SHOW YOURSELF (Revised on 12/21/23)

Moss hunched over, back muscles convulsing in the cramped ductwork. His mouth was dry. His head throbbed and his bladder felt like someone had pumped five gallons of piss into a two gallon bag. He desperately wanted to let it out. But the scent of warm, spreading urine was his enemy. Its stench would undoubtedly call to his enemies. Both two legged and four. He had remained hidden in his self-imposed prison, waiting for a chance to escape as minutes stretched to hours. And during that time, his spinning mind had conjured every childhood nightmare of his youth. Now those blood-soaked monstrosities circled his missing friends, like macabre vultures ready to pick their carcasses clean. And all the while, he had sat in fear, doing nothing to help them; nothing to reach them; nothing, at all.

Staring through the narrow slits in the metal grate, Moss scanned the darkness. Had his chasers gone for good? He hadn't seen or heard them in a long while. His hulking chasers had evaporated into the darkness like shadows in a midnight sky. And while he was glad the relentless pursuit had ended as abruptly as it began, without his tracker in hand, he couldn't escape the ominous feeling their sudden retreat was a clever ploy to get him to reveal himself.

The stifling heat baking the cramped ductwork felt thick and oppressive. Moss stared wide-eyed into the looming ductwork, imagining many all-seeing eyes staring back. The sound of his own staccato heartbeat pounded against the insides of his eardrums like far off thunderclaps warning the approach of trouble. He rocked back and forth, hands clenching his groin, considering crawling deeper into ductwork and taking a piss, but the goddamn raptors were everywhere.

He reached out with a jittery hand, touched the inside of the sharp grate and peered through the thin slits. A faint green dot flashed in the distance. I'm over here. I'm over here. The tracker called out, mocking him from the edge of sight. Its cold green glare burned into Moss's corneas. Come and get me. Come and get me. If you dare. He stared at it, thinking he might reach it. It wasn't that far. It wouldn't take that long. Just 20 meters there and back. He searched what little he could see of the compartment and saw nothing. But still, the infernal blinking dot laughed at him. He didn't move. He heard nothing but the sound of his own icy fear seeping through his veins.

Moss slipped his fingertips through the metal slats of the grate. The sharp edges threatened to slice deep. He held his breath, leaned in close and placed an ear against the louvers. No sounds penetrated the black vale. The all-seeing eyes remained in their shadows. He drew in a slow, deep breath, held it and pushed outward with all his might. The grate shuddered in its frame, but refused to move. It was wedged in the frame. He pushed harder. The grate squeaked an angry refusal and Moss grimaced. "Fuck," he whispered. During the adrenaline fueled moments of his earlier retreat, Moss had slammed the bent cover into the square opening, wedging it in place. He drove his shoulder against the grate and heaved outward with all his might. The jammed grate groaned, popped out an inch, but remained fixed to its frame. A steady slew of Spanish expletives ran through his mind, threatening to break the silence and give him away.

The heavy ductwork behind Moss buckled, and his eyes bulged. Something large was in there with him. He was not alone. The heavy steel cover fell forward unexpectedly. Its sharp louvers bit into Moss's bare fingers. He cried out in pain. Slippery blood filled his palms as he lost his grip and the entire world tipped forward. He overbalanced, fell forward and the sharp grate sliced deep into his fingers as gravity tore it from his shredding fingers.he fell out of the opening and droplets of blood mixed with a growing puddle of urine, calling to everything nearby. Behind him, the ductwork buckled again.

Moss sat up, dazed, confused and more than just a little happy, lockspur hadn't been there to see him piss himself. Something large forced its way towards the opening. Moss grabbed the cover with a wince, slammed it back into its framework and kicked it three times. He took a handful of steps back, drew his sidearm and fired into the vent cover, A burst of brilliant flame filled the darkness. A scream of rage followed it. His ears rang in pain as a shrill blast erased the silence. Even if the raptor didn't get out, everything had heard the gunshot. It resonated through the ship. His cover was blown. The time had finally come for him to move. There was no other choice. A second scream echoed through the ducts and Moss jumped backwards. The entire room shuddered and the raptor behind the grate screamed again. It was wedged in the ductwork, and it wanted out.

A garbled squawk came from behind Moss and he reeled on whatever made the noise.The tracker's screen lit up. Moving dots filled the darkness. But even that threat could not erase the threat lurking in the dark ductwork. He could hear it clawing its way forward. Something powerful struck the cover, and it bulged outward. It struck again, and the cover flew across the room and sank into the thick steel wall like a knife in butter. Massive claws emerged from the open vent hole. Far-off and frenzied voices pierced the hatch he entered the compartment through. Giant reptilian hands grabbed the frame, and the creature screamed as it struggled to tear itself out of its steel tomb.

