Page 55 of Pandora: Alien Games

Nephthys was upset with the priests. “They’re saying it wrong. What they’re chanting is gibberish. Idiots!”

I giggled.

When they finished, the Pyramid opened and exposed its darkness.

“Frozen space rats,” I muttered more to myself. “Let’s get going.”

The air that rushed from the Pyramid smelled stale like on the space station. I mean, how fresh can the air be when this damn thing is underground and rarely opened?

Nephthys read my thoughts. “The Pyramids of Doom are hosted by The Underworld. They rise once a year when the moons and the planet are perfectly aligned with the three suns.”

“What’s inside?”

Nephthys was silent for a moment. “I don’t know for certain. Sorry. We’ll find out together.”

Biting on my lower lip, I collected my courage. What did they expect of me? To be some type of badass warrior queen? I was crapping my pants here. I’m none of those things. I’m a tech girl and a good thief, that’s all.

I stopped. The closing of the thick doors startled me. It sounded like heavy rock sliding over another layer of rock. Then a thump, a loud thump that felt as if things got serious. Oh, shit!

“Nephthys, can you kinda make light or something?”

“We don’t want to make the creatures of the underworld aware of our presence. We want to surprise them. But I have something better.”

My delicate dress turned into my armor. A visor fell over my eyes. Suddenly, I had night vision. We had night vision visors on the space station but, damn, not like that. The one on the station were like old computer games, displaying everything in red and dark blue. My armor’s vision was perfect, even showing colors.

I eventually became used to the vivid colors surrounding. I was in some type of forest. If I had to make a comparison, it looked like the prehistoric rain forests on Earth. Tall, thick plants with huge leaves and lots of deep red. All the leaves where blood red.

“I didn’t expect this,” I said to Nephthys, who was suspiciously silent.

The forest stretched in front of me as far as I could see.

“Each direction looks as good as the other. Or as bad. You get my drift?”

Nephthys remained still. Not that she’s usually chatty, but now I could have used a few words from her. Something.

I never understood ancestral warning systems until I felt the hair on the back of my neck rising. A chill ran down my spine like nothing I had ever experienced. Each muscle in my body locked in fear. Horrible fear. The type of fear that made my blood freeze. My body felt the horror before my eyes sent the message to my brain.

“Nephthys!” I yelled inside my mind. I needed her to answer to me, and I needed her to tell me what to do now.

The creature that stood in front of me was huge. It looked like an Earth lion, only instead of one head it had two, each head possessing two pairs of eyes. The creature had talons so large it could easily rip me open like a recycled bag. It walked slowly, moving with an ease that was surprising for its size.

Trying to hold my breath, I waited for Nephthys to say something. The lion took another step toward me. Thick, dark brown and green drool dripped from its huge maws. One of the heads looked toward its right. I heard movement in that direction. The other head had its four eyes glued on me. My heart beat so fast I felt as if it would burst through my armor. Its breath made me gag. The fight or flight instinct kicked in.

“Frozen space rats!” I yelled inside my mind. I ran as fast as I could, not waiting for Nephthys to do anything.

“Pandora, no. The leogriph is harmless. Stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

I couldn’t stop. Fear filled my mind, fear of everything. Especially fear of losing Van, Ashok, Edoo, and Hassym. I’ll lose them all. The fear turned into pain which felt like a dagger slicing through my innards, making me want to vomit.

Tall plants with red leaves surrounded me. Red sap that looked like blood dripped from them. My fear was tangible. Van stood in front of me.

“It’s your fault, Pandora. It’s all your fault!”

I was on my knees staring up at my best friend. His face was stern, his movement robotic.

“You killed me, Pandora. And now you’re going to die.”

I glanced down at my body, hoping to find something to motivate me. My mind felt muddled. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. What was I supposed to see on my body? There was nothing special. I was wearing the blue overalls of the tech crew.

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