Jordan said, “Mr. Hardy. We have full control of the ship. They took Andrew Dixon down the ramp before we got it closed. They’re moving back toward the jungle.”
Mace opened the door. A single spider jetted across the hall into a far store.
Mace added, “They have Johnny.”
Chapter 21
*
A fast retreat was made back to the Rogers. Mace walked onto the bridge.
“Where’d they go?”
Humphrey said, “Into that jungle. Scanning for bios now… and they’re disappearing. Have to be going underground.”
Mace asked, “How many were there?”
Humphrey replied, “Sensor counts say ninety-eight thousand plus.”
“Open a comm to Jasper.”
Several seconds later, an image of Jasper Collins appeared on the wall display. “What ya got?”
“Johnny’s been captured. Some alien spider looking creatures grabbed him.”
“How’d that happen?”
“We came across a planet with city ruins on it. We went down to investigate. We were overrun by hordes of those creatures. They took Johnny and another crewman. I’m talking with you because I need bodies on the ground. They moved into a jungle and we believe they went underground from there. And there’s thousands of them.”
Humphrey said, “I can confirm the underground issue. Sensors are showing a mound with hundreds of openings. Has to be them.”
“Jasper, we need people with weapons. If we don’t go now, we risk Johnny getting eaten.”
Jasper replied, “He’s a big boy. Gonna take them a while. We have time.”
Mace yelled, “Stop screwing around!”
Jasper held up a hand. “Send me the coordinates and I’ll be right there.”
As the comm closed, Mace turned to the others. “We have to go after him. And we have to do it now.”
Jordan Crawford stood. “We can take our entire shift, Mr. Hardy. That will mean Montak and his men. Don’t think they’re the best of fighters but it’s what we have available. I can bring eight Humans and ten Mawga.”
Mace sighed. “Leave Heeb and Hooba. Bring the rest. Mr. Hobbs? Mr. Humphrey? Care to join us?”
Both men stood.
Liam said, “Absolutely. I’ve been itching to get involved in some of the action.”
Mace half frowned. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up of this being a positive experience. Especially if you fear spiders or tight places. We’re looking at both.”
Liam smiled. “Not a problem, Mr. Hardy. As a kid my friends and I used to run around in the London sewers.”
“Were there thousands of alien spiders?”
Liam laughed. “No, but I’ll make do.”
The group of twenty, ten Humans and ten Mawga, made their way to the ramp. The flight to the jungle was just over a kilometer. The mound the spiders had disappeared into was two kilometers beyond. After descending the ramp, a short hike had the rescue party standing at the base of the southern end of the mound.
Humphrey said, “Go up about five meters and along in either direction and we should see an entrance. Holes measured just under a meter and a half diameter. Gonna be a tight fit for us.”
Liam asked, “What did the scans show of the structure inside and under the mound?”
Humphrey shook his head. “Can only see tunnels near the surface. The mound sits right in the middle of a large field of iron ore. That muddies everything from about ten meters down, and the ore field goes down a half kilometer and stretches out about two kilometers north and a kilometer east. The mound could make up any portion or all of that.”
Mace looked over at Bontu Montak. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
Bontu replied, “I am not. But we will do as we are asked.”
Mace said, “OK, we’re breaking into teams of four. I want two Humans and two Mawga in each group. Bontu, you come with Jenny and me, pick one of your crew to bring with. The four of us will take the first hole. The rest of you keep moving around this end of the mound until you find another. Split off as one team per entrance. If you get in trouble, just try to make your way back to the surface.
“Oh, and one other thing. You all have plasma rifles. Set them on level two, and only shoot if you have a direct shot at one of those creatures. We don’t want to be caving this place in on us. For close combat, use your stickers. You’re all trained to use those swords in close quarters, so, well, this will be the time to make use of that training. Good luck to you all.”
Mace walked to the first entrance with his team close behind. He crouched over as he took a step into a spider tunnel. The first corner was six meters in. Before a second step was taken, the first of the creatures stood in his way.
