Obsidian Prey gh-7 Page 4

  "Oh, wow," she said when Cruz brought her to a halt at the doorway of one of the ethereal green quartz towers. "I get to go in through an actual authorized gate? I thought the only people allowed to use the Guild gates were corporate- and academic-sponsored R&D teams that paid top dollar for the privilege. I'm just a small-time independent, remember? Are you sure the Guild honchos know about this?"

  "I'm aware that you don't like the Guild any better than you do Amber Inc.," Cruz said.

  "Mostly because they have always worked hand in hand with AI to monopolize exploration underground and in the jungle, not to mention crush small indies like Dore Tuning & Consulting. Aside from that, I have absolutely nothing against either AI or the Guild."

  "Do you think you could hold back on the sarcasm until we get those five people out of that chamber?"

  "Sorry. Sometimes I just can't help myself."

  "I noticed."

  She gave him another glowing smile, aware that she was feeling downright reckless. Okay, so he hadn't come crawling back on his hands and knees to beg her forgiveness. He was back, and like it or not, he needed her, at least for a short time. As vengeance went, it was pitiful, but it was something.

  They made an odd-looking pair, she thought. She was dressed for the jungle in the jeans and work shirt that she usually wore when she went underground. Cruz had removed his black jacket and tie, but he still had on the black trousers and black shirt he'd worn to the gallery reception. He had not wanted to waste time returning to his town house in a gentrified section of the Quarter to change clothes. But he had replaced his dress shoes with a pair of black leather boots, and he had a pack on his back. Both items had come out of the trunk of the Slider, where they were evidently kept for emergencies. Assassin informal, Lyra thought.

  There were no windows inside the tower room, but the interior green quartz floor, walls, and ceiling glowed gently, just as the outside walls did at night. As far as anyone knew, the aliens had never used any openings other than strictly necessary gates and doors in their aboveground structures. It was as if they had done everything possible to avoid letting sunlight and fresh air into their strangely graceful buildings. As far as the experts could determine, the lush, thriving surface of Harmony, with its fertile valleys, thickly forested mountains, broad rivers, and vibrant oceans, had been toxic to the long-vanished civilization. For the most part, the aliens had lived their lives underground.

  Two ghost hunters guarded the tunnel entrance. They were dressed in the traditional khakis and leather that rank-and-file Guild men favored. The macho attire went with the swagger. They had been lounging against a green wall when Lyra and Cruz walked into the chamber, but they straightened quickly.

  "Mr. Sweetwater," one of the two said, nodding respectfully. "We were told to expect you. The sled is standing by down below. There's an extra locator on board. Anything else you need, sir?"

  "Not at the moment," Cruz said. "This is Miss Dore. She'll be accompanying me to the site."

  "Yes, sir," the second man said. He gave Lyra an appraising survey. "They said you'd be bringing someone who could open that damned ruin."

  "That would be me," Lyra said coolly.

  "Yes, ma'am." The first man eyed Vincent. "That a dust bunny?"

  "Yes," Lyra said. "His name is Vincent."

  The second ghost hunter frowned. "Not sure we're authorized to allow a varmint into the tunnels."

  Lyra narrowed her eyes. "The bunny is with me. He goes where I go."

  Cruz took a locator out of his pocket and checked his amber as he walked past the men. "They're both with me."

  "Yes, sir," both hunters said simultaneously.

  They stepped quickly out of Lyra's path. She made to follow Cruz, Vincent tucked firmly under one arm.

  One of the men spoke behind her.

  "Miss Dore?"

  She paused. "Yes?"

  "Do you really think you can open that amethyst ruin?" he asked. "We've got two good men trapped in there with the research team."

  "Morgan and Estrada," the second man said. "Morgan is a friend. Estrada is my brother-in-law. My sister is in a real panic."

  Their anxiety was genuine, Lyra thought. She gave them an equally genuine smile. "Don't worry; I'll get it open."

  "You think they'll be okay?" the first man said. "There's talk about some weird energy inside that ruin."

