Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [37]
"I think I saw something."
"Where?" Kathryn had been looking as carefully as he had, she was sure, and had detected nothing that resembled an opening in the stone walls. "It's quite a bit lower than we were. I'd like to go back one more time, leave you at about twenty-five meters while I go check it out."
"That's pretty deep."
"But not past our safety limits. Remember, with Mars's lower gravity, water pressure isn't as intense as on Earth." He eyed her as they trod chilly water. She really wanted to get out and dry off, but she wasn't about to admit that to Hobbes Johnson, of all people. So she nodded and refit her breathing gill. He did the same, and they sank underwater once more. She followed him down to twenty-five meters, then saw his hand signal for her to hold there. She watched as he stroked deeper into dark waters; she could barely see the flutter of his fins as he moved steadily down into the gloomy depths where sunlight could not penetrate.
Then he disappeared completely.
Kathryn felt a coldness in her stomach which was icier than the quarry water. How would she know if anything happened to him? How deep did he plan to go? How long would it take?
She forced her mind to quiet, breathing steadily, focusing on the sight of her hands floating in front of her, pale and ghostly. Gradually the panic faded, and she peered once more down into the depths of the dark water. She hadn't brought an aquadyne torch, never figuring to be this deep, never thinking she'd have a reason to go where there was no light. She saw nothing.
Ten minutes passed, and she knew it was time to act. Gradually, she moved herself deeper, breathing regularly, pulling herself down through the water.
As far as she could see below her, there was only darkness. She scanned the wall of the quarry, hoping to discover whatever aberration it was that had drawn Hobbes to these deep waters.
And then she saw it-another five meters below her. A dark gash in the side of the wall, barely visible in the gloom, no more than a faint shadow. Was that what had caught Hobbes' eye? As she got closer, she could see that the shadow was in fact an opening-a black trench in the rock face some ten meters wide and five meters tall. She pulled steadily toward it.
And then she realized it was pulling her.
A current was flowing into the opening. She realized that meant it was the ingress to an underground river, perhaps even a network of subterranean caves extending deep into the planet's crust.
She let the current pull her toward the mouth that was now yawning just below her.
And realized, too late, that as soon as she was on a level with the opening, the current became immeasurably stronger, and then she was sucked into the dark hole, out of control.
Desperately, she struggled against the pull, quickly realized it was too strong for her, and lunged for the wall of the cave mouth. Incredibly, her hands found purchase. An upwardthrusting shard of rock allowed her to grip it firmly, stopping her inexorable drag back into-into what?
Fear paralyzed her for a moment. She thought of her father, how she had been so afraid it was his footsteps they'd heard climbing toward the quarry, wishing now that it had been him and that she were safely back in the colony with him-chastised, to be sure, even restricted. But alive. Where was Hobbes? Had he been sucked into this channel as well? Clenching the rock with all her might, she gradually turned her head and looked behind her.
She saw the two green buddy lights another five meters in, glowing dully through the pitch black water, not moving, but flickering in and out of her view as the currents of the water struck them. Hobbes must have found something to grab on to, also. For the first time, she realized she could see absolutely nothing; no light penetrated here, and only the flittering green lights interrupted the terrifying darkness. She'd have to inch her way back to him. She carefully let go with one hand, the other scrabbling along the wall, feeling