The Season of Passage

  An hour and ten minutes after starting up the canal, they floated at the end of the two-hundred-foot-long rope ladder. Far above, the searchlight they had set in place shone like a midnight star - a star light-years away. Who

  was she fooling? First she would have to make the long climb to the cave. Then she would have to walk the miles back to the Hawk. She could hardly breathe, sitting perfectly still. She was never going to make it. Detonation was in twenty minutes.

  'You first,' Gary said.

  She shook her head. 'I don't think so. My ribs are a mess. You go ahead.'

  He shoved the ladder in her face. 'Let's have some spirit, Doc'

  'We don't have much time.'

  'We only have to get around the bend in the cave. Then we'll be safe from the blast. Here - take the ladder and move your ass.'

  Lauren gripped the second rung on the ladder and tried to pull herself upright. Immediately her vision blurred as burning knives stabbed through her side. It was not fair. She was so close!

  'I can't do it!' she cried. 'The pain is too much.'

  Gary squeezed her hand on the rung. He looked at her intently. 'Is that what I'm going to have to tell your sister and Terry? That you quit in the home stretch? Jesus, Doc, you just beat a Martian one on one. What the hell do you want? Nothing should be able to stop you.'

  His last command struck her as so ludicrous that she began to laugh, before her broken ribs complained again. He helped her to her feet.

  She grimaced. 'Just don't go shaking the rope.'

  Gary nodded. 'I'll wait until you reach the top before getting on the ladder.'

  'Do we have time?'

  'We have time.' He took the laser and attached it to a hook on one of the pulleys they had originally used to lower the boat. He hoisted the weapon upward. 'The laser will be

  there when you reach the cave, but not before. If she's near, and she smiles at you with her teeth, blow her head off.'

  Lauren didn't argue with him. Gary swatted her lightly on the butt and she began to climb.

  Pain. All she knew was pain. Mars not only had vampires; it had devils with red-hot pitchforks. They poked her left side every time she raised an arm, either arm. She existed in a universe where death would have been a pleasure. She tried not to breathe. She tried to think of green trees, blue skies, and blue lakes. She mastered each rung individually, playing every mind game she knew to block out her body. Finally she pulled herself over the edge of the cliff and into the cave. There she lay panting on the ground, swallowing another mouthful of blood.

  'No sweat,' she told Gary.

  He started up the ladder. Lauren rolled over and unhooked the laser from the pulley. She slipped the strap over her head. Gary was a distant flickering white dot. 'No sign of Jessica,' she said in her radio. 'How much time to Armageddon?'

  'Fifteen minutes, twenty seconds. All the time in the world.'

  'You're sure?'

  'Yeah. We've nothing to worry about. This bastard planet...'

  Gary didn't finish. Perhaps Mars had finally taken offense to his repeated swearing. Perhaps it was all just rotten coincidence. Olympus Mons shook its fist again.

  The quake threw Lauren against the wall. She heard a surprised cry in her helmet, and then a dangerous silence. She sat up quickly, even before the shaking stopped, and crept to the edge.

  'Gary?' She couldn't see his helmet light. 'Gary?'

  Nothing to worry about.

  'Gary!'

  She heard a faint moan.

  'Are you there, Gary? Please answer me if you can.'

  'Still making house calls, Doc?'

  'Gary! Where are you? I can't see your light.'

  'I'm lying flat on my back on the boat. I fell. Was there another quake?'

  'Yes.'

  'Oh, no,' he muttered.

  Tidal wave!

  She raised the reception on her vocals. There it was - the far-off roar of a mountain of water crashing from the bowels of the world.

  'You've got to get up!' she cried. 'A wave's coming. Get on the ladder.'

  'My arm's broken. I think the bone's gone through the skin. I know what you mean about pain, Doc'

  'I'll come down and get you. Hold on.'

  'No! That would be foolish. Shine the searchlight on me. I'll find the ladder.'

  Lauren caught him in the beam. He rolled from his back onto his belly and crawled like a horse with polio. The thunder of the tsunami grew. 'Do hurry,' she whispered.

  As Gary straightened and took hold of the ladder, she saw the gross disfigurement of his left arm. Below the elbow, it twisted away from his body at a thirty-degree angle, and hung useless. Yet he begun to climb nevertheless, in the way a small bug tries to climb a tall wall moments after being wounded by an old shoe. His progress was miserably slow at best.

