Elysa yelped, and squeezed her ride tighter.
Spiketail stopped in irritation, and said, >You know, you're not making this any easier.>
"Sorry," the other replied. "It felt like you were going to slip there. And… it's kind of a big drop."
>Well let me concentrate! I could climb this with ease if you weren't clinging on like that!>
There was an ominous crack from a few metres over, and Othar'a looked at her climbing blade anxiously where it was dug into the rock.
They had made it almost fifty metres down the cliff-face, with the humans hanging onto the Aliens.
Unfortunately, they were only half-way down.
>Damn.>
"Shadow?" asked Tyrion nervously.
>No more claw-holds. I need to drop to the next set.>
"No, don't you da-aaaaaaaaaaaargh!"
The drone adjusted himself and his passenger. >That wasn't so bad, was it?>
"You weren't the one seeing the ground start rushing up!"
>Don't look down, then.>
Othar'a kicked her toe-spikes into the rock, tested the new hold, and moved down again.
Elysa took a deep breath, and looked down to check their progress. Something seemed out of place from her last look.
Something was moving in the swamp. And if it was big enough to see from this height…
"Spiketail? Do you see something down there?"
The rockface crumbled, and Spiketail snatched another hold. >No, and too busy to look. Describe it.>
Forty metres up.
"I can't see what it is, just… movement. Something big. It's making big ripples in the swamp. And… it's heading this way."
GROUP AYH-1 HAS BEEN LOCATED IN SECTOR 809-215-ALPHA, OUTPOST C-20
NEW ORDERS CREATED FOR DEFENCE GROUP C-20-1-D
ORDERS TRANSMITTED
TERMINATE ALL ACTIVITY
CALCULATION ENDS
>No, it's nothing I've heard of,> said Spiketail. >This could be bad.>
Some ninth sense prompted Shadow to look towards their destination, and he spotted three little spots of tan.
>Cythera!> he snarled. >Just what we need. We're sitting ducks here.>
Kal'Arak'e turned to look towards the little specks, and zoomed the view. "Destroyers!"
There was no further opportunity for discussion, as the cliff above them exploded.
The Destroyers fired again, their explosive pellets blowing metre-wide craters in the rock.
>At least they're bad shots,> said Shadow.
"On the contrary," replied Othar'a. "They are very good shots indeed. They are weakening the cliff. Climb for your lives!"
Cracks erupted across the rock from the craters, and splinters flew everywhere as the Cythera fired again.
Thirty metres to the bottom.
An ominous rumble sounded, and a section of rock a little away from them detached from the cliff and fell into the swamp below.
At that point, the Cythera altered their aim.
>Ah!> yelped Shadow as the blasts narrowly missed his tail. >What now? We can't go up or down!>
"Soon that will not matter," said Othar'a grimly.
The cliff-face shuddered from another impact…
And with an almost graceful motion, began collapsing.
>Hold on!> said Spiketail.
"You don't say…" replied Elysa as boulders rained down past them.
A roar of fury came from a few metres across, and the section holding Othar'a fell away. The Predator used every trick at her disposal, but all simply scored through the rock or pulled it away with her.
Shadow leapt for the next set of rock-face, hoping to avoid the avalanche, but was slammed into by a boulder. A cry of pain from both him and Tyrion was heard briefly over the tumult, and then they vanished from sight in cascading rubble.
Then there was no time to consider everything else, as the section of rock that they clung to loosened…
Cracked…
Loosened again…
Fell…
The boulder smashed into the swamp below at almost a hundred kilometres per hour. The muddy water exploded out in another huge wave, rebounding off others caused by earlier collapses.
Spiketail swam like fury for a patch of high ground, holding onto the limp body of Elysa. As the drone hauled them out onto (relatively) dry land, the girl coughed, and her eyes flickered open.
"We made it?"
Another large chunk of rock slammed into the mire, and water flooded over them.
>Just,> replied Spiketail tersely. >I haven't seen the others. And we're about to have a bigger issue to deal with.>
"Those Destroyers?"
