|28|
Eight o'clock on the savanna pine and two things occurred—a bolt of lightning came out of a clear blue sky at night and the wind picked up. Smoke went up for all to see for many miles. Eight o'clock Eastern time.
With no one to meet the fires, these spread rapidly, eating apart the kindle left around the hulk of a fallen Reaper….No one raced to stop it, but then, once it had formed a nine-mile wide radius in northern Carolina, the fires stopped, the smoke lifted and disappeared, and the stars blotted out with the arrival of something descending to Earth and burning through the atmosphere…
Pushing off his shoulder, Casnar sat up and looked about—Miranda, Kasumi, Catherine and the bantons, Wrex were all there with them. Crawling to the floor where Braith had been last he saw, Casnar assessed the quiet hall. Eighteen stories it must have been by his figuring. He stood, hearing his boots echo as these scraped and scuffed.
"Braith….Pio?"
"Casnar—" He couldn't believe his eyes, but running towards him was his own sister, her green eyes in the wide golden patak large and open as she came forth from the end of the hall.
"Irikah—"
"You need to go, Casnar—They're coming—"
"Iri, how—"
"Get up, Casnar!" Catherine was shaking him—her hair flying out in a mess freed from her braid, "….Please, oh clouds, they're coming!—Please get up!" She was shouting as loud as she dared at him in the next second, "…Sentry!"
"Wha—"
"Get up!" She pulled him with surprising strength from a woman so small, and started packing him down the next tunnel with white tiles and runners laid down through the base of it. He tried to listen and see who was with them.
"…We've been brought down here, Casnar—it's a lower sector….Push that door open there, quick….Help me…." More or less he barreled into the door on their left, a concave slider that sounded with his weight and hers combined, and grasping onto the smooth edges, they pushed against each other, "…Other way, Casnar—hurry, hurry—it's moving…."
The door slid wide enough to fit him in. And she guided his head through it, Casnar still attempting to try and rouse himself but he fell before he could—she fell through on top of him, untangled herself as he groaned and she covered his mouth, hand fleeing to the door next to slide it closed behind them.
She grit her teeth to force it over the stick in its runners, finally shutting it and pinching her finger between the edge and frame.
"…Ow…"
She turned from the clip of light and covered Casnar's mouth with an injured hand.
"…Ssssh….I can't get the door completely closed so be quiet….Please, move—"
A clatter was heard outside the door and Catherine covered her mouth, shrank down next to Casnar as he stared up at the ceiling in the dimmer passageway. His inner hearing detected a low rumbling, something like burner on full flame, imperceptible to fine hairs of the human ears listening, but loud and clear for a drell. Casnar pulled her hand from his mouth as he looked at the light passing over the darkened ceiling above, over her head. It traveled in a straight line of brilliant color from every hue—crossing Catherine's forehead and farther down the branch of their escape route. Catherine's eyes were clear in the brief light, her pupils wide as dimes that narrowed quickly as some light touched over these…He held his fingers to his lips—indicating to her that she, too, remember to be silent as what lay beyond the door hunted the tunnel.
She nodded with her eyes looking down at him and together they waited for the sentry to pass.
There was a shudder of the door when what lay outside pushed against it but the rails stuck—Catherine closed her eyes.
A few minutes later the light bar slipped out of existence and still they waited some minutes more….Catherine and Casnar leaned against the door and breathed out fast with relief.
"…It's a sector X2 sentry, Casnar…." Catherine pushed back her hair and stood up, offering him a hand which he waved off and steadied himself against the door as he straightened to his full height.
"Are you aware of what's happening?" Casnar rubbed the folds of his cheekline against the grain of his tebral fringe, and Catherine haltingly replied:
"You were struck by what was taking Braith," she said, looking at his settling gaze, "…Then Wrex, the others—went running after something with the bantons….I lost Sieis and everyone scattered. I don't remember much more than that because we were hit by something that came from the walls in that chamber, but clouds….I think we're still in it." She looked around their new hideaway and took a few steps, turned, came back to him to look at his eyes. "How is your head?" He tentatively felt the back of his crown and lowered his hand.
