Back at Privacy Rock, Holly didn’t think twice. “We go after her. If it were one of us, you’d go.”
“Wait,” Billie said. “But it’s not one of us. It’s a stranger.”
That made me mad. “She’s not a stranger to me!”
I was going crazy. I didn’t want to endanger Holly or Billie by leaving them, but I couldn’t abandon Khanna. She’d clearly been terrified of the Sleezenaks, and even their drums had put a bad feeling in my belly.
The professor picked the wrong time to turn clinical. “From a strictly utilitarian view of things, rescuing Khanna does make sense, for she has any number of talents that would benefit us.”
“Like what?” Billie asked, which might’ve been the dumbest question she could’ve asked at that moment.
“I’m going,” I said firmly. “You two are staying. You’re going to hunker down at the bus, with the rifle and the pistol. I’ll have the Paraxen multitool, and now that I have arrows, I can configure my last slot into a bow.”
I thought about the arrows for a second. They were tipped with stone arrowheads, but with my cutting torch, I could cut new arrows heads and then sharpen them with the file. That was the work of another day. I had to rescue Khanna first.
Staring into the faces of the women, I tried to calm their fear. “I’ll come back. I promise.”
Billie lost her shit. “No fucking way, Sid. If you die, there’s a good chance we’ll all die. We need you. You have the fucking superpowers after all. And fucking Opal. What does she think we should do?”
“She’s not good at answering questions like that.” I did pause, and asked her, “Opal, what are the Sleezenaks, and why would they kidnap Khanna?”
Fifteen possible answers. From the evidence, this unit believes the most likely answer is that the Sleezenaks are a race of nocturnal cave-dwelling reptilids from Alslutra. Although little is known about them, given their appetite for the flesh of sentient creatures and their remote location, Khanna is most likely going to be butchered and prepared as a meal.
I hated that her voice was describing those horrors without a hint of emotion in it.
“What did she say?” Holly asked.
There was no way I was going to answer with the truth. “The Sleezenak are probably reptile people from another planet. They live in caves and are nocturnal. Since it’s daytime, I might have a chance. I’m going. You both are staying.”
Then I was moving away from them, hurrying.
Billie came running after me. “Sid, wait. Please. Wait.”
I spun.
She looked heartbroken, and that hurt. She’d woken up in a good mood for once. Even with me and Holly disappearing on her, she’d been in high spirits. All of that was gone now.
“Billie, my mind is made up. Go back to Holly. Get to Lonetree Ridge. I’ll try and bring back something for us to cook.”
The girl’s eyes were glassy with tears. “I don’t care about that. We can’t lose you.”
“You’re not losing me,” I said. “Besides, Opal won’t let me die. She hasn’t finished her primary mission, and I think it bothers her.”
Then, before I knew it, Billie was hugging me, tight.
I grunted. I shouldn’t have been so surprised by how strong she was, since she was both a cheerleader and CrossFit instructor.
She buried her face in my chest.
I found myself stroking her hair, so soft and silky. “It’s okay, Billie. I’ll be back. You don’t have to worry.”
“That’s impossible. I’m totally going to worry.” She pulled back and looked right into my eyes. “Don’t die.”
With our faces so close, I felt the pull to kiss her.
She must’ve felt it too. She reached behind my head and gently drew me toward her. And then, I was kissing her, a real kiss, that wasn’t about Holly or anyone else. It was about Billie and me, and I wasn’t going to ask about Mike, or Scott, or whoever.
I was too busy trying to breathe.
She was gasping too when she gave me her tongue. I crushed her to me, holding her tightly. She was so different than Khanna and Holly. The professor was bigger, squishier while the huntress was all lean muscle and so much smaller. Billie was a perfect mixture of the two.
I loved how she tasted before, how she smelled, and I never wanted to let her go.
We’d had a certain chemistry that I’d felt from the beginning, but then her ambitions had gotten in the way. She was still a brat, but she was my brat.
Finally, we broke the kiss, both of our mouths wet.
She fearlessly gazed into my eyes. “Like I said. Don’t die.”
“It was quite the kiss,” I whispered.
“If you think the kiss was good, what do you think will happen if you don’t die?” She smiled through her doubt. “I’m not promising full-on sex, or orgies with Professor Kroft, but Sid, things will have to change between us. Promise?”
“Promise,” I said. “But I have to go.”
“Go then.” Billie rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m sending you away because Khanna is now definitely competition.”
I had to laugh, and I was talking to her, even while I backed away. “I don’t know the rules of dibs in the Fabrikata Enclave, but I think Khanna called dibs.”
“There are more important things in the world than dibs, mister,” Billie said. “Go and save her. I’ll take care of the professor.”
I tried to memorize Billie, standing there in her survival suit, her blonde hair pulled back into a braid, her cute face beaming at me with her cheeks all rosy from the kiss. Framing her was a wild forest of ferns and giant redwoods and strange slimy aspens.
