by Thomas Stone
"She's lovely, Harry."
Harry shrugged.
"So, how's Kathleen?"
Harry looked up. "Kathleen's fine. She just got a command."
"Why'd it take so long?"
"Well, you know, we pretty much stayed together. Most of the time, we'd go out together. But some things happened."
"Like what?"
"Well, we got a divorce."
"Amazing. People are still getting married on Earth?"
"Yes, and still getting divorces as well."
"So she ended up taking a command after turning them down for years?"
"That's pretty much it."
"It's not the end of the world, Harry. You never know, things might even turn out better."
"Believe me, that's not the end of it. Unfortunately, we don't have time to talk about it now."
"Why? What's going on?"
"You and I are returning to Minerva."
"But why? If it's on my account, I'm feeling much better."
"Well, that was a factor in my decision, but I need Minerva's help in completing a translation."
"Translation? What translation?"
Harry briefly told him about searching the pyramid for the ghlowstone. "But so far, all we've found are those two tablets."
Fagen shook his head. "You don't need them. I know how to get inside."
"You know? Then why haven't you..."
Shots issued forth outside the tents, interrupting Harry. "Can you move?" Harry shouted.
Fagen sprang to his feet. "Twelve hours sleep. I feel like a new man. Got a spare stunner?"
Harry paused and looked at Fagen, then looked outside. They were under attack again, and, by the commotion, it sounded as if the Krits had returned in full force. Harry tossed the hand-held stunner to Fagen and stepped from the tent.
It was full light but he still couldn't see the aliens. Burke and Utme fired their weapons at a place in the fence where a log had been tossed over one of the power poles. As a result, the fence had shorted out.
Harry shouted to the others, "Fall back to the jeep!"
Fagen ran to the air-jeep and jumped in. For a brief moment, Harry thought Fagen was going to leave them there. But he didn't. He leaned from the pilot's seat and motioned for the others to join him.
Bobbie came from the rear of the camp, walking backwards and spraying short bursts from her stunner. She was closer to the jeep than the others and stopped short of actually climbing in. Instead, she stood by the passenger side and watched Fagen's back, firing quick bursts at anything that hinted of motion.
Utme went down, apparently from an invisible mugging. She rolled to one side and jumped back to her feet, but was struck again across the face causing her to stagger even farther backward.
Burke had problems of his own. Currently, from the number of flashes around the man, he appeared to be surrounded. It didn't stop him from firing; he fought like a man possessed, sending shots in all directions. Harry thought he saw one of the Krits get hit.
Utme was closer, so Harry went to her aid first. By this time, she was down again and fending off her assailants with both hands and feet. Harry sent a wide beam over her prone figure. It hit something and the air sizzled at the spot of the burn. Harry fired again with the same result, hitting another Krit. Utme scrambled to her feet. Both she and Harry then began firing shots all around Burke.
They seemed to be getting the Krits away from the Co-commander, but a disturbance in the tents caused Harry to pause. Some of the creatures had made it to the shelters and were ransacking the supplies. Worse still, the tents were between them and the jeep. Harry looked back to Burke. He'd managed to get some distance between himself and the aliens and continued to fire. Until, that is, his weapon suddenly stopped. He'd run out of charge.
As Harry watched, Burke began using the weapon as a club, thrashing the air and occasionally hitting one of his attackers.
Utme stopped firing. Simultaneously, both Harry and Utme realized that, for the moment, they had fought themselves free. One of the tents started to burn and smoke billowed up. Harry told Utme to go to the jeep.
"I'll go after Burke."
Utme responded by pointing behind, back to the tents. Harry looked and saw that Fagen had left the jeep and was now headed toward Burke, handgun blazing. Behind him, Bobbie covered the rear, sending shots in several directions before switching to a wide beam. Two shots from the wide beam and the charge on her weapon was gone as well.
