The search was not as easy as she’d hoped. The walls were not smooth but rather ridged and corrugated, like the folds of a brain. They were crisscrossed with seams and lines, any of which might indicate an exit or might simply be a quirk of some extremely quirky architecture. The anus through which they had entered had sealed into a tight little knot, and she noted there were several identical little knots around the room.
The problem is that they might lead anywhere, she thought grimly. I don’t want to go into the tunnel that leads to the large intestine. Although it would lead out eventually, I suppose, but it wouldn’t be pleasant for anyone. There was, of course, always the possibility of Wharton just cutting their way out, but she wasn’t at all certain how the creature might react to having various large holes cut through it. And who knows where else the tunnels might lead us? A creature like this, we could end up opening a sac of biological acid or venom or something. Plus, this thing is so big that the chain saw would probably run out of juice long before we got all the way out. Still, she continued to search.
She sat down gingerly on one of the ledges and felt it settle obligingly under her, as if it were the offspring of a water bed and a beanbag. She patted it absently. Think about this logically. Where would you put the entrance to a cockpit? At the far end from the pilot, she decided. That was how it was on airplanes. And since they were situated, as far as she could tell, in the lower back half of the creature, then the far side would be closest to the creature’s hindquarters. She swiveled to look at the rear.
And then the world went insane.
Or at least tipped forty-five degrees to the left.
Odette felt somewhat vindicated, since the shelf-thing held on to her, building up a little ledge and tilting itself so that she wasn’t flung against the wall. The two Checquy men, however, let out startled squawks as they were sent flying across the chamber.
“What did you do?” Odette yelled at the marine biologist. She guessed that he had prodded at the white body and prompted some sort of response.
“Nothing! What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything!” As one, they looked at Codman, who had gotten wedged upside down in a corner.
“I don’t like this sort of thing!” shouted the zoologist. “This is why I studied evolution, so I could do all my work in the lab!” Odette had a tart response ready, but she didn’t get to use it because the creature suddenly shifted in the other direction and began a series of undulations that prevented any of them from standing up.
“Should I try and kill the pilot?” shouted the marine biologist. He held up his chain saw.
“No!” shouted Odette and Codman simultaneously. Having someone prancing around with an active chain saw while the ground shifted seemed spectacularly unwise.
“Just hang on to something and try to lie still,” said Codman. “They’ll kill it soon — listen!”
Even through many meters of living animal, they could hear sounds — extremely peculiar sounds that Odette assumed were the Checquy soldiers limbering up their powers and engaging in battle. There was a muffled explosion somewhere, and a moment later a wave of blinding yellow light swept through the place. It set the walls and floors sizzling and smoking. Odette’s own skin flared with a sudden flash of pain, and she realized that she was screaming along with the scientists. No! Stop it! The light died away. The three of them looked at one another in horror. Their skins glistened with burns.
That must have been the Checquy, thought Odette weakly. I’ve no doubt they can kill this thing. At least, not much doubt. But can they kill it without killing us?
*
Something was happening. Felicity had been mentally squatting in the darkness, composing her report to Rook Thomas and trying to ignore the little voice in her mind pointing out that she might never get to make it. Then she felt the shifting of the muscles that she was currently occupying. A great deal of movement was occurring.
Be ready, she thought. Not only were the muscles shifting back and forth, but they periodically gave violent shudders. That’s got to be the Checquy. They’re attacking it. There was a tremendous jolt, and then the walls around her were gone.
Now! Felicity burst away, down, out of the monster onto the concrete floor of the hangar. Free! She coursed to the spot where the observation platform had been set up.
Get in my body.
Get in my body.
Get in my body.
Where in the hell is my body? She didn’t find it. All she found was the shattered remnants of the pavilion. Cringing mentally, she gingerly scanned the area for any traces of her corpse.
Nothing.
What’s happened? she thought madly. For a ridiculous moment, she wondered if she’d been mistaken about the location. I’ve gotten lost. But, no, the torn plastic of the pavilion covered the crushed wreckage of the platform and that damn chair. It’s gone! They’ve gone! I’ve gone! she thought in horrified disbelief.
They took my body. She set out to search the gigantic hangar.
This really is a shitty day.
*
Oh God, I can’t take any more.
Again and again, that searing yellow light swept through the chamber. Again and again, the three of them shrieked and burned. Even the white corpse in the chair was charring, filling the room with a smell that was even worse than the reek of the blackening walls. The miasma of burning rotten meat had prompted the marine biologist and the zoologist both to throw up everything they’d ever eaten in their lives, and it was only because Odette had sealed off her stomach that she didn’t join in the festivities.
When smoke filled the chamber, they all yanked their masks on, only for Odette to find that her faceplate had completely shattered. Now the smoke was burning her lungs and eyes. If she tried to suspend her breathing, she would go into a deep sleep, but she knew that the continued tumbling of the chamber and the next burning wave of light would rouse her and her breathing would kick in again.
I think I’m going to die, she thought faintly. Another wave of the light burned across them. But apparently not soon enough. She thought of the venom in her spurs and wondered if it would be wrong to kill herself now.
The yellow light came again, and she could feel her skin scorching. Is this enough pain? And then it passed. No one could blame me, surely. A little scratch or jab with the octopus venom and I could slip away. No more hurt, no more sorrow, no more fear. But then she looked at the two men across the room. She realized, to her dull surprise, that she couldn’t desert them by dying and taking the easy way out. And she couldn’t kill them. Even if I did it with their permission, if the Checquy found my venom had killed them, it would destroy the negotiations.
There’s nothing I can do.
The light flared through again, and she closed her eyes and burned.
24
All Odette knew was the hurt. She was burning inside and out, and she could only lie there, absorb the pain, and wait to die. She didn’t think except to wearily acknowledge when something new burned her. She didn’t know if the two men were still alive. The room had stopped moving, but still the occasional wave of yellow light washed through or a concussion throbbed in the floor.
A tremendous report shuddered through the chamber inside the monster, and with an effort, Odette opened her eyes. She saw the walls flex down and down and down. They crumpled and then they tore with a sound that turned her stomach. Fluids leaked in, but then so did a distant flash of daylight. There was the wet, crackling sound of burned meat tearing apart, and then loops of rope poured into the chamber through a tear from above. A man abseiled down and wrinkled his nose.
“Hullo, the three of you! Sorry about the delay, took us quite a bit of work to kill the beastie. We had to call in some naval backup. This whole thing has been rather tedious, really.” He looked at the three of them. They stared up at him, dazed. Their suits were smoking, and their exposed faces were burned and crimson. “Been through the wars a bit, eh? I expect you could all do with a draft of something alcoholic.” He spoke into his headset. “I have our people, all looking very bad indeed.”