exactly what she wanted. She was everything I was not. The dirtmen waited for us, up ahead.
“Yes. Yes, of course.” It was like a dream. No more decisions needed to be made. Just pledge myself to her forever, and walk down the tunnel together, to meet the dirtmen. I knew I wanted her more than anything.
“Do you take me forever, Thinker? So long as we both shall live?”
“Thinker and Priestess. On the cross. Forever!”
“Forever!”
“Let’s go, my Love. We have work to do.”
This unusual wedding may have been the most decisive thing I had ever done in my young life, short of joining the Legion. I knew that Valkyrie would certainly go out of orbit. But I did not feel that I had any say in the matter at all. Fate rolled over me in an irresistible wave. And if Valkyrie did find out, it would mean that we had survived. What, then, would there be to worry about? In the Legion we worried about life and death. Everything else was secondary. And my only worry at that moment was whether or not my marriage with Priestess would end in sudden, violent death before we even had the chance to explore the hidden secrets of each other’s hearts and bodies.
We began moving down the tunnel and found Scaler bodies with their heads crushed. It looked as if Merlin had put up a fight, but he must have lost his weapons in the cave-in. We switched our plasmapaks to the front for easy access in case the tunnel fell on us again. We had to hunch over to avoid the dirt ceiling. Priestess stopped, and held my arm.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I can’t see,” she said. “Just a moment.” She stood there, silent.
“What’s the trouble? Is your faceplate damaged?”
“Tears, my Love. Tears of joy. I’m all right now. Let’s find Merlin.”
“They’re right up ahead. A whole gang of Scalers.” Priestess watched her tacmod. I prepped to fire. I could see from the tacmap that Merlin was not with them. A wet, filthy tunnel, a dirty place to die. If it got any smaller, we would have to use the plasmapaks. I was slimy with sweat inside my A-suit. We paused for a moment.
“Put it on xmin and blow them away,” I advised Priestess. I wanted to show the Scalers we were serious. They had tried to kill us, and we still played around with V bolts. Priestess adjusted her E and aimed up the tunnel.
She fired, and the xmin flashed brilliantly up ahead, the sharp crack echoing down the tunnel. A large chunk of the tunnel roof collapsed up ahead. No worries, we had plasma. I raised my mini, but there was no movement. Priestess aimed again. I glanced at my tacmod.
There was a sudden snapping, then the roof and walls of the tunnel around us burst in on us, showering us with dirt. Ropes whipped through the air, entangling us immediately.
A net! It jerked me right off my feet and I fell backwards. Another rope whistled past me, singing as if shot from a gun. I landed on my back, stunned. Priestess had fallen right beside me, on her side, already fighting the net. The net drew tighter around us. Thick leathery strands wrapped all around me. I moved my arms, and the A-suit strained. My mini had reeled itself back to the holster on my u-belt, and I could not reach it. The plasmapak was in the way. Priestess tried to raise her E to fire through the net.
“Get it loose! They’re coming!” I heard the dirtmen shrieking, coming at us like a pack of killer bloodcats.
“I can’t get it loose! I can’t aim it! Help me!” Priestess struggled to get the E pointed down-tunnel but it was hopelessly entangled. I could not reach it. I strained at the net. It began to give. A single strand popped open, freeing my right arm. I could only reach my hotknife. I triggered it and forced it upwards, the strands of the net ripping open in its wake. Then the Scalers pounced on us, triumphant.
With a blood-curdling scream, a dirtman landed on Priestess. Torches danced in the dark. Four more Scalers leaped onto Priestess, axes smashing at the E as if to kill it. Someone landed on my chest. A savage, with upraised axe. I slashed upwards with my knife and it burnt into his chest effortlessly, hissing and spitting. He shrieked and fell backwards, spewing a fountain of blood, his entire chest carved open. I forced myself to my feet, slashing wildly with the knife. My helmet slammed against the tunnel roof and the cords fell away. I groped for my mini, but my left arm would not move. Something smashed my wrist, a hot bolt of pain shot up my arm. I held on to the knife, but the net was still wrapped around my legs and now someone pulled it and I went down again. Two dirtmen seized my knife arm. I hacked right through them, opening one up from the face to the navel, then caught the other across the chest. Shrieks of pain and terror and rage echoed in the tunnel.
