Paphos, p.4
Paphos, page 4
“Guys, enough is enough. We need to report this,” Austin pleaded as the group put their boots and gloves back on. Helena likely agreed with him; she looked downright green, but Austin didn’t see anyone else nodding. “Guys?”
“Our safety is of the utmost importance, naturally, but I’m confident Orlean can help us find a way in,” Dmitry said. Austin could have punched him. Had everyone lost their senses? Athen almost died just now, and still, they only saw treasure. If nearly losing Athen wasn’t enough to convince them, what would it take?
CHAPTER 5
The sun was setting on this planet, and it would soon be too dark to see in the forest. The team was still perched in the entryway as they had for over an hour, ever since Athen almost slid to her atomized death. They argued over the safest way to access the key panel. Carolina’s dirt cloud showed them a great deal, but they were far more cautious than before.
“Carolina, it’s getting late. Let me take you back to the huts.”
“No, daddy, I’m fine,” she answered, though her eyes were drooping and she wavered on her feet. Her cheeks were still flushed.
“Just do the dirt thing again,” Athen groaned, throwing her hands in the air. Orlean and Helena chuckled together. Engineers had no patience. But a researcher could analyze this data until next week.
“If you insist,” Orlean gave in. “I don’t know how capable our instruments will be in there; there’s just so much bombardment on these sensors. I have a feeling our radios will be even worse in there.”
“One more reason to go back and call it in, guys.”
“We stick together for safety. Staying in groups,” Dmitry crossed his arms.
Austin groaned. An empty mess hall waited for them back at the huts, and it would soon be time to hit the rack. “I’m heading back to the quadrohuts, it’s dinnertime, no one’s eaten, Carolina has had a long day.”
“Me too!” Helena chimed.
“Save me a pint. We be stayin’ awhile, catch up later,” Dublin added, studying the entry like a chess grandmaster.
“I will head back with you,” Dmitry said. “When I get back, we go on shift rotations. Everyone sleeps tonight, but we stagger it.”
“I’d like to stay.” It was Carolina.
Austin looked at her for a moment before wrapping his arm around her. “Sorry, kid, you’re coming with me.”
“Please?”
“Not a chance.”
She turned away from him.
The walk back was already dark, and Austin could barely see his own feet. Their suits came with a utility non-directional light, a glowing lime green, and without it, they would never find their way home. He held Carolina’s hand the whole time; it was still overly warm. He kept looking up at the speckled night sky. Paphos’ heavens were full of marbles, diamonds, and its glowing rings. He would think of this view long after leaving, which was only a few weeks away. But somehow that glow wouldn’t reach the ground, as if the inescapable forest around them prevented it. Carolina let go of his hand and walked in front, and Dmitry took the opportunity to walk shoulder to shoulder.
“We made an incredible find today, I’m sure you agree…”
“Incredible is an understatement.” Austin also wanted to say, ‘but now we need to report it’.
Dmitry had a way of controlling a conversation and getting what he wanted, which were some of the reasons he was the boss—always in control. That got him thinking; perhaps Dmitry wasn’t just accompanying him back to the huts, maybe this was more like an escort. He was babysitting. Austin gritted his teeth in silence. That was it. He was there to make certain Austin didn’t contact the company on his own. He just realized it.
“Everyone else thinks so. I’ve never seen a crew work through dinner without threatening to file a grievance. Probably the only meal Dublin’s ever missed?”
“Yes, probably,” Austin replied, choosing his words and his reactions. Carolina kept her pace as they followed close behind.
“You know, we never got to finish our conversation from before. I was hoping we could come to an agreement on what’s best here.”
“And what’s best?”
Dmitry smiled. “I’ve always thought you were a real smart guy, Austin, someone who saw the gray between the black and the white.”
He didn’t have a reply to that.
“Dublin sees what I was trying to explain earlier. He’s even going to use his cutter on our boots, something about scouring them for added grip on those smooth surfaces, so no one slips again. See, he’s looking for solutions, and the rest of the team is too,” Dmitry added.
Peer pressure. Austin nodded. “Yeah, but there’s no getting around it; violating the contract will only muddle how great a discovery this is. We’d face criminal penalties, not to mention the fact that we signed away any claims of discovery.”
“Exactly. That’s why the whole team is counting on you to make sure that if we do bring something back, it’s ours. We are the ones on this expedition, risking our lives, giving up precious years. We earned it; they didn’t. The company only cares about profit, but we have the opportunity to change people’s lives. And besides, if anyone should profit from this, it should be the crew that traveled across the galaxy to find it.”
Austin bit his tongue. No matter what he said, it wouldn’t be good.
“Naturally, we are going to report the find, but we just want to know what’s down there first. We can’t do that without you.” Dmitry’s voice had lowered some by the end.
“It’s fine. I may not agree, but I wouldn’t cross the others. It’s not like I’m going to contact headquarters by myself.”
“I know you won’t. You have too much to lose.”
The way Dmitry said that, and the way he was staring at the back of Carolina’s head, brought an icy chill that stopped him mid-walk.
“Exactly what do you mean by that?”
