The Vanished Seas (Major Bhaajan series Book 3)

by Catherine Asaro

  I said only, “Let’s go.”

  The three of us stood outside, by the third ship. It not only provided partial cover, it was also closer to our temperature than the desert. Even if Talon or her people still had working IR vision, they’d have trouble seeing us against the hull.

  I scanned the empty dunes. No one. “Max, have you managed to contact Royal Flush?”

  “He still isn’t responding,” Max said.

  It could mean anything. Probably the dust was interfering with Jak’s tech. Very few people knew how to get in touch with Royal, and normally he responded only to Jak. He’d never let me down, though. If Jak was injured or worse, Royal would let me know. I tried not to think what else his silence could mean, that he was also injured. Or worse.

  “They were in the south,” I said.

  “No more shooting,” Angel pointed out.

  “No more ammo.” I hoped that explained the silence.

  “It sounded like suppression fire,” the lieutenant said. “They were going for neutralization of the enemy rather than a kill.”

  Angel repeated the word, exaggerating syllables. “Neu-tra-li-za-tion? Nahya. Smash!”

  The lieutenant squinted at her. “What?”

  I said, “She thinks you’re being sarcastic with the word neutralization, that you’re trying to avoid saying they might be dead.”

  The lieutenant exhaled. “Gods, I hope not.”

  “Need choose,” Angel said. “Find Ruzik, find Jak, find slicks. Which?”

  Good question. Jak and Bessel were probably in the desert, whereas Talon and Daan, and I hoped Ruzik, were underground. I had no doubt that Angel and Ruzik were more experienced at underground combat in the dark than Talon and her crew.

  “We go get Jak,” I told Angel. “You find Ruzik and other shooters.”

  “Yah, good,” Angel said.

  I described the exit from the tunnel Jak and I had used to escape the cave. She set off then, running to the west in a zigzag path across the open area around the ships. No shots flared from the dark, and within seconds, she’d disappeared into the dunes beyond the cleared region.

  The lieutenant motioned toward the south. “We should go that way.”

  “Yah.” I walked with her alongside the ship. When we reached its edge, I scanned the desert to the south, a rolling landscape that made me think of a sleeping giant lying half buried in the sand. The dunes glinted where starlight reflected off flecks of crystal. Although they didn’t offer great cover against bullets, they could conceal us, which would help.

  Together we sprinted across the bare stretch of land between the ships and the dunes. It took only seconds to cross that open area, but it felt endless. We scrambled up the closest dune, slipping in the sand, and slid down the other side into the valley between it and the next ridge.

  “How did the army clear the area around the ships?” I asked. Given the large size of the dunes, they must have moved a lot of sand.

  “They didn’t,” the lieutenant said. “That area has always been clear.”

  I supposed it could be natural; the character of the Vanished Sea varied. Sometimes the land stretched in swaths of rocky ground with outcroppings sticking up like skeletal fingers, and other times it rolled in these dunes that seemed to go on forever when you were in them.

  “Max, can you locate where we heard the last gunfire?” I asked.

  “Roughly,” he said. “Go east about two hundred meters and also head south.”

  Moving southeast, we stayed behind a large dune. We kept sliding down its slope, which meant we had to angle our way up again. My calves ached from walking in the sand. I was tempted to tie my boots to my belt and go barefoot. Spiky stone-vines spread their tendrils everywhere, though, with poisonous thorns. If they stabbed my foot, I wouldn’t walk anywhere for days. We left a trail, but at least the sand muffled our steps.

  The lieutenant spoke in a low voice. “Do you have water?”

  I unhooked the bottle from my belt and handed it to her. She obviously hadn’t expected a hike in the desert. Maybe that supported Angel’s trust in her. At this point I didn’t know what to think. I just wanted to find Jak. Alive.

  “You need to go more south,” Max said.

  I angled southward. The land looked as clear to me as a black-and-white image. Those of us bred in the Undercity had more photoreceptor cells in the retinas in our eyes, enhancing our night vision. Silver radiance flooded the landscape, and the sky was glorious, with the Milky Way stretching above us in a sparkling arch.

