by M. R. Forbes
“Witchy, sitrep,” Quark said through her com.
She spun her head back the way she had come. The front line of soldiers had decided running deeper into the darkness was better than trying to retreat and winding up dead.
“You’ve got a few stragglers from the herd,” she replied.
“Roger.”
She slammed the handle of the Uin into a soldier’s helmet, cracking the faceplate and obscuring his vision further. He tried to reach for her, but she slipped past his hand, bringing the Uin down and through his neck.
The Plixian pistol echoed in the tunnel, rounds firing at a measured pace. Crack! Pause. Crack! Pause. Crack!
“Clear,” Quark said.
Hayley wasn’t clear just yet. She grabbed one of the soldiers just as someone at the rear decided maybe shooting into the crowd was a good idea after all. Bullets tore into the Nephilim, piercing the blacksuit on both sides and slapping her lightsuit in impacts that were sure to bruise. Hayley reached down, grabbing the dead soldier’s sidearm, pulling it out and firing back. The shooter fell back, impacts blossoming from his chest.
“Witchy, I’m on your six,” Quark said.
A moment later the Plixian gun sounded, and the soldiers ahead of her started to fall again. She joined Quark’s assault, and within seconds the rest of the Nephilim force was down.
“Did they even bother training these idiots?” Quark said, moving up beside her.
“It doesn’t seem like it,” she replied.
She paused to listen. They were clear for the moment. Quark dropped the Plixian gun, claiming a rifle from one of the dead. Hayley did the same.
Violent gasped as she turned the corner, seeing the violence in the tunnel. Tibor was holding her arm, guiding her in the darkness. She bent down and scooped up one of the discarded torches.
“You’d do better to grab a gun,” Quark said. “Can’t kill these assholes with light.”
“Lasers are light,” Hayley said.
“I stand corrected,” Quark replied. “Can’t kill these assholes with non-focused light.” He grinned. “Regardless, a gun will do better for you than a torch.”
“I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“I thought you were with the Resistance?” Tibor said.
“I am.”
“Doesn’t the very definition of resistance suggest, you know, resisting?”
“Non-violent resistance.”
Quark’s laugh echoed in the tunnel. “You think these shits are going to pack up and go home because you ask them to?”
“No. That’s why I came to you.” She pointed at the dead soldiers. “You seem to be very good at violence.”
“Damn right,” Quark said, still laughing. “A woman named Violent, who believes in non-violence. There are some things in this galaxy I haven’t seen after all.”
Hayley allowed herself a small smile. It was funny.
“We can’t linger here,” Tibor said. “They’ll know these soldiers were killed.”
“Roger that,” Quark said. “Give us a path back toward the entrance.”
Violent nodded, taking the lead once more. They moved more slowly this time, with Hayley intent on listening for more soldiers. A few minutes had passed before she signaled them to stop, the sound of feet on stone increasing. They weren’t human feet.
“Plixians,” she said. “That way.”
“Tunnelers,” Violent replied. “They’re always down here, working on expanding the mines.”
“Why?” Hayley asked. “I thought everything of value had been mined.”
“Most of it,” she agreed. “They still uncover enough rare minerals to make it worthwhile, but they would dig anyway. That’s just what Plixians do.”
Hayley kept listening. There had to be hundreds of the bugs passing through the tunnels nearby.
“Do you think they’re with the Nephilim? Xi’xan told us they were being taken to use as targets, but he told us other things that weren’t true.”
“That part is true,” Tibor said. “I’ve killed my share of them.”
“They were likely traitors to their kind as well,” Violent said. “Maybe the Nephilim spared them from capture in exchange for their compliance?”
“To save their asses,” Quark said. “Makes sense.”
“We have to go through them to get out,” Violent said.
“I don’t care if they’re friendly. Let’s just hope they aren’t unfriendly.”
They continued through the passage, reaching the intersection where the Plixians were passing. A line of Tunnelers stretched across the corridor, grouped close together, heads down. They looked different than Xi’xan and his brood-brothers. They were more of a brown color, instead of green, and smaller.
One of them turned its head when it saw them. It was a quick glance, and it continued ahead. A few more passed. Then more of them started turning their heads, going by without stopping, but staring at them the entire time. Hayley watched their qi. It shifted slowly, starting from one of the bugs and then spreading to each of the others. Plixians had a hive mind. Was the Queen under the Nephilim’s thumb?
“Is there another way?” Hayley asked.
“Not without having to pass through the main population center,” Violent replied.
“They’ll be waiting for us out there,” Tibor said.
The line of Plixians was slowing. The workers started raising their heads.
“This is bad,” Violent said.
“No shit,” Quark replied.
“Back up,” Tibor said. “I’ll take care of this.”
He started to change form, his body growing and contorting, his entire molecular structure shifting around into its second, modified genetic alignment until he was a three meter, hairless monster.
“Does this count as saving my life?” Hayley asked.
“No,” Tibor replied, his voice deeper and rougher.
“Why not?”
“You can do this. I can just do it faster.”