Mace drew his short sword, charging ahead with a thrust. The black beast leaped forward, impaling itself on his blade. A second spider appeared behind the first as Mace fought to clear the first from his sword.
He waved his hand behind him. “Pull back!”
The team of four stepped back into the light as the second spider disappeared behind the corner. Mace set the dead spider on the ground, taking his boot to stand on it for leverage as he slowly withdrew his sword. The other teams stood several meters away.
“We have a problem,” Mace said. “Using swords might be an issue. Leave your blasters at level one. You’ll just have to be careful to not hit the sides of those tunnels.”
The adjustment was made and team one moved back into the tunnel. As Mace stepped inside, a spider once again rounded the corner. A round from his plasma rifle stopped it dead before the creature exploded. Two more followed, leaving the tunnel walls covered in a slimy black mess of blood and guts.
Mace glanced back. “Jenny, you cover our rear. The moment they come in from behind I want you yelling in my ear.”
Jenny nodded. “Got your six.”
Mace took another step forward as the next spider came from around the corner. A light plasma round splattered the beast on the tunnel walls with the others.
Mace sighed. “This is gonna be one nasty expedition.”
Another three bursts were let out before the team lead reached the corner. “Crap. It goes down.”
Four blasts followed. The tunnel floor ran black with blood.
The first step forward saw Mace sliding out of control. His bent over stance was quickly replaced by a slip and fall onto his back, with an accelerating slide down the sinking tunnel. Two blasts slickened the floor further, his progress only coming to a stop as his boots contacted a far wall. Bontu Montak and Gravul Formas rammed into Mace’s back.
Jenny called from the top: “Should I wait or come down?”
Mace glanced back after blasting another spider. “Mr. Formas, see if you can climb back up to her.”
The Mawga crewman turned to make the effort.
After a third attempt only made it two meters of the eight meter expanse, he turned back. “The floor of the tunnel is hard, Mr. Hardy. I can’t get traction.”
Mace killed another six-legged menace before looking back. “Set your blaster to level two. Hit that floor about four meters up. See if we can dig a hole for a step.”
Jenny replied, “Wouldn’t do that. You might collapse a tunnel below us. Could cut off our forward progress from there.”
Mace growled. “This is impossible.”
Jenny said, “At this point, our only choice is forward.”
“You still have contact with the Rogers?”
Jenny nodded. “I do. Yours gone?”
Mace scowled. “Yep. What’s Jasper’s status?”
Jenny replied, “Give me a sec… jumping now. Ten thousand soldiers. They’ll be attacking from the north and west sides.”
Mace looked down the next expanse of the tunnel, now covered with the guts a half a dozen alien insects. “Pass back the level one requirement and come on down.”
Jenny said, “You ever done tunnels before?”
Mace frowned. “Several. Can�
�t say it was enjoyable. View in front and back is always limited. Every encounter could be your last. And collapse is always in the back of your mind.”
Mace looked back down the tunnel in front of him before blasting the next two attackers. “Anyone who pretends they aren’t terrified right now is lying through their teeth.”
Mace stood from his crouched position, moving up to the next corner. The next leg again led downwards. Seconds later, a blood-soaked tunnel floor offered another slide deeper into the mound. An errant shot hit the tunnel ceiling, sending a spray of dirt into Mace’s face as he slid by. Around the next corner the tunnel split into three.
Mace said, “We take the center or one right of center. Everyone keep that in mind. And if we have to go back, look for the blood trails.”
The center run led on for ten meters before a steep, five meter drop was encountered. At the bottom, the tunnel opened into a wide room. The right side of the room was filled with branches, palm fronds, and tufts of grasses, the left side with the small discarded bones of other animals.
Mace turned back to Jenny. You three, see if you can dig steps into that tunnel going back up. Use your swords, your boots, whatever, just give us a way out of here.”
Jenny said, “Where are you going?”