Moss leapt backwards, slipped on a pile of small cylinders and his feet flew up over his head. He came down with a sick thud, glasses flickering out for a second. The pain in his forearm exploded out of his mouth in an angry expletive. Something jabbed him in the back and he came up with a shotgun shell. Through the open hatch, the voices were nearing. He needed to get away, But there was nowhere to go. Both exits were blocked, and now the ductwork was too. And in a minute that thing would be in there too.

The tracker swung on the handrail, beeping and provoking the still struggling raptor. The giant creature screamed and clawed at the air, trapped half in/ half out of the ductwork. Moss jumped up, collecting the loose pile of shotgun shells, ran to his discarded shotgun and snatched it up. He yanked the tracker down off the handrail and nearly hugged it in joy. Then, he ran back towards the raptor, stopping just in time to evade a wicked right slashing hook. He couldn't tell if the raptor was hungry or just pissed off. It lunged at him again, getting hung up on the heavy steel frame. One bolt was all that held the frame to the wall and Moss was only standing a few feet from the tips of its claws. If it let go, he was done for.

Moss reached into his cargo pocket, came out with a hand grenade and smiled. He tore off the lower edge of his t-shirt, wrapped it around the grenade, took out his combat knife and sliced open his hand. He soaked the cloth in blood and stared at the raptor. In the distance, the voices had become louder. His chasers were close at hand. He could see their flashlights now, They were close.The sounds of two or three raptors fighting over the prize came out of the darkness. The fight ended in an enormous explosion. Moss swung his legs through the hatch, swiveled around and emptied his shotgun at the giant raptor on the other side of the compartment. He knew he couldn't hurt the raptor. He wasn't trying to. At the same time he fired his shotgun, several things happened at once. Enough of the rounds hit the raptor to throw it into a rage. A few stray rounds struck the frame, loosening it further. A squad of Necromonger soldiers dropped into the compartment as a 3 ton raptor exited the ductwork.

____________________________________

Dahl stood in the battle's aftermath, eyeing Lady Hemmingford as the stench of spilled bowels and blood made her stomach roil and churn. Holy shit, she thought, staring at the melted raptor carcasses. Did that just happen? Did she just rise from a sea of guts?

"The obelisk is in danger." Lilith said, turning to Eve and Dahl with an expression that screamed, we need to go now. "If his minions seize it, all will be lost."

"It's really here," Eve said in disbelief. "I thought the obelisk is safe on Not Furya?"

"Obelisk?" Dahl asked. "What are talking about."

Lilith ignored Dahl, instead gawking at Eve, a little slack jawed. She shook her head in disbelief and said, "Even you, gifted with the sight and ability I gave you, seem to know nothing of what's actually happening here." Lilith squinted as if seeing Eve for the first time and added, "You are not the person you professed to be."

Dahl's mouth dropped, and she said, "You did this to her?"

"No," Eve blared in Lilith's face. "She did not. And I never lied about who I am ." She threw her hand up, preventing Lilith from responding, and added, "But I'm sure she is with those who did this to me."

Lilith laughed and rolled her eyes as if Eve were a child throwing a tantrum. She turned to Dahl and said, "I believe what she meant to say is that they are with me. And for the record, I may not have been one who did this to you, but you are a product of me and what i have done here, nonetheless. And they shall gather all my children unto me and all the heavens shall shake in fear."

"Are you nuts?"

"It is a passage from the Furyan Scriptures. A recalling of the Old Mother's words to her children."

Eve scoffed.

"Believe what you will. But soon, you shall learn the truth of your lineage, I am your creator. And what lives within you is not a curse; it is a birthright. Your birthright. A birthright I created here today."

"Birthright," Eve bellowed. "This isn't some family heirloom handed down over the generations. I'm a goddamn lab experiment. A freak." She held up her hands and they became monstrous claws. "Look what they did to me."

Lilith stalked over to Eve as if readying to slap her in the face and Eve threw up her hands in a warding off gesture. Lilith brushed them aside and Eve cringed away. Without warning, Lilith pulled her close, and said, "I am truly sorry, child. Sorry for the pain my selfish choices have caused. Had I known the outcome, I would have chosen otherwise."

"What choices are those?" Eve demanded in a whisper that Dahl could not quite make out.

"Recent choices," Lilith answered, releasing Eve and gestured for Dahl to approach.