Spiketail looked briefly to where the Cythera had been shooting at them, but saw no telltale flash of tan. The armoured warriors must have considered their job done. >No, they're gone. I'm more worried about those electrical signatures I can see about twenty metres away.>
"Where?"
>I think it's your ripple-makers. And they're coming closer.>
"What do they look like?"
>My electrical senses don't work like that. I can only see… regions. Wait! Something over there!>
The water's surface erupted at the indicated point, and Shadow broke the surface, dragging a comatose Tyrion.
>You two made it, I see,> he commented. >Tyrion's the worse for wear, I think he took a knock in the fall.>
>I think we're about to get attacked by the local fauna,> replied Spiketail darkly.
Shadow panned his head around, and abruptly redoubled his pace for the island. >I see them. Three BIG electrical signals, slowly heading this way. Spreading out. Then another five 'differently coloured' ones coming from various other directions.>
>What?> Spiketail spun, and saw the other signals. >Shit. I missed those.>
Shadow leapt onto the small island, and quickly checked Tyrion.
Water bubbled over one of the more numerous signals. And the creature's head was revealed.
At first it looked like a huge set of overlapping, brown armour plates, with a conical ending that rose three metres above the swamp. As the cone turned to look down at them from its vantage point, it split open four ways.
Within was a circle of teeth that constantly thrashed inwards, outwards, inwards, outwards. A repulsive, pink fleshy appendage was visible behind the teeth, and it flickered out like a snake tasting the air. Even ten metres away, a stench of rotting flesh could be smelled, and a lump of half-digested meat fell from the creature's maw.
Elysa retched in disgust. "Plate worm," she gasped. "Haven't seen one of those for a long time. Watch it, they move like a bat out of hell."
The plate worm's jaws closed, and it retreated beneath the surface.
Elysa grabbed hold of the thin mangrove tree, and got to her feet. She drew the plasma pistol (which she somehow had held onto), and fired several shots at the water. Steam billowed, muddy water bubbled, and a hollow grunting squeal echoed upwards.
Spiketail swore as the plate worms abruptly accelerated with unreal speed. They ploughed onto the island, jaws gaping and emitting choked squeals.
Elysa fired six shots before the pistol ran dry. Two hit the armour and seemed to have no effect, the other four went straight down the gaping maws of two of the plate worms. They ground to a stop from their humping movement, steam and a horrific smell venting from between their plates. The other three ignored the fate of their fellows, and continued at their unreal pace, squealing eagerly.
Shadow leapt for one, Spiketail for a second. The plate worms' armour quickly proved to be vulnerable to their attacks, and the creatures grunted in discomfort. The plastic-pink innards were ripped apart with ease, but the worms didn't even seem to be slowed in their torturous attempts to rid themselves of their attackers.
The third continued its single-minded charge at Elysa. She dived sideways as the creature paused, avoiding a jet of clear goo that it shot out – paralysing venom, she thought – and the giant invertebrate seemed confused for a moment.
It regained its bearings, and evidently decided to forgo the venom. The tongue shot out, wrapped itself around her leg, and began pulling her in.
The pistol whirred mournfully at the lack of power, and she tried to use it as a hammer to hit the sticky appendage. It squashed wetly, but no other effect was noticeable.
That was when the other signals decided to join the fray.
The worm attacking Elysa squealed in discomfort, and dropped her. She scrambled to her feet, and turned to see what had happened.
The plate worm had been ripped into four pieces. The three creatures responsible hissed, and turned to look at her.
Sabre eels. Slightly shorter than the twelve-metre plate worms, but a whole lot more vicious, with a piranha-like set of teeth lining long, hinged jaws. Technically fish, but capable of coming on land using their three pairs of huge, muscled fins. Plate worms' worst enemy.
Everyone else's too, come to think of it.
The sabre eels lunged towards the two remaining plate worms, and Shadow and Spiketail narrowly escaped the death of the giant bugs.
The eels retreated back into the water, dragging the plate worm carcasses with them. Rending sounds echoed from the murk as they fed.
Tyrion groaned, and his eyes flickered open.
