blurred.”
“And where did you see it?”
“It come in from the south during an Naphillian Eclipse while I was in the Six O’Clock Field.” He squirmed uncomfortably in a chair much larger than he was. “More felt it pass than saw it, point of fact.”
“And did it leave a trail?”
“Hellgosh yes. More like a plough furrow. At the town end of that trail, they found a big splash of O Positive where See-The-Hinder-Parts-Of-God Raffaele had bin, and that same day a new headstone with his name come up in the South End Yard—”
“And at the Chasm end?”
The boy looked up at Asahara suspiciously. “Trail didn’t end at the Chasm,” he said. “Ended at Dispater Crater, one kilometre outside City limits.”
It was nerve-racking to have to operate the PanScanner. It left her only one hand to operate the carbine, in the use of which she’d only ever had one mandatory lesson. Still, the carbine fired rounds that were guaranteed to stop a charging New Earth mantagator dead in its complete lack of tracks. This was admittedly due to the fact that the only prospector deaths attributable to animal attack had happened in the unfortunate Mantagator Swamp Incident of Year 2230 Old Calendar, but the weapon was comforting nonetheless. Adeti wondered if it would penetrate human flesh.
Some of the team, mostly the men, had stopped wearing EVA suits, wanting to be able to move and react quickly when whatever might charge over the ten-metre horizon at them. Some, mostly the women, had kept their suits on, on the grounds that they might give them some limited protection against whatever.
“The crater was probably produced by a stray ring particle,” commented Wong, who still had his suit on. “Probably no more than a speck of ice travelling fast. There’s not much atmosphere here, must have blasted clean through and impacted.”
“Must have blasted clean through and tunnelled ,” corrected Adeti. “Ultrasound shows a hollow chamber right under the surface.” She kicked gently at the sand underfoot. It shifted to reveal a dull alloy hatch cover, with the legend PEARLYGATE VACUUM DOOR CO, PORT YUM CAX, CERES.
Adeti relaxed with a long outbreath. She had not dared admit even to herself, until this moment, that she had feared she might be facing a genuine devil.
“So we’re looking for a human being,” said Wong.
“Or a non-human that used what it could get its hands on,” said Adeti. “From off the last ship that landed.” She moved the ultrasound closer to the hatch. “This is just a fire door, a precautionary measure. The air on the other side’s the same pressure as this.”
“So are we going through it?” said Shankar nervously, eyeing the hatch.
“No fear! No, we’re going to rig a charge to blow if anyone opens the hatch. That’s what prospectors are good at, laying charges. Not being tunnel rats.”
“We could drop charges down the hole.”
“But it—uh, the alleged Devil—might not be in the tunnel when we blow it. And then we’ll have let it know what we know, without gaining anything.” She nodded to Wong. “Rig the hatch to blow.”
“How much? A hundred grammes will take out anything human inside a hundred metres. I have a kilo.”
“A kilo sounds good.”
Wong looked down from the edge of the crater, rubbing his feet in the dirt. “There are shoe imprints here, chief. Looks like the children come down here to play Devil Take The Spaceman.”
Adeti scowled and ground her teeth together. “Rig the hatch to blow.”
“My Dad says the Devil’s going to take all of you.” The boy’s eyes were not aggressive, only unsettlingly certain. My Dad says it, so it must be true.
“How do you feel about that, Magus?”
“Sad. There’ll be no-one to play ball with any more.”
The wall was full of trees, a beech forest, big-boughed, the sky above it speckled with leaves. Some of the children would not enter the Prospecting ship without a projection of
“And where did you see it?”
“It come in from the south during an Naphillian Eclipse while I was in the Six O’Clock Field.” He squirmed uncomfortably in a chair much larger than he was. “More felt it pass than saw it, point of fact.”
“And did it leave a trail?”
“Hellgosh yes. More like a plough furrow. At the town end of that trail, they found a big splash of O Positive where See-The-Hinder-Parts-Of-God Raffaele had bin, and that same day a new headstone with his name come up in the South End Yard—”
“And at the Chasm end?”
The boy looked up at Asahara suspiciously. “Trail didn’t end at the Chasm,” he said. “Ended at Dispater Crater, one kilometre outside City limits.”
It was nerve-racking to have to operate the PanScanner. It left her only one hand to operate the carbine, in the use of which she’d only ever had one mandatory lesson. Still, the carbine fired rounds that were guaranteed to stop a charging New Earth mantagator dead in its complete lack of tracks. This was admittedly due to the fact that the only prospector deaths attributable to animal attack had happened in the unfortunate Mantagator Swamp Incident of Year 2230 Old Calendar, but the weapon was comforting nonetheless. Adeti wondered if it would penetrate human flesh.
Some of the team, mostly the men, had stopped wearing EVA suits, wanting to be able to move and react quickly when whatever might charge over the ten-metre horizon at them. Some, mostly the women, had kept their suits on, on the grounds that they might give them some limited protection against whatever.
“The crater was probably produced by a stray ring particle,” commented Wong, who still had his suit on. “Probably no more than a speck of ice travelling fast. There’s not much atmosphere here, must have blasted clean through and impacted.”
“Must have blasted clean through and tunnelled ,” corrected Adeti. “Ultrasound shows a hollow chamber right under the surface.” She kicked gently at the sand underfoot. It shifted to reveal a dull alloy hatch cover, with the legend PEARLYGATE VACUUM DOOR CO, PORT YUM CAX, CERES.
Adeti relaxed with a long outbreath. She had not dared admit even to herself, until this moment, that she had feared she might be facing a genuine devil.
“So we’re looking for a human being,” said Wong.
“Or a non-human that used what it could get its hands on,” said Adeti. “From off the last ship that landed.” She moved the ultrasound closer to the hatch. “This is just a fire door, a precautionary measure. The air on the other side’s the same pressure as this.”
“So are we going through it?” said Shankar nervously, eyeing the hatch.
“No fear! No, we’re going to rig a charge to blow if anyone opens the hatch. That’s what prospectors are good at, laying charges. Not being tunnel rats.”
“We could drop charges down the hole.”
“But it—uh, the alleged Devil—might not be in the tunnel when we blow it. And then we’ll have let it know what we know, without gaining anything.” She nodded to Wong. “Rig the hatch to blow.”
“How much? A hundred grammes will take out anything human inside a hundred metres. I have a kilo.”
“A kilo sounds good.”
Wong looked down from the edge of the crater, rubbing his feet in the dirt. “There are shoe imprints here, chief. Looks like the children come down here to play Devil Take The Spaceman.”
Adeti scowled and ground her teeth together. “Rig the hatch to blow.”
“My Dad says the Devil’s going to take all of you.” The boy’s eyes were not aggressive, only unsettlingly certain. My Dad says it, so it must be true.
“How do you feel about that, Magus?”
“Sad. There’ll be no-one to play ball with any more.”
The wall was full of trees, a beech forest, big-boughed, the sky above it speckled with leaves. Some of the children would not enter the Prospecting ship without a projection of
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