A tap on his shoulder alerted him.
Kyber awoke to find Sandow gesturing for him to follow. Gaveer,
Massapa, and Mellori were already gathered by the opposite side of
the room. They were crowded around Gaveer, who held the translation
box. He gently
extracted himself from Kelen, lowering her to the floor. She’d
finally succumbed to sleep, for which he was grateful. Her bleeding
was playing havoc with her body, on top of everything else she’d
endured. Although she was managing to keep herself together, in
spite of the added stress of their current situation, he could sense
she was close to breaking. And there was nothing he could say or do
for her to make things more bearable, other than to keep reassuring
her of his presence and support. The others in
the room were asleep when he soundlessly padded over to where the
three men were gathered. When he drew close enough, he caught the
sounds coming from the translation box. “What—” Mellori
quickly shushed him. Kneeling
beside them, Kyber leaned in to listen. It was sometimes difficult
to understand what was being said. The box translated in a flat
tone, which meant it pronounced certain words with strange
inflections. But it soon became clear something was up.
He gave
Mellori a quizzical look. The engineer nodded. “They’re getting
ready to enter the room,” he whispered. “They?” “We cannot
tell how many, but it will not be just Hoov,” Gaveer told him. “Do we know
why they are coming back?” All three men
shook their heads. Kyber glanced
at the doorway. “When?” “Soon.” “We must be
prepared.” Getting to his feet, he went over to wake Kelen as the
others roused the rest of the group. “Kyber.”
Kleesod got his attention, then looked around to make sure everyone
also paid attention. “If we try to attack them when they enter, they
could easily back out before we manage to overcome them.” “He’s right,”
Fullgrath chimed in. “Somehow we need to lure them inside so we can
take them all at once.” “Fake sleep.” Fullgrath
laughed at Dox’s unexpected suggestion, but Kelen added her voice. “He’s right.
If we pretend to be asleep, it may lure them in.” Sandow broke
in. “Remember, they’re wanting us to eat their food and drink their
water. After watching Hoov’s reaction when he saw those untouched
bowls of food, I no longer doubt that it’s tainted. If we pretend to
be asleep, they may think we’ve gone ahead and eaten it, and we’ve
slipped into a comatose state as a result.” “Then that is
what we will do.” Kyber got to his feet. “Hurry. Hold onto your
bundles and do not move until I give the signal.” He hurried
over to Kelen and settled himself in front of her. Hunching over, he
dropped his head and rested his arms across his knees. Closing his
eyes, he waited. Behind him, he felt Kelen get into position so she
could quickly flee. The room grew
quiet. Kyber concentrated on listening for the creatures to come
through the doorway. He tried to release the building tension by
clenching and unclenching his hands, but by the sounds of the
others’ ragged breathing, he could tell they were as nervous as he
was. There was a
movement to his left. Casting an eye in that direction, he noticed
Gaveer shifting positions. In any other circumstance, he would take
it as someone readjusting themselves in their sleep, but not this
time. With their nerves raw and on edge, muscles were on the verge
of cramping from the strain. He was on the
brink of thinking the creatures had changed their minds and decided
not to invade, when a clicking sound came from the far wall. Kyber
froze. When everything in him wanted him to turn his head and look
in that direction, he forced himself to remain as still as possible.
Their limbs
made tapping sounds on the rocky floor as they entered. The noise
grew as more of them came through the doorway. A creature approached him and Kelen.
He couldn’t tell if it was Hoov or another one. It stopped beside
him and made clucking noises. Across the room, something clucked
back. He sensed another one moving to his left. A shuffling sound
came from the dispensing wall. Kyber then realized they were pairing
up one of their own for every one of them. They were trying to be as
quiet as possible as they moved into position, but they weren’t
quiet enough for his Seneecian hearing. He took a slow, deep breath and
tasted the scents filling the room. How the creatures planned to
take them down, if that was their intent—and there was no reason to
believe otherwise—was no longer relevant. The time to
rebel had come. Kyber
launched himself at the closest alien with a roar of defiance.
Almost simultaneously, the others rose to defend themselves.
Blasters went off as Kelen and the Terrans fired point blank at the
creatures which had clustered around them. He slashed at the creature, who stood
petrified at the unexpected onslaught. His talons ripped through the
thin, armor-like plating covering its body, shredding it and
eviscerating it with two swipes. Grabbing one of the thing’s limbs
in his mouth, he tore it from the creature’s body with a jerk of his
head. The alien screamed, a high-pitched squeal that sent shivers
down his spine, and pitched backwards, falling against the wall.
When it threw up its arms to stop its fall, Kyber noticed the
oddly-shaped claw at the end of both its upper appendages. Claws
that were straight and tube-shaped. Claws that had not been there
before, and he realized what they were for. “They are venomous! Watch out for
their stinger!” he yelled. Grabbing a handful of Kelen’s uniform, he
pulled her closer and began making his way toward the doorway. She
snatched up her bundle of supplies as she followed him. The intended ambush was over before
the creatures could react. Massapa was first to make it outside of
the room. The others quickly joined them, and they peered down the
empty corridors. Fullgrath stopped next to him. “That
was a walk in the park. They never thought we’d hit back, or how
hard.” “Did you see Hoov among them?”
Mellori questioned. No one admitted they did. The engineer shook his
head. “Then it’s possible these things were supposed to take us out
and report back to Hoov when it was over.” “If that is true, we do not have much
time,” Kyber announced, turning to Jules. “Lead the way.” Jules turned and hurried down the
tunnel with them close behind. “How long
before they discover we escaped?” Gaveer called out as they made
their way through the darkness. “Not long enough,” Sandow responded. Jules took
the lead, using his tablet to guide them toward the next cavern. The
corridors were unusually straight, with hallways intersecting every
dozen meters or so. Twice the navigator took one of the
interconnecting tunnels, backtracking only once when he
overcorrected. Kyber and
Kleesod watched their rear. Everyone knew Hoov and its people would
come after them once they discovered their dead in the holding room.
It was imperative they got as far away from there as possible. “Jules, are
you sure we’re not going around in circles?” Fullgrath huffed. “There are no
circles down here. Only straight angles,” Tojun stoically noted. He
got a snort in reply. At the next
juncture, Jules paused for a moment to check his information. He
pointed to their right, indicating another turn. “That way. Not
far.” They took off and within seconds,
Kyber thought he detected a brightening ahead of them. “Look!
There’s a light!” Kelen voiced. They
automatically picked up speed. They entered
a cavern filled with natural light. The roof arched nearly fifty
meters above them. Thin, horizontal slits located right below the
ceiling allowed the sunlight to filter in. The rough stone walls,
rising at least ten meters, reminded Kyber of the maze in the first
temple. “What color
is this place supposed to be?” Tojun inquired. “Pink.” “Don’t look
pink to me,” Fullgrath muttered. Jules wove a
path through the intricate design. “Almost there! Almost there!” he
eagerly announced. “Oh, shit!”
Fullgrath, in the lead, suddenly skidded to a halt with another
expletive. The others clustered protectively behind him. Kyber felt
the ruff at the back of his head and running down the length of his
spine rise with anger and fear. Lifting their weapons, the others
gradually spread out behind him and Fullgrath as they came
face-to-face with Hoov and nearly a hundred more of its kind, who
were waiting in silent anticipation for their arrival. |