The three of them—Mencari, Toriko, and Naijen—looked around. The stale and sandy-smelling air assaulted her nostrils. A tickle quickly turned to an intense stinging, and Mencari and Toriko were both sent into full-blown sneezing fits. At least in the lower versions of the Mauri Dome there was some humidity. So far, she wasn’t a fan of desert life. Looking on the bright side, with the bay doors closed, the environment could sustain them just fine. Regaining her composure, Toriko pulled up a holographic map of the colony.
“This place is actually a lot bigger than it looks,” she said gesturing. The map zoomed back, revealing an extensive sprawl of buildings and tunnels.
“I saw references to moisture farms, terra-forming equipment, even multiple reactors. Looks like they had big plans. I wonder what went wrong. . . ”
She stopped abruptly as the sound of skittering panged along the catwalk above. Gesturing in front of her eye, a small display appeared, magnifying her vision. She studied the area the sound came from.
She spotted a thin tentacle disappeared into a gap in the wall.
“A creature!” she yelled, pointing.
Grunting, Naijen pounced on a ladder leading to the catwalk, and scaled it like a possessed ape.
“We need to stay together!” Mencari yelled futilely.
A disappointed snort accompanied a mighty kick to the wall. “It’s too small. Can’t follow it.”
“We don’t even know what they are,” Mencari noted.
“Actually,” Toriko said, summoning a display with data from the Trading Post, “they’re called Sand Lars in Eyani’s database. They look pretty tame, no obvious dangers or toxins reported.”
“They look fun to kill,” Naijen smirked.
“You said ‘reported’—remember Eyani said we needed updated information,” Mencari warned. “It doesn’t mean there’s no danger, there’s just none recorded. . . yet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Naijen said, leaping over the rail and dropping back down to the ground. Dust billowed as he landed with a thud. “So let’s get on with it. The girl ain’t getting better on her own.”
Mencari and Toriko looked curiously at the bulky, muscled warrior. She would not have guessed that he would be concerned about anything other than killing things, much less a little girl.
Toriko called back up the map. “This is the backup reactor,” she said, pointing. “And here is where Eyani wants us to go.” She pointed in another direction.
Mencari grunted. “Power back on-line first.”
Toriko nodded her head vigorously. “Power back on-line—first.”
“This way?” Naijen barked, already striding off.
* * * * *
“Yeah … there,” Toriko said. “Pull it.”
Naijen growled, muscles flexing, as the rusted breaker pulled slowly down.
“That’s it!” she cheered. “Keep going!”
He didn’t need a geek pumping him up. It was just a big metal switch, he had it covered. Channeling his annoyance, he easily jammed the bar down into the connectors at the bottom. The hair on his arms raised as a static force built around him. A few tentative zaps soon turned into bright arcs flashing inside the clear tubes all around him.
With the sound of fans turning, a turbine revved up and began to hum with a deep, throbbing sound. Recessed lighting in the walls around them glowed gently, moments before blazing with new found power.
“Yata!” Toriko cried happily.
An unholy shriek rang through the ventilation above them.
Naijen looked around, grinning. “That sounded like fun.”
She retorted, “That sounded like something that could have wanted to eat us!”
He looked at her less-than-athletic form. Women on his world would have thrown themselves off a cliff if they had a soft body like that. “Maybe you,” he said flippantly.
Toriko glared. Naijen was amused at the puffery the geek suddenly attempted, standing toe to toe with him, unwilling to back down. If looks could kill, he could have been in trouble. Maybe.
Then a small movement just behind her drew his attention. It was something long and thin. What’s that? He thought.
“GEEK—MOVE!” Naijen bellowed.
Toriko screamed as he tackled her, knocking them both to the ground. A barbed tentacle lashed wildly across the space where they just stood. She scampered backwards like a crab along the ground towards Mencari.
Meanwhile, Naijen made to his feet bearing the Skar. Gripping the base, he triggered his weapons secret. Blades contained inside the hilt slung out and snapped into place.
