Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 3) (6 page)

            “Kelen?”

            She tore her eyes away from the Seneecians and looked to him. The physician wore a mask of sincere regret.

            “I haven’t given up hope, or else I would suggest we abandon the search altogether. We’ll come up with a schedule where we’ll continue in pairs. Four hour shifts, no splitting up. When you report back, you’ll let Dox or Jules know where you went and what area you covered. They’ll keep track of what’s been searched so we don’t waste time going over the same area.”

            “But he could backtrack. He could go into one of those areas that’s already been searched,” she finally argued.

            Sandow agreed it was a possibility. “We’ll take that into consideration.”

            “When will these searches begin?” Tojun inquired.

            “Right after we’re done here. But we need to get this out of the way first. My next item is the food and water. Don’t eat anything that’s been through the processing units. None of it, and that includes the water. It’s tainted. Gone bad, and I mean poisonous bad. That new scanner Dox made for me includes a toxicity monitor. I don’t know why or how the food changed, but what I’ve checked so far isn’t good.” He pointed to Gaveer. “I don’t know how the food would affect Seneecian physiology, but I don’t want to find out. Stay on the safe side, guys. Don’t eat it, either. That goes for everything that feeds into the apartments.”

            Fullgrath cleared his throat for attention. “What if we emptied the tanks and pipes, or whatever contains the stuff, and sanitize them?”

            “Sanitize them with what?” Mellori challenged. “Even if we did manage that colossal feat, can we be certain this alien technology will pick right back up and start processing the food again?”

            “There’s an awful lot of food going to waste up there in the garden,” Jules told them. “It looks like it’s rotting on the vine because it’s not getting into the system. There could be a blockage somewhere.”

            Sandow held out his hands. “We have no idea how long this place has managed to keep going since its inhabitants went extinct. Hell, we don’t know if all of those people
are
extinct! They could have evacuated, all survivors, for all we know.”

            “If there were survivors, it would explain who stacked the bodies in the middle of that nonagon,” Tojun pointed out.

            “It’s a possibility. Back to my original point. We have no idea how long that food’s been sitting in those cylinders. It’s a miracle we haven’t gotten sick before now. It’s a miracle the machinery driving everything works at all.”

            “Okay. So we switch to feeding directly off the plants and maybe teach ourselves how to make our own pancakes and pink crackers. You said to drink right from the spring. Does that mean we shouldn’t bathe in the water in our apartment, either?” Kelen asked.

            Sandow shook his head. “According to my scanner, the water is safe to use, but I don’t want us drinking what’s going into the apartment. I think it’s in our best interest to keep to the spring because we know it’s fresh flowing, and hasn’t been sitting somewhere growing stagnant.”

            “You have mentioned two items,” Tojun said. “Are there others?”

            “Yes.” This time Mellori spoke up. “Dox has used up most of what we initially cannibalized from the
Manta
. We’ve made a list of things we need for him to improvise, and a list of what we could use from our old ship to help him accomplish that.”

            “So what are you suggesting?” Jules asked. “That we make a trip out to the ship to retrieve those items?”

            “Precisely,” Mellori answered. “He’s been able to zero in on the ship’s location, which will allow us to go directly to it and back, without finding ourselves meandering around in the desert.”

            Massapa waved for attention. “Our individual pods that brought us here may contain equipment you could use.”

            Mellori smiled. “Thanks. But for this first round, we’ll concentrate on the
Manta.
We’ll go after your pods at a later date.”

            “That was item number three.” Sandow refocused their attention. “I have one more item I wanted to bring up, and this is one Kyber and I discussed to some degree. It has to do with the elevator.” The man turned to the former navigator. “Jules, you have the floor.”

            Jules held up the tablet Kelen had seen him using by the monolith. “You all know none of the lights on the board have any kind of writing or hieroglyphs to give us an indication of where they lead to. We don’t even know what the lights’ individual colors mean, even though we’re already aware that two things play an important part of this extinct planet’s culture. Those two things are color and the number three.”

            He showed them the plot lines and notes he’d inscribed on the touchpad. “We have three of those lights already plotted; the temple, the garden, and the machinery room. That’s all. Of those three, the garden has a green light, the temple has a white light, and the machinery room has an orange light. But guys, that leaves us with fifteen more lights we know nothing about. Some of those also have a white, green, or orange color. But some of them are blue, some are pinkish red, and some of them have yellow lights.”

            Kelen did a quick mental calculation. “We have three plotted and fifteen unknown? That’s eighteen landing areas.”

            “Which is divisible by three,” Fullgrath added.

            “That’s also six definitive colors.” Kelen went on. “Jules, of those lights, are the colors also grouped in threes?”

            The young man scowled slightly, then quickly checked his figures. His answer surprised no one. “Yeah. There are exactly three of each color.”

            “Let me guess,” Cooter spoke out. “You’re thinking we should do a little exploration and find out where these other platforms are?”

            “Yes,” Sandow said. “It might also help us figure out what the lights’ colors mean.”

            “And you want to start these expeditions when? Immediately?” the former head of security inquired with more than a touch of irony.

            Mellori got to his feet. “I suggest the search for Kyber resume within the hour. Everyone will take four hour shifts, alternating between guard duty and searching, with the occasional run to the garden for more food when supplies run low. The trip to the
Manta’s
crash site will involve me, Dox, and one of you four.” He stared pointedly in the direction of the Seneecians.

            “I will go,” Kleesod volunteered.

            Sandow nodded. “Thanks. We’re going to need your greater strength to help clear away debris. With any kind of luck, it shouldn’t take them more than a day to get there, a day to gather up what we can use, and a day to return. That’s all I have on the agenda at the moment. Is there anything else someone wants to bring up? Any questions or comments?”

