The cavern's path curved every once and a while without any branch off tunnels. With a hand trailing along the tunnel wall, Tamora stepped as softly as she could along the dirt and ash floor, always alert to any sound of wings headed her direction. Her eyes had grown accustom to the darkness, but it was still nearly impossible to see anything besides shadowed shapes.
She not only worried about Cy-Brad finding her, but other cy-bugs as well. She wondered if the underground haven was Cy-Brad's alone. He was more than capable of warding off other cy-bugs for the territory.
The wall made an abrupt end as her fingers slid off into empty space. She blinked twice, making sure she was seeing correctly. The path she'd followed still led on while the empty space she found branched off.
Tamora peered down the tunnel, a glint of light catching her eyes. She moved closer to the light, her surroundings growing brighter from a rare skylight in the ceiling. A short distance ahead she squinted, not believing what she saw. It appeared to be the dissemble parts of an escape pod.
She drew closer to find all the parts were shaped into crude forms of furniture. A bed using an old evacuation slide as the mattress along with a chair made from the seat of the escape pod were the only two pieces she could decipher in the dim lighting.
The entire scene was eerily creepy, sending a cold shiver up her spine. Cy-Brad had placed in-depth thought into this setup, and Tamora knew exactly who it was meant for. Her heart pounded at the thought. She had to leave right away; had to escape this underground prison before she was lost in it forever!
Before she could turn and hightail it from the frightful scenario, a skittering of many feet echoed down through the passage. Tamora ducked behind the chair. She curled up in a ball and made herself as small as possible, willing the sound to pass by.
Hope deflated from her as the feet turned her way. So many scenarios flooded Tamora's mind of what the cy-brid would do if he found her there. His anger could toss her back into the pit. Maybe he'd plead his love now that she'd seen what he'd made for her. Or he'd feed her to another cy-bug to turn her into his mate – his equal forever. The last caused a shutter throughout Tamora's body.
Faint muttering echoed down the passageway as Cy-Brad approached, desperation filling his voice, "It has to be…has to be perfect. T.J. must see how much I need her. I need-" Cy-Brad moaned as if he were suddenly in pain. "Go away…GO AWAY!"
Tamora's heart leapt into her throat at his screamed words. Was another cy-bug present? She chanced a peek around the seat, keeping as low to the ground as possible. Cy-Brad held his distorted head with his front pincers, shaking vigorously.
"I am NOT one of you! I am NOT one of you!" He gripped his shiny black armored exoskeleton with one of his large pincers, roaring at the pain he induced on himself. "T.J. please help…" he begged.
Tamora's whole body seized up at his plea to her. Cy-Brad acted as if he was fighting an invisible demon, and the plea for her help caused Tamora's alarm to shoot up to the sky. He needed her to fight his battle, but Tamora's sympathy wasn't feeling compassion – not when she had been abducted against her will.
Wings fluttered awake, and Cy-Brad rushed back down the passageway. Tamora stayed in hiding until the beating wings were out of earshot. She slowly peeked over the seat, scanning the area as best she could and finding no sign of threat. She carefully left the safety of the hiding place, on edge at listening for Cy-Brad's return.
She was beginning to fear there was one way out of the cavern and that was through the sparsely scattered holes in the ceiling. She peered up at the skylight located above the crudely-crafted bedroom. The opening was small, but if she could somehow find a way to climb up there-
Tamora skimmed her hands along the rocky walls for a foothold, but there were none within reach. She continued to search when the toe of her boot kicked an object on the ground. She glanced down, squinting to see what the object was. It looked like a pipe from her standing position. She bent over to pick it up.
Tamora gasped. She'd stumbled upon a flashlight! She pointed it against her palm, clicking it on and the light beamed bright onto her hand. She was far from the base, but by now, there had to be a search party looking for her. Her plan was risky, but it was all she had.
Pointing the flashlight directly through the center of the skylight, Tamora began a series of Morris code. Her nerves caused her arms to tremble and her breath was ragged as she repeated her message for help. Cy-Brad could return at any moment. The precious window she was given was short, but she wouldn't stop flashing her need for aid until she had to.
Felix wrung his gloved hands, flicking his eyes out the window for any sign of his missing wife. It wasn't like Tamora to jet off without calling in with her second in command. He hoped all the worry was vain and that Tamora had gotten so caught up in whatever task drew her away that she'd forgotten to call in.
"I'm sure the Sarge is husslin' up a stray cy-bug or something. You know how T.J. is," Kohut's voice cut through the thick silence of the shuttle cab. Felix glanced up at the hulking man who flashed him a reassuring smile.
"I-I hope so, Kohut."
They'd cover most of the perimeter around the base; now moving into the outer limits. Tamora's caution for Felix's safety kept him inside the base's perimeter, but now he'd see for himself the barren land surrounding the only life existing in Hero's Duty.
"Look," Kohut said, and Felix followed in the direction the man pointed. In the distance, a beam of light blinked through the haze in the atmosphere. "Morris code," the soldier commented, continuing toward the light. "Old school communication."
Felix's heart leapt. "That has to be Tammy signaling!"
"S.O.S," Kohut interpreted the blinking message. He hovered the shuttle over the hole where the light shone from, opening the side panel for he and Felix to peer out.
"Tammy?" Felix called into the hole.
"Fix-It!" Tamora's strained voice answered back. "You need to get me out of here pronto!"
"On it, Sarge!" Kohut lowered a hook cable from within the shuttle. In no time, they pulled Tamora up and into the shuttle.
Felix wanted desperately to latch onto his wife and never let her go. She'd only been missing for a few hours, but the thought of something horrible happening to her had magnified his worry. As she climbed into the shuttle, he glanced over her, taking in the scrapes and bruises and dry blood on her body. Other than the minor injuries, she seemed, for the most part, unharmed.
Wrapping arms around her, Felix gently encircled Tamora's neck, sighing in relief that she was safe. "What happened to you, Tammy?"
Tamora pulled away. "I'll explain in a minute. Kohut, jet us out of here!"
Kohut saluted, circling the shuttle around to fly back to base. Tamora sat down in the passenger seat behind Kohut, Felix standing beside her.
"Tammy, are you okay?" he asked concerned, laying both hands on her dirt-stained pants, not wishing to let her go for a second.
She offered him a small smile. "I am now, but we're not in the clear yet."
"What do you mean by 'not in the clear'?" Kohut piped up. "Talk to me, Sarge."
Before she could explain, the shuttle tipped forward tossing Tamora and Felix into the back of the pilot seat and landing them on the floor. Kohut pulled the controls back to stop as he steadied the shuttle again.
"What the hell?" Kohut exclaimed.
Picking themselves off the floor, they found hovering in front of them a terrifying sight - a cy-brid with the head of a man and body of a cy-bug.
Tamora growled, "Brad."