The Riddle (Alternate Dimensions Book 2)

by Blake B. Rivers

  “No, not build something. I mean make one. You know, that thing you do.”

  “Oh.” That made much more sense. “I don't know. Probably? Maybe? I'm not real good at controlling this or planning an outcome.”

  “Well, it's time to learn. I got a plan. All the rest of you go ahead. Andi and I will be right before you.”

  “What? We're not leaving you!”

  “For this to work, you definitely need to. No argument. Chosen to save the world or not, I'm still your captain.”

  I could sense the apprehension among them, so I nodded–which was a poor choice, considering there was still black vomit all along the bottom of my helmet. When people told stories of my amazing exploits, I hope they left that part out. “Do what she says, guys.”

  “Thanks, Andi. On the count of three, I'm going to need you to stop and throw up that forcefield.”

  “Gotcha.” Don't mess this up, I pleaded to myself.

  “One.” Angel pulled a gun from her belt, one she hadn't used before and glowed a faint blue.

  “Two.” She pulled back something on the gun, then spun something else. The light turned to green.

  “Three!”

  With that, she slid to a stop and I did the same. I whirled, and just as I did, Angel threw the gun at the rapidly approaching beasts.

  “Please, let this work,” I whispered, holding up my hands and pushing out that same energy that I had previously channeled through my legs.

  For a moment, nothing happened, and my whole vision was filled with slack jaws, gnashing teeth, and utter violence. Like a wave of death, they descended on us. This was it. I was going to die. I had had one task to do, and I had failed at that, dooming us all.

  “No!” I cried.

  With the shout, a ripple moved through the air, lengthening and widening until a shimmering barrier stood just a few inches from my face.

  The first kodadt slammed into it, and I was bodily knocked several feet down the hall. Angel rushed to my side, but she was all smiles as she helped me up.

  “You did it! You're amazing, you know that?”

  Another kodadt slammed right behind its sibling, and I groaned. Each tackle felt like someone had squeezed my brain. It wasn't a lethal type of pain, but it was blinding in its intensity. “I don't think I can hold it up for much longer.”

  “It's okay. We don't need long. But what we do need is to get out of here, fast.”

  She gripped my waist and pulled me along, so far from the shield that it was taking all of my concentration to keep up. I wanted nothing more than to let it go. I could already feel my body trying to work up more black vomit for me to expel, and my head was vacillating between extreme dizziness and its own dramatic interpretation of an entire percussion section.

  Despite all that, a flashing light caught my attention. Squinting, I saw that same gun Angel had been fidgeting with sitting on the floor at the snarling kodadt’s feet. Only this time, it was flashing red.

  Oh.

  I had a pretty good idea what that meant and stumbled forward as best I could.

  “It really hurts you when those things hit it, doesn't it?”

  I nodded, not wanting to think about what kind of damage was going to be caused by what I was pretty sure was about to happen.

  “That's less than optimal. But it's okay. I'm just gonna need you to drop it right about...,” We turned a corner, and I could see the rest of the group disappearing down an elevator shaft. “Now!”

  I gasped as I let go of my concentration, and it felt like a mountain lifted itself from my head. I thought I might have heard one of the beasts roar in victory, but that was quickly covered up by a world-shaking explosion.

  I stumbled forward, my feet lifting off the ground for a moment and sending me propelling down the hall. I panicked for a moment as I tumbled, but my weighted feet eventually pulled me back to the proper position, and I was running beside the captain again.

  “Not bad, Fire Skull. Not bad.”

  “If I pretend to like that nickname, do you think people will stop calling me that?”

  “Probably not. I'm pretty sure it's a thing by now.”

  “Great.”

  “Good talk. See ya in a minute.”

  “What are you–” But then she gave me a strong shove, and I was toppling into the same shaft that I had seen my friends disappear down.

  My arms pinwheeled, my heart threatening to abandon ship right out of my throat. But then my brain caught up to reality, and I realized I was slowly floating down the open space.

  “Nice work!” Janix said, clapping my back once I landed.

  “Don't thank me,” I said before once again spilling black bile into my helmet. “Thank the unrequested super powers.”

  “I still detect two lifeforms,” Bajol's voice cut off any other comeback Janix might have had. “They must have taken alternate paths than the rest of their cluster.”

  “Any readings on where they are?” Viys'k asked as Angel floated down to join them.

  “One is trying to get in through the waste disposal.”

  Zik snorted audibly through the line. “There's an ion molecularizer there, so I hope it has fun being disintegrated.”

  “All right, so one soon to be down, one to go.”

  “That is the one I can't properly lock onto. At one moment, it reads that he's in the obliterated med-bay area, another that he's down in the recreational facilities, another that he's on the roof.”

  “How in the hell could it be doing that?”

  “Considering that we have an ancient, teleporting, shape-shifting, possessed being after us, I don't really thing we need to ask how.”

  “Right. Let's get out of here.”

  “More running?”

  “More running,” Angel confirmed. “You ready to pick us up, Bajol?”

