Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [78]
“Where haven’t we looked?”
“Tripley had a flyer.”
“Yes.”
“If I had a flyer and I wanted to get rid of a body, I don’t think I’d dig any holes. It’s too much work, and you’re too likely to get caught.”
“We’ve looked in the lake.”
“To hell with the lake. I’d fly it out to sea and dump it.”
“If he did that,” she said, “we’re out of luck.” She tapped her index finger on the instrument console. “The explosion occurred three days after they arrived. We have to assume things were happening fast and he had to get rid of it locally.” The sun was touching the crest of Mount Hope.
“Top of the mountain?” he suggested.
“It’s all granite up there. No way to bury it.”
“The river,” said Solly. “But upstream. The other side of the dam.”
“Why would you put it there?”
“The water was deeper up there. Look at your map.”
Large sections of the dam were still intact. Sluices had been left open. The river rushed through them, and through gaps in the concrete, and roared out the south side, crashing down fifty meters into the lower canyon.
They flew low over the structure and were rocked by the wind. Kim yowped and the flyer warned them belatedly that turbulent conditions were common in the area. “We should exercise caution,” it added.
The wreckage reminded Kim of the remnants of a monolithic altar, or perhaps a vast jawbone left in the river.
The onboard AI apologized for the rough ride, assured them it would strive to be more careful, but complained that they had imposed a ceiling which prevented it from rising to a more comfortable altitude.
They looked down at the dam. On its upstream side, the river was a patchwork of water alternately rough and tranquil, of wakes and eddies, of sandbanks and splintered trees. It rushed at the shattered dam, crashed through it, and fell about forty meters into a canyon, which carried it into Remorse.
Solly instructed the AI to take them lower, but it complained that the action wouldn’t be prudent. “High winds,” it said. “Best to stay where we are.”
Solly sighed. “Kim,” he said, “change seats with me.”
She shook her head. “Going to manual won’t do any good. If it doesn’t like what you’re doing, it’ll override.”
“Change seats,” he said.
She complied and they climbed over each other while the flyer asked for instructions. When he was seated again, Solly looked to his left, found a panel marked A-DATA and opened it.
“What are we doing?” asked Kim.
“Taking out the AI.” He showed her a yellow-coated cable and disconnected it from a black box. The flyer momentarily lost headway and started to sink. Solly threw a couple of switches, and a yoke snicked out of the deck and locked in place. He tested it, pulled back on the stick, and leveled off.
“I never knew you could do that,” said Kim.
He grinned. “Learn something new every day. You ready?”
“For what? You weren’t planning on dropping us into the river, were you?”
“Have no fear,” he said.
“Right. Into the hands of God—”
He picked out one of the larger dam fragments and took them down the north face until they were just over the water. The descent was smoother than she’d expected.
“Good,” she said.
He nodded. “Nothing like having a professional—”
The screen began to blink.
“Bingo,” said Kim.
“Right at the foot of the dam, looks like.” That made sense, of course. Throw an object in anywhere along this stretch of water, weigh it down, and if it moved at all, it would end up wedged in here.
Solly looked at the darkening sky. “It’s late to push this any further tonight,” he said. “Why don’t we come back tomorrow? Work in full daylight?”
“When we’re this close? It’ll only take a few minutes. Let’s get it done. Find out what we have.”
Solly frowned. “Wouldn’t take much for the river and the concrete to beat up a diver pretty good.”
“It just means we have to be careful,” she said. “Anyhow, it’s not as dangerous as it looks.”
“It looks pretty dangerous.”
They surveyed the area for a place to set down.
“There,” said Solly. He was looking at a slab, a piece of the dam that had been hewn off and dumped.