Stardust Dreams (28 page)

"What can I tell
you," he murmured, "I love the way your brain works, too." He
gave her a nudge and she got off his knee.

As she headed back to his
room, she replayed his last sentence in her head. He had used the word
"too," but as far as she could recall, he had never said he
"loved" anything about her.

Love
was one word
that usually sent her fleeing from any man who spoke it to her. Other words
that gave her the shivers were
commitment, faithful,
and
forever.
All of them conjured up visions of two-room shacks and ten whining brats…
prison bars and leg irons. They were all antonyms of
FREEDOM
and
thereby stricken from her vocabulary.

She found one of Gallant's
eye patches and stopped in Mar-Dot's room to get the set of cheats she had
never returned to him. By the time she returned to the bridge, she convinced
herself that he hadn't consciously used that
word
on purpose.

"You did it,
Cherry," Gallant said with a broad smile, as he adjusted the eye patch, then
slipped the cheats into his vest. "Mar-Dot found twelve magnetic fields
around the planet, almost in the exact positions as Terra's. In each of those
spots, the slush is much more shallow than the random locations first
tested."

"Captain," Mar
interrupted. "I think we have something of importance at one of the
fields. There is a large rocky plateau jutting above the slush. The readings
also indicate that there are a number of inanimate objects constructed
primarily of a metallic substance on that shelf."

"Try to get a
configuration on the screen." A few seconds later several outlines took
shape on both their monitors. "I'll be
drekked!
They're
ships!"

"And that makes the
plateau someone's private parking lot," Cherry concluded. "Hurry up
guys. What's below the plateau?"

Mar turned his face
slightly toward her. "Based on the computer's density analysis, there
appears to be a network of caves beneath the solid shelf."

"Bingo!" Cherry
exclaimed with a snap of her fingers.

Gallant gave her a
thumbs-up sign as he rose from his seat. "Take her down, Mar, but keep the
security shields activated just in case. Cherry, come with me to get the
suits."

With each passing second,
Cherry's anxious fidgeting increased until Gallant had to threaten to leave her
behind if she didn't stand still. He explained how the headpieces were equipped
with communicators so that they could speak to each other and Mar-Dot. After
making several adjustments to Mar-Dot's protective suit, Cherry could move
about somewhat normally.

He waited until they were
ready to exit before closing the collar around Cherry's neck and fastening the
manacle to his left wrist.

She immediately noted how
he kept his right hand free to handle the weapon clipped to his belt. "There's
one thing I want to know. This chain will keep me close to you, but if the mist
is that thick, how will we find our way back to the ship?"

"Right outside the
door is a lead line. I'll attach it to my belt before we go anywhere. But even
if something happens to the line, Mar-Dot could guide me back in
mentally."

"Okay then. Let's
rock."

Gallant didn't bother to
ask what that expression meant as he gave Mar the signal to seal off the
corridor so they could open the ship's door. Any mist that drifted inside would
be detoxified after they left and the same procedure would be followed in
reverse upon their return.

The moment the door closed
behind them, Cherry felt as if someone had dropped an icy, white sheet over her
head. There was some light, but no visibility whatsoever. She groped for
Gallant's hand, and the contact reassured her a little.

It only took a few seconds
for the protective suit to adjust its temperature to keep her from feeling the
outside chill, but it was long enough to know that if the mist wasn't lethal,
the cold air would still make it impossible to get around without a suit. She
couldn't help but wonder which would be worse, dying from asphyxiation or
exposure?

Though Gallant had to
release her hand long enough to attach the lead line, he came back to her immediately.
"Have you got a fix on us, Mar?" he asked aloud.

"Yes, Captain. If you
would begin walking, I will direct you toward the location that appears to have
a tunnel between the surface and the underground network of caves."

"Visibility is
absolute zero, so try to warn us about any high or low spots on the ground
also."

The words were barely out
of his mouth when the mist suddenly parted before them like a curtain. Cherry
screamed as a huge four-legged beast with two long curved tusks came charging
toward them.

Gallant yanked Cherry
toward him and leapt aside in the nick of time. What appeared to be a
prehistoric mastadon thundered by, heading straight for the ship.

"Mar-Dot! Brace
yourself," Gallant exclaimed.

"What is
happening?"

