The Deep Dark Well Read Free

caught a flash through the transparent bubble of the
helmet out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to the right.  A harsh
pinpoint flare in the far distance, a nuclear blast.  Another Kuiper miner
boosting a comet back toward the fires of the sun.  Volatiles for the
terraforming of Mars, or fuel for the space industry around Earth.  Carter ,
the ship that had been closest to the stranger when radar contact had been
made.  The laws of physics had ordained that the Carter would not be
able to make contact.  Her velocity was too great, and by the time she
decelerated enough to change her vector, she would be even further from the
stranger than Harrison base.
    It has to be fate , thought Pandi, as she
turned in time to watch Zhokov catch himself on the edge of the hole in the
dome.  She was approaching fast herself, and panic shot through her for a
second at the thought of bouncing off the dome and drifting back into the cold
depths of interstellar space.  She dismissed that thought as she reached out
for Zhokov's extended hand, conveniently separated from hers by the twin layers
of suit glove they each wore.  Of course she was in no danger.  She had her own
suit propulsion system, as well as the proximity of two other spacemen, and the
twin shuttles back at the Niven were ready in case something went really
bad.
    "We're here,
captain," said Zhokov over the com, as he passed Pandi over so he could
reach out and grab Chavis' hand.
    "Everything
OK?" came Morrison's voice over the com.
    "Yes sir,"
replied Pandi as she slapped a transponder link onto the dome with molecular
glue.  It stuck, meaning that the material was at least something they could
understand, even if it didn’t look like anything she had ever seen. "We're
preparing to enter the ship right now."
    "Be careful."
    "Aye, sir,"
said Zhokov, “I think Panda has us covered.”
    Her hands reached to
pat the butts of the twin forty-five automatics she had set in the holsters
attached to her equipment belt.  She had brought them aboard Niven with
her personal effects, to the laughter of the other members of the crew.  “Do
you think you’re going to run into aliens?” they said.  Now she was glad she
had them, and she didn’t care what anyone said.  The filled magazine pouches
added to her sense of security.
    Zhokov pulled himself
into the gap in the dome, his bank of lights bringing the interior into a stark
contrast between bright illumination and total darkness.  Pandi and Chavis
followed, suits set on station keeping, attitude jets firing short bursts to
bring them into the center of the enclosure, where they could get the best view
of the whole area without getting too near to any kind of trouble.
    Lights picked up the
frozen remains of plants set in the soil beds on the floor of the area.  A
large empty depression lay in the center, probably a pool that had exploded its
contents out into space when the dome was pierced.  No bodies around, so no
way of telling what had used this huge recreation area , thought Pandi. 
Probably blown out into space as well.
    "Dammit,"
exclaimed Chavis, as he maneuvered his way down to the deck, looking at the
trunks of dozens of plants that stuck out of the soil, "but I'd swear that
was a palm tree."
    "Come in, Niven ,"
called Pandi over the com link, "come in."
    "We hear you
Pandi," came the reply from the captain.
    "No bodies here,
but Chavis thinks there are the remains of terrestrial palm trees.  It looks
like some kind of recreation area."
    The ship shuddered
slightly around them, shaking them in their suits as some of the dead trees
fell from their shattered trunks that broke like glass in the vibrations.
    "How in the hell
are we being shaken in a vacuum?" yelled Zhokov.
    "Some kind of energy
we don't understand," said Pandi.
    "Bullshit,"
yelled the Russian.
    "Then you explain
it."
    "Pandi," came
the voice over the link, "are you alright?"
    "Yes
Michael," she said.  "It looks as if this area was