FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"-and then he says 'YOU'RE positive, I'm just standing here!'"

"PFFFT HA HA HA, hoohoohahahahaohhhh I love that one!"

"Yes I did pick up an unfortunate amount of humour in my college days," muttered HOX, "yet you are the only one that outright guffaws at them."

"W-well it is just the way you tell them!" said Sa-shi brushing a leaf against her large insect eyes.

"I did not think I had a propensity for narration," he rubbed his proboscis tenderly, "but I am glad you think so."

"Really?! You are the one who always manages to explain how viruses work to me much more easily than anyone else."

"Hahaha, ironic considering you deal with the digital kind!"

"Well yes but, organic ones work so differently."

"It is all simply a matter of replicating itself," explained HOX leaning closer to her in their seats, "the virus invades a host cell's machinery then hijacks it to produce many copies of itself, creating an overflow that destroys the cell and so its copies infect others."

"Ahhh I see, whilst a digital virus infiltrates a program and everytime that program is run, the virus reproduces itself!"

"Exactly. The terminology is similar because they themselves ARE similar, it requires very little leap of imagination."

"Is it possible I wonder for the two viruses to cross over?"

"I would think not, the environment of blood is far too hostile for a miniscule digitisation to survive on its own."

The tram continued rumbling onwards as the supox and VUX continued talking amongst themselves with the rest of the passengers behind them taking a small break. James eventually motioned them to huddle together near him as Shuffa and Fleek sat on their side of the tram.

"Do you think HOX has anything to do with the kidnapping?" muttered the lemming.

"We have yet to see," said Shuffa dipping her stalk, "he does do a rather lot of important business and admittedly some of it IS confidential to all of us."

"What sort of business?"

"Things we are unable to ask him, so we must tread with utmost caution."

"Sa-shi does not think he is involved but I cannot say the same."

"She loves him," murmured Chanoch, "she does not want to think that."

"Sh-she does?!" gasped James looking back to her.

"It's kindae obvious," muttered Fleek leaning his beak across two seats, "ken the way her fronds get all afrettin' roond 'im?"

"I...so we cannot rely on her to be impartial then, I see."

"We follow HOX," said Jarogniew with a pointing hand amongst the group, "keep our weapons ready."

"And our questions led by him," said Shuffa tapping a pincher on his hand, "let him blunder into his own interrogate, we have not forgotten that little standoff at the station past, tranquiliser or not."

"Yes."

The four nodded firmly as the husband and wife slipped back to their seats and waited for their next stop. The platform they arrived at was a yellow colour this time, the colour of radioactive warning as they headed in with HOX leading them. The Nananch was somehow even more bizarre than the previous branches had been, deciding to do away with wide spacious plazas and instead reinterpret geometry at a level that gods would call a mistake. Hallways fluctuated like an oscillograph in their width, sometimes just barely enough to squeeze through and other times wide enough for elephants. The roof above them created an infinite series of pyramids within ziggurats, endlessly fading into each other whilst the floor resembled golden specks upon a black mica surface that gave it a constantly dirty look that upset Chanoch quietly. A soft hum radiated throughout the place in this art nouveau decor as they saw more laboratories, shapes of decidedly less organic structure than those they had seen previously warping and flickering into unearthly designs that breached into the fourth dimension. Chanoch had seen these shapes before in the containment labs but here they were now active, moebius strips and klein bottles folding into themselves and reassembling into impossibly-powerful designs that were soon tested under pressure from the most deafening gravitational forces. Some of them cracked whilst others didn't, but those that did fall beneath the weight of experiments soon unravelled into a million pieces like golden sand, shedding across the floor before they reassembled like a swarm of insects within the hive.

"What does THIS place do?" asked James.

"Nanotechnology," said the supox, "the biomechanical side that mirrors the fully-organic studies of the Exomicranch. Essentially the same studies but requiring a different field of study."

"What...exactly are these nanomachines?"

"Hmph!" the VUX professor snorted a little too loudly. "A miracle you even arrive to this station without knowing such a thing."

"Oh be gentle HOX," purred Sa-shi rubbing his shoulder, "they only just discovered space flight, both our species were once ignorant too."

"Hmmmm...well, better late than never, nanotechnology is the study of exceptionally-miniscule robotics to perform tasks that are too finite for us to manage."

"Miniscule...robotics?" Chanoch cocked his head. "Tiny machines?"

"Yeeees do you require a thesaurus too?" the cyclops turned with wiggling proboscis. "Or would you perhaps prefer a book with pictures instead?"

"Stop mocking him!" barked James thrusting himself forward. "Not all of us are on the cutting edge of science and instead of ridiculing us for our innocence you should elevate us when we are eager to learn!"

"It was a simple jest boy."

"Your elitist attitude is not helping, PROFESSOR, do you want to alienate people from knowledge by such arrogance, because that is precisely what you are doing!"

"Don't you DARE talk back to me you little spore-faced wheezebag!"

"Alright enough!" Sa-shi pushed her leaf between them. "We are here to work together, can we PLEASE try to not bite each other's roots off?!"

"Fine." The scientist smoothed out his pale blue coat. "Yes, they are tiny machines that facilitate services too precise for our tentacles to perform."

"What sort of services?" asked Chanoch trying to imagine the world's smallest pulley lifting a fingernail.

"Assembling finite devices, minute surgery on damages blood vessels, monitoring chemical imbalances such as anaemic conditions, early diagnoses for cancer and also tissue repair."

"Repair the body...tiny machines with tiny tools." Chanoch's mind went to thousands of inch-sized people fixing the walls of a human-shaped castle. "Amazing."

"Indeed. Alright, please follow me."

He led them off the path from the fluctuating halls to where an isolated room sat at the end of a thinner corridor with diamond shapes all along the row. Beyond the door was a room full of slats, beige-coloured in sets of three either vertically or horizontally, like the inside of a puzzle cube. The floor itself was a latticed framework net with even more of the strange slats underneath their feet, the door soon closing behind them to reveal the last of the odd wall ornaments in complete containment.

"This place shall be safe," said the VUX.

"What is this?" asked James.

"An anechoic chamber, it is a room specially designed to absorb sound waves as well as electromagnetics. No one shall hear us in this place."

"Absorb...sound?"

"We use this to test electromagnetic bleeds for safety reasons. Just listen for a moment. Let's enjoy the quiet for what little time we may have."

So they did. None of them said a thing to help them adjust as James felt a strange reverence, like he were trespassing on hallowed grounds that made him incredibly tense. Seconds passed into minutes as they heard the strangest pulsing hum through all of their bodies, a hissing sound like a microphone pop in their ears. Someone would gulp and they would hear the fluid slip down their throat.

"I can hear my heart," said Chanoch clutching his chest, "I do not like this."

"The lack of sound can make one all too aware of themselves," said the professor with tentacles clasped, "it is not recommended to stay in this room for more than an hour at best."

"I do not like this. I do NOT like this, I want to leave."

"It is just your cardiopulmonary system get a grip on yourself!"

"I want to get out, now."

"It's alright," James said clasping his hand tightly, "I am here, you are safe with me."

"Please, talk to me, the silence is-"

"Alright, professor now please tell us what you were doing."

"Very well," the VUX slipped a tentacle over his face before wrapping his tendrils together, "as an immunologist you know my task is to cure that which is considered uncurable."

"Zat even a word?" muttered Fleek with wings crossed.

