Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [91]
Her heart exploded and she almost lost her breather. She dived back away from the door, crossed the room, turned on her jets, and crashed through the broken frame, taking wood and glass with her.
She made for the surface, thinking, there had been nothing attached to the eyes, no body, no corporeal presence of any kind.
It was dark when she broke the surface. Kim looked around, located her boat, and raced to it, half expecting to be seized from below and dragged beneath the water. She hauled herself quickly over the gunwale, cut loose the anchor, tore off her breather, and started the engine.
The boat moved away with maddening deliberation.
She didn’t know where the flyer was. The sky was full of stars but the shore was featureless. She forced herself to slow down. She checked her compass and brought the boat around to a southeastern heading.
Behind her, something snorted. But nothing showed itself.
When she got close to land she had to cruise the shoreline, past forest broken up by buildings and strips of beach. Occasionally she saw flickers of light in the trees, moving in conjunction with her as though she was being tracked.
Then her lamp picked out the welcome shape of the flyer. She turned the boat quickly inshore, ran it onto the beach, abandoned it, and made a dash for the aircraft. Once inside, she directed the vehicle to take off.
“Where?” it asked.
“Anywhere,” she said. “Up.”
15
I got no way to go to Draco.
—GEORGE THOMAS & LIVIA HOWE,
The Arcturian Follies, Act II, 600
“You should never have done that,” said Solly. He was furious. “Not alone. You know better.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Now I do.” And: “Never again.”
A long silence this time. Then: “Kim, it has to have been an eel or something.”
She was still in Eagle Point, in her robe, on the sofa with her legs tucked under her. A virtual Solly sat in a virtual chair in the projection area. Behind him, she could see a window and a view of the ocean. He was at home.
“It wasn’t an eel,” she insisted. “And it wasn’t in my head.” And to her everlasting embarrassment, tears ran down her cheeks. “It was really there, Solly. So help me, it was really there.”
“Okay,” he said.
“Whatever it was, it was there, and it wasn’t human. But the eyes were intelligent. It looked right through me.”
“Okay,” he said. “We don’t go in the water anymore, right?”
She was swallowing, trying to get control of herself. “Right,” she said. Her voice trembled.
“Couldn’t have been a squid or something, could it? Something that followed you in?”
“The lake’s fresh water.”
Solly didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then: “Did you get a picture of it?”
“No,” she said. “I was a little busy.”
“So what do you think it was?”
“You want to know what I think? Really? I think Sheyel is right. I think they brought something back with them. And I know how crazy that sounds, but I know what I saw, I mean I don’t know what I saw, but it was there, and it wasn’t a squid.”
“You want me to come up?”
“No. I’ve had enough. I’ll be on my way back in a couple of hours.”
Solly looked relieved. “You don’t have any plans about going back into the lake.”
“No.” She managed a laugh. “No way that’s going to happen.”
“What about the boat?”
“I told the rental shop where it is. They’re charging me for the pickup, but that’s fine. I don’t mind.”
“All right.” He was visibly relieved. It was a reaction that pleased her. “Think about it a minute. How could a thing have got past customs? How would it get down in the lift?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was inside somebody. Maybe it took over Emily. Maybe that’s why they couldn’t show her on the logs.”
“Kim—” His eyes went briefly out of focus. “What’ve you been reading? Do you have any idea how that sounds?”
“Solly, I don’t have any answers. I just know what I saw.”
“All right.” He was appraising her. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” Sure she was.
“I don’t suppose,” said Solly, “you found the Hunter logs? The real ones?”
She looked out the window. Sunlight glittered on the peaks. It was a normal world out there. “No,”