Return to Dark Earth (21 page)

“What the hell are those?” Niklas said.

Nera shook her head and focused. She spotted
what he was talking about.

The vehicles were…brutish looking. Armored,
low-slung, and a deep-green color, they looked like any standard
armored vehicles. But these ones had giant chainsaws mounted on the
front of them.

“These are the Institute’s newest
additions.” Agent Ryant strode up to them. “Centurion armored
vehicles. They’re particularly suited to heavy jungle conditions.
The saws are laser-enhanced and can cut through even the densest
vegetation in a fraction of time.”

Nera circled the nearest vehicle. The
chainsaws were impressive. She touched the camouflage-patterned
armor. It certainly seemed tough enough to withstand a pack of
zombies, or whatever else they might face down there.

Solomon sauntered in and came to an abrupt
halt. “Holy stars, those are beauties.”

Nera barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
Young men were the same the galaxy over.

Seconds later, Gunn arrived. He, too,
spotted the vehicles and whistled. “Nice.”

“Good. Everyone’s here.” Avril strode up.
She was dressed in her light armor. “Gunn, Agent Ryant and I will
be in the lead vehicle. Niklas, Darc and Solomon in the other.
Agent Ryant, can you please split your security team between the
two?” After his nod, she looked at the others. “Any questions? All
right, let’s go.”

The rear doors of each Centurion were open.
Nera climbed in and took a seat near the back. Nik and Solomon sat
in front of her. The four members of their security team moved to
the front of the vehicle, two settling in the driver’s and
navigator’s seats.

“The
Drake
will land only long enough
to offload the Centurions.” Avril’s voice came through the comm
system in the vehicle. “We can’t get right on top of the Larco, the
jungle is just too dense. We’ve located a clearing closest to the
museum’s location, so we’ll have to make a short drive.”

“Exposure time?” Nera asked.

“Two and a half hours.”

Nera watched Solomon and Niklas peering
forward like excited boys, peppering the driver with questions. She
shook her head. Age or profession had no relevance, men were men
and they loved anything with buttons and wheels.

She sank back in her seat and checked her
personal gear.

She’d acquired some sonic grenades. She had
a theory about noise affecting the zombies, and she wasn’t letting
any of the nasty creatures get too close to her or Niklas on this
trip.

“Everyone, please strap in,” their driver—a
reptilian agent with brown-scaled skin and elongated eyes—called
back.

She felt a jolt.

“The
Drake
has landed.” This from the
female navigator. “Prepare to disembark.”

Through the narrow windshield, Nera saw the
large cargo doors open and a ramp slide down to the ground. The
first Centurion rolled out.

Moments later, the driver set their vehicle
into gear and they followed.

When they drove off the ramp, she got her
first good look at the jungle.

The dense, black vegetation they’d seen from
above was even more intimidating up close. Vines as thick as her
waist choked the trees. Some trees were narrow and twisted, others
had huge trunks covered in misshapen knobs. All of them were
covered in black foliage that looked almost oily.

“Activating the laser-saw now,” the driver
intoned.

There was a deep rumble that made the
vehicle vibrate. Through the front window, she saw the flare of
orange laser along the chainsaw and the blades started
spinning.

Then the Centurion moved forward. The black
treeline reared up above them. As the chainsaw made contact, Nera
watched black vegetation fly in all directions. The saw ripped into
the vines and trees, nothing strong enough to withstand its attack.
She leaned forward, studying the jungle vegetation with interest.
She blinked. It looked like some of it was moving out of the path
of the Centurion’s saw. Her breath caught. Vines were sliding away
like giant snakes.

As the vehicle moved deeper under the canopy
of the trees, it got darker. The vegetation blocked out most of the
sunlight. This wasn’t good. If there were zombies here, it made it
likely they could function down here in the daytime.

“Look,” someone called out.

“Ruins.” Niklas gripped the back of the
chair in front of him.

The building they passed had been too
destroyed by time and choked by vines for them to be able to
discern its former purpose. Possibly an office building or
apartments. They’d probably never know.

