Independent Means by Simon Kattenhorn

[Reviews - 0]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer

- Text Size +

Independent Means, Part 2
by Simon Kattenhorn

Chapter Three

Julia lay breathless on the muddy bank. She lay on her stomach, with her right cheek resting on the cool mud while she attempted to regain her senses, and some much needed oxygen.

Her inner balance was still rollercoastering, like a person stepping onto a dock after being on rough seas. She took deep breaths, and felt aches and pains resonating through her body with each inhalation.

"Diaglove..."

Momentary panic set in as Julia noticed her bare left arm. How could she possibly cope without it? Then, her thoughts started to arrange themselves into small quanta of logic and reasoning. Back up on the cliff edge. She had dropped the diaglove on the grass. "Must go back," she thought to herself. Unfortunately, her limbs didn't appear to be responding to her thoughts right now. She remained motionless on the muddy shore of the river for another few minutes.

Finally, she managed to inch her body up into a crawling position and began moving on hands and knees away from the river and into the surrounding forest. Reaching a tree, she used it as an anchor to push herself up into a standing position. Her head was still swimming madly and she felt nauseous. Julia had once read of an Earth illness of sorts called 'seasickness'- a dizziness brought on by the motion of a boat on the ocean- and she was certain that it must have felt something like what she was presently experiencing.

"Stop swaying," she growled at the tree.

After a few more deep breaths, her head started to clear. "Ah, much better," she thought. The forest had stopped waving back and forth in front of her, and she managed to scan her surrounds for the first time. Not that there was much to see. Forest. River. Across the river, more forest.

"Anyone see a dunerail 'round here?" she said humorlessly.

It was difficult to get any indication of the lay of the land from her current location. She obviously needed to somehow work her way back upriver to retrieve the diaglove. And hopefully more. Perhaps even a clue of some kind to indicate what the hell she was doing here- wherever *here* was. Despite an inner urge to run in the opposite direction, Julia inched her way carefully back to the river's edge and glanced upstream. "No can do," she thought. The sides of the river were steep and rocky further upstream, where the river flowed through a narrow gorge. The possibility of falling in again was just not something which she was willing to contemplate or gamble with.

That left one option. Try and find an easier route upstream further away from the river. Julia turned away from the river again and worked her way back towards the forest edge. The forest was pretty thick with dense underbrush. "Maybe it gets easier further back," she thought and started trampling through the bramble- and fern-like vegetation that carpeted the forest floor. The smell of the air beneath the trees was invigorating. It was like the forest had a unique atmosphere all of its own with the air remaining trapped here beneath the canopy of branches. Only the sunlight managed to penetrate through the leafy ceiling in dancing patches.

The forest came to an abrupt halt about five hundred meters away from the river itself. It was as if some all-powerful being had held up a hand at this point and forbidden further advancement of plant growth. Beyond stretched the barren plains into the distance exactly as Julia had observed when she first awoke from her concussion- could it really have only been that same morning?

Julia stepped out of the vegetation and began working her way up along the edge of it. She decided that the vegetation must be restricted to a narrow zone of fertile soil deposited along the river banks during times of flood. That would account for the lateral bounds of growth. Some of the brambles advertised small, juicy red berries but Julia resisted despite the audible growling by her stomach. It would be too risky to eat them without testing them first using her diaglove. Which, she anticipated, would be waiting for her exactly where she left it, hopefully not too much further up the slope.

The trees to her right were beginning to get a little less dense now, and the underbrush was giving way to grassy vegetation. It was beginning to look a little more like the spot where she had careened down the hill into the river. She tried to think back to get some indication of in which direction to proceed. It was difficult to picture it clearly in her mind, considering the fact that she had been tumbling down a hill at the time, and consequently hadn't been afforded the opportunity to stop and draw a map or memorize significant landmarks.

The ground seemed to angle up to her left slightly and she decided it would be the most likely route to take to look for the grassy patch where her diaglove had been left behind.

Julia took a single step forward, then was immediately halted by a sudden shaking of the ground, seemingly right under her.

As she looked on incredulously, the ground appeared to open up before her, and a single Terrian rose up and ululated at her like Terrians tend to do.

"Oh hell," said Julia.

***

Bess stood just inside the entrance to Julia's tent. The dust particles hovered in the air, illuminated by the diffused sunlight penetrating the tent fabric. Bess moved her eyes around the tent slowly, taking in whatever she could see.

Julia's bunk hadn't been slept on. "So she must have been working up until the point she left," Bess thought out loud.

