The direction that went down worried her the most. A square hole, twenty by twenty feet wide, yawned in front of them like an empty elevator shaft. It didn’t go directly downward, but rather at a slight slant. The same angle as the crashed ship itself. They looked up and down into stygian darkness. There was no telling how far the shaft went either way, as the ends were beyond the reach of their flashlights.

  “Six ways to choose from,” Tanner said, pausing and shining his light down each path in turn. They all looked pretty much the same. “You’re the sensitive. Time to earn that big paycheck. Which way do we go?”

  Malena adjusted her headset with her fingertips and closed her eyes. She felt for the biggest sources of X that lay nearby. To her surprise, she found a contact that was very distinctive inside the ship. The big peppery contact was ahead and slightly downward. There were others up above, but they were—different.

  “They smell like lemons,” she said. “No…like limes. Something citrusy anyway.”

  “What does?”

  She opened her eyes. “New contacts. Something up above us. But that’s not the main power source. I’d say the primary generators are directly ahead and down.”

  Tanner nodded and then began edging over the opening in the floor. “It’s like maneuvering around an open elevator shaft.”

  She swallowed instead of answering. It was her turn a moment later. Tanner reached out his hand, but she rejected it. She wanted both her hands gripping metal.

  “Watch out for that spike down there,” he said, pointing at her boots. “You’ll want to put your weight on it, but it’s too sharp and angled. You might go down.”

  “Thanks,” she said, taking that first big step out into space. She aimed for another foothold first, a shelf about four inches wide. This held her, and she grabbed a curl of steel with her free hand that looked like a giant spring buried in the wall.

  A moment later, she was in the next passage with Tanner. She barely had time to catch her breath before he began crossing the next corner. She followed him, a little less worried this time.

  After they were both safely on the far side, Malena aimed her light back the way they’d come. She could see a shaft of sunlight back there, gleaming on the walls. This vestige of the outside world made her feel homesick. She wondered how long it would be before she saw the sun again. The swamp outside was inviting and natural compared to this place.

  “Come on,” Tanner said. “We’ll head for the center of it.”

  Malena didn’t follow. She frowned instead. She saw a shadow obscuring the sunlight at the hatch entrance, which was now nearly a hundred feet behind them. She snapped her light off and stared. There it was again.

  “Tanner,” she whispered. “There’s something behind us.”

  He snapped off his light and came to crouch beside her. Both of them were deadly silent. All she could hear was his breath, which had become rapid.

  “I don’t see it,” he whispered.

  “Wait.”

  They crouched there in the gloom for nearly a minute. Just when Malena was beginning to feel she’d seen the wind blowing something around—she caught a metallic flash.

  She sucked in her breath and lifted her accelerator. Tanner shifted beside her in the darkness.

  “It was a claw,” she said quietly.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  They watched for several more seconds. The claw found the line Malena had left tied there, and snatched it up greedily. They heard it tighten then snap with an audible cracking sound.

  The single steel claw rasped and scraped, dipping down into the cracked-open hatch and probing. Malena was reminded of a cat, thrusting a paw under the bottom of a door and trying to catch whatever was on the far side.

  “It can’t get in,” she said.

  “Not that way. It must have detected the hatch was opened so it came to investigate. After a while, it will figure out the hatch is stuck and will fly up to one of the others.”

  She looked at him suddenly, feeling a new jolt of fear. Her eyes left his face and ran around the dark metal walls. This passageway…

  “It’s big enough for one of them to fly through, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  “We’ve got to get moving.”

  He didn’t argue. Together, they picked their way farther into the bowels of the ship, heading for the very heart of it. Malena wondered how much time they had left.

  “What I don’t get,” Tanner said, “is why you didn’t sense it coming.”

  “The flier? I don’t know. I think the hull must be interfering with my sensory abilities. Even with the headset—even now that I can see the thing out there—I can’t feel its presence.”

  “But you knew the X was here inside this ship from miles away.”

  “I suppose it’s a matter of scale. The generator at the heart of this vessel must be a powerful one.”

  “I’m sure it is. How else could it produce a barrier so huge?”

  They saved their breath for climbing and hopping over obstacles until they reached the next six-way intersection. Again, a black shaft rose up into the distance above and down into the depths below.

  Malena pointed downward. “I think it’s time to go down now.”

  Tanner took the time to look back behind them. “I don’t see our friend. It’s probably flying around to find another hatchway.”

  They headed downward, climbing from one jumbled mass of metal to another. Bruises and cuts came and went, but Malena hardly noticed. She was moving much faster this time. She feared meeting up with the flier much more than she did falling.

  A few minutes later they reached the next intersection on the way down.

  “This whole ship must be broken up into cubes,” she said. “But what’s inside these walls? Have you seen a way in?”

  Tanner shook his head. “I’m sure there are more latches like the one we used to get in. Maybe all these weird metal prongs are instruments, valves, controls—I don’t know. Any of them might open a door if tweaked the right way.”

  She stood on the passage floor, surrounded by two things that resembled anvils. “It’s right here,” she said. “When I close my eye and think about X, I get readings from all around us. We’re in the middle of it.”

