Tunnels 06 - Terminal

furrowed as his mind raced. ‘So …’ he began, ‘… is this their Achilles’ heel? Can we use electricity to defeat them?’
    ‘Good suggestion. Why don’t I up the ante and see what some more juice produces?’ the MO replied. ‘I’ll ramp it up to 500 volts.’ He went over to the device on the bench and twisted one of the dials as far as it would go, then extended the probe towards the Armagi’s hand. An even brighter spark arced when the probe was close to the skin, and the lightsflickered in the room.
    ‘There it goes,’ the orderly said, as, the limb again began to turn transparent. But this time the fingers merged together, and what had been the hand elongated and thickened, with three vicious-looking claws appearing at the end.
    ‘I’ve no idea what that is,’ the orderly said, as he frantically tried to sketch this new configuration.
    Something caught Parry’s eye. ‘Major, behind you! The arm!’
    The severed arm had transformed too, taking on precisely the same form, complete with the three deadly-looking claws at the extremity. It was too long for the stainless steel dish and had tipped it over, so the limb flopped onto the bench, like a dead fish.
    ‘Cut the current! Now!’ Parry yelled as the severed limb twitched beside the dish.
    In his haste the MO dropped the probe. Stooping to retrieve it, he’d just straightened up when the Armagi transformed completely.
    In the blink of an eye, it suddenly had three pairs of limbs branching from its thorax, like an enormous transparent arachnid. The limbs thrashed, tearing the leather constraints binding it to the gurney as if they were tissue paper.
    The MO didn’t stand a chance as he regarded the creature with a stunned bewilderment.
    His head came off with one short sweep of the Armagi’s forelimb. The three claws were as deadly as they looked.
    Then it sprang from the gurney and hit the dividing window with a resounding clang. Its claws penetrated the tempered glass, deep enough that it could hang from the partition. Then it struck at the glass again, as if it knew itwouldn’t take long for it to break through.
    ‘Burn out!’ Parry yelled at the top of his lungs.
    ‘Burn out?’ the orderly stammered, frozen into inactivity by the huge spider’s head with compound eyes that were staring straight at him through the window.
    Parry didn’t wait for the orderly, instead flipping up the cover on a panel under the intercom, and twisting the key in it. Then he slammed his palm against the large button beside the key.
    The isolation chamber was instantly filled with a solid wall of fire. It was a safety feature installed to sterilise it in the instance of a mishap with a biological sample.
    Parry and the orderly watched as the Armagi turned black, and fell back into the inferno.
    ‘Christ, oh Christ,’ the orderly was whimpering.
    ‘The severed arm was affected … even though the current was being applied to the Armagi’s body,’ Parry said.
    The orderly could barely cope with what he’d just witnessed, let alone understand what Parry was trying to tell him. ‘But the Major …’ he gasped.
    Parry seized him by the shoulders. ‘Pull yourself together, man. If there’s a similar form of communication between the Armagi themselves, then our specimen might just have compromised our location. There might be others on the way!’ He grabbed the radio from his belt. ‘EVAC!’ he yelled into it.

 
     
     
    Chapter Two

    ‘ I look a right wally in this,’ Will said, catching his reflection in a shop window as they laboured along in the intense heat, their Bergens stuffed with all the bedding and towels they’d helped themselves to.
    ‘Yes,’ Elliott replied absently, her nose buried in a map that she’d found on one of the Limiters.
    ‘Oh, thanks,’ Will muttered. He paused to adjust the canary-yellow hat with a floppy brim that Elliott had picked out for him in the department store.
    ‘No, I mean it looks just fine,’ she said. ‘It does the job and keeps the sun off your face … and, anyway, who’s going to see even if you do look like a willy?’
    ‘ Wally ,’ Will corrected her quickly, then surveyed the bodies in the street. ‘Can’t we go back to our base? This place gives me the creeps, and it’s just crazy to spend so long out when it’s so bloody hot.’
    Elliott gave him a sympathetic nod, then dangled the map in front of him. ‘Okay, but I just want to check something first.’ She glanced at the