As Finnegan shouted, “Lookout,” the horrific realization burst onto her that the curl ofceiling was alive – was in reality a gigantic flat worm which priorto that moment, had somehow managed to perfectly mimic the whitetunnel walls. Her shout become a scream of terror when the wormattacked Decker, enveloping her body, and dragging her down intothe water.
Moira froze on the step,desperate to help but at a complete loss as to how. If she ran foraid, surely Naiche would drown before she got back. Moira skittereddown the steps, screaming Decker’s name over and over, keeping thelight trained on the thrashing in the water. Still trying to figureout what to do, Finnegan watched in astonishment as Kayatennae doveinto the water.
It looked for a moment asif Naiche and Kay would perish together until the dog bobbed to thesurface with the tail of the giant worm in his mouth. He struggledagainst the potent creature for a stretch of seconds that seemedlike an eternity to Moira until she heard the muffled sound ofweapon-fire from underneath the water. Kay must have loosened theworm’s grip enough for Naiche to free a hand and reach her pulsepistol.
The dog maintained his gripon the tail as he jumped out of the water and continued to wrestlewith the worm from the platform. At the same time, Decker’s pistolkept on firing – at least signaling that she was still alive. Bynow Moira was on her knees on the platform next to Kay but saw nosign of surrender on the part of the worm nor any sighting ofDecker above the water line.
Abruptly the pistolstopped firing and the tail of the worm broke off from the mainbody, dangling in Kay’s mouth. The water took on a sickeningstillness. At last, when Moira was losing hope, Naiche’s head brokeabove the water, desperately gasping for air. Finnegan held out ashaking hand and helped Decker climb up onto the platform. As soonas Decker made it up, she rolled on her back, eyes closed,breathing in enormous gulps of air. Moira collapsed beside her,light-headed from fear and stress. She was resting her head on herknees, her stomach roiling with nausea, when she heard Naiche say,“So that’s what afucking veil-worm is.”
***
Decker would have liked torest a little longer but didn’t know how many other veil-wormsmight be lurking nearby. She stood up on trembling legs and pulledFinnegan to her feet, as well. Though she wanted nothing more thanto escape that tunnel of horror, she took the time to retrieve thepiece of the worm’s tail that Kay had dropped. Removing her soppinguniform jacket to reveal the regulation t-shirt underneath, Deckerused the jacket to wrap the specimen up. She re-donned her daypack,containing the sample of bark that had been the original purpose ofthis ill-fated outing and said, “Come on – let’s get the hell outof here.” Even Kay seemed eager to depart and charged up the stairsahead of them.
As the exhausted trioheaded slowly back to the Aurora, Moira gestured at the bundleunder Decker’s arm asking, “What are you keeping the piece of thatworm’s tail for? Is it meant to be a trophy?”
Managing a shaky laugh,Decker said, “No. I want it for the same reason I was trying to getthat water sample. So, the folks in Scientific can examineit.”
“Why? You certainly knowwhat the veil-worms are now.”
“True – but I have no ideahow they can evade detection by a scanner, so no idea how to fightthem.”
“Why do you have to fightthem? Can’t you simply stay out of the float-ways alltogether?”
“The float-ways still might be the best way get to the home ofthe Intabet.” To circumvent another ‘why’, Deck explained, “I wantto visit them and check out that story about them knowing thingsabout the peerazu, ways to soothe them, avoid attacks, andall.”
They traveled in silencefor a few moments, the dry grass crunching beneath their feet,until Moira asked, in a quiet voice, “Deck? Weren’t you scared whenthat worm attacked you?”
“Of course, Iwas.”
“Then how could you everrisk going back in those float-ways?”
“What can I say? Risk ismy job. I can’t let fear stop me from doing what needs to be done –or I might as well hang it up.” With a shrug, Naiche admitted, “Ithought investigating that float-way was a calculated risk – sure doesn’t lookthat way now.” She gave a weary chuckle. “I guess I need to checkmy math.”
Moira chewed her lower lipthoughtfully before saying, “Upon giving it further consideration,if I do join theUDC – I’m not so sure I’d want…your kind of job.”
Decker smiled to herself atthat proclamation. “I knew you were a smart kid.”
Chapter 10
OurUniverse Changes Directions
“…the unknown reveals itself, and our universechanges directions.” Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes
On the Lovelace, Captain Ricci entered theofficer’s lounge at 2045 hours looking for a drink and some quietcompanionship. After a long day of dealing with the not only hisnormal duties, but many of the ones Lindstrom usually shouldered,he needed a break. For an hour or two he wanted to think aboutanything other than the mission – or even the everyday concerns ofcommanding the Lovelace. He got a grappa from the automated bartender and thenlooked around for a likely spot. Matt noticed Tal Jacoway at asmall table playing chess with Dr. Clemente and headed their way.After ensuring that they didn’t mind an audience, he whiled awaysome time composing a long message to his best friend, ZacheCharani, on his hand-held computer and silently observing thetightly competitive game.
The combatants played to adraw and turned off the holographic chess module. Clemente thankedJacoway for the game and then asked Ricci if he had any updates onKennedy’s condition.
“No, sorry, nothing beyondwhat I learned from Naiche yesterday.” He chuckled briefly beforeadding, “Ramsey’s still working on the long-distance communicatorand asked me to stay the hell off of it.”
“I’m quite sure Carladidn’t phrase it like that.”
“No, but she meant it likethat.”
“I bet Con will be fine,”Tal interjected. “Naiche will make sure of that. He couldn’t haveanyone better
