Omega Games (27 page)

The crater commanded my attention as soon as we drew within three hundred yards of its edge. It stretched out, a bowl of glittering black, for nearly half a kilometer. From the shape and size I guessed it to be very old.

“I would attempt to take samples,” Reever said, “but given the nature of the crystal, I think conducting a visual survey first would be more prudent.”

I looked beyond the crater toward another dark depression, near the base of one of the ore processors. “There is another one over there.” I took out the geological scanner I had borrowed from Drefan and adjusted the beam to the widest possible field. I passed it over the crater near us first, which showed as a blank oval spot on the display. As I continued to turn, the beam picked up more blank ovals: two, six, ten, fifteen . . .

I stopped scanning when the display showed more than thirty blank spots. “There are more craters like

He took the scanner from me and studied the display. “Drefan said the craters were caused by ancient meteor impacts.” He adjusted the scanner’s output. “There is a network of subsurface tunnels that connect all of the craters.”

I looked at the web of passages on the display. “Why would the colonists want to connect the craters from underneath?”

Reever gazed out at the ore processors. “No reason, unless they are mining it.”

“Maggie said that the crystal was part of the problem with Trellus.” The thought of someone collecting the destructive mineral disturbed me. “We may need to collect a small sample, Duncan.”

My husband didn’t like that, but nodded.

I held on to the clip of our tether as I slowly approached the crater’s rim. Up to the very brink, large, seven-sided crystals sprang out, jutting like shining black teeth.

“The crystals appear to be atypical prisms,” he said. “Each has seven geometrically equivalent faces, all parallel to the same axis. That may explain why they reflect light as oddly as they do.”

I knelt down and peered at one specimen growing from the very edge. “These were not left behind like this by the meteor.”

“No, they appear to have grown after the impact. ” Reever began scanning the crater. “Mineral crystals can flourish in many different environments, but most need a hydrothermal source. On Terra, quartz typically grows from a mixture of silica and hot ground water.”

I shifted my weight, and for a moment I thought something moved inside the crystal. I realized it was light reflected from my face shield, illuminating a flaw. “This one appears to have a bubble of air inside it.”

Reever came to stand beside me and directed the scanner at the specimen I was studying. “Not air,” he told me. “It’s an inclusion of fluid.”

“It has water inside?”

“The faces of a single crystal can grow at different speeds and rates, which creates tiny pits or flaws in the interior. As the crystal continues to grow, its subsequent layers can seal the flaws and trap liquid inside. ” He broke off and adjusted something on the scanner.

“These crystals grew here, on Trellus, after the meteor impact,” I said. “Is that not so?” He nodded absently. “Then from where did the liquid come?”

He gestured at the ground. “Likely a water source beneath the surface.”

“We need to take a sample of the crystal.” I carefully wrapped my glove around the flawed specimen and wiggled it, trying to break it free. It could not be moved even a millimeter.

“I need something to knock it loose.” An unpleasant sensation spread through my hand, one I thought I was imagining until I saw a black stain spreading over my glove. “What the . . . ?”

Reever jerked me to my feet by the back of my suit and held my stained glove away from my body and him. “Hold still.”

The black stain had vanished from my glove.

“They did the same thing on Catopsa when the black crystal attacked me there,” I said, returning the helpful mold to Reever.

He turned my glove over to look at the back side. “You never told me about that.”

I felt the ground tremble under our feet. “Duncan.”

That was all I had time to say before the rocky surface heaved and pitched both of us headfirst into the crater.

Fifteen

The glittering maw swallowed us whole.

I could not see Reever. My body collided with falling crystals and rock as the sides of the crater fell away on top of me. I know I called to my husband, but the roar of the surface collapsing all around us drowned out my voice.

An image of Drefan’s tortured body came back to me. His limbs had been crushed by falling ore. The same was about to happen to us, as soon as we hit the bottom of this abyss. Our envirosuits were not designed to withstand such battering.

My body never landed, but fell endlessly until something closed around me. At first I thought it was our sleeping platform, and I was about to awaken from a very bad dream. I prayed it would be so.

But our bed was not pink.

The tether jerked me into something much harder that smashed through the shield of my helmet, and that was all I knew before my air was gone and my lungs flattened. Cold bit into my flesh, sinking into it, turning my blood to slush and my bones to ice.

They will never find us,
I thought as the cold receded and a soft, lovely warmth replaced it. Even if they could, the black crystal would prevent any sort of rescue.
We will spend eternity together, buried alive.

Just the three of us, together for all time?
an amused, mellow voice asked.
I find that a very intriguing proposition. An eternal ménage à trois. Keats was too much of a romantic, I think, and Byron far too intense and possessive. But Shelley, now I think he would have approved.

I didn’t know this voice or the names it mentioned, but Cherijo’s surrogate mother liked to play tricks.

Maggie? Maggie, can you help us?

No, I am not your friend Maggie. But please, allow me to assist you, my dear.

From there I went alone into the dark, still warm and held close to something, still clutching the tether in my glove. There I stayed, and my last coherent thought was of Reever and, if we died, how soon we would find each other in this next place.

