The Mines of Kuloghi: 11/11
by Nancy Smith and Linda Garrick
XXVI
A hand was touching his shoulder. "Wake up, kid," Mark said.
Alan opened his eyes and looked around. Mark was standing beside him, looking at him critically. "How you feelin'?"
Alan yawned. "Better," he said.
"Good. You were wiped out. How's the head?"
"It's okay." Alan started to sit up. A large hand on his chest shoved him back.
"Uh *uh*! You lie still." Mark sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hungry?"
"I could eat a horse."
"That's what I figured so I brought along one of my famous sandwiches." Mark handed it to him. "I didn't sleep on this one, but if you'd like to throw it on the bed a minute, I'll sit on it for you."
"No thanks," Alan said with a grin. "I'll choke it down as is."
"Here's some water, too. We gotta move a bit. The Patrol ship'll be here in about two hours. No problem there, but there's no tellin' when they'll miss that damned Jil and start sendin' out search parties." He waited until Alan had finished the sandwich and water, and then said, "You still sure you wanna try this? It could get kinda dangerous."
"We don't really have a choice," Alan said.
"No, I guess not. Jul's all set. She's got the ship outside with the engines runnin' for a fast getaway. Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Again Alan started to sit up and again Mark's hand stopped him.
"I said lie still!" Linley slid an arm under his shoulders and the other beneath his knees, lifted him like a baby and headed for the door.
"Hey!" Alan said indignantly. "Put me down! I can walk all right!"
"Like hell," Mark said, not even slowing his steps. "You been runnin' around a helluva lot for a kid just out of a spaceship wreck. No more, though. Doctor's orders."
"What doctor?" Alan demanded.
"Doctor Linley. Now shuddup an' do as you're told for once in your life."
Alan subsided. He knew his partner in this mood, and Mark wasn't about to change his mind. He looked down at himself. "Hey! I'm wearing a Patrol uniform!"
"Yeah," Mark said. "I found it in the barracks. Guy musta been a real shrimp. Couldn'ta been more'n three or four sizes bigger'n you."
"No comments about my tough, compact build, you big ox," Alan replied with dignity.
Mark laughed. "Now I know you're feelin' better."
They traversed several hallways until they reached the east mine. The doors had been jammed open, Alan saw, with a metal bar that Mark must have found somewhere. They went into the tunnel and down the main passage. "Say where, kid," Mark said.
"Keep going," Alan said.
"Right." Mark continued down the tunnel. "I'll bet this place brings back sweet memories."
"No kidding," Alan said. A thought occurred to him. "Say, you never did tell me how you came to be wearing Edgebastion's uniform."
"I wasn't," Mark said. "It was mine. I just swiped his I. D. and his nameplate."
"But what happened?"
"He and I had a little private talk."
"Turn left here. A private talk? Where?"
"In the shower. Somethin' about a busted crystal, I think it was. We had a difference of opinion about his methods of discipline."
"Oh," Alan said. "You felt that, huh?"
"And how! Nearly cracked up in a sand dune. Violent young man was the sarge." Mark grinned wickedly. "I think he recognized me at the last minute. D'you know they got my poster on the main bulletin board? Bet he wondered why he had the honor o' bein' done in by Strike Commander Linley."
"I seem to remember you saying something about a laundry chute," Alan said, thoughtfully. "I guess that's where you picked up that shiner."
"Yep," Mark said smugly. "A small price to pay. The sarge's bad day finally caught up with him." They rounded a bend in the tunnel.
"Right here," Alan said. "They were just opening up this one. The main node begins only about a meter into the rock." He looked at Mark. "Are you ready?"
"Hell no," Linley said, setting Alan carefully on his feet. He looked around. "I sure hope you're right about us bein' able to get out in time."
"If I'm not," Alan said, "we'll never know."
"*We* may not," Mark said, "but the rest o' the Sector sure will. We'll go out in a blaze o' glory. The only consolation'll be knowin' we goosed the Jils a good one."
Alan laughed. "Okay, then, here we go."
He grasped his partner's wrists, closed his eyes, and reached out with his mind through the rock, groping. The crystals were there, quivering with power, and he could almost touch them. He strained toward them, his hands gripping Linley's wrists tightly. And all at once there was contact.
He worked rapidly, setting up his psychic circuit, establishing a conducting line of energy from the deposit in this mine to the other, more distant one. Ready now, he shot an impulse of energy into the nearest mass.
Almost before he was prepared, the impulse, amplified many times by the sheer quantity of the crystals, was returning. Alan braced himself and exerted pressure, feeling the sweat start out on his face. The psychic energy leaped across the channel he had created for it, smashing into the deposit's sister node. The blast of power, magnified enormously, came bouncing back once more.
