Instead, I was hearing nothing. I hadn’t thought the processing plant was sound proof, but maybe it was—and, if so, why?
“That’s the million-credit question, isn’t it?” Delight answered.
I was tempted to look outside and see what was going on, but I knew T’Kit could contact me if she was in trouble, and, if not her, then one of the others. The vespis might not be able to talk to each other between cities, but I’d seen the queen communicate with teams on the other side of the much larger human settlement, so I knew I was in range.
I threw the bolt, and moved back to the door. Again, I stopped to listen, and then I drew the Brahms, and turned the handle. A frightened shriek rang out, as the light flickered on, and several moans of terror followed it. From every corner came stifled sobs.
I looked to the ceiling, first, but no dark shape moved across it—and then I looked along the walls, noting the stacked cages and the forms huddled within, noting, too, the prisoners shackled to their length.
“Please no,” the woman nearest me, whispered, as I walked further into the room.
“Not me, not me, not me,” prayed another, curled into a corner, her hands over her head so she couldn’t see me come. “Please, not me.”
“Delight…”
“And you didn’t want to tangle the guy,” Delight said. “I can tell you how to wake him up, if you’ve changed your mind.”
“Oh, stars, no,” a male voice groaned. “Please, not yet.”
“Leave them alone,” a woman challenged. “You, leave them alone.”
And I looked towards it. I had heard those tones before.
The voice belonged to a vaguely familiar shape hanging on the wall, but I couldn’t be sure. I moved forward for a better look.
“That’s right, you shape-shifting bastard,” and I recognized who it was, even though I’d thought Alice was stationed in a more civilized zone.
“Alice?”
Utter silence greeted me.
“Alice? Is that you?”
And, still, she did not reply.
I found her, chained bare-ass naked to the wall between two cages, bite marks at her thighs and throat and along her arms. She looked down at me, pure fury on her face, and no recognition.
“What the fuck? Alice, are you all right?” but my former class-mate did not answer.
“I wondered why she’d dropped off the radar,” Delight murmured.
“She’s why you’re out here?”
“She’s one of many reasons.”
I could feel Delight studying Alice with some concern, and waited, turning slightly so I could keep the door in sight.
“Want me to cut her loose?”
“Not until you tell her this: Many threads the weaver feeds.”
I waited, and then Delight spoke again.
“That’s all there is, Cutter. You just need to say it.”
“Alice,” I said. “Delight says: Many threads the weaver feeds.”
Alice’s body tensed, and she blinked.
“Say it again,” Delight ordered.
I glanced back at the door, before focusing back on Alice and repeating the phrase.
“Many threads the weaver feeds,” I said, and waited for her response.
She stared at me for a very long minute, and, then, just when I was about to give up hope, she replied.
“Cocoons the stars and makes them bleed.”
And Delight breathed a sigh of relief.
“Shoot her free.”
“You want me to hack her implant, first?”
“Make the initial contact,” Delight said, “and then let me do the rest. I don’t want you exploding her brain by mistake.”
It sounded like a plan to me—the contact, not the brain-exploding part. I touched the surface of Alice’s implant, giving Delight enough of a connection so she could do what she needed, and then I got out of there and let her work.
“I’m going to shoot you out of there,” I said. “Okay?”
Alice gave me an assessing stare, and then she nodded. I couldn’t blame her for hesitating. She hadn’t seen me since Basics, and both of us had developed new skills since then. I didn’t give her time to change her mind, just used the Blazer to clip the shackles and breathed a sigh of relief when the solids diverted into the wall and lodged there.
Delight, in the meantime, worked her magic, and Alice was talking to her as soon as she’d dropped. They’d coded their chat so I couldn’t understand it. This normally wouldn’t have bothered me, except they were having their conversation in my head, and it was making it hard to focus.
“Do you bloody mind?” I asked, and they stopped.
“It’s not for you to know,” Alice informed me, and I turned to Delight.
“I don’t want to know, but I need to concentrate, if I’m to get these people out of here, alive.”
Delight considered that, and Alice waited. I’m pretty sure she’d finally recognized me, and wasn’t impressed. I took another glance towards the door, and around the room.
The women in the cages were silent, now. They’d worked out I wasn’t one of their captors, and they’d heard me say I wanted to get them out of here, alive, so they were waiting. I looked at Alice, and tossed her the Glazer.
“I have to check the rest of this place is clear.”
She caught the Glazer out of the air, checked the safety, checked the clip, checked the charge, and checked the setting. When she was done, she turned toward the door.
“And I have to find Ty.”
“Tyson?”
“He was my muscle.”
“Some muscle he was, if you ended up here.”
“Pretty sure you have no idea exactly how off-base you are, with that.”
I figured she might be right, and shut my mouth. Just because I didn’t like the man, didn’t mean he wasn’t good at his job.
“He brought you in, didn’t he?” Delight said, as if I needed reminding.
Alice’s lips twitched, but she still didn’t seem impressed.
