“WELL, THAT was uneventful,” I said. “From what you’ve told me I expected heavy fighting to get this far.”
Tom’s tail slithered around my neck and shoulders, twitching nervously. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s strange.”
We stood at the end of a corridor, right in front of a glinting door. A glimpse of bluish light spilled out from under it. I tapped the tip of my boot against it, and the door swung open.
No one rushed us. No one opened fire or yelled at us. An eerie silence greeted us and caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end. Tom switched off the flashlight, hooked it to his belt, and exchanged the small laser gun for a bigger one. Even he needed both hands to carry it.
We ducked around the threshold, rushed inside, and secured our only way out. Crouching, we observed the room for hiding spots, and especially for the few Tash’Ba watchers that should be here. Nothing.
Frowning, I took in our surroundings. Large machines that looked like antiquated computers lined the walls, and also interfered with the view of the room’s left section. Not good.
I jerked my head toward the obscured area and Tom nodded. Niyara and Carson guarded the door while Tom, Ylkurt, and I slunk toward the concealed part of the room. The closer we came, the more my stomach twisted itself into knots. Something wasn’t right here—absolutely not. I just had no idea what it was, but usually my instincts were spot-on.
A few feet away from the large buzzing machines, I stepped on something. The grinding noise echoed through the silent room like a bullet shot. I froze and slowly brought my gaze toward my boot. Nothing to see.
I pulled my foot away, and for a moment I couldn’t make any sense of the debris I discovered. A coughing sound caused my head to snap up. Tom dodged around the machine’s edge.
“I think we’re too late.”
“Too late?” I echoed.
I exchanged an irritated glance with Ylkurt before I followed Tom. He hunkered down next to a dying Tash’Ba. Its elongated face was twisted in pain, and parts of its cheeks were missing. As if something had… gnawed on it.
Nausea roiled in my stomach as I swept my gaze over the prone and bleeding figure. The Tash’Ba’s clothes were ripped to shreds and chunks of its flesh were missing.
“What the hell happened?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
Ylkurt appeared behind me, a grim expression marring his face. “Three more dead,” he reported.
The wheezing Tash’Ba suddenly gripped my bandaged arm. Even though I tried to pull away, it clamped down, its claw-like hands digging deep into my arm.
Tom aimed his gun at the Tash’Ba’s head when it wheezed, “Please… you have… to shut down Ligador.”
“Well, that comes in handy because that’s exactly why we came here,” I replied. Tom brought down the butt of his gun on the Tash’Ba’s hand. The Tash’Ba howled in pain, which I understood since the sound of its exoskeleton snapping had been unmistakable.
Grimacing, I said, “Where’s the genetic decoder? And why do you want us to help you?”
“Ligador is a disaster,” the Tash’Ba wheezed. “The genetic codes went awry in a lot of our creatures. There’s something on the planet—it’s probably in the water—that increases their intelligence. They learn, and they grow independent. They don’t obey our commands anymore…. They need to be destroyed.”
“Right. You’re big on destroying anything that isn’t a Tash’Ba. I almost forgot about that,” I muttered.
“Please! They’re dangerous! The mandrox cracked the station’s security code, and they attacked us. They might still be here in the room.”
Carson swore from the door. I jumped to my feet and called out, “Carson?”
“We’re all right. I just thought I saw something!” he called back.
“Keep an eye out for mandrox. Shoot them on sight!”
Carson cursed again. Tom rose to his feet, and the muscles in his arms and shoulders bunched. Suddenly I was glad he was on my side and not on the other. He radiated a deadly confidence and determination.
“Where’s the decoder?” I asked.
The Tash’Ba coughed up a phlegm of blood and his whole body convulsed.
“Oh, come on,” I muttered. “Don’t die before we have the information we need.”
The Tash’Ba opened its slitted eyes while dark red blood, appearing almost black in the dim bluish light, trickled from its mouth.
I had almost given up hope when the Tash’Ba ground out, “It’s locked in the compartment labeled C…. C….”
“C what?”
But the Tash’Ba’s head lolled to the side. Its huge, round eyes stared at me accusingly, but its chest didn’t heave up and down anymore.
“Great.”
“The C compartments are over there,” Tom said, pointing with the gun to the opposite wall.
I stepped in that direction when my gaze fastened on what had been stuck under my boot earlier. It made so much sense now.
That had been a mandrox egg with a really tiny embryo. But why would they bring an egg down here?
“Berrrriiiit,” Fleur purred suddenly into my ear. I jumped, and for a moment I feared my heart would stop beating. It didn’t, just fell into a frenzied gallop.
“Fuck, Fleur, you scared me to death!”
“That seems to be a common occurrence on Ligador,” Carson chimed in. “I can’t wait to leave this planet.”
Niyara regarded him with an intense look before she focused on our surroundings again. She had warrior-in-deathly-combat state written all over her face. Good thing she was on our side too.
Fleur’s suctioning paws scrabbled along my neck and face. Her tongue slipped out and swiped along my nose. I patted her head with my bandaged hand and realized the dressing was soaked in blood. Fantastic. Every fucking beast could smell me that much better now. Why didn’t Fleur cure me earlier when she did that so easily with Carson? I stowed this thought away to ask later.
