“So any ideas how we get out of here, Dwayne?” Zheng stressed his name, lacing the word with just a dash of contempt.
Glitch felt his face grow hot. He turned away and examined a nearby pile of rotting food. Grabbing a metal pipe, he poked at the soggy mass as though it might reveal some hitherto-unseen trapdoor. In fact, that wasn’t such a stupid idea. “Maybe there’s a trapdoor.”
Zheng looked dubious, but Anderson evidently agreed with him. “All this garbage has to go somewhere eventually. See if you can find any openings, even something small.”
Glitch felt a small flash of probably unwarranted pride. He poked away at the food, using the pipe to reveal the rock beneath. There was no trapdoor, just the same red rock they’d found everywhere else.
Glitch moved around the room, checking the floor with the pipe. In places, the rock was slick with rotten food, but for the most part, it was hard and dry. A dozen or so cracks cut across the floor, some of them deep enough to hide parcels of rancid vegetable matter. Glitch poked at one of the cracks. It was shallow, but Glitch’s prodding was enough to unleash a wave of noxious gas trapped inside.
Anderson and Zheng’s investigation was equally fruitless. All that remained was the pile of metal, plastic, and cloth that had shifted position earlier. Glitch stood next to it, clutching the metal pipe in a hand that was suddenly sweating. Anderson moved to take the pipe, but before she could, Glitch stepped forward and began pushing aside the pile of garbage.
Unlike with the decaying food, there was no real reason he shouldn’t use his hands, but if something was lurking beneath the metal, he didn’t want his exposed skin anywhere near it. Glitch dug around in the pile for several minutes, alert to signs of life as well as a potential exit. He found neither.
Eventually he stepped back from the garbage pile. “Nothing under there, either.”
Doctor Zheng had already given up on Glitch’s investigation and was standing beneath the chute. “Maybe we could climb back up.”
“Two of us, maybe,” said Anderson, “if the third one gave them a lift up, but the last person would be stuck.”
Glitch suspected Zheng would quite happily nominate him as the sacrificial lamb. “Was there any rope? In the piles, I mean.”
Zheng shook her head.
“I didn’t see any,” said Anderson. “In any case, that just gets us back into the hands of the Invisitude. I’d like to avoid that if we can.”
Glitch looked around at the walls. They were clearly handmade, but the work was rough. The rock was uneven, and like the floor, there were a few cracks. “Maybe there’s a hidden switch.”
“That sounds a bit Scooby Doo,” said Zheng.
Glitch doubted Zheng had ever actually watched that show, but he ignored her and looked at Anderson instead.
“It’s worth a try,” she said.
The three of them stopped talking and wandered around the room, examining the walls instead. Glitch pressed his hands against the cold rock. Despite the fact it had been his idea, he doubted they’d find anything. He was halfway around the room when the wall actually did move. It didn’t swing open to reveal an exit, but it shifted beneath his hands.
He pressed harder against the wall, and it moved again. It was subtle, but he felt it give. “Err… Captain Anderson… Doctor Zheng. There’s something here.”
“What?” said the doctor, peering at the wall over his shoulder.
“The wall—it moves when I press against it.”
The doctor seemed skeptical, but when she pressed her own hand against the rock, her eyes widened in surprise. As she pulled her hand away, a grinding sound came from somewhere deep in the wall.
Glitch stepped back, wondering if they really had found a secret passage. A couple of lumps of rock broke free from the wall and dropped to the floor, accompanied by a smattering of dust. Then the wall bulged. Two eyes blinked into existence.
Glitch smiled. “Fido.”
As more rock fell away, it revealed an angular, battered face with a deep crack running down its right side like a scar.
Glitch’s smile vanished. “Not Fido.”
“Get back,” said Anderson, grabbing Glitch’s shoulder when he hesitated.
They retreated across the cavern as the creature pulled itself from the wall. Chunks of rock crumbled to the ground around its feet. It was bigger than Fido, well over nine feet tall and much broader. Its arms were thick and heavy, its hands clenched into two battered, scarred fists. The creature rolled its shoulders from side to side like a wet dog shaking itself. More fragments of rock scattered across the ground. It leaned forward and roared—a deep, gravelly sound that echoed off the walls. Its mouth was filled with teeth, short, stubby pillars of cracked rock.
