"D!"
Castiel's scream echoed into the abyss.
Then there was nothing.
No answer.
No movement.
Only darkness.
Castiel remained on his knees at the edge of the massive hole, Nyra's arms still wrapped tightly around his chest.
He stared down.
Waiting.
Listening.
Hoping to hear anything.
A shout.
A voice.
The sound of David or June hitting something below.
Anything that told him they were still there.
But the abyss gave him nothing back.
"D!"
His voice echoed downward again.
David's name returned to him in fragments.
Then faded.
Castiel pulled against Nyra.
"Let me go."
"No."
"Nyra."
She tightened her grip.
"No."
Castiel tried to push himself forward.
Loose dirt crumbled beneath his hand and disappeared over the edge.
Nyra dragged him back.
"Stop!"
"They're down there!"
"I know!"
"Then let me go!"
"So you can do what?"
Castiel turned toward her.
The tears were still there.
Nyra had never seen him like this.
The calmness was gone.
The control that seemed to follow Castiel everywhere had disappeared with David and June into that hole.
"I can reach them."
"You don't know that."
"I can try."
"You'll fall!"
"I don't care!"
Nyra stared at him.
Castiel turned back toward the abyss.
His chest rose and fell rapidly.
"I have to get down there."
"How?"
"I'll find a way."
"You were about to jump."
Castiel said nothing.
Nyra's expression hardened.
"You don't even know how deep it is."
"I said I'll find a way."
"By throwing yourself after them?"
Castiel pulled against her arms again.
Nyra refused to release him.
"David wouldn't want you doing that."
Castiel went still.
Only for a moment.
Then his jaw tightened.
"Don't."
Nyra softened.
"Castiel—"
"Don't tell me what D would want."
The words came out quietly this time.
That somehow made them hurt more.
Footsteps pounded behind them.
"Castiel!"
Lucian reached them first.
Mira was only a few steps behind.
Both stopped when they saw the hole.
Neither spoke.
The center of the clearing was gone.
Where the Verdant Maneater had fallen only minutes earlier, an enormous jagged opening now split the earth.
Half of the dead plant had disappeared with it.
Roots hung from the broken edges.
Chunks of soil occasionally broke loose and tumbled into the darkness.
Lucian slowly approached.
"Where are they?"
Nyra looked at him.
Her face answered before she spoke.
"They fell."
Lucian stared into the opening.
"Both?"
Nyra nodded.
"David grabbed June."
Mira stepped closer.
"Did you see them hit anything?"
"No."
"Did you hear anything?"
Nyra shook her head.
"No."
Mira's eyes moved toward Castiel.
He hadn't taken his eyes from the hole.
Lucian crouched several feet from the edge.
"David!"
His voice disappeared into the darkness.
"June!"
Nothing.
Lucian waited.
"David!"
Still nothing.
Mira removed her communicator.
"Gamma Two to Gamma One."
Static answered.
She changed channels.
"David, respond."
Nothing.
"June, respond."
Static.
Mira tried again.
"Gamma Two to Gamma One. David, do you copy?"
No answer.
Castiel reached for his own communicator.
"D."
Static.
He waited.
"D, answer me."
Nothing.
His grip tightened around the communicator.
"Come on."
Static hissed through the speaker.
"D."
Nyra finally loosened her arms around him.
Castiel didn't move toward the edge again.
He simply sat there.
Listening.
Lucian looked toward Mira.
"Could their comms have been damaged?"
"Possible."
"Or they're too deep," Nyra said.
Castiel looked at her.
Nyra released him completely and pulled the terrain scanner from her equipment.
She crawled carefully toward the edge.
Castiel immediately grabbed her arm.
"Careful."
Nyra looked at his hand around her wrist.
Then at him.
"I am."
Castiel released her.
Nyra activated the scanner.
A pale blue light swept into the opening.
The holographic display flickered.
She adjusted the range.
The image expanded.
Then distorted.
"Come on..."
Lucian moved closer.
"What do you have?"
"Rock."
"That's helpful."
Nyra ignored him.
She adjusted the scanner again.
The blue projection pushed deeper.
The display filled with irregular shapes.
Stone.
Roots.
Broken earth.
Then the signal weakened.
Nyra frowned.
"I can't get the bottom."
Castiel immediately looked at her.
"Why?"
"Too much interference."
"How deep?"
"I don't know."
"Guess."
"Castiel—"
"Guess."
Nyra stared at the scanner.
"I can't."
Castiel looked back into the abyss.
Mira crouched beside him.
"We don't know they're dead."
Castiel's eyes remained fixed below.
"We don't know they're alive."
"No."
Mira didn't try to soften it.
"We don't."
Castiel finally looked at her.
Mira held his gaze.
"So we find out."
Lucian stood.
"She's right."
He drew the Bloodcrest Blade.
"We search the perimeter."
Nyra nodded.
"There could be another way down."
Castiel looked toward her.
"A cave."
"Maybe."
"A fissure," Mira added. "Anything connecting to whatever is beneath us."
Lucian looked around the destroyed clearing.
"We spread out."
"No."
Castiel stood.
The others looked at him.
His voice was still strained, but some of the control had returned.
"We stay within sight."
Lucian nodded.
"Agreed."
Castiel looked down one last time.
The darkness remained unchanged.
"D..."
No answer.
His jaw tightened.
Then he turned away.
"Find me a way down."
The four members of Gamma Squad began searching.
Behind them, the abyss remained silent.
Far below the clearing...
Something moved.
David opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he didn't understand what he was seeing.
Purple.
Faint violet light shimmered somewhere nearby.
Then darkness.
His vision blurred.
Focused.
Blurred again.
Pain arrived next.
Everywhere.
His back.
His ribs.
His shoulder.
His legs.
David tried to breathe deeply.
Immediately regretted it.
"Ah..."
He stopped moving.
Memory returned in pieces.
The clearing.
The tremor.
June falling.
The ledge.
Castiel reaching for him.
Their fingers missing.
Falling.
"Cass!"
David jerked upright.
Pain tore through his body.
He collapsed back down.
Something beneath him shifted.
Not stone.
David froze.
His hand moved across the surface underneath him.
Thick.
Fibrous.
Uneven.
A root.
David blinked.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the faint purple glow.
Roots surrounded him.
Hundreds of them.
Broken sections of the Verdant Maneater's enormous underground root network had collapsed into the darkness with them.
Some were piled beneath David.
Others were twisted together against the cavern floor.
Massive vines lay across them.
Chunks of the Maneater's trunk had fallen among the roots.
David looked beneath himself.
Layers.
Roots.
Vines.
Plant tissue.
Loose earth.
All piled together.
They had fallen onto the Maneater.
David slowly understood.
The plant had fallen first.
Its enormous root network had collapsed beneath them.
Layer after layer had broken their fall.
Not enough to make it painless.
But enough.
David's eyes widened.
"June."
He turned his head.
"June?"
Nothing.
David forced himself onto one elbow.
"June!"
His voice echoed through the darkness.
No answer.
Fear cut through the pain.
David pushed himself upright.
"June!"
He looked across the tangled mass of roots.
Then he saw a boot.
David moved.
Every part of his body protested.
He ignored it.
"June!"
He crawled across the roots.
A thick vine shifted beneath his knee.
David nearly slipped between two massive sections of the Maneater.
He caught himself and kept going.
"Come on."
He reached the boot.
June lay several feet lower, partially buried beneath loose soil, shredded vines, and crimson petals.
He wasn't moving.
David's stomach tightened.
"June."
He pulled the debris away.
"June!"
David reached him.
He grabbed June's shoulder.
"Wake up."
Nothing.
"June."
David pressed two fingers against his neck.
For one terrible second, he couldn't find anything.
Then—
A pulse.
David closed his eyes.
Relief hit him so hard that his shoulders dropped.
"Okay."
He breathed.
"Okay."
June was alive.
David opened his eyes.
Above them was nothing but darkness.
No daylight.
No visible opening.
No sign of Gamma.
Only the shattered remains of the Verdant Maneater beneath them and an underground world neither of them had known existed.
David stayed beside June.
For several seconds, he did nothing except keep two fingers against the side of June's neck.
The pulse remained steady.
That was enough.
David finally allowed himself to breathe.
His vision flickered.
System:
Injury Assessment Initiated
A blue window appeared before him.
System:
Multiple Contusions Detected
Muscular Trauma Detected
Minor Rib Fractures Detected
Left Shoulder Strain Detected
System:
Status — Stable
David stared at the assessment.
Could have been worse.
A lot worse.
Considering how far they had fallen, he wasn't entirely sure how either of them was alive.
His eyes moved across the enormous pile beneath them.
The answer surrounded him.
Roots thicker than his body had collapsed into one another, forming a tangled mountain across the cavern floor. Vines and softer sections of the Maneater's trunk were crushed between them, while loose earth filled the spaces between the larger roots.
They hadn't struck the bottom in one impact.
They had fallen through layers of the Maneater.
Roots had snapped beneath them.
Vines had bent.
Sections of the dead plant had collapsed under their weight.
Each impact had slowed them before the next.
David looked at June.
"Lucky bastard."
June didn't move.
David reached over and tapped his cheek.
"June."
Nothing.
He tapped him harder.
"June."
June's face tightened.
A low groan escaped him.
David stopped.
"Come on."
June's eyes slowly opened.
For several seconds, he stared upward without moving.
Then he blinked.
Once.
Twice.
His eyes shifted toward David.
"...Are we dead?"
David almost laughed.
"No."
June closed his eyes again.
"Give it a minute."
"June."
"I'm checking."
"Checking what?"
"Whether being dead hurts this much."
David shook his head.
"Then we're definitely alive."
June groaned and slowly tried to sit up.
He made it halfway.
Pain immediately changed his mind.
"Nope."
He dropped back onto the roots.
"Bad idea."
"Take it slow."
"Could've mentioned that before I tried."
"I thought it was obvious."
June turned his head toward him.
"You're becoming increasingly unpleasant."
David smiled.
"Can you move your arms?"
June raised one.
Then the other.
"Unfortunately."
"Legs?"
June slowly bent one knee.
Then the other.
"Still attached."
"Anything feel broken?"
"Everything."
"Seriously."
June took a moment.
He flexed his hands.
Moved his shoulders.
Slowly rotated one ankle.
Then the other.
"I don't think so."
David nodded.
"Good."
June looked around.
His expression slowly changed.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
That got his attention.
June pushed himself onto his elbows despite the pain.
He looked around properly for the first time.
The faint violet glow wasn't coming from their equipment.
Small clusters of strange fungi grew between the broken roots around them, their translucent caps producing just enough purple light to reveal the immediate area.
Beyond that...
Darkness.
June stared upward.
"How far did we fall?"
"Far."
"Helpful."
"I was unconscious too."
June looked above them again.
There was no visible opening.