Dmitry planted a finger against Austin’s forehead. You’d better get that off my head.
“You won’t say a single word. I’ll make absolutely certain of it.”
A hundred thoughts ran through Austin’s mind, all of them ending badly. He slapped the finger away and barely withheld the punch that wanted to follow.
Carolina was looking at them.
This close to Dmitry, and with this sudden confrontation, Austin calculated all variations of punching him square in the jaw. Dmitry was bigger than him; a fight may not go well. Not to mention they were a long way from home, and with everyone impregnated by greed over this discovery… What’s to stop them from killing him and Carolina both? A day ago, they were a friendly crew doing a job. Greed changed all that, he saw it now. Now, Dmitry made open threats. Hate it for certain, but he needed to be more careful.
“I already said I won’t. I may disagree, but I’m a team player. You have nothing to worry about from me.”
He grabbed Carolina by the hand and stayed well ahead of the rest of the way. The anger was strong, but being out here, being vulnerable, and needing to protect his kid were realities that kept him from doing something about it. Would the crew really go along with Dmitry? Yeah, he feared they might. With a discovery like this, all bets were off. The important thing was getting his kid home. He never would have held that punch otherwise.
He tried to calm down, sensing doom and paranoia. I’m overreacting; he’s just warning me not to intervene. I already let him know—I’m not a threat, I won’t stop them.
When they returned to the quadrohuts, Austin practically had to drag Carolina to her room. She refused dinner. After a while, she lay her head down on the pillow.
“Daddy, I don’t feel good.”
Austin stopped fuming and looked at his little girl, her cheeks red and hair matted. “Here, water. Take it. It’s been a long day, and with some sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning. Are you sure you don’t want a bite? You haven’t eaten since lunch.”
She turned away and seemed to drift off to sleep.
He scratched his head, walking to the mess area. She looked sick, but that was impossible on this trip. The inoculations were 100% efficient; getting sick just didn’t happen. And if she was somehow actually sick, Dmitry was the only medic.
He sat down with his instant coffee and a slice of toast and powdered eggs, all fresh out of the wrapper. It was breakfast food, but he couldn’t stomach the dinner menu right now. As he pretended to review whatever data was on the table, he ignored his toast and eggs, thoughtfully sipping his black coffee. Dmitry sat down at the table across from him. The coffee almost didn’t survive.
“I’ve been thinking, we still need our core assignments done on time,” Dmitry said.
“Why?”
God, he wanted to punch him.
“Isn’t it obvious? I have to make the weekly report, and they’ll wonder why research is stalled. And it’s what we came to do. Our discovery doesn’t automatically negate that.”
Of course, Austin thought. Dmitry would give him busy work, keep him out of the way so that he wouldn’t be a problem. Fine, he didn’t care, as long as he stayed far away from him. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose by arguing. To top it off, his girl might be sick. He hated needing anything from this man, but his daughter came first. “As long as Carolina is alright, I don’t care. I think she’s sick. I need you to take a look at her.”
“She’s just exerted, you know, we don’t get sick on these expeditions. She’ll be fine by morning.” Dmitry stood up and clapped a hand on Austin’s shoulder before leaving the mess area.
Alone now.
The cup crumpled in his hand, burning.
He remained in the mess hall another hour, staring at the shoe-sized drone methodically cleaning instant coffee. He forced himself to finish the egg and toast. Carolina’s moaning was audible down the hallway. Maybe a stomachache from anxiety, hopefully, some good sleep would fix her up. He needed sleep too, but he couldn’t leave the table yet. Not until he knew for certain that Dmitry wasn’t his target.
Carolina slept in the women’s dorm, but it was otherwise vacant without Athen and Helena, so finally he picked a bunk across from her. He lay there for some time, wandering in thought, feeling like he had to be close by in case she needed something. He was outraged, but he also didn’t care; actually, he would report all of this, or he would do nothing, back and forth, on and on. The team just wanted to make themselves rich, be the ones to make history.
Let them. He didn’t care. With that, he slept.
He thought he heard birds chirping, but realized he was dreaming. He roused enough from his sleep to find Helena and Athen there, undressing and getting into their racks. The five hours must be up. Austin rubbed his eyes and sat upright, feeling like his head just touched the pillow minutes ago. He still wanted to punch Dmitry, but he felt in control of that.
“Hey,” he said to Athen, rubbing his face.
“Are you lost? Men are across the hall,” Athen whispered with a smile.
“Sorry, I was just keeping Carolina company,” he said, motioning to her rack. Helena was lying down in the rack that Carolina had previously been in. “She must be awake already,” he said, smoothing his hair back.
“I didn’t see her,” Helena said guiltily.
“She’s around somewhere.” Austin rubbed his eyes until they opened. He rose and went across to the men’s dorm. The bunks were all empty there, too.
He’d get some coffee and find her.
“Dmitry around?”
“He’s been at the site for hours,” Athen answered.
Austin looked out the porthole, noticing the earliest light coming over the horizon. It was about an hour before they usually woke up. “Want help finding her?” Athen inquired with a betrayal in her voice. She was tired.
