by Steve Perry
Like five or ten years.
Broken Tusk walked cautiously, but not too much so;
Noguchi figured he knew something she didn’t. That wouldn’t take much.
As they neared the main loading entrance, her worries about what they would do if the door was closed vanished. The middle steel entry was halfway open as it had been when she and Mason had gone in—
Another pleasant thought. They reached the bottom of the ramp and Noguchi looked up into the black interior of the dock; the metal door was raised horizontally, exactly the right height to let the bugs come and go.
The bugs didn’t seem too smart, but she wondered. Conover had spoken of one that was much larger than the others, that had slept near them when they were captives.
Queen?
She might have stood there for a lot longer, but Broken Tusk growled at her. Noguchi took it as impatience. She took a tentative step onto the ramp.
From somewhere inside the blackness, a low hiss.
Noguchi took another step, gun ready for the first thing that moved. Broken Tusk was by her side, his weapon also out. He had slung the spear over his back.
The dark lock stirred, shadows shifted. She heard the clatter of alien movement, and then silence.
Broken Tusk moved in front of her. She let him.
They were halfway up the ramp when a sudden flurry of motion in the dark ahead of them surprised her. She fired into the dock, twice.
The gunshots clapped loudly in the still air. Whatever had moved wasn’t moving now.
Broken Tusk made a few guttural sounds and then walked without hesitation to the top of the ramp. He turned and motioned at her to follow.
Noguchi joined him and peered inside. Nothing, at least nothing she could hear or see. It felt empty, too. But there was alien spoor all around. An odd, wet-metal smell. What looked like meaty chunks of slaughtered rhynth—or human.
She edged inside, adrenaline pumping. On the dark floor there were several of the unclassifieds that the Revnas had dissected, their spiderlike bodies curled and motionless. Dark shapes lined the walls. She looked closer and then shuddered. The Lector’s crew, at least some of them, with chests ruptured, webbed like flies in the nest of a demonic spider. Some of them had not died easily, from the expressions locked on to their dead faces.
Where—?
A jagged hole at the rear of the dock answered her.
The edges of the torn metal looked melted, scorched. All around it were bizarre formations of shiny black material. It stretched and hung in thick ropes, appeared both organic and deliberate.
It seemed twice as hot as outside in the burning sunlight with the humidity added. Noguchi took a shaky breath and then moved into the darkness. Broken Tusk walked ahead of her to the hole and waited.
She heard a cluttering movement come from deep inside the ship somewhere, and steeled her nerves as she approached.
They were going to have to find the control room. Which meant going in, navigating a labyrinth of corridors, climbing two flights of steps, and unlocking a locked door.
Broken Tusk watched her for a second and then stepped into the hole.
Noguchi prayed silently to anyone listening, and followed him.
30
Dachande went first.
He crouched down immediately and searched for life, sweeping back and forth with his burner. Nothing moved.
Da’dtou-di slipped in after him. He ignored her for the moment; she could take care of herself. What she lacked in skill, she made up for with intelligence; it would have to be enough.
He scanned the long dark corridor through the eyes of the mask. More of the alien spittle secretion, te’dqi, lined the steep walls. It was a brittle substance, but could provide camouflage for hiding drones.
The lenses showed nothing. He glanced at Da’dtou-di. Her sickly pale skin seemed whiter than before.
“Nothing,” he said.
She babbled a short reply. The words were nonsense but the tone was watchful and ready.
They crept forward.
Da’dtou-di stumbled behind him. Apparently oomans didn’t see well in the dark. She followed closer.
At the end of the corridor, another door, open. Dachande heard the kainde amedha as they skittered somewhere beyond. He ducked his head to get through the portal and discovered that he would have to move in a crouch through the next hall; the ooman ceiling was lower here.
Dachande had gone into three nests before this one. But always with fully stocked burners and at least a handful of armed yautja with him. Not to mention that he felt like a month old rjet turd—his side ached from the drone attack and each deep breath burned somewhere inside. From his experience and the way he felt, the wounds were fairly serious. Well. Nothing to be done about it.
He wasn’t afraid, Blooded warriors seldom were in battle. But he accepted that dying could come easily here. He hoped it would come with honor. The real pity would be that there would be no one to tell the tale. No one except a small ooman—assuming she survived as well.
They moved forward in the thick dark.
* * *
Noguchi tripped on something and caught herself before she fell. There was virtually no light. Every dozen paces or so, a small dim emergency torch set high into the wall illuminated just enough to make it seem darker. She could make out her own weapon and Broken Tusk’s back; beyond that, nothing.
The warrior seemed to be able to see better. He must have done this a dozen times, and he obviously knew something about the aliens’ behavior—
Noguchi felt her gut clench at the sound of movement ahead somewhere. She gripped her weapon tighter, her eyes wide and semiblind.
They stepped into a second corridor, the air grew muggier as they progressed. Their footsteps were oddly muffled by the strange alien material that lay thick on the floor.
