The empress suddenly screamed, wailing in agony and convulsing wildly. As a result of her spasms, she inadvertently struck Skullcap, sending him flying across the room; he hit the floor and skidded momentarily before coming to a halt. Seconds later, the empress ceased howling and dropped to the floor in a heap, looking much as she had when they had first entered.
“My apologies,” said someone from one side of the room, voice full of mirth. “She has a tendency to convulse like that when the collar shocks her, although I haven’t quite figured out yet whether it’s more fun to watch her thrash about in the open or in a cage.”
Maker looked in the direction of the voice and saw that another P’ngrawen had come into the room. He was dressed in some type of finery – clothing that almost sparkled with a blue-and-gold hue. Around his neck was a chain that was probably made of precious metal and from which dangled a large medallion, and on each forearm he sported matching wristbands. Finally, he walked with an unmistakable air of superiority.
The guard captain and the others who had escorted his group from the landing bay all tilted their heads to the side and made some type of weird hand gesture. Observing them, Maker took their actions, in combination, to represent some sign of obeisance. This new arrival, then, was Lord Badukst, and he had presumably come into the room through some doorway not immediately evident.
As Skullcap slowly regained his feet, Erlen – now standing next to Maker – began making the coughing sound again. The guards, now accustomed to this spectacle, saw no need to worry as Maker bent down to check on the Niotan.
“Is that my new pet?” asked Badukst, staring at Erlen.
“It is, Highness,” replied the guard captain.
Badukst frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Apparently it is not fully acclimated to our environment,” the captain continued.
“And this one?” Badukst asked, gesturing towards Maker while sauntering towards the area where the empress lay.
“Its handler,” the captain stated. “Apparently he is the only person it will accept food from.”
“Interesting,” the P’ngrawen ruler muttered. “I suppose I’ll have to–”
“Badukst!” Skullcap shouted, stalking back towards the center of the room. “The Vacra have fulfilled their part of the bargain. Now release the empress.”
Badukst appeared to contemplate for a moment, then said, “I think not.”
“What?” Skullcap uttered.
“I said I don’t think I’ll be letting the empress go,” Badukst stated. “I prefer to keep both her and the Senu Lia.”
“That was not the agreement!” Skullcap blurted out angrily, stepping around the empress and in the direction of the P’ngrawen ruler.
Badukst laughed. “Obviously, I’m changing the arrangement.”
“You cannot do that!” Skullcap yelled, taking yet another step towards Badukst.
The guards, apparently put on edge by Skullcap’s tone (and his increasing proximity to their leader), seemed to make the Vacra the focus of their attention and closed in around him a little more. At the same time, Maker – somewhat forgotten – stealthily slid backwards in the direction of the door they had entered until he was no longer encircled by P’ngrawen. (In fact, they were so fixated on Skullcap that he probably could have turned cartwheels and not drawn any attention.)
“You forget your place,” Badukst growled. “I have your empress and the Senu Lia. Thus, I can do what I like. I can–”
The P’ngrawen ruler was cut off as a shrill beeping began to sound loudly. He tapped what appeared to be a button on one of his wristbands, and the noise stopped. He then touched another button, which appeared to open a communication channel.
“What’s happening?” Badukst demanded.
“Lord,” someone replied nervously, with the beeping noise in the background. “Some kind of corrosive has come on board. It’s eating through the decks floor by floor in several areas.”
“So neutralize it,” Badukst ordered.
“We’ve tried,” the voice explained, “but nothing works. It’s an acidic compound that we’ve never encountered. More importantly, one of the areas where it’s active is directly above engineering, and if it continues on its current path, it’s going to eat right through the main engines. When that happens, they’ll explode. The ship may be destroyed. All should evacuate.”
Badukst’s eyes went wide as the implications of what he was hearing hit him. All of a sudden, he spun towards Skullcap, glaring at the insectoid.
