Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2)

by S. J. Sanders

  The horrible gaping mouth of the cavern face mocked her in her mind as it rose up behind her eyelids. Of course, on the brink of death her imagination would crop up and taunt her. All she could think of was that the cave was a terrible monster, and so naturally it was consuming her. She laughed at the absurdity of it, but when it emerged, it sounded more like a weak, raspy sob.

  She was starting to hallucinate. She was sure of it. Just like she was imagining that she felt something warm rising up all around her like a cushion. It curled and folded itself all around her. She could feel the hot brush of scales sliding against her face, neck, and palms as it wove around her. She hung in the air, suspended for a long moment, before it shifted around her, wrapping around her body. There was a snap and air puffed around her, her decent slowing abruptly as if a parachute opened. A parachute that squeezed too tightly and had claws that bit into her arms.

  She jerked against it, reality crashing in so suddenly that a terrified shriek erupted from her as she thrashed. Whatever had her was real… all too real. Her breath wheezed out of her lungs, laboring under the crushing, vice-like grip of whatever held her. The air rushed past her ears as she was pulled through the air sideways with another snapping sound above her.

  A loud roar nearby came close to shattering her eardrums, but air flooded back into her starving lungs as whatever held her lost its grip. It was jerked back even as she was reflexively launched forward, its body snapping against hers. She dropped once again, but this time it was a short distance. Although she hit the rocky surface hard, she wept with the gratitude as she landed in a heap on what could only be the rough surface of a tunnel, the sound of her comm hitting the stone echoing in her ears. Although her body protested any and all movement, she slowly rolled flat onto her back, the stone oddly warm beneath her back as she lay there panting. In the main shaft just outside the tunnel, she could hear bellows and shrieks. She hoped it was merely a territorial dispute and not two predators fighting over an easy meal. Maybe the victor wouldn’t even notice that she was there.

  A loud crash followed that wishful thought, a scrabble of claws against stone as thumps of something lashing violently echoed through the tunnel. With the last thump, a silence fell until it was broken with a teeth-rattling roar that filled the tunnel. Below it she could hear the distant angry shriek of whatever had her fading as it made its escape.

  Lori lay there, too afraid to move, her ears straining to catch any sound of a predator approaching. Whatever those things were, they had to be predators, and she hadn’t even considered the fact when she was trying to grab ahold of them. She shook her head tiredly. Even if she had known though, she still would have grabbed ahold of them and risked being torn apart for even the smallest chance of being able to escape.

  So now she just waited, listening for any sign of something returning for her. Silence met her. All she could hear was her own ragged breaths and the frantic beat of her pulse pounding in her ears. After what felt like an eternity, she dared to move. Her gloved fingers scraping against rock. Inching over to one of the walls, she dragged herself up to her feet. Without any light to tell her which way was what, Lori struck forward in the direction she had been facing.

  She blew out a relieved breath when she didn’t immediately fall back into the shaft. Emptying her lungs seemed to bring a sort of calm over her. She was still afraid, but she felt slightly detached from it. She was moving forward on her own feet. She doubted that she would find any way up, but if she could find a safe place to hide until a rescue team came down, she could wait it out until they came within comms range.

  The stupid cave systems made the comm systems malfunction outside of short ranges, but it was at least something. It was hope. She just didn’t want to stay too close to the main shaft—not while there were things lurking out there. She fumbled with her comm, hoping to at least take advantage of its light, her heart plummeting when it didn’t respond. Moving her fingers over it, she felt the cracks in its screen and cursed.

  So much for that. It was just her luck that the fall into the tunnel had damaged it. She shivered as she stared blankly into the surrounding darkness. No helmet and no working comm, and alone in the dark—she was fucked. And cold.

  Despite her thermo regulatory suit, the oppressive chill was miserable as the air hit her exposed face, adding to her misery. She grimaced and looked at the battery readings on her filtration unit. It had dropped out of the green into the yellow. A warning that the system required recharging. She cursed and powered it off. No sense in just waiting for it to die. She might as well keep what little battery she had left for in case she really needed it. At least she knew that the air was safe enough, especially now that she was far away from the dust of broken rock from the collapsed tunnel. Removing the half-mask, she tucked it under her arm, ready to trudge onward.

  Feeling her way around, she moved deeper, nailing her head on a low overhang in the process just before a turn in the tunnel. Cursing at the sharp pain bursting behind her eyes, she could feel a trickle of blood seeping down the side of her face.

  “Ugh, great. A cut. If alien monsters don’t kill me, an infection probably will. I should have moved in with mom and dad and told them to shove this job,” she muttered, wincing at the faint echo of her voice bouncing off the walls around her.

  The tunnel predictably narrowed after a time, forming a sort of doorway. She slid through effortlessly, but as she moved around a large ledge directly in front of her on the other side, she froze, her eyes pierced with the light flooding all around her. It made her head hurt, but she didn’t care. She was so grateful to be able to see that she choked on a sob and stumbled forward into the luminance.