The creature flicked its head, sniffing at the air, then stepped toward them.
CHAPTER NINE
The Beast from the Wall
Councilor Kurtz accuses Glitch, Anderson, and Zheng of sabotaging the geogrid that is maintaining the planet’s stability. Kurtz sentences them to death, but Kalith protects them long enough for them to escape. They take cover in a small passageway but fall into a room filled with garbage. As they search for a way to escape, a rock creature crawls from the wall.
Glitch, Anderson, and Doctor Zheng retreated across the cavern as the creature pulled itself into the room. Chunks of rock fell from the wall, clustering around its feet.
It was bigger than Fido, well over nine feet tall and much broader. Its arms were like tree trunks, thick and heavy, and its hands were clenched into two battered, scarred fists. A deep crack ran down the right side of its face like a scar. The creature shook itself, dislodging more fragments of rock, then leaned forward and roared. The deep, gravelly sound echoed off the walls, and Glitch instinctively moved backward.
The creature flicked its head, sniffing at the air, then stepped toward them.
“What is that?” said Zheng. Her eyes were wide, a mixture of fear and curiosity on her face.
“Some sort of rock monster,” said Glitch. “You know, an alien.”
Zheng gave him a cold look. The scarred creature tilted its head and swept its gaze around the room as though making sure they couldn’t escape. Then it took another lumbering step forward.
“If you really can kill people with your mind, now would be a good time,” said Anderson, tipping her head toward Glitch’s T-shirt.
He glared at the creature, eyes narrowed, teeth gritted, as though he was directing some sort of mind ray at it. Nothing happened. “Sorry, out of juice.”
The creature roared again. Small lumps of rock fell from its mouth. It shook its head and walked forward, its right leg trailing behind it. As it moved, the creature tore chunks from the ground, sending lumps of red rock bouncing across the room and leaving deep gouges in the floor. One of the pieces of rock landed near Zheng. She picked it up and threw it. The rock bounced off the creature’s head, and it let out another cry.
“Maybe if you stop trying so hard to annoy it, it’ll get bored and wander off,” said Glitch.
“Maybe if I feed you to it, it’ll leave the two of us alone,” said Zheng.
The creature took another step, and they backed away, edging ever closer to the wall.
“Any better ideas for dealing with Scarface, Captain?” said Glitch.
“If I think of any, I’ll let you know.”
The ground shuddered, and a narrow crack appeared in the floor, zigzagging away from the creature toward the back of the cave. Scarface hesitated, twisting its head to the right. It roared again, the noise quieter this time but no less threatening. The cry seemed directed toward an uneven patch of rock in the wall opposite it.
Something responded. A soft growl. The creature let out another roar as the wall cracked and distorted. A second rock creature broke into the room. The newcomer was smaller, leaner. It looked at Glitch and smiled. It was Fido.
Fido turned to Scarface and snarled. He charged across the room and slammed into Scarface. T
here was a loud crack as they collided, sending fragments of rock bouncing across the room. Scarface gave a deep-throated scream and swung its arm at Fido’s head, but while it was bigger and stronger than Fido, Scarface was slower. Fido shifted, ducking out of the way. The heavy fist swung harmlessly through the air.
Fido darted forward, grabbing Scarface around the waist and pushing it back. The creatures fell over. Fresh cracks snaked across the ground. Glitch leapt backward, away from the fight and the unstable ground.
Scarface tried to roll over and pin Fido to the floor, but Fido was too quick. He released his grip, rolled to the right, and stood, leaping out of reach of the other creature’s flailing fists. Scarface slowly pulled itself into a crouch and watched warily as Fido circled it. A new crack ran down Scarface’s left arm, but otherwise it seemed unharmed.
