Season of Passage, The (23 page)

thought of Tier, possibly alive on the other side of the bridge.

Janier summoned her people and stepped boldly onto the bridge. However, there she hesitated once more, fil ed with sudden doubt. She was no

fool. Why had Kratine left the bridge open, she asked herself? She was wary of a trick. Plus she had not forgotten what Chaneen had said about

how the Fire Messenger would depart if she left her own land.

Janier studied her warriors, trying to come to a decision. Those who had survived this long were the strongest, she knew, a brave people. They

were not like Chaneen.

Janier stil could not understand how her sister, with the power to save them al , had stayed hidden in the Garden and al owed so many to die.

Chaneen may have been wise, Janier thought, but she was also a coward. She was not like Rankar, or Tier, or herself. And what did it matter if

Chaneen was right and the Fire Messenger did desert her when she crossed over into Asure? Janier had been a fighter long before the Fire

Messenger came into her arm, and her warriors were brave, and their swords were sharp. There couldn't be much left of the Asurian army, she

thought. They would fal easily, and perhaps afterward she would be able to rescue her husband.

'See their foolishness!' Janier cal ed, standing upon the threshold of Asure. 'They were so afraid of us that they forgot to take down their bridge.

'She stepped forward. 'Come, let us put a final end to Asure and its people.'

Janier and her warriors crossed over the bridge.

Sitting alone by the waters of her palace, Chaneen slumped to the ground. She felt the Fire Messenger leave, and the bond between her and Janier

break.

SEVENTEEN

The Gorbachev looked dead.

Mars was waning. Against the backdrop of the darkening globe, the Russian ship shimmered like a spot of mercury deposited on bloody canvas. It

was two miles away and drifting without weight-bestowing spin. That meant Carl Bensk had no up or down, and that Was a bad sign.

Lauren floated inside the Nova's main airlock with Gary. Jim was over at the Gorbachev and trying to get inside the locked front hatch. He had been

there four hours; a long time in a space suit. Jim thought the lock on the Gorbachev's airlock might be broken. Bil believed the Russians had given

them the wrong code. "Bil also suspected that the Gorbachev was booby-trapped. That is why the Gorbachev was two miles from the Nova and not

two hundred feet.

'I wish we could help Jim somehow,' Lauren said.

'If Jim can't trip that lock, nobody can,' Gary said. 'I just hope the damn thing doesn't blow up.'

'You don't think Bil 's right, do you?' Lauren asked. Cooperation between the U.S. and Russia was at an al -time high. Missiles were down, visas

were up - Lauren didn't see why so many people stil saw Russia as an enemy. It annoyed her.

'No, I wasn't being serious,' Gary said. 'Bil 's just

paranoid. That's what makes the military mind. Don't worry, Lori.'

From a speaker in the corner of their airlock, Jim said, 'Now I know how Gandalf felt at the gates of Moria.'

'Who?' Lauren said.

'The wizard in The Lord of the Rings, I Gary said matter-of-factly.

'Have you made any progress, Professor?' Bil asked from the Nova's control room.

'I've figured out what kind of lock this is.' Jim chuckled. 'A Timetrex - they're made in the U.S. Imagine that. Give me another few minutes, Bil . I think

I'm onto something.'

'How much air do you have left?' Commander Brent asked.

'An hour.'

There was a pause. Lauren could imagine Bil closing his eyes as he often did when considering. Final y she heard him say, 'If you have not

penetrated the lock within twenty minutes, retreat into space a few yards, set your laser on low power, and melt the lock away.'

'Drastic measures,' Lauren muttered.

Gary nodded. 'The military mind.'

Jim mastered the forbidden gates ten minutes later. When the president had scribbled down the secret code, Jim said, he had made one of his

two's look like a three. Jim thought it was funny.

