The room, or more like cave, had several passages spiraling in all directions. The corridors weren’t straight or level like on the New Dawn. Some twisted up and others slid down in steep angles. It was madness, and we were stuck in it, like some nightmare where you couldn’t wake up.
I ran my hand over my head, smoothing out the stray hairs. I needed something to give me the illusion I was still in control. “You check for more creatures with your locator. I’ll track our team with mine.”
“Okay, boss.” Sirius gave me a playful look as if calling me boss amused him. “Which way?”
I checked my locator. All three signals came from the southeast, the belly of the ship. If the corridors went up, down and sideways, which one lead directly to my team?
A horde of creatures lay in wait in the loading bay we’d just left behind, so we didn’t want to go that way. Every other direction led away from my team. I pointed to the corridor spiraling north. It went above the cavern but headed directly into the main part of the ship. Due to the narrow diameter, it also seemed like the one less traveled. “This one.”
Sirius checked his locator, flashing a stream of light into the blackness. “Good choice. It’s all clear.”
I checked to make sure my laser still had some juice. “For now.”
Ten meters down, the corridor twisted up at a steep angle. We climbed on our hands and knees until we reached a plateau. I expected hairy legs to dart out at us from the darkness any minute, but I had to trust in the heat signatures and seismic vibrations picked up by our locators. The horde still waited for us to emerge from our hiding place so we had time.
A room opened up on the left side and Sirius checked it with his locator before we passed. “Nova, take a look at this.”
I followed Sirius into the room. Hazy light from a red orb illuminated a sheen of stagnant water in a pool in the room’s center.
As the team expedition leader, I was trained not to ingest any foreign substances. Even though my teeth felt like they were coated in dust, I shook my head. “You’re not thinking about actually drinking that, are you?”
Sirius knelt beside the rim. He stuck his hand in the water then brought his finger up to his nose. “Looks like regular H-two-Oh to me.”
“What if it’s altered in some way?” I wished I’d taken my backpack with me. Dragging supplies around wasn’t in the protocol. Our mission was to establish contact, not journey on an adventure through hell.
Sirius shrugged. “Scouts have found water on hundreds of planets. It’s pervasive throughout the universe, just like oxygen.”
“Yes, I know that, Mr. Astrophysicist. What if it has toxins?”
“We can’t go on without water. Either we try this stuff or fight our way back to the ship for more supplies before we rescue the others, but it’s been at least eight hours, and I already feel like I’m going to pass out.”
The water teased me and I looked away, trying not to imagine how it would feel trickling down my throat. “It could be a reservoir, or it could be a waste dump. Who knows what these creatures are used to?”
Sirius gave me a daring look. “There’s only one way to tell.” He cupped the water in his palm.
“No.” I took his hand, water dripping down both of our arms. “I won’t let you take that risk.”
He pulled his hand back, but I wouldn’t let go. I came with it, tumbling onto him and knocking him over. I lay sprawled on top of him, my legs over his. Embarrassment climbed up my neck into my cheeks in blazing heat. I wouldn’t let him do something stupid.
Sirius looked more impressed than angry. “So we die of thirst, then?”
“You are such an exaggerator. No one’s dying of anything unless you drink that water.”
As we stared at each other, Sirius’ locator beeped. His face turned from taunting to sober.
My heart tightened. “What’s that?”
“One of our new friends. Coming this way.”
I gazed at his screen. A small green dot blinked from the right, approaching rapidly. “Do we have time to outrun it in the tunnel?”
Sirius frowned. “I’m not sure how good their eyesight is, but at this point, it may already see us.”
My gaze darted around the room. A small tunnel half a meter long and a meter wide was carved into the wall. “We’ll have to cram ourselves into that.” I pulled myself off him and inspected the tunnel. It spiraled into the wall for as long as my locator screen could shine. It was definitely too small for the giant arachnids to scuttle through. At least it wasn’t as claustrophobic as the crevice.
Sirius followed me, and we each crawled in backward, facing the room. It was just wide enough for us to lie on our stomachs, side by side with our arms touching.
“Your locator!” I hissed, covering Sirius’ arm. He clicked it off just as long, hairy legs wrapped around the corner. The creature stood as tall as me with arched legs longer than mine. Its four eyes glistened in the dim light as it turned toward us. Spiral daggers pointed from its armor in a crown around its torso. Behind it, the brain sack pulsed with each intake of breath.
My heart beat so fast, it pinched my chest. Sirius clutched my hand, and I squeezed, holding on like he was the only barrier keeping that monster from seeing us.
It clicked its jaws in a rhythmic pattern, and six smaller arachnids, each one about a foot tall and wide scurried in, clamoring for space underneath the larger arachnid’s legs. The mother, if that’s what it was, caged them with its legs, protecting them from falling into the water.
I gasped and whispered. “It can’t be.”
“Babies.” Sirius dragged himself a little closer to the rim.
I put my hand on his arm and shook my head. Thankfully, he didn’t creep any farther forward.
Even though I’d stopped Sirius from getting a better view, the scientist inside me itched to watch. Old Earth’s arachnids had no maternal tendencies, yet these monsters seemed to protect their young.
Why?
Judging from the enlarged brain sack alone, it made sense they could be smarter than any of their arachnid cousins we’d ever encountered. I mean, they could fly a space ship, for crying out loud. So it stood to reason they’d have a higher sense of responsibility. Perhaps they’d developed societal tendencies as well.