“Delight says you’re in charge of this operation—at least until we get back to Taraquil.”
“Where?”
“The settlement the arach attacked,” Delight explained, and I realized I didn’t know any of the city names for this world.
“You might want to do something about that. Tara’s one of the oldest human settlements on the planet, fourth to be established after the capital.”
“Ta,” I said, not at all interested in intel I couldn’t use, right now.
Sliding past Alice, I walked around the room, checking on each of the prisoners, and making sure my implant recorded them all. Once I’d done that, and I was sure Tyson wasn’t among them, I returned to the door.
“We’ll come back for you,” I promised, and was greeted with silence.
Those words would just have to do, because I didn’t know what else to say. The building wasn’t yet secured, and I had one more section to check, before I doubled back to make sure this one was still clear. There was no telling what might have come through that last door while I’d been letting Alice loose.
I stepped out into the corridor, checking that the door to the outside was still bolted, and listening for any sound that might alert me that we were no longer alone. I even remembered to sweep check the ceiling, leading with the Blazer, and was aware of Alice covering the ground behind my back. It was nice to have a partner.
“I’m here,” Delight protested.
“Yeah, but Alice is actually right next to me; you’re just the pain-in-the-ass in my head.”
I couldn’t see her, but I was pretty sure Delight was pouting. Whatever. She wanted to adjust my attitude? She’d have to wait until I got back to Taraquil, and then she’d have to get Mack’s permission—and I couldn’t see that last bit happening.
“You’re awfully sure of yourself,” she said, and I grinned, scanning the corridors leading away
from the intersection. Even from here, I could see the doors at each end were still bolted, and that all the rooms I’d left closed were still closed.
I wanted to take a closer look, maybe check them all again, but I didn’t think we had the time. Delight hooked me up to Alice.
“You hold the corridor,” Alice said, when she saw my dilemma. “I’ll go back and check these are still clear. “No way we want one of those bastards creeping up our tailpipes.”
Well, on that much we were agreed.
“Don’t kill the Corovan,” I said, and Alice shrugged.
“Whatever, Cutter.”
It didn’t take her long to go back over the rooms I’d already checked—although she took a little longer in the toilets than I expected. It made sense, though. I didn’t know how long she’d been tied up to that wall. If she was as privy to my head as Delight and the rest of them, Alice didn’t grace that with an answer, when she returned.
“All clear,” she said, “—and don’t worry, I even left that Corovan alive. Delight ordered it so.”
I wondered exactly how forceful Delight had needed to be, because I was tempted to go back and tangle the life out of him, myself—and I’d only seen the prisoners; I hadn’t been one. That sort of outrage didn’t help, though. We had one more door on this side of the final entry to the corridors, and then we had the rest of the plant to check.
I wondered what was through that final exit, and Alice shivered.
“The slaughterhouse,” she whispered, but didn’t elaborate.
I didn’t push her. I didn’t want to know, but I knew I was going to—and that I’d probably have a whole new set of nightmares to add to the ones already on file. Pushing that thought away, I moved up to the door on the right.
This time, when I turned the handle, it didn’t move. I shot a glance at Alice, and tried again. Again, it didn’t move, so I swung the Blazer around, and blew the door handle away.
“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Alice said, but she was looking past me, making sure the door into the next area of the building remained closed, while she left me to check the room in front. This one held more cocoons, although they were larger than the cocoons in the room at the other end.
“Vespis,” I said, and wondered how the arach had managed to get the wasp forms through the door. As with the room holding the smaller cocoons, I could not bring myself to enter… and then I heard someone groan. It was a very human groan, and I forgot the fear and horror I felt, and moved forward; the room had to be checked, anyway. Who knew how many arach could be lurking amongst the dangling silken tombs.
I advanced, and Alice moved up to stand opposite the door. That way, she could see where I’d moved to, and still keep an eye on the door leading into the rest of the building—the slaughterhouse, as she’d called it. She didn’t come in, but that was because neither of us wanted to have to re-check the ground we’d already covered—not again.
The first cocoons were attached to the walls, providing extra texture and contour. These lined every wall, as far as I could see, although my vision was limited by the cocoons hanging in neat rows from the ceiling. I moved down an aisle between the wall and the first row, and turned the corner at the end. Alice stirred restlessly, and I felt Delight tense.
“Be careful, in there, Cutter.”
Well, duh.
I turned into the second aisle, and then moved down the third, once again finding myself moving between the wall and a row of hanging cocoons. I scanned floor and wall and ceiling as I went, and solved the mystery of how the vespis had been brought into the room. One corner stood clear.
There were no cocoons on its walls, and the ceiling looked like it slid open wide enough to match the large, two-meter square space beneath it. That space stood completely clear of everything, except a few glistening strands of thread, and one very broken human.
“Ty?”
He’d been beaten to within an inch of his life, and I had a horrible feeling the arach weren’t finished with him, yet. I wondered what they called this process.