  'Is there anything I can do?' she asked a minute later, when he stopped on a rung and showed no sign of going on. The fury of the tidal wave was almost on them.

  'Tell me I'm the most handsome astronaut in the solar system.'

  'There's none like you, on any of the planets,' she said.

  'Tell me you would have married me if I'd had a steady job.'

  'I would marry you. I love you. Please hurry, Gary!'

  'Yeah, I'm climbing to the top, babe.' He coughed. 'To the top.'

  He moved up another couple of rungs, but then was forced to rest again. The wave was too fast for a cripple. Lauren watched as the water began to recede up the canal. Foam swelled in the black chasm.

  'It's coming!' she cried.

  'I know,' Gary said in resignation. He stood unmoving on the ladder. 'Get away from the edge, Lori.'

  'I'm not leaving you!'

  'The water could reach as high as you. Please move back. Under my bed, in a blue binder, I have extensive notes on the Hawk's controls. Read them carefully. You're going home, Lori.'

  Within the narrow area of visibility created by the searchlight anchored at the edge of the cliff, a white-maned monster swelled. The ground beneath Lauren's feet shook and instinctively she found herself turning and fleeing up the cave.

  'Gary!' she screamed.

  'I'm thinking of you, Lori,' he said.

  Lauren was two dozen strides into the cave when a thick hand of compressed air slapped her on the back and knocked her to the floor. An invisible hurricane of noise and wind and rain swept around her.

  Then there was a deadly hush. The wave had passed.

  'Gary?' she said. 'Gary?'

  There was no answer. Of course there was no answer.

  Lauren stumbled back toward the edge and began to weep, the tears draining the last few drops of moisture from her parched system, washing over a hard lump inside that she knew would never dissolve, not even if she cried to the end of time. She reached the edge and found the searchlight shattered. All was dark. All was silent. She could see nothing. There was nothing. Gary was dead.

  'The most handsome astronaut in the whole solar system,' she said, and sniffed. 'But I wish you had been a librarian.'

  Alone. Forever alone. Or so she thought.

  Mars had not finished with her yet.

  There were footsteps behind her, loud footsteps. Lauren whirled and reached for the laser. She could see nothing, but she heard a voice, another ghost in the never-ending nightmare.

  'Lauren,' it said.

  TWENTY-NINE

  'Jessie?' Lauren whispered. The outline of someone or something moved toward her. It was only an outline. The voice that had spoken her name sounded devoid of life. Lauren aimed the laser. 'Tell me if that's you. Jessie?'

  The shadow paused. 'It's me, Lauren.'

  It was Jessica. Lauren felt no relief. Jessica sounded like a zombie. Lauren braced herself against the wall, the long black drop to the canal only a foot to her left. Lauren had come down into the dark to save Jessica, but she swore if Jessica so much as winked at her funny she would blow her in two.

  Eight minutes to detonation.

  Lauren
knew she was dead. But there were worse things - such as welcoming the third expedition.

  'Jessie,' Lauren said. 'I want you to stay where you are. You are not to come any closer.'

  'Has something happened, Lauren?'

  Jessica's voice remained flat and monotone, but now Lauren hesitated. Jessica had been incoherent following Jim's death. Maybe she was merely in shock now, induced by only God knew what had happened to her in the pit. Jessica took a step closer.

  'Don't move!' Lauren ordered. 'Stay where you are.'

  Jessica halted. 'Is that a gun?'

  'Yes.'

  "They don't work.'

  'This one does.'

  Jessica considered the answer for ages. 'I want to talk to you.'

  'We can talk,' Lauren said. 'I'd like to talk. What have you been doing since I saw you last?'

  'I was with Bill. You know. Have you seen Bill?'

  'No.'

  'But I left him...' Jessica didn't finish.

  'Why did you leave? Did you take Hummingbird?

  'I wanted to be with you, Lauren. You and Gary. Where is Gary?'

  'He's dead.'

  'Oh,' Jessica said, as if she had just been told who had won the 1992 World Series. She stepped toward Lauren once more.