            “I do.” Kelen stood. “Who heads out first to resume the hunt for Kyber? And how long will we be allowed to search for him, in the event we’re not able…” Her voice broke. She couldn’t finish the sentence as the thought of never seeing Kyber again was too dark to contemplate.

            “I know you’re personally vested in this, so yes, I don’t think anyone would have a problem if you took the first shift.”

            “How long to look?” Dox reiterated, looking sternly at the doctor.

            “I don’t know,” Sandow admitted truthfully. “We’ll have to take it one day at a time.”

            “I’ll take first shift with her,” Fullgrath volunteered.

            Kelen flashed him a grateful smile, and the burly man winked in reply.

Chapter 9

Confrontation

            Kyber awoke with his throat on fire. Every breath was painful, and his body refused to respond to his demands.

            He managed to place his hands beneath him and rise to his knees. From there he had to grasp the rough sides of the tunnel to haul himself to his feet. For several seconds he fought the dizziness that threatened to throw him back to the ground.

            He felt completely drained, but fortunately there was no pain, no sense of further injury. With great effort, he slid one foot forward, then the other. Two steps, four, until the movement became rhythmic and he could concentrate on other matters.

            He remembered the creatures that had overtaken him, captured him. Dark, soulless monsters that had bound him and taken him to their lair. But they hadn’t killed him, which perplexed him. Perhaps they had planned to but he had escaped before they had the chance.

Kyber slowly shook his head and tried to dispel the thickening fog creeping through his brain. He had no recollection of what happened. He had no memory of how he got here. He had no idea where here was. All he knew was that he needed water to quench the raging thirst in his body.

Heat pulsed through his skin. Sweat slid down his face, his back, his arms and legs, and dripped from the tips of his claws. The bottoms of his feet were caked in dirt where it clung to his moist skin.

He walked in absolute darkness. Nothing lit the path in front of him or behind him. At first, he wondered if he should turn and go back the other way, but a tiny voice urged him to keep going. It told him the tunnel would eventually lead somewhere. If the four gods were generous, they would lead him to water.

If the four gods even know where I am.

Kyber paused, taking deep breaths of the clean air. Not stuffy air. This tunnel had a constant flow of air passing through it. Lifting his face, he tested the almost undetectable breeze. It brushed over him, passing him to continue down the corridor. If he kept going, inevitably he would reach the source of the breeze.

He pushed himself to keep going. Several times he stumbled, nearly falling, but grasping the rough tunnel walls helped him to stay upright.

His hearing wasn’t as acute as it normally was. He coughed; the sound of it was distant, nearly inaudible. Twice he thought he heard a scratching noise, but when he placed his claws to his ear and scraped them together, he could barely make it out. Which meant his ears were playing tricks on him. That, plus the fact that his eyesight was starting to blur on him, put him on edge. If those dark creatures returned, he’d have no way of detecting them until it was too late.

After a while, he pressed his back to the wall and gave himself a moment to rest. He couldn’t tell how far he’d gone. The tunnel seemed endless as it curved to the left, then to the right. Never straight for more than a few meters, and utterly black. The thought that he would die in this place flashed through his mind more than once. If that happened, his only regret would be the agony infusing his body from lack of hydration…

And a face.

A blurry face.

The mental image hovered on the fringes of his fever-addled mind.

It was a pale face. Hairless, save for the wealth of dark locks that covered the rest of the head.

Blue eyes. Wide, fearless, and full of compassion and love. Eyes that stared at him and sometimes laughed. Eyes that revealed her soul to him.

A woman. A female not of his kind. Not Seneecian.

A Terran.

Kyber pressed his hot face against the cool rock and closed his eyes. A name faded in and out of his consciousness, but the beautiful visage continued to look back at him. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

Kiss.
She had taught him how to kiss. She had taught him how to love. She had taught him tenderness and selflessness.

For a moment, the thirst abated.

Kelen.
The face finally had a name. Kelen.

“Kelen.” The word was a croak, a pinch of pain in his throat.

A sound came from behind him. Light played over his face. When he opened his eyes, the brightness speared into his brain. A growl rasped from his mouth and he threw up an arm to shield his face.

The light slowly advanced, and he realized the monsters had returned. They were saying something, but the words were impossible to make out. The light grew closer as the monsters tried to overtake him again.

Giving the creatures one more snarl, he turned and started running away.

* * *

            Kelen peered into the black hole. It was difficult to tell if the narrow crack in the wall was natural, or another tunnel entrance. She glanced over her shoulder as Fullgrath strode up to join her.

            “What ‘cha got there?”

            “I don’t know,” she answered. “It could be another tunnel.”

            The man eyed the vines covering the garden wall, then glanced behind them. With the hope that Kyber might be somewhere inside the garden, they had decided to circumvent the cavern’s perimeter. They’d found other cracks in the rock wall, but something about this one made her give it a second look.

            She pointed to the outline. “See that?”

            Fullgrath leaned closer, running a hand around the edges. “It’s shaped like a triangle.” His eyes widened. “Three sides.”

            She threw a thumb over her shoulder. “That little entrance at the maze is shaped like a triangle, too.”

            He nodded. “You’re right. I never realized it before, but you’re right.” He ran his hand down one side again. “This is too smooth to be natural.” Lifting his tube light, he brushed aside the greenery which partially blocked the entrance. “I’m just going to give it a quick onceover. Hold on.”

            He stepped inside, not going far. Kelen saw the light play around. Moments later, he was back.

            “It’s definitely man-made. It goes deep, and curves a little further down.”

            “Is there any chance Kyber could have gone in there?”

            Fullgrath shrugged. “Anything’s possible.”

            She stared into the blackness as he said what was foremost on her mind.

            “It could also be the lair of something we don’t want to encounter.”