Dark, page 17
“Do you know the risks?”
Tali didn’t even begin to understand the question, let along how to answer it.
She sent a messenger to the Speaker to say they wished to leave and in return. Chak was sent back to them as a guide. They bade what passed for farewells with the folk they’d become most familiar with in their new nursing teams, collected their things, and left.
With a Chosen to guide them, the terrain became much simpler. It seemed they were being led the simplest, not the shortest way out, and they were glad of that. When they camped at the end of their first cycle Tali realized that they had all brought something with them. Every face and every hand, hers most of all, carried a glow from the source they had all brought with them. She quickly made to apply the ointment to all of them. Chak didn’t need any, his wounds healing nicely from the first time Tali had applied the cream. Myrch refused point blank. Tali was half expecting him to before she even offered.
They made good progress, with their Chakking friend leading the way being an efficient guide. Dun couldn’t help noticing more places where that had heat but with no vents. It seemed the source wasn’t the only source. Dun pondered how the heat had gotten there, and what it even was. At the very least, it made an interesting caveat on his ever-expanding map. “Here be source.” He still spent time worrying whether he’d ever get it back to the Bridge-folk to show them.
The last part of their journey through Chosen territory was a perilous descent down a tube that seemed to be part of a giant tunnel network. The Chakkas seemed to have a smoothed pipe gadget that allowed them to clip on to a rope and slide down it, braking their descent by lifting the trailing end of the rope. It seemed that with enough practice more than one of them could rappel down a rope at a time. This must be how the rapid ambushes took place.
As they descended, Dun could hear trickling water from the pipes below, then as he got closer he detected a faint smell drifting up the rope to meet him. Adrenaline banged into his bloodstream. He felt the rush of blood to his face, to his ears. He felt dizzy. Slowly, he realized where he’d smelled that scent before: He’d smelled it in a dream.
“What’s wrong, Dun?” Tali asked.
“That dream, the one of the thing hunting and attacking us?”
“Uh-huh,”
“It took place here.”
“But how could it?” Tali said. “You’ve never been here.”
“It’s foretelling, isn’t it,” Padg said. “That’s what happens.”
“So what happens in the dream?” Myrch said, last to land in the pipe behind them.
“There isn’t really an end to it if that’s what you’re asking. It’s just me sensing what the creature senses and being aware of what it's thinking.”
“What is it thinking? Out of interest,” Padg said.
“Mostly that it wants to hunt and bite and taste blood.”
“Sorry I asked now.”
“Is it in front of us or behind us?” Myrch said.
“I can’t really tell,” Dun said. “Sorry. You still believe me, don’t you?”
“It certainly can’t hurt to be prepared,” Myrch said. “Is it bigger than us, smaller?”
“No, smaller. ?hhhygIts the size of a large rat, but there’s something odd about it. Its mind isn’t like ours.”
“Well, no,” Padg said, “its a rat.”
“That’s not what I meant slick-whiskers, part of its mind is rat-like, I guess. Savage, ravenous, but rat-like. But there’s another part of its mind, somehow inside it, or maybe alongside it, that’s cold, calculating, like its giving instructions, processing. Either way, small or not, it’s fierce and sharp, and its killed things before, lots of things.”
“Then we’d better make sure we’re not on its menu,” Myrch said. “I’ll take the front, Padg, spear out, you’re in back. Tali, anything in that bag of tricks of yours we can use?”
“I’ve still got a couple of compression flasks left.”
“Good. Fish one out, we can do with all the help we can get. Okay.” There was that small metal sliding sound and a click that accompanied Myrch when he was preparing. “Let’s go. Move off slowly.”
“Err, we should say good-bye to Chak first,” Tali said.
“Okay, but hurry,” Myrch said.
