Chapter 24

The ride inside the worm was rather turbulence-free. Though slightly squishier than one would find comfortable.

"It's not cramped in here! How did you pull that off when we're inside something? Doesn't it need muscles here?" Griffon asked.

"Well, you'll notice we're all sitting single file. That has a major part of it covered. The rest involves some very well thought out propulsion," Loyd responded, leaning against the wall.

The worm took a sudden turn upwards knocking everyone onto their backs.

"Maybe warn us so we can get against the wall before it does that," Madeline complained.

Loyd gave her a thumbs up, his face firmly planted on the floor. Picking himself up, Loyd tugged at a fold in what had been the ceiling but was now the wall.

"Alright, we're here. Everyone, please exit the worm," Loyd joked, pointing up at the exposed metal ceiling, past the worm's teeth.

"What just happened? Did your worms head just explode?" Sara asked as the ceiling got ever closer.

"No, the floor is rising because it's throwing us up. If you don't hurry, we'll also be covered in highly corrosive stomach acid."

Everyone wasted no time getting out of the worm. The room outside the worm was freezing and dark with only small blinks of light in the distance.

"Where are we?" Griffon asked, squinting as he tried to look around.

"Welcome to the simulator storage facility, half a kilometer below the base. My mom should be here somewhere," Loyd answered, using the back-pack creature's skeletal wings to climb out of the worm more easily.

"Alright, how do we find her? I don't think you can track her by smell, can yo-" Sara was cut short by a horrendous wail coming from behind Loyd.

The outline of the creature was vaguely human with a large mass extending behind it, barely visible from the fading bioluminescence of the worm. Loyd swung around and looked the creature in the eye.

"Mom, really? What are you-" Loyd's eyes widened as he had to dodge a claw from the creature.

"That's definitely my mother but what's up with the augments?"

"How the hell should we know?! Maybe she's still connected to the simulator? How big would her pod have to be?" Jim cried.

"She doesn't have a pod! I guess this is the perfect time for practice," Loyd said studying the situation.

"What do you mean practice? What are you practicing?" Jim asked, getting ready to run.

"The swarm has a form of hive mind based entirely around sending and receiving specific forms of radiation waves. Any naturally occurring swarm entity has a gland that can be used to forcibly control them with the correct signals," Loyd answered, sending random static over the neural network, trying to find the wavelength she responded to.

"When were you going to tell us, you could psychically dominate us?" Sara questioned.

"I said naturally occurring. You were forced to change by the military and I took advantage of that but I don't intend to abuse it like the Swarm on does. Your swarm, that's connected to my network, went to sleep soon after I left, didn't it?"

"Can the Swarm control us?" asked Madeline with a frown.

"No, our swarm is different," said Loyd, seeing that the cables his mother was connected to were pulled taut, keeping her from reaching any further.

"Fair enough," Sara said.

("Hey mom, it's me, Loyd. Would you mind not attacking me and my friends?")

The creature stopped dead in its tracks as though confused.

("What did you say?") it asked in his mother's kind voice.

("I said that my name was Loyd. I'm your son and the people around me are my friends.")

"That can't be right," the creature said out loud, beginning to change its shape to that of a human. "You were so far away only a few minutes ago. Or is my sense of time that far gone?"

"It's because of how awesome my worm is. I've managed to get it going nearly 120 kilometers per hour," Loyd proudly stated.

"Well, I could see that, if you were just going through loose sand but what about solid rock?"

Loyd grimaced. "It was either, I give them lots of speed in loose sand or the ability to tunnel through solid rock. You know how hard it is to make something that can get through both."

"So, how many do you have?" his mother asked, almost human now.

"Three, actually," he answered with a grin.

"Hey! Who let the monster out of its cage?!" a technician cried in the distance, obviously talking to someone they couldn't hear. "What do you mean we let her go?! Why would you let her go when you know I'm coming down here?!"

