Free Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 by Gillian Andrews Page B

the section Six is in.”
    “And how do we contact them?”
    Grace shrugged. “They said they would come back. I guess they will find us.”
    “Well, they had better get a move on. We can’t afford to wait very long.” Diva was walking around and around in circles, her nerves clearly on the verge of explosion. If she had been a cat, her tail would have been lashing from side to side.
    They sat down to wait near the edge of the pothole. Ledin spent the time gathering up the ropes and coiling them carefully. The girls looked into the distance across the planet, but were both seeing other things. There was a long silence, which nobody seemed to want to break. When Ledin had finished with the equipment he sat down at Grace’s side and joined them both in looking into the distance. He covered Grace’s left hand with his own, and she turned to direct a small smile at him.
    Diva was drumming her fingers on the dusty ground by the time the trimorphs finally appeared. As soon as she saw them, she leapt to her feet.
    “About time! Where on Almagest have you been? Where is Six?”
    The trimorphs changed shape several times before one of them answered. “He is about a kilometre over to the north. We can take you. He is all right, but he can go no further, because – as we suspected – the cavern he is in does not communicate with the surface. We have helped him to get as near as he can to the surface, but you will have to break through if he is to get out safely.”
    “Take us there!” insisted Diva.
    “How thick is the crust?” asked Ledin.
    “I would think about two metres,” said the trimorph.
    Ledin looked thoughtful.
    Diva turned to him. “What?”
    He pulled a face. “Two metres of solid rock is too much for us. We are going to have to blast a hole in it – and that means going back to the shuttle.” He thought for a moment. “Look – why don’t you two go with the trimorphs, and start to scout out the area? I will go and pick up some explosive from the shuttle, and follow you. Leave me a trail – you can mark it with cairns of three boulders.”
    The girls agreed, and they divided. Ledin was feeling anything but optimistic as he made his way back to the shuttle. He hadn’t liked to say anything in front of Diva, but privately he thought that the chances of managing to push a hole in solid rock with the small explosive charges they had available were not good. He was just hoping that the area where Six was would be pockmarked with faults, and that they would only have to blast away a few inches of rock. If the surface was mainly particulate, even the small charges would be enough, he thought. He gave a sigh, and increased his speed. Luckily his past life had taught him an excellent sense of direction, and he made quick time across the terrain. The low gravity helped too, of course.
    WHEN HE FINALLY got back again to the area where Six was trapped, his spirits sank. The ground seemed very compacted and he could tell that there were few areas of particulate cover. That indicated a solid rock dome to the cavern.
    He turned to the trimorphs. “Can you get down there, and see if there are any faults in the ceiling? We need to place these explosive devices very carefully, or they won’t be strong enough.”
    The twins shimmered, and disappeared. When they returned they were whirring in a contented fashion. “There is a place,” they said. “We will show you.” They floated effortlessly over the terrain, to position themselves directly on top of the fault line. Ledin followed, taking the precaution of roping up first.
    He placed the charges with great care, sending the trimorphs back underground several times, to check the positioning. If he were to succeed, he would have to follow the fault along its length.
    At last he was reasonably satisfied. He shuffled back to the girls, and they all moved away to the nearby ridge. Then he sent the trimorphs back to Six, with instructions to take as much cover as he