(Translate this site)
Chapter sixteen: |
Site map
(Translate this site) |
|
Site map
|
| BACK to contents: Chapter fifteen | A brief introduction to J. Staute |
THE STORY SO FAR: Now deep within the 2391 AD virtual reality of Sarum 128, Staute and company have met Kurellian, an adept destined to be instrumental in the Endwar finale of the great game. After that they all joined with the main force of local rebels living in an enormous maze of great caverns. Now it seems a terror is stalking the caves as well.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently ran across galleries of fantastic images by Layne Johnson and Jesse van Dijk (far better artists than me!) which look like they could have come out of the virtual gaming realm envisioned in this and related chapters. The Johnson links are Poxnora Illustrations, Concepts & Illustrations, and Sketches. Dijk's are to be found in this Portfolio, and include not only scenes which go well with the gaming environment described below, but some pics which seem to envision the futuristic eras I describe elsewhere in the novel, too. Check them all out for some jaw-dropping artwork! END NOTE.
 |
 |
Chapter sixteen: The terror
A couple of days before the attack was planned to take place, another one happened first.
The worm came. And it surely was a terror.
It happened not too far from where Riki, Gjord, and I were staying. It happened at about four in the morning. We were all awakened from a sound sleep.
Wolf-dogs were suddenly barking everywhere, and people screaming and yelling. The caves echoed with the sound of running feet-- and the roar of a great beast.
I wondered if the vision I'd had before of some Beast threatening to devour me had been a premonition of this moment.
Then we heard explosions.
The sounds of explosions seemed ominous, considering the state of rebel technology.
Either the sounds were really cave-ins, or some honest-to-God altered beings had appeared in our midst.
In either case, it was bad news.
Then the news got a lot worse.
The worm was headed in our direction.
The rebels were running past our room, yelling to everyone that the worm was coming this way.
Within seconds we could hear the roar of the animal itself.
Closer than before.
We all three joined the panicked throng, but quickly got separated in the flood of humanity.
The fear of the crowd was contagious. Especially when you could also hear screaming in the distance from people who'd been overtaken by the worm.
There were more explosions, this time closer. What was causing them?
I fell. And got trampled on. Luckily my fourth skin saved me from being crushed. But I found it difficult to get back up quickly, due to the press of the crowd-- the suit's built-in governors wouldn't allow me to cause harm to the lesser folk when my own welfare wasn't in immediate jeopardy; so I couldn't call upon the suit's enormous strength at that moment to fling them off me.
However, I was soon successfully back on my feet again anyway.
Even as the worm roared anew, I recognized the sound of Gjord's voice. He was screaming at me.
But for an instant I was mesmerized by the sight of the beast-- it was now in visual range.
The tunnel we were in was some ten feet across and twelve feet high; it was a fairly major thoroughfare of the underground refuge.
About a football field�s length from me, I saw the worm. It towered above the men immediately before it. The worm completely filled the tunnel, from top to bottom. It seemed to fit it exactly, though this seemed awfully strange at the time. It was approaching with tremendous speed, inexorably gaining on those fleeing before it.
Where its body met with the floor and walls you could see clouds of dust roiling about. Evidently it was a close contact.
I could soon make out that embroiled in those dust clouds were people who'd desperately avoided the monster's gaping mouth. But they'd only escaped to face a crushing death between the beast's body and the hard rock walls. You only saw such people for a moment, before they were gone. You could see their bodies spinning in the dust clouds. Rotating as first their skin and faces were scraped away, and then their limbs and heads torn off. Just before their blood gushing trunks disappeared into the gap between monster and wall.
Some of these torn off pieces made it into the hideous mouth of the terror, as if the entire forward end acted like a great scouring funnel within the corridor.
There were no eyes on the worm. Only a mouth. A bizarre mouth.
The mouth was centered in the head of the worm. It wasn't one big mouth, but a group of slits that formed an overall spiral pattern. Each slit looked to be about two feet long, and could maneuver just enough to grab an arm or head as it came near.
Those poor hapless souls who didn't make it to the walls to be ground into hamburger faced those mouth slits.
As the beast caught up to them in their flight, the rotating mouths (apparently the monster's whole body was rotating as it rushed through the tunnel) eventually managed to grab an arm or leg, and the flight was over. The poor victim would then be slowly drawn into the mouth, as it gnawed its way through the meal. He also found himself endlessly rotating along with the front of the beast.
Frequently a mouth would inadvertently sever a limb from its planned meal, and the still living person would fall to the floor, where they joined the others captured in the meat grinder of rock floor and monster body.
It was a horrible, horrible way to die.
There was no way to outrun it. Although the fourth skin itself could move at lightning speeds, when containing a living human being inside it had to move no faster than the human form could withstand without injury. So super running speed was not part of its repertoire. Such an action might have ripped muscles and ligaments loose all throughout my frail human body.
If I'd had my third skin, I might have had a chance. But Frans still occupied both Riki's and mine.
Little Gjord was scared shitless, and pressed up against the wall.
I wasn't in much different shape.
