Ryan brought the Steyr to his shoulder and yelled, screaming out his rage; pulling the trigger time and time again. The bullets ripped into the space between the viscous black eyes, staggering the creature.
The LED clock was remorseless 002, 001
The plas ex blew in a thunderous cacophony. The liquid nitrogen jetted out, spraying the plant-thing.
On the ladder, Ryan was high enough to avoid all but a light spray. Deafened, still vibrating inside from the intensity of the explosion, he continued to fire. He was only dimly aware of the change in the plant-thing.
A white frost formed on it, slowing it almost immediately, then freezing it into place. Ice, clear as glass, formed in the water around it, becoming a solid sheet that extended in all directions.
Some of the tendrils broke off under their own weight and were falling even as Ryan’s final bullets from the clip suddenly shattered the ice statue that the plant-thing had become.
The creature disintegrated into a mass of shards that hit the frozen surface around it. They skittered, spilling in all directions.
The tendrils weren’t frozen, but they went slack as the icy part of them attached to the main growth went to pieces.
Free, Ryan yanked his foot from the freezing water lapping at the ladder. The liquid nitrogen from the cryo chambers continued to spread out into the room. He glanced up at the LED.
It was frozen into place 001. A heartbeat later it died, becoming a series of wagon wheels that signified dysfunction.
Ryan rammed a new magazine into the Steyr, then pulled himself up the steps. He took a last glance at the icy spikes jutting above the frozen surface that were all that remained of the dead plant-thing.
At the top Krysty and the others waited for him, tucked in an antechamber just below the level of the mat-trans unit. Jak was visible through the door, staying below the level of the armaglass windows.
“Didn’t know if you made it or not, lover,” the red-haired woman said. Her lower lip was puffy and bleeding.
“Wasn’t sure myself,” Ryan replied. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now. I’m glad, too. Never felt anything like that, Ryan. Took over my mind, and all I could do was watch from somewhere outside myself.” She shivered. “Would have chilled you if you hadn’t stopped me.”
“But you didn’t.” Ryan touched her face tenderly, then looked up at Jak. “The White Sands soldiers?”
“Looking for you. Down tunnel.”
“The mat-trans unit?”
“Ready.”
“Let’s do it,” Ryan said. He led the way up into the mat-trans unit through the secret door.
It didn’t take long for Conte and his people to notice them inside the mat-trans unit. Two of them fired at the armaglass, causing the others to duck the ricochets. Bullets weren’t going to get through.
“Everyone get ready,” Ryan said, “we’re getting the hell out of here.”
Conte approached the armaglass, peering through, just as Ryan closed the door to start the jump mechanism. “Your round, Cawdor.”
The words were barely audible coming through the thick armaglass. Ryan nodded.
“What you said about the plague,” Conte asked, “that was real?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you stop it?”
“I think so.”
Conte nodded. “I’m glad.”
The mat-trans unit powered up, humming and throbbing, the familiar fog beginning to fill the chamber.
“I didn’t give that order to shoot you,” Conte said.
“Figured that,” Ryan replied. He’d already noticed the rat-faced man crumpled in the corner of the room unconscious.
“Won’t stop me from hunting you down and killing you when the time comes,” Conte said. “I got my orders.”
“Figured that, too.”
“Just so there’s no misunderstandings.”
Ryan nodded, then sat on the floor, taking his place next to Krysty. The fog blurred everything, but he heard J.B.’s voice coming from somewhere close.
“Probably would have been better off killing him,” the Armorer said. “You look in his eyes, you know that’s one dedicated man.”
“I know,” Ryan said. “And mebbe I would have tried if there’d been a way clear.”
“Somehow, though, it wouldn’t have felt right.”
“Yeah.”
Krysty slid a hand through Ryan’s, then the mat-trans unit took them out of there.
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