The Caverns of Mare Cetus (50 page)

   Devon grabbed Hunter's arm.

   "Marequake!" exclaimed Ramon. "Stay still. We should be okay." He looked up. "Ceiling looks solid."

   The ground shook for a moment as all three stared at the ceiling, then the shaking stopped as quickly as it had begun.

   Devon looked suddenly woozy.

   Ramon grabbed her. "You okay?"

   "I just need to sit down for a bit." She placed a hand on her forehead. "I feel dizzy."

   Ramon helped her take off her backpack and led her to a wall. He sat her against it.

   "Just let me rest awhile," she said. "I just think I'm tired."

   While Devon rested against the wall, her knees pulled forward, her eyes closed, the men began dancing around the passage and joking like kids in a candy shop. They examined every piece of velandrite they could find, exclamations of awe constantly coming from their lips, the next piece always being described as the finest velandrite crystals ever found. As they scoured the passage, they stuffed some of the most brilliant and flawless crystals into their backpacks and pockets.

   After Hunter finally had his fill of looking for velandrite, he took Devon's backpack and transferred the contents into his own, worried she was getting too weak to carry her pack—she hadn't opened her eyes even once since she had sat down.

   "I've put your stuff in my pack," he said. "Okay?" He slipped his pack on his back.

   Her eyes still closed, she didn't respond.

   At once there was another rumble in the ground, and everything began shaking again, but this time small rocks started falling from the ceiling. Devon's eyes opened wide, and she looked around anxiously. She stood up and ran to Hunter, latching onto him tightly, her body trembling. As the ground continued to shake, Ramon tried to calm her with soft words in Spanish. After what seemed like a very long moment, the trembling stopped.

   Devon let go of Hunter and brought her right hand to her forehead. "Oh…oh…oh. It hurts. This hurts. I feel like I've been stabbed in the head. What are you doing to me?" She staggered forward and put her hands against the wall. Then she turned and slumped to the ground.

   Ramon started toward her, but he grabbed his right thigh and began hobbling. Then he fell to the ground beside her feet as agonizing pain spilled through his face.

   "Oh, God!" she cried, her hands pressed against her head, her fingers wide apart. "What is this? What's doing this to me?"

   Hunter shoved his Vimap in his pocket and rushed over to them.

   "You have to help her," said Ramon through clenched teeth, excruciating pain showing through every line on his face. "Help her."

   Hunter stooped down and picked Devon up, holding her in front of him. "What's wrong? What can I do?"

   "There's something here," she said, her voice fraught with pain. She was now pressing her hands against her head as if she was trying to keep it from flying apart. "Something. Something's here. Stop it. It's tearing me up."

   Hunter suddenly felt a throbbing in his head on the left side, exactly where his skull was fractured.

   "Get her out of here!" shouted Ramon. He had taken out an instashot medicator and was injecting himself in his right thigh. "Leave me. I'll find you. Save this girl. She's what she says. Get her out of here!"

   Hunter threw Devon over his shoulder and started forward as fast as his legs would carry him. As Devon continued to groan and twist in pain, a rush of adrenaline fueled him on. His weary legs gaining new life, he picked up his pace, taking one long stride after another, moving through the passage like he was a track star, adeptly avoiding low-hanging rocks, climbing over blocks and huge velandrite nodules, and turning whichever way he needed to keep his pace.

   As Devon began sobbing in an almost ghastly way, his legs moved all the faster. The pain in his head continued to grow, but it wasn't anything he couldn't tolerate—yet. As he hurriedly weaved his way through a series of massive limestone columns that nearly looked like tree trunks in a forest, he wondered how much farther he had to go. And what was he running from? For what seemed like a terribly long time to Hunter, he continued working his way past obstacles in the steadily climbing passage. Then abruptly he came to a fork in the passage. He remembered the map. He had to take the left passage. How was Ramon going to know?

   "Stop!" cried Devon, holding out her hands. "Stop! Put me down."

   He set her on the ground, resting her back against a passage wall. Then he sat down beside her, his breathing heavy and rapid, his heart pounding.

