*
Ben watched as Dahms and Sam left the transparent chamber and disappeared through the doorway. Before the door slid shut he tried to see what was on the other side, but the room was too dark.
Ben and Gaal started for the next chamber, and Rennie met them half way there.
“Look at the size of this one,” said Rennie. He held up a Zen I crystal bigger than the size of his fist. It sparkled in the light of the handbeams.
“It’s going to be your downfall,” said Gaal. “Get rid of it.”
“I’ll just hang on to it a while longer, then if I find I can no longer carry it I’ll throw it away.”
“You don’t think Hurd actually plans for you to get out of here with it, do you?”
“You never know what might happen,” said Rennie with a big smile on his face.
Gaal shrugged his shoulders. “It’s your choice,” he said.
“Actually, it’s not his choice,” said Ben. “Once we get into the next room we’re going to need every available sword hand, which means,” and Ben was talking to Rennie, “once we’re inside you have to put it down until we’ve killed whatever is waiting for us.”
“I can do that,” said Rennie.
They walked to the chamber, “Once this door opens we have to get inside quickly before it closes on us.” Ben didn’t want any of them to have to enter the room on the far right.
“I agree with that,” said Gaal.
Rennie seemed to still have stars in his eyes. “You got that, Rennie?” asked Ben.
“Yeah,” said Rennie, “get in quickly. I got it.”
“Good.” Ben slammed his hand to the palm switch.
The door opened and Ben moved in, quickly followed by Gaal, then Rennie. When the door slid shut, they waited for nearly a minute, then the door to the next cavern slid open.
Ben hooked the handbeam to his belt and with a sword in each hand he walked ten feet into the cavern and made a three hundred and sixty degree turn observing everything in sight. The room was approximately thirty meters deep and forty meters wide. The ceiling was domed with a light fixture hanging down casting a dim light throughout the room and illuminating a dirt floor and rocks of all sizes, including boulders. It appeared it was a special light effecting the Zen I crystals, causing them to paint the room with a myriad of rainbow colors. Because of all the colors it was difficult to see into the shadows. In the middle of the room rainbows were being cast by a circle of small Zen I crystals, and amidst the colors there was something moving.
With a short sword in his right hand and the handbeam in his left, Gaal stepped beside him. “See anything?” he asked as he shone the light around the room.
Ben pointed at the circle of Zen I crystals with his sword. “Movement over there,” he said.
Gaal looked for a moment. “Yeah, I see it.”
Just then Rennie, unsuspecting of anything, stepped into the room and brought attention to himself by holding the large Zen I crystal, which threw a dazzling display of colors in all directions. It lit him up and the entire area around him like a colorful spotlight on a performer. He seemed to be transfixed by the beauty of the colors when a black, furry creature about three feet long with more legs than Ben had time to count, and three, red-glowing eyes flew out of the shadows near the door. It landed on Rennie and buried its fangs into his neck.
Rennie let out a scream. He dropped the crystal and his handbeam and started clawing at the creature. He screamed another few seconds, then the scream was cut short by a gurgle, then nothing. Instantly a filmy glaze covered his eyes, and he stood frozen like a corpse on a winter’s night.
“Damn,” yelled Ben as he rushed to Rennie. He raised his short sword over his head and with a downward stroke he cut through the middle of the creature. The bottom half fell away to the floor, but the top half, with the head and with the fangs still buried in Rennie’s neck, lay against his chest with a green ooze running out of it and down Rennie’s stomach. The top four legs were still pushing against Rennie’s chest.
“My God,” said Gaal as he ran up beside Ben and was staring at Rennie.
Ben turned. “What the hell are you doing? Keep a watch. There’s probably another one of these bastards close by.”
Gaal quickly flashed his light around the room.
At the same time Ben used the flat edge of his sword --- sliding it between the creature and Rennie’s neck. He put his hand on top of the thing, and then with a heave of the sword he popped the fangs loose and flung the top half of the dead, but quivering creature aside.
“There’s no helping him,” said Ben looking at Rennie’s ghostly colored face. “He’s already dead. The only thing we can do now is help ourselves.”
Rennie’s corpse fell backward and landed on the uneven surface of the floor.
“Put your back to mine, and we’ll keep a watch for any more of these creatures.”
“I already saw something,” said Gaal. “Over there by that ring of crystals, which I’m sure is a nest. See that boulder on the right? I saw three red lights blink off and on a couple of times, then they disappeared.”
