Chapter 18

“John. Escort duties with Mage Xi to study what appears to be some sort of guardian located in a reprocessing plant,” Roxanne ordered.

“Yes, Mage Roxanne. Er, guardian of what?”

“That’s what they are off to find out. Don’t let it eat them.”

“Yes, Roxanne.”

“So, it’s to be Craachan,” stated Karkol.

“Yes, they scanned and once again we were too slow,” Brnnt replied.

“The psiontials found no trace?”

“No, but the one on Nansack could not trace them either.”

“Should we sterilise the planet?”

“Not yet. The Most High will not permit it. They empower us via Beog.”

“And if we lose Craachan? What of Blensop? Vultoq? Kriq? Or even Draenoric, if it goes as it has so far?”

“It will not come to that.”

“We should not have been driven out of Nansack!” Karkol snarled. “This has put the pogrom of conquest back almost a century!”

“We expected resistance at some stage,” Brnnt gave the equivalent of a shrug.

“Not until we reached the worlds of the Aversi. Their biology would have been a real challenge as they are armoured all over and have the gift of psi. Now we face a foe whom we have never seen and who can scan and fight us with what seems like ease, costing us Nansack!”

“Could one of the other worlds we scanned have done this?”

“No. None of the hundred along the path that we have gained intelligence on are advanced enough.”

(Note the cluster of Allied Earths were over 25,500 worlds away on the path, only the Maraú-Uxuí had ever explored so far.)

“Then do you advise sterilisation to the Most High?” Brnnt asked with a frown.

“I do, revered Archimandrite. I do.”

“As do I. What do you say brothers?”

“NAY!”

There was a stunned silence until Brnnt and Karkol were bathed in an eerie green light before collapsing in agony upon the floor.

“Who do you revere?” a croaking voice thundered out.

“The Most High!” all cried out.

“As well you should! Do not disappoint me further.”

Getting about on Craachan was not easy. The Seers were being careful about forming portals and there were a lot more Orcs about. Even when we were in the chosen location there were often doors to fool and Omniscients to avoid. Orc society was monitored at all times and privacy hard to come by. This in part was why we were investigating various manufacturing plants as they all appeared to have some sort of guardian, one that did not monitor, but acted as a threat to any who were in an area they shouldn’t be.

“Better not be in the same class as an eviscerator,” I muttered as we cautiously made our way into the plant making ourselves invisible to the frequency spectrums the Omniscient’s probes were using.

“Hope not too,” Xi replied quietly. “But it is capable of basic magic as the Seers informed us.”

“Thought the Orcs didn’t really use it,” Clara added.

“Not normally, but they are aware of its existence and they do have the eviscerators and psiontials.”

“True,” she nodded.

“I’m detecting something ahead, up in the roof area. Not showing up on anything other than infra-red and CO2 emissions though,” I said, giving the others the mental co-ordinates.

“Come in to my parlour said the spider to the fly,” Kate muttered.

“Well, it isn’t Maraú-Uxuí, but it does seem to have arachnid aspects, what little I can view of it,” Xi stated.

“Creepy.”

“Yep.”

“Keep your voices low, if it’s anything like the Maraú-Uxuí those hairs on its body can be used for detecting vibrations in the way of sound and movement,” I cautioned.

“It can shield well. All we are getting is visuals and certain physical outputs like heat,” Serena admitted as the various medic Mages attempted to find out what it was we were dealing with.

“Want me to draw it out?” I asked.

“Not yet, it might be able to alert others like the Omniscient,” Xi replied.

“This bandwidth,” Serena finally stated and we all focussed in, trusting to the Drow to keep an eye out around us.

“Yuck,” Kate muttered as we scanned what turned out to be a bio-technical killing machine.

“Yes, not very nice,” Xi affirmed.

“Wonder how they control it?” I added.

“They don’t, see the part of the cortex controlling higher thought? It reacts to pheromones, got the wrong type and you’re dead meat if it detects you,” Serena replied.

“Then how does it survive ... oh,” Clara began.

“Gets hungry, goes hunting,” a slightly sick looking Xi replied.

“Will it be missed if we kill it?” I asked as our probes revealed more of what was a very efficient guard and a ruthless killing machine.

“Someone, somewhere will ... eventually. This thing is gender neutral and can’t reproduce, hence sooner or later whoever places these things in buildings will need to pop around to make sure they are still functional.”

