Overgrowth - CH 1-10

1

The tangled network of tree roots all but formed mountains and plateaus, webbed with tunnels, high above the Earth's surface. Iyree vaulted down from one such tunnel onto a tangled nest of roots below. Only narrow beams of sunlight sparsely made it through from above, making the area otherwise dim.

Iyree could hear Kiyra's feet land behind as Al's - their AL-900 utility drone - light caught up, then passed ahead in the sky, illuminating the wooden terrain with cool blue tint.

Iyree stood and looked up at the wooden cavern. He spread his arms to either side as he followed Al's path, and forced a deep breath through his respirator. "Ah... So much room. Look at this." He took a spin, glancing to Kiyra.

Kiyra was trailing him, lagging behind with focus on the screen in her hand that managed Al's behavior state, as well as displaying its environmental analyses. She tapped the screen before pulling her eyes away from it, and admiring the sight.

"You seeing this, Al?" Iyree said, watching the drone scout farther ahead.

"Oh, he's seeing it," Kiyra said, her voice coming through Iyree's earpiece. If it wasn't for the microphones inside their respirators, their voices wouldn't carry much through their walls.

Iyree sped to a jog after Al. In such an open space, it was easy for his feet to find stable contact with the interwoven roots that formed the floor. He didn't even have to take to all fours to keep balance. 

When he reached the edge of the cavern, he vaulted over a thick root - big enough to be its own tree trunk itself if it were to stand upright - into the narrow tunnel Al's light came from. He climbed through the wooden web.

"Al is approaching Foss's last known coordinates," Kiyra said.

Al's light stood still. Iyree reached it, then weaved past.

"Hold on," Kiyra said.

Iyree stopped, still gripping a root beside his head. He leaned back to find Kiyra catching up close behind. She took Al's screen from the pouch strapped to her back around her waist.

"Just switching to three-sixty cam'," she said.

The round camera mounted on the bottom of Al rotated to reveal the rest of its spherical lens. At the same time, another spherical camera emerged from a compartment atop Al.

"Okay," Kiyra said.

Iyree returned his attention ahead. "How close are we?"

"About three kilometers just ahead."

Iyree smirked. "Man, I hope he's still here."

He continued at a cautious pace, Kiyra and Al following close beside. His hand cracked a brittle root above. A beetle flew from below the tunnel's webbed floor ahead away. Its wings's buzz sounded like a small overloaded sub woofer. Iyree shivered. "Bugs shouldn't grow that big."

He looked to Kiyra, waiting for a comment from her. Something, something about how 'they only get that big when exposed to a higher partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere because of their tracheae. They can only get like six inches long. There's nothing to be grossed out about.' All he knew was that they were big enough to feed- He started to gag.

"Thinking about beetle steak again?" Kiyra said.

He stopped, looking down and reached to cover his respirator, as if to cover his mouth. He tried to tune out the beetle's buzzing. Spoons, dogs, tennis balls, trees, big beetles- He moaned, closing his eyes. Robots, alligators, swamps, M4 Carbine rifle, fire, lake...

He opened his eyes and sighed. The buzzing was gone.

"What happened to you?" Kiyra said.

"I just don't like- Can we just talk about something else?" Iyree said.

The sound of a twig snapping ahead took their attentions. A figure dashed down the tunnel's slope ahead, then the sound of a splash came.

"Iyree-" Kiyra said as Iyree darted after him. "Wait a sec'."

This was it. If that was Foss, they could finish this job now, a day early. For Iyree and Kiyra, that meant an extra day's worth of resources, battery life for their equipment, saved. And on top of it, a fat bounty to buy Al's new processor upgrade.

Iyree dropped through the floor, splashing into chest-high water. A second splash meant Kiyra was close behind.

"Iyree," she said. "Al's environmental analysis indicates a forty-percent drop to our survival rate while pursuing through this route. We need to find another route above the swamp land."

"Good idea," Iyree said. "You find another route and cut him off from there."

"Alone, your survival rate drops to five-percent!"

Iyree winced in pain from her loud voice in his ear.

"Sorry," she said.

The man emerged ahead from under the water. He spun as he hiked away through the water, looking at them, giving just enough time for Iyree to confirm his identity. It was Foss.

Iyree drew his dart gun from its holster on his chest. Two shots to Foss's shoulder left him floating face down in the water. Iyree returned his gun to his chest, and grabbed Foss, turning him upward to keep him from drowning. Foss's face bore terrible growths; a consequence of breathing the air without the filtering of a good respirator. Iyree felt Foss's shoulder had one too. He pulled his hand away from it, spine curling.

Kiyra working Al's control, Al lowered just above Foss, lowering a winch cable. Iyree used it to wrap Foss in so Al could drag him.

"We've got to hurry and find a way back up now," Kiyra said.

"What do you mean?" Iyree said. "But we already got him. Crisis avoided right?"

"Success rate is was hundred-percent," Kyra said, studying her screen. "Survival rate is-" Kiyra's eyes grew at the screen. "No, no, no... That's why!" She turned the screen for Iyree to see. "Decaelum."

The screen showed a ghostly, almost humanoid creature with large, membranous wings. Iyree's stomach knotted. He could've swore a fish just grazed his shin. He jerked away, then held the sides of his scalp. "Okay, okay... Uh..."

"Al's map estimates the hive about two meters ahead, seventeen kilometers down," Kiyra said.

Iyree took a breath. "From now on," he said. "I'll listen to Al first. Sound like a plan, Al?" He patted the side of Al. He searched the roots above. "So the closest opening is-"

Kiyra pointed back to where they came. "Where we-"

He joined her in unison. "Where we came. Nice."

They crept through the water, seemingly at a snail's pace. Al dragged Foss's body ahead of them. The deep sound of bubbles popping came from behind. Iyree's heart pounded as he looked back. Another large bubble reached the surface and bursted. He looked to Kiyra beside him. "Kiyra."

Her alarmed eyes looked to him above her respirator.

"Sorry to keep putting you through this," he said.

The shape of her eyes became sharp. "Hey, I signed up for this," she said. "And you know why?"

Iyree's eyes grew. He just remembered why.

" 'Cause I know the Pheonix family curse." Iyree could discern a smirk under her mask by the dimples near her eyes. "You literally can't get me killed. Not until you're dirt poor, living on the street."

Every one of Iyree's siblings died that way. From losing their jobs for various reasons, and descending helplessly into absolute poverty from there, to losing everything gambling - which his twin sister did, everyone was surprised by that. His older brother got caught committing fraud by some gangsters, so they took his stuff and left him to die in the alley across the street from his former house. It was a sad past, but Iyree needed a sense of humor somehow - as messed up as it was. Kiyra shared in his sense of humor.

Iyree smirked, reaching into his jacket's chest pocket. "Very true. And I still have at least this penny to my name." He flicked the penny in the air and caught it.

