by Kir Lukovkin
The shorn mandible was still twitching when a human figure appeared out of the darkness in front of rick. The stranger crushed the mandible with their foot and turned around. It was Olivia. She wiped the thick blade of a cleaver on her sleeve and chuckled, whispering a command loudly, “Let's go!”
“But...” Rick started as he got up.
Olivia silently pointed behind her back with her thumb. Rick looked over her shoulder and almost screamed — there was a yellow light in the depth of the tunnel and it was full of long-tailed creatures that had smelt their prey. The tapping sound of their long legs and the snap of tails grew ever louder, coming towards them from afar.
Olivia rushed forward, uncoiling a rope as she ran.
“Get ready!” she shouted to Rick as he caught up with her.
The tunnel ended abruptly and they were on a bridge that stretched over the mouth of a huge shaft.
“Fight back!” Olivia thrust the cleaver into Rick's head as she started to fix the rope to the side of the bridge, using a complex knot to fix it to the hook.
Rick chopped at one of the monsters that approached them and chose the right moment to cut off its head. He lunged to scare away another one when he heard a voice behind his back.
“What're you waiting for? Climb down!”
Olivia was nowhere to be seen as she was somewhere under the bridge. Rick put the cleaver behind his belt and went over the side, holding on to the rope.
“Be quick! It's not far!” came from below.
Rick swung like a pendulum, almost making him release the rope, but he looked down just in time. A wide channel of water was going past below him — if he let go of the rope, he would have swung past it!
He found the right moment when he had swung back and jumped. His feet slid on the inclined wall of the channel so Rick fell onto his posterior. Olivia helped him to rise and they both glanced upwards — the insects were staring at them over the edge of the bridge, chittering, moving their whiskers and mandibles and pushed each other around. However, they did not try to descend.
Olivia grabbed the rope, made a circular motion with her upraised arm and tugged hard. The end of the rope fell into the channel, causing the creatures to squeal loudly again.
“We need to go. We are provoking them,” Olivia told Rick, as she quickly coiled the rope.
Rick nodded and they hurried away.
“How did you find me?” he asked as they walked.
“I swim well. I saw how you opened the ancient entrance to the waterways. None of the fords could open one of them before. How did you manage to do it?”
“It's hard to explain. It would be easier to show you. So what happened in the Cluster?”
“I have no idea. The great water usually goes around it.”
“But not this time.”
“That's right,” Olivia glanced at him. “You fought Hornet well. He removed a dozen fords from the circle before you.”
“But the fords have the protection of the Cluster!” Rick countered.
“Why do you think so?” she chuckled. “We are vulnerable. Several of us are taken over by madness every year. The ford loses their mind and attacks everything that lives, with the sole aim of tearing them to pieces. A ford like that stops understanding human speech and becomes a beast. We watch each other, so if a ford is afflicted by madness, there are those like Hornet that are there to deal with them. If the rabid one has not had time to do harm, we just get rid of them or lower them into the canal.”
“And if they kill someone who is healthy, they get executed,” Rick guessed.
“Correct. The runners are usually the rabid, as they are still around in some of the empty segments of the world. This is why when you escaped the rollers and started to speak, I decided to risk it and give you a chance.” Olivia sighed. “Now there's no Cluster and my people are no more.”
“Do you know where we're going?”
“No. We need to get to the top.”
“But those creatures could still be waiting for us.”
“Better them than the things that live here. Look! See what's on the walls and ceilings?” Olivia pointed at the white ragged strands hanging down at the entrance to the tunnel where the channel was leading them. “I wouldn't advise touching them. Our ersatzes sometimes walked into this horrible stuff at the lower levels. Fords do not like catacombs and darkness. The underground radiates death.”
Paul nodded curtly. He was familiar with webs, as there were predatory spiders in Thermopolis as well.
“What does “ford” mean?” he asked, as he carefully walked ahead.
“I don't understand what you are talking about.”
“Where I come from, they usually say “human”. Why a ford?”
“I don't know. That's the way it is in the Cluster.”
“So why is it called a Cluster, as opposed to a commune or settlement?”
“They have always spoken that way,” Olivia shrugged. “I have no idea why.”
Rick decided to stop asking questions. They walked out into a space which was lit by a faraway clear light, with walkways joined by a connecting bridge running along the walls. Garlands of white strands hung off the bridge, coming together in a large ball over the floor, which contained something formless and dark that was stuck in it forever.
Olivia carefully moved ahead, crouched and climbed through the gap between the wall and the hanging garlands. Rick followed her example, and they quietly hurried towards a ladder so that they could get up to the walkway. Once there, they quickly found another ladder that led them into a dark corridor.
After Rick got used to the darkness, he suggested that they walk towards the source of the slight breath of wind that he felt upon his face. Olivia did not object and they soon managed to get out onto a highway that led them into a deep rift, where the walls stretched out up high towards the blue sky. The rift was crossed by the lines of faraway bridges far above, which may have been other highways.
