by M. D. Cooper
Something Erin’s shrieking laughter attested to as she fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face.
When she managed to open an eye, she saw Usef standing patient and composed in the center of the bridge while everyone around him could barely remain upright.
After a couple of minutes, during which Erin hoped that Walter was prepared to save her from a heart attack, Usef eventually gave her a slow wink before he turned and walked out, his head high and his dignity clearly intact.
The AI made an uncertain sound.
Despite the fact that Usef may have worn the flowery robes on purpose—or perhaps because of it—it took Erin ten minutes to gain full control of herself. When her laughter finally subsided, she was weak and drained, and her aching face was wet with tears. She dragged herself back to her seat and slumped into it.
she said.
Walter replied,
The bridge door opened. Usef stood there once more.
“No,” Erin cried out. “Please.”
“There’s no need to be concerned, ma’am,” the major replied. As he walked onto the bridge, Erin saw that he was back in uniform.
“Thank the stars,” she breathed. “I don’t think I could have survived another attack.”
“Attack, ma’am?”
“It’s okay. Nevermind.”
“I thought I might be fortunate enough to find alternative civilian clothing in some of the ship’s stores, but perhaps I’d best figure something else out.”
“You found that kaftan in the Sark’s stores?” Erin exclaimed.
“I did, surprisingly,” said Major Usef. “Don’t worry, I co-opted one of the 3D printers in engineering to adjust the suit I tried on earlier.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Captain Dala said with a wink. “If it wasn’t for your head, I think that flowery number would have worked.”
Erin snorted and covered her mouth.
“My head?” Usef lifted an eyebrow. “Is something wrong with it?”
“Well…it just doesn’t go with yellow and pink flowers. I think it’s your coloring,” Dala said with a grin.
Usef nodded thoughtfully.
“I wonder what could make it work,” Erin mused. “Maybe a hat could make a big improvement to the overall effect.”
“Yes, I see. A hat. Or perhaps a wig?”
Erin’s lips twitched. “Yes, or a wig, but I really doubt that there’s a wig available on the Sark.”
“A hat or a wig,” Usef said. “Thanks for your advice. I’ll see what I can find.” The major gave everyone on the bridge a deadpan look, and then turned and left.
Captain Dala turned to Erin, a look of concern on her face. “Did he just subtly mock us, or did we just accidentally convince him to add a hat and wig to those robes and actually wear that getup?”
A fit of giggles came over Erin as she thought of Usef in a wig.
“I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out.”
* * * * *
It was late afternoon at the capital city of Ushu when the Sark reached Tyre. So few flights arrived at Ushu’s air and spaceport that Major Usef had judged it too risky to take a military pinnace down from the corvette in full view of whoever might be watching. Instead, they came in low and landed several kilometers outside the city. There, they were met by the head of Ushu’s tiny constabulary.
The woman who represented the local authorities seemed thrilled to meet the military group all the way from Carthage. As she waited at the bottom of the pinnace’s ramp, she shifted from foot to foot and looked expectantly toward the ship’s entrance.
Erin wondered how she would react to what she was about to see. Erin was in her normal clothes, and the other Marines had selected civilian attire that fit them. By some miracle, the 3D printers in the Sark’s engineering department had been able to modify Usef’s suit so that it also fit, though it looked a bit like a child had made the alterations.
The group proceeded down the ramp to where the head of Tyre’s law enforcement watched avidly as they appeared.
“Chief Kang?” Major Usef asked.
“Yes, sir,” the woman replied with a puzzled look on her face. “I was expecting Marines that…well…looked like Marines.”
“We’re blending in,” Usef said, his back ramrod straight.
The police chief’s brow lowered, and she gave a slow nod. “Ummm, well, Major Usef, welcome to Tyre. Governor Richards has requested that Tyre’s constabulary assist you, and I’m happy to do so. My officers are at your disposal, though I’m not clear on what’s happening or how we can help.”
“Thank you,” said Usef. “We don’t have a lot of time. It would be best if I explain the situation to you while we travel to the spaceport.”
“Of course,” Kang said. “I have your transportation ready. Please follow me.”
They walked from the Sark’s pinnace to the multi-person police vehicle. Behind them, the pinnace’s ramp rose, and the ship lifted off, skimming through the valleys on its way back up to the orbiting Sark.
Erin sat with Chief Kang and Major Usef in the police transport for the trip into the city and explained to the police chief their main purpose in Ushu. As she and Usef had previously agreed upon, Erin didn’t go into the history of the events that had culminated in Pippa’s imminent arrival in Tyre, but she told Kang that the engineer was a suspect in a criminal investigation and that she was to be followed and watched.
“So this is an undercover operation?” Chief Kang asked. She glanced at the Marine’s civilian attire. “That explains a lot.”