The Plixians were stationary. They had all turned their heads to look at the group. Hayley had never seen anything like it.
Then they attacked.
23
The Plixians were Tunnelers, not Workers, and definitely not Soldiers. The bugs came at them in an awkward, chaotic rush, banging into one another to be the first to carry out the Queen’s commands. That didn’t mean they were going to be easy to deal with. Tunnelers had sharp, scooped appendages on their upper limbs, perfect for tearing into stone. It also made them perfect for tearing into flesh.
Tibor moved in front of the group, growling as the Plixians started funneling into the corridor.
“I’ll knock down a line,” he said. “You need to get over them to the other side.”
“What about you?” Hayley asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Does this count as saving my life?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I said so. Can we talk about this later?”
He lunged forward, into the front line of Tunnelers. They reached for him with their diggers, but he ripped his claws through the appendages, severing them. He climbed on the back of the first wave, hind legs digging deep into their thoraxes while he stretched out, slashing downward and into the Plixians behind him.
It only took him a few seconds to reach the center of the intersection. He stayed crouched low to have enough clearance in the tunnel, riding the backs of the bugs while he hacked and slashed at them with his claws, and bit into them with his teeth. They tried to fight back, but their bodies weren’t made to dig directly overhead, and they struggled to reach up to attack him.
He rode them forward, killing them quickly and bringing the center group to the ground. The attack left a small lane across to the other side, bolstered by his large second Goreshin form in the center, hacking and slashing at the Plixians to keep them back.
“Go!” he shouted.
“Violent, go,” Hayley said,
sending the Kelvar native through first, and then watching in awe as the woman launched herself across the corridor, nearly colliding with one of Tibor’s claws on the way.
She landed on the other side, tripping and falling and rolling over to see the others cross.
“Go, kid,” Quark said, leaning calmly against the side of the tunnel, rifle in hand. He raised it and fired as she looked at him, hitting one of the Plixians Tibor had missed, dropping it less than a meter away.
Hayley didn’t question him. She sprinted across the corridor, managing to keep her balance on top of the dead bugs’ slippery carapaces. Tibor jumped past her, slamming into a wave of Tunnelers to push them back and give her more room.
She heard Quark firing more steadily as she reached the other side. Tibor was doing his best, but he was struggling to hold the line, and now some of the Plixians were peeling off and coming her way. She glanced at Violent, noting her qi was nervous and slightly scared. It would help if the woman with super-strength would try fighting.
Hayley muttered to herself as she pulled her Uin and flicked it open. The first Plixian that reached for her lost its digger, then its head.
Then Quark was moving across the mob, the dead Plixians parting the living on either side. They seemed hesitant to step on the corpses, making them an effective barrier.
The Colonel reached the other side. He was smiling broadly, his qi a calm blue. If Hayley didn’t already know him so well, she would have been amazed.
“Tibs, let’s go!” Quark barked, his voice sharp.
Tibor crouched and sprang, a heavy leap that carried him past the Tunnelers. He landed beside Hayley.
She could see the spots of purple on his flesh, where the Tunnelers had managed to gouge him. A few of them were fading already, his body healing itself from the most superficial wounds. A few of them ran deeper and weren’t closing up.
“You’re hurt,” she said.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “We need to get out of here.”
They ran down the corridor. The Plixians tried to follow, but the wall of dead bugs and their general lack of agility made them too slow to keep up. Violent guided them through another series of corridors, until the lighting on the tunnels became more intense and the sound and smells of civilization started to return.
She came to a stop in a small, open cavern. “Two tunnels, Colonel,” she said, pointing them out. “That one’s more direct to the main entrance.” She pointed to the one on the right. “That one will take us around to the other side of the Pit and back north. We’ll have to cross over the canyon again to get back to my car.”
Quark glanced at each of the routes. “Odds White said frag it and is sitting in the parking lot outside?” he asked Tibor.
“How would he know that’s where we’re headed?” the Goreshin replied.
“If that’s the only place to get a ride, that’s the only place to go.”
“There are other ways out,” Violent said. “There are mineral haulers to the south.”
Quark’s qi turned a darker shade of red. “Don’t you think you may have wanted to mention that before?”
“The haulers are old and slow. If we’re spotted outside the Pit, the Nephilim will have no trouble catching up. You came this way from Kelvar. The Flats continue for a thousand kilometers in every direction.”
“Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide,” Quark sang, his voice rough and ugly.
“What?” Hayley said.
“It was an old song when I was a kid. It’s fragging ancient now.”
“So are you.”
“Yup.” He smiled. “How many haulers are there?”
“I don’t know. There were a dozen or so last time I checked. Why?”
“Thinking out loud,” he said. “Big and ugly is going to be staying closer to the exit, waiting for us to come that way. He’ll send his conscripts out; his conscripts will die. He doesn’t give a shit about that. But, if he thinks we’re on the move, maybe we can lure him away.” He waved his rifle. “This peashooter isn’t going to do shit to him, but I’ve got some ordnance on the Quasar he won’t want to meet.”
“Assuming it’s still intact,” Hayley said.