Rick and Olivia stood around for a while, breathing their fill and enjoying the light and the cool air and then followed the highway into the mouth of another tunnel. More strands of web hung down from the ceiling, but they were torn and obviously old, which suggested that the creatures did not hunt here anymore.
The highway soon went through an open space, where the ceiling was lost high up in the darkness, mold fluoresced on the far walls and unusually shaped machines, intersections of pipes and metallic buildings could be seen to the sides. They were all probably a part of the complex mechanism that changed the city landscape. Finally, they saw giant gears that were attached to a pulley with a chain mechanism, where each link of the chain was as tall as two people.
Olivia and Rick stopped, open-mouthed as they examined the gigantic turning devices. This must be the landscape shifter, Rick decided. He already wanted to tell his companion about his supposition, but froze when he turned his head and saw a vile and fury beast that hung below a girder over the highway. The many legs of the creature twitched convulsively and gathered under its belly. The giant spider turned on its own axis with admirable agility in complete silence, frozen in expectation.
Rick still managed to slowly turn towards Olivia and understood that he had touched a translucent strand that hung by his shoulder.
“Don't move,” he whispered, warning his companion and gripping the handle of the cleaver behind his belt. “A creature is right above us.”
Olivia did not react as she stopped still, she just started to breathe more rapidly.
The furry beast that hid half of the view over their heads also stayed still. Rick slowly stepped back, but the sticky strand was stuck fast to his shoulder. He drew his cleaver from behind his belt and gave it to Olivia, asking her to cut through the web strand on his shoulder.
It seemed that this task took her forever. But then the strand fell away and hung down on the side, swinging in the drought. The creature above trembled and started to move — its legs worked fast as it drew in the st
rand they had just released.
“Run,” Olivia whispered, and they dashed forward.
They both turned onto a small bridge that led to a walkway along the walls and then turned into a corridor from it. Olivia kept looking over her shoulder and hissed, cursing the memories of the filthy rats of the Cluster. The corridor was a gentle incline leading upwards — they were approaching the exit, which was lit with a glimmering light up ahead. There were more and more white strands on the walls. Olivia overtook him and hacked at them with the cleaver, warning him whether she was dodging or jumping over them.
“Let's head back!” Rick shouted when he noticed that the opening in front of them was covered with webs.
“No! The mark of the Cluster is there!” Olivia exclaimed, pointing at a gap in the web through which a familiar symbol could be made out.
She hacked at the strands powerfully — once, twice and more, freeing up the way and continuing to move. Rick followed her, with a quick glance at the glyph, which was a triangle inside a circle. He caught up with his companion.
“Everywhere where there is the sign of the cluster,” Olivia rummaged around the folds of her clothing as she walked, “the amulet can be used to activate ancient machines.”
She finally extracted a medallion key and Rick grabbed her hand.
“What're you doing?” Olivia exclaimed, afraid that Rick was going to rob her.
“I am familiar with this sign,” he said as he let go of her hand. “I saw it on the neck of my friend. The one who I came here with.”
“You lie!”
Rick choked with indignation, caught his foot on a protrusion on the floor and nearly fell.
“I can...” he quickly glanced over his shoulder and spat, noticing the beast following them. “I swear upon all the gods you believe in and on my own life!”
“But where would he have got a Cluster amulet?”
“He called it by the name of his god.”
“It doesn't matter,” Olivia waved her hand. “We will discuss it later!”
She stopped abruptly and touched the medallion key to the slot in the wall. The outline of the glyph lit up with a blue light.
Rick heard a rustle and looked into the corridor again — the creature was approaching them. Rick sidestepped inadvertently and heard something crunch below his feet. He stepped away again and heard another squelching and crunching noise. Finally, he looked down under his feet — he had crushed several white eggs which were the size of a fist.
“We better hurry,” he hissed, once he realized where they ended up in. “This is her nest!”
Olivia was busy with wall. The spider inexorably approached. Rick gathered himself, clenching his fists and understanding that there was nothing he could do against the beast that approached them.
“Hurry up!” he shouted.
The wall suddenly cracked along an even vertical line and opened, displaying a niche and a console covered in flickering lights.
“Follow me!” Olivia commanded as she took the medallion out of the slot.
Rick did not need to be asked twice. The spider had almost caught them and stretched its legs into the niche, but the secret doors closed again and cut the appendages stretching towards them. Rick exhaled loudly and lowered himself onto the floor, watching how Olivia worked with the panel of blinking lights on the console.
It was only know when he understood that he was in the cabin of an elevator and that it was rising. The darkness beyond the transparent wall changed to glimmers of light — it was the mold fluorescing on the walls of the giant shaft. Rick's eye caught some movement to their side and he gasped — the spider was following the cabin, nimbly climbing up along the wall and did not look like it was going to give up any time soon.
“I chose the highest floor,” Olivia said.
“Where did you learn how to control an elevator?” Rick stood up by her side, watching the spider.
“It is the first thing all children of the Cluster get taught! We would never have survived without ancient knowledge. The Cluster takes souls but it gives a lot as well. We respect the ancients. Now how did a Cluster amulet end up with your friend, tell me.”
