The moment the laser beam bit into my wrist, I let go of Ahxalybij's neck, retreating behind the grating.
I tried to get away, but a second later a powerful claw closed around my throat.
I thrashed and clawed at the arm, but Ahxalybij only smashed my face into the catwalk. (28)
Then Hissandra stabbed me through the grate.
She didn't puncture anything vital, but it sure felt like it.
What to do...
Letting go of the handholds and footholds and using my weight to break free from Ahxalybij's grip could possibly work too well, dropping me into the fans and lava.
Pulling backwards might just choke me more.
The catwalk did not easily collapse, or I would have just cut a support. You can't blame a human for not wanting to fall to his or her death.
The structure's braces, inconveniently thick near the rails and the side opposite, had inner portions crisscrossed with shorter metal beams, welded onto the others for additional support.
Welding, I thought, shifting my body to dodge another stab wound.
I licked a claw, applying a blob of saliva to the solder on one of the crossed pieces. Hissandra stabbed me for my efforts, but I persisted, corroding the opposite end and scooting back with Ahxalybij's claw around my throat until I at last had a crossbar free.
I turned the object's most serrated edge into the hole my sister had her arm stuck through, and shoved. Hard.
Ahxalybij howled as acid blood gushed from the wound, dropping to her elbow as she attempted to remove the obstruction. She still refused to let go.
The catwalk remained stable. I'd have to work harder to dislodge my foes.
I gave the crossbeam a harder push, and Ahxalybij's self preservation instinct temporarily took precedence over her lust for revenge. Her grip on my neck loosened.
I wiggled free from her claws, retreating to the relative safety, or rather, unsafety of the catwalk's far underside.
Hissandra rammed the laser cutter through the slats, trying to stab me, but I wisely shuffled out of range.
Lord, how my slulwidmi ached!
I looked around for alternate routes to the upper area, possible avenues of escape.
I counted seven layers of interlocked turbines below me, the largest on the bottom stretching out as far as six feet in diameter, the fans growing increasingly smaller as they ascended to the processing vents in the ceiling. The larger ones had blue paneling, the medium red, or yellow. The hypnotic pattern changed as you moved from one vantage point to another.
The speeds of the blades varied, depending on the mood of the volcanic vent, sometimes literally stopping for whole minutes at a time, at other times moving so fast you could possibly fly an airplane with them. The smaller ones near the ceiling, of course, kept a constant speed because it took far less to turn their mechanisms.
"Why Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," Hissandra taunted. "You look tired! Why don't you come back up here where it's...safe?"
"Why don't you come down and make me! (Halleluiah)."
My two sisters glanced at each other, murmuring derisively, Hissandra snickering in haughty overconfidence.
I crept further away, searching for another way up.
The sound of a chirping bird drew my attention away from there.
Birds? Down here? In a volcano? Did they even exist on this planet?
Then I saw her.
Mara 2 hid behind a turbine, out of my sisters' line of sight.
What possible good could she do me down there? I wondered.
Since the fan blades had stopped, I clambered down to her hiding spot.
The electrical devices stood on linked steel bands of industrial thickness, with the occasional catwalk running across the outside. As my claws clanked across the metal grid, I momentarily glanced downwards and wished I hadn't. With the steam on a sudden upsurge, the whole scene made me feel like a celery stalk overlooking a sea of blenders.
The woman hung from the side of the machinery by means of a harness. "I need you to get me back up there. Once up in Section B, I can activate the Eruption Emergency System."
I gasped. "The volcano's going to erupt?"
"No, but these animals are dangerous. They must be removed from the power station before they can cause further damage."
"I don't see how this (Judas), how this will help..."
"The machinery must be protected. I will retract the equipment into safety alcoves until the threat passes. The promenade will also be removed, to eject them from the area...Judas. Third son of Matthias, the priest of Modein. Leader of the revolt against Hellenization in 165 B.C. Also known as—"
I cut her dictionary lesson short. "If you retract...the promenade, won't that put impurities in the lava?"
She nodded. "I have made a balanced assessment of the current situation and have determined this to be an acceptable outcome."
"I'm sorry. It won't work. (Halleluiah). The moment you or I set food on the promenade, my sisters will try to throw us off."
