The New Weird - Ann VanderMeer [138]
The Paperlands bulged up in one or two places and paper bridges emerged, rose up and vanished at their apex. In other places the continuous surface of the paper roofs sank into deep pits with enormous tunnel openings; places where Insects had found ways through to other worlds. They were carrying food through ― a bizarre variety of pieces of plants and animals: legosaurs, Brick Bats, humans, marzipalms. Countless millions bustled down there, pausing to stroke antennae together or layering spit onto the edges of the Paperlands with an endless industry and a contented mien. Their sheer numbers dumbfounded and depressed me. I said, "We'll never be able to beat them."
"We could have defeated them," the Vermiform choired. "We were winning our war. We fought them for hundreds of years. We forced inside their shells, we wrapped around their legs and pulled them apart. We even brought parasites and diseases in from other worlds and infected them, but the Insects chewed the mites off each other and evolved immunity to the diseases, as they eventually do in all the worlds of their range."
"They're tough," I said.
"They become so, over many worlds, yes. We turned the battle when lack of air started to slow them down. We gained ground. We forced them back to their original tunnel and they built a final wall. One more strike and we could have driven them through and sealed their route. But then Vista's world collapsed and its colossal ocean drained through. See those lakes? It was their larvae that did for us."
"Their young?" I asked.
"Once the Insects started to breed in their millions. Their growing larvae are far more ravenous than adults. They scooped up mandibles-full of worms and ate the city."
Cyan shrieked, "Look out! There's one coming!"
Twirling antennae appeared over the escarpment edge and an Insect charged towards us. Cyan and I turned to run but the Vermiform shot out two tentacles and grabbed the Insect around its thorax, jerking it to a halt.
The tentacles snaked around the Insect, forced its mandibles wide ― then its serrated mouthparts. The Insect ducked its head and tried to back off, but a third stream of worms began to pour into the Insect's mouth, keeping the mandibles open all the time. Worms streamed up from the ground and vanished down its throat.
The rest of the Vermiform still pooled at our feet waited. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. Then the Insect exploded. Its carapace burst open and flew apart. Its innards splattered against us. Its plates fell in a metre radius leaving six legs and a head lying with a huge knot of worms in the middle where its body had been. They moved like a monstrous ball of string, covered in haemolymph, and reformed into the beautiful woman. The worms of her face moved into a smile, "We love doing that. Wish they would line up so we can burst them one by one."
"Ugh," said Cyan.
I said to her, "Keep watching for more Insects."
Cyan said, "I hate this place. I want to go. I want to see the cave."
"The market was destroyed."
"No. This is my dream and I say it wasn't. Take me back; there are too many bugs here."
"Why do you think I dropped you in the air?" the Vermiform said bitterly.
It was easier to speak to the worm-woman than the amorphous bunch of annelids. I asked her, "What has the collapse of Vista got to do with you losing the war? Did Vista's sea drown you, or something?"
"It drowned billions of us." She pointed down to the lake. "The Somatopolis was dry before that, very hot and arid. That is how we like it; in fact we brought you here during the night because otherwise the sun would roast you. The waterspout surged from an Insect tunnel beneath us and forced out between us. It erupted a kilometre high and Vista's whole ocean thundered out. We fled ― how could we cope with running