*
Sam was yelling at Ben and Gaal when the door on the back side slid open.
"Door’s open," whispered Dahms as she grabbed Sam's arm to get his attention. After letting go she stepped quietly into the next room.
She peered into a chamber, noting it was about thirty meters in each direction, and as she looked up she saw a ceiling which was domed and had a dim light hanging down with just enough of an illuminating glow to cast grayish-black shadows from objects in the room. There were boulders, rocks, and more crystals were lying or piled up in an unsymmetrical fashion. In the middle of the room small Zen I crystals were piled in a circle which looked to be about two feet in diameter. The light from the ceiling penetrated the crystals throughout the room and created rainbows, which emanated a spectacular display of colors in all directions.
"I don't like the looks of that," said Dahms pointing at the circle of crystals. "It looks like a nest." She strained to see what was inside the circle, but the lighting and the distance made it difficult to see over the rim.
Sam stepped beside her, and the door slid shut. "Into the monster's lair," he said. He advanced into the chamber hunched over and walking slowly toward the pile of crystals. His walk was silent—careful not to disturb any of the rocks strewn about the floor. There were no other doors nor tunnels leading into the chamber, and no visible vents.
Dahms followed warily in a semi-crouched position. Her sword was extended in her right hand with the handbeam in her left. She made ready for any monstrosity that might come bolting out of the shadows. Cautiously as she and Sam moved forward they searched for a few minutes looking behind boulders, but they found nothing. Finally, Dahms stood erect and shone her handbeam around the room. She knew something was there.
Three red lights, tiny and brilliant and shaped in a pyramidal pattern, appeared above one of the boulders to the right about three paces from the circle of crystals. The red lights blinked off, then on, then started quickly toward the runners, and whatever it was, it made a high-pitched squealing noise as it ran. Dahms saw the thing first, and reached over to push Sam out of the way just as it launched itself at them. A flying black shadow flew through the space where Sam's head had been a moment before and landed several meters past the two of them.
Dahms had a momentary, nightmarish glimpse of a fuzzy black creature with numerous legs and two fangs protruding from its mouth, like two scalpels ready to cut into flesh.
It turned as it hit the floor. It watched. It waited and then it backed up as if it were tempting them to follow.
As Dahms got a better look she could see it was a spider-like creature with fangs. It was a foot and a half in height, like a small dog, but unlike a small dog it had eight legs, four on each side from which hung its bulbous abdomen supporting a small, scrunched face in the front.
"Now where did Hurd find this thing?" hissed Sam in a contemptuous tone.
While watching the black spider-like thing Dahms took a quick glance at the crystal nest and saw several little creatures, all black in color, scurrying about. " Oh God," said Dahms.
"Yeah, there's five of them," said Sam. "And there's no fury like that of a protective mother.”
The thing took another step back.
"Let's spread out a little so we don't hack each other with our swords," said Dahms.
Sam took a couple of steps to the right. "Keep your light on it or we'll lose it," he said.
Just then one of the babies climbed onto the rim of the nest, and that was enough to send the mother into a frenzy. She rushed at Dahms with an appalling speed. As Dahms jumped sideways she turned and swung her sword in an attempt to wound the creature, hopefully mortally, but her off-balanced position produced a rotation in her wrist, and she hit the creature with a flat edge of the sword. At the same time she was falling toward the floor and had to catch herself with her left hand and straight-arm. She quickly jumped up, but her light went spinning away and didn't stop until it hit the wall about twenty feet away. It fell into a pile of rocks sending its beam of light at an awkward angle toward the ceiling.
They both lost sight of the creature.
"Damn,” said Dahms, “that thing's fast."
“Yeah, just like the giant bees. Hurd wants to make sure we have a challenge.”
Dahms peered intently where she had last seen it, then she started toward the light.
"Where are you going?"
"I have to get the light."
“It's too dangerous," said Sam. “It’s possible this creature is smart enough to be waiting near the handbeam.