Although he had expected it, it was almost shocking to realize the sheer magnitude of the energy wave rushing at him. Alan put up his shields, starting to shout a warning to Mark, when the wave hit him. He caught only the edge of it, but even so it was like being struck by a sledgehammer. Darkness came down with a crash.
XXVII
Through his link with Alan, Mark felt the wall of psychic energy rocketing toward him. Then his senses were jolted violently by the blast echoing back from his partner's mind, and he swore as he felt Alan go slack against him. He grabbed Alan, lowering him to the ground. "Alan!"
Alan didn't reply. Mark shook him desperately. "Are you finished? Can we go?"
Alan didn't answer.
"Well," Mark said, "I sure as hell hope you are, 'cause we're leavin'!"
He picked Alan up like a feather and swung him to his shoulders. Pivoting on his heel, he sprinted down the passage. As he came to the main tunnel he turned right, wondering if the sudden prickling on his skin was produced by the building psychic energies or plain old nerves. Then the mine doors were before him and he vaulted the metal bar. Alan slid sideways. Mark swore, swinging the boy into his arms and never pausing in his headlong retreat.
The prickling on his skin was weaker now as he charged into the main hallway of the station. The doors to the entrance opened obligingly and he tore recklessly through, stumbling in the soft sand and cursing under his breath.
The scout craft's engines were already running. He shoved his partner into the passenger seat without ceremony and leaped in beside him.
The ship was waiting for them near the spot where Ganthzar's yacht had stood. Mark brought the scout craft to a sliding stop, its nose buried in a sand dune, and the door was open before the engine stalled. He bundled Alan out and went up the boarding ramp in what amounted to levitation, hitting the intercom as he entered the airlock. "Go!" he shouted.
His knees hit the deck as the ship surged upward. They must have been a hundred meters from the ground when he heard the airlock click shut. The deck grew hot under him as Julia poured on the power.
Weight returned to normal as the artificial gravity field clicked in. Mark got to his feet and stepped through into the passenger section, carrying his partner. Sergeant Fishbine, still restrained, glanced at him as he entered. Mark barely noticed. Without pausing, he went on into the control room and sank into a seat. Julia glanced around and her eyes widened. "Alan!"
Linley checked to assure himself that Alan was still breathing.
"I think he's okay," he told her a little breathlessly. "Just knocked himself silly again." He glanced at the rear viewscreen. "Well, we made it. I wonder how long --"
He broke off in mid-sentence, for just then the mountain that they had left less than a full minute before tore itself to pieces in a titanic explosion.
For once, Mark was left speechless. He had been anticipating a spectacular display, but the reality was awesome. The mountain went up with a blast like a five hundred megaton bomb.
Linley closed his mouth with a conscious effort. His eyes were still riveted to the receding image of the mountain.
"Man!" he said at last, in a hushed voice. "The little guy doesn't do things by halves, does he?" He looked down at the white, unconscious face of his partner and swallowed.
Julia was looking at Alan, too. She gave a shaky laugh. "I guess not," she said. "I'm just sorry he wasn't awake to see it. You'll have to tell him about it later."
Mark glanced once more at the viewscreen. Kuloghi was shrinking rapidly, becoming a hazy blue and beginning to assume a rounded appearance. He couldn't see the mountain anymore.
"Breaking atmosphere," Julia said. She looked back at Linley. "Better take him back and put him to bed."
"Yeah," Mark said. He stood up, looking down at his partner. "Poor kid. He's taken a helluva beatin' this trip. I sure hope he's gonna be okay."
Julia rested a hand on his arm. "I know," she said. "I care a lot about him, too. I'll never know what it's like to be as close to another person as a psychic partner is, but I did have a twin sister once, so maybe I do understand a little." She gave him a push. "Go on, Mark. Take care of your little brother."
XXVIII
Food had never tasted so good. Alan Westover wolfed down the hospital fare with an appetite that would have done credit to Mark Linley. The reputation of the hospital's cooking was a bit shaky at best, but to Alan it tasted ambrosial.
"Howya feelin', kid?"
Alan looked up at the sound of his partner's voice. Mark lounged in the doorway, surveying him with a pleased grin on his features. He strolled into the room and set the box he carried under one arm on Alan's bedside table.
Alan swallowed and wiped gravy from his chin. "Hi! Where've you been keeping yourself?"
Linley plopped down on the foot of the bed. "I been sleepin'. They threw me out about nine this mornin' while you were still snorin'."
"What you heard," Alan said, "was my deep, regular breathing."
"If you say so," Mark agreed amiably. "They shut the door t'keep you from wakin' up the guys across the hall."
"Did they really?" Alan asked.
