Shadow Hunters (16 page)

Actualy, she was rather relieved to be clear of the protoss in general. Shel’na Kryhas or Tal’darim, it didn’t matter much to her—she felt uncomfortable around al of them.

She hadn’t liked the idea of Zamara’s tinkering around with her brain, but everything else about this little plan suited her idealy.

It was good to be on her own again. Rosemary functioned best by herself, second best as leader of a wel-trained and trusted team. This new role she’d been forced to adopt, a tag-along on some epic “mission” that Zamara didn’t see fit to tel even Jake about—it wasn’t at al what she was used to.

And yet—part of her was enjoying it, she mused as she stepped forward carefuly.

She’d had a bad moment when she had realized that Ethan was planning on turning her over to Valerian. But she’d recovered. Blowing a hole in the center of her former lover had cheered her greatly, and she’d been riding an adrenaline high through most of the rest of what had happened. True, Rosemary was indeed more or less along for the ride, but Jake and the protoss inside him had definitely needed her. She’d helped Jake off the
Gray Tiger
before the nut job Jake had turned loose on it had decided to have them for dinner. She’d gotten him to Ethan, which had seemed safe, and then away from Ethan, which had actualy
been
safe. While Jake had done something—

she stil wasn’t sure what—involving a sort of human version of the Khala to alow them to escape Valerian at the last minute, it had been Rosemary who’d fixed the battered ship after the bad jump.

And now, when they needed someone to go scout out to make sure it was safe, they’d turned to the one person who wouldn’t screw it up. Rosemary Dahl.

Because she wasn’t stupid, she also realized that she was the one person they al thought was expendable at this point. And she could live with that. She also was wel aware that no one liked her, and that bothered her not at al. At least … it didn’t use to. Recently, though, she found herself enjoying the moments when she and Jake got along. She wasn’t trusted by him or Zamara or any of the other protoss, and she understood why. But they al had the same agenda now—get off the planet. They could trust her for that, and right now, that was al that mattered.

She tried to remember everything Jake had told her about this place. As he’d said, the wals were smooth at first, as she had started to descend. Too, once the natural light from the entrance began to fade, other light—crystals embedded in the wals—

provided gentle but serviceable ilumination. She noticed that the texture of the wals changed the deeper she went, and spared a quick glance to look at the colors as they appeared to her in the faint light of the glowing crystals. Black and silver and gray, with threads of something that looked like veins running through them.

The temperature dropped as Rosemary went deeper into the earth. She paused at one point and strained to listen. She could hear it now, the faint pulsating sound. Her lips curved in a smile. It was like a heartbeat, just like Jake had described. No wonder Temlaa and Savassan had been rattled when they heard it.

The stairway turned and abruptly Rosemary found herself staring down into darkness.

There were no more crystals to provide light after this point. Air swirled up from the huge cavern she couldn’t see, but knew waited below.

Rosemary reached the end of the stairway and fished out the Pig, checking to see if she was stil as alone as she thought. Perfect. From what Jake had said, once she entered the rooms down here, lights would come up and she would, for al intents and purposes, shout her presence to anyone nearby. She dropped the Pig back into her pocket and stepped forward.

Sure enough, up came the lights, glowing a soft white in contrast to the more tinted, gemlike hues that had provided ilumination on the way in. The area the light displayed to her was even bigger than she’d thought. She took it in with a practiced eye: flat, clearly artificialy leveled floor, a ceiling inlaid with gems that provided the light, al perfectly preserved.

Jake would have a field day.

She looked at a rectangle of gems on a stone pilar, and knew that if she touched them in that Golden Mean order Jake was so fascinated with a door would appear on the far wal. When Temlaa had touched the gems so, long ago, a platform had emerged. A platform upon which had lain six desiccated protoss bodies. The sight had given poor Temlaa a bad scare. Idly, Rosemary wondered if they were stil there.

But she had no real interest; she was here to see if the Tal’darim had penetrated this far into the chambers.

Rosemary looked at the map and nodded. There were the five oval doorways in the wals, just as Jake had drawn them, that led out into five different directions. She put her finger on the map over the door Temlaa had chosen as the one that best fit the Golden Mean ratio. She walked forward, and then paused. A slow smile spread over her face.

On the wal next to the door was a smal black mark.

Despite herself, Rosemary felt a shiver as she lifted a hand to touch the mark that Temlaa had made, some two thousand years ago. In this place where there was no weathering, no water or wind or oils from human or protoss flesh to erase it, the charcoal mark had stayed in almost perfect condition. She was suddenly very sorry that she had seen this first, not Jake. She shook off the unusualy soft sentiment and stepped into the corridor.

This place was much, much larger than it had seemed. Would she even get anywhere near the chamber they sought? She wished she had a vulture hoverbike right about now, but she supposed the walk would do her good. If she didn’t get far enough in a single twenty-four-hour mission to learn anything useful, wel, she’d have to come back. It certainly seemed as though it was going wel. Ladranix had assured them that there were no protoss or zerg spying on them, and she believed him. The Tal’darim could mask their thoughts, but little red dots on the Pig’s smal but accurate computer screen were good old-fashioned hard technology and so far Rosemary had seen none of those. So far.

Not for the first time, she wondered if as she saw, she was also being seen. She’d asked that question, if there was any comparable protoss technology that would expose her. Ladranix had assured her that such a thing was not necessary, at least not short-range.

“We can sense another’s presence, as you know,” he said, sounding confused.

“Yeah, but you also said that these guys are shielding their thoughts from you. And that sounds like something protoss have been able to do for a while,” Rosemary replied.

“True,” Ladranix admitted. “But never for stealth, not from each other. We are al touching one another to some degree in the Khala.”

