Stranded (A stand-alone SF thriller) (The Prometheus Project Book 3) (22 page)

Ryan shook his head.
“Regan, I’m not going anywhere. Not until I know that you’ve succeeded and the expedition is safe. I’ll stay out of your head,”
he told her,
“but I’ll be right here if you need me.”

There was a pause.
“Thanks Ryan,”
she replied softly.

Ryan sighed deeply.
“Good luck,”
he whispered telepathically as their connection ended.

Regan wasted no time. She walked to where the emergency kit was lying on the ground next to Miguel and Cam. They were getting stronger and had been able to move on their own power closer toward the center of the circle as the force-field had receded.

She opened the emergency kit without saying a word. Even in the ever-shrinking confines of their camp, the five factions were still as far apart as they could get.

The Med-Pen she was looking for was missing.

She frowned deeply. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?

“I need everyone to come here,” she said loudly. She got some angry looks but everyone came closer from
their separate camps to satisfy their curiosity. Her parents moved the closest to her of anyone.

“Regan, what’s going on?” asked her father.

“The Med-Pen is missing,” she said, loudly enough to be heard by the entire group. “Who has it?” she demanded.

Everyone glared suspiciously at everyone else. Her parents drew even closer to her.

“How do we know
you
didn’t take it?” barked Donna Morgan.

“Because I’m the one who discovered it’s gone.”

“That means nothing,” said Bob Zubrin suspiciously. “You’re a clever kid. Or maybe your family put you up to this. Steal the device and then sound the alarm to throw us off. There are
three
Resnicks in our cozy little group, after all. The odds point to you or your parents.”

“Why would anyone take it?” said Ben Resnick. “It’s for all of us to use.”

“You really are a Boy Scout, aren’t you?” said Donna contemptuously.
“It’s for all of us to use,”
she repeated in a false, high-pitched voice, mocking him. “That’s easy to say now, but all bets are off when the shield goes down. What if the group is forced to split up? And
someone
has to carry the emergency kit. What if that person is killed and dragged off?” She shook her head fiercely. “No, the device won’t be there for all of us to use. I only wish I had thought to take it first,” she finished cynically.

“Look,” pleaded Regan. “Whoever has it, just give it to me for thirty seconds. I’ll give it right back. I promise.”

No one came forward. The stars glowed like a million fireflies above their heads but none of the stranded humans paid them the least bit of attention.

“Look, I know why the animals want to attack us,” said Regan. “I can save our lives. Here’s what’s going on. The animals here …”

“Shut up already!” screamed Eric. “No one here has to listen to a
kid
anymore. And we’re not! If I hear one more sentence from you I’m going to vomit. I don’t care about your saving-the-world fantasies. We’re done putting up with it!”

“Talk that way to my daughter again,” hissed Amanda Resnick, “and I’ll see to it it’s the last thing you ever say.”

“You think you can take me?” yelled Eric defiantly.

“What are you all doing!” screamed Miguel from the ground. He had lost so much blood that the effort of speaking this loudly made him dizzy. “Stop this!” He waved his hand limply at the dozens upon dozens of deadly predators outside the shield as they continued to pace anxiously. “Save it for them,” he said.

“Oh great, security has finally decided to come back to life,” said Eric. “Brilliant idea, Miguel. We’ll save it for them. I’ve got news for you—nothing we save for them will help us. You know what
would have
helped
us? If the lieutenant in charge of security had brought an actual
weapon
with him instead of a toy dart gun.”

Regan couldn’t bear to listen to any more. She snatched the silver remote control for the force-field generator and ran to the edge of the shield ten yards away. Donna, Eric, and Bob began to go after her.

“Stop!” she yelled, holding up the remote. “One more step and I lower the shield!
I’ll do it!
” she screamed.

All three stopped at once.

“Regan, give me the remote,” pleaded her father. “Get away from the edge. It’s still receding.”

“Sorry, Dad,” she said sadly. “But this is something I have to do.”

