Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [43]
Rast frowned at him, sensing his restlessness, and he was forced to admire the mercs’ ability to remain absolutely still. He pressed hard against the ‘zoon’s ribbed wall, trying to divert his senses away from his aching, oxygen-deprived legs.
Rast hadn’t sprayed the area again but Jo-Jo imagined the eges floating all around him now, measuring, calculating and relaying their data. What was the point in sitting motionless if the Extras could see them?
An instant later his question was answered. A spiked ball-shaped object hurtled in through the egress scale at high speed. It dropped onto the floor, spikes digging into the ‘zoon’s spongy tissue, and proceeded to spin past Latourn and Catchut and on down the stratum.
‘Barb sensor,’ whispered Rast through her mask. ‘Saw them in the war; analyses on the run. Once it’s finished with the floor, it’ll start on the walls. You get in its way, it’ll prick holes in you. It’s attracted to movement.’
A sweat broke across Jo-Jo’s body. ‘Will it come back?’
She nodded. ‘Time to move.’
She didn’t have to signal this time. As she came out of her crouch, Catchut and Latourn were already turning the corner of the rib into the egress hollow. Rast went through the open scale first, semis raised.
Jo-Jo came next, pistol quivering, then the others.
They barrelled through the short connecting junction, straight into a seamless metal chamber. Rast landed on her feet but Jo-Jo tripped and sprawled awkwardly onto his knees.
He got to his feet, nerves buzzed. ‘It’s sealed everywhere but the junction,’ he said, glancing back to the scale. ‘No way out or in.’
Rast studied the layout, then pulled out her spray pump and sent a squirt into the air. Nothing glistened.
She slipped her mask down. ‘Wouldn’t be too sure about that.’
Jo-Jo and the others followed suit.
‘Where then?’ asked Jo-Jo.
‘There, Capo.’ Catchut pointed to a high ceiling spot that seemed to be bubbling as though something might erupt. Did erupt; a thin tube at right angles to the surface.
‘There’s another,’ said Lat, pointing somewhere else.
The mercs had automatically fallen into a back-to-back formation, leaving Jo-Jo standing alone.
‘Get in here,’ Rast ordered him.
Jo-Jo slotted his body between Rast and Catchut. Now there were half a dozen thin tubes pointing at them from different angles in the ceiling.
‘Is it gas?’ Jo-Jo asked.
‘Could be. Extros don’t use regular weapons.’
They held that formation for so long that Jo-Jo’s legs began to tremble. Again he became desperate to move position.
‘Randall?’ he grunted.
‘Hold,’ she said.
He bit his lip and locked his knees.
Then, directly in front of him, a large section of the wall began to bubble. Jo-Jo lifted his pistol, working to keep his aim steady. He watched as the bubble seemed to melt into a set of metallic legs crowned by a shimmering globe where a torso should be. An Extro was in the room with them and the wall was just as suddenly back seamlessly intact.
An arm moulded from the globe and digits sprouted. A face of sorts took shape to the side of the arm: a high, angular forehead and large rolling eyes. The eyes -unnervingly - blinked.
Rast suddenly burst out laughing and dropped her weapons to her side.
To Jo-Jo’s astonishment she strode over to the Extro and stopped in front of it, hands on her hips. ‘EK, you bastard. Too easy.’
A square mouth-shape formed below the eyes, silver lips and tongue protruding. ‘Our eges identified, Rast Randall. EK was summoned. You brought the substance directly here?’
Randall grinned and Jo-Jo marvelled at how quickly her expression could shift from one thing to another.
‘I want to change the terms of my payment. Thought mebbe it was best to discuss in . . . erm . . . person,’ said Rast.
‘Amusing,’ said the Extro. ‘Now explain better.’
‘Your Host-species have abducted a woman in my protection. I want her back. That’s my price for the payload.’
‘Tone is demanding. Do not respond to humanesque imperatives.’
‘I’m speaking this way because I’m pissed, EK. But I guess you don’t know what that feels like.