Specimen 959, p.34
Specimen 959, page 34
Banen watched closely as Norris walked slowly into Hesset’s cave. Theriani said nothing, but a worried look toward Banen made the Doctor follow.
“Where is Hesset?” Norris asked. Banen knew at once something was wrong. No one ever returned from Rantara’s room in good spirits, but Norris stood alone, his hands at his side, silent and still. The image unsettled even Theriani.
“She hurt you again?”
“No,” he replied, a blank expression leaving no clue Theriani could read.
Banen went to him.
“What happened, Norris?”
“Where is Hesset?” he said again, as though he did not remember asking only seconds before.
“She is on her way back from the fifth tier; I asked her to trade for some more rope, and...”
Norris stopped him.
“She’s getting close now,” he whispered.
“Who?” asked Banen.
“Rantara. She knows we’re up to something.”
“How do you know this? Did she say so outright?”
“Yes.”
Banen looked at Theriani in confusion. As Norris sat on his cot, Hesset arrived. She was excited to show off the quality of the rope she had won after a spirited barter with a Khorran below, but the sober expression on Banen’s face stopped her.
“What is wrong?”
Theriani nodded toward Norris.
“I’m not sure how, but Rantara knows we’re hiding something. I don’t think she knows exactly what we’re doing, but she knows enough to suspect.”
“What did she say to you?” asked Banen.
“I thought she was just probing at first - baiting me to see if I would slip up and reveal something. It’s an old trick with interrogators; they pretend to know more than they do. They ask general questions, but they do it in such a way you could easily believe they already know your secrets. They make you think you’re at risk if you lie, and if you’re not very careful, you can inadvertently give away the very information you’re trying to protect.”
Banen nodded.
“We have all experienced this sort of thing.”
Norris shook his head and said, “She knows we’re planning something. She talked about Hesset and Torbal’s visit – she said Hesset told them a different story, but I think that was just a fishing expedition.”
No one understood Norris’ description.
“I think she was suggesting a conflict, just to see if it would generate distrust between us and Hesset – maybe an attempt to trick me into telling her more.”
Hesset stood and looked out toward the edge of the tier from behind Banen’s curtain.
“Her spies have been busy.”
“I tried to make her angry – distract her away from the questions she was on about,” Norris continued, looking only at Banen. “She doesn’t believe the water contamination story; she knows it’s a cover. Tremmek bought it, but Rantara knows better. I don’t think she gets the full connection to Torbal’s meeting with Hesset, but she zeroed in on that part, too; it’s only a matter of time before she figures out he’s not what he seems.”
“She mentioned Torbal by name?” asked Hesset.
“Yes. She wondered about him, and why he wanted to talk to you. She said it was too convenient, the water going bad only a day or two since Torbal was here to see Hesset.”
“Tremmek assured me she would not interfere,” said Banen, “but this is different. I have also noticed the guards are more often on the tiers now - more than ever before. We cannot move freely if they have been ordered to keep watch over us, even from a distance.”
Suddenly, Theriani stood and faced them.
“We don’t stop now! She try this, then she watch for us to see. If we stop… if we not going there suddenly, then she know for sure the secret with the water; she know we have the secret there, and she can find, maybe.”
“Of course,” said Banen.
“If we avoid the cistern now,” Norris added, “she’ll see it right away. If she starts sniffing around in there, this can get ugly, and very quickly. It won’t take long if she sends somebody down into the water; they’ll find the opening in the trough, just like Theriani did. Once she finds that, we’re finished.”
Banen paced in a circle for a moment, gathering his thoughts. They all felt it. Not yet panic, but a sudden sense of urgency drove them with a purpose so forceful, nothing else mattered.
“We must not appear hurried, or she will see that, too,” he said. “Theriani’s next visit to the cistern cannot wait any longer. We have to be seen going there to conduct the water tests on schedule, regardless of what she does or does not know.”
“Two of her guards are outside the cistern now,” Hesset cautioned. “How can we keep them away?”
Banen said, “I will show you.”
The harness and a dozen glow orbs were placed into an empty water jug. Norris and Theriani hid the two lengths of coiled rope inside another container and the four started for the cistern.
As Hesset had warned, two of Rantara’s guards stood at the its entrance, now blocked by a crude, hand-made sign announcing in four languages, ‘closed for test’. Surprisingly, they stood aside for Banen as he passed, clearly disinterested in why he was there.
Norris and Theriani followed, but Banen turned back to the guards while Hesset held his things.
“Do you understand what we are doing here?” he asked. The guard nearest the entrance answered.
“We’re supposed to keep people out while you look at the water.”
“Yes,” said Banen, “But you must keep all Khorrans at a safe distance; they cannot be exposed to the contamination inside because it is especially dangerous to your people.”
The guards looked at each other nervously, but Banen continued, using a slightly dramatic tone that Hesset found amusing.
“The contamination is also carried in the air, you see? It comes up in the mist, and if it floats out here and into the lungs, a Khorran breathing it would risk serious illness, or even death. It is very important that Khorrans especially are kept at a safe distance.”
