The URANUS Code (Citadel World Book #1)

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The URANUS Code (Citadel World Book #1) Page 11

by Kir Lukovkin


  “Hey!” Ahmed shouted from the back once they passed another stairwell. It looks like I've got stuck.

  Rick and Maya returned. Ahmed was unsuccessfully trying to get his ankle out of a knot of roots. Rick tried to help him, but it was as if Ahmed's foot was caught in a vice. Next, Rick tried to lift up the root. This was no easy task.

  “Pull!” he shouted, pulling with all his strength, until he suddenly felt a contraction in his hand, as if he was handling something with the muscles of a living creature.

  Ahmed sprung out of the trap, but his dark face had gone pale with fear. Rick's legs got tied up and constricted, and the prehensile tentacle branch started to crawl upwards along his calf.

  “Watch out!”

  Rick immediately understood what had grabbed him, drew his knife and hacked at the dark green joints. The branch broke in half with a loud crunch, and thick juice began dripping from the stump.

  “Run as fast as you can!” he screamed at his companions, but it was too late. The predatory ivy had already grabbed Maya and Ahmed, locking their arms and legs in its embrace and slowly dragging them upwards. They desperately fought back, trying to tear the hard stems apart, but the ivy was far stronger. While Rick hacked at the stems that had engulfed one leg, three other tendrils had slid around his waist, shoulder and other arm. Ahmed was already twisting in the air like a fish that just got hooked. A huge flower bud opened above him, filled with rather sharp spikes.

  Rick knew this type of plant from up above. There was even one growing on their farm for experimental purposes. The children often played with it.

  “Maya!” he shouted. “We need fire!”

  “What?” She had almost no strength left.

  “Do you have any fire?”

  Maya somehow managed to slide her fingers into her pocket.

  “No!” Her eyes radiated hopelessness.

  “There!” Ahmed, who was covered in intertwined leaves up to his shoulders pushed out a hand holding a dully shining silvery object.

  “Light the fire!”

  Ahmed flicked the lighter open and struck the wheel, so that a small flame similar to that from a candle appeared. He put the fire to the stem.

  “Throw it on the ground!”

  “Why?” he asked incredulously, but then threw the lighter on the floor when he understood Rick's idea. The lighter fell, bounced and clicked shut. Rick threw himself towards it, but the ivy had already covered him up to his waist. He fell on the ground and crawled towards the lighter.

  The ivy started to rustle loudly. The screams of his companions began to falter and sound tired, while Rick had no more strength left and breathed heavily. With a desperate thrust, he stretched out his arm—he was a hair's breadth away from the lighter. Ahmed screamed horribly—the spiked part of the flower had started to swallow him. Rick remembered his knife and used it as an extension of his hand. He hooked the lighter and pulled it towards himself, flicked it open and struck down on the wheel. He managed to make the fire appear on his fifth or sixth attempt.

  Rick felt that he could not breathe. The plant's predatory embrace was crushing his chest and body. He carefully laid the lighter on the side and watched, with fascination, how the little flame slowly crawled onto the dry layer of fallen leaves and desiccated plants, how it lazily and hesitantly burnt through them and then got the taste for them, gathering in strength and consuming them. Soon, one of the steps on the staircase was engulfed in flames, and the fire crawled on, consuming the dry matter. The embrace of the ivy weakened.

  The fire licked at the stems, twisting the leaves into black rags. Something fell to the floor—it was Ahmed, who fell prone right onto the ashes, looking like he had hit his head so he lay still without moving. Maya jumped down next. Rick stabbed the stem with his knife, but the ivy was already letting him go. Rick hacked off the last of the tendrils and was finally free. The fire continued to crawl up and down, jumping over to the level itself. The air was full of acrid smoke. Rick and Maya grabbed Ahmed under his arms and dragged him downwards, as far away from the fire as possible. Everything hissed and crackled around them, but they no longer paid any attention to the jungle. Rick was counting the levels, as the hydroponics sector would be over after they passed twenty floors.

  “We need weapons! We can't do much with this knife!” he shouted.

  “We need a rest...”

  They collapsed in the stairwell, breathing heavily. Soft white fruit lay all around them, and Rick used one as a pillow under Ahmed's head. He slapped him on the cheeks, and when he began to groan, he finally breathed out and touched Ahmed's forehead.

  “He's burning up. Something's wrong with him.”

  “It's poison,” Maya said. “The ivy injects it into its victims. It did not manage to do that to me, but Ahmed was unlucky. One moment...”

  She took an injector with blue markings out of their camping bag and stuck it into Ahmed's shoulder.

  “He needs to lie down for at least a day,” Maya's said shakily.

  Rick understood that she would be unable to take another loss.

  “I will carry him.”

  “You won't manage.”

  He had no strength left to argue with her, he just chuckled, looking up to where the fire was burning ever stronger.

  “Wherever we go, we leave a fire behind.”

  “Let this world burn to ashes!” Maya spat out viciously.

  Rick looked at her with reproach.