"As a result, I have dealt with various pathogens that, due to the sensitive and highly-contagious nature of such diseases, cannot be legally allowed to enter this base without certain clarifications."

"Wait...what?" gasped the supox.

"The cargo that I received was a deceased patient that had been in transit for some time, they only just managed to clear it with security and now I can finally start examining this new contagion."

"What is...h-how was this even allowed, no one told me!"

"I am sorry Sa-shi but some things are beyond your clearance, truthfully I am edging upon insubordination for even telling you this and I am keeping vague as possible so as to continue my work."

"Whut sort of disease wuz it," asked Fleek leaning forwards, "Shima, R.U.F, Zero-D mebbe Quen's Syndrome?"

"I cannot-wait wh-what did you say?"

"It does not matter," interjected Shuffa, "you have your job and we have ours, also just as you said previous, we have no evidence that truly implicates you in any wrongdoings so we cannot reproach you for anything regardless."

"Yes yes exactly!" said Sa-shi-ha jumping in with a small hop of her hoverpod. "HOX is our finest immunologist, it makes perfect sense he has to deal with sensitive experiments that we cannot be privy to."

"I am glad that you all understand," said the VUX bowing courteously, "apologies for my actions earlier but my work requires tremendous caution."

"Hmmm," James sighed and shook his head, "I am not certain myself but I have to contend with Shuffa in that we do not have anything to accuse you of, so there is little we can do."

"Indeed, now, I suspect your friend is getting rather cagey so it would be best for us to leave, unless you have any pertinent questions last-"

"NO!" barked Chanoch a little too loudly. "We leave now!"

"Very well."

HOX unlocked the door with his card as they headed out, Chanoch barging first into the corridor with shaking fingers as the world suddenly screamed upon his senses once more with a rushing wind. Voices poured in from every corner, the sound of ventilation turned into a typhoon with his eyes starting to bulge as he hunched over feeling sick.

"Goodness are you alright?!" asked James clutching his hand.

"F-forgive me...I...that room was-"

"It is fine, we are here now we never have to go back to it."

"Thank you."

"I wish you well on your investigations," said HOX passing them by, "I hope that your friends are found safe from harm."

"Thank you professor HOX!" waved Sa-shi from behind. "Take care and please be safe!"

He waved her back with a lazy tentacle as the group decided to reconvene at the branch's cafeteria, after traversing more strange and unusual geometry that became weirdly oppressive for the visitors in having closed triangular ceilings with sharp ending points. Thankfully the cafeteria was much more friendly, having the same aesthetic of the previous domes' eating rooms in being smooth circular blue, taking a small lunch in with a few drinks.

"Sooooo whut's oor plan now?" asked Fleek trying to cut up his food.

"I have to admit," said James drinking a green minty liquid, "I am at a loss as to where our investigation can take us."

"I could try the security office here," pondered Sa-shi-ha pouring water into her pot of soil, "but frankly I am terrified if someone is following us and we start endangering the lives of those we encounter."

"Do you think HOX will be targeted?"

"I certainly hope not, but I do not want to take chances with security again if it will end up a repeat of previous attempts."

"So what will you do?"

The supox fretfully tapped her leaves together as she opened her bracelet and began to tap into its interface. Words flickered on her screen as Shuffa gasped with a widened eye.

"Are you...infiltrating our own system?"

"If only to not have anyone else be a target," said Sa-shi tapping away, "I have a backdoor I left in each security system, in case any of the branches got taken over."

"Ooooooh you naughty little seedling, normally I would have to report you for such an illegal tactic, BUT I suppose it is for a greater good."

"Aye ah think we can let this slide," said Fleek winking cheekily, "whut ya find lass?"

"Give me a few minutes."

"Nae worries, you take yer time an-f-fuck...fuck, F-FUCKIN' THING!"

He slammed his cutlery down surprising everyone at the table. Shuffa gently moved his plate close to her and started to cut up his food into the smallest chunks possible before sliding it back to him.

"Th-thanks...sorry."

"Are you alright?" asked James.

"Ahm fine, dinnae worry, just couldnae find the grip oan this fuckin' fork."

"Your hands do seem to shake often-"

"I am FINE!" He barked with a slam of his fist. "Ah dinnae talk shite aboot yer wee tantrum that ye had yesterday do ah?!"

"A-a-alright I'm sorry!"

"...no, it's fine." The yehat pushed his food away and started to wrap his wings round himself. "A-ah didn' mean tae snap, sorry ahm just-"

"He is just worried about your friends," said Shuffa gently patting him, "Fleek is such a sensitive soul it is partly the reason I love him so deeply."

"I understand," the lemming nodded, "thank you for being so empathic, and for coming along with us this far."

"It is our duty, not just as guardians but also as fellow creatures of this galaxy, is that not right dearest?"

"Mmm." The pterodactyl made a deep sigh before he stood up and felt his wings shake. "Ahm gonnae lie doon, feel tired all a sudden."

"Alright then, I will see you soon."

He walked off with a slow clunking step as Shuffa sighed with her stalk turning its eye round back the table whilst Sa-shi continued to work unabated. The spathi continued eating her food from a liquid container, planting her eye into the soupy mix and sucking through it gently. They spent their time eating and drinking as the supox tapped her way through integers and barriers she exploited gradually into the network.

"Chanoch," Shuffa looked up cleaning her eye, "can I ask you something?"

"Yes," he stopped eating and put his hands together patiently.

"I did not want to ask before because it seemed inappropriate, but considering I have answered your curiosities for my husband and I's species I think it fair."

"Yes?"

"...what exactly are you?"

"I am a lizardman. Once, I was human."

"Once? Because, Haytham said that you were part of an experiment."

"I signed a contract to join an army. They turned me into this."

"Why?"

"Magic." He shrugged, not sure how else to explain it. "Dark magic, the contract changes you."

"I...see."

"You do not believe him?" asked James leaning forwards.

"I was not speaking to you." Her eye turned with a boldened stare to James before looking back to the knight. "So, you were turned into this state because you took part in a military experiment, is what I am hearing."

"Yyyyyes," said Chanoch nodding carefully.

"What did your family think of it? Friends?"

"My friends were killed in an attack on our town. My family are gone."

"Oh dear...I am terribly sorry."

"It is fine."

"Who attacked them?" asked Shuffa clasping her pincers together.

"Teutonic army," he lowered his head with a faded glimmer in his eyes, "they massacred my city."

"Am I right in assuming that you joined this other army in order to protect your family?"

"Yes."

"And...did you manage to?"

"Yes." He raised his hands to press together against his snout. "Why do you ask?"

"Well it is just...you are a fascinating warrior, and I have to say after fighting alongside you, I had to learn more about you."

"I am a soldier, that is it."

"But you understand what injustice is," she leaned forwards with a gleam in her eye, "that is something so very few understand in this galaxy of peace. The Ur-Quan War was barely two-hundred years ago and yet people have become so terribly complacent thinking that all is well in the galaxy and that the only places where suffrage occurs is in war-torn conflicts."

"Like the Ilwrath?" added Sa-shi never looking up from her screen.

"For one example, yes. But what of the people who suffer not from war, but through modern strife?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jarogniew raising his brow.

