“How did Tim come to have Fred’s keys?
“They’re friends. They carry each other’s keys.”
“But why would Tim go back up there last night? And it seems to me you are implying he went with Jill.”
“I don’t know.”
“Jill’s a popular girl. She must have other friends she could have gone off with today?”
“She’s not that popular. She only hangs out with us, and she would have told me if she was changing our plans.”
Sheriff Sam frowned. “You probably know the rules on filing a missing person report. Someone has to be gone forty-eight hours before I can put it over the wire.”
“I’ve heard that. Listen, I’m not asking you to call in the FBI, but I do think this situation needs investigating. That’s all I’m asking. Check out the Shaft and talk to Tim. Take a look at the blood up there. I drew a circle in the dirt around it.”
Sheriff Sam nodded. “I can do that, but you’re still not saying why these different events upset you so much. Admittedly they’re odd, but they don’t seem ominous. For example, you imply that something in the floor of the mine has infected Tim and is causing him to react badly. What is it?”
“Once again, I don’t know. But you must have heard the stories about that place? Tim said that some miners who worked in it during World War Two had to be hospitalized. “
The sheriff was thoughtful. “I’ve heard the stories, yeah. But almost any abandoned mine in the Old West has spooky tales surrounding it.”
“What specific stories have you heard?”
“That the radiation in the mine caused several miners to start mutating. It’s ridiculous—until the uranium is processed it’s not even that concentrated.”
“I don’t know if it’s the uranium that I’m worried about.”
“What then?”
“I don’t know.”
“Cass …” he began.
“I know, I know, I’m saying nothing. It’s just this gut feeling I have, I can’t get rid of it. Something is wrong and we have to figure out what it is.” She paused. “Tim said that the scientists who studied the mine recently planned on coming back because they had found something unusual in it.”
He hesitated. “I know.”
“Oh. Did they speak to you?”
“Yes. They said they wanted to study the place further. Two of them are supposed to be back next week.”
“But they didn’t tell you specifically what they wanted to study?”
“No. I’m only a town sheriff, so they probably figured I wouldn’t understand. You know how people from the government are, all snobs.”
“So these people were from the government?”
“Yes. The mine is still owned by the military. Why does that surprise you?”
“I just find it interesting that the government is the one source that would have information on what went on in that mine years ago. And now they’re back in town, checking it out again.”
“But if they seriously thought it was dangerous, they’d put it off limits.”
“It is technically off limits,” Cass said. “You know that. You also know that if they made a big stink about there being something mysterious in the mine, everyone would be clambering to check it out. No, I think the military has just been playing it smart. They disconnected the power to the lifts and just abandoned the place all these years.”
Sheriff Sam considered. “There were some scientific people out here ten years ago to check it out as well. It’s interesting what you are saying. Maybe they could be monitoring the place without our knowing it.”
“The question is why? Sam, did they leave you a card?”
“Are you thinking of calling them?”
“I might. Why not? They can only tell me to get lost.”
Sam fished around in his desk and came up with an official-looking card with raised gold lettering. He handed it to Cass, who studied it: Professor John Fiese, Applied Nuclear Physics. The man had a phone number in southern California, 310 area code. Yet the card didn’t define or describe him in any other fashion. Cass slipped the card in her back pocket. The sheriff looked worried.
“I just don’t want you getting in trouble,” he said.
Cass stood. “Trouble is not always a bad place to be. Did you know that Mary and Fred and I are leaving town in the next couple of days? We’re heading to Los Angeles.”
He was impressed. “So you’re getting out? I’m jealous. I’ve been trying to get out of here for twenty years. I don’t know what it is about this one-horse town that keeps me trapped.”
“It keeps everyone trapped. We must all be clones of a single great Madison Group Mind. Promise to check out the Shaft and talk to Tim?”
“Yeah, but give me a couple of hours. I have to finish some paperwork first. It’s been building up on my desk for weeks now.”
Cass laughed and teased him. “Paperwork? This could be the biggest mystery to hit Madison in fifty years and you have paperwork to do?”
He laughed good-naturedly. “I am a product of Madison. I move in slow motion, but I do promise to get out to the Shaft as soon as I can.”
She turned for the door. “Bring a flashlight. Don’t fall in the black pool.”
“I won’t,” he said.
She stopped at the door. “Just one last thing. You sounded cagey when I asked about the government scientists. When they told you they were returning, did they ask you to keep their activities quiet?”
“They did, yes. They made it sound like an order.”
“But you told me?”
Sheriff Sam reached for his last Ding Dong. “Yeah. I guess I don’t like being ordered around in my own backyard.”
“Tim knew about the scientists as well. Did you talk about them around town?”
“I might have, everyone knows I have a big mouth. Why do you ask?”
She felt the card in her back pocket. “Nothing. I was just wondering how this man is going to react when I call him. It’s possible he knows exactly what’s wrong with Tim.”
“That might be a good thing.”