“Yup.”
“What does that have to do with how many haulers there are?” Tibor asked.
“Those big mineral rigs don’t get driven individually. The lead is usually manual, the rest trail behind platoon style. If there were three, odds are higher they might all be manual. A dozen? There’s no fragging way.”
“One of us would still need to drive the lead,” Hayley said.
“Not if we can rig one of them to go on its own. We only need it to head in a straight line. Nothing fancy. Maybe that fake freak-monkey in your visor can do it?”
“Gant doesn’t like being called a freak-monkey,” Hayley said.
Quark laughed. “I know.”
“Gant, can we do it?” Hayley asked the AI.
“I’m properly equipped,” it replied.
“It thinks it can,” Hayley said.
“Good. That’s our play.” He turned to Violent. “Lead on.”
24
They had to go back into the main population area to reach the old depot. It meant mingling with the other individuals in the Pit and staying in the open for extended periods of time.
Tibor had returned to his human form, revealing a large open cut along his side that had bled through the stretchable fabric of his uniform and left a large stain that ran almost the entire length of his body. Hayley had asked to stop to heal it, but both the Goreshin and Quark had protested. They didn’t have time to waste, and they couldn’t afford for her to weaken herself right now. He was dealing with the pain, not complaining at all, but she could tell by his qi he was uncomfortable.
Knowing someone was hurt, and knowing she could take that hurt away, always made leaving it alone a challenge. It wasn’t as easy to become a witch doctor as the poultice and Meijo combo made it look. She made the bandages herself, to a precise mixture of herbs and minerals. Then she had to control the naniates in a specific way to get them to do what was needed. Every injury required a different approach.
They made it out to the canyon, walking along one of the rows of scaffolding near the center. The lanes were a few meters wide and offered a dazzling view of both the bottom of the cut below and the rest of the Pit all around them. Quark’s head shifted back and forth, his eyes humming slightly as he adjusted the zoom to get a better distant view. He was searching for the Nephilim like the Nephilim were surely searching for them. The Pit was a good place to hide because it was a three-dimensional city with a lot of paths to get anywhere. They could probably hole up in it for weeks without being found.
They didn’t have weeks. The Quasar was out there on the Flats, and the crew could be injured. And how long would it take the Nephilim to head out to the ship, if they hadn’t already? If Violent could track it down, the enemy could too.
They didn’t have a single minute to waste.
They crossed to the west side of the canyon, taking one of the hundreds of bridges from one side to the other. The hanging platform shifted back and forth as a breeze passed through the cut in the earth. Violent and Quark were unaffected by it, but Tibor held tight to the side, as though he were in danger of being cast over and plummeting to his death.
“You don’t like heights?” Hayley asked him.
“I’m okay with heights,” he replied. “But I like solid ground beneath my feet. I’m a Goreshin, not a bird.” He paused. “Do you know what else I hate?”
“What?”
“Clowns.”
Hayley couldn’t help but laugh. “What?”
“I fragging hate clowns. They’re creepy.”
“Do they have clowns in the Extant?”
“No. I never saw one until I was brought over here. On the streams. I don’t know what’s wrong with you humans, that you invented something like clowns.”
“This coming from a race that wa
s created by Satan.”
“Lucifer,” Tibor corrected. “The Seraphim turned him into Satan and made him into evil. He wasn’t evil just because he and the Shard had differing opinions.”
Quark laughed loudly at the statement.
Hayley exploded. “No, he was evil because he nearly tore the galaxy apart trying to start a new war. He was evil because he messed up the Shard’s naniates and caused the Nephilim to spend the last few thousands of years taking people for their blood. He was evil because-”
“Witchy,” Quark warned, trying to calm her before she drew too much attention.
She forced herself to stop, lowering her voice. “Gloritant Thraven is the one who did this to me,” she said, pointing at the visor. “He killed my father. He took me from Earth. He tried to turn me into a weapon against my mother. All in Satan, excuse me, Lucifer’s name. Don’t you dare try to defend him to me.”
Tibor’s qi turned grey-green. Embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know. We come from two very different places, you and me.”
Hayley exhaled her anger. “You’re right, we do. It’s not your fault you’re wrong.” She smiled.
He returned the smile.
“Frag me,” Quark said ahead of them. “I’ve got a positive ID on our bad guys.” He pointed from his hip.
Hayley turned her head in that direction, but the range was too far with all of the other individuals throwing energy nearby. “I can’t see it.”
“Trust me, kid. Tibs, can you see them?”
“Hoshus,” Tibor said. “Looks like he has a couple of squads with him.”
“Damn,” Violent said. “I was hoping they wouldn’t come looking for us this far south.”
“Do you think they know about the depot?” Hayley asked.
“I don’t know. It hasn’t been used for some time. The miners here don’t pull enough out to need to move it to the main spaceport for transport. We get smaller cargo ships that land nearby.”
“Off-sensor?” Quark asked.
“The Nephilim charge a heavy excise tax on everything we trade openly,” Violent said. “Even the Hole is a shadow of what it used to be.”