"I...sorry, my mind has...I-i was, well, before we went through the wormhole I had been watching a documentary about a city, in the human empire. They had been suffering without medical aid because of an epidemic that swept through the place, and their government refused to acknowledge them because the epidemic was inadvertently caused by them delivering tainted produce, cheaply. They would rather let a small population of people die to preserve their own high-towered dignity unblemished, rather than admit their fault. I was sickened."

She tightened her pincers until they shook.

"I was...I thought, from years of my work both as a mercenary and an engineer, that I had seen everything, and that nothing could hurt me. But in this documentary, I saw this child. This little human female, she looks to the recording people and says that, her mother is sick so she has to help her. She is young but she has to do everything in the house now, she has to clean, she has to make the food, her mother has become so weak from this plague and when the documentary-maker asks her 'aren't you tired doing everything in the house, don't you ever want to go play or something?' you know what she says?"

Chanoch listened with full intent as Shuffa's eye blinked with a thickened teadrop peeling off her pupil.

"She...t-tells them that...'my mummy is more tired than me. Because she's sick, so I have to help her like she helped me when I was sick.' The documentary-maker asks 'but you're a child you can only do so much' and the child says 'but I'm still DOING something to help my mum. Doesn't matter if you can't do a lot, what matters is you do something'. ...I never forgot those words. Now I am here, helping this station find its purpose like my husband."

"Wait," Sa-shi looked up in this moment, "that is why you are here?"

"I-i know it is but sentimental foolishness and I am just a guard but...I want to help people get better. Not as a doctor, I have no skill for that, but I can protect those who can help. That is why I am here."

"Then I thank you." She reached out with her leaf and patted Shuffa's thin metallic limb. "You have been a great help to us, both you and Fleek-Gleek."

"I have to ask, why did you come here? As our security analyst that is."

"Did I not answer that before?"

"Not especially no, I admit a supox specialising in cybersecurity is quite the rare breed."

"Well I was already accomplished at bio-engineering for our ships, so I travelled with my pod and enrolled at the Alpha Centauri University to transfer my skills to something more technological. I was fascinated by the world of steel but I wanted to do something to help others, so I thought why not join a medical station and, like you, protect what is truly valuable?"

"I very much agree."

"Also because I met someone and I wanted to-h-huh?!"

Her eyes swivelled back towards her screen as a string of numbers fell out of place.

"AH, there you are my little friend. Open up, let us see what you have in bloom."

With a few more dozen taps she found the main server for the Nananch security, viewing it remotely as the others crowded round to watch what she pulled up. On the small monitor she reeled through footage of the tram station looking for anyone significant or out of place, but nothing seemed to be out of place. She spent the next twenty minutes carefully checking over every camera from the last hour until something strange could be seen.

"Stop!" Shuffa poked at one corner. "What is that?!"

Rewinding slightly, they watched from near the corner of one camera's field of view a door opening in the wall of a cargo bay before someone rushed through. The creature ran too fast to tell as they looked at each other.

"What do you think?" asked James.

"It is certainly suspicious," Sa-shi replied rubbing her mandibles, "I cannot think what that could be, that did not look like a maintenance worker."

"At the very least we should investigate, there is nothing else we have."

"Hmmmm...do you think it will be dangerous?"

"We are dealing with kidnappers and possibly murderers," said the spathi leaning her eye close to her, "you knew it was going to be dangerous."

"Yes I...what do we do?"

"I will find Fleek," said Shuffa getting up to slide away, "the cargo bay is where we meet up yes?"

"Indeed, and please be careful!"

"Take this then," she handed the maintenance keycard to the supox, "it worked the last time there was a door in the wall yes?"

"A-alright, let us hope that works then!"

As the guard headed off to find her husband the other three made their route to the wall of boxes that made up the storage area of the branch. The sight of piled inordinate crates made a welcome change from the aggressive architecture as a sea of oblong shapes littered the place like tombs in a sunken mausoleum. A few workers were middling about checking over the contents with slow scanning devices, but nothing out of the ordinary as Sa-shi slipped through with her bracelet showing authorisation if any approached. Eventually she found the back wall that had been seen on the camera footage, looking up to see said camera glowing above and stationed on a rig.

"Alright," the supox started to feel along the wall, "try to find some sort of access."

They all gently started to touch the surface, feeling along with fronds, fingers and claws before James scrabbled at something that caught his skin. A small gap between sections as he brought them close with Sa-shi-ha raising her bracelet up to it.

"Strange...my access level does not permit me here. Let me try the card then." She brought out the keycard as the door slid open graciously. "Well...that is good."

"That certainly brings us back to a maintainer for a key suspect," said the lemming peering into the dark.

"Stay back." Chanoch put a hand before him with rifle at the ready. "I will go first."

"Alright, be careful."

The soldier clicked on his rifle's light before entering the abyss. The first thing he noticed was the large cylindrical shape of the passageway, a dip in the middle that created a trench that was oddly damp beneath Chanoch's thick leathery feet. He scanned the walls as the other two followed him, the door closing behind them once it sensed them being far enough beyond its reach to plunge them into fullest dark. Sa-shi put on the light of her bracelet, but James decided against using magic for the odd smell that permeated the air, fearing it was a form of gas that could be flammable. The trench took a hard left after two minutes of walking as the air became colder, light beaming a wide circle across the smooth steel walls until there came a fork in the road.

"Which way now?" asked James. "I do not think there is anything terrible choosing the wrong path but we should not delay for longer than we need to."

"This way," murmured Sa-shi scanning the environs, "much more root traffic along this path."

They headed onwards, taking the long hallway with nothing but the sound of their footsteps echoing throughout the place. Sometimes the path would branch off again into two or three but the supox kept them on track as the passages started to descend deeper into the base's depths. The further down they went the more damp it became under their feet, the lizardman feeling a slight stickiness to every step, his eye staring down the barrel taking in every movement no matter how small as moisture dripped down the walls giving a soft echo with every drop. It only made the place sound emptier as they tightened their lips keeping steadily behind Chanoch's frame, his armour turning quieter with cautious movements that he made as the tiniest scrapes of steel upon steel sounded like a pin raking against the chalkboard.

Sometimes he would stop with a hand gesture signalling them to be silent, for a sound in the distance before it faded as he continued on. The further down they went, the more moist it became and the colder it turned on them as James started to shiver. Eventually he composed himself when they stopped at a corner junction, Jarogniew checking the passage further down to see still no one present. Soon the passages opened up into giant cisterns, resembling more and more like a sewer as Chanoch brought them close against the wall of the entrance. Still nothing came.

"Why is this place so deserted?" whispered James.

"I wish I knew," murmured Sa-shi, "I have never seen this place before and it is certainly not a maintenance tunnel."

"Is it not perhaps for waste disposal?"

"No no, we have specialised exo-tanks for that to break down enzymes with...this way."

She pointed towards one passage where the trail continued from her scanner, the corridor thinning out once again into another hollow cylinder that soon started to change in its pattern. The circular steel walls became slowly overgrown by a bizarre-looking substance of brownish-amber that seemed to absorb the light from their devices, glimmering softly to give it a slimy effluvial texture above their heads that made James cringe in disgust. Things only got worse the further they went in as the floor joined the walls and ceiling in being consumed by the same substance, squishing underfoot with the firmness of raw meat as juices occasionally trickled down past their heads.

"This is...what IS this?!" groaned James.

"I have no idea," said the supox swerving between droplets, "this place feels much older, like this...like the base was built on top of it."

"But this is a...a...wh-what do you call a cavern in space?"

