The Descent

Obviously,  Shoat  had  foraged  through  the   destroyed   fortress   and  found  a  few essentials:  the  rifle,  some  MREs.  Ike  was  mystified.  The  man  had  his  ticket  home; why  pursue the depths?

'You should have  taken  a raft or just started  walking,' Ike  said. 'You could  have  been partway  out of here.'

'I  would  have,  but  someone  took  my  most  vital  asset.'  He  lifted  the  leather  pouch that  hung  from  his  neck  like  an  amulet.  Everyone  knew  it  held  his  homing  device.  'It guarantees  my  exit.  I  didn't  even  know  it  was  gone  until  I  needed  it.  When  I  opened the pouch, there  was only this.' He unlaced the top and shook out a flat jade plate.

Sure enough, Ike  saw, someone had  stolen  his  device  and  replaced  it  with  a  piece  of antique hadal armor. 'Now you want me to guide you out,' he guessed.

'I  don't  think  that  would  work  very  well,  Ike.  How  far  could  we  get  before  Haddie found us? Or you did me in.'

'What do you want then?'

'My box. That  would be nice.'

'Even if we found it, what's that do for you now?' With  or  without  his  homing  device, the hadals could still find the man. And Ike  could, too.

Shoat  smiled  cryptically  and  aimed  the  jade  plate  like  a  TV  remote  control.  'It  lets me change the channel.' He made a click sound. 'Hate to sound like Mr  Zen,  but  you're just an illusion, Ike.  And the girl. And all of them down there.  None of you exists.'

'But you do?' Ike  wasn't taunting him. This was a key  to Shoat's strangeness.

'Yeah. Yeah,  I do. I'm like the prime mover.  The  first  cause.  Or  the  last.  When  all  of you are gone, I'll still be around.'

Shoat knew something, or thought he did, but  Ike  couldn't  begin  to  guess  what.  The man  had  recklessly  followed  them  into  the  center  of  the  abyss,  and  now,  surrounded by  the  enemy,  had  waylaid  his  only  possible  ally  in  getting  out.  He  could  have  shot them  from  a  distance  at  any  time  over  the  past  several  weeks.  Instead,  he'd  saved them  for  something.  There  was  a  logic  at  work  here.  Shoat  was  smart  and  sane,  and

dangerous. Ike  blamed himself. He'd underestimated  the man.

'You've  got the wrong guy,' Ike  said. 'I didn't take  your  box.'

'Of  course  not.  I've  thought  a  lot  about  it.  Walker's  boys  wouldn't  have  bothered with  any  tricks.  They  would  have  just  put  a  bullet  through  me.  You  would  have,  too. So  it  was  someone  else,  someone  who  needed  to  keep  the  theft  quiet.  Someone  who thinks she knows my  code. I've  got it figured  out,  Ike.  Who  it  was,  and  when  she  took it.'

'The girl?'

'You think I'd let that wild animal close to me? No. I mean Ali.'

'Ali? She's a nun.' Ike  snorted to deride the notion. But who else could it be?

'A  very  bad  nun.  Don't  deny  it,  Ike.  I  know  she's  been  playing  hide-the-snake  with you. I can tell these  things, I've  got good people sense.'

Ike  watched him. 'So you followed me to follow her.'

'Good boy.'

'I didn't find her, though.'

'Actually, Ike,  you did.'

Shoat grabbed a loop of rope and dragged him to  the  edge.  He  draped  his  binoculars around  Ike's  neck,  and  cautiously  loosened  the  rope  binding  Ike's  hands  to  his  feet, then backed away,  aiming his pistol.

'Take  a  look,'  Shoat  announced.  'Someone  you  know  is  down  there.  Her  and  our two-bit  warlord. His satanic majesty.  The  guy  who ran off with her.'

Ike  wrestled  to  a  sitting  position.  The  news  of  Ali  energized  him.  His  hands  were numb  from  the  ropes,  but  he  managed  to  paw  the  binoculars  into  place.  He  scanned up  and  down  the  canals  and  choked  avenues  and  ruins  lit  green  by  the  night  vision.

'Look for a spire, then go left,' Shoat instructed.

It  took  several  minutes,  even  with  Shoat  describing  the  landmarks  while  looking through the rifle scope. 'See the pillars?'

'Are those Walker's men?' Two men hung, slumped. Neither was Ali. Yet.

'Just  taking  a  rest,'  Shoat  said.  'They've  been  getting  some  rough  treatment.  And there's  another  prisoner,  too.  I've  seen  him  with  Ali.  They  keep  taking  him  away, though.'

Ike  searched higher.

'She's  there,'  Shoat  encouraged.  'I  can  see  her.  Unbelievable,  it  looks  like  she's writing in her field book. Notes from the underground?'

Ike  went  on  searching.  A  hill  of  flowstone  knobbed  above  the  masses,  enfolding  all but the upper stories of a  carved  stone  building.  The  walls  had  collapsed  on  Ike's  side of  the  building,  exposing  to  view  a  spacious  room  with  no  roof.  And  there  she  was, sitting on a chunk of rubble. They  had freed her hands and legs; why  not?  Two  stories below, she was surrounded by  the hadal nation.

'Locked in?'

'I see  her.'  They  hadn't  started  her  rites  of  passage  yet.  The  branding  and  shackles and mutilations were  usually started  in the  first  few  days.  Recovery  could  take  years. But Ali looked whole, untouched.

'Good.'  Shoat  yanked  the  binoculars  away.  'Now  you've  got  your  scent.  You  know where  you need to go.'

'You  want  me  to  infiltrate  an  entire  city  of  hadals  and  steal  back  your  homing device?'

'Give me some credit, man. You're  mortal. There  are some things  even  you  can't  do. Besides, why  sneak when you can make a grand entrance?'

'You want me to just walk in and ask for your  property?'

'Better  you than me.'

'Even if Ali has it, then what?'

'I'm  a  businessman,  Ike.  I  live  and  die  by  negotiation.  Let's  see  where  we  can  get

with them. A little bit of old-fashioned bartering.'

'With them?  Down there?'

'You'll be my  proxy.  My  private  ambassador.'

'They'll never  let Ali go.'

'All I want is my  box.'

Ike  was truly  mystified. 'Why would they  give it to you?'

'That's  what  I  want  to  talk  to  them  about.'  Shoat  reached  over  to  his  rucksack  and pulled  out  a  thin,  battered  laptop  computer  embossed  with  the  Helios  logo.  'Our walkie-talkies  are  all  gone.  But  I've  got  a  two-way  comm  device  set  up  with  my laptop. We're going to have  a video conference.'

Shoat  opened  the  lid  and  turned  the  machine  on.  He  stepped  back,  plugging  a portable  earphone  into  one  ear,  and  held  a  small  camera/speaker  ball  in  front  of  his face.  On  screen,  his  face  rotated  and  mugged.  'Testing,  testing,'  his  voice  spoke  over the computer speaker.

Against  the  wall,  the  feral  girl  grunted,  eyes  wide  with  fear,  a  stranger  to  such magic.

'Here's  what  you're  going  to  do,  Ike.  Take  the  laptop  down  into  night-town  there. Once  you  reach  Ali,  open  the  laptop  up.  Make  sure  the  computer's  in  line  of  sight,  a straight  shot  from  you  to  me.  I  don't  want  to  lose  transmission.  Then   get   their presidente  on  the  horn  for  me.  While  you're  at  it,  give  this  whelp  back  to  them.  A good-faith gesture.  I'll take  it from there.'