"It's our only chance," she replied. “We have to have that light.”
"I'll go," said Sam.
"Stay where you are. I'm closer." Dahms worked her way toward the far wall where the light was shining toward the ceiling like a beacon summoning all the creatures in the dark. She bent over to pick it up and heard a rapid clicking sound coming from behind her, but even without turning to look she knew it was the spider. She quickly grabbed the light and shined it on the monstrosity. She could see its teeth gnashing rapidly and there was a liquid dripping from its fangs. Unfortunately the thing was close enough that Dahms could smell a foul odor, probably coming from the dripping liquid.
She knew she could not save herself this time. The creature was too fast and too close.
Its body started bouncing up and down on its long spindly legs making ready to pounce while it continued with the rapid clicking of its jaws and teeth. Its glowing, red eyes were concentrated on Dahms with the intent to kill.
"You little bastard," said Dahms pulling her dagger from its sheath, "I'm taking you with me."
Just then Sam started shouting in order to distract the thing. He ran toward the crystal nest holding a large black rock above his head, and heaving it up and down, and up and down. He threatened the nest in the center of the room.
Hearing the noise and seeing Sam, the creature quickly lost interest in Dahms and bounced off the rock flying through the air at least twelve feet before it landed on the ground. It ran a few feet; then sprang again flying another twelve feet. It scurried toward the nest in an attempt to get there—to protect her babies.
Sam heaved the rock. It arced up, then fell into the center of the piled-up Zen I crystals. Little black legs flew up and out.
Paying no attention to Sam the creature ran to the nest. It stood on its four back legs and started working frantically with the other four to get the rock off the top of her babies.
Sam raised his sword and brought the edge of his blade down in a slicing motion rendering the black spider-thing into two parts. A greenish liquid oozed from its body and ran slowly into the nest. Sam brought his sword down again vanquishing the one remaining baby.
Dahms sheathed her sword and dagger, retrieved the handbeam and walked over to the nest. She looked down at the dead creatures, and then she looked at Sam. "Your quick thinking saved my life," she said.
"What the hell," said Sam, "we're all in this together." Sam was still thinking about Harold and his family. And he was angry.
"I don't care," she said.
Dahms watched as Sam gave her a strange look, then he said, “You would have done the same for me."
"I don't care," she said again.
“It’s becoming obvious there’s more to this conversation than the fact that I helped you out of a jam.” Sam paused, but only momentarily. "You know," he said, "on the remotest of possibilities that we should get out of this alive, I'm going to take you out on a date." Sam looked into her beautiful eyes, then pulled on his mustache. A wry look crossed his face. “You know,” he said, “if I thought for a hundred years, I probably couldn't think of anything dumber to say in a situation like this.”
"I don’t think it’s dumb," she said. She grabbed him by the arm and, pulling him closer, she bent down a little and pressed her lips to his. She kissed him long and soft. Then realizing that Hurd was watching them, she pushed him slightly away and whispered, "We'll f
inish this later, and the possibility of us getting out of here is not that remote," she paused and looked around, "but we've got to find a way out of this room."
Sam grabbed her and kissed her again.
“I’m sure Hurd is loving this,” commented Dahms when their lips parted.
“Like you said, ‘I don’t care.’” Sam kissed her again, then letting her go, he said, “But you’re right about one thing—we have to get the hell out of here.”
As they looked around, it became apparent that the way out wasn't going to be easy to find. The door they had come through wouldn't let them out. There was no palm switch. But even if there was, and even if they got through the door, they would be going back the way they had come.
They started searching the walls for secret niches, but there were none. They started moving boulders, and it wasn't long until Dahms found the right one. It was a large boulder and it took a great deal of effort for her to move it, but as she rolled it aside, she saw a hole in the floor.