"An asteroid, well, this is more of a satellite but yes there should not be anything here! This is nothing like what we have, this is all organic, naturally occurring."

"So why is it even here?" The lemming tried to poke one of the bulging sections with his umbrella as it quivered angrily. "It must have existed long enough to overgrow to this scale."

"Should we turn back?" muttered Sa-shi-ha.

"No," Chanoch stated firm, "we stand together. We must find our friends."

"Yes...yes of course you are right, someone needs our help and we cannot abandon them."

"Move up."

Keeping his sights honed forwards Chanoch stepped with caution through the murky meat passage that smirched and bubbled underfoot, breathing a strange air that whilst was not deadly, was disturbingly thick to create a mist in front of their eyes like a transient fog. From this point on there were no divergences, no forks in the road as everything became a single long continuous descent. Chanoch hated this, knowing that any attack would leave them out in the open and well-pincered in from both back and front. The light from his gun struggled to illuminate the walls that constantly devoured its gleam, creating the sense they were trespassing within a living organism that pulsed with a beating heart, flickerings of cellular composite that twitched from their presence alone. The longest ten minutes of their lives took them towards another large room that was vaguely circular in design with two inches of watery-thin nectar that covered their feet, except for Sa-shi floating above as her anti-grav thrusters created a gentle circle that pushed inwards. The treacle-thick liquid made it harder to push through as Chanoch was forced to walk faster, trading his stealth for movement briefly to try and make it to the other end of the chamber.

He stopped suddenly to raise his hand motioning them to follow suit as he gauged his surroundings, slowly sweeping his sights across the room in a full 360. Nothing but the sounds of suckling slime dripping throughout the cavernous room, but there was something else. Something clacking, crunching methodically in steps of two before it turned louder and closer. Then it slowed down as Chanoch raised his rifle to the ceiling to see it start moving. A large chunk of the ceiling that rustled and snapped itself off from the rest of the biomass, twisting itself round towards them and revealing its horrifying face. A giant crab the size of a tank, with six large legs and a pair of arms, one shaped like a drill and the other a thick meaty crab-claw. Its thick-mandibled mouth that bubbled over with rancorous bile in its long thin black-beaded eyes twitching from a pair of stalks.

"Wh-wh-what ARE you?!" gasped the supox. "H-hello?!"

The creature did not speak, except for a snarling rasp in the back of its crustaceous throat.

"Are you...do you live here? We do not mean any harm, we are jus-"

"GET BACK!"

Chanoch shoved her away as the creature lunged towards them, snapping its huge claw with a crunching clack as the soldier fired back at its face to make it recoil back in fright.

"James, back me up."

"R-right," the lemming stepped forwards pulling out his sword from his brolly, "is this wise to engage with such a beast?"

"If it wants to fight, then we fight back."

"P-please be careful!" cried Sa-shi-ha pulling back to the entrance. "I-i do not know what that thing is!"

James slipped out a fire spell at sword's length to test the air, seeing it was not flammable before hurling a flame at the creature's maw causing it to recoil in shock. Blinded by the hot light, it snarled and lunged with its drill claw towards him as he blocked with his umbrella feeling it shriek with sparks across the canopy, but the force of his thrust was so great that it punched James down against the slime-encrusted dirt. Chanoch fired a small burst at the creature's tiny armoured face which blocked his bullets with its large claw, swinging it hard towards him in counterance as the soldier ducked underneath.

The monster rumbled forwards with its pincer legs crunching into the gooey slime as it tried to charge Jarogniew, but the knight made a running jump to the side and tried shooting along its side in a spray-and-pray motion, searching for any weakness in its shell. James moved to the opposite side and struck his blade against the beast with a hot spark of fire to score a dark burn across the shell, but the crab-beast swung out with a half-spin of its drill-claw that James guarded against with his shield once more, moving behind as quickly as he could in a half-circle run to blast a thick plume of ice at its back leg.

The slime floor however resisted being frozen by its unusual biology as it simply shivered the frozen particles off, melting through a small burst of heat it emitted that only served to alert the crustacean to turn and strike with its hammer-fisted claw upon James' head. The lemming dodged fast in a stumbling run as Chanoch decided to switch from his rifle to his sword, swinging out his blade for the legs as soon as the monster turned to crack one of them hard into a bent twisted shape. The creature buckled suddenly before reaffirming itself, gently taking weight off of its now-crippled leg before it spun round with a fierce scream that echoed across the room, slamming down its drill into the ground with a screeching crunch that sent rippling cracks through the floor.

Jarogniew dodged with a fast step, slamming the flat of his blade down upon the drill to send fierce vibrations up its arm and temporarily stop it with a shuddering grind that surprised him. The crab decided instead to use its stoppered drill for a club, rippling spiral edges scarring across Chanoch's shoulder as he staggered back and blocked with his sword from the second swing that came back towards him with a scraping clang. The third swipe came crushing down upon his head as he strafed to swing upwards at the arm's shoulder, cracking it partially as the creature reeled back with a shudder through its face. The soldier took his chance to dodge underneath the limb and try to punch its mandibles, but its other claw came up to guard and shoved Chanoch back hard against the floor in a splash of slime.

"CHANOCH!"

"I'M FINE!" he barked back to James. "HIS LEGS, CRIPPLE THEM!"

"A-ALRIGHT!"

The lemming kept moving behind the crustaceous fiend as an idea came to him. Summoning the earth towards his rapier, he gathered dust into solid form to resemble a thick-weighted pickaxe as he swung himself round and whammed it hard through one of its legs with a tremendous crack that made it falter and buckle even harder. Stumbling as it tried to barge sideways into James, the crab-monster screeched with a violent pounding of its huge front claws into the ground causing more cracks to appear around them. The earth buckled slightly making James wobble in fright as he went for another leg, spin-striking with his pickaxe-coated sword to crunch it in half causing the beast to stagger even further into a lopsided run.

"Wh-wh-WHAT, what is happening?!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Chanoch rushed towards James in a football tackle, shoving him out of harm's way before the creature rolled onto its back like a boulder to try and crush them both. Its semi-ovular shape made it roll easily back onto its remaining legs, finishing with a doubleslam of its claws against the wall that Chanoch and James had stopped at. James felt the back of its blunter claw smack against his head and send him rolling through the mush, cringing from the hard blow that made him stumble with eyes bleary as Chanoch slammed his gauntlet into the creature's small face. The monster recoiled from the driving fist giving the soldier enough space to thrust his sword straight into its mandibles, gurgling roars from its throat as one vicious twist of his blade cracked its jaw in half to be wrenched free from its head.

"GAAAAAAAAARRGH!"

The crab made an odd sound that was nothing like its utterances before, less bestial in nature and more resembling a sentient scream that surprised Jarogniew for a moment. The giant crustacean started to slam its claws furiously in a fitful rage, trying to crush either of the intruders with rabid frenzy that made the entire chamber shake with slime dripping even quicker from the ceiling in response. James was forced to keep on the move until his senses returned to him from their dull and blurry state whilst the knight kept the crab-monster's focus upon him, rabid pounding claws that continued to crack the earth into sudden slanting plates that jutted upwards. With an idea in hand, he tricked the beast into slamming one of the earth fractures to vault him upwards onto its back and drive his sword down hard into its crustaceous shell.

