we ain't the kind to turn away from a fight (part XLVIII)

(Continued from part XLVII.)

"Other...wait. You mean, the green-purple tentacles that have been hovering around the ship, those are some sort of...of...MOTHER creature??" Emilly put her head in her hands. "Oh, I hope you're wrong."

"Hmm," Lina said. "Okay, crazy idea..."

Oh, gods, what now?

"Umm...how fired will I be if I, say...push the Gray Area to a dead dimension? Say the same limbo I was trying to push these guys into. I think they'll follow. Think it over?"

"The Gray Area? The ship, you mean?" Justine asked.

"Yep. It's stuck to it."

"Right."

Justine sounded sure...Emilly was filled with dread. But she also didn't want to get closer.

"It goes in, they'll follow...I hope."

Emilly swallowed. "How dead?" she finally asked.

"It's a limbo. It's like what happened to mine, just nothing there. It's still space, just...nothing in it."

"Err..."

"If it helps, you can tell Hiro it was my idea when he gets back, and I'll take the blame, 'cause it will be me pushing it out of space and time."

Emilly sighed. "I'm not sure it can be rebuilt in this state, anyway."

"I'm used to cats giving me dirty looks. I have a Russian blue," Lina said. Which made Justine laugh, and Emilly blinked, thinking briefly of Hiro as a house cat glaring at the security officer.

"Well, I can help him build a new one," Lina said.

Meanwhile, Emilly crawled under one of the treehouses, through the stand of bamboo between them, under the other one, and edged her way around to the far side of the lighthouse, watching one of the tentacle beasts turn in her direction, and move towards her. She froze. It froze. She moved again. It began to move again.

"That's just...creepy," she murmured.

Lina sighed over the comm. "One right below me. So far, my flying is keeping it off me."

"Oh, THAT'S what's happening, I thought it was trying to find me!"

Lina laughed. "Sorry."

Emilly froze again by the stairs up to the top of the lighthouse, having not looked up before walking forward, and flattened herself against the ground as the one in midair flew over her. Slowly.

It reversed, and moved back towards Lina, who used her armor propulsors to back away. She took the opportunity to sneak over to the garden, and climbed the outside of the tower to check on the rift she already knew they had on the sim, pulling herself over the railing. And heard an angry hiss.

"ACK!" she yelled.

"What?" asked Lina.

"There's one right below me! It seems...trapped. And angry!"

"Okay, that's weird. There's two in the rift, so...so...." Lina paused. Emilly pressed against the door to the tower.

"Well, I say let's push the ship though the rift. Unless you have a better idea--I'm all ears!"

Gad, that seemed like an impossible undertaking, and Emilly said so.

"Well, that is that, but...umm...Just note, after I push the Gray Area through, I may, umm...pass out."

Emilly blinked. Edged towards the outside of the tower again. The hissing monstrosity followed her underneath the raised stairway, flailing wildly.

"It's a big job," she murmured finally.

"Yeah...So someone, please get me, okay? Woops--"

Emilly straightened. She looked. No idea where Lina was.

"Oh, dear--you didn't go through with it, did you?"

"Not yet, silly. I'm going to open the gateway under it and let it fall in, but...it's so big...it's going to take a lot of power to keep it open."

She carefully climbed back onto the tower, pressing flat to the metal, and edged around to the front, trying to get a better perspective.

"Okay," Lina said. "Here we go--"

"There's still a monster over my room!" Justine yelled.

"There are monsters everywhere," Emilly muttered.

"Okay, that didn't work out, quite....trying that again...in 3...2...1...Open sayyyys MEEEEEEEEE--"

Emilly wished she didn't sound quite so gleeful about that. She finally was close enough to the front of the tower, though. She saw a large gate of...light, she supposed...open up in the water, under half the Gray Area.

"G'bye, Gray Area, sorry I never got to fly ya--"

She watched, somewhat astonished, as three sections of the Gray Area slowly sank into watery light. She looked over, brow furrowing, as the fourth section tilted, sank further, but held.

Of course that's the section on fire, she thought. She watched Lina plummet from the sky into the bay.

Ah, hell...

She dove from the tower into the water, hoping she was quick enough to avoid the attention of any nearby tentacle beasts, put an arm around her, wheezed at the weight of the armor, and half-swam, half-dragged her to the junk anchored in the bay. She pushed her up over the railing, and then collapsed beside her, panting.

I have had enough today, today, she thought. Really, happy to be done with this at any time...

(Continued in part XLVIX.)