Regan wanted to burst into tears. To throw herself into her father’s arms. She was so weary. But this was their only chance and she refused to give up.

“Listen to me, everyone,” she yelled. “I’m going to tell you my theory. And you’re going to listen. If I even see a single one of you not paying attention I’ll lower this shield. You’ll have no time to start the fires. The beasts of Isis will be on you before you can reach in your pocket for a
lighter. I’ll do it!
” she screamed with a frightening intensity.
“I swear it!”

As they looked into her eyes, blazing with desperation and crazed conviction, not one of the members of the stranded Isis expedition had any doubt at all that she would carry out her threat.

C
HAPTER
28
Sixth Sense

“A
lright, already!” growled Bob Zubrin. “If having the stage means that much to you, tell us this theory of yours.
Save our lives
,” he said mockingly. “We’re all ears.”

Regan was momentarily elated, but she made sure not to show it. Her ploy had worked! She had been sure they would call her bluff, but they hadn’t. She quickly changed gears, knowing that she had a very limited time to get through to her unwilling audience. There wasn’t a second to waste. “The wildlife of Isis doesn’t have a sense of smell,” she began evenly. “But they have a sense that we
don’t
have.” She paused. “They can sense emotions. Negative emotions. It’s a kind of telepathy I think.”

“Are you kidding me,” snapped Eric, rolling his eyes. “I think I’d rather get torn to shreds by the predators than have to listen to your lunatic nonsense.”

Regan ignored him. “All animals give off primitive emotional energy. So among other things, the wildlife of Isis can use this sense to determine what is alive and what isn’t. And when they are being threatened. But when we first came here we gave off emotional energy on a different frequency. Mom brought a group of calm scientists here to do what they love doing, so they radiated either no emotions or positive ones. Since human emotional energy was alien, and positive, the Isis wildlife couldn’t sense us.”

“You know what
I’m
really good at sensing,” said Donna scathingly. “Stupidity. And this has to be the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”

A scowl came over Regan’s face and she was about to respond angrily when she caught herself and forced herself to relax. She took a deep breath and her expression softened. Their lives depended on her not getting sidetracked. “So humans seemed like trees to Isis animals,” she continued, as if Donna had never spoken. “When they see a tree, they know it isn’t alive. So they ignore it. They might walk around it or scratch their backs on its bark, but they don’t think of it as a threat or something they can hunt for a meal.”

“You can’t compare us to a tree,” said Donna irritably. “They don’t move.
We
do.”

“So do rocks rolling down hills,” pointed out Regan. “Or leaves. But to these animals, anything that doesn’t radiate emotional energy isn’t alive. It’s something to ignore—unless it’s about to hit you.”

“What an imagination,” said Donna, shaking her head in disgust. “You should be a fantasy writer.”

“Would you shut up already, Donna!” barked Bob. “Let her finish. This is torture enough without you prolonging it.”

The two glared at each other angrily but said nothing else.

“Everyone here knows what happened the last time a team from Prometheus visited Isis,” continued Regan. “Carl accidentally killed an animal, one that must have been able to disguise its appearance
and
emotional energy. Michelle Cooper had her feet resting on one of them for a long time, but it didn’t react at all. Only when Carl’s foot crushed the animal’s chest did it pay any attention to humans. Why? Because Carl was totally shocked when this happened. Powerful negative emotions must have been
pouring
out of him. Fear. Guilt. Surprise. The animal’s “emotional energy” sense was bombarded by it. Carl was a not-alive thing it suddenly sensed as being
very
alive.”

Regan paused. “So what did this animal do? It used its sharp teeth to attack back, which caused even stronger negative emotions in Carl, followed by powerful negative emotions from
all
the humans. Fear, disgust, horror, hatred. It all poured out.”

“Okay, we get it!” snapped Eric. “So they realized we humans were living things and attacked the group.”

“Yes, and were killed because of it,” said Regan. “By Carl. He shot them all.” She continued to clutch the force-field remote tightly in her right hand. “But I overheard Carl a few weeks ago talking with another member of security about it,” she said.

