Chapter 16- What Waits Within

  Jett looked at a yawning maw of jagged metal. Stalactites and stalagmites were made from the ship's hull. It reminded Jett of pictures he had seen of ant colonies, which did nothing to quell the fear of what lurked deeper.

  “Angie?” Jett asked.

  The radio chirped, “Scanning.”

  “What’s taking so long?” Kyle asked.

  “Whatever is mixed with the metal is absorbing and diffracting my scans. I need to run a few hundred scans to pull out the artifact.”

  Jett didn’t dare turn away from the hole as he addressed his friends, “We can’t rely on Angie’s scans going forward.”

  Layla felt Jett’s concern, and he sent reassurance over the bond. He turned to his comm and radioed his sponsor, honored knight Franklin.

  “Hey! We made contact with a structure. It looks like a creature burrowed into the ship and made a nest. Looks like a termite den if the termites were the size of men.”

  “I see it. We need to know what’s in there.” His sponsor radioed back.

  Jett looked at the cave. “We can try to send drones, but there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver.”

  The line was silent for what felt like an eternity, but it was only ten seconds. “Grab a few samples of the metal and the goo on the ground, then head back. Whoever comes next will be much better equipped.”

  “Understood,” Jett reported back.

  “I can get samples of the goo with my drones.” Angie’s voice chirped from the comms as the drones whirred into action.

  “Ok, let’s cut some of these spikes.” Jet tried to rally his friends.

  Amanda used a module on her exosuit, a plasma cutter, on one of the stalagmites. Kyle and Jett, concerned that they might disturb what lay deeper, provided overwatch. It took ten agonizing minutes, but she got a sample and a pair of drones whisked it away.

  “We should get a few samples deeper inside.” Kyle said, pointing, “Look, these pillars look darker. There must be more of whatever mixed with the metal.”

  Jett frowned. It would be a greater risk, but it was only a few feet. Nothing had crawled out when they were cutting only a moment ago. Surely nothing bad could happen, but he couldn’t erase the feeling of unease.

  Jett nodded, leading the way in, despite his growing concern. He felt the splash of liquid under his feet and saw that the goo was much thicker. This time, Kyle started cutting away at a pillar as Jett and Amanda scanned the dark for threats, going deeper.

  Amanda’s eyes took in the room when she noticed one area on the wall where the goo was particularly thick. It flowed from a divot in the wall where an obsidian sphere the size of a basketball rested. She shone her flashlight, wondering where the liquid was coming from.

  “Hey, I think I found something. It looks like the goo is being pumped into the room over here, but there is something in the way.” Amanda said.

  “Leave it.” Jett said, “Angie collected plenty of goo.”

  “No, I can get it. Just let me-” Amanda reached out and grasped the sphere, tugging on it slightly. It wasn’t attached to the wall, so it came free without an issue, though she could tell it was incredibly heavy. Then a line appeared on the sphere, pulling back to reveal an eye.

  Amanda stared in confusion. More lines appeared as its tenacles unfurled, gently wrapping around her arm. Then it gripped her arm tight, a mouth half the size of its body opened.

  She screamed as she tried to get it off, but the creature bit her arm, crunching through the exoskeleton and drawing blood. Jett ran over and used his plasma torch to cut it off.

  “That’s it. We are leaving now.” Jett announced.

  “I almost have it,” Kyle argued.

  “Nope, we are leaving now.”

  Amanda heaved as blood flowed down her arm. The bite wasn’t life-threatening, but it pierced half an inch below the skin. She held it close to her, hunched over. Jett led her out of the cavern. Kyle wanted to argue more, but he felt a quaking in the ship and moved to follow.

  Drones positioned themselves by the cavern entrance to wait for what followed them. Amanda cried out, and Jett looked at her arm to see black veins pulsing under her skin. Jett silently cursed. They need to get her a medic, but they would need to wait. The carrier was a rush job and didn’t have any medical supplies besides a few first aid kits.

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  Jett and Kyle jogged down the corridor, but soon Amanda stumbled, struggling to walk. She let out a cry and gripped her head.

  “We need to go back.” She groaned.

  “No, we need to keep going. It will only be a few more minutes.”

  Then Amanda turned to face him, and he could see her iris expand until her eyes were pitch black. “No- we need to go back!”

  Amanda lashed out, knocking Jett to the ground.

  “Angie, emergency override. Lock Amanda down.”

  Amanda moved to push Kyle, too, but her suit stopped, and she fell over.

  Jett’s comm chirped, and he heard his sponsor’s voice, “You need to get out of that ship now.”

  “We are trying, but something is wrong with Amanda.”

  “There is a mass of wriggling creatures twice as big as the ones that bit Amanda, headed your way. You need to move faster.”

  Kyle didn’t think as he picked up the struggling Amanda, who was screaming her outrage. The two dragon riders sprinted down the hall, and before long, they reached the hangar.

  “Bill, go now. I am going to take the second buggy with Amanda.”

