“I’m not going back.” Sirius’ body tensed as we searched for another way out. “There’s no way I can climb that weave-work in this condition, and I’d probably fall right back down.”
I scanned the crystals; the low ceiling pressed down on me like it would fall right on top of us at any minute. All those levels stood between us and escape. “There’s got to be another way out. We have to look for tunnels in the walls.”
Sirius pulled his arm off my shoulders. “The room is so huge, we’d save time by splitting up.”
I didn’t like the idea, but he was right. “Can you walk on your own?”
He took a few steps, using his arms to brace himself against the wall. “The dizziness is better, but my head still pounds like a reactor alarm.”
I gave him a wary look. “Okay, we’ll work toward opposite ends of the room. Shout if you need me.”
Sirius nodded, already heading in the other direction. “Okay, boss.”
Boss. The word sounded so formal after what we’d just lived through. What else could he call me? My dear. My love. We were on a mission and I was his superior. Anything else could be considered insubordinate. Besides, even after he’d mentioned that ambiguous phrase about choosing me instead, I still didn’t know where he and I stood romantically.
As I felt along the wall, the floor started to vibrate underneath my feet. “Sirius!”
“I feel it too.” His voice resonated from the opposite end of the room. Panic surged. It would take several minutes to reach him. We shouldn’t have separated.
A beam of bright, white light shot from the floor at the center of the room. I fell forward, clutching a crystal as my whole body shook. The hard edges cut into the blood-coated fabric tied around my palms.
“What is it?” I shouted over the increasing rumble.
“Stay away from the center.” Sirius sounded even farther away, and I couldn’t stop the dread from gripping my neck with icy fingers. I had to see what was happening.
I inched forward, using each crystal as a crutch. The shaking made my bones feel like jelly. I stumbled to the next crystal, and the next one after that, flailing my arms for balance in between.
A hole had opened in the floor. From the opening I caught a waft of tangy, humid jungle air. After the dank staleness of the alien ship, Paradise 21 had never smelled more like home. As I crept forward, the vine-ridden jungle peeked up at me, coated in hazy golden light. I was so close, yet so far away.
Another giant crystal floated in the beam, momentarily blocking my view. Even though it obscured my view of safety, it wasn’t like we could leap to the jungle below. The ship floated too high. We’d fall to our deaths. Besides, we still had to save the others.
A second beam of light shot down from the ceiling, moving the quartz to a pedestal. The crystal lowered, hitting the platform with a resounding chink. The arachnids must store the crystals here after extraction. I logged the information in the back of my mind. Crophaven might want to reclaim them after our escape. The light buzzed off, leaving the room in the same dim violet flickering I’d grown used to. The panels in the floor screeched shut and silence fell.
“Sirius, are you okay?”
A weight fell on my shoulder and I jumped back, holding my laser. Sirius jerked away, holding both hands up. “Whoa. You got me.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and shot him a reproachful look. “I thought you were an arachnid.”
He glanced down at his torn and damp uniform. “Geez, I didn’t think I looked that hairy.”
Annoyance simmered off me. He always thought life was a big game. “Listen up, space-brain. We’ve got to find another way out of here.”
He leaned against the wall in his old, arrogant charm and flashed me a wicked grin. “Hold your comet tales, little lady. Been there. Done that.”
“You mean you found a way out?”
“Yeah, while you stared at the pretty light, I came across a southern tunnel. And this one goes up.” He raised his eyebrows. “Wanna see?”
“Of course I do.” I huffed, rolling my eyes. What else were we going to do down here? Plant tomatoes?
“Follow me.” Sirius led me to the other end of the room. A ventilation tunnel, like the one we’d hid in before, twisted up into the wall.
I hesitated, feeling it was a trick. Besides, I was sick to death of tunnels. “What if the air turns on while we’re in it?”
“We’ll hold on.” Sirius winked. Was he thinking of the last ventilation tunnel, where we’d held each other like lovers against the force of the wind? I blushed, thankful Sirius had already lowered himself to all fours and crawled in. His voice echoed in the tunnel. “I’ll go first.”
The bottom of his boots disappeared, and I flung myself after him. After losing him once, I wasn’t about to let him out of my sight again. The tunnel was slick with condensation, and I braced myself with my arms to keep from sliding. We crawled up at an angle, and I hoped the tunnel didn’t get too steep. My locator beeped with life as we cleared the pull of the crystals, and I used the white light to illuminate the path farther in.
