Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Read online

  Her only plan was to eat the junk food she had managed to find at the store. The selection had been pitiful, but the black licorice whips and insta-activated popcorn, that was ready to pop at a touch to the small chip wired into the expandable heating bag, were the treats she was looking forward to. Hopefully with whatever vid she managed to uplink to if she got a strong enough signal from any of the nearby interplanetary satellite stations. If that failed, she still had several novels readily available in her storage account that she had downloaded into her datapad the moment she had been able to uplink.

  If all went well, she would be spending her week forgetting all about her shitty assignment. She even had some cheap vodka, just in case. She was prepared for any sort of entertainment to pass the week, and none of it involved leaving her dorm except to shuffle over to the employee cafeteria and grab her rations. Thankfully, those were available even on her off weeks, so she wasn’t forced to go far. She just had to get through two more days.

  Stone crunching under boots, her drill weighed on her shoulder as she made her way through the tunnel. She couldn’t even pretend to have any energy left. Everything hurt, and the crew leader, Garris, was tasked with making rounds through their assigned section and make sure everyone stayed on track. More than once she had the misfortune of stopping and lowering her drill to ease the ache from her shoulder only for it to happen within his view. His disapproving frown was now imprinted on her memory as he marked points against her. Her points had racked up to an hour of wages that would go unpaid.

  At least she wasn’t going to get any points added for not starting on time. They had been working the same spot all week, and so she knew the way well enough to keep up easily with Vi and Eddie despite the ache in every joint and the burn in her lungs. It was some consolation that Vi was likewise struggling, and it wasn’t just her being weak. She didn’t know how she would have faced that humiliation. But Vi, despite being in better overall physical condition than Lori, was also showing signs of struggling to breathe, a sheen of sweat already visible on her face despite the fact that they hadn’t even started yet.

  It was going to be a long and miserable two days.

  Striding at her side, Vi gave her a cocky grin. “I really have to hand it to Darvel for finding the worst places to possibly ever send humans to work.”

  Lori snorted and skirted around a stalagmite. “It wouldn’t be a problem if they would just send droid workers down like we do on Earth.”

  Vi’s laughter brought a smile to her face. Over the last week she had become increasingly more comfortable with her “danger buddy,” as Vi liked to affectionately call their pairing.

  “And spend millions of credits on manufacturing, replacing, and shipping droids? Come on, Corp is too damn cheap for that. For all that the colony is run by representatives of United Earth’s military, we both know that any expenditures are on the Corp, and they are tight-fisted as fuck.”

  Eddie chuckled, his drill thrown effortlessly on his shoulder in a way that made Lori jealous. How did he even do that? The thing had to weigh a ton. She barely managed hers.

  Removing a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped down his face—literally the only sign that he was as remotely as under strain as they were—and grinned.

  “Oh, you should have seen this place back in the day. I wasn’t in the first group who arrived, but I was among one of the early groups shipped here. Most of these tunnels we had to widen ourselves with tunnellers lowered on the lift through the main shaft. There were plenty of hours where Dave and I had to stop to break out rock that came loose and got stuck in the gears. Never once saw a droid, even to help clear the larger pieces of rubble. What few droids we had were all kept above to help out the blue-collars on the surface.”

  Lori’s eyebrows flew up. “You and Dave were danger buddies?”

  His smile widened as usual at their phrase, and he nodded. “That we were. We were teamed with Kendricks, who had arrived during the exploratory phase. He had some whopper stories of hearing shit in the mines and even swore he saw something when we were breaking through some of the lower tunnels—tunnels that are currently closed due to too many strange happenings,” he added as he shifted his eyes playfully as if he were spooked.

  Vi laughed loudly at his antics, but Lori struggled to maintain her smile. It was hard to make light of it when the sounds she heard—that same rhythmic hissing and growling—plagued her every shift. Worse, at times she swore she almost heard words, as if someone were speaking to her or about her.

