Frozen Fire

by Wendy L. Koenig

  Denefe shook her finger at her twin. “Yes, you do. They’re financing your dig. If they pull their money, you have to come back to work as a telepath. While you’re here, you can pretend you don’t work for them, but someday you have to return to reality.”

  “Wanna bet?” Kaleen’s eyes sparkled, and she gave a sly smile.

  Denefe gave a sudden gasp in understanding. “Bridger has made you an offer to join his team when this is done!”

  “They called you the slow one. Look at you go.”

  “Well, I’m happy you’re getting out. You were miserable.”

  “Thank you. I think I’ll like working with Bridger. He’s actually got quite an extensive and impressive team.” She paused and then looked at Denefe. “Have you thought what you’ll do if you end up looking for a new job?”

  “Just apply to all the big corporations, I guess. My relay company still isn’t funded enough to start.” She laughed. “I’m not really trained for much else but what I’m already doing. I don’t think it’ll come to that, though.”

  “I don’t either, but we’ll see what we can figure out while you’re here. You know, just in case. Anyway, tomorrow we can go look at the place where I found the body. Are you hungry? I have a few staples and a burner here, or we can go to the dining tent.”

  Denefe shook her head. “No food for me. I just want to stay here by the heater.”

  “I’ll make you something, and you can eat it there.” She brought over a chair and then rummaged through her shelves. Within minutes, she had two cups of instant soup heating on her burner.

  While she was busy with that, Denefe called Ardense. “Are you awake?”

  “I am now. What’s up, Den?”

  “Kaleen’s making soup. I’m just warming up.”

  “Port’s pretty pissed at you. I guess Cardenza or Hallen has berated him on his handling of the whole matter. He’s been informed there will be a formal inquest.”

  “Cardenza told me they were going to wait.”

  “Apparently, Port said or did something that pushed it over the edge.”

  “Or I did when I threatened to quit,” Denefe thought.

  Chapter 13

  Rift spiders

  Denefe spoke to Ardense at Brazil Base in her mind. She stared at the heating soup. “So, Port’s making your life miserable? I’m sorry.” She hadn’t intended to make anything more difficult for Ardense and her friends.

  “No, it’s actually a good thing. He won’t talk to anyone here. Mik swears you should have complained earlier. He also sent the message that he can’t wait for much longer. Whatever that means.”

  She knew exactly what that meant. Mik was talking about Starry’s metronome. Better to leave as many out of the loop as possible. It would be safer for everyone that way. She would show it to Kaleen tomorrow. Together they could puzzle out the messages. “I have no clue.”

  “Well, I’m just the messenger boy. How’s your sister?”

  “Just as dry as ever. Wonderful to see her, though.”

  “Good. Give her my love. I’m going back to sleep. Love you.”

  “G’night.” Once again, she felt herself holding back, uncertain. She loved him. That wasn’t the problem. She’d rather be with him than anyone, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Was his love a true love?

  She joined Kaleen, and for the rest of the evening, between cups of tea and soup, they chatted about old friends and old loves. At last, exhausted, they went to bed just before four in the morning.

  By the time Denefe awoke later that same morning, Kaleen was gone. “Where are you, sister mine?”

  “I’m in the dig. You should join me. It’s where I found the body.”

  “Er, okay.” Denefe looked doubtfully at the boots Kaleen had placed near the heater for her, not sure if she wanted to brave the cold so soon after waking. “How about in a couple of hours?”

  “Others will be here by then. Now’s the best time. We’ll be able to talk.”

  “Well, there’s nothing to be done but to join you. She pulled on her boots. Are you going to come get me?”

  “Just follow the rope straight through the three junctions. No turning at all. You’ll be fine.”

  “Be right there. Turn up the heater.”

  “Um, there’s not a lot of heat in here, actually, but it is warmer than outside.”

  “How long are we going to be there?”

  “As long as you need.”

  “Or as short?”

  Kaleen laughed in her mind. “Or as short.”