This wasn’t true, but she wanted to relay the information Ryan had given her minutes before and this was the only way she could do it.

“I didn’t understand what it was about at the time, but I do now.”

“Get to the point!” demanded Eric.

“Carl said he was ashamed of himself for killing two of the lava-rock animals that weren’t a threat anymore. Even
he
couldn’t understand why he had reacted the way he did. He said he had been in a state of total rage more powerful than any he had ever felt before. That’s all I heard. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but now I get what must have happened. Human emotional energy and Isis emotional energy aren’t compatible. The animals were hating Carl and this somehow affected his mind, causing him to
hate them back
. The hatred bounced back and forth between them, growing as it did.”

“This is nonsense,” said Bob, glaring at Regan. “There are far simpler explanations. You don’t have to resort to your ridiculous theory. I was
there
. Carl sticking his foot through an animal’s chest put him and the rest of us on
their radar screen. Period. Then he went berserk for a while because he was in massive pain. End of story.”

“If only the one animal he stepped on suddenly noticed him, I’d agree with you,” said Regan evenly. “But
all
the creatures noticed him, and not just him but the entire group of humans—humans not a single animal on Isis had ever reacted to before.”

“This still could have been due to any number of other factors,” persisted Bob.

“True, but I’m not finished. The best evidence is what’s been happening to
us
. When we got here we saw lots of wildlife, but it completely ignored us, the way it always has. No animals tried to approach the trams. No animals circled us when we stopped. No animals attacked. Despite what happened to Carl, we felt perfectly safe walking around outside of the trams, which we did for ten minutes or so without the slightest problem. So when was the first time any of them
did
pay attention to us?”

“Come on Regan,” snapped her mother irritably. “The first time we were noticed was in the rainforest, when the pack surrounded us. That’s obvious. So what’s your point?”

“My point is that this was right after we heard the tape-recorded screams,” said Regan. “Which surprised us and scared us half to death. We were afraid and nervous. Everyone raced into the woods while these strong negative emotions were bursting out of us, and
this
is the
reason we were noticed. Three of the wolf-things picked up this powerful new emotional ‘scent’ and came out to investigate. Seeing them made us even more afraid. Which caused more of the pack to investigate. Which caused even more fear in us humans. From there things snowballed, and there was no turning back.

“The emotional energy of Isis animals and humans isn’t compatible,” continued Regan. “Like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard. Like a bright light shined in your eyes. Like an ice pick being stabbed into the emotional centers of both their brains and ours. Incompatible emotional frequencies basically driving both groups mad. We first began arguing with each other when we were being attacked by the pack. Miguel yelled at Mom. She yelled back. Cam called Bob an idiot for not testing the tranquilizer. Remember?”

Regan remembered asking Ryan for his makeshift club to use as a torch. He had sensed the absolute urgency in her telepathic request, yet he had not given it to her or asked her why she needed it. Instead he had barked at her to get her own.

“You’re nothing if not creative,” said Eric. “I’ll give you that. Yes, we’ve been on edge. No doubt about it. But not because of what you’re saying. Because we were attacked and almost killed. Because scores of unstoppable killers are stalking us and want us dead. Because we’ve been stranded on a primitive planet by a
madman. That’s
what’s causing us all to be edgy.”

Regan shook her head in disbelief. “
Edgy?
Do you really think that word covers how we’ve been acting?” said Regan. “How about incredibly hostile, bitter, and hateful. How about filled with uncontrollable rage.” She paused. “Believe me,
I know
. When we were fighting off those wolf-things I was insane with rage. I love animals. And we invaded
their
space. Yes, I should have wanted to do whatever was needed to get away, that’s understandable. But getting away wasn’t enough. I wanted all of them
dead
. I wanted to set them all on fire. I wanted to rip them apart with my
bare hands
.”

Mr. Resnick nodded. “I felt the same way,” he admitted.

“I’ve been in combat before, and in a number of high pressure situations,” said Cam weakly. “But I have never felt the level of blind hatred I did during that fight.”