There was no fucking way I was going to die. First, there was the morning with the professor, and then there was that kiss with Billie, who promised me even more passion if I returned.
But she wouldn’t share me with Khanna, right? Maybe the professor was that wild, but not Miss Perfect, Billie Lynn Kidd. Then again, she’d said things being different. What did that mean exactly?
I sped through the forest path, found I-70 and the remnants of the ancient sidewalk, I slowed because I was nearing Jack’s and Reggie’s hunting ground on the edge of the swamps. I left the main trail and found my normal path which took me to the walkway. This time, instead of going left, I went right, heading toward those vines I’d seen before.Stolen story; please report.
The drums had started, and so I could follow them.
I couldn’t help but think that Khanna was lucky that we’d talked, really talked, and she’d told me that the drums were connected to the Sleezenaks. If she’d have disappeared the day before, I wouldn’t have known where to look.
Crossing the walkway, the stegosauruses I’d seen before were marching slowly through the swamp, searching for higher ground. I passed by a big apatosaurus, munching on the leafy trees of the swamp. It didn’t seem at all bothered by the swampy water, not since they could tower above it, chomping down on tons of greenery with every bite.
In the sky, pterodactyls went wheeling through the air on leathery wings, heading toward the smokey sky above the volcano. Unlike the week before, I didn’t see any active lava flows, just the ash and smoke.
The walkway took me over a big expanse of water, which rippled from whatever strange creatures swam in the murky depths. Tromping over the wooden boards, I found a ridge of dry land above the black water. Following a trail in the grass I headed east, towards another set of mountains, which had to be in another sector. Those mountains looked like big piles of tumbled rocks, thrown there by giants. As I got closer, I marveled at how huge those boulders were.
The trail ended in more swamp water, and I had to leap onto another island.
Something caught my eye. A power crystal lay on the ground. Perfect. Picking it up, I got the normal message:
<<<>>>
Anomalous energy source detected! Utilizing. Charged to 12% of full.
<<<>>>
I loved it when I got above 10%, which according to Opal provided me with minimal functionality. But she underestimated herself because she’d worked wonders when she was well under 10% of her full capacity.
Since I had the extra power, I figured it was time to pick my last tool. I got another message, confirming the results:
<<<>>>
Paraxen Multitool Name: Betsy
Tool configurations:
<ul>
<li>Roofing Hammer</li>
<li>Ax</li>
<li>Spear</li>
<li>Yuskavarna Chainsaw Stick</li>
<li>Bow</li>
</ul>
Paraxen Multitool parameters full. Would you like additional configurations? Y/N
Error. This unit is in an error state.
Current error state is 92% of normal functionality.
Error: Power source low. 12% of full.
Please charge this unit to 100% for optimal functionality.
<<<>>>
For a second, I thought I would get more slots, but no, it seemed I needed to collect a lot more power crystals to make that happen. The tool re-configured itself into a short bow, complete with a string, and I was able to knock an arrow.
I’d been pretty good at archery in middle school, but that was a very long time ago.
The drumming got louder, but why would the drumming be so loud if the Sleezenaks were nocturnal? Shouldn’t they be sleeping?
It took another couple of hours to slowly make my way across the swamp—jumping from island to island—to get to the mountains. I could’ve gone faster, but I didn’t want to bumble into a trap. I kept going, but I figured it was a good five miles from Lonetree Ridge to the Mound Mountains, or that’s what I called them in my head at least. Along the way, I collected more power crystals and got above 20%.
The swamp sector met the mountain sector in a line on the ground. One side was muddy dirt and the other was stone. At first, I lost the trail until I noticed another wooden walkway between two giant boulders. I had my path.
When I stepped onto the stone ground of the Mound Mountains, Opal told me what it was called.
New Sector detected. Sector 3.492.B (Zhang, Jiajia Mountains, South Lianglands).
“Anything I need to know?”
Negative. Zhang is uninhabited. Foiros explorers named the regions.
The drumming continued, and I didn’t really understand how the sound could be so loud, until I saw the natural amphitheater, which surrounded a hole in the ground, a hundred feet across. The whole hillside acted as an amplifier to the beat.
To get to the bottom of that perfectly round hole, there were steps carved into the rock, going around and around, leading to the bottom. That was where the drumming came from. It had to be where the Sleezenaks had taken Khanna.
I started down the steps. As I descended, the drumming got louder and louder, until it was painful, but I quickly figured out a solution. “Opal, give me a hood and reduce the sound by seventy-five percent.”
The fabric creeped up neck and over my head, and soon, all I heard was a muffled booming. A dim red glow at the bottom of the hole matched the rhythms of the drums.
