Part 38 (1/2)

”And that's why I'm here with you, Captain. Because I missed the warning signs and let the creatures loose. And because I hadn't the sense to get myself honourably killed on Grendel. Maybe I'll do better this time.”

They sat in silence a while, staring out at the darkness and the thickening mists beyond the force screen.

Krystel turned and looked at Hunter for the first time. ”So tell me, Captain, what was it like, out in the Rim worlds?”

Hunter tried to answer her, and his throat closed up on him. He struggled to get the words out anyway.

She'd told him her story as honestly as she could, and he was d.a.m.ned if he'd do less for her.

”It's dark out there, on the Rim. The stars are scattered thinly across the gulf, and habitable planets are few and far between. Beyond the edge of our galaxy lies the endless night, a darkness so deep no s.h.i.+p has ever crossed it and returned. But the Rim planets are still part of the Empire, and have to be patrolled.

”Time seems to move differently, out there. It drags on slowly, each day like the day before, until you can't tell one day from another. The endless dark preys on your nerves, like an itch you can't scratch.

You begin to feel as if you've always been out on the Rim, and always will. You can't ever relax. s.h.i.+ps disappear on the Rim, and no one knows why. You start to look forward to trouble breaking out, because then at least there'll be some action; something to do, something to strike back at.

”I was a good soldier. I carried out my orders, defended the Empire from her enemies, and never once questioned a command. Until they made me a Captain. You see, then I had to give the orders, and more and more I found the reasons behind those orders just weren't good enough. Sometimes they didn't even make sense. But I gave the orders, and saw them followed through, because my superiors told me to. I was a good soldier. But during the endless watches, spent staring out into the starless gulf, I began to wonder if their reasons were any better than mine, if their orders were any more sensible than mine, or if we were all just stumbling blindly in the dark.

”Giving orders began to grow more difficult. Making decisions, any decisions, took more and more of an effort. I didn't trust my superiors anymore, or the Empire, and certainly not myself. I lost all sense of security, of stability. I couldn't depend on anything anymore. Just getting through the day got harder all the time. Even small, simple decisions had to be wrestled over until I nearly drove myself crazy. I started having to check things over and over, to make sure I'd done them, even though I knew I had. Sometimes I gave the same order two or three times, and checked up on my crew to be sure it had been carried out.

”People began to notice. Some of them started to talk about me. I knew, but I did nothing about it. I didn't know whether to feel worried or relieved. And then an order came through that I couldn't ignore.

A stars.h.i.+p had gone rogue in my sector. I was to hunt it down and destroy it. It wasn't difficult to find.

The rogue s.h.i.+p turned out to be the same cla.s.s as mine, and armed to the teeth. In the heat of the battle I had to give orders quickly and efficiently, and I couldn't. I panicked, unable to decide, and my s.h.i.+p was blown apart. I got away in one of the lifeboats. So did some of my crew. Certainly more than enough to place the blame on me.

”But I wasn't to blame. Not really. It was the Rim. All that darkness with no stars. The Rim would drive anyone over the edge if they stayed out there long enough.

”And that's why I'm here, Investigator. I lost my sense of security and stability, so they sent me here. To h.e.l.l.”

He smiled briefly, and looked at the Investigator. Her face was calm and impa.s.sive, as always, and he was glad of that. If she'd shown him anything that even looked like pity, he thought he might have hit her.

But she didn't say anything, and after a while he looked away again.

”Captain,” said Krystel finally, ”just supposing that the city does check out as harmless, and the Empire does establish a colony here, what will you do? I mean, what will you do as a colonist? They're not going to need a stars.h.i.+p Captain.”

”I hadn't really thought about it,” said Hunter. ”I've got my military training. That's always useful in itself.

How about you?”

Krystel chuckled dryly. ”I'm an Investigator, Captain. The perfect killing machine. There'll always be work for me.”

Hunter was still trying to find an answer to that when the proximity mine went off. The ground shook, and an alarm rang automatically in Hunter's ears until he shut it off. The explosion seemed to echo on and on, deafeningly loud on the night's quiet. Hunter and Krystel rose quickly to their feet and stood back to back, guns in hand, searching the camp's perimeter for signs of the force screen being breached. Williams scrambled to his feet and kicked aside his bedroll as he grabbed for his gun.

”What is it? What's happening?”

”Proximity mine,” said Hunter brusquely. ”Something's found our camp. Stay alert and watch where you're pointing your gun.”

”Two o'clock, Captain,” said Krystel softly, gesturing with her gun at that part of the perimeter.

”According to the computers, the rest of the mines are still active, but nothing's close enough to trigger them. The screen's still up and holding.”