“You…” he hissed. “You did this. Stop it now. Stop it or lose your Emp–”
“Now!” Skullcap shouted, leaping towards the guard captain (who was the closest P’ngrawen near him) and the two of them immediately began a tug-of-war for the latter’s gun.
At the same time, Maker opened fire, quickly nailing three of the guards with headshots from a small lasergun he’d obtained via Erlen. (Maker smiled thinking about how, during the Niotan’s last purported coughing fit, none of the guards had noticed Erlen spit the gun into his hand). And while Maker was taking potshots at the trio of guards, Erlen spat a glob of goo onto the gun hand of another; a moment later, the guard was screaming in pain as the hand (and part of his firearm) dissolved.
The two remaining guards appeared confused, realizing that attacks were coming from multiple directions but unable to decide where to apply their efforts. Their hesitation was their undoing, as it allowed them to be assailed from a completely unexpected direction: the empress.
Belting a screech of rage, she struck one of the remaining guards with a powerful blow that literally knocked much of the bark off him as he went flying across the room, end-over-end. He struck the wall with a solid thump and then fell to the floor, unconscious.
The last guard got off a few wild shots before the empress knocked the rifle out of his hands. She then picked him up and – with a sound that was reminiscent of wood splintering – literally broke him in two. Flinging the remains aside, she then turned her attention to Badukst.
On his part, the P’ngrawen ruler was aiming something in the direction of the empress and manically shaking it at her. At first Maker assumed it was a firearm, but if it was, it had to be the worst gun in existence because it fired absolutely nothing in the direction of the empress as she stalked towards Badukst: no projectiles, no lasers, no nothing. In fact, the empress grabbed the hand in question and, like someone snapping a pencil in half, broke it off at the wrist.
Howling in anguish, Badukst dropped to his knees, holding the stump where his hand had been, amber ichor pouring from the wound. Ignoring him, the empress took the item from the disembodied hand (which she let fall to the floor) and began to tap at it. A moment later, the collar fell from her neck, and Maker suddenly realized that the item Badukst had been holding was a control device of some sort. From all appearances, he had been trying to shock the empress into submission (or kill her), but it had not worked.
Gunfire drew Maker’s attention, reminding him that he had almost forgotten about Skullcap. However, he needn’t have worried. The Vacran had apparently been successful in wresting the gun away and had then shot the guard captain with his own weapon. He then ran towards the empress while Maker did the same.
“Mother,” Skullcap said, “this is Maker – a friend.”
“I surmised as much,” the empress said, sounding much better than she had when Skullcap had first spoken to her.
“We should go,” Maker said, noting that a furious pounding had begun at the door they had entered through.
The P’ngrawen who had been posted outside (and perhaps others) had probably heard the recent gunplay and were quite likely trying to get inside to protect their leader. The door, however, was going to be an obstacle. Erlen had once spat a compound on an officer’s shoes that glued them so solidly to the deck of a ship that the floor had to be cut away to remove them. He had done the same thing when they entered this room, producing a substance that had cemented
the door in place. Those outside would have to cut the door open with a blowtorch to get inside. That said, Maker had no doubt that they had one nearby.
He was still reflecting on the situation with the door when Skullcap reached down and grabbed the P’ngrawen ruler by the scruff of the neck.
“Up,” Skullcap commanded, hauling Badukst roughly to his feet. “You’re coming with us.”
He then practically frogmarched Badukst to the area where the wall rack was located, with Maker, Erlen, and the empress following. Shoving the P’ngrawen against the wall, Skullcap began scanning the articles on the rack, plainly looking for something specific. After a few seconds, he seemed to identify what he was after as he reached out and took a device that looked like two large, conjoined chicken eggs.
Holding one of the “eggs,” Skullcap flicked his wrist. Almost immediately, a low-level humming began. He couldn’t tell with the naked eye, but the readout on his faceplate told Maker that the other egg, on the end of the device the Vacran held, was now electrified. In addition, the egg unexpectedly opened up, its exterior separating into strap-shaped ligules that spread apart like the petals of a flower, ultimately taking on the appearance of a mutated daisy.