She pointed to a panel set flush against the granite. "I will use that access tunnel. Place me on your back." She made a bird-like twitch with her head. "Halleluiah. Interjection. Expression of joy or praise."
I purred. "Why do you trust me?"
"A measured calculation based on observable data. You are a minority fighting a larger, more powerful force. Even if you prove to be hostile, you are weaker and outnumbered, and therefore more manageable to control than the three animals you oppose.
"Furthermore, I have deduced that you value my highly advanced knowledge and functionality, hence why you approach me in nonthreatening conversation instead of throwing me into the pit of molten mineral. You may place me on your back any time in which you feel physically capable of transporting me."
The trouble was, not so sure if I'd ever feel physically capable. I carried the other Mara fairly easily because she had no lower torso.
After a moment's hesitation, I clenched my teeth and said, "I feel as physically capable (Jehoshaphat), capable as I ever will." I offered my back for her to climb.
She nodded. "Jehoshaphat. King of Judah, 873-849 B.C..."
"Could you please not do that? I (hello) only said that by accident! (Yes)!"
She climbed up on my shoulders, legs wrapped my sides like she rode a horse. "I am sorry. I was not aware that you had Tourette's Syndrome. Upon reaching safety, would you like me to connect you to a counselor who can prescribe medication for your unconscious verbalizations?"
"Uh...maybe?"
"Understood. I will forward the request to a counselor, and in the meantime suspend all verbal encyclopedic functions. Please expedite me to the service tunnel."
"Yes ma'am. (Jehoshaphat)."
Mara 2 made a hiccuping sound, but did not respond to my tic. I did my part, playing the role of trusty steed.
Even though the powerful steam set all the fan blades to blenderize, the turbine island remained safe where we stood. The problem arose the moment I made my leap of faith onto the granite wall.
I immediately found myself slipping.
Mara 2 leaned into me, compressing herself tight against my exoskeleton, but it didn't change her weight. It still felt like I had dumbbells tied to my limbs. "What is your (perfect), your name, robot?"
"Barbara. Derived from the first of fifteen classical syllogisms of logical argumentation. An acronym for to universal affirmatives followed by an affirmative conclusion."
"Interesting," I grunted, fighting to keep my burden moving up the wall.
With considerable effort, we reached the panel. I opened my mouth to ask what she would do if she accidentally dropped a tool while attempting to remove the fasteners, but she silenced my concern by folding the end of her middle finger back at the knuckle, extending an in-line screwdriver like one of those animated cartoons Doug had shown me.
I gawked at her as she unscrewed the bolt. "Why doesn't Mara have one of those?"
"The Mara unit is equipped for hydroponics and lovemaking." She said this like she merely described the facets of a microwave. "My machinery is specially customized for geothermal power systems."
The dynamos around us slowed somewhat, but still looked dangerous.
Barbara removed another bolt. Having a lower torso made an android faster, more energetic somehow.
"How many of you robots live on this base?"
"Five active units, including one Bishop and one Call prototype."
I remembered an occasional visit from the rather stern and grumpy looking Bishop man. Call, however, I couldn't connect to a face. "And (yes) how many inactive ones?"
"Seven incomplete, five malfunctioning units remain in storage. Repairs have been postponed until supply ship arrives with replacement parts."
I would have asked more questions, but she already had the cover off, and I wanted her heavy buttocks off my exoskeleton.
The maintenance tunnel could fit an adult human, but they really had to squish down to fit in there. Barbara managed to pull it off, but I didn't feel certain I could.
I decided to go elsewhere, aiming to distract my sister from Barbara's activities.
The power generators moved sluggishly now. I would have considered them safe, but the sudden unpredictable gusts of steam made me nervous.
Worried about Brice and the children, I scaled the wall, searching the promenade area to see where my family had gotten to.
Hissandra still gnawed on the corpse of the bald man mother killed earlier. Ahxalybij, however, being a Ss'sik'chtokiwij of varied tastes, now pursued a small Asian woman hiding behind a machine on the far corner of the promenade.
The stranger wore a breathing mask. My sister, understanding that her prey would be helpless without it, kept trying to take it from her.
Not sure how the human got into that tight little spot, sandwiched between a rock wall and a humming metal box the size of an industrial refrigerator. Only a foot of space between the appliance and the rock ceiling, and only a foot or so of concrete to actually stand on behind the thing. I could only guess she had somehow climbed around the railing, risking a fall into the magma.
