Caleb stepped onto the orange-marked stone at the mouth of the ravine. Behind the cleft, roots ground across the path the squad had left. Suzu waited until Taichi cleared the gap, then brought him forward before the growth could reach it.
Biological canopies blocked most of the sky. Veins shone through the rock walls, and hot sulfur caught in Caleb's nose beneath the colder smell he'd followed down the slope.
He tested a patch of moss with his boot. It moved over the stone without sinking, so he used the exposed edge and held up a hand for the others to follow.
Kei checked the high ledges through his optic. Taichi covered the curve ahead. Suzu kept the map open beside her weapon, marking their detour before she closed it.
Caleb's public icon stayed green, carrying the session his buyer had reopened aboard the insertion flight.
[VIEWERS: 18,400]
The number was smaller than the drill crowd. His control still carried the padlock. His buyer had opened this session, and he could work with the audience she allowed while it lasted.
"Single file over this section," he said. "Use the bare stone."
Taichi looked at the canopy above them.
"One thing drops here, we're lined up for it. Give me a little room to the right so I can cover that ledge."
Suzu checked the angle he meant, then pointed to a parallel strip of exposed rock.
"Use that until the turn. Treadwell checks both strips. Kei, keep the upper ledge in sight. Call a halt if you lose it."
Caleb pressed his boot against the side strip. The rock held, and a thin purple root beneath the neighboring moss stayed still. He waved Taichi onto the tested stone and continued along his own line.
The vein in the wall pulsed. Moss lifted beside Taichi's next step, exposing a cavity that hadn't been there when Caleb tested the strip.
"Taichi, hold."
Taichi stopped with one foot raised. The stone under his planted boot tipped toward the opening.
He tried to shift back. A fibrous vine broke through the moss and caught his shin before his weight came off it. The rock folded underneath him, and the snare pulled him sideways into the pit.
"Caught," he shouted. "Right leg."
He drove his scatter-gun across the rim to keep his torso out of the hole. Acidic sap ran from the vine onto his shin guard, smoking where it struck the plate.
Suzu raised her rifle and followed the vine into the chamber. Caleb saw the swollen sacs pressed against Taichi's leg.
"Hold fire. You'll burst those."
She lowered the muzzle away from him and took a position above the pit, watching the canopy while Kei moved to the far edge.
"Kei, help hold him. Treadwell, tell us what to cut."
Caleb dropped his rifle against the sling and knelt on the rock that still held. Taichi pushed down on the gun stock, keeping his chest above the vines. Kei caught the back of his harness and braced one knee against the rim.
The suit supported Caleb's crouch. He could keep his weight there without pulling the dressing, but reaching into the chamber stretched the muscle beside his collarbone.
He put his left hand into the mud beneath the vine. Heat came through the gauntlet. Something thick ran under his fingers toward the rock, tightening each time Taichi tried to pull free.
"Stop fighting it for a second."
Taichi held still with his jaw clenched. The tendon eased enough for Caleb to follow it to the anchoring root.
He pulled his hand out before the burning reached his wrist. Acid had eaten a hole across the gauntlet's knuckles. He pressed a boot onto the exposed root, pinning it against the lip while he drew the combat knife with his left hand.
"Keep his weight up," he told Kei.
Suzu moved beside Kei long enough to take a second grip on the harness. She angled her rifle away from both men, then leaned back with him.
Caleb drove the blade under his boot, cutting across the strained root. The first cut opened its outer skin. He put his weight through the next, feeling the suit take the load along his back while the blade went through.
The vines slackened around Taichi's leg. A shriek came from beneath the rock, and black fluid spilled into the mud.
"Pull him now."
Kei and Suzu hauled Taichi onto the rim. Caleb rolled clear as the chamber folded inward, bringing the soft ground down over the severed root.
Taichi dragged the scatter-gun out after him. He lay flat for two breaths, then pushed up far enough to examine the plate on his shin.
"That strip held when you tested it."
"It changed under you," Caleb said. "We test it again every time the veins move."
Suzu watched a pulse travel along the wall.
"Then we stop on the pulse. Everybody checks the next step before we move. Taichi, can you put weight on it?"
He planted the boot and tried. The armor held together, but he leaned on his gun when he stood.
"I can walk. I'd rather not run."
Caleb sheathed the knife before loosening his ruined gauntlet. The knuckle panel had burned through. He tugged the intact edge over the raw skin and flexed his fingers carefully.
The cold beneath his ribs pulled harder. He ate part of a ration while Suzu watched their surroundings and Kei helped Taichi adjust the lower strap.
The food steadied Caleb's hand. It left the raw knuckles stinging, and the shoulder still pulled when he reached for the rifle.
The ruined cavity steamed beside them. Its spilled fluid replaced the sulfur smell with something sharp enough that Caleb stopped chewing.
A rattle came from the bone spurs overhead.
Kei raised his optic toward it. "Three on the left. More behind them."
