The Caverns of Mare Cetus (6 page)

   Arielle pulled Devon's face close to her own. "Let me tell you something. There is nothing lower than an Internal Observer. Normally, I wouldn't wipe my ass with you…"

   "Hey! Hey!" exclaimed Hunter.

   "Come on." Arielle pulled on Devon's wrist, dragging her away from the wall, her strength seeming too much for Devon's fraillooking build.

   "Let her go, Arielle," said Hunter. "She's just a kid."

   Devon wrestled free from Arielle's grip. "Listen, girl. I'm not going anywhere with you." She turned toward the others. "Look. We don't want a repeat of Sid's mission, do we? That's all I'm trying to avoid here."

   Arielle laughed. "I doubt you'd be any help if something did happen. I could've snapped your wrist." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

   Devon looked at the red mark Arielle had made on her wrist. "You know my quals, Hunter. I'm not a kid. I'm twenty-four years old."

   Ramon chuckled. "Sorry, sister. You are a kid."

   "Sister?" Devon appeared perturbed. "Don't ever call me that."

   "Okay," said Arielle, sighing. "I'll take the damn bonus. But if there's been one more deception, I'm going to cut out your tongue…"

   Ramon clasped his hand over Arielle's mouth, muffling her, but she bit his hand. He cried out and shook his hand in pain.

   Hunter stepped up to Devon. "Listen, Iob. Just keep your distance, and I know things will mellow out. I have read your BioForm—now."

   "Good, good," she said. "But could you please stop calling me that?"

   "Your BioForm says you're experienced, but I have yet to see it down here. You need to show me that you can make the grade."

   She frowned, then flashed him a wide, Cheshire cat grin.

   He motioned for the others to follow as he started down the passage. "Come on. The excitement's this way."

   After the group had hiked for a while, Renata moved up beside Hunter. She began talking in a whisper. "A 30X bonus? That much is unheard of. Who authorized it? Abby? Last time I heard, it was only 5X for this mission."

   "Well, it is 30X," he said, a bit unnerved by her questions.

   She hesitated in her response as if in thought. "I'm tired of being kept in the dark—like with the Iob and now a 30X bonus. Am I SC or not?"

   Renata was right. The bonus was a total fabrication. He had no idea how Abby Kensington was going to react to his lie, but he was certain she "was" going to react. He could only hope she had meant it when she told him—"
Do whatever it takes—don't fail me."
He wiped the sweat from his brow with his hand. "Of course you are, Renata. I value your judgement. Tell me—Garrett—what do you think about his misfire? If you ask me, he's hiding something."

   "Everyone's hiding something. What are you hiding?"

   Hunter nearly choked on her words. "N-n-nothing. Nothing at all."

   "I see," she said. "No motives. No agendas. Not even for Sid?"

   Hunter didn't answer her.

   "Well," she said after a moment, "since you asked for my advice, we have to call Garrett on the misfire. But let's do it later—together. Right now I need to do some waffling of my own." She slowed her pace, dropping back.

   Hunter gulped hard. A typical conversation with Renata—short, sweet, and calculated. She was smart, way too smart. How did she know about his plans to vindicate Sid? She knew them though—she had to. He wondered if he couldn't use that to his advantage. Renata would see his point, maybe join him in his quest. And with her brilliant logic, they would surely resolve Sid's death.

   After several hours of generally silent hiking, the wide passage they were following began to curve gently to the left and to rapidly narrow. Soon they were hiking in single file, the sloping passage jogging back and forth, its ceiling high above them. Abruptly the seesaw passage opened up into a colossal canyon-like room. Lighthearted chatter sprang from the party, and Hunter listened as Isis and Arielle discussed how such a room could have formed and the types of geologic features they might find. Arielle postulated the room had once been an underground lake as she pointed to sandy and muddy, laminated deposits that were widely scattered across the cavern floor.

   "Sulfur!" exclaimed Arielle. "I smell sulfur. Is there a spring nearby? Rene, what do the Kalo maps indicate for this area?"

   Renata took out her Vimap and studied it. "Kalo Three mapped a slight rise in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide in this area. Its map shows the source of the gases as coming through a narrow passage off to the right. There's a large chamber at the end of the passage, but the Kalo didn't note a spring. Odd."