A large purple mass of gnashing teeth and tentacles dropped from the vent above. With a quick slash, Naijen swung his weapon, cleaving off large chunks that fell along with a spray of dark purple goo. The creature shrieked, and lashed back with tentacles. The warrior grunted in surprise as an thick, vine-like appendage wrapped around his feet and yanked. He fell helplessly backward, ending with a hard thump then a sharp pain before everything went black.
* * * * *
“He’s down!” Toriko screamed.
“Back him up!” Mencari said quickly charging his hand phaser. The creature leaped back as he unleashed a few blasts. While missing his target, small plumes of dust and debris ignited along the ground, causing the creature to recoil, letting go of Naijen’s feet.
A loud rattling echoed above. A nearby vent cover above was torn off its hinges, and a set of tentacles dropped through. Spark dashed to Mencari's side and used his sonic howl, causing a brief retraction of the barbed arms, but then they flailed back down, causing Spark and Mencari to scatter.
Toriko ran to Naijen’s side and tried to lift him, but he was too heavy. His eyes fluttered, and then become unnaturally calm. A sudden throb of pain shot through her temples. A massive stream of data coursed through her mind. Looking back she saw Spark struck a second time from the flailing tentacles, sending another jolt through Toriko’s body.
007-DEFEND, she commanded through the necklace. Spark’s visor strobed blood-red as razor-sharp claws emerged from his paws. Leaping up, he ripped into the tentacles, cutting them deeply.
Mencari provided additional cover fire as Toriko turned her attention back to Naijen. She shook him, with no response. At least he was still breathing, just knocked out cold!
A piercing shriek echoed through the vent, a sound quickly mimicked by the first beast. In moments, a thud pounded from the far wall. The ancient structure began to crack, with small holes forming.
“Something big’s trying to come through!” she screamed.
“How is Naijen?” Mencari yelled, firing at the first creature.
“Out—totally out!” she cried.
The wall crumbled further, allowing tentacles to pop through. Toriko cried out desperately. She had to do something. If that thing came through, there was no way she could protect him. Or could she?
Her eyes quickly scoured the room. There had to be something to use! Her eyes fell on Naijen’s heavy blades. Toriko jumped up and ran over, bending down to scoop it up off the floor. She stumbled from underestimating the weight, but braced herself and picked up the weapon, turning to square off with the emerging creature, the foreign object feeling so strange in her hand.
“It’s just a tool,” she muttered to herself. “A really, really sharp tool.”
Mencari yelled to her, “Toriko, what are you doing?”
“Buying us time—I hope!”
How hard could it be to use, she thought. If the meat-head could just swing it around so can I. Following Naijen’s example, she gave a mighty grunt and heaved the blade in an arc at the tentacles. She easily sliced through the ends of them, cutting the tips clean off. The creature shrieked in pain, a cry mimicked by the first two.
"Watch out!" Mencari yelled. Glancing back, she saw the second beast drop down, its gnashing rows of teeth resembling a twisted smile, and head along with the first directly towards her. Spark and Mencari pressed their attack, forcing the creatures to stop
and defend themselves.
* * * * *
“Owa,” Naijen moaned, rubbing his head. It throbbed like the morning after having too much of Butchie’s house ale.
His eyes tried to focus on the blurs in front of him. What and the hell was going on? All he could see was a soft blob, which had to be the geek, and some long, flailing things. A screech echoed off the walls.
In an instant, he was thunderstruck with flashbacks. Creatures, there were creatures here!
He squinted and focused. The long flailing things were barbed tentacles. And the soft blob wasn’t just the geek, but the geek holding his weapon. What was she doing? His eyes were drawn to the severed segments of tentacle still twitching on the ground. Did she do that? His initial distain for another touching his sacred weapon quickly diminished with the realization the geek had taken up arms to protect him. The geek—using a real weapon! But from the look of things, it was about to get ugly.