Linley laughed. "Naw. I kept comin' over an' checkin' you all night to be sure you were still breathin'. Anyway, there ain't anybody across the hall." He looked Alan over appraisingly. "When'd you wake up?"
"About an hour ago," Alan said.
Mark looked at his chronometer. "Man, you musta been shot! It's been two days since we blasted off from Kuloghi. This is the first time I've seen you awake."
"I can't believe it," Alan said, "but that's what Dr. Philips tells me. As soon as I woke up, they pulled out the tubes and brought me some dinner." He glanced at his wrist and grimaced. "My chronometer's gone -- the one you gave me. It must have come off in the wreck. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Linley said. "It was lucky for you it did. If any o' those Viceregal jerks had seen a Kuloghian native wearin' a chronometer, there woulda been questions asked. Anyway, Jul found it and I got it fixed for you." He dug in his pocket and withdrew the little timepiece. "Here you go."
Alan's face broke into a delighted smile as he took the chronometer from Linley. "Gosh, thanks!"
"Don't mention it. You finished eatin'?
"Yes."
Linley removed the tray and Alan glanced curiously at the box he'd brought. "What's that?"
"Oh," Mark said. "Well, y'see, Julia radioed ahead for a med team when we came into the system. The news musta spread like wildfire that we were bringin' you in, 'cause it looked like half the base was waitin' when I carried you out. I was 0400 hours an' rainin' pitchforks t'boot. Everybody was pretty upset when they saw you, but this mornin', when they shooed me out, the word started to circulate that you were gonna make it, so some o' the ladies got together an' baked you a batch of your favorite cookies."
Alan's eyes lit up. "Chocolate chip?"
"Yeah. At last count there were twelve dozen, an' they're still rollin' in. You should see our quarters. Looks like Christmas. So, anyway, since they're still restrictin' your visitors to me, I volunteered to bring 'em over."
Alan was opening the box. He grinned. "Tell 'em thanks for me, will you?"
"Sure." Mark's eyes flicked to his bandaged forehead. "How's the ol' noggin?"
"Fine," Alan said. "Doctor Philips says there's no permanent damage, although he doesn't understand why."
"Too hard-headed," Mark said. "I wonder what it was that hit you."
"Some piece of gear or other," Alan said. "I don't really remember anything about it. Doctor Philips says that happens a lot, so I guess I'll never know."
"Whatever it was," Mark said, "it was big and black. And awful hard."
Alan looked up, startled. "You saw it?"
"Up close," Mark said, dryly.
"Here at the base?"
"That's right." His partner regarded him quizzically. "Quite a little transmitter you are, kiddo. How did you *think* the cavalry arrived so fast?"
Alan turned that over in his mind for several minutes. "You mean I called for help over *thirty light years*?"
Linley nodded. "Yup."
"Gosh!" Alan couldn't think of anything else to say. "I guess I don't know my own strength."
"That's for sure," Mark said feelingly. "You'd believe it if you'd seen that mountain go up."
"It *did* blow up, then?" Alan felt a little tug of satisfaction. "I kind of thought it would."
"And how." Linley shook his head.
Alan bit into a cookie. "Mm, good. Say, who gave me the bath, anyhow? I couldn't believe it when I woke up and saw I was clean. I was sure that darned stuff was on me for good."
"Oh, that was Lorie," Mark said, reaching for a cookie. "You know; the cute li'l blond nurse with the big --"
Heat flooded his face. "She didn't!"
His partner burst out laughing. "Nah, I talked her into lettin' me do it. Figured you'd appreciate it."
"I do," Alan said, fervently.
"Quite a job, too," Linley said. "Thought I was gonna take your hide off."
Alan was polishing off his fourth cookie. He reached for another. "Speaking of that mine," he said, "something's been bothering me. I can't figure out why the Jils were using anything as inefficient as slave labor for mining the crystals. I'd have thought that some of their precision machinery would have been better. After all, look at what happened to me. I found three crystals and managed to break two of them."
"I thought of that, too," Linley admitted. "Had me kinda wonderin', but we solved that problem this afternoon. Jul an' me made off with that last batch they'd mined, y'know. Burke an' some o the other psychics have been studyin' 'em, an' they've found out some interestin' stuff. Burke says he don't see how a structure like that coulda formed naturally, so they took one o' the things to the analyzer." He snorted. "They'd just run their backup -- and it was a good thing, too. Computer went completely screwy. Blasted crystal musta scrambled every bit o' data in the system. 'Bout gave the techs a nervous breakdown. They were still cussin' it out when I left. Seems like the psychic energy the crystals radiate completely fouls up the electronics of any precision machinery that gets close to 'em. They hadta use slaves in the mines. Their machinery woulda busted the crystals up worse'n you did."
