Upworld

by Ian Woodhead

  For a start, since when was he ever scared of a few spiders, poisonous or otherwise? Oh, there had been more than a few moments in his career when the appearance of those eight-legged bastards had turned the inside of his mouth into the bottom of a canary cage. Nelson had never been too keen of them as a species. There was something about the way they moved and the appearance of all those fine hairs covering far too many legs that put the wind up him. Even so, due to his choice of work, you just had to accept the dangers and general shiver factor of bumping into spiders, as well as the thousands of other creepy-crawlies which accompanied them.

  He remembered that occasion four years ago, when that colony of African hunting spiders invaded his camp-site. That was certainly a bowel-loosening experience, but even that paled in comparison to how he reacted with the buggers down here. This was ‘jumping on a stool, pulling up his skirt, and screaming like a big girl’ kind of emotion.

  Obsessing over those damn coins was another aberration to his, what he believed to be, stable persona. Why should he even care if the coins held some deeper relevance? The chap running this circus probably only popped them in there to mess with his head.

  “It obviously worked then, you silly old fool,” he muttered.

  Nelson had always been so proud of being able to think his way out of any tricky situation. Applying cold, hard logic coupled with his extensive experience, made for such a formidable partnership.

  He looked over at Bradley, standing with his left leg casually resting on a rocky outcrop, looking like some full-sized Action Man, with the emphasis on Man. Nelson got the distinct feeling that Bradley believed he was the alpha, while poor Nelson was the bumbling sidekick. He sighed to himself, while grinding his teeth in annoyance. There was still plenty of time to burst that ugly bubble.

  Right now, Nelson needed to get back into his mind-set and to focus on what he knew about these giants. After all, despite the opinions of others, it would be Nelson who’d be bringing this particular adventure to a satisfactory conclusion. There was nobody on the planet who knew more about these elusive creatures than him now that the weird feeling had finally departed. It was time to put all that knowledge to good use.

  Nelson lowered his body onto the dry cavern floor, while trying not to break out in a fit of hysterical giggling. Put his vast knowledge to good use, did he really think that?

  The total sum of factual information regarding these giant humans could have fit into two pages from a small notepad. Rumours about them, stories, myths and legends, well, there was enough of that rubbish to fill a library.

  There was one particular theme which did run through the more credible stories, rumours, and legends, and that was that these giants built a gleaming city which stood for thousands of years. They stripped it and vanished underground before the first human even landed on the southern continent. This obviously begged the question of how we even knew about this supposed race of giant humans. The answers ranged from the first people finding remains to a small group of giants electing to stay behind.

  It seemed inconceivable that the giants were still around when the first people did appear on the scene. After all, they had the home ground, stronger, more numerous, and were obviously far more technologically advanced.

  Nelson thought back to Bradley’s question about normality. Perhaps that was the key. Perhaps the spiders were not a natural product but a genetically altered animal, just like those huge birds. The giants had employed them to act as guardians to prevent anybody from ever finding them.

  What kind of mind-set did it take to choose to hide instead of fighting? Could the giant really be free of any aggression? That they were a true race of pacifists? That manic who had kidnapped them would go wild if that really was the case.

  He caught up with Bradley, idly wondering why he had never pursued this line of reasoning before.

  “I know this is going to sound like an odd question, Bradley.”

  “Like that’s ever stopped you before.”

  Nelson bit his tongue and swallowed down his immediate retort. “You mentioned that the spiders weren’t normal. In what way?”

  The bodyguard shook his head. “Dunno, like they’re a new species or something.”

  Nelson nodded to himself. His idea of the giant engineering the spiders took hold and refused to move. Was it really beyond the realms of scientific plausibility that this couldn’t happen?

  “One more question. How did you feel when you woke up inside those caverns? I mean, did you feel any ill effects from whatever they used on us?”

  “You sure are asking a lot of questions lately.” He sighed loudly. “No, I didn’t suffer any ill effects.”

  There probably wasn’t that much in that head to ruin. The ape obviously only operated on instinct and response.

  Now that his senses were clear, Nelson was certain of one overriding factor.

  “Bradley, there’s no way we can stay here. I wouldn’t trust that deformed freak as far as I could throw him.”

  “You sure do have an annoying habit of stating the obvious,” replied Bradley. “Believe me, I’m fully aware of our situation, but unless you can come up with an alternate course of action, we have no other choice but to stay put.”

  Bradley leaned forward and lightly tapped the side of Nelson’s head. “Come on, Brain Box. Tell me what all those weird symbols cut into the rock means.”

  Nelson couldn’t answer the man. He didn’t have a single idea.

  “It’s pretty obvious to me that our funky-looking pal knows this place like the back of his deformed hand.”

  “Okay then, what do you suggest?”

  “We simply treat this as an information gathering exercise until we know more about our new friend and his plans. There’s nothing else we can do.”

  “Speak of the devil,” hissed Nelson. The man or whatever the hell he was, had just lumbered around the corner, waving his usual guilty-looking smirk

  “I hope you two fellas have behaved yourselves.” Branch released a high-pitched giggle which sounded totally odd for a creature of his size.

