Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

they lost their first man.
    A trapdoor opened up beneath the feet of the leading marine, and as suddenly as that he was gone. He just had time to start a scream, and then he disappeared into the darkness beneath the floor. Silence and Frost pushed their way forward and stood at the edges of the gap. They could hear the marine's scream fading away to nothing long after they lost sight of the light blinking on his helmet.
    The marines clustered around the gap in the floor, shining their lights down, but the light didn't travel far, and the blackness showed them nothing at all.
    "Any idea how deep that is?" Silence said finally. "Could we lower a line and go after him?"
    "The sensors are out," said Frost dispassionately. "Nothing on the motion trackers. It could be bottomless, for all we know."
    "Move on," said Silence, straightening up. A marine glared at him.
    "We don't leave our people behind, Captain."

    "You do this time. We've no way of getting to him, in the unlikely event that he is still alive. We're probably going to lose more men before we get out of here.
    Get used to the idea. Now move. Since you're so eager, you can take the point."
    The marine glared at him for a long moment, as though he was going to say something, and then he turned away and started off down the narrow corridor.
    Silence waved for the marines to follow after him. "Everyone stay close together and keep your eyes open. No telling what other booby traps there are here," He looked across the gap at Frost. "Are any of our instruments in good enough shape to spot things like this in advance?"
    "Not really," said the Investigator quietly. "The city… confuses them. It's too different. Too alien."
    The team moved on, jumping the gap where necessary, taking things a little more slowly now. They were all remembering what had happened to the first team. There hadn't been any booby traps then. It was as though the city was learning how to defend itself from intruders.
    Traps stuck at them from all sides, sudden and unexpected. Pointed metal spikes shot out of a wall and skewered a passing marine. He hung from the spikes like a butterfly on a pin, and then the spikes retreated into the wall and let his body drop to the floor. The metal made soft sucking noises as they left the marine's body: sinister sounds in the eerie quiet. The contact team pressed cautiously on, leaving the body where it lay. They'd retrieve it on the way back. If all went well. There were sudden bursts of heat and cold, both extreme enough to sear and burn exposed flesh. Once a howling followed them down the narrow way, shrieking in their ears, and then the sound sunk to a tone so low it shuddered in their bones. It did them no harm, so they ignored it. Compartments opened in the walls, full of mystery and strangeness, the sliding panels opening and
    slamming shut like snapping mouths. Gravity fluctuated from near freefall to a crushing weight that made every move an effort. One of the espers suddenly stopped in his tracks and started giggling. He laughed and laughed his sanity away, until one of the marines took pity on him and shot him in the head. The contact team pressed on. An hour had passed, and they had lost seven marines, one esper and one Wampyr who hadn't looked where he was walking.
    Silence looked at Frost. "Are you sure this city is deserted?"
    The Investigator shrugged. "As far as our instruments on the ship could tell, there were no life signs anywhere on the planet Or at least, nothing they recognized as life. And of course, they couldn't penetrate the Vaults. Perhaps the city itself is alive…"
    "And hungry."
    "Not necessarily. It's never wise to impute human motives to an alien consciousness. These incidents might be its way of trying to contact us."
    "Then I hate to think what it's trying to say. Though I think we can safely assume it's not at all friendly."
    "It could be a warning," said Frost slowly. "Telling us to go back, before we come to the Vault, and what waits within it."
    "You're just full of cheerful information, aren't you?" said Silence. He looked back at the team trailing away behind him. "Stelmach, get your Wampyr up here. I want them leading the way now that we're getting closer to the Vault." Why?"
    said Stelmach.
    "Well, firstly because they're much harder to kill, and secondly because I'm the Captain, and I said so. Do it."
    "Their reaction speeds are superior to ours," said Stelmach, "and they can take
    much more punishment. But they're