Galaxy Of Fear_ Planet Plague Part 8

Although the cells never changed, Tash noticed that the blobs did.

They were growing smaller. It was as if the first cell contained a fully developed blob, while farther down the line they were still forming.

The largest blobs were the most violent, crashing against the plexiform that separated them from Tash. The smaller ones simply sat on the floor of the cells, quivering.

Pa.s.sing even more. rooms, Tash saw a blob that was just about the size and shape of a human man, lying on the floor. Tash could almost imagine a person underneath the ooze. The sight made her shudder.

The next sight made her scream.

The last room did not contain a blob. In it she saw a green-skinned Rodian-the same Rodian who had been arrested the other day. He was lying on the floor, panting for breath. A thick layer of slime covered his chest and his back. Strands of ooze crept down his legs and up his arms.

Tash felt her stomach turn in disgust. She saw the Rodian's mouth move. The plexiform was soundproof so she couldn't hear what he said, but she guessed by the snarl on his lips that he was swearing. He struggled violently against the ooze, trying to shake it off. Instead, the amount of ooze suddenly increased, almost burying him.

Tash's eyes went wide with fear. She had seen that kind of instant replication once before, when she had looked through the electroscope in the medichamber.

She knew she was looking at a virus.

The Rodian let out a scream and made one last effort to shake the disgusting mess off his body. But his struggle only made things worse.

The virus replicated itself again, and the Rodian simply disappeared.

Tash tried to swallow, but her mouth was as dry as sand. The blobs were people. People who had been infected with a virus.

CHAPTER 15.

As Tash made this frightening discovery, Zak and Deevee continued to climb down the side of the ziggurat on which the landing bay sat. The stairs that had been carved into the giant pyramid reached from its highest level to its lowest depth. After 231 steps, they had sunk down into a gray-green haze of steam that rose up from the hot jungle floor.

After 463 steps, Deevee stopped counting.

The steps were damp and covered with slime. The people of Mah Dala did not go down to the jungle, and no one had walked on the stairs for years. Moss, growing quickly in the humid air, covered most of the great stones that made up the structure.

At long last they reached the bottom. The jungle floor was soft and wet, and covered with a layer of rotting leaves and branches. Through the mist the trunks of enormous trees loomed like shadowy giants. The ground beneath them was covered with a layer of mud.

"I don't believe it," Zak said, pulling at his shirt collar. "It's even hotter down here."

"And far more unpredictable," Deevee added. "Dr. Kavafi said that the original Gobindi built the ziggurats so that they could avoid the jungle."

Zak looked up. The top of the ziggurat towered three hundred meters above them. "I can't believe the Gobindi just vanished," Zak commented.

"You'd think a culture that could build that would be able to survive anything."

The droid wiped a thin layer of moisture from his photoreceptors.

"Something obviously destroyed them. With our luck, we'll find that it was something in this jungle."

"That's why we should find Tash and leave as soon as possible," Zak replied.

Deevee pointed to the soft, squishy ground. The slime track that Zak had followed on the hard stones above was now lost in layers of rotting leaves. "And just how do you intend to find her, or the blobs?"

But Zak didn't look where Deevee had pointed. He was staring at a nearby tree. "I think they found us!"

The branches of the tree were alive with fat, wriggling shapes that had begun to slide down the branches. A dozen blobs had already reached the jungle floor and were oozing toward Zak and Deevee.

"Zak, I insist we turn back," Deevee commanded.

"No argument here," Zak replied. They both turned but found the stairs blocked. Blobs had crept up the sides of the ziggurat and covered the stairs. They were trapped.

"Go!" Zak shouted. "We can outrun them! We'll find another ziggurat and climb that one."

He and Deevee hurried from the spot just as the blobs closed in.

Zak and Deevee were faster than the blobs, but the soggy jungle floor slowed them down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zak could see more of the creatures dropping from the trees on either side of them.

"There's got to be another ziggurat around here somewhere!" Zak yelled, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch: "There!" Deevee replied, pointing. His photoreceptors picked out a thick wall looming out of the haze. "It appears to be a large one."

Zak and Deevee reached the wall of the ziggurat ahead of the blobs.

But they could hear the shrubs rustling, and the wet, smacking sound of the creatures wriggling along the tree branches and the ground.

"Judging from the design and size," Deevee noted, "I'd say we are at the base of the main ziggurat. The Infirmary must be somewhere above us."

"Great," Zak said. "So where are the stairs?" He could see nothing but a flat wall ten meters high.

"Perhaps around the other side," Deevee suggested.

They never got to find out. A horde of blobs oozed from the steamy shadows on every side. They were trapped.

Zak and Deevee turned to face the approaching line of slime. One of the blobs lunged forward.

But it stopped in midstretch and recoiled as a shrill sound filled the air. A bright streak of energy shot out of the gloom and struck the blob head- on. The blob scurried backward in surprise.

Someone had fired a blaster bolt.

On the blob's skin, a small black hole smoked for a moment, then oozed over and disappeared. The blob shuffled forward once more.

More energy beams followed, a barrage of blaster bolts that cut a pathway through the line of slime creatures. Through the hole stepped a human and a Bothan-Wedge and his Rebel ally. In moments they had fought their way to the ziggurat.

"You!" Deevee blurted as he saw Wedge. "But you are an outlaw!"

Wedge managed a grin. "I guess that depends on which side you're on."

He fired again and again, sending blaster bolts streaking toward the blobs. The energy weapons did not kill the creatures, but seemed to slow them down.

"How did you know we were here?" Zak asked.

