“This is hopeless.” Givaras flopped down next to Indelbed.
They had been crouched in front of a promising tunnel for five hours now, flickering the field on and off. Hunting had dwindled in the past weeks, slowly petering off, until their reserves of the awful meat were low and putrid. For some reason, the wyrms weren’t coming.
“It’s God’s Eye,” Givaras said.
“This is part of the plan, right?”
“I wasn’t sure this would happen,” Givaras said. “It seems as if God’s Eye is now giving off pheromones that are repelling the wyrms, despite the lure of the distortion field. We will have to act soon.”
“So, to the maps!”
They hobbled to the Cartography, unaccountably excited. The 3-D model of the tunnels had been expanded greatly since the early days. Over the years they had mapped each tiny crack and geological layer with the thoroughness and scientific rigor typical of Givaras. They had calculated collapse pressures, drilling rates, and aquifer conditions with a degree of mathematical detail that had caused Indelbed sleepless days and nights. By the end of it, Indelbed knew a lot of math, and the geological survey was extremely accurate.
Their escape plan had come with a lot of complex problems. Surprisingly, water had been their greatest one, the fear of flooding from the aquifers above, as well as some slight chance of gas ingress. They would have to create a casing from the field to prevent the tunnel from collapsing.
A second problem was provisions for God’s Eye. He was their engine, and they would start with a limited quantity of fuel, with little likelihood of restocking along the way. The proto-dragon would starve while he tunneled the path, but if he made it close enough, they would live.
Their route was 3S27, the designation of the third tunnel from the bottom of the map, following a direct route to the S curve of the outer boundary that sank below the iron dome. It was the twenty-seventh route they had mapped, the one finally settled on. During this first phase they would be using preexisting bores, requiring just a degree of enlargement to fit the wider God’s Eye, which would save precious energy. If they were attacked by a convergence in these tunnels, they would be dead, for even God’s Eye would be a sitting target, unable to turn. The entire success of the plan depended on Givaras’s theories on dragon evolution and the strength of whatever dominance pheromone the giant wyrm gave off.
The S curve was phase two with its own dilemma. The outer curve was definitively sealed off by some construct, creating the self-contained prison network. They would have to break through. If they failed, they would face a long and futile return leg back to the central chamber.
If they succeeded at the boundary, finally, phase three would start: a last desperate, grinding, crawling dash to the sea, moving through unknown sand and clay formations and possible bedrock. They would be starving by this point, wholly reliant on God’s Eye’s instinct to complete his metamorphosis in water. Here again they depended on theory, for no one living had ever charted the evolution of the giant wyrms, either underground or in the seas. No one had even seen the mature, final iteration of the dragon, the mythical creature of air. They were gambling that the earth wyrm, the sea wyrm, and the airborne dragon were the same creature. If these were in fact three different animals, they were dead.
“This is the worst possible timing,” Indelbed said, after the initial euphoria had dissipated. “I’m blind and sick, and you haven’t even regrown your legs. We won’t even make it to the boundary.”
“Ah, I’m not bothering to regrow. I’m using these.”
Indelbed touched something hard, and through field vision he saw the ghostly outline of Risal’s shin bones, held by the djinn like relics.
“I’ll walk out wearing Risal this season, haha.”
“Can you even do that?”
“Why not? She’s not using them. I just have to liven them up a bit and reconstruct my knee joints.”
“We’ll look like a pair of real sick bastards if we ever get out, won’t we, Master?”
“Trust me, boy, we will see daylight again.”
“And then?”
“You’re a dragon, and I’m Givaras the Broken. The world outside is full of awful things that I’ve made. Men and djinn will weep when they see us.”
“Good.”
“You got any food in this shithole? I’m starving.”
“Shit, Maria, how did you get in here?”
“You’re kidding, right? Your security is Abdul. Relax, all your guys know me. They think we’re getting married. They practically handed over the house keys to me.”
“Fuck off.”
“I heard you did something to your uncle.”
“He’s out of the trust. Mother is taking over.”
“Sorry about your dad. I liked him.”
“He used to hit on you.”
“Yeah, a little bit, but not in a gross way.”
“Seen your boyfriend lately?”
“Not personally, thank god. He sent word. He wants progress, and he’s not being subtle with his threats.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Shit, Rais, I told him everything, what do you think?”
“He knows we’re holed up here?”
“He knew that anyway.”
“You know he killed my dad, right?”
“Yeah, he told me,” Maria said. “He also threatened to kill my parents. He wants an exact log of where you’re going to be for the next week. I think he might be thinking about grabbing you or something.”
“You can move in here, you know. He can’t get in as long as Barabas is here.”
“Yeah, and we can live happily ever after humping in your cousin’s shitty room with your mother next door.” Maria swept around. “Why isn’t there any goddamn furniture in here? What was he, a monk?”
“He was like ten years old when he left,” Rais said. “He was poor. Never had any stuff. He never complained. My mom won’t let anyone change the furniture.”
“Guess you guys are shit at looking out for family. Fucking Khan Rahmans.”
“Yeah, I guess we just kind of blipped over it.”
“You liked him, though, right?”
“Yeah, the little I knew him. He was funny,” Rais said. He looked around. “You want lunch? I can get Butloo to bring something.”
“That weird old dude? No thanks.”
“No, my mom’s cook is here. He’s taken over the kitchen.”
“Oh, okay then, yes.” Maria sat on the bed, which, other than Rais’s plastic chair, was literally the only option. “Rais, this stress is killing me. When are you going to deal with this guy?”
“My mom’s working on that.”
“Thank fuck at least one of you has balls.”
“You know, you’re a really pleasant person.”
“Yeah, whatever. So I’m going to be hanging around here spying on you. Just go about your business.”
“I was going to take a nap.”
“Well, you’d best take the floor then.”
“I’m beginning to envy the engineer.”
“Do you want me to tell your mother why I’m here?”
“She knows about the pictures. She already tore me a new one.” Rais snorted. “I’m sorry, Maria, but you have to pick a side. You can’t tread water anymore. If you’re with us, you’ve got to be with us, you’ve got to help.”
“Can you beat them?” Maria asked. She didn’t sound sarcastic anymore, just tired and frightened, and Rais felt a surge of affection for her. It was easy to forget that none of this was her fault. “Can you even hold them off?”
“I’ll keep trying. You have to trust me. We have a shot, I promise. Come over tomorrow for the meeting. We’ll tell you everything.”
“What if I blab it all to Dargoman?”
“If you do, you do. What am I gonna do? Hurt you? This is me showing trust.”
“All right, I’m all in.”