Pop Goes the Nurgling
‘Tell me what you were doing with the transmitter,’ Quigox demanded as the skitarii stood guard, their weapons trained on the children.
‘I refuse,’ Mekki said, trying not to whimper as one of the adept’s tentacles whipped towards him, the pincers grabbing his face.
‘I admire your spirit, but I will learn your secret, even if I have to slice the information from your brain.’ As if to illustrate her point, she produced another mechadendrite, this one tipped with a buzzing laser-scalpel.
‘We were trying to contact Fleapit,’ Zelia blurted out as the device snaked towards Mekki.
Quigox frowned at the name. ‘An unlikely alias. What is he? An abhuman?’
‘He’s a Jokaero.’
‘A weaponsmith?’ Quigox’s silver eyes gleamed. ‘Imagine the knowledge such a being could bestow. Where is this “Fleapit”? Out in the void?’
When neither child responded, Quigox brought the laser dangerously close to Mekki’s cheek. He stammered an answer in binaric, which seemed to please the adept.
‘On a spaceship,’ she translated. ‘Searching for you… Then he must find you.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Zelia said. ‘You want him to come here?’
‘Of course,’ Quigox told her, as if the answer was painfully obvious. ‘Knowledge is power, and thanks to your beast, I will be the most powerful adept on the planet.’
On board the skimmer, a Nurgling had almost squeezed through a jagged hole in the door. Jeremias kicked out, shoving it back through the gap. The Nurgling screeched as it was snatched away by the wind, another immediately taking its place.
‘How much further?’ the inquisitor growled, wiping the sole of his boot on the floor.
‘The girl’s signal originated on the thirteenth floor of that vox-tower,’ Corlak dutifully replied, pointing towards a tall spire on the horizon.
Talen brought the skimmer around. ‘Just above that loading platform?’
Jeremias peered over the boy’s shoulder. ‘Yes. That is where we must land.’
‘Yeah, about that…’ Talen said as they rocketed ahead. He was trying to pull back on the throttle, but the flyer wasn’t responding.
Jeremias cursed beneath his breath. ‘The Nurglings must have chewed through the air brakes.’
‘We are going to crash!’ Corlak squawked.
Talen’s grip tightened around the flight stick. ‘Which floor did you say she was on?’
‘I will not betray Flegan-Pala,’ Mekki said, trying to pull away from the laser.
Quigox dragged him towards the terminal. ‘You will do what I say,’ she commanded, grabbing his withered hand and thrusting his fingers towards the access points.
‘His implants aren’t working,’ Zelia cried out.
The adept glared angrily at her. ‘More lies.’
‘It is the truth,’ Mekki insisted. ‘The connectors are damaged.’
But Quigox wasn’t listening. She was staring at the panoramic window, her mouth open. A skimmer was flying straight for the tower, small creatures swarming all over it.
‘Run!’ Zelia shouted, gambling that the skitarii wouldn’t shoot.
They didn’t have a chance. With an ear-splitting crash, the flyer smashed through the window. It slammed into the floor, skidding across the room to smack into the far wall, demolishing a bank of cogitators.
‘Mekki?’ Zelia called out as the dust settled, turning to see dozens of tiny green goblins scuttling from the wrecked flyer.
The skitarii fired, picking off the marauding imps with bolts of blue energy. The creatures shrieked as they were hit, bursting in a haze of sulphurous gas. The noise was almost comical – POP POP POP – but there was nothing funny about the smell.
The rusty door of the skimmer swung open and Jeremias dived out, sword in hand. ‘Don’t breathe in the fumes.’
‘I wasn’t about to,’ she told him, pulling on her rebreather.
POP POP POP.
‘Behind you!’ Quigox shouted as more creatures spilled from the skimmer’s corroded roof.
Jeremias spun on his heel, slicing through them with his blade – POP POP POP – before Corlak swept out of the vehicle to help evaporate the others.
POP POP POP POP.
When the room was finally clear, Jeremias pointed his sword at the adept. ‘What is the meaning of this, Quigox?’ he demanded.
The adept looked at him as if he were mad. ‘You crash in through a window, your craft infested with Throne-knows-what. I could ask you the same question!’
‘And yet, interrogation is my speciality, not yours.’
‘Tell that to her drill,’ Zelia muttered to herself.
Jeremias viewed her with barely disguised disgust. ‘You have something to say, traitor?’
She scrambled up, glass crunching beneath her boots. ‘Traitor? We were just trying to…’ Her words fell away.
‘Trying to what?’ Jeremias asked.
‘Just trying to contact Amity,’ Talen said, glaring at Zelia as he clambered from the skimmer. ‘How could you?’
‘How could I?’ Zelia wasn’t having that. ‘Talen, what evidence do we have that she betrayed us?’
‘Jeremias told us.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘Why shouldn’t I? He’s an inquisitor.’
‘And you’re a ganger,’ she pointed out. ‘Since when have you listened to authority?’