  The noises had been the cause of more than a few points added to that week’s employment card. She tried to ignore them, but when they became louder and more persistent, she hadn’t been able to resist turning off her drill and peering into the depths of the crevice. She had even started hearing it in her dreams and more than once woke up in a cold sweat when her imagination supplied horrible creatures that crawled out to attack her.

  “Why aren’t you with them anymore?” she asked curiously.

  Eddie’s smile faltered for the first time since she met him. His lips pressed in a thin line, and he shook his head.

  “Kendrick died,” he said grimly. “We don’t know what happened. He went down a tunnel we had cut into one of the lower caves—this happened, oh, about a month before your arrival—and he didn’t make it back out.” His eyes shifted over to them, his expression grim. “Dave and I, we heard him scream. It was the worst sound I ever heard. I’ve heard a lot of screams due to injuries with equipment and bad falls. It was nothing like that. Every hair on my body rose. We hurried down the tunnel after him, but he was gone. Just his helmet remained on the cavern floor and a smear of blood.”

  Lori gaped at him in horror.

  “Bullshit!” Vi snorted. “Come on, Eddie. Quit trying to scare us.”

  The corners of his lips quirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He looked away and shrugged again.

  “Believe that if you like. Dave wasn’t the same after that and got transferred to another area. He works in the upper mines. I believe he’s due to get his own ‘danger buddies’ on the next crew arrival. I decided to stay where I was. I’m familiar with this part of the cave but Corp, for all their faults, became a lot more insistent on working in teams to prevent any further… accidents.”

  “What do you think happened?” Lori whispered.

  Vi rolled her eyes. “Come on, Lor,” she groaned, shortening Lori’s already short name even further. “Don’t tell me you’re buying into this shit.”

  Lori shot her a disgruntled look that had nothing to do with her new nickname. She’d had four days to get used to it ever since Vi decided that Lori was a bit of a mouthful and affectionally gifted her with a new one. She didn’t mind. What she did mind was that her friend wasn’t taking the idea of a threat to their safety seriously enough.

  “I don’t know what I believe, but I know that the caves scared me even though I’m forced to be in them day after day. And I know that we’ve been told there’s dangerous wildlife.”

  Eddie nodded. “That there is. You hear all manners of wildlife of night—or at least you were able to before they banned unauthorized departures from the dome after sundown. Dave, Kendrick, and I heard stuff that turned our blood cold. I’m figuring there is some sort of animal living down here with a taste for our flesh.”

  “Okay, that may be,” Vi conceded. “But no one is going to convince me that there are ghoulish beasts disturbed from their rest looking to show up as an alien zombie apocalypse on us.”

  His lips twitched again. “No grand conspiracies or horrors like Dave tells of—I don’t think that even Corp could keep it that good of a secret—but I’m certain there are dangerous, intelligent animals that are best avoided. It is a damn shame that Corp put people on this planet, but there’s not a fat lot of good any of us are really going to be able to do about it. Gold calls, as my daddy used to say.”

  He squinted up as his comm squawked. “Hold on ladies, brace yourselves.�
�

  Lori groaned and gripped a crevice edge, her legs bracing far apart as the cave shook. Her stomach gurgled, and the contents attempt to surge up her throat before she was able to battle the sensation back, though not without getting the sickening aftertaste.

  The excavator.

  It had been down for repairs the first couple of days she was on shift, but the first time she felt it she had nearly screamed in terror, certain that the cave was about to drop and bury her alive as she was thrown onto her ass. She had failed to brace herself properly and had the misfortune of her embarrassment being witnessed by the entire crew. Since then, she had become accustomed to the frequent vibrations from the excavator over the last few days.

  Slapping her hand against the leg of her uniform to knock off some of the dust that could interfere with her grip on her drill, Lori began to walk forward again before Garris could even have the opportunity to complain that she wasn’t moving fast enough.

  Vi nudged her with her shoulder, the jolt making her stumble. The woman grinned over at her, brushing the brown hair that escaped from her long braid back behind her ear.

  “Don’t let the shit Eddie was saying spook you, Lor,” she said quietly. “If anything feels weird, though, shout over to me. I got your back. I know how to deal with Garris.”