Bobbie fell, or was pushed, it was hard to tell, and Fagen stopped to pull her to her feet. Utme still tried to help Burke, but Harry changed his aim and fired shots behind Bobbie. Things had gotten out of hand much too quickly. The Krits seemed to be everywhere. As the second tent caught fire, Burke broke free and ran toward the only way out of the field. Utme ran after him, firing shots. By then, Fagen and Bobbie were only steps away from Harry.
"There're too many of them," shouted Bobbie.
Harry had no choice. Either the three of them could fight their way back to the jeep, or try to save Utme and Burke. He had to stand by his crew. "Let's go," he said, pointing out from the camp.
"Do you really think that's the most practical idea, Harry?"
An explosion ripped the air, tearing the jeep apart. Ignited by fires from the tarp, ironically, it was a fully-charged stunner magazine sitting on the back seat that caused the damage.
Harry faced Fagen and answered his question. "I do now." He turned and led them away, squeezing off a minimum of shots as he ran after Utme.
Fagen sighed, shrugged, and looked at Bobbie. "Shall we?" he asked, motioning after the others. Together, they followed Harry.
Activity was dying down. The Krits attacked in a frenzy which had now passed. By the time Harry reached the break, he saw only two or three glimmering shapes, and they quickly fled from sight. He ran up the slope and started up the path to the pyramid, but abruptly stopped.
A sensation came to him like a wave rolling into a beach and along with it, a searing pain that shot through his head. Accompanying the pain, an image of death filled his mind, an image of Utme as she took her dying breath. Things began to spin and then all went black. Harry crumpled to the ground.
Chapter 29
Fagen and Bobbie found Harry where he'd dropped and they carried him to a shady spot. Bobbie played nurse again, but couldn't see anything wrong with the commander. When she placed a damp cloth against his forehead, he came out of it.
"Where are the others?" Harry asked immediately.
"We don't know," she answered. "How do you feel?"
Harry's ears were still ringing, but he raised himself up. "I'm all right. How much of a charge do you have remaining on your stunner?"
"Not much," Bobbie admitted. "Not enough for something like we just went through."
Fagen crouched beside Harry. "No sign of anybody now. You all right?"
Harry nodded and thought about what to do. The mission was a wash. There was no way to get the ghlowstone. Now they'd be lucky to get out with their lives. The first task was to find Tringl and Burke.
"Let's follow the path. It's the only clear direction to run."
"You sure you're up to moving around? What happened to you, anyway?"
"I'm fine. We're wasting time. Tringl and Burke are around here somewhere."
"What about Utme?" asked Bobbie.
"She's dead."
"How do you know?"
Harry shrugged. "I just know."
Bobbie looked at Harry with a quizzical expression, but didn't ask any more questions.
Harry got to his feet, the buzzing in his head fading. "Let's move up toward the pyramid."
Bobbie's thoughts came to Harry. She wondered if Harry was all right, if he was thinking properly. As far as she knew, they were isolated in the Lost City with no way out and no way to contact the Grunwald. Still, she was a disciplined woman and Harry knew she would continue to follow orders. Fagen's thoughts weren't coming through as clearly. Har
ry knew it was just a matter of time before he too would become an open book.
Cautiously, they made their way up the trail until the pyramid loomed over them. Thankfully, the Krits had completely withdrawn and offered no resistance. Somehow, Harry knew they would be back, and the next time they would finish the job they'd started.
From his contact with the captured Krit, Harry had received impressions that allowed him to gain some insight into their motives. They were little more than animals, incapable of solitary reasoning with a hive mentality rivaling the more intelligent species of fish back on planet Earth. They would not attack singly. At the appropriate time, they would mass and the frenzy would commence anew. Harry had no idea when that time would occur, but he was certain it wouldn't be long.
As they circled the pyramid and approached what Harry had guessed was the front door, he saw where the tablets had been taken from the ground.
"We lost the tablets," Harry muttered.
"It doesn't matter." Fagen motioned for Harry to follow. "Come over here. I want to show you something."
With Bobbie trailing behind, Fagen led Harry around the side of a crumbling ruin that faced the pyramid. In a debris-cluttered alcove, Fagen stopped.
