Infinity (First Colony Book 13), page 18
“We need to regroup. Let’s get through this cave and see what’s on the other side. Then we can figure out where that distress beacon is coming from. We’re still not too far off the path the away team took,” Noah said.
Sean blinked a few times and then chuckled. “Did you just set me on task?”
Noah smiled with half his mouth. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Hunh,” Sean said, with a slight nod. “Well, you are the mission commander. Lead on, then.”
Noah regarded his friend for a moment. All of them had been shaken up by the attack and how it had escalated. They’d been reacting to an intensifying situation while continuing to push forward. Sean was right; they had to be careful that they didn’t get in so deep that they couldn’t get out. Perhaps the best thing they should do was regroup with the shuttle when they reached the other side of these caves.
They began walking through the cave, and the light from the entrance behind them faded from view.
“Those things really did a number on the rovers,” Kyle said.
Noah was thinking the same thing.
“They really don’t want us here. I’ve studied territorial displays before, but this is something else,” Kyle continued.
“Noticed that, too,” Noah said.
The cave was wide enough for three of them to walk side by side.
“Why are the walls here so smooth?” Sean asked.
“They’re old lava tubes,” Ezra answered. “Don’t worry. It hasn’t been active in a long time.”
“How do you know they’re lava tubes?” Kyle asked.
Ezra gestured above them. “Because of the tube-like structure and the basalt on the walls and the ground. It’s got that new mineral as well.”
Ezra squatted down and began scraping samples off the wall into a small container. She then pulled out a small probe and pressed the tip into the hole she’d made. A tiny arc of blue flashed. “Oh!” she said. The arc dissipated in a few seconds, but not before it had spread out from where she’d made contact with the probe.
“What was that?” Noah asked.
“It must be that new type of mineral. It’s superconductive,” Ezra replied, and looked at her personal holoscreen with a thoughtful frown. “Also highly magnetized.”
“Uh, are we in danger?” Kyle asked.
Ezra shook her head. “So long as we don’t run any serious amounts of electricity in here, we should be fine. Not much of a chance of any static discharge happening with all this humidity. And that’s not going to change no matter how deep this cave goes.”
Noah nodded. “That’s good to know.”
They came across several smaller lava tubes both in the ceiling and angling up from the walls. This tube must have been one of the primary channels that other tubes used.
Noah was checking the progress of the two recon drones that were mapping out the tunnels ahead of them when a loud boom echoed from behind them.
Noah looked at Sean in alarm.
“We set a couple of traps near the entrance. It was only a matter of time before those predators decided to come in here after us,” Sean said.
They quickened their pace in an unspoken agreement to put as much distance from the cave entrance as they could.
“I guess we’ll see how stubborn they are,” Noah said.
“The traps aren’t near the entrance, but I’d rather not get caught in here,” Sean said.
“I don’t know how far those creatures would venture into the cave, no matter how good their night vision might be,” Kyle replied.
“What do you mean?” Ezra asked.
“Two sets of eyes. I’ve seen it on a few species we’ve come across. That, combined with bioluminescence at night, might have made them evolve two sets of eyes, each set fulfilling a purpose,” Kyle said.
Noah glanced at one of the smaller lava tubes in the wall. “What about creatures that live in caves?”
“If they live deep in caves, they might not have any skin pigment at all. They’re eyesight is probably not that good either, but if the creatures follow the evolution of similar ones on other worlds, they’re reliant on hearing and sensitivity to touch,” Kyle replied.
Noah heard Sean mutter a curse.
“Listen up,” Sean said. “Try to stay away from the lava tubes. We have no idea what could be living down here. Let’s make it through as quickly as possible.”
“Colonel, the creatures that dwell in caves are usually smaller. Shouldn’t be much of a threat to us,” Kyle said.
Sean regarded him for a second. “Do you really want to take that chance? Everything we’ve encountered on this planet is bigger than we’re used to. It’s safe to assume that goes for the cave critters as well.”
Noah saw the soldiers walking ahead of them start to look around, searching for anything dangerous. The ends of their rifles strayed toward smaller tube openings. A little vigilance never hurt anyone.
Their helmets adjusted to the low light levels, allowing them to see quite well in the dark. There wasn’t much for them to see other than dark volcanic rock and the occasional glitter of mineral deposits in the walls and floor.
The ground sloped downward, and at the bottom they reached an open area that was about twenty meters across. To their right was another tube that angled up and away from the chamber.
Sean glanced toward the other side of the chamber. “How long do you think it’ll be before whatever lives down here comes to check us out?”
“Well, Kyle did say that things that lived in caves could hear better than most, so probably not that long. At least we’re not finding the bones of other creatures that got caught down here,” Noah replied.
“That’s what I thought, too, but I saw something on the other side.”
Noah peered in the direction Sean was looking but could only see more lava tubes.
“What did it look like?”
Sean gestured toward the others and they followed. “It looked like a damn spider. A big one, easily a meter across. I only saw it for a few seconds. It was white and had the legs to go with it.”