“No, I’ll radio her, I’m sure she’s around.”
“Radios have been borderline useless since yesterday. The site has too much energy output. At least it’s not radioactive,” Helena yawned.
“Great.”
She had to be around somewhere. Maybe Dmitry took her back to the site. He really wouldn’t have a reason to do that, though, and Austin would have a hard time controlling himself if he did.
He donned his suit and activated the radio in it. “Carolina, where are you, kiddo?”
Her return signal was a wall of static.
“Carolina?”
Nothing. The radios hadn’t been great since day one, but now they really were useless, just like Helena warned him: technology, every time. Austin went back to the bunks and checked both rooms, then the comm station, the mess hall, the head, and the supply room. Carolina was not inside any part of the quadrohuts. She went back? He buttoned up his expedition coat and stepped outside. He walked all the way around the huts, but she wasn’t there. He looked over at their Lander perched in a field, the eventual return craft. She wouldn’t have been able to get inside, and he didn’t see her over there. With a grunt, he accepted the truth. He was going to have to instill some discipline in her.
The walk to the site, just a couple of kilometers, took almost twice as long on Austin’s patience as the day before. When he approached, he found Dmitry at the entryway with his hands on his hips and vowed not to jump to any conclusions.
“Have you seen Carolina?”
“Why would I?”
“Have you seen her!”
Dmitry’s face changed, but he didn’t look at him yet. “No,” he said, his eyes still fixed down the ramp.
It took a moment, but Austin realized why Dmitry hadn’t looked at him.
Are you kidding me? The door at the bottom was open, the one at the end of the decline. It was very much closed last night. The area beyond the energy field now beckoned.
His heart sank. No, no, no, no. She wouldn’t have. Would she?
“Did Orlean get this open?”
“No. I’ve got here to help with the first rotation. Is your comm working?” Dmitry asked.
“Just static.” Austin scanned the bushes for his little girl. Anywhere but down there… He kept eyeing the entry below. If she were inside…
“It’s strange how the comms quit working. Dublin blames this place’s energy output,” Dmitry mused.
“Yeah, maybe,” he answered a little curtly. Carolina was not anywhere to be found, and he was worried. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I assumed you were sleeping.”
“Was Carolina with me?”
“I didn’t look.”
“Carolina!” Austin begged the forest, hoping to hear her voice, needing her to just lope out from behind a bush. He peered down the ramp and into the waiting room far below, refusing to entertain the fear that she’d gone inside. How would she have even deactivated the energy field?
She had to be anywhere else.
But where?
A clatter of dirt fell, and Dmitry shook his hands clean. No pops, no light dazzles. “The energy field is down.”
“Carolina! This isn’t funny, come out now!” His voice cracked with worry.
“You don’t think she’s in there, do you?”
If Dmitry smiled right now…
“No. Not a chance,” Austin closed his eyes.
“But there is a chance. She found the building, she found the entrance, and she spotted the energy fields.”
“Luck.”
“She’s missing, and there’s an open door.”
“Stop. Just stop it.”
“Someone opened that door, and it wasn’t the engineers or research team.”
“Shut up!”
His shout echoed off into the silent distance. Dmitry had a gaze that recalculated their little showdown last night. Or he was just realizing that Carolina was his weak point, as if he didn’t know it long before now. Eventually, Dmitry retreated.
A minute later, Austin slid down the ramp. That open door begged him.
CHAPTER 6
Inside, he stood where the energy beams had once been, ignoring any possibility of them coming back on. From here, he could gaze into the first underground room. The floor was seemingly beige, with dark blue walls. The ceiling was twice as tall as you needed, and a tennis court would fit in here.
This was the last place Austin wanted to be.
He loosened the zipper on his expedition jacket at the neck to cool down. It was warm and echoed brightly over the slightest sound. A screen illuminated on the far wall. He couldn’t identify the symbols, but he recognized data-charts in any language. He stepped around an oval table; it could be for eating or for dissecting. This room was full of them.
He didn’t see her at first. She was so still that she blended in.
“Carolina!”
Her back was to him, hunched over another key panel, a different one than before. She did not turn when he called her. He raced over, dodging shelves and oval tables.
A second interior door gasped open just as he reached her, splashing them with stale air. He grabbed her and almost recoiled from her internal heat.
“Honey? Hey, hey, kiddo!” He spun her by the shoulders. Her cheeks were bright red, her eyes distant.
“Uhnnn…”
Her legs collapsed from under her, all of her weight falling into his arms.
“Medic!”
She convulsed and squirmed to her hands and knees. Her hair fell in front of her face as she vomited.
“There there, baby girl, it’s okay, honey,” he said, rubbing her shoulders and feeling her face. The force of her stomach contents splattered in ricochets. He had never seen someone throw up like this; every muscle in her back was tight and strained. “Dmitry!” he screamed into the radio. He can’t hear me!
She managed to stop but remained doubled over, holding her stomach. Her back and neck tensed, veins bulged under her skin, and then she vomited again. This time, Austin heard something plop to the ground, an odd sound. He found a large and round globule, covered in murky liquid. Maybe the size of a basketball.