Jake had seemed a bit troubled and folowed up on Rosemary’s point. “When I was reliving the memories of Temlaa, that’s how they were able to sneak up on each other to attack. The attackers would shield their thoughts and presence.”

“And now, what goes around comes around,” Rosemary said. “You’re right back where you started.”

“Rosemary—” Jake said warningly.

Ladranix had lifted a hand. “She is correct. Now, since the fal of our world, we have again turned against one another. Or rather, the Tal’darim have turned against us. We do shield our thoughts, to protect ourselves. For they wil attack us. But this happened recently. Before the warp gate was shut down, there was no need to hide ourselves from one another. So therefore, no technology was created to overcome such an obstacle.”

It made sense to Rosemary. She was a very practical woman, and this al sounded practical to her.

But she was heading down into a place that was apparently crammed to the gils with ancient technology that was as advanced as it was forgotten. If the Tal’darim had been down here for a while, and it sounded like they had, might they not have uncovered some of the xel’naga secrets? No one seemed concerned about this but her. Wel, she mused as she continued to move slowly inward to the heart of the place, that might be because she was the one putting her ass on the line.

As she walked, constantly checking her map and the Pig to make sure she was not getting lost and not having company, she became increasingly grateful for the map.

Wandering on her own would have been far too dangerous. Jake had told her the place was huge, but she hadn’t realized just how big. After several hours, she sat and ate some fruit and drank some water and rested for a while. She couldn’t risk sleep, and she’d stayed awake for longer than twenty-four hours at a stretch many, many times.

Her constant companion on this exploration was the deep, thrumming heartbeat sound. She knew she was on the right track because with each turn she took, each corridor that led her inward and downward, the noise increased. That sound, and the marks that the protoss whose memories Jake now kept in his brain had made were her guideposts.

Rosemary was mildly annoyed with Temlaa. The way Jake remembered it, it hadn’t taken al that long to get to the room where the crystal was. Maybe Jake didn’t get every memory of every second of every protoss’s life. Hel, she didn’t remember every second of her own life. Which was actualy a blessing. Maybe it was just the important things Jake remembered. Or maybe the protoss moved faster. Also, she was coming in a different way than Temlaa and Savassan had. While she was obviously on the right track, it might take longer to reach the same place the protoss had.

Regardless, she knew that several long hours had passed. She hoped she was getting close to the damned thing.

Jake tried not to worry about Rosemary, and failed utterly. He told himself that she was about a thousand times tougher than he was, and was more than able to handle herself in any situation she might encounter. She was also smart, and not likely to get herself into trouble. The word “trouble” reminded him of Ethan Stewart, who used to cal her that, and he thought of what he’d last seen of Ethan, and told himself that Rosemary could defend herself very wel, thank you very much, even if she did startle some of these Forged protoss.

“If she’s found out—do you think they’l kil her?” he asked Ladranix as they returned to the city.

Ladranix hesitated, and Jake’s heart sank. “I do not know,” he said, and Jake knew he spoke the truth. “We would not, but we are not the Forged. Protoss do not kil protoss.” Unspoken were the words,
But pro-toss might kill Rosemary.

He couldn’t help it. He had to know. He took out the walkie-talkie and thumbed it. It would make no sound or light that might put Rosemary in danger; instead it would vibrate to let her know they were trying to get in touch with her. If it was safe, she’d reply.

There was no response.

Jacob—you must not make an assumption. Any number of things could be
happening at this moment with Rosemary. She could not be in a safe place to
respond, true. Or the device could have malfunctioned. Or perhaps there is
interference from the technology below the surface. Any or these could be the
reason she is not responding.

I know,
he said, and ran a hand through his hair. The worry was making his headache return.
But … I’m going to worry about her until she gets back. That’s just how
humans are, Zamara.

So I am observing. I knew that I would have many experiences as a preserver. I
never expected dwelling inside an alien body and mind to be among them.

Some ride, huh?

Her mental voice was hauntingly tender.
It has been …“some ride,” as you put it,
yes.

I wish I could stop worrying about her. I wish—I wish I could stop caring about
her.

I cannot change these things, Jacob, nor would I attempt to even if I could. I
have demanded and taken enough from you. I would not take that also.

A sudden thought struck him. He’d wondered this before, but hadn’t let himself folow that line of thinking. Now, he did.
Preservers have all the thoughts and
feelings and memories of all protoss, right?

Correct.

And since I’m now a preserver—as much as a human can be—all my thoughts
and feelings and memories…. oh boy.

They will be added to the whole. Future generations will remember all of this.

Jake turned a bright shade of red, and it wasn’t from the sunburn.

You should not be unduly distressed. Future preservers will not probe for such
base and common things as sexual desire or petty jealousies.

Oh thank you, that makes me feel so much better.

If it is any comfort, Jacob, what you will likely be preserved for are your
moments of greatness and insight and heroism.

That did make him feel a little bit better.

Since I cannot alleviate your worry, perhaps I can distract you. You need to
know what happened with Adun, and the renegade protoss who eventually
became known as the dark templar.

Zamara was right; it would do no good to worry. There was no way of knowing what was going on with Rosemary until he saw her again. It wouldn’t be that long, he told himself. And in the meantime, he would find out more about the protoss and their history, and that was always a worthwhile thing.

The girl, shackled as if she were as dangerous as a trained templar fully
equipped for battle, was brought before the high templar. A second meeting
with her did nothing to convince Jake that the Conclave was correct in its
desire to have her executed. This time, he shared thoughts with her, questioned
her, and listened, as did the other templar. The unease grew inside him. Adun
watched and observed the other templar as they, too, interrogated the girl—