Hesset resisted the temptation to laugh at Banen’s absurd display, but his words moved the Khorran guards as if by the wave of a sorcerer’s hand. She watched them back away slowly, announcing their intention of erecting barrier posts at points thirty meters distant, north and south of the cistern. For the moment, she thought, they would be free to work.
Inside, Theriani was already tightening the straps of her harness while Norris threaded a bite of parallel ropes through the larger of her figure eight rings, continuing over the smaller ring attached to her harness. Working quickly, they clipped the metal eye from the harness to the rappel device, using a modified link of heavy chain. The link was opened slightly on one side, creating a gap through which the harness ring could be fed. Norris frowned at the absence of a safety locking mechanism, but there was no other way; they would have to make do with what they had.
Four new ropes had been spliced together at their ends, making two that stretched out to almost fifty meters; more than enough to lower Theriani inside the trough’s opening to explore what awaited her in the darkness beneath.
Hesset prepared three glow orbs, activating one as Theriani clambered up to the edge of the wall on Norris’ bent knee. While they worked, Banen crept to the entrance of the cistern and was delighted to see the guards standing twice the distance away from where he found them only moments before. There was little doubt his cautionary message of danger had reached them.
With the exact position of the cleft now known, Theriani would not waste time moving along the trough. She paid out enough rope for the drop, but kept the bulk of line coiled over her shoulder. Tossing it all into the rushing water now would almost certainly result in an impossible tangle, so she kept most of it in reserve, intending to stuff it through the cleft to dangle inside the hidden chamber below.
Norris began anchoring the ropes into a crack in the wall, using two short pieces of pipe as nuts, wedging them deeply. Hesset kept a string coiled at her feet, holding it lightly in her hands, while Theriani secured it to the harness; the string would become their method of communication. A series of tugs on the string would tell Norris and Banen when she was ready to be pulled back up. Norris checked her harness and the device’s connecting rings once more.
Theriani took up the slack to tension the ropes and eased herself over the top of the wall until she was standing against the side of the trough, properly positioned for the first rappel. A glow orb, attached to her wrist by an elastic band, showed Hesset and Banen a view they had never seen. As they peered over the edge to look, the rushing water below seemed much faster when bathed in light. Theriani nodded to Norris and slowly began her descent. Walking her way down the wetted wall, it took a few minutes for her to become accustomed to the feel of the equipment as Norris and Hesset watched from above.
Theriani reached the water in seconds, dangling just above. After a brief pause, she lowered herself once more into the frigid stream. The current of the rushing water began to pull her, angling the descent rope as she plunged in. The water splashed furiously around her until she leaned to one side, reaching deep into the frigid stream to find the hidden safety rope she had left submerged in the trough from their first explorations.
With a firm grip, Theriani walked her way, hand over hand, to the drop off that defined the upper lip of the cleft only two meters away. Feeling gently with her feet, she found it and stepped carefully to the drop-off until her feet were inside the open space of the cleft. Another release of the rope through its brake, and she would slide easily through. With a last look at Norris and Hesset, Theriani took in a deep breath. A second later, she disappeared into the rushing stream.
Theriani quickly descended through the rushing water, dangling at last only a meter below the underside of the torrent pounding above her head. She paused to wipe the water from her eyes. In the dim glow of the orb, a vast cavern fell away beneath her; the path out from Bera Nima had been revealed at last. She activated two more glow orbs as she hung in the harness and their light showed a jumble of boulders and crags against the far wall, but a floor of smooth stone directly beneath her.
She knew her time was limited, but she paused for a moment to stare with wonder at the size of the place. She was suspended over a vast room, eroded out of the bedrock over millions of years by ancient rivers. Now, it was vacant, dark, and to her amazement, mostly dry. The cleft in the trough above her head overlapped itself so completely, little of the water dropped through.
It was cold inside the chamber and she shivered a little as she surveyed its features in the dim light. Only the thrum of rushing water, racing past the cleft above, broke the silence as it echoed off the ancient chamber’s walls. She reached a hand above her head to grasp the stone ceiling, spinning herself slowly in a circle for a complete view.
The chamber narrowed as it ran toward the south, with sloping walls that seemed to tilt in one direction, like a huge, stone parallelogram. The floor, angled sharply downward and to the right from her perch high above, was uneven for several meters until it met a point where the walls converged. She looked closely, but could not see for the shadows from rock outcroppings that obscured her view. She had to get lower.
Slowly, she eased herself ever closer to the chamber floor, inspecting all that she could see. Seconds later, her feet touched the cool rock and she stood on her own. In the quiet, Theriani wondered if she was the first person to see the hidden place and the moment held her still. But time worked against her and she hurried to pay out enough rope that would allow her to walk downhill to where the north and south walls met to form one. Carefully, she tended her lines and walked toward the southern end of the chamber with a pronounced, simian gait in the tight grip of her harness.
A moment later, as she neared the wall, she saw it immediately. In front of her, a single opening, two meters wide and almost twice that distance in height, yawned from the rock. Theriani cautiously made her way inside, holding the glow orbs above her head as she crept across the smooth stone. The yellow glow revealed an angular tunnel of sorts, meandering slightly downhill and to the right. She understood what it meant. Torbal had indeed spoken the truth; the way out had been revealed. Theriani smiled, knowing it couldn’t be anything else. A steady breeze, accelerated by the narrowing space, brushed softly past her. Follow the wind, she thought silently, and freedom will find you.
