tell him you saved his life and asked for a favor in return.”
Malahki seemed satisfied by my words. Waving me to follow, it headed to the tall planter with the bright fuhnid mushrooms.
Raising the clear cover, the damirian plucking one out of the dirt. It then squished it between its palms, letting the vivid pink juice drip back into the ground. He then sprayed the now flat-like-crêpe mushroom from the bottle under the planter.
“Here.” Malahki ripped a wide round leaf from a vine nearby, wrapping the flattened mushroom he’d rolled into a tube. “Feed this to the captain, with a glass of water. Just one cup of water, though, no more. Wait for ten minutes, then make him throw it all up again.”
I stared at the dark green package in its hands.
“Are you saying to neutralize the poison that is killing him, I need to give him more of it?” I asked sceptically.
“Isn’t that how many poisons work?”
“No.” I shook my head. “A sip of wine, laced with fuhnid juice, is about to kill Vrateus. How is feeding him an entire freaking mushroom supposed to help?”
“By drawing the poison out,” Malahki replied calmly. Shoving the leaf-wrapped mushroom into my hands, it took the spray bottle again and cleaned its hands, then sprayed my hands holding the package, too. “I squeezed the toxic juice out of the mushroom. If the captain eats it now, it will soak up whatever fuhnid juice there is in his body. He would have to get it out of his stomach afterwards, so the poison doesn’t seep back into his digestive system and bloodstream.”
“Are you confident it will work?” I stared at the package in my hands, afraid to hope. “Has anyone ever tried this?”
“I have. Myself.”
That was a relief to hear.
“Only I’ve had more time for ‘experimenting’ as you’ve named it,” Malahki added. “I completely dehydrated the mushroom and grounded it into powder first.”
“Powder?” I huffed in frustration. “That is very different from what you’ve just given me. Do you have any of the actual powder left?”
“No. Unfortunately, I don’t.” The damirian pursed its lips. “And you don’t have the luxury of time to be picky.”
That was true.
“Well, thanks for this.” I pressed the bundle to my chest.
“Where is Vrateus?” Malahki asked, handing me back my gun. “How far do you have to go, now?”
“He is in my room.”
“It’s next to his, then.”
“Is it?”
“His is the second glass capsule. There are two, side by side.”
I had seen the second bubble next to mine, but it had always been dark, and I assumed it was empty. Vrateus had never told me it was his room. Not that I’d ever asked.
“Don’t use the corridor to go back,” Malahki said. “Take the garbage tunnel from here. It’s safer. Just make sure you get out in time. There is an opening in the wall, not far from your room.”
I knew about the opening. I’d already used it during my failed escape.
“Thanks. I’ll take the tunnel.”
Chapter 16
LYING ON MY BELLY ON the conveyor belt inside the tunnel, I travelled feet first toward my room. Afraid to miss the spot where I needed to get out, I kept my hand on the wall, trailing my fingers in search of the loose panel. When it moved as I passed, I quickly crawled back to it, ready to climb out.
The distant tromping of footsteps suddenly reached me from the corridor, making me pause. I spread my arms and legs wide, removing them from the belt and pressing them into the walls of the tunnel, then froze in place, listening as the footsteps approached.
“We didn’t find his weapon storage.” I recognized Wyck’s voice.
“He hides it somewhere,” Crux growled in reply.
The sound of their voices made my knees shake from fear. Nothing good would come if the errocks found me here, alone and pretty much helpless. Straining to stay off the conveyor belt, I couldn’t even free a hand to use the laser gun tucked into one of the pockets of my bodysuit.
I desperately hoped Lesh wasn’t out there with them. Or if he were, that he wouldn’t be able to catch my scent. The soap I used made me undetectable to the errocks’ acute sense of smell, but no one mentioned if it worked the same for Wyck’s terrifying pet.
“No matter. He won’t be able to do much now, anyway,” Crux kept on talking. “Use whatever we have for weapons. Get everyone in the mess hall. Kick them out of beds if you have