‘Since he realised that the Imperium will protect him,’ Jeremias snapped. ‘A lesson you would do well to remember.’ The inquisitor glowered at Mekki. ‘You and your cultist friend.’
Zelia took a step forward. ‘But it wasn’t a cult. Mekki’s family just wanted to–’
‘Silence!’ Jeremias bellowed, although Zelia couldn’t help but notice that he swayed slightly as he turned to Quigox. ‘You will release the boy into my custody.’
‘He is my prisoner,’ the adept insisted.
‘And he will be returned to you once our mission is completed.’
‘You said you were protecting him,’ Zelia said, going to put herself between Mekki and the inquisitor. Talen rushed over to stop her.
‘Zelia, stop,’ he said, grabbing her arms. ‘You need to listen for once. Something terrible is happening. We need to trust Jeremias.’
‘What?’ Quigox asked, her curiosity piqued. ‘What is happening?’
‘We haven’t time for this now,’ Jeremias snapped.
‘Haven’t time? Inquisitor, I demand an explanation.’
Jeremias stepped towards the adept, ignoring the arc rifles that tracked him across the room. ‘You’re not in a position to demand anything! Your planet is facing certain doom, but I can request urgent assistance from the Imperium.’
Quigox looked as though she was about to argue, before grudgingly releasing Mekki. ‘What must we do?’
‘We must return to Nalos’s workshop,’ Jeremias told them. ‘We will be safe there.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ Talen asked. ‘Last time we were there, Nalos tried to kill us.’
‘He did what?’ Zelia asked.
‘This time we will have skitarii to protect us,’ the inquisitor said, glancing at the tech-adept. ‘Is that not right, Quigox?’
‘It seems I have very little choice,’ she said, glowering at Jeremias.
‘Then we are agreed,’ the inquisitor said, looking at the wrecked skimmer. ‘Although we may have to secure new transport.’
‘There is a storage bay on the lowest level,’ Quigox told him. ‘We can take a transporter.’
‘Excellent.’ He turned to leave, but Talen stopped him.
‘Wait. Before we go, how was Mekki trying to warn Amity? Did he contact the Profiteer?’
‘No,’ Quigox said. ‘He said he was contacting a Jokaero.’
‘Fleapit!’
‘Talen, please…’ Jeremias warned him. ‘We are running out of time.’
‘No, you don’t get it. We should let him make contact.’
Zelia went to grab him. ‘Talen, what are you saying?’
He shrugged her off. ‘Amity doesn’t know we’re with the inquisitor. She has no idea we know the truth about her.’
Jeremias was studying him intently. ‘Go on…’
‘We should vox them, tell them that we’ve found a planet brimming with artefacts, treasures just like the Diadem.’
The inquisitor considered this. ‘She’d come running.’
‘Bringing the Diadem with her.’
‘And we’ll be waiting.’
‘No,’ Mekki said. ‘I will not betray Flegan-Pala, whatever you say.’
‘Maybe you don’t have to,’ Quigox said, turning to study the data on the cogitator screens. ‘The transmitter is locked into a frequency I have not seen before.’
‘A direct line to the xenos?’ the inquisitor asked.
Quigox turned to him. ‘If I do this, you will request help for my planet. The Adeptus Astartes?’
Jeremias nodded and the adept jabbed a mechadendrite tip into the access point, the metal tentacle clicking as it established a connection. Quigox spoke, but not in her own voice. It was a perfect imitation of Mekki, even down to his precise enunciation.
‘Fleapit, this is Mekki. Can you hear me? Fleapit, come in!’
‘Clever trick,’ Talen said, as Quigox lied about finding a hidden stash of xenotech.
Zelia whispered in the ganger’s ear. ‘Talen, this is wrong. You know it is.’
‘Wrong?’ he said, turning on her. ‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong. The streets down there are swarming with zombies.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Exactly how it sounds. Nalos attacked us, reducing Grimm to scrap. And then we were mobbed in the street. We need Jeremias to get us off this junk heap and he won’t leave until he has the Diadem.’
‘So you’re going to trick Amity?’
‘She tricked us first.’
‘And what makes you think you can trust him?’ Zelia said, shooting a dark look at the inquisitor. ‘We don’t know him, Talen.’
‘We barely know each other! But he gets me. He… he listens to me.’
‘And what? You’re going to become his apprentice?’
Talen shrugged. ‘Is that such a crazy idea?’
‘So much for never wanting to fight!’
‘I didn’t want to become a soldier, but Jeremias is different. Besides, the fight keeps finding me anyway. Perhaps it’s time I took the hint.’
At the terminal, Quigox finished her message.
Jeremias peered at the screen. ‘Have you made contact?’
The adept didn’t answer.
The inquisitor repeated the question, irritation creeping into his voice. In response, the adept let out a low, keening groan.
Zelia felt Talen stiffen beside her. ‘Oh no. Not again.’
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
‘That!’ Talen replied as Quigox reeled around, boils erupting all over her face.