A strong ripple pushed them from behind. Iyree's skin curled. It suddenly felt cold. He returned his penny, looking up at the opening from where Kiyra and he came. Al had already ascended through it, holding Foss just below the floor of the tunnel. Iyree searched for a bundle of roots to climb.

Rocking waves filled the water, getting more intense, pushing them back and forth. Iyree turned back to the dark source, standing under the tunnel's opening. "I'll boost you up," he said, waving Kiyra toward him.

She returned Al's screen to its compartment strapped to her back, approaching him. He took a breath and dunked under the water. Her hands and shins rested on his shoulders. He grabbed her hands and pressed himself tall from the water, boosting her up. She released one of his hands, then lifted off his shoulders. Without missing a beat, she took control of Al again.

The water became warm as splashes came from the dark ahead. Raspy screeches followed. Iyree's heart pounded. "I very much so regret coming down here." He reached up to grab anything, keeping his eyes fixed toward the darkness. "We're still at sixty percent, right?"

He felt Al's cold winch cable in his hand. Thank you! He wrapped his arm in it, gripping it with both hands. It pulled him up into the tunnel. He got his footing on the roots.

Swarms of flashes could be seen through the webbed floor speeding past under them. Slower figures, like spiders with wings that formed from their legs, crawled through the water underneath the flying swarm. Their faces, barely visible thanks to Al's light, were haunting mixtures of bat and human. Their bodies bore the same growths as Foss's.

The flying bodies pounded against the roots, shaking the tunnel. Iyree fell forward, one hand finding another root to grasp to keep him from falling through. They could've easily broken through if they were motivated. So why didn't they?

Iyree recovered his balance, took a zip tie from his pocket, and tended to Foss's hands. Kiyra was adjusting Al's winch around Foss's body.

Iyree's forearm started throbbing. Blood dyed his sleeve. With his finger behind the zip tie center Foss's wrists, he tested it with a tug. Good enough. The water soaking it started to make his wounds sting. He stood, folding his sleeve up his elbow.

They headed back to town, tunnel shaking from the screeching decaelum bumping into the roots.

2

Kiyra pinched her nose's bridge, shaking her head in her shoulder.

"Come on," Iyree said, "patience."

Foss stretched up his chest, zip tied hands inching away from Iyree. Iyree reinforced his grip on Foss's upper arm, tugging him back in line.

"I'm going to get the paperwork again," Kiyra said, stomping up the stairs ahead along the line of bounty hunters and their catches. Al remained behind with them.

Foss leaned sideways away, watching her climb the stairs, then turn to look down the back of the line. 

Iyree brought his free hand to Foss's ear, pinched it and pulled him back in line.

Foss winced and grunted, his voice hoarse and crackly like stones had been shoved in his throat; another side effect of atmospheric exposure: growths on the vocal cords.

"Yeah, yeah," Iyree said. "You know, I used to be a doctor too."

"Oh yeah?" Foss said.

"Nope," Iyree said. He sighed, gazing around the street with squinting eyes from the bright sun.

The street's sidewalk and curbs were cracked and lifted unevenly in places. No greenery grew among the cemented terrain. Save the flowering vines of weeds that engulfed buildings, only chopped stumps of trees and bushes stood in the once grassy street spots.

Kiyra came back down the steps, holding a clipboard, and joined them at Foss's far side. She marked the papers with the cheap pen they had given her. Al hovered over her shoulder between her and Foss. She handed the clipboard to Iyree behind Foss.

Iyree traded a grip on Foss's upper arm for the clipboard, signed his name at the bottom, then returned his grip to Foss.

The line inched by several feet at a time. Iyree's clothes became stiff under the beating sun, now that it was late morning, and the it was high enough in the sky to peak out from the towering giant pines that circled the town.

Kiyra loosely stretched her head to the sky, then back forward, repeatedly, with flared nostrils. She grunted. "Bah. You know how many things I could've done already instead of standing here all day?"

"Tell me about it," Foss said.

Kiyra jerked his arm back; her way of saying 'don't get too comfortable.'

He winced. "No, though," Foss said. "Have you ever tried training a multilayered neural network to predict tree species based on compounds in their resin since the overgrowth? That may be only comparable to this. In fact, I'm dying to finally just get on with it and get into a holding cell already."

Kiyra snuck a glance at Foss's face, her brow tall with amusement.

At the front of the line, Iyree brought Foss and the clipboard to the woman at the front counter - whose name tag read Kelly - while Kiyra stood behind with Al at her shoulder. "Dr. Olin Foss," he said.

Kelly typed at her computer, ending with a pronounced tap to what must've been the 'enter' key. Two police officers took Foss from Iyree, escorting him further into the police station. Kelly handed Iyree the envelope containing Foss's bounty.

Iyree split it open, checked the check's amount and signature. It all looked good. He joined Kiyra and they left the station, down the steps, and onto the sidewalk.

Kiyra stretched and yawned. "Finally... Every time it feels like I just got out on bail."

"Yeah," he said. "Time to deposit this then shower and take a nap." He folded and slipped the envelope into his chest pocket.

Kiyra used Al's control to make it land at her feet. She crouched over the drone, tapping the screen. Its various compartments opened. She searched in each of them, then tested the winch attachment with her fingers.

"Keeps getting loose?" Iyree said.

"Yeah," she said. "No more than normal wear though. I still think the processor upgrade should be priority. It'd be nice not to have to wait for clock speed bottlenecks for analyses anymore."

How she could stay awake on a two day job, then go straight to maintaining their equipment without even an hour of sleep, or the comfort of a shower, Iyree could never understand. "So... Meet you at the hotel?"

Kiyra stood and nodded, still focused on Al.

"Miss Ventimiglia?" a woman's voice came from behind.

Iyree turned to find a woman dressed in a grey pantsuit. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, making her - probably - otherwise attractive facial features look unfortunately disproportional, squished by her respirator.

"Hello there," Iyree said, offering a lighthearted hand wave.

She glanced at him under a scowl, then addressed Kiyra with clasped fingers hanging in front.

Kiyra peeked with a furrowed brow over her shoulder, not turning to meet her. "Ye~s?" she said elongating the word with a rising pitch of suspicion.

The woman gave her a nod. "I'm detective Schaefer. You can call me Linda. The chief of police would like to meet with you and your associate."

"What about, Linda?" Iyree said.

"Detective Schaefer," Linda said.

Iyree made a fist at his side. "Didn't you just say..." He retreated at the growing abrasiveness of Linda's posure, and the unclasp of her hands. What was this lady's problem? He looked to see Kiyra's reaction. ... Blank as far as he could tell.

"You just apprehended Dr. Foss, yes?" Linda said.

Kiyra glanced to Iyree. "Ye~s, we did. Why?"

"Well, given your success rate, the chief would like to offer you an opportunity."

"Does it pay?" Kiyra said.

Linda let out a blushing chuckle and nodded.

Huh? Iyree double took the two women. Linda's eyes tall, Kiyra's flat without amusement. "Well then, I'm game," Iyree said.

