He awoke. That’s it! He didn’t know if it was his own subconscious or the influence of the world-mind in his dreams, but he had his answer.
He woke Keera with a gentle shake of her shoulder. “I know how to get past the mountains,” he whispered, “but we have to start now.”
ANA FOLLOWED the watercourse, hoping to eventually break out of the narrow, dimly lit canyon. It was a remarkably even course, not exactly straight, but consistent.
The banks of the creek, if it could be called that, were level and about three meters wide, making it an easy path for her to follow.
She moved along slowly, bracing her right hand against the rough stone of the canyon wall. She ignored the hunger pangs in her stomach. It had been at least twelve hours since she’d last eaten.
They would get worse.
We’re not so adapted for the wild anymore. As she walked, her back loosened up and she was able to manage a slightly better pace.
Some distance up the canyon, she found a trickle of water coming down the rock face—a blessing because it meant she didn’t have to bend over to get a quick drink.
The night passed by in slow, steady increments measured by her footsteps. To keep her mind occupied, she tried to remember what life had been like back home on Earth, before prison, before the Dressler.
She’d had an actual house, an old-style mansion tucked away in the Sierra Foothills, with a lawn and some tall oak trees that had been planted half a century before. After her father had been killed, she’d needed to be away from people, at least part of the day, in a place all her own.
The settlement money had been enough to spring for the historic mansion; she’d retreat there every day after a long slog of DNA sequencing to just be for a while, her feet up on a chaise lounge. The delta breeze would blow up out of the valley in the evening, cooling things off in her own private paradise.
The house had been sold off years ago to cover her legal debts. What she wouldn’t give to be back there now.
Why had she ever come back here?
Atonement. She knew why she was here. For all that she’d paid her debt to society in prison, she had yet to pay her debt to the one who mattered most: Jackson Hammond. The man who had taken the fall in her place so that she and Colin might live.
She shook off her reverie. This was a poor place to conjure up ghosts of the past.
She looked around and stopped, puzzled.
Something was different.
Something had changed in the air while she was wrapped up in her old memories. “Hello?” The word reverberated all around her.
She looked up. The dim light of the watercourse was reflected above her.
She was no longer in a canyon. She was in a tunnel.
“SO WHAT are we doing, exactly?” Keera sounded skeptical.
“There’s a tunnel behind these walls—a whole network of them, actually,” Aaron said matter-of-factly. As if he wasn’t totally insane. Maybe he was. Didn’t they say you never knew if you really were crazy? And yet he knew it to a certainty. “Did you bring any of that biological agent? The one you used to break down the rock fields?”
She nodded. “Not much, but I brought a little, just in case. It’s in my pack.”
Devon frowned. “Not to call you crazy, but…. Okay, why the hell not? Let’s call you crazy. How could you possibly know?”
“I dreamed it. Call it a connection to the world-mind, or call it magic. I don’t care. Besides, what’s the harm in trying?”
Keera returned with a small sprayer. “Let’s hope the wall’s not too thick. I don’t have all that much with me.”
“That’s okay. How long does it take to work?”
“Maybe an hour before it’s soaked through a couple inches. It won’t be soft like topsoil in that amount of time, but you should be able to push through it if the wall’s not too thick.”
Aaron touched the rock face along the side of the shallow cavern. He moved his hand from spot to spot until it felt… right. “Here.”
Keera sprayed the spot he indicated, creating a wet patch about a meter around.
“And now?”
“We wait.”
AN HOUR passed while they waited for the bio-agent to do its work. They sat watching the rain fall outside. It provided a soothing counterpoint to Aaron’s racing thoughts. To keep his mind off the trek through the bowels of the mountain still to come, he talked about his childhood growing up in Fargo.
“My parents bought an old ranch home outside the capital, on an acre of land. The area was changing, the forest moving in as the rainfall increased, but there were still wide-open stretches of chaparral back then.”
Devon nodded. “When my grandfather was a boy, he lived in the Caymans before half the islands washed into the sea. He used to tell me how he and his friends would go snorkeling among the coral reefs, before they all died off.”
They both looked expectantly at Keera. She was quiet for a long time.
“Something you’d like to share?” Aaron asked.
“I lost my grandparents in the Great Burn. They tried to remain at home, in Phoenix. They thought if they just stayed inside…. By the time they realized how bad it was, it was too late. The roads were jammed, everyone was panicked, and there was no way to get out of town.”
Devon whistled. “I heard it got upwards of a hundred and fifty degrees for a couple days there.”
“More like for a week. The power went off, and the water ran out, and people just died in their homes.” She closed her eyes.
Aaron reached out and put a hand on hers.
“My mom was away in college,” she said at last. “She always wished she could have been there for them, done something.”
Aaron sighed. “It’s a pretty fucked-up world they’re handing us, isn’t it?”
His companions nodded. “That’s why this one is so important.” Devon gestured at the world outside the cavern. “As long as we don’t screw it up too.”
