We’d been introduced to them on board Mack’s ship, and told they were one shots—of limited use, and not rechargeable until we’d returned them to their slots in the armory. An approach, like the one Delight was taking, was a good use for it. Mack and I watched from the shelter of the bushes, but Delight made it to the gates without incident, and waved for us to follow.
We went. Taking the relative safety of the plascrete was better than risking the chances of a minefield we couldn’t detect. Sure, we’d feel a bit stupid if it turned out the ground was just ground covered in super-short grass, but that was better than getting blown up by something we’d missed—and I hadn’t been able to find a network link to the complex, let alone hack the place for its schematics. That would have taken more time than we’d had.
We were going in half-blind, with all the warning Tens could scan. I’d done only one of these as part of my training ‘extras’, and I’d sworn, then, I’d never do another one.
“Yeah, but you didn’t have me,” Tens said, reminding me he could hear my thoughts and fears.
I startled, but Mack was already moving forward, acting like he hadn’t heard a word. I hurried after him, following his example, and activating the force field on my suit. In spite of our worries, no-one challenged us on the road. Delight had the gates open by the time we reached her.
“Anything?” Mack asked, and Delight shook her head, her negative echoed by Tens in our comms.
“Di nada, boss.”
“Keep looking,” Mack answered, and we knew he was speaking more to Tens than the rest of us—and then he was speaking to me, “Find a terminal and start hacking.”
The gates parted just enough for one of us to go through, and Mack stepped across it to see what reaction he could draw. Delight and I held our breaths. Mack’s silhouette was clear against the afternoon light—a solid target if anyone was waiting inside to shoot.
Silence, and stillness, met his action, so he did it once more. Again, no response came from within the wall.
“Tens, what’s your scan of lifeforms here?”
“I’ve got a half dozen. None near the gates.”
“And nothing automated, either,” Delight added, obviously having done a second scan of her own.
“Fine,” Mack said, and slid through the gap. “Close up after us.”
Delight signaled I should follow, shifting her stance so she could cover the road behind us. I went, and found Mack had taken up position where the thickness of the walls gave way to a sunlit courtyard. The familiar form of our shuttle blocked any view of the mansion proper, but it also protected us from being seen.
“There’s an office there,” Mack said, pointing to a door in the gate wall, after glancing briefly towards me.
I followed his finger, checking the door for alarms and traps. Finding neither, I turned the handle, not surprised when it swung open.
The office beyond was dull with shadow, so I kept an eye on it while I swept my hand over the wall, looking for a light switch. Delight came through the gate, just as it started to close, and pressed herself into a corner from where she could see both Mack and the shuttle beyond.
“Tens?”
“They’re all in the main house. I need the feeds.”
My hand ran across a switch just inside the door, and the lights came on.
I really wish they hadn’t.
Tens caught what I was seeing, before I could make a sound.
“Oh, fuck.”
Mack echoed his sentiment, but he was responding to the sound of footsteps on the path around the edge of the courtyard. I resisted the urge to glance back at Delight, who hadn’t said a word. If she hadn’t been pin-pointed already, I didn’t want to give her away—and if she was in a pinch, I wasn’t going to be able to help her.
Not yet, anyway.
I looked at the creature on the other side of the room. It was similar to the spider constructs that had come out of the vents on the station, but it was very different at the same time. It stood in very human form, except its skin was as black as the depths of space, and it had three sets of arms, all folded across its chest as it stared at me. Its face was also mostly human, except for the eyes, which were liquid pools of darkness.
“What are you?” I asked, at the same time as Tens and Mack said, “Arach.”
Delight remained as silent as the shadows.
“We are of the Arach Hunt-Clan T’zenach.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, particularly as there were two of them, and only one of me, so I said the first thing that came into my head.
“I need to borrow the computer.”
The arach stared at me, and I stared back.
“Drop your weapons, and surrender,” Mack called from somewhere behind me, and I guessed he wasn’t talking to the arach standing on the other side of the room.
His voice sounded too distant for that. The arach looked past me, and frowned.
“Who is that?” it asked, and, again, I said the first thing that came to mind.
“Some crazy guy with a god complex. Just ignore him.”
Which was, of course, when Mack opened fire.
I resisted the urge to turn my head and see exactly what it was he was shooting at, and redirected the arach’s attention back to my request.
“So,” I said, and it stopped looking past me, and looked directly at me, instead. Actually, I wasn’t sure that was any better. I cleared my throat and tried again. “So. Can I?”
“Can you what?” the arach asked, and both it and the one beside it, twitched uncertainly as another staccato round of fire split the air.
“Borrow the computer,” I said. “I need...”
I let the words drift to nothing as both creatures came out from around the desk on which the computer stood.
