Tunnels 05 - Spiral

driven past with Vane no more than a fortnight before.
    The Limiter General held the door of the greenhouse open for her, indicating the stairs just inside. She mounted the cast-iron steps, then she passed through another door and out onto a walkway spanning the entire width of the building. From the abundance of different trees, shrubs, and flowers that Rebecca One could see below, New Germanian botanists had obviously been collecting specimens from the jungle and propagating them here.
    The Limiter General and the Styx soldiers, two of whom had the Chancellor hoisted between them, held back as she moved to the middle of the walkway. There she peered down one side and then the other. Through the foliage, she could see the numerous human bodies lying in the soil, already monstrously bloated by the Warrior larvae growing inside them.
    “Outstanding,” Rebecca One said. “But how’s she managing to impregnate so . . .” She trailed off as she noticed that one of the bodies had already ruptured and young larvae were crawling in the rich peat of a planting bed. “I don’t believe it! It took almost a week for them to hatch Topsoil. But this has taken . . . what?”
    “Twenty-four hours,” the Limiter General answered.
    Rebecca One was silent for a moment. “But how can the life cycle have accelerated to that extent?”
    “We can only think that Danforth’s pronouncement about the conditions down here was right. Perhaps the environment — the proximity to the sun and the high UV levels — acts to stimulate the process,” the Limiter General said.
    “Even so . . . how can one woman be physically able to do this?” Rebecca One asked. “It’s off the scale.”
    The Chancellor was also peering over the side of the walkway. Some part of his mind that had survived the Darklighting was registering the carnage below — that his people were dying in the most horrible way. He began to sob.
    “Oh, do stop that!” Rebecca One reprimanded him. She returned her attention to the scene below. “Where is she?” she asked herself. Then she shouted, “Vane! Are you there?”
    At this the Limiter General and his men drew back. The last thing they wanted was to attract the attention of the Styx woman. They’d already witnessed the unfortunate deaths of their comrades as she’d been conveyed from one building to another.
    There was a rustling, and a head popped up between two date palms. Vane’s blond hair was matted with gore, sweat, and the fluid slopping from her mouth. No change there. But the aspect that made Rebecca One’s eyes widen was that instead of the single ovipositor, Vane now had an additional two of them swinging from her mouth. And her abdomen was hugely extended as her reproductive system continued to operate in overdrive to churn out new egg pods.
    Vane gave Rebecca One an enthusiastic thumbs-up, then rubbed her belly proudly.
    “Go for it, sister! You’re breaking all the records!” Rebecca One congratulated her.
    The Chancellor was still sobbing, even louder than ever.
    “Oh, Christ, you big baby,” Rebecca One groaned. “Just chuck him over, will you?” she ordered the Limiters. “Juicy fat treat on the way!” she called down to Vane.
    Vane again gave the thumbs-up, then there was a thrashing of the undergrowth as she began to move at speed.
    The Limiters hiked the man over the balustrade of the walkway, his arms and legs flailing for the short distance down. His fall was cushioned by the soil in the planting bed, so he wasn’t badly injured when he hit the ground; he sat up and looked around himself dazedly.
    “Check him out!” Rebecca One shouted to Vane. “Enjoy!”

    The explosion was so loud that several of them cried out. And the tremor so powerful that their teeth rattled and their vision blurred.
    Then the concussive wave swept into the Hub. Will’s ears popped. There was a sudden crash as if something large had struck the door from outside.
    Saucepans clattered down from the shelves above. As a crack opened up across the ceiling, sprinkling dust on their heads, the caterwauling from the wicker baskets reached fever pitch.
    Stephanie began to cry softly to herself while Sergeant Finch recited the Lord’s Prayer in broken sentences. Will couldn’t help but notice that Chester, his head still down, was trembling violently — the explosion was obviously bringing back unwanted memories of his parents’ death. Elliott had noticed, too, and was holding Chester tight.
    As