"That"s your question," said Rose briskly. "Mine is, where did that room full of mouldy old skeletons come from?" A shiver ran through her. "And how far do we have to go through these caves until we reach an exit?"
"That"s two questions. Cheat." The Doctor squinted at the screen.
"But looking at the AZ, there"s a proper little rabbit"s warren of lava tubes the other side of this cave, leading west. Should take us out near where Kanjuchi struck gold in the first place. . . "
"And where that vulture made a hole in the wall," Rose recalled.
"We can"t go back there," said Solomon fervently.
"It"s the only way," the Doctor told him.
"The vulture, though," said Rose. "Why did did it make that hole? Surely this smart-magma stuff would want to make the place more secure, not less." it make that hole? Surely this smart-magma stuff would want to make the place more secure, not less."
"Doesn"t seem to be any art stored there but I think that chamber must be something a bit special." The Doctor"s eyes had lost their sparkle, turned stern and serious. "When the systems were activated, 91 the magma needed more guards it had to get out there, recruiting golems for the cause, and it wanted them to be able to get into those caves. . . " He pressed his tongue against his teeth and blew out a whistling breath. "You know, it"s a shame about Fynn. I really think he did did want to save the world. Instead, his little agri-unit here might just be the place that"s gonna destroy it." want to save the world. Instead, his little agri-unit here might just be the place that"s gonna destroy it."
Adiel heard nothing but the gunshots, wondering which one would hit, wondering how quickly she"d die. Fynn accelerated, sending the growl of the engine into a frantic roar. They b.u.mped off the paved concourse on to a bark-chipped pathway, then on to the dirt track. Adiel kept her head down, felt the wind whipping her long braids behind her as Fynn hurled the jeep from side to side sharp, panicking tugs on the wheel that threatened to tip her out. If the bullets didn"t kill her, a fall at this speed surely would. And if she wasn"t killed outright, the magma forms would simply roll along and take her for themselves, lay their golden shroud over her skin. . .
"I think we"re out of range," Fynn shouted, his voice like a fist knocking her back to the moment. She fumbled with the seat belt, clicked it home with trembling hands.
"Fynn!" one of the rebels screamed after them. "d.a.m.n it, Fynn, come back here, you son of a. . . "
The roar of the engine drowned him out. "He recognised you, knew your name," Adiel realised.
"I. . . I"m Director here," Fynn bl.u.s.tered. "Of course he knows of me."
"Let"s just run the main gate," she said shakily, not daring to raise her head.
"We"ve gone past it," said Fynn. "Too many golems. Not just the guards but dogs and hyenas too all the wildlife round the volcano"s fair game for this force. We"d never make it through." He shook his head angrily. "We need troops. We need help here or we"re going to lose everything. Everything."
"I didn"t think I had much left to lose," Adiel said, looking down at her clenched fists. Her knuckles were showing pale through her dark 92 skin, like little eyes staring back at her. "Not since I lost my parents in Moundou, to sc.u.m like those men back there." She paused. "Men you were seen consorting with around that time," she added quietly. He didn"t answer, and some sudden instinct made her look up just in time to see two ma.s.sive, hunched-up golems come shambling out from behind the main complex to block their path. In a second she recognised one of them from the security patrol. He"d always smiled at her when she left each evening she"d never even bothered to learn his name. That friendly smile was twisted now into an insane grimace. Beside him was someone she didn"t know. Had to be a rebel. She"d been planning to get Smiley to help capture the likes of him now here they were working together to ambush her.
"No!" she screamed, as Fynn kept driving straight for them. They didn"t attempt to move clear. It was like hitting two trees in quick succession. The impact knocked the golems metres into the air and sent the jeep careening out of control.
Time seemed to slow. Fynn screamed as the jeep spun round in a large circle. Adiel saw the huge pile of metal canisters stacked up beside a storehouse what the h.e.l.l are they doing there? what the h.e.l.l are they doing there? and realised with a crushing sense of inevitability that they would hit and realised with a crushing sense of inevitability that they would hit The collision sounded like metal thunder, a ringing and clanging as if h.e.l.l"s bells were tolling. The canisters tumbled down over the jeep. One struck her on the back of her head, blotting out everything except thick, searing pain. Though the jeep had finally shuddered to a stop, her vision was spinning faster than ever.