No daylight.
Nothing that indicated the surface even existed.
"That's not good."
"No."
June's eyes moved toward the roots beneath them.
Then the shredded vines.
Then one enormous section of green trunk lying nearby.
His brow furrowed.
"Is that..."
"The Maneater."
June stared.
A torn crimson petal lay across his legs.
He slowly picked it up.
The realization came.
"We landed on it?"
"Part of it."
David gestured toward the surrounding pile.
"The root network collapsed with us."
June looked down.
Several enormous roots beneath them had split completely apart.
Others were crushed against one another.
A massive vine had been flattened beneath the section where June had landed.
June stared for several seconds.
"That broke our fall."
"Looks like it."
June looked around at the destroyed remains.
Then toward David.
"So the giant murderous flower saved our lives."
David considered that.
"After trying to kill us."
"Still counts."
"No, it doesn't."
June dropped the petal.
"I'm counting it."
David carefully stood.
His legs nearly gave beneath him.
He caught a root.
June immediately noticed.
"You good?"
"Yeah."
"That didn't look like yeah."
David waited for the dizziness to pass.
"I'm fine."
June stared at him.
"You know, people who are actually fine usually don't have to say it that much."
David ignored him.
He reached for his communicator.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
David waited.
"Gamma One to Gamma. Do you copy?"
Nothing.
June's humor disappeared.
David tried again.
"Cass, do you copy?"
Only static answered.
He changed frequencies.
"Nyra?"
Nothing.
"Lucian?"
Static.
"Mira?"
No response.
June reached for his own communicator.
"Gamma Six to anyone who isn't currently trapped under half a planet."
Static.
June waited.
"Come on..."
He tried again.
"Gamma Six to Gamma. Do you copy?"
Nothing.
June slowly lowered the communicator.
"Rock?"
"Probably."
David looked upward.
"We're too deep."
June followed his gaze.
"We don't even know where up is."
David pointed.
"That way."
"You know what I mean."
David almost smiled.
Then he remembered something.
The cores.
His hand immediately went to the reinforced collection case attached to his equipment.
Still there.
He opened it.
Purple light spilled across his face.
One Epic core.
Then the second.
Both intact.
June leaned closer.
"Please tell me those survived."
"They did."
June nodded approvingly.
"Good."
David looked at the empty third slot.
The final core had still been embedded in the Maneater when the clearing collapsed.
June noticed.
"Two out of three."
"Better than none."
"Considering we fell through the planet getting them..."
June paused.
"We're charging extra."
David closed the case.
"To who?"
June thought about it.
"Good point."
David checked the rest of his equipment.
One field light.
Water.
Emergency rations.
Medical supplies.
Climbing cord.
His Claw Gauntlets were scratched but functional.
June checked his own gear.
The Kinetic Baton had survived.
He extended it.
The weapon locked into place.
Then he activated the blade extension.
The narrow energy blade appeared along its side.
June nodded.
"Still works."
"Turn it off."
June deactivated the blade.
They checked their packs next.
Several items were missing.
Some had probably been torn away during the fall.
But enough remained to matter.
David pulled out his field light and activated it.
A powerful white beam cut through the darkness.
Both of them stopped.
The light traveled across the cavern.
And kept going.
Broken roots filled the immediate area, but beyond them stretched an enormous underground chamber.
Stone formations rose from the floor.
Massive columns disappeared upward into darkness.
Some were natural.
Others were wrapped in roots descending from somewhere far above.
A narrow stream of black water crossed the cavern floor several hundred feet away, reflecting the beam of David's light.
Clusters of violet fungi grew along the stone.
Farther away, patches of pale vegetation clung to the cavern walls.
June slowly stood.
This time he managed to remain upright.
"That's..."
He searched for the word.
"...big."
David raised the light.
The beam climbed.
Higher.
Higher.
It never reached the ceiling.
June stared upward.
"Really big."
Their voices returned from the darkness.
Big...
Big...
Big...
Then silence reclaimed the cavern.
David swept the light across the walls.
No obvious path upward.
No visible opening.
No sign of where they had fallen from.
June activated his own field light.
A second beam joined David's.
"Maybe there's a slope."
"Maybe."
"Or a tunnel back up."
"Maybe."
June glanced at him.
"You're overflowing with optimism."
"We're alive."
June stopped.
David looked at him.
For once, June didn't have a joke ready.
His eyes moved upward again.
"We almost weren't."
David understood.
The humor had been keeping June moving.
Keeping him from thinking about the fall.
About Castiel's hand missing David's.
About the darkness swallowing them.
David remembered the last thing he had seen above.
Castiel.
Reaching.
"Cass..."
June looked at him.
"They'll be looking."
David nodded.
"I know."
"Nyra too."
"Yeah."
"Lucian and Mira."
"I know."
June was quiet for a moment.
Then he looked toward the darkness ahead.
"So we make their job easier."
David turned toward him.
"We find a way up."
June extended the Kinetic Baton and rested it against his shoulder.
"And preferably before something down here realizes we're edible."
David raised his field light.
"There's the June I know."
"Fear is temporary."
June stepped carefully down from the pile of roots.
"Sarcasm is forever."
David followed.
They reached the cavern floor.
David's boots touched solid stone.
He stopped.
Something about it felt strange.
He lowered the light.
The stone beneath them was dark and smooth in places, worn by water and time.
Nothing unusual.
Not yet.
David looked back.
The collapsed remains of the Verdant Maneater towered behind them.
It was almost impossible to believe they had fallen through all of that.
