"There goes the lantern," Gemma said. "I thought you said we had thirty seconds."
Pat let go of her. "I thought you'd have enough sense to hang onto the lantern, no matter how much time we had."
He shouldn't have let go of her. In the pitch blackness he had no idea where she was. He tried to hear her breathing, but all he could hear was the double clang as the nearest fire door opened automatically and then shut again to let the worm pass. He took a cautious step forward into the tunnel and nearly pitched into another hole. He backed up against the wall of the cave, keeping his hands on the rock, and slid down to a sitting position. "You might as well sit down and relax," he said, patting the floor beside him. "We're going to be here awhile."
"You can sit here if you want," she said, and stepped on his hand, "I'm going back and make sure the Cotabote are all right. They probably think the worm is coming to eat them."
She stepped forward off his hand and went sprawling across his knees. He groped to help her up, got her knee and then her arm. "Exactly how far do you think you'll get without a light?" he said angrily. "You'll fall down that wormhole we just came up. Or worse. We're staying right here."
"The Cotabote…"
"The Cotabote can take care of themselves. I'd bet on the Cotabote against a berserker any day," he said, still holding onto her arm. "We're staying right here until the worm blows up that lander."
She didn't say anything, but her arm stiffened under his grip,
"Sit down," he said, and pulled her down beside him. "Do you still have the transmitter?"
"Yes," she said coldly. "If you'll let go of me I'll get it out of my pocket."
He could hear her fumbling for it. "Here it is," she said, and hit him in the nose with it.
"Thanks," he said.
"I didn't mean to do that," she said. "I can't see you."
He got hold of her band and took the transmitter from her. "Where's the worm?" he said.
"It's just exiting the intersection and is starting up the main tunnel," the computer said.
"Good," Pat said. "Tell me when it starts the new tunnel."
After a minute, the computer said, "It's starting the tunnel."
"Can you give me an estimate on how long it'll take to get to the surface?"
"Eight to twelve minutes," the computer said.
"Tell me when it's ten meters from the surface," Pat said. He put the transmitter in his pocket and brushed against Gemma's hand. He held onto it. "I just don't want you hitting me in the nose again," he said. "In another ten minutes we should have plenty of light to travel by."
"Pat," she said. "I'm sorry I lost the lantern." She sounded a little shaky.
"Hey, you can't kid me!" he said lightly. "I know you dropped that lantern on purpose just so you could be alone in the dark with me."
"I did not," she said indignantly, and Pat expected her to pull her hand away, but she didn't.
"Come on," he said, "you've been dying to get me alone like this. Admit it. You're crazy about me."
"I admit it," she said, and now her voice didn't sound shaky at all. "I'm crazy about you."
What had ever given him the idea he couldn't find her in the dark? There were no false tries. He didn't hit her in the nose. He hardly had to move at all, and there he was, kissing her.
"The worm is ten meters from the surface," the computer said from Pat's pocket after what had to be eight to ten minutes but didn't feel like that long. "Nine point five meters, nine point…"
"I knew it," Scumbag said, pointing the mine mask at them. "I told Rutchirrah there wasn't a berserker, that this was all a trick so you could…"
There was a low, clanging sound from a long way off. Gemma shielded her eyes from the light. "What's that noise? It sounds like…"
"I know what it sounds like," Pat said. He yanked the transmitter out of his pocket.
"Seven point five," the computer said.
"What's that noise?" he shouted into the terminal.
"We knew you were lying to us, trying to trap us under ground so the worms could eat us, and you could steal Gemenca and vile her," Scumbag said.
"What did you do?" Gemma said.
"We will file a protest'as soon as we go back to our village. Come, Gemenca." She grabbed for Gemma's hand with her spongy one. "We are going now. Rutchirrah has opened the doors." '
"Shut the doors!" Pat shouted. "Shot the doors!"
"The doors won't respond to your transmitted voice," the computer said. "There's too much distortion."
"You have to tell Rutchirrah to shut the doors right now," Gemma said to Scumbag. "The lander will get in."
