Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Page 4

  Eddie patted her arm as they took the small path leading to the gaping maw of doom ahead of them. “Don’t worry, kid. Just keep an eye on me. I will show you how to ration your water through the day to get the most out of it. You’ll be all right. Everyone is scared over their water the first day,” he said with a chuckle. He glanced over at Vi. “How about you? Are you all right over there?”

  Vi nodded as she adjusted her pack. “Seems about usual for Corp,” she said dryly, her eyes glinting with amusement.

  Lori didn’t understand what they found so humorous about the situation, but she forced herself to relax. Her eyes rose to the jagged “teeth” of the cave opening and she shivered—and not from the cool blast of damp air that came from below. With her TRS, she barely felt it. Still, she couldn’t help trembling as they descended.

  Glow tracks marked their way down into the cavern, but there was little other light. Every now and then, a light pole would shine down wherever they were erected over important workstations where more men in white coats worked. It wasn’t until they passed the last workstation that Eddie tapped his helmet, opening the illumination strip that ran up the middle of it. Lori repeated the gesture and was comforted by a beam of light that lit several feet in front of her so she was able to clearly see both Eddie and Vi. That didn’t stop her from occasionally sliding on loose gravel, but at least she could see where she was going.

  Eddie didn’t say much for a change as they entered the elevator. The metal box creaked as he slid the metal safety gate shut and hit the down switch. The tech seemed a bit antiquated in her opinion, and she said as much, happy when Vi muttered a profanity-laden agreement.

  Eddie flashed an amused grin. “Some of the gadgetry doesn’t work too well on this planet due to all the dust, especially down here in the mines. The tunnellers and the excavator are built with special containments around their engines and parts, but for other stuff they went back to old gear designs that are easy to clean and replace.”

  The car chose that moment to shudder and groan, forcing them to grip the bar that wrapped around the back of the compartment.

  Vi cursed loudly as Eddie chuckled and patted the wall.

  “Don’t worry. She’ll get us where we need to go safely. She just squawks a lot about it.”

  Lori forced a weak smile, her stomach jumping when the elevator wrenched and thudded as it lowered them down the shaft. Every so often, they passed a reinforced platform, and every time she was hopeful that they had reached their destination, but it descended until there was nothing but heavy darkness above and below them. She clenched her gloved hands, aware that they were sweating beneath the thick material, and bowed her head as she pretended that she wasn’t hemmed in with miles of crushing rock above her head. If Vi could stand there looking cool and collected despite descending into the pit of doom, then she would too.

  The lift slowed and jerked to a stop. She didn’t waste any time getting out of the metal beast. The men filed out ahead of her, their boots tromping over rock as they headed down the tunnels. Lori followed behind them as she tried to look everywhere at once. Somewhere there was water. She could feel the touch of coolness to the air and caught the scent of wet dirt that penetrated her filtration mask. Although the beams from their helmets cut through the inky darkness, she didn’t see any sign of moisture. Not even wet marks on the cavern walls. Her feet dragged, and she turned more toward the wall.

  It was so strange. There was nothing at all. She didn’t think the water could be that far away if she was smelling signs of it.

  Lori squeaked when a meaty hand fell on her arm. Snapping her head around, she sucked in a breath. It was only Eddie. She leveled him with a disgusted glare.

  “Damn it, Eddie!”

  He offered her an apologetic smile. “Didn’t mean to startle you. We’re right over here working in the left branch of this tunnel system.”

  “Yeah, all right.” She sighed as she turned and fell in behind him, the reflective yellow fabric of Eddie’s vest a silent beacon to her as he strode ahead.

  Vi turned and gave her a concerned look.

  “Everything okay?” she asked softly.

  Lori nodded. “Yeah, this place just spooks me.”

  Her friend smiled with understanding. “You are not alone. I mean, yeah, it’s incredible and all, but being down here isn’t exactly therapeutic. Come on, the sooner we’re at our work site, the easier it gets. That’s my experience anyway, for what it’s worth.”

  With a grateful smile, Lori quickened her pace so they were able to catch up with Eddie in no time. He gave them a friendly smile and pushed on without commenting on the fact that she had been lagging. Lori knew it was all her. Vi had stuck behind to reassure and encourage her, but had no trouble keeping up. If she wanted to be accepted like Vi, she needed to get with the program and stop being so frightened. It was embarrassing to find out just how weak she really was the moment she was thrown onto an alien world when she had always fancied herself as strong and independent.

  As they continued deeper into the tunnel, Lori also discovered an appreciation for the hideous vests they had to wear. It was the only thing that allowed her to keep her mentor in sight. Without it, she would feel completely alone in the dark.

  Not only that, but there was the very real fact that it would be ridiculously easy for her to walk into a hole without noticing until it was too late. Aside from red rock that was visible when the light fell upon it, everything else was obscure. Every so often, her light fell upon the impenetrable darkness of the deep tunnels breaking off from the main line that she was currently walking in.

  She stared, her heart jackhammering at the sight of an ominous gap in the rock as if some creature might come flying out of her at any moment. Who knew how many such tunnels were hidden in the dark? Or what lurked at the depths of them for that matter. This planet was a recent discovery, and while it was determined opportune for mineral extraction, no one really knew much about it.