In one hand the woman clenched a long screwdriver, prepared to stab Ahxalybij the moment she tried to come after her.
Mom, in the meantime, busily clawed at a register, one uncomfortably close to the room where Rebecca and the others, I presumed, still hid.
No yells nor screaming, at least, not yet. It appeared the little black haired woman in the jumpsuit needed to be helped more than they.
Unhampered by the weight of passengers, I rushed to the woman's location, but Ahxalybij beat me to her.
The woman stabbed Ahxalybij with the screwdriver, but the acid blood sprayed her, and my sister just swatted at her like an angry bear. The tool flew out of the woman's hands, dropping into the depths.
All of a sudden alarms sounded. The lights dimmed.
"Emergency," Barbara's amplified voice boomed through the plant. "Eruption Protocol. Vacate premises immediately. Promenade decks retracting in ten...nine..."
Ahxalybij whipped her head to the side, investigating the noise.
The little woman took advantage of the situation by kicking my sister in the head, but it only served to focus the Ss'sik'chtokiwij's attention back on her prey.
"Eight...seven..."
The turbines and their associated platforms retracted now, red machine arms compressing the equipment into box-like compartments set in the metamorphic rock.
The machines did not seem to be capable of retracting fully into the wall. Rather, they slid only far enough to allow two fans to continue operating. Some continued to turn at a slower pace, others coming to a complete stop.
Mom threw aside the vent cover she'd been clawing, sniffing around the interior passage. Still no noises indicating anyone alive in there.
"Six...five..."
For a moment, I thought the narrow eyed lady planned to climb over Ahxalybij's dome and get back on the catwalk, but then she must have seen the platforms slowly disappearing into the walls, for she then paled, pressing herself into the corner. I knew she wouldn't last very long unless I did something to help.
I rushed from an adjoining wall, leaping on Ahxalybij's back.
A dangerous maneuver, to be sure. I risked sending both myself and Ahxalybij into the magma below, but I considered the greater good, even as we went into free fall.
"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik you fool!" Ahxalybij shrieked. "You'll kill us both!"
In regards to my self sacrifice, I quoted John 15:13, but I worried my small sacrifice wouldn't be enough to save lives.
Ahxalybij dove for the nearest stone surface, securing herself in place with her slulwidmi. I steered my body into hers, but she threw me off. I fell backwards, hit my head on an adjacent wall.
I scrambled like mad, clawing in a frightened panic at anything I could use to stop my descent.
A blast of volcanic heat flipped me backwards, leaving me hanging upside down from the sheer rock, inches from a set of spinning turbine blades.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Something made sounds like a giant pounding his fist on a massive iron gate.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Craning my neck, I discovered it to be the generators.
When I had first entered the place, these machines extended from all four directions of the pit, creating that eye pleasing chain mail pattern.
Their design was brilliant, but the builders had failed to notice some difficulties regarding heat expansion and contraction, as well as strain from long periods of overuse, (or, in the case of the retraction machinery, underuse).
Due to these factors, a few rows of electrical suppliers retracted only one ring's length, or not at all. A couple sagging ones got caught on lower rows and neither one would budge an inch. Others loudly clanked into each other, over and over again.
In contrast, the smaller fans above, being light and manageable, disappeared quite easily.
Still, the retraction equipment opened huge gaps beneath me. One wrong move, and I could drop into thousand degree liquefied rock.
The blades turned slowly now. The beastly volcano seemed to be in repose.
"Ahxalybij!" Hissandra called from across the chamber, pointing at the girl. "You going to eat that one in the corner, or can I have it?"
Our kind generally have excellent hearing, even in such a noisy environment, so she answered, "Aren't you full yet? I saw how many you ate in the room with the tables!"
"It wasn't that many. Plus mother's eating for two or more..."
Mother, thwarted by the narrowness of the vent, turned away from it, sniffing around the transformers. She disappeared behind the machinery.
I swallowed hard. Eating for multiples? Mother? Was she about to lay eggs?
Or worse yet, the face latching socmavaj? I shuddered at the thought. Eggs could make an already bad situation even more dangerous.
