Fame Cimex Chapter 13
In the dank and mouldy streets people scurried fearfully to and fro, the panicked masses trying to go about their lives under the watchful eyes of soldiers. Martial law was in effect and the populace was forced live under the barrels of guns, it was either that or descend into anarchy. It was in that atmosphere of fear and desperation the Lictor moved. Its progress was silent and unobserved as it slithered across rooftops and around chimneys. Its skin changing like a Chameleon's, constantly adapting to the surroundings and rendering it almost invisible. The scout organism had been specially adapted by the Hive Mind for infiltration and merely human senses were practically blind and deaf to its passage.
The Lictor's mind held no trace of intelligence, the mental capacity for abstract thought being unnecessary, and so had not been gifted. Yet at the back of its mind was the slightest whisper of the Hive Mind, a distinct voice compelling it to undertake certain actions it had no way of understanding. The voice was faint and muffled, currently able to only implant urges and compulsions, but it was growing ever stronger as the Hive Fleet closed upon this world. Right now the Lictor was being driven by an urge to find a specific Leader-beast, one who could lead the Tyranid horde to the heart of the prey's lair.
The Tyranid infiltrator began making its way deeper into the city, moving from roof top to rooftop as it leapt gaps with great bounds of its coiled legs. Its progress was swift and silent, undetected by the prey that wandered the streets below like mewling cattle. The Lictor silently climbed a rickety drain pipe and slithered across a roof top, but went still when it saw a pair of guard beasts were standing at the far corner. The animals were holding their weapons slackly as they passed a smoking weed between them, a poor attempt to conceal their scent markers with noxious vapours. Despite that the Lictor could still smell their sweaty tang; it could smell their muscles were turning to fat and the taint of the cancers growing in their lungs from prolonged exposure to the weed. Silently the Lictor approached from behind, keeping low to the ground and sliding from side to side like a snake. The guards stood completely unaware, making bleating noises as the Lictor slipped ever closer. Then it rose from the ground and in one swift jerk drove its claws into their backs. The guards gasped as huge razors erupted from their chests, then they fell limp and slack. Moving on instinct the Lictor lowered the bodies gently and laid them out, leaving them where they would be found. The rumours and panic that would spread from the discovery would fill the city with fear, weakening the defences for the coming of the Hive fleet.
The Lictor pressed onwards, leaving its kills behind as it began to make its way upwards, climbing up ever taller buildings as it approached the main spire itself. Suddenly it came to the end of the buildings, a wide plaza separating the lower slums from the dwellings of the more prosperous denizens of the city. The Lictor had no understanding of social hierarchies or the seething hate that existed between the rich and the poor. All it knew was that open ground represented a danger, the chances of being discovered were too great to risk. The Lictor paused here, waiting and observing everything as the city went about its business. A human would swiftly have grown bored or frustrated, driven to make a mistake by impatience, but the predator had not been built to grasp such notions. It would wait as long as it had to, until a path revealed itself.
As night fell and darkness covered the city the Lictor saw a stream of lights passing over its head and a possibility presented itself. Running nearby was a skyway bearing heavy goods vehicles and passenger transports, it rose from the ground on immense pillars and ascended ever higher until it meet the great spire itself. Swiftly the Lictor moved out, passing over the prey beasts who were going about their lives in ignorance. When it reached one of the Ferrocrete pillars the Lictor didn't pause, scaling the vertical surface as effortlessly as if it were flat. The Lictor climbed the pillar right to the top and then ventured underneath the skyway, like a spider hanging from a roof.
This whole space was a gap in the citys' defence, nobody thinking to look underneath a skyway for intruders. Here at last the Lictor made swift progress, skittering along upside down, claws penetrating the ferrocrete surface for purchase as it felt the rumble of passing vehicles vibrate through its body. Following the compulsions of the Hive Mind the Lictor made its way into the heart of the city, looking for something it could not have possibly described until it saw it. Then abruptly it paused, there it was, there was the target it had been driven to find.
Just off from the skyway was a large nest, a towering construction of stone and steel that loomed over the surrounding district like a man-made mountain. It resembled a Hymenoptera nest in many ways, but like certain species of flora it had been covered in shiny materials to attract prey into its entrances. This must have been a nerve centre of the prey's greater dwelling for it was surrounded in sonic baffles, great vox horns that blared rhythmic chants over and over to confuse the echolocation of passing predators. Before the largest entrance a pair of half-mechanical, half-dead things flittered overhead on tiny wings, waving orbs of noxious vapours to confuse scent trails. Such defences may have confused lesser predators but the Lictor was not distracted at all, it shifted sensory perception into ranges beyond the prey's capabilities and inspected the target.
