In the Span of a Heartbeat
In April of this year, I sold a Halloween story to Black Cat Weekly magazine to be included in one of their upcoming October issues. I’ll share more details on that when it’s published.
This was the second story I sold to them, the first being a science fiction piece titled “In the Span of a Heartbeat,” which appeared in Issue #176 in January 2025. I realized recently that I’d never shared the opening scenes of that story here on my blog as I did with my three other stories that were published in the first half of the year. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy this subsurface trek into danger, discovery, and personal reckoning.
During a survey mission on a distant planet, a group of scientists discovers an underground cavern rich in valuable artifacts, but soon find themselves hunted by a pack of subsurface creatures.
In the Span of a Heartbeat
by Phil Giunta
A string of expletives assailed Norimi as she entered the lab. The gruff voice bellowed from the conference table in the back corner, above which hovered a massive rotating hologram of Uzo, the largest of three planetoids at the edge of Enyari space. Its desolate, pockmarked surface resembled an artist’s palette of taupe, white, and burnt umber with occasional patches of slate blue. Uzo was also home for the next four weeks and the final stop on a yearlong expedition to survey the last undeveloped real estate in the solar system for colonization.
At the workbench across the lab, speleologists Wyn Kuona and Seth Reizig conversed in hushed tones as if afraid to draw the ire of the science team’s cantankerous leader.
Norimi sidestepped the hologram to find her father hunched in his seat, jabbing a finger at the touch screen in the table’s beveled edge. “Everything all right, Dad?”
“Can someone please tell me how the hell to pull up the damn contour map from Sonda?”
Oren, the team’s technical engineer, bounded in from the adjacent room. “No problem, Doctor Jurahn. Let me show you.”
The seismologist rolled his chair aside as the younger man hunched over the screen. He tapped once, swiped twice, and Uzo faded out. One more tap produced a rectangular cross-section of a lava tube connecting two massive calderas.
“Thank you.” Jurahn stood. “Perhaps my daughter married someone useful after all.”
Ignoring Norimi’s fuming gaze, the team leader cleared his throat. “Before we begin, just one announcement.” He clasped his hands behind him as Kuona and Reizig fell silent. “I received word from Captain Milliken earlier this morning. She’s been diverted to the edge of Zhoreen space. Hostilities are escalating in the region and the navy wants more firepower along the border. As a result, she will not be able to pick us up as scheduled. The closest ship to us is the Praetorius, but it’s five weeks out.”
The team responded with groans and slumped shoulders.
“Yes, I know. We’re all anxious to go home, but after a year in space, what’s an extra week? Now, let’s review our objectives for today.” Jurahn traced his finger along the edge of the holographic contour map. “According to the body wave emitters planted by our Sonda rover last year—”
“Just before it crapped out.” Kuona folded her arms across her chest and smirked at Oren. Norimi’s husband had designed the rover, which went offline five months after landing on Uzo, making him the target of occasional ridicule ever since.
“We don’t know what happened to it, Doctor Kuona,” Norimi said. “And it isn’t relevant right now. We have its last known coordinates. If we find it while we’re here, we’ll figure it out.”
Kuona’s smirk faded as her gaze shifted to the hologram.
“As I was saying,” Jurahn continued. “The seismic data Sonda sent back shows that this lava tube is sixty-three meters in diameter and runs for ninety-four kilometers, making it a strong candidate for a subsurface habitat. It’s seven hundred and eight meters down and runs directly beneath the two calderas we saw from orbit, Prythian and Erimaal, about ten kilometers apart. Near the base of each are caves, some of which connect with the lava tube.
“There are also several conduits that branch off from the tube. Some appear to end in caverns, others lead to dolines, or sinkholes, that are open to the surface. We’ll explore as many as we can. Based on the coin toss aboard ship yesterday, Kuona and Reizig will head northwest to Prythian, while Norimi and I go southeast to Erimaal. We’ll collect soil and rock samples, assess structural stability, and get a closer lay of the land while Oren monitors everything from here. Any questions?”
No one stirred.
“Excellent.” Jurahn tapped the screen and the hologram vanished. “Let’s go spelunking.”
***
Although four hundred times dimmer here than on their homeworld, the sun’s light was sufficient for navigating Uzo’s craggy terrain. In the driver’s seat of Crawler One, Norimi craned her neck to peer up at the towering rim of Erimaal, beyond which lay the largest caldera in the Naxdin Belt of planetoids. What had been a breathtaking view from orbit became humbling—and intimidating—at close range.
In the passenger seat, her father recorded their journey on the crawler’s exterior cameras, controlled by the dashboard’s touch screen. “We’ve been driving for twenty minutes and you haven’t uttered a word. When my daughter gives me the silent treatment, I know she has something on her mind.” He leaned toward her. “She gets that from her mother.”
“And if mom were still with us, she’d smack you upside the head for the way you treat Oren.” Norimi tore her gaze away from Erimaal and glared at her father. “I’ve held my tongue until now because we’re both still grieving, but I expected better from you.”
“As the leader of this team, I don’t have time to coddle anyone, Rimi. That includes your lesser half.”
“I’m not asking you to coddle him. I’m asking you to show him some respect for a change, as a colleague. You constantly belittle him because he’s not a scientist, yet Oren developed almost all of the tech we’re using on this mission.”
“Well, let’s hope it holds up better than his Sonda rover.”
“Why do I waste my breath?” As they drove into Erimaal’s shadow, Norimi slapped the dashboard touch screen. The headlights flashed on and glinted off the frame of a small vehicle parked beside the cave entrance. “Who the hell could that be?”
Her father tapped his dashboard screen. “Team One to Basecamp. We just arrived at the foot of Erimaal, and it looks like we have company.”
To continue reading “In the Span of a Heartbeat,” and many other fantastic stories, check out Black Cat Weekly #176.
