82. Escaping the Earth

The group looked at each other with amazement and the shared joy of being survivors.
 
The cavern they now found themselves in was bound on one side by the solid metal wall of the temple and the hovering boulder on the other. On one side, the ground rose to meet the wall, whereas on the left, the ground rose to meet a stepped passage.
“Can you hear anything past the wall?” Nox asked Fureva-Yung, pointing at the metal wall before them. That was the direction they wanted to go in, but the walls of the three nodes had proven thick and dense.
Fureva-Yung closed her eyes and listened to the wall and for vibrations off it. Nothing. Whatever it was about these thick walls, it also seemed to deaden sounds and vibrations.
 
While Fureva-Yung listened, Nox found the nearest root. The spacetree root above had intimated it had broken through the thick wall further down. Now that they were down here, it was time to find that breech.
 
When Fureva-Yung returned with nothing and Nox couldn’t find a root to connect to, the group decided to take the passage up. Nox sent her spider-rat ahead and watched through its senses as she rode on Fureva-Yung’s back.
 

 
 
The climb was tight, steep and criss-crossed with roots. At the top of the rough steps, the passage turned to the left at the hole in the roof that went up into darkness. Spider-rat continued against the passage until it reached a narrow pinch-point, little more than half a metre wide. If they continued going up, they would need to widen the path, but was it worth it?
 
Not leaving the spider-rat’s sight, Nox climbed off Fureva-Yung and followed a wall up to the pinch point. From there, she sent the spider-rat further up the path to see if it turned back toward the temple. The news was mixed. Yes, the passage did turn back, but then it stopped short, the shaft from below breaking through and continuing up.
 
“So we’ve gone the whole way down to have to climb back up again?” Marius complained, and Nox found it hard to chastise his negativity. This was not what she’d hoped when she’d suggested going through the temple wall.
“Let’s just see where it goes,” Fureva-Yung said, and Nox took heart shaping the passage so the others could get through.
 
At the top, they all saw the dead end.
“Try scanning through the wall in the direction of the temple. You never know, we might get lucky.”
She did, and saw nothing but dirt and rock. There was no breach in the metal wall here, there was no metal wall. It was starting to look like they’d have to try breaking through the wall further down.
“I’m sure the root said it had broken through,” Nox said, finding one of the smaller roots that crossed the path, and she posed it a telepathic question.
Where you broke through the strong wall. Where is it from here?
The answer was clear and disappointing.
Above.
 
 
She’d have to fly up and investigate, and though she was sure Spider-Rat could make the climb, Nox knew she didn’t have much time left with her pet. It was time to let it go.
Go! Go far away and never come back! She commanded the Spider-Rat, and it scuttled with a squeak.
 
She told the others what the Space-tree had said before flying up the shaft, taking her Hedge light with her. Marius started to follow but found that climbing up was far harder than climbing down and stayed in the passageway with Fureva-Yung in the light of Jaden’s hands.
 
It didn’t take Nox long to find where a large root crossed the shaft straight towards the temple's wall. Following the root, she saw where it disappeared into a crack in the hard surface of the smooth metal wall. There wasn’t much to work with, but straight away she started trying to mould metal around the crack, widening it enough to see through into the temple.
 
The work was incredibly slow. After half an hour, she’d widened the crack by half a pinky finger. Stopping to take a breather and let the others know how she was going, her attention was caught by movement from the corner of her eye. On the same side as her tiny hedge light, a shadow moved where a shadow had no place in being.
Ah, there’s something up here with me, Nox sent through the telepathic network to the others below.
 
Below, the others sprang into action. Fureva-Yung did just that, leaping virtually into the air and clawing her way up the shaft to where Nox was crouched in a small alcove. Marius also jumped up and started to climb the wall using the roots as hand and foot holds. It was slow, hard work and when was close to Nox’s hiding spot he was hindered from going further by Fureva-Yung armoured butt. Along the wall, a shadow moved that didn’t seem connected to anyone else. Aiming carefully, so as not to shoot Fureva-Yung, he shot the shadow with his light blaster. Below Marius, Jaden could see nothing but Fureva-Yung’s behind. Pulling an iotum from her pocket she sent a beam up the shaft to strike Fureva-Yung in the butt.
“Hurry up, up there!” She yelled. The beam didn’t make it through Fureva-Yung’s armour, only giving her a slight tingle of energy.
“Am I a butt plug?” She called back down the shaft, making Marius cough and Jaden roar with laughter.
 
