Season of Passage, The (27 page)

the place exploded in a dazzling shower of white light. What she saw made her stagger back a step, overwhelmed by the titanic scale of what the

flare revealed.

She was looking at the cave's big brother. The wal s were smooth black; they rounded up in a half circle from a perfectly flat floor. Only this floor was

quarter of a mile across, and the tunnel appeared to stretch forever in both directions. As the flare fel lower and began to die, Lauren saw a sight

that fil ed her with a wonder she had never before experienced.

'He saw canals, there is no doubt.'

The floor was a perfectly stil sheet of water.

The flare fizzled in a puff of steam and went out. For a long time they said nothing. Ivan pointed to the right, up along the massive waterway.

'Our friend here seems bent on leading us further,' Bil said final y. He looked over the edge. 'I think it's a good two-hundred-foot drop to that water.

What is your opinion, Jim?'

Jim knelt at the edge of the cliff. 'The Russians must have explored this canal.' He pul ed up a piece of rope that was fastened to the cliff wal with a

metal spike. A faint splash sounded from the water far below. 'The way we just came is wide enough for Hummingbird. The drop would make no

difference.'

Bil nodded. 'So I was thinking. Lauren?'

'The atmospheric pressure has increased, but not enough to al ow water to exist in its liquid phase.'

'Professor?' Bil said.

Jim shook his head. 'It's close. It's just a little off, like everything else on this planet. The water could contain something that increases its

cohesiveness.'

Bil addressed Ivan, who continued to point up the canal. 'Is your commander that way?' he asked.

Ivan nodded.

'Incredible,' Jim whispered. He dropped the rope and climbed to his feet.

'What is it?' Lauren asked. 'I thought he understood some English.'

'No,' Jim said. 'It's incredible that he heard Bil . We have our radios off. Ivan has no vocals.'

'He could have read his lips,' Lauren said.

'First he acts like a mindless zombie,' Bil said sarcastical y. 'And now he's reading our lips.'

'The air pressure is much higher,' Lauren said. 'He might have been able to hear us without vocals.'

'It's possible,' Jim said, unconvinced.

'He's always nodding,' Lauren protested.

Bil yel ed at Ivan. 'Can you hear me?'

Ivan gave no reaction.

'See,' Lauren said. 'He was just nodding at whatever you said.'

'Maybe,' Bil said slowly. 'Or maybe he just hears what he wants to hear. I don't like anybody who lies in a freezing ship in his underwear for two

years. Before we go chasing

up this canal, Friend is going to have a little talk with Ivan. Did you hear that, Mr Zossima?'

Ivan gave no reaction. Bil took his arm. 'Come along,' Bil said.

Ivan shook free. He pointed back up the canal. Bil pointed in the direction of the plateau. He grabbed Ivan's arm a second time. The Russian pul ed

sharply away.

'Strong devil,' Bil muttered. He aimed the laser at Ivan. Ivan grinned. Bil averted the rifle and fired at the water. A blinding bolt of ruby light cracked

the air, fol owed by a black geyser of gushing steam. The noise echoed into the bowels of Mars.

"The water must be deep,' Jim observed. 'The energy of your laser appears to have been absorbed solely through steam. The shot didn't penetrate

to the bedrock.'

Bil turned his weapon back on the Russian. Ivan stopped smiling. He remained stubborn, however, and refused to return with them. Final y Jim

intervened.

'Violence won't help us, Bil ,' he said. 'If he wants to stay, let him stay. We need Hummingbird anyway.'

Bil nodded reluctantly. 'Very wel . Ivan's interrogation wil wait. Since our program revolves around discovering the fate of the Russians, we wil

return with Hummingbird. But we wil establish a series of relays starting from the mouth of the cave so that the exploration of this canal can be

monitored from the Hawk.'

'Who's going up the canal?' Lauren asked.

'You and Gary wil remain at the Hawk,' Bil said. 'Jim and Jessie wil be stationed here. I wil go up the canal.'

'Alone?' Jim asked.

'No,' Bil said. 'I wil take Zossima here, since he's the only guide we have.'

'Do you think that's wise?' Jim asked.

'No,' Bil said. 'But I want the risks to be mine alone.

