Read Alien Worlds for Free Online Page B

her fall. The surface shifted. Dust rose in an acrid cloud. It burned her eyes, her nose, her lips.
    Salt, she thought with abrupt clarity. She was sliding down a mountain of salt.
    Fear mixed with wonder. Where was she?
    She dug in with her knees, arms outstretched. Gradually, her body leveled. She sat up. Tears streamed down her face. Salty dust ran into her eyes. Her lungs were on fire, her throat swollen and dry.
    What had happened? She’d been clinging to the bridge. The stone pillar was falling, but the pinion held—until her partner climbed onto the rope.
    Trace stirred from a drift of powder.
    Impani turned on him. “What were you trying to do? Kill us both? If the ring hadn’t caught us—” She grimaced.
    He got to his knees, eyes wide in his white-coated face. He seemed lost, and she was sorry she had spoken sharply.
    “You were in trouble,” he murmured. “I wanted to rescue you.”
    “I didn’t need your help.”
    Dust poured from his shoulders as he stood. “Well, where are we, anyway?”
    She turned her back to hide a fresh bout of tears then wiped her face with salt-encrusted fingers. Her cheeks throbbed, abraded by the harsh mountain. After a moment, she removed a flask of water from her belt, rinsed her gloves, then dabbed her eyes.
    “Here.” She held out the flask. “You should wash your face.”
    “Go easy on the water. You may need it.”
    A retort died in her throat. Why did he always make her feel foolish? She took a scant swallow of the cooling liquid then returned the flask to her belt.
    As she brushed off, she gave herself a quick VSE to make certain that her suit was undamaged. Visual Surveillance of Extremities was one of the first things she learned after being issued a skinsuit. She never appreciated its importance until then.
    With one hand over her eyes, she gazed toward the blade-edged ridge of salt. It looked more like a glacier than a mountain—gray and variegated yellow. The sky was blue, the sun bright overhead. The air was still, but she heard the moan of wind.
    “Do you still think this is part of a session?” she said. It sounded cheap and sarcastic even to her own ears.
    He stood beside her. “Have you ever heard of a ring malfunctioning?”
    “Not in any of the textbooks.” But she remembered Mr. Ambri-Cutt warning her about the dangers of a fractured ring and how difficult it was to reweave the energy.
    If they were trapped in the wormhole, would they keep jumping indefinitely?
    Trace took out his tri-views. “We appear to be in a basin. A passage lies in that direction. Can you tell what’s beyond it?”
    She shook salt out her sonic resonator and wiped the screen. “Readings are inconclusive. The basin must cup the sound waves, bounce them back to us.” She glanced up the steep side of the glacier. “I’d hate to be stuck here if that salt begins to slide.”
    “Agreed.” He walked off.
    Impani glared. She wanted to rail at him, to vent her frustration. They were in trouble.
    Was he never afraid?
    Arms about her chest, she trudged behind her partner. The shifting drifts of powder tried to trip her. She edged toward the center of the basin where the salt was packed smooth.
    They couldn’t be lost. The technicians must know where they were. This was simply an extra-long training session, a sort of final exam. It was just her luck to have Trace as her partner. Why couldn’t she have been paired with Natica—or Davrileo? Anyone but this by-the-book, self-righteous, disturbing—
    The salt gave way beneath her step. Impani yelped. She sank to one knee, her foot in a hole.
    “Hold on,” Trace cried. “I’m coming.”
    “Stay there. I mean it.” All she needed was to have him come to her rescue again.
    Powder poured around her boot, sucking it under, drawing it deep. She tried to pull free, but the hole crumbled. Salt enveloped her thigh. She leaned back, and her hand punched through the crust.
    “Watch it!” he yelled.
    That earned him a glare. At