She should be in front, she knew that; Dachande had looked at the map Conover had given her, but his understanding of it couldn’t be clear. Then again, he could see better, and was stronger—
As they neared the end of the second hallway, Noguchi heard another alien chitter, close.
From behind them.
* * *
Dachande whipped around at the drone’s cry and pointed his burner.
Da’dtou-di had also heard it. She fired at the bug as it ran for them.
The shot from her burner hit the drone in the shoulder and spun it around. It didn’t fall.
Dachande aimed his burner at the screaming creature. Light and heat spewed in a tight beam.
The drone’s back exploded outward in a spray of corrosive blood and cooked entrails.
Footfalls. He spun. Two drones attacked from the front.
Dachande turned, got the first with his bladed wrist, a sharp slashing jab to the bug’s throat.
The second clambered over its falling brother and reached for him. Dachande knocked it down, used the burner as a club to crush its jaws. Blood hissed over the durable metal and dripped to the floor, ate holes in the hard material.
Da’dtou-di inhaled sharply and fired past him, at a third drone.
And missed. The Hard Meat turned and sprinted away from them, down the third winding corridor, shrieking an alarm to the others. It was too stupid to be afraid so it must be a sentry.
Dachande cursed. Behind him, he was pretty certain Da’dtou-di did the same in her own language. He didn’t need a translator to understand that.
Well, it just meant they’d have to hurry. He had hoped to make it farther…
The Leader picked up his pace and hit the hallway at a jog, Da’dtou-di right behind. Ahead, the Hard Meat waited.
* * *
She was terrified but ready. This had to be done or else the colonists would die—
And you, too, Machiko.
No shit.
At the end of the third hall, the corridor came to a T-junction. Noguchi pointed for Broken Tusk to turn left; she hoped she’d remember the rest as they came to it.
>
She moved blindly behind Broken Tusk. There would be a rung ladder on the right pretty soon—
—a bug hissed behind her. Noguchi turned and fired. The shots were deafening in the closed area. The alien’s dying screams were quieter.
This was getting old real goddamn fast.
She turned again, just in time to see a bolt of hard light come from the warrior’s weapon, accompanied by an echoey thud. It acted as a strobe, showed them a nightmare of dark limbs and shiny teeth.
More screaming.
Noguchi breathed the stifling air shallowly. Her body twitched and jumped as she searched the darkness for the ladder. Her chest had started to bleed again.
Maybe she was already dead and didn’t realize it.
Maybe they were in hell.
* * *
Dachande felt the ooman slap him on the back and turned.
Da’dtou-di pointed up, her face distorted. She seemed disturbed, as far as he was able to read her expression.
He eyed the flimsy ladder and then started to climb; the narrow rungs allowed him to take three at a time.
Dachande reached the top and looked down at the small warrior. She swung her weapon in an arc; dull light glinted off the small metallic burner.
He looked up again, reached for the floor of the next level—
—a clawed hand dropped down to cover his own. The black talons etched into his wrist, raising small fountains of his blood.
The drone bent down and hissed into his face.
* * *
Noguchi looked up just in time.
The bug leaned toward Broken Tusk and opened its jaws.
She aimed and squeezed. The AP bullet went into the alien’s mouth and out the back of its head. It fell forward, almost toppled Broken Tusk from the ladder, and then clattered to the floor. If the maker of this ammunition ever asked, she would give them a testimonial they wouldn’t believe. This here stuff is a monster killer, never leave your cube without a few dozen rounds…
A shriek from her left.
She fired and fired again as they seemed to come at her from all sides. The noise was incredible—
Click.
That was louder.
* * *
Dachande stood up and hit the first drone to come at him with the weighted staff. It dropped, still alive but out of the fight. There was nothing behind it, at least for a few seconds.
He turned to cover Da’dtou-di on her climb, at the same time her weapon fire stopped.
A drone leapt at her, knocked her back against the ladder. Dachande felt pure rage. He jumped from the second level, staff in front of him—
—and landed on the drone.
Like that, tarei hsan?
The drone did not So he killed it.
* * *
Noguchi was dizzy. Broken Tusk stamped the life out of the bug that had grabbed her. He tucked her under his arm and ascended the rung ladder easily.
He set her down first and then pulled himself up after her. Noguchi reloaded her gun and then covered him, but the last few hissing shapes that were below backed away, then turned and scampered off. That didn’t really seem like a victory, somehow.
She looked down the second level corridor. The next ladder would be at the end, but their escape was only a few meters away.
Much as she wanted Broken Tusk to come with her, someone needed to guard the escape pod. And Broken Tusk probably couldn’t run a human computer—
At least the passage was clear for the moment.
They started down the second level.
* * *
The ooman paused midway down the hallway and then pointed at a doorway with odd figures scrawled on it. Ooman language.
She spoke something. Dachande hit the animal loop on his suit to record, in case it might later be helpful. Da’dtou-di motioned at him and then again at the door.
She wanted him to stay here?
Dachande growled, but Da’dtou-di was adamant. It was important to her.
It had been a long time since he had trusted another in battle. And now he was being asked to trust an ooman, not even an un-Blooded yautja!
