Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 3) (7 page)

            She locked eyes with him. “We have to be sure.”

            The weapons master sighed loudly and hefted his weapon. “All right. But at the first indication we’re about to get eaten by some big, bad ugly, we’re hauling our asses out of there. Deal?”

            She smiled. “I dare you to try and pass me.” Turning on her own light, she gripped her tube weapon, extending her arm outward, and entered the tunnel.

            They moved silently, trying not to make any sound as they followed the corridor’s twists and turns. At one point, she heard Fullgrath signal for her attention with a barely audible
psst!
She halted and waited for him to catch up.

            “This thing goes everywhere but up and down.”

            She nodded. “I noticed that, too.” A length of hair blew into her eyes. She brushed it back with her fingers. “There’s a breeze. Ventilation?”

            “If there is, then this is an actual thoroughfare,” Fullgrath confirmed. “I wonder where it leads.”

            “No telling.” She sniffed. “Huh. Do you smell that?”

            He also sniffed. “Yeah. I started noticing it a while back. It’s been getting stronger. It smells rancid, like something crawled in here to die.” He immediately realized he’d said the wrong thing. “Kelen, I—”

            She picked up her pace, ignoring the man’s apology.
He’s wrong,
she told herself.
Something else is causing that smell. Not Kyber. Please, God, don’t let it be Kyber!

           
The stench became more pronounced, more noticeable as they advanced further inside, despite the slight breeze flowing through the tunnel. Kelen paused again and motioned to her partner.

            “What if it’s one of those monsters?” she suggested. “I mean, we did some damage to a couple the last time they attacked us.”

            “It’s possible. If it is one of them, let’s hope it’s dead and not dying. I’d better go ahead of you in case—”

            She stopped him again. “I’d rather you have my back, Sid.” Before he could retort, she continued forward.

            At first she thought the movement at the edge of her light might be one of those creatures. It was dark and shiny, and walked erratically as it moved away from her. What she first thought was large swathes of blood took on the shape of a uniform, and her heart knew she’d found him before her mind did.

            “Kyber?” She called out and picked up her pace. “Kyber!”

            Kyber turned around, holding up a hand against the tube light, and gazed blankly at her. Suddenly his face contorted and he let out a broken growl. Before she could reach him, he bolted, running away from her and deeper into the tunnel.

Chapter 10

Rescue

            Kelen took off after him, but she didn’t have far to go before she reached him. Kyber appeared weak, moving on grit and determination alone.

            “Kyber, it’s me! Let me help!”

            She reached out to snag his arm, when he turned again on her, snarling. He tried to say something in Seneecian. Although she didn’t know what it was, his venomous tone was enough to convince her he was in the throes of some delusion.

            “Kyber, you’re ill. Let me help you!”

            With a ragged roar, he lashed out, swinging an arm at her, claws fully extended. Kelen heard Fullgrath’s shout of warning the same instant she ducked, barely avoiding being sliced. Kyber came back with his other arm. This time she was ready. But instead of ducking, as he anticipated she would do, she took a leap back, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The instant his shoulder and side were exposed, she whirled around, bringing her leg up, and kicked him squarely in the hip.

            Kyber howled in pain, and she realized she’d struck his wounded side. But he was down for the count. This time he lunged for her, both arms held out, his fangs bared.

            Kelen dropped to the ground and barrel-rolled forward. Kyber tripped over her, landing heavily on his knees. Above him, she saw Fullgrath raise his weapon to fire.

            “
No!
”

            Before he could fire, she leaped toward Kyber and pressed the end of the tube weapon hard into his back, hoping to bypass the clotted fur and reach the skin. She heard a
zzzt!
Kyber shuddered in response, his head jerking backwards. Letting out what was almost a sigh, the Seneecian melted to the ground. Immediately, Kelen rolled him over and placed his head in her lap.

            “Oh my God, he’s burning up with fever!”

            Jerking her water pouch from her belt, she poured a little into her palm and wiped Kyber’s sweaty face. He moaned, coughed a couple of times, but remained unconscious.