  It wasn’t the light of torches, or even the sun, but Lori tilted her head back to stare in awe at a canopy of numerous scattered plants glowing in fluorescent hues of pinks, purples, and greens covering the ceiling of the tunnel. Their light was carried and scattered over the tunnel by crystals growing out in clusters from the walls. It was almost magical enough to make her forget that she was in a pit deep below the surface with creatures that, by all rights, shouldn’t be there.

  The scientists swore there was nothing in the mines except for some insignificant fauna surviving in the depths. Not that she had gotten a look at one, but it hadn’t felt “insignificant” from what she could tell. And she wasn’t in any position to be able to file a complaint either. Until she could, she would just have to make herself at home. She could think of worse places in the caves to be forced to hunker down. Even better, the glowing plants seemed to get thicker the further back into the tunnel. If she could find a comfortable little hole filled with the growth to curl up on, she would consider herself made.

  Eagerly, she followed the tunnel deeper, enjoying the bath of light that went from a faint glow to a light visibility where they grew in thick carpets. Strangely, there was a pleasant warmth that surrounded her the deeper she went. Although her workstation in the tunnels above had been a merciful respite after traveling beneath the heat of the dual suns, the damp, cold air had chilled her throughout the day in any place that the TRS didn’t cover. This place was blissfully comfortable. And it was incredibly pretty.

  It was so pretty that it could almost be considered worthy of Zeril Prime. Almost. Growling and shrieking monsters decidedly took away from the allure of the place.

  Amused at the thought, she snickered—probably more than a little anxiety working its way out there, she had to admit—and imagined them trying to market the deep caverns of M285 as a luxury tourist destination. That it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Corp might do exactly that just made her laugh harder. The first time a cave beast flew off with a tourist there was bound to be trouble.

  Her giggles fading, a distant sound tickled her ear. She tilted her head as she walked, trying to make it out until the sound of trickling water became discernable. Water! She nearly laughed out loud again and picked up her pace. She had known that there had to be water some
where in the caves. Corp just hadn’t gone deep enough to find it if they were handing out hydration pods. Having used hers during her shift, she was suddenly aware of just how dry her mouth felt. She could drink and wash the grime from her face while she was at it. Her dry tongue swept over equally dry lips, and she grimaced at the grit that filled her mouth.

  Gods, that had been a mistake. She didn’t even have saliva to try and spit the dirt out.

  Trudging forward as fast as she dared, Lori picked her way carefully over the uneven ground. She stilled several times at what she swore were sounds of movement up ahead. Each time, her eyes scanned the softly lit corridor, peering into the shadows as her heart picked up a nervous beat, but nothing ever came from the deep shadows that pitted the tunnel. Ill at ease, she continued walking, the fine hairs on her arms raising with certainty that something was keeping pace with her.

  Despite feeling as if she were being watched—a feeling which, she had to acknowledge, could be explained away by her close brush with creatures dwelling deep within the caves and her mysterious, alien surroundings—she smiled as the sound of water became louder and the world around her appeared to open up in a concentration of light just ahead. It reminded her of the comfortable glow of lights from the workstations in the gallery. Perhaps it was another gallery, but a naturally lit one with fresh water. A surge of hope hastened her steps as she rushed headlong toward the end of the tunnel.

  As she neared the entrance to what was certain to be a haven from the world she was thrown into, something slid out of the shadows among a large crevice to the left-hand side, accompanied by familiar rhythmic hissing sounds. Lori backpedaled and stumbled to a complete stop as she froze, unable to move from the terror leaping up and beating with an unholy rhythm through her at the sight of the alien limb extending toward her.

  Chapter 10

  The limb was long and tapered like a giant serpent’s tail, but different in that just beyond the smooth tip, tiny studs dotted the center, gradually rising into a sort of plating. The edges dipped and rose in graceful waves that rippled with every movement. They reminded her almost of fancy cut glass, except flexible, that gradually increased in size as more of the length they were attached to was slowly exposed.

  A low whimper escaped her as it slid in her direction. “Please. Please, don’t kill me.”

  The tip curled almost thoughtfully as it paused less than a foot away. A sound of something massive shifting met her ears as she stared at that curled end. From the dark crevice, she became aware of a pair of large, glowing ruby eyes studying her.

  A voice hissed from the shadows, curling through her with its sibilant sounds. Her upgraded translator worked frantically, stalling as it brokenly translated the sounds.

  She knew it! The hissing she heard before had been a language. All those days in the mines, her translator had been working out its language. She had heard words. Words exactly like that, calling her meat. She shivered in place helplessly, her eyes stinging.

  “What sort of meat is this?”

  “I am not meat,” she whispered frantically, the rough, broken alien sounds coming from her mouth strange to her own ears as her implant manipulated her vocal cords, switching back and forth between the alien language and hers due to the translator’s incomplete database. The sensation of their unfamiliar vibrations felt weird. “I am human, a being from another world.”

  The creature paused and its tail drew back a few inches as it regarded her.

  “It speaks,” the voice muttered to itself.

  “I am Lori. Who are you?”

  “Slengral,” the voice said absently, as if it was far more interested in its study of her than in polite conversation. “What brings a soft, small human to Seshana?”

  “I came with my crew. I was brought here as a miner.”