A pounding on the wall grew frantic, and a breach opened. Toriko cried out, dodging a flailing tentacle as it rammed though. Already off balance, she tumbled back. Grunting, Naijen rolled up and onto his feet and caught her before she hit the ground.
“Having fun?” he asked.
She stared speechless, quickly handing the Skar back to him as the beast completely smashed through the wall.
No time for the usual games. A golden aura radiated around Naijen as he set Toriko quickly down.
“Done playin’ around,” he said, extending his power over the Skar. The white hot blades were a thing of beauty. Though, he liked what came next even better. He slashed through the air, releasing a wave of energy that sliced through the approaching beasts. They continued forward briefly, then a shower of ooze sprayed in every direction. The chopped segments fell to the floor writhing and twitching.
A metallic thump was followed by the sound of something snapping, and a scream from Toriko. Naijen felt the zing shoot past him, followed a pained squeal. Turning, he saw the final moments of the third beast crashing to the ground with a huge hole through its body.
Next to the creature, Spark’s body twitched, its visor flashing with various colors and symbols. The geek was down on her knees, her head shaking violently, eyes clenched tightly. It looked like she was in pain, but none of the creatures even got near her. Reaching up to rapidly flashing necklace, she pressed it, causing the flashing piece to pop out.
Spark was still convulsing on the ground.
“What’s up with your gizmo?” Naijen asked.
“Damaged. . . Overload,” Toriko managed to say, still panting, recovering from intense pain. Her anguish appeared to surge when she gazed over and saw the symbols streaming across the gizmo’s visor.
“Spark!” she cried.
Heedless of her call, the colors strobed faster.
Panicking, she called out, “Shutdown iMod X352 Purg, Confirm!”
Spark’s rear legs began to spasm as his visor cycled madly with colors and scrambled symbols. Bent over on her knees, Toriko crawled toward him, still screaming commands. “SHUTDOWN iMod X352 P U R G C O N F I R M!”
A sickly beeping began, and the light faded from his visor. He became motionless.
Toriko let out a gasp.
In the silence that followed, Mencari asked, “Are you okay, Toriko?”
Her head bobbed sadly in the affirmative. “But Spark’s not,” she cried with a wail. With unsteady hands, she touched the metal body of her fallen companion.
Naijen noticed the formerly flashing thing ejected from her necklace laid dark on the floor. Not sure what to say or do, he picked up the necklace piece and handed it back to Toriko.
This was all too much. First the geek uses his weapon, then he’s saved by a gizmo and Rhysus of all people, and now she’s all waterfalls for something that was never alive? How did he get roped into this freak show? No, that wasn’t it. It was a burning truth they saved him, something he abhorred. Still, the geek and her gizmo put up a fight, more than he’d ever expect out of them.
* * * * *
“With the generator on,” Toriko said, “the ship’s free of the energy tether.”
“Naijen and I will check out Eyani’s mark on the map,” Mencari said. “Why don’t you stay with the ship?”
She nodded, with tears in her eyes. “I’ll see what I can do for Spark, too.”
“Good idea, Rylee,” Naijen said with contempt after Toriko left. “With her like that, she’s no good to us.”
“Considering she protected you after you got knocked out, you may want to think twice before dismissing her like that,” Mencari added.
But Naijen already knew that.
The pair worked their way through a maze of corridors, having to detour around the numerous collapsed sections. They reached an opening into a room where they could see sunlight, pouring through an open doorway that led to the outdoors, with desert stretching away as far as they could see. Stopping on the edge of the room, the two peered into the space and saw that part of the desert had been blown in and covered most of the floor.
“White sands,” Mencari said, pointing.
Naijen shook his head, “Na, it’s moving!”