  Max spoke again. “This is where I estimate the last shots came from.”

  I let out a relieved breath. No one was lying here, wounded or dead.

  “Major, look.” The lieutenant knelt down several meters away. “I found a trail.”

  I joined her. Footsteps did indeed show in the sand, headed northwest.

  “Do your visual filters work?” I asked. “Anything that lets you see this better?”

  “None of my tech-mech works.” She stood up next to me. “I’m good at tracking, though. I’d say two people went this way.”

  Two people. Jak and Bessel? “Lead on. I’ll follow.” I wanted her walking in front of me, where I could keep watch on her.

  We resumed our trek. The desert smelled wild here, away from the sterile atmosphere of the ships. The pleasing scent of the resin that protected the rock-vines wafted on the breeze, more delicate than the plants that produced it, faintly smoky, like a campfire.

  “Bhaaj,” Max said. “Your path is drifting south too much.”

  “Lieutenant, are you still following the trail?” I asked.

  She turned to me. “I think so. It’s hard to see.”

  I caught up to her and we peered at the ground. Something had disturbed the sand, smearing it out, as if more people had joined the original two walkers. Except not all the prints looked like they came from feet. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said the larger impressions were from gigantic three-toed claws. Hell, maybe I didn’t know better.

  “These look like ruzik prints,” I told the lieutenant.

  “I thought you said he was in the ship.”

  “I don’t mean the person.” I looked up at her. “Real ruziks. The big lizards.”

  She stared at me. “You think they dragged off your friend and Bessel?”

  “I can’t say. I’ve never seen one.” I didn’t know much about the creatures, except that ancient warriors supposedly rode them, which I found hard to believe. “If they’re like the smaller lizards in the Undercity, they won’t attack humans. They don’t care about us as long as we don’t bother them.” I sincerely hoped neither Jak nor Bessel had pissed them off.

  “I see two different trails.” She motioned to the south. “One goes out that way, deeper into the desert.” Turning west, she said, “This one comes from human feet, I’m almost certain.”

  It didn’t look as obvious to me, given how blurred the prints were, but I didn’t trust her enough to split up and let her go on without me. “Let’s go west, then.”

  We set off together. The silence of the desert enveloped us, huge and vast. A creature cawed somewhere, its cry riding on the wind. Every now and then, stubby foliage crinkled under our feet.

  Wait. I stopped, listening. Was that a voice in the distance?

  The lieutenant came back to me. “Did you hear that?”

  “I think it was Royal Flush.”

  “Who?”

  “Jak’s EI.”

  She straightened up. “Then we’re going the right away.”

  I hoped so. I hadn’t heard Jak, just the EI. We started walking again.

  A man’s voice drifted on the air. “Are you sure?”

  “No,” another man said. “I can’t tell.”

  “I don’t know either,” a third said, his voice deeper than the others. “My ability to determine our direction is corrupted by the spy dust.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The third spea
ker was Royal, the second was Bessel—and the first was Jak. I stopped and closed my eyes, swept with relief.

  The lieutenant shifted her feet, the sound whispering in the sand. I opened my eyes to find her watching me.

  “This Jak,” she said. “He’s more than a friend, isn’t he?”

  “Husband,” I told her. “Sort of.”

  “I hadn’t realized.”

  Neither had I, at least not until the past few days.

  We hiked up the next dune. Near the top, we lay on the ground and inched forward until we could look into the valley between this ridge and the next. Two men stood at the bottom, Bessel holding a machine gun and Jak with the coilgun slung over his shoulder. No ruziks were in sight, which most likely meant I’d misread the tracks in the dark. I felt sorry for Bessel; with Jak, he’d caught a far more dangerous animal. Bessel should never have allowed him to keep the coilgun, not even if he believed Jak had run out of ammo. Jak was probably letting him think he had the upper hand to see what he could find out from the younger man.

  Some of their words drifted to us.

  “. . . need to go north,” Bessel said.

  “We’re east of the ships,” Jak said.

