about the time I had determined to make my way back to the annex, climb an unclimbable wall, and take my chances down in the Black Mist Chamber again.
Now I could see down into the nesting grounds, another cavern so large as to be a world beneath a world. As Amity described, countless fires burned, dotting the vast area some forty veltiks below. I didn’t know how I was going to join the others, but having heard CeCe’s voice and knowing she was safe eased my worries. All would be well soon enough.
I surmised the ikadax had flown so high in the Black Mist Chamber that she soared above the toxic cloud and followed a familiar route leading to the annex where I killed her. From the annex I’d found the narrowest of traverses necessitating the temporary removal of my chest armor and shoulder plates, but I’d made it through to find it opened onto a ledge high above the fires. Below the ledge lay a wide swath of smoking ash hills: the nests in which the ikadaxl eggs incubated. No adult ikadaxl were visible; it was likely they hunted.
The rest of the group emerged from a shadowed smudge in the cavern wall, and they waved their hands to me. Huddled together, one of them would look up at me every few rotiks. I thought I saw Amity raise her thumb at me, one of the human symbols signifying a positive omen. I returned the symbol.
At last, I spied Joan followed by CeCe emerge from the opening, and I stood nearer the edge. Would that I could fly to her arms.
“Raxthezana,” Pattee said. “We’re going to introduce you to the joys of zip-lining.”
Following VELMA’s instruction, I secured a bolt into the ledge on which I stood and tied my longest piece of rope to it. Using a heavy rock tied onto the end, I threw the line as far out from the wall and the ash hills as I could, as if casting a fishing line.
It landed near a towering formation that jutted upward from the smoking ground.
Now it was up to the others to link one more length of rope and tie it around the formation, tightening it until it was as taut as a stiff pole.
“Hey,” CeCe’s warm voice startled me from my observations, and I looked down at the group. Her pale gray armor stood out among the darker armors and flight suits, but I would have eyes for her if she blended into the very rocks.
“Greetings,” I said. “You were late joining the others.”
“Yeah, turns out the shel armor can’t protect against everything,” she said. “But that’s okay. It’ll keep us humble.”
“You’re in good health?” I asked.
“I’m doing alright,” she said. “A little shaken up. I heard my mom’s voice and reality blurred with the past. I’ve had better trips eating German chocolate cake.”
“I do not understand your meaning, but it sounds like you are grateful to be out of the chamber.”
“You are correct,” she said. “The second time wasn’t as bad. We had a fully drawn map and Joan pushed me past my limits to get me out before the toxins could penetrate the gel.”
“She is a good friend,” I said. “I owe you an apology, CeCe. I said we would act together in all things, and yet we were separated.”
“It couldn’t be avoided,” she said. “I think it turned out for the best in this case, because you and I wouldn’t have been able to help each other. Once you get down here, I’m giving you a huge kiss.”
“I would leap off the ledge for such a kiss,” I said.
Her laugh warmed me from the inside. “You’d better not. This might be your only chance to try a zip-line.”
When my entire company performed the thumb omen ritual at me, I clipped my harness as VELMA directed and stepped off the ledge without fear because CeCe waited for me, and I would do anything to reach her.