I stood up. The island was small and mostly taken up by the stone pavilion I was standing in. Crumbling stone pillars loomed tall in a ring around me and a small, open-walled temple-like structure stood in its center.
“Jannigan, come in!” Narcissa’s voice crackled in my earpiece.
“I’m here!”
“We see you,” Chiraine said. “Look south.”
I turned to see two figures waving at me from the edge of the muddy lake, two hundred meters away.
“How the hell did you get out there?” Narcissa asked.
“I have no idea.” I strode quickly around the pavilion and temple, searching for any trapdoors or underground passages. All the stone surfaces were plain and bare.
“Thank Dynark we found you,” Chiraine said. “Ana-Zhi is not answering any pings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been sending pulse alerts for the last twenty minutes. No answer.”
That wasn’t good.
My head was still spinning from trying to figure out how I got on this island. The last I remembered I was underground somewhere. Wandering around. Lost.
I shut my eyes, trying to focus.
I remembered entering the Antrum, the collapsed roof, and digging my way through the stairway. I had a vague recollection of wandering through tunnels, but then…nothing. Nothing but that dream.
There was a blank spot in my memory.
I had no recollection of exiting the Antrum.
“Jannigan?” Chiraine called over the comm. “Did you hear me? I said that we haven’t been able to get an answer from Ana-Zhi. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too.” I surveyed the muddy expanse surrounding the island. I really did not want to risk trudging through that.
“You guys need to go get the sled and pick me up here. As quick as you can.”
“That’s some lateral thinking,” Narcissa said. “On our way.”
“Don’t go anywhere!” Chiraine said.
I wasn’t about to.
When I checked my Aura to set a timer, I noticed that a marker had been set in the geo app. I didn’t remember doing that, so I felt a little freaked out by it.
The marker was located 432 meters northwest of my current location, and it had been set eighteen minutes ago.
More pieces of the puzzle.
I killed some time by walking around the pavilion, methodically checking the cobblestone pavement for hidden shafts or hatches.
The best explanation I could come up with was that I encountered something down there that affected my short-term memory. Maybe some sort of toxic gas?
No, that didn’t make sense. My suit’s bio systems would have protected me from that.
Maybe something else?
My thoughts were interrupted by Narcissa’s voice in my ear.
“We’re here.”
The sled skimmed over the mud-choked lake and I climbed aboard.
“We were really worried about you,” Chiraine said.
“I was worried about me too.”
“I thought you had found the underground nest of that pterodactyl thing we saw.”
I had almost forgotten about the big flying creature we had seen while looking for the Antrum. Reflexively I looked to the sky, but thankfully it was clear.
I quickly brought them up to speed about what I remembered—or actually, what I didn’t remember.
“That’s odd,” Narcissa said. “You were down there for a full twenty minutes.”
“That fits with what my Aura says. But it felt like I was down there for hours.”
“That’s a pretty sizable memory gap,” Narcissa said.
“You need to get checked out by the MedBed when we get back,” Chiraine said.
I nodded.
“You want to try Ana-Zhi?” Chiraine passed me the comm unit.
I didn’t even bother calibrating its location sensors. I just sent the pulse alert.
“What time is it?” I asked. We were supposed to alert each other on the hour.
“Ten twenty-eight,” Narcissa said.
“I know this sounds dumb, but maybe Ana-Zhi just stepped away,” I said. “She could just not be hanging around the comm unit.”
Chiraine made a skeptical face, but didn’t say anything.
Narcissa shrugged. “We’ve been trying her since ten.”
Once we left the top of Umbanor, the trip back down to the ship would be relatively quick. But all three of us were keyed up with worry. I really hoped Ana-Zhi was okay.
I steered the sled down into the mist, keeping clear of the rocky cliff.
Narcissa gripped her Benham tight, her head constantly moving, as if she expected a K’Lortai Dragon to fly out in front of her. But, thankfully, we didn’t encounter any wildlife before we arrived at the Vostok.
“Ana-Zhi, come in.” I tried the close-range audio channel. “Open up, mom. The kids are home.”
No response.
“By any chance, do you keep a spare key under the mat?” Narcissa joked.
Just then the bay doors opened.
Narcissa and I looked at each other. “Maybe the comm unit went down.” I said.
“Or she’s being extra cautious about transmissions. Who knows?”
I eased the sled inside the airlock and the doors closed behind us with a whoosh. The air exchanger indicator lights illuminated and we all climbed out of the sled and started peeling off our suits to put into the disinfecting units.
“I feel that we don’t have much to show from that expedition,” I said. “Other than me getting lost.”
“What do you mean?” Chiraine asked.
“If the plan is to hide our treasure, I’m not sure we found the right place yet.”
“While you were underground, Chiraine and I surveyed some of the other buildings in the vicinity of the Antrum,” Narcissa said.
“And?”
“We found a few that were structurally sound, and would work size-wise, but no place to really hide anything.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“I know there are other subterranean rooms,” Chiraine said. “I just need a little more time to map them out.”
The door to the hold opened and we trudged in.
“I need to get out of these clothes,” Narcissa said. “I’m soaked with sweat.”
“Me too.” I looked around the hold for Ana-Zhi, but didn’t see her. “But I’m going to find Ana-Zhi first.”
“Good idea,” Narcissa said.
“I have to pee really bad,” Chiraine said.
“Thanks for sharing,” Narcissa said.
We headed up to the galley first, but it was empty. Then we went up one level to the command deck.
“Holy shit!” Narcissa raced down the hall.
Ana-Zhi lay sprawled on the