  He examined the walls with her. “We’re never going to find the right opening in time.”

  She waved for him to be quiet. “I hear something!”

  She closed her eyes and felt for it…

  There! Above them, coming down the nearest shaft. It was flying fast.

  “Back up,” she said, “let’s move back into this passage.”

  Tanner didn’t argue. He hopped over the nearest anvil and took another dozen steps. His flashlight strobed on the walls with every step.

  Malena could feel it coming. It was very close. She didn’t have time to explain that to Tanner—it was coming too fast. She’d thought somehow that once it was inside the ship, it would move more slowly. Maybe these dangerous walls weren’t a concern for the flying thing. Perhaps it could navigate them effortlessly.

  She ducked down behind the second of the two anvils and put her accelerator on top of it. Both her hands were laced around its grip.

  “I think I hear it,” Tanner said.

  She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up, but it was far too late. The machine loomed out of the dark. It came into sight and buzzed directly toward them. It had no doubt where its prey was hiding.

  It had five claws, and they were all active, stretching and reaching for her. She knew the claws would remove her limbs if she was a threat. If she gave in without a fight, it would crush her with a claw until it could carry her off for a fatal examination.

  She squeezed the accelerator’s trigger. Tanner was already shooting, but with a normal pistol. Maybe he was trying to distract it. His popping shots rang painfully from the jagged walls.

  The accelerator’s blue plasma flashed brilliantly in the enclosed space. The first shot blew apart the closest claw. Creaking and dangling, it hung uselessly under the body of the craft. A flower of sparks spit out of it, and a wisp of steam rose into the shaft above.

  She fired again and again as more claws came at her. One caught her from above. It caught on her clothing, which she could feel squeezing her almost as tightly as the claw.

  Her shots were aimed more carefully now, and they burned into the body of the thing, into the joints between the claws. The interior ruptured and flame shot out of it on the far side. A red light glared in the tunnel for a second.

  Then the machine began to sag downward into the shaft. She’d damaged it somehow. It could no longer keep itself aloft. It wasn’t dead yet, though. It still gripped her sides and the serrated teeth in the claws were ripping at her, lifting her up and dragging her over the anvil things.

  She was screaming, but she couldn’t hear it. Tanner was there, pulling on her, hammering on the dying monster’s claw. But she went over the edge with the machine.

  She had the strangest experience of her life then, as she rode on the back of the machine down into the dark shaft. She wasn’t in free-fall. The crab-thing still had some power left. It was more like being in an express elevator and riding it down, down, down at maximum speed. Her stomach came up into her mouth, aided by the squeezing claw, and she fought the urge to vomit.

  She got the accelerator up and angled it to her left. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth she pulled the trigger again. Hot flame blazed around her, and she felt her hair crisp away in places. The claw loosened its grip, however. She’d blown it off its hinges.

  Staggering, she found herself riding on the crab’s back. She kept her feet, but barely.

  The crab was falling faster now. She saw the walls flash by. She was falling down to the very the bottom of the ship, into the deepest regions that were buried a thousand feet underground.

  -19-

  Malena made her choice. It was a drastic decision, and it could have been fatal, but she didn’t want to go all the way down into the bowels of this ship. She decided she would have to jump off the back of the machine instead.

  She used her headset to sense her surroundings, as she was in near total darkness. Distantly above her Tanner was shouting down the shaft and playing his flashlight over the scene, but the deeper she fell, the more the gloom closed over her. Her eyes weren’t much use down here.

  The crab machine was dying, but not quite gone yet. It hadn’t flipped over or gone into an uncontrolled tumble—but it was only a matter of time before it did so. Already it was tipping and its dangling metal limbs were dragging and sparking on the jamble of protrusions that filled the ship.

  Using her headset again, she sensed when an opening was at hand. She’d noticed during her time within the ship that small items of element-X were everywhere. She suspected they powered every small servo motor and device. The passages were notable due to the absence of such devices. A region of rectangular space with no contacts indicated a passage.

  When another intersection came near, she crawled to the edge of the falling crab and first tossed her accelerator gun over the side. She went after it, rolling over and putting her hands around her head. She didn’t know what she might land on, but she hoped her smart suit would absorb the blow.

  It was a desperate, horrible moment. She was falling in the darkness, without knowing what she was going to land on. Spikes and prongs were everywhere. She could fall on a blade and be cut in half. Would her suit be able to handle a protrusion like spear-point? Even if it did, she was certain she’d be badly injured, possibly with broken bones.

  She heard her accelerator clatter and clang into the passageway a split-second before she hit. The sound made her wince and tighten up. She knew she would probably do better if she landed in a relaxed state, but it simply wasn’t possible. She lacked the self-control to fall to her death calmly.

  She hit a moment later. It felt as if she’d landed on something immobile slammed into her right side. It was a hard knock, forcing the air from her lungs. The suit turned into a shell almost instantly, but she could still feel the crushing impact.

  She rolled then, down the passage into the dark. She ended up wrapped around a knob-like structure. Groaning and feeling with sore fingers, she found herself hugging something cold, hard and unforgiving. It had the general shape and dimensions of a fire hydrant.