  “I am hovering at the port with the door open. I must warn you, though. I believe it is even smaller than Zik has conveyed.”

  “Hey, I said it was tiny!”

  “Guys, keep the line clear unless you have an update on the rabid beast that wants to kill, eat, and then defecate us out. Hopefully in that particular order unless he's exceptionally freaky.”

  “Did not need that mental image.”

  “You're welcome.”

  You know, I had thought that if I was ever in a life or death situation, there wouldn't be a lot of time for banter. But it was beginning to seem like the more frequently our survival ran along a razor's edge, the heavier the quips came.

  Finally, just when it seemed my lungs were going to send in their letter of resignation, we reached a scarlet door. It was different from all the other ones we had encountered. It was about waist high and seemed to be able to be pulled upward by its handle.

  “Why is this so tiny?”

  “We only use this hangar for supplies. The official one is so loaded with Council security that we would be defusing traps for several hours.”

  “If they went through such lengths, why wouldn't they secure this?”

  Zik's voice warbled a bit as she answered. “Well, that may be because we possibly didn't include this in the schematics. You know, for totally above board reasons. I promise.”

  “Hah, I love it. Even the nerds know it’s dangerous to follow the rules to the letter.”

  “Nerd? What do you mean by that?”

  Before we had to unpack that particular conversation, there was a thundering boom.

  “That sounds particularly ominous.”

  “Time to go, guys!” Janix yanked up the door, but before any of us could get in, another boom sounded and a kodadt erupted through the chrome wall and into the same hallway. It took one look at us, yellowish drool dribbling onto the floor, then bent down onto all six limbs and rushed forward.

  “Go! Go! Go!”

  We all dove into the small hole, and Janix slammed it shut behind us just for the giant creature to crash into it, claws piercing the barrier.

  We were on some sort of
conveyor belt, and there were a few packages still scattered along the length of it. We didn't waste a second and started army crawling down it.

  The metal grooves of it were not kind, and although I wanted to speed through as quickly as possible, I could feel the tines pulling at my suit every time I lifted a limb then placed it back down again.

  “Be careful,” Viys'k warned. “These aren't exactly enviro-suit friendly.”

  “These are reinforced with armor-grade fiber. You can choose to see if it'll stand up to the grating or the kodadt. Your choice.”

  “Good point, I'm sure it’s going to break through at any moment.” The krelach paused then let out a 'tsk.' “I was really hoping that if it had to burst through, it would have done it right-”

  A high-pitched screech cut through the void of space, and I didn't need to look back to know exactly what that was.

  “There we go. Someone tell it that it missed its cue.”

  “Yeah, I'll get right on that. I'm sure it'll appreciate the constructive criticism of its method.”

  “I see the opening!” the captain-double cried. I really should remember her name. “Bajol, are you ready?”

  “I have already answered that, and yes. I'm less than a foot away.”

  “We have a kodadt coming in hot and heavy on our tail. You're going to want to be a little farther for immediate skedaddling.”

  “But then you will have to make a jump for it.”

  “It's just a few feet. We'll be fine. But we won't be so fine if a kodadt reaches into the ship and yanks any of us out.”

  “Understood. Moving six feet away to clear for immediate take off.”

  “Thank you. We'll be there in less than fifteen seconds.”

  Our lead was significantly decreasing, but I held onto the faith that we had enough of a gap on our infected companion. I was pretty sure my knees and hands were bleeding into my enviro-suit, but I couldn't stop. I could patch up my booboos when there wasn't rabid death right on my heels.

  “All right, I've reached the edge. Pushing off now.”

  I lifted my head and looked above the bent backs of the friends ahead of me, to see Angel crouch at the opening, her silhouette dramatic against the harsh lights of our ship. She shuffled her feet up as close to the lip as she could, then pushed off.

  She moved through space in a graceful arc, the gravity-less environment allowing her to go much farther than would otherwise be possible. Almost like she was swimming, she floated through the door and collided relatively gently with the far wall.

  The body double was right after her and landed just as easily. Then was Janix. If I remembered right, mooreerie were incredibly dense, weighing up to five hundred pounds in some cases. And while weight wouldn't particularly effect his jump in a zero-gravity environment, it could cause his short, stumpy legs not to give him the proper trajectory to get onto the ship. After all, once he was hanging in the void of space, there wouldn't be a way to course correct.

  If he had any hesitation, he didn't show it. Just like the others, he pushed off with his bent legs and went floating through the nothing.

  And was about a foot too low.

  Just when I was sure he was going to splat into the side of the ship, Angel and her double reached, catching the mooreerie's extended arms. They caught him and hauled him up.

  I was next, and for once, I wasn't petrified, terrified, or dubious as I did something. It was just six feet; I could make it. And if I didn't, I'm sure my team would think of a way to get me safe within the hold of our little vessel.

  And so, I leapt.

  Despite my calm just seconds before, it was still fairly disturbing to be floating through a massive void with no tether. It made me feel very small, and the whole universe seemed impossibly big.