Hunter strained his eyes against the mists and the darkness, but the light from the field lantern didn't reach far beyond the perimeter. The mists were still curling angrily near the blast site, but there was no trace of what might have caused the explosion. Hunter hefted his gun uneasily. ”Can't see a thing, Investigator. Williams, what about those augmented eyes of yours?”

”Sorry, Captain, the mists are too thick. I'm just as blind as you.”

”Terrific,” said Hunter.

”Quiet,” said Krystel. ”Listen.”

They fell silent, and Hunter was struck again by how unnaturally quiet the night was. No animal cries, no birds or insects, not even the moan of the wind. But somewhere out in the night, outside the force screen, something was moving. It sounded big and heavy, and its footsteps had a slow, dragging quality. It was heading slowly around the perimeter, counterclockwise.

Widders.h.i.+ns, thought Hunter crazily.It shouldn't do that. That's unlucky .

”It should hit the next mine any second now,” said Krystel quietly. ”Whatever it is, it must be tough as h.e.l.l. That first mine should have ruined its day permanently.”

The ground shook again as the second proximity mine exploded. The mists writhed and curled at one o'clock on the perimeter, and Hunter caught a brief glimpse of something huge and dark before the mists closed over it again. The echoes of the explosion died slowly away, and then there came a high, screeching roar from beyond the force screen. It sounded clear and sharp on the quiet, continuing long after human lungs would have been able to sustain it. If there was any emotion in the sound. Hunter was unable to put a name to it.

”Captain,” said Krystel urgently, ”patch into the computers. Something's come in contact with the screen.”

Hunter activated his comm implant, and computer images appeared via his optic nerve, superimposed over his vision. Something was pressing hard against the screen, over and over again, trying to break through. The computers measured the varying strengths of the pressure, and provided simulations of what might be causing it. Hunter's mouth went dry. Whatever was out there was apparently some twenty feet tall, weighed roughly eight to nine tons, and probably walked on two legs. The pressure readings jumped sharply as the creature beat viciously against the force screen. The high-pitched roar sounded again on the night, shrill and piercing, and then the attack stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The creature turned away from the screen, and its slow, dragging footstep grew gradually quieter as it disappeared back into the night.

Hunter sighed slowly, and put away his gun. ”Stand down, everyone. It's gone.” He shut down his comm unit, and his vision returned to normal.

”What the h.e.l.l was that?” said Williams shakily.

”Just a visitor,” said Krystel. ”Perhaps it'll come again tomorrow.”

”Captain, I strongly suggest we set a watch,” said Williams. He went to holster his gun, but his hand was shaking so much he had to make three attempts before he got it right. ”Whatever that was might come back again, while it's still dark.”

”So what if it does?” said Krystel. ”It can't get through the screen.”

”On the other hand,” said Hunter, ”the mines didn't seem to bother it much. I think a watch is a good idea, Doctor. I'll take the first s.h.i.+ft, you'll take the second, and the Investigator can take the last. I think we'll all sleep a little better that way.”

He stared grimly at the curling mists surrounding the field lantern's small circle of light. Twenty feet tall, eight to nine tons, and two mines didn't even slow it down. He just hoped it wasn't one of the things that built the city. Because if it was, tomorrow could turn out to be a very interesting day.

Night was falling by the time Megan DeChance and the marines reached the stone monolith. They stopped some distance away and studied it carefully before going any further. They'd been watching it ever since it first appeared on the horizon. Now, seen up close, it remained as dark and enigmatic as ever. The monolith was a huge stone cube, some thirty feet to a side, with an opening in the wall before them that seemed to be a doorway. The opening was ten feet high and six feet wide. It held only darkness. The rough surface of the stone was a grey so dark it was almost black. Raised lines and ridges crawled across the stone walls like petrified ivy. The monolith had a squat, solid air of permanence, as though it had always stood there and always would. Set against the darkening sky, it looked like nothing so much as an ancient, deserted mausoleum.

”I think this will serve nicely as a campsite,” said DeChance finally.

Lindholm shrugged. ”Why not? I've slept in worse.”

”So have I,” said Corbie. ”And I'm still not sleeping in that b.l.o.o.d.y tomb. Just looking at it gives me the creeps. I mean, what's it doing out here, in the middle of nowhere? We're miles from the city. No, Sven, I don't like the look of this. There could be anything inside it.”

”We'll check it out thoroughly before we go in,” said DeChance patiently. ”If I were you, I'd be more worried about what might be lurking outside this . . . structure, once darkness falls. After what we saw in and around the forest this morning, there's no telling what forms of life come out at night.”

”We've still got the portable force screen,” said Corbie stubbornly.

”Yes, we have,” said DeChance. ”But if we set up camp out on the plain, in the open, where everything can see us, there's no telling what we might attract. I don't think there's anything on this world powerful enough to break through a force screen, but I'd rather not find out I was wrong the hard way. Now be quiet, Corbie, and let me run a mental scan on the structure.”