  'Stay!' Lauren commanded. Jessica ignored her. She walked to the edge of the cliff, on the opposite side of the cave from Lauren, to where the tips of her boots poked out over the canal. She looked in the direction of the invisible island.

  'Do you know where Bill is?' Jessica asked. 'I have to talk to him.'

  'I don't know where he is.'

  Jessica stiffened. She appeared to come out of her trance. 'How come you didn't bring him back with you?'

  Lauren had no answer. Jessica took a large step closer.

  'Where is he?' Jessica demanded.

  'Stay where you are!'

  'What have you done with him?'

  'Stay,' Lauren said. She had to see Jessica's eyes, without actually looking into them. Their eyes were always weird.

  But Jessica had her helmet light off, which was not an encouraging sign.

  How could she possibly see in the dark? She must be one of them.

  'Did you kill him?' Jessica asked bitterly.

  'Listen to me, Jessie. Things have changed. Gary's dead. Jim's dead. Do you understand me? Please tell me that you do. Bill's changed.'

  Lauren stopped. Jessica was smiling now, back on cloud nine. Her mouth was open and Lauren could see her teeth. They looked bigger, Lauren was pretty sure they did.

  Jessica sighed with pleasure. 'He's changed, yes. He's been sweet to me, like old times. He came to me last night, while I was sleeping. I invited him into me.'

  Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will! Bill must have been in their room last night. But that was impossible. Lauren knew she hadn't fallen asleep, even for a minute. Then she remembered that Jessica had risen briefly in the night to use the restroom. Bill must have got her then.

  'What did he do to you?' Lauren asked. She was a fucking astronaut; she didn't need to hear shit like this. God, she felt like throwing up. Jessica smiled and touched her suit near the neck.

  'A little pinch and then, sweet,' Jessica said. 'He said it would be warm and sweet.' She nodded. 'My Mom told me to save it for one man, and I did. I saved it for Bill.'

  Lauren shifted her helmet - and the light on top of it -and strained to get a better picture of Jessica. Her old friend winced as the light crossed her face, and moved aside. But before she did, Lauren thought she saw a messy red mark on Jessica's throat.

  / don't need this shit, I really don't.

  'What did he do to you?' Lauren whispered.

  'He kissed me. He said I was his bride. He kissed me till I was bleeding and I liked it. I loved it, Lauren. I loved him sucking on me. I loved it dripping down my neck and over my...'

  'Shut up!' Lauren cried.

  Jessica fell silent, and went rigid again, except for her face, where there now crawled a spirit of pure loathing. Her lips pulled back over her teeth and stayed there as if they were pinned with needles.

  Lauren sobbed. 'Oh, God, he drank your blood. Shit. Shit!'

  'He never hurt me!' Jessica shrieked. 'He never hurt nobody! You think he killed Jim, but that's a lie! A devil's lie! Of course he came and sucked me. I'm his woman!'

  Lauren roused herself and her weapon. Jessica was moving closer again. Ten feet. Eight feet. 'Stop,' Lauren snapped.

  'You are a bitch! I saw you sleeping with Gary. I heard you plotting to kill my man.'

  'One more step and I'll shoot,' Lauren said. 'I swear it.'

  Jessica reached out her arms, reaching for her. 'Where's Bill?'

  Lauren breathed. 'No closer, Jessie.'

  'Where is he, Lauren?' Five feet.

  Lauren shook her head. 'No.'

  'Where is he, bitch?' Four feet.

  'I don't know!'

  Jessica was about to touch the tip of the laser. 'You murdered him!'

  'Don't make me,' Lauren pleaded, pressing her back against the damp wall.

  'Murdering harlot!'

  'No, Jessie!'

  Jessica lunged. Lauren pulled the trigger. The fire came,

  a cracking bolt of red thunder. It went through Jessica's body like a knife going through soft butter. Jessica was instantly sliced in two. Lumps of steaming flesh splattered the walls of the cave. Jessica's two main sections teetered at the edge of the cliff for a moment, as if held together by invisible threads, or a will that refused to die. Then the pieces toppled and were gone. Far away there came two distinct splashes. Lauren briefly glanced at the cindered intestines that lay scattered at her feet. She also noticed, without much interest, that the laser had torn away a chunk of the wall. Splintered fragments of stone mixed in with the gore, smoking faintly. Still, Lauren felt no relief. She didn't even feel sick anymore. She just felt cold and empty.