  The eyes fixed on her unblinkingly. They tilted slightly for a moment as if a head were cocked.

  “Miner,” it repeated the human word. “What is this word?”

  “Uh, we dig out valuable metals, minerals and stones from the earth,” she explained.

  A loud rumble echoed through the tunnel, and for a moment Lori was certain that it was another cave-in. She spun around with a mind to escape when the thickest part of the limb slammed in front of her, blocking her path. She eyed it. With the plating coming to her mid-chest, she knew she could climb over it with a little work. But the rumble turned into a snarl, and she realized it didn’t come from the ground but from the creature itself… and that was almost more frightening.

  “You are the violators of Seshana?” the voice growled angrily.

  Stones tumbled all around as she could hear its girth whipping forward. The tail whipped around her, spinning her around in the process before holding her in place as it emerged from the shadows.

  The creature that met her gaze resembled a large humanoid being as far as its upper body went. Possessing marble white colorless skin grooved with strange swirling markings, its face had some recognizable features at least, although the jaw, mouth, and nose were rough cut as if drawn from stone and lacked the soft curves of the human visage. The eyes were set in similar placement to her own, but they were far larger. The rounded shape in proportion to its head reminded her of a serpent staring out at her, right down to the slitted pupils. The nose was broad and flat with two slit nostrils up the front of it, expanding as it inhaled her scent from above gray lips that parted to reveal rows of teeth and two pairs of fangs that flashed threateningly at her.

  That was where any similarities ended. It possessed, in place of recognizable ears, a large set of webbed fans at the side of its head that adjusted and turned in response to sounds. Although it wasn’t unusual to see humanoid aliens with broad brows and arcing horns jutting back from them, this one not only had black horn-like protrusions, which met in a widow’s peak design on its brow, but had large plates that extended from the back of them. Behind that double row, she could see a single row of large plates, far larger in size and more beautifully curved as if carved by the hand of an artisan, jutting out from between its shoulder blades and trailing down its back. Their size didn’t begin to taper off until they reached the enormous tail that comprised its entire lower body. Each plate glowed in a dancing display of rainbow hues.

  Despite the odd beauty of its plating, the only truly pretty thing about the alien was the bioluminescent markings scattered over its brow and along its horns. Yet as pretty as the splatters of citrine were, the monstrous tail and fangs were a good deterrent from any sort of fascination.

  The alien was oddly visually alluring, but it was undoubtedly lethal.

  With an effortless shift of its tail, it lifted her in the air and drew her closer to that inhuman, pitiless face. It sneered, baring its horrible teeth as it raised two strong six-fingered hands curved with the wicked claws. She wasn’t sure if it was going to tear her apart or constrict her… or both. Lori slammed her eyes shut, preparing for the worst.

  The creature stilled, holding her in place, dangling her in the air from its coil. She cracked open one eye to give it an anxious glance. Its brow was dropped, its eyes narrowed on her.

  “Why do you do that?” it demanded.

  “I would rather not watch my own death, thanks,” she squeaked out as it tipped her to the side. Her fingers dug into the black scales that ran down the center of its tail as the world rotated around her. It was turning her about, examining her thoughtfully.

  “Your species kill the Seshanamitesh, digging shamelessly into our nests. Why should I not kill you?”

  “We didn’t know!” she cried out as she was tipped violently toward it. “We were told that there were no significant life forms on this planet. They just brought us here to work. I don’t make the decisions. I didn’t even choose to come here. I swear!”

  Its thin nostrils flared as its mouth parted, drawing in a slow, deep breath. She shuddered. She could see its two tongues writhing up and down in its mouth as if it were lapping the air it drew in
, pressing it against the roof of its mouth. It lowered its head closer so it could sniff and taste the air around her face and then belly. It drew back so swiftly that Lori couldn’t hold back her squeak of fear.

  “Female,” it hissed curiously as it eyed her. Then she was upside-down as it examined her lower body, the tip of its tail brushing over her abdomen and thighs. “I do not see your vent.”

  “My vent?” she asked, confused.

  “Your reproductive opening. Where is it?”

  She gaped at it, her face filling with heat. “It’s covered up, thank you very much. I’m wearing clothes.” The English word felt jarring among the serpentine speech sliding out from her throat. The word was forced out with no translation for it in the tongue of the alien scrutinizing her, but the creature seemed to get the meaning.

  “What do you hide?” the creature hissed suspiciously.

  She blinked at the sudden accusation. “I’m not hiding anything. These are just my clothes. They protect my body,” she insisted.

  “Coverings to hide. Deceit. We are familiar with these ways. The Seshanamitesh are not stupid, human,” it replied, its voice rising in a snarl. “Remove the coverings.”

  It poked with one claw at a pocket on her vest, and she had to admit that the bulk of her vest and uniform over the TRS wouldn’t look quite so innocent.

  She shook her head, the action more involuntarily out of shock than possessing any real thought behind it, but the creature’s growl deepened, and she wasn’t given any further opportunity to respond. The tail uncoiled, withdrawing as she was dropped unceremoniously on the ground seconds before the dark claws tore at her uniform, shredding the yellow vest from her body.