CHAPTER EIGHTEEN PREDATOR AGAINST PREDATOR
SHAARR
Rowan's words followed me into the deep root. You too. Not forgiveness. Not a promise.
Enough. The western nursery would not survive another breach. We had hours. Three dead Preybridge relays still contaminated the mineral network. Rowan's new solution was simple in explanation. Remove the old signal.
Create a clean migration path. Let the Rootmaws follow what their bodies had evolved to understand. No extermination. No punishment for animals driven upward by human damage. I approved.
Even if success required impossible timing. Three relay sites. Three teams. Vyrr took north.
Vorrn took east. I took central. Rowan came with me. I objected once.
He stared until I stopped wasting time. We descended through a natural fault beneath the old hunting ground. His implant remained disconnected. Good.
He used external controls instead. Slower. Safer.
"You dislike this," I said.
"The equipment?"
"Not using the implant."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I can feel faster than I can calculate."
I looked at him. He noticed.
"Don't make that profound."
"I was not."
"You were considering it."
Possibly. The central relay sat fused into root and stone. Human metal swallowed by living tissue. Blue mineral residue pulsed around it.
"Charges?" I asked.
"No."
"Why?"
"Too much vibration."
"Then how?"
He looked at my claws. I understood.
"You brought me for labor."
"Among other things."
The phrase struck strangely. Warm. I cut the first connection. Then the second.
Rowan guided me toward the third. The relay tone weakened. The earth answered. Once.
Twice. Then the entire chamber vibrated. Rowan checked the monitor. His face drained.
"Seventeen."
Rootmaws. A migration front. The first animal came through the tunnel. I turned.
"Finish."
"I'm not leaving you."
"Rowan."
The creature charged. There was no time for argument. I met it. Claw beneath jaw.
Twist. Drop. The second climbed over the body. I used the corpse as height, jumped, and drove one hand through the soft nerve ridge between plates. It convulsed.
Behind me:
"One connection!"
A third Rootmaw struck my side. I hit the ground. Its mouth opened above me. I caught both jaws.
Muscle screamed. Armor split against the floor. The creature forced down. I pushed.
Not enough. Then blue light flashed. The relay connection broke. Every Rootmaw stopped.
Listened. Rowan activated the external transmitter. A low migration signal filled the roots. One animal turned.
Then another. Downward. Home. Good.
Then the leader came through the wall. Older. Larger. Scarred plates.
It ignored the migration signal and charged the source. Rowan. I moved. Too far.
The Rootmaw crossed the chamber. Rowan threw himself aside. Its jaws crushed the transmitter. Signal gone.
The migrating animals stopped. No. Rowan stared at the destroyed equipment. Then reached for his interface cable.
"No."
"Only adaptive source left."
"Your neural load reached eight."
"I remember."
"You lost motor control."
"I remember that too."
"Then no."
He looked at me.
"Shaarr."
"No."
The leader turned. Rowan's voice changed. Quiet. Steady.
"Protect me."
Everything inside me stopped fighting. Not because the request was easy. Because it was his. Not save me.
Not control me. Protect me. I nodded.
"Do it."
He connected. Pain hit him at once. His knees softened. The migration signal returned. The Rootmaws began turning again. The leader attacked.
I met it. Its weight drove me backward. One hooked limb tore across my shoulder. I climbed its side.
Cut beneath the plates. Behind me, Rowan breathed through pain.
"Five."
The creature twisted. My leg took the next strike.
"Six."
I drove a claw into the jaw hinge.
"Seven."
"Disconnect."
"Not yet."
"Rowan."
The migration front was moving. Down. Away. The leader still tracked him. It had learned.
I caught one rear limb as it lunged. It dragged me across stone. Rowan looked up. His left arm dropped.
Eight.
"Disconnect!"
He shook his head. The leader opened its mouth. I climbed. Claws into scar tissue.
Up. Find the nerve ridge. There. Both hands drove through.
The Rootmaw screamed. Rowan changed the signal. Lower. Not stronger.
The creature froze. Its head turned toward the deep route. Instinct overrode aggression. The leader pulled away.
Then followed the migration path downward. The others went with it. Vibrations faded. One by one.
Rowan collapsed. I reached him before stone did. His eyes remained open.
"Did it work?"
I almost laughed.
"Yes."
A breath left him.
"Good."
Then he lost consciousness. I tore the interface cable free. His pulse remained fast. Alive.
I lifted him. No argument. No rule. No misunderstanding.
His head fell against my chest. The receptor settled around his presence. For the first time since activation, I stopped wishing it would close.