The shadow, in the meantime, had collected itself after Marius' attack and reached out for Nox. Nox hadn’t taken her eyes off the odd shadow, and as soon as it moved, she ducked to the side, flattening herself out to dodge its cold touch. Nox swung her hedge light between her and the shadow as she reached out to read its thoughts.
Hunt. Hide. Hurt! Get away! The thoughts were basal and animalistic, and Nox dropped the idea of being able to communicate with it.
Fureva-Yung targeted her shattering shout at the shadow just as Marius shot again. The shadow buzzed with the latent power of the shout before the shot hit, and the shadow dissolved into nothing.
 
Nox looked back to where the creature had disappeared, sad that it had to die. She said nothing and returned to her work on the root. Trying to shape the metal was getting her nowhere. She scanned the root, noting that at her end it was a bit more than half a metre wide and narrowed as it weaved its way through the crack.
Move back, please? She communicated to the root by showing an image of the root pulling back into the small alcove where she sat. Slowly, the root did as she asked and started pulling back from the hole.
 
Meanwhile, Fureva-Yung was exploring the shaft. Using her strong hands and feet, she made footholds and handholds in the earth, walking herself down the shaft. The walls of the shaft slowly became damp, algae grew on the walls of the shaft, and the root, instead of crossing the shaft, started pointing down. Below, Fureva-Young could hear and smell water. Curious, she continued down, slowing he pace to make sure her hold was secure before taking the next step.
 
Regardless of how careful she was, the sodden ground just couldn’t hold her weight, and chunks of mud and rock tore away from the wall. She fell metres before slowing her descent by pressing against the walls with her hands. Suddenly, a chunk of wall gave way and Fureva-Yung and was falling free. Snatching at and grabbing roots as they whipped past she once more slowed her descent enough to echo locate the space below. Empty space to the rippling surface of water below. She dropped a handful of mud and listened as it plopped into the water only two metres below her.
 
Looping her cable around a thick root crossing the shaft, Fureva-Yung descended into the water, cold and clean. Above water roots descended through the cavern roof and down into the water, forming a canopy of grey and brown. She started cleaning off the mud from her climb down. Below the water, Fureva-Yung could see nothing, not even the floor of the pool. Again, she tried to echo locate, but the water stretched on for as far as she could sense. At the edge of her senses, something moved. Fureva-Yung went very still and used the natural sounds around her to help focus her hearing on the creature.
 
It was five or six metres long and lazily swept side to side like a giant predatory fish. Its head was crescent moon-shaped, flattened laterally so the internal edge of the crescent cut through the water ahead. It seemed curious, not moving directly for her, only checking to find out what had disturbed its home. And then, it stopped, orienting to something it was detecting in its waters. The moonhead swung back and forward until it focused on Fureva-Yung’s position. With a powerful flick of its massive tail, it headed fast in her direction.
 
It was time to go.
 
Fureva-Yung scrambled up her cable, out of the water and clear of the surface by a metre before the giant fish leapt out of the water at her. Like a worm desperate to avoid its fate, Fureva-Yung swung away, letting the fish sail out of the water beside her, its teeth snapping on thin air. The fish returned to the water with a giant splash, sending waves out to the cavern's edges and echoes up the shaft.
 
Over the telepathic network, the party listened in on Fureva-Yung’s internal dialogue.
Ha. Now that was interesting.
Woopsie!
The splash from below.
Ha! You thought you had me, did you?
What was the splash? Nox asked over their telepathic network as the last of the root slowly withdrew from the wall. Sending her hedge light ahead, she saw a small room on the other side.
Fureva-Yung, do I need to remind you that there will be no more pets? Jaden insisted, sitting on the edge of Nox’s small alcove.
 
Fureva-Yung said nothing. Slowly, still muddy and soaking wet, Fureva-Yung started climbing back up the shaft. The first thing Jaden saw as she looked down the shaft was a shiny, wet and muddy creature with a huge mouth of glistening white teeth. Without a second thought, she trained her rifle on the face and shot. Fureva-Yung shrugged off most of the damage with the sound of crashing waves from her ablative armour. Marius, hanging above, shot his pistol at the monster below. The shot went wide, hitting a root that recoiled. The roots around them shuddered and suddenly sods of earth and rocks started falling from above.
 