It looked obvious that we needed to get out of that passage way!
Why in the hell weren't people just ducking off into rooms and other passages, instead of running down this main avenue?
All I could figure was that blind panic was causing it.
I ran over and grabbed Gjord, and began looking for someplace to duck into.
I found one, just as the worm reached us.
We jumped into a little dead end room. The noise this near the beast was awful. And so was the smell. Blood and body parts were flying all about, in a grotesque riot of horror that preceded the animal.
Gjord and I got as far away from the door opening as we could, and watched in awful fascination as the body of the beast sped by. We could only hope we were safe in here. Of course, I did possess a fourth skin and warrantea harness, just in case we needed them.
The monster's body bulged into the room as it passed. It was brilliant red with fresh blood. And we were spattered with it, far as we were from the entrance.
Then the mutilated trunks of human bodies began squeezing into the room.
Two of the first ones still had heads on them, though the skin, scalp, ears, and face were all gone.
One was still alive, screaming from a lipless teeth-rimmed hole of a mouth, which was all that was left of the face-- except for the eyes.
It stared at us all the time it was screaming.
I prayed for it to die quickly.
It was an unimaginably horrible experience. Sickening.
Within moments the shrieking thing died, I think because of massive blood loss. But still other trunks and pieces of what had once been limbs continued to come into the room. Some entered with such force that it was like they were flung into the enclosure. Chunks of bone and flesh sometimes pelted the wall we stood huddled against.
Occasionally we'd see a part that was still recognizable. Like a foot. Or clenched fist.
There were several disembodied heads came in too. In fact, these were the parts that entered most often at high velocity.
It seemed like it took a long time for the terror to get past our room.
Finally it was gone. The room entrance was a third filled with human remains. More lay scattered about the floor in general.
By the time I was willing to clamber over the body parts and out of the room, there was no sight of the worm.
There wasn't sight of much else, either. All the torches that normally lit the way had been scraped from the walls. The only remaining light shown from doorways of lit rooms and passages lining the main.
The central passage way was fairly drenched in blood. But remarkably few body parts lay about as clues to the carnage just past.
Then I noticed movement in the unbroken crimson of the floor, some distance away. I hoped it wasn't some part of a poor victim.
It wasn't. Rather, it was another worm. Only this one much smaller than the first. It must have been a baby.
It detected me, and started moving away. This surprised me, as I would have thought it'd done the opposite.
I decided I had to kill it.
Fumbling internally with my node, I struggled to activate a weapon in my fourth skin. I was afraid to concentrate fully on my node, however, as I thought the little worm might charge me at any moment.
How had I done this before?
I reconfigured the suit's head piece to present me with my visual displays.
Then I remembered the big worm. Hadn't I better have the suit scan for it?
Well, one thing at a time. Attack. I wanted to attack the little worm thing.
There was defense mode...and attack mode. I selected it. A percentage was asked for. 100%. Target? The worm. The little worm!
My readouts changed. I remembered this from before. I examined my options here. More modes. Everywhere. Standard, previous, anticipatory-- anticipatory. I was pretty sure that's what I'd used before. Little indicators were blinking to show me the settings that absolutely had to be made, at each stage. Power level was blinking. I put it to maximum. Sensory resistance? Minimum? Indicators? I was getting confused. I set all indicators active.
My display changed again. This time to something I hadn't seen before. This wasn't good. Because it wasn't here last time. I looked for something familiar. Subordinate ally? Gjord. Finder? Manual or automatic? Automatic? Now 'action' was pulsing. I selected it.
I immediately knew I'd done something wrong. Because the experience was a lot different than before. Luckily it only lasted a moment.
My suit was notifying me it was standing down from automatic attack mode. It gave me an option to cancel or continue.
I selected 'continue'.
Then I fell down. Just as I had before in similar circumstances.
Damn! I'd done it again. Forgot to take over bodily control when my suit quit.
I stood back up. My readouts had cleared again. I looked in the direction of the little worm. It was on fire. Evidently it'd been squealing for a second or two, and now the noise was dying down.
It was about then that little red lights came on around my face, in the suit.
*Alert. Proximity threat. Repeat. Proximity threat.* My suit was saying to me.
Oh shit. I realized what I'd done.
I'd killed its baby, so now the big worm was coming back.
*Professor Bryans!* I yelled.
*Hello, Gerald. How may I help you today?*
*Professor, I need help!*
*Yes, yes, what is it this time?*
*I-- There's a monster worm coming after me! I need to get away! Can you get me out of here?* The refuge was enormous. No way I could remember how to get out of its maze on my own.
*Sensors indicate the animal blocks a direct route to the surface. But an indirect route is possible.*
*Where? Show me!*
*Just turn around and proceed down the hall--* I yelled at Gjord to follow, and began running down the hall.
*Professor, that worm can outrun us. Can we make it to the escape route before it reaches us?*
*You are talking nonsense, Gerald. You are already embarked on the escape route.*
*I mean, will we have enough time to make it to the surface before it can get us?*
*At the upcoming intersection, turn right. Yes, yes, you will escape with plenty of time to spare. I estimate a safety margin of up to eight minutes.*
Eight minutes! That didn't seem too safe to me!