Without hesitation, Skullcap grabbed Badukst’s injured limb and shoved the device he held towards it. The petals immediately closed over the stump, followed by an increase in the volume of the humming noise (which Maker associated with an increased electrical discharge). A moment later, Skullcap pulled the device away. The result – aside from eliciting another agonized scream from the injured ruler – was cauterization of the wound.
Skullcap put the egg-device back in its original position. Maker let his gaze linger on it, as well as the other objects on the rack. He didn’t recognize any of them, but it didn’t take a lot of imagination to understand that they were all instruments intended to cause torment and suffering. If he hadn’t known it before, there was no mistaking it now: this room was a torture chamber.
He was brought out of his reverie by Badukst moaning in pain as Skullcap shook him.
“Where is it?” Skullcap asked the P’ngrawen.
“Where’s what?” the injured monarch moaned.
“The entrance,” Skullcap demanded.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Badukst whimpered.
“When you came into the room, you appeared from this direction,” Skullcap insisted. “So there’s a door here somewhere.”
“You’re mistaken,” Badukst said. “There’s no door over here.”
Skullcap started speaking again, but Maker tuned him out, his attention suddenly drawn to a whooshing sound coming from behind them. Turning towards the entrance they had come through, he saw a tongue of flame extending through a small hole in the metal door. As he had suspected, those outside had located a torch and were cutting their way in. (Explosives, of course, would have been quicker, but presumably they wanted to minimize the odds of harming their monarch.)
An angry screech from the empress drew his attention back to the situation with Badukst. Having apparently grown impatient, the empress now had a grip on the P’ngrawen’s neck and was holding him against the wall, several feet in the air.
“Would you lie to me?” she demanded. “I, who have seen you come and go for years while your prisoner? There is indeed a door here. Now open it, or lose your other hand.”
Maybe it was pain or shock, but apparently Badukst had forgotten that the empress knew the truth of this particular matter. That – coupled, undoubtedly, with the thought of having his remaining hand snapped off – eliminated his resolve. He gestured wildly, plainly indicating that he would cooperate, and the empress let him drop. Cradling his wounded arm, he quickly stood up and then tapped the wall in a way that Maker couldn’t quite perceive or which was too subtle for him to catch. Regardless, a rectangular expanse of wall swung open, revealing a hidden entrance. Moments later, they were all inside.
Chapter 100
They found themselves in a dimly lit corridor. Maker’s suit immediately compensated for the lack of light, allowing him to see as though the place was filled with torches. Although modest in size, it was tall enough to allow everyone to walk upright except the empress, who had to bend over almost double.
“Do not mind me,” she stated before anyone could question her. “Press on.”
Without further prompting, Skullcap shoved Badukst forward, curtly ordering, “March.”
Grimacing in pain, the injured monarch led the way (although there was, in truth, only one way to go). Behind him was Skullcap, followed by Erlen, Maker, and finally, the empress. Fortunately, their journey through the secret hallway was short; roughly a minute after they began walking, they emerged through another secret door into what struck Maker as a formal sitting room.
The place was well-lit and perhaps three hundred square feet in size. Although the configuration of the furniture was unusual, the interior design struck Maker as extraordinarily posh and ritzy.
Hearing a grunt of effort behind him, Maker turned just as the empress was exiting the hidden hallway. At that very moment, the entire vessel shook wildly for a second. Maker had trouble keeping his feet, and the empress staggered forward into the room, slightly off-balance.
Maker would have loved to have said that he caught the empress as she stumbled in his direction. In truth, however, she was far too massive for him to have done any such thing. Although, to his credit, he did not move, Maker actually did little more than put his hands out and steady her as the empress regained her balance.
