Sophie gripped the thick cables that dangled against the vertical wall. Her small boots scraped for purchase on the rusted rivets as she hauled her weight upward. She sought the upper level where the Spider-Corroder had vanished through a jagged breach. The ascent was grueling, yet she climbed without hesitation.
Scritch-scratch.
A frantic rustling sound echoed from the darkness below. Sophie paused and hooked her arm around the cable to look down.
Aidro scurried up a vertical support beam. He moved with impossible speed, as he closed the distance between them.
Sophie smiled and pulled herself over the lip of a steel platform. She rolled onto the flat surface just as Aidro vaulted over the edge and landed beside her.
She scooped the creature into her arms and squeezed him tight.
"You made it! I thought the explosion got you."
Aidro chirped and flicked his metallic tongue.
Sophie held him at arm's length and studied his pristine chrome chassis.
"Are you immortal in my dream? You just keep coming back no matter what happens."
The lizard tilted its head but offered no answer. Sophie decided that he was indeed invincible here. It made sense. This was her world, after all.
She set him down and pointed toward the gaping hole in the wall above them.
"That big spider went up there. We have to follow it."
Her expression hardened.
"It has Mom. Or... it has the sword that Mom turned into. I'm going to get her back."
She looked around the bizarre terrain of the Rust Bucket's mid-level. Massive gears hung suspended in the gloom, and walkways ended abruptly in jagged tears. There was no clear path.
"Which way is safe? I don't see any stairs."
She scanned the layout.
"There are no safe ways. But there are shorter paths if we jump."
Sophie felt a flutter of nervousness in her stomach. She hated heights. The drop below was an abyssal black that swallowed the light.
"If I fall, my Dream Armor will protect me. Right, Aidro?"
Aidro blinked his glowing eyes.
"Right. Let's do it."
She spotted a narrow platform suspended by rusted cables about ten feet away. It swayed gently in the draft of the ventilation system.
Sophie took a breath and leaped.
She landed with a heavy thud on the metal grate. The platform swung violently, but she grabbed the suspension cable to steady herself.
"Okay. That wasn't so bad."
She ran across the swaying bridge and grabbed a loose cable that hung from the ceiling. She channeled her inner adventurer.
"Swing!"
She kicked off and swung across a gap to a large mechanical housing. She scrambled up the side of the machine and stood on its flat, dusty surface.
From this new vantage point, she analyzed the path again.
Another suspended platform waited ahead, but the distance was daunting. The gap was wider than the last one, and no loose cables hung nearby to assist her.
She looked down at the lizard.
"Do you think I can make it?"
Aidro let out a confident squeak.
Sophie nodded. She walked backward until her heels touched the rear edge of the machine.
"Here goes nothing."
She emboldened herself with a shout.
"Hiyah!"
She dashed forward. Her boots pounded against the metal. At the very edge, she launched herself into the void.
She sailed through the air. Her hands flapped wildly at her sides like the wings of a baby bird, though the motion did nothing to extend her arc.
Her feet hit the edge of the target platform.
SLAM.
The impact was jarring. The force of her landing flung Aidro off her shoulder as she bent forty-five degrees forward. The lizard tumbled forward onto the grating.
Sophie's boots found no grip on the slick metal.
"Whoa!"
She slipped. Her legs went out from under her.
Gravity claimed her. She slid backward off the edge.
"AAAAHH!"
She screamed as she fell. Her hands clawed at the air above, desperate for a hold that wasn't there.
Aidro stood at the edge of the platform and looked down at her.
Sophie stared up at him. Her hands remained outstretched in sheer desperation.
Fear spiked in her chest. The intensity of the moment awakened a dormant circuit deep within her mutated biology.
HUMMMM.
A pulse of invisible energy released from her palms. It wasn't a blast; it was a command.
The edge of the massive steel platform groaned.
CREAAAK.
The metal dipped downward violently as if a giant hand had yanked it to meet her.