   Richelle stepped up to Hunter, a timid smile creeping across her lips. "C-c-can we check it out?"

   "Sure," he said. "We need to call it a day anyway. Head to the right."

   Once they had located the steep, snaky, downward route, it took them only a few minutes to traverse it. The passage then opened up into a large, nearly oval chamber with four other passages leading out of it. Two of those passages were on the other side of a deep, bluishgreen hot spring situated in the center of the chamber. The spring was about twenty meters long by fifteen meters wide, and the ground directly around it was made up of thin-banded irregular deposits of white, yellow, and red travertine, a rock formed by the precipitation of calcium carbonate from the spring's waters.

   Hunter studied the enticing spring for a few minutes, watching steam gently rise from its surface and seeing an occasional burst of gas bubbles that popped up from the water with a gurgling sound.

   Isis analyzed the concentration of atmospheric gases with her Vimap. "Hydrogen sulfide is less than .08 mg per cubic meter. That's well within safety guidelines. No other dangerous gases are present."

   Arielle scrutinized the ceiling. "Those gases should be more concentrated. There must be fractures leading to the surface, venting them."

   "What's that mean?" asked Devon, looking up.

   Hunter was standing beside her. He looked up at the ceiling as well.

   "Should we be concerned?" asked Devon.

   "I think you should be concerned," said Arielle. "Here's some advice for you. Keep your distance from Renata."

   "Why?" asked Devon, her emerald green eyes widening.

   "She had an unpleasant experience with Iobs once. Leave it at that."

   "I'm sorry to hear that…say, what's that on your hand?"

   "My hand?" Arielle looked at the back of her right hand, then turned it over. Then she did the same with her left. "I don't see anything. Which one are you talking about?" She held her hands out toward Devon.

   Devon touched Arielle's hands as she looked at them. "Hmmm. I don't see anything now." She looked up. "You know, you have pretty hands. You're right-handed too, aren't you? Just like me." She held up her right hand and wiggled her fingers. "Amazing, isn't that?" She smiled. "I appreciate your advice, Ari, but don't worry about Renata and me. You already have your pretty hands full with Ramon." She turned away and began walking toward the group.

   Arielle gave Hunter a look of confusion. "That is one strange girl," she said. "What was that all about? Who cares if we're both righthanded? Say, did she just call me Ari?" She started after Devon.

   Hunter shrugged, then followed Devon and Arielle to the camping spot Edison had picked out, a level area that was "close enough to the hot spring, but not too close." Edison and Garrett had already begun setting up perimeter lights. While Trent and Hunter worked on dinner, the others prepared their sleeping areas and attended to personal needs as they joked around a bit and just relaxed, though they were anxiously awaiting dinner, having eaten little during their first leg. Once dinner was ready—a Novian "beef" and vegetable stew, roasted walnut-sized alatins, which were similar in taste to squash, and plenty of bread, coffee, and wine—the explorers filled their plates and began to sit down on the ground, forming two lines across from each other. Ramon, Arielle, Isis, Richelle, and Devon were on one side, Edison, Renata, Hunter, Trent, and Garrett on the other.

   The group tore into the food, saying little while they ate, but before anyone had finished eating, Garrett told Hunter he needed to check out the operation of the Vimaps, and he wanted someone's help. Hunter nodded approval, and Garrett motioned to Devon to come with him. He picked up a cup of coffee and started off, Devon following, taking a glass of wine and a slice of bread, but leaving her plate of half-eaten food on the ground.

   When the rest of the group had finally satisfied its hunger, Ramon raised his cup of wine in a toast to the cooks. "A pretty mean stew, guys. Tomorrow I'll top it with one of my ancestral specialties." He looked at Trent. "I just hope you were on the ball enough to have brought in all the ingredients."

   "Don't worry," said Trent. "You'll have every flaming spice you desire."

   "You know," said Arielle, stretching out her legs, "I read some history awhile back that made me think, and made me mad too. Why is it during most of the history of
Men
kind, females have been treated like dirt, and no one seems to care it happened?" She looked toward Isis and Richelle.

   Hunter smirked. This was the Arielle he was familiar with— shrewd, combative, and self-assured. He quickly downed the cup of wine he held in his hand. The fireworks were about to begin.