“The suspect may only have traveled here to try to avoid arrest,” Erin said, “or she may have another motive. There’s a lot about what’s happened in the case that doesn’t add up yet. I’m hoping that by watching what Pippa does here, we might learn some answers.”
“Well, with our low population, it’s certainly an easy place to hide, provided you have supplies or someone supplying you,” said Chief Kang. “There are probably places on Tyre where no one’s set foot yet. As to this person’s surveillance, I can see that additional police officers at the air and spaceport might spook her, but I can offer you plainclothes officers as backup for your operation.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” said Usef, “but we would appreciate your help with local information on Tyre.”
“Of course. Our planetary AI, Onyx, can tell you all you need to know.”
Erin was tempted to ask the police chief if she’d heard about the infomentary that was being made about Tyre to attract to new settlers, but she decided against it. It was hard enough knowing that Isa and Martin were close by and she wouldn’t be able to see them. Talking about Isa’s project with Chief Kang would only make her feel worse. And now that she’d come to understand just how small Ushu’s population was, she was even more worried that one of her partners might spot her and blow her cover in front of Pippa.
Their transport drew up a short distance from Ushu’s air and spaceport. They had less than half an hour before the flight from Carthage arrived, bringing Pippa with it. The police chief said that she was too well-known in Ushu to remain with their group, so she departed after impressing upon Usef that her forces would be at his disposal as soon as he said the word.
When they stepped into the arrivals hall, Erin’s heart sank. The place was nearly empty and devoid of dec
orations. There would be no hiding among the crowds. The presence of the squad of large men and women entering the room was already attracting some stares.
“Major,” Erin said, “this isn’t going to work. Got any suggestions?”
Usef’s eyes were thoughtful as he surveyed the hall.
“We don’t need to be as close as this to have a good view of the subject. Our best bet is to deploy drones and wait outside where there’s more cover.”
“Let’s do it,” said Erin.
Major Usef directed his team to deploy a standard drone package, and then led them out of the arrivals area. They walked past the transportation zone, where land vehicles and private pinnaces were arriving to meet the arriving passengers.
Erin said. “If Pippa leaves in a pinnace, can we track her?”
“I’ve spoken to Chief Kang about it,” Usef replied. “The local police are ready to trace any transportation she takes, and the Sark is in geo overhead.”
A shuttle appeared, soaring low over their heads. Erin checked the time. The shuttle was from the Carthage flight. They only had ten minutes or so before Pippa disembarked.
The Marines began to disperse, a few loitering near the pickup lanes, but most moving across the road into a park that stretched away from the edge of the spaceport. Usef moved to a large boulder, and Erin followed behind.
The feeds showed her the air and spaceport arrivals lounge from several viewpoints, one of which was as if she were standing only a few meters away from the transportation zone. She checked the time again. The passengers would begin to pass through the arrivals area any moment now.
The first arrivals appeared. Two couples traveling together and a family of three. A businessman marched quickly across the hall.
Outside, the door to a private pinnace opened, and a man climbed out, ready to meet a passenger. A woman climbed out after him. The couple stood outside the pinnace, peering into the arrivals section. The woman waved at someone. Erin switched her view to the arrivals section again.
There she is!
Erin would have recognized Pippa’s Amazonian form and strawberry blonde pigtailed hair anywhere. She walked out the exit, her bag over her shoulder. The Tyrian woman from the pinnace hugged her. A second man left the pinnace and joined the group. After they were done greeting each other, they climbed back into the pinnace. The doors closed, and the vehicle lifted into the air.
Erin was relieved that Pippa had actually arrived. She’d worried that she might have managed to fake her passage to Tyre and send them on a wild goose chase. Max had already disappeared without a trace; if Pippa hadn’t been aboard the flight from Carthage when it arrived, Erin didn’t know where she might begin to look for the woman.
Now they knew where Pippa was, even if they didn’t know why she was there. It was time to follow the Tyrians’ pinnace and find out.
Onyx replied, and Erin realized that the Major had added her into a conversation with the planetary AI.
Erin’s chest contracted. Is Isa mixed up with a group of Pippa’s associates? She tried to keep her breathing steady.
SWELTER
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Unknown
REGION: Tyre, New Canaan System
Isa woke to a hard, wet surface pressing into her cheekbone, and hot, sticky sweat coating her skin. She felt contorted, her shoulders oddly stretched behind her and her legs held together at her ankles. Vague recollections and images battled in her mind. Something bad had happened, but the memory was mixed up with something else bad.
She opened her eyes to a sea of white in odd, angular forms She couldn’t focus on anything. Heat and humidity oppressed her breathing.
A flash of panic mixed with fear hit her. Martin! The Tyrians had Martin.