I sighed. I would have to cross that proverbial bridge when I arrived at it. I had more pressing business to attend to.
I and Ahxalybij circled each other on the slick wall like angry rival flies on a picnic table, the machines yawning threateningly beneath us, aligned in a way resembling the crooked teeth of a Jack O' Lantern.
Meanwhile, the little woman tinkered with hooks and a rope, creating a crude sort of climbing harness. Though I wished her the best of luck, I doubted such contrivances would help.
I clamped my claws on a slightly projecting lip on a narrow rock column.
"You need to loosen up. Relax a little." This Ahxalybij said to me on the side of a sheer wall, as the fan blades below us slowly picked up speed.
"How can I relax when you, Hissandra and mother are constantly (chair) trying to kill my friends?" I crept backwards on the lip. "Ahxalybij. I don't want to kill you. I really (hello) don't. But you have a hard, unrepentant heart, and I don't have a Ss'sik'chtokiwij jail I can keep you in. (Maranatha)."
"I've spent my entire mid-pupae phase in a Ss'sik'chtokiwij jail!" Ahxalybij crawled closer. "Their jail. Their justice."
She came so close that I could feel her breath. "Humans!" she screamed in my face.
I flinched.
"They invaded our home. They took away our freedom. They tortured us and stabbed us and did horrible experiments to us and you defend them instead of your own kin!"
I backed over a shallow depression in the rock, feeling like I'd been slapped.
"I don't worship man, I worship the God man worships. Despite all the wrongs humans did to us, I love them, I forgive them."
Ahxalybij growled in disgust.
The little black haired woman appeared to be making progress, using her makeshift harness as an aid in climbing the scaffolding.
"Your food's getting away!" Hissandra called.
Ahxalybij shook her head. "Keep the thing busy, will you? I'll be there in a minute!"
The turbines stopped again. Still not a great view.
"If you understood anything at all about humans," I said to my sister. "You'd know the value of love and forgiveness, instead of insulting the messenger of good news."
"Forgiveness is a lie the weak and powerless tell themselves to make themselves believe they are superior as others step on them!"
The Asian lady neared the end of the catwalk, then froze when she saw Hissandra and mom.
"Barbara!" the woman shouted. "It's Young! Send the T83 over here immediately!"
The booming voice replied, "It is a pleasure to assist you."
A crane with a claw attachment hummed down from the ceiling.
"Ahxalybij!" Hissandra shouted.
"Not now!" she growled. "I'm having a philosophical discussion!"
My sister clenched her claws into fists. "Don't you see, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik? The weak claim to be forgiving when they are merely afraid to fight back. Ask yourself: When you forgive, is that anger ever gone? No!"
"That's because you don't understand—" I began, but Ahxalybij didn't let me finish.
"Let me tell you something about forgiveness!" she roared. "Following your simpleminded advice, during my imprisonment, I returned to my cell forgiving my captors from my heart. Minutes afterwards, they come in my cell, they cut, they prod, and they torture me, pissing on my forgiveness like it was nothing! I never did it again."
My heart skipped a beat. Ahxalybij actually listened to me! Of course, disappointment tempered my elation. Still, I told myself, if the kernel of God's word landed on rocky ground (or a rocky head) not my fault it failed to grow.
The crane now lay directly within Young's reach. Hooking her harness to the contraption, she grabbed the steel cable it hung from. "Barbara! Take me to Service Duct 11!"
"Yes, ma'am."
The machine carried her across the pit. The blades on the generators picked up speed.
"Ahxalybij!" Hissandra yelled.
"Not now!" Ahxalybij roared. "I'm busy!"
Still no sign of Mom. I wondered what occupied her back there.
I climbed backwards over a section of jutting mineral. "You must ascend above your enemy's hatred, Ahxalybij. Pour burning coals on your enemies' heads metaphorically by showing them love."
My sister snorted dismissively. "The revenge of the weak and cowardly. I prefer my coals to be more literal. Speaking of which..." She launched into a flurry of punches, driving me into a corner below the refrigerator thing.
Young had now made it across the chasm, the T83 lowering her to the maintenance tunnel I'd previously opened for Mara 2. Smart girl.
My slulwidmi had not yet worn out, despite being overworked and never used before. I struck and clawed back at my sister, holding my ground, or rather, wall. The experience reminded me of that film about the flying trenchcoat man with the sunglasses.
