Page 35 of Kryxis

Not far down the tunnel, they climbed up another set of stairs to ground level. Anxiety was beginning to pull at her again. Where was he taking her?

They entered a large chamber with several doorways. Her heart leaped in her throat as she saw a giant version of the metal man in the center. There were also full metal skeletons on display of different species. Human, grex, lygin…and a few others she didn’t recognize. Kryxis slipped past them all without a glance, taking her down a hallway toward a set of double doors.

Her garometer went off. There was something living beyond those doors.

Whatever it was, she really hoped it wasn’t something that was going to make her regret this whole situation.

She shuddered as she got a vision of cages. Shit, what if this was a zoo? What if he was going to add her to some sick collection after all?

As they got closer, she began to struggle. “Kryxis, wait…”

He swung the doors open and took her inside. Before she could get out of his hold, he let her go, setting her on her feet and leaving her in a dark and oddly steamy room.

She blinked, trying to see. “Where the hell are—”

The lights slowly turned on, like night turning to day.

Her eyes widened, a little gasp slipping through her teeth.

By the elder gods.

She stood there gaping at the giant plants around her. Plants of all shapes and colors. Some growing all the way up to the ceiling, others twisting and weaving around the walls. High above the dome’s ceiling, the light made it look like daytime.

It was a conservatory. A thriving one. She even saw those little spider bots crawling around, only these were smaller and they were spraying the plants with water.

She blinked, and Kryxis was there beside her. He brought the growth tank up to her face. “Itarak.”

Dani took the tank from him, letting out a surprised little laugh. “You’ve…been taking care of all this?”

He gestured to the spiderbots.

Ah, okay. So they were doing most of the work. Just like those in the shipping sector, they had been left to their task despite everyone being gone.

Dani walked over to a towering plant with fanning orange leaves. “Some of these are rare,” she commented. “Agarius Val.” She looked around and noticed they had labels beside each plant. “Margo Leech!” She pointed. “And—is that Tigrus Bluum?” She rushed over to examine the deep blue and black flowers with little pink thorns. “It is,” she gasped. “That’s insane!”

“Insane,” Kryxis repeated. She glanced over at him and saw the confusion in his eyes. She realized she was grinning from ear to ear and straightened.

“Um.” Jeez, how did she explain that? “You know, shocking, like…” She put her hands to her face and opened her mouth and eyes wide in a shocked expression.

He grunted. “Firas.” His eyes widened like hers, and he bared his teeth in what she could only assume was a vrisha’s shocked expression.

She laughed. “Yes, something like that.”

He let out a strange sound in response, and it took her a moment to realize it was laughter as well. She wasn’t sure if it was genuine or if he was just mimicking her again, but she didn’t mind.

“This is amazing. The company would have a field day if they got their hands on some of these.” She brushed her hand against the leaves of a carakus plant. “Marityne must have been studying some of these too.” She walked along, taking in all the colors. Something squished under her boot, making her glance down. There were patches of fungi along the ground just like the ones she’d seen before. She crouched to examine them closer. Yes, they were those odd blue ones. The more she looked, in fact, the more she could see them growing everywhere. Along the sides of plants mostly, and even on the walls.

“Strange…”

She rose and a neat idea popped into her head. “Kryxis, do you have any more of these?” She tapped on the glass of the growth tank. “More?” She put up several fingers to try to indicate more than one.

“Xa.”

She fixed him a devious smirk. “Good. I lost one of my samples to your antics last time. Now, you’re going to help me.”

She was back in the gaming center. And this time she had a couple samples taken from the conservatory including the fungi. Not as many as she would have liked. She would have taken a sample of every single plant in there if she could, but there were only so many tanks Kryxis could find and so many she could carry. She’d lost her pack at the bridge, but Kryxis had her set there too, providing a bag big enough for the samples and for some of the cryo-batteries he’d collected. He had no use for them, and she’d lost all of hers.

If it wasn’t for the storm, she’d be returning to the ship and getting Saul and Tristen out to look for her crew. Her stomach twisted, making her queasy thinking about what they might find. She didn’t want to imagine it. But like hell she was going to leave her crew’s bodies here.

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