"_FOUL BEAST! _"

Driving his blade through its spine he tore out a good chunk of its exoskeleton, ripping a thick wedge to reveal its insides that shocked him even further to see sparks spitting out of strange multicoloured veins.

"What?"

"ENOUGH!"

A voice shrieked out from within the crab as he dodged a silver pistol that shot from within the creature's wound.

"INTRUDERS SHALL NOT BE TOLERATED!"

Throwing its body hard the creature managed to dislodge Chanoch from its back as he leapt onto the floor, watching the crustacean suddenly clamber onto the wall before punching the ground with its gargantuan claws fracturing the earth underneath. The tremors became much stronger as Chanoch rushed to grab James still staggering across the way before he felt his feet sink down farther.

"A-AAAAH, CHANOCH!"

"THIS WAY, HURRY!" screamed Sa-shi from the entrance.

"YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE!" roared the crab-beast aiming its blunt claw towards them. "ALL WHO DEFY THE DIRECTOR SHALL BE PUNISHED!"

The claw opened up to reveal a black metal length extending from inside its limb, charging up a thick voluminous green ball of light that fired with piercing shot straight into the mushy floor and tore it apart in one mighty explosion. The shockwave sent both lizard and lemming flying as they grabbed the walls struggling to cling to its sticky surface, the floor caving in towards a deep black abyss as James fell first in a scrabbling panic.

"A-AAAH AAAH, N-N-NO, NO NO CHANOCH!"

"HOLD ON!"

He reached for James before another plasma shot fired too close, blasting him off the wall as both of them fell into the darkness.

"NOOOOOO!"

Sa-shi cried out in fright as their bodies disappeared into the void, falling faster than she could hope to reach them as she stared towards the crustaceous beast in horror. The creature looked up to her and started crawling across to her.

The wind rushed past their ears as the gaping maw of the earth faded farther from their view above. Twisting his body looking for some means to grab a ledge, Chanoch struggled to swing his sword to try and plunge into the sides of the wall but the blade always slipped, gasping as the air became colder the further they fell.

"HOLD ON!" James cried reaching out his hand. "GRAB MY HAND!"

He swung out his claws and gripped the lemming tight, pulling him into a hug as James braced himself with brolly up high.

"AERIS LUCET!"

Bursting from his sleeve came a powerful gust that flew into the brolly's canopy and sent them upwards briefly, slowing their descent by a noticeable margin as the walls started to become less a blur. The weight of the knight grabbing onto him made things harder as James gripped his umbrella with both hands to keep them steadily aloft, swinging back and forth as the abyss continued below them.

"N-nnnngh, HHNNNNNGH!"

"Keep strong!" Chanoch cried.

"I'M TRYING-NNNNNGH!"

"Let me-NNNGH!" Grabbing the umbrella's handle suddenly made him flinch with a sharp pain. "Wh-what was that?!"

"I-i don't know just hang on I have to keep this spell going!"

Continuing to channel his magic through his brolly James felt his muscles and mind both strain from the effort as they started dropping faster again, the mage struggling to fight against gravity's whim by recasting his spell for the occasional updraft to negate their speed over the course of their seven-minute descent. Once they saw the ground James felt exhaustion complete him, fingers dropping off the umbrella's shaft as they fell together into a heap, the brolly following after to drop gently towards the side as they groaned pulling themselves up.

"A-are you alright?" gasped James.

"Yes," muttered Chanoch, "are you?"

"Yes I-...o-oh talisman where did we-...Sa-shi?! SA-SHI-HA CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Quiet." The lizardman stood up fully as he scanned the walls around him. "We may not be alone."

"I-i-i just...hoh...hoh tell me we are not trapped here."

Clutching his head with a growing fear James grabbed his umbrella and started frantically searching for a means of escape. It was a semi-circular pit, barren of plant life with walls too smooth to be of natural forming. With what strength he had James ran a full circuit grabbing and touching at every piece of wall whilst Chanoch looked up to the pinprick of light far beyond their reach. Five minutes of a desperate search proved fruitless as James ran himself ragged, incensed by adrenaline with a frantic heated mind.

"W-we're trapped, we are trapped th-there is no way out!"

"Calm down," said the knight, "we will find a way."

"Th-there is, n-nothing, there is NOTHING I can find this place will be our tomb-ohhhh SAVIOUR PLEASE-"

"QUIET!" He grabbed the lemming's shoulders and forced him to sit. "Be, calm, you will only hurt yourself."

"I-...I-i am sorry."

Fatigue seeped into his body as he slumped his head against his knees, shivering to himself from the deep chill of the subterrane as he wrapped his arms round his body. Two minutes passed as there came a gentle sobbing, the soldier looking towards his friend with a heavy sigh.

"This is my fault," whimpered James, "I, I-i should never have come here."

"It is not." Jarogniew sat down beside him. "We have time to rest, use it."

"I was t-too...stubborn, so self-centred on my own little world that I p-pushed master Durai away a-and now he is a hostage along with the woman he loves, and all I cared about was MYSELF!"

"Enough." He put a hand on his shoulder. "We will find them, and punish those responsible."

"H-HOW?!" He slapped his hand away. "How can we even do this when we are trapped in this pit, with nothing to help us reach upwards that distance!"

"We find another way. No fortress is perfect."

"I just...I-...s-sorry, sorry I...hhhhh..."

His fingers were still shaking as he covered his face, whimpering and rocking himself back and forth as Chanoch slipped his hand round the lemming's back with a tender pat.

"We will not die here."

"H-how, do you know we won't?!" gasped James.

"Because I have been through worse. This is not where I die."

"That...th-that is not very reassuring."

"We rest for a moment," said Chanoch nodding. "Let our minds be and think of a plan together."

"What...what plan can there be?" he looked up to the hole.

"You are a mage, you are learned. You can travel between worlds with a book, this pit is nothing."

"Th-that, that, that is different!"

"How?"

"B-because this is not travelling between dimensions!" James blustered standing up frustrated. "I cannot just summon a portal anywhere I want Chanoch, magic does not work that way!"

"Then what can you do?" asked the reptile spreading his arms. "Make stairs out of water, shoot fire above us, turn your sword into an axe made of stone."

"Y-yes but, did you not see how far we fell?!"

"We have options. Think. This is a puzzle for you to solve-"

"DON'T!" He thrust his finger towards him for a moment as he felt something creep back in his mind. "Don't...just let me think I-i need a moment to think."

Jarogniew nodded and waited for James to rejoin him, sitting quietly in the dark as their adrenaline started to thin and their eyes slowly adjusted. A hollow breeze swirled around the dark pit ruffling James' cloak as he shivered tightly, hugging himself tightly until Chanoch pulled him closer without a word. James almost fell asleep, his head slumping upon his friend's shoulder with soft shaking breaths against Chanoch's warm steel. He said nothing, watching the lemming drift off for a moment of peace as he looked up at the tiny speck, imagining it to be a star and for a moment almost wanting to wish on it.

Alicia...did you live well? I never found you that star, but I hope...Elohim gave you that for me.

The darkness settled around them for the next thirty-five minutes as he let James sleep, feeling the stirrings of his friend eventually who pushed himself up in a start.

"WH-whuh, whu-...ohhh...s-saviour help me we're still trapped here."

"Good morning." The soldier watched James give him a dark flinted stare. "That was a joke."

"H-how are you joking at a time like this?!"

"I thought it was funny."

"Being trapped with no way out?!"