  “Oh, you know. Here and there. There and here. Mostly there.” Branch’s jovial expression suddenly darkened. “Right. If the pair of you worms have stopped bloody interrogating me like the sets of bastards that you are, I’ve found some guy who’ll help you out.” He then pointed to a light-grey flat rock close to where Nelson stood. “You two fellas are going to follow me now.” He grinned. “And if you see me pointing like I am now, you need to do everything you can to avoid standing or touching it. You get me?”

  He waited until both men nodded before turning back around and racing off down the narrow cavern tunnel.

  Nelson took the lead, doing his best to keep up with Branch’s long paces.

  After a couple of minutes, Branch skidded to a stop. He stepped to the left and pointed to a small, black sharp rock, jutting out of the side of the wall opposite him.

  “That’s a good one, fellas. Get too close to that bad boy and the whole section of cavern falls away.” He chuckled. “There’s a huge nest of hungry birds right under you two. If you listen hard enough, you might even hear those monsters fussing. I tell you, they’re so eager to rip the sweet meat from your tiny bones.”

  “Okay,” said Bradley. “You’ve made your point.”

  “Okay yourself, squirt. I’m only trying to look out for you fellas. I mean, I didn’t ask you to come nosing down here, sticking your nose in where it has no business.”

  Branch spun around and carried on walking down the cavern tunnel. “Any more back chatter from the likes of you and I might not tell you about the next trap. We’ll see how you like those bananas.”

  Nelson struggled to keep up with their reluctant guide. He guessed that Bradley wanted to give Branch a slap for that rather nasty retort. He didn’t care about any of that, he was too busy thinking about how a bunch of peace-loving benevolent creatures would devise a trap that killed their intruders in such a horrific wa
y.

  If the giants were so concerned about conserving life, then wouldn’t they create a labyrinth which led the intruders back the way they came? He stopped dead, narrowly avoiding Bradley bumping into him. Nelson allowed the bodyguard to pass him while he glanced across at that black rock.

  Who’s to say that they weren’t originally designed like that? Hell, it’s quite possible that these caverns are four times older than the great Egyptian pyramids. In all those untold thousands of years, anybody could have altered this labyrinth. That freaky Branch guy couldn’t have been the only specimen to set up home down here.

  Which brought Nelson back to his initial argument with Nelson. Who’s to say that Branch wasn’t leading them into a situation worse than the one they were already in? His hand drifted into his pocket and he found himself playing with that stupid coin yet again. He whipped his hand out of the pocket and threw the bloody coin in the general direction of that rock before turning around and running towards the others.

  Bradley was right. What other choice did they have? They had no option but to keep going even if that bastard was leading them to their doom, like some kind of genetically deformed pied piper.

  It didn’t take long to catch up with the pair of them as they had both stopped moving. Branch’s fingers danced across two rows of patterns embossed into the side of the rock as just as before, he had that annoying smirk plastered over his ugly face.

  Nelson felt the bodyguard’s hand grip his arm at the same time as the cavern wall began to slide back. Bradley tried to pull him away from the giggling hybrid, but his efforts were hampered by several men rushing through the opening gap. They forcefully dragged Bradley over to Branch, who casually put the bodyguard on the floor.

  Nelson slowly turned to find a very familiar face glaring at him.

  “You are such a chump!” snarled Marlon. “How could you allow the other two to get away? Thanks to you, we’ve lost all contact of them. I am so upset with you right now. Upset enough to have both of you fed to the pairs, feet first.” He paused. “Unless, of course, you are able to take us straight to them?”

  Nelson tore his gaze away from Marlon. He took one look at Bradley before he finally allowed his gaze to settle on the still grinning face of Branch.

  “I think you already know the answer to that one, Marlon. Like we know where the hell they are.”

  “Yes, thought not. Well, it’s been nice knowing you, Nelson. Sorry, but I can’t let you wander around here, you know how it is.”

  Nelson’s grin now matched the one still stuck to the hybrid. “Hold your horses, young man. I bet your deformed pet could take you straight to Dane and Benedict.” Judging from the look of astonishment, that made a brief appearance on that sly face, Nelson had guessed right.

  “Is this true?” asked Marlon.

  Branch nodded. “Sure, I could take you guys there,” he replied. “Only, what do I get in return?” His eyes scanned Marlon’s assembled heavies before he stopped at the brute currently holding Bradley’s neck. Nelson did find it rather amusing to watch one action man assault another action man.

  “I really like his boots,” he giggled. “I really do like his boots.”

  Nelson’s amusement only grew at the sight of Marlon’s crumpled up face when he realised just how stupid he had been.

  “That must really grate you. I mean, you must have spent ages tracking us down, when all you had to do was to give your monkey a pair of boots.”

  Voicing aloud the man’s mess-up probably wasn’t the best idea that he’d had all day, not knowing how dangerously unstable he was, but it would but worth it just to see if Marlon blew a gasket.

  “I’m so happy that you’re enjoying my discomfort, Nelson. I still have no reason to keep you two alive.”

  “I don’t think Dane will be happy to hear that you killed his mate. I wouldn’t be too trusting in your new pet either, even if you do give him the boots. He’s about as trustworthy as you are.”