The gap between the skyway and the building was beyond any prey's ability to cross, nothing less than one of their warrior-drones with a jump pack could have cleared that distance. The Lictor however was not deterred, it slithered to the nearest point and moved to the side of the skyway, clinging on like a burr. It tensed itself for the leap, power gathering in its spring like legs and then in one mighty bound it jumped. The Lictor sailed free and clear, utterly exposed as it flew through the air at the target, then with a crash of dismounted stonework it hit the sloping roof of the building. Slate tiles skittered free and for a second the Lictor scrambled to find purchase, but then it snagged a stone gargoyle and pulled itself up.
The Lictor dove into cover, wary that the noise of its landing may have alerted the prey, but after a few minutes nothing emerged to investigate and the scene remained silent. The Lictor skittered out of cover and moved across the roof. Entrance was effortlessly achieved as it cracked apart a transparent membrane and made its way inside the nest. The interior of the nest was covered in shiny materials and fabric hangings, but the layout resembled a network of tunnels. The Lictor kept to the deserted passages, its senses enabling it to detect the vibrations of passing feet long before any guard could spy it.
The Lictor smelt the spoor of many animals coming from the centre of the nest and headed in that direction, passing turnings and junctions with all the confidence of one who had spent their whole life here. Soon the predator found itself on a railed balcony overlooking a vast space, a cavernous opening with thick columns rising to the roof and row upon row of wooden pews. The roof was covered in complicated designs and there were long, transparent membranes set into the walls.
The ground was filled to the brim with a herd of prey, packed in so tightly that many were sitting upon the floor for lack of space. They were all silent as they listened to the bleating of another beast, one raised above them on a large wooden pedestal. It was a well-fed animal, with rolls of fat and a large forked crest upon its head, a sign of dominance among prey beasts. The beast was making some form of dominance display, barking repeatedly at the herd in an amplified voice from its elevated position. The lesser animals must have accepted their place as Betas and Omegas for they hung their heads and repeated the noises. In a flash the Lictor saw that this must be the very leader-beast it had sought out, the one who could lead the Tyranids into the heart of the prey's defences.
Immediately the Lictor climbed from the railing and from there onto the roof, its chameleonic skin shifting to match the patterns beneath as it slithered nearer. The Leader-beast seemed unaware of its presence as it slowly stalked closer, aiming to find a spot right over the target's head. The Lictor's would drop from above and ensnare its prey, not killing it but spraying it with special markers. That it would not survive the inevitable reprisal was not a factor, for the voice of the Hive Mind demanded that the Leader-beast must be marked with a pheromone tracer, one that the following waves of Tyranids could follow anywhere.
The Lictor was an expert infiltrator and supremely stealthy, designed to sneak past any defence. Yet the Tyranids could not have anticipated the complicated patterns it was moving over and its Chameleonic skin struggled to adapt to the bizarre designs. Suddenly a scream arose from the herd and a shrieking youth pointed upwards, right at the Lictor's location. Before anyone could react the Lictor was already in motion, leaping earthwards to land amidst the herd. It fell well short of the Leader-beast but its claws and scything talons were already in motion, lashing out to rip and gouge animals apart.
Instant panic swept the herd, prey screaming and running away from the nightmarish predator in their midst. The Lictor ignored the prey and it waded forward, carving a path through the herd, even as they fought to get out of its way. The Leader-beast was retreating in cowering terror but the Lictor pressed onward, moving faster than the fat beast could run. All the Tyranid needed was to get in range and its purpose would be fulfilled, its survival was irrelevant compared to that. The Lictor increased its pace for the Leader-beast was almost in range but then another force came into play. From alcoves around the cavern a wave of guard animals emerged, charging forward with shrieks emanating from vox hailers. The Lictor paused, for this was unfamiliar, the guard animals wore the carapaces of the prey's warrior-drones but their scents were distinctly female.
The moment's delay almost cost it dear, for the guard animal's weapons were as deadly as any warrior-drones', firing fat projectiles in a hail of destruction. The bolts carved into the herd and blew animals apart, the prey inadvertently protecting the Lictor with their heaving bulk. The air filled with blood but the Lictor was already in motion, leaping to land on a wall. Instantly it ran over the surface as bolts chased it, blowing craters into the stone and even shattering a transparent membrane to let cold air inside. The Lictor glanced down and saw the Leader-beast being hurried away by its guards, escaping into a dark alcove. The Tyranid organism had no understanding of frustration, but it recognised that the chances of completing its task had fallen to nil. Yet still the Hive Mind demanded that it needed to complete its purpose, to complete the task before it could be allowed to die.
With bolts still chasing it the Lictor scuttled over to the smashed membrane and pulled itself into the darkness outside, then it dove to the ground. With screams and cries still ringing out the Lictor scuttled away into the darkness, leaving carnage behind. The Lictor had no understanding of failure or defeat, patience was built into it and it would just have to try again. The Leader-beast was imprinted in its mind now and it would find the quarry once more. There was nowhere the animal could go where this hunter would not find it.