"Good, you're back in the land of the living," commented Elysa.
>What the hell were those things?> asked Spiketail.
"Sabre eels. If you think the plate worms went fast, they're nothing on these creatures. We've seen them cover two hundred metres in three seconds. Highly territorial, too. They'll kill if you're just in their area. We're safe for the moment; they're happy with those plate worms and they don't really care about things on land."
>But we need to cross the swamp… and they'll go for us the moment we go into the water, yes?>
"I'm afraid that sums it up," replied Elysa.
Othar'a groaned as she pulled herself from the water. Her vision in the swamps had been a mess, but she had seen enough of the planet (and planets in general) to know that swamps were not a good place to be, lifeform-wise.
She scanned the area, and saw Kal'Arak'e a few metres off.
"Brother! You made it!"
The other laughed. "You think that a drop like that would finish me off? I'm destined to die at the hands of some enraged prey, little one."
"Little one yourself," she replied, also laughing. "I'm bigger than you!"
"Not by much… all right, I'll shut up! Put your wristblades away!"
There was a loud buzzing, and they became serious.
"A parakin?" asked Kal'Arak'e tersely.
"No. Pitch is too high. It's something much smaller. Keep your weapons ready."
The source suddenly came into view.
It was the size of a domestic cat. Clearly an insect of some sort, it had huge mandibles and three sets of fangs. A single compound eye directly above its jaws completed the ensemble.
Another appeared.
A third.
Two more.
"Othar'a…"Three more. There were now eight of giant insects swarming the clearing, and by the sound of it more were coming.
The creatures didn't seem to think it was worth waiting for more of their kind, and dived for the Predators.
Wristblades flicked out and spun, killing four of the creatures instantly. Then they were too close to use the blades, and were biting…
Kal'Arak'e yelped, and slapped off the one attacking him. He turned to help his sister, and swore.
Othar'a was having more difficulty. More of the bugs had arrived, and there were now five swarming over her.
She screamed in pain and terror, wresting off one of the creatures that was attacking her mask. The venom from the insects' fangs abruptly began taking hold, and she half collapsed.
Kal'Arak'e stormed forwards to try to help her fend off the vicious bugs, but another five swarmed his way, blocking him.
Othar'a collapsed completely, her struggles weakening. The stingers stopped merely injecting their venom, and started hunting for exposed flesh.
"Sister! Roll up if you can!" called Kal'Arak'e. He fired his netgun.
The steely cable wrapped up his sibling, slicing the insects to ribbons. He switched off the 'contract' setting on the net, and fired his plasma caster around the clearing, methodically bombarding every possible surface.
The smoke and heat persuaded the stingers to retreat, and they were suddenly alone.
He dived for Othar'a and sliced open the net holding her.
"Are you all right?"She coughed. "I've just been bitten by large zabin at least fifty times, including in some sensitive areas. They were just about to eat me alive. No, I'm not all right. I've never seen…" She coughed again. "Never seen anything like them."
"You're not thei-de, and that's the main thing. Can you walk? How strong is the venom?"
She tried to get up, swore, and collapsed again. "Too strong."
Kal'Arak'e fed some commands into his wrist computer, and extracted the two 'medicine knives' that were standard equipment for Yautja that were less medically bent. Not as effective overall as the intricate devices that Othar'a used, but a generally good pick-me-up.
She reached out for them, sighed, commented "Some day I'm going to train you in using proper medicine," and plunged them into her stomach.
Her roar of pain echoed across the swamp.
>Did you hear that?> said Spiketail.
"It sounded like Othar'a. They must be in trouble! Come on –"
>Hold on,> interrupted Shadow. >I've heard those two in combat and elsewhere enough to know that was pain from healing. If they are in trouble, it can't be that bad. We need to sort out our situation.>
>I agree. Any suggestions?>
"Why ask us?" asked Tyrion a little waspishly. "You've been playing this game for longer than us."
>Not against ten metre long fish that cross swamps in the blink of an eye and eat twelve metre worms for breakfast.>
"All right, shut up everyone! I'm trying to think…" snarled Elysa. "All right, I have an idea. But you won't like it."