Glitch took advantage of the lull to move around the room and join Zheng and Anderson. The three of them backed away from the battling creatures and pressed themselves against the wall. The thought that there might be a third rock creature, one as aggressive as Scarface, flickered through Glitch’s mind. Before it could take root in his imagination, he quashed the image of giant rock hands reaching out of the wall to crush his skull. Fido feinted, lunging forward. The scarred creature reared backward, swinging its right arm upward but missing. Fido slammed into Scarface’s left shoulder. There was a brittle snapping sound as the creature’s arm twisted back.
Fido wrapped his arm around Scarface’s head, his fingers digging into the creature’s cheek. Scarface screamed in agony. It bucked and twisted, trying to throw off Fido.
Fido pulled, twisting the creature’s head sideways. Rock shattered, and the side of Scarface’s head broke away. Fido threw it across the room then swung a fist. The impact made a sickening crunch. Fragments of rock skittered across the floor as Scarface’s head shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Fido let go of Scarface and leapt back. Minus a head, Scarface fell backward onto the floor. The creature lay there for a second before dissolving into the ground like melting ice. Glitch stared at the floor where the creature had vanished then looked hurriedly around the room, watching for signs of movement in the walls. Something rumbled—rock grinding against rock somewhere beneath their feet—but otherwise everything was still.
Fido let out a snort. He turned and walked toward Glitch. He was limping, favoring his right leg. A narrow fissure ran down its length, damage from the fight, but as he got nearer, the fissure closed up until it was a barely visible scratch and he was walking normally again.
“Thank you,” said Glitch.
Glitch couldn’t tell whether Fido could understand him, but the creature gave a slight grunt and nodded. That was good enough.
Doctor Zheng eyed the patch of floor where Scarface had fallen. “Do you think that… thing will be back?”
“I’d rather not stay around to find out,” said Anderson.
Zheng frowned and turned her attention to Fido. “These things really are quite remarkable. We should take the time to examine them while we can.”
Before Glitch or Anderson could reply, there was another rumble, louder this time, and the ground shuddered. Glitch pressed his hand against the wall to steady himself, and Fido smiled. He reached out, mirroring Glitch’s movement but letting his hand merge with the rock. It looked as if his arm was the branch of a red rock tree growing out of the wall. Glitch laughed and winked at Fido. Fido’s smile grew into a broad grin, and he winked back. He laughed and pulled his arm from the wall, depositing a few fresh shards of rock on the floor.
The ground shook again. A lump of rock fell from the ceiling in the middle of the room and crashed into the floor. There was a sharp cracking sound, and one of the fissures created by the fighting rock creatures widened, snaking across the ground toward Glitch.
“Look out,” screamed Glitch.
The ground beneath them buckled and twisted. A couple of feet away, a broad chunk of the floor collapsed, and a blast of heat washed over them. Glitch stepped backward as another piece of rock, much bigger than the first, collapsed.
Steam billowed from the opening in the floor, and Doctor Zheng gasped. Beneath the room was a tunnel filled with a slow-moving river of hissing, boiling liquid. The air was filled with a thick, sulfurous smell. Glitch pressed his hand over his mouth, his eyes watering.
More fissures opened, zigzagging across the ground. Glitch felt the floor beneath his feet give way. He was pitched forward, his stomach lurching. He dropped to his knees, clinging desperately to the rock as it plummeted toward the boiling liquid. Behind him, someone screamed.
As the slab of rock hit the liquid, Glitch closed his eyes, waiting for a wave of scalding whatever-it-was to wash over him. There was a hissing sound and a blast of intense heat but nothing more. He opened his eyes. The rock had righted itself on the surface and was floating. A viscous liquid splashed onto the edges of the slab, hissing and spitting as it hit the dusty surface. Glitch backed away to the middle of his makeshift raft.
The boiling river flowed through a narrow, winding tunnel. The walls were ragged and worn, and for a moment, Glitch considered trying to jump off the rock. Then he realized all he’d be able to do was cling there until his arms gave out and he fell into the scalding liquid, and he thought better of it.
Glitch looked back toward the opening he’d fallen through. The floor of the cave was almost completely gone, the last few pieces just crumbling away and dropping into the liquid. He peered through the steam, trying to find Anderson and Doctor Zheng, but there was no sign of either of them. Or of Fido.
