I slid down to the platform and then raised my trusty shotgun to point into the darkness of the cave. A few seconds later, Jatal joined me, then Eve, and then the rest of the men.
I could almost taste the terror leaking from the men’s skin.
I pressed the button on my left sleeve and my suit lit with its forward lights. Eve did the same, and the six other men turned on the lights they had attached to the front of their rifles. We walked a few meters into the cavern, and I pointed to the scratch marks that I had first seen on the inside of the tunnel.
“Yes, those weren’t made by any equipment. I’ve seen them before, and we’ve always thought them to be cave worms,” Jatal explained. “We tend to avoid mining areas where we see the marks, but it is more out of superstition rather than the belief that there are actual cave worms. Like I said, I’ve only seen the fossilized corpse of one. I don’t know if there are any still alive on the moon.”
“How deep do these caves go?” Eve asked as we continued our walk.
“They could go to the center. We normally don’t chase them deep. We can get the rhodium we need by staying within fifty meters of the surface. There might be better veins lower, but we’ve only surveyed ten percent of the moon’s surface, and have mined only a hundredth of that area’s potential rhodium.”
“So, there is a lot of rhodium left to mine?” I asked.
“Yes. Alloprize is lucky other corporations haven’t attacked them during this siege,” Jatal said with a sigh. “Even if we manage to execute your plan, and we defeat them, we might get attacked by another corporation or government.”
“You’ll need a long term defensive strategy,” I said as we passed the corpses of the Alloprize men that Eve had killed.
“In some ways, it will be easier. Before Alloprize invaded, the families never got along. Now we know better.” Jatal laughed and then sighed. “It was a tough lesson. We’ll be united now. We will just need some advanced weapons and food to get us through the next month. Once we can continue mining and trade opens up, we can negotiate for more weapons.”
“If we are successful, there might be weapons you can salvage from Alloprize,” I said.
“That would be…” Jatal sighed. “That would be great. You three and your ship have been a real blessing. I don’t really know about this cave worm plan you have, but you haven’t led me astray so far, so I’m willing to go chasing after a bedtime story.”
“It is not a story. I feel something deep inside of this cave,” Eve whispered as she pointed into the darkness.
“You sense it?” I asked as I motioned for everyone to stop.
“Yes. Or another living creature that is very large. It is still far away. Let us continue.”
We walked for another half an hour. My military adventures had taken me into a few caves, but those cases were a bit less harrowing than this. I was hunting humans then, and the only fear I had was getting shot.
I’d never thought I could get eaten by a giant worm monster.
I had faith in Eve. I owed her my life, and I would follow her to hell if she asked me.
I’d follow her to hell even if she didn’t ask me.
Your love humbles me, Adam. I feel as if I will never be worthy, but I wish to try and earn your feelings.
I looked at the beautiful woman, and our eyes met. We shared a smile, and a warm sensation flowed through my chest. Perhaps this wasn’t the place to be thinking about her, but I was looking forward to the time when we would be able to share more than our thoughts with each other. Eve’s smile widened at my thoughts, and I guessed that she felt the same way.
“I’m picking up some noises,” Z’s voice whispered from our transponders. “Sounds like scratching. Hard for me to tell the distance, but the sensors are saying at least four hundred meters.”
“Thanks Z,” I said, and I forced my thoughts away from Eve so I could focus on the task at hand. There were still plenty of holes in my plan, even if Eve was somehow able to communicate with the creatures. I still needed to think of alternatives just in case this idea didn’t work.
As we walked deeper into the cave, I tried to listen for the scratching noises that Z reported her drone’s sensors had picked up, but my ears were a bit sharper when I was in my half tiger form, and I couldn’t hear the sounds Z’s drone did.
“I feel as if they are close now,” Eve whispered.
“They?” one of Jatal’s men asked with a cracking voice.
“Yes. I believe there are more than six, but less than ten. I do not feel any hostility toward us, but that may be because they do not know we are here yet,” my friend said.
“What happens if they know we are here?” another man asked.
“I am unfamiliar with the creatures. If they have never seen a human before, they might do nothing. Or they might attack. If it is the latter, I will try to convey to them that we mean them no harm.”
“What if you can’t do that?” a third man asked, and I could tell the men were beginning to panic.
“Steady. We have guns. We know how to use them. If it comes to that, we will defend ourselves. There is nothing in this universe immune to a bullet.” I met each of their eyes and they nodded.
“Captain, you seem pretty immune to bull--spike in sound! I think they know you are all here,” Z hissed from our transponders, and the eight of us turned to face the deep end of the cave.
It sounded like a cross between a baby rattle and sand blowing down a hill. There were scratching sounds mixed in there, but I thought the alien was creating the sound by rubbing its massive body across the sides of the tunnel.
The noise grew louder, and I glanced over to see the men beside me shaking. Their eyes told me that their minds were close to shattering.
Eve seemed calm, so I felt my own fear ease.
“Steady men. Wait for my signal. If you accidentally shoot one, we could all end up dead.”
