“Yep.”
“Do you think that means the Maykure are in on this operation?”
“Could be.”
Kay’s interest in the sled chamber was wrenched away as he suddenly started growling at the door. Deck said, “Someone must be coming. Probably to ask us why we broke into their building.”
“Yeah, this looks pretty suspicious,” Kennedy agreed.
They ran out into the corridor towards the exit, only to be confronted by Tievas Galloo and five armed Intabet. Hands held aloft, Decker and Kennedy dropped their weapons as instructed. Tievas demanded, “Why do you trespass here? By what means did you detect the geide stone?”
Kennedy said, “We didn’t. We broke in here because we thought somebody was hurt in this place. We wanted to help if we could. That’s all.”
“You claim no interest in the geide?” Tievas asked. “You confer on we lies. We marked your words as we made our approach. You presume to steal away the geide?”
“Yeah, we’re interested in kiatilium – most of the galaxy is interested in that rock. But it’s not the way of our people to steal. However, if you’re selling it, then we’re always in the market for—”
“We possess a buyer of steadiness and ease – we want no other. Not, most surely, one sharing fellowship with the Featay and Maykure.”
Deck asked, “The Maykure aren’t part of this?”
“Those dupes cowering under their dome hold not the wit to embrace the off-world worth of the geide.” Tievas glared at the humans. “But you would carry this word to them. I mark that with ease.” Turning to the armed guards, Tievas said, “We cannot allow them their journey back to the low-land. Our work to keep low-landers away from our prize would crumble. Slay the off-worlders, directly.”
Con warned, “You shouldn’t do that – there’s one of our heavily armed warships on the way here. You’d be bringing a world of trouble down upon yourselves.”
“The cloaking of this area holds impervious. They will not mark clear the happening of your deaths.”
“Our technology is able to penetrate the cloak of Maykah,” Naiche said, which she now belatedly remembered had been supplied by the Intabet. “Our people know the last place they heard from us was here, in Intabah. That’s the first place they’ll look.”
“And nothing will they mark. We will feed your deaths to peerazu before your fellows begin the search.” Tievas gestured imperially at guards. “Hold no hesitation to accord them death.”
In a low steady voice, Kennedy asked, “Those weapons of yours pierce the body, don’t they? Because our species lets off a deadly gas when our skin is broken. You kill us – you’ll die, too.”
When the guards uncertainly lowered their weapons, Tievas declared, “The strangers confer on we lies upon lies!” The older Intabet assured the guards, “There lives no such species.”
“Why do you think the veil-worms…loerna, as you call them,” Deck asked, “why do you think they didn’t bother us? Because they sensed this about our species.”
One of the guards asked Tievas, “Is truth accorded here of loerna?”
“They have extended to we words, solely. We cannot mark the truth of it, Utarl. It sounds as a children’s fable.”
“You hold no certainty,” Utarl replied. “Why must I claim this danger? After so many seasons, the time of off-world living comes soon to me.” There was a rumble of agreement from the other guards.
“You hold fear of danger so slight? Not one among you will claim off-world time if Purt Cassay finds our secret broken. I stand in place of cassay with Purt off-world. Carry forth your duty!” The guards made no argument but neither did they raise their weapons.
After a minute of this impasse, Tievas pointed at the room containing the cage, saying, “If you hold fear so mighty, compel the strangers to the fietem-chamber. The geide will accord them death and peerazu will pick clean their bones while the fietem awaits transport.”
As they were being backed into the room, Decker called out, “Kayatennae, run and get help!” The dog took off without hesitation, bolting past the Intabet and out the front door.
Tievas sneered, “An action, desperate – but holding no use.” After the guards had forced them into the cage, Tievas, looked up at the chamber ceiling, thirty-feet above their heads, declaring, “That creature, brainless and small, will be running this mountain still, when the next load of the geide accords you death.” The Intabet leader pushed a large button next to the cage and the bars slammed down, locking Decker and Kennedy in the chamber. As the troop of Intabet vacated the room, Tievas said, “You should have left Intabah at my command. Death comes to you this same hour because you claimed as your due, business not your own.”
Chapter 19
Cleaves the Mountain Asunder
“…every moment an epiphany arrives and cleaves the mountain asunder.” Jalal al-Din Rumi, Mystical Poems of Rumi
Con abandoned his fruitless effort to make contact with someone via comm-link; the signal simply couldn’t get through to anyone outside the cloaked area. He turned his attention to Naiche – she’d finally given up attempting to scale the slick metal bars and had spent the last few minutes trying to bank-shot small pieces of kiatilium off the wall to hit the cage release button. Her most recent shot went wide of the mark – just like all of the previous tries.
After finding no more scraps of stone near the sled, Decker hung her head, then looked at Kennedy. “Our only hope is that Kay can get us some help before we end up pulverized.”
Kennedy curled his hands around two of the closely-spaced, unyielding bars. “Meaning, there is no hope for us?” When she glared at him, he said, “Come on, Deck. He can’t possibly run all the way back to the Aurora in time. That’s a longer shot than you hitting that button. Or us finding a way to break out of this cage.”
“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” She threw herself down onto the sled in disgust.