June came alongside him.
"Which way?"
David swept the light slowly across the cavern.
Left.
Nothing but rock.
Right.
More roots and distant water.
Ahead...
Darkness.
David checked his communicator again.
Static.
"First we find higher ground."
June nodded.
"And then?"
"We get Gamma back."
David started forward.
Behind them, the shattered roots of the Verdant Maneater disappeared into darkness.
Ahead, the cavern stretched farther than either of their lights could reach.
Neither of them knew what waited beneath H-09.
Or how long it had been waiting there.
Castiel moved quickly through the ruined clearing.
Too quickly.
Nyra noticed almost immediately.
He wasn't searching so much as attacking the problem.
Every opening between the shattered roots drew his attention. Every depression in the earth made him change direction. He checked behind the remains of the Maneater, along the fractured edge of the clearing, and beneath sections of root that had been torn from the ground during the battle.
Nothing.
No tunnel.
No slope.
No second opening.
Just broken earth and the dense jungle surrounding them.
"Castiel."
He ignored her.
Nyra followed.
"Castiel."
"I heard you."
"Then slow down."
He stepped over a shattered root.
"We don't have time to slow down."
Nyra stopped.
"You don't know that."
Castiel turned.
"Exactly."
The words came sharper than she expected.
He looked toward the enormous hole behind them.
"We don't know anything."
Nyra didn't answer.
Castiel gestured toward the abyss.
"We don't know how far they fell. We don't know what's down there. We don't know if they're hurt. We don't know if they're trapped."
His jaw tightened.
"We don't even know if they can hear us."
Nyra watched him.
The tears were gone.
But the fear wasn't.
Castiel had simply buried it beneath movement.
Searching.
Thinking.
Doing anything except standing beside that hole and imagining what might have happened at the bottom.
"We'll find them," Nyra said.
Castiel's eyes met hers.
"You don't know that either."
"No."
Nyra stepped closer.
"But standing here arguing isn't helping."
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Castiel looked away.
"Keep searching."
Nyra nodded.
"That's what I'm doing."
Across the clearing, Lucian climbed over one of the Maneater's enormous roots.
"Mira!"
She turned.
Lucian pointed toward a narrow depression between two sections of exposed stone.
"I've got something."
Castiel was moving before Mira reached him.
Nyra followed.
The four gathered around the depression.
It was partially concealed beneath torn vegetation and loose soil. Several smaller roots disappeared into it.
Castiel crouched immediately.
"A passage?"
"Maybe," Lucian said.
Mira knelt beside him.
She pulled a field light from her equipment and directed it into the opening.
The beam traveled several feet.
Then stopped against solid stone.
Mira's expression fell.
"No."
Castiel leaned closer.
"Check again."
"I can see the back."
"Maybe it turns."
"It doesn't."
Castiel took the light from her.
He pushed his arm into the opening and swept the beam across the interior.
Stone.
Nothing more.
His hand slowly lowered.
Lucian watched him.
"We keep looking."
Castiel handed the light back.
"Yeah."
He stood.
They separated again.
This time, Nyra remained close enough to keep Castiel in sight.
The afternoon sun had begun dropping toward the mountains surrounding the valley.
Long shadows stretched across the clearing.
They had spent hours fighting the Maneater.
Now every passing minute felt heavier.
Nyra checked the terrain scanner again.
The device continued mapping the fractured ground around the collapse.
Most of the display remained useless.
The opening descended beyond its effective range, and the layers of rock beneath H-09 scattered the signal.
Still, she kept trying.
A shape flickered across the display.
Nyra stopped.
She adjusted the scanner.
The shape disappeared.
"Come on."
She changed the angle.
Nothing.
Nyra moved several yards to the east.
The scanner flickered again.
This time she caught it.
A faint hollow region beneath the rock.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Lucian."
He looked over.
"I've got something."
Everyone converged.
Castiel reached her first.
"What?"
Nyra expanded the projection.
A rough terrain map appeared above the scanner.
Most of it showed solid rock.
But beneath the eastern side of the valley, a thin section remained dark.
Castiel stared at it.
"What is that?"
"I'm not sure."
"Another cavern?"
"Maybe."
"Can we get into it?"
"I don't know."
Castiel's frustration returned.
Nyra continued before he could say anything.
"The scanner isn't designed to map this deep. I'm getting fragments."
Mira studied the projection.
"But it's open space."
"I think so."
Lucian pointed toward the center of the map.
"And the collapse?"
Nyra moved the projection.
The enormous hole appeared as a broken distortion near the center.
She traced the reading eastward.
"If these readings are accurate, whatever is beneath us extends in this direction."
Castiel looked toward the jungle.
"How far?"
"At least several kilometers."
"Several?"
"Possibly more."
Mira frowned.
"So that wasn't just a hole."
Nyra shook her head.
"No."
She looked toward the abyss.
"There's something beneath H-09."
Lucian crossed his arms.
"A cave system?"
"Could be."
Castiel's attention remained on the projection.
"If it extends east, there could be another entrance."
"That's what I'm thinking."
Castiel immediately turned.
"Then we go east."
Mira stepped in front of him.
"Not yet."
His expression hardened.
"What?"
"We don't know if David and June are moving."
"Then we'll find the entrance and go to them."
"We don't even know if the reading reaches where they fell."
Castiel looked toward Nyra.
"Does it?"
Nyra hesitated.
That was enough.
Castiel looked away.
Mira continued.
"If we leave this spot and they manage to climb back up somewhere nearby, we've separated ourselves even more."