"How could recent choices cause this?" she asked, gesturing at herself. "This happened weeks ago."

"I made a choice two hours ago. That choice irreparably altered the entirety of our lineage, from beginning to now."

"Do people often ask you, what the fuck you're talking about a lot?" Dahl asked.

Lilth scowled and said, "Long ago, when the obelisk was first created, it needed a hiding place like no other. So, an ingenious plan was devised and the dark obelisk was brought here, where it was placed in the core to await the time of awakening. Over the past thousand millennia, the raptors burrowed down, first exposing and then protecting the obelisk from all intruders."

"And why would they do that? They're mindless eating machines." Dahl asked.

"They did it because they were programmed to do so." Lilith gestured from the carcasses littering the floor to herself and Eve, then added, "Like them, we are engineered with purpose."

"And that is?" Dahl asked.

"To protect the obelisk and the future of our species." Lilith answered.

"Humanity.." Dahl said.

She laughed in Dahl's face. "Do any of us strike as particularly human?"

"For some unknown reason, a reason none of my people could understand, the raptors came to revere and worship the stone. They were not programmed that way."

"Let me guess, you know why?"

"I may have an idea." Lilith said with a grin. "Even these primitive beings, such as we made them, can sense the power of the obelisk. It s power resonates through them because it created them, not us."

"How can an inanimate object create anything?"

"The longer one is exposed to the radiation given off by the obelisk, the more it alters the mind and body of those exposed. The energy does not kill. It transforms."

"Nonetheless, these... primitives are exhibiting human traits, I may have inadvertently been responsible for." She held up her hand before either of her comrades could speak, and added, "The bad choice."

"From earlier?" Dahl asked.

Lilith's head cocked ever so slightly to one side as if she had heard something move in the dark, and an icy chill ran up Dahl's spine. Had Dahl not been so focused on Lilith, she may have missed the subtle movement. As it was, Dahl peered around the room, searching for whatever may have caught Lilith's attention. She saw nothing, but sensed an almost imperceptible change in the grainy green images filling her glasses, as if the room had suddenly shrunk and gone partly out of focus. It made her nauseous and off balance, as if the static compartment around her had moved.

Lilith stood still, moving only her eyes to Eve, and when their gazes met, Lilith looked to the giant hole in the compartment. When Lilith's eyes returned, Eve nodded her understanding using only the up and down motion of her eyes.

Dahl saw the disturbances before realizing what they were. There were 6 or maybe 7 rectangular distortions beneath the hatch she had taken refuge behind earlier. They looked like TV monitors, projecting the blank image of the scenes behind them. The distortions crept closer.

Lilith screamed, "MOVE!" The distortions dropped away, revealing a contingent of burly armed assailants readying their weapons to attack.

Dahl felt something enormous crash into her back and suddenly found herself high in the air, sailing spread eagle towards the opening in the wall. Something large and black like a half raptor, half cheetah ran beneath her. It was long and sleek and kept pace with her arcing fall. As she plummeted towards the floor, realizing she would land on its back, Dahl cartwheels her arms, trying to miss the creature. But it was no good.

Weapons fire rang out in the dark, and the sound of tearing metal pierced Dahl's eardrums. The creature beneath her screamed in agony, skid to a stop and Dahl slammed down on its back. Spindly tendrils burst from its sides, wrapping around her body, pinning her to the creature's back. It rocketed forward through the cavernous opening left by the earlier raptor so fast Dahl left her breath in the compartment. When the maelstrom faded behind her, the creature slowed to a hobbling gate, took a few more off balance steps and fell on its belly. The impact knocked the tendrils loose, pitching Dahl high and away. She landed with an unceremonious thump, rubbing her backside. The cat-like creature clawed its way into a nearby corner, howling in agony and transformed into Eve.

A rifle blast had blown away Eve's right calf. It was a miracle either of them had survived the attack. Eve writhed as the exposed bone slowly covered itself with fresh, healthy tissue. A process Dahl could tell from Eve's tortured expression was beyond painful. She knelt down, already knowing she shouldn't, and took Eve's hand. Eve's sudden grip felt like Dahl's hand was caught in a slowly closing vise. Eve saw her expression, lessened her grip and mouthed, thank you. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Dahl heard gunfire in the distance and considered going back to help Lilith. But without knowing how far Eve had run and not having any weapons, Dahl was utterly defenseless against armed attackers. She remained there, realizing that until Eve's healing had completed, she would be vulnerable to any further threats.

