Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

“You’d make a veritable banquet, my fat pickled friend,” growled Athene.

Ravana climbed to her feet, rubbed her aching arm and froze. Jizo looked ready to hit her back to the floor, but it was something else that had caught the girl’s eye.

The dark swirling surface of the pool bubbled and churned like the brew of a witch’s cauldron. As Ravana stared, the shattered cocoon tilted and slid aside, wallowing on a wave that rose from the depths. There was a hiss of liquid, then all of a sudden a huge glistening mass of smooth skin and spindly legs erupted from the pool.

Artorius screamed. Ravana, rooted to the spot in terror, did likewise. The egg-shaped mass rising before them had eight insect-like legs, emerging from the top to bend downwards into the pool. Several dreadful moments passed before Ravana realised what she feared to be a giant spider was nothing of the sort. Standing twice her height, with a mottled green surface streaked with veins, it was like no living thing she had ever seen.

The rising hulk shuddered to a halt. An oval aperture broke open in the side, revealing a space within that glowed with a faint pink light. Startled, Ravana stared as what looked like a tongue appeared below the aperture and rolled across the pool towards them. She remembered Govannon’s description of what he had seen on his previous visit and gazed in wonder at the multi-limbed cocoon. The incredible thought struck her that it was some sort of vehicle, conjured from the depths to replace the one crumbled to dust.

“Thraak,” Nana confirmed solemnly. “Thraak thraak.”

“Fwack fwack,” added Stripy.

Tears gathered in Ravana’s eyes. She did not need her implant translator to tell her that the greys had come to say goodbye. It was then she saw Jones, her childhood electric pet she had once called Fluffy, snug and content in Stripy’s arms. Her first reaction was a sharp pang of panic at the thought of having her erratic mechanical companion of ten years taken away. Yet behind this was the acceptance it was time to break this last link with childhood. Ravana had not felt the same way about the cat since seeing the infestation of tendrils within and would not miss the reminder of what the silver lines in her own scars might really be. The beautiful expression upon Stripy’s face told her the moment was right for her furry electric friend to start an adventure all of its own.

“Goodbye, my friends,” she said sadly. “Take good care of Jones for me.”

Artorius started crying. “I don’t want them to go!”

The cyberclones moved to stand either side of Jizo, near the dead spider on the far side of the churning pool. Ravana thought the nurse looked far too smug for her own good.

“zz-thee-booyy-iis-thee-oonee-zz,” declared Dhanus. “zz-thee-oold-oonees-haavee-doonee-hiis-biiddiing-zz. zz-iit-iis-tiimee-too-weelcoomee-oouur-saaviioouurs-zz!”

“zz-beeliieeveers-uuniitee-aas-oonee-zz!” Simha cried fiercely.

“Thraak thraak!” retorted Nana.

The grey reached out and placed a tender hand upon Ravana’s arm. Before the girl could respond, Nana and Stripy turned and hastened across the tongue-like walkway to the cocoon. Her mind whirling, Ravana watched them clamber through the oval opening and settle into what looked like seats. Her eyes widened as the skin of the strange cocoon became a web of glowing threads, brought to life by the presence of the greys.

Athene stomped towards the oval opening and glowered. Jizo turned her perturbed grimace from the greys and issued a hushed command to the cyberclones. Simha and Dhanus immediately came towards Ravana and Artorius from opposite sides of the pool, their sinister silhouettes moving like phantoms before the accelerating blue blur of the rods. Ravana caught Kedesh’s expression and knew the woman was equally at a loss as to what Nana, Stripy or the Dhusarians planned to do next. The greys’ earlier warning made it clear they could not remain within the circle but Ravana felt trapped.

“This doesn’t feel right,” growled Jizo. “Your grey friends should not be here!”

The clones stepped nearer. Ravana saw the watcher moping near the cocoon and the fateful lines of the Isa-Sastra popped into her head.

“Don’t you see?” she remarked, suddenly inspired. She gave the nurse her best earnest look. “All around us, paw-prints of the gods!”

“How the hell did you work that out?” asked Kedesh, taken aback.

“She knows nothing!” spat Athene. “This is no game for mortals!”

Ravana cast a wary eye at Kedesh. She had not forgotten the mention of watchers in the so-called prophecy and wondered if her improvised distraction had hit upon a fundamental truth. The speeding rods told her to leave the theological debate for later. Stripy and Nana sat busily waving their arms around inside the cocoon, the cat on the younger grey’s lap. Ravana imagined them in an aircraft cockpit, setting controls for departure.

“The watchers are stirring!” she declared. Her father stared opened-mouthed at his daughter’s defiant display. “Their paw-prints have led us to this place. They are here!”

With a dramatic flourish, Ravana pointed to the cat just visible through the cocoon’s oval door. Her former pet looked up and gave a plaintive meow.

There was a timeless pause. An incredulous Jizo approached the edge of the pool and stared at the greys and their adopted electric pet. Ravana bundled Artorius towards the edge of the circle and peered into the groove left by the moving rods. The crevasse was narrow but deep and easily capable of breaking a misplaced ankle. The rods zoomed past so rapidly they made whooshing sounds as each went by. They were almost out of time.

“Behold!” cried Ravana, as Jizo turned back. “The greys have been chosen to serve!”

“The cat?” Jizo gave a drunken suspicious leer. “A watcher?”

Kedesh caught the glint in Ravana’s eye. “Oh, yes. That’s a watcher all right.”

Stripy picked up the cat and looked it in the face. “Fwack fwack!”

“What?” shrieked Athene. “That mangy bag of wires is nothing like me!”

“That rubbish about alien cat gods is real?” asked Quirinus.

“Rubbish?” The enraged look of disgust upon the watcher’s face was almost comical, not that anyone else but Ravana and Kedesh could see it. “How dare you!”

The cyberclone monks turned to the cocoon and raised their hands to the greys. Ravana flinched as a wave of pain crashed through her head. To her surprise, the torrent of sensations bleeding from her implant carried a fear not entirely her own. The electric pet, whose AI chip contained brain cells cloned from those harvested from greys, had been there at the birth of Taranis’ disciples, who in turn had recognised the fragment of alien within. Yet the two now before her accepted her bluff. Incredibly, they were scared of her cat.

“zz-paawn-too-waatcheers-aand-maasteers-zz,” cried Dhanus, looking at Stripy.

“zz-waatcheers-too-hiistooryy-stiir-zz!” Simha screeched.

“zz-paaw-priints-oof-thee-goods-zz!” rasped Dhanus.

“No it’s not!” cried Athene, exasperated. “It’s just a silly children’s toy!”

The floor of the chamber shook again and Ravana grabbed Artorius in alarm. Beneath their feet, the ground was softening into quicksand. Kedesh hurriedly drew her pistol, limped to the whirling rods and with a sudden leap was through a gap and out of the circle. Before either Lilith or Dagan could move, Kedesh had them in her sights and was ordering them to drop their own guns. Artorius tugged Ravana’s arm and reached out to the greys.

“Nana and Stripy!” he wailed. “Don’t leave me!”

“Get out of there!” called Kedesh. “Now!”

“zz-waatcheers-aand-maasteers-zz!” cried Dhanus. “zz-thee-tiimee-iis-neeaar-zz!”