"You're about to
be—" He cut himself off as he realized the animal should have already
collided with the ship, yet he had heard no crash. "Did you pick up
anything unusual on the monitor just before I yelled?"

"Negative. I was
scanning the surface elevations as you suggested."

"Check for life forms
again. Something that seemed very much alive just about trampled us to death,
then got swallowed up by the mist somewhere between us and the ship."

"Gallant," Cherry
said with a tug on his hand. "How is it that we could see that animal as
clear as day, yet we can't see each other?"

"Good question."

"Captain, we are
showing life forms besides yours now."

"Anything
four-legged?"

"Negative. The
readings are indicating that five humanoids are about fifty meters to your
right."

Gallant turned Cherry in
that direction and started walking again. "This way?"

"A few centimeters
back to your left and you should bump right into them."

Cherry's stomach clenched
with a combination of fear and anticipation, but she reminded herself that
coming along had been her idea and she ordered her feet to keep moving. Not
being able to see was causing her to be more frightened than she normally would
be.

"Captain,"
Mar-Dot said in an urgent tone. "We are picking up a powerful surge of
energy emanating from those life forms."

As suddenly as before, the
mist lifted, and a throng of painted savages came running toward them,
brandishing spears and howling like banshees. Cherry could see them perfectly
as they closed in on her, but she still couldn't see Gallant right beside her.

A short, high-pitched buzz
alerted her that Gallant had used his little black box, and yet she was unable
to see the beam of light that she knew would accompany the shot he had fired. Again
and again she heard that buzz, but none of the savages fell.

When they were almost upon
them, Cherry tried to pull him away. "Gallant! We've got to get back to
the ship!"

"Stand still," he
said much too calmly for her peace of mind. One of the savages balanced his
spear high in the air and thrust it toward Cherry with terrifying force. As
Gallant held her in place, she screamed again, certain it would be the last
sound she ever made.

But nothing happened. The
spear never hit her. It simply vanished, and a second later, so did the
savages.

"What in the
world—"

Gallant squeezed her hand. "Mar-Dot,
what've you got?"

"The energy surge has
dissipated."

"And the five life
forms?"

"In the same
position."

"All right. Guide us
to them."

Cherry's heart was racing
as they followed Mar-Dot's directions. "I don't get it. What's going
on?"

Gallant's tightly controled
voice made her imagine how wary his expression probably was. "Remember
your breakfast?"

Cherry gasped. "You
think these are illusions?"

"It would seem so. Did
the savages look solid to you?"

"Absolutely.
Why?"

"The animal charged by
too fast to notice, but the savages looked almost translucent to me. I was
immediately certain they weren't real."

Without warning something
dropped over Cherry's head and body. She put up her hands a fraction too late
to stop what felt like a net from tightening around her and Gallant.

Mar-Dot confirmed the
obvious. "The life forms are now in a circle around you, Captain."

Gallant snorted. "Very
timely, Mar-Dot. I believe they're about to escort us below, so just keep the
channel open. Usual orders stand."

Cherry felt a nudge from
behind and took a step forward at the same time as Gallant did. They were definitely
being prodded along to somewhere.

"Are you all
right?" Gallant asked.

"I'd be doing a hell
of a lot better if I could see, but I'm okay. What are Mar-Dot's usual
orders?"

"If our suits are
taken away, we won't be able to communicate with them, so they'll contact me
mentally every other hour. I can't return any messages, but they'll be able to
ascertain whether I'm still alive. As long as I'm breathing, they won't leave
the planet without me. In the meantime, the security shield should protect them
and the ship from harm. Mar-Dot, someone just removed my weapon and the lead
line from my belt. We'll be relying completely on you to guide us back when
we're done here."

"Understood,
Captain."

Their escorts brought them
to a stop. Cherry could hear a long scraping sound, like rock against rock, and
guessed that they had come to the entrance of the tunnel that Mar-Dot had
mentioned. They were pushed forward another few feet and halted again.

Slowly, the rock beneath
Cherry's feet began to vibrate with a humming sound similar to that of an
elevator motor, and it took her a moment to realize that they were indeed
descending. Clinging to Gal-lant's arm, she whispered, "Aren't we being a
little passive about all this?"

"If they wanted to
kill us, we'd already be dead. There is no logical reason to put up a fight…
yet."