The Caverns of Mare Cetus by Jim Erjavec Page A

reached them, his suspicions were realized.
       Edison's voice was broiling with anger. "If you told me that's what we'd be doing—I might have just done it, but now you've really pissed me off."
       Hunter stepped back, putting up his hands. "Hold on now, doing what?"
       "Claim staking!" exclaimed Isis, her thin eyebrows slanted in anger. "You do realize I have degrees in both bio and inorganic chemistry. And I've been hired on to stake some stinking claim? This is a joke, right?"
       "Calm down," said Hunter, motioning with his hands. "Let's try…"
       Arielle, Edison, Richelle, and Isis began to lambaste Hunter with insults and accusations. After Hunter stood in silence for what seemed like a long time, but was actually only minutes, he bellowed out at them, his cry echoing through the passage like he had shot off a cannon. "Shut the fuck up already! You've done nothing but whine ever since we got here. Yes! It is claim staking. You know pre-trip objectives aren't always clear. If you want out—you know the way back." He glared at Ramon. "Nice going," he mouthed.
       Ramon pointed at himself while decisively shaking his head. As he pointed at Arielle, then Edison, he mouthed something Hunter couldn't make out. Then he shrugged in puzzlement.
       Hunter wasn't sure what Ramon was trying to say, but no matter how the others found out about the claim staking, he had to go to his backup plan—now.
       Edison took off his hardhat. "Good call, Hunter. I'm out of here."
       "So I'm a whiner, am I? Screw you." Isis turned away from Hunter and started walking down the passage. "Come on, Richelle. Let's go."
       "I'm not a f-f-fucking whiner, either," grumbled Richelle. "Go stake the claim yourself, wh-wh-why don't you?" She turned to follow Isis. "Coming."
       "You need to know this before you go," said Hunter, raising his voice. "If you leave now, you're going to pass up a big bonus from Explora. I only found out about it myself just prior to landing—30X folks—think about it."
       Isis and Richelle stopped in their tracks and looked back at Hunter.
       Edison pressed his huge hands against his hardhat as if trying to crush it. "That's a pile, man. You're making this tough."
       "I don't know about the rest of you," said Arielle, "but 30X isn't enough for this lousy deception. I'm going back. Who's with me?" She glanced at Edison, Isis, and Richelle, who shook their heads at her in return.
       A sinister smile formed on Hunter's lips.
       "What?" exclaimed Arielle, her voice cracking. "You're going along with this? Can't you see? He's buying you off." She threw her hardhat on in disgust. "Ramon. Come on. Let's get out of here."
       "No way," he said. "Do the math. With both of us that's 60X!"
       "You greedy fool. How can you let him con you like this?"
       "I'm staying," he said. "You're crazy if you leave."
       She glanced at all the smiling faces, then huffed. "The hell with all of you then." She grabbed Devon's arm. "Come on, honey. You're coming back with me for company."
       "Hey!" cried Devon. "Let go of my arm!"
       Arielle pulled Devon's face close to her own. "Let me tell you something. There is nothing lower than an Internal Observer. Normally, I wouldn't wipe my ass with you…"
       "Hey! Hey!" exclaimed Hunter.
       "Come on." Arielle pulled on Devon's wrist, dragging her away from the wall, her strength seeming too much for Devon's fraillooking build.
       "Let her go, Arielle," said Hunter. "She's just a kid."
       Devon wrestled free from Arielle's grip. "Listen, girl. I'm not going anywhere with you." She turned toward the others. "Look. We don't want a repeat of Sid's mission, do we? That's all I'm trying to avoid here."
       Arielle laughed. "I doubt you'd be any help if something did happen. I could've snapped your wrist." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry."
       Devon looked at the red mark Arielle had made on her wrist. "You