Frozen Fire Read online

  After she finished telling how he’d reacted, Kaleen shook her finger, and said, “He’s quite in love with you, you know. Don’t you mess this up!”

  Denefe tugged her own albino hair. “I don’t know. Sometimes, I think he’s in love with this. Or my abilities as a telepath.”

  “It’s more than that. I know it is, and so do you. We’ll talk more about that later.” Kaleen hugged Denefe’s arm. “How long are you here?”

  “Two weeks, maybe more.”

  Kaleen let out a loud whoop, and the few people who weren’t already staring turned to watch them. “Two whole weeks! It’ll be just like old times, when we were both at Primary.”

  “Yeah, except it’ll be cold.”

  “Oh, just outside the tents.”

  Denefe put on the coat and a pair of gloves. They went through the doors and into a semi-heated private skimmer dock.

  Two rows in, Kaleen pointed to a brand new skimmer. Emblazoned on the side was a giant triple ring logo of GlobeX. “This is ours.”

  Denefe laughed as she got in. “This dig isn’t a bit important to them, is it?”

  “Well, it really is. Once they got past the initial ‘No!’ they began to see the potential of studying the impact our researchers had during their visits.”

  “Besides the new skimmer, you got all kinds of new equipment, I’ll wager.”

  Kaleen nodded, piloting into the air. “You bet. I’m willing to bet they do the same thing with you.” They moved out of the building and then flew in a northeasterly direction, the skimmer only a few feet above the frozen terrain.

  “I hope so. It’s a completely different scenario from yours.”

  “We’ll see, but for the next two weeks, we won’t think about it.” Kaleen reached over and squeezed Denefe’s hand.

  Chapter 10

  All in a day’s work

  At the appointed time, Torenz pressed the button on his remote and the wall in front of him dissipated. He crossed over and pressed the button again. The wall reformed. That little bit of magic never failed to make him smile.

  He turned the corner into his office and then settled onto his desk chair, staring at the giant, violet anomaly, waiting with his legs stretched in front of him and crossed at the ankles.

  Normally, the meeting started on time, like clockwork, but after twenty minutes, he decided his boss’s telepath had to be in conversation with someone. Rather than interrupt—the telepath would contact him when ready—Torenz decided to pay a visit to Denefe.

  He stretched his mind into the future along the well-worn path to her thoughts, but something was different this time. She wasn’t where she was supposed to be. The way took a drastic right turn to another destination, one he knew well. She was visiting Kaleen!

  A pleased smile stretched across his face. That could be fun, bouncing from one to the other, uncovering all their secrets as their conversations sparked their thoughts.

  His boss’s telepath intruded. “Torenz, are you there?”

  “Of course.”

  “Sorry I’m late. I was called into a meeting with the powers-that-be.”

  Torenz had nothing to say to that. It wasn’t as if he really cared, so he just waited, frowning.

  The man in the future continued. “We’d like you to follow the telepaths in the rescue attempt at Brazil Base Oh-four. They’re en route now. Inform us immediately of everything they discover, no matter how trivial.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Look, don’t downplay this. It’s of the highest urgency.”

  Annoyed now, Torenz stood, glaring at the wormhole as if the other man could see him. “I know my job. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Fine. Good luck.” The telepath left.

  Torenz rubbed his face, trying to rub the anger out of it. After everything he’d done for them, how could they think he wouldn’t do his job? Those people really frustrated him. He dropped to the chair again, suddenly deflated, and reached for Denefe. Listening to her or Kaleen never failed to calm him.

  Like a bolt out of the blue, he caught the tail end of a thought. “Starry’s body is here?”

  Immediately, he shifted his focus back to his boss’s telepath, a man whose name he’d never bothered to learn. He barged right in, without introduction, not caring if the man was mid-conversation with someone in his own time. “Staphershire’s body is in the Siberian dig.”

  How was that for not downplaying?