"Just give us a second," Kiyra said. She turned back to Al, used its control to unlatch the circular rail-clamps that lined the seam splitting the drone into symmetrical upper and lower halves. She returned the screen to her back, then slid the two halves across each other. She and Iyree took turns in placing each half on the rail carriers on each of their backs, taking the profile of a rectangular backpack.

They followed Linda into the station, through an office space - busy with officers - and into a conference room, where two women in black suits sat at a table. They joined her at the opposite side.

"Miss Ventimiglia and associate," one of the women said, "I'm chief Eron Daug-"

Kiyra was already engrossed in Al's screen on the table. When did she take it out?

Chief Daug grunted for her attention.

"Yeah," Kiyra said, her eyes scanning the screen intently.

"Don't worry," Iyree said. "It may not look like it, but she's listening."

Kiyra jabbed his upper arm. "I resent that."

Iyree grabbed her fist, ignoring the slight throbbing it caused. 

She retreated her hand back to the screen. 

Iyree returned his attention to find the three women across the table glaring at him. He brought the front of his shirt up to his nose, then leaned over to Kiyra and sniffed. "Well that can't be it," he mumbled to himself. He didn't think he smelled any worse than her.

"What's so important?" chief Daug said.

"Oh- No," Iyree said. "It's for Al."

"Al?" Linda said.

"Our drone," Iyree said.

"You named the machine after a man?" chief Daug said.

"Well, it's an AL-900 model," Iyree said. "And Al just felt more natural than 'goo'. Ain't that right, Al?" He patted the half of Al strapped to Kiyra's back. 

"Fine," chief Daug said, waving the conversation away with a tense hand. "I'll make this very simple for you. Due to being under staffed and overwhelmed, our department is trying a new program. Right now, we're hiring registered bounty hunters with a capture success rate that's graded on the top percentile to independently assist in criminal cases."

Iyree's eyelids felt heavy. He yawned.

"We think Dr. Foss was collaborating across our state border to establish a laboratory to continue research in illegal decaelum hijacking," chief Daug said. "Track down his accomplice, Mr. Golmiyle, and get any information on their dealings that you can. In these cases, you'll be compensated depending on your level of contribution." 

"Which probably won't be much," Linda said, looking to the side through the conference room's windows. "Unless you can manage not to sit and gawk at your partner for two seconds."

Kiyra slammed the table, standing, and pointed at Linda. "You're misandrists!"

Iyree jumped in his chair, becoming alert. He stood, grabbed Kiyra's shoulders to lead her out. "Okay, we'll take the job," he said, forcing a smile.

Kiyra grabbed Al's screen as he insisted her out of the room.

"Well," Iyree said. "That was fun." His cheeks became warm. They couldn't see his smile under his mask. He turned back to the door, leaned into the room, removing his mask and giving each of them a big smile. A chuckle fought its way out from the sheer ridiculousness of his gesture, and probably from the sudden burst of energy the oxygen gave him. He pointed and waved at chief Daug like a rock star. From the tough crowd the three women formed, he rejoined Kiyra with mask back on.

"If we're taking the job," Kiyra said, "I'd really like to install the new processor."

Iyree sighed. Her dedication... "Alright. I guess that'll give me some time for a nap." His phone vibrated his front pants pocket. No one's home, he thought.

"I just sent you our restocking list," Kiyra said.

Iyree slouched. "I guess if you're working, I might as well run a short errand first."

They left through the station's front doors.

3

Iyree tossed his dirty laundry into the washing machine in the cut-out of the hotel's hallway. He let the lid drop shut, and tightened the wrap around his forearm at the wrist. It was nice that many hotels had air locks to normalize the air. He rubbed his palm over his mouth.

His zip lock bag of quarters scraped the counter against the wall beside him as a figure darted behind. Iyree spun with his arm extended, clothes lining the person.

The man dropped onto his back, gagging. Iyree pinned him to the floor with a knee to his abdomen and palms pressed on his shoulders, ignoring the throbbing in his arm from the impact with his neck. "What, you in some kind of trouble? Like a ransom for three twenty-five? You know that's called stealing, right?"

The man coughed. "Screw you." His voice hinted at atmospheric exposure. 

Now that Iyree had a second, he could see small bumps randomly spaced throughout the man's skin. Iyree sighed. "So~? This is your time to plead your case."

"You don't know me." The man glance past Iyree's shoulder toward the washing machine.

Crap. It's a group of punks. Iyree could hear the washing machine be lifted open. He jabbed the heel of his palm under the man's chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs. On the next beat, he lunged at the other man's waist, knocking him on his back like the first. He jabbed him like he did the first man. The two men gasped to catch their breaths on the floor.

Iyree swiped his bag of quarters and gathered his laundry, standing. Down the hall a few feet, the door to Kiyra's room opened. She peaked out - no doubt in response to the noise. Standing over the two men rolling on the floor, Iyree gave her a smile and dance with his arms. Numb to his antics, she offered a wink, and returned into her room.

Iyree finished putting his laundry in the machine, started it, and hopped up to sit on it. The two men stumbled to their feet as he turned his forearm's wrap tight again at his wrist, then he held his fists up to them in a sarcastic challenge.

When the second man regained his composure, he reached behind his waist.

A gun? Iyree dashed to him, reaching him just as his hand met his side. Iyree kneed his groin, turning the hand gun in his hand, prying it out. It flew to the floor.

As Iyree's opponent was hunched forward in pain, he turned his attention to the other man, who collapsed with a dart in his chest. Kiyra side stepped in the hall, stopping over the gun. Al hovered along with her.

Iyree forced the still conscious man to the wall, pinning him against it. "All that for loose change and some dirty clothes?" Iyree said.

Kiyra joined Iyree at his side.

"You got to," the man said. "Everyone's got to take care of themselves."

Iyree backed away, releasing the man; Kiyra with him, holding him at gun point. Iyree picked up his bag of quarters, tossed it in his hand a few times. So extreme...

He tossed the man the bag. "You should've just asked," Iyree said. "But you can't have my drawers, though."

Kiyra crouched over the man's hand gun, tossing her dart gun to Iyree. She picked up the hand gun, released the magazine, emptied the gun's chamber. "Also," she said, "you're not getting these back. Make sense? Actually, it would've been smarter to just sell them in the first place."

"Watch your mouth you-" the man said.

"Hey," Iyree shouted at him. "Go help your crony and leave."

The man's weight shifted toward Kiyra, his face crooked with resentment.

"No," Iyree said, like disciplining a child. And it honestly felt just like he was.

The man begrudgingly lifted the unconscious one over his shoulder, and dragged him down the hall toward the hotel's lobby.

"Only three thousand more," Iyree said. "Then we won't have to deal with this crap anymore." Then they could get a permanent place in the tree tops. Most houses in town were broken down by the overgrowth, and when they weren't, they rarely even had air locked rooms. Unlike the new dwellings that were built high in the trees.

Iyree pulled his lock from his front sweats pocket, applied it to the washing machine, then joined Kiyra and Al on their way back into her room, stopping in her doorway. 

