Harry scanned everything and was about to give up when the
tiniest blip registered on his tricorder. What was it? He
moved in the direction he had picked up the reading, and
approached what seemed to be a dead end to the tunnel.
They'd run into these over and over again, and never did
they show any distinguishing mark. Nor did this one, he
determined after a thorough search.
He was ready to turn back, when his eye flickered to
something high on the wall perpendicular to the dead end.
It's a wonder he spotted it; it called no attention to
itself and appeared only as a slight crack in the stone.
But it was the shape that caught Harry's eye: it was
exactly like the cobalt blue spires he had followed on the
surface, which pointed the way from grave site to grave
site.
"Kes, look at this." She moved to him and stared upward.
"It's like the spires we saw up above."
He stretched out his arm and extended his hand so his
finger could reach the small etched design. He touched it,
applying only slight pressure. There was a sense of
movement, and then a rush of chill air filled the corridor.
They turned, shining their beacons, to discover that a
panel had opened in the side wall. A set of stone stairs
led downward into darkness, and a cool, moist breeze wafted
upward. Curiously, Harry felt no apprehension. The dark
stairway seemed inviting.
He turned to Kes and saw that she was smiling, and then
they began, without a word or a question, to descend.
'12
THEY HAD BEEN SWIMMING UNDERWATER FOR
THREE QUARTERS of an hour, and things were getting worse
all the time. In spite of the fact that he knew kicking up
silt would greatly hinder their vision, Cheb seemed to keep
bumping into outcroppings, or dropping a foot to the floor
of the channel. A cloud of silt erupted from each of these
intrusions, blocking Kathryn's vision and threatening to
clog her breathing gilt. One small dark part of her mind
wondered if he was doing it on purpose. Cheb had definitely
not recovered from the devastating news that his admission
to Starfleet Academy had been rejected. She had been
accepted, along with their friends Blake and Anna, and a
number of others from the Institute. But Cheb, although
winning acceptance at any number of prestigious colleges
and universities, didn't make the cut at the Academy. He
had been stunned, then angry, then frighteningly withdrawn.
Kathryn had tried to comfort him, but he was disconsolate,
and frequently lashed out at whoever was in range. "It's
because I got a disciplinary reprimand after we went to
that castle last winter. It never would've happened if
you'd left with the rest of us." "Cheb, we were both
reprimanded for that incident. Not just you." "But you
became some kind of heroine because you found that old
woman." "She was sick and confused. She needed help. I
helped her.
That's all." "So you came out of it a saint, and I took all
the blame."
Kathryn had stopped talking at that point. There was no
point in reasoning with him when he was so upset; he could
color anything with his revisionist view of the past. It
was true Mrs. Klamer's family had been deeply grateful to
her for finding their aged grandmother. The old woman,
failing mentally and fascinated for years by tales of the
Magruder Mansion, had somehow managed to leave her family
home in Kentucky, travel hundreds of miles to southern
Ohio, and take up a brief residence in the ancient castle,
fantasizing that she was Mary Dugan Magruder. Kathryn's
intervention prevented a possible tragedy, and the Klamer
family was copious in its praise of her. But it was true
the Institute had disciplined her, along with Cheb, for the
unauthorized use of the transporter.
She didn't think the incident had anything to do with his
rejection from the Academy; privately, she suspected he had
been too arrogant in his interview, but she didn't feel
like saying that to him.
Now, she had begun to wonder if their cave-diving trip was
a good idea. They'd had it planned for monthsKathryn had
been working on it since she was fourteen 127
and it didn't seem right to cancel it just because Cheb
was disappointed. In fact, she hoped the adventure would
take the edge off his frustration and leave him more
hopeful about his future.
But it didn't seem to be working that way. Cheb had been
terse and short-tempered ever since they left Earth on the
shuttle for Mars. Her father had arranged the trip as a
graduation present; they would stay in Starfleet quarters
and enjoy the privileges of the Officer's Club. Of course,
her father didn't know about their plans to go cave-diving.
And there was no need for him to. She and Cheb would
explore the quarry caves for a few days, camping
underground, and return to Earth within the allotted time.
But the trek she had looked forward to for so long, with
such anticipation, was being soured by Cheb's depression.
Like kicking up silt: she knew he could be more careful,
but he wasn't, he was making it less pleasant for her so
she wouldn't enjoy the experience any more than he. They
had been swimming through a long, tubular chamber filled
with stalactites and stalagmites that jutted from above and
below and threatened to snag them as they were pulled along
by their hydromagnetic drives. Cheb was unspooling the
guideline as he went, and she periodically fastened it to
an outcropping. They would need this line to direct them
back when they returned.
When the water stayed clear, Kathryn could see the
formations in the light of her aquadyne torch, a mysterious
and elegant arrangement of spires, like an underwater city
of towers and turrets. It was a mesmerizing sight, and she
imagined the millennia it had taken to form those spires,
millimeter by millimeter, as dissolved calcium was slowly
released by evaporating water, forming deposits that
hardened and grew to astonishing proportions.
She realized they might be the first living creatures to
have seen these formations.
This was what she had come for-for the ineffable thrill of
seeing what hadn't been seen, of knowing what hadn't been
known. She was inexorably drawn to the unexplored,
fascinated by the unfamiliar. She wanted to savor the
excitement of discovery, to revel in the anticipation of
turning the next corner and finding something marvelous and
unique. She didn't particularly want to nursemaid Cheb
Packer's hurt feelings. Ahead of her, the water cleared,
Cheb rose abruptly, and she realized he was surfacing.