They kept moving, the saws chomping through
the plant life. Finally, the lead vehicle pulled to a stop.

“We’re at the coordinates.” Avril’s voice
again.

“Any sign of zombies or wildlife?” their
driver asked.

“Negative,” Agent Ryant’s voice answered.
“Nothing.”

Niklas moved to the back door. “Then I
suggest we get in and get out before anything does come
looking.”

The back door of the Centurion lowered. Nera
hurried out to stand beside Niklas and took stock of their
surroundings. Nothing was moving, but it was dim under the dense
vegetation, and there were plenty of hiding spots.

It didn’t look like much of the Larco was
left. A crumbling section of wall hinted at the pretty building it
had once been, but behind that lay rubble, most of it reclaimed by
the mutant jungle.

Avril hurried forward. “We’re going to head
around the back and come in from the rear. Your team okay to handle
going in the front?” She only looked at Niklas.

He nodded, then he looked at Nera and the
others. “Let’s go.”

They walked through what she guessed would
have been the main entrance. Not much was left of what had probably
been an entryway and foyer. A mix of rubble covered the ground. As
she followed behind Niklas, something caught her eye, and she
paused. One square of tile sat on the ground, looking strange and
out of place, because it was almost pristine amongst the decay. She
wondered at the humans who’d once stepped foot on it. Their hopes,
their dreams, their fears.

“Not much left,” Solomon said.

“Come on,” Niklas said. “This way.”

They wandered deeper. While the main area
had been reduced to rubble, ahead some partial walls still stood.
Although they appeared badly damaged and unstable.

“Check under the rubble.” Niklas had his
hands on his hips, studying the surroundings with an intense look.
“There could be artifacts. Collect anything, no matter how small or
seemingly insignificant. And watch where you step. I don’t want any
artifacts ruined under careless boots.”

The security agents nodded and they all
fanned out.

Nera thought that the Institute was crazy to
have lost him. He would have been an excellent leader. She was
always amazed at people’s shortsightedness in the face of their own
greed and hunger for power.

Something caught her gaze near the base of a
wall. She wandered over and crouched. She brushed off the rubble
and pulled out a ceramic pot. It was broken, but the large shard
was still covered in colorful decoration.

“What’ve you got?” Niklas knelt behind her,
so close his knees brushed her side.

A flare of desire washed over her. Her
eyelids fluttered. The man had eroded her famous control to almost
nothing. She held up her find.

“Nice.” He gripped her wrist, turning the
fragment. “It looks like Huaco.”

“Huaco?”

“The Inca had two types of pottery. The
practical stuff they would have used as part of everyday life. And
then Huaco—ceremonial and ritual pottery.” His gaze was on her
face. “This is nice, but I like the treasure hunter who found it
more.” He lowered his voice, leaning in, crowding her space.

With any other person, she would have jabbed
an elbow in their gut and one in their throat and told them to back
off. With him, she wanted him closer, wanted skin-to-skin contact.
It left her a little shaky. It brought back memories of what it was
like to be addicted, to crave a substance so much it left you weak.
Only now instead of a drug, she craved a man. “I wish we were back
on the ship.” She shook her head. “No, I wish we were on our own
ship, somewhere private, with no other people.”

His teeth flashed. “Soon as this hunt is
over, we’ll make that happen.” He brushed a thumb over her lips.
Across the room, one of the security team called him over. He
stood, watched her for a second, then strode away.

Nera stayed crouched for a moment, before
she carefully placed the Huaco shard in her backpack.

After this hunt… She had to stop herself
thinking beyond having Niklas in her bed, and enjoying his body.
But afterward, what would happen? This couldn’t be more than a
moment’s pleasure for them both. They were too different, and she
was incapable of more. She let herself imagine them playing “happy
couple” back on the Phoenix moon, then snorted. Oh, his brothers
would just love that. And Nera would feel hemmed in, and wind up
going crazy.

She stood, pushing down the unfamiliar,
spiky emotions pricking at her. She needed to have her head here,
on this hunt—the very dangerous hunt—not on anything else.

