A Fistful of Dust (10 page)

“No?”

Another sigh ensued. “I must seem like a silly lovestruck girl to come all this way looking for my fiancé.”

“Nothing of the sort.” Annabelle’s thoughts were full of George just then. She picked up another piece of slate.

“Hmm…no. Perhaps not. The captain is not without compassion, but I feel you appreciate that I had no choice in the matter. Does Nathaniel have a wife?”

“N-nooo,” Annabelle said carefully.

“Yet I am sure that if he did and she was out here alone that he would come after her.”

“Yes, quite,” Annabelle said, remembering Nathaniel’s insistence that they go to Ceres to find Arnaud.

“And yet it is true.” Elizabeth stopped walking so that Annabelle had to turn to face her. “I am frivolous because I’ve never known any better. Now I do, and it has taken me losing my Henry before we even began life together to make me see that.”

“Do not give up hope.”

“Oh, I do not mean he is necessarily deceased, but I have lost him almost as assuredly. Coming here was Henry’s dream. Not
here
,” Elizabeth gestured with her hands in a manner Annabelle guessed to mean Phobos. “But out into the aether. My brother is quite correct. Henry has an explorer’s heart and he… What was that?”

A sound like the skittering of stones, but not. Annabelle felt the hair on her nape stand to attention. “Nothing.” She gazed around. “We have come farther than I intended. We should start back.”

“Won’t the men be coming shortly? Can we not wait?”

“Most assuredly not.” Taking Elizabeth’s arm, Annabelle propelled her back the way they had come. It couldn’t be. Yet she had recognised that sound. Although it wasn’t entirely the same…a strange chittering could mean only one thing, even though this moon was so much smaller and so far away from Luna…

“I have indeed lost him,” Elizabeth Highmore was saying. “One adventure, but now that he has had a taste for it, one will not be enough for my Henry.”

“If that be his choice, can you not join him?” Sweeping her lantern around, Annabelle gazed down the path from whence they had come. Where were the others? They should have caught up by now.

“Henry? Adventuring? Oh…no, I… Well, I suppose I…could.” Elizabeth became absorbed. “It would make Joseph most unhappy,” she said as if speaking to herself. “Do we have to march this quickly?”

“I have no wish to alarm you, but…”
The quartz. The slate. The iridescent beauty of it. It’s curved shape.

“Which is just the thing to say that will alarm me.” At least Elizabeth now picked up the pace. Both women gazed about, ahead, behind and to the sides. “What… Eeek!” Elizabeth stumbled back. Annabelle turned to look at from what the other woman retreated and saw there, at the side of the path, a disturbance in the dust, shifting sand, rising up, black that flashed with iridescent loveliness.

Not slate: Shell! How could she have been so foolish not to recognise it? She was so busy watching the creature unfurl she was barely aware of Elizabeth’s tugging.

“Here we go again,” she muttered, even as Elizabeth demanded, “Kill it! Kill it!”

“I’m not sure I can.” Would her stiletto pass through? Would a bullet from her revolver make an impression? True the Selenites of Luna died too easily but this…creature had as many differences as it had similarities.

Undoubtedly, a beetle, with a three-part segmented body, the lower, largest third from which four legs protruded. The middle part was wider than it was long and looked like a collar surrounding the head. Another two legs or arms jutted from this collar, and atop that, a head of shell with a small amount of exposed, softer flesh contained what she supposed were the eyes and mouth. The ends of the hands and feet were somewhat forked. Medium to small hairs lined the edges of the shells. One edge lower down had sustained slight damage, but that did not mean a bullet would penetrate. Feelers twitched, testing,
tasting
, the air. Had it been laying in wait?

“Can we outrun it?”

“Doubtful. And I cannot be sure that is wise any more than attacking it would be.”

“Are you not afraid?”

“Of a large bug? You have definitely not been to Luna.” The question was whether this creature was in any way as friendly as K’chuk had been. Even among the Selenites discrepancies existed in their behaviour and one could not forget the decidedly unfriendly red Saltators. She could only judge this creature by its behaviour and had yet to ascertain its intentions. If this was an adult then these creatures were far smaller than the giant ants of Luna. This one reached her waist and made it appear somewhat childlike, although it was unwise to let that fool her.