"Adiel?" Fynn gasped. "We have to get out of here." He was turning the ignition key but the engine wasn"t biting. "Right now."
She squinted ahead into the pool of fierce light cast by the headlamps. It was as if a golden stream had opened up in the ground ahead of them, writhing with movement. "What"s that?" she asked sluggishly, tasting blood at the back of her throat.
"I think they"re ants," Fynn hissed. He was yanking at her seat belt, trying to release it. "Driver ants, a whole colony." He strained with the belt but it was jammed. "We"re right in their way. Even if they weren"t golems, they could tear us to pieces!"
93.
Faltato hauled himself back through the cave of human bones, along the narrow pa.s.sage, towards the little hole he"d made in the rock-fall and finally out into the main tunnel. He was glad his brothers in the Hadropilatic Fellowship could not see him now. Many of them would have killed to see him on his knees in old excrement and committed wholesale slaughter if it had been fresh.
Simple jealousy, he told himself. They don"t have your drive. They don"t have your skills. They don"t have your drive. They don"t have your skills.
They certainly didn"t have his debts, the swines.
He produced a meso-sensor from the moneybelt around his midriff and clacked away down the tunnel. The appearance of this presumptuous Doctor bothered him. Clearly, he was some sort of expert agent, and surely his agenda must be similar but for whom was he working? Well, no matter. He could be dealt with in due course. Bipeds were notoriously fragile creatures. They broke so easily. If only the same were not true of these rock formations the tunnel network must be close to tumbling down around their ears. It had pained him to use heavy-duty construction tools under such circ.u.mstances. If he found the Lona Venus Lona Venus, only to crush it beneath tons of rock. . .
He"d never hear the end of it at home. a.s.suming he survived long enough to make it back. . .
Now he had a.s.sessed the guardians" circuit degradation and estimated their activation date, and was certain this was the last remaining Valnaxi art warren, he simply needed to locate the security plaque and his work here was done. But something was niggling at him. The behaviour of the guardians was absolutely consistent with those he had encountered before while breaking warrens, except. . . He frowned. It was almost too consistent. As if these guardians were putting on an act for him. As if there was more to them than met the eyes. . .
Picking his way over a particularly large mound of fallen rock, Faltato became aware of a dim, golden glow. There was a hole in the 94 roof, through which he could see the unfamiliar stars in their scattergun patterns, and the distant diamond of the ship hovering in orbit. But that didn"t explain why his hooves were gleaming orange. He slapped the meso-sensor with one pincer and it pinged importantly. Faltato looked down as the glow rose dimly to warm the dark cracks. He was standing on top of on top of the security plaque. And it was buried beneath tons of rock. the security plaque. And it was buried beneath tons of rock.
"Oh, well. I"ve done all I can," he consoled himself, flicking his tongue out through the hole in the roof. Once he"d secured it around a stone projectile, he started to winch himself up, clicking all four pincers together in antic.i.p.ation.
It was time to guide down his sponsors.
95.
[image]
Rosewonderedifshewouldeverseedaylightagain,orifshe"dhave crimson vision for evermore. She was exhausted, jumpy through lack of sleep. The pa.s.sage was snaking on and on endlessly, uncomfortably cramped and narrow. She, Basel and Solomon trooped along in silence, the Doctor leading the way.
"h.e.l.lo," he said, stopping abruptly. A hole about the size of a chubby Labrador had been made in the side of the wall. "What d"you think made that, then?"
"Fat mutant mouse?" Rose suggested.
"Very helpful mouse." The Doctor checked his gadget. "Because this hole is exactly where we need one to be."
"Coincidence," said Rose uneasily, The Doctor got down on all fours and shuffled through the gap. Basel helped Solomon, who was still in a total daze since his ordeal with the bats.