*Stop! Take a left here.* Though the suit's visuals made everything as bright as day for me, in actuality the passages became absolutely black dark as we left the lived in regions. Only Gjord's distress alerted me to this. I then had the suit generate sufficient exterior lighting so as to illuminate both ahead of us and behind me-- so Gjord could see too.
The Professor's directions led us into smaller and smaller passages, until finally we found ourselves in one which we could only traverse in single file.
I was feeling better, as I knew the worm couldn't fit in here.
*You are wrong.* The professor said, startling me.
*What do you mean I'm wrong? I saw how big that thing was-- there's no way it could fit through here!*
*Wrong. Sensors indicate it may change its size to fill whatever space it encounters, within a certain range. This passage is well within that range.*
Well, wasn't that great news, I thought grimly.
*Well, what size is too small for it?*
*It may successfully navigate any passages large enough to accommodate an ambulatory human being.*
*How the hell can it do that?*
*It may simply elongate itself, distributing its bulk along a more lengthy linear axis.*
*But it's huge! That would make it be a couple miles long!*
*Not precisely; but the gist of your statement is correct.*
*Professor, should I just turn around and fight this thing? Would my fourth skin have a chance against it?*
In a way I hoped he'd say 'no'. Because I didn't want to fight it even if I did have a chance.
*Take the right fork ahead. The animal is quite strange. Most unlike anything recorded in the database to which I currently have access. And the sensor data is curiously contradictory. At this point I would have to say that I don't know if your fourth skin could withstand its assault-- much less destroy it.*
Uh oh. The tunnel was getting even smaller. We were having to stoop over to get through now.
Then the cave got smaller still. This did not bode well for our future.
Goddamn Wayar. Goddamn him for creating all these unholy monsters.
No wonder all the normal people on this world were rallying to fight a suicidal war to end it all. They really had no choice.
It was either Wayar's altereds, or them. Both could not survive the way things were now.
Something had to change.
But I had no time for such thoughts now; at the moment I was in the same boat as all the rest of these poor wretches-- running for my life from a hideous mutated thing.
Or crawling for my life, rather. For the cave was still getting progressively smaller the further we went.
I was worried that it might peter completely out at any moment.
The kid was actually taking all this better than I was. But no wonder. He'd lived with this shit all his young life. Me, I couldn't remember being chased by monsters when I was young. At least, not any real ones. Only the imaginary-- or nightmare-- kind. Stuff like this worm, pretty much: only back then I could wake up or just think of something else to make it stop.
One good thing about the narrowing of the tunnel was that as our bodies came to fill the opening, the roars of the pursuing beast were greatly muffled. To the point that they were soon little more than faint vibrations in the walls and floor, that you had to stop and listen for to hear.
As we grew more and more tired, we stopped more often to rest. And listened for the cries of the beast.
Though faint, they were still there.
Had the monster lost track of us in the maze? Could it be it was heading away from us?
I queried the suit: the monster was still after us, and coming up fast. Damn it to hell.
Gjord and I were now on our bellies, crawling along an ever dwindling channel which was closing in on us from all sides.
At the moment we still had enough room so that our heads could be held upright. But up ahead it looked like that was going to change.
Things were getting very tight, very fast. Soon I would be unable to go further.
Increasingly, it looked like only Gjord might be able to make it.
But only if he could get past me, as I was ahead of him in the passage. Holy shit!
*Professor, I thought you said that we'd be able to escape this way!* I was getting angry. And scared. For as soon as I became stuck I would be a sitting duck for the worm.
*It does appear that my sensor data was a bit inaccurate.*
Oh shit. This was what I got for depending too much on Ling's technology. I was going to end up like one of those Sol blasted to smithereens when his probability field detector screwed up.
*Well, just how inaccurate was it? Am I dead meat now? Is that it?*
*I beg your pardon. Oh, I see. No, you are not yet 'dead meat'*. If the situation had been different, I might have smiled at the Professor's use of 'dead meat'; I'd never heard him mouth such phrases in real life.
But as it was, my ass was in a sling here, and I didn't find it a bit funny.
Why the hell did I have to kill that baby worm? God, but that was stupid of me!
*I still estimate that escape is quite likely.* 'Quite likely'? My fear jumped by magnitudes.
*However, we shall have to make adjustments.*
*Like what?*
*It appears that soon it will be necessary for you to remove your fourth skin in order to advance.*
*What? But if that worm catches up to me my fourth skin will be my only chance of survival!*
*True. But it likely won't reach you at all if you remove it. Plus, it will still be near if the boy Gjord is wearing it.*
Ahh! OK. I could stand that option a little better. Because I knew the fourth skin would still be under my node control so long as it was near.
This was acceptable.
Except... *Professor, can't the suit just change its shape somehow to help me through? So I don't have to take it off, I mean.* For one thing I was remembering I was nearly naked in here. Giving up my suit for Riki in the wet rainy woods was one thing: doing it in a rat hole bored through solid rock with a God-awful monster coming to carve me up was another.
