Serpens Cauda - Chapter Four

By the time AM got back to the ship, both Carla and Oxford had unpacked the vast sheet of metamaterial that would cover the ship. Getting it out was a laborious task - getting it on more so.

    “Grab those lines Carla,” Oxford ordered, pointing to the tethers hooked through holes at the edges. “No, those ones.”

    “These? These are the secondaries. We want the primaries first, hence the name.” She stood confused, holding the heavy fibres in her hands. They had never done stealth missions, it wasn’t their speciality. The rigging of a camo-net for a ship the size of the Clocktower usually took thirty minutes under ideal conditions. Having the ship crash landed and half embedded in earth already, she didn’t know whether that made things easier or harder.

    Oxford grabbed the primary cords himself. Whirling them like a lasso, he threw each clear over the side of the ship, hearing the clatter of their metallic hooked ends against the scarred hull.

    “Is this all you’ve done? By the Benefactors guys, we don’t have time to mess around,” AM said jogging in, immediately heading over to the thrown primaries, securing them down without having to consult the instruction diagrams held in Carla’s belt.

    As if AM’s very presence manifested competence in others, the work tripled in pace. The lines were all in place and the heavy sheet was dragged over it, all three taking a rope and pulling. All that remained was to pin it down, a task AM and Carla set to whilst Oxford got back inside, shutting down everything bar their shortest range radio to keep Rhodes in contact.

    “Looking good down there guys. Sure could fool me,” their lookout reported once the final pegs were in place. “Just in time too, the buggers are starting to come in hard and fast.”

    “Get inside you two,” came Oxford’s warning. Both hopped in, winched the door shut manually and made their way to the flight deck, the front of the canopy a sheet of muddy-brown fabric.

    “Be ready for a fight if this doesn’t work...” AM said quietly, side arm drawn as silence fell upon them.

    The aggressors came like crows, descending down from the sky with their leathery wings flapping like drumbeats. A vast horde, they numbered in their hundreds, spreading out through the city streets without coordination or purpose. Laying low in the dilapidated tower, Rhodes clicked on the camera feed from his rifle.

    “Are you guys getting this?” He said softly, trying to capture the profile of the beasts through his sights.

    “Yeah, we see it. What are those things?” Carla replied just as quietly. They seemed to avoid the park; their camouflage was holding up. Instead, they began rummaging through the ruined buildings, taking to the manhole entrances and busted sewer grates.

    “They’re heading underground,” Rhodes reported, keeping his field of vision as wide as possible. Like woodlice scattering from an upturned log, the man-sized creatures were all soon hidden, having burrowed down into the depths and cellars of the city.

    “I don’t like this one bit,” Carla muttered. “What are they doing?”

    AM studied the holo, the wide open vista of the park flanked by the buildings seemed eerie and hostile now. In those structures, under their feet were those monsters...

    “I don’t know Carla. We’re going to wait them out though.”

    Minutes passed with only silence and stillness.

    “Did you feel that?” Oxford said suddenly.

    “Feel what?” AM and Carla replied in unison.

    “The earth is shaking,” he stated. The three became intensely quiet, focusing on the ground beneath them.

    “You’re right,” AM said after a time. “Rhodes, we’re picking up some sort of seismic activity.”

    “I’ll keep my guard -” He was cut off as a flash blinded him and his scope. Crash and boom rocked the shattered city as a section of road fragmented in a mighty explosion. Flaming debris scattered across the block, dust and smoke rolling out of the gaping wound.

    “Report in Rhodes - what was that?” Came AM’s voice

    “Some sort of detonation about a kilometre east. Brought up the road. I’ll try and get a visual.”

    Peering down over rooftops, the video zoomed through the billowing smoke and fire.

    “There, look. Some sort of tunnel - what is that moving down there? The beasts?” Oxford pointed out, standing beside AM at the display.

    “No, doesn’t look that way.” Figures darted in the mist, moving with haste giving only glimpses of form through the smoke.

    The crackle of gunfire sung out moments later. Not the clean sharpness of the squad’s weapons, but the rickety shutter and rumble of old weapons. Through the breach, the flash of gun muzzles firing glittered like photoflash.

    “There’s a fight going on - there are people down there,” Rhodes called in, trying to pierce through the obscurity caused by the destruction.

    “People?” Carla asked, astounded. “I don’t see any people”

    “Those are pre-first Generation weapons. I know the sound of them when I hear it. Who else would use them but non-mages?”

    “Then we should go help them.”

    “No,” AM cut in, “we’re not doing anything until we’ve got better intel.”

    Carla backed off, watching the screen tensely as the flashing fire roved back and forth. Steadily it fell away into the tunnel proper, with the bulky winged creatures darting forward through the debris.

    “Their lines are being overrun. They don’t stand a chance.” Carla was standing now also, glaring at AM who simply watched with her calculating green eyes.

