Aegis:
Chapter Eight
[Rating: General
···
Length: Very Long
···
Genre: Mixed up, Serious]
[
Word count: (chapter: 1, 851)
(total:22444 )]
[
Chapter One · Chapter
Two · Chapter
Three · Chapter
Four · Chapter
Five]
[
Chapter Six · Chapter
Seven · Chapter
Eight · Chapter
Nine]
As she lent back to judge the hight of the obstacle,
something poked her mid-back. Turning, she could see it
was one of two thin poles of metal that jutted from the
badger’s warped body. An idea slowly formed in Aegis’s
mind and, with some effort, she managed to snap the metal,
brittle with cold. The broken edges were sharp.
Sharp enough to pierce ice. Reaching as far above her
as she could, She slammed it into the wall. After testing
it, she jumped up as high as she could and embedded the
other pole a few feet from the first. Hanging from them,
her feet dangled above the dead machine. Wrenching the
lower pole from its moorings, she hung from one hand and
swung up to re-embed it a few feet higher from the anchored
one. After repeating this, she found she could use the
dents left by the poles as footholds. Slowly she hauled
herself upward, arms aching with effort. When the top
was in reach, she slammed the pole one last time and pulled
herself up.
The wall formed the edge of a slight ledge, about five
feet wide. It gently curved, and fell away into sheer
blackness. A short way off another ledge formed an inner
circle. A ridge about her hight shielded her view of what
she would find. Exhausted, she lay down, using her poles
to avoid falling and before long, she slept. It was the
need to go to the toilet that roused her. It had been
many hours since she had last gone and she felt fit to
burst. Her helmet reminded her that she could not go in
the open – she would freeze. Becoming more and more desperate,
she pulled herself to her feet, pole in each hand and
steadied herself. A few small specs of snow floated down
into the abyss, disappearing in its inky depths. Fixing
her eyes on the ridge of ice on the other side of the
chasm and swallowing her panic, she leapt.
For a few heart-stopping seconds she was suspended mid
air, sure that she wouldn’t make it. The ice rushed toward
her, then above her and the blackness neared. Slamming
into the ice a few feet below her target, she began to
topple backwards toward oblivion. The eerie silence of
the icy landscape was shattered by her desperate scream
as she tumbled down, headfirst. After a few seconds she
found herself in a surprisingly calm frame of mind. Certain
she was going to die, she relaxed and realised she was
still holding the poles. Ending her scream, she embedded
them into the fast passing wall.
The jerk on her arms was terrible as she flipped right
way up, the abrupt ending of her fall threatening to tear
her apart. Immersed in blackness, she could not tell which
side she clung to and far above she could see a small
patch of white sky. Unable to see her hands, she began
to climb as she had before. Soon she got into a steady
rhythm- embed, release, embed, release. Maddeningly, the
tiny patch of sky sluggishly neared, the ice about her
seeming to suck her down.
Arms shaking with the effort, she finally heaved herself
over the lip of the ice and collapsed. She had made it
to the other side. Gritting her teeth, she clambered over
the final rise. The air suddenly warmed, hot and humid.
A green dappled light, dimmer then the harsh white rays
she had just come from lit the strange scene and it took
her eyes a few seconds to adjust. The ground beneath her
feet crunched not with ice, but sand and strange plants
she had not seen before crouched low and bushy. About
100 meters away, a low mound of sand peaked above the
plants’ fronds. Cautiously, she removed her helmet.
The air was hot and steamy. She felt the suit change slightly
and immediately she felt just the right temperature. Crouching
behind a large plant, back to the wall of ice that now
felt warm to the touch, she disengaged the suit and relieved
herself. After re-engaging, she decided to leave her helmet
concealed underneath a rather scruffy plant. Selecting
the pole with the sharpest point, she left the other with
her helmet. Her muscles’ protests slowly ebbing away,
she couched low and began towards the mound.
She felt she had to hurry – who knows what was happening
to the captives. The plants became more and more dense,
forcing her to zigzag slowly between the stems and the
leaves became sharp and pointed. The pole was more hindrance
than help and she almost dropped it multiple times. Soon
she was among a completely different plant species, not
green and plush but a withered brown, bristling with stiff
sharp spines.
When she was but five meters from the mound, she found
she could not move her legs. Twisting around, she saw
thousands of tiny threads had wrapped about them. Each
plant within view sprouted one such creeper and more were
slithering toward her. Swinging the pole around, she hacked
at them. As she cut, a hideous shriek pierced her ears
and the tendrils were whipped away. Rushing forward, she
hoped the inhabitants had not heard the commotion and
stumbled onto the mound. Feeling the same paralysis as
a minute before, she readied to hack again.
The pole did not hit vegetable matter but sank into sand.