Kiyra returned to the small desk, controlling Al to land on it beside their laptop. She complained, holding out tense hands before tending to a mess of cords. "Urgh, there's no space."

Iyree left, closing the door, to his room - next door to hers. He pushed his desk into the hallway and knocked on her door. She answered, looking down at the desk with tall eyes. Iyree bulldozed it in. They both moved the room's entertainment center to make room, and put the desks together.

Kiyra rounded up some cords and set her laptop onto the new desk. She organized the cords to run straighter between the laptop and Al. Without missing a beat, she leaned over the desk, typing at the computer, engrossed in screen.

Look at that mind go now... Iyree stepped back toward the door.

"Check this out," Kiyra said.

Iyree stepped by her, looked at the screen. A cluster of white dots appeared against a black background. "Uh..." Iyree said. What was he looking at?

"This is the current version of the AL-900 model's radar software," Kiyra said. "The old processor wasn't fast enough to send the needed graphical information to fully utilize its real-time rendering features. This is all we could see before." She tapped an icon on the screen.

As soon as she did, the dots expanded into a three-dimensional layout of part of the hotel. At the center, was a representation of them at the desk. Iyree felt a tingle of excitement.

"Now we can at least render a portion of the environment with a sixteen meter radius," she said, "depending on the density of the geometry needed."

"Hey," Iyree said, "there's that guy helping his friend in their car."

Kiyra nodded, standing straight, using Al's portable screen. "It takes more time for Al to calculate," she said, "but you can scroll to locations further away, too." 

The parking lot zoomed away on the screen, disappearing, as the image flew through the hotel to the far end, stopping at the pool area. An elderly couple sat in the hot tub while a woman with a swimming cap was working on her current lap in the pool.

"Eventually, though, the image gets too distorted to make out," she said. The image zoomed beyond the hotel, across the old, now broken, highway. The far half of the image turned into triangles, possibly trying to resemble trees, shifting and morphing. It flew back to their location.

Iyree stood up. 

Kiyra shrugged. "So that should come in handy," she said.

On the screen, the guy from the parking lot was struggling against the washing machine. 

"No, that's amazing," Iyree said, back stepping toward the door. "So are you about ready to go?"

Kiyra nodded. "The rest of the updates should only take about ten minutes," she said. "Then I'll begin the extensive check on Golmiyle. But you know how long those can take."

"Hopefully I can manage to get my clothes clean," Iyree said. "Then we'll go?"

She nodded.

Iyree left into the hallway. The man was almost on top of the washing machine, trying to pry the lock off. Iyree sighed, approaching him. "Really, dude? They're not even clean."

4

Iyree crouched, looking down at the water through the tunnel's webbed root floor, lit only by Al's spotlight. Kiyra continued ahead with Al. A melodic echo of woodwind instruments reached his ear. His spine tingled. How lucky to have stumbled on that!

He rushed to Kiyra, climbing and weaving through the roots interrupting the tunnel's mouth. "Listen to that," he said.

Kiyra stopped and turned to him, giving her attention. They both listened in silence, gazing at the network of roots around them. Over the noise of their respirators' breaths, the echos faintly carried to them. It was like a choir of birds gracefully using high-pitched bassoons to play their songs. The tangled terrain under the trees added reverb to the melodies.

"Morino..." Kiyra said.

Iyree nodded, letting out a grunt of peace, closing his eyes. Something - like a small branch or stone by the sound of it - tapped its way down through the root network, then plunged into the water below. 

"It's beautiful..." Kiyra said.

"I want them to sing me to sleep every night," Iyree said. He fit his legs through the tunnel's floor roots, dangling them as he layed on his back.

"Looks like there's a cult meeting toward them," Kiyra said.

Iyree sat up, looking up at her, who was holding Al's screen.

"At least six robed figures..." she said. "And they're on solid ground."

Iyree climbed to his feet. Ground this deep in the overgrowth?

They exited through the tunnel wall, rushing toward the morino's song. The roots always tangled tighter outside the naturally occurring channels.

Before long, they reached the edge of radiating orange light. It guided them to a small cavern with a dirt floor. Al's light turned off as they perched just short of the cavern's edge. The morino's song was louder than a talking voice now. Its echoes trailed far behind.

In the cavern, six robed figures knelt around a fire. Their robes held a sheen in the light, like silk, and bore a large crest of an unearthed tree inside a striped bark pattern on their backs.

"Hey," Kiyra whispered, "recognize this place?"

Iyree scowled, focusing hard as he searched the ground for something familiar. "Where are we?" he said.

"That sledding hill our parents used to take us to," she said. "Outside of the north-east edge of town."

Iyree's eyes grew. He ducked under the root between Kiyra and him, leaning toward her, looking at Al's screen in her hands.

Kiyra pointed at the bottom of the area's rendering on the screen. "That's the top of the swing set," she said. Only a corner of it poked up from the water below and behind.

"I guess we haven't come out here since the overgrowth," he said. "Back when there were still people who looked forward to winter."

"That still baffles me," she said. She opened a different software, displaying a table of names and numbers under a search bar. She typed in 'cult'. The table flashed empty, then repopulated top to bottom. "I don't think these guys are listed. I even refreshed Al's databases at the hotel."

Shouting of men and women came from the figures as they now were kneeling. They bowed in between their outbursts of short phrases. The morino had silenced.

Please don't be scared off, Iyree wants to hear more music. He itched around the top of his ear. "Should we say hi?" he said, leaning back to his perching spot among the roots. "We could do that thing where I introduce myself and then make up a ridiculous name for you." Iyree started swaying anxiously. "How's Bobber Mctinken?"

"That's not even a name," she said. "Or at least too manly for my taste."

"Maybe it's foreign," he said.

"As foreign as your mind gets," she said, taming a chuckle to stay quiet.

"Speaking of manly names..." he said.

"Chief 'Daug'," she said, lifting her attention ahead from the screen. "Poor lady. If she wasn't a jerk I'd feel bad."

"Right?" he said. "I can't believe we went so long without talking about this. Does that mean we're starting to become better people?"

"Better's such a subjective term," she said.

A woman's screech pierce Iyree's ears, sobering his mind. He winced, turning his attention toward it. Four of the cult members were holding another to the ground by the fire. The last member gagged the woman with his hand, holding a knife.

Iyree rushed into the cavern, Kiyra alongside. They drew their dart guns from their chests, pointed them at the four members, as Al hovered over them, lighting the area. They both shot the knife holder in the chest twice. The others turned to them.

As the members started to get up, Iyree and Kiyra shot them. They reached halfway to them before dropping unconscious. 

The woman darted away. Kiyra chased her to the edge of the cavern. The woman crawled into the roots, stopping as her silk robe became snagged. Kiyra grabbed the woman, pulling her back into the cavern, grappling her back first to the ground.

