CHAPTER 14

IMPOSSIBLE FIND

Central Lake - Conservatory Chamber

John and Jing approached the larger water source they had been heading for. John looked around but didn't spot any animals or any of the robots. He turned his attention back to the water source.

There was flowing water coming out of an outcropping of rock in the middle of a small lake. Rock walls surrounded the water on three sides, leaving a sandy beach on one side as the only approach to the water's edge. The body of water drained through a cleft in the rock face and flowed like a stream down the grassy hill it was on top of.

'This is artificial. The set up of this area is just too perfect,' Jing said.

'This whole place is artificial, that's not exactly a mystery here Jing,' John commented.

'Fair enough. How do you want to go about this John?'

John walked up to the water's edge and had a look. The ground slopped downward at a sharp angle and vanished out of sight under the murky water. 'I'm not sure I like the look of this lake.'

Jing stood next to him and looked in. 'That looks deep.'

'I think it's safe to assume it's clean though if this is the source.' John said.

'Want to try to wade out to it?' Jing asked.

John reached up and slid his helmet back over his head, unfolding it from its storage position. He activated a test sequence in the suit and watched as his heads-up display showed him the status. 'All my seals are good. I should be fine.'

Jing activated his comm link with John. 'Just keep the channel open and leave your lights on.'

John stepped out into the water. 'I don't think it'll get that deep. How far away is the outcropping?'

Jing pulled out his tablet and aimed it at the outcropping, 'Range finder says about fifteen meters.'

John started forward, putting one foot in front of the other with a deliberate slow pace so he could feel his way along. The slope was sharper than he expected. 'With this rate of drop I'll be swimming soon.'

On his next step, his foot came down, but as soon as he put weight on it, he slid. He tried to step back again, but lost his footing and fell into the water.

'John?' came Jing's voice over his comms, concern obvious in his tone.

John sank down and fell on the ground and started sliding downard. He tried to get a grip, but the ground had given way to a metallic surface.

'I'm okay, but I'm sliding down a metal surface. I can't stop myself.' John surprised himself by how calm he sounded. The murky water grew darker because of a thick layer of sediment he was kicking up as he fell. The expanding cloud of muck in the water made the cone of light from his suit stand out in the gloom.

He leaned his head forward trying to see where he was going when he saw something looming in front of him. He braced himself as his legs slammed into it. His bracing action kept him from sliding sideways.

'I've hit something down here.'

He braced his feet against a pipe he found himself against and tried to push up. His footing proved tenuous as his feet were still on the angled ground, but he righted himself. He looked around himself and saw a collection of tubes and pipes in front of him.

'I think I've run into the filtration system. There's equipment down here,' John said.

'How are you though, are you all right? I can't see you through the cloud of whatever you kicked up,' Jing said.

John ran a quick diagnostic on his suit. 'Suit checks out. My legs are a little sore, but I'm doing fine.'

'All right, turn on your camera, I'll let you know if I recognize anything.'

John toggled the camera feed on his suit and worked his way around the pillar of equipment. He saw a small metal box with a hinged door. He opened it and saw a lever inside. 'What's this?'

'Probably an emergency shut off.'

'Not a great place for it.'

'You're not a robot. It's probably just fine for the Guardian's robots,' Jing replied, 'They don't need to breathe. As a bonus, no one would think to look down there.'

'I bet if we pulled it we'd get his attention.'

'That probably isn't the best idea I've heard today. How likely do you think it is that the Guardian will be in a good mood if we shut off his systems?' Jing said.

'It's a Guardian; it doesn't have moods.'

'Either way, I don't think it'll be too cooperative.'

'All right, I won't pull the lever.' John said.

'Good. Can you have a look at that thing to your left?'

John looked to his left, he saw a cylinder covered in a fine mesh. 'What is it?'

'It's a water quality sensor. I haven't seen one like that in quite some time.'

'Is it just me or does everything in this place seem old?' John said.

'I think you may be onto something.'

'Hang on. There's an info plate here.' John said.

John bent down and reached over to a small metal plate that was on the side a pipe. The plate was covered in grime. John reached down and brushed it clear with his hand.

He revealed a string of Chinese characters. 'Jing, I don’t suppose you can translate this?'

'That can't be right...'

'What is it, Jing?'

'It says it's property of the Lin family of Joseph's Landing.'

'Joseph's Landing, where's that?'

'It's a colony world about a hundred light years from earth. The Lin family is a wealthy Chinese family who runs a shipping company.'