It too seemed to tug on her hands, she stubbornly held
on. When the paralysis crept up to her waist, however,
she looked down to discover the sand was swallowing her
up. Her arms now pinned to sides, she could do nothing
but stare in horror at the sand. She couldn’t die now,
not after all she had been through! The suit was now completely
covered, her hair following. At such close quarters, she
could smell a strange chemical fragrance, very out of
place in this organic environment.
Drawing one last deep breath she sank totally beneath
the hungry sand. As the sand grew still, the sharp plants
rustled though there was not a breath of wind. The air
took on an earthy tone and the plants shook more vigorously.
They moved in unison, like a morbid vegetable army. All
of them pulled their leaves and twigs to the centre and
then began to stretch. Each extended two long limbs; arms
made of thorns and twisted hands like claws. The raised
on two knotted legs and round heads formed above gnarled
shoulders until they resembled grotesquely warped human
shapes.
Eyes like orbs of blackness, they marched to surround
the sand and stared into its depths hopefully. Several
opened gash like mouths and unfurled the tendrils that
Aegis had already met and dipped them into the sand, fishing
for her body. They all pushed forward and some almost
fell onto the mound, impatient for food. Out in the cold
natural landscape of the ice planet, black widow lay serenely
on the ice. The wind had picked up and a veritable gale
assaulted the sleeping gymalef, battering at it ferociously.
The gymalef itself showed signs of the cold, icicles tentatively
forming from the tips of the legs and jaw scythes. The
computer suddenly bleeped.
“Warning, sentient life approaching. Recommend evasive
action.” But there was no-one to hear its falsely calm
tones as three shapes appeared on the horizon, the pilot
it was directed at completely submerged in quicksand,
black dots of unconsciousness creeping into her vision,
unable to move.
The plants, leaving their prey settled back down into
plants and stilled confidant that more would follow. Blackness
now blanketing her mind, Aegis allowed her breath to slowly
bubble from her mouth and began to fall into an artificial
sleep. She did not notice that her surrounds texture had
changed. Instead of rough sand, thick goo held her steady.
There she stayed, submerged in the sludgy liquid. Her
arms and legs splayed out, hair wafting like it was under
water, her face in a relaxed expression. Her chest slowly
moved, lungs breathing the liquid.
The creatures hauled black widow, now trussed in thick
coils of a dark metal, toward the settlement. Swathed
in many layers of thick black cloth, it was impossible
to see them properly, their forms seeming to waver in
the wind. After a few minutes, the gymalef snagged on
a metallic surface a few feet below the ice. Letting the
cords droop, the creatures swarmed about the gymalef.
They seemed to merge with it, then with the snow and in
seconds all that remained was ice, not a trace of the
metal hulk that had dominated the landscape moments before.
Within the settlement, a grey empty room waited. One of
its walls was almost slimy, a deep brown in colour. Within
the wall, a slightly darker shape about the size of a
human floated. A hidden door slid open and two beings
entered. The first was short and fat and waddled slightly,
trying to keep up with its companion’s long strides. Wearing
a deep red tunic and matching pants it strongly resembled
an overripe tomato.
The taller did not even vaguely resemble any type of fruit.
It strode easily, harsh grey cloak brushing the ground.
Broad shouldered it stood tall.
If comparisons must be drawn it resembled a preying mantis
of sorts- stern, patient and deadly. Throughout the hybrid
ranks, this man was well known and feared. His quick temper
and harsh attitude made him a deadly soldier but his missions
always failed. It was thought that a hidden saboteur had
decided to follow him on every mission- he said this was
the case and had vowed to severely punish the interloper.
Supported on raptor like legs, they balanced on two clawed
toes with thick tails curling out from beneath their cloaks.
Their torsos seemed disproportionately small for their
legs, giving them a rather comical sway as they walked.
Up to the wrist, their arms appeared human. The left hand
was not really a hand but a mass of tentacles, each about
20cm long. They constantly moved, rustling quietly like
leaves in the wind. Their right hand was a large pincer
with a lethal looking point at the tip.
Though basically human-like, their faces showed subtle
differences. Their eyes seemed narrower and their eyebrows
thicker then human’s. The shorter one had a round face
with wrinkles from smiling, short fuzzy brown hair framing
the pleasant face. The taller, however, had straight ash-blonde
hair that was beginning to grey in a severely controlled
cut and a fixedly guarded expression etched onto a sharply
boned face. Both had two small horns protruding from their
hairlines.
“Let’s see what we caught this time, Arrebnak,” the shorter
one said in a thin, high voice. Arrebnak nodded slightly
and stood in front of the goo- wall. Waddling up to the
wall, Arrebnak’s companion plunged his tentacles right
into the wall toward the darker patch. Coming up short,
he frowned and pulled back. “I’m afraid my stature has
failed me yet again,” he said, wiping the goo onto his
robes.
[
Chapter One · Chapter
Two · Chapter
Three · Chapter
Four · Chapter
Five]
[
Chapter Six · Chapter
Seven · Chapter
Eight · Chapter
Nine]
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