  "I've been informed that no one was caught in the entrance when it closed, so unless they've done something really dumb like try to get through the energy field, they should be fine," she said. "I spent a lot of time in that chamber before Amber Inc. and the Guild forced me out. There's nothing inside the ruin that would harm your friends."

  Both men looked relieved.

  "Thanks," the first one said. "Don't mind telling you we've all been damn worried."

  The second one exhaled heavily. "We appreciate what you're doing for us, ma'am."

  "Right," Lyra said. She turned away before either of the two men could remind her of the old Guild saying, "The Guild always repays a favor."

  "The Guild always repays a favor, Miss Dore," the first hunter called after her.

  She winced. "Thanks, but I'll pass on any Guild favors."

  She hurried toward the staircase. Cruz was waiting for her at the top of the glowing green steps. He looked amused.

  "Amber Inc. has the same policy," he said.

  "Excellent. If you want to repay me, you can return the ruin to me." She started down the staircase.

  He ignored the comment and started down the stairs behind her. "You were nice to those two guards," he said. "Thought you said all Guild men were thugs. Sort of like all Amber Inc. people."

  "Amber Inc. is a closely held family business. They don't actively recruit. But the Guilds do. What's more, they focus their efforts on vulnerable young males, seducing them with notions of an adventurous life in the underworld. But the reality is that most ghost hunters are nothing more than bodyguards for the research and excavation teams that go down into the tunnels and the jungle."

  "And Amber Inc.?"

  "The power behind the throne," she said. "For the past fifty years, ever since your grandfather cheated mine out of the Radiance Springs claim, your family has controlled half the SRA production in the four city-states."

  "My grandfather tells the story a little differently."

  "I'm sure he does. But the truth is, AI tolerates wild catters and independents only so long as we don't get in your way or come up with any really spectacular finds. If we do get lucky, you step in and take over. What's more, you have all the connections with the Guilds, the archaeologists, and the government to make it happen legally. On top of that, you keep things in the family. You've never gone public with your stock, so you don't have to explain things to shareholders or follow the usual corporate rules."

  "We don't like the idea of outsiders trying to tell us what to do," Cruz said mildly.

  "Trust me, I know the feeling," she said. "Let's move. It's late, and I've got to be up early in the morning."

  "Appointment with a client?"

  "No, my Harmonic Meditation class."

  "When did you start taking classes in meditation?"

  "Shortly after you told me your real name and walked out the door. I thought the classes would help me deal with the stress and my hostility issues."

  "Any luck?"

  "Let's just say that if you had come looking for my assistance two months ago, I would have told you that your research team and those two Guild men could stay in that chamber until green hell freezes over."

  "No," he said. "You wouldn't have let five people suffer because of what I did."

  He sounded far too certain of his conclusion. What could she say? It was the truth. She pretended she hadn't heard him and concentrated on keeping her balance on the dizzying staircase.

  The steps were fairly wide, but they twisted down into the green world in a convoluted pattern that made no sense architecturally. Like everything else
constructed by the aliens, the proportions were slightly off to human eyes. But the heavy dose of psi flowing up from the tunnels gave her a familiar little rush. She knew that Cruz felt the buzz, too.

  Vincent wriggled out from under her arm. She set him on a step. He scampered ahead of her down the staircase, his little red beret flopping in a jaunty fashion.

  "Looks like he knows where he's going," Cruz observed.

  "As far as I can tell, dust bunnies are right at home down here. They don't seem to have any trouble navigating the tunnels or the jungle."

  "Unlike us humans."

  No one knew why the aliens had constructed the vast network of catacombs that crisscrossed the planet. In two hundred years of excavation and exploration, the descendants of the colonists had succeeded in charting only a small percentage of the seemingly endless maze of tunnels.

  Recently the discovery of an even greater mystery, the massive underground rain forest, had attracted so much attention from explorers and archaeologists and treasure hunters that mapping the tunnels had dropped to a low priority for most corporations engaged in underworld business. The strange jungle held out the promise of far more scientifically and financially rewarding discoveries.

