Part 9 (2/2)
”What happened to the nice old man?” Rose asked. ”He reminded me of Momma's grandfather.”
”He reminded me of someone, too. I think we'd better go.” Ray tried to herd the children for the exit.
”What happened to the old man?” Jon repeated.
”I don't know,” Ray answered. ”Come, kids, let's go. Mary's been shaking up the hills. It could be dangerous.”
The hairs on the back of Ray's neck were up; fear flooded his gut. Something was wrong here. Ray wanted to run.
”He wouldn't let anything bad happen to us,” David insisted.
Ray hobbled for the entrance. ”Come with me, kids.”
They did as they were told. Once in the light, Ray collapsed; the children huddled around him. Ray had no words to explain the depths of his fear. Unable to frame the questions, that failure did not shake him of his certainty that they were important. The sun brought back warmth. The laughs and shouts from the swimmers brought back hope. The children withdrew a fraction of an inch into themselves.
”I will miss him,” Rose whispered.
”We all will,” Ray a.s.sured her. Ray was a hardheaded, rational man, a commander of line beast. He feared no monster lurking under his bed. He paid attention to what was real, what he could touch, measure, shoot. So why was he telling a little girl that he would miss a phantom of his dreams?
Because I will.
SEVEN.
JEFF SAUNTERED OBLIVIOUSLY toward the cave. Ray cleared his throat; the young man jumped, took notice of them for the first time, and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. ”How does anyone understand them?” Jeff asked plaintively.
Ray had things that needed doing, but he doubted that answering Jeff's query would take much brainpower. ”That half of the species seems to understand each other quite well.”
”You're married. Could you talk to her?”
”Hold on.” Ray threw a hand up in mock horror. ”A wedding band means only one woman gets to confuse you. That vow about *forsaking all others' is a kindness. Could you help me up?”
”You're probably right.” Absentmindedly, Jeff offered a hand, then blinked as if seeing Ray for the first time. ”You're white as a sheet. Are you okay?”
Ray stood with less difficulty than usual. ”That remains to be seen. Jeff, please tell Mary to get a couple of her crew up here for some underground work p.r.o.nto.”
Jeff was shaking his head before Ray finished. ”I'm not going near the water. Annie'll say I'm just there to ogle Mary.”
”I think the kids found an alien device,” Ray finished.
”They did!” Jeff headed for the cave.
”n.o.body goes in there without full underground hazard gear.”
”Why?”
”Because I say so.” Ray tapped David on the shoulder. ”Run down and tell Mary I want her up here.”
”Can we go swimming now?” young voices asked in three-part harmony, suddenly remembering what they'd been promised.
”Get Mary and we'll see.” Short legs took off, galloping.
”What's it like, the thing in there?” Jeff asked.
Ray rubbed his eyes, noted his headache was gone and his back only sore. He rotated his shoulders, standing upright with only one cane to stabilize him for the first time since Mary put him down. He could still taste the adrenaline in the dryness of his throat, the fear in the queasiness of his stomach. Yet he was feeling better than he had in a long time. ”I don't know.”
”I'll make sure the kids are getting Mary.”
”Have her bring a laser drill and a materials a.n.a.lyzer. Air sniffer, too. I want to know everything about that place.” Ray spoke to Jeff's retreating back, then turned back to the cave mouth. ”I want to know everything you can tell me, old friend.”
Two hours later, Ray knew the cave walls were made of a long-fiber ceramic that required special manufacturing and didn't belong in a cave, and the rock column showed no evidence of any activity-animal, vegetable, or electromagnetic. What had been in there? Sitting to meet the kids at their eye level, he looked into their faces. ”You saw an old man.” They nodded, eyes deep and solemn. ”You saw places, buildings, other worlds.”
”Yes,” David said. ”Lovely places,” Rose agreed. ”Can we go there?” Jon asked.
”I don't know.” Ray rubbed his face; would anyone believe him if he told what he'd seen? Him and three kids with tumors in their heads. Was it real, or a figment of illness? d.a.m.n, he knew what pain and meds could do to a man's reality. Still, he'd never lost his grip on the real like this. Ray gnawed his lip and weighed his options, found them all wanting, and stood.
Only when he was up once more did it hit him how easy it was. ”d.a.m.n.” He did a quick survey of his pain level; nothing was screaming. Face it: Something has changed. Who would believe him? He stepped to where Mary stood eyeing the cave.
”Nothing we took in there showed a thing,” she said, looking Ray up and down. ”So what's going on out here, Colonel?”
Ray glanced down. ”Nothing I want to talk about just now.”
Mary nodded. ”Same thing in there. Nothing I want to talk about at the moment either. Maybe nothing at all.” She rotated her shoulders. ”Maybe I should have had less fried chicken.”
Ray s.h.i.+vered. ”Need some time to figure this one out.”
”Yes, sir.”
”Mr. Amba.s.sador, sir,” came from behind Ray in Rose's high-pitched voice. He turned to see her galloping toward him. ”My momma wants to talk to you.”
Ray took the commlink. ”Amba.s.sador Longknife here.”
”Thank heavens. I know you planned to talk with me tonight, but I don't think this can wait. There are riots in Refuge. Several buildings are burning, including another fire at the archives. Mobs are roaming the streets, and our safety people cannot respond fast enough. We need help.”
”We'll do our best. Does this happen often?”
”Mr. Amba.s.sador, I a.s.sure you, we have not seen anything like this in our three-hundred-year history.” Ray glanced at Jeff and Annie. They nodded agreement.
”So how come you have it now?”
”A number of problems seem to have all come up at once,” San Paulo answered slowly. ”Yesterday, Victoria locked Sterling Industries onto the copper standard. She'll accept no aluminum payments. That shook the market. Managers told people showing up for work today there might not be any work in a few days.”
”That fast?” Ray asked incredulously.
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