  “That’s not true,” the lieutenant murmured. “We’re southwest of them.”

  Bessel said, “I’m almost certain we’re south of them.”

  “Royal, can’t you tell?” Jak asked.

  “No,” Royal said. “I can’t tell shit.”

  Max spoke in an almost inaudible voice. “Royal is lying. Even with damaged tech, he could track where they’ve gone. We are south and west of the ships.”

  “EIs can’t lie,” the lieutenant said.

  Ah, such naivete. I’d never heard an AI lie, but EI systems as sophisticated as Max and Royal were another story, especially when they’d been evolving for so many years, Max with me and Royal with Jak. I had no doubt Royal could tell any falsehood he deemed necessary to protect Jak.

  “They’re trying to confuse Bessel,” I said. “Keep him separated from Talon.”

  “We need to get closer,” she said.

  “They will see you as soon as you start down this dune,” Max said.

  “You should go,” I told the lieutenant. “Pretend you’ve come to help Bessel. Say Talon shot me, Angel is trapped, and Ruzik disappeared. Talon is looking for him while you look for Bessel.”

  She stiffened. “Are you nuts? This Bessel person won’t believe that.”

  “Sure he will.” Bessel’s inexperience was painfully obvious. “You distract him. I’ll come around from a different direction.”

  “He has no reason to believe I’d help him.”

  “Why not? I came here with three Undercity thugs, including Jak down there, the owner of Raylicon’s notorious casino. Of course Talon—a respected corporate officer—came to the rescue.”

  “Your husband is the casino king?” She sounded as if she didn’t know whether to be appalled or fascinated. Then she blinked. “What does that make you?”

  “Never mind.” I motioned toward them. “Just go.”

  “Well, why not?” she muttered. “You have Majda clearance. This is all surreal anyway.” She stood up and strode boldly down the slope, sliding in the sand. “Hey!” she shouted.

  Bessel spun around and jerked up his machine gun. “Stop there!” he called.

  “It’s me,” she said. “Lieutenant Ackerson.”

  “Come down slowly,” Bessel said. “You make a fast move and I fire. You understand?”

  “Yes, sure.” She slowed down, holding her hands away from the innocuous heat gun on her hip. I headed south behind the dune, close to the top of the ridge so I could keep watch on them.

  “I see you caught one of them,” the lieutenant said. “Good. I was worried about you.”

  Bessel’s aim faltered. “What happened to the others?”

  “The younger woman is still trapped in the first starship. Talon killed the PI and went after the other man that came with them.”

  “Damn it!” Bessel said. “I told Talon I couldn’t be involved if they hurt anyone.”

  I wondered if he realized he’d just told the lieutenant his threat to shoot her was a bluff. I hoped Jak didn’t believe Talon had really killed me.

  The lieutenant continued her approach until she reached him, all the time fabricating a tale about how she’d searched the dunes by herself. I kept moving, south of them now. Bessel was facing east, and I wanted to get behind him, which meant I’d have to leave the concealment of this ridge. Would he see me? In the dark, humans tended to have better peripheral than straight-ahead vision, but given his above-city eyesight, he probably couldn’t see well in any direction.

  I edged over the top of the dune and down the other side. Bessel lowered his weapon as he spoke with the lieutenant. He seemed to accept her story, too willing for his own good to believe that everyone from the Undercity was a criminal, ready to attack the good people of Cries.

  I paused, too worn out to ignore my exhaustion. Sliding my hand under my pullover, I felt my bandaged torso. Damn. I was bleeding again. The meds in my body masked the pain and the stimulants kept me going, but I couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

  The lieutenant continued to distract Bessel, “catching him up” on the situation. I crept across the open desert. Although Bessel had his back to me, he kept glancing around. I went flat to the ground during his scans. Although Jak never turned in my direction, I recognized his stillness. He knew I was here. I doubted I could go much closer without revealing myself. I’d only have seconds then to reach Bessel and disarm him. My enhanced speed might still work, given that my internal hydraulics were mostly biological. Unfortunately, I had to ask Max to find out, and right now I could only speak to him, which I couldn’t risk. Blasted spy dust. It would be valuable if they could figure out how to make it affect only the enemy, instead of happily gumming up everyone’s tech.

