She looked down and saw Will also on the cliff face. Horatio had apparently given him a boost, because he was about six meters high already, with the robot at his side.
Free climbing was something that came relatively easily to a cyborg. With her enhanced strength, Rhea could readily hold herself up via the different crevices and rocky protrusions that presented themselves. But it couldn’t have been easy for Will. Humans weren’t designed for free climbing. She had watched a documentary on the subject one night after training. Apparently, free climbers practiced a route with full gear for months before attempting it without a lifeline. Will didn’t have that luxury: he had to get it right the first time.
But he did have a drone. Hopefully, it was helping Will pick out the safest route.
She turned her attention to the south: that cloud of dust was growing ever nearer. It began to curl inward, as if all the bioweapons composing it planned to congregate on the party’s position. Some of the creatures had emerged from the forefront, leaving behind the protective cover of the dust cloud to expose their true forms.
From afar, the revealed creatures looked like some amalgamation of claws, tentacles, and snakes. She zoomed in on the closest pair to have a better look.
The scaled bodies were reptilian, though of a size to match dinosaurs. They ran on four muscular legs, the toes festooned with deadly talons. At the front of the body were an additional two forelimbs ending in long, scythe-like claws. Broad tails were tipped by long, forbidding, whip-like tentacles: they reminded her of the stinging tendrils the aquatic creatures known as medusae bore. She had observed the latter in an interactive documentary only a week or so before—it seemed a lifetime ago.
Her gaze focused on the forefronts. Several long necks protruded there, tipped by lion-like heads complete with long, hairy manes. She counted five heads per creature.
“Hydras,” Rhea said. Greek Mythology was something else she’d stumbled upon during her random Net browsing. She’d watched a video about a mythical figure named Hercules who had killed one of these Hydras—a multi-headed creature whose heads grew back again when cut off.
She retrieved the pistol from her holster, targeted a head on one of the “Hydras,” and fired. The energy bolt had no apparent effect. She didn’t see any eyes or other obvious features to target on the head, at least at this range, so she tried shooting at the body next, and then the legs and tail. The energy bolts seemed to be absorbed by every body part she chose, causing no harm. The second Hydra proved just as impervious to her shots.
“Well, that’s not good,” Rhea sent.
“What’s not good?” Will asked over the comm.
“My energy bolts caused no damage,” Rhea replied. “No matter which body part I targeted. None.”
“Maybe it’s the range,” Will sent. “If you were closer, I bet you’d cause some real hurt. Even so, I’m not sure it’s the greatest idea to get close. Take down one head, you got four more to deal with.”
She watched the exposed creatures in the forefront a moment longer. The fact they were uncovered told her the cloud was something the bioweapons could utilize only when together. As if by staying close, they generated some sort of field, magnetic or otherwise, that trapped the dust particles created by their advance into a long tunnel that enveloped their line; when an individual bioweapon left formation, it lost the benefits of that field.
She holstered the pistol and continued to climb; at the same time, she brainstormed different ways to cause the planned avalanche. Starting one had seemed like such a great idea when she first thought of it, but now she wasn’t so sure: the rocks looked like they could take quite a pounding. The party would probably have to use their energy pistols to weaken different sections first, along with the areas below them, so that when the upper rocks separated, there was a better chance of starting an avalanche. And it would always be only a chance and nothing more: the likeliest outcome was that the stones would simply break off without causing a chain reaction. Sure, the tumbling rocks would knock away whatever bioweapons were clinging to the cliff face directly below them, but the other creatures would prevail, clinging unharmed to the rocks that failed to dislodge.
Yes, it wasn’t going to be easy.
She continued climbing and eventually surmounted an overhanging section. Glancing higher, she spotted a cave entrance, one that wasn’t visible from the ground, thanks to the overhang. Gizmo wouldn’t have detected it, either, because of the way more rock folded over the top. Taken altogether, the top and bottom sections were almost like the pieces of some massive jaw, and the cave the gullet, its darkness eager to swallow her and the party whole.
“Got a cave!” Rhea sent. “Forty meters from the ground.”
“How deep is it?” Will replied over the comm.
“I don’t know!” she said. “But it’s shelter! Get your asses up here!”
If anything, they’d be able to use the cave as a choke point to hold off the incoming creatures, a strategic “inflection point,” as Bardain would call it.
“Sending in Giz,” Will transmitted.
Rhea made her way toward the opening. Meanwhile the drone darted past overhead and vanished into the cave.
“Looks to be fairly extensive,” Will sent a moment later. “I was able to send Giz right up to the limits of comm range, fifty meters in, and still the tunnel continued deeper. No signs of bioweapons or other occupants. Seems to be naturally formed.”
“It’s a good place to make a last stand,” Rhea said.
“Maybe we won’t have to,” Will sent. “Forget about trying to start an avalanche. What we gotta do is collapse the entrance, seal ourselves inside…”
“Sure, but if we do that, we’re going to have to dig ourselves out eventually.” Rhea reached the entrance
