Authors: Sara King
“Sorry,” the Baga said
out loud, sounding hesitant. “I was just teasing—I didn’t realize…”
“Just shut up and go,”
Joe said.
The Baga scuttled out of
the shadows and disappeared in the tunnel ahead with a speed to envy.
“
I’m waiting for you
at the exit,
” Flea announced within a tic.
Joe gritted his teeth and
tried to move faster. His left hand was clenched around his rifle, but he
could feel his fingers shaking regardless. He squeezed them down and kept
moving, trying to do anything but think about the walls of rock surrounding
him, the trickle of water being diverted over his body.
Joe smelled the puddle
before he saw it. The tunnel began to stink of stagnant water and at first Joe
thought he had finally reached the deep den. Then he crawled over a ridge and
faced two ninths of air above eight ninths of water. It looked like it
stretched several digs, though further on, the stone ceiling dipped down and
touched the water, blocking the rest of the tunnel from sight.
Joe stared at it, sucking
in panicked lungfuls of stale, brackish air. He had the choice of continuing
and risking drowning if the ceiling didn’t rise again, or trying to back out.
He did not want to back out.
“
Flea, how’d you get
past this water?
”
“
I swam.
”
“
How long ‘til I’ll
reach air?
”
“
I don’t know. A few digs.
I don’t need to worry about air.
”
“
Goddamn it. You
don’t
breathe?
Didn’t you think about that when you said I could make
it through here?
”
“
I said you could
fit. And you did. Everything else is up to you.
”
If Joe had had the
opportunity, he gladly would have crushed the Baga all over again. “
All
right, furg, if I die, this is on your head.
”
“
It’s on your own
head. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me stick the prince by myself.
”
Joe ground his jaw until
it hurt.
God hates a coward,
he mentally chanted. It had been one of
his father’s favorite sayings, something he’d always said right before he was
about to do something he knew was furgish. Yet Joe, like many Jreet, had taken
it closer to heart than that, and had used it to keep himself sane on Eeloir. To
his surprise, Bagkhal had picked up the saying from him and had used it ever
since. One of the many ways his old Overseer had surprised him.
God hates a coward.
God hates a coward…
Then, taking a deep
breath, he pushed himself into the puddle. He had to fight down his nerves as
water rose all around him and he had to crane his neck up to the ceiling to
breathe. Then, praying the Baga wasn’t playing a sick joke, he sucked in as
much air as he could and ducked his head under the stone outcropping. He
pushed himself forward, feeling the ceiling with one hand and keeping his rifle
ahead of him with the other.
Panic clawed at his lungs
when he realized the tunnel was dropping, sloping down instead of up. He sped
up, trying desperately to stay calm. The tunnel had just started to slope back
toward the surface, relief overriding every other part of his brain, when the
Baga said, “
Commander, you might want to surface slowly. We’re in the
Dhasha’s watering hole.
”
Joe checked his upward
climb with a spasm of panic. His lungs clawing for air, he backed down to the bottom
and thought, “
Why didn’t you say something sooner, you little sootwad?!
”
“
It didn’t occur to me
you’d try to surface like a bumbling Takki clown.
”
If Joe could have seen
the Baga through the thick, brackish water, he would have swam the little insect
down and strangled him. Instead, he backed up until he could feel the rock
wall beside him and slowly allowed his head to surface, ready to suck in a
lungful of air and duck back into the tunnel if necessary.
The room was filled with
Dhasha. Packed. The ceiling was low, adding to the place’s hot, stifling
feel. Joe took several deep breaths, doing it as slowly as he could to avoid
catching attention from the enemy.
“
They’re in a meeting,
”
Joe said. “
Sounds like the prince is pissed.
”
“
About what?
” Jer’ait
asked.
“
They can’t find us,
”
Joe said. He frowned, listening.
“…was correct. The third
groundteam contains both a Jreet and a Huouyt. I was told the Huouyt shouldn’t
be a problem at these temperatures, but no one moves from this room until we have
visual confirmation on the Jreet.”