Above, Norris fretted over the pull string lying limp in Hesset’s grasp. Only the occasional vibration through the rappel rope told him Theriani was still attached, and he exhaled with quiet relief when a series of sharp tugs announced she was ready to be pulled up at last. Slowly at first, then faster when the full weight could be felt through the rope, Norris and Banen kept a steady pace, not pausing until she tugged at the pull-string again. They stopped, looking down into the trough to find the glow of the orbs, flashing from the opening while Theriani guided herself through the cleft and up, into the stream. As they pulled, Theriani emerged from the water, and only a moment or two later, Norris helped her clear the wall until she stood next to him once more, sopping wet. Moving quickly, Norris went to work on the harness straps as Banen coiled the ropes. Suddenly, Theriani grabbed at the sleeve of his tunic, holding it with both hands that trembled as she looked into his eyes.
“It is there,” she said softly. “The way, it always there. We find it, Norris! We go away from here so soon!”
Norris smiled and nodded as they hurried to stow the harness and rope. After Theriani dried herself, she changed into dry prison coveralls as Hesset quickly stuffed her soaking uniform into an empty water jug. No one spoke, even as their excitement nearly overflowed, it was crucial to remain calm. Norris noticed his hands now shook uncontrollably. He stopped to catch his breath; it wouldn’t do for the guards to see him this way.
They walked from the cistern quickly and with purpose. Banen pretended to look at a card of test strips as they passed the guards. He paused and said, “I will have the results of our investigation in a few hours. Tell the Colonel I will make my report to him then.”
One of the guards nodded as the four continued up the tier. When they reached the halfway point, Theriani stopped abruptly, and Norris feared they had forgotten something in the cistern.
“What’s wrong?”
Theriani looked at her feet, but she didn’t move. Banen leaned closer, and whispered, “What is the matter, my dear? Are you not well?”
Finally, she looked up. Norris’ expression went blank as the tears poured from her eyes. Without a thought, he slowly enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly to his chest. She was shaking, yet she made no sound. Norris and Hesset could not know how it felt for her, after five years in the nightmare of Bera Nima, but it unsettled them to see her taken by a hurricane of emotions. Norris could only imagine, but Banen knew. Banen had lived it with her.
The moment was profound for Norris as he and Hesset waited quietly. This tiny Revallan, for all her fierce and lethal toughness was still a person. She came from a place not even visible as a distant star in the night skies of Earth. In every respect, Theriani was as alien to Norris as he was to her, yet there, on the cold stone of the tier, his humanity became hers. They stood for a time in silence until Theriani brushed away her tears and smiled at Banen. After a moment, the four turned once more for their cave.
It was important to fulfill the ruse and each returned to their customary tasks as though it was an ordinary day. They knew better than to discuss what Theriani had found anywhere near their cave, lest Rantara’s spies were near. Banen wanted to ask Molri if anyone had been seen loitering about, but even doing this could risk exposure. Anik paid close attention to the comings and goings on the tier; if anyone would notice, it would be him. Still, the guards could easily have secured informants, placing them among the passersby, anyone of whom could confirm Rantara’s suspicions merely by overhearing. They couldn’t risk it, and Banen did not want to implicate the unwitting Molri, simply by an innocent association; it was best to leave him safely out of it to ensure his safety from the Sergeant’s wrath.
On the following morning, Banen sent word to Tremmek that the tests were complete and nothing out of the ordinary had been revealed. The Doctor put it down to an airborne fungus or spore, concluding that Norris’ natural defense systems were attacking, which yielded the fever. In time, he lied, Norris would become immune and the matter was left at that.
Tremmek seemed to accept the diagnosis, regarding the episode as a mild annoyance, but satisfied Norris was no longer at risk, the Colonel lost interest. The cistern was ordered re-opened, and things returned to normal on the tier; a small interruption that would be forgotten soon enough.
In the early evening, as a persistent overcast began to clear in the sky above, Norris and Hesset reasoned the four would have to meet elsewhere on the tiers in order to speak freely, without the risk of being overheard. It was reasonable to conclude Rantara’s guards had placed informers in a position to be near their cave without drawing attention. If they walked to another tier, and perhaps one on the western side, their discussions would be safely distant from eavesdroppers.
Theriani suggested the far end of the tier, near the cascade, where the rock ledge narrowed. There were no caves, and few ever went there. Hesset remembered it from her tour with Banen in the first days of her captivity, agreeing that its remote location provided enough room to ensure no one could loiter unseen nearby. The short walk passed without a word until they reached the southern-most part of the tier. Below, the cloud of mist, rising from the cascade to the base of the massive fence, hovered before it was taken on the wind toward the sea.
Norris began.
“Looks like Torbal wasn’t bullshitting after all. This tunnel Theriani found has to be the way out, but we won’t know for sure until we explore it. So how the hell do we do that, since the cistern is open again?”