  But then I landed, and my feet were on solid metal once more. I heaved a sigh of relief and turned to see how Viys'k was fairing. She was about halfway to us and had plenty of clearance on either side. But I wasn't concerned about her making the jump; Viys'k was the most acrobatic of any of us.

  No, I was definitely concerned with the skinless, boil-covered arms that emerged from the same port we had crawled out of, and the biting jaws grasping at nothing. I wanted to shout a warning, but what use was there? Viys'k was in the middle of her jump. What, was she going to do some sort of impossible barrel roll out of danger? And if she magically defied the law of physics to do so, that would send the kodadt hurtling straight toward us.

  Once more, my body was moving before my mind entirely had time to catch up. I raced forward and launched myself out of the ship just as I had out of the mini-hangar bay. I went sailing above Viys'k head, and I heard her incredulously ask what I was doing, but I didn't have time to reply.

  I had a boogeyman to kill.

  It was very action movie poster-esque as the creature and I moved toward each other. Its hands were reaching for me, claws grasping for some kind of purchase. I caught the largest and longest one, gripping it with both hands at the wrist. Then I did about the last thing I expected, and yanked it closer to me.

  I let go of my hold on its arm just to grip its throat. I was too close to it for most of its mangled, twisted arms to reach me, except for one, which I caught with my other freed hand.

  Its jaws snapped repeatedly, less than an inch from my face. I furrowed my brow, demanding more of that coiling, burning, churning energy within me.

  Twisting my hand, I yanked the smallest arm up and away. The kodadt bucked, squealed, and spattered spittle all over my helmet, but I didn't let go until the limb separated just like its siblings had. I tossed it off into space and used my free hand to press the button that lowered my incredibly dirty visor.

  The effects of space were instantaneous, beautiful, and frightening. Globs of black bile floated up and out of the bottom of my helmet, and cold bit at my face worse than any other sunburn I had ever felt. My eyes instantly went dry, and the air went whooshing out of my lungs in a startled gasp.

  I didn't fold, though; didn't let myself become distracted by the ballet of un-atmospheric effects. Instead, I gripped that monster's throat with both hands, opened my mouth, and breathed hell down into the beast.

  What I could best describe as a funneled cloud burst from my jaws, barreling its way down the throat of the flailing beast. It wasn't black, as my enemy's form was, but a hazy sort of gray dotted with points of blinding light. It roiled and spun on itself in a tube of violent power, and I could feel an impossible amount of heat being generated by it.

  I had never heard a kodadt scream, not really, but this one did. The high-pitched noise it emitted was bone rattling as it was gut churning, but I persisted. I kept the cloud burning, the power flowing, until the mutated beast gave one final scream and promptly exploded.

  To be honest, I hadn't been expecting that. I had been going more for the crumbling into dust or catching on fire thing, but it would have to do. The force of the explosion propelled me backward, and I found myself gently colliding with the back wall of the ship just in time for the door to close and Bajol punch the engines into a hasty retreat.

  I felt the support systems kick in as weight returned to my body and a sense of being settled over me. You never realize how much gravity shapes your perception of everything until you are without it. But before I could express that thought–or any other congratulations for that matter–my stomach gave a series of several impressive flips, and I was tossing my monochromatic cookies again.

  “Are you an idiot?” Janix asked as I heaved and ho'ed. “You could have been killed! One of these days, those unpredictable mutations of yours aren't going to work and you're going to be straight up murdered!”

  “Save it for later,” Angel murmured, patting his back. “It's not fair to gang up on someone, who can't talk back.”

  I shot her a thumbs up in appreciation because that was about all I could manage. Thankfully, the captain-double had the good sense to bring me over a spare helmet so I could stop making the entir
e floor into a slip and fall hazard. She patted my head comfortingly, then excused herself to the front of the ship.

  I knew what I had done had been crazy. I had known that it might not work. But that didn't matter. In every situation that I had used my strange new abilities, it was because they were needed and we might have died otherwise. I wasn't cocky. I knew these things were not reliable and were just as apt to kill me as save me. But when all was said and done, and the cards were all laid out on the table, I wanted to be able to say I did everything I could possibly do to make sure everyone survived.

  So far, we had a casualty count of zero, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  Chapter Eight: The Secret-Secret Lab

  My body was not happy with me.

  Supremely not happy with me.

  While my little vomit-y flares were never quite fun, they were never quite so violent or as long as the one that wracked my body on the way back to Angel's ship.

  I suppose I deserved it. Between removing multiple limbs from giant mutant enemies, to creating force fields and stuffing a beast so full of energy that it literally exploded, I had certainly tested my abilities pretty hard.

  As soon as we arrived at our current haven, Bajol and Janix rushed me right back to the infirmary where Zik was waiting with wide eyes. I had forgotten that she could see the feed from our suits on the array of monitors around her bed, so she probably had a very, very long list of questions for me once I was not dribbling black goop from my mouth.