Hurried farewells were said, and they moved off into the pipe. The party tried to make less noise than the trickling stream that soaked their feet in the bottom of the pipe, Padg having the least luck on account of him walking backward guarding their rear.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
THERE WAS A TWITCH of whiskers then the smell of fear. Padg didn’t even have the time to cry out. The beast was on him.
Sword-spear already drawn, he thought he’d caught it with the blade as it crashed into him but he couldn’t tell. Gods, the thing was fast. He was bowled off his feet with the momentum and sat in the watery pipe with a splash.
“Where the hells is it?” Padg shouted.
“It went over my head and up the pipe,” Tali said.
“Everyone okay?” Myrch said.
“I’m bruised but okay,” Padg said.
“Tali? Dun?” Myrch asked.
“Missed me,” Tali said. “Dun? Dun...”
“I... think. I think it got me, I’m... cut. It cut me. Something metal, I think.”
Tali was there in a click, “Hells, Dun, sit down.”
“But the pipe... it’s... wet.”
“Sit!” she said.
He was bleeding badly from his stomach. Tali’s hands were sticky already and the sweetly metallic smell didn’t normally turn her stomach, but somehow it being Dun’s blood made the nausea worse.
“You two, guard us here while I patch Dun up,” Tali said.
“We’ll give you as long as we can,” Myrch said.
“Got that flask, Tali?” Padg said.
“Backpack, side pocket. Fish me a needle and twine out of the same side while you’re in there.”
“On it.”
“Thanks,” Tali said as Padg handed over the needle and headed to the front of the party. He found a tense Myrch when he got there.
“Any signs?” Padg said.
“None,” Myrch said. “Damn, but that thing was quiet.”
“Hmm, and fast too.”
“Can you two pipe down back there? I’m going to see if Padg can listen,” Myrch said to the groaning noises and shushing from behind them. “Well?”
“Nothi...”
“What?”
“Wait... there’s something. It’s right at the top end of my hearing. It’s higher than bat-noise. A tiny, tiny, squee kind of noise. It’s nothing like any creature I’ve ever heard before.”
“I don’t think it is like any creature you’ve ever heard before. Not any natural one anyway.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I’m guessing, but I think its some kind of machine,” Myrch said.
“But I heard it, smelled it; it’s like a rat.”
“But it’s not one, is it?”
“What else did you smell?”
Padg thought. “Something chemical, inorganic. Like that oil stuff that Tinker-folk use on found things to make them work again.”
“Oil. Exactly.”
“I don’t understand,” Padg said.
“I think, it’s part machine, part beast. A rat missile, if you like. Smart enough to have its own intelligence and behaviors, but with a machine half to give commands and maybe weapons.”
“Gods, that’s terrible,” Padg said. “Who would do such a thing?”
“Honestly,” Myrch said, “I don’t know, but whoever it is, I think that thing wants us dead.”
“But wh—” Dun said.
“It's coming!” Padg said.
“Above!” Myrch shouted.
A low rapid series of fut noises battered out while Myrch cursed. Padg flailed his sword-spear. A whish of air and the creature crashed into the weapon and threw Padg back off his feet.
“Dang!”
“Watch...”
“Tali!”
“No!”
Then it was gone again.
“Oh no!” Tali spoke first out of the chaos.
“You okay?” Myrch said.
“Yeah,” she said, “which is more than I can say for my backpack. That blasted thing shredded it on the way past. I had it over my head to fend it off.”
“I think it’s trying to get me,” Dun said. “Why would it want to do that?”
“Time for that later,” Myrch said, clipped. “Ready for another attack.”
“Padg,” Dun said, “toss me that flask. You’ve got your hands full. I want to feel a bit less useless.”
Dun clicked his tongue and Padg threw to the sound. Then the rush of air again and the thing was on them. There was a crash of glass and liquid splished. A screech that was neither animal or mechanical.
“Ahhhhh!” Dun shouted.
“You little... nnng!” Padg shouted. “Got you!”
Gone again.
“Winged it properly this time, did you?” Myrch said.
