Page 22 of On A Rift's Edge
There was a plant in the center of the courtyard. He couldn’t identify it, and after a moment he decided it must be of Riftworld origin.
He took a step toward it, which was a mistake. Several blood-red tentacles sprang at him, only to end up in a seeping tangle of twitching limbs as Lyall’s snarling mouth ripped the creature apart.
Kat backed up, breathing hard. Lyall was in full hellhound mode, gnashing his bloody fangs and obliterating what remained of a species that must have been a Riftworld version of a killer sea anemone.
Lyall’s ears flattened behind his head and gave a rumbling growl.
“I’ll be more careful, I promise.” Kat held out his hands for calm, and the dog-like monster in front of him grunted and bumped his head against Kat’s body, pushing him away from the splattered flesh of the carnivorous Riftworld plant.
Kat had heard both Remi and Kaveh’s stories about entering the main building of the military complex. Kaveh had given a clipped account, with a brief mention of the species he had noted as he went deep inside to confirm that the control object was missing and the deadly phantoms had escaped.
Remi’s story had been full of lurid details of his near-death experience and the creepy interior of the space.
At the time, Kat had taken Remi’s version with a grain of salt, given the half-ratkind’s flair for the dramatic.
Once he stepped inside, the sense of menace and foreboding made him wonder if Remi had toned down his story. After the light streaking in through the opening in the wall died away in the internal shadows, he shook and activated the light from the shroom lamp he carried. That only made the dark and bulky shapes around him more ominous. The air was heavy, thick with dust, and smelled like a mixture of mold and decay.
The trash scorpion showed no sign of hesitation. The animal scuttled forward and darted out a doorway at the far end of the room. Kat took a deep breath and followed it into a hallway dripping with phosphorescent fungi glowing with violet light.
Ok, this was creepy. He reached out a hesitant hand toward Lyall, brushing against the coarse fur of his body. Lyall made a noise close to a purr and pushed closer to him.
The trash scorpion led them deeper into the main building, and Kat lost track of how many human remains they passed, most only bones coated by the glowing fungus.
The crab-like creature came to an abrupt halt in front of a pair of metal industrial doors. They hung askew, as if they had been blown inward by an explosion in the past.
The trash scorpion made a series of clicks and pops, following that up with a chittering noise that made the hairs on the back of Kat’s neck stand on end.
Silence dragged on for a long moment before a similar sound began behind the doors. The chittering rose in volume and intensity, sounding frantic.
Then the doors yawned open, and a mass of trash scorpions swarmed toward them.
Kat let out an embarrassing squeak that turned into a surprised gasp as he was shoved against the wall. For a moment, all he could see was a mass of fur as Lyall used his body to shield him.
He wiggled himself free enough to peek out over the snarling hellhound and saw the trash scorpions dancing.
Maybe dancing was the wrong interpretation. The creature who had led them into the inner base stood in the center of a rotating circle of dozens of his own species, all moving rhythmically like a whirlpool of shelled invertebrates. Like their leader, the other trash scorpions were about the size of a large house cat or a small dog breed, but there were a lot of them.
Lyall eased up on both the snarls and plastering him against the wall. Kat squeezed out from behind him to get a better view and the circle dance came to an abrupt halt.
The trash scorpions all turned toward him, their multiple iridescent eyes gleaming in the violet glow of the fungi.
They had gone silent as well and given that Lyall couldn’t tell him what to do even if he could talk, Kat decided to say something.
“Hi, my name is Kat.” That sounded stilted and awkward, but since they couldn’t understand what he was saying it might not matter. Perhaps if he could get the message across that he was trying to communicate and wasn’t hostile, that would be good enough. “I’m happy your family member is back safe with you, and I apologize on behalf of humanity for using him as an art exhibit.”
Lyall grunted, either in amusement or annoyance.
The crab-like creatures stood stock-still for a moment. Then they rotated in a clatter of chitinous legs to face their leader, the former art exhibit.
The trash scorpion began a clicking monologue, adding emphasis to the noises by removing objects from his shell, waving them at the crowd, then replacing them.
Bit of a show-off, it seemed.
The creature waved the thong in the air like a flag, and the mass of shelled bodies parted into two rows, leaving a clear path for Lyall and Kat to follow through the doors.
Kat kept one hand fisted in Lyall’s fur and walked through. He reminded himself that there might be an abducted and terrified person inside, and he had an over-protective hellhound as backup. He could do this.
They walked into a massive room. The ceiling stretched far above them, and there were windows lining the upper walls, giving the place an industrial feel.