"No, that I say 'good morning' when we are trapped in a hole deep underground."

"Wh-whatever GUH!" He tried to push himself away as politely as possible. "I really hoped that this was a bad dream."

"This place feels like a bad dream. I hope we can leave soon."

"How do you think we can leave when there is-...hhhhh..."

He clasped his head in his hands trying to steady his thoughts. Gently placing his fingers together into a brief prayer, the lemming gave a deep sigh and stared at his knees.

"Do you know why I became a scribe?"

"No," replied Jarogniew. "Why?"

"Because I want to save my people. I want to do right not just by my heritage, but by the namesake I was given to ensure that the fate of the Lemmings is not swarmed in darkness once again."

"Once again?"

"...let me tell you a story. A tale of our future, of what is to come. Many years ago, my people lived in a faraway land, peaceful and content. Simple we were, ignorant even of any sense of magic or piety. But one day my elder found a book, a tome that had fallen upon us and spoke to him of fantastic realms beyond our very imagining. He studied it, broke down its scripture and discovered how to control its magic through what we learned as 'The Art'.

"But in our innocence, we trusted this stranger too easily, a warlock known as Meen who tricked us to follow him, into the darkest depths of a prison where he turned us blind and forced us to live forever, slowly killing us one by one as a means to power his own dark magic. A quiet genocide to fuel his own future."

"That is horrible," muttered Chanoch, "were you a child then?"

"No, I was not born then." He clasped his hands with a tightening throat. "My parents met each other, blinded but they felt each other and held on tightly since. My mother said she only needed to hear my father's voice as firm and soothing and she could sleep safely, despite knowing that tomorrow could be their last. But then one day, a stranger came who had also become prisoner to Meen, a raptor who travelled down to the depths with a small group he had managed to free."

"This is the saviour you speak of?"

"Yes, his name was James Campbell," said James with a gentle clasp of his chest. "He was a powerful warrior who led us to freedom, against the injustice of this madman who had tortured and ruined so many of us and others alike. Uniting us as one he carved through Meen's forces with his bizarre weapon in the form of scissors that cut the threads of our fate ordained-"

"Wait, scissors?" muttered Jarogniew slightly shocked.

"Yes, a giant pair of scissors, I know it sounds absurd but that is the only way to describe them."

"Ah."

"...wait...w-wait, do you know something?" The lemming pushed up towards him grasping his arm. "I have never told you about James Campbell, do you know him?!"

"I do not know. I met a beast who once wielded a giant pair of scissors."

"Wh-what did he look like?!"

"...shorter than me, taller than you." The reptile looked slightly up to recall his encounter with the beast. "Brown scales, purple markings and black hollow eyes."

"That...I mean that SOUNDS very like him except for the eyes, his ones were green."

"The one I met was not a hero, and his name was not James."

"Oh then...w-well, perhaps he was from the same tribe, maybe that weapon is a common blade amongst them...anyways," the lemming slipped back to seat himself again, "James the saviour defeated Meen with the help of his friends the sorcerer Alestes, Sophelie the oracle, Monty the refugee and of course our chief Arino. We banished him into a book and hurled it into the very abyss that he had cast thousands of my people into before, and with that his spell was severed over us and our sight returned as well as our freedoms. So it was that James left, and he only ever returned once when I was but three years old."

"You have met him then?" asked Chanoch leaning over to him.

"No I..." James rubbed his arm with a deep sigh, "I was sick at the time he came, I heard his voice from outside my window but I was too unwell to leave the house for risk of...infection."

"Ah. And now your people live free?"

"Yes. In commemoration of our freedom, we sculpted a talisman made of the finest mystic metals that we took from Meen's lab, scavenging what we could of his belongings that were safe for us before departing. The talisman is the very totem of our people, for it would guide us to a land of peace and safety where we could live in harmony, known now as the Lemming Isle. Though not all of us wanted the same things, some of us wanted to live a simpler life with stonemasons and tailors whilst others wanted to embrace new technologies."

"You became different tribes," the lizardman nodded, "I understand, your family wanted a simpler life."

"Exactly." James' heart swelled the more he spoke with a gleam in his eye. "For many moons we have lived in those lands, happy and content our lives have been rich and fruitful. When we settled, our guiding talisman was divided up between twelve tribes and aided by the power of each piece, our tribes prospered and grew. But the talisman also tells of the prophecy and the Great Darkness soon to sweep upon us."

"Great darkness?"

"An all-consuming darkness, one that our prophets have gleamed from the talisman's guidance that shall come one day to devour us. Swallow us whole to become nothing, our lives, our home...everything."

"Why?" Chanoch shrugged confused. "Where does this dark come from?"

"We do not know. The talisman can only tell us that it shall come one day, but one of our tribes, known as the Highlanders, have seers that are sensitive to the ways of the world and they are our first line of defence against the Great Darkness to warn us when it comes."

"What will happen when it comes?"

"Over many seasons we shall commission our finest shipwrights to work tirelessly upon a great vessel. The tribes shall come together and by the power of the reunited talisman, the vessel will carry us far away from darkness to a new land. That is the plan. Now all that remains is our exodus. By the very guiding force that helped us before and as written, will once again. But...I choose not to follow this."

The scribe stood up and pulled his linking book from his satchel, staring upon its cracked and stressed cover.

"I know not what lies beyond my home other than that of the Great Darkness. But I refuse to let prophecy hold sway over me. No one could plan my master's coming, nor could they have planned our first encounter here in this strange realm that you have become part of. I shall rewrite my world's history, by my own hand I shall save our people from extinction, just as my namesake before me did when he defied our supposed fate. The ending of my people shall NOT be written."

He turned towards the soldier with a look that Chanoch was surprised to see in the once-softer eyes of the mage, now hardening if only briefly with a zealous passion he had seen in his past.

"I know that somewhere out there lies a power or some means to prevent the Great Darkness, or to completely eradicate it. Whatever it takes for my people to live in peace, I shall do whatever I can."

"That is a great task for one person," said Jarogniew rubbing his chin.

"Which is why this realm is a perfect place, not this space station of course I mean Oddclaw's home, the fact that he is the son of James Campbell means that this HAS to be destiny of my own creation!"

"Wait, what?" The soldier stood up trying to process this. "This Oddclaw, he...huh."

"H-hold on, have you already met him?!" James sputtered.

"No, Jane showed me a picture of him."

"Ah yes, of course. Well, regardless, my point is that you are right, I should not be wallowing in a hole feeling sorry for myself when we have friends to rescue!"

"Good!" said the soldier with a single clap. "Let us check the walls again."

So they did for the next twenty minutes, each taking one side of the pit to carefully examine and brush their fingers over the each crevice of dirt they could feel. It was a long dull process tapping and scraping against pieces of the rock, testing with hard taps for any weakness or imperfection that could be exploited before Jarogniew heard a strangely-pitched knock within the stone.

"James."

"Wh-what, have you found something?!"

"Yes. This wall is hollow. Maybe thin."

"A hidden door perhaps?!" asked James rushing over to him.

"There is no handle. None of the doors have them here."

"And our bracelets do not activate it..." the lemming tapped against the wall hearing the same odd clank. "What if I can damage its energy source?"

"How do you reach it?"

"...your sword, it is made of steel so it should conduct lightning! Could you find a crack to wedge your blade into and I send lightning through it?"