More dirtmen piled onto my arm, heedless of the knife. On my knees, I lifted my right arm up and slammed three Scalers against the roof of the tunnel. Then I reached back and tore another one off my back, over my head and into the tunnel wall. A wild-eyed Scaler hit me on my faceplate with his axe. I countered with a right cross to his face, pulverizing him with my armored fist. His nose and cheekbones and temple smashed, blood burst forth from his eyes and nostrils and mouth.
More dirtmen landed on me, all glaring eyes and flashing teeth, battering at my helmet with large rocks wrapped in leather thongs. Another net fell over my head. No! My left arm popped out of the net and seized a dirtman by the throat. I squeezed and crushed his neck, lifting him right off his feet. Blood poured down my arm. I still had my knife and I opened up another dirtman, skewering him. My arm was buried in his chest, suddenly caught inside his rib cage, his body jerking like a puppet out of control. Axes smashed down onto my knife arm, and suddenly it went numb. A swarm of dirtmen covered Priestess, smashing downwards with their axes and rocks, shrieking. Priestess moved, using her armored hands, crushing arms and heads. The dirtmen screamed. Another net snapped around me, and I went down under a swarm of Scaler bodies.
Fiery torches lit up the scene with an eerie yellow glow. My right arm was useless and I could not see the glow of the knife. Bright, soundless explosions flashed through my mind. I could not move my arms. I could not hear Priestess. o
Death was a tunnel. They drag your corpse down a flaming tunnel, the road to Hell. A bumpy road, I thought. My head roared curiously as flames flashed from side to side along the tunnel. The Scalers had my body tightly wrapped in the net, dragging it somewhere. There was no need to be gentle with the dead.
The Scalers held smoky torches to light the way to Hell. Something jostled my body. Priestess was right beside me as the Scalers pulled us along, all wrapped up in the net. My plasmapak was no longer there, but we still had our A-suits.
“Priestess!” Oh, Deadman, let her be alive! “Priestess! Priestess! Answer me!”
“Thinker! Oh, my God, thank you. I thought they had killed you!”
“I’m alive. Did they hurt you?” We jostled together as the tunnel curved. The Scalers shouted among themselves; they could not hear us talking on the tacnet.
“They beat me until I stopped moving. They took the E.”
“Deadman! I thought we were finished.”
“I’m sorry, Thinker. I’m sorry.” I didn’t know why she was sorry, and had no time to find out.
“Sweety! Report!”
“Yes, Thinker,” she said. “Your E is missing. The enemy has taken the ampak, the plasmapak, the mini, the hot knife, the cold knife, the flash, the medpak, the bootknife, the U-belt, the excan, the toolpak and the ratpak. Your A-suit is fully functional. You have several injuries but none are serious. We have no commo as yet. The enemy attempted to open your helmet but failed. However, they may succeed on the next try. There are several layers of cords wrapped tightly around the A-suit. It is difficult to break free as the arms are securely tied.”
“Wonderful! Do you have any good news?”
“Yes, Thinker. If you break free of the net they will have difficulty restraining you.”
“You’re damned right they will! Suggestions!”
“Keep working on the restraints.”
The Scalers began to sing, a savage, rhythmic, haunting chant, chilling my skin. My helmet banged against a rock, and Priestess bumped up against me. I could not move the ropes, even with all the power of the suit. I had really botched this one. And all because I tried to save some Scaler women and kids. I should have let them die, instead of us!
A savage cheer filled the smoky air. We were dragged into a vast stone hall, a great cellar, somewhere under the temple. The floor was flooded with shallow, filthy water and the walls were coated with green moss and slime.