Mencari looked again, to his shock and horror, indeed the white surface was moving. In fact, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of thin, leech-like bodies squirming about. Small appendages on the front of each looked like little ears, while larger flaps on each side appeared almost wing-like. The tapered fin-like backend of the creatures looked more aquatic than land-based. In great numbers, they gently climbed and tumbled over one another in a huge mass of moving bodies, slowly entangling in a bizarre dance.
Naijen jerked his chin to the only dark corner of the room. “Look. One of those purple things!”
No sooner had Naijen spotted it, a small group of the white creatures swarmed toward it. One arched upward, revealing a large, toothy mouth that didn’t bite so much as crashed down on the squealing creature.
“I think we should go around another way,” Mencari said unnerved. “They don’t look any friendlier than those purple things.”
“Ah, we’re just outnumbered that’s all,” Naijen said with a chastising tone.
Forced to backtrack again and again, they finally arrived just outside a room located at the coordinates of the marker on Eyani’s map. Finding a manual release, Mencari pulled open the door that led into a small laboratory. The room was strangely undisturbed. Stale air implied the lack of any ventilation, unlike the rest of the structure. As Eyani had hinted might be the case, various devices were left scattered across the counters.
“They left in a hurry.” Mencari looked cautiously around. “This wasn’t some planned departure.”
His communicator vibrated. Touching it, he opened a channel to Toriko.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said shyly.
“It’s all right,” he said reassuring. “How’s Spark?”
“Not that different, I did get started on him though, but that’s not why I called,” she said urgently. “Remember those Sand Lars things, the white creatures? Well, there’s hordes of them headed this way.”
“Oh, not those big toothy mouth things,” Naijen complained.
“I’m also noticing some strange fluctuations in the reactor, as if the closer they get, the more strain there is on the power-generating systems.”
Could that have been it? Those creatures somehow had messed with the energy grid? And now that it was turned back on, for some reason they were drawn to it again?
“Let’s collect a few things and get out of here,” Mencari said to Naijen.
Next to a hand-held unit was a strange, but beautiful green crystal sphere. It actually reminded him of the memory crystals he had encountered back on Allia’s world, and other places. He pocketed it, along with as many other devices he could stash and carry, and they headed back to the bay on a quick and direct a route as they could manage.
* * * * *
“This is more than I ex
pected,” Eyani said looking at the goods retrieved.
“And the data—priceless. Those purple creatures weren’t even in the last batch, and now we have combat data too!”
Eyani suddenly blushed and looked at Toriko. “I’m sorry, I know Spark was damaged during the mission. If there’s anything I can do. . . ”
“Spark’s already marginally functionally, which is an improvement, believe it or not,” Toriko said trying to make light of the situation.
“I’ve reviewed the crystal you brought back,” Eyani said, shaking her head. “We can’t make heads or tails out of it. If you wish, you can take it to study on your own. Seigie might be able to pull something out of it.”
“Thanks,” Toriko explained. “If she does, we’ll relay the info back your way.”
“And before we go on much longer, there’s someone here that wants to tell you something,” Eyani said proudly.
“Rhysus,” a young voice chirped.
He turned and saw large, familiar eyes beaming happily back at him.
“Allia!” he said running over and hugging her.
“The doctors were amazed,” Eyani said. “Her body did most of the real recovery. She seemed to work most of the radiation out on her own.”
Ichini played around the girl’s feet. Taking a closer look, Mencari noticed a strange greenish cast remained on Ichini’s coat. So everything wasn’t perfect just yet. But seeing Allia up lifted a crushing weight from his shoulders. The images of his wife and son floated to the forefront of his mind. He hadn’t been able to save them, but he did save Allia.
No, that wasn’t completely true. They saved Allia—the whole team together. Maybe that was the key to turning everything around?
“How are you feeling, Allia?” asked Mencari.
“Better,” she said, scratching her temples. “Though I still feel tired and have a little headache yet.”
“The doctors say she’s good enough to leave for now,” Eyani added. “But you’ll want to keep a close eye on her.”
D'Mok Revival 1: Awakening Page 27
