The silence in the narrow, sweating tunnel was absolute, save for the low thrum of the Probability Drive and the dry, chitinous click… click… click echoing from the darkness behind us. It was a sound that scraped along the nerves, methodical, unhurried, like something patiently dismantling its prey bit by bit. The twin phosphorescent green lights glowed unblinkingly, low to the ground, reflecting wetly in the puddles of stagnant water illuminated by our rear floodlights.
My skin crawled. The cognitive fog from the SP depletion felt thicker now, infused with a primal dread that had nothing to do with debugging reality code. My [Perceive Glitch] skill was practically useless. The background noise of the Undercroft combined with my own mental static just created a frustrating, fuzzy mess. I couldn't get a read on whatever was back there beyond 'probably bad', likely multi-legged, and definitely not selling cookies.
The fear wasn't just about the unknown creature, it was the chilling realization of my own current uselessness. Pushing my SP again, trying to force a clearer perception or debug whatever was coming… the potential cost, the [Cognitive Damage] warning, felt terrifyingly real. Could end up like one of those drooling Glitch-shock victims, I thought, the fear a cold knot in my stomach. Or worse, maybe I just... blue screen myself permanently.
Leo, beside me in the jump seat, had gone rigid, his face a mask of terror barely visible in the dim cockpit glow. "What is it?" he finally whispered, his voice trembling so badly the words barely formed. "Is it… is it just one?"
The clicking intensified slightly, seeming to echo from multiple points now. Click-k-klick-click…
"Doesn't sound like it," Anya replied grimly, her hands tight on the controls. She flicked a switch on her console. A burst of harsh static erupted from the comms speaker, followed by silence. "Comms are useless down here. Too much interference."
She spared a half-second glance at the tactical display, which showed nothing but sensor ghosts and distortion warnings behind us. "Alright, standard Undercroft creepy-crawly protocols. Assume it's fast, assume it hunts by sound or vibration, and assume it has way too many legs."
She eased the Probability Drive forward a few inches, the tracks crunching loudly on the debris. The clicking behind us stopped instantly. The green lights remained, unmoving, watching. Waiting.
"They hunt vibration," Anya confirmed, her voice low. "Smart buggers." She scanned the path ahead, illuminated by the powerful forward floodlights. The narrow tunnel continued, twisting slightly. "We can't go back the way we came, especially not with whatever brought down that slab potentially waiting. And we have to get through this sector to bypass the Kilo-7 field." She reiterated the goal, grounding us slightly amidst the immediate panic. Avoidance wasn't an option. "Means dealing with our fan club back there."
The clicking resumed, slow at first, then faster, closer. Click-klick-CLICK-CLICK… More pairs of green lights winked open in the darkness, spreading out slightly, flanking the original pair. Not just one. Maybe half a dozen?
Okay, time for specifics. The lights weren't perfectly round. They were slightly elongated, almost like narrow, horizontal slits. Cold, phosphorescent green, lacking any discernible pupil. Just flat, glowing bars of eerie light.
"See them clearly now," Leo breathed, leaning forward, his draftsman's eye for detail overcoming his fear for a moment. "They're low… segmented bodies, maybe? Lots of… legs. Thin legs. Like… like giant, armored centipedes made of shadow and rust?"
Armored centipedes. My stomach did a slow roll. The URE entry for Critters (Bio & Data) suddenly felt woefully inadequate.
Anya nodded grimly. "Tunnel Stalkers. Thought they mostly stuck to the deeper levels." She keyed another command. "Alright, let's try the welcoming lights."
The rear floodlights suddenly pulsed, shifting from steady white to a blinding, strobing pattern of intense ultraviolet and harsh white light. The effect was disorienting even within the cockpit.
A chorus of angry hisses and clicks erupted from the darkness. The green eyes blinked rapidly, several pairs retreating momentarily deeper into the shadows, but the original pair held their ground, seemingly unfazed by the light. One of the creatures darted forward with impossible speed, a blur of segmented, dark chitinous plating and far too many scuttling legs, visible for only a fraction of a second in the strobing glare before vanishing back into the darkness near the tunnel wall. It was easily six feet long.
"Okay," Anya muttered. "Plan A: Annoy them with bright lights – limited success. They're adaptable." She activated another system. A low hum built beneath us, different from the drive core. "Plan B: Sonic deterrent. Low frequency pulse. Brace yourselves, this might rattle fillings."
A deep, subsonic WHUMP resonated through the tunnel, felt more than heard. It vibrated through the vehicle's frame, through the seats, settling deep in our bones. Outside, the clicking became frantic, panicked. Several green lights darted erratically, bumping into walls.
Success?
Then, the largest pair of eyes – the original pair – lunged. It moved with a speed that defied its apparent size, launching itself up the tunnel wall, scuttling across the damp concrete ceiling like gravity was a minor inconvenience. Its underbelly, glimpsed for a moment, was a pale, segmented horror, rows of clicking legs propelling it forward with terrifying speed.
It was heading over us.
"Ceiling!" Leo yelled, pointing frantically upwards.
Anya swore violently, ramming the throttle forward while simultaneously triggering the side deflectors. "Scrabbling little -! Get off my rig!"
The creature dropped from the ceiling directly onto the Probability Drive's roof with a sickening thud that echoed through the cockpit. Immediately, a horrible scraping, clicking sound began directly overhead, the sound of hardened chitinous claws trying to dig into the surface, trying to rip through the armored plating.
Alarms blared on Anya's console as proximity sensors went wild.
"It's on the roof!" Anya snarled, fighting to keep the vehicle moving forward in the narrow tunnel while simultaneously trying to dislodge our unwelcome passenger. She swerved sharply, scraping the rig's side against the tunnel wall with a horrendous screech of metal on concrete. The creature overhead screeched back, an ear-splitting sound like tearing metal mixed with an insectile hiss, but its grip seemed to hold.
"Can you shake it?" I asked, my voice tight, watching the flickering core stability monitor. The erratic movements were putting strain on my patch job. Eighty-five percent… eighty-three… holding, but barely.
"Working on it!" Anya gritted out. Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes, or whatever passed for brakes on a reality-bending behemoth. Inertia might be negotiable, but momentum was still a thing. We were thrown violently forward against our harnesses. The creature on the roof, presumably less secured, gave another piercing screech as it was likely flung forward.
Did it work?
Before we could tell, more green eyes appeared ahead of us, emerging from fissures in the tunnel walls, blocking the narrow passage. They hadn't just been behind us. They were flanking us, cutting off our escape route.
The clicking intensified, surrounding us now, echoing claustrophobically.
We weren't just being hunted. We'd driven straight into their nest.
Anya stared at the cluster of green eyes blocking the path forward, then glanced at the frantic sensor readings showing the creature still somewhere on our roof. Her knuckles were white on the controls. Trapped between rock, a hard place, and giant, armored, ceiling-crawling centipede things.
"Okay," she said, her voice dangerously calm now. "So much for Plan B." She looked at me, her hazel eyes burning with desperate intensity. "Debugger… I need another miracle. How's that cosmic duct tape holding?"
My heart sank. Miracle quota felt distinctly exceeded for the day. And judging by the sound of claws scrabbling furiously just inches above my head, time was running out fast.