With relays, and a booster here, I should be able to remain in constant contact.' Bil gestured to Ivan. 'Lauren, if Zossima insists on staying here until

we return, then you had better give him your lamp and an extra oxygen tank. His equipment is adaptable to ours. It was made in the United States.

We wil start back now.'

Ivan had sat down at the edge of the cliff so that his feet dangled into the void. He appeared to be quite content to remain behind. As Lauren

handed him her equipment, he bowed slightly in her direction and said something inside his helmet that she didn't catch. It wasn't Russian, though,

she was sure of that. It didn't even sound like words humans normal y made, no matter where they came from.

Lori.

Lauren took a step back and Ivan bowed once more. He grinned and showed her al his yel ow teeth. She noticed then how red his lips were, how

bloodshot his eyes looked. They were like a couple of rotting strawberries staring through veined slots.

Lauren left him quickly. She swore she was never coming down here again.

TWENTY

Houston approved their plan to explore the 'canal.' Lauren found it interesting how they had al settled on the word. There was no reason to think the

waterway was anything more than a natural formation. Jim said Lowel 's drawings were coming back to haunt them. Gary was reading The Martian

Chronicles again.

Houston did not want the public to know of the canal or Ivan, at least for now. Lauren had a feeling they would never know.

At present Lauren sat in the Hawk's control room with Gary. It was cloudy outside, as usual. It was difficult to tel where the sun was, but their clocks

said it was going to set soon. On their viewing screens, Bil was giving his wife and Jim final instructions. They sounded oddly familiar. If he did not

return in six hours, he said, they were to return to the Hawk and leave Mars. No rescue was to be attempted. Lauren and Gary watched as Bil

climbed into the front seat of Hummingbird beside Ivan. He carried a laser.

'Why is he so fanatical about us leaving at the first sign of trouble?' Lauren asked.

Gary leaned back in his chair. He wore a royal blue sweatsuit that went wel with his curly black hair. 'You forget Bil 's a colonel in the United States

Air Force,' he said. 'He's just afraid of a Communist plot.'

'I'm serious, Gary.'

He yawned. 'So am I.'

'There's more to it than national security. Jim's ful of foreboding hints, too. I keep thinking they know something we don't.' Lauren shook her head.

'You have to see that Ivan. He's so weird. Bil and Jim are very suspicious of him.'

Gary was unimpressed. 'You're the doctor, Lori. Both of them are probably concerned that Ivan's contracted a new disease that he's anxious to

share with us.'

'If that's true,' Lauren said, 'then the disease appears to have helped keep Ivan alive.'

'Why haven't you examined him yet?' Gary asked.

'When? I had to chase after him right after I met him. Then he refused to return to the ship.'

Hummingbird lifted from the floor of the cave and floated over the icy waters. Lauren activated a monitor that relayed the reception from the craft's

forward camera back to the Hawk. Slowly Bil dropped Hummingbird near to the water, using the surface to create a trapped air cushion, and thus

save fuel. The canal swam with tiny waves beneath the force of the jets. Bil put Hummingbird in first gear and the ship moved forward. A powerful

wide-angle searchlight il uminated his path. Curved black wal s drifted by. Bil upped his speed.

'How is she handling over the water?' Jim asked from his position at the edge of the cliff.

'Smooth,' Bil said.

'Watch your fuel,' Jim cautioned.

Gary nudged Lauren's side. 'Here we are thirsty, and we've a canal ful of water to drink,' he said.

'Don't even talk about it,' Lauren said. 'It wil just tempt us. We stil need to get a sample to examine.' She paused. 'I

shouldn't have drunk so much when I returned.'

'Don't sweat it, Doc,' Gary said. 'No pun intended. I'm not feeling too dry. But I'm worried about Jim. He hardly drank a thing. I think he wants us to

take his share.'

'I didn't know that,' Lauren said.

'Martyrs,' Gary said. 'They turn up on space expeditions al the time.'

'Hey, Gary?' Lauren said. 'You read up on the Russian crew. What do you remember about Ivan Zossima?'

He shrugged. 'Ask Friend. He probably knows what Ivan's favorite ice cream is.'

'Friend, give me a visual on Ivan Zossima,' Lauren said. 'Screen F. Cut the audio. We should have checked on him right away, Gary.'

[Yes, Lauren.]

"There's a lot of things we're not doing,' Gary muttered.