*If you didn't have a Warrantea harness attached, yes. But you do have a harness, and it's imperative that you keep it with you if at all possible. I calculate the only way to proceed is switch fourth skin plus harness to the boy, and do it forthwith!*
Damn it to hell! But it didn't feel like we even had room to switch the skin here!
*Professor, is there still enough room here for us to exchange the suit?*
*Yes. But it will be difficult. I will monitor the suit and have it facilitate the process where possible. I will also modify its programming to optimal functionality for likely contingencies ahead.*
*Thanks.* My blood was running cold at the Prof seeing the need for us to hurry, and to re-program the skin for 'likely contingencies ahead'. Oh crap. I hoped if worst came to worst little Gjord could at least escape. Heck, he might need to blast me to smithereens with the Warrantea harness to clear the way ahead of him. Hey! Come to think of it, that'd probably be a better fate than the worm slurping me down.
We stopped crawling, and I tried to explain to Gjord what we were doing in the cramped space.
It was a bit scary for the little tyke, though. Because the fourth skin had been my disguise in Sarum up to now. Gjord knew me only by how the suit made me appear. Unlike Frans, Gjord hadn't seen me without the suit before.
So I had to explain to him that I was going to shed my outer skin so that I could fit through the rest of the tunnel. And that I needed him to put it on, so we could bring it with us.
And not to be scared when he saw that I looked different.
Though the change shook him somewhat, the worst moment came when the suit was actively trying to help him put it on. When it moved on its own to envelope him, he screamed. The still glowing light emanating from the suit for our convenience also helped illuminate the fact that the stuff had a mind of its own. I probably should have told the suit to switch the lights off during the changeover. That way Gjord might have thought I was somehow moving the suit around, rather than the suit moving itself. Oh well.
Finally, the cave began to slowly expand again. First we were able to turn our heads upright once more. Then rise to a crouch; and soon, to a full upright position.
We were quickly back to running. We didn't stop to switch the suit again, as I was afraid we didn't have time. I looked forward to suiting up again though just as soon as possible.
A new point of light signaled the surface ahead. In moments, we breathlessly burst forth into glorious daylight. It almost blinded us.
Free at last of our dark pursuer!
Safe. For the Prof had indicated the worm wouldn't follow us beyond the underground environment.
Jarringly, sickeningly, we came to an abrupt stop. In both our relief and our run for freedom.
For before us stood a towering mountain of teeth and claws and horror.
It was totally out of place, and bizarre. Standing before us appeared to be a giant, grossly misshapen...gopher?
With a hideously evil expression on its face.
The thing looked to be three or four stories tall. Its bottom half was way out of proportion to its top half; at least from our ground level perspective. And it had a huge tail. The tail alone was as thick as a city bus where it joined the body. The tail stretched maybe three or four car lengths long. A strange, sparse, spiky kind of hair covered the beast's entire body from head to tip of tail.
A terrible smell so thick you could almost see it, engulfed us.
A deep, guttural growl came from deep within the monster.
It'd seen us.
Its face was a horrible caricature of an Earth gopher. The wiry hair was there, but the head too elongated. The eyes and mouth looked nothing at all like a real gopher's, though.
They belonged to a monster.
I'd never seen a giant mutant gopher before, but it seemed strangely familiar. The longer a look I got at it, the less it looked like a giant gopher, and the more it looked like...a hairy Tyrannosaurus Rex!
That's what it was, I realized.
But what the hell was a Tyrannosaurus doing with hair?
The question was moot though. All this had flashed through my mind in only a second or so. The monster almost seemed to have been waiting for us to emerge from the tunnel; it'd been nearby, and apparently looking at the vicinity of the cave mouth when we appeared.
We'd actually ran right past it as we'd raced out.
"Run, kid!" I yelled verbally, even as I gasped for breath. The last fifty yards or so of the cave escape had just seen my last and best burst of speed; I didn't think I had another.
But I was trying anyway.
"No! Over here! Over here!" the kid screamed. Thankfully the fourth skin was open all around his face. And I realized he was right. I was running in the wrong direction; into a wide open field, with stunted grass that wouldn't even hide my ankles, much less the rest of me. A space where I was sure to die. The kid was back clambering along the rock wall that held the cave exit.
Hope for escape seemed slim by that route, but it was surely greater than the open field. The giant reptile had just taken its first step in its pursuit of me, and covered a third of the ground I'd covered in a hundred.
I angled back to the wall. The ground shook beneath my feet, and I almost fell. I knew the beast had taken his second step.
I dared not look back.
"Hurry!" the kid urged.
I knew in seconds I was going to be on my back and staring at the roof of his mouth, as teeth three feet long chopped me in two.
The ground shook again, even harder. The third step. He had to be right on top of me.
A loose rock rolled under my foot, and I stumbled. But I recovered.
Oh God, please don't let it eat me! I was praying as I ran.