  As the Guild men had promised, the little utility sled was waiting at the foot of the staircase. Cruz got in behind the wheel. Lyra slid onto the bench seat beside him. Vincent bounded up onto the dashboard, where he had a clear view. He looked like a fluffy hood ornament.

  Cruz ran a check of the sled's navigation instruments. Lyra automatically pulsed a little psi through her bracelet as well as the standard resonating amber she always carried with her. Getting lost in the catacombs was all too easy, and the results were deadly if you didn't have tuned amber. Independent prospectors became downright obsessive about amber. In addition, loners like her were always at risk of falling prey to thieves and the antiquities gangs underground. Both had a nasty habit of getting rid of people by stranding them in the jungle or the catacombs without amber. She always carried plenty of backup, and a lot of that backup was concealed.

  "The jungle gate we'll be using is about ten minutes from here," Cruz said.

  He rezzed the sled's simple little motor. More sophisticated engines and high-tech tools and equipment in general did not function well, if at all, in the heavy psi environment. The small vehicle raced along the corridor at top speed, which was just a little faster than the average person could run. Vincent leaned into the light breeze and made happy little noises.

  "He likes to go fast," Lyra said.

  "I remember."

  They passed a dizzying array of vaulted chambers and rooms, all fashioned of glowing green quartz, all empty. In a rotunda intersection that served seven branching passageways, Cruz paused to check the instruments again. Then he swung the sled to the left. They made a few more disorienting turns before Lyra spotted the gate that opened into the rain forest.

  Several people were milling around the opening. In addition to a number of Guild men, there were a lot of worried-looking tech types dressed in jungle uniforms bearing the Amber Inc. logo. There were also some folks holding cameras and notebooks. They looked bored, but that changed fast when they spotted the sled.

  "Damn," Cruz muttered. "I was afraid that the press would get wind of this situation."

  Once again Lyra found herself feeling a tiny drop of unwilling sympathy for him.

  "Face it," she said. "There are some things even Amber Inc. can't control."

  "Yeah, I discovered that the hard way three months ago when you started bashing the company in the media."

  "Give me a break. I couldn't even put a dent in Amber Inc."

  "I wouldn't say that. The public relations department had to work overtime for weeks to deal with the inquiries they got from every reporter in town. Even the tabloids were calling, wanting to know if Amber Inc. was participating in another Guild cover-up like the one that took place in Crystal City a couple months back."

  She smiled, pleased. "Well, you were conspiring with the Guild to keep the discovery of the amethyst ruin under wraps."

  "Only because we were concerned with security issues. We didn't want to have to deal with every tunnel rat, souvenir hunter, and low-rent antiquities thief in the four city-states. But that's pretty much what happened after you took your story public."

  "Nice to know your PR people at least learned my name."

  He brought the sled to a halt and looked at her. Laughter glinted briefly in his dark eyes. "Believe me when I tell you that at company headquarters, you are legendary."

  "I'll try to take some comfort from that."

  The reporters reached the sled before the Guild men could stop them. Lyra recognized several familiar faces in the crowd. Cruz was right; she had given a lot of interviews three months ago when she had filed the lawsuit.

  Tina Tazewell from the Frequency Herald rezzed one of the low-tech cameras designed to work in the underworld and snapped off several shots. "Miss Dore, is it true Amber Inc. had to call you in to rescue a team trapped inside the ruin?" she asked.

  "That's my understanding, Tina." Lyra scooped Vincent off the dashboard and climbed out of the sled. "Evidently they don't have anyone on staff who can handle the job."

  Excited by the commotion, Vincent fluttered up onto her shoulder. She heard more cameras rez.

  "Can we assume that you agreed to assist in the rescue effort because you and Cruz Sweetwater have a personal relationship?" Tina asked.

  "Heavens no," Lyra said airily. "This is strictly business."

