Page 80 of The Only Way Out Is Up

We both pull broad protective ear covers up over our helmets. Our first test of the new weapon left us both half-deafened, and I don’t want to risk that here. Once they’re in place, all I can hear is the rapid thumping of my own heart. Ky mouths, Can you hear me?, and I shake my head and give her a thumbs-up. She gives a nervous grin and puts her hand on Star’s carapace, and I turn and keep walking down the tunnel.

Now I just need some distance, enough to make sure Rotwurm builds up a bit of momentum. A nice straight stretch of tunnel, perfect for a desperate sprint. After fifty meters I stop, reach into my satchel, and prepare to do the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Starting now, I send to Star.

I don’t normally use the SOUND sigil much, apart from wiring a few to PERCEIVEs so that Star can have a sense of hearing. Conventional wisdom says it’s not good for much else, but the new BLAST device has changed the rules. The energy it generates takes the form of the associated noun—LIGHT, HEAT, and FORCE have all been effective, so it follows that SOUND ought to work, too.

The little device doesn’t look like much. I didn’t have time to build proper housings, so the sigil components are just tied together with threading wire and shoved in a leather sack. I reach out to the BLAST and activate it, and there’s a half-second delay as the power builds. And then—

I can hear it even through the earmuffs, a warbling shriek that slides up and down the octaves from a twisted-metal whine down to a gut-churning rumble. It’s jaw-clenchingly unpleasant and very, very loud.

“Dinnertime, Rotty!” I shout inaudibly. “Come and get it!”

It doesn’t take long; that would draw anyone’s attention. I can’t hear but I can feel a heavy vibration through the floor, like a junkquake that goes on and on and on. I picture legs tearing into the smooth walls to push a massive body along, faster and faster—

It’s coming.

[Agreed.] Star’s sensors don’t shut down the way human ears do, so he can hear the clank and crunch of metal. [Analysis: moving quickly.]

My throat tightens. If Rotwurm is too fast, all bets are off, and I’m probably about to die.

It comes around the corner.

Like all Twisted it’s a mass of mismatched parts, but years of trial and error have produced something like recognizable features. It has an actual head, with a half dozen misshapen optics and a dizzying collection of blades and cutters. Behind that, its body widens like a bloated grub, sprouting many short legs to grip the tunnel walls and throw itself forward. And it goes on and on, farther than I can see. Rotwurm lets out a scree I can feel in my teeth and comes at me with terrifying speed.

Trying to fight something like that in any conventional sense would be ridiculous. It would simply roll right over you, whatever weapon you used. Even the biggest runics from Venci’s pit would be crushed. I’d like to see Vripiai face up to this monster; I am certainly not going to try. I drop the used-up BLAST and run, back up the tunnel toward where I left Ky and Star.

It’s gaining on me. Fuck. Too fast, too fast, too fast—

I pass where the two of them are waiting but I can’t stop, Rotwurm is only a few meters behind. I take a couple of blind turns, hoping to lose it, but the thing navigates its lair with the ease of long familiarity.

[Report: I am aboard near the tail. It appears not to have noticed.]

Start planting the BLASTS!

[Assessment: movement is difficult. At times its body scrapes the walls.]

Star—

[Reassurance: the first weapon is planted. Calm yourself, meat.]

That’s one part of the plan working as intended. Now it’s up to Ky, and she’d better move soon, because Rotwurm is only steps behind me. The weapons on its head reach out, blades spinning and slashing like a malformed meat grinder.

Then it stops, chunks of metal ripping from the walls as dozens of limbs strain to halt its enormous bulk. Once again I hear nothing, but with Rotwurm momentarily still I can feel the reverberation through my feet. Another SOUND-BLAST back the way we came.

[Warning: I nearly lost my grip.]

I wince. This would be so much easier if Ky could talk to Star, too. Or to me, for that matter. As it is we just have to hope we get the timing right.

Can you see the tail?

[Ambiguity: I can see the other end. More than a tail, it resembles—]

Rotwurm starts to move. It doesn’t turn around like I’d imagined, but rather simply reverses direction and accelerates back the way it came.

[—a second head], Star finishes. [Hypothesis: the Twisted is ambivalent as to its forward direction.]

Shit. That’s going to make this harder. Tell me when it starts getting close to Ky.