  Chapter 11

  Corpsicle

  The terrain below faded from smooth, plowed tarmac to rough ridges of white and brown ice as they moved away from the Hub. The skimmer picked up a constant vibration. Kaleen glanced at Denefe with an apologetic smile. “You’d think with all the modifications and jumps in technology they’d figure out a way to make it so these things didn’t do this.”

  Denefe laughed. “At BaBy, the canopy of the forest is so dense, we can pilot these above it. The trouble is when we hit a less dense part, we take a dip to the ground. We’ve wrecked a couple of skimmers that way. We’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

  “No, I can imagine not. Look there.” Her sister pointed at the range of mountains that jutted up sharply from the tundra floor. Long curls of snow blew off the top of the peaks, arching over the edge and down toward the ground. “In some places, that builds up a snow walkway from peak to peak.”

  “Amazing.” Denefe looked at her sister. “You really love it up here, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Not me. The tropics are more my taste.” She looked back to the front, noting they were headed toward a dark speck in the white blanket of snow.

  “Oh, come on! You live to travel. I can’t imagine you ever settling down in one place for more than a few years at a time.”

  Denefe grinned. “It almost makes you feel sorry for Ardense, doesn’t it?”

  Ahead, the dark speck grew into a camp. Kaleen settled the skimmer down next to one of the tents. “These skimmers have been rigged with a special warming motor to keep the big block from freezing in these temperatures. Cool, huh?” She opened her door and climbed out.

  Very cool, indeed. Denefe opened her door, and then immediately shut it again. In that brief split-second, the cold had snapped her breath away and shocked the skin across her face like a slap. She pulled the hood of her borrowed coat tight over her head, took a deep breath, rushed out of the skimmer, slammed the door, and ran to the black tent.

  Kaleen was already busy inside, pulling off her parka. She laughed when she saw Denefe’s face. “You look panic-stricken.”

  “I want to go home now. I’ve had enough of the cold.” She followed her sister’s example, pulling off her gloves and coat. They stood in a little anteroom between two sheets of heavy canvas lined with thick plastic. “This is where you live?”

  Kaleen shook her head. “This is Bridger’s lab. He just stuck his head in here and told me we’re working on borrowed time with this body. I don’t know how GlobeX found out. They don’t want us messing with it. I just wanted you to see it before they got here to take it away.” She gripped Denefe’s arm and lowered her voice. “Something’s going on here. Why else wouldn’t they want us poking around?”

  “I don’t know.” Denefe followed her twin inside the main part of the tent. She needed to tell her sister about Starry’s metronome, but not there.

  The interior of the tent was warmed by a large heater in the middle. Still, it wasn’t warm to Denefe. Lights had been strung up in long strings along the ceiling. A medium-height, light-framed man with light brown hair stood hunched over a table.

  “Bridger, I want you to meet my sister.”

  The man set down a piece of equipment and turned, pulling off his gloves. With a lopsided grin, he stretched forward his hand. “Hello, Kaleen’s sister. Do you have a name, or should I just call you ‘Sister Xia’? Mine’s Bridger Law.”

  “I’m Denefe. Nice to meet you.”r />
  “Don’t worry, you’ll change your opinion once you get to know me.”

  She glanced at Kaleen, who smiled. She turned back to Bridger. “I somehow doubt that.”

  “Kaleen says you know this fellow.”

  “Yes, I do…did. We are…were…friends of a sort.”

  “There are some very interesting aspects to this.” He studied her for a minute, then said, “It’s different looking at the body of someone you know. If you don’t have a strong stomach, you should go wait over there by the wall while I explain.” He motioned to a chair on the far side of the heater.

  Kaleen spoke up. “She can handle it.”

  Denefe nodded, though she wondered if she could.

  He shrugged and turned back to his table. His voice was muffled when he spoke, and Denefe had to come around beside him to understand what he said. Starry lay gnarled in a semi-fetus position, one leg and the opposite arm tucked. The other leg was bent back, and the near arm was flung outward as if trying to catch hold of something. The body, on the whole, resembled a freeze-dried mummy, but the facial features were unmistakably Starry’s.