Iyree holstered his dart gun at his chest, joining them. What wouldn't Kiyra do for some privileged information? To Iyree, the woman was an unsuspecting damsel in distress. Probably got caught up in the cult, not knowing she would be chosen as the next sacrifice. But to Kiyra, she was much more: she was data. (... Much less?)

"Quit it," Kiyra said, kneeling over the woman, overpowering her struggle, gripping her wrists.

The woman leaned her head to her wrist with teeth drawn for a bite.

Iyree crouched by the woman's head, clamping it center with a palm on either side before she could reach her teeth to Kiyra's skin.

"Who are you?" Kiyra said.

The woman snarled at them. She quit fighting their restraint. Despite the effort she just put in, her breathing rate was slow. Her complexion also seemed normally clear, bearing no hints of growths from atmospheric exposure.

Iyree took a quick scan of the other five members littered unconscious throughout the ground. From the members who had fallen so their faces were toward him, they all seemed to beat small growths. That supported the 'new, unsuspecting member' theory.

"What's your name?" Kiyra said.

"Why?" the woman said. "You going to look up my price?"

Iyree and Kiyra shared a look.

"You know we just saved your life," Kiyra said.

The woman gave a scoffing laugh. "Ha. Like you people save lives," she said. "You take them! You help the police lock up us innocent people who's been hit the worst."

"Then why worship all of it?" Kiyra said.

"I don't," the woman said.

Iyree waited a second for the woman to continue, but she didn't.

"So what, then," Kiyra said in an unamused tone, "you're an arsonist? Unlawful root tapper? I still don't get where sacrifice fits in."

The woman sighed, closing her eyes. "Go ahead and take me in. Whatever."

"Can't you just tell me the name of your cult?" Kiyra said.

The woman remained silent.

Kiyra looked to Iyree; the signal to release the woman. They both released their grip from her, and drew their dart guns, pointing them at the ground ahead of them. 

The woman stumbled to her feet, glared at each of them as she turned, slipping her robe off, and climbed out of the cavern.

Iyree crouched, returning his gun to his chest, and rubbed his hand on the dirt.

Kiyra turned away. "We don't have to wait for these guys to wake up," she said. "I doubt they'll make it too much longer without being documented. I'll just check point the coordinates."

Iyree rested the side of his cheek against the ground. "Oh yeah," he moaned. Two hard weights came down on his back, smashing his cheek in the dirt.

"Yeah," Kiyra said softly.

She was sitting on him.

"I agree," she said.

Iyree pressed himself up to all fours. Her palms pressed against him for balance. He rolled, forcing her to reflexively stand instead of toppling over him, then jumped to his feet. "So, which way?" he said. He walked to the fire and spread its coals, kicking dirt onto them.

"The border is just under a mile west," she said.

5

Al's new radar capabilities were very nice. Iyree and Kiyra could've never camped atop one of a tree's massive surface roots during a job before now. Iyree watched the 3D rendering on Al's screen morph as the drone scanned through the network below. His eyes felt warm and heavy. 

He leaned back, resting the screen on his abdomen, looking up at the tree tops. From here, the night sky was completely obstructed by the thick layers of leaves and pine needles. Warm lights from the settlements, built high around the tree trunks, housing the upper-middle class and beyond, easily replaced stars though.

Kiyra lay next to Iyree, her back to him, deep in sleep by now. The night was so still, Iyree could almost feel the root under him pump its nutrients toward its trunk. 

He rubbed his eyes, sitting back up, then flicked the exposed top of his nose's bridge above his respirator. Maybe relying on Al so much now would make him lazy. He stood, and paced up and down the almost indiscernible slope of the root, occasionally glancing at the screen.

An alert sounded. Al had stumbled upon a decaelum, crawling upward through the roots. The render made its eyes appear to glow solid white as the image steadily scrolled across. It was eerie, like a night vision camera recording a human sized bat crawling in a crack of a cave's wall.

From afar, shadows emerged from the roots all around, and shot into the air, spreading wings. 

Iyree returned beside Kiyra, crouching behind her. Finally, something to keep him awake: the threat of being eaten alive by decaelum. They had chosen a spot low enough along the root's slope to blend in with the network's busy texture from a distance though, so they should be safe as long as they avoided making large movements, provided no decaelum flew in close - which was unlikely enough.

The human bats soared toward the lights among the tree tops. They would swoop in close to the settlements, but would rarely land. No, the rich and powerful had learned their lesson the first time they were picked off up there. High voltage barriers kept them safe.

Al's screen beeped another alert. The render showed chopped roots at the edge of a clearing. Al remained just short of it, per the instructions of his current state to avoid clearings. 

Iyree swiped the image to scroll further into the open space. Nothing, until he reached the end of where Al could render clearly. Maybe he was just anxious to get the job done, but he could swear that some of the morphing triangles would briefly settle in human shapes. He typed in Al's current coordinates, saving them, then ordered him to return.

Kiyra curled her body. Her expression was much warmer than any she wore while awake, sometimes borderline cold from constantly analyzing... who knows? It was hard to imagine her actually relaxed, even if they were to join the upper-middle class and purchase their own property in the tree tops. No doubt, she'd find something to invest her focused energy on. Sorry to have to wake her.

5.5

Tables and banners for local businesses filled the gymnasium. People from all over the small town approached the tables. The middle-aged and older portion - which was about half of the crowd - lined up orderly for an interview opportunity, while those just younger than Iyree took a more free-for-all approach. 

Iyree sat behind his table, leaning back on his chair's back legs. He held a smirk and fidgeted with his lucky penny between his fingers. 

A strong-built man with a firm brow over his respirator, probably a few years younger, sat across from Iyree. His name was Morgan.

"So," Iyree said, "you ready to catch some bad guys?"

"I don't understand," Morgan said. "You're going to capture everyone whose out of jobs because of the overgrowth?"

Iyree let his chair fall onto its from legs. "No. The bad guys. Criminals. You know?"

Morgan shut the portfolio in his lap, bringing it to his side. "You could be talking about me in a few weeks."

"Not if you work for me. Heh heh," Iyree said, forcing a sly chuckle.

Morgan stood and left. "No..."

Iyree watched him disappear into the crowd, holding the side of his head with elbow on the table. A young woman in a pinstriped suit carrying a portfolio tapped the back of the chair across from him as she walked past.

Maybe he should've been more specific with his banner. Taped to the front of his table were two sheets of paper with 'Rise with the Pheonix' printed in bold black on them. "Yeah..." He watched his fingers thread his penny around them. "That doesn't make much sense, I guess." Maybe he should just pack up now. Tomorrow he could have a better sign made.

His penny reflected something. Along his line of tables, a bald man with a comically bushy mustache sticking out either side of his respirator shook a woman's hand. 

Dr. Ventimiglia?

So he's still looking for work. Iyree hoped he wasn't desperate enough to apply to work for him. That would be awkward...

A lanky man with bed-head hair sat stiff in the chair. His dress shirt's armpits were soaked.

Iyree offered a smile - which he felt was warm- but soon reminded himself that his mouth wasn't visible. So he offered an introduction of himself.