“Come on, let’s check our handiwork.” Aaron was trying to dispel the sense of doom and gloom that had settled over the little group. The others followed him back to the patch of rock Keera had sprayed with the bio-agent. “It doesn’t look any different,” Aaron said doubtfully.
Keera laughed. “Watch this.” She gave the wall a roundhouse kick. There was a loud crunch, and a section of the wall collapsed inward.
Together they began assaulting the wall, and soon they had kicked out a hole big enough to squeeze themselves through.
Aaron peered through the hole with a flashlight. “Looks plenty big enough.” He handed it to Keera.
She looked inside. “Well I’ll be damned. You were right.”
He gave her his best I-told-you-so grin. “Haven’t guided you wrong yet, have I? Let’s set the emergency beacon, grab our gear, and get going. There’s no time to waste.”
ANA PAUSED for the tenth or fifteenth time to rest since she’d realized she was in a tunnel, leaning against the wall. Even traveling at such a slow pace was wearing her down. She was really hungry now. She hadn’t had anything to eat in almost a day, and her hunger was taking up more and more of her thoughts.
How spoiled we are back home, she thought, before pushing herself back up and continuing to hobble along the tunnel.
She wasn’t at all sure now that she wouldn’t die down here. Leaving the crash site seemed like a terrible idea in hindsight, but she was committed to it. She had come too far to turn around now.
If her time sense was right, it was already past midnight. The moss in the watercourse that ran steadily at her side glowed a soft blue here, giving her enough light to navigate by.
She concentrated on placing one foot before the other, step after step, but after maybe half an hour more, she decided she needed to rest again.
She laid her hand on the side of the tunnel. The walls down here were much smoother than they had been in the canyon behind her. She marveled that all of this had been built from that chunk of rock where s
he and Colin made their desperate landing so long ago. Can it really have been just ten years?
There was a distant rumbling behind her. It sounded like thunder. Was there another storm?
She stood up and turned to listen more carefully.
No, it wasn’t thunder. It was too deep and continuous for that. It was more like a waterfall.
Water.
She gasped as she realized the predicament she’d put herself in. She was in a tightly constricted space, a space that water coursed down through from above to who knew where, and the walls around her were worn smooth.
She turned away from the sound and started to hobble forward as quickly as she was able, as the rumble grew in volume behind her. There was nowhere to go but straight ahead.
She had yet to come across a branching tunnel or crevasse in this underground cavern, which might well end up being her tomb.
The noise behind her was a torrent now. She glanced back, expecting to see a wall of water crashing down upon her.
There was only the fading light of the river moss. As she turned back, she slipped and fell into the water on her back.
She cursed at her own ineptitude and sat up, her back sending pangs of protest up her spine. The rivulet was shallow enough here, and she managed to pull herself to the bank.
Now the sound was like a roaring in her ears, and she glanced backward once more.
This time she did see the wall of water, just before it slammed into her, carrying her down the tunnel at breakneck speed and knocking her into unconsciousness.
Chapter Twelve: Tunnels
AARON CLIMBED through the hole that they’d made into the newly revealed tunnel, pausing to take a quick look around. The tunnel itself was about three meters wide and was illuminated by a strange blue moss growing in the watercourse that flowed down the center of it. It extended off into the distance on the left and the right.
“Which way?” Keera looked in both directions.
“Right,” Aaron answered without thinking.
Keera nodded.
There was enough room on either side of the watercourse for them to walk single file.
Aaron wondered how many of these tunnels existed beneath the ground of the world. “I hope neither of you are claustrophobic.” Devon and Keera entered the tunnel behind him.
“I’m fine.” Keera grinned. “I used to wander the caves back home in Ireland.”
Devon said nothing, but he looked green.
“Well, let’s get a move on. I don’t want to spend any more time in here than we have to.” Aaron set a brisk pace for the group. He led the small party down the tunnel, pausing occasionally to touch the rock to get a sense of how far they had to go.
He didn’t know his destination, not exactly, but he knew what it would feel like. His newfound sensitivity assured him that Dr. Anatov was somewhere ahead, and that they would be able to find her.
What they would do once they did, he had no idea. One thing at a time. “Did you guys know these tunnels were down here?” he asked, trying not to think about the massive layers of rock pushing down above their heads.
“We knew Ariadne had some kind of circulatory system, but none of us has ever been down inside it like this.” Keera ran her hand along the wall next to them, her fingers skimming the smooth stone.
“How about you, Devon?”
“I… I don’t feel so good.”
Aaron turned around to look at Devon. His new friend was bringing up the rear of the party. The man was pale as a sheet.
Keera, standing between them, put her hand on Devon’s shoulder. “Hey, Dev, what is it?”
“I’m really not good with confined spaces.” Devon looked nauseous, and his hands were shaking.
Aaron squeezed past Keera to take Devon by the shoulders. He looked Devon in the eye. “It’s okay, buddy. We probably should have had someone stay back at the cavern, just in case help arrives.”
