“No.” Their comms were still on the Anjou’s frequency, and a new voice spoke: dull, vague, but comprehensible. Ibn. “I killed Hans. I had no choice. He landed on his face when the great insect dumped us here, and the impact cracked his helmet’s faceplate. The spiders came, and I fired at them, and killed one. But another leapt on Hans, and levered its legs into the crack in his visor, and tore the front of his helmet open. It was horrible. The spider wriggled partway inside, and then Hans stumbled around, dropping his gun, screaming for a few seconds, and then… he stopped. He stood up, and came at me out of the fog. His faceplate was covered by the silver body of the spider. He tried to tear my helmet off. The strap of my machine gun was twisted, tangled, and I couldn’t wrench it around to defend myself. I stumbled away, fell, and landed beside the fallen gun. He came for me, bent over, reached for me… I picked up the gun. I shot him, Elena. In the face. Right through the spider.” Ibn gestured vaguely. “His body is over… somewhere. I tried to find my way out. I carried Hans with me as far as I could, in case… just in case. But I got lost. I dropped him, and went on, but then, I stopped. I sat down. I will sit down again now.” He did. Then he fell over and lay on his side, unmoving.

“What’s wrong with him?” Elena said.

“What happens when your environment suit runs out of oxygen?” Callie said.

“You suffocate? They’re meant to double as hazardous materials suits, though, and in the absence of air in the tanks, you can switch to a filtration system, which his must have done a while ago – ohhh. The gas.”

“It’s made for Liar physiology. Your friend’s suit is doing its best to filter out the gas, but it might be doing something to him. Making him groggy. He’s probably in shock, too. Shall, get him out of here, out on the other side of the wall, and see if fresh air helps.”

“Should we look for Hans?” Elena said.

“He’s gone, Elena. The only heat signatures in here are yours, mine, Ibn’s, and Shall’s…”

She stopped talking, because five blurs of red had appeared in the far distance, dropping from the ceiling and then moving with great speed along the floor toward them.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Spiders,” Callie said. “Run.”

Elena didn’t have to be told twice, and anyway, Callie had hold of her hand and started dragging her back toward the wall, or so Elena assumed. She couldn’t see anything but gray mist. “Shall, get Ibn out of here and then come back for Elena! We’ve got spiders incoming!”