“I don’t like male Orcs, but this is just ... wrong,” I muttered grimly.

“I agree, John, but unless it attacks us, we are only to report.”

“It’s moving,” Serena warned.

“Quietly too,” Clara added.

“Heading away from us,” I noted. ‘Ilzik, keep an eye on it. We don’t want it doubling back, ‘

‘We’re on it.‘

“Can we control it?” I asked Serena, our ‘expert’ on Orc control methodology.

“Eventually, it’s different again from any other Orc creations we’ve run across,” she replied after a moment’s thought.

“Figures,” I sighed. “Wonder if that’s deliberate?”

“I ... don’t think so, but, the way they go about these things ... creating them as it were, means that it’s a natural advantage when running into Mages, or would if they knew about us.”

“Sooner or later they’ll know. They’re gathering information too,” I nodded.

‘It’s quartering the area you’re in. I suspect it knows something is in there, ‘ Ilzik sent back.

‘Keep tracking. Intervene if it attacks. I think it’s time we had a close look at it, ‘ I sent back.

“Are you sure, John?” Xi asked.

“We want to know how good it is and what it can do. Our scans are only revealing instincts, not thoughts.”

“True.”

The Crimonach had been picking up the soft vibrations of soundwaves for several minutes now, though had chosen to ignore them. It was not hungry, nor were the scents of prey present. Yet eventually curiosity got the better of it and it began moving around the facilities edge, locking whatever it was into its mental grid.

Several times it stopped to pause, unsure as to whether or not something was stalking it ... as impossible as it thought that was. Finally though, it was within a leap of whatever this new thing was and it flexed its ten limbs into a crouch and flung itself down upon them.

Yet, whatever these creatures were, they were incredibly fast as in the short space of time it had taken to power itself down from the roof, they had sprung aside and now had it illuminated in some form of light beam.

“Oh my God! That thing is gross!” Clara gasped out at we looked upon a thing of nightmare.

A bulbous body, black, slimy-looking skin, ten ... legs, though all looked capable of grasping, eyes set in a circle around the body and what appeared to be several mouths with razor sharp teeth ... oh, and a distinct smell of cinnamon.

Negg, one of the medic Mages, had swiftly levitated the thing to prevent it getting a purchase on the ground so that it could not run at us and the other medics were studying it closely, using active rather than passive scans as it flailed about.

“Nasty piece of work,” Xi murmured. “Eats its prey, doesn’t liquefy it. Strong, mentally resistant and programmed to defend its territory ... unless hungry.”

“Can it be controlled?” I asked.

“Not really, but we can make it avoid us ... I believe.”

It was then the creature displayed an unforeseen ability when a tongue like appendage suddenly flicked out of one of its mouths to slam into Negg’s chest, punching straight through her armour and out of her back. She was dead before the tongue even pulled back, drawing her straight towards the opening and extending mouth. Four quarrels and five hellfire blasts slammed into it and felled it before shock overcame us.

“Oh, dear Lord, what a mess,” I said into the stunned silence.

“You couldn’t have known, John. None of us could,” Xi sobbed out.

“Yet I suggested we let it get close for a look,” as Kate and I reverently gathered the remains of Mage Negg, who had had a quiet disposition and never said a lot, but did have a lovely smile.

“Yes. Roxanne will want to know why, but you’ll have my support,” Xi stated, the others giving nods of assent as well.

“Police the site, then let’s go face the music,” I sighed.

“Why did you feel the need to let it approach, John?” Roxanne questioned me and the group, clearly not happy at all.

“It was resistant to passive scans and an active one ... well, it was too close to an exit and might have warned others. I made a mistake in thinking we could hold it,” I replied, holding back my distress.

“For the record, Mage Roxanne, I agreed with John’s decision. There was no indication at all that it could do what it did,” Xi added.

“Aye, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I take it the dissection of the thing is revealing a few more secrets?”

“Yes, it’s another ‘fabricated’ creature. Immensely strong, built-in low-powered gravity vortex. Sensitive to smell, movement, sound and has good night-vision too. Carnivorous with stealth characteristics and cunning. All in all a very nasty guardian of a building and I recommend taking one out if it ever gets close. Oh, and its bite is mildly poisonous, though more from sepsis than an actual venom, bit like a tarantula bite.”