“Don’t go near it!” Hands clutched at her waist as Annabelle took a step.

“One of us must do something.” From her pocket, she produced the scraps of shell. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know what this was. I found it pretty.”

One of the arms reached out. Annabelle stood her ground, as the creature took a piece in what amounted to something resembling a claw. Although it didn’t appear to be greatly dextrous, she suspected it would be able to slice through her skin, even amputate her wrist with ease. That it took the shell with marked gentleness amazed her.

“I am Annabelle. And this is Elizabeth.” The creature replied with more chittering but whether it could understand
her
, she certainly could not understand
it
. A stretch to hope these creatures knew English as well as K’chuk’s race, if at all.

The beetle handed back the shell and she took it, bowing. After a fashion, the creature bowed back. Had she made a friend?

Glancing at Elizabeth, she said; “Now, isn’t this adventuring?”

2.

“WHAT THE DUCE?”

“Blimey.”

Highmore spoke first, Nathaniel second and the word sounded so incongruous coming from his mouth that Annabelle almost laughed. She looked up from where she was seated on a rock. “Do not tell me the sight of a larger than normal insect disturbs you so, Nathaniel.”

“It hardly needs saying. I fear the day I grow used to such things.”

“Now that I understand.”

“Elizabeth, get away from that thing!” Highmore not only scolded his sister, he moved to shoulder Annabelle’s rifle, which he was carrying.

“None of that, sir.” Folkard disarmed him before the aristocrat did something foolish. Annabelle received her weapon with gratitude and made a mental note not to leave it lying around again.

“But…it’s a beast!”

“Yes, but they have giant ants on Luna, Joseph. Friendly ones.” Elizabeth sounded almost giddy. If not for the fact that Annabelle could feel her trembling, she put on a good show of fearlessness. Nathaniel shared a look with Annabelle she read easily: Had she not told Elizabeth of the unfriendly creatures they had also encountered? She gave him an innocent expression.

“Careful, Miss,” Whitlock interjected.

Highmore did not appear able to look away from the creature. “Elizabeth, do not be so stupid.”

Elizabeth flinched as if stung. Annabelle glared at Highmore. “Stupid to believe me or to remain close to this creature?”

“Both. Either. Alas, Elizabeth cannot tell when people are teasing her.”

“You do not believe? Not even what you see with your own eyes?” Annabelle made sure her tone revealed her annoyance. Highmore’s company grew tiring. “It must be wonderful to be so selective. Bad enough that you should call us liars, sir, but you are not blind.”

“But how can a creature grow so large?”

Nathaniel fulfilled his role as a scientist. “There are many theories. It is said creatures of the deep grow to considerable size. Variations in pressure could have something to do with it.”

The explanation seemed to be enough for Highmore, or he was simply so stunned he didn’t care. It saved anyone having to explain the Heart and the evolution of the Selenites. Annabelle knew she could not be the only one to whom this had occurred. The mystery deepened.

“I admit…the first sight…” Elizabeth gave a little shiver. “It takes some getting used to.”

Folkard intervened. “The point being, Highmore, that to shoot this creature could cause an outbreak of hostilities we can otherwise avoid. And where there is one creature, there are liable to be others. We could bring a swarm upon us.”

“The captain is right. I was following a trail of these.” Annabelle held out a fragment of shell that the others passed around and examined. While they did, she made a point of asking Nathaniel what had kept him.

“We made a discovery of our own. The monolith feeds into the ground.” Nathaniel looked up as if he could see through the crust of Phobos. “I do not know how deep it extends, but I assure you, it pierces this moon. Add to this to what we know of the skeletons found both on Hygeia and Phobos, and now these insects, it would seem we are in a similar situation as we found on Luna. Our simple rescue mission just grew more complex.”

That it had, even more so when an exclamation rang out.

“
Magnifique!
Scarabaeoidea. More commonly, a dung beetle,” Arnaud explained as others looked upon him. “I should have recognised it the moment I… How do you say? Set sight on it?”

Elizabeth had quickly withdrawn her hand, which had been patting the edge of the creature’s shell. Annabelle continued with the petting. “I suppose that accounts for the lack of smell.”