"Has it moved?" Pat said.
"Yes. It's in the main tunnel," the computer said.
"You've got to shut the fire doors before it gets any farther. Simulate my voice."
There was a pause. The computer said, in Pat's voice, "Shut the doors" and the lights came on.
The flash of light blinded Pat. In the seconds before he could hear the explosion he grabbed wildly for Gemma and tried to pull her back under the overhang of the cave. They both went down, Gemma underneath him. He tried to shield their heads against the rocks that came bouncing down on them, and then just lay there waiting for the noise and light to subside. It finally did, but he didn't make any effort to get up.
"Attempted murder," Scumbag wailed from several meters away.
Pat had dropped the transmitter when he hit the floor. "Are you there?" he sbouted. "Where's the lander? Did the doors shut?" There wasn't any answer. Of course not. With the fire doors open, the only thing that had blown up was the computer. The lander was probably halfway here by now.
He rolled off Gemma. "Are you okay?" he said, surprised that he could almost see her. He stood up and held out his hand to her, looking at where the cave had been. It was a good thing they hadn't made it under. The cave no longer existed.
Gemma sat up and looked down the tunnel. "Where's that light coming from?" she said.
It was too steady for a laser, too bright to be the Cotabote coming with the other mine mask to accuse him of viling Gemma. The light had a faint reddish cast to it. Pat leaned back against the wail and shut his eyes. "The coal's on fire," he said.
Gemma reached forward and picked up the transmitter. "Are you there?" she said into it. "Are you still there?"
"It's no use," Pat said. "The worm blew the computer up."
"Do you read me?" a voice said. "Where are you? Identify yourselves."
"I'm Gemenca Bahazi, ICLU representative," she said. "We're down in the coal mines. Do you copy?"
"We copy," the voice said. "This is Buzz Jameson. Did you know you've got a berserker up here, sweetheart?"
"Yes!" Pat said, but Gemma wouldn't let go of the transmitter.
"Do you have a directional blinder? And c-plus cannon?"
"We got anything you want, honey. I've got half of Adamant's navy up here. You just tell us what to do, and we'll blow this berserker and then come down there to get you, sweetheart."
"Okay," Gemma said. "But hurry! The lander's in the mine with us."
"Just a lander?" Jameson said. "No androids?"
"No," Gemma said. "But hurry! The lander's got a laser."
"Don't get excited, honey. We're jamming it so it can't get any signals from the papa berserker, it's not going anywhere. And Papa Berserker can't hear this plan of yours either. So why don't you just tell us what you want us to do, darling?"
"Well, it's about time," Scamballah said. "I thought Adamant would never respond to our protests."
They walked out of the mine. Jameson had said to stay put, but that had not seemed like a good idea, even if the lander was out of commission. The mine was still on fire, though the orange light from the direction of the main tunnel wasn't getting any brighter, and Pat couldn't smell any smoke yet.
There was plenty of light to see by and both Gemma and Pat had a general idea of where they were from the mine maps they'd studied. '"We're walking out,"
he told Jameson over the transmitter. "Get the Cotabote to show you the surface contact point that's near the smash stills."
After the first bend in the tunnel, they had to turn the mine back on. Pat sent Scumbag ahead, holding the mask up like a lantern, in the hope that it would shut her up. It didn't.
"You want me to go first so you can push me in a hole," she said.
"It's a thought," Pat said. "Look on the bright side," he said to Gemma. "Maybe she's the only one who survived."
"Jameson's Adamant's troubleshooter," Gemma said. "I read about him. Why is he here?"
"Probably to destroy the berserker," Pat said. "Not that Adamant cares about us, but they've got to protect their diamond mines."
The fire door to the outside was shut. "Open the door," Scamballah said in Pat's voice. The door slid slowly up.
"So that's how you got the door open, you slimy toadstool, I oughta…"
"You heard that," Scamballah said. "He threatened me."