"They're not climbing that."
"No," Mira said. "Probably not."
Castiel looked at her.
"But probably isn't enough."
Lucian nodded.
"We need a marker."
Castiel frowned.
"For what?"
"Our position."
Lucian pointed toward the clearing.
"If we move east, we mark this location. If David and June somehow get back here, they'll know which direction we went."
Nyra nodded.
"And we keep trying the communicators."
Castiel looked toward the abyss again.
His hand moved instinctively toward his communicator.
He activated it.
"D."
Static.
Everyone went quiet.
Castiel waited.
"D, do you copy?"
Nothing.
His thumb remained pressed against the transmitter.
"June?"
Static hissed back.
Castiel lowered the communicator.
Lucian looked toward the lowering sun.
"We should mark the site before we lose more daylight."
No one argued.
They returned to the edge of the collapse.
Castiel stopped farther back this time.
The ground remained unstable.
Large sections had fallen away since David and June disappeared, leaving the opening wider than before.
Nyra planted a locator beacon several yards from the edge.
A blue light began flashing.
"Beacon active."
Mira placed a second marker against one of the surviving roots.
Lucian looked toward the jungle.
"We move east?"
Nyra checked the scanner.
"East."
Castiel remained where he was.
Nyra noticed.
"Castiel."
He didn't respond.
His eyes were fixed on the hole.
The image wouldn't leave him.
David hanging from the edge.
June beneath him.
David reaching upward.
Their fingers almost touching.
Then nothing.
Castiel's hand slowly closed.
"I had him."
Nyra stopped.
Lucian and Mira heard him too.
Neither interrupted.
Castiel stared into the darkness.
"I was right there."
His voice was quieter now.
"I touched his hand."
Nyra stepped beside him.
"The ground gave way."
"I should've been faster."
"You crossed that clearing faster than any of us could've."
"Not fast enough."
Nyra looked at him.
"You couldn't stop the ground from collapsing."
Castiel's jaw tightened.
"I could've grabbed him."
"And then what?"
Castiel looked at her.
Nyra didn't look away.
"June was hanging from David. The entire edge was collapsing. You could've gone down with both of them."
"Then at least they wouldn't be down there alone."
Lucian stepped closer.
"They aren't."
Castiel looked toward him.
Lucian nodded toward the abyss.
"They have each other."
Castiel said nothing.
Mira came to stand beside them.
"And they have us up here."
She looked east.
"But they only have us if we keep searching."
The words settled over him.
Castiel looked back into the hole one last time.
His eyes remained there for several seconds.
Then he raised his communicator.
"D."
Static answered.
Castiel swallowed.
"We're coming."
He released the transmitter.
Then turned east.
"Let's move."
Gamma entered the jungle.
Nyra took the lead with the scanner.
Lucian moved beside her.
Mira followed.
Castiel remained at the rear.
For the first several minutes, nobody spoke.
The jungle had changed as afternoon moved toward evening.
Long beams of orange light pierced the canopy.
Iridescent birds called from somewhere high above.
A group of small gliding primates moved between distant branches, their membranes briefly catching the sunlight before they disappeared into the leaves.
Life had returned to the valley.
The Maneater was dead.
Its territory was already becoming part of the jungle again.
Castiel barely noticed.
Every few minutes, his hand went to his communicator.
"D, do you copy?"
Static.
They continued.
Another hundred yards.
"June, respond."
Nothing.
Nyra checked the scanner.
"The underground opening is still beneath us."
Castiel looked at her.
"Still heading east?"
"Yes."
They kept moving.
Another hundred yards.
Another attempt.
"D."
Static.
Castiel lowered the communicator.
Lucian glanced back at him.
"He'll answer."
Castiel looked forward.
"He better."
They continued east.
Beneath their feet, hidden behind hundreds of feet of rock, the cavern system stretched through the darkness.
And somewhere inside it...
David and June were moving too.
David kept the field light pointed ahead as he and June moved deeper into the cavern.
Their pace was slow.
Neither of them had recovered from the fall, and every uneven section of stone reminded David exactly how much his body had been through.
His ribs hurt whenever he breathed too deeply.
His left shoulder protested whenever he raised his arm above his chest.
June wasn't doing much better.
He had stopped limping after the first few minutes, but David noticed the way he occasionally pressed a hand against his side when he thought David wasn't looking.
Neither mentioned it.
There wasn't much point.
They could walk.
For now, that was enough.
Their lights swept across the cavern as they moved.
The shattered remains of the Verdant Maneater gradually disappeared behind them, swallowed by distance and darkness.
Without the massive pile of roots surrounding them, the true scale of the underground chamber became easier to appreciate.
And somehow more unsettling.
David directed his light toward the ceiling again.
Nothing.
The beam disappeared long before reaching it.
June followed his gaze.
"I don't like that."
"What?"
"Not knowing how much rock is over my head."
David continued walking.
"Then stop looking up."
June stared at him.
"Excellent survival advice."
"You're welcome."
They crossed a shallow depression in the stone.
Small clusters of violet fungi grew along the edges, their translucent caps giving off a faint glow.
June crouched beside one.
"Think they're poisonous?"
"Probably."
"You don't know that."
"No."
June reached toward it.
David stopped.
"Don't."
June looked up.
"You just said you don't know."
"Exactly."
June withdrew his hand.
"Fair."
He stood.
They continued.
The farther they traveled from where they had landed, the fewer Maneater roots they encountered.