  “Is that what you really want?”

  She did not reply. Her eyes were full of pain, exhaustion and melancholy.

  “Do you think we can really burn everything down?” Rick refused to stay quiet.

  “No,” she shook her head. “Watch.”

  He looked up again. Nothing was happening. The fire methodically consumed level after level. Smoke rose upwards up the well of the Chorda. Perhaps his kinsmen would probably smell the smoke as well. Then, something wailed loudly, machines started to hum in the entrails of the walls and a loud hissing and crackling sound could be heard. Streams of filthy water mixed with ash fell onto their heads, washing away the remains of the leaves, branches and other dirt. And the fire went out above.

  “Understand now?”

  Rick nodded. He needed no explanations. He began to understand this world and its second hidden layer without the glazing of religion. The ancient machines worked and put out the fire. This is what happened. The ancients had foreseen such an eventuality.

  The water flowed away. Maya swallowed a tablet of concentrate and gave one to Rick.

  “The central elevator...” Ahmed muttered, without opening his eyes. “We must activate the system...”

  “He's delirious. It's the fever.” Maya bent over Ahmed, opening his eyelids. “If there is too much poison, his body will not be able to deal with it even with the help of an antidote.”

  “Maya...”

  “He will lose consciousness and die in a delirious fever. His heart will stop.”

  “Maya!” Rick raised his hand.

  “What?”

  “Stay still.”

  She glared at him angrily, but then anger turned to fear—she finally felt it.

  “What is it there?” she wanted to put her hand behind her back, but Rick stopped her with a gesture. “I can feel something. Tell me!”

  Rick looked around and picked up a large stick, taking careful aim.

  He said, “Don't move, I beg you.”

  He swung and threw the stick at whatever it was that was sitting on her back. He hit the target, and an unusually large insect flew away into the darkness. Maya immediately jumped away. They stared at the walls of the level and noticed that the radial corridor leading to the edge was overgrown with porous rust almost up to the ceiling. The rust was filled with holes where white eggs could be seen being rolled around by insects with powerful mandibles.

  “This is...” Maya began and suddenly yelled.

  Dozens of huge six-legged insects the size of a well-fed rat
were crawling towards them. The mandibles of the creatures clacked threateningly, while their red abdomens twitched nervously. The insects were obviously preparing to attack.

  “By the powers of Omicron! What are they?”

  “Ants,” Maya mumbled, and then looked over at Ahmed, who was only steps away from the first rank of the insects. “And we have disturbed their nest.” She pointed at the white fruit lying around everywhere. “We touched their eggs.”

  “Let's get out of here!”

  Rick rushed over to Ahmed, gripped him by the shoulders and dragged him downwards. Maya picked up a long stick and started to defend them.

  It seemed that the ants were coming from everywhere. Rick started to growl in anger and desperation, as the unconscious Ahmed was incredibly heavy. After five levels, Rick's strength was completely spent, so he slowed down and listened—the clacking sounds behind him had not stopped.

  “We must hurry!” Maya shouted.

  “Take my knife,” Rick ordered, “you're going to cut through the brush ahead.”

  They kept moving in this way for the next several minutes. Rick prayed that there would not be something large and impassable in their way. He began to understand why Yarg's vermin were so afraid of the jungle—if they came across an ant nest by the Chorda, then what sort of things could be in the depths of the hydroponics sector?

  “Maya!” he moaned. “I'm exhausted.”

  “Just another two levels, Rick!” she shouted back. “We are almost through this sector.”

  He gathered the remains of his willpower into a fist and moved on after her. If he had a good idea of what the sector would be like, they would come across a missing stairwell with a platform below.

  Rick turned out to be right, and they managed to get some distance on their pursuers. Without breaking stride, Maya jumped onto a liana that hung down like a rope over the platform below, swung like a pendulum and found herself on the edge of the stairwell. They tied the liana around Ahmed and Rick jumped down onto the platform and ordered Maya to lower their wounded companion as he would catch him if anything went wrong. Every second was precious, but the liana could not take the weight and snapped, so Ahmed fell right on top of Rick. They fell onto the floor. Maya jumped down by their side, and then an ant fell right on her shoulder, immediately biting into her neck. With a squeal of pain and fury, Maya tore the insect away from her and threw it into the chasm. The ants fell from above like hailstones, pattering onto the floor like nuts and bolts spilled from a toolbox.

  “Further, Rick, let's run further!” she shouted. “We can't stand still!”

  Overcome with terror, Rick and Maya started dragging Ahmed downwards. This sector was also covered in hydroponic jungles, but it was not as brightly lit. There was no time to take in the details, but Rick felt the presence of someone or something there. They continued their descent, now just dragging Ahmed along the floor, having reached the limits of their strength.

  “No more...” Rick fell to his knees.