“Okay,” said Ben. “Back to back, let’s make our way over there. Keep your elbow bent, but your sword out and ready to strike. And keep in mind that these creatures are damned fast.”
They had only taken a couple of steps toward the nest when the thing came flying out of the shadows directly at Ben. Its three red eyes were blinking, and its fangs were moving up and down making a rapid clicking noise.
Ben moved fast. He brought his sword up. But damn, the thing was already three feet from his face. He quickly leaned to the left, hoping that Gaal would sense his movement and do the same, and then he brought his short sword in his left hand around to kill it. As it flew past his head his sword sliced through the air and cut off the two hind legs. They fell to the floor and started to twitch.
Gaal was still standing straight, but the force of Ben’s sword misdirected the thing just enough to cause it to careen past Gaal’s shoulder by six inches. It flew three paces beyond Gaal, landed on the ground, and disappeared behind a boulder.
“What the hell!?” yelled Gaal.
Ben turned and started to the left. He pointed ahead and to the right with his sword. “Split up,” he said with a growl.
Gaal started toward the nest as Ben came in from further back.
After a minute of walking slowly toward the center of the room Ben could see that Gaal was nearer to the nest. “Wait up!” yelled Ben. “If it attacks, we need to be close together.”
Gaal came to a halt as Ben picked up his pace. He was only ten feet from Gaal when the thing vaulted itself to the top of a four foot boulder, then sprang at Gaal.
By instinct Gaal brought both hands up—his sword was ready to strike, and the handbeam was shining a light into the thing’s eyes, which seemed to blind it momentarily. It was enough of an edge that Gaal was able to thrust his sword forward and run it through the thing’s abdomen. The propelling force at which the thing was flying through the air caused it to slid to the hilt of the sword. Gaal let go just in time as the fangs snapped at his wrist.
The creature with the sword sticking through it fell to the floor. It tried to rise upon its legs and got half way, still trying to get at Gaal. With most of the weight on the left three legs it started going around in circles.
Ben picked up a large rock and threw it down on top of the thing crushing out its life. He bent down and retrieved Gaal’s sword and handed it to him. “That’s probably the last of them, but just in case, let’s spread out and search the rest of the room.”
After finding no more creatures, and after looking under the boulders for another twenty minutes, Gaal finally found the way out. “Over here,” he called.
Ben joined him and peered into the small opening. Water sparkled with the rainbow colors.
“It must be the way out,” said Gaal, “since we haven’t found any other way. And by the way, I don’t know how to swim.”<
br />
“Can you hold your breath?”
“Yeahhhh.”
“In a tunnel that small you won’t have to swim—just use your hands against the bottom to propel yourself forward. Think you can do that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Follow me.” Ben sheathed his swords and dove head first into the water. He pushed his hands against the tunnel and shot toward the bottom. After eight feet it turned until it was running parallel with the floor of the cavern. It traveled another twenty feet, then curved upward.
After Ben climbed out he reached down and gave Gaal a hand out, then he looked around and spotted a tank. “I hope you’re a fast learner, because it looks like you’re going to get a quick course in scuba diving.” he said.
“What?”
Ben pointed. “A scuba diving tank,” he said. “And I’m sure we’re going to need it.”
“Oh, crap,” said Gaal.
“Yeah, Hurd’s a real sweetheart. Grab it, and let’s go.”
As they were exiting the small room Ben was hoping that he and Hurd would meet up again. When they stepped into a large tunnel Ben was holding the handbeam with his left hand and his narrow sword with his right. He looked in both directions
“Which way?” asked Gaal.
Ben heard a noise and held up his hand. He waited and listened. Suddenly he saw a light coming from the right. “Quick, turn off your light.” As Gaal was complying, Ben turned off his own, then stood silent while waiting.
After a few moments he heard foot falls coming their way, and then a light put them in the spotlight. A voice called out, “It’s Dahms. Gaal, is that you?”
They turned their lights on. “Yes,” said Gaal. “I see you got through the chamber of spiders.”
“Spiders? We only had one,” said Sam as they joined with Ben and Gaal.
The four of them were dripping water.
"Where's Rennie?" asked Dahms.
“The spider was attracted to the Zen I crystal he was holding, and it quickly attacked him,” said Ben. “He didn’t make it.”
“Damn,” said Dahms.
Sam stepped closer. "Where's your other tank?"
“We only found one.”
Suddenly, to the right, they heard a peculiar shuffling noise, and then brilliant green lights appeared in the dark.
"What the . . . ?