Sirius stopped and turned back to look at me with his finger across his lips. “Shhhh.”
My heart went into overdrive. I hissed in the barest of whispers, “What is it?”
A light chittering resonated down the end of the tunnel, sending fear crawling up my spine.
Arachnids couldn’t possibly fit in—
Sirius screamed, clutching a dark mass attached to his face. I shone my locator on him and shock froze my heart. A baby arachnid had wrapped its legs around his head. His fingers tried to pry the legs off as its small spout reached for one of his eyes.
The tunnel was too small for me to climb over him and help him tear it off. Instead, I whipped out my laser. “Hold still.”
“Oh no you’re not,” he shouted.
I aimed for the miniature brain sack and fired. Bluish goo sprayed everywhere—my face, my lips, my hair. Sirius pulled the legs off and threw it down into the tunnel below us. The smell of burnt flesh stank, clogging my throat.
I wiped my face on my sleeve, hoping the blood wasn’t diseased. “Holy mother-of-a-black-hole.”
Sirius wiped a trickle of blood from the side of his head.
“You’re hurt.” I put a hand on his boot. I couldn’t reach his face.
“Besides a scratch, and a near miss with a laser, I’m fine.”
I settled back, relieved. “You’re welcome, by the way.” My voice dripped with sarcasm, but this time I didn’t try to hold it back. My sarcastic nature didn’t seem to bother him. In fact, I’d say he fed off it.
He started climbing again. “You’re welcome, yourself.”
I fumed as I followed him, trying to avoid the puddles of goop from the popped brain sack. “What did you do?”
“Go in first.”
At times, Sirius was so arrogant I wanted to smack him.
Almost as arrogant as me.
It was like looking into a mirror and seeing how everyone else saw me when I raised my hand with the right answer in class, or when I wouldn’t admit Andromeda had been right about the pods. In the darkness of the tunnel, as I squirmed to keep up with the bottom of Sirius’ boots, I realized how alike we were. Both of us tried to beat the system, him by playing the game to become an aviator, and me by studying my butt off to become a lieutenant. We were driven to a fault, and now our perseverance would get us out of here. That was, if we didn’t strangle each other first.
Red glowing light illuminated the end of the tunnel. Sirius increased his pace. “We’re almost there.”
He pulled himself out and thrust his hand back in for me. “You’re gonna want to see this.”
I took his hand in mine, trying not to think about the feeling of his rough calluses against my smooth skin. We’d touched each other on this mission more than we’d ever touched before. Even though it was out of necessity instead of romance, the contact warmed my cheeks.
The tunnel opened into another large cavern. Metal webs covered everything, lining the floor and walls. Webs dangled from the ceiling in intricate patterns and spread between the stalagmites in sheets. Red glow-balls spread dim light into the darkness.
I checked my locator. Green dots registered beyond the first rows of webs. I resisted the urge to shout the names of my team and give us away. “They’re here somewhere.”
Sirius climbed through a large hole in the first web. “We’re going to have to work our way in.”
It reminded me of those computer maze games I used to play as a kid. I sat next to Dad as he played Galaxy Battlefield and get lost in the twists of Maze-o-rama. After I spent a whole day in front of the screen, my legs fell asleep, and an empty kind of triumph deflated in my heart. Yes, I beat level seven with no wrong turns, but what had I really accomplished? Dad and I hadn’t spoken to each other, just lounged side by side in our own cyber-worlds.
It didn’t take me long to realize sitting on my butt and flicking buttons wouldn’t get me anywhere. Video games were a total waste of time. Studying held much more promise. Yeah, and this is what it’s gotten you: crawling around on an alien ship.
The webs grew thicker toward the center. Lumps in different shapes and sizes hung from the strands. I pointed above our heads. “What are they?”
“Who knows?” Sirius slid underneath a tight woven mesh that stretched almost to the floor. “There’s a lower one up ahead.”
We crawled under a horizontal web with holes wide enough for me to stick my head through. Sirius turned on his back and melted the strands with his laser, creating an opening for us to climb up. We emerged a half meter underneath the shiny lump hanging from the ceiling.
I straightened beside Sirius and we both stared in silence. The metal had been woven around something the shape of a pig from the biodome. Lumps protruded in six small legs. The metal cocoon ended around the beast’s neck. A bluish-gray tentacle hung limply from the top, where a rounded snout with small, square teeth poked out of the metal weave-work. A white tuft of fine hair grew from its head.
