Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [23]
Mira nodded and moved cautiously closer, the way she had approached the spine-laden palm. Wanton-poda propelled itself directly into the wall but did not bounce off as Mira had when trying to break out of her confinement. Instead, the wall enveloped the Extro, leaving only a small opaque mass where it had entered.
Mira heard a soft pop. An arm’s length from the Wanton-poda mass, the tissue wall rippled and a crab popped out onto the floor.
It raised its claw. ‘You again,’ it muttered in a less than impressed tone. It scuttled wide of her and off deeper into the caves.
Something bumped into her back. ‘Hurry up! You’re slowing everything down.’
She half-turned, and encountered the oddest-looking creature. It had the head, wet eyes and whiskers of a sea mammal but its torso tapered into humanesque-shaped legs with webbed feet.
Biting her lip, she faced the wall and stepped into it. There was no resistance this time, in fact, quite the opposite. It seemed to suck her forward.
She automatically closed her eyes and held her breath until she could no longer. Then she let it go and gulped. To her surprise, she was able to breathe normally. She felt like she was lying on a cushion of air - no sense of pressure or verticality. Only a mild, cool sensation as if someone was wiping her skin with a damp cloth.
With each wipe her aches and fatigue lessened. Even her thirst vanished. Energy filled her body as it had not done since before the invasion on Araldis.
And then...she was pushed back out into the cave, stumbling to catch her balance.
Wanton-poda spun agitatedly nearby, waiting.
She opened her mouth to tell the Extro how wonderful she felt and to ask what exactly had happened, but then noticed a group of Siphonophores floating near the far wall. They propelled themselves across the cave on their undulating, suckered feet until they surrounded Wanton-poda.
Mira’s heart contracted in fear as they began to bully the little cephalopod as they had in the lab, converging on it with their stingers.
Wanton-poda squealed in pain.
An ungovernable rage rose in Mira, as it had before. She threw herself among them, raking at their jellylike skins with her fingernails; then slapping and punching at their swaying jelly bodies.
They returned her attack by curling their stinging tentacles around her arms.
But her anger had found a release that seemed to nullify the fear - or distance it at least.
Or was it something else that lent her strength and fury? Deep within her she felt a cold rush of adrenalin, and then a small but distinctive movement in her belly.
Child?
She grabbed some of a Siphonophore’s tentacles and rent them apart. They tore easily, like worn cloth, and the creature pulsed black ink from its sac in a wide arc.
The squealing intensified: not all Wanton-poda’s anymore. And not just sounds of pain. Voices joined in; a cacophony of them, calling for her to be stopped.
The rest of the Siphonophores retreated, leaving her with the cephalopod and the remains of the torn Extro in her hands. Her hands and shift were stained with ink.
Other small creatures gathered around them, popping out of the walls or entering from other places, curious and shocked.
‘Mira-fedor.’ Wanton-poda’s voice projection was barely a whisper. ‘What have you done?’
‘They were hurting you,’ Mira said hoarsely. ‘And I. . . I. . .’ She couldn’t finish because she didn’t know what she’d done. ‘Th-the child moved.’ She cupped her belly. ‘And . . .’
‘Mira-fedor must leave quickly,’ said Wanton-poda, ‘or she will be punished.’ It hovered low near her shoulder. ‘Mira-fedor and Wanton-poda must go into the Bare World.’
JO-JO RASTEROVICH
Jo-Jo woke flailing and shouting from the worst of overheated, dehydrated alcohol dreams. He’d been in the mud crawling along between Rast Randall and her Capo and ahead of the balol like. Rast silently signalled an enemy sighting and rolled sideways under some thick reed. Jo-Jo threw himself in the other direction, colliding with the Capo. The pair grappled with each other to