The scientists screamed and cried at them when they realized they would not remain and act as bodyguards against the terrifying enemy. Rin’s disgust finally silenced them, but Lapis did not envy him; he needed to navigate their terror and resentment with a mind to their trauma and khentauree well-being. A thankless task, but one that convinced her that, perhaps, he did not need to man the restrooms during the next big event at the Lells.
She supposed she did not help matters, by reminding the mechanical beings that if the scientists did not behave as guests, they could throw them into the hallway and lock the door. The buzzing laughter and assurances that they would take care of whatever arose made the humans even more wary.
Of course, neither did Rin. When he started asking questions that the locals willingly answered, when the scientists had spent however many years poking and prodding and receiving none . . . the rat definitely had a knack for innocent needling.
And the younger kids latched onto him like a bee to a hive, a reminder they did not see safety in their fellow Meergevens.
Patch rattling the ladder attached to the vertical shaft's glass casing knocked her from her thoughts. She again peered into the darkness below, examining the random glare of running lights as terror squirrels raced around the pit of her stomach. Too dark, too unknown, too . . .
“I think this will hold khentauree weight,” he said. “But it might not matter. If the platform isn’t steady, we’re going to have to find another way in.”
“I vote for going the storage route.” Lapis did not care if the people in the console room saw them coming by way of security cameras, that was better than the unknown below.
Heven clicked. “NZ88301 comes,” she said. “They have the gas we raided.”
Linz eyed her. “Gas?”
“We leave the Cloister, we find replacement lights and supplies. Once we brought back a box that had extra items. This gas makes humans dizzy and sick. Luveth thought we could use it if humans found us. They did find us, but she did not use it. I don’t know why. I think because they stayed in the mines, and she does not like Tuft and Luthier.”
“There is much badness between khentauree here,” Sanna said, her disapproval as thick as heavy sour cream.
“Yes,” Heven said sadly. “Ree-god made it so, because she hated that Tuft avoided her. She hated he spit out her code and disappeared. He made her look bad for Maphezet Kez, and she vowed no other khentauree would embarrass her. She did not understand, why we did not love her like we loved Gedaavik. We should have accepted her gift as we accepted his.”
“Gedaavik programmed love?” Linz asked, straightening from their inspection of the shaft. They planted their hands against their lower back and stretched, as if the prospect of clambering down into the dark unknown an everyday jaunt.
“No. And that is why.” Heven raised her chin, an act Lapis had witnessed in countless street rats when they stubbornly believed something. “Gedaavik told us to do with his code as we would. He did not force us to behave as he wanted, though we all realized he was correct, that we needed to hide from Maphezet Kez and Ree-god and Juni Lepaa and especially Gajov Miaam. They did not understand khentauree growth.”
“What is khentauree growth?” Caitria asked.
“It is like human growth, even if our chassis do not change as we age. We learn, we find likes and dislikes, we do things because we like doing them. We must follow the Stars' strictures, but some have found their way around those, like Vision, like Tuft. Only those with Gedaavik’s code grew, though. Those who came after his visit remained hollow, human tools, and they went to silence without discovering themselves. We strove for more.”
“You achieved it,” Patch said.
“It is constant,” Sanna stressed. “We strive, we achieve or fail, we strive more.”
Lapis was not certain she should ask but plowed ahead. “Tuft mentioned Gedaavik’s special code. I have the impression it was something more than what he installed in other khentauree.”
“It is true, Gedaavik initially gave some of us more,” Sanna said. “It is undefinable, a sweetness of flower scent, a bath of moonlight, a touch of sun rays warmth in early morning cold. But all can find this more.”
Neither khentauree explained further, and she did not know how to push without offending them. Jhor glanced at Sanna, looked at her, and winked.
NX88301, accompanied by two others, carried cylinders as large as Lapis’s torso. NX88301 pranced, and Lapis had the impression he was ecstatic about something.
“I have chosen a name!” they said. “Sovicci.”
“That is a good name,” Sanna said, nodding.
“Sovicci?” Jhor asked.
“It is a play on the old Taangis word for someone who is helpful, beneficial. It is a good name for a khentauree.”
“Nice to meet you, Sovicci,” Lapis said.
Their warm buzz would have melted Tuft’s ice. “It is good, to have a name.” They held up the canister. “A khentauree beam can rupture the exterior. It will release the gas. We will come with you, to make certain.”
“Alright,” Patch said. “I’m going down the ladder first, to test it and the platform out. You said it should be two levels down, Heven?”