            “What’s wrong with him? Kelen, he attacked you!”

            “Sid, go get Sandow! Hurry!”

            “And leave you here alone with him?”

            “Don’t argue with me! For God’s sake, he needs medical attention!” Her voice caught in her throat and she nearly choked. Thank goodness the man couldn’t see the tears streaming down her face.

            “He’s clearly out of his mind, Kel,” the man continued to argue. “He didn’t even recognize you! What if he comes to and—”

            “
Please
.” She put everything she had into that one word as she continued to wipe Kyber’s feverish skin with water. “If he comes to before you get back, I’ll zap him again. Promise. Now go! Hurry!”

            Fullgrath sniffed. “At least we know where that smell’s coming from,” he remarked. Pulling his water pouch from his belt, he handed it to her. “Here. You might need this one, too.”

            She thanked him and watched as the man jogged back toward the garden. When he turned a distant curve, his tube light vanished. Before long, all sound of his footsteps disappeared.

Shifting herself into a more comfortable position, Kelen played the tube light over Kyber’s body, looking for further injuries. “What made you sick, my love? Did one of your wounds become infected?” Leaning over, she kissed his moist forehead, unable to control the grateful tears adding to the wetness on his face. “You’re alive. And damn it, I’m going to help you fight whatever this is consuming you. I swear to God, I’ll remain right here beside you and fight alongside you, until we beat this thing. I promise.”

Kyber stirred slightly, but remained out of it. Kelen continued to bathe his face and the palms of his hands with water, but she was unable to dribble any between his tightly closed lips.

Pressing her back to the wall, she cradled his head in her lap and waited.

* * *

            Fullgrath felt torn. He hated leaving Kelen behind with the Seneecian, but on the other hand, he couldn’t fault her for needing to stay with Kyber. After all, they were in this thing “for better or for worse”, weren’t they? If Kelen and he… He shook his head, dismissing the impossibility. But if he had been the one who’d gone off on a mental breakdown, would he have wanted her to come after him? To find him? To nurse him back to health?

            “Damn straight,” he muttered.

            Funny, but the tunnel seemed to go on forever. He stopped at one point to catch his breath and strained his ears, listening for a sound, any sound that might indicate he was getting close to the garden entrance.

            He glanced over his shoulder. Finding Kyber aside, he was curious to know where the tunnel led. There had to be a good reason for the inhabitants of this world to dig through what was almost solid rock.

            He kept going. Traversing two more curves, he finally caught sight of light dimly filtering through the wall of leaves almost completely blocking the entrance. Fullgrath heaved a sigh of relief and cautiously peeked through the foliage.

            The garden appeared empty, as it always did.

            The elevator platform lay approximately two hundred meters away. However, the long tunnel leading down to the nonagon was closer, less than twenty meters. It would take seconds to arrive at the machinery room, whereas taking the tunnel would cost him hours of walking. But there was that large open area he had to cross, leaving himself vulnerable to whatever creatures happened to spot him. Fortunately, the platform was still in “go” mode since his and Kelen’s arrival.
A hard dash over there shouldn’t take me more than, what? Thirty seconds?

           
He holstered his weapon and tube light to keep his hands free. Slowly, Fullgrath made his way through the dense brush until he reached the edge of pavement. Giving the area another good examination, he braced himself mentally, then shot out from under cover, pounding the stone floor as he sprinted for the platform.

            A loud roar filled the cavern. The sound of it vibrated through his bones, and Fullgrath skidded to a halt. A smoky shape rose from behind the steps, coalescing into a massive head, splitting into two heads, then three heads. The monster locked on Fullgrath and opened its mouth, letting go with an ear-shattering scream.

            It began advancing toward him, moving steadily but laboriously.

            Fullgrath fired his weapon, but the single shots did little to stop the thing in its tracks. Cold dread filled him as he realized there was no way he could make it to the platform before the creature did.