The guy just nodded in response. Iyree maybe caught a few syllables of mumbling through the guy's respirator, but the crowd noise made it hard to tell.

"I'm sorry," Iyree said, "What's your name?"

"C-Colm," the guy said.

"Hi, Colm," Iyree said. "So you a thief too?"

Colm jumped and mumbled in defense. 

Iyree sighed. He didn't get the reference then... "That your resume?" Iyree nodded to the portfolio in Colm's lap.

Colm's attention shot to it. It took him two attempts to open it and offer the single sheet of paper.

Iyree scanned it. "Very nice," Iyree said, setting it on the table. "Do you have any questions for me to start off?"

"U-um," Colm said. "What's-uh..." He clicked his pen. "What's your company?"

"Sure," Iyree said. "I'm licensed as a bounty hunter for the state."

"So you're making money on putting poor people in jail?" Colm said.

Iyree slammed his chair forward and stood, pointing past Colm. "Get out."

Colm jumped and dashed away.

Iyree sighed. So it's okay to try and make a living by robbing people at gunpoint? He sat back down, holding his forehead. Maybe it's time to call it.

Someone sat in the chair.

"Hello-" Iyree said. Kiyra?

Iyree jumped. She looked so professional in her grey suit and light blue shirt underneath. And her hair... She sat tall and cross-legged, portfolio ready to receive notes.

Iyree jumped to his feet. "Excuse me," Iyree said.

The familiar way the corner of her eyes creased told him she was smiling as she bashfully glanced down for a second. Her brow furrowed as she noticed his signs. "Can I rise with you?"

Iyree's penny dropped from his fingers, his eyes tall. "Uh-" he said.

"Yeah..." he said, dragging his penny across the table as he sat back in his chair, rocking it on its back legs again. "It sounded cooler in my head."

She chuckled.

"How long've you been here?" Iyree said, playing with his penny in his fingers again.

"Just got here," Kiyra said.

"Ah, where're you applying?" Iyree said.

"Depends," she said.

"I heard MedTech's got a booth across the corner," he said.

She turned to look back through the crowd.

"Hey. Sorry to hear about your dad," he said. "You'd think they'd need doctors in his feild of research since the overgrowth."

"It's not too bad," Kiyra said. She returned her attention to Iyree, took a quick scan through both corners of her eyes while leaning forward. "Don't tell anyone, but his work gave everyone a pretty nice relief check."

Iyree caught his penny and leaned in.

"My dad emailed Saion Sunday night," Kiyra said.

"The founder of Ulkical?" Iyree said. "She's like a trillionaire."

Kiyra nodded once. "The next morning, twenty thousand dollars was deposited in everyone's account who was laid off."

"Nice," Iyree said.

"Yeah," Kiyra said. "Then yesterday, a hand-written letter from Saion comes in the mail, replying to my dad's email."

"Classy," Iyree said. "What did he tell her in his email?"

"Just that it's hard to find work," she said. "He wasn't mad at her or anything though."

"Well, glad to hear," Iyree said.

"Speaking of finding work..." she said, pulling her resume from a sleeve in her portfolio and handing it to him.

Iyree stared at it, sneaking at what it said despite the intimidation he felt. "You don't have to apply to be nice," he said.

"I know. I'm not," she said, setting her resume on the table.

An young woman limped toward them, and stood behind Kiyra, eyes staring without a hint of patience at Iyree. She wreaked of perfume.

He pretended to not notice her. 

"Okay, your hired," he said to Kiyra. He leaned closer to her. "Do you mind coming with me."

Kiyra's brow furrowed, head cocked sideways.

Iyree gestured his head to point to the woman behind her as inconspicuously as possible.

"Okay..." Kiyra said.

Iyree led her to stand with him, joining her out the corner of his booth. They left the gymnasium.

6

Engines hummed under spotlights far ahead in the clearing. The boxy shape of their motors, and lumpy coiled tubes that ran in all directions, were discernible from just inside past the chopped roots. The roots in the clearing's floor had been chopped to form holes, big enough for Iyree or Kiyra to squeeze down, throughout where the tubes were once threaded in.

"I don't suppose Golmiyle is wanted for water farming," Iyree said. This part of the job was always so tedious, the searching and running into deadends...

They approached the machines, covering their ears as the hums became almost too loud to shout over. A man holding a clipboard and pen tended to a wall of meters on one of the engines. Three others hauled tubes toward a fifth man, who was chopping roots near a hole in the floor with an ax. Each man wore a matching grey jump suit, and similar boots.

The man reading the meters turned his attention to Iyree and Kiyra as they approached him, then rushed closer. "Hey," he shouted, giving a large hand wave to shoo them off. "You can't be here." He gabbed Iyree's upper arm, leading them away.

"We're working with the police," Iyree said. "Can I ask you something?"

Once the noise dimmed enough for them to uncover their ears, the man released Iyree. "Make it fast," the man said.

Kiyra already had Al's screen displaying Golmiyle's picture to the man. "Have you seen him?" she said.

The man shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Has anyone come across here?" Iyree said.

"Probably," the man said. "Our cams always pick up wanderers during a job. I really don't have time." Waving them off, he rushed back to the wall of meters.

Kiyra was staring at Al's screen. "Nice," she said, tapping it. She crossed her legs, sitting down with elbows propped on her knees. "These guys are carrying a wireless hot spot. And the password to their network is 'password'."

"So now we can hack into their camera footage," Iyree said. "Nice."

"No. I can't do that," she said without giving up her focus on the screen. "Also, that's illegal. No, I'm checking the extensive check on Golmiyle."

"Awe," Iyree said, sitting by her to see the screen. "You were so cool just a second ago."

She looked at him through the corner of her eyes, jabbing her elbow at his abdomen; a predictable move.

He caught it, pulling her off balance at him. 

Her other arm flew away to counter balance, but failed to keep her from landing over his knees. She blindly reached for his head, her palm mashing the exposed parts of his face as he winced away. A firm pat to his temple pushed him enough to take his balance.

He released her arm, catching himself by pressing a palm to the root floor beside him.

She dashed back to sit up tall on her heels, facing him from the side. "I'm calling HR," she said flatly, already entranced with the screen.

Iyree smiled.

Her eyes scanned side to side. "Nothing useful."

"This is going to be another long one..." Iyree said, standing, and helping her up with a hand. "Including the one we ran into with Foss, their are four documented decaelum nests this side of town, right? Maybe we'd have better luck staking them out."

Kiyra nodded once.

7

"Dendrite one just picked up movement," Kiyra said.

Iyree had just finished pulling the last zip tie tight around a root to secure the third dendrite in place - a tube-shaped device with small antennae around its head.

"It looks human," Kiyra said.

Iyree felt a burst of nervous energy.

They both followed Al's lead toward it, climbing through the tangled terrain.

An alert beeped from the screen, notifying them of another source of movement.

They stopped as Kiyra looked at the screen. "Behind us," she said.

