Chapter 488 - Far Future Ch. 198 – Into the Belly of the Spire (1/2)
The three psions present all hid their swallows, feeling the brushing of those Helices like a great and deadly siphon, ready to drain away all of their power and render them no more than any other man. Expending psionic energy while touched by the Helices would be impossible, it would simply be drained away. While the streams of smoke and multi-hued fire were up, however, they had nothing to fear from the power of the Warp...
”Where did she go?” Bemrin repeated, looking at the tunnels extending out, forming the lifts and layers of a typical kiloplex's maze of public transportation.
Klisto advanced up between the pilot seats, the Coronal and Umbran parting to let him, and simply pointed ahead. Kiprugh sent the skimmer gliding forwards, following that arm.
They passed idle trains and maglevs, some of them badly mangled and shot up, blocking open tunnels, and signs of violent conflict all about them. They were tumbled and crushed and bent like toys, with bullet holes and searing blobs of metal ripped through them, and the traces of a great deal of blood everywhere.
That blood was then used to daub more hideous and blasphemous symbols on everything around, nothing going to waste... although the bodies were gone, no bones hiding in nooks and crannies, although scattered dropped purses, clothing, shoes, and other items that might have fallen off the dead were scattered here and there.
The skimmer glided into a final landing, a relay point for workers embarking for jobs and positions deeper into the Crownspire ahead of them. There was one maglev off the tracks here, tumbled and crushed like a broken saint, the glitter of crushed safety glass scattered beneath the broken windows and mangled hulls of the carriages.
He looked left. ”She went down that tunnel.” Everyone looked at the dark subway access, where at least a half-dozen lines of writhing Runes seemed to be converging and plunging into it, making it look like some great devouring hole sucking away foul energies for some unknown purpose.
”What prompted her to do so?” Inquistor Hrom frowned.
”There is a maglev approaching,” Sergeant Kampi spoke out, turning his head, confirmed a second later by Techmeister Vahix. Weapons arose warily as they waited in the darkness, only the emergency lights that could burn for a century still working as they fluttered and flared in a profoundly disturbing manner and cadence, while the lights within the skimmer itself glowed steadily.
There was no roar of an engine, only the rushing howl of air getting out of the way as the great engine shot by without slowing, towing car after car of what was obviously not passenger carriages.
”She was following one of those! After it!” Sir Mugamu ordered crisply, and as the maglev's final cars roared by at over two hundred mph, the skimmer spun and shot after it into the yawning maw of the dark tunnel.
”Munitions transport,” Sergeant Kampi stated in his filtered bass. ”Carrying shells to the guns on the Spire. They are emptying the distant warehouses before they tap their own.”
Everyone acknowledged his assessment with nods as they hurtled after the maglev. If they followed this maglev, naturally they'd be heading right into the heart of the enemy's base!
”Is she planning to blow the munitions dump?” Gemrin hazarded to nobody in particular, the sniper keeping watch on their rear.
”That would hardly take out the Spire. Their munitions will be too separated. She might be able to knock out a bank of artillery and make an opening in the bombardment, but that would be all, and certainly insufficient to stop the enemy,” Sergeant Kampi stated. ”Such a tactic would take a large-scale assault striking at multiple locations where the munitions are stored.”
”Then she's going for the leadership, who should be around there, hoping it will disrupt something,” reasoned Hrom, eyes thoughtful.
”No,” said Klisto, staring ahead. ”She's following the Rune lines to see where they go, and what the Warped are planning.”
They looked at him, and glanced out the sides of their eyes at the unclean colors flowing past them in the tunnel and stations they were passing, looking like pulsing, foul serpents moving up and down the walls, ceiling, and floor at their speed.
”The Warp is planning something big,” Sir Mugamu breathed.
”Very, very big,” the Assassin acknowledged. ”Big enough to threaten the planet.”
Everyone there swore to themselves.
”Does she plan to stop them, or aid them?” the Techmeister said skeptically. ”Such stakes... the Warp would offer much to stop any interference.”
”Are you feeling greedy, Techmeister?” Sir Mugamu said in a very strange tone of voice, setting his eyes on the more-machine-than-man Mechanist.