“That’s it,” Merlin continued. “Come, come!”
“Okay,” Lance said quietly once the last few stragglers were approaching the lift. “Can we leave something here to attract the creatures?”
“The scanners?” Triltan suggested. “They use sounds to map out large open spaces.”
“Perfect,” Lance replied. “Make sure the volume is turned all the way up.”
Triltan pressed buttons on the scanner before placing it on the ground at the rear of the shield. Meanwhile, Lance watched as the creatures swarmed over the lift, scratching at its surface as they tried to get inside. “Arthur?” Lance asked.
“Just give the word,” Arthur replied.
Lance looked behind him, meeting Silan Daltas’ gaze. “Okay,” he said. “Switch off the shield and move as quickly and as quietly towards the lift. Once we’re close enough, we’ll reactivate it and draw the creatures away. Ready?”
Silan Daltas nodded and deactivated the shield, the surrounding area suddenly darkening. Lance led them forwards, moving in an arc towards the lift, keeping his distance from the few straggling creatures who remained disorientated from the cacophony of noise.
“I’m not sure if you know this,” Merlin rambled, “but back on Earth, humans used to eat crabs. They’d boil them up and scoop out the flesh from the shells. Now’s your chance to take your revenge!”
Lance stopped them one hundred metres from the lift, pointing to Silan Daltas to reactivate the shield. She did so without question and they suddenly felt much safer, enveloped within the dome. Merlin was beginning his rendition of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General’, when Arthur gave the order to switch the sound to the scanner.
It took a short while for the creatures to detach themselves from the lift, but once the space was clear Lance ordered them forwards and they covered the short distance in a sprint. The doors opened automatically as they approached, allowing them to climb inside, while Silan Daltas reactivated the shield. They slumped into the chairs, breathless and happy to be alive.
*****
“Well done, Arthur,” Merlin said, his image appearing on the display at the front of the lift. “Now may we return to the surface?”
“No, not yet,” Arthur replied, before filling Merlin in on what had happened in the caves and the importance of obtaining a large enough sample of the heavy element.
“Besides that,” Silan Daltas interrupted. “We’ll need to make some repairs to the lift before we ascend.” The others followed her gaze as she pointed out a variety of small holes and tears in the walls of the lift caused by the creatures claws.
“Can you fix them?” Arthur asked.
“We have all the equipment,” Silan Daltas told him. “It shouldn’t take long.”
“So we’ll go and find the lair and the element you need,” Arthur continued. “The shield, though? It’ll need to stay here and protect the lift?”
“Yes, I suppose,” Silan Daltas said quietly.
“We can’t go out there without protection,” Gwen objected.
“The armour is strong,” Merlin added, “but against those claws? I wouldn’t want you to risk it. I recommend that we return to the surface and depart for Teela.”
“I’m not leaving without my sample!” Silan Daltas insisted.
“Now see here-” Merlin began, but a word from Lance silenced him.
“Enough,” Lance yelled. “No more bickering.”
“I don’t think-” Merlin persisted, until a stern look from Lance made him hesitate.
“We made a promise,” Lance continued. “We told Silan Daltas we’d help her get a sample of the element back to Teela, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Lance is right,” Arthur added.
“But, without the shield,” Merlin said. “My King, that’s suicide.”
“But we have to try,” Arthur replied.
“What if we don’t need the shield?” Gwen said, thinking aloud. “What if there was another way to keep the creatures at bay?”
“What are you thinking?” Arthur asked.
“Sounds,” Gwen continued. “We know sounds attract the creatures, what if there were sounds that could drive them away?”
“It’s certainly possible,” Merlin agreed. “There are many creatures on Earth who flee at the sound of their natural predators. How would you determine which sounds would make the creatures flee?”
“I don’t know,” Gwen replied. “Miltren?”
Miltren looked up, a little surprised at his name being mentioned. “Oh, ah,” he mumbled. “It might not need to be a specific sound at all, just the right frequency. Let me see.”
Miltren opened one of the cupboards on the side of the lift and removed one of the handheld scanners before stepping outside. The small device relaying Merlin’s voice had long since been destroyed by one of the creature’s sharp claws, and they were already surrounding the shield and trying to get inside.
Miltren began cycling through the frequencies, beginning in the subsonic frequencies and working his way through to ultrasound. At one point, Lance came running from the lift, screaming at Miltren to turn it off, but as quickly as it had started the agonising pain in his head subsided. It failed to have any effect on the creatures, however.
It was only when Miltren reached the high ultrasonic frequencies that the creatures began to react. At first there was confusion and agitation, followed by the creatures themselves producing a deep audible sound which made Miltren’s chest vibrate. As he raised the frequency even further, the creatures scurried around rapidly before retreating into the darkness.
Chapter 8
Bad to Worse
Earth Year 6239
Arthur, Lance and Gwen checked and rechecked the straps to their armour and the weapons on their backs. They’d also secured bright lights to their shoulders and they each carried one of the scanners, already emitting the high frequency sound which drove away the creatures.
