Page 97 of On a Rogue Planet
He looked all around and above. To their left he spotted something.
“Malin.”
She followed his gaze. A zip line was tied from their platform, stringing out across the junk to the other side.
Xander moved to it, studying the sturdy metal cable. He gripped the handles hanging down from the zip line, testing their strength. They were in good condition. “I’ll go first.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his hand, frowning as she stared intently at the line. On the other side stood another platform like the one they were standing on. There was also a ladder leading up to the platform from the junk below. “What’s the easiest path across this?”
“The zip line,” he answered automatically. Then he cursed mentally. “Don’t take the easiest path. It’s a trap.”
“I’m guessing, yes.”
“So, we go down and walk across the junk.” That wasn’t his first choice, but his gut told him it was the only way.
They both stared again at that the sea of scrap. In the distance, one part of it vibrated.
“What the hell?” Malin leaned out, frowning.
The vibration rippled through the junk for several meters before it disappeared.
Her purple gaze swung back to him. “There’s something down there.”
Xander knelt and grabbed a large, twisted lump of metal by his foot. Standing, he tested its weight. Not too heavy but heavy enough. He strode to the zip line, tied it on, and then gave a huge push.
The metal whizzed out along the cable.
As it reached the halfway point, the metal sea began vibrating again.
Suddenly, a giant mass broke out of the scrap. Xander blinked.What the hell?
It was an enormous metal…creature. A snake or monster or something.
It had armor plating all over its long, sinuous body. The plates fitted together like scales. Its giant head was triangular in shape with a wide mouth filled with jagged metal teeth and two neon-red glowing eyes.
“Oh. My. Stars.” Malin pressed a hand to her mouth. Together, they watched the metal monster clamp onto the zip line. It gave a giant shake of its huge head before plunging back into the scrap below.
Xander analyzed the situation, creating and discarding numerous plans to get across. Nothing eliminated the need to enter the beast’s domain.
“What do you think attracts it?” she asked. “Noise? Movement? Vibration?”
“Possibly all of that.” He curled a hand into a fist. “It probably has built-in sensors. It’ll detect anything unusual in a set radius.”
Her shoulders slumped. “So how do we cross without becoming monster bait?”
He wanted to tell her to stay here. But he knew the labyrinth could throw up something else equally as dangerous and he’d be too far away to help her.
“We cross it as fast as we can. Ready?”
“No.” She closed her eyes for a second. “Damn, I wish I had my boots and coveralls.”
“You look pretty cute in bare feet and that ripped dress.”
Her eyes popped open. “You did not just say that!”
He kissed her and she kissed him back. There was a lick of desperation, of fear, but there was also the need that was all Malin.
He set her back. “Okay, let’s go.”