The workbench where Julia had been slaving for the previous few days was in disarray. In her increasingly fatigued state, Julia had obviously cared less and less about order around her. There were small vials scattered over the bench, some empty, and some containing either small quantities of liquid or plant matter. Julia's portable mediscope was still activated.

Bess walked over to the bench and peered into the ocular lens. There was still a specimen plate on the mediscope stage, and Bess could make out various complex cell structures of some kind, although none of it meant anything to her. She knew a little about geology, inherited from her father who had had a penchant for rock collecting- but as far as biology went, it all made about as much sense to Bess as differential calculus.

Bess lifted her head from the mediscope and looked at the various items scattered over the benchtop. She picked up some objects to have a closer look, but most were just medical instruments or equipment of some kind. Lifting a shirt that had been tossed across one edge of the bench, Bess was surprised to find Julia's gearset.

"Oh no."

Bess fiddled with the com unit and verified that it was working perfectly. She placed it on her head and pulled the eyepiece into place.

"Devon, are you there?"

After a few seconds: "Bess? Is something wrong? Is Julia back?"

"No, but I think I've figured out why we couldn't raise Julia on gear earlier. I'm using her unit."

"She left camp without her gear?" Devon sounded incredulous.

"Uh-huh. And it looks like she was working on something just before she left. I'm going to see if I can find anything that could give us a clue."

"Okay Bess. Uly?"

"He's fine Devon. He's in good hands," Bess half-smiled.

"Great. We're heading back now- probably another hour or so. Magus and Cameron are on their way in too."

"Thanks Devon. Out."

Bess removed the gearset and placed it back on the bench. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she picked it up again and initiated the most recently recorded audio log. After all, Julia usually recorded her research in progress. As Bess had been hoping, Julia's voice sounded from the gearset and began relaying details of the search for an antidote.

"...the root seems toxic throughout, except for the dead matter on the outer skin and the wooden stem portion. It seems this is a natural toxin the plant requires for its survival- perhaps anti-predatorial. Individual cells seem to adapt to the presence of the substance, metamorphosing with increasing exposure through time. Introduction of the substance to young cells causes noticeable mutation, but if the rate of introduction is too rapid, the cells instead reject the substance, and begin attacking the toxin. Judging from blood specimens from affected members of the Eden crew, this is precisely *their* biological reaction to the toxin. Noticeable is the rapid diminution of the white blood cell count and physical symptoms that resemble those of influenza. Empirical results suggest the human cells cannot adapt to the foreign element presented by the toxin and so attack it. But the antibodies aren't able to destroy the toxin before degradation of the blood cell itself. What I haven't figured out though is why the reaction is male-specific, and how to counteract the toxin. I need to find some agent that the toxin will preferentially attach to, and ultimately cause its neutralization. My hunch is that the stem of the plant contains an antidote but I'll have to locate additional specimens to test this. Considering the advanced state of Mazatl's dementia- and I fear Alonzo is not far behind- I'll have to locate the plant soon. I've been using mild stimulants to ward off fatigue but I know I can't go much longer without sleep. There must be more of these plants somewhere nearby, and I'd better find some quickly..."

The recording stopped there, and Bess pressed the 'stop' button subconsciously, while lost deep in thought. She put the 'corder back on the bench top, stood, and began pacing in a small circle inside the tent. After a few moments, she strode outside again into the midday sunshine and squinted against the glare.

"I wonder," she mumbled out loud, glancing across the camp towards the transrover. Beside the large vehicle were several clear plastic containers, containing the group's water supply. True was crouched down beside one of them, pouring water into a small bowl that she had been using to dampen the faces of the more feverish patients. Bess strode over to the containers as True glanced up.

"True, do you know when we last filled up these?" Bess asked, indicating to the now half-full water containers.

True scrunched up her face in recollection. "Um...I think it was the day before we got to these mountains. Dad and Baines found that seep that they dug into to fill it up with water. That's why it's a little bit muddy," she pointed to the clear container, indicating the fine layer of sediment that had settled at the bottom of it.

It was as if a light went on inside Bess' head, and she broke into a broad grin.

"True, I think we've got it!" Bess exclaimed.

True was obviously confused. "Got what?"

"The answer we need," she answered over her shoulder as she hurried over to her tent.

True glanced at the bowl of water in her hands, then the layer of sediment at the bottom of the water container. Whatever it was that Bess was excited about, it was completely unclear to her, and she stared after Bess with a quizzical frown.

