Tunnels 03, Freefall

his eyebeams shining directly at Drake.
    "What!" Drake exclaimed.
    This was most unusual. Although the suited figure before him was rather sinister, with its enlarged limbs and glowing eyes, Drake didn't feel threatened. It didn't even enter his head that a Coprolite might be about to turn on him. He knew them better than that -- they were incapable of hurting anybody. In any case, he'd done his very best to help them out over the years, passing them over any surplus luminescent orbs that came his way in exchange for food. Both he and the Coprolites knew that this was a token exchange because he really didn't need their food, while they most definitely needed the extra orbs.
    As the Coprolite stood there, his hand still gripping the hatch, another of the strange beings joined him, then the other two, so that the whole team was present. Like a group of automatons, they all began to advance at the same time.
    "What are you doing? It's not safe for you here!" Drake yelled, but drew to the side as they seemed intent on entering the vehicle.
    After the last Coprolite had closed and locked the rear hatch, Drake watched as they took up their positions. Two of them slid into the seats on either side of the hatch and strapped themselves in. The other two padded to the front of the vehicle, and one of them turned to Drake. He recognized it was the Coprolite who had been bobbing his head -- he was a few centimeters taller than the others. "You shouldn't be here. It's too risky," Drake said, but the Coprolite placed his bulbous hand on the driving seat and spun it round, as if offering it to Drake.
    Drake shook his head. This was unprecedented. Apart from the fact that they always kept to themselves, maintaining an almost religious neutrality, they knew too well that the consequences of aiding and abetting a renegade would be certain death for themselves, and possibly retribution against their entire settlement. These four were endangering their womenfolk and their children. Yet they seemed to have wordlessly decided to help him!
    Shrugging, Drake went to the driving seat and eased himself into it as the larger Coprolite seated himself behind that appeared to be a navigator's console from the strange map spread open on a shelf before him, and the row of compasses arranged at head height.
    Drake hesitated as he regarded the array of controls, then pushed down the largest of the pedals by his feet. The engine revved, but nothing happened. The Coprolite by his side leaned over to push in and twist a rod on the dashboard, and the vehicle began to creep forwards.
    "Okay!" Drake shouted over the noise of the engine and depressed the accelerator a degree as he pulled down on the left steering lever. The vehicle began to turn ponderously. As the floodlights on the vehicle lit a stretch of cavern before him, he aimed at the lava tube which would take them out onto the Great Plain. He could barely see where he was going as he squinted through the several centimeters of pure crystal windscreen. This was made doubly difficult, not only because the windscreen was badly scratched and covered in dust, but also because his view was limited by the massive diamond wheel mounted on the front of the vehicle. Several times he scraped the vehicle against the side of the lava tube, throwing himself and the Coprolites around in their seats.
    Then as he cleared the lava tube and entered the Great Plain, he floored the accelerator. The vehicle lurched forward... he was surprised how fast it could traverse the moonscape-like terrain of the plain. Even over the din of the engine, Drake could hear the boulders splintering as the three rollers under the vehicle crushed them to powder. And from the waves of intense heat on the back of his neck, he knew that the two Coprolites at the rear of the vehicle were continually opening the doors of the firebox to feed it with fuel and to stoke it.
    After several kilometers, there was a sharp crack. Something had struck the crystal windscreen. Then he heard the sound again, but this time the outer hull was hit, making it ring like a dampened bell. Drake realized they were being shot at.
    In the headlamps, Drake caught sight of a Limiter, his high-power rifle raised. Drake laughed -- it was rather like a mosquito trying to get the better of an elephant. He yanked down on one of the levers to alter course towards the Limiter, who loosed off another shot. Then he didn't look quite so confident, realizing the huge machine