Lilith jumped around the compartment like a stray bullet bouncing from wall to wall. She dodged rifle blasts, one after another, until realizing her attackers were not trying to hit her, but rather, force her into a back corner. By the time the thought dawned on her, it was already too late. She was cornered like a rat in a trap.

She stood with her back pressed to the wall. Seven heavily armed Necromongers stood feet away, looking over their sights. Some smiling; some sneering. So this is what it feels like to stand in front of a firing squad, she thought.

Her eyes were solid orbs of chrome, and even though her attackers couldn't tell which way she was looking, she had a suspicion they knew she was eyeing the upside down handrails hanging over their heads.

"I really should thank you." Msg. Avenesque said, cocking his head to the side as if studying her like a butterfly he was about to pin to a piece of corkboard. "You really have done me a great service. When I bring your head back to the Lord Marshal, he will make me the new High Regent."

She spat at his feet. The ground bubbled and smoked beneath the slimy gob and two men stepped back. Avenesque reeled on them with an expression that said, one more step and you'll both join this bitch in death.

Saliva dripped from Lilith's serrated teeth as she hissed in a savage rage. Her inhuman form coiled in on itself, readying to pounce on the nearest target, but none of her assailants paid her terrifying form the slightest attention. Her face morphed into a near human mask carved of shining onyx. She squinted ruefully, sarcasm distorting her expression, and said, "How unfortunate that your pathetic master neither sees nor rewards such an abundance of potential." She offered him a pouty expression that gave way to a malevolent smile and added, "Sadly, that is but one of his many, many shortcomings."

"Bitch."

She shrugged and said, "Better a bitch than a nutless boot licker."

Msg. Avenesque raised his hand, signaling his men to get ready to fire. Lilith did not try to escape. She turned to the side as if trying to prevent them from shooting her in the chest and Avenesque laughed and said, "You can't hide from what's coming this time, bitch." When she made no attempt to beg for her life, he asked, "Any last words?"

She turned to him with an all knowing grin and said, "Good bye." A split second later, Lilith dove forward, crashed through a large vent cover, and bounded out of sight as a wave of gravity rifle fire chased her into the ductwork. 100 yards in, she came to a junction and made a violent right, heading towards the front of the wreckage as a tearing pain grabbed her by the tail. The gravity rifle fire had caught up to her, erasing the last 2 feet of her bony tail. She screamed more in disbelief than pain.

To her surprise, she could hear the burly men crawling through the cramped ductwork after her. Her first instinct was to go back and attack them while they were vulnerable. She fantasized about the looks of horror on their faces when she tore them to pieces. The confines of the narrow ductwork did not suit their heavy armor. But she was long and lean, and quick in cramped spaces.

Lilith backed against the duct, and a wave of searing pain shot up her tail and burned up her spine. It made the darkness swirl and her stomach flip-flop. She looked down at the bleeding stump that used to be a tail and reconsidered a plan that would have her charging straight into the muzzles of a highly trained Necromonger hit squad. One shot is all it would take to make her face look like her tail. And while she knew her tail would grow back, she wasn't keen to learn if her head would. Even she didn't know if her body could take that kind of punishment. Everything has a limit.

Lilith turned away from the oncoming noise, squinting in anger as she made her way in the direction Eve had run off with Dahl.

____________________________________

Moss moved through the compartment as fast as possible, trying not to make noise. He had spotted his shotgun still hanging beneath the hatch. As he pulled it down, a horrible suspicion dawned on him. They had left the weapon in the open just to lure him in. He threw up the weapon and waited for the inevitable, but it never came. His pursuers had truly gone.

A faint sound drifted through the open hatch over his head, and Moss's eyes went wide. He leapt up, grabbing the upside down handrail and hauled himself up. A frantic voice thundered in the distance. It was a woman's voice. Moss wasn't certain of much, but he was sure of two things. Whoever his pursuers were, they had all been men, and Dahl was the only woman for a billion miles in any direction. It had to be her.

He burst through the hatch, forgetting that two raptors were supposed to be waiting for him on the other side, and dropped off the handrail. He fell hard on his backside in an oozing mass of exploding raptor guts. The men chasing him went this way, he thought, trying not to think about who Dahl had talked to.

At that moment, an eardrum bursting roar of agony came rocketing through the hatch in front of him and Dahl screamed in pain. Moss ran, not caring about the noise he made, the hordes of raptors that may be nearby or anything else other than getting to Dahl while she was still alive.