"Want me to take care of him, Loyd?" Sara asked, an evil glint in her eyes.

"Not now. We're already behind schedule. We still have to make it to Greeley."

A little disappointed, Sara said, "Alright then, I'll go get back in the worm. Come on, guys. It's freezing in here!"

"Why did you come down here, Loyd?" his mother asked.

"I came to take you with me to Earth. You're probably the smartest person I can take with me and I'm going to need every advantage I can get."

"Alright, but the simulator will break if you disconnect me, won't it?"

"No, the technician they sent down is probably here to reset it to a previous version. One where you weren't required."

"Hey, if you're out there, I've finished with the simulator! You can disconnect now," the technician called out, his voice wavering in terror.

"Good, now get out of here!" Loyd called back, listening as the technician fled back to the elevator.

"So, Loyd. How do you plan on getting us out of here?" his mother asked as a series of large cables detached from her.

"Worm travel. I've added a chamber where we can sit inside it."

"We get eaten by your worm in order to get where we want to go… That's original…"

The worm slithered up to Loyd and opened its mouth for the two to climb inside, joining the others who were already there.

"After you, mother." Loyd stepped aside and bowed down gesturing to his worm.

"How polite… how does one board a worm?"

"You step in front of it and let it eat you," Loyd smiled. "Do I need to show you?"

"No, I think I understand," Loyd's mother said stepping forward.

The worm swallowed her whole, transferring her to its sitting quarters. She picked herself up from the squishy floor and looked up at the kids in front of her.

"Hello, can I ask your name?" Jim asked the slim woman.

"Linda, my name is Linda. Who are all of you?" she replied

"My names Sara, she's Madeline, and those two are Griffon and Jim," Sara said pointing at each person in turn.

Loyd popped in after the introductions and looked around. "I'm going to assume everyone's been introduced?"

"Yes, Sara introduced everyone," Linda said smiling.

"Then I officially welcome you to the Martian Swarm. May your time with us be productive."

"And what does that mean?" Linda glared at Loyd.

"There's no such thing as a free meal. Even in my army," Loyd replied.

xX Greeley field fifteen, status: harvesting crop, ruined Xx

The worms made short work of the rice fields and were now eating their way through a bean field. An old man stood at the edge of the safe zone watching; a metal cane in his hands. Armed forces were positioned behind him, ready to attack the worms if need be. The worms came right up to the soldiers, who were standing on the edges of the field, before making their way back down the fields, consuming the plants.

"Marvelous, isn't it? How we can stand to lose so much food ready for harvest," the old man mused. "Maybe next harvest we won't have ninety-year-old experiments eat it. Maybe there won't be another harvest. Only God knows."

"God? If God existed then he wouldn't have sent the Swarm after us! If he existed, we wouldn't be standing here watching those things eat our winter harvest," a soldier exclaimed.

"Ignore the old man and his ramblings. He actually came from Earth."

"What?! He's over a hundred?!" the soldier asked, shocked.

"I'm more than a hundred, boy. I'm nearly one hundred and thirty," the man announced.

The soldier shut up and walked away, enraged by the Earther in front of him. Earthers were above most nobles and thus hated by the common folk. A worm turned back around and came up to the man. The soldiers got ready to fire but the worm just stayed there completely still.

"Orders, lieutenant?"

"Hold your fire! We'll wait till the armored forces get here. If that thing could swallow the beans so easily, do you think it would hesitate if it wanted to eat one of us?!"

The worm continued to sit there almost, staring at the old man in front of it.

"So, you smell me, do you? Well, it was only a matter of time until I was found out," the old man removed his hat and shades, revealing violet eyes. "Tell my son I'm waiting for him."

"He already knows," a squeaky voice called from behind the worm. "It was one of our objectives to confirm your location."

"Well then, maybe you should take me someplace more private so I can speak with him?" Reinhold asked.

"Just climb aboard." The worm lowered itself, exposing the small child on its back. "He wants to talk, too."