“I think I got the spear tip into it. I felt it snap. Yeah,” Padg said, feeling the weapon, “the ends gone.”
“I think Dun got it too,” Tali said. “He got us anyway.”
“Yeah, urgh, what is that stuff. It's awful,” Dun said.
“It’s sticky,” she said.
“Yeah I know,” Dun said.
“It’ll slow it down, hopefully,” she said.
“Better had!” Myrch shouted, “Here it comes!”
The futs rattled out again. Myrch splished forward in the pipe, the futting continued. Thrashing, splashing, screeching noises. More futting, screeching, and then more futting. Keening, thinner, silence. Then just the trickle of the water in the pipe.
There was a faint wet crunch as Myrch toed the creature with his foot.
“Careful,” Padg said.
“Don’t you worry about me,” Myrch said, amused. “You go and get patched up.”
“Who’s going to patch me up?” Tali said.
“Moaner,” Padg said. “You always land on your feet regardless!”
A little beyond the remains of the rat-missile was another short intersecting pipe. Padg explored it and found it to be a dead end. They dragged themselves and the remains of their kit into the pipe and holed up.
“Gods, this backpack’s trashed,” Tali said.
“Have you lost much stuff?” Dun said.
“A good load, yes.”
“Sorry,” Dun said.
“Idiot,” Tali said, poking him.
“Ow!”
“I think I’ve still got some wound cream in here, and I’ll give you something to drink for the pain. It may make you drowsy.”
It did. He slept soundly, woken only by the aching in his stomach wall. That was a hell of a fight. He tried to sit up but whatever it was that Tali had done to help his wounds start to knit hurt like hell. He supposed here was as good a place to rest as any and drifted back to sleep.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
DUN’S NIGHTMARES WOKE him again, but not with a foretelling. At least not one that he could recognize as one. What he remembered was a fragmentary clash of noises and smells and gods knew what else. The only cogent reminder of his cycles rest was the banging headache he woke with and the ache in his guts.
The others were bustling around readying to break camp. Upon stirring, Dun found a small leaf wrap thrust into his hand.
“Nice, thanks,” Dun said.
“Make the most of it. We need to eat them before they spoil,” Tali said. “My pack got drenched and loads of stuff got wet. Bottled stuff is okay, but we’re going to be really stretched for food.”
“Back to weeds and rats then, yum,” Padg said.
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Myrch said.
“Why do you know something we don’t?” Dun said.
“Maybe. I think I’ve got an idea.”
“Oh, gods.” Padg sighed. “It always starts like that.”
“Going to tell us what this adventure might entail?” Tali said. “No, thought not.”
“Why spoil a good surprise?” Myrch said.
They shouldered their packs and slid down the pipe, splishing back into the shallow stream in the bottom. They settled into a steady pace, making good time. They walked in silence, lulled by the noise of the trickle. Dun noticed the pipe widened gradually as they walked. When they stopped for their next break, the stream in the bottom of the pipe seemed shallower, slower somehow.
“Nothing to hunt or forage here,” Padg said after a cursory search.
“No,” Dun said, “not a scent of anything except that water and the pipe.”
“The pipe smells a bit plasticky here though,” Tali said.
“Doesn’t help us catch fish,” Dun said.
“Plastic fish?” Padg said.
Dun sniggered.
Tali said, “Yeah, I’m laughing, but I’m still hungry. I can’t fix Padg’s sense of humor, but I have a couple of things left. Give me a few clicks.”
While they leaned against one wall of the pipe to stay out of the water for a while, Tali mixed from her remaining bottles. There was a strong smell of crushed grass and maybe milk. Dun couldn’t swear that he found it enticing.
“Here.” Tali handed him a bottle. “It's not fantastic, but it’s got energy in it and bulk so it’ll stave off the hunger for a bit at least.”
They passed the bottle around, making some kind of noise from each in turn as they drank. Myrch refused and drank from some kind of faintly bitter smelling flask of his own.