   "It's better here," she said as she touched her forehead. "Give me a moment to get myself under control."

   Still gasping for breath, Hunter waited quietly as she continued to hold her right hand on her forehead. After a short while, he noticed the pain in his head had begun to diminish. Devon took her hand off her head and showed him her nails.

   "Red," he responded. "I take it that's good?"

   "There is no good here. Only evil." She pointed into the passage they had come through. "There. There's something in there. Something powerful. It's in the rocks. It wanted me. Give me a moment more to get my neck pain under control. Damn. It is
so
broken."

   Hunter wondered. Would Ramon be able to make it out? Could he risk leaving Devon here while he searched for him? And what was it that was in the passage? If something had attacked her, he didn't see it.

   At once their symotes began flickering. Hunter gulped. He watched as his right symote made one last desperate flicker, then was extinguished, the blackness of the caves immediately closing around them.

   "Ramon!" cried Hunter, his booming call echoing through the darkness. "Stay put! Stay put! I'll figure something out!" Suddenly he thought of his electra. He began searching his pockets, but it wasn't there. He slipped off his pack and began blindly rummaging through it. After a moment, he felt the distinctive electra stock. "I've got my electra. I'll use it if we need it."

   "Hold my hand," said Devon, slipping her hand on his lap.

   He took her hand. "Don't be frightened. I won't let anything happen to you."

   "I'm not frightened. Are you?"

   "Well, uh, no," he lied.

   "That's good. I feel better knowing that. I'm glad you're with me."

   "You are?"

   "Yes. I am."

   "Well, I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you."

   "What did you feel when you kissed me?" she asked abruptly.

   Her question took him by surprise. "W-w-what do you mean?"

   "I mean, how did it feel?"

   He wasn't sure what answer she wanted, but he had an urge to tell her it was the most pleasurable kiss he had ever received. "It was nice. Very nice. I'm sorry I put you on the spot."

   "Rene kisses better," said Devon. "Remember that. Not that I've kissed her or anything. I just know she does."

   Hunter squeezed her hand.

   "Do you like me?" she asked.

   "Yes. Of course I do."

   "Do you love Rene?"

   An image of Renata instantly came to his thoughts, but he saw only the pain in her eyes when he had called her Jennifer. How could he have done that to her? He must have made her feel like the loneliest woman ever.

   "Tell me, do you love Rene?" asked Devon again after a moment.

   More images coming to him, he continued to see only the sorrow he had caused Renata by his arrogance and indecisiveness. "Yes," he choked. "I haven't shown it, but I do. Is that what you wanted me to say when you were in my dream? Is that what my problem is?"

   "I don't know what problem you're referring to. Do you have a problem with Rene?"

   "No, no…"

   "I wasn't in your dream. Dreams aren't real. If I was there, you put me there."

   "But it seemed so real," he said. "The tanks—the battle. You had to be there. You were rattling off info about the Brummbär. I know some things about that tank, but I know that wasn't me talking."

   "Brummbär? That's a German tank of World War II, isn't it?"

   "Yes."

   "You mentioned one while you were out. You were talking to me, and I just talked back."

   "Come on," said Hunter, frustrated by her obfuscation. "I like you, Devon. But you need to start leveling with me."

   She yanked her hand away from him. "You want me to admit I was in your dream? You need to—come on. That's not just stupid, that's crazy…"

   "No. No. Forget the dream. You're right. It was just a dream. I'm more interested in discussing some things you said today."

   Her voice immediately calmed. "Oh. Is that all? Sure. What was it I said?"

   That response was what he had hoped to hear—finally! "Let me see…why do you call Rene your sister?"

   "Because she is my Sister. That's why. Next question."

   "But she's not your sister. Rene doesn't have a sister."

   "She is," said Devon forcefully. "Just ask her when we get back to her. She'll tell you that she is. Next question, please."

   Hunter sighed. "Okay. Let's try this. What about the Novian Government? You seemed worried about it."

   "Why shouldn't I be? When they find out about me, they're liable to do some brutal things to me. Is it true the government is mostly run by women?"