"Fine, I guess."
"You were hurt. I didn't think you'd get up, then again I didn't think we'd be sent to this level either. This place is dangerous, Casnar, more dangerous than where we were." She got a frightened look in her eyes as she moved away from him again.
Casnar stepped after her and they did the only thing they could think to do—they began walking.
"Where did the others go," she whispered, "….I hope they're okay….I hope Sieis—oh, clouds…."
"Would you stop saying clouds," Casnar snapped, "…It doesn't make any sense—do you worship clouds or something?"
"No….Just it rains….I always say it, even before we left Earth—"
"You can't have been from Earth in Sol," he remarked as they turned down the bend in the tunnel, "…Earth doesn't have anything worth fretting over and used in oath—You said you're from Culmina Secta—"
"We were from Earth," she replied curtly, her dirty blond eyebrows bending at him, "…We saw signs and we left to find hope for the future, but it just turned into colonizing other worlds that were home to species…We kicked them out," she looked down, "…Assembly."
She stopped and he slowed a few feet ahead, turning to look back.
"…We did things we shouldn't have," she murmured, "….Maybe this is retribution for my helping….I wish Sieis were—"
"What's the point of wishing," he snapped, "…They're not here and we're lost in a fucking labyrinth you think is Lothiraxl or that chamber we were in—my mate's gone again—dead likely, and we're walking aimless…" He turned away and picked up his feet, "…I should have just never let her out of my sight."
They continued to travel through the tunnel in silence after his rant. Catherine felt along the walls, helpless, anxious, and useless without her zonepad.
She went up to him and took hold of his arm suddenly, and Casnar glanced down at her but her face was to the floor and he realized she was as naïve as a babe in the woods.
….The Assembly….I'll have to do some reading up on that if we ever get out of here….We…
He shook his head and continued to walk with her holding onto his arm.
"Were you always this way," she asked, her hand still tight around his forearm, "…So gruff and angry, I mean….Or did you lose someone."
"What are you talking about—" he stared at her, pulling his arm away from her grasp, "…Lose someone….If I did, it's none of your business."
"No…There are some who, on Assembly, could alter their personalities to inhibit certain emotions….It was kind of an expensive habit, but very popular in the higher ranks that needed to be a certain way. We experimented with a number of medicines from the specimens we gathered….For giving to the leaders of Assembly….Never mind," she looked away from him, "…I just thought since you and your mate were suffering from emotional distress when you were together—"
"What's the difference between you and that banton you hug to," he dug, "…You don't understand attachment—I want her back—don't you want your mate?"
"Oh, clouds, we're certainly not mated," she protested, "…We're protective of each other, yes, we're emotionally involved, but…." She blushed and parted from him, suddenly overexposed and embarrassed to hear what he had said, "…No, not that way….Never."
Casnar felt a little sorry for assuming. "Wow," he mumbled, "…You could have fooled me…My apologies…..We need to find a way out of here. How about this X2 sector you mentioned."
"That's in regard to the sentry this level," she replied, glad to be brought to discussing something else, "….They are energy matter….Not the machines we saw higher up."
He turned to her again, "…Is there any way for you to figure out with that childish head of yours the way to the surface or somewhere we can—" she had given him a hard stare that made him falter, "…Look…You've gotten on my nerves….I want to get out of here—I'd like to find my mate—we're a fucking nuisance to this city that evidently wants to steal human women and….Wait….Where would you say the pio would take Braith if they wanted to use her for the entity inside her body?"
"The core," she whispered, "…But they kicked us out…."
"It can't be the core….Couldn't have been….That place was different, a hall of….Illusion or something….Where would the Alliance have gotten that fluid they were going to put you into?" Casnar moved to face her directly, lowering his eyes to hers, "…Where is the Surr?"