“
Bones,
” Joe
muttered.
“
What, Human?
”
Daviin demanded.
“
This prince is
smart. He’s got all the Dhasha walled up in the deep den.
”
“
Waiting for us to
come to them?
”
“
He’s waiting for one
of the Takki to spot you,
” Joe said.
“
Any of us or just me?
”
Daviin demanded.
“
Just you. Somebody
told them there’s a Jreet on our team. They know about Jer’ait, too.
”
“
So the Vahlin has
predicted two of our attacks now,
” Jer’ait said. “
Accurately, and ahead
of time.
”
“
Looks like,
” Joe
said grimly. “
Okay, Daviin, time for you to show your stuff. Flea and I
aren’t gonna be able to kill the prince with all his young surrounding him.
”
“
You want me to come
help you fight them?
”
“
No. I want you to
create a diversion.
”
Absolute silence followed
his statement. Then, “
A…
diversion?” Like Joe had asked him to knit
teddy bears.
“
We need to clear them
out of the den. That means they need to think they know where you are.
”
“
Which they will.
”
“
Not if you are smart
about it.
”
It took a painfully long
time for the Jreet to say, “
How?
”
“
Go down to the first
connection and kill anything you find down there. Galek, follow him. As soon
as he’s got it cleared, drag the bodies out of view and take a position
guarding the crossroads. Daviin, take whichever tunnel looks like it’s heading
to the surface and silence whatever you see along the way. As soon as you hit
a main shaft, let one of the Takki escape. Then get the hell out of there.
Take the main shaft as far as you can towards the surface and hide out.
”
“
That’s suicide,
”
the Grekkon interrupted. “
You forget, Human, I cannot dig him out.
”
“
I’m not asking you
to,
” Joe said. “
He’s gonna have to find his own way out.
”
The headcom descended
into silence as his groundmates digested this. Finally, Daviin said, “
I can
get into the deep den. I might be able to kill the prince.
”
“
Flea’s right.
There’s no way you’re getting through the waste tunnel, and there’s an even
fatter chance you’d make it through the slave tunnel without the prince knowing
you’re coming. Besides, this prince isn’t ashing around. He’d send his young
ones after you and you’d have nowhere to go. They’d flood that whole tunnel
and we’d all be screwed. We need to draw them up a main shaft, away from us.
”
“
Very well,
”
Daviin said. “
Galek, come with me.
”
Joe waited as they
cleared a path and took their positions. In the meantime, he watched as Flea
made his painfully slow climb out of the water ditch and onto the ceiling.
Time seemed to creep past with every cautious movement of the Baga’s black
claws. A Dhasha came to the ditch and Joe pressed himself to the wall, rigidly
still as the oblivious Dhasha drank its fill not a rod away. As the Dhasha
lifted its head and allowed the stray water to dribble from between its razor black
teeth, Daviin said, “
If they weren’t so irrational, these tunnels would
remind me of home.
”
“
Did you find a main
passage yet?
” Joe asked, trying not to move. Before him, the Dhasha turned
back to the room and rejoined the group.
“
No. All slave tunnels
so far. Killed a lot of Takki, though.
”
“
Takki don’t count
unless we kill them all. Then we can go home and let the Space Corps bury this
place.
”
“
Don’t they have a
Takki plague they used in the last war?
” Flea asked from his position on
the ceiling. “
Why not just spread that stuff out here?
”
“
It was eighty
thousand turns ago,
” Joe said. “
And it almost wiped out the Takki and
the Dhasha in one go.
”
“
Then why are we
wasting our time down here?
”
“
Because they barely
contained it last time. The Dhasha went nuts. Forced Congress to ban it or
declare outright war. Congress gave in and the Dhasha made all the surviving
Takki take gene-enhancers. They’re immune now.
”
“
So they should make
another one,
” Flea muttered.