Segmented creatures crawled over the ledge, their thick mandibles opening as they reached the blood beneath it. Caleb put the ration away and settled the stock against his sling.
"Aim for the joints. Keep your elbows in."
The first creature dropped onto the moss. He fired into its thorax before it could reach Taichi. The new weave spread the recoil across his back, easing the blow at his shoulder enough for him to hold the next shot steady.
Suzu burned a second creature off the spur above Kei. Taichi fired into the gap it left, stopping another from crawling down behind the squad.
[VIEWERS: 19,200]
*[User_45: Is that mud acidic? It looks like it's melting the rocks.]*
*[Lore_Hunter: What classification is that bug? Looks heavier than a standard scavenger.]*
Caleb saw the messages while he checked the nearest feet. One creature had caught its front leg between stones. He waited for it to pull free, then fired into the exposed hinge.
"Rust-Clippers," he said into his collar microphone. "The field sheet in the briefing packet had them. Those mandibles fit around surplus joint plating. Let one onto your arm and it opens the seam."
He stepped back onto the stone he'd already tested, keeping the rifle on the broken hinge until the creature stopped moving.
"This moss sits on a digestive mat. Watch the bare patches. Taichi's plate is smoking where the sap hit it, and my glove's already gone at the knuckles. Keep canvas out of the mud."
Taichi fired twice from the rear stone, turning the muzzle toward the wall before reloading.
"Show them my boot if they need convincing."
"Keep it on," Caleb said. "You still need it."
[VIEWERS: 26,000]
*[Scrap_King: Bro is doing a survival tutorial in the middle of a rupture zone.]*
*[RedLine: How does a Rank D scrubber know the biological details better than the academy kids?]*
[Gladhand: Automated tip: 500 credits.]
The chime reached Caleb under the gunfire. The tip display had registered a reward, though he couldn't check a settled receipt while he was holding the lane.
He had already paid this month's interest. He could choose the shot that kept them moving instead of chasing every number that appeared beside a username.
Suzu signaled the next rock. "Treadwell, forward. Kei covers the high shelf. Taichi, move when he reaches it."
Caleb tested the step and waved Taichi through. The younger man crossed with his bad leg held stiff, keeping his gun pointed into the canopy. Kei moved beside him and took over the higher angle while Suzu covered the rear.
The creatures kept coming toward the spilled fluid behind them. Caleb showed the stream the track they followed, leaving his rifle aimed at the gap instead of turning the visor away from it.
"That smell brought them down. Killing the root opened the route and bled the ground. We move before more find it."
His encrypted chip remained quiet. The woman who had opened the session could still be watching. He had no report of where she was, and silence told him nothing about what the older operator had done after the drill.
Kei called movement above the bend. Caleb caught a heavier shape between the spurs as it crouched to jump.
[VIEWERS: 34,500]
*[TitanSlayer: Show us the knife work again!]*
*[RedLine: 1000 credits if he takes the next one without the rifle.]*
Caleb kept the rifle raised until he saw the slope beneath the creature. Its hind feet pushed against the spur. The jump would carry it across the narrow path whether he fired or not.
"Kei, stay back. Taichi, cover the ones behind it."
He let the rifle hang and drew his knife in his good hand. The creature was twice the size of a Rust-Clipper, with four plated legs and a long jaw reaching down toward him.
"Trench-Hound," he said. "Watch the belly when it jumps."
It sprang from the ridge. Caleb dropped into a crouch, feeling the suit support his legs while its jaws passed above his helmet. He drove the knife into the pale underbelly and held the hilt close against his body.
The beast's momentum carried it along the blade. Its belly opened from the front limbs toward the rear, and it struck the stone beyond him, throwing black fluid across the edge of the path.
Suzu kept the other creatures off him while he followed it down. He knelt beside the Hound, holding the hilt until its last movements stopped. Pulling at once would have dragged him into the mud.
"The underside has less plating," he told the microphone. "Get beneath the jaw. Its weight does the cutting. Try that against the back plates and you'll lose your knife."
[Gladhand: Automated tip: 2000 credits.]
[VIEWERS: 45,000]
Caleb glanced at the display. RedLine's offer was still a chat line; Gladhand's notice was a separate recorded tip. Neither justified taking a worse angle on the next creature.
Beyond the dead Hound, the outer quarry ravine turned toward a broader opening. A deep impact shook dust from the canopy, and Kei called the change before anybody took another step.
"Hold. The ground's moving ahead."
Caleb put one hand against the rock wall and waited for the vibration to pass. Suzu brought the squad close enough to hear him without shouting.
"Same checks at the turn," she said. "Treadwell reads the footing. Kei checks the far side. Taichi, keep the rear clear."
Caleb stayed crouched beside the Hound, his good hand on the knife hilt. The blade was still lodged in the opened underbelly. Beyond the carcass, their route continued toward the chasm. He watched the dust fall across the turn, waiting for the stone to settle before he pulled the knife free and took another step.