At first, enormous roots crossed the cavern every few yards.
Some descended from cracks far above.
Others disappeared beneath the stone.
But gradually they became thinner.
Then less frequent.
Eventually, only occasional roots remained.
David noticed something else.
Life.
Not much.
But enough.
Tiny pale insects moved between cracks in the stone.
Some had translucent shells.
Others glowed faintly along their abdomens.
A small creature darted through the beam of David's light.
June stopped.
"What was that?"
David moved the light.
Nothing.
"I don't know."
"That's becoming a theme."
Something clicked from the darkness.
Both stopped.
June lowered the Kinetic Baton from his shoulder.
David's claws extended.
The sound came again.
Click.
Click.
Farther ahead.
David moved the beam slowly across the cavern.
Stone.
Fungi.
A cluster of pale plants.
Nothing else.
June stood beside him.
"You see anything?"
"No."
Another click.
Closer.
June tightened his grip.
"That's reassuring."
David remained still.
Something moved behind a stone formation.
His light snapped toward it.
A small animal froze.
June blinked.
"Oh."
The creature stood roughly two feet tall.
Four thin legs supported a narrow body covered in pale gray fur.
Its oversized ears rose nearly a foot above its head, while two dark eyes reflected the field light.
A second pair of smaller eyes sat beneath the first.
The creature stared at them.
David stared back.
June slowly lowered his baton.
"You're ugly."
The animal clicked.
June looked offended.
"I think it understood me."
David smiled.
The creature took two cautious steps backward.
Then turned and bounded away.
Its four legs carried it effortlessly across the uneven stone before it disappeared between two formations.
June watched it go.
"First thing down here that hasn't tried to kill us."
"So far."
June glanced at David.
"You couldn't let me have that?"
David continued walking.
"No."
The encounter eased some of the tension.
Not much.
But enough.
They continued following the cavern.
After several minutes, the stone began sloping gradually upward.
June noticed first.
"David."
"I see it."
"Finally."
They increased their pace slightly.
The incline wasn't steep, but after walking across mostly level ground, even a small rise felt promising.
David checked his communicator again.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
He kept walking.
"Cass, do you copy?"
Nothing.
June watched him lower it.
"We might need to get higher."
"That's what I'm hoping."
The incline continued.
Eventually the broad cavern narrowed.
Two enormous walls of dark stone closed around them, turning the open chamber into a passage nearly fifty feet wide.
The ceiling remained hidden.
Water trickled somewhere nearby.
David swept the light along the right wall.
A narrow stream emerged from a crack and ran across the stone before disappearing beneath another opening.
June crouched.
"Water."
"Don't drink it."
"I wasn't going to."
David looked at him.
June sighed.
"I was thinking about it."
David removed one of the small testing strips from his survival kit.
He dipped it into the stream.
The strip changed.
June leaned closer.
"Well?"
"Not safe without filtration."
June stared at the water.
"Of course."
"We still have ours."
"For now."
David put the strip away.
They moved on.
Several minutes passed.
Then June stopped.
David took another step before noticing.
"What?"
June raised one hand.
"Wait."
David listened.
Nothing.
Then—
A faint hiss came from June's communicator.
Both stared at it.
June slowly reached for the device.
Static.
Then silence.
David stepped closer.
"Try it."
June activated the transmitter.
"Gamma Six to Gamma."
Static.
"Gamma Six to Gamma. Do you copy?"
Nothing.
June waited.
The communicator hissed again.
A broken sound slipped through.
Too distorted to understand.
June's eyes widened.
"That wasn't static."
David already had his communicator out.
"Gamma One to Gamma. Do you copy?"
Static.
Then—
A voice.
Faint.
Broken.
"...ma..."
David froze.
June stared at him.
"Again."
David pressed the transmitter.
"Gamma One to Gamma. This is David. Do you copy?"
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the communicator crackled.
"...vid..."
David's heart jumped.
June stepped closer.
"That's them."
David adjusted the frequency.
"Gamma, repeat."
Static erupted.
Then disappeared.
Nothing.
David waited.
"Gamma?"
Silence.
June looked around.
"We had them."
"For a second."
"Which means we're closer to something."
David looked toward the upward slope.
"Or there's less rock above us."
June pointed ahead.
"Then we keep going."
They moved faster.
Pain became secondary.
Every few dozen yards, David tried again.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
They climbed higher.
Again.
"Gamma One to Gamma. Do you copy?"
A burst of static.
Then—
"...D..."
David stopped dead.
June nearly walked into him.
"What?"
David raised a hand.
The communicator crackled.
"...copy..."
David pressed the transmitter.
"Cass?"
Static.
Then the voice returned.
Broken.
Weak.
But unmistakable.
"D... you..."
David closed his eyes for half a second.
Castiel.
"I'm here, Cass."
The communicator erupted in static.
Then—
"D?"
This time it was clear.
David smiled.
"Yeah."
June let out a breath beside him.
Above them, somewhere beyond hundreds of feet of stone, Castiel's voice came through again.
"D, where the hell are you?"
David almost laughed.
"That's a little complicated."
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay."
"That's not what I asked."
David looked down at himself.
His torn uniform.
The dirt.
The bruising already forming along his ribs.
"Nothing serious."
A pause.
Then Castiel asked the question David expected.
"June?"
June leaned toward David's communicator.
"No concern necessary. Your favorite squad member survived."
Static crackled.
Then Castiel answered.
"David already said he was alive."
June stared at the communicator.
David laughed.
"See? He's fine."