"Kill her!" Hissandra shouted. "Knock her into the lava!"
"Aw, do I have to?" Ahxalybij purred.
In one powerful swipe, she knocked my foreclaws sideways, unbalancing me enough to send me scrabbling on a diagonal.
Before I could recover my footing, so to speak, Ahxalybij came in with a second swipe, taking out my back legs.
My body banged down on a catwalk, legs and tail dangling dangerously off its ledge.
The moment I regained footing, there came a leadened bang on the metal slats, and a bumpy form rammed me like a football player.
I fell backwards and hard on the metal grating, head hanging over the edge. Ironically, an old stereo next to the railing played Share the Land by The Who.
When got halfway up, Ahxalybij kicked me down, grabbing my shoulders with the intent of tossing me over the side like a piece of unwanted laundry.
I spat and tore at her, but she only bashed my head into a turbine again and again until my footing became unsteady. The stereo fell overboard.
Ahxalybij gave me a shove, and I took a spill over the side.
I fully expected to keep falling, but I somehow caught an updraft and hit the upper lip of a dynamo.
I stared downwards through a turbine at a literal lake of fire.
An interesting machine. Two sets of blades, turning independently of one another inside a massive metal cylinder lined with cables and plates the color of old gold. Fortunately for me, the blades in this one had stopped moving.
"Psst!" A dark shape hung from the underside of the machine island, silently gesturing at me like a commando in one of those war movies.
`Climb back up. I'll take the rear,' she seemed to be signing. She swung me over to the wall.
Still trying to see where I fell, and how I died, Ahxalybij hadn't caught any of this.
Sydjea crept around her, and I engaged my slulwidmi, stealthily climbing the other way, out of view.
Since another wall fight seemed counterproductive to Sydjea's aims, I sprang from the granite, knocking my foe backwards on the waffled metal.
Popping sounds erupted, accompanied by outraged shrieks. I looked up.
Barbara waved around a sparking electrical cord, driving mom and Hissandra back like a lion tamer with a whip.
Bravo! I thought. Bravo!
As a consequence for my inattention in battle, a pair of claws came ripping at my brain patches.
I struck back a few times, hoping to give Sydjea ample time to accomplish...whatever it was she intended to do, but neither she nor her plans materialized. Ahxalybij gave me a shove, knocking my legs out from under me with a swing of her tail.
Refusing to go down without a fight, I grabbed the tail as I fell, and the two of us crashed to the steel island below, rolling off the side of a machine.
We lay on one of those mechanically deficient platforms, one where the retraction mechanism didn't quite do what it was supposed to, deadly metal drums clanging deafeningly as massive scissor arms repeatedly squeezed and released, pounding the dynamos against the stone over and over again, the flooring rocking enough to make anyone motion sick.
I hopped to my claws a second faster than Ahxalybij, crashing my fists into her dome, in an attempt to incapacitate her until I could figure out a means of imprisoning her.
"...Dahgim boud doogemma moww..." The stereo had survived its journey, but its speaker system had not. The Who's peace-loving melody now came out in a pathetic squawk.
The moment I seized the object, Ahxalybij's claws shot up and closed around my throat, squeezing tighter and tighter.
Not yet strong enough to crush my neck, she let out a roar, hurling me over the side.
I latched onto granite, then, once I had regained my footing, scurried upwards, forcefully launching myself upon my sister.
At the last second, Ahxalybij stepped aside, and my head collided with battered chrome machine housing.
"`Fake-Out!' It seems that your Basket Ball thing wasn't a waste of time, after all!"
"Does that mean you'll stop killing humans?"
In response, she grabbed my throat, bashing my head into the turbine again.
I elbowed her, hit her with my fists.
We clawed at each other like a pair of mad lions.
A woman's scream told me that things had not gone well up top.
I glanced that way. Mother had backhanded the android, knocking her to the floor. The Asian woman, suffering from a near fatal chest wound, stalked up behind the big Ss'sik'chtokiwij with a welding torch. Unfortunately, not a flame thrower.
The moment Young tried to `solder' mom, mom's tail snapped back, slicing a huge ragged gash through the woman's midsection.
Young collapsed bleeding on the deck.
