“You need to be in the other hold,” Mack said, and I pulled Delight to her feet and began pulling her towards the door.
“Goddammit! You need to get that, Cutter.”
I took it that Tens meant the door, which was now closing under its own power. I don’t know what he expected me to do, but I zeroed in on the control panel beside it. I could either hack it, or I could fry it. Frying it would be faster, but it didn’t guarantee a result—and I wouldn’t be able to hack it after. I yanked off the cover, and took a closer look at it.
I wondered what had happened that had meant Tens losing control, but I took one look at it, and started pulling wires. We had about a foot of clearance by the time the door stopped.
“Move! That won’t hold them for long.”
I braced, and flicked the Blazer to the las setting.
“Go!” I said, taking aim at the bottom of the door and pouring a steady beam of fire into it.
If the damn thing let go, I was hoping I could weld enough of it that whoever was part-way through would have enough time to get clear. Delight didn’t wait to argue; she grabbed Mack and shoved him through the gap ahead of herself, and then followed him into the space.
“Go! Go! Go!” Tens shouted, and Mack pulled her free just as the door started moving, breaking through the still-hot mess I’d made of its base.
Fuck it.
“Tens, door’s closed. Tell me you got them.”
There was a moment’s delay, during which I guessed Tens was teleporting Mack and Delight out. I figured he was also trying to get me, but whatever had stopped us from locating them was obviously still working, because he came back on the line.
“I can’t reach you.”
I heard the defeat in his voice, and tried to comfort him.
“I know, Tens. Thanks for trying.”
“Cutter.” Mack’s voice came through loud and clear. “We are coming for you. Stay alive.”
In the background I heard Delight murmuring softly, and then Tens’ sudden exclamation of horror.
“Fuck me!”
Mack kept talking, ignoring whatever was going on between them.
“If you can convince them to let you out of the cell, we can reach you. We have the ship on scan, and are in pursuit. We are coming to get you, and Odyssey is going to owe us big time.”
I just bet it was, but whether or not that would be enough to save me was entirely another question. I took the time to change the magazine in the Blazer, and re-set it to solids. I figured it didn’t matter if I holed this ship. Tens had it on scan, and would pull me out of the black before I exploded... Oh, stars, I sure as shit hoped he would.
I took a deep breath, checked and reloaded the Zakrava, and double-checked the settings, energy charge, and magazine on the Glazer. When I was sure I had everything under control, I moved to the center of the cell to give myself time to see any threat that might come from around me. At the same time, I hoped the floor wouldn’t give way beneath me.
Because that would really suck.
When my ears caught the soft hiss of a seal giving way behind me, I almost sobbed with relief. I half turned so that I could monitor what was coming from that direction, and backed up a couple of steps. No point in giving them too much room to catch me in a pincer. I didn’t move all the way back, though, just in case that was how Delight had been caught.
I wouldn’t put it past them to have put another door in each of the surrounding walls. I was getting a very bad feeling about this ship. I hadn’t seen much of it, but there was something subtly ‘wrong’, and I hadn’t been able to put my finger on it.
I didn’t get much time to figure it out; the shadows around the newly opened door began to move, even as the door Mack and Delight had used to flee the chamber, creaked open. I glanced over my shoulder, just in time to skip forward as another shadow dropped from the ceiling. As I danced out of its way, I noted that there was no hole above me, and that was when I realized I was in more trouble than I’d known.
The creature that gathered itself from the floor only made that horribly clear. It exploded under the hail of Blazer rounds, but the sound of the big blaster going off was just a counter-point to my first full-throated yell. As soon as it had shattered apart, I turned, looking for the other shadows I was sure were more than human.
I’d once been terrified of spiders, and my time in Odyssey had only managed to reduce the fear to a manageable level. Now, I no longer froze, and I didn’t run... not if shooting the living shit out of the monster was an option. I took down four, before I’d shot the Blazer dry, after which I pulled the Zakrava and the machete.
Four became five, as I kept the machete at the ready, and used head shots to reduce the number of potential opponents by two. After that, it was take whatever shot was offered, as I put the big blade to work, and tried to maneuver my way to a door.
I hadn’t forgotten what Mack had said. I could hear him saying it, now.
“Get out of the room. We can get you from there.”
“I’m trying,” but even as I spoke two arach dropped down on either side of me, one risking being gutted by the blade as it wrapped two sets of hands around my arm, dragging me backwards, while it tried to sweep my legs out from under me.
I might have been