  Maya lowered herself by his side. The quickest ant jumped up to them, and Maya hacked it in half, but then one more appeared and then another. Maya was slashing at them with the blade while Rick kicked and stamped them until he hit a liana that stretched above the floor. There was a loud whistling sound from the side, then a rustling sound and then Rick and Maya were covered in a net. Both screamed when they were dragged up into the air, waving their arms around, but soon Maya's voice was cut short. Rick noticed a shadow move off to his side, turned his head and the last thing he saw was the end of a thick club.

  The strike landed right on his temple, and the light went out.

  10

  THE DARKNESS went gray and then fell apart into separate fragments, that stretched out into lines, lines which suddenly became the bars. This was the first thing that Rick saw when he woke up, but everything started to blur in his eyes again and his head started to pulsate with growing pain. Rick shut his eyes, looking at circles which exploded and went out... Where was he? Where did he end up? Where were his companions?

  He opened his eyes again. He could see the outlines of a human figure through the haze. Only the stranger had a tight-fitting mask over his head with round lenses, rimmed with metal like a pair of goggles instead of eyes. The stranger approached the bars. The lenses stared at Rick, reflecting the light of the lamp.

  The floor on which Rick was lying suddenly started to swing and the stranger disappeared somewhere above. He managed to somehow raise himself up on his elbows—the pain in his head became somewhat less. It turned out that Rick was inside a cage hanging on a cable which was being lowered now. The question was, where to?

  The cage shook with a clang, and all was still.

  He had arrived.

  With difficulty, Rick sat up. He head was spinning, and started to see double—he kept being unable to focus on the figures standing outside. He lay down and closed his eyes again. He could not tell how long he had lain like that, he could have possibly gone into a reverie or fallen asleep. When he came to, he heard the creaking, clacking and humming of mechanisms and he heard voices nearby. Somewhere, metal struck metal. Rick lay there and thought about where he had ended up. Judging by the sounds, it was a workshop, but a very large one.

  Suddenly, a great stream of water hit his face. Rick tried to jump up, but they continued to drench him, not letting him get up properly. Then, they stopped just as suddenly when they switched off the water.

  He sat up, spluttering and wiping his face—it took him around a minute to come to his senses and get his breath back until he could take a look around. A man wearing an orange jumpsuit and a tight black mask over his head was standing in the cage. Two round lenses, rimmed with metal, were stuck in the place where his eyes should have been.

  So it was no dream, that first time when the cage was being lowered. Rick waited. The stranger threw the hose which had just been spraying water onto the floor and moved a bowl full of a grayish green mass towards Rick with his foot. Rick took the bowl, sniffed it and swallowed. Food! His belly betrayed him by growling loudly—he hadn't eaten for a long time. Forgetting about everything, Rick quickly swallowed the nutritious mass. Then, the stranger picked up the hose once again, opened the valve and filled the bowl with water. Rick drunk the water too. The stranger picked up the hose and the bowl and left, clicking the bar on the cage shut.

  Thanks for that, at least. Rick got up on his feet and looked around.

  The massive cage with thick bars in which he had ended up stood in the middle of a spacious hall. A production unit—Rick remembered the word that he heard in the Commune. That was what they called the separate, large rooms in the workshop. This production unit contained lines of mechanisms that had manipulator arms hanging above them. Machine tools and other machines that were used for unknown purposes stood by the wall. People stood everywhere behind the machine tools, manufacturing something. The production unit was around five levels in height.

  The stranger in the orange jumpsuit approached the cage again, accompanied by a stocky man who did not wear a mask and walked with a slight limp. His eyeballs were light, almost white, while his skin was weather-beaten. However, the feature that struck Rick the most were his frosty steel-gray eyes, that immediately seemed to radiate cold. A pair of round glasses made of darkened glass rested on the man's forehead.

  He was a welder, Rick decided for some reason. These were the glasses that welders wore in the Commune, anyhow. The black shirt of the light haired man was torn in several places and knotted muscle could be seen underneath. The man crouched by the cage and started to observe with great interest.

  Rick wanted to talk, but the dryness of his throat betrayed him and he started coughing. The stocky man laughed uproariously and left.

  In the end, Rick sat in the cage for several hours, trying to guess what might have happened to Maya and Ahmed, while watching those around him. No one approached him anymore or paid any attention to him. The people in the production unit look
ed strong and healthy, without any abnormal behaviors or mutations. Many of them sported beards and mustaches, as well as many having ritualistic tattoos covering their faces. All of the workers spoke a language Rick could understand, but with some sort of strange accent where they rolled their R's. Each of them carried a knife or a cleaver with a wide and long blade. They occasionally glanced over at Rick, but it was obvious that they considered him an object or an animal. One of the workers threw him a piece of toast as he passed by.

  While he was watching, one group of workers changed with another. Then, when the second shift had completed their allotted work, some people left, while some stayed behind. Finally, the light haired man that Rick had tried to talk to appeared in the production unit. He was accompanied by the stranger in the orange jumpsuit and skintight black mask.

  “Hey, boys!” the stocky man called over as he walked in. “Want to have a bit of fun?”

  He was answered with a chorus of assent, as the rest of the people started to gather around the cage.

 

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