  Jessie. My friend Jessie.

  Four minutes to detonation.

  Lauren fell to her knees and began to pray.

  'I love you, Jenny. I'm sorry I won't be coming home. I'm sorry I won't be there to watch you grow up. Things just didn't work out for me this time. Things just went bad, real bad. I should never have left you. Jenny, promise me that you will never forget...'

  Lauren sprang to her feet.

  Quickly she backed away from the edge.

  A gloved hand had suddenly appeared at the top of the rope ladder.

  The dead seemed so alive.

  Her terror was complete. It led beyond reason, into the easy to find but difficult to leave sanctuary called madness. She watched without the strength or the will to use the laser's last charge as a second gloved hand appeared.

  This one was covered with blood.

  THIRTY

  There should have been nothing to comprehend. The thing that was emerging was coming out of a place where neither the living or the dead could exist. The hands were followed by a helmeted head. Lauren did not move. A torso came next, followed by legs and feet. The thing stood in the dark, a black creature devoid of characteristics. It was Ivan. No, it was Bill. Jessica. It was all of them. They were all one, and it didn't matter that the books had different names for them. Ghouls and succubi and werewolves - they were always hungry and thirsty.

  Lauren finally broke from her paralysis and dropped to one knee, steadying the laser on the middle of her thigh. She aimed for the heart and pulled the trigger.

  Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing. Then she realized: she was holding the same laser she had used on Ivan. The president had said there were only three shots to a clip. They had never recharged the gun, and by chance, Jim had chosen this particular laser to be their ace in the hole. What a fuckup.

  Lauren turned and ran, or at least she tried to run. The floor was wet and slippery, and her knee was shot. She slipped and fell. The thing behind her took a step toward her. It was the oldest of all nightmares - the monster at her

 
back and she the victim unable to run away. Cringing into a shivering ball, finally giving up, she knew that if she pinched herself she wouldn't wake up on Earth. The creature took another step toward her.

  It didn't attack her, however, and it made Lauren wonder. She raised her head and glanced over her shoulder. Still the dripping figure made no hostile move. It was injured. Its left arm was horribly twisted.

  'Gary?' Lauren whispered.

  He groaned, then fell to the floor.

  'Gary!' she cried.

  She jumped up and knelt to cradle his head in her arms. He grimaced as he tried to smile, but he had not lost his sense of humor. 'Surf's up, Doc,' he mumbled.

  'Gary, you're supposed to be dead. But you're alive!'

  'If only I'd had my board.'

  In the light of her helmet, she could see that his thermal underwear beneath his pressure suit was soaked red. 'Your poor arm - I've got to stop the bleeding.'

  'No,' he said weakly. He tried to rise. 'The time?'

  She had forgotten about the bomb. 'We have three minutes. Can you travel?'

  He nodded. 'We've got to get around the bend in the cave.'

  Leaning on each other for support, they limped away from the edge of the cliff. They had gone less than two hundred yards when they discovered Hummingbird, parked with its nose pointed toward the canal. Moaning in pain, Gary fell in the passenger's seat. Lauren jumped behind the controls.

  Two minutes to detonation.

  In order to turn Hummingbird around, she realized, they had to fly back out over the canal. Calling upon her hours of training in an abandoned parking lot outside of Houston,

  Lauren activated the jets beneath the hovercraft and gripped the steering control that stuck like an oversized manual stickshift directly in front of her. The power to the jets was regulated by an ordinary foot pedal. Hummingbird bobbed off the ground and floated forward. Gary mumbled something that she didn't make out. Perhaps it had been a warning, for as soon as they floated past the edge of the cliff, Hummingbird began to sink, slowly at first, and then like a rock.

  Lauren realized in an instant what had happened. Once they had left the ground behind, they had lost the added buoyancy of their trapped air cushion. As the black water rushed to meet them, she floored the foot pedal. It was well she did. For several seconds a powerful spray shot out all around them. Then they began to rocket toward the ceiling. Lauren quickly took her foot off the pedal and turned the craft around before they could begin to fall again. She applied medium power to the jets, and let Hummingbird settle in midair just beyond the end of the cave.