Kennedy eased himself down beside her and looked up at the chamber ceiling. “How long do you think we have?”
“I don’t know. However long it takes for their mining robot to dig up the next load.” Naiche cocked an ear towards the roar of machinery below them. “No wonder the seismic activity on Tolu is so weird – it’s from the Intabet blast mining this mountain.” She looked back at Con. “Damn, we were so wrong about them. They’re not crazy; they’re smart – and greedy.”
“They sure are – not many people would be degenerate enough to think of using the peerazu as a cover for their mining operation. All so they can sell off Tolu’s resources to the highest bidder.”
“Wonder what they’re doing with all the money?”
“They’re not putting it back into their home, that’s for sure.” Kennedy reflected on their recent confrontation with the Intabet. “I bet they’re spending it off-world. That would explain why those guards are so anxious to get their turn. And why Intabah is so empty – most of the Intabet probably live off-world.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“It also explains why Tievas was easier to understand than the rest of the Tolutay. The Intabet must interact with off-worlders on a regular basis.”
Deck nodded. “Hey…now that you mention it, the translation for Tievas was better. All the rest of them, too. Good catch.”
Con rolled his eyes at such undeserved praise. “No – it would have been a good catch two hours ago.”
Tossing him a sad smile, Naiche quickly changed the subject. “Who do you think they’re trading with?”
“It could be anyone. We are sitting on top of what has to be the biggest treasure trove of kiatilium in the galaxy.” He contemplated that fact for a moment and then expelled a huff of bitter amusement. “Ironic, isn’t it?”
“What?” Deck’s eyes roamed around the chamber, still seeking a weakness in their improvised prison. She faced him, venturing, “That after all we’ve been through with aliens and space anomalies, we’re gonna end up stoned to death?”
Decker laid her forehead on her bent knees, groaning, “I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess.”
“You didn’t drag me anywhere. I insisted on joining you – remember?”
“I remember. Still…it was all my idea.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “I get so excited – wanting to explore the unknown and right all the wrongs, that I never bother thinking things through. I just assume I can face down any challenge that comes my way. Guess this kind of end was inevitable for me – being that goddamned reckless and cocky.” With a mirthless laugh she added, “Just like my father.”
“Hey, that’s not fair.” Kennedy wasn’t entirely sure if he meant she was being unfair to Ricci – or herself. Both probably.
“Yeah, you’re right.” She nodded. “I can’t put it all on him – there’s also shichú and her father.” When he cocked his head in puzzlement, she clarified, “My Chiricahua grandmother and great-grandfather.”
“The firefighters?”
“Yeah. They both died fighting a wildfire long after it was time to retreat.” Deck stood up and started pacing restlessly. “So, I have the reckless and cocky genes on both sides. Look where it’s gotten me. I’m not even gonna get the chance to tell Tal that I want to go with him to the settlements.”
Kennedy jumped up and put a gentle hand on her shoulder to arrest her pacing. “You do? Since when?”
With a shrug she admitted, “Okay, I don’t actually want to go to the settlements, but if that’s the only way we can be together – then that’s what we’ll do. I’ve been thinking it over, you know, like Ricci asked me to? And I realized – I love Tal more than I love my dream about returning to Chiricahua territory. But now he’ll never know.” Kennedy was desperately searching for something wise or comforting to say but came up empty handed. Deck finished with a whisper, “I wonder if Tal has any idea how much I love him.”
“Of course, he does. You’ve told him so – haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but he almost always says it first. And I’m not romantic like he is, and….” Deck heaved a great sigh, and in a far-away voice reported, “I keep thinking back to this conversation we had – back when we first heard the message from Maddox. Tal suggested that we’d made contact with a parallel universe – one where the Valiant was never destroyed.” She looked at Con with teary eyes. “My first thought was about my mother – that maybe she was still alive in that reality. Tal’s first thought was about us.”
“I’m sure Tal understood. Something like that wouldn’t make him doubt your love. Everyone knows your mom’s death left a hole in your heart – one that’ll never heal.” In that moment, a sudden truth broke over Con, riveting him in place. “Oh, shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Deck looked up at the ceiling. “Is the rock coming down?”
“No, I just figured out that Aqila is right. It’s not fair to have a child if we’re not also willing to adjust our lifestyle. To have at least one of us take an Earth-side post for a while.” Con didn’t say the rest out loud: that he didn’t want to risk leaving his child a broken-hearted orphan, carrying the pain of that loss forever – like Deck.
She followed his train of thought anyway. Naiche put both hands on his arm, urging, “You can’t think that way, planning for the worst to happen. You gotta hope for the best.”
He smiled down at her. “What did Cat used to say during the war – when I’d come up with one of those rash and risky battle plans of mine?”
Naiche tilted her head in thought for a second. “‘That fool Kennedy is gonna get us all killed?’”
“To me! What did she used to say to me?”
“Ohh.” Deck managed a credible imitation of their late friend Caterina Xavier, as she recited, “‘Hope is not a strategy, Lieutenant.’”
“Exactly. And especially not when it comes to something as important as a child. Aqila is right – I want the idea of having a kid more than the reality. Otherwise I’d have come up with a more solid plan, something better than – ‘it will all work out somehow.’”