  “All right. See you in a few. Straight through?”

  “Yup.”

  After Denefe finished struggling into her coat and gloves, she took a deep breath. She stepped outside. Immediately, the wind scooped between her hat and head, flipping her hood back onto her shoulders. She flailed around for a minute, but had no luck with grabbing it. Ducking back into the tent, she righted her coat, tying it tighter. She stepped back outside again.

  Denefe looked up and grabbed hold of the rope, letting it run through her hand as she walked. It took her no time to get to the first junction. Just as she reached it, another big gust of wind sailed into her. It tugged on her newly-tied parka, and pulled it loose again. She let go of the rope and turned around to put her back to the assailing gust, holding her hood with both hands. The wind seemed to swirl around her, first coming at her from one direction and then another. She turned around and around with its changes, always trying to keep her back facing its force.

  With one hand on her still-adorned hood, she reached for the rope above her. When her hand met only air, she looked up. Only swirling snowflakes greeted her. She looked back and forth, finally catching a glimpse of the rope and junction. Trudging to them, she found herself faced with another dilemma. Which way had she been coming? Which way had she been going? The wind whipped the snow around her, obscuring the tents, sifting flakes into her footprints, hiding them. There was no way for her to tell. “Kaleen! Help me. I’m lost!”

  “Lost? How could you be lost? It’s just a simple rope trick. Honestly, Denefe! What did you do?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m really cold. I’m here at one of the junctions, all turned around. The wind came and tried to take my hood, so I let go, and when I looked back, I couldn’t tell where I am anymore.”

  “Fine. I’m coming.”

  “Thank you.” Denefe felt miserable, and she let that creep into her voice. Maybe Kaleen would take pity on her and not be upset. She kept her hand on the crossed ropes and turned around and around, trying to catch sight of her sister. She was edgy and anxious, as if she’d jumped right through her skin. Turning once more behind her, she saw Kaleen buttoning her parka as she approached.

  The edginess Denefe felt exploded into rift spiders crawling inside her skin.

  Something slammed into her from behind with the force of a speeding skimmer. It jerked her backward off her feet, snapping her head back and then forward, hammering her chin onto her breastbone.

  “Denefe!” Kaleen’s scream rocketed through Denefe’s mind, and then everything was drowned out by the roar of a sidewinder.

  A blast of fiery heat hit her, and she remembered Starry’s burned red skin and his missing eyelids. Snatching the edges of her hood between her thumb and forefinger, she pulled it low to cover her ears and used the rest of her hands to cover her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her uncovered skin burned with intensity like none she’d ever known. She felt it must have been peeling right off her bones. She fought to bring her knees up against her chest. The force of the sidewinder pushed against her, as if intentionally trying to kill her. Little by little, she won her struggle. After what seemed like forever, she was curled up into a little ball with her head tucked against her knees to help shelter it.

  She was in a vise-grip, being squeezed until her bones would surely become nothing but bloody pulp or jelly. Her intestines felt as if they would be pus
hed out like toothpaste. She thought her body was being turned inside out. The sidewinder jerked her in two different directions at once. If she hadn’t been in a ball, she’d have been torn in half. As it was, twice it wrenched her knees away from her chest, partially uncurling her. Both times, she fought against the power of the sidewinder to curl again. The second time, she almost didn’t succeed.

  A third time, two opposing forces tugged on her, uncurling her all the way. That was it. Now she would be torn in half. The agony in her midsection was more than she could bear, and she opened her mouth to scream when suddenly it ended. The wrenching of her body, the engulfing fire, the deafening roar, the rift spiders, everything—all gone.

  Chapter 14

  Panic drone

  “Denefe!” Kaleen launched to where Denefe had stood just a moment before. Remnants of ozone from the sidewinder permeated the air, and the residual electrical charge raised the hair on her arms. Snow whipped around her on the wind, obscuring anything more than a dozen feet away. As for the rogue wormhole itself, there was nothing left. Nor was there any sign her twin sister had even been there.

