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"It’s okay," Pablo said "There’s enough slack I can o back"
And just like that, he stepped into the opening on the side of the alien ship and out of Tania’s view All she could see was the long blurred shadow he cast on the ceiling and walls of the cavern as he blocked out so from within
The rope that linked her to Pablo started to pull taut Just when she began to think it oing to pick it up … right … now"
The e the cave into darkness Tania gripped the rope in a fist so tight she felt her nails dig into her palainst her A force, like a concussion wave from a nearby explosion She almost fell The display inside her helmet flickered once, then vanished The static sound of the river coh her suit’s speaker vanished with it, as did the ever-present background noise of her …
… of her air processor Gone
A wave of anxiety swept over her She slipped again, and in her rush to grab hold of the rope she let her gun drop The splash of it in the water sounded far away,in she could hear her own terrified breaths, amplified in the confines of her helmet She could smell her own fear, hear her ownNo scents No light at all Sounds were barely perceptible Even her sense of touch was only what sensation cah the protective suit
All sensation froone
She screaht, possibly inaudible to Pablo or Vanessa Tania did the only thing she could think of and crouched down, suddenly feeling like she was on soh to allow a single cold realization in: The air processor has stopped Her suit was dead, all the electronics shut down, possibly fried beyond repair It took a singular force of will to release one shaking hand from the rope and fumble at the control panel in the center of her chest She tried to picture the layout of the buttons in her an to punch thean to pound her chest
Calm Get a hold of yourself
She hadn’t even realized she’d let go of the rope Utterly blind, she patted the slick rocks around her for it Nothing She extended her hands and felt a subtle change as they entered the water Coldness bit into her fingers and for a fleeting second she thought the liquid had entered her suit But no, it was just the outside environ elements built into the fabric of her outfit She splashed around in the water, felt soripped The rope She pulled it from the river and only then realized it was still wrapped around her waist The realization that she could have found it easily by starting there see of panic in her an to haul in the portion that led to Pablo Or had, at least If the rope pulled in without him and the end, or Vanessa at the other--
She couldn’t allow herself to think that Tania shouted again, at herself this time "Think!"
There were patterns before her eyes, like the bizarre shapes that appeared on the inside of her eyelids if she stole a glance at the sun Her foot began to feel cold and she realized it had slipped into the water
Tania pulled in Pablo’s side of the rope first, and to her horror it kept co easily, just as she feared Any second she expected to find the end, dangling loose Then soht her One strong hand, gripping her by the upper ared froe of her perception Faint, stark hints of cheekbone and jawline Haunted eyes like two e out died in her throat at the sight of those eyes They were terrible and beautiful and …
Pablo’s
He was shouting at her At first she recoiled, sure he’d been transformed somehow by the alien vessel But no, she realized, he was simply lit from below Faintly, yes, but that was all it was She looked down and saw an object cradled in his other arreen lines a hair’s width across covered the surface, eround at her feet was still nothing but inky blackness The triangular object was perfect save for oneexactly with the receptacle she’d seen aboard the ship in orbit
Pablo squeezed her ar Tania reached up and pulled his head to her visor, turning hilass "I can’t hear you! My suit has failed!" Tears welled in her eyes as she said the words
The iuided her by the ar around with the toe of her boot to find a solid place for her weight Twice she slipped and alht--kept her fro the rest of her life in a weightless, frigid oblivion forced her to concentrate
She felt a tugging at her waist and reripped it and gave it a tug in return A second later she felt two quick tugs, which she returned A signal that all’s well It added to her confidence and she took the next few steps round Pablo guided her a few meters onto the pile of rubble that served as a shore and eased her to a sitting position
To her surprise he plopped the alien artifact in her lap and then vanished into the darkness Checking on Vanessa, she supposed Tania ran one hand over the surface of the triangular ers obscured the laserlike green lines
The rope at her waist tugged from Vanessa’s direction, and then the woman was next to her She crouched next to Tania, probably thought she was in shock Tania repeated the technique she’d used with Pablo and pulled Vanessa’s face down to her hellass "I’ainst the glass and shouted back "Understood We need to--"
Red light exploded into the cavern Tania jerked back in surprise as a single, fiery point of light began to float before her in odd lurches She could see s down froency flare, held aloft by Pablo He’d pulled it fro across So their flashlights had failed, too Anything electronic, she guessed, due to sonetic pulse unleashed when the object was picked up
The man came to them and handed a second flare, unlit, to Vanessa Tania saw his lips move Whatever he’d said, Vanessa nodded back and slipped the spare light source into a pocket The two of theu