“Down that left tunnel. I want to look around the corner before we proceed. When I get back, I’ll check the right. If it looks clear, we go down the middle. And everyone, I’m sending you my video feed. Let your system record it so you can recall it later. I get the feeling we’re gonna need the video mappings if we ever want to find our way out. The recording tech in these suits might be what saves us.”
Bontu asked, “Where are the spiders?”
Mace shrugged. “Couldn’t say. I was expecting to be getting mauled by them about now. Keep an eye on those other two tunnels. I’ll be right back.”
A quick jog down the left tunnel showed another downward ramp, this one going down fifteen meters. The tunnel to the right was explored next, yielding an upward trek of eight meters length. Mace carefully moved up the gradual slope. At the top was another room with items similar to the one they currently held. A short run down the shaft and through the tunnel had Mace back in the room with the others.
Mace looked over his shoulder before entering the center tunnel. “Jenny, our back is all yours now. They have multiple paths to us. Take out anything that moves back there.”
Jenny nodded. “Not to worry. Just keep us moving.”
The group traversed two additional levels with more split-off tunnels and storage rooms. As they began down a ramp into a further level, the spiders began an advance. Mace blasted two, followed by another two, before the tunnel in front of him filled up four wide.
“This is it!”
Mace pulled the trigger on his plasma rifle as fast as he could. Five meters away, the onslaught of spider-like creatures continued to spew forth.
Mace began to push back on Bontu and Gravul behind him. “I need room!”
Jenny yelled back, “Coming in from behind! Holy Moses, that’s a lot of bugs! Gravul! Lie over here. Hit everything coming our way!”
Bontu Montak flopped onto the tunnel floor beside where Mace was squatting, firing repeated plasma rounds as the stream of spiders continued their push forward, closing enough that the back-splatter from the explosions began spattering over their battlesuits. Montak repeatedly wiped the black blood from his faceshield.
The onslaught continued, the spiders slowly closing the distance as one after another exploded with a violent rage, the plasma charges expanding within their torsos. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the assault came to an end.
Jenny said, “They just turned back!”
Mace replied, “Same up here.”
Bontu stood, using an air-jet from his right glove to clear away the blood from his faceshield. “If possible, I should choose to stand erect next time. The splatter up here appears to be far less cumbersome.”
Mace nodded. “I saw what you were running into there. Everyone, if you can help it, keep your head high in the tunnel. Bontu almost lost his vision during that due to the back-splatter.”
Jenny said, “Battle results show one hundred sixteen spiders dead during that encounter. That means we only have to face another eight hundred forty-four assaults like that one.”
Mace shook his head. “We won’t have enough ammo for that. My power-cell for this rifle is already down 10 percent. I only have one spare. Speaking of that, who has what?”
Jenny replied, “One spare here.”
Bontu and Gravel each added, “No spare.”
Mace grimaced. “Poor planning on my part. I should have insisted and then checked.”
Jenny asked, “Do we go back?”
Mace took a deep breath. “If we haven’t found him at the halfway mark of our power-cells, we turn back. Hand-to-hand against those things in here isn’t gonna cut it.”
“Tell us what you want,” said Jenny.
Mace turned to face the slowly flowing mound of exploded spider ooze. “Let’s keep moving. This time keep five meters of space between us. If any of us needs to take a step back, we do it. And no fighting on an incline. We battle it out on the flats. Otherwise we’ll end up sliding right to them.”
The next firefight was more intense that the last. The five meter rule kept the foursome in the game as the spiders crept ever closer. When the fight came to an end, as abruptly as it had begun, one hundred seventy-six of the black creatures were dead. A check saw another 10 percent decrease in power-cell capacity. The five meter rule was expanded to cover the full expanse of each traverse.
Mace reached a new corner. “We go down and into another room. Can’t see how big it is from here. Bontu, you stay here. Jenny, you and Gravul head back to the previous corner and wait for my signal.”
Jenny turned back up the tunnel. “Call us when you’re ready.”