  “You!” he snarled. “Give him your boots.” Marlon glanced up at Branch. “Looks like the ball’s in your court, my friend. Lead the way. Just remember. If you try to trick us, the next shiny things you’ll be seeing are a spread of bullets stitched across your chest.”

  Nelson found himself and Bradley sandwiched between two of Marlon’s heavies.

  “Thanks for that,” hissed Bradley.

  He simply nodded. Brains over brawn had triumphed again.

  Chapter Ten

  Any word, simple or complex, could not describe the turmoil of volatile emotions currently running riot inside his aching head.

  Marlon thrust his hands deep into his pockets. It was the safest place for them. Otherwise, he could see himself snatching a weapon from the nearest guard and killing every single one of these duplicitous people. Marlon would take great pleasure in reducing Dane’s smug face into a stamped-on blood pie. In fact, he might even make all the others, the ones who were all silently mocking him, eat a slice. That would teach them.

  He’d have to shoot him in the kneecap first, just to stop him laughing at poor Marlon. Marlon didn’t even need to turn around to know that the man was laughing at him.

  It wasn’t just Dane, either. That old man obviously thought he’d got away with making him look like a fool in front of the others. Yeah, well, Mr. Clever Nelson, just like the others, you would end up dead, just not yet though. Not until he had got what exactly what he wanted.

  The first one here to get what he deserved, just had to be that freak. Marlon intended to torture and kill that Branch, not because he couldn’t be trusted, or that something that grotesque should have been drowned at birth. Not even because he wouldn’t stop staring in lust at Marlon’s slave. He was going to hurt the freak just on general principle.

  It had been a full hour since the altercation with Nelson and twenty minutes since locating Dane and Benedict. Marlon thought that by now the anger should have, at least, lessened; not to utterly dissipate, as the days when Marlon didn’t feel constantly angry were as rare as rocking-horse shit these days.

  The fury just didn’t sit right. What was wrong with him? Considering his recent achievements, Marlon should at least be able to crack one smile. He had done it, He’s battled against the insurmountable odds and still came out on top. Was it worry or perhaps something else, another particular deviant flaw of his personality which refused to leave him alone?

  He had ordered Dane and Benedict to walk in front, to keep an eye on them. Those were the exact words he’d used, much to the amusement of Marlon’s associates. They deserved to be treated like children in his eyes.

  Marlon listened to Dane discussing theories and ideas with Benedict like this was a normal bloody expedition, that Marlon hadn’t kidnapped them, like they weren’t in danger. Marlon ground his teeth. Like he didn’t even exist.

  He gripped the fabric inside his pockets and willed himself to calm down. They weren’t ignoring him at all, he was just really, really worried that something was going to go wrong just as he was this close to achieving his ultimate goal. Of course, they weren’t excluding him on purpose. This wasn’t like those hurtful times back when Marlon was a child and his older brother and father used to purposely ignore him by either shutting off their conversation whenever he entered their sphere of influence or when they even turned their back on him.

  The two archaeologists were just excited at being able to walk through the find of the millennium, and this really was a sensational discovery. Even if, in the worst possible outcome, he didn’t find his race of warrior giants, this alone would ensure that his name lived forever.

  A perfectly preserved city of advanced humanoid beings older that known human history would change the world; who knew what treasure lay beneath their feet? Well, those two in front of him might have an idea, but it wasn’t like Marlon was able to join in their conversation. He only understood three out of every ten words that came out of their mouths.

  Right now, Benedict was arguing that the
archaeological style was more of a parallel evolution rather than some kind of indirect influence to ancient classical lines. That although the designs were similar, it was impossible to suggest that there could be a common line due to the separation of time and continents.

  Marlon couldn’t understand how the threat of death from his men didn’t even raise an eyebrow and yet to suggest that the giants all lived in Ancient Greet temples caused both men to become bitter enemies.

  Watching them square up did help him begin to calm down. He had almost reached the point where he felt enough confidence to remove his hands from his pockets when that Dane dropped the ultimate bombshell.

  He suggested that the original builders of this forgotten city were pacifists. In fact, both men were convinced of this stupid idea. They even had the audacity to say that Marlon’s slave, the way she cowered around him and flinched whenever Marlon rose his voice, wasn’t abnormal behaviour, at least, not for her species.

  His hand left that pocket, his fingers already tightening on the trigger. He’d shoot just one of them, that’s all, just to show these indignant clowns not to mess with him. He didn’t need all of them anyway, not now.

  Marlon’s decision to shoot Nelson in the kneecaps went right out of his head at the sight of his slave walking past the lot of them. For a second, he couldn’t even find the words to order her back to her position right behind him. He looked at the others; thankfully, all their eyes were on her as well so they didn’t notice the panic that he knew must be showing on his face. He raised his hand. Marlon had to shoot her, he just had to. There’s no way he dare order her back to his side. The others would hear the weakness in his voice.

  Both Branch and the bodyguard unintentionally put themselves between him and his slave, denying him the shot. He had to put the gun away, otherwise he would have fired and kept firing until he ran out of rounds.