  “Denefe!”

  She turned around and around, looking for any sign, any clue, that would tell her where the sidewinder had gone. If she had the equipment the big bases did, she might be able to track where her sister had been taken.

  Bridger came up to her. “What’s happened? I was coming out of the tent to stop you so we could speak when you ran away.”

  “Denefe! Where are you? Can you hear me?”

  Kaleen crossed her arms and shivered from the fear that snaked throughout her, not feeling the cold. Not really seeing the man in front of her. All her attention was focused on one thing.

  “Denefe! Answer me!”

  “What’s happened?” Bridger gripped her shoulders and gave her a small shake.

  She croaked, “A sidewinder took Denefe.” Her face twisted in grief. Try as she might, she couldn’t hold back the sobs that suddenly lurched into her throat. Tears rolled down to her cheeks, turned icy, and froze.

  He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. “Hey. She might be all right. Your sister’s smart. She saw what happened to that other telepath. She’ll protect herself.”

  Kaleen whispered against his coat, “I can’t find her. She’s not answering.”

  “Did you check with her boyfriend? He might have better luck from his location.”

  She leaned back and looked at him, wiping her eyes, hope filling her. “Bridger, you’re a genius.”

  Reaching for the Brazil Base, she sent, “Ardense, are you there?”

  “Kaleen, is that you?”

  “Can you reach Denefe?”

  “Wait. What? I thought she was with you.”

  “A sidewinder took her. Try to reach her. Try as hard as you can.”

  The connection between them cut as if it had been via a comm link. Within a few seconds, he returned. “I can’t reach her either. You said it hit at your dig site?”

  “Yes, just a couple of minutes ago.”

  “All right. My team’s already scrambling to try to find any residuals of the wormhole so we can map it. I’ll notify Primary. You keep trying to contact her. I will too.”

  Kaleen, still pulled tight against Bridger’s coat, nodded as if Ardense could see her. “I will. Let me know right away if you find anything.”

  “Absolutely.” Then he was gone.

  Her mind was empty of anyone else’s thoughts. Even the comforting, constant, natural link between her and her twin was gone. She’d never felt so alone.

  The sobs she’d quelled before swamped her as her heart broke. She crumpled to the frozen snow.

  Denefe was missing. She might be dead.

  Chapter 15

  Sidewinder justice

  Denefe lay where the sidewinder had dropped her, afraid to hope that it was gone. Maybe there was just a lull, like the eye in a storm? There were no rift spiders. It had to be over. She slowly moved her hands away from her face, gasping in pain when her glove accidentally brushed against the part of her brow that had been uncovered. She’d have to seek medical attention, no doubt about that. She was sure some kind of damage had to have happened to her intestines too. First, though, she had to figure out where she was, and when.

  Carefully, she raised her head and moved to sit from her open, prone position. Putting pressure on her intestines was pure agony, and she leaned back, propping herself up with her hands. Damage, indeed.

  Where and when was she? Looking in the three directions, she saw only sand, nothing else. She turned to her side, groaning, and looked behind her. More sand. A desert. Great. Now what? She’d die out there without shelter or water. She already felt dehydrated from the sidewinder.

  Now that she knew where she was, she wasn’t sure she cared about the when.

  She reached out telepathically for Kaleen, but couldn’t find her. Kaleen might also have been snatched by the sidewinder and flung somewhere else, or was dead. Or, Denefe amended, there probably wasn’t any regular rift opening nearby in the middle of the desert.

  Her brow stung as sweat beaded on it. She looked at the sun directly overhead. That would be no help as a compass right now. The fierceness of its heat made her skin burn even more, and she dropped her face. Tugging her hood closer, she considered her options.

  She could lie there, overheat, and die. She could struggle to take off her winter clothes and die more comfortably. She could stand and try to see from a higher vantage point what else lay out there, not that she really thought anything did. Or she could do a combination of all three. Actually, she probably would.