   "Right on," said Isis. "In ancient times women were considered property. Does that give anyone a clue?" She raised her hands and crossed her wrists in front of her.

   "Hold on," said Trent. He sat up straight. "What about the Etruscans and the equality of women and men in that society?"

   "One anomaly doesn't mean shit," said Arielle. She quaffed her glass of wine and poured herself some more. "Men have manipulated women for thousands of years. That's the sad, painful fact." She took another sip of wine.

   "Agreed," said Richelle. "Men have kept us in bondage since the b-b-beginning of civilization. Where is the justice in th-th-that?"

   Hunter smiled as he watched Ramon chug his glass of wine and pour himself another, which he immediately downed as well. Arielle was getting to him already.

   "Let's not forget about the sexual repression," said Isis. She sipped some wine as she crossed her legs. "I'm trying to remember, what is that old saw?"

   "I think it's keep her barefoot, lactating, and in the kitchen," said Richelle. She smiled widely, then sipped some of her wine.

   "Well put, Rye-shell," said Arielle. "Let me tell you, not only are you one heck of a sediment-tillogist, but you have a great handle on history."

   "I'll drink to that, Ritchie," said Isis, raising her cup, then toasting it with Richelle's.

   "Come on, girls," said Trent, sounding a bit frustrated. "Don't you think some of your statements are exaggerations and oversimplifications? What about the Roman Empire and its de facto women rulers? Women of the Severan line were of great influence in Rome for about forty years between 190 and 235 A.D. Like the wife of Septimius Severus—Julia Domna. And the mothers of Alexander Severus and Elagabalus—Julia Mamaea and Julia Soaemias. Then there were the women of the Late Western Empire, like Aelia Eudoxia, Pulcheria, and Galla Placidia. They were the true rulers then, not Arcadius, Theodosius II, and Valentinian III. And the Byzantines…"

   "Just more blips," said Arielle, interrupting him. "Damn, Trent. You sure know how to sour a conversation. Would you stop with the history trivia crap already? What have you got up there?" She pointed to her head. "A fucking fact book?" She turned to Isis and Richelle. "More wine, girls?"

   Isis held out her cup for Arielle. "Face it, Trent. Women didn't even have the right to vote in the United States until 1920. And when was the first woman president of the U.S. elected? Not until the 21
^st
Century. And hell, while we're at it, why don't we ignore that over half the Earth's countries denied women an education until the late

20 Century. Most of those countries were dominated by men I may add." "Where did you hear that?" asked Trent. "I don't think…" "Those facts in themselves are absolutely barbaric," said Isis. "Speaking of barbaric," said Arielle, "don't you revel in how it was okay to slaughter women and children in the name of almost anything in those days?" She finished her wine and poured herself some more. "How many millions of innocents have died at the hands of some ignorant cause or some man's greed? Trent—can you give us those numbers?" She laughed.

Trent turned to the other men. "Anyone care to help me out here?"

There was a mix of laughs from the group, the men included.

   "Th-th-they have n-n-nothing to say because there is no defense," said Richelle. "Why do you think we call those times the Dark Ages?"

   "And the Stone Age," added Arielle, snickering.

   "The Ice Age and Age of Repression too," said Isis. "You don't think men actually came up with those beauties, do you?" She giggled.

   "Listen, liberated and enlightened ones," interjected Ramon. He had just chugged down another glass of wine and appeared inebriated. "We modern men didn't cause your problems. Don't pin the blame on us for your woes. If it wasn't for men like me today…" He flexed both of his biceps. "…you liberated females wouldn't dare set foot in these caves."

   "Right," laughed Isis. "The first time we hear something in one of the passages, you'll be the first one flying out."

   "But, Isis," said Ramon. "You're wrong. Men are challenged by cavern exploration. There's so much reward."

   "You could have fooled me," said Isis. "You seemed to be shaking in your boots when Garrett brought up what happened on the Severon Mission."

   "But, Isis." A smile came to his lips. "You're not getting my point."

   "And she'd better not," said Arielle.

   Isis looked perplexed.

   "He's not talking about these caves," said Arielle. "He's talking about caverns, not caves."

   "Caverns?"

   "Openings," said Arielle. "Holes." She brought her thumb and fingers together on her right hand, making a hole, then began poking her left middle finger into it. "This!"