>This should be good…> commented Spiketail.
"Shut it. Look, I've got ten shots on this thing. One thing we discovered when we were exploring this area was that sabre eels don't like heat. We used a lot of flamethrowers to keep them back – it alerted every eel in the area to where we were, but it kept them off. This thing fires superheated gas. If we climb onto you guys, you swim like fury, whoever takes me goes in the rear, and I fire the pistol backwards generally…"
There was silence for a moment.
>You ARE kidding me,> said Spiketail. >You wouldn't be high enough above the water to pull it off.>
"Not if I was sitting up instead of just lying alongside or getting dragged along. Do YOU have any better ideas?"
>I suppose if we get close enough to shore, the Predators might turn up and give us some cover…> said Shadow reluctantly. >I really don't fancy going toe to toe with those eels. I think this is our best shot.>
Spiketail sighed. >All right. I'll take the rear. Get on.>
"If you're worried about it not working…"
>Of course I'm worried about it not working!> she snapped. >But if I'm carrying you, there's no chance of cock-ups on the ride's part. Get on!>
Tyrion grasped one of Shadow's spines, and Elysa climbed onto Spiketail.
>We'll try to stay near the surface,> said Spiketail shortly. >If this doesn't work, I'll hunt you down in the afterlife. If anything's going to kill me on this planet, it's going to be that bloody computer, not some overgrown goldfish.>
"I'm ready," said Elysa.
The drones leapt into the swamp and swum.
The eels abruptly turned and accelerated from their meal. Invisible above the surface, the only sign of their passage was a bow wave.
Elysa fired a trio of shots at the heads of the waves, and they stopped for a moment before redoubling their speed, gaining fast.
But they had lost a few precious seconds… she fired again, another trio of shots. Again, they slowed, paused, accelerated.
"How far?" she called.
>Ten seconds,> replied Spiketail.
Shit. They'd be overtaken in five. She fired her last shots, gained maybe a second, and then there was nothing left to do.
Four seconds to meeting, and eight to shore.
Three seconds to overtake, seven to shore.
Two and six.
The water erupted with another plasma shot, and a roar of challenge echoed from the shore.
Shocked by the impact, the eels slowed again. A barrage of superheated bolts came from the shore, and suddenly they were climbing out.
The eels stopped, and then decided to return to their territory.
"Nice timing," said Elysa.
The Predators laughed. "Any later and you would be food for whatever those creatures were," said Othar'a. "I'm just sorry we didn't pinpoint your location sooner. The venom in my blood took longer than I'd hoped to heal."
>Venom?>
An all-too-familiar buzzing sounded, and three stingers landed a few metres away. Othar'a shot two of them, and the third vanished. "Those," she spat. "They hunt in swarms, and their venom overcame me. If it had not been for Kal'Arak'e's swift thinking, I would have been eaten alive."
The buzzing returned, all around them.
"That's a story for later," said Tyrion. "Run, for the dome!"
They ran towards the dome and the wrecked ship that they had spotted, the buzzing of the stingers growing all around them.
"Which one? The dome or the ship?">The ship! The dome is just the weapon that destroyed the Asphodel!>
Abruptly they reached the ship. The hull was the same tan colour of the Cytheran armour, and a strange door lay in the side, with a small control panel nestled in the middle.
Elysa slapped the panel and, miraculously, it opened. They sextet swarmed inside as dozens of stingers began buzzing out of the undergrowth. The door closed on them, and an angry thudding sounded for a few seconds before the insects gave up.
>We made it,> said Shadow.
"Just. Now we're inside a Cytheran hulk, with Cetanu knows what opposition nearby," commented Othar'a.
"Your presence here is not welcome," came the buzzing voice of a Cytheran.
Four Warriors peered into the corridor, and raised their weapons. Shadow and Spiketail lunged, and caught off guard, the armoured aliens were ripped asunder.
Othar'a lowered her plasma casters with a sigh. "At this rate there won't be any left for us," she said. "Is it just me, or was that easier than it should have been?"
