The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda #1)(8)

Glancing down the slope toward the thorn brush, Jennifer shook her head. “Not fun.”

“You sure you don’t want to flip for who goes?” Heather asked.

Mark laughed. “Nice of you to offer, but no. I’ll go. After all, I was the pilot when it crashed. Besides, how manly would I look if I made you two get all scratched and cut up? I couldn’t deal with the humiliation.”

“Okay then,” said Heather. “Pay the price for machismo. We won’t argue.”

Mark climbed down the rocky crest of the rim and into the brush beyond, working his way as far as possible along a narrow goat trail before plunging into the thorn brush below. The girls watched from above as he pushed forward, thrashing his way into the bushes, cursing, occasionally pausing to pull out a thorn.

As he neared the identified crash site, Mark gave a startled yell and pitched forward, disappearing from view. From their vantage point, high above, Jennifer and Heather had a clear view of the slope. Of Mark, however, there was no sign.

“Mark! Are you all right?”

As Jennifer continued to yell, Heather made up her mind, moving rapidly over the rocky edge, toward where she had last seen Mark.

“Wait,” Jennifer yelled, scrambling toward her with the video unit in her hand. “Look at this.”

“Jen, we don’t have time to look at more of the recording.”

“It’s not the recorded part. This is a live shot from the camera.”

“What?”

“The camera is still sending. I didn’t notice it because it was mostly dark. Look at this, though.”

Heather’s mouth dropped open. There in the darkness on the screen lay Mark’s prone form, his skin dimly illuminated by a red glow.





Chapter 5





“Look, he’s moving!” Jennifer pointed at the screen.

Sure enough, Mark rolled to his side and then out of the view of the camera.

Heather jumped to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get down there.”

The two girls moved down the steep hillside as rapidly as they could. The thick brush clutched and tore at their jeans and shirts, scratching arms and legs, and kept their progress to a crawl.

“Mark. Mark, can you hear us?” Heather yelled as they got closer to the spot where he had disappeared.

“I’m okay.” Heather and Jennifer both gasped with relief at the sound of his voice. “I’m right here.”

Jennifer peered over the rims of her glasses into the thick brush ahead. “‘Here,’ where? I don’t see you.”

“You won’t believe what I’ve found. Be careful, there’s a drop-off right in front of you. Go around about ten feet to the right of where you are, then loop back toward me.”

Heather shook her head. “Mark, you aren’t making any sense. I don’t see you.”

“Just trust me. Go right about ten or fifteen feet, then down the hill until I tell you to turn, then back to the left again.”

Heather bit her lip. “What’s with the mystery? Do you have any idea how badly you scared us? We thought you fell off the edge of a cliff.”

“Off the edge of reality.” Mark’s cryptic reply didn’t curb her annoyance.

Jennifer was already moving in response to her brother’s directions, and Heather fell into step behind her. As they moved down the slope, Mark’s voice brought them to a stop.

“Okay, far enough. Now come toward my voice. Watch your step.”

Jennifer squinted, trying to see where her brother was hiding.

“Here, take my hand,” Mark said.

Both girls screamed as a disembodied hand reached out toward them, followed by Mark’s head. The rest of Mark’s body materialized as he moved toward them, a huge grin on his face.

“Sorry. I tried to warn you.”

“What the hell just happened?” Heather gasped.

“You have to see this for yourselves. Oh, and don’t worry about the optical illusion. It won’t hurt you.”

Mark turned and stepped back the way he had come, his body disappearing into space before them.

“Come on,” he called back to them. “Take the plunge.”

As Jennifer started to reply, Heather took a deep breath and stepped toward where Mark had vanished. Reaching out to move one of the thorn branches away from her face, her hand disappeared into nothingness, the branch having no more substance than the air she was breathing. Despite her resolve, a startled cry escaped her lips as her entire body moved forward into darkness.

Mark’s strong hand gripped her arm to steady her as her eyes struggled to adjust to the dim light. She was in some sort of large cave entrance. Looking back in the direction from which she had come, it was as if a mesh screen had been pulled down across the opening, leaving everything outside dimly seen, as if through a translucent film. Jennifer stood just beyond that screen, hesitating, unable to see what lay beyond no matter how hard or long she stared.

“Jen, quit fooling around and come on in,” said Mark. “It’s not going to bite you.”

Her mouth twisted. “Unlike you two, I prefer knowing what I’m getting into, especially when it appears to violate several known laws of physics.”

“Jen, for Christ's sake. It’s just some sort of hologram.”