Watching intently she shined her light into the gaping blackness only to be momentarily blinded as bright reflections were thrown back. Water, she thought. And as she looked into the light, memories started to flood back, and suddenly she was on Trandon—a planet with rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. There was so much water that it was even found in the sky, vaporized . . . clouds. She remembered, they were called "clouds" and they floated high above as the wind gently pushed them along. There was so much water that it even ran through the towns, little streams or rivers, and some towns were completely surrounded by water, sitting on land . . . called "islands" in the middle of the sea. And she would never forget one night while on a boat, she looked back and saw the lights from the city reflecting off the water. It was so beautiful it made her want to drink it all in and just stay there forever. Someday, she knew she would go back to Trandon and maybe live out the rest of her life there.
She shook her head, breaking the reverie and looked over at Sam in the eerie shadows as he was pushing a large boulder to one side. "Over here," she said. "I found the way out."
She bent down, kneeled next to the hole with her light still shining on the water, and peered into the depths. She could see to the bottom, which ended about eight feet straight down and then curved toward the back wall.
Sam walked over and looked at the hole. "It's just big enough for one person," he said. "If it's a dead end, we won't be able to turn around and the swim back."
"Yes, but as far as I can tell it's the only way out."
Sam paused. "Damn," he said suddenly.
Dahms looked at him apprehensively. "What?"
Sam reached down and pulled out a cigar, which he kept between his waistband and his stomach. "I need something to wrap this in."
Dahms flashed an angry look at him. "What the hell are you talking about?" and then realizing the absurdity of a man's list of priorities she smiled and finally laughed.
"You might think it's funny," said Sam in a desperate tone, "but this is my last cigar."
Dahms sobered up. "Let's go," she said, “you can get another cigar at the next safety station. Dahms started to dive into the water.
"Wait." Sam grabbed her arm. "I'll go first." He chewed on his cigar for a moment and then threw it on the floor. "You know if it's a trick we'll probably drown down there."
"Yes. But I remember Ben saying Hurd wants the sport of the battle."
Sam looked disgruntled. "Okay," he said. "But if I come to a stop, you back up as fast as you can." He sheathed his sword and stretched out his hand. "Let me have the light."
She handed it to him, and after he secured it to his left wrist with the small elastic band, he dove head first into the water.
Dahms was quick to follow. She dove into the opening and started pulling—hands against water—swimming hard. She kept up with the vague outline of Sam silhouetted against the light of the handbeam. She quickly found that the swimming was difficult in the narrow confines, so she began using her hands on the bottom to propel herself forward. And even though she had increased her speed in this manner she was almost out of air by the time she saw the end of the passage. There seemed to be no way out as the light ended against the wall. But the burning in her lungs told her there was no turning back. As Sam increased his speed, Dahms propelled herself faster and when Sam turned and started in an upward direction, Dahms was quick to follow. She had to get out of this water before she passed out.
She was beginning to feel fuzzy when Sam reached a hand, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out. She took a long, deep breath, then started breathing hard and fast. It felt good. The air cleared her mind. She stood up and swept her wet hair to the back of her head. Still panting she used the light from handbeam to study the room. "Do you see anything?" she asked.
"Nothing dangerous," he replied. He shined his light to the left. "There's an open doorway over there." And then he swung the light in the other direction. "And over there, you can see two cylindrical objects which appear to be metallic."
He walked to them and looked down. "Rusty. And I bet it's something we're going to need in the next zone."
Dahms bent over and picked one up. "A tank," she said. "And look, it has a mouthpiece." There was a long hose attached to the top of the tank and on the end of it was an odd shaped piece of rubber. "You see, you put it in your mouth like this," she shoved it in and then pulled it out. "And you breathe. It's for breathing underwater."
"So, I guess it's not going to be just a short swim like the one we just took." He bent over and picked up the other tank.
While holding the light with his left hand he thrust the tank under his left arm, and pulled his sword out of its sheathe. “Hurd’s waiting,” he said.
*