   "Novia is basically a woman-dominated society for reasons I won't get into," he said. "There are men in high positions, but women pull most of the strings. War and brutality are what we don't have. You have nothing to worry about. No one is going to hurt you."

   "Is that so? I could tell you things."

   "You could," muttered Hunter, "but you don't."

   "They don't want me here. I can assure you of that. They are going to do brutal things to me—that is a certainty."

   "Why? What things?"

   "You don't want to know."

   "Yes. I do."

   "I said—you don't want to know."

   "Devon. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

   "Do you think I'm pretty?" she asked abruptly.

   She had caught him off guard—again. "Yes. You're very pretty."

   "You say you'll protect me, but you don't know what you're protecting. Novia will stop at nothing to get to me once they find out."

   "Find out what?"

   Her voice rose. "That I'm a fucking Mendrax. That I'm a threat to everything Novian."

   "Come on. You're just a woman—one woman. And I understand a little of your powers, I think, but I can't see why Novia would care about that."

   "Do you think I'm pretty?"

   He sighed in frustration. "Yes. I said so. Very pretty."

   "Will you still think so—later?"

   "Damn it, Devon. Yes. Now. Later. Whenever."

   "Do you swear you'll protect me?"

   "Yes. Yes!"

   "Earth. Seven Earth years ago. 2158. I was only seventeen. The attack on Minneapolis. Remember?"

   Hunter was already on Novia long before that incident took place, but he had heard about it, read about it. The attack on Minneapolis was part of an invasion into Canada and the northern States by the combined forces of the European Alliance, Pan African Coalition, and the Chinese Republic, or EPAC as it was called. The AmericanRussian Confederation defended America against the resourceobjective invasion, with the decisive battle occurring, in of all places, Minneapolis. "Yes. Go on."

   "I was there…" her voice trailed off.

He waited for a moment. "And?"

"Don't you get it?"

"Get what?"

   She leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm a monster. A horrible monster. I'm not supposed to cry about it, but I do sometimes."

   "You're not a monster." He began caressing her cheek.

   "Oh, but I am. You have no idea."

   "I have no idea because you haven't told me anything." He tried to remember. What actually happened in Minneapolis? Why was he drawing a blank? "Tell me, why do you say you're a monster?"

   "You don't want to know."

   "Yes." He was getting angry now. "Yes! I want to know."

   "Dissipation," she said softly.

   "Dissipation? What's that?"

   "Do you think I'm pretty?"

   "God, Devon. Quit asking that already."

   She asked again.

   "For the last time. Yes. You're a beautiful woman."

   "You tell me that now," she said softly. "Remember that one day. Remember that before you drive a knife through my heart because you can't stand the sight of me."

   "What?" he exclaimed. "I would never…" He grew silent. The more he talked to Devon, the more confused he became—and exhausted. It was as if a crazy woman was locked up inside her head.

   "Did you hear that?" she asked suddenly, sitting up. "I thought I heard something."

   "Ramon!" he cried out. "Is that you?" His voice echoed through the darkness.

   "There it is," she said after the echoes had faded. "I heard it again. It's coming out of the passage."

   He listened but didn't hear anything.

   "It's getting closer," she said. "You need to fire the electra. I know it isn't Ramon. He's still farther back in the passage."

   Hunter aimed the electra in front of him. "Cover your eyes." He depressed the trigger, a blast of blue bolts lighting up the passage, glowing static discharge instantly covering the walls. He uncovered his eyes and began blinking from the brightness. He glanced at Devon. She was sitting rigidly, her eyes transfixed into the passage.

   He began looking down the passage, following her gaze.

   Devon pointed her finger. "There. In the light. Do you see it?"

   Hunter strained his eyes. "See what?"

   "There. It's there. It's coming toward us."

   "What's there? I don't see anything."

   She began frantically shaking her finger. "It's there! Right there. Can't you see it? It's coming toward us."

   "Where? Where?" He stood up.

   She stood up beside him. "Kill it. Stop it before it gets here." She latched onto him; she was trembling. "Kill it! Stop it!"