Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Bulbous headcrabs. Four-legged reptilian shapes. Wiry, monkey-like things clinging to the stone slopes. Those were only the ones we could see. Others lurked just out of view, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
My man looked out with narrowed eyes. After a few seconds of holding our child and making sure everyone was okay, he rested a warm hand on my shoulder.
"Other battles will come, but we survived this one," he said.
"Time is no longer the assured victor. You are a Volardi problem solver.
" His shoulders rose with pride. "I have a good mate. "
I grinned. "Damn straight, Hon. So do I."
After a soft, wistful expression, he turned serious. "Let us go."
"Right. The Trial. No point wasting the time we bought."
He pointed toward a natural dip in the mountain, which gave the terrain a huge, bowl-like shape. "Yes, but this area will flood soon."
I glanced back at the Zerlite swarm below and jerked a thumb. "Well, at least they'll drown if they come up here."
It was meant to lighten the mood. I failed.
"Yes, because no one on Sudo, except Humans, know how to swim."
***
The tunnels twisted before us, dipping like veins through desert rock.
Axios and Solis lit the path ahead and behind with dim, slow light pulses from their hands.
They couldn't generate light like a flashlight, so they stayed in diagnostic mode.
Their speech hadn't returned, except for one-word responses.
"Tunnel," said Axios.
"Who?" added Solis.
They also noticed the manufactured feel, judging by their lingering looks. "Did your people build this?" I asked.
"No." Zephyron looked at Parker lying on the surfboard, now dragged by his drone over the stone terrain. "This isn't for your narrative records, Parker of Earth." He paused. "I will tell you, Thomas, if he doesn't repeat my words."
Parker raised a brow. "I can't edit the truth."
"You simply will not state certain details." He pointed at Parker's eye, referring to the fight with Brody. "Will the injury with the other Human be documented?"
"Point noted," he sighed. "Okay, fine. I won't talk about this."
I frowned. "The Zerlites."
Zephyron nodded. "Yes."
"But, they're just monsters," said Dad. "Aren't they?"
"Perhaps now," Zephyron replied, voice thoughtful. "But they were not always."
I remembered what he told me weeks ago. "The Sandari made them. For labor and defense. Controlled them through drought cycles."
"Correct," he said. "They were designed for service and to remain dormant during dry seasons to conserve resources. But even planned obedience fades."
"Slaves," I said, and he didn't argue.
"When our people arrived and the surviving Sandari accepted the deal, we took much of the water that once sustained this world and their creations.
A green planet became rock and sand. The Zerlites, deprived of nourishment, entered a dormant cycle.
Only a trickle of their offspring remained, released in controlled streams."
I narrowed my eyes. "You're not telling me something."
Zephyron hesitated. His gaze shifted to Axios and Solis, then returned to me.
"You are correct. They produce the crystallization used in Simulacra, and not only for storage.
These organic minerals provide true advanced problem-solving.
Adaptation. Emotion. Some believe sentience.
Qualities not reproduced by artificial means.
" He gestured toward Axios' sharp movements and Solis' gentler demeanor.
"So you're saying no one deals with the Zerlite threat for good because they're monster factories for Simulacrum crystals?"
He exhaled slowly. "I do not have the authority to control their use.
The decision and power lie with our emperor.
The Sandari live, and they are no longer in immediate danger.
They brought this upon themselves by relying too heavily on their creations.
Zerlites are dangerous, but they give us a gift we cannot easily replace," he finished quietly.
"It is not so simple as exterminating monsters.
Sometimes survival demands ugly bargains. "
I threw my hands up in the air. "Well, we have a survival problem too! Because those things are now above us!"
"Risk," Axios said.
"Flood," added Solis, their lights pulsing in synchronicity.
Right. The desert wouldn't absorb water right away. I remembered people nearly drowning in a flash flood near Las Vegas. The rain would be overhead by now.
"Stop!" Zephyron's posture stiffened. He stared down the tunnel, as if seeing someone we couldn't.
I grabbed our child from the surfboard in reflex, patting his back softly so he wouldn't cry.
Zephyron said nothing for several long seconds. He stared past the light from Parker's drone and our Sim friends. "Death waits ahead."
Parker groaned from the surfboard. "Wow. So comforting, thanks."
Dad chimed in. "Should we turn back? Find another route?"
Solis and Axios exchanged a glance, their internal lights flickering in eerie synchrony. Axios spoke first. "Water."
"Approaches," Solis added, turning her gaze down the tunnel.
I clenched my jaw. The faint, distant roar became obvious once I strained to listen. "We don't have a choice," I said. "You two! Use your pointy data connectors as weapons." They nodded solemnly. Axios' connector flickered out briefly, its jagged edge gleaming like a dagger in the dim light.
Parker groaned again. "Wish I could help, but broken ribs put a damper on my fighting abilities. Hand me a rock and I can command my camera like before."
"To a point. We can't throw electricity when the water comes. If things go south, use your drone and carry my kid to safety, please." A nod said it was still strong enough to do so.
Dad also picked up a rock, testing its weight in his hand before sighing. "Sorry, I didn't grab anything metal back at the ship. Guess I wasn't thinking." Both Simulacrums still wore their metal 'shoes', but the square jagged shape meant Dad couldn't hold them without cutting his hand.
"We work with what we have," I glanced down at my baby. He was barely in this world, and I already risked his life.
Zephyron gasped, and his gaze darted to the ceiling as a single drop of water landed on his shoulder. He slapped it away instinctively, his lips pulling into a tight line.
We pressed on, while chittering sounds grew louder, echoing like an orchestra through the tunnels.
What if I drowned here, underground? What would Tydalos do? Thoughts of some other soon-to-be converted Omega came to mind. It was never about me, but anyone with a connection to Earth. I didn't know this potential person, but I had to save him.
Shadows flickered slightly before something new joined in. A deep, resonant clicking noise. My man froze just as they appeared.
Bulbous creatures scuttled out first, their glistening forms reflected Solis' and Axios' dim diagnostic light.
Their massive heads pulsed faintly with bioluminescent veins.
Next came the smaller, monkey-like shapes, clinging to walls and ceilings, their skeletal brown frames oddly agile as they moved in unison.
Then it emerged from the gloomy murk, something vast. It didn't skitter like the others.
It moved with slow, deliberate steps, sending tremors through the ground and air.
Its exoskeleton gleamed like polished stone, fractured in places, with glowing teal veins pulsing beneath the surface like a heartbeat.
Long, curved claws dragged along the tunnel floor, each movement trailing a metallic screech that scraped against my spine.
The creature's head lifted. Elongated, plated, and angular, it tilted toward the ceiling as it released a guttural hum that echoed through the chamber.
The sound... I had heard it once and then again in my nightmares.
The queen.
It moved like the one from the race. If it were, then it would remember me and have a score to settle.
The horde fell silent for a moment as if awaiting a command. The air grew cold and heavy as I hugged my child tight.
The queen hissed twice before every Zerlite, large and small, came sprinting toward us.
***