“We are in luck,” Eve said. “They are peaceful, and curious about us. Do not make any sudden movements.”
“Got it,” I said, and the tension in my shoulders relaxed.
Then the alien worms moved into the light of our suits, and I let out a gasp, even though I had prepared myself.
I had been wrong about them scrapping their sides across the tunnel. The strange creatures weren’t wide enough to do so. They were shaped a bit like caterpillars, but they were maybe only a meter to a meter and a half wide in the body. Their faces looked almost like moles, with jaws that opened to show an array of tongues and flat molar teeth mixed with pick-like front fangs. Extending from the sides of their long bodies were a dozen spider-like arms. These limbs came from all sides of the creatures and pushed against the walls of the cave to keep them suspended in the air.
They were all sorts of ugly and could have easily been nightmare inducing, except that they didn’t have eyes or sharp hooks on the end of their long bony legs. They looked more awkward than menacing, and the group of them kind of piled up on each other as they reached the perimeter of the light coming from our suits. Their legs tangled up, and they almost seemed like a pack of clowns trying to sort their limbs so they could cram into a tiny car.
“I am communicating with them,” Eve said. “Please do not make any threatening movements. Their curiosity is only a bit more than their fear of us.”
“I can’t believe what I see,” Jatal whispered. “They are amazing. I have seen the remains of one, but I never believed their existence was still possible.”
“But you still avoided going too deep into the mines?” I asked the blue-eyed man as Eve stepped to the front of the group. I didn’t want her to move in front of me, but she raised her arm and motioned for me to continue standing in my current position.
“Just because you don’t believe something, doesn’t mean you can’t be scared of it,” he whispered.
“That is true,” I replied as I thought about my past.
Eve raised her hands slowly and turned them around her body as if she
was swimming. Two of the creatures in the front mirrored her movement with a pair of their arms, and I wondered if I had missed the placement of their eyes.
We didn’t speak for a few more minutes, but the tension had left the men standing beside me. It seemed clear that the strange spider-worm beasts were not going to attack us, and we instead focused our energy on studying them.
“See how some have reflective underbellies?” Jatal asked. “Could it be what separates the sexes? I wish I had my camera.”
“I’ve taken video and pictures. I’m also running a bioanalysis through Persephone's computer. We can probably sell this shit for a bunch of--”
“No,” I interrupted Z’s sentence.
“What? Why not? This is like serious alien shit. I bet there are millions of people that want to know about these creepy looking things.”
“Jatal and his people have enough problems with corporations trying to take his rhodium. They will have even more issues with scientists and extraterrestrial hunters,” I explained.
“Ahh. Good point,” Z said.
“Please be silent. They are becoming uncomfortable,” Eve said over her shoulder, and we stopped talking.
Then we waited for Eve to let us know what she had said to the strange creatures.
“I am afraid I have some bad news,” the vampire woman said.
“Damn,” I whispered.
“Yes. These creatures are very gentle. They would not want to attack Alloprize.”
“Ahh,” Jatal said as he ran his hand over his face. “So, we are back to the holoboard for a new plan.”
“How do these cave worms live? What do they eat down here? Do they need to eat?” I asked the dark-haired woman.
“We aren’t having a complicated discussion. It is more the exchanging of emotions. They are deep explorers and pass down their memories to each other through touch sensors. They also touch the walls for impressions of their surroundings. There is a microfungus that lives deeper in the caves. To consume it, these creatures must swallow the rocks from the side of the walls and then spit it out after their stomachs clean it.”
“Explorers? What do you mean?” I asked.
“They know of the routes that the previous generation of their kind has taken through the undercaves of the moon. They migrate through the tunnels in search of fungus. They don’t eat all of it, just enough to survive. Then they move to the next part of the tunnels. They often explore new areas to find new pastures of fungus. They only know of hunger, curiosity, and love for their children.”
“They are going to have a serious fucking problem if Alloprize takes over the moon and starts strip mining everywhere.” I sighed and tried to think of a way to get rid of the enemy army. It had been a long shot attempt to see if Eve could convince the creatures to help us, and I got a bit angry with myself for getting my hopes up.
“How friendly are they?” I asked.
“They are still a bit cautious of us, but they have no predators on this planet. They like communicating with me, but that is because of their curiosity. They will probably become bored and leave soon,” Eve explained.
“You said they remember all the paths they have taken?” I asked.
“Yes,” Eve replied, and then she nodded when she read my thoughts. “It is an interesting idea. I will try to see if they can give me details about that.”
“Details about what?” Jatal asked.
“I want to know if there are tunnels under where their army is camped we can use to cause a sinkhole. I didn’t see any on your maps, but maybe--”
“There are!” Eve’s voice made the spider-worms shy away a bit, but then they leaned back into the light. “They have told me there are caves right under that area. They do not have fungus in them, and they have not passed through the route for hundreds of generations.”
“Hundreds of generations? How long do they live?” Z asked through the transponder.
“They would not understand the question, Z,” Eve responded. “They have no sense of time. Even their idea of parents and grandparents is different from ours since they retain all the memories of their bloodline.”