Noah shuddered. He hated spiders or any creature that looked like one. He felt the same way about snakes or any reptiles, for that matter. “The sooner we get out of here the better,” he said.
Sean grunted in agreement.
The tunnel curved up ahead and then sharply inclined. Lieutenant Rhoades sent two soldiers up it. Bright flashes from their suit jets lit the tunnel, and Noah thought he heard a hissing sound coming from behind them.
The two soldiers threw down a couple of ropes for the ones without suit jets.
Private Apone glanced behind them, peering into the gloom. “Colonel, I think there’s something back here. I thought I heard something.”
Sean turned around and looked. Noah couldn’t see anything. The tunnel curved out of sight.
“I have a flare. Do you want me to shoot it back down there?” Kyle asked.
Apone regarded Kyle for a second. “Knock yourself out.”
Kyle fired a flare back the way they’d come. A bright ball of light streaked down the tunnel and bounced off the wall, disappearing from view. A kind of loud gasp and hiss came from farther away.
Kyle flinched back at the sound. “Gah!”
“Get moving,” Noah said and gave Kyle a little push toward the ropes.
“Colonel?” Apone asked.
“Hold your fire,” Sean replied.
The others made their way up the sharp incline. Noah waited at the bottom for Kyle and Ezra to finish climbing up using the ropes and then engaged his suit jets, shooting toward the top.
Sean and Apone were the last ones up.
“Hey Regan, do you have any more of those flares?” Apone asked.
Kyle tossed one to the soldier.
Apone triggered the starter and tossed the flare back the way they’d come. “I figure if those things live in the dark, then they hate the light. That ought to buy us some time.”
The tunnel had more curves than the others they’d taken. Noah glanced behind them, wondering if whatever had made those hissing noises was following them.
“Light up ahead!” Sergeant Unwin shouted.
They started jogging forward and the tunnel brightened as the ones in front reached the entrance. Their recon drones hovered a short distance outside the cave.
The soldiers paused a short distance away from the cave entrance and waited for the others to catch up. Several of them watched the jungle while some of the others kept an eye on the cave.
Noah heard the clawing patter of dozens of feet coming from behind him. “Don’t stop!”
“Keep going,” Sean said.
The others exited the cave and Noah ran toward the entrance, glancing behind him. There wasn’t anything there, but he knew the cave dwellers were coming, and it felt like something was crawling up the backs of his legs inside his envirosuit. Nothing could have been, but it did make him run a little bit faster than he had been.
He emerged from the cave back into the jungle. They were on a short outcropping, and the jungle floor was only a few meters down. The ground sloped downward at a slight decline. He looked around, searching for more broadheads or those ambush predators they’d encountered before, but the jungle was quiet.
Dark shapes flew overhead, their large shadows blotting out what little sunlight pierced the jungle canopy—more of those flying whales they’d encountered on the way here.
“Come on. We don’t want to stay near the cave entrance,” Sean said.
Noah followed his friend.
“Colonel, there’s a supply cache about a hundred meters to our right,” Specialist Denny said.
Noah accessed the recon drones’ communication systems. Lars’s distress beacon was still active.
“First we resupply, then we investigate the beacon,” Sean said.
They made their way to the supply cache that had dropped from the shuttle. It was a two-meter-wide metallic container.
Noah looked at Sean and saw him wince. “What is it?” he asked. He glanced back at the cave entrance and thought he saw something moving in the shadows, but nothing had ventured outside. There was no way they’d be camping anywhere near here.
Sean shook his head. “Just a headache. My head started throbbing back in that cave. I’ve taken something to help relieve the pain.”
A comlink message appeared on Noah’s HUD. “Gil reports that the soldiers have been extracted. He’s on his way back to us now,” Noah said.
Sean grabbed a couple of the nano-robotic ammunition packs and passed one to Noah. After reloading, Sean spotted something red out of the corner of his eye. He turned toward it and saw a red fog billowing toward them.
A few others had started to notice it also and shouted a warning to the rest of them.
Noah looked around and noticed that the red fog seemed to rise from the ground on their left. Then the knocks sounded again, loud, with a deep, roaring vibrato.
“Run!” Sergeant Unwin shouted.
Noah spun toward him, but the fog had already caught up to them and it was getting difficult to see. The breath caught in his throat. He saw Sean running ahead of him and started to follow.
“Captain!” Ezra shouted. She sounded like she was ahead.
“I’m here. I’m coming toward you,” Noah replied.
He spotted Kyle ahead and came up behind him. Together they reached Ezra. She grabbed Kyle’s arm. “Stay by me,” she said.
“Sean?” Noah called.
“Over here.”
Noah turned and saw a flashing light coming from Sean’s helmet.
“Turn on your helmet lights,” Noah said.
Kyle and Ezra both did as he’d asked.
Private Apone was nearby and joined them.
“I can’t find the others, Colonel,” Apone said.
There were shouts from the others as they tried to find each other, but the loud knocks intensified. Then the modulated bellow of a broadhead was heard.
“Shit, it’s those damn things again,” Apone said.
“It sounds different,” Kyle replied.
“Keep moving,” Sean said.