Miraculously, the boy had found another cave entrance among the rocks. We dove in simultaneously. I heard a loud scraping noise right behind me.
CLACK!
The sound was as loud as a gun shot.
The boy and I hit a rock wall, hard.
I'd realize in a bit I wasn't seriously hurt from the impact-- but still I suffered mightily from having the breath knocked out of me. Everything blackened for a moment and then returned, though painfully. I was gasping and struggling for breath. The boy had been completely protected from impact by the triple-its-usual-thickness fourth skin molded close to his form.
This new cave wasn't very deep. It dead ended not far at all from its entrance.
As my awareness returned, through the pounding and throbbing of my breathlessness, I realized we were still in danger.
The monster's snout was coming in after us. The damn cave mouth was too big.
A wall of glistening teeth came scraping towards us at an alarming rate. The wall opened to expose an even worse sight. The throat of the beast.
The kid and I flattened against the rock wall, for what little good it might do us. The opposite wall of teeth was coming...
I turned away and my eyes closed involuntarily. I shook uncontrollably all over as I hugged the wall.
The monster's breath was sickening. It seemed like someone had stuck a dead and decayed animal right beneath my nose. The stench was a hot and moist one.
I violently puked onto my left shoulder.
CLACK! came the gun shot again. I felt it as well as heard it. I thought it had us. But a second later I noticed I was unharmed, though still pained as I breathed. I chanced a peek.
The wall of teeth had closed, about a foot from us. Could it be? Was the hole just barely deep enough to save us?
The wall of teeth started withdrawing. I turned my head and me and the kid looked at each other in disbelief.
Then we clamped our eyes shut again in terror, as the teeth came rushing back.
CLACK!
The damn thing was trying to jam its snout into the hole far enough to reach us!
A few rocks clattered about us, from the edges of the opening.
CLACK! The whole cave was shaking with the force of the monster's efforts.
CLACK! The wall of teeth looked like it came closer than a foot that time.
CLACK! This was awful! Me and the boy were now watching in horrid fascination, out the corners of our eyes, as the wall of teeth slowly receded and then rushed back at us, over and over again.
Getting a little closer each time.
CLACK!
We could feel the enormous rushes of air that came from the force of the mighty jaws closing, and the great snout withdrawing and entering the cave, again and again.
Another try, maybe two, and I was history.
Though I couldn't explain it to Gjord, there was a chance he might survive. Because the fourth skin he wore was tough. And might put up a fight of some sort, even with little lost Gjord wearing it.
But then the beast changed its pattern.
The jaws were closed and receding, when suddenly they opened and emitted a deafening roar.
The whole cave shook.
My skull rang like a bell.
The jaws pulled completely out of the cave, and went out of sight!
We were afraid to move. Afraid that the great jaws might suddenly reappear at any moment if we dared move a muscle.
We waited. Our hearing began to return. And new noises seemed to be coming from outside.
We cautiously moved to the opening, ready to leap back instantly.
But the monster was well away from our sanctuary. And busy with something else.
There was a little man on the back of its neck! And the monster apparently didn't like it one damn bit.
The small man appeared to be stabbing the beast with even smaller arrows. This puzzled me. For it didn't seem like he could do much damage that way.
Intrigued by the battle between man and behemoth-- and likely a bit in shock from recent events-- the kid and I simply watched rather than looked for another hiding place.
The monster's movements gradually slowed down. It was twirling about in great circles, trying to bite at the man on its back, but unable to ever reach him.
Finally, the beast started to stagger, as if it had grown weary. Then to our amazement, it collapsed! Shaking the ground one last time.
The little man jumped off the hairy dinosaur as it fell, tucking and rolling as he landed in a manner which brought to mind the tumbling exercises my high school gym teacher had shown us, far far away, and once upon a time.
Clearly, the little man was experienced at this.
The man climbed up the rock face to a pile of gear stashed there. The monster was still kicking and writhing on the ground.
The mystery man picked up a bow and a quarrel, and began firing more arrows into the beast.
He didn't stop until well after all movement had ceased.
Then he immediately ran up to the beast's throat and slashed a gash in it three feet across with his sword. An unbelievable amount of blood gushed out, like water from a busted barrel. The flood slowed substantially within less than a minute. Then the small hero began retrieving his arrows from its hide, of which there appeared to be some dozen or so still unbroken.
With that task accomplished, he began running towards us.
I hadn't considered this turn of events. Would he try to kill us too?
"Gjord, I need to get my skin back," I said to the boy.
"Yes, master," Gjord replied, his hands and eyes searching for fasteners that weren't there.
I used my node to instruct the skin, and it burst open. With the skin helping things along, I quickly had it back on and fitting perfectly. I felt the fourth skin immediately begin cleaning me up and caring for the scratches and scrapes I'd accumulated since removing it. I told Professor Bryans to bring back the disguise from before.
Gjord watched my second metamorphosis in an hour with fascination.
"Who are you master?"
"Don't worry Gjord; I'm more like you than you might think. I just have more toys, is all."
Gjord's mouth still hung open, but he didn't ask another question.