Their philosophizing was interrupted by the dreaded rumble of approaching rocks – the sound of imminent death. Kennedy proposed they use their final moments to record messages for their loved ones on their hand-held computers. Deck asked, “What’s the chance anyone’s ever gonna hear them?”
“Slim to none – but whata we got to lose?” She nodded in cheerless agreement, suggesting he go first. Con stared at his computer, wondering how to start, when someone burst into the room. He didn’t have time to wonder if it was good news or bad – when he looked up, Kennedy still wasn’t sure. Kayatennae stood before them, wagging his tail, with no human help in sight.
***
“Touch, Kay! Touch!” Naiche pointed at the button on the wall, her voice shrill with urgency. The dog stared at the spot on the wall, then looked back at her. The rumble of stone was louder as it approached, death relentlessly closing in on them. “Come on, Kay – touch!” she screamed.
At last Kay leapt up at the button on the wall. But nothing happened – he’d either missed or touched it too gently to activate. The ceiling panel started opening and Deck and Con pressed up against the bars to buy a few more precious seconds of life. “Again, Kay,” Naiche shouted. “Touch again!” She closed her eyes as the smaller rocks started pelting them and couldn’t tell if the dog repeated his effort or not. Just as she’d decided death was inevitable, the bars opened with a hiss and she and Con tumbled out together. Not stopping to catch their breath, they scrambled away from the onslaught of kiatilium.
“We gotta get out of here,” Kennedy yelled, as the computer panel on the wall screeched out an alarm. They dashed out into corridor and hesitated about which way to run. He pointed towards the entrance. “They’ll be coming from that direction – we gotta go the other way.” The load of kiatilium burst out of the room, overflowing into the hallway. “Looks like we don’t have a choice anyway.”
The three of them dodged the wave of rock and ran up the steps to the next floor. Deck looked back at the surge of kiatilium filling the ground floor. “At least that will slow the Intabet down.”
They ran up to the top floor and ducked into the first empty room they found. Crouching down in the dark, Con and Naiche huddled over his hand scanner and studied a schematic of the building.
Deck pointed to the roof. “Look, there’s a ship up there. It must be the one used to transport the kiatilium off-world. No Intabet life-signs. I say we head up there and I fly us off this mountain.”
“You don’t know anything about the ship – it might be locked down, it might have biometric controls. A better bet would be to find us some weapons.”
“Good point. Are you reading anything like that?”
“No, but it’s hard to get a fix with so much interference.” He stared at the scanner. “What’s with the weird energy signals in this room?”
Deck activated her wrist light and shone it around the space. She stared in surprise at the hundreds of small glass tanks on a counter near them. “Cloning vessels,” she whispered.
“What?” Con turned on his own wrist light and examined the scene. Leaning closer to the tanks, he said, “Veil-worms. Of course! Aqila told us something like that isn’t usually found in nature. The Intabet created those worms to keep the other Tolutay away from their treasure.”
Only half listening as she studied the rest of the room, Decker walked over to check out more cloning tanks on a bench against the wall. Her heart thudded in her chest upon recognizing the wriggling embryos. She swallowed to wet her mouth enough to say, “That isn’t all they created – look!” Con silently stared in shock equal to her own, apparently speechless with disbelief. “Peerazu,” Deck said. “That’s how they went from peaceful to killer animals. It wasn’t the gamma ray – it was the Intabet.
Those bastards unleashed that horror upon their own people.”
Kennedy stood up. “We can’t let this go. We gotta find a way to destroy this lab. We’re gonna put a stop to this shit – once and for all.”
“How? We don’t have any weapons – and we don’t have time to smash all these tanks.”
“Smashing them isn’t enough, anyway. I want to level this place.” Studying the nearest cloning set-up, Con said, “The tanks are all powered off the same source. If I rig this one to over-energize – the whole series will overload. It will light up the source and take this place out like a bomb.” He put his hands on his hips and looked around. “But then how do we escape?”
“The roof!”
“We cannot count on that ship, Deck.”
“I’m not thinking about the ship. I mean we should jump off this roof onto the roof of the building next to us. It wasn’t too far away – was it?”
“Nothing in this town is very far apart. Good idea, that’s our best bet.”
“You sure you can make it with your leg?”
“Yeah, I should be okay. Even if I have to aim for the ground, a three-story fall is survivable.” He shrugged. “More than staying in a collapsing building, anyway.”
“You are not gonna hit the ground – we’ll jump together, if we need to.”
Con smiled and nodded decisively. “That’s a plan – let’s do this.” It didn’t take him more than a few minutes to engineer the overload. They knew it had worked when the tank’s controller blinked furiously and blared out an alarm. “Okay, we gotta bail – now!”
Deck took the lead, hunting for the exit to the roof. A minute into the search, the building was rocked by an enormous blast. “That worked,” she yelled over the roar. “But how the hell do we get out?” She was flooded with relief upon spotting the ladder that appeared to be their escape route. A quick ascent confirmed her hunch; she dangled off of the ladder, looking down at Kennedy. “This is it – come on.”
The Risks of Dead Reckoning Page 22