"I guess so," Alan said slowly. "That explains that, then. I thought they'd gone crazy. Did they find out anything else?"
"Mostly what you'd already told me. Somethin' else came in with one of our agents, though. You knew they all got called home, didn'tcha?"
Alan shook his head. "Nobody's told me anything except they're glad I'm going to be okay. What happened?"
"Well," Mark said, "they called 'em all in until the powers that be decide what t'do about the crystals the Jils already have. Rumor has it there ain't too many. They hadn't got to the main nodes yet, as you know, and the mines hadn't been operatin' all that long. Anyway, one of our guys brought in some interestin' dope."
"What?" Alan took another cookie.
"Man, you better lay off for a while. You're gonna make yourself sick." Linley eyed the depredations of the cookie box warily. "Anyway," he resumed, "it seems this ain't the first time the Jil've used these things. Apparently they had some two or three centuries ago, but their supply ran out. They've been lookin' for 'em ever since, and they finally found those two deposits on Kuloghi." He grinned. "And brother, are they mad at you!"
"Me?" Alan said in surprise. "How did they ever figure me for the bad guy?"
"Well, they knew I was there. Fishbine woulda told 'em that. And there was that 'trol with Ganthzar. They found him too, I guess, 'cause I been promoted." Linley flexed his muscles. "Jil killer number three. I'm right up there at the top o' their list along with you an' Julia." He chuckled. "I gotta admit, it feels kinda good."
"Congratulations," Alan said. "Welcome to the club."
"Thanks. Anyhow, they knew nobody but a psychic coulda blown the mines like you did, and they knew about me. Fishbine saw you, too, when I brought you aboard, even though nobody told him who you were. Two and two usually make four, kiddo. They ain't never gonna forgive you."
"I'm heartbroken," Alan said.
"Your name's sure mud with 'em. You should hear what they're sayin' on the newscasts. Kaley's lookin' like the Cheshire Cat. Never seen him with so many teeth showin'."
The picture this evoked was enough to make Alan laugh. He grabbed his sides.
Mark frowned. "How's the ribs?"
"They'll do. Doctor Philips has practically got me in a strait jacket."
"I saw," Mark said. "Anyhow, back to the crystals. There's a rumor floatin' around that they ain't natural. You know that they were artificially made by some race that died out while we were still smashin' each other's skulls with stone axes -- which fits with what Lee Burke said. You hear that kinda thing -- you know, the wise, extinct civilizations bit -- a lot, but it sounds like there might be somethin' to it this time."
"Could be," Alan said. "It would make sense."
"Yeah. The Jil scientists are fightin' the idea tooth an' nail. They say it's all a buncha ignorant superstition."
"Naturally," Alan said. "If the crystals are artificial, then the race that made them had to be smarter than the Jilectans and maybe psychics to boot. And everybody knows that's impossible."
Mark raised an eyebrow. "Do I detect a note o' disrespect for our benevolent overlords, m'boy?"
"Heaven forbid," Alan said.
Linley snorted. "Your friend Dalik sure didn't think much of 'em. He told me about the knife fight, by the way. You shoulda taken him up on his offer."
"What offer?" Alan asked.
"Why, his wife, o' course. He seemed a little disappointed that you turned her down. Wasn't she pretty enough for a wizard?"
Alan felt his cheeks grow warm. "You heard about that, huh?"
"Yup. Dalik told us all about it."
Alan felt the flush creeping down his collarbone. "I don't know how he expected me to -- Gosh, I mean, just out of a spaceship wreck and he thinks I ought to --" He broke off.
Mark snorted. Then his expression grew grave. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I gotta bit o' bad news, too. Sorry."
"What?" Alan asked in alarm.
Linley's look changed to a rueful grin. "How's your speech-writin' these days? I'm lousy at it, m'self."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Worst disaster we've faced yet," Mark told him. "Julia spilled the beans on us. We're heroes. We're bein' decorated. 'For acts above an' beyond the call o' duty'," he quoted disgustedly. "'The ceremony to be followed by an official dinner,' with us the guests o' honor. Man! I ain't given a speech in years!"
"Heck!" Alan said.
"Yeah," Linley agreed dismally. "Kaley's really got his heart set on it, an' no matter what I say, he won't budge."
"When?" Alan inquired.
"As soon as you're back on your feet."
"I think I'll have a relapse," Alan said, darkly. "How could she do this to us?"
"Just her twisted sense o' humor, I guess," his partner said. "Serves me right for lettin' her come along. I shoulda left her tied up in a closet somewhere, instead."
"Oh well," Alan said, philosophically. "I guess I can stand it if you can. Have another cookie."
"Thanks," Mark said.
The End