The boy and I began to move out and away from the cave.
The running man waved at us to wait for him. As he approached, I could see that he had only looked small because of the enormous size of the beast he was fighting. In human terms, he was actually a somewhat large fellow.
Due to my previous experience in high school fighting with 'large fellows', I did not relish the prospect of dealing physically with the man, if it came to that. Especially with the way he handled that sword.
Then I remembered my fourth skin. And realized that with the boosted strength and tougher skin that it gave me, he would be no match for me despite his weapons. After all, this was just a man, not a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
But it was a man that had just killed a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
What finally decided the issue for me was two things. One, the kid and I were simply too tired to escape from this guy. No way could we outrun him.
Two, the guy tripped comically as he ran towards us, falling flat on his face. We heard some muttered expletive, and then he got back to his feet.
While brushing himself off, he broke into a hearty laugh, and yelled something at us.
The boy understood it, and began laughing too. He began walking to meet the man.
I stood my ground for a moment, then did the same.
The stranger dusted himself off busily as we approached.
As we reached him, he immediately handed us his weapons, which surprised me. We took them, and we all three began walking hurriedly towards the rock wall. I came to realize later that his funny fall and cursing and laughing had all been done purposely to put us at ease: temporarily handing over his weapons was something warriors did in some instances on Vrr to signal no intent of harm.
"Sluura stighagna furth, beveling wells", he said (or something like that). I could not understand a word he was saying. Apparently it was a different dialect from that my node was currently set for. I mentally ordered it to correct this problem.
The boy however seemed to understand him quite well, and in fact, appeared quite taken with our newfound hero. I couldn't say I blamed him. After all, if he hadn't killed the monster we might both have been sloshing about like chunky soup in its belly by now.
The boy saw I was having trouble understanding the stranger and helped by translating for me. This way I was able to learn something about him, even as my node was still trying to adapt to his language.
Apparently the reason he'd been stabbing the beast with his arrows was because they were coated in poison, and that was the best way he'd had at the moment for dealing with the thing.
I recalled now the extensive use of poison seen at the village.
He said he'd been tracking the beast for several days when he finally caught up with it trying to eat us for lunch. When the boy asked him why he'd been tracking the monster, he said it was because that was his work; he was the Fear Killer. The boy pressed further with questions, and the stranger seemed glad to comply, as if it had been a long time since he'd spoken to anyone.
He was the Fear Killer. Some years ago he'd decided that someone had to begin killing the great beasts, just to show the people it could be done. He reasoned that the main power of the beasts over the people was the terror they inspired; so if he could take away some of that terror, the people could deal better not only with the ferocious animals, but the altered folk as well.
Of his history prior to this career, he said little. Only that he'd once been a member of a small tribe. A tribe overrun by the altered, with most all of his friends and family either killed or enslaved. After that he'd begun on his present endeavor. He said he now planned to kill monsters and evil altered until one of them killed him.
Had he ever killed a god? The boy wanted to know.
"No, but I have seen some killed," he replied, "So I know it can be done."
"Killed by who?"
"By other gods, mostly. I have seen several of the Aesir and Vanir killed by Olympians. The Olympians are among the most powerful beings of Vrr. But they are not the most powerful. Sturme rules above even they."
"I have heard tales of Sturme, but he is regarded mostly as little more than that, by my people," the boy said.
"Sturme is real. I have seen him. He stands taller than any giant, and has struck down Olympians before my very eyes. Even Zeus fears Sturme."
"I have heard that Sturme has a rank of sons," The boy offered.
"Aye. A great many sons. Born all at once amid a great storm, whereby their mother was utterly consumed by her union with the god of gods."
"So how powerful are these sons?" I asked, speaking for the first time in the new dialect. My node had signaled its adaptation to the stranger's dialect moments before by changing what I heard directly into something understandable.
The Fear Killer looked at me.
"Not powerful enough, I'm afraid. The sons of Sturme are demi-gods only; they possess only a small measure of their father's power. Perhaps because it was spread among so many.
"Each son is unique, some stronger, some less so. But in one thing they all seem the same; they all hate their father, and the evil done by other altered folk. The sons of Sturme have been among the greatest allies of the lesser folk since their birth. Indeed, they were near all raised by lesser folk, as their father left them helpless atop a mountain at birth. He cares not for them. A few were killed by animals before they were found.
"Over the past twenty years the sons have fought alongside the lesser folk against the Olympians and other monsters. But this has been their undoing. For once the Olympians discovered the brothers were not protected by the wrath of Sturme, they sought them out as the most preferred of slaves and barter goods amongst themselves."
We found a campsite, and Killer went out and bagged supper. He refused to give us his real name, insisting who he was before had died along with his people, and was now not worth knowing.
It was an uneventful night. The terrors of Vrr appeared to be themselves terrified of Killer. We weren't disturbed once.
The next morning I awoke with my first thought being that we had to make our way back to the rebels. But how?
I had no idea which direction to go in. Or how far we'd traveled from the refuge, underground. My net node was silent so far as communication with Riki, Frans, or the Pagnew was concerned.