“There are no signs of exposure.” That sounded like Tya, I thought, content to lie where I was and listen to it. “The suits were breached, I tell you.” And that voice, that was Keel. A very worried Keel. “After they were retrieved, perhaps,” Tya said. “What were they doing out there?” “Checking their ship.” I heard metal, cloth, and a scanner being activated. Beneath my shoulders I felt a flat, cold surface. Seals

opened, and seams ripped. Someone was removing my suit. Keel made a disgusted sound. “Why put all this gunk in their suits?” As a sharp blade sliced through the tough outer fabric of my envirosuit, something oozed against my skin. “It is not gunk,” Tya told the feline. “It appears to be some sort of lubricant.” “Pink lubricant?” Keel asked. “I did not choose the color.” I opened my eyes and squinted through the bright light. Something sticky covered my eyelids and lashes,

and I had to spit out a mouthful of fluid to speak. “Keel?”

“Close your eyes, Cherijo. I must wipe your face.” A damp cloth did just that. “There.” The cloth was held loosely over the end of my nose. “Blow.” I blew, and as soon as I cleared the fluid from my nostrils, the odor hit me. It was as if every rotten,

decaying thing I had ever smelled had been piled around me.
“Dævena Yepa.”
“I know, it’s awful,” Keel said. “But hold still. I’m going to clean out your ear canals now.” A gentle suction removed the fluid in my ears, but I was too busy trying not to vomit to notice it

immediately. The light was adjusted so that it did not shine into my eyes, and a strong, scaly limb eased

me up into a sitting position. My right wrist throbbed, as did my back, arms, and legs, but only distantly.

“How bad?” I asked, gagging on the taste in my mouth. “You have a concussion, some cuts and bruises, and a sprained wrist,” Tya informed me as she lifted me off the table. “Your mate appears to be in much the same condition.”

“What are you doing?” I asked as she carried me across the room.

“As you can tell, you smell worse than an overflowing waste unit,” she told me. “I am putting you in the cleanser before we all puke.” Once inside the unit she had to help me stand, my legs shook so much. My head cleared as soon as the

jets came on, and I saw what appeared to be several inches of solid pink gelatinous fluid covering my

body.

“We don’t know,” Tya said, and handed me a scrubber. “But please, wash it off.” I applied a liberal amount of cleanser and scrubbed hard, although after a moment it became apparent

that I didn’t need to. The fluid didn’t dilute or stick to the scrubber, but quickly slid in pink streams down my skin and into the drain. When I was clean, I stepped out so Tya could cleanse. Keel handed me linen to dry off with, and a robe

to cover myself. “What happened to you out there?” the Chakacat asked. “The last thing I remember, there was a surface tremor, and the crater near the crash site collapsed.” And

Reever and I had been thrown into it. “I don’t know how I got here, or what covered us in that . . .” I

wasn’t sure what to call it. “Tya thinks it is lubricant,” Keel advised me. “I am currently reserving my opinion. We found you and your husband in one of the air locks. You were both unconscious, and your envirosuits were filled with this pink gunk. Which I’ve never seen before, I should mention.”

We should be at the bottom of the crater, under tons of crystal and rock. “Who brought us to the air

lock? The engineers from
Moonfire
? A drednoc?” Keel shook its head. “The engineers evacuated the crash site as soon as the tremor hit. There were no dreds out on the surface. We thought you had come back on your own.”

“We did not walk back here,” I assured it. “Did Drefan have the air lock on monitor?” I had to know

what had saved us. “He did,” Keel said, “but the screen went black for two minutes. When the feed came back up, you and Reever were lying there.”

Tya emerged from the cleanser, stopped, and pointed to the floor around the exam table. “Look.”

I turned and saw that the puddles of the pink fluid that had dripped from the table were spreading and becoming transparent. The unbearable odor disappeared just as unexpectedly. I knelt down and touched a finger to the now-clear liquid, and brought a drop of it up to my nose. “If you put that in your mouth,” Tya said, “I vow, I will regurgitate my last meal.” “It has no more odor to it.” I grabbed a scanner and passed it over the puddle. “Hydrogen and oxygen. ”

I looked up at the Hsktskt. “It’s turned into water.” I stood and went over to the table where Reever lay. They had not yet opened his suit, and when I

released the seals the only fluid that ran out was more odorless, colorless water. He rolled onto his side and coughed out more of the same. “He had the same pink substance in his suit?” I asked Keel, who nodded. “Let’s get the suit off.” Water soaked my husband’s garments, as well as a few spots of blood from some minor lacerations, but

I found no trace of the pink fluid. I checked his eyes, ears, and nose, which were damp but also clear. “What do you remember?” I asked

“Something enveloped us,” Reever said. “It came through the tears in my suit and broke through my face shield.” His dark gray eyes met mine. “Did the crystal produce it?” I adjusted the scanner and passed it over him and then my own torso. Both displays showed no trace of

black crystal in our bodies. I used it to check the outside of Reever’s envirosuit and my own, both of

which were also free of the contaminant. “If it did, it does not exhibit the same properties as the crystal.” I glanced down at the wet floor beneath my bare feet. “I would test it, but it’s all gone now. All that’s left of it is water.”

“You are alive,” Tya said, her voice harsh. “Be grateful that it saved you.” I turned to her. “Do you know what it was?” She went to the view panel and looked out at the surface. “It wasn’t water.” I performed a thorough exam of my husband, whose scrapes and bruises were already disappearing. “What is wrong with your wrist?” he asked as I used my left hand. “I sprained it.” I moved my hand and winced. “I will fashion a splint for it.” “Wait.” Reever took my hand and turned it up so he could examine the palm. “Your skin looks burned.” “There was nothing to burn me out there.” I peered at the swollen redness and closed my fingers over it.