The knight dug through the stone with his thick claws until he felt it give way, feeling an unnaturally-straight line without imperfections between the shards of rock as he unsheathed his blade. He stepped back into a defensive stance before wedging his blade deep into the wall with a crunching grind and bury it to a third of its length.

"G-gosh..." James muttered, "how is your sword so strong?"

"The light of Elohim," stated Chanoch sliding his hand along the Hebrew script, "what else would it be?"

"Right, yes of course, stand back please."

Standing to the side Chanoch watched as James carefully wrapped a cold watery mist round the sword before adding a heated layer of hot air upon it. Crackling sparks of electricity formed along the steel as James built up more pressure, turning the mist into a darkened cloud that sparked and shivered through the sword in arcs of brilliant white until it was too much to contain. The wall shuddered with rumbling fury as its rocky facade fell into pieces from its circuitry overclocking, groaning before the door slammed itself open and the sword clanged against the ground pointing towards a darkened passage.

"IT WORKED!" cried James. "H-HAH, HAHAHA IT WORKED!"

"Good." The soldier picked up his blade. "Come, let us find our friends."

"Absolutely, lead on good sir."

Taking point Chanoch stepped forth into the darkness, switching to his rifle once he saw how narrow it was as James followed behind with sword and umbrella shield at the ready. Droplets of moisture echoed within the natural cavern as the soldier moved his light across the rippling walls, seeing it was a much different structure to that of the mushy mould from above. The tunnel curved slowly towards the left with the odd stalagmite in their path, their footsteps dull and flat against the stony earth. The passage only turned direction once heading vaguely right for only half the time it took to reach, the silence deafening between teardrops that it almost unnerved James in the pressure he felt upon his head from the depths they now reached. There soon came a crossroads and before they could decide which way to go, the sound of a hissing shriek ripped through the air.

"Wh-what the-mmmph!"

He felt Chanoch push his finger against his lips, giving him a firm look to be silent as there came a clicking sound almost rhythmic in its pace, creaking rickety limbs that scraped against the walls as they stepped into one of the side tunnels to hide watching for the creature to come. Chanoch turned off his light to better hide themselves before the beast approached from the darkness, a rasping thin-legged abomination that creeped upon eight legs, two of which moved upwards like far-reaching limbs to rub against the ridged stone. It stared towards them, clacking its large mandibles beneath its half-dozen eyes that gleamed with cruellest sapphire glint, scanning the darkness with a voice like the breaths of a dying beast.

"I...Can Hear You, Friends."

James' fingers shook against Chanoch's with growing fear as the soldier squeezed his hand hotly to steady his nerves.

"Come Out To Play. Do Not Be Frightened, For If You Are Innocent...Then You Have Nothing To Fear. Nooooothiiiiing To Feaaaaar. No? Alright Then...I Shall Find You Soon...Fear Not, New Friends."

They remained silent until the creature moved on, shambling into another passage as they headed the other way. The sounds of the cavern's residents continued around them with shrieks and shuddering gasps as their spindly legs crept with the ever-constant sound of clicking. Constant, clicking, never stopping amidst their voices that mixed together into one infernal chorus as Chanoch relied on his senses to guide the lemming blindly through the darkness. His cursed reptilian state gave him an advantage, tasting the air by flicking his tongue to get a sharper scent of the creature's movements whilst James became increasingly nervous from the seemingly-infinite depths.

The caverns expanded into a labyrinth with passages crisscrossing into a network that more and more resembled a hive, further adding to the fear that grew within James' heart as he kept close to the soldier's back. Sometimes they would stop at a corner, ducking into an alcove as the trundling legs of some horrifying beast crept on past. Glimmering arachnids went back and forth whispering the strangest things they could barely hear, muttering with eyes flicking in every direction as they swiftly crept past heading further and deeper into the dark.

Was this how my mother and father felt? I could never imagine how deep and vast the darkness our prison was, but this...this place is horrifying, why do these things exist underneath a medical research station?

"Are You Theeeeeeere?"

The voice of the first creature came whispering from another passage as they froze solid.

"Yes...I Remember That Scent. Frieeeeends...Come Here Friends. I Do Not Recognise You...I Have Never Met Anyone Other Than The Healers."

They chose not to meet the creature, heading further within as Chanoch kept on the trail for a possible exit by memorising the twisting junctions. Soon they came across a different set of rooms completely covered in cobwebs. Giant spindles of white string woven together to form alien shapes of symmetry, some of which were occupied by the same fearsome arachnids of blood-coated bodies nesting in their webbing. There were machines here, devices the intruders did not comprehend, as well as visual screens that stuttered out disturbing images of what appeared to be fractured transmissions of media, twisted to become an assault on their eyes but the monsters were entranced by it.

The light of the screens would threaten to betray them as they swiftly ducked past, moving through the larger rooms and using stone partitions for cover whenever one of the spider-beasts ran past, skittering and scrabbling with screeches as they wrestled each other to the dirt. Just as they thought they had managed to pass unscathed, their lips tightened, from the voice that continued to haunt them.

"Aaaaaaah Friends, Do Not Be Frightened. If You Are Hurt, The Healers Will Help You. Let Me Help You...I Love To Help New Friends, I Even Collect Them. I Have Dozens Of New Friends."

"Friends Are Here?!"

"Yes, Friends, Look...There, Behind The East Pillar."

"Run," said Chanoch, "run as fast as you can."

"O-o-oh talisman please-"

"GO!"

"FRIIIIIIIIIEEE EEEEEEENDS!"

The horde had awakened, and with it came a sea of legs and eyes that clumped together into one Lovecraftian entity of horrific screams that funnelled with such force through the tunnel that James became briefly deaf from their sharp piercing cries. Dull trembling rings through his ears as Chanoch pulled him forwards ahead of him forcing the lemming into a galloping run as they turned a corner.

"WHICH WAY?!" cried James.

"THERE, GO THERE!"

Jarogniew took a moment to flash his light in the coming horde's eyes and blind them with howling shrieks, stopping them in their tracks for a few seconds as they hurried down the path they had not yet travelled. The darkness rumbled below their feet as scrabbling frantic limbs clutched the walls and ceiling, the beasts frantic to grab them with luscious crystalline eyes that shined with terrific glee. Sometimes Chanoch would flash his light at a corner to frighten them back, or James would manage to shoot off a spark of flame that petrified the subterranean beasts before they could see a different light. A wall of silver that gleamed with hope.

"THAT, TH-THAT'S A DOOR, CHANOCH THIS WAY!"

They grabbed each other by the hand and made a full charge towards it, the soldier taking his sword out and ramming it hard as he could into the gap, whilst James quickly summoned the cold and hot air to transform around the blade with Chanoch turning towards the hive. He put his finger to the trigger and waited, aiming towards the wall between him and the horde that slowly came forth like a river of blood. Their eyes multiplied into a hundred specks of light, like stars aligning for the end times to begin as their limbs became tangled to imbroglio. He saw their faces clacking huge mandibles as he started to squeeze his finger.

"FULGUR!"

James struck his magic might upon the sword as it sparked furiously, sending a blast of light that briefly illuminated the monsters as they screeched with blinded fear, the door opening with a sudden shunt into the wall as they rushed through quickly into a steel tunnel.

"W-WAIT, WAIT, THE DOOR, TH-THE DOOR WILL NOT CLOSE!"