"Oh yes." The Doctor looked all round. "Remember this, Solomon? Seems like only yesterday. It was was only yesterday." only yesterday."
Solomon glanced around, eyes haunted, but said nothing.
"Growth chamber," the Doctor remarked. "The one where Adiel saw Kanjuchi change."
97."G.o.d, are these things mushrooms?" Rose wondered, staring in alarm at a large patch of spindly fungus.
"Don"t eat them," the Doctor warned her. "You"d break your teeth on the gold plate for a start. . . "
"What gold plate?" said Basel.
The Doctor whirled round. Rose helpfully pointed her torch at the "shrooms. "Hang on," he said. "When I came here with Fynn, these were golem-mushrooms. Now they"re back to normal again." He snapped one off at the stalk. "The DNA of the original has reverted."
Solomon seemed to stir a little at this. "How come fungus can do that but people can"t?"
"Dunno. Simpler life form maybe? Or maybe the magma realised that mushrooms aren"t exactly the scariest soldiers in the world and wrote them off as a bad idea." The Doctor shrugged. "Speaking of bad ideas, I want to check out the back of this cave."
He set off cautiously just as the growth chamber lit up like a Catherine wheel.
"Doctor!" Rose yelled, her insides twisting.
A guardian had surged through the mutant mousehole, huge and undulating, glowing as if white-hot. Basel backed away alongside Rose but Solomon just stood there.
The blob rolled forwards towards him.
"Everyone keep back!" the Doctor yelled, ignoring his own advice as he ran to drag Solomon clear.
Too late.
With a sudden spurt of speed, the blob elongated and squelched itself around Solomon"s hand. Solomon shrieked with pain as in a matter of seconds he was sucked into its swelling, pulsing ma.s.s. Then just as quickly the blob retreated back through its hole.
"What do we do?" Basel shouted, wild-eyed and anguished.
"We get after them," said the Doctor, already running for the hole. But as he neared it, a gleaming creature the size of a cat scuttled out on warped, knotted legs. Rose was almost sick. Once, this thing had been a scorpion. Now it was a nightmare monster, waving its crusty gold claws in warning, flexing its hideous golden sting high over its 98 head. Another one was jostling to get out just behind it, scratching its sting against the rock.
The Doctor looked back at Rose and the others. "No sudden moves,"
he warned them.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Basel whispered as a huge gleaming spider came clacking out of the adjoining cave, its heavy legs quivering as it dragged its bloated body across the floor towards them, its many eyes a dark molten gold.
"Change of plan!" the Doctor cried airily. "Sudden moves, anyone?"
He trampled mushrooms in his dash to reach the far side of the growth chamber, made a stirrup with his hands. "Vulture hole in the wall up there. Don"t stop till you"re safely through it."
Basel wiped sweat from his eyes, or maybe tears. "What about Solomon?"
The spider"s mandibles twitched disgustingly as it skittered forwards. The two scorpions crept out to reveal a third just behind them.
"Move," the Doctor insisted.
Basel pushed up on the Doctor"s stirrup and started to scale the wall.
"Is there nothing we can do for Solomon?" Rose said quietly, plonking her own dirty trainer into his palms.
"Stay alive," he said, "and hope things can change."
The scorpions kept stalking towards them, claws scissoring open and shut. The Doctor and Rose climbed quickly after Basel. Adiel watched Fynn as he struggled to free her from the seat belt, as the ma.s.s of giant driver ants marched ever nearer.
"Why don"t you just get out of here!, she shouted. He only shook his head.
"But they"re almost on us!"
Her skin crawled. She knew what they did. If you were in their way they would climb under your clothing and attack you en ma.s.se, biting into your flesh with their heavy jaws and pulling backwards until chunks came away. She had seen doctors in the village st.i.tch wounds with the ants when sutures were in short supply. Once those 99 jaws dug into your flesh, nothing could prise them loose even if you squeezed off the ant"s head, they would stay locked tight there.
"It"s no good," he gasped.
