The light brightened appreciably after a moment, and I looked up.The light brightened appreciably after a moment, and I looked up. Through the water I could see what looked like a dome of light, and I decided that, if this wasn't the place, I had to at least be close. I surfaced. A cliche', I mused, looking around. A small grotto, filled with air and covered is glowing mosses. The air had a stale taste to it, and a strange smell, like fresh bread. Except for the lack of a rock in the center of the pool, this might have been the place Bilbo and Gollum had their famous duel. I took my mask, fins, and rig off and found a place for them on the shore. Hopping up onto the beach strewn with black and grey stones, I looked around, that odd bread smell nagging me. Then an old line from a song by The Who ran through my mind, and I scrabbled for my radio. "Fawn," I said. "Can you hear me?" "Clearly," came her voice over the radio. "I'm fine. I'm going to need you to send me the drone with a medical support kit level two, with as much glucose and water as you can possibly get it to carry." "On its way." I hummed the song that had come to mind, "Cache', Cache'," looking for my persepective target. She had to be here somewhere. "Waking up cold to the smell of bread," I said aloud, still searching. I found her Comatose, I found her lying against a large boulder at the far end of the pool from where I had come up. Her hair was matted and bedraggled; insects crawled over her body. She wore a rotted tunic that barely covered her shoulders and apparently reached down to cover her knees when she stood. Even through the ruin, though, I could see what had once been a very beautiful woman. I checked for heartbeat, pulse, breathing. There was some. With my flashlight I checked her eyes; they still contracted under contact from light. There was still a chance. A pool of water had collected around her, and that worried me. The drone erupted from the water in a sheaf of bubbles and a slight spray. Behind it was a large bag filled with the medical supplies I had requested. "Fawn, will these things even work on her?" "I have no idea," the AI replied. |