The Hole Story

  Chapter Three

  I don't know how long we slept, having no way to judge the passing of time, but even though I woke up well-rested I was stiff and sore. Neola didn't complain but she gave me an anti-inflammatory pill and took one herself. We breakfasted and restocked our water.

  Neola was excited. "Let's do some exploring."

  I shook my head. "I don't think we have any time to spare. You don't want Zyla to catch us, do you?"

  That got her moving. She satisfied her curiosity by poking around in some cupboards near the exit. She found some pairs of curved metallic devices, about an inch thick, with straps and hoses dangling from them. "What are these things?" She pushed an inset button and the thing started buzzing. I was about to tell her to quit fooling around when the answer came to me in a flash. They were shoulder pads. I took the thing from Neola, held the open end of the hose under my nose and inhaled. No smell, but it was refreshing. "Take one," I told her. "They're oxygen units. They concentrate the oxygen in the air and blow it up your nose. Not as good as a pressure suit but they should get us to the top."

  Neola looked at me with narrowed eyes. "How do you know all that?"

  I shrugged. "I'm not sure how, it just came to me when I saw them. But that's all that came to me." I helped her put a set on and she helped me with mine. I stashed a few more in the pack. "We might need them higher up."

  She gave a slight shrug and put in some gloves, knitted hats, and a couple of coats. "We might need these too. Let's go."

  The value of the units was apparent when we got outside. We set out strong and fast, without breathing hard and without taking any altitude pills. A couple of hours later I was glad Neola had grabbed those gloves and headcovers. I thought the ear flaps looked goofy, but they were warm and welcome over my stinging ears. I kept them on. My jumpsuit still kept me warm but Neola put on a coat.

  The thin, cold air was very clear. Neola's eyes remained open so wide I thought for sure she was going to get eyebrow cramps. When we stopped to eat I thought we were higher than the river where it poured over the edge a couple of miles away. From our position around the curve it was evident that in the past the canyon had a much greater volume of water flowing through it.

  When we had climbed as high as some of the mountaintops we started to encounter frost on the railings and rock. Some of the steps became quite slippery but that didn't worry me very much until we came to sections with the handrail missing.

  "Maintenance hasn't been up here for ages. Stay close to the wall and step carefully." Following Neola's advice, we made it past the dangerous sections without mishap.

  As we climbed I was amazed how much larger the sunlights had grown since I first saw them. While my feet slogged on my mind gnawed at the problem. I figured it had to be because the sunlights were not in orbit. They were much closer, which meant they were connected somehow to the landmass I was on, whatever that was. Vague memories stirred on the other side of a veil. I couldn't see them but I knew they were there.

  The inclined trail we were on ended abruptly at a huge scar in the rock. Neola said, "This is fresh. See the sharp edges and the darker color. That chunk of rock we saw fall yesterday came from right here."

  I saw what she was talking about and something more. I pointed. "There and there, scorch marks, and splashes of slag. That rock was blasted."

  She nodded. "It was certainly not an accident. All the more reason to push on."

  "But the trail ends here."

  Neola laughed at me. "The stairs end here, but not the trail. Any kid from the Hole could climb a rock face like that before she reached puberty. The climb is only a couple of hundred feet and it's rough with lots of handholds." She pointed. "And it's not even vertical. Give me the pack and just put your hands and feet where I put mine." She laughed, then added, "And if you should get scared, remember not to look down."

  Her tone of voice sounded like she was giving advice to a child. I resented it but I let her have her little dig because I was rather nervous. I followed her lead and we climbed with no trouble. I did not look down.

  We abruptly came to a large level area, the most flatness I'd seen since I woke up yesterday. I was glad to get away from the edge but Neola shrank back from the expanse as though it was unnatural, which I found amusing, considering her fearlessness regarding heights, but I refrained from commenting.

  Neola turned around and said, "Wow." When I turned around I echoed her statement, not only because the view was spectacular and beautiful, but because in that instant I knew I had seen this view before.

  The immense, round Hole pierced this world. It was surrounded by mountains higher than we were. Those across from us were brightly lit, though the sunlights were pointing down. Neola soaked it in, eyes wide, mouth slack.

  My teeth clenched as I tried to remember more. "I've been here before. I was standing here, like this, and then..."

  "Then what?"

  I massaged my forehead as I tried to remember. "I turned around. I had to tell him."

  "Tell who? And what did you have to tell him?'

  "I can't remember. "I turned around and pointed. "I went through that door." There was a door and a row of windows I hadn't noticed before. I stared at the door. I felt Neola watching me.

  "What's inside?"

  I shook my head. "I don't remember at all." I looked up at the sunlights. They were huge and bright, and I could feel their heat fighting the chill in the air. I could tell they were only mirrors, though what kind of tractor beams or force fields stabilized them, I couldn't even guess. I wondered what they were made of.

  "Look, up there." Neola pointed into the space left by the missing mirror. I saw a flash of light, whether a beam or a reflection, I couldn't tell, but my sense of urgency quadrupled.

  "Come on," I said. Neola followed me to the door, which opened when I manipulated the switch. No surprise that it was another airlock. I shut off the shoulderpads and unclipped the tube from my nose.

