There was the tapping of hundreds of legs. A Cetix suddenly walked right in front of the duct’s slits. Both of them reared back. It hadn’t seen them, but Khoth’s heartrate had doubled.
“You don’t think the Cetixes crawl through here, do you?” Jace had turned toward him and the young human’s eyes were huge. “Is that what you are asking her?”
“No, they are too large. I think…” Khoth stopped speaking as he heard a far more soft sound.
A slurping, suctioning sound that came from up ahead. From the living pillar. Khoth unsheathed his rahir slowly as he scanned the darkness ahead. Jace had whirled around too. Both of them were holding their breath as they waited for what, neither of them knew.
Khoth’s gaze was drawn to the slits again as he saw movement on the outside of the membranous pillar. Something–some things–were slithering around the outside of the pillar. They had clear sacks and almost delicate-looking crystalline pincers on the end of their eight legs. They traveled over the outside of the pillar and were doing something to it. Massaging it? Lubricating it? Whatever they were doing, they moved constantly.
Some of them are in the duct, Khoth realized.
“This is not a duct, Jace,” Khoth told him as he saw the half dozen crystalline-sack creatures coming towards them, leaving a trail of slime.
“No, no, it is not,” Jace agreed.
Without further need for discussion, the two of them raced towards the creatures. Backing up was not an option. Waiting to see what the creatures’ defenses were, also not an option. Throwing themselves headlong into a silent, desperate battle? Only option!
The creatures reared back on their delicate limbs as they realized that two beings about five times their size were barrelling towards them with glowing rahirs. They would have to be careful not to hit one another when they swung their blades as the duct was barely wide enough for the two of them.
Jace made a stabbing, rather than sweeping, motion with his rahir which punctured the nearest creature’s sack. There was a pop as the sack burst and fluid poured out onto the floor of the duct. Khoth nearly slipped in the slickness and the tip of his rahir bobbled, but he managed to nick two of the creatures’ sacks. More fluid. More sticky, slipperiness. That took out only half of them. The others were making these high pitched shrieks now, their cries echoing in the duct, as they raced back towards the pillar.
“Oh, hell, no!” Jace hissed and the young human picked up speed, nearly elbowing Khoth out of the way. “We have to get them before they attract others!”
There was a boom behind them and the duct wobbled as something large landed directly on top of them. Khoth had only a second to roll away from a sudden claw that punctured the top of the duct, right where his head had been moments ago. It was made by one of the Cetix’s pointy legs that were more like hundreds of curved sabers.
“They know we are here,” Khoth said.
“You think?!” Jace laughed.
“Run! Full out! We must get the virus to the pillar!”
Khoth grasped Jace around the waist and practically carried the young human as he ran full speed down the duct. The crystalline creatures were destroyed with a sweep of his rahir. But the shrieks they had given out were now being echoed throughout the entire room by others of their kind. There were more booms as Cetixes landed on the top of the duct. He heard a crunching sound and knew that the way back was no longer open to them.
The end of the duct was in sight. The glow from the pillar was almost blinding. His helmet’s shield darkened the view so he was able to see quite clearly the Cetix head that appeared in the opening, blocking their view of the pulsing pillar of flesh.
“Don’t slow down!” Jace cried.
Jace had brought out the draagves and started shooting. The Cetix’s head exploded and they both saw the centipede body slip off of the duct and fall away.
It was then that Khoth realized the duct ended in mid-air. Khoth screeched to a halt, stopping them at the last moment from running right over the edge and falling to their deaths.
“What are we going to do?” Jace asked as he stared at the pillar and then at the ducts that were seething now with Cetixes making a rattling noise as their chitin armor clacked together.
There was another boom and the duct they were in started suddenly lurched downwards, nearly spilling them out of its limited security. The weight of the Centixes coming towards them was breaking it!
“Idea! Idea! I have an idea!” Jace cried.
Jace shoved his draagves into Khoth’s hands while he brought out the virus chip. The fleshly pillar was within reach. With a look of disgust, Jace slammed the chip against the pillar. The blue chip flared and then broke apart. Black lines suddenly spread out across the pillar’s outside. The pillar heaved as if screaming in pain.
“What is the next part of your idea?” Khoth asked.
“Jump!” Jace cried. “We’ve only got 10 minutes!”
And at that, Jace grabbed Khoth’s hand and the two of them jumped from the duct.
Ten Minutes
The air whistled around Jace and Khoth as they fell-jumped from one duct to another. Multiple escape routes appeared before Jace’s mind’s eye. They were represented by orange lines that traced routes all of which led back to the hangar bay where they’d left the needle-like ship and Gehenna. This was exactly what he had seen when he faced off against Khoth in the Armory.