When Barbara got back up and tried to fight mother off, mother ripped off her head, tossing it over the rail like a basketball, milky coolant spraying everywhere.
I growled angrily. This had to stop!
A whip of a tail sent me sprawling on my back.
I sprang back up, pounding Ahxalybij with my fists.
Under the flurry of jabs, my enemy stumbled backwards, more out of surprise than injury, I suppose.
Clang. I stared in astonishment as my sister collapsed at my feet.
Sydjea stood above her with a thick piece of steel paneling in her claws. "So that's what these things are for!"
Sydjea's mirth proved to be short lived, for in one quick movement, Ahxalybij had her arm around my ally's neck, beating her head against a piece of equipment.
Sydjea struggled to right herself, but our strong enemy just grabbed her by the shoulders, shoving her head in the path of a spinning fan blade.
Thunk.
I leapt to the rim of the infernal machine, fearing the worst as I stared into its gold-orange shell.
My jaw distended in shock. Sydjea was unhurt!
The fan blade, powered by a weak gust, had only spun around once and smacked harmlessly against her head.
"Praise God," I whispered.
Still, too close for comfort. I couldn't let Ahxalybij kill Sydjea for real.
I lunged at her attacker, hammering her with my fists.
Ahxalybij bashed and clawed at my dome, grabbing my limbs and shoving my body toward the brink. My body tensed in anticipation of another fall.
Suddenly she spasmed, fore and hind legs locking up as convulsions shook her body.
Sydjea held a pair of cables to my attacker's exoskeleton.
Our victim stopped shaking, craned her neck around and growled.
In one swift motion, she grabbed Sydjea around the midsection, raised her above her head, threw her into the turbine.
"No!" I yelled, leaning over the rim.
With an evil purr, Ahxalybij shoved me over the rim to join her.
Although she got the upper hand, I got her.
Catching hold of her upper body, I used my weight to pull her down with me.
We dropped through the machine's copper interior, then banged into the platform below, me on the very edge, Ahxalybij dangling off my torso like a lead weight.
I tried to throw her off, but she clawed and kicked her way to safety, stomping on my claws when she stood on the catwalk.
I swung underneath the island, nearly falling off when the retraction machinery scissored.
"Umma?" somebody called.
I stared up. A fat faced little Korean boy in a jumpsuit and filter mask crept around a transformer, occasionally removing the mask to call for his mother.
You idiot! I thought. You might as well ring a dinner bell!
Ahxalybij beat me backwards with her fists, scaling the wall to capture the new prey.
I rushed to the child's aid, but my enemy raced ahead and overtook me. It seemed she had forgotten our duel to the death. "I got dibs on this one!"
The boy screamed like Hissandra or mother already got to him.
If the cries had been more agonized sounding, I would have given up hope, but for whatever reason, the boy appeared to be saving his breath. Good sign.
As I followed Ahxalybij over symmetrical rock pillars arranged to look like directionless stair steps, she whirled around and growled at me. "Who invited you?"
She gave me a tremendous shove, and I fell.
My head hit the side of an island, but I somehow remained conscious as my body flipped and banged into another, landing sprawled facefirst on the grating.
I dove out of the way just seconds before Ahxalybij's big body came crashing down next to me with Sydjea on her back.
Ahxalybij righted herself, hurled Sydjea backwards over the end of the platform.
I launched into an attack, attempting to force her down after my fallen sister.
Ahxalybij, in return, struck me in the head with a hammer someone had dropped down there.
Mother growled in frustration as she swatted at a small figure hanging from the mechanical crane. I looked away in time to block another blow to the head.
"Igôtsoon chohoon chwasôk ipnida," a robotic sounding voice said. "This is a good seat."
Who was speaking? I thought. And what seat do you refer to? I decided to ponder the matter at a later time.
"Pigook ipnikka? Is it a tragedy?"
My sister and I ignored the sound as we continued to fiercely grapple each other.
We lost our footing as the platform retracted several feet. The hammer tumbled into lava.
"Chônpo rool miguk ooro ponaego sisoopnida. I want to send a telegram to the United States."
The recorded voice seemed closer now. What was it doing down here, and why did it think it important for us to know about something archaic as telegram service?
A blue light flashed. I cried out in pain as something burned through my shoulder spike.
