The Risks of Dead Reckoning by Felicia Watson (novels to improve english txt) 📕

“It means that the wormsbecome completely paralyzed at higher temperatures. Anything abovetwenty-seven-degrees. We’ve tested it out on the sample we havehere in the lab and it’s confirmed.”

Decker interjected, “Theskiffs have hull heating functions for dealing with icy water – wecould use that to keep them away!”

“Yeah.” Con nodded as moreof their recent experience with the worms made sense to him. “Andthat’s why they’re so susceptible to the particle rifles. It’s notjust the EMR blasts, it’s the heat they generate.”

“So, the only option isyou going back into the float-ways?” The concern in Aqila’s voicewas obvious, even over comms.

“With all of the evidencethat the worms are paralyzed by heat, it really is our best bet –considering all of these peerazu flying around. We can even adjustour particle rifles to throw off more heat.” Kennedy declared, “Ihave a good feeling about this fix. You’re a life-saver,honey!”

Lindstrom broke in to say,“You’re welcome, dear.”

“Uh, sorry, sir. I guess Iforgot you were still on comms, too.”

“Evidently.”

Kennedy signed off with anoptimistic promise to check in when they reached Intabah, and thenhe grinned at Decker. “Ready to go back in?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”She stood up and stretched and looked down at Kayatennae. “Until weget the heat on in the skiff, you’re our early warning system,buddy, so the important question is – are you ready?”

When Kay barkedenergetically in response, Con said, “I’ll take that as a yes.Let’s go.” The three of them headed back down into thefloat-ways.

***

Deck and Con both agreedthat they should take it pretty slow to allow Kayatennae plenty oftime to warn them of any near-by veil-worms. It was soon apparentthat the creatures were paralyzed by heat, precisely as Lateef hadtheorized. At the very least, it was true of all of the ones theywere encountering, and that was good enough for Decker. When any ofthe worms touched the hot sides of the skiff, their bodies turnedtheir natural sickly beige color and went rigid, leaving themeasily swept away by the current.

With a disgusted scowl,Kennedy peered at one of the worms, stunned senseless by a closeencounter. “I think they’re even creepier looking thisway.”

“Creepier looking? Yes.Harmless to us? Absolutely. Seems like a good trade.”

“Considering how manywe’re seeing now – it’s a great trade.” The warmth thrown off bythe heated skiff had already forced both of them to shed theiruniform jackets; Con fanned his damp t-shirt away from his sweatychest. “Still, it sure is toasty in here.”

Decker laughed in agreementsince her own t-shirt was in an equally clammy state. “I hopeeither we have a chance to freshen up before meeting the Intabet,or they’re not the fussy types.” Kayatennae was watching theparalyzed worm float away from them, still barking as irately aswhen he’d first detected it. Naiche said, “Kay doesn’t like themany better this way.”

“Since he’s our onlywarning system – that’s also a trade I’ll happily take.” Kennedyscratched the dog between the ears, murmuring a soothing litany of,“It’s okay – good boy.” When the dog stopped barking, Con said, “Ifit weren’t for him, those ones dropping down from above would’vegiven me a heart-attack by now.”

With a shudder, Deckagreed, “Yeah, those are the worst.” Now that the worm was out ofsight, Kayatennae settled back down, his nose twitching furiously,allowing Naiche to relax slightly.

As if their conversationhad conjured it up, ten minutes later Kay ran to the front of theboat, growling and barking at the tunnel ceiling ahead. Kennedyautomatically took up position at the bow, using his particle rifleto blitz the area with EMR pulses modified for maximum heat. Likebefore, the worm which had been lurking above their heads crumpledhelplessly into the water. “They sure are thick in this float-way.”He stowed the rifle away and eased back into his seat. “The lastswitch-off is coming up soon – right?”

“Yeah, aboutfive-hundred-meters ahead.”

“I’d give my last tube ofcoffee-con for finding fewer worms in that one.”

Naiche smiled back at Con.“Even I’d takethat particular bargain.”

He squinted wearily at her,asking, “You think there’s any chance we’ll get that kind ofbreak?”

“No.”

“Yeah, meneither.”

Unfortunately, theirprediction looked prescient when the last float-way proved to bethe worst one of all. Every few minutes, Decker or Kennedy wascalled upon to blast a worm out of its hiding spot. The creatureswere so thick in the water that Decker was constantly maneuveringthe skiff around their petrified bodes.

As they were nearing theend of their protracted journey, Deck took her turn using theparticle rifle to clear the area ahead. She’d expected the scene tobe grim, since Kay’s warning was particularly frantic – but wasstill unprepared for the reveal. The EMR pulses exposed a horrificweb of veil-worms completely clogging the transit-way ahead.Open-mouthed with revulsion, Naiche watched the tangle slowlyfalling apart, as one-by-one the worms tumbled into thewater.

Shaking her head to clearit, Deck looked over at Kennedy. “Well – that scene is gonna pop up in thenightmare rotation, for sure.”

“Tell me aboutit.”

She was forced to rev theskiff into its highest power level to get through the mass ofparalyzed creatures. A minute later, she docked the skiff near theexit steps, leading to their destination.

Both officers were greatlyrelieved to leave the stuffy tunnels behind and get out into thefresh air – a relief that proved short-lived when they saw a coupleof peerazu circling overhead. Crouching down in the shadow of thenearby mountain, they huddled over their scanners.

Kennedy said, “We should beable to see Intabah from here – it’s about thirty kilometers up.”He pointed his scope at the approximate location. “Yep, there itis.” He stared at the mountain while calculating the journey. “So,thirty klicks, adding in about three elevation gain for every fiveof them…best case is what? With my leg…about a four-hourhike.”

Deck had been surveying thefoot of the mountain and said, “Hey, look!” She pointed at whatlooked to be a covered tram-way snaking its way up to the villageabove. “That could be the transport Kinlea Cassay told usabout.”

They headed over at a briskpace, conscious of the peerazu they’d sighted, and ducked into thelittle station Decker had spotted. There were several small tramcars parked in the station and they decided to use the lead car toascend the mountain.