Roots creaked and snapped like branches far in the dark behind, getting closer.

"Which way?" Iyree said.

"It's human as well," Kiyra said. "Looking at his effect on the environment though, his frame should indicate more strength than it does."

"So a wingless out on a hunt?" Iyree said. Decaelum that lost their wings - or maybe born without them - were rarely crossed.

"There's only a ten percent chance..." Kiyra said.

What must have been a tree trunk-sized root bursted, and broke through smaller roots before splashing into the water below.

Iyree could swear drops of water hit the back of his hand from the splash, even from such a far distance. His heart pounded as he froze gazing toward the approaching sound.

"That was a big one..." Kiyra said.

"Good enough," Iyree said.

They both sprint-climbed through the roots, weaving and swinging.

Al's screen gave a descending alarm tone, indicating something Al was connected to became disconnected.

Iyree's respirator's fan kicked in for the filtering mechanism to keep up with the exchanges of his heavy breaths. Some of the roots his hands and feet connected with started to tremble and flex, like a tied rope being pulled from another end; it was catching up.

Iyree glanced at Kiyra beside him. The edge of Al's light let shadow cover most of her figure. Roots snapped closer behind. Iyree smirked, reaching to his dart gun at his chest. He drew it, flipping in a spiral, using his off-hand as a fulcrum, gripping a root. His feet landed against some roots above, wedging his body upside down, facing the dark where the decaelum was coming from with gun held straight ahead.

A red light flashed sideways toward Kiyra. 

Iyree fired three rounds at it.

It continued, shards of wood flying at him from the roots the decaelum tore apart.

Iyree tucked his legs, letting his body swing back downward. He used the circular momentum to jump-start his climb at it. He continued to fire.

The red light approached Kiyra.

"Kiyra!" Iyree said.

With a wince, Kiyra looked behind her. She jumped at the sight of the decaelum's now visible silhouette, and descended, allowing gravity to help her slip through the roots faster.

The decaelum dug after her.

"Hey!" Iyree shouted. "Over here!" He didn't seem to phase it.

Iyree dove down the gap the decaelum tore open, unloading the rest of his darts at it, three of them sticking.

Like tending to an itch, the decaelum wiped the darts from its body.

Iyree landed feet first on its upper back.

The decaelum easily caught itself, recovering from the extra weight, barely missing a beat of digging.

Dropping his gun, Iyree locked his elbow around its neck, squeezing, and pulling up toward its head.

The decaelum gagged, but didn't react.

"Come on," Iyree said. "Doesn't this hurt? Come after me!"

Iyree tried twisting its neck to no success. It was too strong. He lost his bearing from the decaelum's jerking movement, getting poked in the cheek by something metallic and pointed. He squinted, pulling his head away, banging the back of it against a root.

The decaelum grabbed his arm, and yanked him under. His head hit another root, turning everything black.

8

A rough surface aggravated the widespread aches and stinging pain throughout Iyree's body.

Kiyra's scream curled his blood. She was close.

His heart pounded. He moaned, turning from his back, and pressing himself up. His eyes opened to a dim blur of brown and shadow. He gagged, and would've puked if his stomach had the food or liquid to. Stumbling to get his balance on his feet, he headed toward her voice. "K-Kiyra..." he said.

The surroundings sharpened... Under the only source of light, a man knelt over Kiyra, back to Iyree, as two decaelum restrained her. She screamed and thrashed to get from their grip.

What did Iyree get her into now? His stomach knotted, body trembling, as he bent forward and gagged again. 

Something scrolled away the light sideways, blocking it. Another decaelum?

Iyree lost his balance from the quick change in light, collapsing to his hands and knees. "Kill..." he said. "I'll-"

The decaelum grabbed him, carrying him toward the light, to Kiyra.

Blood covered her face. Her teeth were clenched on a piece of root. 

The man kneeling over her's arms obstructed the view of one of her eyes. He grabbed a scalpel from beside him, brought it to her cheek.

She screamed louder.

Iyree struggled in the decaelum's arms. "Kill-I'll kill you-" It was like being clamped in a vice.

The man waved his hand to shew them away. "Ya'ock toll," he said over Iyree's yelling.

The decaelum brought Iyree back from the light, untroubled by his constant wriggling and biting.

Stones rested on Iyree's scalp, somehow gripping it like a set of fingers and a palm, and pulling it from the decaelum's arm, his teeth tearing flesh on the way.

His own face appeared in front of him. Paralyzed by the sight, he calmed. His eyes' pupils were different sizes, indicating a concussion.

The mirror scrolled away, resting on an image of Kiyra laying unconscious where she layed now, with large wood shards protruding from her eye. The man kneeling over her now, was rushing to her with surgical equipment.

The image faded as the stones lifted their grip from his head. He found himself gazing across a dimly lit cave. Decaelum stood throughout, in the shadow like large bats behaving like humans. Some talked under Kiyra's screams, others stared at her with concern. 

A male passed from behind, walking toward the group. The flesh of one of his hands and parts of his body was covered by overgrown bone. It seemed to originate from inside his joints and grow toward the rest of him, possibly to the point of encasing him like a crab's shell.

Iyree's eyelids felt heavy, his body loosing tension, even under threat of Kiyra's screaming. His eyes shut.

9

He fell asleep?

The deadbeat fell asleep while she was screaming in pain?!

Opening his eyes, Iyree jumped from his back into a crouch, heart racing. Kiyra's bare feet beside him took his attention from the corner of his vision. He turned to her, and dropped to his knees.

She lay on her back asleep, wrapped in a crude wool quilt. 

A gauze sheet covered her eye, strapped in place. Her skin was blotched with purple and green around it. 

Held by the pinching weight of a garbage can's lid, an IV bag dangled at her other side. Its tube spiraled to the needle inserted in her elbow.

Iyree bowed his head, trembling, resting on her abdomen. The calm rhythm of her breaths against his cheek twisted his stomach.

What did Iyree do to her?

... He put her in danger to soften the blow of his own stupidity from himself. His father's bad instincts - his twin sister's, his older brothers'... Iyree inherited them. The same instincts that killed them are his now. That's why he hired her two years ago. That's why this happened. That's why it's impossible for him to make it up to her.

"I feel so bad-" a man said.

Iyree shot his attention to him.

"-she had to experience so much pain," the man said.

The man was a fyomen; his hair was made of seven thick strands that covered his scalp from ear to ear and ran backward past his shoulders, and his eyes were encircled with an intricate pattern of dark freckles, contrasting his otherwise fair complexion. His slender build - judging from the narrowness of his shoulders under his cloak - matched the fairness of his skin, typical of a fyomen.

A young decaelum woman stood behind his shoulder, holding her hands behind her waist.

Iyree stood on-guard, surpassing both of their heights, fists clenched at his sides.

"I understand your caution," the man said, crossing his arms. "I want to explain that it was my fault Mr. Golmiyle was forced to operate under such harsh conditions. It's my fault thy- I mean - your partner was in so much unnecessary pain. I was running late bringing back medical supplies to replenish our inventory. She's okay now though."