The impetus to act seized her. She had to do something, anything. She tried to move, and the reason for her odd sense of constriction became clear. She was bound. ‘Hog-tied’, she believed it was called. Her wrists were tied behind her back, and connected to her ankles, which were also bound.
Where is Martin? Where am I?
White shapes swam in and out of focus, and she could barely breathe. She was also incredibly hot. Isa twisted her body around and slipped on the hard surface that had been flattening the side of her face. The feeling was familiar. She’d been in this place before.
A sharp edge resolved in her vision and stayed there. Isa recognized the perfectly straight corner of a crystal.
She blinked, forcing her eyes to focus, though sweat stung them and they swam with tears. The varying shades of glistening white she could see began to separate. Individual crystals a few meters thick, and many more meters long, became visible. There was no doubt about it: she was back in the crystal cave. For some reason, the Tyrians had brought her to the place she’d experienced her dissociative episode. She couldn’t afford to allow her surroundings to trigger another attack. She had to find Martin. They had to get out.
It was an attempt without hope. No kidnapper with any brains would leave their victim with Link access. Either the Tyrians had removed the relays that Isa had placed, or they were suppressing the signals like they had at the musical pillars.
The image of the vile Tyrians attacking Martin replayed in her mind. Where was he? Had they even brought him to the same place?
“Martin?”
“Isa? You’re here? I called your name for a while, but you didn’t answer. Where are you?”
“Wait a minute.”
His voice was coming from behind her. With a great effort, Isa turned over. Martin’s booted feet were just visible beyond the edge of a crystal.
“I’m near you,” Isa said. “I only just came to. Did they hurt you? I saw them stick something in your stomach.”
“They were only stunning me. I’m okay, but it’s hot as hell in here. I feel like I’m going to pass out. What’s going on? Why have they brought us here? I mean, you only refused their offer to take you on a day trip. Seems a bit of an overreaction.”
“I have no idea, but I think I know where ‘here’ is,” Isa said, gasping as she moved closer to Martin. Wriggling like a worm on her side, she inched across the crystalline surface.
“You do?” he asked. “Do you know how to get out?”
“I’m not completely certain, but this is a lot like the place where I had my episode and had to be rescued. There can’t be many caverns like this on Tyre. If it is the same cave system, I remember roughly how to get out, but I can’t see the exit from here. We must be deeper than I originally went. Everywhere looks the same; if I could get free, I might be able to figure it out.”
Martin was also moving toward her, his long legs gradually coming more into her view.
“Is it far to the surface?” he asked as he grunted with effort. “I guessed from the heat that we must be deep underground.”
“It’s a long way up. It must have been quite a task for Samuel and the others to get us down here.”
“D
o you know why they might have brought us here in particular?” asked Martin.
“No, I don’t. But they must want us alive for some reason. Otherwise they could have just dropped us from their pinnace out in the ocean. We would never have been found. Hey, speaking of pinnaces, mine must still be out at the musical pillars. Unless they managed to override the security, it should only respond to me. The most they could have done to hide it would be to push it off the rock with their ship. It would be difficult to spot among the columns.”
“Eamon says that’s unlikely,” Martin relayed. “It would right itself and return to where we’d parked it. Though either way, the chances of someone stumbling across it accidentally must be pretty remote.”
“I’m glad Eamon is OK,” Isa replied. “But all that means no one will even be looking for us for some time.”
She could see more of Martin now that they had edged closer together. Moving across the ridged floor was painful and difficult, but it was worth it. Isa was finally rewarded for her effort with the sight of Martin’s face. They both gave a half-hearted smile.
Isa lay still for a moment, resting. Like hers, Martin’s skin was slick with sweat and it had drenched his clothes. She wondered how much longer they could survive in the heat. When she’d been rescued from the cave, the first thing the medic had done after assessing her was transfuse fluids into her to counteract her dehydration.
But they had no water. Isa recalled the wide, still, cool lake in the golden cavern, but that was hundreds of meters, perhaps kilometers, above where they lay, and just wriggling around to see Martin had exhausted her.
“Trying to think of a way to escape?” Martin asked.
“Of course. Though the way things are, I don’t think we’ll survive more than a few more hours in this heat.”
“Yeah, let’s look on the bright side. If we can’t get out of here, at least our period of captivity will be short and sweet.” Martin followed his words with a rueful laugh.
Isa winced.
“Sorry. Just being realistic.”
“Well, If we can find the way out of this part of the cave, we might make it to the tunnel outside where the conditions are much better. We might even be able to work our way up to a higher level where there’s a lake. But just moving to another location could buy us time. The Tyrians don’t seem to have finished with us yet, which means they’ll be back. If we can hide, they might not be able to find us. We might also be able to access the Link if we’re closer to the surface.”