Something thumped nearby and Noah spun toward it. His weapon lifted a little, and he kept it ready.
A screech from the ambush predator sounded from above. Noah jerked his weapon upward but could only see the red fog. He didn’t fire.
Something pushed him from behind. Noah jumped and hastened forward. “Something just bumped into me.”
“Move!” Sean said.
They started running.
Noah heard the others shouting for each other. Sean sent out a broadcast comlink to the others. “Head to this waypoint.”
A path highlighted on Noah’s HUD, and he started running, keeping pace with the others. None of them wanted to get lost in the fog. He heard the recon drones flying overhead. One of them flew above the fog and it registered at over twenty-five meters above the ground.
Something became tangled in Noah’s feet, and he gasped, stumbled forward, and fell to the ground. He looked up and saw the fading light of the others’ helmets as they ran. To his right was the knobbed head of a thick, red plant. It was the size of a rover’s wheel. Spores shot out from the two-meter-wide top. Then something clunked from deep inside, and more spores were released.
Noah regained his feet and ran. The others had run ahead, and he couldn’t see them anymore. He glanced to the side and saw more of those same plants all around, as if they’d all opened up at the same time.
He saw a large broadhead on its side and expected it to turn toward him, but the creature was dead. All around it, the red plants seemed to spring out of the ground. They looked to be absorbing the creature. Knocks sounded from inside the plants, and they increased as he got closer. The clunks seemed to reach a crescendo and then started again.
The deep vibrato sounded as if something were moaning a long guttural howl. “Uuuuuuvvvvaaaiiiii.”
It reminded Noah of chanting but way more menacing. He skirted around the fallen creature and quickened his pace to catch up with the others. The last thing he wanted to be in a place like this was alone.
20
Despite having a waypoint to follow, not as many managed to reach it. Noah caught up to Sean and some of the others, but the rest of them were nowhere to be found. The waypoint he’d been following was taking him to a different location than where he’d found Sean.
“The waypoint you sent doesn’t match up with the nav on my suit computer. Mine had me going a hundred meters northwest of here,” Noah said.
The fog looked as if it were beginning to lessen. Sean looked at Noah’s waypoint and then at his own. “I don’t know why it’s incorrect. Has to be some kind of malfunction in the nav system in the suits,” he said.
Apone was shouting for the others nearby. There were some answers, but Noah couldn’t tell where they were.
Noah checked the recon drone and shook his head. “The fog goes on for kilometers all around us. We need to find some higher ground.”
“I wouldn’t recommend going back the way we came,” Sean replied.
“Yeah, I saw something at the cave entrance, but I bet whatever they are don’t come out until it’s nighttime.”
“Excuse me,” Kyle said. “This is no ordinary fog. I mean, there’s plenty of moisture in the air, but there’s also some kind of spores. It’s causing the red color.”
Noah looked around at the plants nearby. They were covered with the crimson spores. “I saw the plant that was spewing the spores out. It’s got a knobbed head like a mushroom. Broad body and large head, but the coloring is different. The sounds we’ve been hearing come from them. The Uvai are those plants. I saw them around the body of a broadhead on the way here.”
Sean glanced around for a second. “Plants don’t grow that fast. How big did you say these mushrooms were?”
“Some of them were tiny, but others were as big as we are,” Noah replied, and frowned. “This is going to sound crazy, but it looked like they were absorbing the broadhead.”
Sean’s eyebrows arched. “Absorb?” he asked. Then said. “Do you mean like it was consuming it?”
Apone shook his head, muttering incoherently. “Meat-eating plants? What the hell kind of freak show is this place? Where’s the shuttle? We need to get out of here now.”
“Hold on. Wait a second. Don’t jump to any conclusions,” Kyle said. “We don’t know how long the broadhead has been dead. Plants absorb the nutrients of dead animals all the time. This is no different.”
Noah pressed his lips together. “I understand that, but this is different. There’s something inside them.”
“Okay, it’s a new lifeform then. We should try studying it,” Kyle said.
Apone sighed explosively. “Here we go again,” he said and jutted out his chin. “No, I get it. I know this is what you do, but shooting things is what I do… when ordered to, that is.”
Noah looked at Sean and saw him peering away from them. “Sean, what are you looking at?”
Apone lifted his rifle a little and stared in the same direction.
Sean shook his head and blinked several times.
“Is it the headache?” Noah asked.
Sean nodded a little. “It comes and goes.”
“I’ve been getting them too,” Ezra said. “Anyone else?”
“I haven’t felt right since we set foot on this damn planet,” Apone said.
“I feel a little pressure near my forehead, but it’s not bad,” Kyle said.
Sean eyed Noah. “You?”
“Not really. The lower gravity still feels strange, but no headaches,” Noah replied.
He’d had his share of headaches as a result of his head injuries, so his tolerance for them might be higher than the others.
Noah looked at Sean. “Is that all?”
Sean sighed. “I thought I saw something.”
“What did you see?”
“Someone running right over there,” Sean said, gesturing to where he’d been staring at a few moments before. “Except they didn’t have an envirosuit on.”