Pat blinked in the sunlight. The clearing was full of Cotabote and what seemed like dozens of men and women in flightcoats and helmets. Jameson hadn't been kidding. He had brought half of Adamant's navy with him.
"Don't just stand there," Retch said. "He set fire to our smash fields, he blew up our-mine, and he tried to kill us. Arrest him." Retch was talking to a large red-headed man with an acceleration helmet under his arm. Jameson.
"Boy, are we glad to see you," Pat said, and held out his hand to shake it.
Jameson looked uncomfortable.
"These idiots opened the fire doors and let a berserker lander into the mine. If you hadn't come along when you did we'd have been done for," Pat said. "Which reminds me. You'd better get the main computer to start the sprinklers. We've got a coal fire down there. The computer's in my office."
"Are you Patrick Devlin?" Jameson said.
"Yes," Pat said.
"You're under arrest."
Jameson locked Pat in his office, looking thoroughly ashamed of himself, and went off to negotiate with the Cotabote. When he came back, he didn't look ashamed. He looked furious.
"I told you you couldn't tell them anything," Pat said. "I put the fire out. It wasn't the coal after all. The Cotabote had taken half their smash crop down in the mine with them. I doused the main tunnel. The lander's still sitting there. It wasn't hurt at all in the explosion. What do you want done with it?"
"You're being removed," Jameson said. "We're taking you off Botea tomorrow morning."
"I'm not leaving without Gemma."
"You're hardly in a position to make demands," Jameson said. "Even assuming that Gemma wanted to go with you."
"What's that supposed to mean? Of course she wants to go with me. The Cotabote tried to kill us both. If you 'hadn't come along…"
"Yes, apparently it was a good thing I came along when I did." He stood up. "The charges against you are destruction of private property, attempted murder, sexual assault…"
"Sexual assault? You don't believe that, do you? Ask Gemma. Shell tell you."
"She did tell me," Jameson said, "She's the one who filed the charge. Failure to file protests, and refusal to cooperate."
"Gemma filed the charge?"
"Yes, and it's made the matter much more, serious. The Cotabote originally demanded your removal, but in their culture sexual violence is considered the ultimate taboo."
"Oh, great. I suppose they want to hang me, and you're going to go right along with it. It's too bad you blew up the berserker. He was a nice guy compared to you and the Cotabote." And Gemma.
"You're not getting hanged," Jameson said, "though in my opinion you deserve to be. You're getting married."
Jameson took Pat to the Cotabote village under armed guard. It hadn't all burned. The clay houses were still standing.
Gemma was standing outside a smash storage hut, dressed in a shapeless black sack and holding a bouquet of nematej thorns. She didn't look at him. Pat didn't look at her either.
Jameson performed a ship's captain ceremony, glaring at Pat and smiling pityingly at Gemma. The second he was done he slammed the book shut, and stuck a marriage certificate under their noses to sign. Gemma signed it without a word, waited until Pat had signed it, and then disappeared into the hut.
Scamballah shook her finger in Pat's face. "You will now be married in the Cotabote ceremony." She turned to Jameson and smiled sweetly at him. "We have put up a partition in the hut to make sure that Devil doesn't vile Gemenca during the ceremony."
The armed guard tossed him in the hut and locked the door. The hut smelled like burning chicken feathers. The partition was a sheet of thin black metal, wedged between the heavy sacks of drying smash and poking up through what was left of the roof.
"They put up this partition so I wouldn't vile you," Pat said. "I suppose that was your idea."
Gemma didn't answer.
"Sexual assault, huh? I suppose you told them I started the fire, too. Nice touch. Why didn't you tell them I brought the berserker here, too, just to kill them?"
There was still no answer. He could hear Rutchirrah chanting something outside. He heard the words "Devil" and "filthy viler."
"Well, don't worry," he said. "You can tell them after we're married." He went over to the partition and put his ear against it. He couldn't hear anything. The sound of chanting moved off till he couldn't hear it anymore. He could smell smoke, "Great. Now they're going to burn us alive. It's probably their favorite part of the ceremony."
