Wildcatter

The movement didn’t stop; it became a wild rocking. Clearly the front part of the shuttle had separated from the rest and was floating, basically right way up, but nose high. All that showed through the window was greenish water, with no surface or bottom in sight. He remembered that Galactic’s second shuttle had disappeared, presumed washed out to sea-not a comforting thought.

“We must do this again in cozier surroundings,” Meredith murmured.

“I guarantee full cooperation.”

They disentangled as well as they could. Was their next trial to be seasickness? Roll, yaw, rock…

Seth said, “I’m sure Golden Hind is tracking us. The bow should be above water. I expect the tilt comes from all that sand in the lab. I don’t think we’ll go very far, and we’re probably being swept inland. When the flood subsides, we’ll run aground.”

“A total lack of imagination is a good thing in a prospector.”

“What are you imagining?”

“Don’t ask.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t have to.

Their impromptu submarine continued its erratic motion, starting to spin as well as rock. It would meet no floating tree trunks, but it was moving so fast that any large rock could burst it open and sink it.

When humans couldn’t play sex games or power games, they normally just chattered. So he chattered.

“Female prospectors are rare.”

“Yes.”

He waited.

“And most people called Meredith are herms? That what you’re wondering?”

“But too polite to ask.”

“I was named after my Uncle Auntie. My father was junior prospector on JKV’s Harmonious Chariot. My mother was senior astrobiologist. They hit it off tops. They both wanted to make me a herm, but deep-space ships don’t carry prenatal herm drugs. So here I am, permanently overwhelmed in the action.”

“I don’t mind underwhelming if you want a change. Born where?”

“On Earth. In Sweden.”

“What happened to your parents?”

“Mother’s still around, teaching at UNU. Father made the second descent to Blue Lantern.”

“Um, quicksand, right?” It was a classic deep-space horror story. Twenty-odd years ago, so she could have no memory of him.

She nodded. “The first team landed on what looked like a beach beside a small lake and the shuttle sank in up its wings. With the jets plugged, it would have blown up if they had tried to take off. Then it started to move toward the pond. Nobody thought badly about that-quicksand is caused by underground artesian springs, so a slow flow down to the water seemed reasonable.

“Prospector Tsukuba brought the second shuttle down. He landed on the lake itself, as instructed. The plan was that he would throw ropes to the first crew, haul them off the beach, then fish them out of the water. He was standing on the wing of his shuttle, preparing to throw the first rope, when the shuttle was dragged under, and him with it. The whole thing, pond and beach, turned out to be a feeding orifice.”

“I’ve seen the plog, what there was of it. All four people died.”

“Blue Lantern was one of the bad ones, but we may match it. Ask me tomorrow.”

“My immediate worry is getting seasick,” Seth said.

They lay in silence for a while. He was physically exhausted, and had been running on his nerves for hours. Even so, he could not sleep in this blender.

Yet he must have dozed for a few minutes, because he was suddenly aware of Meredith tugging at her sheet.

“Right, Quasimodo.” Her voice was slurred. “Pull out your rope and bells and start humping.”

“Never met anyone as romantic as you, Juliet.”

“I mean it, Stud.” This was the stim shot speaking. “May be the last chance we’ll ever have and I am hot to trot, ripe to rape, frantic to-”

“Not now! Wait until we’re safely on Golden Hind, fed and clean and comfortable. Then I’ll be at your service. All you can eat. These little piggies can go ‘Oo! Oo! Oo!’ all the way home.”

She muttered something inaudible. Her eyes stayed closed.

More light was coming in the window. Their submarine was rocking, pitching, and spinning even more violently in waves near the surface. Weeds were streaming past the glass. They looked like that ferny ground cover, so it was the shuttle that was moving at such an alarming rate, and the water wasn’t very deep.

Then thump! The stern had grounded. Crunching noises. More violent thumps, felt in every bone he possessed. The light brightened.

“That’s good,” he said. “We’re surfacing.”

No answer.

Four smaller bumps and a big one and all motion stopped.

The water level sank steadily down the glass.

Seth swallowed his heart back where it belonged. “Please remain seated with your safety web fastened until the shuttle has come to a complete stop at the terminal building.”

The cabin was resting on its belly, almost level. The door that had been in the ceiling was now at the far side of the room, easily accessible.