"Here it is," he said.
Harry looked around. "I don't see anything."
Fagen stepped over the littered and cracked floor to what appeared to be a step, a raised section six inches high and some three feet in length.
"What's that?"
Fagen squatted and pushed against the step. "Help me," he said.
Harry set the stunner to one side, placed his hands on the hewn stone and pushed. "It's too heavy," he said.
"No, it'll move, just push hard."
Together, they strained against the slab until it moved first a fraction, then gained momentum and seemed to swing of its own inertia until it slid away, revealing a hole in the ground. The exposed tunnel was lined with ancient bricks and dark at the bottom.
Harry looked at Fagen. "How did you know?"
"I found the map. It was something like the tablets your crew found, but somewhat simpler to understand."
"What happened to it?"
"The Krits took it, damn near killed me in the process. But it doesn't matter now. This is the way inside."
Harry lowered himself into the hole. At the bottom the tunnel led toward the pyramid. It was pitch black and too small for a grown man to squeeze through.
"It's too small," observed Harry.
"Yeh," replied Fagen, "that's a problem."
Harry climbed out and glanced at Bobbie standing guard nearby. "Bobbie? Climb down there and see if you can fit in the lower tunnel."
"Well, okay," she said, sounding unsure. "I don't care for the dark, though." She climbed into the hole and stooped to look inside the tunnel. She shined her light inside and, with great effort, stuck her head and shoulders into the opening. She went forward a few inches before stopping.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry.
Her muffled reply was barely audible.
"What?"
Bobbie backed out of the tunnel and looked up at Harry and Fagen. "It's too small for me too."
Fagen, lost in thought, said nothing.
"What do we do now?" asked Bobbie.
Harry sighed. "Let's spread out and keep searching for the others. Maybe we'll think of something..." Harry didn't sound too sure of himself.
It didn't take long to find Utme. Bobbie nearly stumbled over her body about a hundred meters on the far side of the pyramid. She'd been beaten and her back was broken. As Fagen and Bobbie kept watch, Harry dug a shallow grave. When he was finished, they laid Utme to rest, covering her with bricks and rubble.
Their mood was somber. Another crewmember was dead and there was nothing to assure the survivors they too might not end up in the same way. Harry took it especially hard. The lives of the crew were his responsibility and, once again, he had failed them.
By mid-afternoon, they had searched the rest of the area and come up empty-handed. There was still no sign of Burke. Twice, Harry felt the presence of Krits, but oddly, they seemed to ignore the humans. Harry led Fagen and Bobbie back to the camp site, hoping to salvage some equipment. Unfortunately, the camp and everything in it was destroyed. There was little left that could be of use. The Krits had taken the tablets as well.
Bobbie surveyed the site, looking not a little lost. "What now?"
Fagen looked around the open field. "We need to get away from here. We're sitting ducks."
"What do you suggest?" asked Harry.
"Well, I'm not the Mission Commander, but I'd say either we make a run back to the ship or find a way to get inside the pyramid. After all, that's what we're here for."
Harry wanted to get inside as badly as Fagen and said so. "But I don't want to stick around if it results in costing us our lives."
Fagen agreed. "You know," he said, "after each attack, it seems to take the Krits a couple of days before they work themselves back up again. I'd guess we have some time before they come back to finish the job."
"That's a big chance."
"It's a chance I'm willing to take if we can find some way to get to the ghlowstone."
Harry turned to Bobbie. "What do you think?"
Bobbie shrugged. "If you and Edward are willing to risk it, I'm with you."
"All right then," said Harry, "let's go back to the tunnel and see if we can figure something out. Let's give ourselves until tomorrow. If we don't have a solution by then, we have to bug out. I see no way around it. Agreed?"
Both Fagen and Bobbie nodded in affirmation.
