Chapter 6

Cartira felt the skinweave's "tingle" and, with moving his limbs, a lighter spring to each movement he created while wearing the suit….Azim behind him with the bag over his shoulder that held their clothes and shoes, whatever else they had worn prior to the suits they now wore, he also "cradling" a rifle over his chest in his claws….They were entering an opening in the wall of glass cases, shelving disconnecting from the bordering panes of glass to draw backwards into another space, darker and more secretive than the first gallery of weapons and armor.

Cartira looked up to the height of the new room, blue little lights spiraling around at the top of a staircase disappearing into the ceiling above, "….Where does this lead us," he followed the steps up into the ceiling with his eyes, "….We go higher?…." They started to climb in the only direction allowed—up a winding metallic staircase that was steep in its ascent to a middle landing before the ceiling…."Did you feel that," Cartira had sensed a deep "thump" through the stairs, and held his hand up, signaling to Azim with his silver-coated fingers for the turian to stop, and listen.

He heard a "thump", through the tower around them. Azim's mandibles swung slightly wider from his chin.

Thump.

Cartira and Azim's reflections all turned to look at each other as they did so on the stairs in that vertical room, Azim in his black skinweave covering half his face, Cartira in the silver. Azim turned his gaze to the ceiling's end of the stairs, "….I don't like the fact I'm hearing that sound, Sered….Could a small woman like Kina, or that Drell she is with, make such an impact….together, perhaps?"

Cartira gripped and lifted his rifle, "….I'll go in first," his mind was a whir with possibilities, most of these fabricated around jealousy for Kina being alone with the smitten drell, "….If I'm right, we're coming up under some backroom in her suites….She'd better not be in the arms of that 'Billy' who's so head in the clouds in love with her…." He had a horrendous image in his head of Bildea on the bed with Kina, making love to her and moving the headboard soundly into the wall with their passionate throes….A growl almost left his belly….Azim looked up at the back of his sered's silver-covered crests….Another "thump" sounded, Cartira still staring at the ceiling where those steps ended, "….She'd better not be in his arms…." With another "thump", Azim looked from the ceiling to Cartira again….He wasn't sure Cartira was thinking so well.

"Is she worth it, Sered?…." Cartira made no answer, but his feet moved him up the stairs, and Azim adjusted the bag on his shoulder, rearranged his rifle in his claws to be ready and not aiming at Cartira's back, following the drell up to the landing and on towards the ceiling.

Another "thump".

Just as they were passed the landing, a burst and a swirl of thousands of the blue light "pixels" came from the mirrors and "detached" to dance wildly about in the air….Cartira and Azim paused from ascending as they watched the performance of infinitesimal "dust motes" coalescing into forms, living and moving with these forms' intentions, "….What are those," Cartira tried not to be distracted by the millions of reflections everywhere around them as he began to recognize what the motes were creating….

"Yahgs," Azim exhaled hoarsely….A reenactment of the yahgs in Kina's suites was what they saw—a floating animation by the blue light "pixels" reflecting off the mirror surfaces around them, actually hovering in the space in front of Cartira….The yahgs were attempting to break through a closet's doorway to get to a route through the tower accessible by another door in the closet the yahgs were smashing against with their monstrous bulks, "….This is dangerous, Sered," Azim's voice was filled with loathing for the aliens, and he understood the need for armor and weapons, "….We can't fight two Yahgs in such close quarters."

"Agreed…." Cartira rubbed his lip anxiously, "….but what if through them lies Kina and her idiot friend, Billy…." As if to answer his outspoken thoughts, the "pixels" formed into a door that opened, leading their sights on a path through the tower—It was amazing to watch as the pixels created and moved the same route that Bildea and Kina would have recognized as having already traveled themselves—and another door opened, the pixels still simulating to Cartira and Azim….The second door revealed three figures on a rooftop, two laying down next to each other while a third stood over the pair and shook one of them, "….Three," Cartira's eyes narrowed, "…Has to be Traus, but why is he laying on the ground—"

"That looks like the 'Billy' sprat you had me drug, standing over the one next to Traus."

Cartira felt his insides twist, "….If that's Billy, that's…." He moved his rifle out of the way as his hand sought for a gel-grenade attached to the suit, on on his waist, "….Get ready, Azim," he held the gel-grenade in his fist, fingers tight over its smooth finish, "….I'm going to blow a hole through those beasts," and he moved up the stairs, leaving the landing behind, Azim following dutifully after Cartira.