Xeno Xoo Lost Chapter 11: Crypsid Homecoming

The rock held, and Voprot swung them across the gap. Geddy’s feet settled on the edge of the far tunnel, and he grabbed Oz’s outstretched hand. She pulled him into her as Voprot landed beside him and gave another flick of the whip to release it from the ceiling. Meanwhile, blaster fire strong enough to rip a man in half exploded off the sides.

“Let’s go!” Ingo cried, helping the Chief deeper into the tunnel.

The tunnel that hopefully led out.

Behind them, a distant rattle built in volume until it sounded like an earthquake. Geddy lurched forward onto his hands and knees and crawled  as fast as he could, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder before Voprot’s girth filled the tunnel. A lone soldier crypsid came barrelling through, knocking one of the fans into the myre, and made a horrible screech when it saw that the elites had been massacred and the queen taken. Before it could launch itself headlong into the myre, a Zelnad bolt turned it to mist.

“After them!” shouted one of the Nads.

That effort would be short-lived, because before the mist even settled, the balance of the crypsid horde poured through, spreading across the faint blue walls like an unholy plague.

“Go, go, go!” Geddy urged.

He tried to imagine himself as a hungry, four-legged creature bounding through the grasslands. Anything to make his unwieldy limbs move faster. The improvised knee pads had slipped halfway down his shins, but he didn’t care. Besides, the ground was a bit softer here and didn’t seem to be tracked up like the others. He took that as a good sign that this tunnel wasn’t trafficked as much by the creatures.

The blaster fire continued for two or three minutes — much longer than he would’ve expected, considering. But when it stopped, it stopped completely.

It should’ve given him more satisfaction to know the Zelnad infiltrators were being torn to pieces, but he knew the truth. They were just people. They didn’t ask to be taken over by evil alien entities any more than he asked to have one hitch a ride in his brain. The only thing that separated him from them was Eli’s grace.

“Voprot, watch your six,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

“What Voprot watch? No see woods.”

“Check behind you!”

The lizard paused and swung his headlamp back. “It clear.”

Maybe it was just his imagination or wishful thinking, but after ten minutes of crawling, it seemed the tunnel took a slight upward pitch. And it was getting warmer, suggesting they were getting closer to the surface.

Up ahead, Ingo and Chief Dewhold stopped. Ingo’s open palm shot out, and they stopped, too.

“What is it?” Oz asked.

“I hear something.”

They held their collective breath. Indeed, a faint rattle came from up ahead, almost like tinny bells clinking rhythmically together. Geddy’s chest tightened. What new horror show was this?

Tink, tink, tink, tink.

Ingo and the chief crouched to either side of the tunnel and drew their blasters. It didn’t sound like the crypsids, exactly, but it didn’t not sound like them. Geddy’s fingers tickled the handle of the PDQ, though it was such close quarters, he couldn’t have slipped a shot past Oz without hitting her.

From between Ingo and Dewhold, a bouncing light appeared, and the  source of the metallic tinkling became clear.

It was Jeledine.

Her head remained down for so long that she didn’t even notice them until she was maybe seven meters away.

She gasped and pressed herself to the side of the tunnel, her hand flying up to shield her eyes. “Holy hell! Is that Ingo?”

The wardens lowered their weapons. Like Voprot, Jel had bundled up their supplies and tied them to her foot. Each forward movement made the carabiners, tools, and other gear clink together.

“Jeledine!” Denk exclaimed, dashing past the wardens to greet her.

“Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes. How far are we from the surface?” Geddy asked.

“Not far. What happened? Did it work?”

“Yeah, it worked all right.”

“Aw, man, you shoulda seen it!” Denk said. “Voprot swung across the myre with Geddy under his arm like he was rescuing a princess.”

Jel barked a laugh. “Oh my god, really?”

“That’s not …” Geddy grumbled. “Can we just go, please, before I lose my damn mind?”

The tunnel widened into a natural cave at the bottom of a rocky plateau within sight of deep canyon that led to the spaceport. They encountered no signs of crypsids along the way, suggesting its only purpose was to provide some measure of fresh air to the myre.

Right now, its purpose was to let Geddy decompress. Improbably, he had crawled through several hundred yards of hot, cloying tunnels without having a heart attack or clawing his face off.

— I am proud of you.

— I’m pretty damn proud of me, too.

Among Jel’s supplies were masks that would supplement their oxygen long enough to make the short walk to the Armstrong. The atmosphere was wafer-thin and offered little defense against the retina-searing heat of the planet’s two yellow suns. It had baked the landscape to a cracked, hardened crust that in no way betrayed the amount of life just below the surface.

The shimmering ground made the Armstrong’s stealth mode even more effective. It would’ve been completely invisible save for the shadow it cast, which, admittedly, limited its usefulness in atmosphere. Not fifty meters away on the other side of the cave entrance was the much smaller Zelnad ship, still cloaked.

Jel apparently had paired her arm-mounted comm device to the Armstrong because she tapped something, and it popped suddenly into view.

Denk’s jaw hit the floor. “What the heck …? That’s the surprise??”

Geddy beamed proudly. “This is the Armstrong. A Berzerker-class gunship in the New Alliance army. It’s got more bells and whistles than a Mardis Gras parade. Way fewer boobs, but we’re gonna work on that.”

Oz’s eyes rolled behind her mask. “After Verdithea, Verveik gave Geddy this and took the Dominic.”

“I get to fly that?” he asked, incredulous.

“There’s a tutorial and a simulation mode. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what she can do.”

“Is that … tukrium?” asked Ingo, equally impressed.

“Tukrium-clad, yes. Every square inch.”

As they talked, Jel rifled through the filthy satchel of emergency gear until she found some shiny silver emergency blankets. There were just enough for each of them. Though they were completely shaded under the cave overhang, it felt like an oven. Geddy took the last drink from his flask and frowned at the quickly reddening skin on the back of his hand.

“Cover up good and move fast,” she said, wrapping it around her like a cloak.

They unfurled the blankets and did likewise. Voprot’s only reached about halfway down his back, but if anyone could handle a few seconds of searing heat, it was him.

“Everyone ready?” Jel asked.

They nodded yes, and Jel hurried across toward the ship, followed by the three Durandians, Geddy and Oz, and Voprot. Almost immediately, the suns’ incredible force made the blanket so hot that it felt like it was burning Geddy’s scalp. Along the way, Jel activated the ramp and they practically ran inside. As soon as Voprot’s tail cleared the opening, Geddy slammed the button to shut it. The ship’s environmental controls kicked into high gear to cool everything down, and everyone peeled off their blankets.

“Everyone okay?” Geddy asked.

Nods all around. With his mouth hanging open, Denk made a slow pass around the bridge, touching every surface.

“Holy crap,” he muttered.

“I knew you’d like it.”

Oz jutted her chin at the display, which revealed the Zelnad ship as it actually appeared. Like the deep-space science ship they’d stolen from under Beebit Tompanov, it had a blue-green sheen to it that they now knew was a self-healing organic skin.

“What’re we gonna do with that thing?”

Jel plunked down in the copilot’s seat while Geddy fired up the buttery smooth engines. You could hardly tell they’d come online. Everyone sat and buckled in as he lifted her free of the scorched earth.

“I dunno,” Geddy said, putting the ship at the center of his targeting reticle. “Let’s see what this button does.”