Lava tubes or some other kind of ventilation system probably. Kyle had never seen such a place before. Only drawings of what they looked like from different colonies while he attended university. His imagination went wild regardless, filling his head with ideas of tubes heading straight to the planet’s core.
“Radiation reading?” Kyle asked between heavy breaths. They were in great shape but the heat and stress were getting to them. Not to mention the fact they’d worked all day long. Both needed to stop for water soon. He hoped for at least a few seconds once they reached a larger room.
“Not dangerous,” Lysa replied. “There we are. Thirty yards ahead.”
The ground turned uneven, difficult as it climbed and dipped. The walls closed in on them just before the chamber opened into a vast cavern. Steam rose from the floor at various spots off to the left with the ceiling too high to see. The glow came from pools of bubbling lava not even a hundred feet off toward the center of the chamber.
Lysa turned in place with her device, gesturing toward the center of the room. “We go that way.”
“Why?” Kyle asked. He bent at the waist, panting. “What’s that way?”
“More consistent energy. All this stuff is naturally occurring. It’s at least part of the method they use to collect the geothermal power but that way, we’re going to find generators or something. Some kind of containment unit. And that’s what we want. So pick up the pace! Those guys will be here soon and we’re in the open.”
Kyle groaned as they started running again, making their way by the pools. He shied away from them as they passed, wincing as if a chunk of molten rock might leap out at him. Each bubble did send sparks beyond the cauldrons containing the goo but they didn’t make it close to them… not even to brush across their path.
“We have to stop for water soon!” Kyle called. “I think I’ve sweat out three days of body fluid!”
“You’ll be leaking body fluid all over the floor if those people catch us!” Lysa slid to a halt as they reached a wall. “What the hell!? This… it has to be nearby. The passage we’re looking for! You go left, I’ll go right!”
“You want to split up?” Kyle asked the question even as she moved out. He sighed, sprinting down the hall. He tripped, stumbling for a good ten paces before bouncing off the wall and spilling. Landing hard on his side, he rolled into a stalagmite. Pain danced through his ribs as he pushed himself up.
“Shit!” Kyle checked the cube, letting out a sigh of relief when he found it intact. That’s just what we needed. Me trashing the damn thing. He turned back to where he was heading. He’d made it to the end of the wall without finding a way through. I hope to God there wasn’t another hidden door.
“I found an archway.” Lysa’s voice buzzed in his ear but at least he was able to make out the comment. “Get over here quick as you can.”
“I’m on my way. This place is treacherous, be careful. I took a spill.” A hollow feeling on his left forearm felt like a nasty scrape. He took a look as he picked up the pace, sneering at a patch of blood staining his sleeve. Excellent. That’s what I was hoping for. Goddamn it! Glancing over his shoulder, he tried to make out the way they came in.
The air warbled with heat, making it impossible to make out any details but… he swore he saw some kind of movement. A blur of something as it came into the passage. His heart raced as he once again broke into a sprint. Throwing caution out the window made him nervous after his fall. It didn’t feel like he had a choice.
“Lysa!” Kyle gulped air before he kept speaking. “I think they’re in the big room!”
A high-pitched crack echoed in the room. Something red flashed behind him. The wall next to his head exploded into pebbles that showered down on him. Instinct made him duck as he kept moving. Additional blasts hit the wall around him, chasing him until he found the archway.
Lysa returned fire on the attackers, shooting blindly with her pistol. The cracks of her projectiles sounded like little more than a pop gun in comparison to whatever their pursuers were using. He passed by her into the next room then whipped out his rifle. Pressing against the wall, he took aim and peeled off a couple bursts.
“Do what you’ve gotta do in there!” Kyle shouted. “I’ll… I’ll hold them off.”
“What the hell were they shooting?” Lysa asked as she headed off. “Do you have any idea?”
“Not a damn clue!” The scope on his rifle gave him a view of his targets. He took a knee, lowering his profile to be a harder target to hit. Five figures stood near the door they came through, taking cover behind natural pillars. They continued firing in his direction but their shots went wide, as if they thought he might be on the other side of the passage.
Taking aim, he popped three rounds on one of the men. The bullets made contact, riding up from the chest to the helmet. None of them did a damn thing. Wait, what the hell? He did it again, another couple shots that hit the enemy armor with absolutely no effect at all. His blood ran cold despite the heat.
“We have a serious problem.” Kyle leaned back into full cover as the strange beams hit the wall where he hid, chipping