“That was probably the engines exploding,” Maker said over his shoulder.
“Yes,” Skullcap agreed, “although not as massive as I had expected. They must have found a way to contain it.”
Maker was about to comment further when, looking at the empress as he prepared to let her stand on her own, he saw something that made his eyes go wide.
“Skull–” he began shouting, then caught himself and yelled, “Vuqja! You need to see this!”
Half-dragging Badukst along, Skullcap hurried towards Maker, then stopped short as he drew near and let out a curious mewling sound. Maker knew then that the insectoid was seeing the same thing he had only just noticed: a quartet of holes spread across the thorax of the empress, each of which was weeping blood. Maker suddenly remembered one of the guards in the torture chamber managing to fire his weapon a few times before the empress killed him; apparently some of his shots had found their mark.
“Mother…” Skullcap muttered. “Are you–”
“I’m not in pain,” she declared, cutting him off but sounding winded. “I do not feel any discomfort, although the wounds are obviously having an effect.”
Maker cast a stealthy glance in Erlen’s direction, understanding that the Niotan had done something – deadened the empress’s nerves, given her a boost of adrenaline, or taken some action along those lines.
However, rather than comment on it, he turned to Skullcap, saying, “We have to get her out of here.” (Left unsaid, of course, was the empress’s need for medical attention.)
Skullcap roughly shoved Badukst in the direction of a door that led out of the room.
“Move,” the insectoid snapped.
Whimpering, Badukst began walking as ordered, with Skullcap and the empress behind him. Maker was about to follow when Erlen began snarling at the wall. Maker was confused for a moment, then understood that the Niotan was growling at the area that masked the hidden hallway they had exited from; the doorway had closed and fit so seamlessly into the wall that Maker had almost lost track of exactly where it was. Still, he understood the message being conveyed.
“We got company coming!” he yelled at Skullcap. He then nodded at Erlen, who dragged a paw across the juncture between wall and floor, leaving a viscous, clear fluid in its wake. It was a subtle reminder that the Niotan could use the papillae in his footpads, like a tongue, to secrete compounds. Confident now that anyone pursuing them would have to cut
their way through this door as they had previously, Maker and Erlen hurriedly followed the others.
The adjoining room, like the one they had just vacated, bespoke of great wealth. However, it was at least twice as large, and the overall décor impressed Maker as being even more lavish and luxurious, as evidenced by a two-story ceiling, an elegant staircase ascending to the floor above, art niches that housed exotic creations, and a window-wall that offered a sweeping view of the stars. More to the point, Maker immediately understood that they were in some type of executive lodging or presidential suite – presumably Badukst’s private quarters.
Skullcap practically dragged the P’ngrawen leader across the floor to the far side of the room. As he did so, Erlen swiped a paw across the bottom of the door they’d just come through, leaving a liquid trail that would presumably seal this door as well. The Niotan then dashed across the floor towards a set of baroque double doors – apparently the main point of entry – plainly intent on securing those against entry as well.
Summoning a resolve from some internal source, Badukst suddenly hissed, through clenched teeth, “You would be wise to let me go and surrender.”
“And what will you do if we refuse?” Skullcap shot back. “You don’t appear to be in a position to make demands or issue threats.”
“Not me,” Badukst clarified as Skullcap marched him down a hall. “My people. They will not take kindly to their beloved leader being harmed.”
“Oh yes, having seen it firsthand, I know all about this love you speak of,” Skullcap stated. “The P’ngrawen who sold me the blueprints to your flagship wept openly at the thought of what I planned to do to you, crying so forcefully that he could barely count his money.”
“What?” Badukst muttered, clearly caught off guard.
Skullcap continued as if no one had spoken. “His blubbering didn’t cease until I promised to make your death quick and painless. Of course, if he could see you now” – he gestured towards the injured ruler’s stump – “he’d probably accuse me of breaking my word and demand additional payment. He loves you too much to sell you cheaply.”
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