"Probably," said Elysa. "But let's just keep looking on the bright side, eh?"
They advanced cautiously down the corridor to the junction the Cythera had emerged from.
"So what's the plan?" asked Tyrion. "Just keep looking around and hope that we find a corridor labelled 'to Tartarus' central core'?"
>More or less,> replied Spiketail. >Since none of us can read Cytheran, we've got a problem, haven't we?>
"So we need to capture one and persuade it to show us the way," suggested Kal'Arak'e.
Elysa abruptly paused, and suddenly clutched at her head.
"What's the matter?" asked Tyrion anxiously.
"I can… feel something…" She regained her balance. "It's nothing. Let's keep going."
>No, you're right,> said Spiketail slowly. >Very faint… like a Queen, but different. Something out there is operating a Hive of some sort.>
Elysa frowned in concentration. "I remember from your link with me… yes, it is like a Hive. But look harder. Something more familiar."
Spiketail hissed in frustration. >I had it for a moment, but then it went. I had an image of something for a moment, then it was gone.>
"Yes… a symbol… come on, I have an idea."
"What?""We need to find a teleporter."
"What about those Cythera we killed on the way in?"
"No," said Othar'a. "I checked them briefly. They must be only installed on the commanders."
They moved through the eerily silent corridors until they found a large, circular room. In an alcove was a large control panel, and a section of flooring similar to the homing device, but much larger.
Spiketail moved over to the controls, and hissed in satisfaction. >Yes! These are the same as the ones that we found before! This is a teleporter!>
"On a much bigger scale," mused Elysa. "Something more commonly used, perhaps, instead of a tactical device."
Spiketail flicked on the panel, and the circle of symbols showing locations reappeared. The drone snarled in fury. >I don't remember the symbol that we were sent.>
Elysa moved forwards, and spotted it. ())(() "That's the one," she said, and reached out to press it. "Get on, everyone."
"Why are we trusting the information of an unknown source? For all we know, this could send us into the bowels of the planet with no way out, to die slowly of starvation."
Elysa stopped, puzzled. "I don't know. I just… trust it. Instinctively"
>Same here,> said Spiketail. >It's like an old friend, even though it's not something that I've ever 'heard' before.>
>I didn't get it as strongly,> said Shadow, >but I had the same feeling.>
Kal'Arak'e shrugged. "In that case I trust you. Press it."
Elysa pressed the symbol…
A flash of light…
Unbearable cold…
Green everywhere…
Rushing…
Darkness…
Sensation…
Five Cythera staring at them in confusion…
Spiketail recovered first, and leapt. The first Warrior was ripped open before he could react, but the death set the others in motion, including the two Stalkers.
Shadow joined the fray, closely followed by the Yautja.
The battle was short and bloody, quickly leaving only one Stalker duelling Spiketail.
She was steadily losing ground to the scything monster, and felt wall behind her.
Screw this!She used the wall to propel herself forward, and slammed into the Cytheran. She sliced into the weak spot of the armour just as its arms contracted.
Acid sprayed from several big gashes, and she hissed in pain.
>Spiketail!> said Shadow. >Are you all right? Those look nasty.>
>I think… I need to regenerate…> she said slowly. >Wake me if anything comes nearby…>
Othar'a looked down at the limp body helplessly. "What now?"
>I guess we wait… she'll be fine. This won't take long. Look, her wounds are beginning to fuse already.>
There was a distant clanking, and Elysa looked up nervously. "I hope she doesn't take too long. This place is giving me the creeps."
They seemed to be in some sort of underground facility, solid rock lining the room. Sections of tan panelling started just up ahead.
>Me too. Can you feel that?>
Elysa frowned for a moment, and gasped. "That hive's much closer now…"
>Yes, except it isn't a hive. I've been among Aliens long enough to know what their minds feel like, and that isn't it. I wonder what horrors Tartarus has down here…>
Sorry for the delay, guys! Illness didn't make up for half-term as expected, and horrible writer's block didn't help. From here the pace should pick up…