Lauren studied the screen.

[Zossima, Ivan Gregory: 1970-? Russian cosmonaut. Born in Volgograd. Only child. Received elementary education at Lock, where he won

distinguished honors. Entered the University of Volgograd in 1988 and was awarded a B.S. in physics in 1992, an M.S. in aeronautics in 1995.

Entered the Russian Academy for Cosmonaut Training in 1996. Is best known as second in command of Project Gorbachev, the first manned

expedition to Mars. Believed to have perished on the Martian surface in 2002. Detailed summary fol ows:]

'Wait, Friend,' Lauren said, glancing back at the screen that was hooked into Hummingbird's forward camera. The wal s of the canal had not

changed, nor had the water. Bil had upped his speed to fifty miles an hour. 'Give me a visual on the subjects Ivan studied while at Volgograd

University,' she said.

[Yes, Lauren. 1988: Psychology, Russian Literature,

Physics, Calculus, Chemistry, English 1.]

'Stop,' Lauren said. 'Did he study English as a foreign language?'

[Yes, Lauren.]

'For how many semesters?'

[Four, Lauren.]

'Based on the records of his performance in those courses, would you say he could speak English?'

[Yes, Lauren. But not fluently.]

'Does he have any record of psychological difficulties?'

[No, Lauren.]

'They don't send people to Mars who are nuts,' Gary said.

'You heard what Friend said about his English courses,' Lauren said.

'I had four semesters of German in col ege, and the only thing I can remember is how to ask someone if they're sick. Bist du krank? Ivan probably

just forgot most of what he learned.'

'I wonder,' Lauren said. She opened a line to Jim. 'This is Lauren.'

'Bil doesn't seem to be getting anywhere,' Jim said. 'It's incredible - the symmetry of the wal s. What can I do for you, Lauren?'

'I've been checking up on Ivan Zossima,' she said. 'It seems he took four semesters of English while in col ege.'

Jim considered. 'Interesting. Did you hear that, Bil ?'

'That's interesting,' Bil said. His voice sounded distant. But then a note of excitement entered it. 'Can al of you see this?' Bil asked.

Lauren's eyes flew back to the screen. The scenery was changing, in a big way.

'Wow,' Gary gasped.

The canal's wal s had come to an abrupt end. Bil

revolved the forward camera around the space and revealed nothing, absolutely nothing. He had entered a gigantic cavern.

'Do you see a shore in the distance?' Jim asked.

'No,' Bil said. 'Nor a ceiling.' He panned the camera back the way he had come, down the canal, which resembled an endless archway.

'Right now would be a very easy time to get lost,' Jim warned.

'I'm holding my position,' Bil said. 'But my guide is urging me forward. I'm sending up a flare.'

Bil aimed his camera into the heart of the void. Seconds went by. Suddenly a white star took birth in the void, and Lauren faintly glimpsed a distant

island. Yet she saw no enclosing wal s, no ceiling. Soon the flare exhausted itself, and went out in the black water. Night returned. Fortunately Friend

had frozen their brief glimpse at its moment of greatest resolution. Lauren studied a secondary screen. The island looked like a barren Pacific atol

that had been transplanted to the far side of the moon.

'What is the distance to that land mass, Friend?' Bil asked.

[1.782 miles, Bil .]

'Professor?' Bil said.

'What can I say?' Jim replied. 'Be careful.'

Hummingbird flew forward. Several minutes passed. Vague outlines of a lonely shore began to emerge in the beam of Bil 's searchlight. But when

he was on the verge of reaching the land, the picture went fuzzy.

'Stop,' Jim ordered.

Bil did so. 'What is it?'

'We're losing the picture,' Jim said.

'What about my voice?' Bil asked.

'It's a bit lower, but stil clear,' Jim said.

'Could the many miles of the canal be responsible for the interference?' Bil asked.

'I think the island is to blame,' Jim said. 'If it is an island. The interference came very suddenly. How is your compass?'

'Spinning,' Bil said.

'Magnetic,' Jim muttered.

'I'l proceed slowly,' Bil said.

'Be careful,' Jessica whispered.

Their video reception quickly worsened. Lauren strained for details. She saw a low natural wal separating the water from a relatively flat beach. Bil

landed Hummingbird on the beach. The picture became so bad it was next to useless.