Trapped On Talonque: (A Sectors SF romance) by Veronica Scott

Author:Veronica Scott [Scott, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-08-20T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Humming as it proceeded, the tunnel runner took the fugitives away from the underground installation. It moved faster than Nate could have walked. Adding to his apprehension, there were several earthquakes, each tremor causing loud crackling sounds in the talmere walls, although no visible damage occurred.

“I’ve never been on a seismically active planet before. Or at least not when quakes were happening,” Nate said.

“Remember I told you the pleikn is synced to the harmonics of the planet itself?” Bithia kept her attention on the controls. “Badly aligned in this case, which is probably why it went out of balance eventually.” Brow furrowed, she grinned a bit crookedly. “I hope my father transmitted a negative report on the setup team. The company came highly recommended, but this installation job was certainly substandard.”

Nate admired the way she was holding up, able to make jokes, despite finding herself displaced from her time and normal life. The necessity for action must have been helping her maintain self-control. He’d have to be extra observant once they had downtime, if the pace of events ever slackened.

“Why do I have a feeling it’s going to be plenty spectacular when the pleikn blows, and I don’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity?” he said after a particularly forceful quake pushed the runner off its straight course through the center of the tunnel. He raised his voice to be heard clearly over the slight humming of the propulsion unit and the breeze created by their progress.

“Sorry for the rough ride.” Bithia stabbed repeatedly at the controlling symbols, first skewing them one way and then the other, working to keep the vehicle from plowing into the tunnel wall on either side. “The runner’s guidance mechanism is confused by the conflicting signals caused by the quakes,” she said. “The mechanism wasn’t designed for such conditions.”

Nate had an anxious eye on the red power indicator, glowing less fiercely now. He decided not to say anything that would alarm the others. Even if the tunnel runner eventually lost power, they’d gotten a respectable head start. He squeezed Bithia’s shoulder gently to acknowledge her comment.

“We wanted to issue a warning,” he said as the runner rolled forward. “Perhaps all these earthquakes will tempt a few more people to clear the area.”

“Probably tempt Lolanta to sacrifice a few more too.” Celixia’s retort from her perch on the right side of the runner’s long snout was heated. “Her death can’t come too soon. I hate her even more than I loathe Sarbordon.”

“This rapid travel in the dark is disorienting.” Atletl covered his eyes with one hand and leaned over the hood of the runner as if he wished to lie flat. “I’m thankful we’ve had no food since before the sapiche matches.”

“He’s probably the first person on this planet to get vehicular motion sickness,” Thom said in Basic, chuckling.

Nate’s attention was to the front as he strained to focus on something looming ahead in the gloom. The dim light cast by Bithia’s gilintrae showed the tunnel completely blocked by boulders and dirt.

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