Nox instinctively pulled Jaden back from the edge of the shaft and bamfed them both through to the room on the other side of the hole. There, in the light of the hedge light and Jaden’s gloves, they saw a small storeroom, about the same size as the one they’d first teleported into. Fureva-Yung and Marius were left dodging debris as Marius held his laser gun steady on the threat below.
“Furry? Is that you?!” He said.
Actions being more powerful than words, Fureva-Yung leapt up the shaft towards Marius, grabbed him in a bear hug and swung both of them towards the small alcove now left empty.
 
Rock and earth kept falling, but the tiny pitch black, alcove gave them some protection, at least enough to have a fight in.
There, there I’ve got you now, Fureva-Yung tried calming Marius, who was having none of it. Engulfed in mud and wet fur, Marius did his best in the cramped space to push back on Fureva-Yung’s protection.
“Furry! Are you stupid or something? Why didn’t you say something when we called?” Marius clenched his fist to strike his friend, thought better of it and instead crawled away under a root.
“Hey guys!” He called down the crack in the wall where a soft glow shone, “You have all the night.”
In response, the tiny hedge light wove its way back down the root cavity to the alcove.
“It wasn’t my fault…this time,” Fureva-Yung said in her defence.
“It totally was!” Marius yelled back, sick of Fureva-Yung and her recklessness. How many times had she brought the ceiling down on them in the last hour?
“You shot the roof!”
“You made me pull the trigger!”
“I did not!” Fureva-Yung exclaimed, incensed at the injustice. By this time, the rock falls were listening, and she crawled out of the alcove a little and shook. Water and mud splattered everything, including Marius.
“Dodge that!”
“Urhg!” Marius complained and swung his guns up and shot Fureva-Yung again.
 
It was at this moment that Nox bamfed back into the alcove into the midst of the battle.
“Urgh! You’re all wet and muddy!” She complained, looking at Fureva-Yung.
“No, he’s muddy, I’m clean!” Fureva-Yung complained, pointing a stubby finger at Marius.
“HA! You called me he!” Marius caught the misspoken pronoun, “You know I’m male!”
“Dammit!” Fureva-Yung cursed, having slipped up after so long.
“What?! You mean you meant it all along?” It was Marius turned to be incensed. He crawled out from his hiding hole to face Fureva-Yung as Nox laughed out loud at the grand prank her friend had pulled.
“And…and he’s…he’s having a…baby!” She added, barely able to get the words out for laughing.
“Temila, is having our baby,” Marius corrected, but the surprise on Fureva-Yung face said it all.
“You’re having a baby? And you’re out here with us?”
“He likes to keep up appearances, “ Nox grinned and bamfed the two friends away to the store room.
 
Marius soon forgets all his anger and misunderstandings as he teleports into a room full of shinies. Sorting through the parts, Marius found several cyphers and passed them around the group. A syringe of some strange liquid caught Nox’s attention. She determined it would give a creature a random permanent mutation. She’d used something like it to acquire her camouflage, and though there was a risk of a negative mutation, she felt it was well worth the risk. Seeing what she was about to do, Jaden snatched the syringe out of Nox’s hands.
“Not if I can help it.” She said, putting the cypher with others in her bag, “I know mutations and you don’t want to be stuck with a bad one.”
Nox, didn’t complain like a child or try stealing it back as she may have in the past. Instead, she took a breath, looked Jaden in the eye and held out her hand.
“I know the risk, Jaden. Please, I want to do this.”
Jaden stared at Nox in horror. She wasn’t her daughter, but she had been as close as her daughter for years in Celeron. She wanted to protect her, but Nox wasn’t a kid anymore, she was right, she could make these decisions for herself.
Jaden pulled the syringe out of her bag, “I know I can’t stop you,” She said, and handed over the syringe.
 
The cypher used, Nox gained a minor resistance to cold. It wasn’t a powerful mutation, but neither was it a negative one. The group took a moment to clean as best they could before focusing their attention to the door of the storeroom and returning to the mission.