  Perhaps it was a small mercy that her vision was limited, and she couldn’t see the depths stretching before her. If there was some monster waiting for her in the dark, did she really want to see it? Biting her lip, she scurried to keep as close as possible to Vi and Eddie. He wasn’t leaving her alone in the godforsaken place… not yet, anyway.

  After what felt like an extremely long time, they exited into another tunnel to the left that opened into a large, cavernous gallery. Now she saw what he’d meant about the stone formations. Three light poles were set up, the light of which bounced off stalactites and bands of shimmering crystals clustered on the walls. Everywhere, yellow-vested miners worked with their drills, cutting into thick veins of minerals in the stone walls.

  Eddie gave a shrill whistle, which had the entire team looking up from their tasks and turning off their tools. “We have new recruits, boys—and ladies,” he amended with a chuckle as several of the women in the crew gave him a dirty look. “This is Lori and Vi!”

  Vi gave a sharp nod in acknowledgment as Lori waved at them, uncomfortable being the center of attention of so many people. One of the men grunted, his eyes narrowing over his mask. “You look capable enough,” he said to Vi before focusing on Lori. “You know anything about mining, girl?”

  “Not particularly,” she admitted. “Not outside what we covered in orientation. I guess they weren’t too worried about that when they assigned me here.”

  A round of laughter followed her confession. She noticed Vi visibly bristle, but Lori shook her head, begging her to not make a scene. The sooner they got it out of their system, the sooner they would leave her alone.

  The one who spoke squinted further at her and shook his head. “I swear, there’s no sense in how Corp does anything. Is it too much to ask that they have some sort of experience before being set on this damnable rock?” he huffed. “What did you do, then, before enlisting?

  “I was a spa attendant, one of the finest in…”

  “Well, fuck me, a pleasure gir
l.” He laughed. “What would make a hoity-toity citizen decide to leave such cushy comforts to sign on with Corp?

  Lori frowned at his condescending attitude. He was a non-gratas and degrading her, as if he was so much better? She had known better, given how everyone except Vi had snubbed her during orientation, but she had still held on to some kernel of hope that her crew would be a little kinder since they would be forced to work together.

  Clearly not.

  She narrowed her eyes on him icily. “If you must know, the spa I worked for was sold off. When I applied with Darvel, it was with the intention of going somewhere my skills and talents would be of use, and I had thought a bit of adventure would be fun. Being sent here was some sort of huge cosmic joke,” she concluded with an angry mutter.

  One of the women regarded her with confusion. “But you’re a citizen. You could have just turned it down.”

  “What, and miss out on this exciting opportunity?” Lori asked, drawing several chuckles from the crew and a warm look of approval from Vi. Her friend had been encouraging Lori just to be herself and not worry about what everyone else thought. She might as well start now.

  She shook her head. “A carrot was dangled. I manage here for a year, and I’ll be placed somewhere more suitable once they have an available replacement.”

  “You mean more non-gratas meat to throw into these caves,” the woman corrected her. “Don’t get your hopes up, new girl. No one ever leaves here. Not even Eddie,” she added with a meaningful look.

  Eddie’s brows knotted in a frown. “I did leave, but since I got so sick en route to the nearest space station, the transport was forced to turn back. I just haven’t been able to raise the funds for another ticket out of here yet.”

  Lori shifted her weight, uncertain. “I would have thought that this sort of work is what you’ve been trained for and are accustomed to doing.”

  Another man snorted, gripping his drill tighter in his hand. “Oh, it is—but Princess, make no mistake. This isn’t like putting up colony housing. This is where they send human fodder, even you, so you better get used to that idea. Contract or not, none of the supervisors will do anything for you while you’re here. Each of us is just as expendable as the man next to us and here for only one thing: to dig the ore and minerals out of the damn rock.”

  There was a murmur of agreement, and Lori felt a hot flush creep up her neck. Eddie coughed and patted her back in a reassuring gesture. “Now, we don’t judge anyone down here. Lori here might be a bit… raw… but she’ll get the hang of it.”

  There was an answering grumble and a few nodded heads as the men and women turned back to their work, their drills firing up with loud clicks.

  Eddie laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Eh, they’ll warm up eventually.”

  Lori stared at him in disbelief. It hadn’t happened when they were in the dome, and she had little hope of it happening now.

  “What a bunch of fuckheads,” Vi opinionated.

  Lori gave her a hug, surprising a smile out of the other woman.

  As it turned out, no one warmed up to her at all during that shift. No one spoke to her at all during the hours that she worked beside them chipping off precious material with the same care she demonstrated in all of her tasks. Granted, she didn’t get the quantity that the guys did, but she thought her quality was much better. Saying so when they laughed over her meager offerings didn’t earn her any friends either.

  What was worse, she kept hearing things as she worked. Like everyone else, she and Vi worked their own section of their assigned zone, in an offshoot off the main tunnel with Eddie. Their work area was riddled with vents and narrow caves that plunged off from the artificially widened tunnel. It was eerie, but as they took up positions and turned on their machinery, she found that they were within shouting distance of each other if there was an emergency.