The crab-like creatures hadn’t returned since Miltren had found the frequency, and seemed to be outside the range of the scanning equipment on the lift. Once Silan Daltas had ordered the remaining members of her team to repair the cracks to the lift, Arthur and the others took one last look at the map.
“What do we do if the element isn’t here?” he asked.
“If it isn’t there,” Silan Daltas replied, “then I wouldn’t know where else to look. All the evidence we have points to the source being at or near the creature’s lair. If you can’t find it there, we’ll have no choice but to return to Teela with the minuscule samples we have.”
“We’ll do our best,” Arthur promised. “Get the lift ready to go.”
After one last check of his equipment, Arthur stepped towards the edge of the shield, followed closely by Lance and Gwen. He was just about to ask Silan Daltas to disable it when Triltan ran from the lift and joined them.
“What are you doing?” Lance asked.
“I’m coming with you,” Triltan replied, her tone suggesting her intention should have been obvious.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Lance insisted. “You need to stay here, behind the shield.”
“I need to do nothing of the sort,” Triltan continued. “It’s as safe for me as it is for you, and I promised my father I’d do everything I could to bring Daltas and her research back to Teela.”
“And we promised your father we’d keep you safe,” Lance continued.
“Then you’d better keep me close by, where you can watch over me,” Triltan said with a wry look.
Lance was about to continue arguing when Gwen interrupted. “Stay close,” she said, “and follow our lead.”
Triltan smiled and looked smugly towards Lance. If the Teleri had a tongue, she would have been sticking it out at him.
“Let’s go,” Arthur said, and gestured to Silan Daltas to lower the shield.
The light from their shoulder mounted torches made travel through the large ca
vern much easier. They still used the lights on their plasma pistols to check the ceiling and walls, but there was no sign of the creatures wherever they looked. The cavern slowly narrowed ahead of them, forcing them to group closer together as they advanced. Once they emerged into a much larger cavern, Arthur checked the map again before directing them forwards.
They walked for over two hours, crossing endless expanses of rock and stone, or crouching through tight passageways as they continued on their journey. The air was eerily quiet and the darkness absolute at the extent of their lights. If it wasn’t for the Teleri pressure regulators, they imagined that the sensation of being trapped underground would have become unbearable.
A short while later Arthur drew them to a stop, lifting the scanner and projecting the map into the air before them. “Just through here,” he said, pointing. “Silan Daltas said these patches are walls of ice, but they’d be water when the planet gets closer to the stars. That’s where the lair should be.”
“And if the creatures fled after hearing the sound,” Lance said mournfully, “that’s where they’ll be hiding.”
“We don’t know that,” Gwen said, trying to sound upbeat.
“But probably, yes,” Arthur agreed with a smile. “Knowing our luck, anyway.”
“Let’s just do it,” Lance replied, checking his plasma pistol and holding it in front of him.
They pressed on slowly, through another passage and into an irregular cavern. As they looked up to their left, they were struck by the sight of a sheer wall of ice, hundreds of metres high and equally wide. It sparkled like crystal in the light from their torches.
“If I wasn’t so scared,” Gwen muttered, “I might think that was beautiful.”
“Me too,” Lance agreed, shining his light laboriously over its surface. “Why do we always have to be under the threat of impending death?”
Arthur stifled a laugh, trying to make it sound like a cough. “Let’s just find this element,” he said, “and I promise I won’t try to get you killed for at least a week.”
“Make it a-” Lance began to say before Triltan interrupted them both.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing. Arthur squinted but couldn’t make out what she was referring too.
“Cover your lights for a moment,” Triltan continued. “I saw something glowing.”
Reluctantly, Arthur and the others covered their torches, plunging the world around them into darkness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but then he saw what Triltan had been referring to. Just at the edge of cavern he could make out something glowing, shimmering with a light of its own.
“I see it,” Arthur said, moving his hands and bathing the cavern in light. “Do you think that’s it?”
“Could be,” Triltan replied. “It’s a good place to start at least.”
Arthur agreed and led them slowly across the open expanse towards the light. As they got closer, they were able to make out more detail. The light was emitted by a lake of golden liquid, glowing from the surface and flickering on the walls. Faint ripples across its surface cast irregular shadows all around them.
“Arthur,” Lance said urgently, drawing him away from his fascination with the liquid. Arthur looked up where Lance’s light was shining, causing him to take an involuntary step backwards.
The creatures were across the lake, clinging to the walls and ceiling. They looked agitated, climbing over and around each other in a constant state of movement, but appeared reluctant to retreat any further.
“It’s almost like they’re guarding it,” Gwen whispered.
“So what do we do?” Arthur asked. “Do we think that liquid is the element Silan Daltas is looking for?”
Triltan took two steps forwards, causing the creatures to scurry about in panic at the sound emitted from her scanner. Some of them fell from the ceiling and into the lake, disappearing beneath the surface, while others scurried away. The majority though remained, watchful and guarding as the four of them edged closer.
“It has to be the element,” Triltan said quietly. “This is the lair.”
“Silan Daltas didn’t say anything about it being liquid,” Lance said.
“But it would make sense, wouldn’t it,” Triltan continued. “That’s how it gets carried on the creature’s claws throughout the caves.”
