I cocked my arqueblaster and gave him a nod. Jacob watched me with envy and amazement. A cumulonimbus of black mist spread beneath the crystals, hardening into the densest material I could will. I took another can out of my backpack and emptied it too. I sprayed the rest of my can at the roof of black crystals, my head aching from the inrush of data to my feedlink. And anyway, you know as well as I that the obelisk is more important than such trifles.” “I’ll pay that hairless gerbil when it suits me, not a moment sooner.” We should head back to Termina Celeste, settle the issue at once.” “This is rather embarrassing, Your Fruitfulness,” said Nerva, clearing his throat, “but after a brief review of our balance sheet, it seems we forgot to make good on one of our enticements.” Jacob cocked his arqueblaster with a scowl, but I made a sign to calm him.Īlthough the floor and walls of the bridge were made of the same rickety steel as the rest of the fuselage, the ceiling had been scrapped to make way for a bristling firmament of the black crystals. “As for Jacob, well, let’s hope his vaulting’s as good as they say.” You can always tell a natural by that flame in their eye.” The throne, which slid on a railgrid in the floor, squeaked and rumbled as Hadrian kicked his way like a child in an office chair from one task to another. “Had a feeling the spray would take to that one. “Done already?” crooned the merchant prince from his padded throne at the controls. We hid in the shadows of the antechamber while Nerva made his way onto the bridge, moving carefully, as I’d commanded, to keep the squid out of Hadrian’s view. Since the spray couldn’t make energy weapons, apparently, I also fashioned us each an arqueblaster and loaded them with armor-piercing bullets. I forced the squid to ball up behind Nerva’s head, then sprayed Jacob and myself a couple of light, round shields. Nerva swore in some Delphine patois and punched a number on the keypad. When he hesitated, I made the squid tap its poison bone against his nape. I ordered Nerva to unlock the bridge door. Nerva lagged behind us, grunting whenever Jacob smacked him with the chrome vaulter he’d taken from the cache. Our boots echoed through the fuselage as we hurried to the bridge. The Vaulting Vandals of Termina Celeste (Part 2) by Jordan Chase-Young

Skull gas mask