“Yes.”
Sovicci held out a mask like the ones used by the Dentherions to clean up some tech-related spill. It looked like an insect’s head, with buggy eye coverings and a long middle part that protected the nose and mouth. An adjustable strap dangled from the back. “These came with the canisters,” they said. “Humans should wear them.”
Patch accepted it, then grinned and slipped it on before descending.
Another wait. Lapis paced, absently listening to Sanna, Caitria, Jhor and Linz speak on how to delete the nastiness Fraze and his science buddies tried to upload. She, Mairin and Patch would have another problem; keeping the bodyguard mercs occupied. The gas would help, but the myriad of troubles that could arise stacked high in her mind’s eye, and she sank low.
This would not work. They were going to get hurt, maybe die. Half-formed plans never ended well, did they?
Mairin checked her tech weapon, for the umpteenth time, and sighed. “You know what would be handy? Tuft’s ice.”
“Yeah, we’ll end up as stuck as the enemy,” Lapis muttered.
“I do not think so,” Heven said. “He likes you. If he did not, he would have encased you in ice, too.”
“I suppose. I think unhooking Ree-god bumped me up in that regard, even if I didn’t have much to do with it.”
“It is no small thing,” Heven stressed. “We tried, many times, to unhook her and Juni Lepaa. We could not. Dreamer and Luveth and Dedi always interfered. You did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We now see freedom, something we have never had.”
“I don’t think everyone’s happy about that.”
“Dreamer and Luveth and Dedi?” Heven shrugged. “They are never happy about anything.”
Patch popped up from the ladder, and they clustered around him.
“They’re arguing,” he said in a low voice. “The ladder’s clangy, so be as cautious as possible, and hopefully their screaming and the platform's creaking might drown it out. There’s still dust in the air, so wear one of Sovicci’s masks.”
Lapis slipped one on, dread killing the terror squirrels and leaving their corpses to rot in her tummy. If the ladder collapsed, she did not think she could handle getting trapped on the platform. Not after surviving the ice room.
Nothing happened on the way down, other than the ladder swaying. Nothing happened as she stepped onto the platform and glanced at the extant lights running down the glass shaft, desperately trying to illuminate the shadows. While the treads squealed under the awkwardness of khentauree leg movements, nothing happened as the rest of their group joined them. Nothing happened as the shouts from within rose to a pitch that would precede someone harming another. Nothing happened as Sovicci and his companions stood in front of everyone, ready to throw the canisters. Nothing happened as Heven slipped to the door.
She punched the side. It slid opened. The khentauree tossed the containers inside, where they clanged about and smashed into the consoles. Their foes had a moment of blank surprise before Sovicci nailed each one with a beam from their forehead.
Lapis expected an explosion, but while the metal ruptured, the casings did not break apart. Everyone started coughing and wheezing, covering their mouths and noses with their palms. The man Jhor previously highlighted in the security footage, Fraze, clutched something in his hands and raced through the obliterated door opposite them. Two armed others followed.
When was the last time she and Patch ran together on a mission? Lapis could not recall as she streaked across the room and out the other side. They mostly snuck around, hid in shadows, put caution before courage, even if her partner choked on that a time or two. While chasing someone down was more a Patch thing than a her thing, she had overtaken her fair share of guttershanks.
The glare of lights cascading off the gold hoops that arched over the hallway blinded her, and she hissed, covering her eyes. She had forgotten the cult had lined the way with a Stars’ cursed gleam, probably thinking it reflected their devotion.
Black shadow movement. Tech weapon.
She slammed into the wall, the attack ricocheting off the gold and striking the ceiling. Dust pattered down, creating a sparkling curtain. Red flared from Patch’s direction, and frightened screams and a cry of pain followed. She shoved herself into motion, avoiding the kicked weapon by luck, and fought not to glare at her partner for knocking it into her way. Refusing to study the crumpled form she jumped over, she concentrated on the other two.
The remaining guard glanced back but did not fire, while Fraze disappeared into the light-gleam haze. This gold-bedecked blinding hallway décor had to go. The ancient religious might have found inspiration from the Stars within it, but deities who wished their faithful to go blind to prove their value were not worth following.
She exited the brightness and blinked away the throbbing white dots clouding her vision. Thank the non-existent gods her stakes would experience the same thing. She did not want to fight so hindered.
A hand grabbed her arm and jerked to the right and off her feet. A khentauree, eyes glowing cyan, stuck their face into hers.
“Where is Luveth?” they snarled.