"We saw you go down the stairs," the Bothan replied, never taking his eyes off the blobs. "We knew you'd need help."

"Thanks!" Zak shouted over the scream of blaster fire.

"Don't thank us," Wedge said. "Just get us off this planet! You can start by finding a way up this ziggurat."

"But there aren't any stairs!" Zak said.

Wedge poured blaster fire onto a bold blob that had charged toward them. "These ziggurats must have served some purpose. Look for a door!"

Deevee turned back to the wall. It was damp and overgrown with moss and fungus. The droid adjusted his photoreceptors to their sharpest focus and scanned the wall. He could see that deep grooves had been carved into it. Most of the grooves were covered with lichen and moss.

"I found something," he announced. With Zak's help, the droid peeled away layers of thick growth until the outline of a hatchway appeared. It was designed to blend into the stone wall, but they could see the thin seams that would let the door slide open. Zak located a small control panel and pushed several b.u.t.tons, with no response.

"It's locked," he groaned.

Deevee's sensors had been drawn to a series of grooves carved over the hatchway. They were set in regular rows and marked through with curved lines.

"What is it?" Zak asked.

"It is written in the Gobindi language. But it is an extremely curious message."

"What does it say?"

Deevee pointed at the squiggly lines. "It is a chemistry equation.

It appears to be medical in nature. I think it is the antidote to some sort of infection."

"That's not going to help us at the moment!" Wedge snapped.

The blobs were creeping closer, ignoring the storm of energy Wedge and his companion shot at them.

"There's more here," Zak said. He peeled off more of the fungus that covered the wall.

Deevee's photoreceptors darkened. "Zak, if my interpreter program is working correctly, I'm afraid I know exactly what it says. And I know why this door is locked."

"Why?"

Deevee paused. "It is a warning not to disturb this building. It marks the spot where a deadly virus was sealed up for eternity."

CHAPTER 16.

Inside the ziggurat Tash turned away as the Rodian finished his transformation into a blob. She had seen the Imperial stormtroopers arrest the Rodian, claiming he was a pirate. They had probably infected him with the virus on purpose, and then locked him in this cell inside the ziggurat. And the virus had slowly taken over his entire body.

A second thought made Tash shiver from head to toe as she remembered Wedge's warning. Was this the fate that awaited Zak? Had Dr.

Kavafi infected Zak with the virus?

And what was Uncle Hoole's involvement? How could he allow Zak to be harmed?

Unanswered questions swarmed about in Tash's head like buzzing gra.s.s flies. But they were overshadowed by a sudden, uncontrollable anger. Tash had never felt violent rage before, but she guessed that it must be something like this. The Empire had killed her parents. And now they had infected her brother with a virus! She was sure of it. She wanted to tear the Infirmary apart with her bare hands.

The lump on her arm throbbed as her muscles clenched. At the end of this hallway there was a door. Tash pressed her ear against it, listening for any sound. Hearing nothing, she pressed the Open b.u.t.ton. The hiss of the sliding door sounded loud in her ears, but there was no one in the room to hear it.

Tash stepped into a wide, round chamber. The room was covered in fungus from the floor all the way up to the ceiling high above. The stone floor beneath her feet was slippery with moisture, and the air reminded her of a sauna.

But worse than the heat was the fear that fell over Tash like a wall of durasteel. Something evil was in this room. Her skin crawled. She felt a million eyes staring at her.

Tash scanned the room, but saw nothing. Still, the feeling of being watched would not go away.

She considered going back... but to where? For all she knew, every other room in the ziggurat was crowded with Imperial scientists. No matter what she was feeling, she knew there were no Imperial soldiers in this room.

She stepped forward, and the door whispered shut behind her. Then, with a click, it locked tight. Tash threw herself at the door, but the durasteel portal was several centimeters thick, and there was no way she could force it open.

"This," boomed an ominous voice over a hidden loudspeaker, "is the final test of the Gobindi virus."

At the far end of the chamber another door slid open. Several stormtroopers shoved a human man into the chamber just before the door slid closed again. The man wore an Imperial medical uniform, but it was torn and caked with mud. His face looked drawn and thin, and his hair was dirty and matted against his head. Despite all this Tash recognized him instantly.

It was Dr. Kavafi.

"What... what happened to you?" Tash asked in bewilderment. Now Kavafi looked as if he'd been locked in a Hutt's dungeon for months.

"Wh-Who are you?" Kavafi asked in return.

Tash wrinkled her brow. "Tash Arranda. You know me. I'm Hoole's niece."

Kavafi pushed some strands of hair out of his eyes. "I knew a Shi'ido named Hoole years ago, but I've never met you before." He suddenly stiffened. "Never mind. It doesn't matter now. I'm afraid you have gotten yourself involved in something terrible." He looked around nervously.

"I know!" Tash said in sudden frustration. She was getting a headache, and her skin felt hot and itchy from the room's heat. "I thought you were behind the virus!"

"Not me!" the doctor said. He seemed more meek than before. "I came to this planet to do virus research. I did good work, too. But several weeks ago I was kidnapped right out of the Infirmary by someone who looked exactly like me. An imposter!"

An imposter? Tash shook her head. "No, it was you. My uncle Hoole brought us here so you could treat my brother Zak for a virus."

The man shook his head. "I'm telling you, for the last six weeks I have been locked in a cell at the bottom of this ziggurat. Someone a.s.sumed my ident.i.ty and took over the Infirmary, replacing my entire staff with his own scientists!"

"Why?" Tash asked.

The man pointed to the walls around them. "I chose Gobindi for my virus research because the humid climate is ripe for breeding viruses.