Bess entered her tent and walked over to her bed to pick up her gear. Morgan groaned from his cot.

"Don't you worry, honey," she said confidently. "You're going to be well again before you know it."

Bess placed the gear over her head and again contacted Devon.

"Bess? Did something happen?"

"Where are you right now?" Bess virtually demanded.

The severity of Bess' tone took Devon slightly aback.

"Er, we're about halfway through the pass. What's wrong? Is it Uly?" Devon became suddenly alarmed.

"No, no. Devon, you need to turn back."

"Bess, I already told you we're on our way back." Devon looked confused and was starting to get just a little bit irritated. It was obvious Bess knew something she didn't, and she wasn't being very forthright with the information. "What is going on up there?"

"No, not back here," responded Bess. "Back to the desert. You need to turn around and go back into the desert."

"The desert?" Devon glanced over her shoulder in the direction from which she and Yale had come. "Why?"

"Because," Bess said emphatically, "we need some dirt."

***

Magus peered ahead of her into the shadows thrown about by the craggy outcroppings of rock. She had been working her way along the top of a rocky escarpment that had been eroded along its edge into numerous gullies where rainwater had flowed along fractures in the rock. In many places, the gullies were wide enough to allow passage of a human or large animal. Magus was half expecting a Grendler to come barraging out of one of the gullies and she held onto her mag-pro with a heightened intensity.

Not that Magus was trigger-happy. In fact, she considered herself one of the more level-headed members of the group, and was tough as nails, without doubt. The only time she could recall being completely unnerved was when she had stumbled upon the eviscerated remains of a Grendler in the camp once, but then *everyone's* nerves had been on edge at the time. It was her strength of character that had prompted Danziger to include her in his crew for the mission back at the station. Not that she had bargained on ending up on this planet, trekking across endless miles of unfamiliar territory, waiting for marauding Grendlers to pop out of craggy gullies. But change as the circumstances may, Magus wasn't much for complaining. "Get the hell on with the task" was her philosophy, and she tackled each one with unadulterated zeal. And so it was with this attitude that she worked her way down into one particularly navigable gully.

As she descended into the gully, she gave a quick glance up the slope to where Cameron was slowly working his way along the hillside. They had separated about twenty minutes earlier to cover more ground, with Cameron opting for the higher route where he could get a better vantage on the surrounding valley. Seeing as he was currently inching along a slightly precipitous part of the slope, Magus decided not to start hollering at him about her going into the gully, to spare him the unpleasantry of a nasty fall.

The bottom of the gully was filled with loose sandy alluvium that had been washed or blown into the crevasse by water or wind action. Initially, Magus was more intent on scrutinizing the course of the gully ahead of her, which was gently curving to the left, obstructing a clear view along the narrow chasm. It was only when she stumbled slightly on a loose stone that she happened to glance down and see a definite pattern of impressions in the sand.

"Footprints!" Magus exclaimed.

She looked up and visually followed the track of prints extending along the gully before her, curving out of view. It was a single set of prints and Magus became more convinced that whoever made them had come through here alone, rather than under forced abduction. She began moving faster down the gully.

"Julia? Are you there?" Magus heard her voice at least twice again as it echoed along the walls of the chasm that extended up above her on either side.

Suddenly, the gully disappeared under a rocky overhang to become a cave. Magus entered cautiously. The bright sunlight outside made adjusting to the darkness of the cave difficult. It induced momentary dizziness, causing her to lose balance then stagger a few steps forward to regain it. Unfortunately, it was at least one step too many, because Magus suddenly found herself supported by nothing but air, and it was not being very accommodating in terms of providing a firm foundation. Luckily, the fall was brief, and Magus had instinctively taken up the shock of landing by bending her legs and rolling as she hit the ground again.

Laying in the darkness, she checked briefly to see if she had been hurt by the fall, but feeling no stabbing pain, she felt reassured of having escaped injury. On the negative side of things, she could not even see her own hand in front of her face, which gave her zero indication of the nature of her surroundings or how she was going to get out.

Magus motioned to activate her gear but was shocked to discover that it had somehow been knocked off during her fall. Crawling on hands and knees, she began raking the sandy floor around her with her fingers, trying to locate her lost gearset, but it had either fallen further from her than was within her reach, or it had somehow managed to remain up above her at the level from which she had fallen.

"Damn!"