Keera nodded vigorously. “That’s a great idea. Someone needs to explain what’s going on to the director and his men when they get here. Devon, why don’t you head back to camp and keep watch for them? You can fill them in.”
Devon looked from one of them to the other, uncertain. “Are you sure? What if you guys need me?”
Keera flashed him her brightest smile. “You’ll be more help to us back here, as a rearguard. I promise.”
Devon let himself be convinced. He gave them each a hug and headed back the way they’d come from.
Once he was out of earshot, Keera said, “That was nicely done.”
“You saw the poor guy. It’s better this way. Come on. We have a lot of ground to cover before it rains again.”
“What do you mean?”
“Trust me, we do not want to be in this tunnel when the water comes.”
Keera looked over her shoulder. “Ah, got it.”
They made good time, walking down the tunnel at a brisk pace. As they went, they talked about their upbringings back home on Earth.
Aaron spoke about his strict Catholic childhood. That had been his mother, Glory’s, influence. His father had converted for his mother. Before that he’d been one of the “godless heathens”—his mother’s phrase—living in New York City.
“My parents gave up on God after the Great Burn,” Keera said as they walked. “They couldn’t believe a loving God would allow something like that to happen. That’s not to say that they didn’t have their own strict moral code, but we never went to church when I was growing up.”
He nodded. “I’m not sure if I believe all those things my mother’s church wants me to either. I mean, it’s such a big universe. Why would God have created just one little planet for our one little race?”
“I never understood that either.”
“So what did you do with all your free time on Sunday mornings?”
She smiled. “I used to go out and explore the desert. My parents lived in Tucson, and before the Burns, the desert there was still pretty. It wasn’t a dry desert, like the Mojave in California. There was lots and lots of green.”
“Caverns too?”
“Yes, Arizona and New Mexico are riddled with them. They say there are some cave systems there that stretch for hundreds or even thousands of miles—bandits used to hide out in some of them in the Old West. I used to go caving in Carlsbad with some of my friends.”
“Hence your total comfort down here?” She was beautiful. Athletic, smart, and beautiful. He was well and truly smitten.
“Yes, and who the hell says ‘hence’ anymore?”
Aaron laughed. “Call me old-fashioned.” His mind strayed for a minute from the task at hand, remembering their first night together and how wonderful it felt to touch her, to kiss her, to spend that time alone with her in her tent.
He shook his head. There was no time for that right now. He had another fair maiden to save.
They continued on course, and the touch of the stone reassured him that they were on the right path.
ANA AWOKE slowly, feeling pain in every part of her body. She remembered the long, arduous walk down the cavern and then the sudden rush of water…. It had washed her down to this place, wherever this place was.
If she wasn’t already dead.
Her eyes opened, painfully encrusted with dirt and grit.
She was lying on her back, and the world above her was almost strange enough to make her forget the pain that coursed through her nervous system. The ceiling above was glowing, looking like nothing so much as the interior of the Dressler, so long ago. Wide veins shot through the skin, carrying luthiel up into the walls, bright golden veins that reached down to the floor where she lay.
She looked down. She could no longer see her legs. They were submerged in a viscous yellow fluid.
She was in one of Forever’s many stomachs, and she was slowly being digested.
She screamed.
There was no one there to hear her.
After a while, her voice ran ragged and she fell silent, brea
thing heavily as she considered her fate.
She tried to push herself up onto her elbows, but her muscles wouldn’t obey her, and she couldn’t get any purchase on the soft lining of the stomach.
She lay back and let out a long sigh.
So this was how it was going to end. Lost in the stomach of the dragon, to pass into oblivion with no one knowing where or how she had gone.
Her body still ached from the fall and her injuries, but strangely, being dissolved by the stomach of the world seemed painless.
She closed her eyes, trying to resign herself to her fate. This was probably all she deserved, in any case, after the mess she had made of her life. Once she’d thought she was someone important, that future generations would remember her name and what she’d done for the human race. Now it seemed just as likely that no one would remember her at all.
There was someone else sitting beside her.
She turned her head and was not at all surprised to see that it was Jackson Hammond. What other ghost was more appropriate to haunt her in her final hour?
“Hello, Jackson.” She was almost happy to see him there, figment of her imagination or not.
“Hiya, Doc.” He gave her a warm smile. That surprised her.
“Come to see an old woman meet her well-deserved end?” she spat out, suddenly angry that it had come to this.
He shook his head. His eyes were kind, too kind. She deserved only his bitterness, his hatred.
“I came to see an old friend.”
She looked away, her cheeks flushed with shame. “I was no friend to you.” She couldn’t look him in the eyes. “I was so selfish then, so fearful. I was…. I killed you.”
To her surprise, Jackson laughed, a warm, rich sound. “You killed me? What, are you now taking credit for the vacuum of space itself? Good Lord, woman, does your arrogance know no bounds?”
The Stark Divide Page 19