Pilgrim (13 page)

The rope itself was thrown over a hook set
into the ceiling and then anchored into the ground. She must have
been hoisted up like a sack of meat.

Something about the idea of a hook in a dirt
ceiling didn’t make sense to Nova. Her brow creased and she looked
up. It wasn’t a dirt ceiling, but rather, smooth metal: the
underside of the colonisation ship.

At least she knew where she was. The
conversation with Cal and looking around the room had cost her. Her
strength was drained and her head begged for her to slip back into
unconsciousness. Try as she might to stay awake, she dipped into
darkness before her guard returned with the water.

***

She couldn’t tell how long she had been out.
When Nova woke up again, her mouth was parched and her arms ached
ten times worse than they had before. She forced her head up to
look around. In the semi-darkness she could make out a man in
tattered clothes. A puckered scar ran along his left cheek and his
brown hair was a knotted mess on top of his head.

She was almost relieved to see that her
guard at least looked mostly human, more so than the creatures that
had chased her the day before.

“Well look who’s woken up,” he said with a
grin.

“Have you got that water?” she asked.

“Here you go,” he said, sauntering up to her
and holding up a bottle of water.

“And how am I supposed to drink that?” she
asked.

The man sighed and undid the rope anchor. He
lowered her down a small distance, not all the way, then retied the
rope. Nova’s feet were thirty centimetres from the cave floor and
the tension on her legs had loosened.

“Open wide,” he said, splashing water up in
the general direction of Nova’s face.

She opened her mouth and let some of the
droplets fall in. They were refreshing on her tongue but her real
focus was on the man below. As the water ran out, he stepped closer
and closer in order to splash her.

He stepped to within half a metre and she
took her chance. With an almighty swing of her whole body, she sent
herself through the air and slammed her foot into the man’s face.
He crumpled to the ground.

Her body swung back and forth on her rope.
It went on for so long, she was sure she was going to be sick by
the time it finally stopped.

The man on the ground was still out cold.
She wasn’t surprised; it had been a hard kick straight to his head
with her thick-soled boots.

She cast her eyes around. The main problem
remained; she was strung up to the ceiling like a cow carcass. But
at least she still had a knife strapped to her calf. She could feel
the ties under her pants. Her guns were gone though, along with her
bag of mushrooms and equipment.

Footsteps.

They pounded along the tunnel floor. The
noise echoed around the cave and was joined by voices and
shouts.

“… Of course…” Nova sighed as eight more of
the possessed creatures poured out of the tunnel and surrounded
her, their teeth gnashing.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The bodies standing in a circle around Nova
collapsed to the floor with flaming holes in their chests. The
smell of burnt flesh wafted up her nostrils and she was helpless to
stop it.

The ropes dug into her wrists and her
shoulders ached from being held spread-eagled in mid-air. She
glanced around the dark cave.

“Nova, you know if I have to keep saving
your arse, I’m not going to let you go out on your own
anymore.”

Nova breathed a sigh of relief at the
familiar voice.

“Aart,” she said.

“Yep and don’t you forget it. I can’t
believe I gave up a night of heaven on Vix just to come and save
you. Again.”

“Are you kidding? After I walked into a
warzone on Blakgar to save your butt? It’s the least you can
do.”

“Oh I don’t think so,” said Artemis Goldson
as he sliced at Nova’s ropes with a thin knife. “Because that was
in repayment for when I pulled you out of the black-hole.”

“Two words,” Nova said as her legs swung
free and the weight of her body was left dangling from her wrists.
“Zyx Riots.”

“The Gambol swamps,” Aart said. He stopped
cutting her ropes to look into her face with a raised eyebrow and
his hands on his hips.

“Miranda,” Nova replied with a grin.

Aart’s expression turned to a scowl. “You
can’t bring up her name every time you get into trouble.”

“It’s worked so far,” Nova said as Aart
resumed cutting the rope. “You’ll owe me for a long time for that
one.”

“You’re right about that,” Aart said,
shaking his head.

The knife sliced through the last fibre and
Nova dropped to the ground. She bent her knees on landing.