Another voice broke through.
"David?"
Nyra.
"I'm here."
Her relief was unmistakable.
"Both of you?"
"Both."
Lucian's voice came next.
"Good."
Then Mira.
"Can you move?"
David looked at June.
June nodded.
"We can move."
The connection crackled.
Nyra spoke again.
"We've been tracking an underground opening beneath the eastern side of the valley."
David looked down the passage ahead.
"We don't know which direction we're facing."
"Compass."
David checked the navigation display attached to his equipment.
The reading flickered.
Rotated.
Then stabilized.
East.
He looked at June.
"We're already heading that way."
June smiled.
"Finally, something goes right."
Nyra's voice returned through the static.
"...keep... east..."
"Repeat."
"...terrain... rises..."
The signal broke apart.
David adjusted the communicator.
"Nyra?"
"...follow... above..."
Then static.
David looked toward the passage.
"Cass?"
Nothing.
He tried again.
"Gamma, do you copy?"
Static.
June glanced upward.
"Lost them."
"For now."
David looked east.
They had contact.
That changed everything.
Gamma knew they were alive.
And now they had a direction.
June rested the Kinetic Baton against his shoulder.
"East?"
David nodded.
"East."
They started forward again.
Neither noticed the faint line running across the stone beneath their boots.
Straight.
Far too straight to have been formed by water.
David and June continued east.
For a while, neither spoke.
They didn't need to.
Hearing the others had changed something between them.
The darkness no longer felt quite as isolating.
Gamma knew they were alive.
Castiel knew.
David glanced at the communicator in his hand.
The connection had lasted less than a minute, but it had been enough.
He clipped the device back onto his uniform.
"We keep moving east."
June nodded.
"And hope whatever Nyra saw eventually leads upward."
"That's the plan."
"Not our best plan."
"It's our only one."
June considered that.
"Definitely not our best plan."
David smiled and raised his field light.
The passage continued its gradual incline.
The broad cavern behind them had narrowed considerably, the walls drawing closer until only thirty or forty feet separated them.
Clusters of violet fungi grew from cracks near the floor.
Thin streams of water traced irregular paths through the stone.
Everything looked natural.
Ancient.
Untouched.
David took another step.
His boot crossed the thin line in the floor.
He stopped.
June walked several feet before noticing.
"What?"
David lowered his light.
The beam settled across the stone.
"There."
June followed it.
At first, he didn't see anything.
Then he did.
A line.
Thin.
Shallow.
Almost hidden beneath layers of mineral deposits and dirt.
But perfectly straight.
June crouched.
"Crack?"
David shook his head.
"Look at the edges."
June brushed his fingers across the stone.
The line continued from one side of the passage to the other.
No branching.
No fractures.
No irregularities.
Just a single straight groove cut through the rock.
June looked toward one wall.
Then the other.
"That's weird."
David crouched beside him.
He brushed away some of the dirt.
The groove became clearer.
It was barely wider than his finger.
June leaned closer.
"Water channel?"
"Maybe."
June looked behind them.
There was no water.
David followed the groove toward the wall.
It disappeared beneath a thick layer of mineral buildup.
Whatever had created it had been there for a long time.
A very long time.
June stood.
"Natural?"
David remained crouched.
"I don't know."
"That's a no."
David looked up at him.
"I said I don't know."
"Yeah."
June raised his light toward the passage ahead.
"But you're thinking no."
David stood.
He was.
They continued.
The groove disappeared behind them.
For another hundred yards, nothing changed.
Then David noticed the wall.
"June."
June stopped.
David moved his light slowly across the stone to their left.
Most of the cavern wall remained rough and uneven.
But one section wasn't.
It was flat.
Not perfectly.
Time had damaged it.
Mineral deposits covered much of the surface, and thin cracks spread across it.
But beneath those layers...
The stone had been cut.
June approached.
"Okay."
He placed one hand against it.
"That's definitely weird."
David directed the light upward.
The flattened section continued nearly twelve feet before returning to rough cavern stone.
June stepped back.
"Could still be natural."
David looked at him.
June shrugged.
"I'm trying to be optimistic."
"Since when?"
"Recent personal growth."
They moved on.
The passage climbed higher.
Their communicator crackled.
Both stopped.
David grabbed his immediately.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
Then—
"...vid..."
"I'm here."
"...still... east?"
Nyra.
David looked at his compass.
"Still east."
Static swallowed the response.
Then Castiel's voice broke through.
"...D... copy?"
"I copy."
A burst of interference.
"D... stay..."
The rest vanished.
"Cass?"
Static.
David adjusted the communicator.
"Cass, repeat."
Nothing.
June tried his.
"Gamma Six to Gamma."
A faint voice answered.
"...June..."
Then disappeared.
June looked toward David.
"Getting worse."
David looked around.
The passage had narrowed again.
"More rock."
"Or we're going deeper."
Neither possibility was particularly encouraging.
David pressed the transmitter.
"Gamma, we're continuing east."
Static.
"Do you copy?"
For several seconds there was nothing.
Then a faint response.
"...copy..."
David couldn't tell who had said it.
It didn't matter.
He clipped the communicator back onto his uniform.
They continued.
The farther they traveled, the more the cavern changed.
Not dramatically.
Not enough that David could point to one thing and say exactly when it had begun.
But the differences accumulated.
Another straight groove crossed the floor.
Then another.
The flattened sections of wall became more frequent.
Once, David found a corner.
An actual corner.
Two surfaces met at an angle too precise to dismiss.
