"Where is Jo Schmidt?' demanded Captain Matthew Cross for the third time.
He and the other Banshees, minus the missing Schmidt, had been escorted through the maze of tunnels and caverns that comprised the city of Kurnugi, past the unfriendly and unwashed stares of the city's denizens, past giant mushroom farms and giant insect ranches, to a quarter of the underground metropolis that could almost be described as comfortable. It was a broad, tall cavern whose walls were riddled with black cave openings, all interconnected by narrow catwalks and stairs carved directly into the rock face. It looked almost like ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings on Earth. Ereshkigal had led them to a cluster of neatly carved caves halfway up the cavern wall and told them that these rooms were theirs for as long as they wished.
"Ereshkigal, we appreciate your hospitality, but we have to find our missing person," said Cross, trying hard not to lose his patience with their benefactor. Carter and the others stood by at his sides bursting with impatience as well, anxious to fly to the rescue of their friend, but he kept them in check with a stern look. He had to admire their self-control in the matter.
Ereshkigal turned her craggy old face towards the group, and the look of profound sadness that Cross saw there worried him. She opened her mouth to answer, but struggled for the right words. "Your companion...."
Carter could contain herself no longer. Stepping forward and ignoring Cross' warning glare, she demanded, "What? What's happened? Tell us!"
Ereshkigal looked Carter in the eye, and as with the weight of the universe pressing down on her said, "Your friend is dead."
The old woman's blunt statement was met by stunned and disbelieving silence. Finally, Alex's tiny voice could be heard from the back of the room. "Dead? Jo can't be dead, she just can't!" Alex spun and buried her face in Dexter Gray's chest. The young man put his arms around her and did his best to console her.
Cross was maintaining his composure with the skill of a Vulcan. "Tell us what happened," he said.
"One of the Aqrabu had wandered into the city, which they do every now and then, and caught scent of your group. They are absolutely silent when they wish to be, and are excellent hunters. Your companion was straggling a bit behind the group, and the creature simply picked her off."
"As simple as that?" said Carter angrily, not willing to accept the old woman's story. "Jo wouldn't go without a fight! What the hell is an 'Aqrabu'?"
"A race of beings from a far corner of the known universe. Huge, half man, half scorpion."
"Like the carvings on the stone door outside," said Sam, remembering their revulsion at first seeing the hideous carved representations. "Those monsters are real?"
Ereshkigal nodded. "They were once worshipped, ages ago. Their stings are poisonous, instantly lethal. I assure you, your friend died quickly."
"You'll forgive me if that doesn't make me feel the slightest bit better," said Max. Her voice was low and calm, but a murderous intensity seethed just underneath the surface, and though her head was bowed, her face hidden by the shadow cast by her long brown hair, two angry embers glowed within the darkness. She lifted her head now and turned to face her wing commander. Carter saw the iron control Max was exercising in the lines on her face and almost felt sorry for whoever or whatever was on the receiving end of her wrath when it was finally unleashed. "We have to go after it, this Aqrabu thing and kill it! said Max.
"And find out if Jo is really dead," added Sam.
"Or at least recover the body," finished Max.
But Ereshkigal put a damper on that plan before Cross could jump in with his standard plea for thinking things through rationally and calmly. "There are no remains to recover after an Aqrabu attack," she said, leaving the Banshees to envision the grisly meaning of that claim on their own. "And my own hunters have already pursued the beast to its lair and dealt with it. The creature will be killing no more innocent people, I assure you."
It was clear her neat explanations and assurances weren't sitting well with the men and women before her, but she ignored it and pressed on, a tone of imperiousness beginning to color her words now that the bad news had been delivered and the issue put to rest, as least as far as she was concerned. She walked back to the domicile's entrance and stepped halfway through, then turned back. "You will be called for supper soon. In the meantime, make yourselves at home, but please don't wander around too far. As you've already discovered, this place can be dangerous, especially to newcomers who are not aware of the pitfalls." And with that warning hanging in the air, she left.
Carter turned to Cross. "Well, what do you make of that?"
"I'm not entirely sure," the captain replied, but the frown creasing his forehead told Carter more. He wasn't at all happy about how this mission was turning out, and though he didn't show it, he considered Jo his friend too, and was deeply hurt by her tragic loss.
"Well I'm sure!" said Max. "Someone's going to pay for Jo's death before we leave this place, and as far as I'm concerned, it can just as well be that old woman!"
Carter sighed. She needed time to think, to sort out everything that had happened in the last few hours. This bizarre place and its inhabitants, the unprovoked fight with Nergal, Ereshkigal's fortuitous arrival and intervention, Jo's gruesome death -- all were pieces of the greater puzzle, but Carter had no idea how they fit together, or even what the picture looked like! She had a hunch though, that they have to solve the mystery in order to escape.
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