Subcutis (Bona Dea Book 1) by Harper J. Cole

Author:Harper J. Cole [Cole, Harper J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-03T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

An hour later, they were heading back to the ship. It was getting dark; the captain had decided to pick the rest of the crew up at first light, as landing was tricky enough even without adding poor visibility to the list of challenges. In theory, they’d be catching up on some sleep tonight, before unleashing their full scientific force on the mysteries beneath their feet tomorrow. Flora doubted whether they’d get more than an hour between the lot of them.

“Congratulations, Flora.”

She glanced across at the captain with surprise. “I didn’t do anything, except fall down a hole. It was pure luck I found them.”

“I wasn’t referring to the discovery. You were in a tough place down there. You kept your head, got your equipment fixed. Helped us find you.”

“You would have found me anyway, eventually. It didn’t really make any difference.”

“Perhaps. But keeping cool in a crisis is a good habit to get into. Next time it might make all the difference. Life or death. You did well; learn to take a compliment.”

“Thank you, Captain. I guess I did okay.” Truth be told, she hadn’t felt cool while the crisis was happening, and she was still shaken by the things they’d seen down there. Nor was she the only one. Barbara Young had taken one glance around the chamber at the bottom of the rope, then excused herself and clambered back up. Others hadn’t ventured down at all. They’d have to eventually, she supposed; exploring an area that size would take a colossal team effort.

An idea struck her. “You know, things might be a lot easier if we could find a more accessible entrance to the caverns. Getting our best scanning equipment down that hole could take an age, in fact we’d probably have to disassemble some of the heavier units and rebuild them at the bottom.”

She could dimly see Hunter nodding in the deepening gloom. “True. But it looks like quite a labyrinth. Mapping all the ins and outs is going to take a while.”

“I was actually thinking we might put the ACMs to work. It’s obviously not part of their primary function, but they’re designed to adapt to new physical challenges. It shouldn’t be beyond them. Also, there might be dangers like cave ins; better to send someone expendable.”

Hunter regarded her. They hadn’t talked at all about the ACMs since Flora had sat before the captain’s desk, not far off a year ago now.

“I’m glad you’ve adopted a more pragmatic attitude to our artificial friends. Your idea’s a good one. Will you see to it that they know what they’re doing?”

“Certainly.” She was glad of the dark – her ally in foiling Hunter’s lie detecting skills. Not that she’d exactly lied, but she’d had an ulterior motive, which the captain would doubtless have read on her face in the clear light of day.

I kept my promise, Charlie. You’ll get to see the world outside your door. I hope it doesn’t disappoint too much …

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