ILL
Chapter 13
The xenomorph had fallen through a weak spot in the ceiling above the garden's foyer. It didn't land perfectly on its feet, which gave Zen the precious seconds he needed to shut the door to the small room they were in. The murderous creature slammed into the heavy door a split second after it slid closed. Cut off from its prey, the beast howled in rage and rammed its body into the door again and again.
"We're trapped." Nia cried, her heart skipping a beat every time there was a pounding behind the door.
"I beg to differ." Zen protested. "Give me your hand."
She tore her frightened eyes off the entrance and spun around to find him standing on the counter along the back wall. After he had helped her up, he banged on a metal ceiling tile and it slid aside.
"A ventilation shaft?"
He nodded. "That thing used it, so can we."
"But how do we know that there isn't another one of those zoo-morphs things up there?" She argued. "Think about it. Jax thought he had killed all of them, but one turns up here. Maybe there's more we don't know about yet."
The robot's eyes looked away in thought. "Good point."
He suddenly jumped down off the counter even though the creature was still laboring to tear down the door. "VCAT, scan the entire pyramid for xenomorph lifesigns and report the exact number discovered."
The computer worked much too slowly for Nia. She looked up into the escape hatch, ready to jump through, but she knew immediately that she would require help to climb up. The beast threw itself against the door relentlessly, making her flinch each time. Finally Zen received the information he needed and jumped back up onto the counter.
"According to VCAT there is only one xeno in the entire pyramid and its outside that door." He reported, nodding across the room. He stooped down, wrapped his arms around her hips and lifted her chest high into the opening.
"Don't wait for me. Go!" He ordered after she had clambered the rest of the way into the shaft. Just then the office door gave way with a loud clang and was propelled across the room. Zen jumped out of the way and into the shaft before it could crush him. He slid the tile back in place as the beast roared in disappointment below them.
"I thought I told you to keep going," he snapped when he'd spotted Nia still waiting by the opening.
"Sue me," she returned flatly. "What are you doing?" He was wielding the tile closed. "How many tools can you change your hand into?"
He smiled wickedly at her. "More than Jax would like."
Nia couldn't help but to laugh. "Where to?"
"Um…I have not quite figured that part out yet." He admitted, completing his task and changing his hand back to normal.
"Oh…kay," she sang, uncertainty in her voice. "How much longer until help arrives?"
Zen peered down each available tunnel before replying. "According to VCAT Jax and Prae'tor were on the other side of the city."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning it will take them another eleven minutes for them to reach us."
Nia's brows shot up. "What? Are you telling me with all of the super technology of the Yaut'ja it will take them that long to arrive here?"
The robot nodded. "This city is a metropolis, shao'uta. You only saw one section of it."
Suddenly the floor underneath them quaked and the wielded tile dented upward in the shape of the xenomorph's head. Nia yelped in fear.
"Maybe we should discuss this elsewhere," she suggested.
"Agreed. Follow me." He led her down so many different tunnels that she gave up trying to maintain a sense of direction. While crawling through one passageway she suddenly shrieked in pain, lost her balance and slumped to her side. Zen stopped and looked back.
"What?" he questioned, looking past her to see if the creature had gotten hold of her. Fortunately nothing was there.
"I'm on fire!" she yelled, clutching her left wrist with the other hand. The robot looked at her palm and even though the skin was indeed sizzling away, she was not on fire.
"It is acid."
"What?"
"I will explain later. We have to treat your injury fast. Come." He guided her to a sealed hatch, opened it and climbed down the metal-rung ladder. Nia was gritting her teeth against the pain, trying desperately not to scream and attract the attention of the fiend that was after them.
"This way," said Zen and directed her down a dim hallway. Moments later he gently shoved her through a door, waited for it to close behind them, then began tapping buttons on the pad next to it.
"Where are we?" she asked, glancing around in the faint light.
"Supply room." He switched on the lights revealing shelves crowded with items. Boxes were also stacked up along the wall in the back. Zen snatched a bottle off a nearby shelf, practically ripped off the cap then doused the contents on Nia's hand. The wound fizzed like a shaken can of soda. She bit down on her bottom lip and groaned, the pain so intense that it made her dizzy. Surprisingly, though, the ache quickly faded. She glanced from her palm, to the bottle, then to Zen in confusion.
"What did you just pour on my hand?"
The robot tossed her a wicked grin. "Magic potion," he replied vaguely. She smirked at him, but didn't push the issue.
"Why would acid be in a vent shaft?" she asked instead.
"Because that is where the xeno was. The acid is its blood."