Nathaniel gave her a look.

“Does nothing faze you people?” Highmore muttered.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, only understood,” Arnaud said with great cheer. “I am not saying that is what it is. It is, after all, not my field. But I suppose it must exist on something and one explanation is as good as any. I have never seen one of such magnitude, of course, and can only tell you that on Earth some also feed on decaying vegetation, leaves, mushrooms, fruits. Some even ingest small millipedes. Those that survive on dung do not need to feed on anything else because they get all their nutrients from…”

“Fontaine! Really. There are ladies present.”

The Frenchman pulled a strained expression at Highmore’s curse, and fell silent. Annabelle spoke.

“If they feed on dung, then pray tell…what excretes it?”

3.

THE BEETLE SEEMED
tired of Annabelle’s petting. They all looked at each other, an open question in their eyes. The beetle paused at the next intersection turning to gaze back.

“I believe it wishes us to follow,” Arnaud said.

“You are anthropomorphising an animal,” Highmore accused.

“Only from
expérience
. Well done on the correct use of such a long word, though.”

“Gentleman, please,” Annabelle interrupted before things could get out of hand.

As they followed the creature deeper into Phobos, Annabelle sidled beside Nathaniel. “Nathaniel, I am beginning to think there should be only so much burden on one quest team at one time. Although…it is exciting, is it not?”

“I…do rather find I am enjoying myself, when the…influence of this place wears off. I have to confess to almost constant irregular feelings of…dread.” Although he admitted to the fact he seemed to need to search for the correct word to explain his emotions.

“Yes…. I do not like admitting it, but I too have found my feelings reprehensible. I think it is safe to assume that something here is not only inducing fear but playing with our emotions.”

4.

TWO HOURS LATER
, they broke out into a much larger cave. Light here did not seem to be an issue. A single lantern reflected in a continuous pattern from many of the clear gems scattering the floor and, in places, the walls seemed to be lined with it. A small incandescent flower, which the beetles also appeared to eat, carpeted areas of the cave and these too sent sufficient light to reflect from the walls so that they were able to conserve their lanterns.

“So they do eat some type of vegetation.” Annabelle smiled at Arnaud.

“Incredible that anything can grow down here,” Highmore said, but his voice sounded strained rather than wondrous.

“Are you feeling the effects of claustrophobia again?”

“No, Miss Somerset. Thank you for asking. The effects have…eased.” He sounded as puzzled by that as they all were. “And you, Elizabeth, seem quite untroubled.” Of them all, the other woman appeared most calm.

“I would not say completely. I have experienced some anxiety, more so than I would say is normal. Some of that I can attribute to the situation, but not all. I do not believe I am as troubled as the rest of you.”

“I wonder why,” Highmore said. “You never have liked insects and so I would have thought these would petrify you, and with just cause.”

“Maybe I’m too
stupid
to be affected or afraid.”

Gaping, Highmore stared at his sister. Before he could voice his thoughts, Annabelle said; “Just because we’re surrounded by giant beetles, do not assume that is a bad thing, Mister Highmore.”

Several of the larger creatures encircled them now. Annabelle tried to look for the…notch in the shell of the one she thought friendly, but they were mingling back and forth and she could not see.

5.

“DO YOU SUPPOSE
the smaller ones to be c-children?” Unlike the adults, the children had shells of black and gold, displaying a greenish cast. Only the adults appeared to have the rainbow iridescence. Elizabeth stumbled over the concept, owing no doubt to earthly prejudices and even religious ones. Arnaud had never believed in God, but after visiting what could well be an afterlife of sorts and seeing his mother waiting for him, he was at least open to other possibilities. If a Godlike being existed, maybe He had created animals for man’s use, but if that were so, why intelligent talking ants? Highmore accused them of anthropomorphising, but were they so wrong in that? The animals of Earth showed concepts of family; he’d seen a dog pine to death when its owner died. The universe had revealed many mysteries to him; he had no doubt it had many more to disclose. Perhaps man only thought he understood the concept of God, just as they thought they understood creatures such as these. Perhaps the truth was something greater than anyone had envisioned.