Chanoch grabbed the end part of the door that still stuck out in its malfunctioning state, wrenching it back into place with a heave of his arms that tautly thickened beneath his armour. Groans became roars of furious strength as his veins pulsed with tremendous vex before the grinding shriek of steel pneumatics signalled their submission to his will. With one hard tug he slammed the silver door back into place before the arachnids could reach, their hisses muffled on the other side as James fell onto his rump with shaky legs and a breathless sob.

"H-h-hhh....h-hhhHH! H-h-hh-hhhh...A-AAAH...h-hohhh s-saviour-"

"Are you hurt?" Chanoch asked bending down.

"N-n-no...no I am just....hhhhh...I-i have...never...run that fast in my life and I do not ever wish to again."

"You did good." He patted his soft green hair. "I could not have opened that without you."

"Y-you...do not have to...g-guh...what, wh-what WERE those things?!"

"Giant spiders."

"But they could, T-TALK!"

"So can plants." Chanoch shrugged. "Can you walk?"

"Just...give me a...h-hhhhh."

They waited to recover their breaths, Chanoch crossing his arms with a gentle lift of his chest whilst James struggled not to hyperventilate before just lying on the ground and letting the cold steel soothe his sweat-ridden face briefly. Slowly he started to calm his breathing before gulping back his spit and standing up to join the soldier on towards the mysterious hall they found themselves in.

"We must be getting back to the base," said the lemming, "but it still makes me wonder what those things were even to be scuttling in the dark."

"Why two doors?" pondered Chanoch. "Someone knows about this place."

"There was that crab beast, it said something about those 'who defy the director shall be punished'. Yet the director was the one who had us on this mission."

"We stepped out of bounds," said the knight staring down the hall, "we saw something we were not meant to see."

"The arachnids?" asked James looking up to him.

"No. That pit we fell in had a door. We were supposed to be trapped, they expect us to be dead."

"So...then they would have called us missing, they could easily blame it on the Angels of Aurum or what have you."

"Yes. Stop."

He put his hand out before the mage as the hallway ended in another door. This one however was unmarked and so easily opened with their presence approaching. Beyond it was another cavern full of construction equipment, large sculpted ceiling with rigged lightings planted on struts embedded into the strata around them. Scattered tools and half-built rooms littered the place covered in webs with tables and tubes that reminded them of the laboratories from the base above. But the first thing they noticed was the towering colossus standing a full 80 feet against the wall where the ceiling brushed its shoulders, a headless body square-cast with hulking huge limbs and a triangular pivot between its gargantuan legs.

"Why is such a device even here?! I mean what IS this place, what were they building so close to this nest?!"

"Maybe they found the nest. Webs cover the tools."

"So...the arachnids are trapped within their nest?"

"I am not sure." Chanoch rubbed his jaw as he took a slow walk in a circle. "They had those televisions, in their nest, watching them."

"They also spoke of the healers," reminded James, "meaning doctors. So someone must be visiting them."

"There were no bones in their nest, no smell of death."

"They might have just eaten the bones, we cannot know their diet is."

"Yes. Let us go."

They headed onwards to the other door across the cavern, treading softly underneath the silent gaze of the monolith as if fearing it would come awake at a moment's notice before the next door opened without restraint. Another room of equally large stature appeared before them but this time the walls had been sculpted more finely, reinforced with long metallic struts above fully-developed laboratories now sealed within their own portacabins, showing fresh new equipment and locked containers of green fluids.

"They are expanding," noted James, "opening up more laboratories."

"Why?" asked Chanoch peering through the window.

"They must have enough room surely up above, why would they need more?!"

"What type of science do you think this is?"

James peered closer trying to make out the futuristic equipment, his eye turning towards the vials as he rubbed his snout.

"It seems like they are studying blood."

"Yes?"

"I mean it certainly looks like blood from the viscosity, though I have never seen green blood except for the-...the...insects."

"What?"

"The insects." James looked up from the window with mouth slightly agape. "When I first came to this realm, Oddclaw's home, there was a horde of beasts that resembled giant insects that also came from another realm. They had green blood too, what if-"

"Stop." He pulled him back towards him. "Do not jump to conclusions."

"Yes...n-no, you are right we have met many creatures who could have-do the plantforms even HAVE blood now that I think of it that would be strange."

"It does not matter, let us keep goi-...listen."

He raised a finger and pointed towards the next door as the sounds of an argument drifted through. They cautiously hurried towards the next room with sword and rifle at the ready, watching it open but not going through as they heard three voices rant at each other.

"Your job is to DEFEND this sector!"

"Which I Performed Impeccably!"

"By killing two visitors?!"

"They were our FRIENDS you imbecile!"

"The Director Ordered Me To Eliminate ALL Intruders I Do Not Recognise-"

"THEY WERE NOT INTRUDERS, THEY WERE SEARCHING FOR THE HUMANS!"

"ENOUGH!"

Moving through the doorway to hide behind a rocky mass James and Chanoch saw three familiar creatures in the midst of an open plaza surrounded by smaller laboratory shacks. HOX, Sa-shi-ha and the strange crab-beast that towered over them both.

"What do you know about the humans?!" barked the VUX scientist.

"I Know Nothing Of The Hoo-Mans Healer HOX!" cried the crustacean. "I Speak Nothing But The Truth To You!"

"DON'T even try to lock me out of whatever scheme you and the Director have cooked up!"

"Why would the Director even SCHEME something?!" cried the supox clutching her mantis head. "The Director cares about this base and all who reside on it, they are not some criminal oligarch!"

"You do not know her like I do Sa-shi, and my suspicions have led me to believe that YOU!" he thrust a limb towards the crab. "Are responsible for this entire cockamamie plot to put the humans in a place of containment, so as to bend them to the Director's will and force them to undo this whole wormhole nonsense!"

"I Am Most Certainly NOT An Abductor!" gasped the shell-beast recoiling in shock. "How Dare You Accuse Me Of Such A Heinous Crime, And Without Any Proof!"

"I admit that my investigations have led me here," said Sa-shi looking between them, "but I have to agree that without any proof of guilt you have no means to accuse him HOX."

"Even when he sent your friends to the bottom of the pit!?" barked the immunologist throwing his tentacles up.

"No THAT we can accuse him of, murder without imperative of which you shall most certainly be tried for!" she pointed j'accuse at the crab's stalks. "But kidnapping we have no clear evidence of!"

"Then I entreat you to follow us to the depths of this sector and we shall see for ourselves as to what truths he holds dear."

"Very well. Sir...Tixsilga was it?"

"Indeed," the crustacean bowed with claws spreading gracefully, "Again I Apologise Most Grievously For My Undeclared Assault Upon Your Friends, But You Must Understand The Director Ordered Me, Very Explicitly, To Eliminate Intruders."

"But you have no idea where the humans went?"

"No. The Director Informed Me In The Same Communique To Not Harm the Hoo-Mans SHOULD I Discover Them. The Director Is Also At A Loss As To Their Location."

"Is that so?!"

James stood up from behind the rock as the creatures turned surprised at the newcomers' presence. Sa-shi-ha cried reeling back in her pod before she suddenly flew towards him.

"Y-you, YOU-...YOU SURVIVED!"

"NOBODY MOVE!"

The lemming warned her back with his sword raised whilst Chanoch slipped round behind one of the laboratory cabins with his rifle honed upon HOX.

"Not, another word until you all explain what in the name of the saviour is going on!"