Hissandra brandished the laser knife threateningly.
I fought forward, dodging the blade as she slashed, but Ahxalybij kept forcing me into the blade's path.
Ahxalybij attacked me, and as I staggered beneath her blows, dodging the knife slashes, I slipped over...whatever it was, landing on my back.
"Ohdisô chajônqo rool nagwi issoopnikka? Where can I find a donkey to ride?"
My scaly foe tore new wounds into my head.
A heavy looking white object lay in the corner of my vision. I grabbed it, smashing Ahxalybij hard across the face with it.
"Huikook ipnikka? Is it a comedy?" the object said.
I held a children's educational toy, a robotic bunny rabbit in coveralls. I guess it had been accidentally dropped down there and never again retrieved.
"I am Mister Bunnypants!" it proudly declared. "Do you have my Magic Carrot?"
Something made a humming sound. A child's tennis shoe bounced off of a generator.
Above, the small figure slowly traveled across the pit on the hook, feet dangling high above us, one shoe off, one shoe on.
The sight of the boy unharmed and safely out of reach stoked my sister's anger.
As she struck out with her claws, I raised Mister Bunnypants before she could hit me, causing an explosion of electronic parts and stuffing.
"¿Donde en su cuerpo es su cabeza?" the bunny asked. "Can you point to your head?"
I shoved the device into my enemy's face.
"Kihoon!" said the toy. "Bring me my Magical Carrot! Mister Bunnypants needs energy to go on his next exciting adventure!"
Kihoon? I thought. Who's that? Yet another thing I would have to figure out later.
Ahxalybij roared, flinging the doll with all the force she could muster.
The object smacked Hissandra square in the head, sending her tumbling below.
The platform rocked again, threatening to crush us to bits as it retreated further into its recess.
Ahxalybij hit me with a pipe.
Flying into a rage, I struck out with all my might, a ferocious rain of blows that sent her reeling backwards to the very edge of the catwalk.
Ahxalybij raised her fists, preparing to retaliate, but, a second later, a pair of scarred claws closed around her legs, yanking her over the side.
Noting a curious humming sound, I looked up.
Hissandra had survived her fall. She now toyed with a control device, steering the boy towards her.
The child, however, being intelligent, used a tool to break open the casing on the crane, dismantling the remote operation system.
Of course, this also left him hanging in one place like a piňata. I guessed I'd have to figure out how to help him later.
The platform rumbled beneath me.
I had previously thought that the platforms could only retract so far into the wall before stopping. To my horror, I discovered this to not always be the case.
The row of machines I stood upon shot back into the wall recess so quickly that I only had time to dodge a turbine as it rushed to collide with me, plunging headlong through the air as the platform got ripped out from beneath my claws like a rug.
I just barely caught the edge of the catwalk below it, gripping the slats with my claws.
The moment I saw Ahxalybij's face, I lashed out, clawing my way onto the beam.
The turbines on this island rumbled like defective automobiles. We had no shortage of things that rattled.
My enemy reared up for another attack, charging at me with her claws.
"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik!" Sydjea hissed. "Behind you!"
Noting a blue flicker out of the corner of my vision, I ducked, making myself as flat as possible against the electrical suppliers.
Ahxalybij shrieked as Hissandra's laser knife burned through her chest.
This wound did not appear to be fatal, for, once the blade had been removed, Ahxalybij simply growled, "I know that was an accident, but I have to kill you now."
She crushed the knife into pieces, tossing it over the side.
Ever the strong one, Ahxalybij gave Hissandra a sound thrashing, pounding her all the way to the far end of the island. All the while, the platform continued to rock to and fro, ready to compress itself like the one above us at any given moment.
"It's Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik you should kill!" Hissandra screamed. "She's playing us like a couple fools!"
"Don't worry. I'll be sure to kill her right after I'm done with you." With that, Ahxalybij shoved Hissandra over the furthermost edge.
During the course of this whole exchange, I kept my distance, making it a point to observe the proceedings from a safe location. I probably should have chosen a spot on the wall, but my slulwidmi felt so fatigued that I chose to rest in a relatively secure spot on the platform instead.
Not secure enough, it seems.
Ahxalybij grabbed me, hurling me over the rim of the nearest turbine.