“So I guess Cal gave you my message,” she
said.

“Yep, got the S.O.S. through Sylar about an
hour ago.”

“And you came running just like usual,” she
said with a grin.

“No, he said 'mushrooms worth a fortune' and
then I came running.”

“Ah, I should have known it would be the
money.”

“Like you’d be any different,” said
Aart.

“Well, I did have a heap of mushrooms but
they took them away along with my bag and weapons,” Nova said,
rubbing her wrists.

“It’s a maze down here. It’s taken ages for
me to find you. I dread to think how long it would take us to find
your stuff.”

“I know one cave that has the mushrooms in
it. I don’t want to spend any longer here than we have to.”

“That’s settled then. Lead the way to these
mushrooms.”

“We can’t get there from here. We have to go
back to the surface where the colony ship crashed.”

“That’s probably for the best anyway.
Tanguin will be worried.”

“Tanguin? What is Tanguin doing here? She
belongs in the field even less than you do.”

“Ha,” Aart said, throwing back his head in
pretend laughter. “Well she’s here. And anyway, I think I hear the
sounds of alarm being raised.”

Nova turned her head to the side and
listened. Sure enough, echoing up the corridors was the
unmistakeable sound of the feral humans. Grunt and screams were
getting closer.

“Follow me,” Aart said, darting back down
the corridor.

She ran after him. Her legs and shoulders
ached but she ignored them. Better to be a little sore than to be
eaten by feral humans.

“This way,” Aart called over his shoulder,
running left down an adjoining tunnel.

“Did you get navigation upgrades or
something?” Nova asked as she puffed after Aart through the dark
caves.

“As if I’d get a mod! No way baby, this is
pure instinct.”

“Oh, well then, I’ll start worrying,” Nova
said.

She couldn’t help a grin tugging the corner
of her mouth. As terrified as she was, Aart had a way of making her
smile. He could bring out the best of any situation, even imminent
mind control by blood-thirsty slugs.

Aart chuckled and continued to lead the way.
The tunnels got drier and the air fresher the further they went.
They passed a scattering of bodies in their mad dash. Nova only had
time to glance down and acknowledge the smoking holes in their
chests before moving on.

“You were busy,” she said.

“I had to get down here somehow,” Aart said
with a shrug of his shoulders.

“How’d you find me anyway?”

“Cal was kind enough to give me access to
your locator.”

“Oh, remind me to have a stern word to
him.”

“It’s okay I won’t stalk you. You’re so not
my type,” Aart said.

“Hmm. Maybe not, but I dread to think who
you’d sell the information to.”

“Oh, probably anyone with more than ten
credits.”

“Exactly,” she said.

She didn’t really think Aart would sell her
details. He had a knack for getting into trouble but he was also
uncannily good at getting out of it again. More than that, he was a
good person and someone she trusted more than almost anyone she
knew.

“So what’s your plan then?” she asked.

“Well, by the time we get out of here, it
will be night-time. I say we sleep locked up and come back
tomorrow. With the six of us, it shouldn’t be too hard to sneak
back in and get a load of these mushrooms.”

“Six?”

“Yeah, I called in a few more backups,” said
Aart.

“Who?” Nova said with gritted teeth.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. Don’t
worry, not Kero.”

“Shame, he would have made good zombie
food,” she whispered. She hated Kero more than she hated almost any
other thing in the universe. He was a self-centred pig, but more
than that, he was cruel.

“True that,” replied Aart.

“What about my bag? It has my gun.”

“I don’t think we’ll be looking around for
that. We want as little time in there as possible.”

“No way Aart, this is my mission and you are
not taking over. I want that bag back.”

“What do you suggest we do? Wander around
the maze of caves until we stumble across it?”

Nova frowned at Aart’s back but kept
running, he could be stubborn sometimes.

“Actually, I saw a pile of stuff not far
from the main cavern. It looks like they’ve been collecting
people’s things for ages,” she said.

“And you would be able to take us straight
to it?” Aart said.

“Yep.”

“Alright, but it’s on your head.”

“Fine with me,” she said.