  Her spot put her right near a deep crevice at her left. It freaked her out, especially with the way it seemed to echoed drafts that had to be coming from a surface vent. It was enough to be irritating, but as she worked, she tried to ignore the weird sounds until a strange rhythmic hissing sound came from the cave.

  Lori paused, lifting her vibrational drill away from the cavern wall. Powering it off, she listened, her ears straining. It came again, a pulsing, hissing sound that had a strange rumbling cadence.

  “Guys, do you hear that?” she shouted.

  Vi and Eddie powered down their drills and walked over. Vi frowned, her head tilting as she listened.

  “I don’t hear anything, Lori. What did it sound like?”

  “A sort of hissing, rumbling sound,” Lori replied as she peered into the darkness of the crevice with frustration.

  Of course now the sound would go silent.

  Eddie shook his head as he adjusted the weight of his drill on his shoulder.

  “A lot of the tunnels have cave vents and smaller caves that meet back up with the surface or even circle around to the main shaft. It’s probably just wind. It can get pretty spooky,” he added with wry smile.

  Lori’s lips compressed. The wind was creepy, but that was not what she heard. She was sure of it. At risk of not sounding crazy, she reluctantly nodded and powered her drill. Eddie patted her back and Vi flashed her a small, commiserating smile as they left to return to their sections.

  Taking a deep breath, she focused on her work, ignoring the sound after a while when it returned with its strange shift in sounds. Nothing came of it. No scratch of animal claws accompanied it. Eddie was right. It had to be a stronger breeze from above or something. Mouth set in a determined slash, she worked tirelessly until Eddie whistled to get her attention and announce break.

  While a team would move to help out other members in particularly difficult patches, the only time the crew really got together was at break time. Naturally, the breaks, especially the meal break, were loud and boisterous, often outright crude. The friendliness and comradery among the crew made her feel even more like an outsider among them as she sat with her food, her muscles aching. By the end of the day, she finished her first shift sweaty and sore, her legs threatening to deposit her on the ground at any moment, and not one of them offered her even the tiniest bit of kindness outside of her team. Tired, hurting, and feeling unwanted, she trailed behind everyone as the crew piled in the lift, aware of the fact that Vi was watching her with a frown on her face.

  In her dorm, later that night, she stared out the window at the landscape as misery set in. Vi had been reluctant to leave her alone, but Lori had insisted that she was fine. Vi had set up a date with the least fuckheaded of the fuckheads on their crew and was going to let him buy her a few drinks. That Vi had cared enough to offer to stay was more than enough. It wasn’t her fault that Lori hated it there.

  A tear trickled down her cheek, and she angrily wiped it away. She had thought she was over the crying. She had let the crew get to her. Even Vi’s loyalty to her as they worked side by side hadn’t been enough to make her forget just how apart she was from everyone else. She was, as her crewmate had crudely pointed out, a pleasure girl. She was never going to fit in there. Well, fuck them all.

  She hated the mining colony, the miles of nothing but red, barren rock, and the assholes who mocked her all throughout her shift. Above it all, she hated that she had been suckered into working there for a pie in the sky promise that she wouldn’t have even seriously considered had her ex, Kris, not kicked her to the curb for a Zentari female days after she became unemployed. He had moved out—because no human woman could compete with luminous nipples and a glowing sex—leaving her with their apartment that was impossible to pay on a single income if she had even had one. It had made the allure of following her dreams to a pleasure planet even stronger, just to get away from the embarrassment.

  Lori sniffed and wiped away another tear, cursing bitterly. “Fuck!”

  Because of him, and the recruiter’s dodgy games that withheld important facts about this assignment, she was
in literal hell where everyone hated her.

  She was still muttering to herself about lousy assholes who follow their dicks to fluorescent pastures and lying recruiters when a loud rumbling outside made her freeze. It was followed by a rattling, barking sound that sounded like a velociraptor straight out of the fifty-third Jurassic Park movie she had seen just months before signing on with Darvel. Every muscle locked in place as she stared into the harsh, barely illuminated landscape on the other side of her window. She couldn’t see much, just more of that red desert that faded into darkness the further it got away from the lights around the colony dome. Still, she swore she saw a faint whip-like motion dotted with a speckling of pale lights before it disappeared.

  Lori tried to tell herself that it was only her imagination, but the sound was too real, too animalistic to have been a product of her imagination. Spending most of her life growing up in the city with little in the way of wildlife, she had never heard of anything of the like before in her entire life. Settling uneasily into her bunk, she stared out of the viewscreen and prepared for a sleepless night.

  Chapter 6

  The heavy stomp of boots filled the tunnel, an echoing drumbeat as the crew hustled to their assigned stations for the day. Although it was accompanied with plenty of banter and conversation, Lori straggled in silence at the back, smiling at Vi’s random observations—often at the expense of fellow crewmates who were still giving Lori the cold shoulder—spoken in a low voice.

  Ah, another day in the mines.

  For five days, they had been working tirelessly, and outside of Vi’s bright presence it had been the most miserable experience in Lori’s life. She consoled herself that there were just two more shifts and then she would be able to enjoy her week off rotation.