He ran up a mountain of debris, dove through the open hatch at the top, and saw Dahl in the clutches of a ghastly beast. He hit the ground, rolling into a crouch, and jumped up, ready to blow the creature's head off. Then it happened. Something hard struck him in the side of the face and a million tiny flitting stars came out. For a fleeting moment, he thought he'd never seen anything so beautiful. Each pinpoint of light looked like a firefly gliding on the cool night air. Then blackness reached up and pulled down as someone screamed his name.

When his eyes finally opened, he saw Dahl looking down at him wearing an expression of great worry. His aching head lay in her lap. "I'm so sorry," she said, dabbing at his bloody face. "I thought you were one of those assholes with the weird rifles."

"He is an asshole," Eve snapped sarcastically, stepping into his line of sight. "The dumbass was going to shoot me. I'd call that being an asshole."

"It's not his fault. He was just trying to protect me." Dahl said, wiping the sweat off his face.

"All I was doing was holding your hand."

Moss sat up clumsily and the darkness swirled around him as a glut of nausea churned in his guts. "Who… who are you?" he asked, looking at Dahl for an answer. "Where'd that thing go?"

"Thing," Eve bellowed and Moss flinched. "Sure. Sure. Thing. Right." She stalked away, mumbling, "You're all the same way. Kill anything that doesn't look like you." Eve reeled on them, gestured to her clothing and said, "He said this was like a suit of armor. He said it would protect me. He said I could take it off. But he lied. All it does is make people hate me."

"I don't hate you." Dahl said. "And I'm not afraid of you either. Maybe I was afraid in the beginning, but that was before I knew who were you. But I'm definitely not afraid now."

"Really?"

"Really," Dahl said, nudging Moss in the shoulder to chime in.

Moss looked at Eve, the compartment spinning around him in a slow winding circle. His head thronged and pounded and he was over .6-117 and this mission. "Huh. . Sure. Sure. You're great."

Eve shook her head as if Moss were being dimwitted and enunciated every word. "It… was… me."

"What was you?"

"The thing you saw... It was me."

Moss squinted at her, looking Eve up and down. "Key-riced," he said, "Another one. You're just like her, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Eve said, taken by surprise.

"Lilith, " he replied, "You're like her. You're a shifter."

"You knew," Dahl said. "All this time. You knew what she could do. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Lockspur told everyone. How did that work out for him?" he asked, staring her down." "Anyone close to Lilith eventually finds out." he replied, turning to Eve with a suspicious look. "It's not something you can really hide, is it? It sort of bubbles out when you get pissed or scared, or..." He smiled at Eve, and finished, "horny."

"Awkward." Dahl said.

"You have no idea."

Something crashed inside the ductwork. The thundering sound pushed through the cover, and the trio turned to the ductwork in the corner. Eve picked up Moss's shotgun and pointed it towards the vent. He held out his sidearm, weapon shaking wildly in his weak grip. Dahl took the weapon and said, "Maybe I should take this?" He offered her a nod and took out his knife, holding it in a shaky hand. Dahl laughed and said, "Just stay behind us, little buckaroo."

The vent cover flew across the room. It crashed loudly into the adjacent wall and a large black form spilled out, rolling to a stop, and then stood up tall. It turned to them and morphed into Lilith.

Moss stepped between Dahl and Lilith, walked towards Lilith with his knife out. He stopped a few paces in front of him, the tip of his knife inches from her stomach. He dropped the knife, moved forward, and threw his arms around her. They hugged and kissed.

Dahl turned to Eve with a raised brow and said, "Never saw that one coming."

"He'll," Eve replied, "I didn't even know she was a woman."

"Funny," Lilith said, releasing Moss and frowning at them. She turned back to Moss, inspecting his bloody face with a disapproving grimace. "You look like shit. I told you to duck when you came into this compartment."

"I forgot most of what you told me before we left Sol Lucia." he said with an embarrassed shrug.

"You what?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you were just fucking with me."

"Oh, sweetie," she said, shaking her head in disappointment as she wiped thr dried blood off his face. "Why do you all refuse to believe me when I tell you what comes next? I only want to help."

"That's probably not the whole truth." Eve whispered.

"I'm getting the impression that sort of thing happens a lot." Dahl whispered.

Lilith glared at them, and they glanced away. Then the sound of something trying to sneak through the narrow metal ductwork filled the compartment. "Persistent little bastards, you've got to give them that." Lilith said, walking to the vent to listen carefully.

Moss picked up his blade, moved to her side and made to hand her the knife. "Thanks," she said, holding up a hand tipped with long razor sharp onyx talons. "I have my own."

"What now?" he asked, looking into the vent.

"Stand and fight or get to the obelisk before they do. Either way, this ends in violence and blood."