Cass was unconvinced. “Yeah. But you know the government and their secrets. I wonder if they’d help him even if they did know.”
“Now you’re sounding paranoid,” he said.
“Paranoid might not be a bad place to be, either.”
10
Cass went home, she was hot and tired, and the world was going to have to turn without her for a few hours. She needed a shower and a nap, but the trailer wasn’t the best place for the latter. Fred was still trying to pack. He wanted a new time frame on when they were leaving. Specifically, he needed to know if they were splitting the next day. Cass told him she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t tell him about everything she had just discovered. She wasn’t in the mood to repeat the story she had told the sheriff.
“But Tim is fine,” Fred said. “There’s no reason to stay.”
“I need to talk to Jill. I won’t leave until I do, and I haven’t found her yet.”
“She’s not at home?”
“She’s nowhere.” Cass glanced around. “Where’s Mary?”
“She went out for a walk.”
“Mary never goes out for walks. Do you know where she went?”
“No. She didn’t tell me.”
“She’s a little girl. You’re supposed to ask her.”
Fred sighed. “I’m not used to the Dad role, OK?”
Cass felt bad for snapping at him, but she was so tense she was afraid she would just snap again. “Did she eat?”
“No. She said she wasn’t hungry.”
“Mary’s always hungry at lunchtime. It’s her big meal of the day. Did you offer her something?”
“I told her she could have whatever she wanted and I’d get it for her. But like I said, she told me she wasn’t hungry.”
Cass frowned. “I hope she didn’t walk over to see our dad.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?”
Fred stared at her. “You’re acting awfully uptight. Why don’t you take a nap?”
“I can’t with you fiddling with all your stuff.”
He registered small hurt. “Do you want me to go out?”
Cass held her head. “I can’t kick you out just when it suits me. We’re going to be living together in L.A., remember?” She paused. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”
“What makes you think that?”
“My bitching at you.”
Fred grinned. “I thought you were flirting with me.”
She laughed and turned toward the bathroom. “I need a shower, and then I will sleep for an hour, with ear plugs. You keep packing—we’ll get out of this town yet.”
Fifteen minutes later Cass was sound asleep.
She dreamed. She understood. She knew nothing.
Order could be placed on chaos. A strong will could direct natural law. Cruelty and,kindness were equally acceptable, no quality of face or character mattered much as long as both were turned toward her. As long as the grand design was furthered, anything was acceptable. The galaxy was vast and the stars would burn for billions of years. There was no reason to leave such vast space untamed.
No reason to her.
She was a seed bearer, carrying patterns of life that had yet to sprout. These patterns—she was skilled at finding worlds where they could flourish. The basic ingredients of life had to be present: water, land, warmth, light, carbon, and other simple elements. Silicon was also important, for the time of transformation. But the patterns for the time of final change she planted deeper still. They were not to be found until the first group of seeds had reached maturation. It was all part of the grand design. The group will could only expand through a greater number of nervous systems. Nervous systems were like her units of consciousness, the cells of her almost unlimited brain. Therefore life was a useful tool for greater awareness and dominance. The galaxy was conquered through combined units. And those who opposed her will were eliminated.
But was she an individual? She had been at one time. She had been just like one of the products of the planted patterns—she had, after all, designed them after the original matrix. But now she was something more than her parts. She was a cancer eating at the soul of the universe. Or else she was its chosen protector. Really, she was not sure what she was and in truth she didn’t care. No one dared judge her. All that mattered to her was to keep expanding, to keep absorbing system after system. In that sense she was like a hungry spider spinning webs from star to star. And the present galaxy was only one of billions, after all. Perhaps one day she would swallow them all. She would become the universe and it would become her. The child would transform into the parent, the victim would achieve ultimate revenge. On that day, if that final destiny ever did arrive, she wondered what she would do next.
Cass awoke with a start. Mary was shaking her. Cass sat up before she was sure what planet she was on. What a weird dream, she had felt as if she were hurtling through outer space as some kind of cosmic vampire. The sensation hadn’t been pleasant. Mary looked worried so Cass reached up and stroked the side of her face. The light was dim through the open window, and she realized that she must have slept for several hours.
“What is it, honey?” Cass asked.
Mary was teary. “I don’t feel good.”
“What’s the matter? Does your stomach hurt?”
Mary shook her head. “I don’t know. I just feel funny.”
Cass threw her feet to the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. “Did you go to see Daddy?”
Mary hesitated. “No.”
“Mary?” Cass patted the bed for Mary to sit beside her.
“I only talked to him for a minute. I just wanted to see if he was OK.”
Cass was strict. “Why didn’t you call him? You shouldn’t have walked all the way over there alone.” She paused. “How is he?”
Mary continued to look anxious. “I don’t know.”
“Was he drinking?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say to you?”
“Not much. He was nice.” Mary paused and trembled. “He started crying. I started crying, too.”