But fortunately Killer was able to lead us back to a point close to the refuge. He refused to get too near the place. When we asked why, he just said that he'd once disgraced himself with the rebels, and wasn't worthy of being in their presence.
This excuse seemed unlikely from what I'd seen. But I didn't push him on it.
Killer also made a strange request of us. He asked us not to mention him at all to the rebels. He said in this way we could repay him fully for ridding us of the Tyrannosaurus. It was the only payment he desired. He refused to accept our first easy affirmatives, and drilled us about what we would say in lieu of mentioning him, as to how we escaped the beast and all. After about thirty minutes of coaching us on weak parts of our story, he finally seemed satisfied and left.
Did we tell anyone among the rebels about him? Nope. Killer had been thorough in his grilling, not only helping us perfect a lie to hide his existence, but also making us very sure that he would come after us if we broke our promise. Though he didn't actually say that, it seemed clear enough. Gjord and I didn't even mention the Killer between ourselves when alone after that. Not until I was back aboard the Pagnew and far away from any Sarum natives did I tell Ling and the others about him, as I related my own account of events.
Upon our return it turned out that I hadn't missed the assault on the fortress after all.
The rebels were pulling out of the refuge. At least temporarily. The last attack of the worm had been the worst yet.
They told us that for some reason the worm had broken off its rampage just as it was reaching the most densely populated regions of the caves. So the casualties weren't nearly as bad as they could have been.
I told them how Gjord and I had found and killed a baby worm, and subsequently been chased by the big one through the tunnels.
Apparently Gjord and I had inadvertently helped distract the worm from its attack on the main group.
I figured that maybe it'd been good that I'd killed its baby after all.
But still, I'd almost gotten Gjord and myself killed, and turned into well digested worm shit. Twice, if you counted the furry dinosaur! Though it was nice that our danger might have saved others, I knew if given the choice I wouldn't repeat the experience-- even knowing I would escape.
That didn't exactly sound like a brave hero, did it? Well, I'd been trying to tell everyone I wasn't. This was just more proof to add to a growing heap.
The rebels were moving en masse to the location of the caverns holding the secret tunnel leading to the fortress. They figured for a group of warriors to eventually return and kill the worm here. But for now, the undersea fortress was more important.
Hell, that sounded good to me!
I didn't want to face that worm again.
It turned out that Kurellian, Frans, and Riki had all three survived the worm's rampage. Gjord was directed by Kurellian to accompany the women and other children to a safer place. Like any seven year old boy he protested not going where the action was most likely to be, but in the end had no choice in the matter.
The rebels, with Riki's directions, had retrieved Frans's battle suit. They had then managed to rearm and recharge it too.
Frans was as happy as he could be.
And mean looking too, in his full get up.
I wondered just how powerful he was in that suit, all recharged and everything.
Riki and I also got our third skins back. Being with the rebels was where Frans had wanted to go anyway, so we didn't need the control over him any longer. Plus, the disguise they'd provided him was no longer needed either.
So Riki and I could fly once again! If a worm came after me now, I could surely outrun it!
On the morning of the attack, I got yet another surprise. Gliding wings! The rebels could fly too!
[The proper term is 'hang-gliders'. But in 1972 I hadn't seen or heard of them.]
But the rebels weren't planning on using them that particular day.
No, they expected Riki and me to, instead.
So we had to show them how we could fly without them.
They were impressed.
Of course, I was very inexperienced about it all. And quite clumsy in the air, much to the entertainment of the rebels. Riki and Professor Bryans had to tutor me during our wait for the rebel troops to reach the fortress.
Frans too possessed flight once again, now that his suit was recharged.
So we were soon like three comic book superheroes; armed to the teeth, and literally ready to fly into action!
Kurellian and the rest of the attacking force were going to reach the interior of the fortress via the tunnel under the seabed.
Frans, Riki, and I were to fly over the fortress, dive into the sea, and begin an assault from the outside to distract the defenders.
It was going to take a couple of days for the rebel force to get to the fortress, as it was quite a few miles off the coast. So we three were to wait for a while before starting our distraction.
During our wait we had plenty to do, like checking out all our systems and making sure they were set up properly for the attack. I personally had a lot of familiarization work to do with my fourth skin, in order to get past all the problems I'd run into in earlier scrapes. I learned a lot.
Riki also made adjustments to facilitate communications between us and Frans. These adjustments put Frans on our net with us, and removed normal access of the Org forces to his own communications.
Lastly, we completed our own plans too.
Kurellian had produced quite a bit of information on the fortress, but Frans had provided even more. Because the undersea fortress was actually a combination castle and corporate staging area, for forays inland on Vrr.
It was considered one of the most secure bases on Vrr, because of it�s being underwater, and literally surrounded by the sea-going terrors with which Wayar had populated the ocean.
Adding to its security was the fact it was also the official home of some honest to goodness altered beings-- the first I would have the opportunity to encounter on Vrr.
There were supposedly gods down there. Poseidon in particular, of the Olympian pantheon.