Climbing to her feet, with mag-pro still clutched firmly in one hand as if welded there, Magus began feeling along the wall of the cavern to see if she could get some indication of where she had fallen from or if there were some way of climbing out again, but it was impossible to tell if she was even examining the correct wall. She had lost her sense of orientation during the fall and began cursing herself silently for being so careless. "Well there's no point in trying to climb up a vertical wall in the dark if it may turn out to be the wrong one," she thought to herself. "Ah well, only one thing for it, I suppose."

"CAMERON! CAAAAMROOOOOOOON!" Magus bellowed as loud as she could.

Actually, she had little confidence that Cameron would hear her even faintly from way down here, but it was worth a try at least. One thing that became immediately clear, however, was the size of the cave. The echo of her shouting gave her the sense that the cavern had a very high ceiling, and probably extended a fair distance laterally from wall to wall. "Maybe I can somehow work my way out along here," she thought to herself, and began inching her way along the cavern floor, feeling with her right hand along the cave wall for reference.

The cave was as black as pitch. There was not even the slightest hint of light to allow her eyes to adjust, and Magus was also beginning to feel the chill of this underground environment starting to penetrate her body.

Suddenly, it seemed as if there was the slightest hint of a breeze ahead of her, and Magus felt a touch of optimism that she may even be approaching some kind of exit. But then she brushed through something soft and silky that seemed to affix itself to her, and her attention snapped to trying to brush it off her face and hair as quickly as possible, no matter what it was.

"What the *hell* was that?" she said aloud.

Before she could formulate another thought, however, a stabbing pain in her left leg made her yelp loudly and grasp her leg as it began burning like it was on fire. Her hand brushed across something alive crawling across her leg. Something revolting with many legs. Something *crawling* on her. Her first instinct was to shoot at it with her mag-pro, but seeing as this was probably not conducive to keeping her leg attached to the rest of her body, Magus whacked at the creature with a quick flick of her hand, accompanied by a piercing shriek, and hit it as far away from her as she could. But it was quite obvious from the pain that she had been bitten.

"Damn, that hurts!"

Magus collapsed and began rubbing her leg vigorously, trying to ease the pain away by willpower more than anything else. She was starting to feel lightheaded and fought angrily against her sudden craving to simply close her eyes and go to sleep. In fact, she was starting to feel angry in general.

"CAMERON!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Get me the hell outta here!"

She sprang up and angled herself against the cavern wall to stop her throbbing leg from caving in under her. Then it hit her. The awful realization of where she was. Spiders. A tunnel.

"Oh God! CAMERON! Get the hell in here!"

Magus began clawing at any hand or foothold she could find. She wasn't particularly concerned at where it might take her- she just wanted to get the hell out of that tunnel. It was obviously one of the tunnels that directed a warped space-time energy field through the planet's crust. Similar to the one that had transported Devon, Danziger, Alonzo and Julia back to the eastern coastline about two months previously. But she had no intention of being transported at light-speed through a vacuum today, she was adamant about that.

The anger was starting to burn into her every thought, and although she couldn't understand why she felt it, it definitely felt right. Magus was feeling enraged at everything right now, and it was obviously everyone's fault but her own that she was now here in the unyielding dark, hanging precipitously from a cliff face, with a leg seemingly about to self-combust.

"Just wait until I get my hands on you, Julia Heller," she spat through clenched teeth. "You are going to pay *big* time for this."

Magus felt around for another hand hold above her. Nothing. She could feel nothing to grasp onto. Reaching further to her left, she succeeded in upsetting her balance and proceeded to slide back down the cavern wall to the tunnel floor. She lay on the sandy bottom again, completely enraged.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!"

Her bellow of frustration echoed around the cavern.

In the gully outside of the cave entrance, Cameron heard the roaring yell of a thousand hells. It sounded more like a battle-frenzy cry of a warrior than a scream of terror, but either way, Cameron felt the hair stiffen on the back of his neck and he found himself hesitating at the cave entrance. Then, out of concern for Magus' well-being, he stepped into the cave entrance with a lumalight in hand. Instead of the envelope of darkness he was expecting, Cameron was surprised to see a dull glow in the cave, and it was getting increasingly bright. After a few seconds, it illuminated the entire cavern, and he noticed that he was, in fact, standing on the lip of a small cliff, looking down at Magus, who was lying on the floor of a tunnel-like passage about three meters below him. She looked up at him with what looked like a mixture of fear and fury in her eyes. Cameron saw her open her mouth, as a tendril of white light enshrouded her.

"CAMEROOOOOOOOOON!"

The scream rebounded off the cavern walls in a cacophony of echoes as Magus and the flame of white light completely vanished.

You must login (register) to review.