Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [81]
BeBob said something, but his helmet muffled the words; when he pushed a suitcomm toggle on his chest pack, his voice came through a speaker in the collar of Rlinda's suit. "--the way Karla Tamblyn is blasting everything down there, she might have cracked something open. If the shaft collapses, we're screwed."
Rlinda studied the roof of the lift chamber, finding the emergency access hatch. "BeBob, we have a wide selection of ways to be screwed. That's why I want you out on the roof. I'm tired of these critters trying to eat our toes. I'll bend down and cup my hands so you can step in them. Use my knees if you want, and open that access hatch so we can climb out."
"Me? Shouldn't I be lifting you up? You could go first."
"Thanks for being a gentleman, BeBob, but I'm twice your weight. Even though Plumas has low gravity, let's not get cocky."
With a crash, the gathered nematodes bent another floor section until the opening was big enough for one to push its gelatinous red body through. Its skin membrane pulsed, and the protoplasmic body core thrust forward, squirting the creature halfway into the chamber.
Rlinda stomped on its head with her full weight, bursting its body membrane and leaving it jiggling on the floor. Only seconds later, two others fought to squeeze through the same opening.
With a worried glance at the oncoming swarm, BeBob quickly stepped on Rlinda's knee and put his other foot in the cradle of her hands. She boosted him up so he could fumble with the hatch. "At least it's an analog mechanism. No electronics or control sequence."
More nematodes began to work their way through, crystalline jaws snapping closer to Rlinda. Holding BeBob steady, she couldn't move to squash them with her boots. She kept glancing down. The worms were almost through.
"BeBob, you think you could--"
He worked frantically until he snapped the latch and pushed open the trapdoor. "That's got it." She gave him a solid shove, and BeBob sprang upward in the low gravity, shooting most of the way through the hole in the roof. Catching himself on his elbows, he hauled himself up.
No longer needing to support him, Rlinda landed a swift, hard kick on the nearest nematode. It retracted briefly, then lunged forward again. Her second kick didn't bother the creature as much, and some of the moist slime clung to her boot. From the grotto below, Karla Tamblyn's dark energy drove the nematodes beyond any sensations of pain. "It's getting harder to discourage them."
On top of the lift, BeBob flopped flat on his stomach, stuck his helmeted head back down, and extended his hand. "Come on. I'll pull you up."
Rlinda didn't see any other way. She grasped his gloved hand in her own, bent her knees, and counted, "One--two--three." She sprang with all her strength. BeBob managed to tug her through the hatch up to her waist. She barely fit. Rlinda's feet dangled and kicked while she struggled upward. BeBob seized her shoulders.
Unhindered now, nematodes tore apart the floor plates, chewed other access holes, and slithered like a nest of snakes into the chamber. Rlinda yanked her legs up and out of the way just as diamond teeth snapped at her heel. She climbed onto the roof and slammed the hatch back down with a clang. "Talk about a can of worms!"
Now that they were on top of the lift, Rlinda tilted her helmet back to see the dizzying height of the shaft above. "I really hoped the elevator would carry us a little closer to the top."
"Look, rungs!" BeBob pointed. Like the ridges of an endless centipede, alloy bars had been implanted in the shaft's jacketed ice wall.
"You're kidding." She imagined Roamers hauling themselves hand over hand up the shaft just for the exercise. "Do I look like an athlete to you?"
"You look beautiful to me, and you always have."
Rlinda rolled her eyes. "I never pegged you as one