  Lori nodded and split off from Vi to trudge over to her assigned section. Taking her place, she glanced over and gave the dark crevice a long, hard look, her throat working.

  There’s nothing there.

  She powered on the drill, her arms cramping slightly as she held them locked against her sides as she was trained to while vibrations pulsed from the drill into the rock. Her muscles screamed, but she ignored it as she narrowed her focus on the wall. A whisper, however, wound its way deep through her ear. It churned in her mind, the hiss rising and lower with guttural sounds and sharp aspirated tones that seemed to work to rearrange in her mind.

  It sounded so close, as if someone was whispering right into her ear and she just couldn’t decipher what they were saying. Slowly she turned her head toward the crevice, her breath shunting in her lungs as her eyes rounded. Glowing yellow eyes stared back at her, the sound growing even louder and more defined with tones she hadn’t heard before. Among them, something connected and drew out as if sighed hungrily.

  “Sweeeeeet… meeeeeat.”

  Lori’s hand slipped when she screamed, sending a dangerously high blast of vibrations at the wall before she dropped her drill and stumbled away. The drill safety powered off on impact, so she didn’t give it another thought. She couldn’t pry her eyes away from the dark void of the crevice even if she wanted to.

  The eyes winked out with a rattling thump, followed by sound of something moving over loose rocks. She drew in a ragged breath, her heart pounding as she stared at the crevice. She could hear booted few rushing toward her, but for the life of her she couldn’t seem to look away.

  Two pairs of hands gripped her and hauled her to her feet, a soft voice murmuring reassuringly to her. Vi and Eddie.

  “It’s okay, Lor. It’s okay,” Vi whispered. “There’s nothing there.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Garris demanded, his own feet clicking over the stone in a hurried stride toward her.

  “Hey, don’t shout at her. She just had the piss scared out of her,” Vi snapped, her posture leaning forward around Lori defensively.

  “Knew it was a mistake for them to have sent a pleasure girl down here,” someone grunted contemptuously. “Seeing things and jumping at her own shadow.”

  Vi’s head whipped around, but Lori didn’t bother to look. She didn’t even care who was saying it. Everyone was undoubtedly thinking it.

  “I wasn’t fucking seeing things,” she snapped. She didn’t look at the speaker but fixed her gaze on Garris. “There was something in there. In that crevice just over there. I’ve been hearing it for days, a hissing … and today…” she shivered. “I swear something said ‘sweet meat.’”

  “Oh, fuck, Lor. Come on, we better get you out of here so you can have a breather,” Vi said. She shot Garris an annoyed look. “Garris isn’t going to say shit about it either, since he wants the people on his shift to not have a fucking nervous breakdown.”

  Garris face reddened but he jerkily stepped aside. “Ten minutes,” he snapped. He lifted his comm. “Ten minutes everyone. Take your damn break now but not a minute more.”

  Lori sagged in relief against Vi and looked over at Eddie. He stared at the floor, kicking some of the stones with the toe of his boot. With one hand, he adjusted the beam on his helmet, and his eyebrows winged up seconds before his head shot up, redirecting the beam at the wall. A glittering vein reflected back, and Lori’s breath caught.

  “Garris, you might want to come and see this!” he shouted after the lead, pride in his voice.

  “What is it now…” Garris muttered, his voice dropping off as he came to a dead stop.

  Eddie glanced back at him, a wide smile on his face. “That would be a nice thick deposit our Lori uncovered. You might want to inform the crew so we can get this out and up to the surface.”

  Garris nodded and lifted his comm.

  “Oh, and don’t forget to mention to the staff above so Lori gets her bonus,” Eddie drawled, his eyes narrowing on their lead.

  Another nod, this one brisker, and Garris strode away, shouting into his comm as he did. The stomp of feet quickly followed as the crew came barreling in. Several low whistles broke from those who were already present as they took a closer look at the wall, and rough hands began to thump her back and scrub over her head.

  She shot an alarmed look at Vi, but her friend winked and mouthed, “Relax.”