“So we’re going where again?” Padg said.
“I didn’t say,” Myrch mumbled around another gulp of whatever he was drinking.
“No, so you didn’t,” Padg said, hoping Myrch would fill the space. He didn’t.
“Machine-folk,” Dun said simply.
Myrch paused mid-swig and then continued drinking.
“It’s obvious,” Dun said. “Partly by how far we’ve traveled, but also by how hedgy you are about any questions.”
He paused. “Not so much that you’re bothered that we know we’re going there, we always were, but something else.”
“Oh?” Myrch said.
“You’re worried about something when we get there? You don’t like seeming like you don’t know what’s going on. And you don’t.”
“Yeah?”
“No. You kind of know where we’re going, but you don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there.”
“Have you finished?” Myrch said.
“Not quite.” It was Dun’s turn for the bottle, and he sipped slowly before passing it on. “Have now. Shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
DUN COULDN’T TELL WHEN the pipe had turned into a corridor. He guessed a while back. They’d walked nearly another whole cycle, stopping little. With no dry rations left, there was little left to stop for. Between his buzzing head and growling stomach, he really hadn’t been admiring the architecture. But it had definitely changed. Now he’d thought it, he pinged out with his air-sense. Definitely changed from round section to square section and smoother. Not just a utilitarian pipe anymore, but first a smooth tube, and then a smooth corridor. And made from what? Smooth to the touch but not without texture. A nap even, smoother one way than the other. Brushed metal then? Not cool either. Or warm. Ambient. Not a trace of rust or wear in the pipe where the water still trickled underfoot.
“You’ve sensed it too then?” Padg said at the sound of Dun’s running fingertips along the wall.
“Yeah...”
“What do you make of it?”
“Civilization to be sure. Someone lives here. Or did. Nothing here feels accidental, natural.”
Then, as if from nowhere, a breeze began behind them. From still air, very slowly building to a strong, steady force.
“I don’t think that’s natural either,” Tali said.
“No,” Padg said, “not gusting.”
“And listen. That whine again.”
The very faint high-pitched squeak that seemed to be the life-blood of the rat-machine was back. A different, resonating noise this one, but way up there in the so-hard-to-hear-you-nearly-can’t-register.
“I wonder if...” Dun said and edged closer, trying to cock an ear to hear better, make more out of it.
“STOP!” Myrch barked. “Take one step backward.”
That was harder to do than Dun imagined. It was almost like the wind was forcing him forward, toward the noise. He dug his heels in and backed away. He bumped Padg on the way backward, who grabbed his arm.
“What is it?” Padg said, responding in kind to the tone of Myrch’s command.
“Very dangerous,” he said. “Got a glass stopper from one of your bottles, Tali? Preferably one you won’t need to use again.”
“Sure,” she said, proffering a bottle, stopper first to Myrch. He took the stopper, leaving her holding the rest of the bottle.
Myrch hurled the stopper toward the noise.
The stopper ricocheted off the wall of the tunnel with a clang.
“What the hells is that thing?” Padg said.
“A fan. An enormous great fan. From what I can tell it fills the corridor. If we’d have bumbled into it... Well, you’re bright, folks,” Myrch said.
“How do we get past it?” Dun said.
“I don’t know,” Myrch said. “I don’t know.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
THEY STOOD IN FRONT of the massive fan, a respectful distance away, pondering.
“Without stating the obvious,” Padg said, “if it’s just a fan, can’t we stick something in it to stop it going around?”
“How many sword-spears have we got left? I’ve got one,” Dun said.
“Two here,” Padg said. “Worth a try then.”
“Sounds extremely dangerous to me,” Myrch said.
“Got a better plan?” Padg said.
“At the moment, no.”
“Well, then,” Padg said.
“At least put a rope around him,” Myrch said. “Maybe we can reduce disaster, if not prevent it.”