The others moved to Triltan’s side, weapons held ready and their hearts beating in their throats. Everywhere they shone their light, more of the creatures could be seen, scurrying anxiously as they struggled between fleeing from the sound and protecting the lake. It took all of Arthur’s resolve not to start firing indiscriminately at the creatures all around him.
They were ten metres from the edge when the first of the creatures dropped from the ceiling and landed before them, pincers chittering and legs clicking against the stone. Arthur gave in to his programming and fired, the plasma blast searing a chunk of the shell around the creature’s gaping maw and knocking it backwards.
It was only the first of many. The crab-like monstrosities began dropping all around them, screeching and clicking and clacking as they advanced. Arthur returned the pistol to his hip and drew Excalibur as they got nearer, the blade slicing through limbs and shell as easy as if they were air.
“To me,” Arthur yelled. “Back to back. Don’t let them get behind us!”
The others fell in behind him, a tight circle against the oncoming horde. Lance and Gwen removed their swords, Lance favouring a two-handed grip while Gwen held her plasma pistol in her left hand and Andraste in her right, slaughtering anything that came near. Triltan continued to fire wildly with her Teleri rifle, the blasts far more effective than the plasma weapons the others wielded. Whenever a shot hit, the creatures were blown apart in a shower of shell and sinew.
The horde pressed on as arms grew tired and barrels grew hot. Each creature climbed over the decimated remains of its brethren, only to be cut down by sword or rifle and for another to take its place. Sweat stung Arthur’s eyes as he dodged and deflected, parried and sliced, limb after limb sent flying left and right.
“There’s too many of them,” Lance said breathlessly, not daring to look at who was still standing to hear his words.
“Keep fighting,” Arthur ordered as he dodged a leg and drove the tip of Excalibur into a creature’s belly.
Gwen stepped nimbly aside as a large claw drove itself into the stone at her feet, turning and separating the limb from the body. The creature backed away, but Gwen pressed her attack, slicing Andraste upwards and cleaving the creature’s body in two. Another creature pressed on her left, the claw missing her face by centimetres as Gwen turned and raised her pistol, firing at point blank range into what she thought of as the creature’s face. There was a hiss as it fell backwards, the flesh seared and smoking, but the momentary reprieve was gone too quickly as another creature took its place.
Lance battled onwards, swinging his sword confidently, slicing left and then right in a never-ending rhythm. He felt the pain as a claw tore into his left thigh, the barbed end hooking into the flesh behind the armour. He reacted instinctively, slicing through the creature’s leg, but his awkward stumble was all it took for a creature to get close enough for Lance to feel the hot spittle spray from its mouth.
Lance was about to scream when Excalibur flashed in front of him, slicing through the creature’s shell and showering him in flesh and blood. Lance regained his footing and continued fighting, ignoring the pain as he slashed left and right, over and over, each swing more painful than the last. His lungs burned and his arms ached, but on he fought, the others around him doing the same. Just when he thought he could fight no more, there was a gap and then another as the creatures backed away, skittering along the walls and floor.
“Lance?” Arthur said, turning towards his friend as Lance slumped forwards. “Lance!”
Lance lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath his left leg, Arondight dropped from his grasp. Arthur reached for him, tears in his eyes as he saw the
extent of his injuries. The creature’s claw had torn a large chunk of flesh from his thigh, the muscle shredded and bleeding profusely.
“Arthur, I’ll help him,” Triltan said, breathing hard. “You keep watch in case those things come back!”
Arthur turned his back on Lance and Triltan, though it pained him greatly to do so. He watched left as Gwen watched right, the golden lake behind them. The creatures continued to flee, climbing the walls and floor but retreating towards the opposite side of the lake, no longer hanging above them. Arthur lowered Excalibur and breathed deeply, wiping the swat from his eyes.
Triltan removed another pouch from her armour and removed a small packet from it. “Lance,” she said. “Lance, if you can hear me, this might hurt.” She tore the top from the packet and squeezed the gel onto the gaping tear in Lance’s leg. He screamed and writhed as the gel bubbled, but the bleeding stopped and he slowly relaxed, his eyes becoming blacker and less milky as he woke.
“What did you do?” He asked, inspecting his leg. The gel had solidified and the pain had gone.
“It’s an emergency dressing,” Triltan explained. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, what with you, you know, not being Teleri. It should last until we get you back to the surface.”
Lance thanked her and climbed gingerly to his feet, testing his leg as he did so. The pain had gone completely and it was working normally. He picked up Arondight and performed a set of practice lunges without incident.
“You had me worried there,” Arthur said, placing a hand on Lance’s arm.
“I worried myself,” Lance replied with a chuckle. “Did we win?”
“I think so,” Arthur replied. “Let’s just get the sample and get out of here.”
They backed up towards the golden lake, one cautious step after another. Arthur, Lance and Gwen held their swords at the ready, while Triltan leant down and filled a pouch with the golden liquid. The liquid was warm to the touch and thicker than it looked, flowing slowly. Once the pouch was full, Triltan slid it back into the pocket and turned to the others, ready to leave.
X-Calibur: The Descent Page 11