Nia's glanced at him in disbelief. "Are you for real?" When the other nodded in confirmation, she scoffed. "This just keeps getting better and better," she mumbled sarcastically. "What else can it do? Fly? Walk through walls?"
Zen knew she was kidding, so he didn't bother to answer. "The other A.I. must have injured it before he was destroyed," he speculated as he searched the shelves for bandages.
"You know, we should give that robot a name, considering he gave his life to save ours." Nia suggested and the garden-keeper smiled at her favorably.
"I am sure he would be honored to be named by the shao'uta just as I was. But translated into English, the letters in his model number do not spell anything."
"What are they?"
"M, F, and B," he related and she nodded in understanding. She spotted a stack of crates behind her and plopped down. "I've been attacked and chased by a killer beast, burned by its blood, now I'm hiding out in some storage room with only a door between me and a violent death, but all I can think about is assigning a name to some artificial lifeform that died trying to protect me." She sighed wearily. "It's official, I'm crazy."
Zen had found some gauze and brought it over to where she was sitting. "I would rather you ramble about mindless topics than have you give in to fear and despair," he reasoned, kneeling in front of her to bandage her wound. "How about Gab?"
"For what?"
"As a name for the other robot. Gab. Short for Gabriel- an angel. As in guardian angel?"
Nia smiled brightly, liking the idea. "You're my guardian angel right now, Zen."
If the robot could blush, he would have.
"Yes, but I already have a name," he reminded. "Do you like it?"
"Yes. Now another of you brethren has a handle. Give me enough time, I'll have them all named."
The garden-keeper smiled crookedly in embarrassment, made sure the gauze stayed in place around the wound, then stood up.
"So," she began anew, her spirits lifted a bit, "what were we talking about before we started playing 'name that robot'?"
"The xeno. I think its blood burned through the vent-walls to the wires beneath and that is why the power went out."
"But if it's hurt, that can work to our advantage, right?"
He shook his head gravely. "I told you, this creature is ruthless. It will not stop until it is dead." The room was quiet as she contemplated his words. "If I had some kind of weapon, maybe it would buy us the time we needed."
"Zen, we're in a supply room. There's gotta' be something…"
She was cut off because there was pounding in the vents above them. Nia instinctively covered her head as if the roof was about to collapse on top of them. With a loud crunching of metal and a shower of sparks the xenomorph fell through a vent grating. It landed on top of the nearest shelf but was too heavy to keep its balance on the narrow ledge. The monster plummeted to the floor, screeching as it fell and taking several objects to the ground with it.
Zen immediately jumped into action, leaning his full weight against the closest shelf and toppling it over. More items tumbled to the floor in a noisy raucous as one metal rack collided with the next in a domino-like fashion until the last one trapped the creature against the far back wall. It roared in frustration but its kicks and struggles only brought more things down on its grotesque head.
"That will not hold it for long." Zen announced having to tap in his access code so the door would open. "Run."
Nia didn't argue. She shot up from the crates, fled through the opening, hooked a right and ran down the hall. At the corner she slid to a halt when she did not hear the robot's footsteps behind her. She could hear the xenomorph shrilling and thrashing about and she was dying to know what part Zen played in all of that. To her relief, however, he soon came racing out of the supply room.
"Why are you not running?" he asked her when he'd caught up.
"What were you hanging around in there for?" she fired back, pointing the way they'd come.
"I needed supplies," he answered casually, showing her two bottles with no labels on them and the gauze-roll that he'd bandaged her hand with.
"For what?"
"I believe they are called Molotov's."
Her eyes opened wide. "As in bomb? Are you crazy? You can't set off a bomb in here. There could be a gas leak we don't know about, or something."
"If there was a gas leak VCAT would have reported it to me. Only the link to the mainframe had been disconnect, not to the building's systems."
That wasn't good enough for her. She had to stop herself from grabbing his neck and shaking some sense into him.
"But why a bomb, Zen? You could bring the entire roof down on our heads."
"No, a Molotov bomb is very precise and it is basically used to start a fire. The xeno's are afraid of fire."
"That's if the glass breaks! This is obviously not glass!" she fired back, pointing to one of the bottles in his hand.
He stopped unrolling gauze and glanced at her. "You are the one who gave me the idea of using things in the supply room for defense. Besides, I'm trying to kill the thing- or at least maim it- and I am quickly running out of ideas…and weapons."
Nia's forehead wrinkled and her eyes looked away in thought, but after a second her brows shot up in revelation. "Zen! The spears!" she shrieked, flailing her hands wildly.
"What?"
"The spears! The Yaut'ja spears that were placed outside of my room as gifts. They're still there. We can use them!"