  Thrusters lit up, and the Bill’s buggy took off into space. Jett walked to the other when Amanda’s cries reached a fevered pitch.

  Her voice dropped to octaves as she screamed, “You won’t escape us!”

  The lights overhead flickered as the remaining buggy collapsed in on itself until it looked like a crushed can. Amanda collapsed, blood dripping from her nose and ears. Jett cursed as Kyle looked at him.

  “Her suit will hold in space; we can carry her across,” Jett said. Jett pointed to their dragons, who had their tails raised and teeth bared at the creatures in the hallways.

  “Not with her bite,” Kyle replied.

  Jett grabbed a foamcrete container from a nearby wall and sprayed her arm. “There, go!”

  Kyle ran off to Castle Drive, strapping Amanda in while Layla walked up beside Jett. He pointed his rifle at the doorway just as the first of the abominations rounded the corner. He fired his rifle, and the bolt of energy sizzled against the creature, causing it to scream in pain. The shot should have incinerated the black horror. If it had been made of metal, it would’ve had a smoking hole through the middle.

  It took two more shots to put it down. Jett’s stomach clinched as he thought about trying to take on a swarm. The goo coating the monsters must’ve absorbed the shot. Jett frowned, thinking about how many rounds it would take to put down a bigger version.

  Jett looked back at Kyle strapping Amanda into the saddle. It would be at least another minute to secure her; they would need more time. Another pair of black horrors slid around the corner.

  Jett began firing at the first of the tentacled creatures while the second leaped for Jett. Sleek black claws intercepted the creature, and Layla viciously tore it apart. He began slowly backing up as he fired at the next creature.

  He stopped focusing his fire on one target at a time; he needed to slow them down more than he needed to kill them. Layla roared. She clawed and bit to stem the tide. One creature lunged at him while Layla was occupied finishing another.

  Jett battled it away with his rifle. Layla turned, seeing red, and let loose a black cloud. Metal warped, the creatures shriveled, and the lights dimmed. Jett saw his opening and jumped on Layla's back.

  “We need to leave now!”

  He didn’t even buckle in, just held on as Layla bound away. As they launched into space, the tide of creatures in the hangar only grew thicker. The wriggling swarm launched into space after Layla, but she was a dragon built to fly in space. Jett felt the acceleration as they gained speed. They zoomed across the space right as a blast of dragon plasma incinerated their pursuers.

  Jett looked over to see a giant dragon, Stargazer, with his sponsor on the dragon’s back, turning their fire toward the ship. In the distance, a giant black creature of tentacles pulled itself from the ship. It was twice as big as a space buggy but still smaller than his sponsor’s partner.

  Jett knew it was the matriarch of these creatures and felt the inaudible roar it gave out. Stargazer replied with dragon plasma. To its credit, the creature didn’t die when Stargazer paused. It took two more bursts of dragon plasma from an adult space dragon to finish it off.

  Jett shuddered to think what a fight would look like if Layla and he were to take on the matriarch of monsters. Then again, he remembered how the black cloud had caused them to shrivel. Maybe void dragons evolved a different breath to deal with different monsters in the abyss between stars.

  Jett didn’t dwell on the thought as they landed on the carrier. He activated his radio, “Go now! We need to get back to a station to get Amanda treatment.”

  Jett felt the pull as the ship sped across space. Once they neared the space station, a brown space dragon appeared to flank them. Jett listened over the comms, “Carrier Scuttlebutt, please cease all acceleration and prepare for a scan. Your jump origin is from a restricted zone.”

  Jett heard Ashley’s reply, “We need emergency medical attention.”

  “Rodger, medical attention will be provided after the scan. Please hold.”

  “Negative, we need immediate attention.”

  “Hold position, or my partner will unleash dragon plasma.”

  Jett had enough; he wasn’t going to sit by while his friend was in trouble. He hit the comm, “Try it! We have two dragon riders aboard.”

  Jett could feel the pause as the dragon rider calculated the math of taking on two dragon riders. Jett wasn’t an officer and wasn’t given authority over the station, but there was no greater authority in the universe than a space dragon, except for more space dragons.

  Fortunately, dragon rider Franklin, who did have authority, and Stargazer warped in. Jett heard his sponsor over the comm, “This is Dragon Rider Franklin, I am giving the command override for security. This carrier will be placed in quarantine, and emergency medical attention is required.”

  Jett would’ve grinned if Amanda weren’t in danger. Five agonizing minutes later, Amanda was wheeled away by a team of medical professionals in hazmat suits. Jett and the others stayed aboard as other agents of the space station scanned the ship.

  The samples caused a few alarms, but Jett’s sponsor ordered the samples be secured for study later. Once they were given leave, Jett and his friends made their way to the medical unit. Amanda was in a secure unit. They couldn’t access it, but a doctor came to greet them.

  Ashley asked first, “How is she?”

  “Stable, it looks like the dragon bond was traumatic, but she should be back up in a few hours.”

  “Uhhh… dragon bond?” Bill asked.