Lauren and Gary put on their helmets and bled the air from the Nova's airlock. The door in front of them rifled open. Fol owing Gary's lead, and an

aura of ice crystals that twinkled about both their heads, Lauren pul ed herself outside and gently shoved off the side of the Nova. Once clear of the

ship and pointed in the direction of the Gorbachev, they fired the miniature jets of their jetpacks, which attached to them like a fold-out chair roped

around

their ribs. The acceleration was brief and when it was complete, Lauren had no sensation of motion. Yet quickly the Nova shrank as the Gorbachev

grew. Lauren felt a sudden rush of power. She was like an angel who could move from star to star, she thought. Why, she could blot out the entire

planet below just by raising her hand.

But then Lauren remembered yesterday, when they had been forced to leave Mars before their time. They had in fact almost died at lift-off. Her

il usion of grandeur crumbled. Perhaps another power commanded this red world, and perhaps its reach stretched as far as the Gorbachev. It was

an unusual idea for Lauren to have. Then again, it was unusual for her to be fal ing through black space with no ship around her. Fear, faint but very

real, touched her mind.

The Gorbachev drifted into the shadow of Mars, almost vanishing. She and Gary began to brake. They had to circumvent the massive Russian

cylinder to find Jim. He stood in a black and silent airlock on the far side. A faint blue light shone inside his helmet. He was grinning.

'I always enjoy breaking into places,' Jim said.

'How did you think to try a two instead?' Lauren asked.

'Never forget the obvious. When Gandalf was trying to get into Moria, the eleven runes on the gate said, 'Say friend and enter.' Now Gandalf was

learned in much ancient lore...'

'Oh, no!' Lauren said. 'You're beginning to sound like Gary.'

'Report!' Bil snapped from two miles away.

We lost Lauren, but otherwise we're in good shape,' Gary said.

'How is your air, Professor?' Bil asked.

'Good for forty minutes,' Jim said.

'Gary?' Bil said.

'Yes?' Gary said.

'Stay in the airlock,' Bil said.

'What?' Gary said.

'Give your laser to Lauren and remain in the airlock,' Bil said. 'I am making a slight change in the program to minimize your personal risks.'

'For Christ's sake,' Gary said. 'I travel halfway across the goddamn solar system to see what's inside this ship, and now you tel me I can't go

inside?'

'Enough, Major,' Bil said. 'Time is short. Do as I say. Begin your exploration, Professor.'

Jim pushed a series of buttons. The Gorbabev airlock door closed. The stars disappeared. Air flooded the compartment. Lauren consulted her

instruments. The temperature was just a tad below freezing, the air pressure normal. The Gorbachev's life support system seemed intact. Hope

kindled in Lauren's chest. Perhaps Carl Bensk was stil alive, after al .

'Take this, Lori,' Gary said. He handed her his laser.

'If Carl's alive,' Jim said, 'he'l need a doctor, not a hole in his chest.'

'Take the laser, Lauren,' Bil ordered.

'Yes, sir,' Lauren said.

'Goodbye, Gary,' Jim said. 'We should be back soon. We'l keep in constant communication.'

'See that you do,' Bil said.

Gary squeezed Lauren's arm. 'Take care of yourself, Doc'

'Yes,' she said, uneasy. She would have preferred to have Gary by her side.

Lauren and Jim left Gary in the airlock and floated down a long dark tunnel towards the silent heart of the Gorbachev. Her hope that Carl was stil

alive began to fade quickly. Al the lights were out. She gripped her flashlight

and adjusted the lamp on her helmet. She felt the way she had when, as a little girl, she had explored a giant sewer beneath the city. She had been

afraid then, and she began to feel afraid now. Jim spoke in whispers, and so did she, as if they were walking past a graveyard in the middle of

night. Careful, Lori, don't wake the dead.

They came to the end of the tunnel, where it split into four different shafts that led to the rim of the stationary wheel. The cosmonauts had once lived

in the rim. Surrounding the black shafts were silent computer banks. They were debating which shaft to take, when Bil came in over their headsets.

Concerned about Jim's diminishing air supply, he wanted to hasten their preliminary investigation. He told them to divide. Jim was to study the

computer banks and try to locate Carl's last log entries, while she was to proceed down one of the shafts and explore the living quarters. Bil told her

to stay alert and not be afraid to use her weapon if anyone jumped at her. She could worry about the consequences later, he said. He must have

been joking.