The robot's eye-lights brightened in understanding and his mouth curled into an approving smile. "Excellent idea," he complimented, then went back to preparing his first bomb.
"You really need to stay off the Internet, Zen." Nia commented, watching him. He responded with a sneaky half-grin and shoved the second bottle and gauze into her hand.
"Tear off a strip of cloth, soak it in the…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to watch MacGyver. I know what to do."
That perked the robot's interest. "Should I watch this…MacGyver?"
"No!" she denied flatly, thinking of all the brainstorms an inquisitive A.I. like him could get from that show. Suddenly a thunderous clatter reverberated from the supply room and through the hallways. Nia jumped, spilling some of whatever was in the bottle onto her hands.
"It has freed itself." Zen concluded just as the inner side of the supply room's door dented outward. The woman unwittingly began to jump up and down anxiously and he glanced at her oddly.
"Why are you still standing here?" He asked.
"Oh…right!" she mumbled, pushed the canister back into his hands and shot off down the main passageway. Behind her she heard clanging and knew that the monster had broken out of the supply room. Then, abruptly, the floor shook with the blast of the first Molotov. Nia lost her balance and fell to her hands and knees, but she scurried to her feet, the screams of the creature motivating her onward.
Just as she passed the corridor that led to the gardens she developed a stitch in her left side. The pain slowed her steps. She collapsed against the wall, clutching her side, moaning in agony. The xenomorph screeched again, startling her. She glanced over her shoulder, but saw nothing but black smoke. Concern for Zen gripped her heart, but she knew he'd want her to keep going. She moved up the hall, slumped against the wall for support, the ache in her side not diminishing at all.
She bypassed the main access that led outside. The creature had banged against the heavy doors until it had nearly given way. It didn't, but the entrance was severely damaged. Suddenly the floor shuddered beneath her once again. She lost her footing completely and fell on her side, the air pushed from her lungs. Worried for her robot friend, she rolled onto her back and peered up the chamber. Black smoke billowed along the ceiling in thick clouds. Noxious fumes irritated her eyes, throat and nose and she began to cough heavily. Her stomach clenched with nausea. She tried to stand but wound up tumbling against the sidewall and back onto the floor. Out of no where, it seemed, a pair of hands grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Zen asked her as he half-dragged her along. She nodded in response not quite able to speak yet, or relate how happy she was that he was alive. She sucked in a lungful of air.
"Did…you…kill it?" She managed to get out. The robot shook his head.
"No, but I think I seriously pissed it off." He replied, donning a phrase he'd picked up while surfing chat rooms. She groaned, but was coughing again before she could complain with words. He pulled her around the last corner that lead to her quarters. For the first time since the gifts were placed there, Nia was thankful they were given to her. Zen released her, then rushed back to the corner to check for danger. When he returned her back was against the wall and she was doubled over, trying desperately to catch her breath.
"I did not see it coming," he reported, pulling a spear out of a nearby vase and removing the red cloth that was tied underneath its tip.
"What in the world did you put in those bombs?" she asked, standing up straight and rubbing the sore spot on her side.
"Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that," her companion replied vaguely. She would have laughed- or scolded him- if she wasn't still panting for air.
An angry, growling hiss drew both of their attention up the passageway. The xenomorph slowly appeared, limping around the corner. It had obviously been in a fire because a plume of smoke was rising off its twisted body. Its head was a battered mess. Its right shoulder was dislocated. Dark-green blood dripped out of a deep gash on its upper left thigh and from one of its knobby knees. The acid ate away at the smooth, stone flooring wherever it landed.
Yes, the xenomorph was seriously pissed off!
Nia screamed and immediately reached for the closest Yaut'ja spear. Zen grabbed her other arm and yanked her back.
"I want you to know something," he said, never once taking his eyes off the beast inching its way toward them. "The Yaut'ja could not have chosen a better candidate to save their people. I am glad that we have become friends."
"Stop that, Zen! Neither one of us is going to die today." she scolded him.
"No, you misunderstand me. I was not despairing, I was apologizing."
Nia threw him an odd look. "For what?"
"For this."
Without warning he shoved her toward the door to her room. It opened with a swish and she stumbled through. She tripped over her own bare feet, landed on her butt and rolled onto her back, her spear flying out to the side.
"No!" she cried, sitting up quickly and jumping to her feet. She rushed to the entrance, but it had already shut tight…
…and it would not re-open.
Another cliffhanger. Don'tcha' just hate me? ; Well, go blast me in reviews, but don't forget to tell me if you loved or hated these two chapters. Oh and please keep in your prayers all the people that are suffering in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but at the same time watch out for scam artist! Kisses Peace!