Page 27 of Argurma Monster

Talech grunted and heaved a heavy sigh. Returning to the white bench that ran along the back wall of the cell, he sat down on it. The entire containment cell was made of the same white material so that the walls appeared to reflect every bit of light back at them in a way he found disconcerting. He greatly disliked it.

His hands curled into fists on his thighs, anxiety twisting through him. The room had no smell, no taste. Just sterile, terrible, white walls. His mandibles clicked in a nervous chitter that quieted the moment Zoreth sat next time him on the bench and pressed into his side.

“I process that you are accustomed to embracing Beverly, but you may clutch me if it will ease you.”

Talech expelled a sharp breath as he turned gratefully to the male. His brother, his co-mate... no, his mate. Although Beverly was the missing piece between them, he recognized his attachment and affection. His love for Zoreth was different but he was definitely Talech’s. He folded his arms and the long,black spinal limbs around the male, holding him close as their vibrissae twined together. He sank into the male’s comforting warmth. The emptiness growing within him quieted. It still wanted Beverly, but it recognized Zoreth and accepted him.

“This does not disrupt your systems?” he queried.

The male chuffed. “No. It is acceptable.”

“Acceptable?”

“Good. It is good, Talech,” Zoreth assured him. He brushed a hand along a spinal limb and Talech wished he had sensation there to feel the caress. He had minimal neurological input from the limb that merely allowed him to adjust his hold. He could not feel an embrace. “Strange but good.”

Talech relaxed against his back, the male’s heartbeats soothing him. Although Zoreth’s system was fighting that security of the spaceport, his physical presence made all the difference. Gradually, Talech’s hearts slowed to match his and his breaths slowed to a steady reasoning, clearing the worst of his confusion as time continued on without them. He still worried about Beverly, wondering where she was at or if a male was attempting to approach her, but he did not let that worry do more than race over the surface of his mind before disappearing. Zoreth was stabilizing him. He filled the emptiness of the room, making it more bearable. The silence was filled with his breath—and then a scream.

The scream that penetrated their cell was muffled by the thick walls, but in the silence, it cut with the urgency of a siren as scream after scream layered over it in a symphony of chaos. Talech and Zoreth rose warily to their feet and made their way toward the port window on their door. Talech froze as a bloody hand slapped across their window before falling away. As it dropped out of sight, the screams grew louder and Talech was able to distinguish voices shouting amid the panic.

“The infected have breached! Run!”

Kaze males rushed past the door, none giving any thought to the two Argurma locked I nside. Zoreth watched them dispassionately but then his eyes lifted as the comm crackled to life in the room.

“Attention... attention.... There has been a containment breach. All residents head to zone A. I repeat, head to Zone A.”

The comm went off and Zoreth glanced over at Talech. “They plan to leave us here.”

Talech whirled to the door, his spinal limb spread wide. He did not care if it tore his own implants off, he would wrench the door off. He would save his mate. Roaring, he charged to the door but stumbled to a stop in surprise when it suddenly slid open the lithe figure of a Kaze female stepped inside. Her shocked gaze fell on Talech and then moved over Zoreth before flooding with relief.

“Thank Ziweela, I have been checking every containment room in this corridor,” the female wheezed, and she motioned rapidly for them to proceed from the room. “Come, we must Beverly out of here. Ragal has already proceeded with her to the mating pool by force but with the lockdown, he is certain to take her to Zone A,” she explained as she hurried down the hall ahead of them, leaving them to follow after her, their footsteps pounding with their stride.

“Probability of retrieving her from Zone A?” Zoreth queried as they rounded a bend at full speed, their feet skidding on the polished floor.

The female shook her head, her breath heaving in and out of her in heavy pants as she rushed down the hall at an impressive speed. “None. You need to retrieve her before he gets to the lockdown zone. It is not connected to the main system of the spaceport as that zone is reserved for cases of dire emergency, so you will not be able to uplink and access it.”

Talech scrutinized her curiously. “You knew that was what Zoreth was attempting?”

Her head jerked in a nod. “I have been covering his hacking attempts and undoing some of the securities from my end. I could not let Ragal succeed. We were almost through, but there was an infection was not caught by our scanners.”

She released an explosive puff of air in a sharp sigh of frustration. “I warned them not to experiment on the parasites, that nothing good would come of it. They were attempting to make the parasite compatible to Kaze for a true symbiotic relationship which they presumed would leave the mind of the host intact for assisting to eliminating the cause of the infection. And that started with an attempt to increase their intelligence. Worse, they stared to believed that they were like gods and were getting sloppy about their scans.” She shook her head. “They should have known better than anyone that infection can happen without the host even being aware of it until the parasite seizes complete control. And evidence shows that they have intentionally waited.”

“What is the calculated infection rate?” Zoreth followed up with a growl.

“Alarming,” she shot back. “The parasites that attacked the scientists were fully mature adults that were being genetically manipulated. Not only do they have a faster rate of maturation that was an unexpected consequence of one of the experiment sequences, but they breed quickly. They were already releasing juvenile larva from their hosts before anyone realized something was wrong. The scientists had gone to bed with their bunk mates like normal the night before, but the entire residential section was awoken by screams. The new generation adults are estimated to reach sexual maturity within hours of burrowing into a host, and they are releasing a constant stream of juvenileswithin twenty-four hours. Those three hosts have infected dozens already.”

Talech growled as Zoreth let out a stream of curses.

“How far is the mating pool?” the male demanded. “I will not leave my mate in here for even a zec. This is insanity.”

“This way,” the female panted, pointing down the hall ahead of her. “The pools are directly in the center of the spaceport for the sake of convenient access. This hall just head will take us directly there.”

Talech gnashed his mandibles as he seethed. And at the end of that hall would be bloodshed.

Chapter 24

Beverly’s nose wrinkled as she stared down at the pool. It looked cold and here she was clothed in a short ceremonial dress that barely covered her privates. She was told that it was a mating gown designed for mating in pools. And she was expected to get into that frigid water wearing it. She didn’t think so.

Besides which, while the water likely once been pure and pristine, it looked off to her. It certainly didn’t look like a sanitary place where she ought to welcome someone fucking her. Gross. That was just begging for an infection. Of course, the whole idea of being mated by Ragal made her stomach turn anyway. Either way, the water didn’t look clean or anything she would want to even dip her smallest toe in. Hell, she would even debate shoving an enemy into it.

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