“Tenderizing.”
I looked for any trace of humor in Delight’s explanation, and found none.
“Seriously?”
“No, Cutter. We need to get him out of there.”
I moved a little closer.
“Tyson?” I said, my voice caught by the cocoons around me, its volume deadened before it could travel.
I guessed that was a good thing, but I didn’t like it.
“Ty?”
“Alice?” he rasped.
“Not exactly. She’s at the door. Can you walk?”
He had tilted his head back to look at me, and was squinting his eyes—his very bruised and swollen eyes.
“You’re not Alice.”
I stopped. There was something in the way he said that… I stayed where I was.
“No, Tyson. I am not Alice. I’m here to get you out.”
“Slaughterhouse…”
“She’s not in the slaughterhouse,” I said, and pinged Delight.
“We’re going to need her here.”
“I’m not sure that will help.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think we can move him…”
I looked back at Ty, and took another step towards him. Why was he here, anyway? All the other prisoners were in the room Alice was in. Why would they leave one in here?
I looked around.
The cocoons hung ominously still, like pale storm clouds, imprisoned on a thread. Why was Tyson in here on his own? Why was he right under the easiest exit—or entrance—in the room? The only exit that didn’t lead back into the building? It didn’t seem right.
I took a step back, and Tyson groaned.
“Help me…”
“Let me go get Alice,” I said. “The team will be here shortly.”
“No, please…”
And he started to push himself up against the wall, like he was trying to get to his feet. I looked around, pivoting first one way, and then another, taking in the cocoons around me. One of them was swaying slightly, even though I hadn’t touched it, and there was no breeze. I took another step back, moving further away from Tyson, and saw another cocoon shudder.
I had the distinct impression I hadn’t been meant to notice that, because it was right on the edge of my vision. I was getting a bad feeling about this. The back of my neck prickled, and I backed up another two steps. Tyson pushed to his feet—and that was all it took. I turned around and ran.
“Fuck!” Delight said, as she saw what was coming after me.
I didn’t bother telling her to shut up. There was no time.
The two cocoons at the end of the rows closest the opening burst open, and two arach warriors stepped out. They were in human form—well, as human as they could be with six arms, polished grey skin, and amber, amber eyes. I skidded past them, racing to the end of the row, and up the narrow aisle between the cocoons, bolting for the door, even as Tyson charged past the warriors after me.
I grabbed the door lintel, when I reached it, using my momentum and my grip to make the turn I needed to get out of the room and into the corridor. Now, I regretted blasting it open. Now, I did, because I sure as shit wished there was a way I could close it.
“Run!” I shouted to Alice, and grabbed her arm as I bolted towards the only unlocked door that might get us out of the building.
“But we don’t know what’s out there!” she protested.
“It’s better than what’s about to be in here!” I told her, dragging her after me, and yanking the door at the end of the corridor, open.
I didn’t stop to see what was beyond it, but raced forward, my footsteps echoing in the open space the corridor led to. It took me five strides before I started to register that we might, possibly, be in more trouble than what I’d discovered when I’d found the monster pretending to be Ty.
“Well, fuck!” I said, as I heard the clatte
r of booted footsteps behind us.
26—Of Kings and Mutants
Alice heard the sound, too, and looked back.
“Ty!” she cried, and tried to pull out of my hand.
I tightened my grip.
“That’s not Ty. Tell her, Delight.”
While I waited for Delight to do exactly that, I scanned the situation I’d just run us both into—and it was a situation. My stomach rolled, and my eyes skittered over the half of the hangar that lived up to Alice’s term ‘slaughterhouse’. I didn’t want to know what those humans were doing to the other forms suspended in frames before them.
The humans looked towards us, and their victims hung limply in their chains, the floor below spattered with blood and gore and… other things. I forced my gaze past the torture going on below, and saw a row of small pre-fab offices along the far wall. Unfortunately, we’d have to pass the torturers and their victims… and the two guards at one end. And, once we reached them, we had no idea what we’d find.
“Well, fuck,” Alice said, as I scanned back the other way, and I guessed Delight had just ripped the memories of the cocoon room from my implant, and shown her those. Nothing like getting someone else to do your dirty work for you.
“Needs must,” Delight said. “You should be happy. She wasn’t going to believe me. She believed you, instead.”
She paused, and I felt her taking a look at what I was seeing, noting the luxury shuttle taking up the other half of what Alice had called the slaughterhouse. It was of human make, not arach—and it did not belong to the Lord Andreus Corovan.
“Looks like you’ve found their center of operations,” Delight said, in my head, which was exactly what I didn’t need to hear, from her.
“I could fly that,” I said, gesturing towards the shuttle.
“Yeah, but I don’t think they’re going to let you on without a ticket.”
Alice indicated the two arach warriors standing guard beside the landing struts. They were a problem—that and the shuttle was buttoned up tight and powered down, which meant there were no systems inside that I could hack. Systems usually had to be running before I could get into them.
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