When I reached the last stop—there were about two-hundred steps in all—I came to the source of the drumming, a statue of gigantically fat lizard man with his tail over one big shoulder. The statue was maybe fifteen feet high, in the middle of a pool of water, which shimmered at every beat.
That lizard man wasn’t beating a drum, but at every boom, the statue’s eyes flashed red. I couldn’t see any kind of speaker or technology. That must meant…
“Opal, how is the statue making a sound?” My voice was drowned out in the booming but my A.I. must’ve heard me.
Unknown energy detected. Statue has no mechanisms. The sound has no origin.
And yet, the statue was booming over and over, traveling up the sides of the hole and then hitting the hillside at the perfect angle to send it echoing through the swamps.
The only light was from the statue’s flashing red eyes. The rest was darkness.
“Opal, I need a light source. Can you help me?”
Paraxen survival suit comes with bioluminescent configurations. This unit suggests a light source in your hood. Eye optimization not recommended at this time. Please charge this unit to 100% for optimal functionality.
She was a broken record.
I told Opal to light up my hood. I didn’t want to mess around with my eyes at the moment, though it did open up a whole realm of possibilities, once Opal got to a full charge.
Now, I could see perfectly.
The lizard man faced east. Two passageways, carved in the stone, were on his left and right. I couldn’t take both.
“Opal, do you know which way the Sleezenaks took Khanna? North or south?”
Scanning area. Looking for biological residue. There is a great deal of activity in this area. Arkadian biology detected to the north.
Arkadian biology meant that Opal had found Khanna. That was good news for me.
I knocked an arrow, trying to remember everything I could from my middle school P.E. archery unit. I had a sleeve, so that was good, but I needed finger guards.
“Hey, Opal, I need you to create a hard material to cover my middle and ring finger. That would help me when I fire arrows.”
This unit understands the needs of an archer.
The suit lengthened to perfectly cover those two fingers.
“Hey Opal, if Zhang is inhabited, why are are there Sleezenak relics here?”
Scanning. Processing. This unit believes statue was brought here. Other evidence of Sleezenak construction. This unit believes the Sleezenak were hit by a Ravana Storm and brought here just as you were.
The passageway had been carved out of the rock, and it was perfectly smooth. I didn’t know how the Sleezenaks did that, but if they had magic, then anything was possible.
I felt myself going downward, and I passed by an abyss, where strange winds blew a foul smell to me. From the abyss, I passed through a large cavern which held the remnants of an ancient city. One weekend, my Uncle Marty had taken me to Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings there. It had been a great trip, and I’ll never forget the mysterious ancient ruins.
The cave felt like that. There were ruins but no lizard men, homes built into the crevices, caves, and cracks of the huge cavern.
There were other statues of the fat lizard god, like the one at the entrance, and these were booming as well. Though these were stranger because some of the statues had the flashing eyes and big drum sounds. Others sat quietly. It seemed to be random, but they kept the rhythm up, over and over, boom, boom, boom.
“Opal,” I whispered. “Okay, so the Sleezenak made the stairs down here, and they put their creepy statues all over the place, but what about that city? That looks like an ancient city.
This unit does not know the origins of the city. Scanning. Wood detected. Carbon dating suggests the wood is tree-point-five million years old. Unknown origin. There is nothing in the Foiros archives to suggest Zhang was ever inhabited.
“Probably doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “Hope it doesn’t matter.”
A big archway marked another passageway, and it was clear where I needed to go, though I kept consulting Opal, making sure I was following the right path.
Under the arch, through more of the rock corridor, and then I came to a sudden stop because in front of me, on either side, were alcoves. In those alcoves, stood two lizard men.
They were motionless. And ugly.
Big bulbous eyes. A big horn sticking out from the top of their head. Talons tipped the ends of their fingers. They had big flat feet which also had claws. Both had their tails wrapped around themselves. They didn’t have clothes, but a harness made of leather. Hanging from it were various stone knives and axes. Each held a spear.
It wasn’t like they had eyelids covering their big, bulbous eyes, so I had no idea if they were seeing me or not. Were they dead?
I didn’t dare whisper a question to Opal. I did turn my hood lights down a bit. If the Sleezenaks were nocturnal, they must be sleeping. Or hibernating maybe?
There were more alcoves on either side of the weird hallway. Why were they in the hall and not the city?
Not my circus. Not my monkeys.
I was there for one particular monkey, though, one with Arkadian DNA, and her name was Khanna.
There were hundreds of the Sleezenaks, all sleeping, both in that hallway and other corridors, branching out from a courtyard, where there was another statue there. Tied to the statue, holding her hands over her ears, was Khanna.
Only she wasn’t alone.
Levitating over her was the spookiest Sleezenak of them all—the shaman that Khanna had mentioned. He seemed fast asleep.
A shock went through me.
In his clawed hands was a staff. At the tip was the biggest, reddest power crystal I’d ever seen.