Tension started to leave Iyree. Whoever they are, they went through the trouble of keeping Kiyra and him alive despite how much easier it would've been to just let them die.

The fyomen's nostrils flared with a sigh. "I'm Pa-Balam, by the way," he said.

"Iyree," Iyree said.

"May I inquire of thy- your partner's?" Pa-Balam said.

"Her name?" Iyree said.

Pa-Balam nodded.

"Kiyra," Iyree said.

The decaelum woman behind Pa-Balam frowned in shy sadness at the ground, hanging her head in her shoulder. She was an unusual sight; Iyree couldn't recall ever seeing a female without a flooding swarm of other decaelum blurring her figure, even if standing still like this one. The females' faces also bore bat-like features as the males. Her somber expression muffled them more than the rabid expressions he was used to decaelum having.

"This is Nyomada," Pa-Balam said. "She helped her brother check on you every few hours to make sure your concussion didn't progress to something more serious."

"Mm-can we leave?" Iyree said. "She needs to get to a hospital."

"Sorry," Pa-Balam said. "We're over a mile under water."

"Well, you got us here somehow, right?" Iyree said.

"No, I didn't," Pa-Balam said. "Mkubsia 'the Alpha' saved you from a rogue hijacked decaelum."

"So have him do it?" Iyree said.

"Thy partner is in no shape to travel through that terrain," Pa-Balam said.

Iyree's body tensed, fists tightening. "Well you better do something," he said.

Pa-Balam took to his knees, bowing. "Forgive me," he said. "I just can't do anything more for thy partner's condition."

Iyree took a step back, opening his hands. He wasn't expecting that. This guy seemed sincere. Something about him...

Iyree looked at Kiyra. Her face barely winced of pain as she slept. "She'll never see again, will she," Iyree said.

"I'm afraid her eye sustained too much trauma: Mr. Golmiyle couldn't save it," Pa-Balam said.

Iyree's eyes and cheeks felt warm.

"She'll still have sight," Pa-Balam said, "but her depth of field will be hindered-"

"I'm hungry," Iyree said, finishing his thought with a sniff. He rubbed the tears from his cheeks.

A delicate, three-fingered hand held a lidded bowl out from behind him. He accepted it, turning around to follow along the reach of the slender arm. 

The membranous wing spread slightly from along Nyomada's under arm as she withdrew back behind Pa-Balam - who was now standing. She used it's 'fingers' to help dash away, disappearing in the darkness.

The bowl's warmth took Iyree's attention. He removed the lid, exposing a stubby, wooden fork resting on separated halves of a roasted fish. Face, fins, gills, all but the guts were still attached, not what he was used to. The stare of its dead eyes would've been enough for him to slam the lid back over it, but he was so hungry.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he set the lid beside him, opposite Kiyra, then reached for the fork and shoveled the meat in his mouth. It was so tender, like a good steak. And sweet. The smokey flavor and flaky texture of the skin added so much depth too.

After chowing through almost a half the fish, he froze for a second, and glanced through the steam toward Pa-Balam.

The fyomen sat on a metal stool, resting an ankle over knee, operating a holographic device. He held the flat screen delicately with several of his fingertips around its sides. 

Knowing Pa-Balam wasn't studying him while he ate, Iyree returned to his meal.

"Mm..." Pa-Balam said. "Yes, I'm sorry. There just doesn't seem to be a diplomatic solution for acquiring a proper shuttle for Miss Kiyra."

"What is this?" Iyree said, shoving he next bite in his mouth.

Pa-Balam peered into the bowl from his stool. "Smells like some kind of bass," he said.

"Aw man," Iyree said. "I love bass now."

Pa-Balam chuckled. "Interesting how fasting for just a few days changes our perception of things like flavor," he said.

A few days? "How long have I been out?" Iyree said.

"Well," Pa-Balam said, sliding his screen into his cloak. "Thou were on and off for about thirty-nine hours."

Almost two days? "What time is it?" Iyree said.

"Your clock would read about ten at night," Pa-Balam said.

Swallowing his last bite, Iyree rested the bowl in his lap, then held the fork by its tip in his mouth. It still tasted like the fish. "You're from the settlement, aren't you?" Iyree said.

Pa-Balam nodded. "I suppose my vernacular of your language sounded strange enough to give it away. Us fyomen value precision and clarity over commonality - though it's probably too off-putting enough for native-speakers to prove productive outside certain circles. Very useful in academics and law though."

Iyree found himself staring down at Kiyra's face. He felt guilty for enjoying a meal. Because it still held flavor, he removed the fork from his mouth, tossing it into the bowl.

At least it didn't feel like the air in this cave was corrupted from the overgrowth like the atmosphere above the surface; Kiyra would be safe from that.

"The Alpha?" Iyree said.

"It's crude to say," Pa-Balam said, "but you remember the 'bone-sprouted' decaelum, I'm sure."

"You mean the big guy with overgrown bone tissue poking out?" Iyree said.

Pa-Balam pinched his scalp between his three center hair follicles, rubbing his index and thumb on it. "Please be careful of your descriptions," he said. "Most of the decaelum here may not speak thy language, but they have the sharpest intuition for contempt."

10

Fish scattered as Iyree approached the dome of water encircling the cave's mouth. Hardly any light made it this far down through the lake, or maybe the two lanterns' light just made it around the bend behind. It was amazing though.

Iyree slunk his fingers across the barrier. A freezing chill traveled down his arm and through his spine. Once his whole hand was submerged, he stirred the water, then withdrew. His hand dried almost completely, like the water clung to itself, and wouldn't follow him. Must be fyomen technology.

Which, now that he thought about it, made this situation even stranger. Let alone a nest of decaelum that assisted a couple of humans; that fed on fish; and allegedly apposed one of their own kind to save Kiyra and him. Then there's this?

He noticed mumbling from behind. He walked toward the bend. Within it, Pa-Balam sat against the cave's wall, hood of his cloak over his head, just within the edge of a lantern's light. From the sound of pencil against paper, his knees were bent to support a book he was writing in.

"Zeal..." Pa-Balam mumbled a few times, like he was thinking of his next words. "Zeal... will not kiss my feet... Not before knowledge... secures my... my... understanding." His head lowered to his knees as he wrote.

Pa-Balam being here... And bringing supplies to Golmiyle? It was hard to believe that decaelum would just line up to receive brain implants and get controlled by a human through a remote, and that the fyomen would help. Were the police wrong with their intel?

Iyree passed Pa-Balam, walking into the light, glancing at Kiyra still lying asleep. Movement beyond the second lantern took his attention. What must've been a dozen or more decaelum stared at him, their marred expressions just showing through the shadow. Iyree's body tensed.



Author's Note

Early Draft. Some grammar may be confusing. Contains cliche imagery and descriptions, slanted dialogue, etc. Constructive feedback is encouraged. Thanks and hope you enjoy!