  Bridger asked, “As I understand it, he got caught in a time flux of some kind, right?”

  “That’s right.” She moved her gaze up to Starry’s face. Like the cook, the lips were gone and his skin was red.

  “Well, as soon as your sister found the microchip, I pulled our whole team together to dig him out of the ground as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence here.” He took a deep sigh and then said, “You should know, the most singular thing about this, besides the microchip, is the damage to his face.”

  “What? The cook was damaged like this too.”

  “Like this?” He took hold of the out-flung arm and one knee and tipped Starry’s body up on its back. There, the hidden side of the head looked as if it had been burned from the inside out. A gaping hole was where his ear had been.

  She took an involuntary step backward, putting her hand to her mouth. “Starry.”

  Immediately, Kaleen put her arm around Denefe’s waist. “I’m sorry. Sit down over here.”

  Denefe shook her head and swallowed. She moved back to the table again. “No. It’s okay. I’m okay. Where’s the microchip?”

  Bridger glanced at Kaleen. “We, uh, took it out. I’ll show it to you in a minute. It’s my guess it was originally located right here. Then fell into the interior of the skull where your sister found it.” He took his pen and pointed dead center into the missing part of the skull.

  “So, you think it was the cause of Starry’s dea…of this damage? Can that be? I was talking to him when he disappeared.”

  He frowned and spoke slowly as if weighing his words. “According to my tests, he was still alive when he landed. He froze to death. I found ice crystals in his lungs, which means he was breathing at the time he came to Siberia.”

  Still alive? She didn’t want to think about that. “Do you think the sidewinder caused the microchip to malfunction and do that?” She pointed to the missing face.

  “No, I don’t. You’ll see why.” He eased the body back down to lie flat, then led her to another table and lifted a small plastic box. Enclosed within was a piece of metal about the size of the end of his pen. “Do you see any damage to this?”

  She removed the chip and inspected it closely. It looked perfectly fine to her. She shook her head.

  “Exactly. I found nothing under the microscope either. This chip wasn’t damaged. It seems it was functioning perfectly. Of course I won’t be able to tell for sure until I can get it hooked up to the proper equipment.”

  No malfunctions. That meant the chip was supposed to do what it did. “So, Starry was snatched by the sidewinder and landed here. Either before he landed or after, half his face was blown off.”

  Chapter 12

  Conspirators

  Staphershire had died in agony, that much was clear to Denefe. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “So, you have the equipment to test that microchip?”

  Bridger bobbed his head. “I do.”

  “All right. I vote we let the corporation have the body and let’s not tell them about the microchip. I mean, it could have fallen out during the accident, right?”

  He looked pleased. “I’m sure it must have.” They turned and looked at Kaleen.

  She held up her hands in denial, shaking her head. “Hey, you know me and GlobeX. As far as I’m concerned, that body is exactly as I found it, and no one has touched it.”

  “When are they scheduled to take it?” To her twin, Denefe thought, “Kaleen, can we trust this Bridger fellow?”

  Bridger answered, “They should arrive any time.”

  At that same moment, Kaleen also answered, “Absolutely! He’s an old school chum.”

  Denefe nodded. “We should probably leave. It’ll look suspicious if we’re here when they come. I don’t remember him.”

  “He wasn’t exactly part of the popular crowd.”

  “Ah! Do I detect some sarcasm there?”

  Kaleen giggled. “Just a bit.”

  “When was the last time you had anything to do with him?”

  “We’ve kept in touch over the years.”

  “I just don’t think that means we can trust him.”

  Kaleen gave a mental shrug. “Too late now. Besides, there’s no one else I’d rather have.”

  Denefe sighed. “Okay, but let’s be careful who we let know about this stuff. Reminds me, I have something to show you when we get back to your tent. Another piece of the puzzle.” Bridger, can I help you pack up?”