'How do you know all this?'

'My brother, Sai, worked for them as an accountant.'

'And why is this impossible, this filtration system here?'

'Because the Lin family uses automated cargo ships, none of them would have needed a filtration system. They only had three manned ships in their fleet, and two are still in service.'

'What about the third?'

'My brother Sai told me it was lost, along with all hands, after a bad jump.'

John worked his way around the pillar of equipment, recording everything for later analysis. 'Bad jump?'

'Apparently, the Guardian on board went haywire, and the jump calculations were off. No one knew where it jumped. It never showed up again. The family looked for it, but... well, space is huge, and it had a jump range of twenty light years. If it had been in a straight line, and just stopped short of its destination, that would have been one thing, but that's a vast area to try to search.'

'Did they call for help?' John asked

'After the jump, there were no more communications. Everyone figured an overload must have destroyed them, but here we are, looking at its filtration system.'

'We don't know if it's the exact filtration system.' John pointed out.

'There's an excellent chance it is.' Jing said.

'Well Jing, that's a whole circuit I’ve walked around this thing. I'm coming up.'

'John, check below you.'

John looked down; he saw a seam in the metal below him, 'Is that a door?'

'It probably is. Maybe its access to the rest of the complex. You'd have to drain the lake of course.'

'Probably. I'm coming back up now.'

John positioned himself against the pillar of equipment behind him and kicked himself off. He swam to the surface and ended up near the edge of the lake. He was close to one of the rocky walls. Steadying himself against it, he walked toward the beach.

'Advocate Ise to all crew; I've spotted the Lobster pilot,' came the unexpected call over the comms. Thoughts about the door at the bottom of the lake were replaced by the reminder of their mission.

***

Sam turned on her comms and said, 'Captain Geer here, do you have eyes on the pilot?'

'No Ma'am. I spotted him along the rock wall that rings the ground here. He's on our side of the compound, but I don't have eyes on him now, he ducked down into a valley,' Ise reported.

'We know he's here,' Sam replied, 'did you see which way he was going?'

'Around the edge, toward the far shaft.'

Sam thought for a moment. 'Captain Geer to John and Jing, please report in.'

'We heard it, captain. We're checking out a water filtration system here,' Jing reported.

'Listen up gang, we've spotted our quarry, and now we have a chance to get him, but we've got to be careful, the ground here isn't level, and there's plenty of places to hide. We need a plan to pin him.'

'If he's staying close to the edge, we should be able to close up our line and pin him in.' John said.

'What would you propose?'

'Jing and I can make straight for the far shaft, you and Dan will split the difference and come between our team and Ise and Victor.' John suggested.

'Sounds good, Ise, I want you and Victor hot on the pilots tail. Keep eyes on him as much as you can.'

'Yes, Captain.'

'Remember, he's dangerous even if you don't see a gun.' Captain Geer warned.

Everyone gave their acknowledgment. Sam turned to Daniel.

'Let's get moving Dan; we'll make for the support column between the far shaft and the shaft on Ise's side. It's a good midway point.'

'Aye captain.'

***

John stood on the shore of the lake, his space suit still dripping. He'd folded his helmet back into its storage position and checked his sidearm.

'Maybe he'll just surrender when he realizes we're on to him,' Jing commented from nearby.

John looked up at him and saw he was also checking his sidearm.

'Wouldn't that be nice,' John said with a sigh, 'How's your weapon?'

'Power pack is good, and mass supply is still full. Magnetic accelerators are green. I think I'm good. How's yours?' Jing said.

'Green lights across the board. It is a little damp though.'

'Unless you've secretly swapped it with a flintlock pistol, I don't think that'll be a problem,' Jing said with a grin.

'Just have to make sure I've got a good grip when I pull it out of the holster,' John said, holstering his sidearm.

Jing put his sidearm in its holster and started up a rise that led to the tops of the rocky half circle that wrapped around the lake. John followed him up.

They looked out over chamber. The elevator shaft they had been heading for loomed to their left, while the far shaft stood a bit to their right but quite some distance away, with one of the support pillars dead ahead.

'That's some ground to cover.' Jing commented.

'Of course, we'd be on the far side.' John said.

'Hey, it was your suggestion.'

'I wish I had something to fly. It'd be quicker than walking.'

'Who said anything about walking?' Jing said as he took off on a light jog.

'Remember to pace yourself.' John said, following him.