Jay Caselberg - Wyrmhole
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Wyrmhole: summary, description and annotation
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Jack Stein lives and works in the crowded, semi-organic city known as the Locality. Hes hired by the Outreach Mining Company to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of its mining crews on an uncolonized planet. But his psychic dreams are full of strange mystical symbols and red herrings, making Jack wonder if Outreach truly wants the miners found. And the deeper he digs, the more people want to see him dead...
Jay Caselberg: author's other books
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Jay Caselberg
Jack Stein 01 - Wyrmhole
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who made this book a reality. First, to my editor, Jennifer Heddle; my agent, Linn Prentis, and all those at the Virginia Kidd Agency; to fellow writers Charlene L. Brusso, Lynn Flewelling, Laura Anne Gilman, Devon Monk for their input; to the IMPs of CompuServe for pointing the way; to the Clan for ongoing support and encouragement, especially when things became dark; and to my mother, Jennifer, for her unflagging love and belief.
One
Stein woke that morning with blood in his piss and the taste of something more insidious deep within his brain. Strangely innocuous, deadpan-that was how it felt. As if none of it really mattered. Heavy grav, that was what did it. Too much weight and too many stims to keep him going. Heavy grav got you down.
He grunted, shook the last few drops of the accusatory pink-yellow stream, then dry-flushed. Maybe he was just becoming paranoid. Too many stims would do that to you. He was going to crash big-time without them, but his kidneys wouldnt take it much longer. He peered blearily at himself in the mirror, then shook his head. What the hell? He reached into the cabinet and slapped on another patch. Time and tide wait for no man. Now where had that come from? Jesus, where did he get this crap? He was having too many random thoughts like that these days, stuff just popping into his head.
Back into the kitchenette to brew a cup, one foot planted ponderously after the other, every step an effort. The stuff didnt even smell real. By the time hed finished the lukewarm nothingness that passed for coffee out here on the Rim, and tossed the plastic cup into the disposal, the stims had started to kick in. He was starting to feel barely human again-sort of like strung wire-but at least human. He scratched at the stubble on his cheek and grimaced. Time to face the music. He eased the trailer door open and squinted out into glare and heat, leaning against the doorframe while his fragile senses adjusted to the morning assault.
A cluster of silver trailers caught the light, shining star shapes in his brittle vision. The air sucked moisture from his skin, and he lifted a hand to shield his eyes. The bare, pink ground between the trailers, ground littered with small, jagged stones, appeared completely devoid of life. With a growl, he eased himself down the trailer stairs. Where the hell was everyone? There should have been activity all around the campsite by this time of day, but the only thing that moved was the heat shimmer.
Stein walked a few steps from his trailer and turned slowly, looking for any sign of the others. The only thing he got was that uneasy feeling deep in his guts. Everything shouted quietness.
Too still. Too damned still by far.
Hey, Johnson, he yelled.
Nothing.
He yelled again, then cocked his head to listen. But he didnt want to hear the small, faint voice in the back of his head telling him something was wrong. Too many stims made you edgy. Fuck it. He was in no mood for games.
Johnson! Mitch! Hey, where the hell are you?
Still nothing. The heat-thick air sucked his words away and left him with beating silence in his ears. The small, quiet voice in the back of his head got louder. Jack had learned to rely on that little voice, but it didnt mean he had to like what it was telling him. It was as if something were stalking him like a man in black cowboy boots riding the dreamsnake in his head.
Youve blown your cover, Jack. Theyre on to you, it whispered.
He scanned the trailers and concentrated on the sounds outside his head. Still nothing. Logic started to overtake the internal voice. There was no way the rest of the crew could know why he was here. Or could they?
What the hell was he doing in this place anyway? He hated heat. Okay, it was money, but sometimes that just wasnt enough. He licked his lips and crunched over to Johnsons trailer. He lifted a fist and banged on the metal shell.
Johnson, you in there? He waited a moment, then banged again.
The voice was back again, telling him stuff he didnt want to hear. The sun was beating down on the back of his neck, slamming heat into his body. It was funny the way no matter what star you were under, you always thought of it as the Sun. It might be a different color, but it was still Sol. He could feel the slight trembling in the ends of his fingers and the hard-wire edgy feeling around his teeth that meant the stims were really starting to kick in. His heart was racing now, but this time it had nothing to do with the chemicals. What the hell was he going to do?
He tried Mitchs trailer, but the results were the same. He didnt dare risk any of the others. Johnson and Mitch were the only ones who had treated him halfway like human since his arrival. These far-flung mining crews tended to be a pretty unforgiving lot, didnt like outsiders much. The new boy always had to prove himself, to earn acceptance, and Jack Stein hadnt been around long enough to make the grade.
He leaned against the trailer door, trying to ease some of the weight dragging at his limbs. You had to question a persons motivation for winding up in a place like this. But you didnt pry into peoples backgrounds. Not out here. He squinted into the sun, then cursed out loud. Stupid to stand out here in the full glare. Bloody stupid. He walked around the trailer and squatted in the pinkish dust on the other side, using the trailers bulk to shield him from the heat. He rubbed his hands on his thighs, leaving pink smears on his legs like chalk-dust trails on the sides of his suit.
It was still another eight days before the rotation shuttle was due. Hed already been here for two local weeks and found nothing. When the company had sent him in, hed expected to have some answers within the first week, but so far hed drawn a blank. Most of the eighteen-strong crew was fairly tight-lipped, but thered been nothing in any one of their actions to indicate anything suspicious. Jack was pretty good at picking up the signs, and nothing up to now had triggered his internal alarms.
He peered across at the jagged pink cliffs where the main shaft lay. The light sparkled in sharp traceries from the crystalline outcroppings, even at this distance. The problem was, he didnt really know what he was supposed to be looking for. Theyd called him into the office and said, Weve had reports of unusual happenings on Dairil III. We want you to go in and find out whats going on. That was it. Fat lot of help theyd been.
So what am I supposed to be looking for? hed asked.
Anything unusual. Anything at all, theyd said.
Well, now it looked like hed found something, even if it was nothing. The men were supposed to be here. The camp should be full of noise, the rough, burly mining crew preparing for their day inside the mountain, swearing and grumbling as they usually did.
He hitched himself to his feet and walked slowly back around the other side of the trailer. He was achieving absolutely nothing here. The vehicles they used to get back and forth from the mine were still parked around the campsite, so at least that was something. Next stop had to be the mine itself, see if they were there. Grab his kit and drive over to the mine. That was the answer. Hed find them all there, waiting for him to show up, wide grins on their stubbled, sweaty, dirt-smeared faces. The fact that the vehicles were still there worried at the back of his consciousness, but he pushed the thought aside.
Stein had been in Intelligence once, but hed left when the service hadnt treated him the way he thought it ought to. Intelligence. Well, he didnt feel very intelligent right now. It was far too early in the morning, and all he had was his sense of wrongness to keep him going. Not a good way to start the day. Not good at all. He rubbed the back of his neck as he trudged back to his simple, utilitarian accommodation.
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