The ants had reached the jeep now. Adiel struggled, her head throbbing, panting for breath. But they didn"t attack. They just swarmed past. Finally, with a ratcheting sound like harsh laughter, the seat belt came free. Adiel twisted round and watched the hideous procession bustle past.
"Thanks," she said distantly.
"Looks like they"ve got somewhere to go," Fynn muttered. Then Adiel jumped as a rushing, screeching, chattering sound exploded into the air. Bats were swarming out from the foothills of Mount Tarsus. Thousands of them. The air thickened with tiny gleaming bodies as they gathered to blot out the moon and the stars.
"Them too," she murmured. "What"s happening?"
She craned her neck to follow their flight till her eyes came to rest on a dark, unshaven face. Her body jolted with surprise. The man wore a turban over a soldier"s helmet, carried a gun, clamped a dirty hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.
"So you stopped for us in the end, Fynn, huh?" He smiled to reveal a mouth struck with golden teeth. His friend stood behind him, trying to support the gleaming statue of their comrade. "I don"t know what the h.e.l.l is happening here, but you know science. You"re going to help Mula here."
Fynn shook his head. "No one can help this man."
Adiel pulled her face free, stared up at Fynn defiantly. "Won"t you introduce me, Director?"
" Director Director Fynn may not remember me. My name is Guwe." The man with the golden teeth smiled again. "But perhaps you"ll remember Isako, huh? He asked me to send you his finest regards." Fynn may not remember me. My name is Guwe." The man with the golden teeth smiled again. "But perhaps you"ll remember Isako, huh? He asked me to send you his finest regards."
Roba Isako. Chad"s Most Wanted.
"So, Roba put you up to this," Fynn sneered. "Is he your president today, your king perhaps? What"s your little band called this week the Free Chad Alliance? Enclave of Liberty, Brothers of Chad Militia. . . "
100.Guwe raised his gun when with a harsh, splintering, snapping sound Mula"s skinny golden body suddenly writhed and fattened as if it was filling with water. One grotesquely swollen arm lashed out and struck the man who was supporting him in the throat. The rebel"s head snapped back and stayed there, as if he was watching the stars, till his legs gave way and he crashed lifeless to the floor.
"Mula, no!" Guwe shouted, but the golem was already pounding away into the night, as if trying to catch up with the ants and the bats. All three of them watched him go, united in shock. "What the h.e.l.l"s happening here?" Guwe checked his friend"s p.r.o.ne body, then rose and rounded angrily on Fynn. "What"s happened to Mula? What did you do?"
"I"m not responsible for any of this "
"Listen," said Adiel, looking about. "So quiet."
Guwe nodded slowly. "None of the sounds of night."
"Every animal has been taken," Fynn murmured. "And now they"re answering a call we can"t hear."
Adiel was barely listening. A vivid blue light was slowly pulsing where foothills ended and night sky began. "What"s that?"
"The thing that scared the golems away?" Fynn wondered.
"We"re not staying to find out," Guwe insisted, covering them both with the gun. "We need shelter so move move."
"Look at them," breathed Rose.
She and the Doctor had made it out through the hole and joined Basel, grateful that the monster spiders and scorpions seemed to be staying down there to guard the place.
But they were about the only ones.
Rose, Basel and the Doctor stood close together in silence, staring out over the grounds of the agri-unit. From here, high up in the foothills, Rose could see that all golems great and small had gathered together. The bats smothered the crags and slopes of the foothills. Insects in their millions formed a shimmering, molten pond in the main concourse. Men and birds and rangy dogs, all gleaming gold in a sin101 ister phalanx, waited in silence. A sense of dread antic.i.p.ation carried through the night.
"They"re in formation," the Doctor realised. "Privates on parade. That"s why the golem-bats and their animal mates didn"t follow us through the caves, why they only left a skeleton guard for us. They can sense it."
"Sense what?" Rose asked him.
"Something"s coming. Something they stand a chance of beating only if they all work together." He looked at her, eyes dark and soulful.
"I think war"s going to break out tonight."