“You can have a look for it when we come
back, but no longer than ten minutes.”

“It’s my bag. If I want to look for it for
ten hours, that’s my business,” she said, her tone stern.

“Actually no, when you call me to come and
save your arse, it becomes my business.”

Nova felt her face tingle as angry blood
flowed to her cheeks. She had to bite her lips to stop the words
pouring out. Aart had saved her life, it would be rude of her to
criticise him now.

“Twenty,” she said through clenched
teeth.

“Fifteen,” Aart countered.

“Fine.”

“I don’t know why you’re so worried about it
anyway. With the money Cal said we’d be making, you could easily
replace that silly plasma pistol you had.”

“I won it in my first mech fight. It means
something.”

Aart’s chuckle drifted back down the tunnel
to her ears. “Did I hear you right? You’re sentimental over
something?”

“Yeah, so what of it?” Her chest tightened
and she clenched her jaw, ready in case Aart made fun of her. She
prided herself on showing no emotion and no weakness, even in front
of Aart and Tanguin. She wasn’t about to let him shake her now.

“Nothing, nothing, I’m just surprised.” Aart
chuckled again.

She didn’t respond. She raced forward,
keeping pace with Aart.

The tunnel ahead lightened. A moment later,
they burst out into the forest. She looked back the way they had
come. The sounds of pursuit echoed out of the darkness, but nothing
came up after them.

“How many tunnels are there going into that
place?” she said. She knew of at least three entrances. It looked
like the tunnel system was much bigger than she’d expected.

“Who knows, it’s a hive down there. They’re
like ants, all the tunnels connected to each other.”

“Do you think they dig them?” she said. She
rested her hands on her knees and breathed deeply.

“It’s hard to say but I don’t think so.
Those tunnels are round, really round, better than anything I could
dig, that’s for sure.”

She grunted. “Alright, lead the way to
Tanguin. Hey Cal, thanks for the reinforcements, I’m A-OK.”

Cal’s voice sounded in her head, “I’m glad
Aart managed to get his butt there in time.”

“Yep, no problem. I’ll keep you posted,” she
said, concentrating on following Aart.

Aart nodded and stepped off into the trees.
Nova followed close on his heels.

He was right. The sun was setting at the
edge of the trees and casting long shadows through the forest. The
cold was also coming back, whispering through Nova’s clothes and
leaving a chill on her skin. She felt naked without her gun, even
with her knives she felt somehow defenceless, not that she’d ever
let Aart see that.

“There she is,” Aart said, raising a hand.
He whistled three times. An answering whistle fluttered through the
trees.

At Tanguin’s all clear they walked out into
the clearing where the crashed colonisation ship plunged into the
ground. Tanguin sat on the steps of a large silver craft that
reflected the glow of the setting sun.

“Thank goodness, you’re okay,” Tanguin said,
getting to her feet.

“You’re telling me,” Nova said.

“So where are the goods?” Tanguin asked,
looking over their dirt-stained clothes.

“Nova lost them,” Aart said with a grin. He
stepped past Tanguin into the silver ship.

“What? Nova you know I don’t work for free,”
Tanguin said, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll both get your share.
They took my bag, but I know where it’ll be and where there are
more mushrooms. Our masterful leader has decided to go down once
the others get here.”

Tanguin groaned. “Don’t you two start,
please. He came to rescue you.”

Nova’s face screwed up and her eyebrows drew
together. “Don’t remind me.”

Tanguin chuckled and followed Aart up into
his ship, Sylar, with Nova right behind.

“You lovely ladies can make yourselves
comfortable,” Aart said, waving his hand.

Inside, the ship was glowing with
perfection. Every surface gleamed and every ornament was position
to show off its best features.

“Nice ride,” Nova said.

“Oh I know,” Aart said, “And don’t give me
that tone, Nova, you positively squealed with excitement the first
time you saw it.”

She snorted and looked down at Aart as he
sat on a luscious lounge. “I never squeal,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve got a video of it,”
Aart said. “But don’t worry about that now. You can both sleep here
tonight and then we’ll get our hands on those mushrooms
tomorrow.”