building called the Barbican, but it sure as heck didn’t feel like we were indoors. I looked up expecting to see a ceiling, but all I saw was blackness. I half expected to see stars, but that would have been impossible. Then again, when you were inside the fantasy of a genius inventor, maybe nothing was impossible.
“This is Zetlin’s world,” I answered. “I think we have to be ready for anything.”
A narrow path cut through the thick foliage. It was the only way to go. Loor took the lead, pushing past me and walking boldly down the path to somewhere. It reminded me of the way she took the lead down in the dark mine tunnels of
Denduron. Only this time, neither of us had any idea where we were going.
Loor walked quickly, pushing away the leafy branches that hung over the trail. I had to hang back a few feet or I would have gotten whacked by the branches as they swung back after she passed.
“What was that?” she asked, stopping short.
I heard it too. It sounded as if something were scurrying around in the underbrush, but it was so dense, it was impossible to see anything. Whatever was in there, I sure hoped it was just as hard for it to see us, too. We stood there for a second, listening, but the only sound we heard was the drip of moisture falling from the large, leafy plants.
“Keep going,” I suggested.
Loor continued on. “What are we looking for?” she asked over her shoulder.
“I don’t know, but I bet we’ll know it when we see it.”
A minute later the path led us to a clearing in the jungle. It was a wide open, circular space that looked as if it had been cleared for a jungle campground. All the plant life had been neatly cut away in a circle. I could see the sliced-off ends of branches all around, as if somebody had come through with a monster weed whacker. We walked to the center of the clearing, and stopped when we both heard more rustling in the bushes. We shot each other a look. Something was definitely out there.
“Dr. Zetlin?” I called out.
No answer. No more rustling, either.
“What kind of place is this, Pendragon?” Loor asked.
“There are jungles like this on Second Earth,” I answered. “But Zetlin isn’t from Second Earth so I have no clue what to expect.”
At that exact instant, something shot out of the bushes. It was a long vine. But it was like it had been shot from a gun, because the vine flew right for us. Loor and I ducked back and the vine barely missed us. The end flew into the bushes on the far side and attached to something so that it stretched across the clearing like a rope.
Before we had the chance to react, another vine shot out the same way. Only this one flew behind us before attaching to a tree on the far side. Loor and I now stood between the two ropelike vines.
“Does this happen on Second Earth?” Loor asked.
“No, and I don’t like it. C’mon,” I said.
We ducked under the vine and ran for the far end of the clearing, where the path continued. As we ran, more vines shot from the bushes. They were coming fast now, shooting every which way-in front of us, over our heads, behind us. In seconds Loor and I were surrounded by a tangle of taut vines. They built up quickly in front of the trail, blocking our passage. There was only one way to describe what it looked like.
“Spiderweb,” I said.
As if on cue, we heard more rustling in the bushes. The sound was much louder now. Whatever was making it was coming our way. Loor and I both looked back to see movement at the far edge of the clearing. There were a bunch of places where the foliage moved, making way for whatever was coming.
I was dying to know what it was. On the other hand, I didn’t really want to die just to know what it was. If we were about to get attacked by a giant spider, I’d just as soon be someplace else. Loor didn’t waste time thinking. She lunged for the side of the clearing and grabbed a five-foot-long branch. It looked strong enough that in the right hands, it could do some damage.
Loor had the right hands.
“Whatever it is,” she announced, “if it charges, stay behind me.”
I think we were both expecting to see a wild animal come out of the underbrush. Instead, what pushed its way out, slithering along the ground, looked more like a big cactus. Seriously. It was some kind of plant. It actually looked kind of pretty. It had a tubular body that was green and covered with thorns. The head was actually a violet-colored flower. The bud was pretty big too, about the size of a beach ball. It had large petals that opened and closed, like it was breathing.
Loor and I stood and watched in wonder as more of these strange plants pushed their way into the clearing. The flower blossoms, or whatever they were, were all different colors. Bright pink, purple, deep blue, and brilliant yellow. I counted eight in all. It was like they were creeping into the clearing, taking a curious look at who their visitors were.
“They’re kind of pretty,” I said.
Wrong. On cue, all eight blossoms opened up and spit out vines that shot right at us! Whoa! One of the vines latched on to my arm, cutting into my jumpsuit. The thing had razor-sharp barbs on it! I quickly pulled it off, just as another wrapped around my ankle and yanked me to the ground. It then started pulling me toward it! One quick look at the plant showed me all I needed to know. Inside the blossoms were sharp, gnashing, fanglike growths. These beautiful plants were hungry, and we had wandered into their house for a bite… of us.
“Loor!” I shouted.
I didn’t need to. Loor had already gone to work with her whupping stick. She hacked like a lumberjack at the vine that had my leg. Two quick whacks and I was free, but the plant screamed. I swear, it actually feet to see Loor was swinging her stick like crazy, batting away more vines that were shooting out of the plants at us. “The trail!” I shouted.
I got behind her, grabbed the back of her jumpsuit and pulled her back toward the safety of the trail. As I pulled her back, she kept swinging away at the incoming missiles like she was in hyper batting-practice mode. She nailed most of them too, knocking them off course.
I kicked at the spiderweb of vines that was blocking the path. They may have been dense, but they weren’t very strong because I could tear them down pretty easily. While I desperately tried to make an opening, Loor valiantly batted away the attacking vines. But there were too many of them. There was no way she could keep this up. I took a quick look back to see the toothy cactus plants were crawling closer, moving in for the kill.
“Just run!” I shouted.
Loor took one last swipe at an incoming vine, then turned with me and ran. We ducked through the opening in the web and sprinted along the narrow path. More vines zinged by our heads, trying to grab us and pull us back. As we got farther from the clearing, the vine attack tapered off. But we didn’t stop running. Still, I feared we could easily be heading toward another nest of those nasty barb-shooting cactus plants.
After a few minutes of frantic chase, we both felt safe enough to take a rest. Good thing, too. My lungs were bursting out of my chest, that’s how hard we were running. I think being terrified had something to do with it too. I stood there with my hands on my knees, gulping for air. Loor, on the other hand, barely looked winded. She scanned the jungle for any more signs of movement.
“There!” she announced.
“Please don’t tell me it’s another hungry vegetable,” I gasped.
As strange as this sounds, rising up from the middle of the jungle was a spiral staircase. It led up and out of the foliage and disappeared into the dark. At first my brain couldn’t compute why a spiral staircase would be in a dark jungle full of hungry predators. But then it hit me.
“We’re inside a building,” I said. “That must lead up to the next floor.”
“Do we climb?” Loor asked.
“Do we have a choice?” I asked back.
Loor took the lead and continued along the path until it brought us to the foot of the stairs. They were made of metal, and a quick tug told us they were solid enough. The whole structure was overgrown with vines, like the ones that had been shooting at us. I touched them to see if they might suddenly spring to life and start attacking, but nothing happened. I took a step back and looked up to where the stairs led, but all I saw was black.
Loor gave me a quick look, then started to climb. I was right after her. The higher we got, the better view we had of the jungle below. The place was vast. But because it was so dense and dark, I couldn’t see all the way to