Gemma obviously wasn't talking to him. Maybe she wasn't even on the other side of the metal partition. Maybe they'd put Scumbag in there instead, and she was going to burst through it and stick her finger in his face. He tried to lift the partition, but it was heavier than he'd thought. He wondered where the Cotabote had gotten it. It could be part of the worm that had blown up, although the worm's metal was light gray and this was almost black.
"I knew it!" he shouted. "They've taken apart the lander. "They'll be using the berserker for lamps next. Why did I think they needed saving? We should have sent them out to save us!"
"They did save us," Gemma said. Her voice, distorted by the metal, had a bell-like quality. "They sent for Jameson."
"Oh, they did, huh? Would you mind telling me how they managed to get a message to Adamant in twenty minutes flat?"
"They didn't," she said. "They sent it three weeks ago. I told you there was an extra protest. They copied your voice access and filed a protest on their own."
He could hear Gemma's voice clearly through the metal, so there was really no need to yell, but' he yelled anyway. "What makes you think Adamant would come running over one protest when, they never paid any attention to the ones you filed."
"I never sent the ones I filed," she said.
The metal partition didn't weigh anything. He heaved it over onto the smash sacks in the corner and looked at Gemma. She was plucking the thorns out of her bouquet. "Why didn't you file the protests?" he said.
"Jameson's got a plan for getting us out of here," she said to her bouquet. "The Cotabote contract expressly forbids any legal contracts to be negotiated between ICLU reps and Adamant people. Conflict of interest."
"And a marriage certificate is a legal document. What's he going to do? Haul us both back to Adamant for trial?"
"No. He's going to accuse Rutchirrah of trying to get out of the contract. He's going to say the Cotabote conspired to the marriage by insisting on my going on the orbital survey with you. Which they did. He'll tell them Adamant wants out of the contract, that it's going to close down the diamond mines. Rutchirrah will take the opposite side and insist they don't want out of the contract. Jameson will say the only way Adamant will agree to it is if the ICLU rep and the Adamant engineer are taken back to Adamant to have their marriage annulled."
"So Jameson came up with this plan all by himself, huh?"
She plucked at a thorny flower. "Well, not exactly. I mean, I told him how you got the Cotabote to do what you wanted and the
n we came up with the plan together."
"Whose idea was it that we get married?" he said.
She had cut herself on a thorn. She watched her finger bleed. "Mine," she said.
"Why didn't you send the protests?"
"Because I was afraid they'd have you removed," she said, and finally looked up at him. "I didn't want you to go."
"I don't care what Jameson says, we're not getting this marriage annulled."
"I told you he couldn't keep his filthy hands off her," Retch said from above them. He was leaning over the edge of the charred roof looking down on them.
"Is that why you left them in here together?" Jameson said from the doorway, "Is that why you sent her on the orbital survey with him? Because you knew what would happen?"
Gemma insisted Pat go talk to his replacement before they left, "I intend to tell mine a thing or two about how to handle the Cotabote. It's not fair to just let her walk into this without at least warning her about them. I feel sorry for her. Jameson just picked her because she's an engineer."
The replacement was in Pat's office, glaring at the terminal screen of the computer, When they came in, she stood up and put her hands on her hips. She had pale, spongy-looking skin and lank hair, "I suppose you're responsible for this computer calling me "sweetheart," she said, and stack her finger in his face. "I consider that sexual harassment of the lowest-sort. I intend to file a protest." She sat back down at the voice-terminal.
"Why don't you just do that?" Gemma said. She reached across her and typed in an access code. "This is the transmission program I always used for filing my protests, I'm sure you'll find you get good results with it."
"I'm perfectly capable of writing my own transmission programs," she-said.
Gemma reached across her again and erased the code from the screen, "Fine,", she said. "Don't use it. Come on, Pat, we don't want to miss our ship."
Pat turned at the door, "You're going to love it here, honey," he said, and blew her a kiss.
Berserker Base Page 10