  “Good job, kid,” Eddie laughed as the rest of the team arrived and drills powered on.

  It took the rest of the shift to get out even a portion of the ore-laden rock, but Lori, despite being exhausted and aching, was in high spirits. In that state of mind, it was easy to forget the bilious eyes and blame it on a trick of light as the crew offered in friendly suggestion amid their own stories of spooks they experienced. She had a feeling that things were finally at a turning point.

  Chapter 7

  Lori settled back on Vi’s bunk as her friend poured them each a shot of vodka.

  “I can’t believe we’re breaking that open when we have to work tomorrow. I know we’re going to regret it. In fact, I’m hurting so much that I’m already regretting it,” Lori complained.

  Vi laughed and handed her a shot glass. “We are celebrating. A couple of shots to toast your success isn’t going to hurt anything.”

  Returning the smile, Lori accepted the glass and shrugged. “I guess I’m still trying to understand what the big deal is.” The bonus had been deposited by the end of the shift and the number of digits in the credits added to her bank had shocked her silent for a good twenty minutes.

  “I don’t know the details either,” Vi agreed, downing her shot with a little salute. “But I do know what I heard from the rest of the crew. Corp is ecstatic. I mean, shit, it looks like the vein may run deep. They’re even talking of redirecting the excavator through our tunnel to see if they can cut a direct shaft down to it. Everyone is saying that this may be the largest deposit that they’ve found yet. That’s worth celebrating.”

  Lori shook her head in amusement. “Where do you even hear all this?”

  Her friend smirked and poured them each another shot.

  “You know me. I am a friendly sort of person. It makes people chatty.”

  “And do your dates realize that you are trying to weasel information out of them?” Lori teased.

  Vi snickered. “If they are smart, they do. I’m not exactly subtle about it. Sadly, grunts don’t have access to the really good stuff,” she said before she tossed back her shot.

  Lori murmured in agreement as she swallowed her own and grimaced. She waved her hand when Vi tried to pour another.

  “I think that’s it for me. I prefe
r to be able to feel my head firmly attached to my neck when I wake up and not want it severed due to a headache.”

  “Lightweight,” Vi observed, her smile widening as she screwed the lid back on with a regretful look at the bottle. “You’re right, though. We’ll save the serious celebrating for when we’re off rotation. Fuck, I can’t wait!” Vi flopped back to sprawl across the width of the bunk.

  Lips curving, she stacked her hands behind her head and looked over at Lori. “Since we are on the topic of the upcoming rotation…”

  “No, don’t say it,” Lori objected with a laugh. “I have no plans but to lie around in my pajamas, thank you.”

  Vi groaned. “What’s the fun in that? You can’t just abandon me like this!” Her eyes widened, her bottom lip poking out ridiculously, making Lori giggle despite herself. “Come on, Lor, you have to go.”

  Lori rolled her eyes and gave her friend a hard shake, making the other woman erupt with laughter. With a soft exclamation about having lunatic friends, she dug out her package of licorice ropes from her stash with the idea of ferreting out a sweet when the package was yanked out of her hands.

  Staring at the blocky wording on the package that had barely changed in the hundreds of years the candy had been on the market, Vi wrinkled her nose.

  “How the hell can you eat this? I didn’t know that they even still made this putrid shit.”

  Lori snatched it back and immediately shoved a delicious black rope into her mouth. With the lingering sting of vodka, the anise flavor danced on her tongue. “It’s not putrid. It’s a classic, I’ll have you know.”

  Vi let her tongue loll out in an expression of abject disgust. “Not everything ‘classic’ is good. Sometimes they just didn’t know any better—take it from a grunt who was raised on mostly old Earth castoffs. Trust me, that stuff should have gone out with the radio.”

  Lori snickered and stuffed another in her mouth, enjoying the green cast rising in her friend’s cheeks.

  “You’re going to psychologically damage me by making our dorm smell like we’re rooming with my grandfather,” Vi groaned as she picked up the nearest pillow and slapped it over her face.