“How can we access these caves?” Jatal asked eagerly.
“They are willing to lead us there,” Eve said with a shrug, “but that is--”
“Two hundred kilometers away in Persephone, and who knows how many more kilometers if we walk through the tunnels. It might take us half a month to make it there,” I grunted.
“It seems like a short trip to them,” Eve said with a laugh. “It makes me believe they are a species that lives a long time.”
“Do they ever come near the surface? Maybe there is a tunnel closer they could tell us about?” Jatal asked. “I still can’t believe you can speak with them.”
“It is not quite speaking. We just understand each other. I will try to ask them, but I do not think it will be very effective. Please remain silent for a few moments.”
We did as Eve instructed, and the dark woman made more slow movements with her arm. The cave worms repeated some of her gestures, and the one in front began to move closer. The beast in my stomach began to grumble as the lead creature moved toward us, and it began to scream when the thing came to crouch half a meter from my friend. Eve had told me they weren’t dangerous, but I still didn’t like the look of the creatures, and I imagined that its rock cutting teeth could tear through her easily.
The cave spider ducked down, and Eve reached out her hand to lay her fingers across its body mass. I was both intrigued and terrified by her movement, but I didn’t want to risk frightening the thing by moving. Eve only rested her fingers upon it for a few moments, and then the creature rose on its legs and backed away like a meticulous crab stepping across jagged rocks.
“Thank you for your help,” Eve whispered, but the strange creatures just turned and moved into the darkness of the tunnels.
We didn’t say anything for a few more moments, and then Eve turned to us. She wore a smile on her beautiful face, and the points of her fangs gleamed in the light from our suits.
“I have a few ideas about where there might be entrances to the tunnels they have indicated. I am sure we will find the correct one once we begin our search.”
“I can use some of these drones to scout, but we might have to move Persephone closer to their camp. Or maybe we can take one of the trucks we stole from Alloprize,” Z said.
“We’ll figure it out once we get back to the bridge,” I said as I looked to Eve. “Can you point them out on a map?”
“I believe I can, but let us hurry. I do not want the memories to dissipate. They have shown me the places, but I already feel as if my view into their minds is fading.”
“Alright,” I said as I looked to Jatal and his men. “Let’s get the hell out of here. We may have not gained a pack of fighting extraterrestrials, but at least we have a better plan now.”
The men nodded, and we hastily made our way out of the cave and back into the purple glow of the gas giant.
Chapter 18
Our return to Persephone was quick, and we met Z back on the bridge after Jatal dismissed his men. Once the four of us stood in front of the map, Eve was able to point out three spots she believed might be the entrances to the tunnels that would lead under the Alloprize camp. They were all within four kilometers of the army, and it would be incredibly risky to fly Persephone that close.
“I don’t see how we are going to check these places out. I’ll need to be three kilometers away to use the drone effectively, closer if I’m going to fly it under some rock.” Z sighed. “I guess I could go to the edge of the cave and fly in, but they will know we are there, and send their troops.”
“Do we have any other drones that have a better range?” I asked.
“I’m not an expert with them, I just saw this one and thought it might work for your alien meet and greet.” Z shrugged. “I still need to read all the manuals, but what we really need is a drone mechanic, and a--”
“Pilot, navigator, engineer, gunman, cook, and a dozen other people on the crew. I know.” I smirked at her. “First, let’s help Jatal here.”
“Thank you all again. I might be able to help you with your crew,” the dark-skinned man said.
“Oh?” I asked.
“Yes. There is a major station I know about. The people who buy our rhodium would often take it there to sell. I’ve never been, but talk is that the place is almost a city unto itself. A dangerous city, but there are plenty of people there looking to buy, sell, trade, and work. I’m sure you will find someone. I can give you the coordinates right now.” He leaned to the map terminal. “Can I use this?”
“Go ahead,” I said, and we watched the blue-eyed man type in coordinates.
Persephone's map spun away from the moon we were on and shifted over to the space station. It actually looked a bit like a Mexican sombrero from the ancient movies. The rim was wide like a hat and the center cylinder looked like the area that would fit over someone’s head.
Queen’s Hat Station
System 879 “Mercna”
17.343 light years from current destination
“Bit of a haul, but we can make it there with the hyperdrives,” Z said.
“After we finish here, circle back with Wayne, and deal with Cynthia.”
“Yeah, so back to our original problem. How are we going to figure out which one of those spots leads into the tunnel?” the hacker asked as she flipped the map back to show our enemy’s location.
“You thinking we use the explosives we have on the Alloprize vehicles?” Jatal asked.
“Yes,” I answered, “and I’m betting your team can set them to collapse the tunnels.”
“That we can do. We are much better miners than freedom fighters,” Jatal said with a laugh. “We just need to know which tunnel.”
“We can have your men each use a separate Alloprize vehicle. We’ll take Persephone, and drop each one off as close as we can to each of the three locations. Which spot do you think will be our best bet?” I asked.
Space Witch: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 2) Page 17