  There was nothing for her to do but get up, and get on with her plans of dying. With a sigh, she gritted her teeth and shoved off the ground with her hand, bringing one knee in underneath her. The spear of pain that lanced through her gut almost caused her to abandon her plan. She collapsed to one side, sucking in deep breaths through pursed lips, trying to get her insides to stop shaking.

  The tremors didn’t stop, but instead crept further and further outward into her arms and legs. Her body chilled inside her coat. Shock! Whether she wanted to or not, now she had to get up. No way was she going to die from shock. No way. It would ruin the experience of dying from the heat of the desert.

  She had to get up fast or she wouldn’t do it at all. Rather like tearing a bandage off quickly. Again, she gritted her teeth and shoved off the ground with her hand. With a growling roar, she pushed her knees beneath her and then popped to her feet. Immediately, she doubled over from the spasms in her intestines, almost dropping to her knees again. If she went down this time, she’d never try to get up again. Feeling herself sway, she took one staggering step forward, and then another. After seven steps, she stopped.

  Her body was still shaking uncontrollably, but at least it hadn’t gotten worse. Now the question was—which was warmer? With or without the coat? She remembered from her school lessons that the Bedouins wore layers and layers of long robes to keep cool. Obediently, she fumbled with the coat fasteners at her throat. It seemed forever, but she managed to undo the top half. She took a deep breath and eased herself straight, moaning and biting her lip against the pain.

  While she undid the rest of her coat, she looked around. Why waste the upright time? Still, only sand greeted her gaze on the three sides. On the fourth, so small she almost missed it, she saw a black speck in the distance. Was it really there? Or was it merely a mirage? Did it matter? She had to keep moving or die from shock. She might as well move in that direction as any.

  She began her long, shaky journey. Each jarring step ricocheted up into her abdomen. As she walked, she experimented with different positions, straightening or leaning more and more forward, to see which cushioned her injuries the most. Finally, she settled on a forward leaning limp. The heat bore down on her, and she was thankful she still had her coat to protect her burned skin from the painful punishment of th
e sun. Her stomach settled into a numbing ache. Periodically, she stopped and checked her black-spot destination in the sand. Though it didn’t seem to get any closer, at least it didn’t move around, no matter which direction she looked. That comforted her. It wasn’t a mirage.

  Starry kept plaguing her thoughts. She’d be willing to bet he’d gone through what she had. Only without the heavy protective clothing, he’d burned to a crisp. Even without the microchip injuring him like that, he’d never really stood a chance at surviving. He’d have fallen into shock and never come out, freezing to death.

  Eventually, she warmed, and her shaking petered off. She should dig into the sand like the Bedouins and sleep off the rest of the heated day. Still, she plodded on until, at last, her weariness won out. When she checked the sun’s position, it seemed it hadn’t moved at all. It was pointless trying. It really was. She was just prolonging the agony of death, but she just couldn’t give up.

  Easing down to her knees, she dug into the desert floor. It wasn’t easy. The scooping hurt her stomach, and she wasn’t able to move the sand far from the hole. For every scoop she pulled out, almost a full one-third fell back in. Eventually, she gave up and moved into the hole anyway, turning sideways into a fetal position. It was really no more than just a depression, but still, it was something. She arranged her coat, careful to make sure it was tucked over her skin. Worming a free hand out from under, she scraped sand back on top of her. Every bit of insulation from the sun would help. Now, if the bugs and critters would just stay away.

  The heat was suffocating underneath the coat, but it was better than being out in the sun. Denefe pulled the hood back from her face to let some fresh air in so she could breathe. When it got so hot she couldn’t stand it anymore, she decided to move on. Perhaps, if she took these mini-breaks throughout her journey, she just might make it to the black speck.

  Rising was, if anything, more painful than the last time. Besides her twisted intestines crying in pain, her stiff muscles added their own complaints. Eventually, though, she won out and began on her course again.