            He turned and made a dash for the tunnel leading down to the nonagon. He could hear the creature shuffling in its attempt to reach him. Too frightened to glance behind him, Fullgrath focused on reaching the dark entrance, his lungs burning from the effort.

            As he tore inside the rock portal, something brushed the back of his uniform. He never slowed down until the darkness closed around him, leaving him far beyond the creature’s reach.

            He collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. He didn’t dare go back to see if the monster had left, or if the way was clear enough to allow him to reach the platform.

            “I’m sorry, Kel. I tried,” he muttered softly. “I hope to hell you make it okay until I bring help.”

            Once his heart stopped galloping, he got to his feet and continued down the tunnel.

Chapter 11

Beneath

            Mellori watched Kleesod as the Seneecian watched Dox. The little man sat in the sand, his mind obviously a million miles away as they took a few minutes for a brief rest stop. Every so often Dox would glance upward, his eyes half-closed as he stared at nothing, and tap his eyebrow.

Kleesod looked over at Mellori. “What is he doing?”

“He taking notes.”

At the Seneecian’s confused expression, Mellori elaborated.

“Dox’s brain doesn’t work the same way ours do. He never writes anything down. His mind memorizes it, labels it, and files it for future reference. He probably has more information in his head than the ship’s computer did. I take that back. I’m sure of it.”

“How does he do that?”

“He’s genetically engineered to be that way. We call them isotope babies.”

“Are all like him?”

“Like him how? If you’re asking if he’s typical of what they’re like, the answer’s yes. I’ve met and worked with other isotopes, and they pretty much act the same.”

“I meant, do they all work in the service of your government? Do all your space ships have one in the crew?”

Mellori shook his head. “Strangely enough, Dox is one of, I think, five who chose to go into active service. Most of them are scattered in the fields of engineering and medicine, although I’ve heard of a few who’ve gone into the private sector.”

“Why did your people create these humans?” Kleesod queried.

“Time to go,” Dox announced unexpectedly. The young man got to his feet, dusted off the seat of his pants, and aimed his portable scanner out across the vast desert. Getting their bearings, he took off at a moderate pace, with the other two tagging along behind him.

It was sunny, but a cool, steady breeze kept the day from being unbearable. On Earth, the seasonally warm weather would be equivalent to an early spring. Mellori glanced behind him, noting that their footsteps in the dark brown sand were quickly filling in as the wind obliterated their tracks.

They had been walking for hours. The tallest spire on the temple had disappeared below the horizon long ago. Ahead of them, nothing broke the flat plane for as far as the eye could see. All they had to go by was the jury-rigged tablet Dox used as a navigational aide.

Mellori continued. “Nearly a couple hundred years ago, our planet was hit with a major pandemic. The Heimer virus. It didn’t so much make us sick or die, but it affected our genetic makeup. To put it bluntly, it wiped out our intelligence. It made us stupid.”

Kleesod glanced at Dox, then back at Mellori. “Go on.”

The engineer shrugged. “Our scientists, mathematicians, engineers, all the top-notch brains who’d managed to protect themselves, did all they could to preserve what knowledge we had. They tried to re-teach the population what to do, but none of it stuck. They couldn’t learn. That’s when we realized that, unless something drastic was done, everything about ourselves, our culture, our science and technology, our way of living, would forever change. Even something as simple as knowing how to use a knife to cut our food would be forgotten.”

“What did you do?”

“Fortunately, the virus didn’t eradicate everyone’s intelligence. Some of us managed to lock ourselves away in isolated bunkers before we became infected. It was there we discovered by accident that eggs and sperm that had been collected and cryogenically frozen prior to the onset of the virus were untouched. Furthermore, the children created from those eggs were not affected, either. The virus had run its course. That first generation of young adults faced the greatest burden of trying to bring everything back to the way it had been, but they couldn’t do it all by themselves. So they genetically engineered several hundred embryos to become info dumps. To keep the sum knowledge of thousands of years of history, science, math, and language. As the years progressed, these isotope babies became more and more capable.”