  He shook his head. “No, thanks. I have it all now. By the way, that’s quite unnerving when you two just stand there, obviously talking to each other in your minds. You nod and have other mannerisms of a conversation, but there’s no sound. It’s just…odd to watch.” He smiled an apology and ducked out of the tent flap into the anteroom.

  Denefe grimaced. “A bit outspoken, but he’s a nice enough fellow.”

  “Yes, he is. And trustworthy.”

  “I hope so. He’ll have to get used to us, though.” Denefe held the tent flap open for Kaleen, and they joined Bridger. She sighed, remembering another tiny room. “This little chamber reminds me of an ancient Roman house. I had occasion to be in one recently.”

  Bridger straightened from putting his boots on and stared at her. “The alae. You were in one?”

  She nodded. “That’s where the accident happened. I had to go investigate.”

  He shook his head and picked up his things. “I would have loved to have been there. You time jumpers amaze me. You see all these wonderful, historic things, and you just treat them as everyday, commonplace.”

  Kaleen spoke softly. “Not all of us, Bridger.”

  “No? That’s a wonderful thing.” He held her gaze a moment, then abruptly pulled his away.

  Denefe looked from one to the other. Unless she missed her guess, there was more than just friendship sparking between them. She cleared her throat, and said. “As we get the jumps more and more mapped, we’ll be able to send for historians and scientists to go places in the past and verify certain data. Carefully, of course.”

  “Of course.” He turned to the tent flap that opened to the frozen outside, then turned back. “I’d like to volunteer to be one of the first to go to Pompeii.”

  “We’ll absolutely put in a good word for you.” Kaleen snagged her and Denefe’s coats from their hooks.

  “How soon will you have some results on that chip?” Denefe asked.

  He shrugged. “As soon as I find some, I guess. It’s not like a lab test that I know will only take seven hours to run.” He left.

  Not relishing going back out in the cold, Denefe turned to her twin. “How far is your tent from here?”

  Kaleen pointed. “It’s just across the clearing. Ready?”

  “No, but let’s go before I lose my nerve.” Denefe picked up her bag, and th
ey dodged out of the tent into the bitter cold outside. It slammed into her like a head-on collision, stealing her breath and making her eyes run. If it hadn’t been for Kaleen’s firm grip on her elbow, Denefe would have turned back to stay with Starry’s body. Maybe even have spent her whole vacation in there.

  Her twin kept one hand on a rope overhead and propelled her forward. Twelve-foot-high drifts of snow mounded on either side of the path. Even with only one turn, it seemed like forever before they reached Kaleen’s tent. Here, there was another anteroom, and Denefe stood inside by the doorway, rocking from foot to foot, her hands pulled up into her sleeves, bag at her feet.

  Her sister was already pulling her coat and gloves off. She glanced at Denefe. “C’mon, goose! How are you going to get warm if you don’t let in the heat?” She reached over and began to undo Denefe’s coat.

  “H…How d-d-do you do…th-this?” Denefe’s mouth just didn’t want to open.

  Kaleen laughed. “I do it because it has to be done. It’s spring, though, and it’s warmer than it used to be.”

  “S-Spring? Hah!” Denefe put the tip of her glove into her mouth and pulled. Meanwhile, Kaleen tugged her coat free from her other arm. They switched, and Denefe bit the glove off her free hand while Kaleen undressed the free arm.

  Denefe bent to remove her tennis shoes. It amazed her that Kaleen was the tough sister there and she was the frail one. Quite a reversal.

  Kaleen nudged her. “Are you all right with those? Do you need help?”

  “No, I’m okay.” She jerked off her shoes and then stumbled to the heater. Her feet felt like icebergs. Standing on one foot, she lifted the other near the warmth. After a moment, she alternated. “I just don’t know how you do this. I know I couldn’t.”

  Kaleen shrugged and joined her at the heater. “I love the work. I’d rather do this than anything else.”

  “It’s true. I haven’t seen you happier. Of course,” Denefe shrugged, “they say the insane are the happiest people.”

  Kaleen laughed again. “Well, that may be, but at least I don’t work for GlobeX at the moment.”