Mace slid down the five meter section into the room below. An area twenty meters in diameter made up the room surrounding him. Two passages moved out of the room on the far wall. To the left were stacks of the carcass shells of the spiders.
Jenny slid into the room. “Looks like they’re more like crabs than spiders. That exoskeleton might be something they outgrow or shed.”
Bontu nodded. “Or it may be they eat their dead. We have seen that behavior on Rhombus with the Larios. They are a crab-like species with four legs and an exoskeleton, as you just mentioned.”
Jenny replied, “Did they have the nasty-looking fangs these guys have?”
Bontu shook his head. “Short-armed pincers. They are desert dwellers. Their shells are highly reflective. At one time they were almost hunted to extinction for those shells, as it was a popular item in jewelry and other adornments.”
Jenny replied, “People have to have their bling, I guess.”
Mace pointed to the passage to the left. “Let me map that one and we’ll head to the right.”
As Mace took his first step, the two passages in front filled with the creatures. Round after round of plasma charges were pumped into the tunnels. The exoskeletons popped, spewing guts and blood in every direction. Jenny turned as the first of the spiders spilled down the chute behind her.
“Coming from behind!”
The battle raged for fifteen minutes; the foursome were backed into the center of the room. When the assault came to an end, they were standing ankle-deep in the fluids and innards of the spider beasts.
Jenny took a deep breath. “Two hundred sixty-six. The further we go down, the more that are involved.”
Mace looked down at the meter for his power-cell. “I’m at 54 percent. We’re only sixty meters down out of a possible five hundred.”
Jenny said, “The way I see it, we have three choices. We keep doing what we’re doing, we turn back and fight our way to the surface, or… we pick one of those tunnels and just charge forward. And we keep running until they stop us.”
Mace half frowned. “S
ounds a bit like a do or die strategy to me.”
Jenny slowly nodded. “We do have two other options.”
Bontu said, “Perhaps a trip back to the surface is in order. If King Collins is bringing soldiers, he could flood these tunnels and drive the beasts downward.”
Mace scowled. “And all the while their queen could be eating Johnny’s face.”
Mace turned to Jenny. “You sure you want to do this?”
Jenny shrugged. “Nobody lives forever.”
Mace turned to Gravul. “Mr. Formas?”
Gravul replied, “I am here to follow. Lead the way.”
“Bontu?”
Montak nodded. “I too will follow. My life would have been over long ago if not for your generosity. I am pleased to have made it this far.”
Mace looked back at Jenny. “Looks like option three. Since we’ll be moving forward, you come up with me. Bontu, you and Gravul cover our backs.”
Mace looked over at the passages. “Right or left?”
Jenny replied, “We’ve been picking right. So long as it goes forward or down, we should keep at it.”
Mace took a step toward the tunnel on the right and then stopped. “Heck. We had one to the right that went up. Let’s go left this time. Bontu, you and Gravul make sure you keep up. We can’t be turning back for you.”
Mace jogged to the left tunnel before breaking into a full, hunched-over run. The first turn again went left, followed by a drop and another left. A twenty meter drop brought the first sight of a dozen of the creatures. Mace and Jenny killed them off. A center tunnel again went down before entering another large room. A dozen worker spiders carried pods as they skittered for side tunnels. Most didn’t clear the room.
Another long downward traverse ended in a hard left turn. Two additional rooms were passed, with spiders exploding as the plasma rounds found their marks. A right followed by a left jog found the foursome sliding forty meters down a nearly vertical tunnel. They emerged into a room with a tight pack of the black menaces covering an item in a corner.
Mace didn’t have to aim as he pulled the trigger.
The first of the spiders exploded and the others charged. Ten were dead before the invaders were reached. Bontu was knocked to the floor as three of the creatures rushed past Mace and Jenny. The spider chewed at his battlesuit and faceshield with its fangs, its abdomen secreting a sticky resin. As the other spiders were killed off, swords were pulled to free Bontu from his attackers. Seconds later, the battle was over.
HADRON Resurgent Page 20