    “We don’t know who ‘they’ are, yet. They could be mages themselves, could be agents of Rasalhague. This whole battle is none of our business.”

    “And what if they’re just normal people trying to survive?”

    “There are no ‘normal’ people anymore, Carla,” AM snapped. “They all died last generation. You’re either a mage or you’re with us.”

    Carla choked on her own words - about to accuse her leader of being neither; a hybrid of both, but this wasn’t the time to get into a argument. With great restraint she bit her tongue, seething inside as the sound and sight of battle faded away into the fog of war.

    “I hope you’re right...” She finally said, sitting back down, trying not to think about what was happening in the tunnels below.

    Again, minutes went on without action. The echo of gunfire had died away. Stillness once again reigned in the necropolis.

    “Something’s moving in there again,” Rhodes reported in finally. From the breach the creatures started to emerge, running awkwardly on their four legs, bounding up the rubble like rabid bears. Some were visibly injured, with blood running from gashes in their bodies or with chunks hewn from them. After dispersing across the city they had all reunited at that point, trailing out like army ants in search of a new colony.

    “They’re organised. They must have some degree of sentience.” Oxford noted.

    Beside him AM shook her head. “Perhaps, but animals can be trained to hunt in packs too. They may just have a talented owner.”

    “Sweet Benefactors - they’ve got them,” Carla said horrified, lips trembling as the beasts started dragging bodies from the hole.

    “Rhodes, focus on those humans. Dead or alive?” AM said suddenly, decisively.

    The camera swayed from side to side as the zoom increased, focusing down to one of the beasts. It’s slender tail was looped around the chest of a captive, being dragged along the road surface as those in front of it took to the wing.

    “Can’t tell. Too much movement - could be struggling but could just be drag.”

    “That one’s clearly alive - look!” Carla yelled as the scope darted from beast to beast.

    “Keep your voice down or we’ll be joining them,” AM sniped back.

    “Rhodes could take them down.”

    “Not before the rest swarm him.”

    Of the several dozen or so beasts that emerged from the tunnel, ten or so were carrying humans in their coiled grasp. They too were soon airborne, wings working harder to keep the extra weight aloft. Now it was clear some were alive and fighting back, with legs flailing and arms pounding at the scaled captors.

    “They’re heading back to their master,” Oxford observed.

    “Prisoners? What kind of mage is this?” Dejection filled Carla’s voice as the swarm flew further and further from their grasp, approaching the tower were Rhodes lay in hiding. As they flew overhead, the struggling of one human was enough to free him from the tight grasp - only to fall the long distance to the hard concrete below.

    Rhodes did not capture the impact, only the fall. The gasp of horror from Carla sounded in his comm just seconds before the dull thump of flesh and bone crunching into a bloody mess. Though the gruesome sight was in his full view, he kept his scope trailing the flight. No others fell. They instead vanished into the distance, carried to the ominous structure at the edge of the city.

    Those in the Clocktower remained silent; Carla visibly shaken. Rhodes watched as the last of the creatures became an nondescript blurr before reporting in. “Ok, I think we’re clear.”

    AM gave a nod to Oxford. “Let’s get our systems back online.” She turned then to the sullen Carla, staring down at her console while mindlessly fiddling with her trimmed fingernails one handed. AM’s hand fell upon her shoulder and gripped it reassuringly.

    “Don’t let it get to you,” she said with bitter resolve.

    “It’s our duty to help these people.” Carla shrugged off the hand.

    “We’re not a peace force, Carla. We’re not the world’s saviors. We’re hear to make sure our folks back home stay safe. The affairs of outsiders do not concern us.”

    “While that is so, AM, it is likely that those humans could provide us with information on the area and specifically on Rasalhague,” Oxford said without looking back, having sat back down at his seat. “I doubt we’re far from Ophiuchi, so this activity is likely tied to it. We don’t know who sent those creatures or who they are hunting or why - but answering those questions could provide us with a plan of action with regard to Rasalhague.”

    AM stood in thought as the ship steadily warmed back into life like a lotus flower blooming in the dawn. “I would rather us focus on repairing the ship and getting us to our designated landing point. Once we’re down we can get out satellite uplink working and report in to HQ.”

    “I did a diagnostic on the damage before that attack, and the automatic repair functions will have the engines running in a few hours - that’s regardless of what input we have. The ship can fix itself.”

    “Exactly. We can use that time to investigate the locals and get some information - and maybe help them out,” Carla followed up.

    “OK, fine. I want you here monitoring the repairs and acting as our hub, Oxford. Me, Carla and Rhodes will head to that crater and find out what we can.”

    “Yessir.” Oxford replied dryly.

    “Rhodes, you still here?”

    “Still here boss. What’s the deal?”

    “Get back to the Clocktower. We’re going into those tunnels. See if the locals can’t give us any information.”

    “Sounds like a plan boss.”