INTERSTELLAR NIGHTMARES - THE DESCENT

Chapter 16

   Questions flew through my mind. What was that? Where is it? Is it aggressive? I had a bad feeling in my gut from that noise. I lifted my CRSPR, as it had been dangling on me from the strap, much like how the Leadstorm was held on Kurt. I kept my eyes glued to the now-dark cave ceiling. "Incoming!" I heard Kurt shout, and his gun started to whirl.

   I whipped my head around to see what the Leadstorm's unfortunate victim was, but I was filled with terror seeing the victim, it was more definite that we were the victim.

   A flying beast came diving at us, its long arms extended with four beady glowing eyes and a small, glowing, weak spot on its abdomen. The Leadstorm started with the signature vvvvrrrt! I soon joined in and sprayed flame at the monster. It made a grunting clicking sound as it sped past us, and disappeared into the dark just as fast as it came.

   I kept my fire after it the entire time as Kurt focused on what was coming. "Look at the fat flying fuck!" he shouted, and I turned quickly to see what it was, not realizing I'd just dismissed whatever creature almost snatched us.

   It was a larger flying creature in width and looked almost round, with two weak points on its abdomen... that started leaking a thick goop onto us two. Kurt kept firing, and I soon joined him. One of the weak points busted open, splattering the goop behind us as the creature promptly fled into the blinding black of the cave.

   Kurt looked around and tossed a flare. Thank Madonna, I thought, I forgot we had light. Glyphid grunts came thrusting from the darkness, one raising its forearms and roaring at us. It took a second, but Kurt began cutting down the glyphid horde as I kept my eyes on the heavy, crystal-filled air around us. I heard distant gunshots, meaning we weren't alone in this struggle. At least my stomach doesn't hurt anymore, I sighed.

   My stomach then started hurting again as I heard the screech of the lanky creature. I got ready to burn it out of the sky. "You keep your fire on the bugs!" I shouted, "I'll take care of the flying abominations!" Kurt did not answer, but I knew he'd heard me, and his grip tightened on the handles of the gun in a squeaking sound. I looked up and was met with the dim visual of the beast, so I took aim.

   Upon releasing the torrent of fire, the long monstrosity caught, but was still barreling towards our position. I yanked an impact axe from my hip and let out a warcry mixed with terror as I threw it as hard as I could. The axe's power was too great and blew the thing out of the air. It landed with a loud thump, and I knew it was dead.

   "Got the damn marionette thing!" I yelled to Kurt shakily, and he laughed in return as his fire stopped. "Oh, damnit!" Kurt yelled, "The piece of shit overheated!" I ran in front of him and covered him by spewing flames at the remaining bugs, which all turned to ash very quickly, like wood chips in a campfire.

   I stopped firing as the glyphids turned to dust, and I took a moment to collect myself. I heard an odd screaming noise, like it was a mixture between a helicopter coming down and an insectoid creature before a wet explosion echoed through the cave. I wasn't alone, as when I looked back at Kurt, he was looking back.

   "What the hell was that?" Kurt asked, slamming his fist into the cooling coil to jam it back in. "Your guess is as good as mine," I responded, lifting my helmet to wipe my head. We both sat there for a moment, seemingly to collect our thoughts. I wasn't too sure about Kurt, but I certainly was. "Welp," Kurt sighed, "let's get to it."

   We went back to the refinery and picked up our segments, then walked to the tunnel I had made to get down there at the beginning of our mission.

   Kurt looked around. "Where's the thingamabob?" Kurt asked, looking at the floor. "Aye!" he yelled into the darkness, "Moron! We need light here!" I realized he was talking to Fredrick. "Sorry!" I heard quietly echo back, "And I'm not a moron, you damn slackjaw!" Light erupted from the ceiling, lighting up the floor where the floodlights couldn't reach. "Ah! There she is!" Kurt exclaimed, not shouting anymore, as he picked up the device.

   He measured out the distance and realized he wasn't far off. He plopped it down, and the side panel opened. He looked at the pipe socket. "Can you get the number?" he asked me, "You can leave the segment there, just out of the way." I nodded, put the segment down, and walked to the refinery. I walked up the ramp and to the pipeline nub. I saw, painted on the top, the number 03. "It says three!" I shouted. He pressed a button, and the framework came shooting out and connected to the segment. The panel on mine closed.

   I used the board to grind down the frame and jumped off with the board, landing beside Kurt. "What were you," he asked, laughing, "a skateboard boy?" I smiled, chuckling a bit myself. "I used to use a skateboard to get around," I told him, "I never really learned how to ride a bike." His face went to confusion, but he shrugged it off. "Some people just don't ride bikes," he responded then got on the pipeline's framework.

   "I'm getting another segment," he told me, "you get that one up there." He tossed me the instrument and I caught it. He then shot down the pipe, and I took up the segment I had left.

   I hauled it up into the tunnel I had drilled, still being able to see the refinery. It was harder going up, but I managed. I made sure to curve the framework in such a way that it'd still work in my brain, and I started to calculate where the pipe segment needed to go. I put it down where I thought it'd best be, and it connected! It was facing a bit into the wall, but it will correct course after setting up the next pipe... I thought.

   Kurt came blazing back, stopped, then hopped off the board. "Another segment! Let me have that thing real fast," Kurt grunted, putting his hand out. I put the device in his hand and he marked out the distance, then he put the pipe segment down.

   Lo and behold, the pipe segment didn't connect. I sighed and apologized "Sorry, I didn't do it right. Here." I got out my drill arms and drilled a curve through the rock. I heard the two segments beep a couple of times, and I knew I needed to get out of the way. I ran towards the edge as the frame shot into the segment ahead. "Jeez," I huffed, "I see what you meant earlier now." Kurt just laughed and said "Let's get the other segments. Remember: work hard, party hard!"

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