Seeing nothing but lava below me, I clawed at anything I could find for purchase, gripping on to some loose copper cables for dear life.
With considerable effort, I made it back to the rim.
A cloud of steam blasted up, and the shimmering machinery whined to life, the blade creeping threateningly around on its post.
The moment my head poked out of the opening, Ahxalybij struck me, attempting to shove me back down.
A slow moving blade bumped against me, but I shifted my body around it.
Quite unexpectedly, my enemy joined me in the turbine. It seemed someone had pushed her in.
I grabbed for the rim again, but Ahxalybij clawed at me, trying to force me down below.
I caught a cluster of wires, kicking her away.
Dodging the blade again, I swung up to the rim once more.
Ahxalybij yanked me down.
The fan blade struck her in the stomach, throwing her back.
Sydjea's bumpy black claw reached out to me. I tried to grab on, but the whole platform retracted more than a foot, sending her sprawling backwards.
Ahxalybij caught me by the tail, dragging me down to blade level.
She elbowed, beating my head against the interior of the drum.
I punched back, retreating to some other loose wires further down.
These cables proved a little too loose. The one I held snapped free from its fasteners, and I found myself dangling above a sea of red.
Ahxalybij leaned over the feeble cord, grinning as she extended a sharp claw.
With a flip of her digit, she severed the cord, sealing my fate.
It would have been sealed for good, had her tail not been hanging so conveniently close.
I caught hold of it the moment it came near, climbing her body like a ladder in a frantic struggle to reach the rim.
Powered by volcanic steam, a blade whipped around and struck me hard enough to knock air out of my exoskeleton.
Ahxalybij pulled on my hind legs, but I kicked, climbed higher.
When my sister pursued, a fan blade spun and delivered her a blow to the head. It stunned rather than killed, but the magma had become steadily more turbulent. Enough steam and the turbines would return to slice and dice mode.
A powerful blast of steam knocked the both of us around the interior of the machine, leaving us scrambling for secure cables.
At last I reached the rim, albeit at a very inconvenient side hanging over nothing.
As I shuffled to the side that held a platform, Ahxalybij's claws closed around my hind legs.
In a frenzied panic, I kicked as hard as I could, and, as she dropped back, a gust of steam turned the fan blade so quickly that she got thrown to the opposite end of the machine.
When Ahxalybij attempted to climb to the rim this time, her legs and tail got caught in a tangle of wires. She tried to pull herself out, but the cords held her fast.
The blade came whipping around again, this time at a faster speed than before, knocking her further into the barrel.
A piece of of the rim broke off. As she fought to pull herself back up, the blade pressed against her, groaning to push its way past, or through her body.
I could see the strain in my sister's facial expressions, I daresay even an expression of panic, but she did not call for help.
Even if she did ask me for help, she could be easily reached from that position.
Worse, the entire platform shook beneath me, far worse than it had ever done.
I watched Ahxalybij nervously, knowing that she could probably spit and extricate herself from the wires at any time. Her strength and cleverness was both a reassurance and a source of dread. That is why I didn't offer aid.
Instead, as the platform rattled with more and more violent motion, I leapt onto a rock wall, and watched.
Ahxalybij indeed spat upon the wires, but as she did so, the blade struck her in the head, with much more force this time, and the thing whirled her around its interior like a test tube of blood in a centrifuge.
The platform rattled a few seconds more, then, one by one, the machines shot into their alcove like a bullet.
My sister escaped the blade, and the wires. Her claws appeared at the rim of the machine.
Sadly, she chose to stick her head out at the wrong time.
Like a stretched spring being released, the platform snapped into a square little opening with only a foot's worth of clearance between the machine's rim and the rock surrounding it.
Ahxalybij's head and neck, measuring larger than a foot, were no match for solid granite.
Her headless body fell into the pit with a spray of steaming blood.
I broke into a fit of mournful coughing and sneezing.
Another family member dead.
It never gets any easier.
[0000]
(28) Ahxalybij is the strongest alien in Ernie's immediate family, which makes this battle sequence so friggin' long. I've chopped the heck out of this thing to make it a little easier to read, but the simple fact of the matter is that Ernie, even with Sydjea's help, is really too much of a weakling to ever hope to defeat such a strong enemy.