I'd loved mythology as a kid. So I had a fair knowledge of the highest profile gods of lore.
I wondered how closely Wayar had come to matching the old stories.
Unfortunately, I couldn't remember much about Poseidon. I was more familiar with others, like Zeus, Odin, Hercules, Mercury, Thor, Venus, and Apollo.
Poseidon was supposed to be a strong looking guy, maybe with a fishtail, definitely with a beard, who rode in a chariot pulled by dolphins and carried a trident.
He was god of the seas.
That was all I could remember about Poseidon.
I was excited at seeing my mythology reads brought to life.
I wondered if there'd be any other gods there?
Finally it came time for us to leave.
Naturally I was the slowest of the group, since I was the least experienced in flying, and using this techno-stuff in general.
It really felt strange to be soaring through the air like this.
On our way to battle gods and soldiers from the future.
I could almost hear heroic music playing in the background.
God, this was great!
[Obviously my younger self isn't quite grasping the seriousness of the situation. He feels the combination of his fourth skin, plus Riki on one side and a battle-suited Frans on the other, somehow makes him invulnerable. Yet surely any gods in that place would be at least as formidable as the worm-- maybe more so! It'll be interesting to see how he does. Since this is supposedly my younger self, I know he survives.]
Frans and Riki began flying higher and higher, urging me to do likewise.
I had to, or else lose them.
The higher we went, the more nervous I got. What if my third skin failed?
We were going too goddamned high! There was no sense in us going this high.
I wanted to be able to see the ground much better than this!
But I had to admit my main qualms were emotional and imaginary.
Because when you're flying in a third and fourth skin, you're as warm and comfortable as you want to be. Fourth skins have total climate control.
You're shielded from the buffeting of the wind at high speeds (though those winds can still push you around at times, much like driving a car against cross-wise gusts). And the suit itself supports your limbs as needed. So you don't get tired from having your arms and legs outstretched for a while.
The reinforcement of the suit is kind of like power steering on a car. It shields you from bumps in the road by greatly amplifying the strength you exert to overcome them.
So the steering and ride's pretty darn good.
But still, sometimes, you'd run into something-- Riki called them pressure gradients-- which would cause you to drop alarmingly quickly, or get bounced around a lot.
You'd see this on your readouts, but not really feel it much in your limbs, because of the power steering effect.
But you'd surely feel it in your guts.
For no matter how slick the skins were at their job, you could still feel yourself falling in your guts when it happened.
Add in the visual image you get from being several thousand feet up, and those pressure gradients can scare the hell out of you.
Frans laughed at me several times while we were flying along, when such gradients made me do some startled and panicky acrobatics, while Frans and Riki could get through them with adjustments so small they seemed utterly unaffected.
It kinda pissed me off. But hell, I guess I would have laughed too if I was him.
*Hostiles,* Frans suddenly announced over the net, followed by coordinates. *Riki, Jerry, take evasive action. These are mine.* Frans then veered away from us.
I could see something happening on my readouts. But I wasn't sure what it was.
*Riki?* I broadcast over the net.
*Yes?*
*What's those two things Frans's taking on?*
*Org troops. Equipped similarly to himself.*
*Doesn't he need us to help him?*
*We should respect his judgment for as long as it holds. He is more familiar with those forces in every way than we.*
Yeah. That made sense. I just hoped his judgment would hold, as Riki had put it.
*Riki, Jerry, proceed to objective. I'll meet you there.* Frans said in a breathless sort of way.
*Affirmative, Frans. We are complying.* Riki spoke for the both of us.
The readouts began displaying quite a little dog fight between Frans and the bad guys. Apparently Frans was a pretty good soldier.
One trooper's image flared, then began falling.
Those reg suits didn't have wings like planes. So when their power failed, there was no gliding down.
The trooper fell like a rock.
Frans managed to dispatch the second one too not long after. No wonder they'd sent a Resigent after him when he left!
During the rest of our flight Riki helped me prep my fourth skin for the coming action, and gave me a few last minute instructions and reminders.
The eventual plunge into the ocean was a bit anti-climactic; we slowed down to almost zero speed to do it, and encountered not a single sea monster on our way to the city. I think I saw one shark far off in the hazy waters once, but I couldn't swear even to that.
Riki had also had my suit administer some relaxant drugs to me to deal with my deep water phobia. So I was feeling pretty good at the moment!
I'd never been scuba diving before, so this was an interesting experience for me. I noticed the water slowed down our top speed tremendously, and also greatly reduced the effective ranges of almost all our sensors, but for a sonar type device and a couple others.
In water the fourth skins were capable of some useful propulsion tricks in themselves. They could grow ridges or rows of stubby fins along your body which would flutter in such a manner as to push you through the water at remarkable speed. Of course the third skins helped the process along as well. But much of your progress underwater seemed to be generated by the fourth skin fins.
I recalled the TV show Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges. Poor Lloyd. If only he could have had a fourth skin! I shuddered to think of being down here with only a mask, air tank, flippers and a knife, like Lloyd had on the show.