Alone, Lauren moved toward the rim. The Gorbachev was massive, it had four times the tonnage of the Nova. Lauren had studied its diagrams, but

nothing had prepared her for the real thing. Floating down the shaft, she felt as if she were descending through a secret passageway into a

pharaoh's tomb. She just hoped she didn't find any mummies.

The shaft took Lauren into what appeared to be the sleeping quarters. There were a number of beds al unmade, but no one was resting under the

sheets. The floor curved away in both directions. Whichever way she chose would take her back to where she began. Or so she hoped. She

decided to go to the right, and slipped through a narrow doorway. The lamp atop her helmet bobbed slowly

up and down, making her slightly dizzy. She asked Jim a question just to hear his voice. Her heartbeat was louder than his answer. But it wasn't as

if she felt in any danger. There was just Jim and her inside this ship and that was it. Sure, Lori.

Lauren moved into the combination gym and sick bay. An exercise machine stood on her left. Needle packs floated in the air on her right. Using the

wal s, she pul ed herself gently forward. The silence seemed to echo wherever she touched. Yet it wasn't as if she heard anything. That was just the

point. The silence was so oppressive it seemed to speak to her. We are here, Lori. You just can't see us.

A recreation room fol owed. Someone had been enjoying a game of cards. They floated past her faceplate; the queen of hearts and the jack of

clubs winking in the beam of her light. A sense of horrible loss tightened her throat. Original paintings hung on the wal s, of places green and bright.

She remembered that Commander Dmitri Maximov had been an artist. She picked up a painting of an elegant lady - his wife. Mrs Maximov would

probably be sitting in front of the TV this very second waiting to hear what the brave American astronauts discovered aboard her husband's ghost

ship. I'm sorry, they would have to say. There is nothing here. Nothing.

Lauren launched herself toward the next door, but her attention was stil with Dmitri's work, and she pushed too hard. She hit the ceiling straight on.

The shock of the col ision reverberated through her whole body. The room went black. She had shattered her head lamp and dropped her flashlight.

Only she didn't know that right away. Al she knew was that it was black, black as a place under the ground that had been covered with cold mud.

She tried to cal for help and her cry gagged in her throat. She felt as if she were being smothered, and no, she wasn't afraid. Not at al . She was

terrified.

Yes, Lori.

Taking slow deep breaths, Lauren tried to calm herself. By chance her hand stumbled across the flashlight, and she flipped it back on. She didn't

know why it had gone off in the first place, yet she wasn't about to fight with it. The returning light was reassuring. She was reminded of a campfire

Jennifer had once built when they had gone camping in the woods, in the days before they knew Terry. It was a windy night, and the trees were

swaying like huge beasts. But the moment the flames burst to life under Jennifer's special care, the forest seemed friendly. Jennifer always loved a

good fire.

Lauren noticed that Carl had closed al the portholes. She wondered why. The only thing outside was Mars. The sight of it must have got to him, she

thought.

Lauren moved cautiously through the next door. Immediately her vision blurred. Something akin to baking flour or powdered soap had splashed

onto her faceplate. She wiped it away and found that her hands were trembling. A bathroom lay open on her left. She stuck her head in and then

jumped back in fright. Instantly she felt sil y. She had jumped at her own reflection. Like most bathrooms, this one contained a mirror. Only this mirror

was cracked, which was OK, as long as there were no Martians inside it. Yeah, right, that made sense.

Love me, Lori.

Lauren whirled, bringing her laser to bear. Someone had spoken at her back, she could have sworn they had. But her beam of light said there was

no one there. She was getting spooked, she thought. She had to relax. She tried taking deep breaths, but they just made her feel lightheaded.

Shaking, she moved to enter the control room. However,

as she turned, a second glob of gook splashed her faceplate, almost cutting off her vision. Again she wiped with her hands. But this stuff did not

come off easily. It was wet and sticky.

It was sticky and dark.

At the back of her mind, a warning bel went off.

'Jim!' Lauren cried in horror.

Her helmet was covered with blood.

Lauren pushed instinctively back, trying to escape. Of course the blood fol owed her; it was stuck to her helmet. She lost her balance and went into