They moved through several more rooms, not
finding anything too valuable or interesting. There was too much
damage, and too many vines and plants growing through the cracks,
trying to take back every last inch of the place.

But the next room they walked into was
partially intact. Nera spotted some shelves on a wall at the back.
And they still had artifacts on them. “Niklas.”

She jogged over and was studying the pots as
he joined her. Her eyes widened as her brain realized just what she
was seeing. “Holy stars.”

Niklas laughed. “I told you the Larco was
well-known for this stuff.”

Yes. But she hadn’t imagined the ancient
pottery would be so…explicit.

He smiled at her. “You aren’t a prude,
Nera.” His eyes glowed, and she knew he was thinking of some of the
things they’d done to each other in his cabin.

She ran her tongue over her teeth. “No.
But…” There were sculptures and pots showing men with…impressive
and impossible appendages. And couples caught in various positions.
She eyed one of a man taking a woman from behind. At least Nera
thought it was a woman; it was hard to tell with the stylized
images.

Niklas picked one up. A man with a woman on
his knees in front of him. “It’s not damaged at all. The ancient
Terrans of this region seemed very interested in celebrating acts
of love.”

Nera picked up one of a woman on top of a
man. “This is not love. This is lust.”

His face turned serious. “It can be
both.”

She stared at him, but was interrupted when
Solomon appeared. “Jesus, sex statues.” He whistled. “Points for
creativity. These little beauties would grab a ripe little profit
on the open market.” When Niklas speared the younger man with a
look, the treasure hunter rolled his eyes. “Or be a fascinating, if
slightly naughty, exhibit in some drafty Institute museum
somewhere.”

“Get one of the agents to bring one of the
anti-grav carriers in,” Niklas ordered. “We’ll load up everything
we can take.”

Solomon nodded and soon was back with the
others. The anti-grav carrier was brought in, floating off the
ground, and they carefully began loading the artifacts.

“Nera, let’s check the next room,” Niklas
said.

She nodded. They moved down a long corridor
that for the most part, had no roof. When they entered the next
room, Nera gasped. The space gleamed with gold and silver.

Niklas was smiling. “Damn. I was hoping some
of this had survived.”

The room was chaotic. The gold and silver
artifacts littered the floor amongst the rubble. Someone had
pilfered the room’s contents, but they hadn’t had the time to take
everything.

“Look at this.” He held up a damaged flat
sheet of gold. It had what looked like a monster’s face carved into
it. “This is a headdress.”

Nera picked up a tiny gold object and turned
it over. She gasped. It was inlaid with brilliant turquoise, and
had probably been some kind of jewelry. The pair of them grinned at
each other.

“We’re going to need another anti-grav
carrier.”

Not long after, they were packing the last
of the artifacts onto the carrier. Nera watched Niklas cradling the
magnificent remains of a gold-and-silver necklace. His face was
reverent.

“Simply beautiful.” He glanced at her on the
other side of the carrier. “If I’m correct, this is the necklace of
the Lord of Sipán.”

She saw the necklace was made of
strange-shaped beads. Each like a little textured wave.

“The Lord of Sipán was a mummy found in the
north of Peru with several others in an elaborate burial. They were
from some pre-Inca culture.” Niklas’ voice deepened into what she
thought of as his teacher voice. “These beads are shaped like a nut
that grew here and they represented the earth.” He fingered the
gold half of the necklace. “The beads of gold represent masculinity
and the sun god. And the silver.” He touched the other half of the
necklace. “Femininity and the moon god. This necklace signified
that man came from the earth and would return to it when they
died.”

She loved hearing him tell her these little
pieces of history. “Let’s not return to the earth today, okay? And
who would want a necklace made of nuts?”

He smiled. “There was another necklace found
in the tomb. No images survived, but it was called the golden
spider necklace. Each medallion apparently featured a web with a
spider and a human head. Would you have liked that one better?”

She sniffed. “I’m not very fond of
spiders.

He laughed. “Funny how having you here has
made this experience so much better.”