After nearly an hour, they had found an air pocket. And
what an air pocket it was.
As her head broke the surface of the water, Kathryn's light
shone into a massive, cavernous room as big as several
soccer fields. The ceiling rose fifty meters over their
heads, and dripped with stalactites in wondrous, majestic
patterns.
It was like surfacing into the interior of a massive
cathedral.
Cheb had swum to a rocky "beach" and crawled ashore; she
followed him, removing her gill breather. "This is
incredible," she said, and her voice echoed strangely in
the hollow stillness.
"We can set up a camp here. There's enough level ground."
Kathryn unstrapped the waterproof pack from her back and
dropped it to the ground. In it were concentrated food
packs, dry clothing, and thermal blankets. Immediately, she
began to roam, examining the stalactites that hung from the
ceiling, still forming, still dripping with water, each
drop leaving a minute quantity of calcium which would
harden and lithify, gradually growing the inverted steeple
of mineral deposits longer and longer.
"Isn't it amazing, Cheb? They're still forming.
We're seeing a process that's been going on for millions of
years."
He shrugged. "It happens the same way on Earth."
"But we're not on Earth. We're on Mars.
And we may be the first people ever to see these caves, to
see these stalactites form."
"Who has the oatmeal? Is that in your pack or mine?" She
stared at him. Was he going to be like this the whole time?
She took a deep breath, determined not to let him ruin the
trip. "I think it's in yours."
He grunted and bent over his pack, searching through it,
tossing items this way and that. Sloppy, she thought. He'll
be sorry when he has to repack.
She wandered around the huge chamber, studying the
formations, ruminating on the natural processes that had
been interrupted on Mars by its long freeze, and which now
were proceeding once more, the millennia-long hiatus
nothing more than a tiny blip in the evolution of the
planet. She heard Cheb continue to paw through the pack,
grumbling and muttering under his breath, and she smiled to
herself. He was going to make himself as miserable as
possible. He would make sure he-The speck of white almost
went unnoticed. Her head lamp swept by it and her brain
must have registered it unconsciously because she wasn't
aware of having seen anything. And yet something made her
turn back and inspect the stratified wall again.
And there it was: less than two centimeters long, an
ovalshaped, striped ribbon, bisected by a dark line that
ran lengthwise. The fossilized remains of an animal,
embedded in this cave wall for eons. "Cheb! Come here!" Her
voice rang with excitement but was dampened in the heavy
cave air.
"What?" He had stopped rummaging through his pack, but
made no move to join her.
"Look what I've found!" She couldn't believe his
stubbornness. If he'd gotten this excited about something,
she'd have been there in a second. But he stared at her,
looked around, looked back, and finally began shuffling in
her direction. The dark lock of hair fell over his
forehead-the same tendril she had once found so endearing-and she thought it gave him a scruffy look, unkempt and
messy.
She located the fossil with her headlamp and pointed to
it. "See? The fossil?"
He peered at it. "So?"
"That line there, the one that runs the length of it . .
. I think that's a spinal rod. I think this is a chordate."
He looked skeptical. "How could a chordate have developed
on Mars?" "I don't know. But there it is."
"You're guessing it's a chordate. You don't know for
sure."
"I did a senior honors thesis on vertebrate anatomy. I
studied chordates then.
This looks just like some of the oldest ancestors of the
vertebrate branch of animals on Earth. The ancestors of
man."
"Could you help me find the oatmeal now?"
Fury welled in her. He had to be doing this on purpose.
Finding evidence of chordates on Mars was completely
unexpected, a remarkable discovery. It would require a
reexamination of all the planet's evolutionary history.
This was possibly a major scientific breakthrough and all
Cheb could think of was his stomach.
"No, I could not help you find the oatmeal. If you packed
it, it's there. If you didn't, it isn't. I'm going to look
for more fossils."
He took on an aggrieved, wounded look, instantly the
victim. "What's gotten into you? I don't deserve to be
barked at like that."
"Yes, you do. You've been in a sour mood for weeks. Isn't
it time you at least made an effort to get over it?"
His eyes narrowed at her retort. "Thanks for your terrific
compassion. For such exquisite sensitivity to my feelings.
It's really great to realize your best friend doesn't give
a damn about you."
She felt as though she'd been impaled by a spear. Of
course he was still hurt and disappointed.
She shouldn't have snapped at him like that; there were
better ways to handle the situation. When would she ever
learn to control her tongue?
"I'm sorry, Cheb. I just didn't understand why you
wouldn't be excited by my finding that fossil."
He turned and moved back toward their packs.
"Is this what the week's going to be like? You jumping all
over me like some Circassian hellcat every time I open my
mouth?"
"That's not fair, I didn't-was "I can't think of anything
worse . . . being trapped underground with someone who
delights in pointing out all one's defects."
"Cheb, what are you saying? I haven't done that-was "Do
you think I haven't noticed the past few weeks? How cold
you've been? How withdrawn?"
"Me... ?"
"Are you saying you aren't aware of how you've been?"
Kathryn felt a familiar confusion returning. They had been
through this before. Cheb had the maddening ability to turn
things around one hundred and eighty degrees, to twist
anything she said, drawing on just enough truth to make her
begin doubting herself. She wasn't going to let it happen
this time.