these phenomena are related?” Mikk asked.
“Not necessarily,” Voris said. “We’re looking for something specific. They’re all looking at the various peculiarities of their home.”
“Some of those peculiarities are just accepted,” Ilona says.
“Research blindness,” Bridge says. “That’s why we try not to have preconceptions.”
I sigh. I am starting to hate that word.
“We have preconceptions,” Ivy says. She is still rubbing her fingertips together. “Maybe they’re clouding our vision, too.”
“Maybe,” I say, “but let’s listen to Cesar. I suspect he has more to tell us.”
“Oh, yeah,” Voris says. “Because there’s a modern mystery to this place.”
There are a lot of mysteries on Vaycehn, more than I want to solve, simply because I want to get away from this hot, gravity-filled planet.
“You mean besides the fourteen archeologists?” Stone asks.
“Sixteen,” Voris says. “There were sixteen.”
We’re all staring at him now. He has a slight smile on his face, and his black eyes twinkle. He looks both impish and pleased with himself.
“Sixteen?” Stone says. “We would know if two others were missing. It would be big news.”
“It wasn’t big news because they were postdoctoral students,” Voris says. “They were working on some project of their own, hoping for recognition, when they just disappeared. The guides say they never came out. They hadn’t followed instructions, had gone into an off-limit area, and disappeared.”
“Like the guides were warning us about,” Ivy says nervously.
Bridge glares at her again.
“Yes,” Voris says. “Maybe that’s why. I’m thinking we should talk to the guides, try to find out how many of their noncompliance tourists have died in those caves.”
“Do that,” I say.
“Before we start your dive?” Stone asks, as if I’m the one who has suggested something out of line.
“No,” I say.
“But what if this isn’t stealth tech?” Stone says. “What if you’re right and this is something else?”
I shrug. “Then we might die.”
Five of the Six gasp. But the divers nod. They know the risks. We face them every time we dive.
“You knew that when you signed on with us,” I say to the five. “That’s part of what we do. We take risks in dangerous places. You signed waivers.”
Half the team looks at their empty plates. Gregory takes more food, as if eating it will protect him.
I half expect someone to say that waivers aren’t the same as realizing the risks. I’ve had tourists tell me that when I take them wreck diving. Then I would keep those tourists in the ship, not allowing them to dive.
But to my team’s credit, they don’t complain. They know what they signed up for, and they’re not going to back out just because the risk has become real to them.
“You think it’s stealth tech now, don’t you?” Ilona asks me.
I’m not willing to concede that, at least not yet. But I do give her this: “I think the chances have gone up. But this could be something else. Maybe the Vaycehnese are right. Maybe this is a localized phenomenon.”
“That makes its own lights?” Bridge asks.
“There are stranger things in the universe,” I say. But not many. Things that act man-made generally are.
“Should we track the deaths?” Ivy asks, clearly not wanting to go back into the caves.
I shake my head. “The historians need to find out about Vaycehn’s earliest settlers. Take Cesar’s advice. Go to that museum. See what the prehistory stuff says. See if you can find evidence of what’s been forgotten.”
“If it’s forgotten,” Stone says, “then no one will find it.”
I smile. My business has always been about handling forgotten things.
“Forgotten doesn’t mean invisible, Lucretia,” I say. “Forgotten sometimes means misunderstood.”
“Or ignored,” Ilona says.
“Or buried,” Bridge says.
I nod. For the first time, I’m enjoying this project. I’m even looking forward to the work below ground.
Maybe that’s because diving is my element, whether it’s underground or in space. Or maybe it’s because I finally believe we’ll discover something.
Stealth tech or not, there’s something here. Something old. Something interesting.
Something unexplained.
* * * *
SEVEN
T
he dives are both easier and more difficult than they are in space. We can walk through sections, but we have trouble reaching the ceiling, where those magical lights are. We don’t float away from the area we’re examining, but we can’t pull ourselves forward, either. We have to walk, to view everything from a single perspective.
I am frustrated and fascinated. I hate the feeling of gravity, but I love mapping.
We take each section bit by bit. We examine each area for changes. The guides watch as if we’re crazy.
I bring most of my good divers down—at least in the