Cass hugged her. “I’m sorry. Have you had anything to eat?”
Mary shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
Cass held her shoulders. “But you haven’t eaten since this morning. What time is it? You have to eat something.”
Mary pulled back. “Fred isn’t here.”
“Where is he?”
“He went out.”
“You saw him? Where did he go?”
“He didn’t tell me. He just went out.”
Cass thought she heard a sound. She stood up and looked out the window. Fred was pulling up. He had gotten his car washed, but it was still scratched. She followed him with her eyes as he walked toward the door. She was glad to see him, relieved almost, and didn’t know why. Violent images from her dream continued to plague her. What were the seeds? What was the transformation? God, she had dreamed of a violet sun ten million times brighter than the Earth’s sun, surrounded by a rapidly rotating series of metal rings, each many millions of miles long. The impenetrable power grid—it spun in a haze of fiery nebula and pulsating gases. It was supposed to be the base system. She was always safe there. Whatever that meant.
“At least have some yogurt,” Cass told Mary, “Fred and I will be going out soon.”
“Where are we going?” Fred asked as he came in through the door. His pants were dusty, and she wanted to ask where he had been, but decided it wasn’t important. Outside, the shadows lengthened—it would be dark soon.
“We’re going to the Shaft,” she said.
11
The long lonely ride down into the Earth was cold and dark. They had only one flashlight, Fred didn’t know where the others were. The lift creaked as it worked with them inside it. They were on number five, the final leg. Cass wore a jacket but still she shivered. Fred stood huddled in the corner and looked miserable. They hadn’t talked much on the drive, yet she had managed to convey most of what she had learned that afternoon. He hadn’t offered any comment.
She had made him park his car around the side of the hills.
Out of sight.
Prudence? Paranoia?
“I suppose you’re wondering why we’re doing this?” she said. She called Jill before they left the trailer. The girl had yet to show up. Then she called Sheriff Sam, whose answering machine said he was out.
“I’m writing this all off as being one of those days,” Fred said.
“This isn’t PMS.”
“I wouldn’t be so sexist as to imply that it was.”
Cass stepped closer. “I told you how I feel that everything around us has been off since we went down here. I just need to see this place again, see if there’s anything here that I missed before.”
Fred shook his head. “But there ain’t nothing down here. We would have seen it the first time.” He added, “Whatever it is.”
She forced a smile and touched his shirt. “Are you cold?”
“No.”
“Liar.” She hugged him. “Did I ever tell you that I love you?”
He shifted to accommodate the pressure of her body. “Once or twice. But I never believed you.”
She looked up. “Why not?”
He smiled faintly. “Because you’re too good for me. And don’t say it’s not true, it is. You just don’t know it yet. You don’t know me.”
She kissed his chin. “What don’t I know about you?”
He glanced down and his smile faded. “Lots of things,” he said softly.
The lift delivered them to the floor of the mine. After pulling aside the wire mesh door, they crept cautiously up the smooth black tunnel toward the cavern. Halfway there Cass noted a glint of metal in the beam’s light and made Fred stop. She bent over and picked up the object.
; A crow bar. Stained with blood.
“What the hell?” she whispered. “This wasn’t here the other night.”
Fred studied it, wiped at the blood. “It’s dry but not totally. The cold down here could have kept the blood moist longer than on the surface.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Exactly when the person in question bled on this bar.”
Cass nodded and felt a stab of fear. “You don’t think it’s Jill’s blood, do you?”
He tried to be reassuring. “We have no reason to think Jill was down here since we were last here.”
Cass shook her head. “I don’t know, she’s missing and somebody bled down here in the last two days.”
Fred frowned. “I wonder if it’s possible Tim bled on this bar as we were walking out.”
“What do you really think the chances of that are?”
“Not good.” Fred glanced in the direction of the black puddle. “Maybe we should take the crow bar and give it to the police. It might be valuable evidence.”
“Good idea. But now it’s got your fingerprints on it.”
“You can vouch that I haven’t killed anyone.”
They continued down the tunnel to the cavern. The scene hadn’t changed since their last visit, so it appeared on the surface. The black pool sat impassively in the center of the space. The ground was hard and they could find no footprints. Yet it looked to Cass as if quite a bit of the sticky fluid had been splashed on the surrounding floor. Cass said as much, but Fred was doubtful.
“Tim made a big splash when he fell in there,” he said.
Cass knelt by the edge of the pool. “I’m not so sure. It looks to me like one or more people have been busy here.”
He stood behind her. “Busy doing what?”
Cass was thoughtful. “I’d like to see exactly what’s under all this oily stuff.” She reached out.
“Don’t!” Fred snapped as he grabbed her arm. “Are you nuts?”
She looked at him in surprise. “I thought you were Mr. Skeptic?”
He shook his head. “Just because I’m not ready to call the President and report an alien invasion doesn’t mean I think we should take unnecessary risks. You’re not putting your hand in that stuff.”
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