“
Even if Mekkval would
allow it—which he wouldn’t—they’d have to come up with something nobody’s ever
seen before. Ever since they almost lost their Takki, Dhasha have been
enhancing their genetics. They literally can’t get sick.
”
“
Found a main shaft.
”
“
Vanish and kill
something,
” Joe said. “
Then move down the tunnel and keep killing,
maybe two or three more. Then let something see you. Then backtrack and get
out of there as fast as you can.
”
“
They’ll see the
pattern of bodies and think I’m continuing toward the deep den.
”
“
We can hope.
”
“
Interesting. You
know, technically, that verges on dishonorable.
”
Joe knew he was treading
dangerous ground at that moment. If he said the wrong thing, then Daviin might
allow his scruples to overcome his good sense and continue toward the deep den
anyway.
The Baga saved him. “
Tricking
Takki is as easy as taking money from Jreet. You can’t always hold their
hands, as much as you feel sorry for them.
”
Daviin chuckled over the
mind-band. “How
much did you lose already, Baga? I forget.
”
“
That’s nothing new,
”
the Baga retorted. “
Wait ‘till we play cards, Jreet. There isn’t a better
card player on this planet. I’ll earn those credits back and more
”
“
So you say.
” The
headcom went silent before the Jreet said, “
It is done. I’m backtracking.
Should I return to the slave tunnel I came from?
”
“
No,
” Joe said,
knowing as he said so he was risking Daviin’s life. “
We can’t take the
chance they’ll follow you back to the rest of us.
”
Instead of arguing,
Daviin said, “
Understood.
”
From the ceiling, Flea
suddenly cried, “
It’s working! Daviin, they’re coming after you!
”
“
All of them?
” Joe
asked. He couldn’t see through the wall of Dhasha bodies, but he felt a
stirring in the air.
“
They’re fighting to
be the first in the tunnel.
”
“
Is the prince
staying?
” Daviin asked.
“
Yeah. He went to the
back and laid down. He’s got a couple of little ones and his females with him.
”
“
Wait for them to
clear before we do anything,
” Joe said at the excitement in the Baga’s
voice. “
It’s the small ones we’re worried about. They can follow us back
into the tunnels.
”
“
You actually think
they’d get their scales wet?
”
“
No, but I’m not
taking any chances.
”
The last of the Dhasha
cleared out, leaving Joe an unobstructed view of the niche containing the
prince, three females, and two hatchlings barely reaching Joe’s thigh.
“
This is going to be
difficult,
” Joe said.
“We need to make a plan—”
“
You get the females,
”
the Baga said. Then he began spitting.
Silently cursing the
Baga, Joe lifted his rifle and started firing.
The prince got up under
Flea’s assault and found itself stuck to its hatchlings. It roared and, in a
screaming, flailing shower of scales, began attacking the two smaller Dhasha.
One of the females got sucked into the mess, and in less than a tic, all that
was left of her was three separate ribbons of meat. The two younger males—having
the indestructible rainbow outer layer of scales—were faring better, but were
still succumbing to their father’s rage. One was secured firmly by his back to
the prince’s left leg, and the other’s face was fused to the prince’s side.
Though Joe hit the prince
by accident as he shot the three females, the plasma bounced harmlessly off its
scales, lodging in the stone wall behind and melting it into bluish-brown
sludge. Without the protective outer scales of the males, however, the females
could not withstand the plasma. They died quickly, their fat stomachs roiling
with baby Dhasha who, even without being born, had been infected with their
father’s blood-lust. Joe could hear them tearing each other apart in the womb.
On the ceiling above, the
Baga calmly spat blob after blob of mucousy gray material into strategic places
in the fray. Once the young and females were dead, he went on to bind the
male’s front paws to the rock floor, then followed with his hind paws. Joe
jumped out of the water ditch and rushed forward, readying his hatchet. He
only had moments to hack a hole in the prince’s chest deep enough for a plasma
round to take hold and be lethal enough to kill.