She held up her clawless hand again and then backed away a few steps.
Dachande tilted his head at her.
Da’dtou-di spoke again and bared her teeth at him. And then she turned and ran ahead. He could take her head off with a swipe of his wrist blade and yet she showed him her teeth. Brave Little Knife. If she risked his wrath it must be important to her indeed. Well. This was her kind’s ship. She surely knew things about it he did not. She must have a plan.
Dachande stayed.
* * *
He tilted his head, which she thought meant affirmative.
Noguchi felt a rush of relief. She didn’t want to part with him in this hot, deadly maze, but she’d need a clear path to get back. She only had maybe a dozen rounds left. It did not matter how good the ammo was if you were out of it; she hoped Broken Tusk had more for his weapon.
“Hold the fort,” she said, and grinned tightly. She was scared and she hurt, but it felt powerful to be doing something. Something that might kill the infestation in her town…
You hope.
“I’ll be back when I’m done.”
With that, she turned and ran. And prayed that he would be there when she got back.
If she got back.
The second ladder looked empty, but she couldn’t see the top. The strange alien formations were thicker here, looped around the rungs and covered the wall.
She checked behind her again and started to climb, revolver in hand.
A drop of odd, warm goo smacked onto her arm. Then another.
She looked up.
* * *
Da’dtou-di hadn’t indicated if she wanted the door he guarded open, but Dachande opened it anyway. The ooman wanted him to watch it for some reason.
It was locked, so he pounded at the frame with the end of his staff until it cracked.
It was a tyioe-ti, an escape pod, small but large enough for the two of them. He stepped in and surveyed it quickly. Not a nesting area. Three ooman-sized chairs and a panel of controls. He’d never be able to squeeze into one of those tiny seats to fly this craft.
He turned and stood at the entry to wait for Da’dtou-di. And he heard a resounding crash from the direction they had come from, followed by a low, scratchy hiss.
Dachande tensed. It was a sound he had heard before.
A queen. Heading in this direction.
Was it the one they had brought on their ship, egg-layer of their prey? Or had one of the drones shifted hormones and metamorphosed into a female?
Not that it really mattered, just at the moment.
He waited.
* * *
Noguchi looked up and stopped breathing.
One of the bugs had leaned down from the third level, its long, misshapen skull right above her. Another drop of slime fell from its jaws—
She brought her pistol up and rammed the barrel into its mouth. She jerked the trigger again and again.
The creature didn’t even cry out. It fell past her with a clattering thud. It was a small miracle that none of its acidic blood splashed onto her.
Her hands shook as she topped the ladder. Surely there would be another at the top, waiting to tear at her, to rip out her throat—
Noguchi pulled herself up and on to her knees. The platform was coated heavily with the dark alien material, but otherwise empty.
She jumped to her feet and ran down the hall. At the end was another tee. Without hesitation, she took a right and continued on. The hot, sticky air made it a struggle to breathe. It smelled like rotten mushrooms in here.
It wasn’t until two more turns in the twisted corridor that she realized she had gone the wrong way.
* * *
Dachande took a deep breath and waited. There was no doubt that it was the queen, or that she was headed toward him.
Drones were target practice, but a queen
egg-layer—
No lone yautja had ever survived combat with one, unless he had a burner. Once, a dozen Blooded warriors had taken one down with only blades and spears, but the queen had killed nine of them before she died.
Metal creaked and groaned from below. At least he still had a fire in his burner. Two of them.
A crest of shiny black appeared at the top of the ladder…
Dachande pointed and fired.
Missed.
The Hard Meat ducked and screamed, but was uninjured. He took aim and waited for her to come up.
Nothing happened for several beats. Dachande remained ready.
Suddenly she howled and a dark shape sprang into view at the top of the ladder.
Dachande fired, his last shot.
The head of the creature exploded.
He roared in triumph and threw the empty burner at the bubbling mess. The useless weapon skipped over the platform and disappeared. He had killed her, had Hunted a queen and killed her! The stories of their intelligence and skill had been wrong, she had been an easy target—
The queen hissed again and the crest of her unmistakable skull rose into view.
Dachande’s eyes widened. But he had blown her to pieces—!
Decoy. She had sent a drone to take the shots; he had been tricked.
But how could she know that—?
It didn’t matter. The deadly queen was alive, and she was coming.
S’yuit-de!
He watched as two huge talons screeched across the metal platform and pulled the grinning monster into view.
* * *
Noguchi didn’t bother with the map. She knew where she’d fucked up.
There was a second of initial panic. She’d actually left him there to wait for her, stupid, stupid—!
Noguchi brought it under control and turned back.
She was almost back to where she had taken the wrong turn when one of the nightmare creatures leapt out of nowhere to land in front of her.
She pointed and fired several times. The snarling animal shrieked and fell.
Behind it was another. She pulled the trigger again, and it toppled on top of the other. There were no others.
Idiot! Your ammo!
A cold hand clutched at her heart. The gun was empty.
She ejected the spent shells and loaded the final rounds, hands shaking harder now.