  Digging out a light and turning it on painfully, she found blood everywhere. Her hands were running with it. She searched herself gently, probing for the source of it. The blood had to be hers as there was no one else down here. She found her head had been opened up with a nasty gash across the forehead that went up an inch or so into her scalp. For a dazed moment, she thought to herself she would have to get stitches. Then a follow-on thought came: there was no one here to do the stitching.

  That was the last thing she remembered. When she awakened, Tanner looming over her. His face was broad and his eyebrows were knit together in worry. She thought hazily that he would be better looking if he wasn’t frowning and worried all the time.

  “Can you see me?” he asked.

  She tried to focus, but he was still a little blurry. She tried to speak, but decided to nod instead. It was easier.

  “I think you’re going to be okay. You hit that axe head looking thing over there. See the blood splash? Good thing you had your light on. I was able to find you pretty fast.”

  “How’d you get down here?” she asked, her voice sounding weak. She closed her eyes again.

  “Climbed down. Plenty of handholds and the passage goes down at a slant.”

  She nodded again, then winced in pain. She took a deep breath, and fresh pains shot through her. Groaning, she rolled over onto her back and lay there, sucking in air.

  “Take it easy. Stay down. You’ve got a mild concussion and there may be broken bones.”

  She did as he suggested. Together, they examined each of her limbs in turn. He looked them over and had her move them. First toes, then ankles, then knees. Next fingers, wrists and elbows. Her major sources of discomfort were her ribs where she’d struck the fire hydrant thing, and the big slash on her head. He’d applied something to it and she touched it gingerly.

  “You stopped the bleeding,” she said. “I can hardly feel the ridge of cut skin.”

  “Yeah, more miracle equipment. In our kits are some first aid supplies. I put on one of the adhesives.”

  Malena frowned. “You did? I don’t feel it. Where’s the bandage?”

  He chuckled. “Not really a bandage. The patches are smart cloth, they bond with your skin.”

  “Like glue?”

  “Better than that. You can’t see them or feel them, but your broken skin is patched.”

  She was impressed. “I can see how that would be useful. How do I look?”

  “Like you’ll live to see the sun again. That’s what matters.”

  He helped her to her feet then. During the process she strained her muscles and made unhappy pain sounds.

  “Can you walk?”

  “Give me a minute.”

  He passed her something and pressed it into her hand. It was a pouch with food in it. She found a protruding shape in the passageway that resembled an overturned coffee mug and sat on it. They ate the last of their rations quietly.

  “You really kicked that crab-machine’s ass,” Tanner said. “I couldn’t have done better myself. I liked the dismount in the dark, too. I probably would have ridden it all the way down the shaft and died.”

  “Did you see where it ended up?”

  “Just sparks rolling away. It clattered and banged all the way to the bottom, or maybe got hung up half-way down. It’s hard to tell from here, and I don’t intend on climbing down to find out.”

  “We should get moving,” she said, although she didn’t feel like it.

  “Let’s give it a few minutes. I haven’t seen any sign of more machines. And you’re too shaky to climb the shafts. A person needs to recover after being knocked out.”

  She nodded. She did feel dizzy.

  “How close are we?” Tanner asked. “You said the X was down a level—is this it?”

  Malena closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. “Yes,” she said after a moment. “This is it. The core of it is very near. When I think about it I feel a little dizzy.”

  “Okay. We’ll find it as soon as you can move without falling on your face.”

  “What if we can’t get out of here, Tanner?” she asked.

  “You’ll guide us out,” he said. “I have complete faith in you.”

  She looked at him wonderingly for a moment. She figured he was probably bullshitting her, but it was a nice gesture. She smiled.

  “Okay,” she said. “Tell me something else, then. Tell me why you joined this unit. How did you get into this crazy business?”

  Tanner shrugged. “It was all an accident, really. I was in Afghanistan on a deep patrol. There are places out there—places no one likes to go. They have legends of jinnis and other spirits. Weird stuff, but you know the kind of story. It’s like the Loch Ness monster. The locals all believe in the monster, but you can’t find anyone who’s actually seen it.”

  “You found something, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” he said, looking uncomfortable. He set aside his ration pouch and sat down on the steel floor. He took a moment to find a place to put his back that didn’t have a line of prongs like nails jabbing him. “My platoon found something. I don’t know what it was. Not even now, after I’ve seen others. It wasn’t like this ship, which is unpleasant but at least it’s all metal. I can understand metal. The thing we ran into was more like a being of energy. A walking strand of light with limbs like laser beams. It’s hard to describe.”

  She could see the pain in his face. “What happened to the others?”

  “I was in command, you know. I was a lieutenant then. I didn’t leave them. They tried to say I did, but I didn’t. We shot at it, but it was like shooting at dancing flame. The bullets went right through and chipped the boulders behind it. Then it walked right into the patrol and burned us one by one, just by touch. It looked like a man petting a pack of dogs one at a time. At every touch, skin blackened and curled up. My men were dying.”