  Gritting my teeth, I inched forward, slow and silent.

  “We’ll return to the ships,” Bessel was saying. “We should get moving.”

  “I can’t see where I’m going in the dark,” Jak told him.

  Yah, right. Jak had better night vision than me.

  Bessel motioned with his machine gun. “Just walk. I’ll tell you where to go.”

  Keep stalling, I thought.

  “Fine.” Jak spoke as if he were uneasy, which sounded so fake I would have laughed if I hadn’t been trying to be invisible. He limped toward the west.

  “The other way.” Bessel did another scan of the terrain.

  I lay flat on the ground, trying to blend with the desert.

  Bessel turned to the lieutenant. “Did you hear someone?”

  “No, just us,” she said.

  I couldn’t keep this up much longer. As soon as Bessel was facing away from me, I jumped to my feet and sprinted toward them, raising my gun—with enhanced speed. Yah!

  I knew the moment the lieutenant saw me. Her posture tensed, just barely.

  “What the hell?” Bessel swung around—

  I fired once, twice. I hated shooting when I was running; it was never accurate, contrary to all those corny adventure shows the city kids loved. Fortunately, I wasn’t trying to hit anyone. The bullets slammed the ground and sand jumped into the air. Bessel fired his machine gun, but with me dodging back and forth through a haze of grit, his shots went wild. More sand leapt into the air.

  It took only seconds to reach Bessel. I tackled him, crashing into his body. As we fell, I rolled him over my hip, throwing him on his back. He lost his gun, but he managed to jump to his feet. Grabbing my arm, he spun me around while he tried to trip me. As I twisted free, he scooped up his gun, losing precious time. He had no time to aim; he just swung the thing at my head. I was already twisting away, so the blow slammed my torso—and one of my ribs broke with a great crack.

  Ach! Pain exploded in my upper body. Gritting my teeth, too pumped with adrenalin to stop now, I yanked the
gun out of his hand and threw it toward Jak. My nanomeds went to work, flooding my body with more painkillers. I’d pay the price later, but right now it kept me going. Catching Bessel in a tykado hold, I threw him hard and slammed him onto the ground.

  Bessel groaned and stayed on his back. I stood there, a straggle of hair in my face, staring at him, my fists clenched. With a groan, he climbed to his feet, watching me, his body tensed.

  “I’d stay put,” Jak said in a conversational voice. “It’s never wise to piss her off. And this gun of yours still has a few rounds left.”

  I glanced over to see him aiming his captured machine gun at Bessel.

  “Eh,” I told him.

  “You all right?” Jak asked.

  “Yah,” I lied. I’d need more than a few hours in the hospital this time.

  “So.” The lieutenant considered Jak and Bessel. “Either of you see any ruzik lizards?”

  Jak blinked at her. “Well, uh, no.”

  Bessel stared at her in disbelief. “You’re working with these two assholes?”

  “I serve in the army,” she said coldly. “They cleared these people to come out here. Not you, just them. You’re trespassing on a secured site and committing gods only know what other crimes.”

  “Well, shit.” Bessel made it a statement on life and the universe in general.

  “Come on,” I grated out. “We need to find the others.”

  CHAPTER XX

  QUARRIES

  We searched the entire area where Jak and I had come up to the desert from the tunnel. The ancient hatch had closed; we couldn’t find it even when we stood on the open space where we’d climbed out of the passage. Jak and the lieutenant continued to look, but I had to stop. My meds couldn’t completely numb my injuries, and I slowed us down. I sat on a rock and Bessel sat on another across from me with his wrists locked behind his back. He looked as tired as I felt. I didn’t think my rib punctured my lung, but it hurt like hell. It would have been a lot worse if my meds hadn’t upped my dose of meds. I kept my revolver out, hoping Bessel didn’t notice that the “ready” light on its grip had gone dead. Spy dust: the gift that kept on giving. At least my meds still worked, which made sense since they were biological molecules.