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brett Bolton from the Current step in front of Cruz. He had a notebook in hand.

  "Does this mean that the Amber Inc.-Dore feud is concluded, Mr. Sweetwater?"

  "What feud?" Cruz asked.

  He went past Bolton and sharked through the gaggle of reporters until he got to Lyra.

  "If you'll excuse us," he said, "Miss Dore is a little busy at the moment. She's got a team to rescue. For the record, Amber Inc. is very grateful to her for assisting us in this crisis."

  "How grateful?" Tina Tazewell demanded.

  Cruz ignored her. He took Lyra's arm and steered her toward the jungle gate where the hunters and the people in AI uniforms waited.

  The entrance to the rain forest was a large, rectangular opening in the green quartz wall. Humid heat flowed out into the corridor, but it evaporated almost instantly, nullified by the always steady temperature of the catacombs. Lyra saw a little dirt and one or two dead leaves on the floor of the tunnel and knew that they had been carried out on the bottom of someone's boots. The debris would soon disintegrate and disappear altogether, thanks to some as yet unidentified mechanism that kept the tunnels clean.

  Nothing escaped the jungle unless it was carried out. A number of gates had been opened during the past few months, and at each of them a mysterious and—to human senses undetectable—force field kept the flora and fauna securely confined within the rain forest the aliens had created. The researchers and scientists had quickly discovered that living specimens did not last long aboveground. The plants and animals in the artificially constructed jungle required the heavy psi atmosphere inside their bioengineered world to survive. Like the aliens themselves, they found the surface of Harmony an inhospitable and deadly place.

  The green glow of artificial sunlight was clearly visible. It was night on the surface, but the jungle ran on its own schedule.

  Lyra moved through the gate, Cruz at her side. At once the rich, living energy of the jungle enveloped her. The Guild maintained a clearing directly in front of the tunnel entrance, but she knew it required daily maintenance. The jungle reclaimed territory with startling speed. Paths established one day usually vanished by the following afternoon.

  Beyond the perimeter of the clearing the massed greenery pressed close. It was impossible to see more than a few feet because of the dense foliage, all of it shimmering in various hues of luminous green. The trees towered upward, formi
ng a leafy canopy that concealed most of the quartz sky. Small things skittered in the undergrowth. Birds screeched in the distance.

  "Thanks for coming down here, Miss Dore," one of the Guild men said.

  She gave him her most vivacious smile. "Well, it wasn't like I was doing anything else more entertaining this evening."

  Relieved laughter greeted that remark. The small crowd of ghost hunters and Amber Inc. people seemed to relax.

  "How far to the ruin from here?" she asked. "When I discovered it, I used a different gate. You know how it is; distances are deceptive underground."

  Her not-so-subtle claim to the ruin did not go unnoticed. Cruz smiled slightly. The AI people exchanged glances. The Guild men, however, were a lot more focused. There was a team trapped in the jungle. It was their responsibility to rescue it.

  "The amethyst chamber is only a thirty-minute hike from here," the lead hunter said. He hesitated. "That's if you're accustomed to jungle travel. If you're not used to it—"

  "I've done this before," Lyra assured him.

  "She's a pro," Cruz added.

  She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the reporters crowded around the entrance, still snapping photos. "Are they coming with us?"

  "No," Cruz said. "They are not. Those of us in charge of this project are trying to pretend that the ruin is still a secure site and that only authorized personnel are allowed anywhere near it."

  Lyra thought about all the unwanted free press she had given him and the discovery of the amethyst chamber in the past three months with her lawsuit. She laughed.

  "Good luck with that," she said.

  "Tell me about it. We're having to pay the Guild overtime for twenty-four-seven security in the field, not to mention covering the costs of several search-and-rescue operations. Amazing how many treasure hunters and curiosity seekers have managed to sneak into the rain forest in search of the ruin and gotten themselves lost in the process."

  "See, we independents don't face those logistical problems," she said smoothly. "Because we keep our mouths shut when we make significant discoveries."