It didn't take Gaal anytime at all. "They’re Gorgs," he said quickly. “We've got to get the hell out of here." He scrambled around the corner heading along the left hand tunnel as fast as he could go bending over and stumbling through the dark. Dahms was on his heels with Sam not far behind and Ben taking the rear position.
Ben had studied Gorgs in an archaehistorian class in college. It was the professor’s intent to prepare his students for strange and unusual creatures, which they might encounter on a dig in unexplored territories. “Always be prepared,” he said. “It’s not good to be killed unexpectedly by a horrible monster.” He made his point by showing a movie of the Gorgs living in captivity.
The damn things were scary. They lived on some obscure planet in a distant part of the Galaxy, on an unexplored continent with dense jungles and low mountains full of caves. They were as tall as humans and the same shape, but their bodies were covered with thick heavy scales, which caused them to be slow moving creatures. Because of the scales and a thick hide underneath, it was nearly impossible to kill them, except with several shots from a phasor. Not even a phasor set on stun would bring down a Gorg. Their huge arms could rend a person in two with little effort. They lived mostly underground, but would come out occasionally at night to hunt food. Since they were carnivorous, and since they weren't selective, humans were on the list.
Gorgs were first discovered when an expedition of scientists went into the deep jungles of their planet to study the plant life in that region. During the night the entire group of men and women disappeared with no trace and no sign of a struggle. When the next group of scientists, along with a military escort, went to the abandoned campsite to investigate the strange and sudden disappearance, they put up a system of alarms and bright lights around the camp that would be activated if anything passed through the laser beams. That night it was the Gorgs’ turn to be decimated as the military phasor fire opened on them.
Ben knew that without phasors they had no chance against the Gorgs. He followed behind Sam all the while listening as he could hear the sound of the Gorgs becoming fainter in the distance. He was hoping there weren’t any Gorgs ahead of them when Gaal yelled, "I see daylight." And a moment later the four of them ran out of the tunnel and onto a ledge with a sheer cliff in front.
The safe house was to the right, and thirty feet below, lapping at the cliff was the water, which Ben had expected. The body of water extended a quarter of a mile to the other side where the next safety chamber sat on a white sandy beach.
"Look," said Sam. He pointed at a stone wall, which was in the water thirty yards from the cliff. It ran parallel to the shoreline. It stood about a foot out of the water and traversed the entire width of the lake. Another wall similar to the first was four hundred yards away, and in the body of water between the two walls something was swimming. And Ben had a good idea what that something was. He could see a number of large fins protruding from the water and moving slowly in random directions.
"What’s that?”
"Sharks," said Ben. "A carnivorous sea predator found on ancient Earth . . . actually they're still found in the seas of Earth to this day.
Ben watched the sharks swimming with their fins breaking the water like a knife slicing meat.
"Carnivorous,” said Dahms. “And you can bet Hurd keeps them hungry.
"Can they be killed?" asked Sam.
Gaal looked puzzled for a moment. "I'm not sure.”
“They can be killed,” said Ben, “but not with knives and swords.”
Dahms shifted the tank under her left arm and put her right hand on Sam's shoulder. "I'd really like to get a drink, but I don't think we can risk the safety chamber. If the Gorgs get here while we’re inside, we won’t be able to get out.”
"Yeah,” said Sam. “I guess they aren't that far behind.”
Ben noticed a look between Sam and Dahms and was wondering what else happened in the lair of the spider. A strange place for a romantic hookup, he thought.
"We've only got three tanks," said Dahms. "which means two of us will have to share one.” She looked at Ben. “Since Sam and I are physically smaller than the two of you, it will have to be us. We’ll be using less air.
“That sounds right,” agreed Ben. “And if you run out of air, then you’ll be sharing with me and Gaal.
Gaal frowned. "Share air? If you're talking about those tanks, I have no idea how use one of those things.
“As I said before, we’ll show you how,” said Ben. He dropped the handbeam over the edge of the cliff and watched as it fell the thirty feet. It made a small splash as it hit the water. “We’re not going to need those anymore,” he said. Then he said to Gaal, “Give me the tank. If you’re not used to the water, you’re not going to want to jump with it in your arms.”
As he took the tank from Gaal he suddenly had a strange feeling that caused him to look over his shoulder. The Gorgs were out of the tunnel and coming toward them. Walking quietly they were not more than six feet behind—a trait of stealth and sneakiness, which the professor had forgotten to mentioned.
"Jump!" he yelled. And the next moment he was flying through the air.
Chapter Thirty-Five