  When the door cycled open I was struck by deja vu. I strode forward confidently. I knew there was a control room somewhere ahead, on the right-hand side. I heard voices. Neola froze but I kept walking. It would have made more sense to be cautious but I hurried along regardless. There, through that door. I pushed the button and stepped into the room.

  Six people, wearing gray jumpsuits like my own, turned to look at me, all of them shocked into speechless immobility. One of them, a pretty brunette woman, slightly shorter than the rest, stepped forward. "Tal?"

  That was my name. The single syllable unleashed a flood of association. Memories poured into my consciousness, spread out, filling my mind. "Vaya." I held out my arms and she came into them. I felt dizzy. I was holding the woman I loved. We squeezed each other hard and then we kissed. After a long, blissful moment we separated, both breathless.

  I leaned on a chair and Vaya composed herself. "I thought you were dead. Ved said you fell accidentally. We didn't believe him, but I don't think he cared, and it did make us more cooperative. We didn't want any more such accidents. So what did happen to you?"

  "I can't remember." I shrugged. "I didn't remember anything at first, and I didn't even know my own name until you said it just now." I glanced over my shoulder, saw Neola a few feet behind me. I stepped back so she was beside me. Vaya's eyes flicked to her, then back to me. I read the question in them.

  I said, "Neola here saved me, and when I woke up she helped me get up here." I took Vaya's hand. "When you called my name, that's when my memories started coming back. The last thing I remember was my intention to confront Ved about something important."

  Vaya nodded. "You were going to tell him that he couldn't take the mirrors, that it would be illegal because we detected signs of intelligent life in the hole." She didn't capitalize it like Neola. "He obviously didn't like what you had to say." She looked into my eyes, then looked down and shook her head slowly. "I always knew Ved was a money-grabber. Most licensed Scavengers are, but I didn't think he would be s
uch an asshole." She looked up again. "A stun pistol at point-blank range to the head can cause temporary amnesia and totally wipe out the most recent memories. He must have stunned you and tossed you into the hole."

  Neola broke in. "No. I found him on the Net too far from the cliff to have fallen from the edge."

  Vaya shrugged. "So he dropped Tal out of a shuttle pod instead. Either way, he wasn't being friendly. The point is, we have to stop him."

  "How can we do that?" I asked. "Just walk into his ship and take over?"

  She cocked her head slightly, thinking hard. "You may have something there."

  "You're kidding."

  "No. And it might be a whole lot easier than you think. You can't orbit a discworld so Ved had to land the mother ship to conserve energy. He's using the shuttle pods to fold the mirror."

  Discworld. The word opened a deluge of information as my brain tracked down associated memories in a spreading web. This discworld was huge, a couple of light hours in diameter, built and abandoned long ages ago by a long-lived, ultra-advanced race. The Galactic Empire had found it and used it in the distant past, but when the Empire went into decline the technology and resources required to maintain the discworld became too much strain. It was neglected and forgotten until the Empire expanded again. Sometimes technology survived. If it was useful, it was profitable.

  "Ved must have one of those mirrors nearly folded and rolled up by now," Vaya said, cutting into my reverie but launching me into another.

  I remembered how unique the fiber of the mirror was, woven into a tight, lightweight, reflective mesh a fraction of a micron thick. With the proper force field applied it became rigid, holding its shape and position, unmaintained, for decades. Something like that had an extremely high profit potential.

  Neola said, "It's up to us to stop him."

  "But we don't have any weapons," Vaya protested.

  "Sure we do." Neola drew her metal rod and so did I, though more slowly.

  "Contact stun wands?" Vaya snorted.

  Neola shook her head, a tight smile on her lips. "No. Stun whips." With a flick of her wrist she sent the end telescoping out to snick against the wall right beside the door switch fifteen feet away.

  "They'll have to do," Vaya conceded.

  I asked, "Where is the ship?"

  "On the other side of this mountain, about two miles from the back entrance. It's a tough trip over some rough terrain and it's probably not possible to get there on foot without a pressure suit, and Ved took all of ours."

  "I'm sure he was thinking it would keep you all trapped here, but we have oxygen units for four. They're rather primitive but they do the job." I showed them how the pads worked.

  "I don't think we should do anything to upset Ved," said a chubby little guy in the back.

  I fixed him with a stare. "Fine. You can stay here, but before you think about doing anything to interfere with us, think about this; is Ved going to come back here and pick you up before he leaves? Do you really think he wants to take back witnesses to his illegal activity when millions of credits are at stake?"

  He cringed back, shaking his head. Maybe I came down too hard on him but I got through to everybody. I felt personally responsible because I had failed to see Ved for what he was; a vicious scrounger, a looter of ancient technology.

  Vaya touched my arm, bringing me back to the here and now. "Everybody not left behind down here is a loyal member of Ved's crew, but with so many people in the shuttles I'm sure there's only a skeleton crew left aboard the mother ship. They are better armed than we are but our best chance, our last chance, is right now." She held up a set of the shoulder pads. "We have one more oxygen unit. Who wants to join us?"

  A tall, blond, muscular youth immediately held up his hand and stepped forward, looking at me as though I should know him. And I did. He identified himself as Alvin. I recognized him as a bright and resourceful newcomer on his first voyage. I nodded my approval.