Chapter 642: The Spoked Offensive (2/2)
Natraya shook her head. ”No. They're something called Dwellers, I think.”
”Dwellers? What the fuck is a Dweller?” the lemur asked. It stood up slowly, moving its arms slowly as if to limber them up. ”OK, I've got to be dreaming.”
”If so, then this is a nightmare,” Natraya said.
”No, seriously, this has to be a dream,” the lemur said. It raised an arm and made a fist. ”This isn't my body.”
Natraya gave a slight scoffing laugh. ”It is the body I've always seen you in.”
”No. Seriously , this isn't my body,” the lemur said. It looked at the brown skin and poked its forearm with an extended finger. ”I'm not African descent.”
”You've been brown as long as I've known you,” Natraya said. ”You kept to yourself though. Something called an archeologist.”
The lemur laughed. ”An archeologist? Me?” It laughed again, still staring at its arm and hand as it opened its fingers and closed them again. ”Sister, the closest I've been to college was standing next to an commissioned officer.”
Natraya frowned. ”You were going to examine something called Crusade of Wrath relics on a tomb world,” she said. ”Terran artifacts from the See-Three War.”
The lemur frowned. ”Huh.”
”What's wrong?” Natraya asked.
”The last thing I remember was being on Mars. The Defiance of Sol was undergoing refit. I was on the surface enjoying R&R,” the lemur said. ”Then there was a white flash and I'm here.”
Natraya shook her head. ”I don't know what to tell you. You've been in that cell for a long time.”
”Huh,” the lemur said. It looked around. ”So, I'm a prisoner?”
”Yes,” Natraya said.
”Damn, I'm thirsty,” the lemur said. It picked up a sponge. ”This safe to drink?”
Natraya nodded.
She watched as the lemur ate all the food, sucked the sponges dry, then just sat there, staring at the phasic curtain.
They were silent, although Natraya could hear other beings crying softly in the cells around her.
The door opened and Natraya watched as four of the Dwellers moved in, floating on discs of purple energy, accompanied by spider-like servitors.
”Hey, let me out!” the lemur yelled, jumping to its feet.
The Dwellers jerked back. Natraya could feel amusement rolling off of them as they turned and stared at the lemur.
”Let me out,” one of the Dwellers mocked the lemur.
Another made a motion and the phasic curtain parted. Two of the servitors rushed in, half the size of the lemur, and grabbed at it with claws and hands.
”Hey, get off, don't touch,” the lemur started to say.
One of the servitors grabbed the lemur by the throat with a heavy grasping hand.
”DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!” the lemur roared out. It brought one hand up, grabbing the forearm just behind the wrist, the other came up, over the lemur's head, and smashed down, striking the servitor's forearm with its own.
It all took place in less time than it would have taken Natraya to blink.
The servitor's hard chitin forearm shattered, gore and ichor splattering out.
The lemur stepped forward, slamming a clenched fist into the servitor's torso.
Natraya stared in shock as the lemur's fist erupted from the servitor's back, sending shards of chitin flying.
The lemur yanked its arm free and swept aside the dying servitor, even as it took a half step forward and swept out with one of its legs at the other servitor.
The servitors legs shattered and the servitor went down screeching.
The lemur grabbed the servitor's head with both hands and twisted it off in one wrenching movement.
One of Dwellers began backing up, reaching into a pocket, as the other three just stared.
The lemur lunged forward, slamming into the phasic curtain, which strengthened to an almost opaque purple, only the lemur's shape visible.
Natraya could see the lemur's burning red eyes.
Two hands pushed through the curtain, the fingers curling, grabbing the phasic energy as if it was solid. There was a tearing sound that Natraya could hear inside her head and the curtain parted enough for the lemur to lunge through.
”I'LL KILL YOU!” the lemur screamed.
It gave an odd twist at the waist, ducking slightly, its hand lashing out behind it, the knuckles striking one of the Dweller's in the side of the head.
The Dweller's eye popped out as it went down without a sound.
It continued the twist, spinning in a circle, and its bare foot lashed out, striking one of the servitors in the torso.
The chitin shattered, caving in, and the servitor flew back in a heap.
Two of the Dwellers leaned forward slightly. There was a FWOOP sound that made Natraya's head twinge, like a sudden cluster headache.
The lemur's skin rippled slightly as it finished the spin, planting its feet on the ground. It snarled, baring meat tearing omnivore teeth as its eyes burned bright red.
The lemur made an odd motion with one arm, a circling motion that ended with it holding its hand out, the edge of the palm toward the Dwellers. The other arm drew back, the hand balled into a fist, the forearm perpendicular to the floor. It had one foot slightly in front of the other, knees slightly bent.
The light in the room flashed red and Natraya could hear a screeching sound repeating over and over in her mind even though her ears couldn't hear anything.
”Come get some,” the lemur snarled through gritted teeth.
FWOOP!
The lemur moved, dodging strangely, its knees bending even as it bent backwards, one hand moving in a circle as it swung its arm, somehow staying upright despite the fact that Natraya thought it would fall to the floor. The dodge smoothly moved into a spinning kick that crashed through the purple nimbus surrounding the Dweller in a shower of purple sparks. The kick hit hard enough that Natraya heard cartilage and bone shatter.
The Dweller's nimbus and the platform it was on snuffed out as the Dweller flew out and slammed into the purple tinged field in front of Natraya's cell. It was thrown back on the floor as the lemur kept moving, planting both feet, both fists coming forward one after another as the lemur drove a handful of punches from each fist into the other Dweller, moving with the Dweller as it was pushed back by the force of the punches.
The Dweller collapsed and the lemur spun in place, facing the last remaining Dweller.
”Your turn,” the lemur snarled as it moved closer.
The dweller pulled its hand out of a satchel, throwing something in the lemur's face before it spun in place. The lemur pawed at its face, spitting and snarling.
”Ants? What the fuck?” the lemur snarled.
”WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!” the Dweller screeched out as it fled out the door.
The door slammed shut and the lemur stood in the hallway, carefully brushing small insects out of its face.
The lemur moved up to the field, kicked the Dweller out of the way, and pushed one hand into the field.
It collapsed in a shower of sparks.
”I'm going to take this ship,” the lemur snarled. It stared at Natraya with burning crimson eyes. ”Even if I have to kill every fucking one of these weird things.”
It gave a terrible smile full of omnivore teeth.
All of the teeth.
”You coming, sister?” the lemur asked.
Natraya heard her mistress's death scream in her mind.
She nodded.
”Yes.”