He stopped in front of it.
June stared beside him.
"All right."
David ran his fingers along the edge.
Stone crumbled beneath them.
"That's not natural."
"No."
June raised his field light.
"So somebody's been down here."
David didn't answer immediately.
He looked at the mineral deposits covering the stone.
At the roots that had grown through cracks.
At the thick layers of sediment gathered along the floor.
"Not recently."
June's humor faded.
"How old?"
"No idea."
They continued.
The passage opened slightly.
Their lights revealed something lying against the right wall.
David raised a hand.
June stopped.
Both weapons came ready.
Nothing moved.
David approached cautiously.
Ten feet.
Five.
Then he lowered his claws.
Stone.
A rectangular slab had fallen from the wall.
At least, David thought it had.
Most of it was buried beneath mineral buildup.
June directed his light across the surface.
"Is that writing?"
David crouched.
There were marks beneath the grime.
He wiped his gauntlet across the slab.
Dust and brittle mineral deposits broke away.
Lines appeared.
Curved shapes.
Intersecting symbols.
Some shallow.
Others carved deeply into the stone.
David stared.
He didn't recognize any of them.
June crouched beside him.
"Definitely not natural."
David touched one of the symbols.
Nothing happened.
No System window.
No identification.
Nothing.
That bothered him more than he expected.
June leaned closer.
"You recognize it?"
"No."
"Military?"
"No."
"Fallen?"
David shook his head.
"Not anything I've seen."
June stared at the markings.
"So whoever made this..."
He looked farther down the passage.
"...was here before us."
David stood.
"Looks that way."
June raised his communicator.
"Think Gamma should know?"
"Yeah."
David activated his own.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
"We found something."
Nothing.
"Gamma, do you copy?"
The communicator crackled.
"...found... what?"
Mira.
David looked at the slab.
"Something carved into the stone."
Static.
"...repeat..."
"Carvings. The cavern isn't completely natural."
The response dissolved into interference.
Then Nyra's voice appeared.
"...David... careful..."
"We are."
"...readings... strange..."
David frowned.
"What readings?"
Static.
"Nyra?"
"...east... structure..."
The signal vanished.
David stared at the communicator.
"Structure?"
June had heard it too.
"That's what she said."
David pressed the transmitter.
"Nyra, what structure?"
Nothing.
"Cass?"
Static.
"Gamma?"
Silence.
David waited.
Then tried again.
No response.
June slowly lowered his communicator.
"We lost them."
David looked toward the passage ahead.
"Keep trying."
They moved.
Every few minutes, one of them attempted contact.
Nothing came back.
Not even broken voices anymore.
Only static.
The cavern continued changing.
The rough floor gradually became smoother.
Not polished.
Not intact.
But flatter.
Deliberate.
Their lights revealed more rectangular stones half buried beneath centuries of debris.
Some were cracked.
Others had been pushed apart by roots.
David stepped over one.
His light caught something ahead.
He stopped.
June nearly walked into him.
"What?"
David raised the beam.
Two enormous stone formations stood on opposite sides of the passage.
At first, they looked like natural columns.
Then David moved the light higher.
The left one had an edge.
The right one matched it.
June slowly walked forward.
"No way."
They were pillars.
Or what remained of them.
Both had partially fused with the surrounding cavern through layers of mineral deposits.
Roots wrapped around one from top to bottom.
The other had split near its center.
But they had been made.
There was no question anymore.
David stepped between them.
His light swept across the stone beyond.
The passage continued east.
Only now...
It was no longer entirely a cavern.
Sections of the walls had been shaped.
Broken slabs lined the floor.
Faded carvings appeared beneath mineral growth.
Something had existed here.
Something enormous.
Something old enough for the planet itself to begin reclaiming it.
June came beside him.
"This isn't a cave."
"Parts of it are."
"You know what I mean."
David did.
He reached toward one of the pillars.
His fingers brushed the stone.
Cold.
Rough.
Ancient.
David traced one of the weathered markings carved into its surface.
His vision remained unchanged.
The System offered nothing.
Then—
A voice entered his mind.
Not electronic.
Not mechanical.
Ancient.
Measured.
A voice David had not heard since before they entered H-09.
I AM:
Stop.
David's hand froze against the stone.
June took another step.
David didn't move.
Something about the voice was different.
Not louder.
Not frightened.
But immediate.
David slowly lowered his hand.
June looked back.
"You coming?"
David barely heard him.
His attention remained inward.
"What is this?"
Silence.
David waited.
"I AM."
Nothing.
His eyes moved over the ruined pillars.
The markings.
The shaped stone disappearing into darkness.
"You know this place."
For several seconds, the ancient presence gave him no answer.
Then—
I AM:
You should not be here.
David's expression changed.
June noticed.
"You okay?"
David didn't answer him yet.
His attention remained fixed on the voice only he could hear.
"What is this place?"
Silence again.
Longer this time.
David waited.
The violet fungi cast faint light across the ancient stone.
Water dripped somewhere beyond the reach of their field lights.
Then the voice returned.
I AM:
A memory...
A pause.
I AM:
...that should have remained buried.
David stared into the darkness ahead.
June stepped beside him.
"What?"
David slowly raised his field light.
The beam traveled between the ruined pillars.
Across broken stone.
Across roots that had grown through something built long before either of them had been born.
Then the light reached the end of the passage.
And found open darkness beyond.
David couldn't see what waited there.
But for the first time since falling beneath H-09...
He wasn't sure finding a way forward was a good thing.