“Berrrriiiit,” Fleur rumbled again before she settled on my shoulder, her long, bushy tail swishing from side to side.
What an odd creature. Had she been created by the Tash’Ba? Not all their beasts were large, but I’d never heard of one with fur. What if we found the gene decoder and used it? Would she die as well?
Startled, I craned my head to the side. She butted her head against my cheek, purring. Tom and Ylkurt were already inspecting the compartments on the wall, discussing something in hushed voices.
“If we find that decoder, will you die?” I asked Fleur.
She scrutinized me for a long time, then pulled her shoulders up in a shrug. Such a human-like gesture…. Where did she get it? So many questions surrounding her, and yet I trusted her to be on our side.
“You don’t know?”
She nodded her head. I swallowed. Did she understand what I was asking her?
“Berit!” Tom called. “We’ve got three compartments to search through. The decoder will most likely appear as a small stone, no bigger than a pebble. There’ll be a small elevation in the middle—you have to press a finger into it for a minute. Do not let up with the pressure until the minute is up.”
I knew all that. Well, except the one-minute thing. “Why is it important to keep the pressure on for a minute?”
“If it’s less than a minute, the decoder starts the beasts on a reproduction cycle, which means they’ll get even more aggressive,” Tom replied. “It’ll also mean the decoder won’t destroy the beasts for the next month, no matter how often you try.”
“You never informed us about that detail,” I said accusingly as I walked toward the middle compartment.
“Yes, we did.”
“No, you didn’t. I’d remember that tidbit,” I replied. I fumbled with the latches of the compartment. The plate covering it came off with a low, grating sound that caused Fleur to hiss. “Wait, no, you’re right. You did explain something like that. I just didn’t think it would be important.”
Heat of shame crept into my face. I should probably leave the job of leading missions or teams to someone better equipped. Tom brushed the tip of his tail over my uninjured arm and said, “You had a lot on your mind.”
Fleur scampered down my arm and shoved Tom’s tail off. Despite the situation we laughed, especially as she ambled back to my shoulder, her striped tail held high.
I inspected the interior of the compartment, which I’d assumed to be a computer. Puzzled, I peered at the contents. Leaves, fresh and old, were neatly stacked in one box. Another box held tiny, marble-like objects in varying shades of glimmering colors. As I searched through the stacked boxes, I pulled out one that contained hundreds of pebbles.
“For real?” I asked aloud. “Here’s a whole box of pebbles. How am I supposed to find the right one?”
“You have to touch each of them,” Tom replied as he pulled out boxes to glimpse inside them. Ylkurt did the same to my right side.
“Do you think there’ll be more than one box with pebbles?” I asked.
“Usually there’s only one, but sometimes there are two,” Ylkurt replied. “The Tash’Ba are capable of picking out the right one on sight.”
“How fortunate for them,” I muttered. Fleur scuttled down my body and settled with me in front of the box. “You’re gonna help me?”
When she nodded, Ylkurt stopped rummaging. “Do you trust her?”
“Yeah.”
Fleur picked up the first pebble, rolled it between her paws, then discarded it. She proceeded swiftly with more of the stones.
I holstered my gun, knelt next to the box, and followed her example. The atmosphere around us became oppressive as the only sounds were our own breathing, the clinking of pebbles, and the buzzing of the Tash’Ba machines.
Tom and Ylkurt joined Fleur and me in our search, and we were down to maybe ten pebbles when the skittering of nails on the floor sent us all bouncing to our feet, weapons raised. All of us except Fleur. Stoically, she lifted pebble after pebble, patting it down.
“Shit!” Carson shouted. A shot followed his shout, and seconds later, he and Niyara beat a hasty retreat from the door.
My eyes widened when my brain caught up with my sight. Hundreds of mandrox filled the door, a wild aura surrounding them. A large mandrox with silver scales on its breast stepped forward, holding several tiny eggs in its hands. Most of them showed fracture lines.
“Isn’t that the same one we already met earlier today?” Carson asked as he sidled up next to me.
“Looks like it,” I answered. “Think it’s still mad at us for stepping on some of the eggs?”
Before Carson could answer, the mandrox clicked its tongue. It smashed the eggs to the ground. The shells broke with a sound that made me sick. Dead embryos spilled onto the floor, and just for a moment, I closed my eyes.
“Why the fuck are they doing that?” I asked.
“The shells are too thin,” Niyara said. “Usually mandrox eggs are very firm. They’d never break just from smashing them on the ground.”
“The Tash’Ba mentioned that the genetic code went wrong in some of the beasts. Maybe that causes the egg shells to be too thin?” Tom mused aloud.
“Well, whatever it is, they seem to think we’re their enemies,” I said.
Carson suggested, “We could use blusters again.”
“We don’t know how solid the structure is. I don’t fancy the whole building crashing down around us.” I cast a quick glance at Fleur who was down to the last three remaining pebbles. One of them had to be it, and then we’d only need to hold off the mandrox for a minute. Easy peasy.
Fleur let out a triumphant chirp and held out a dark gray pebble to me.