Risk of Rain Under the glass canopy of the helmet, it all felt like a simulation. A dream. The recoil of the missiles lancing upward from his backpack was imaginary, maybe generated by a set of pistons. Amazing special effects. A set of jaws launched themselves towards him, blue-purple and framed with fangs. Time slowed, his neurons slid into overdrive. He lowered the tip of his carbine onto the tongue. It was still red hot; a little puff of steam went up as it touched the flesh. Blood vessels burst as the plasma went in. Steam flashed through the veins, radiating outward from the heart. Deflated, the body flopped to the ground. Two more took its place. Six. Ten. Fifteen. The dream was over. He turned. Multitudes of clawed feet pounded after him, gouging the soil. He weaved between stalks of slender fungi, sloughing off a wake of tiny bomblets. The suit fed him another dose of ephedrine; his vision went shockingly clear. The proximity warnings flashing at his eyes were rendered with new clarity. Synthetic muscles wrapped tight around his broken bones, setting them and releasing a trickle of morphine into the wounds. Somewhere at his flank, his left arm was trailing the carbine behind him, working the trigger automatically. Ammunition alerts fluttered in the corner of the helmet. The stalks of fungi were gradually becoming wide and flat, the forest less spacious. Eventually they merged together into a pallid webbing that stretched up and up out of sight. Stars disappeared behind the fleshy cathedral. Moisture formed on the exterior of the helmet. Mud underfoot, sucking his boots down. Mechanically starting the chain of required motions, he brought the gun forward and replaced the magazine. Though they resisted every inch of progress, he tore his boots from the mud and plunged them back in, moving forward in a frenzied march. A quick glance back to line up a shot. He was alone. No swarm, no oncoming teeth. Not even a lone straggler. He manually reduced his heart rate, shifting it down to a more comfortable speed. Long gulps of fresh oxygen went into his bloodstream, sending his head into a pleasant spin. Nanobots worked at his cramped muscles, forcing the knots out of them. A glob of gelatin landed on his head. He went rigid. Eyes widened. Thoughts fell away to emptiness, reduced to husks. It was dark. He switched on the infrared scanner. Living blobs of heat lined the walls and ceiling. A cloying wave of pheromone went into the air. As one, they coiled back to strike.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:45:40 +0000