“It’s prey.” It had to be. “This animal isn’t from Paradise 21, though.”
Sirius held the back of his hand to the creature’s mouth. “It’s still breathing. Maybe it’s in some kind of stasis.”
I craned my head to see the other lumps hanging from the ceiling and wondered how many strange species the arachnids had collected from all over the universe. This cave would be a biologist’s dream. If the biologist lived long enough to report it.
“Over here.” Sirius had climbed his way through another set of webs. The urgency in his voice sent adrenaline rushing through me. I picked my way through a massive horizontal web, each step falling through a hole in the weave-work. When I finally reached him, he was already in front of one of the lumps, prying a strand of metal off Lyra’s face.
“By the Guide! Is she okay?”
“Like the last specimen, she’s still breathing.” Sirius spoke through gritted teeth as he pulled.
Lyra’s eyes were closed. Her face was pale and cold, and dried spots of the bluish liquid from the spire that had hit her chest still glistened on her lips. For a moment, her vulnerability reminded me of Solar. Lyra was someone’s big sister, just like I was to Solar. Her brother, Leo, even though he seemed spacey at times, would want her to return unharmed. He might even need her more than Solar needed me.
I grabbed on to the same piece of metal. My muscles bunched in protest and my arms shook as I tried to free her. The cuts in my palms ached and I let go in frustration. “Our hands aren’t strong enough. We’ll have to use our lasers.”
Sirius’ gaze flickered to mine. “Isn’t that too dangerous?”
“Not if we set the power level low and aim for the sides.”
He let go and rubbed his reddened hands together. “All right. Let’s get her out of there.”
We stood a half-meter back and set our lasers to the lowest power level with the thinnest beam. Although it would take longer for the metal to melt, the heat would be bearable, as long as we didn’t fire too close.
I raised my laser. Never did I think I’d have to hold the barrel at someone I knew. “Aim for her feet.”
We fired, and the metal warmed until it began to drip in a puddle on the floor. A hole formed, and I motioned for Sirius to stop. “Wait for the metal to cool. We don’t want her falling and burning herself.
Sirius stepped toward her. “You keep firing, I’ll catch her when she falls through.”
I nodded, turning the steady stream back on. Lyra’s face lowered into the cocoon, and I took my finger off the trigger, giving Sirius time to bend down near the opening. Making sure the metal had stopped dripping, he gazed up into the hole we’d created. “I see her boots.”
“Can you pull her through?”
“I’ll try.” Careful not to step into the liquid metal, Sirius reached into the cocoon. Gently, he lowered her in his arms and found a clear spot on the floor to lay her down. Wishing our medic was with us, I knelt beside her and took her pulse. “It’s steady.”
“Good. You stay with her. I’ll find the others.” Sirius ducked underneath a web and began checking the other metal lumps. I opened Lyra’s uniform. The spire had left a messy gash in her chest, but the bluish liquid had sealed the wound. Those spires were meant to incapacitate, not kill.
I wiped the blue liquid from the corners of her mouth. It had to be the cause of her comatose state.
How could I get the toxin out of her system? Panic settled in as I realized all three of my team members might very well be in this vulnerable state, and we couldn’t carry all of them out. Especially Gavin. He was as heavy as an ox.
I had to find a way to wake her up.
“Lyra.” I tapped on her cheek, even though I knew it was useless. “You’ve got to wake up.”
Sirius shouted from across the cavern. “I found Gavin and Alcor. They’re encased, but they’re breathing.”
“Great.” Relief and annoyance mingled in my thoughts. Just my luck. Three team members unconscious and a horde of arachnids between us and our corsair. We’d never make it.
I gazed at Lyra, opening her eyelid and closing it again. The pupil was dilated and nonreactive to light. Definitely a coma-like state. We needed an antidote—if that would work at all. I had to hope.
Sirius climbed down from a web on the right. “I’ve placed them as close to us as possible, but I can’t seem to wake them.”
“Same here.”
Doubt crept into my mind, like those fierce baby spiders. What if they couldn’t wake up? What if we had to leave them behind? What kind of team expedition leader would I be? How could I stare down their parents, their siblings, and explain how we’d failed?
No. If they aren’t dead I’m not going to leave them. I clenched my fists. “There has to be a way.”