Chapter 12

"Hey, Urtis. Wait up." Linia Taulin readjusted the stack of data disks in her hands as she tried to quicken her pace down the hallway.

Urtis Dusat paused, turning back to look at her.

She frowned, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and the weary expression on his face. "Are you alright?"

He nodded tiredly, "Yeah, I . . . I just haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately."

"For how long?"

He looked away, leaning against one of the hallway's structural supports, "Just of couple nights."

"Maybe you should go to the infirmary and see if the doctor can give you something to help you sleep."

He looked up, meeting her gaze, and for the first time, Linia noticed the haunted look in his eyes. "No. I'm fine," he stated evenly.

"You don't look fine."

"It's nothing," he muttered turning away from her.

Linia looked uncertain, but she didn't press anymore. "Oh . . . okay, well I suppose I'll see you later then?"

He nodded absently and strode off down the hall.


Tilyer's breath came hot and steady as he charge his way through the silk field. Huge gnarled trees stretched skyward, their limbs intertwining overhead in a dense canopy that seemed to shroud the forest in perpetual shadow. Yet Tilyer nimbly leapt over roots, foliage, and other obstacles as he fled deeper into the jungle. Somehow it reminded him those jogs his squad took during survival training. It thrilled him. Remembering his training, remembering his faith in the glory that was the Empire, he used it as the rock upon which he built his fortress of determination.

If he could lose the girl that had been watching him, then double back, he could perhaps get to the communications building and try to contact the Enforcer. Then maybe he could sort through all the lies they had been feeding him. He knew she didn't have a radio on her, and she had promptly followed him into the jungle so she wasn't going for help like she would have it she was smart. He also knew with his military training, he could easily outpace her.

He almost smiled to himself in satisfaction. They had done a superb job of trying to convince him that he wasn't a prisoner, and that he was just a "guest" until communications were reestablished, but he had seen through it. He might have believed it too, had the girl not slipped up. All he had to do now was lose her in the fields, and then he could see about getting off this rock.

He was straining to hear if she was still following him when movement up in the canopy caught his eye. Looking up, he saw too late the enormous multi-legged monstrosity descending over him. Tilyer screamed, trying to throw himself backward away from the horned insect, but he was too late. The beast landed lightly despite its huge girth, but its chitinous abdomen pressed down on Tilyer like a lead weight. Its triangular head bowed down over him as he struggled, mandibles clacking hungrily as its forceps sought to pin him to the ground.

Though bewildered by the creature's sudden appearance, his more primal survival instincts took over. He struggled, beating against the monstrous insect's underbelly, but to no avail. The insect reared its head backward as Tilyer kicked and squirmed. He gave a hoarse cry of desperation.

And then the mandibles stabbed down.

With one last desperate effort, he managed to free himself from beneath the beast's body as the creature's strike found only empty air. He tried to get to his feet, but the thing lurched after him again. Tilyer desperately lashed out with a kick. He hit something solid. The insect squealed in pain. He used that moment to scramble to his feet and stumbled away in his desperate flight away from the creature.

Suddenly he stopped short. Tana stood scant meters away, blaster pistol pointed unwaveringly at his face.