“Or find another exit,” Will sent.
“Assuming the tunnel doesn’t lead to a dead end.” Rhea gazed into the darkness and saw the vague outline of Gizmo hovering within, awaiting its master.
She thought the tunnel was spacious enough to fit the smaller bioweapons she’d seen out there: after all, there was room for three people to stand abreast with arms extended, while another three could perch on their shoulders with arms upraised. If the smaller bioweapons squeezed their multiple heads together, and pulled their legs tight to their bodies, it would be cramped, but they’d fit, single file.
She turned about to observe the plains. The creatures in the forefront were fast approaching the base of the cliff. While they varied in size, with some obviously too large, others would definitely fit the tunnel.
She glanced at her companions on the rock face. Sebastian was the closest.
“Collapsing the cave entrance might prove tricky,” Horatio transmitted. “It will require specific placement of energy bolts.”
“Maybe,” Will sent. “But brute force might do the trick quite nicely as well. Our Monkey Tailed friend might finally be able to make himself useful.”
“And if we’re successful, what about oxygen?” Horatio pressed.
“We start running out, we drill a hole,” Will said. “Besides, it’s not like you have to worry.”
“Yes, but I fear for you and the cyborgs,” Horatio transmitted.
“The smaller Hydras will only fit in single file,” Rhea said. “We kill the lead creature, let it block the tunnel. Done.”
“That might prove difficult, considering how little damage your energy bolts did from afar,” Will transmitted. “And even if we do manage it, the next bioweapon in line will simply pull it out or rip the carcass apart to get past.”
“Then we keep killing them,” Rhea said.
“We still don’t know what kind of stopping power we’re going to need,” Will insisted. “Our pistols will probably do more damage when they’re closer, but as to how much more, that’s anyone’s guess. These creatures are unknowns, never encountered before. Best course of action at this point is to just cave the entrance and be done with it.”
“I agree,” Sebastian sent.
“There you go,” Will broadcast. “Even monkey boy agrees with me on this. Horatio, what’s your vote?”
“Collapse it,” the robot transmitted.
Rhea wasn’t convinced that caving the entrance was the best course of action. Her mind returned to the avalanche idea, and she studied the exterior rocks below, trying to figure out the best way to go about initiating a deadly cascade. There were no obvious sections that seemed ready to fall. She fired an experimental shot below Will and Horatio, striking the stone. She caused a small-bore hole to appear, but little else.
That’s not going to work.
Sebastian arrived.
She stepped back, making room for the big cyborg. He clambered onto the lip, the front part of his body in shadow, thanks to the backlighting. The silhouette formed by his towering, muscular physique and that long, curving tail with the deadly blades, was forbidding to say the least. The cave was high enough to fit his tall form with ample room to spare.
Sebastian stepped toward her menacingly, and Rhea recoiled, instinctively drawing her pistol. The cyborg spun about, and that tail whipped around—
Rhea leaped to the hard floor of the cave, rolling into the wall. Then she clambered to one knee, raising the pistol.
But the tail had not struck. Rhea had mistaken his intent: Sebastian had simply been turning around. Apparently, he had stepped toward her simply to place himself further from the entrance, perhaps to make room for Will and Horatio.
Rhea lowered her pistol.
But then Sebastian turned around once more and started ramming his tail violently into the roof. The robotic appendage was long enough to reach, though any taller and he would have had difficulties. Again and again Sebastian impacted the bare stone. The blades spun slightly with each impact, further agitating the rock. Small fragments broke away, clinking to the tunnel floor. It was obvious Sebastian intended to collapse the roof: the cyborg evidently didn’t care whether Will and Horatio reached the cave and was going to strand the pair out there with the bioweapons.
“Stop!” Rhea shouted. Sebastian ignored her. “I’m going to shoot!”
The cyborg halted; he had angled himself sideways slightly and glanced over his shoulder at her. The light caught on the edge of his face, illuminating a lip upturned in rage. “If they don’t make it to this cave before I collapse the ceiling, they’re dead anyway. I’ve done the calculation. Already bioweapons have reached the base of the cliff. We have to begin the process now. We can’t wait, not if we want the entrance sealed by the time the bioweapons arrive.”
Sebastian started striking the rock with that powerful tail once again.
“You will wait for them!” Rhea insisted.
“Shoot me then, little girl.” Sebastian continued bashing the ceiling.
Rhea shook her head in disbelief. “Will, get up here ASAP. Sebastian refuses to wait for you. He’s already started ramming his tail into the ceiling.”
“Probably a good idea,” Will replied. “The closest creatures are right behind us.”
She glanced at her overhead map, and saw the blue dots of her friends, along with the red dots of the bioweapons in the forefront, very close underneath them.
“Hurry!” she said.
“Getting there as fast as I can,” Will transmitted. “I’m having a bit of trouble with this overhang section. I think I’m going to need a piggyback ride. Horatio?”
“One piggyback ride coming up,” the robot sent.
Sebastian hadn’t let up the whole time. He’d drawn his rifle in order to add energy bolts to the mix, which struck the ceiling in between tail impacts. Large sections of rock began to dislodge from the ceiling. Wouldn’t be long now…
Rhea glanced at her overhead map. The blue dots of her two friends had combined, but they were advancing far too slowly for her patience. She decided she was going to go out there and help them.
But first, she had to get past Sebastian.
“Step aside!” Rhea ordered.
The cyborg ignored her.
Rhea stepped forward. Sebastian still