His slab of rock lurched forward as it caught on something beneath the surface of the river. Glitch clutched at the rock, fingers scrabbling for purchase. There was a grinding sound as the rock broke free, righting itself as it continued its journey.
The heat was almost unbearable. Sweat poured down Glitch’s back and into his eyes as his body fought to cool itself. Steam and smoke filled the air, catching in his throat and making him cough.
The rock collided with the edge of the tunnel. It twisted sideways, slowly rotating as the river carried him away from the cave.
Glitch scanned the walls, searching desperately for a drier tunnel or even just a ledge—some way out of the mess he was in. It was beginning to look as though death by rock monster would have been a better way to go. Glitch coughed. Every breath he took was agony as the sulfur burned his throat and lungs.
A few feet ahead, the river vanished into a wall of steam. Glitch heard the liquid hissing and spitting. The slab lurched again, and more liquid splashed over the side. Glitch wiped at the sweat pouring down his forehead. It splashed into his eyes. His head was pounding, and he felt himself waver. Blackness tugged at him, tempting him. He could just lie back and let it take him. He could sleep through his death.
The steam was so thick that he could barely see the rock he was riding on. The air was full of hissing and cracking sounds, and Glitch felt the rock beneath his hands growing hotter and hotter. The slab seemed to be moving faster, gathering speed as it traveled through the steam. There was a jolt, and the rock spun sideways then tipped violently forward. The steam thinned for a moment. The river was carrying Glitch toward the edge of a waterfall.
Glitch swore as he was carried over the top of a waterfall. He slid forward, his fingers scrabbling against the rock as it fell toward a lake of bubbling, roiling liquid. Steam billowed around him, hot against his arms and face. The rock flipped forward, and his fingers slipped.
Glitch fell backward toward the scalding liquid.
CHAPTER TEN
Steamed Glitch
Trapped inside a garbage disposal room, Glitch, Captain Anderson, and Doctor Zheng are attacked by a rock creature. Fido comes to their aid and defeats the much larger creature. Damage caused by their battle makes the floor of the room collapse. With Anderson and Zheng missing, Glitch finds himself floating down a river of sulfurous, boiling liquid on a slab of rock.
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nbsp; The steam billowing around the rock was so thick that Glitch could barely see his hand in front of his face. The rock beneath his feet grew hotter and hotter, cracking as it expanded. It was accelerating, rushing Glitch toward who knew what. He heard a roaring sound, rapidly increasing in volume.
The rock hit something, spinning sideways. It tipped forward, and the steam thinned for a moment, revealing a waterfall. Glitch swore as the rock tipped over its edge.
Glitch slipped forward, his fingers clutching at the rock as it plummeted toward the lake of boiling liquid below. Glitch hit a patch of steam, the moisture hot against his arms and face. The rock flipped forward, his fingers slipped, and he fell backward toward the scalding liquid.
Something grabbed Glitch’s wrist, yanking him upward. The slab of rock fell past him and disappeared into the writhing waters below.
Glitch looked up. A long, thin arm made of rock poked out of the steam, four chunky fingers wrapped around Glitch’s wrist. His shoulder screamed in agony as he was dragged past the cascading liquid. The smell caught in Glitch’s throat, threatening to choke him, but still, relief wrapped its comforting arms around him.
Fido came into view. He was hanging from the ceiling, a look of intense concentration on his face. Just below him was a ledge running along the side of the tunnel. Anderson and Zheng were standing on it, backs pressed against the wall.
The ceiling shook. Glitch felt Fido’s grip loosen. He grabbed at Fido’s wrist, clinging on for dear life. Carrot-shaped pieces of rock fell from the ceiling. One of them hit Glitch, bouncing off his knee and sending a wave of pain up his leg. He moaned. It felt as though his shoulder would tear itself loose, and the ledge seemed a thousand miles away. Far farther than the deadly liquid beneath him.
Fido swung Glitch sideways. Glitch closed his eyes. For a moment, he thought Fido would fling him onto the ledge, Gimli style. Then he felt firm rock beneath his feet and the reassuring hands of Captain Anderson pulling him to safety. He knelt, collapsing to the ground in relief as soon as Fido let go of his wrist.
Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet Page 8