The creature lowered its head to the water. A long straw-like spout extended from below its eyes. The spout touched the surface and the water rippled around it. A gurgling sound sent a shiver up my spine. The babies crept toward the water and each one protracted a similar tube.
Sirius turned to me and hissed in my ear. “See?”
Watching the creatures drink didn’t exactly whet my appetite, but Sirius was right. If it breathed the same air, most likely, it needed the same water as we did, which would mean it might be sensitive to the same toxins. It was a stretch, but the other options were die of thirst, or die trying to make it back to the ship.
A gust of air blew around us, and I held onto Sirius, trying not to scream. My hair whipped against my face, and I wondered if it was long enough to blow into the room. We must have crawled into some sort of ventilation duct.
Sirius pulled me against him, wrapping his arm around me and smoothing my hair. I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking that monster would rip me from his arm any second.
The draft quieted, and I peeled open my eyes. The creature’s head snapped up and its legs closed in, holding the young close to the underside of its carapace. I wondered if it could smell us. I was glad Lyra, bathed in her strawberry perfume, wasn’t lying beside me.
That’s because Lyra is comatose. A wave of guilt rushed over me. Her fate was my fault. I hadn’t held on tight enough, and the metal weave-work had yanked her away.
I checked my locator, using Sirius’ body to block the light. Lyra’s green dot still blinked in the same spot, deep in the bowels of the ship. My jaw tightened. I’m going to find her.
The creature’s legs moved in a wave of motion as it skittered away. We waited for a long moment of silence before Sirius broke the silence. “I think it’s clear.”
“You think?”
He shrugged and checked his locator. “They’re gone.”
I pulled myself out and stumbled on tingly legs. Dizziness grabbed hold of me. Sirius was right. We hadn’t had water in over eight hours, and we’d been exerting ourselves and sweating the whole time. We needed something before we pressed on. I knelt beside the pool, considering the risks. Sirius joined me.
Resignation weighed down his shoulders. “I’ll try it. That way, you’ll see any reaction in me.”
“No.” I swung my arm across his chest. “We’ll try it together.”
His eyebrows rose in question.
“I mean it, and I’m the boss, remember?”
Respect and admiration softened his face.
I’d wanted him to look at me that way for so long. Too bad it took an alien invasion and us almost getting killed to make it happen. “On the count of three.”
We cupped our hands and each scooped a palm of water.
Sirius whispered beside me, and I joined in. “One, two...three.”
The liquid coated my throat with a smooth chill, soothing the rawness from heavy breathing. It tasted stale and full of minerals. Normally I wouldn’t drink from something a bug had touched, never mind a monster bug, but desperation weighed in. I bent down and scooped another gulp.
Sirius turned toward me, his lips moist and red. “You okay?”
I nodded, wanting to kiss his moistened lips. My voice came out a little too excited. “You?”
He nodded and stood, offering his hand. “You ready to kick some alien butt?”
I slipped my fingers into his. With him, I could conquer the world. “Bring it on.”
A reddish glow illuminated the end of the corridor. Sirius checked his locator and turned back to me. “There are a bunch of them to the right and left, but none in the corridor itself.”
What other option did we have? Go back and retrace our steps? Find another way?
No. Chances were the entire ship teemed with creatures. No matter which way we chose, there’d be a risk. “Go ahead.”
Sirius turned and I latched onto his arm. “Be careful.”
He rolled his eyes and I thought he was going to call me ”Mom” again. “I’m always careful.”
The corridor led to an open balcony with a solid barrier rising to waist level on either side. We crouched beneath the rim, peering over the edge to the right. The cavern lay below us, our ship sitting like a caged bird underneath the stalactites. The reddish light cast the silver in an ominous glow. Since the alien craft hovered so far above the jungle, the corsair was our only way out.
“Nova, take a look at this.”
I whirled around. Sirius had crawled along the rim, peering over the edge to the other side of the balcony. I crept on my hands and knees, careful not to rise above the solid railing. I took a deep breath, not knowing what I expected to see, and rose on my knees to look over the edge.
The left side opened into what I could only think of as a control room. Creatures stood in a semicircle before giant globes. Pictures of the jungle flashed in the reddish glow. A humongous crystal the size of a Landrover hovered in a beam of light in the center of the room. The crystal rotated slowly, each hard edge catching the light at a different angle.
“Do you think they use the crystal for some type of energy?” I whispered to Sirius, ducking back under the rim.
“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Grim lines crossed his face. His fingers traced the barrel of his laser. “We could destroy it right now.”
“No.” I placed my hand gently on his. “Not yet. How are we going to rescue our team with a horde of those arachnids following us in a rage?”
Sirius shrugged. His frustration was like prickles all over my skin. “We’re so close.”
My hand tightened on his. “I know. I want to destroy it as much as you do, but first, we must rescue the others.” I let the subject drop. I was the team expedition leader, after all. I adopted an authoritative tone to snap him out of it. “We have to keep moving.”
Sirius’ shoulders slumped. “Yes, ma’am.”
We crossed the balcony and reached the next closed corridor. The tunnel spiraled down, the exact direction we needed to go. My hopes rose. The mission didn’t seem so impossible.
Until we reached the strands.