“There are settlements and fortresses outside,” Rick did not like her commanding tone, but he had no strength left for arguments and resolving issues, especially considering Olivia had now saved him twice. “I met him in one of those places. They had a sect there, where the locals worshiped Maus. That is the name of their godling, while this sign upon your amulet,” he pointed at the medallion key on Olivia's neck, “is the symbol of their deity.”
“But...” Olivia was obviously taken aback. “How is that possible?”
“The elders...” For some reason, Rick suddenly thought of Kyoto and Book of Faces. “Anyway, they told us that people had run away from the cities once upon a time. That could have been the way that the amulets ended up in the cluster. Oh!”
The sight took his breath away as the cabin came out of the shaft and ascended along the wall under the open sky.
“Yes, it's impressive!” Olivia turned towards the glass and looked at the segment of the city beneath their feet. A high wall was before their eyes, with the main transportation highway visible in the distance as it stretched from the west to the east like a wide yellow strip. There were identical box-shaped buildings between the highway and the walls, empty streets and the lines of the pipelines and another wall further away.
The higher the cabin rose, the clearer the structure of the city built around the tower became. Rick had carefully memorized the plan that he saw in the pumping station control room and finally realized that the tower was surrounded with rings of sectors which were themselves subdivided into clusters of different shapes and sizes. That is where the fords got this word from. For them, the cluster was their territory. It turned out that it was necessary to go along the main highway to get to the tower quickly, but it was controlled by rollers that were almost impossible to escape. The way through the city districts was not much better as danger was everywhere, with various beasts, mutants and the possessed, as well as a changing landscape so you could never guess what would start to shift and when. If only he could see what was behind the wall that the elevator rose along...
He stared into the distance, where a row of thick pillars had just towered, but disappeared from the surface rather quickly to be replaced by a dome which reflected the sun.
Judging by the distance, the pillars and the dome were rather sizable. It would be curious to visit that place... He wanted to bring Olivia's attention to that location, but the cabin smoothly slid into an opaque pipe in the wall. The light immediately came on and the cabin came to a complete stop after a few moments.
“We're here, let's get out!” Olivia tugged Rick by the sleeve.
“Oh? Oh yes,” he realized as he heard a grinding sound and a rustle underneath the cabin.
It looked like that relentless spider would not stop until it would catch up with them!
Olivia dragged Rick onto the wall, which had something resembling a low railing along one side. The wall was around two paces wide, but the height... The height was so mind-blowing, that he inadvertently shivered.
“Don't approach the edges! The wind is treacherous!”
Rick glanced back at the cabin, which was suddenly pushed upwards with a piercing screech. The spider was probably pushing with its head from below, and trying to squeeze itself through the gap. The monster was strong!
“Let's go,” Olivia dragged Rick after her, but moved forward without hurrying, stepping carefully and turning her face away from the cold wind that blew in her ace.
Getting as far away as possible seemed to be a logical choice. Rick looked back again. They would not be able to go far this way, as the spider was bound to catch up with them after it had pushed the cabin all the way up and it did not care about the height.
“Everything looks different from up here!” Olivia suddenly shouted over the whistling wind. “It's so sma
ll!”
“Yes!” Rick started to realize that Olivia had some sort of plan and that here was a reason that she was dragging him in a particular direction. “Did any of you try to find out what is that tower at the center of the city?”
“The axis of the world! It's crystal clear anyway!” Olivia glanced back. Her expression darkened. “Get a move on!”
Rick did not turn around as it was obvious that the spider had climbed up onto the wall anyway. Olivia ended up switching from a walk to a run. The railings ended up ahead, the platform widened, turning into an overhang, which ended with a sheer channeled slope that ran somewhere far down, towards the faraway streets between the city buildings.
“Over there!” Olivia shouted. “Be quick!”
When they ran out onto the overhang, the wind struck them from the side. Olivia cried out and crouched as if she had twisted her ankle and almost got blown off the wall. Rick held on to her and roughly pulled her to her feet.
“Thank you,” Olivia breathed out. “Slide down with me, don't wait around!”
They both stared at the approaching spider.
Rick nodded. They had no choice, but the height...
“Here!” she thrust her medallion into his pocket. “Take it!”
“What for?”
“Don't argue! Come on then! Let's jump!”
She squeezed his shoulder painfully and shouted, “Don't disappoint me!” into his face.
“Wait!”
But Olivia already slipped downwards and started to slide along the channel on her back.
Mother Darkness! Rick glanced over his shoulder again, to see the spider raise itself on its forelegs and spit out sticky strand. That was when Rick jumped.
When he landed on his belly, he understood that he should have listened to Olivia instead of waiting. The spider stood still on the lip of the overhang, not daring to follow him and its shape quickly receded. Rick drew his knees up to his chest and turned himself onto his back. He was just in time, as he had picked up an impressive speed, so he had to constantly hold his head up and keep his arms crossed on his chest, otherwise the fiction would have burned the hair at the back of his neck and the skin of his palms.