Once back at the tunnel, they tried widening the entrance by digging out the crumbling bricks and mortar. It didn't take long before they realized extended excavation would result in a cave-in. Although Fagen told Harry it was fruitless, Harry searched the area again for an additional entrance. By sunset, they were no farther along than they were when they started.
As they sat in the alcove amid the gathering darkness, they finished off the soy bars and discussed their next move.
"I haven't a clue," said Harry. "We need equipment. Minerva can furnish what we need. In the morning, I suggest we move out. We're wasting time."
Fagen agreed. Bobbie stretched and said she was turning in. She crawled onto the top of the slab that had covered the hole, and somehow managed to make herself comfortable enough to go to sleep. Harry and Fagen sat up talking, catching up on the many years that had passed since they'd seen one another.
Harry was curious about the changes in Fagen. He was certainly the same man Harry had known in the past, but there seemed to be a compassion, a depth of character that was exposed where it had been hidden before. As Fagen told Harry about his explorations and the various cultures he'd run across in his travels, Harry began to understand that Fagen had been removed from humanity for too long. It had changed him. Before Fagen had stolen the alien starship, he had always been the type who showed nothing of his feelings and even less of his motivations. Now, it seemed, he was almost eager to talk about things.
As Fagen talked, his deeper, unspoken thoughts drifted out to Harry. The predominant thing about Fagen had always been his strength of character, his ability to handle things by himself. Indeed, the Fagen Harry had known in the past had no need of others to help him carry out his plans. Even though he was branded as a criminal by the Corporation, he was the most competent man Harry had ever known. That's why it was such a surprise when Harry realized that Fagen's motivation behind his pursuit of the ghlowstone was not glory, or power, but loneliness.
"I'd planned on getting in and out as quickly as possible," Fagen explained. "I didn't count on the existence of the Krits. I thought the stories were made up to keep the Malaaz away from the Lost City. Even after we had our first encounter with them, I didn't realize how dangerous they were."
Harry shrugged. "Yeah, well, things haven't exactly been going according to plan."
"They never do. You know
that."
"You'd think just once there wouldn't be any surprises."
"I sure didn't plan on seeing you here."
"To tell you the truth, I was looking for you. The Corporation suspects that you're here as well. Actually, that's the main reason they sent us -- to find you."
Fagen shook his head. "They don't forget, do they?"
"No," Harry said, "we don't."
Fagen looked at Harry. "You going to take me in?"
"That's right. It's my job. Besides, to tell you the truth, after you left and took the ship with you, I felt left out. You had all the choices."
"I took my chances."
"You played fast and loose. Humanity needs the drive in Minerva's power bay."
"I know that, Harry. What do you think I'm doing here? Think about what you just said. What's Minerva's power source? Did Blane tell you?"
"Yes, he said Minerva used a power matrix created from charged particles. The particles come from an artificial singularity, alien technology. He was convinced the ghlowstone is one of these singularity things."
"So am I," said Fagen. "That's why I wanted it. With it, another faster than light ship could be constructed. Maybe a whole fleet."
"By whom? You?"
"No, no," Fagen waved a hand. "I want it so I can take it back to Earth. Turn it over to the Corporation."
"What do you get out of it?"
Fagen looked surprised that Harry hadn't guessed already. "Why, a pardon, of course."
"But why?"
Fagen looked up at the night sky. "I'm tired of it. I want to go back." He paused a moment before continuing. "There's... there's no one in my life."
"Blane? Minerva?"
Fagen laughed. "Blane and Minerva. Now there's a pair. No, they've got each other, although I need to warn you, Minerva's got a roving eye. Blane's so wrapped up in her, he doesn't see it."
Harry shook his head. "I never thought I'd see the day when the great Edward Fagen was ready to cash in."
Fagen shrugged and started to reply, but a sound from the nearby jungle caused him to freeze.
With a pistol with only enough charge for two or three more shots, Fagen crouched and took a few steps away from Harry. Likewise, Harry picked up his weapon and backed into the shadows. Seconds passed as they watched and waited. Finally, Harry caught sight of a figure, squatting beneath overhanging leaves.