyes with an effort, she saw that Raphael had set a tray of food on the metal cabinet next to the bed. She stared at it blankly for several moments and finally sat up. “What’s this?”

  “Dinner. You missed lunch.”

  Victoria stared at him, torn between irritation, amusement, and an odd sort of warmth at his thoughtfulness. “I’m not an invalid.”

  His smile was a little crooked. “No, but you had me worried for a little while.”

  “I did?” Victoria asked, warmed inexplicably by the admission.

  He nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand. “You’re such a strong person, it hadn’t occurred to me before that you were strong in spirit ... not necessarily physically.”

  Blood rushed into her cheeks. She made a rude noise. “I’m hardly delicate!”

  Raphael smiled faintly. “You are exactly that. No one’s ever noticed, though, have they?”

  Victoria glanced away uncomfortably. “I’m starved. Have you eaten?”

  “I thought I’d wait for you.”

  “Let’s go into the dining hall, then.”

  “You’re sure you don’t want me to coddle you?” he asked pensively.

  Victoria laughed. “I’m afraid I might get attached to it ... which would be a bad thing since you’d get tired of it in a hurry.”

  He rose, helping her from the b
ed. “You don’t know me nearly as well as you think if you believe that. I have infinite patience.”

  “Do you?”

  He nodded. “It comes from being part fish.”

  Victoria glanced at him sharply, but saw that he was teasing. “And fish are patient?”

  “They have to be. They’re on the hunt constantly for food.”

  “Single minded,” Victoria said succinctly, picking up the tray he’d just deposited.

  He took it from her. “That too.”

  She was taken aback when she reached the dining hall. All conversation ceased abruptly as everyone turned to look at her, but not nearly as disconcerted as when a cheer went up. Blushing profusely, she struggled against a strong urge to retreat to her room once more. Mastering it, she bowed to the assembly and thanked them before taking her seat.

  To her relief, everyone returned their attention to their food.

  What was that about?

  Raphael glanced at her in surprise, but in a moment a look of pleasure crossed his features. They’re glad you’re all right. They were worried, too.

  That pleases you? she asked him curiously.

  Yes. But it pleases me more that you addressed me telepathically. Except for when we’re in the sea, you hadn’t done that since....

  Since?

  Since we became lovers.

  She glanced at him, studied him for a long moment. I can’t help it. I need to keep at least a part of myself for me.

  I know.

  Victoria studied the food on her plate for several moments and finally began to eat. “What happened while I was out of it?”

  “I’ll give you a full report as soon as we’ve eaten.”

  Victoria gave him an indignant look.

  He shook his head slightly. It’ll be best if we’re alone.

  The comment made her uneasy, but she could see his point. Everyone seemed far more relaxed than they had in a while. It didn’t seem right to risk taking that away from them by discussing bad news where they might hear.

  Mentally shrugging it off, she focused her attention on her food. When she’d finished, she cleared her place and headed for the room. Raphael followed her, closing the door firmly behind him.