Hex by Allen Steele

Author:Allen Steele
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780441020362
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE SIGNAL SEAN RECEIVED FROM THE MONTERO WAS WEAK, but strong enough that he was able to hear his mother’s voice. “Glad to hear that you’re still . . .” she began, then stopped herself.

Alive, he thought. She was about to say, “Glad to hear that you’re still alive.”

“Jason tells me that you’ve crashed,” she said instead. “Where are you, do you know?”

“Somewhere on Hex,” Sean replied, as if this explained everything. Or maybe I should say “in Hex.” Whatever. “We came in through the roof of the biopod we were investigating and landed in a field not far from its eastern end. I told your first officer the rest . . . He’s probably filled you in already. Anyway, we lost our pilot when we crashed, and shortly after that our team leader was killed.”

“By an inhabitant, yes.” Andromeda’s voice was scratchy, and Sean adjusted the gain on the transceiver slung beneath his arm. “Are you in any immediate danger? From them, I mean.”

Sean looked around. The arsashi stood nearby, with one of the males silently watching the female leader as she conversed with Kyra. He didn’t like the way they towered above her, but they didn’t appear to be hostile. The other male had returned to their sledge; the sunlight was reflecting off the cab windows, so Sean couldn’t tell what he was doing.

“I don’t think so,” Sean said. “It was a . . . a misunderstanding. I think they know that now. Kyra didn’t have a chance to tell Sandy that it’s unwise to clap your hands around arsashi, because in their culture it’s a signal to attack. And since Cayce had his hand on his gun . . . well, one thing led to another.”

“I understand.”

Yeah, I bet you do. “Your first officer told me you’re docked in a hex some distance from here . . . where we are, I mean. Any chance you can pick us up?”

“Sean, I’m just like you. I haven’t a clue where we are.” A short pause. “No, that’s not quite true. There appears to be some sort of maglev system that runs from one hexagon to another. I’m standing on the tram platform of the hexagon . . . or habitat, as the danui call it . . . where we’ve docked, and it appears to be marked by a set of coordinates. They look like geometric shapes . . . dots, squares, triangles, diamonds, and so on . . . but Tom D’Anguilo thinks they’re danui numbers. If you can reach the tram system in your habitat, and figure out how to plug in these coordinates, maybe you can get here.”

“Maybe.” Sean’s fist tightened around his hand mike. “So I take it the answer’s no.”

This time, his mother’s response was not immediate. Sean looked over his shoulder. Mark and Cayce lay upon the snow-covered ground, and Sandy stood above them, staring at their covered bodies. He couldn’t see her expression through her airmask, but Sean had no

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