Sophie's fingers slammed into the grate. She grabbed hold of the lowered edge and scrambled up before the platform could rebound.
She rolled onto her back and gasped for air. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.
"What... what was that?"
She sat up and looked at the platform. It swayed, slowly returning to its original position.
"Did the platform just move toward me?"
Aidro jumped onto her chest and stared at her with intense, glowing eyes.
Sophie petted his cold head.
"It moved. You saw it too, didn't you, Aidro?"
She looked at her hands. Faint blue veins pulsed beneath the skin before fading.
"Am I immersing more in my dream? Is my mind awakening new powers?"
She stood up and brushed the rust dust from her pants.
"I can figure that out later. Mom is waiting."
She dashed across the platform and leaped to a stable ledge. A short climb brought her to the jagged hole in the wall where the spider had vanished.
Sophie entered the huge tunnel. The air here was heavy and tasted of copper. She slowed her pace and moved with caution.
Sniff.
Her nostrils filled with concentrated Rust particles. It was a thick, cloying scent that burned the back of her throat.
"Kuh-kuh."
She coughed and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
"It smells old in here."
She observed the walls. The corners of the tunnel were marked with spiral grooves, as if a massive drill had bored through the solid rock and iron.
She continued ahead. The tunnel opened up into a cavernous dungeon that dwarfed the previous areas.
Sophie stopped at the edge of the opening. Her silver eyes widened.
"Wow."
Mechanical parts intertwined with jagged concrete and rotting wood to form a chaotic nest. Containers hung suspended in the air by hundreds of thick cables. Some rested on the ground in stacks, while others dangled precariously.
The most striking feature was the webbing. Metal cables, spun like silk, crisscrossed the entire chamber.
At the far back of the dungeon, a large depression in the floor glistened.
It was a bath filled with liquid rust. The substance bubbled sluggishly, glowing with a malevolent orange hue.
Directly above this lethal pool, the massive Spider-Corroder hung upside down. It clung to the ceiling web. On its back, held in place by magnetism, a blue sword glowed softly.
Sophie was immediately drawn to the brilliant light.
"There it is. Mom."
She dropped down from the tunnel mouth onto a narrow service walkway.
Clank.
The sound of her boots hitting the metal stirred the darkness below.
Numerous Spider-Decayers unfolded their legs from their resting spots among the containers. They turned their sensor pits upward to look at the source of the noise.
Sophie gasped and ducked behind a rusted pillar.
"Too loud."
She peeked around the edge. The lesser spiders settled back down, losing interest.
She sneaked to the corner of the walkway and slowly advanced while she kept her eyes fixed on the Corroder.
"That monster takes up most of the space, Aidro. It's just hanging there. Is it sleeping?"
She looked down at the bubbling bath below the beast.
"And what is that stuff? It looks like soup, but bad soup. Is it oil?"
She shook her head.
"No, oil is black. That stuff is orange and angry."
A memory surfaced in her mind. It was sharp and clear, pulling her back to the Biome.
...
Divento sat in his wheelchair in the center of the workshop. A group of young scavengers sat around him. He held a vial of murky orange liquid with tongs.
"Listen to me. The Rust isn't just a dust. In high concentrations, deep in the buckets, it becomes a liquid."
He swirled the vial.
"This is liquid Rust. It is pure contamination. For a Ruster, this is fuel. It is like a steroid shot. The more they feed on it, the stronger their cores become."
He pointed the tongs at a young boy in the front row.
"But for you? For humans? It is instant death."
Divento lowered his voice.
"When I was a Galvanizer, I raided a Rank B Rust Bucket. My friend, a good man named Pol, slipped. He fell into a pool like this. He didn't even have time to scream. The moment his skin touched the liquid, the corrosion consumed him. He turned to a statue in seconds, then crumbled into the bath. Liquid Rust has the highest potency level known to man. If you ever see it... stay away. If a drop touches you, wash it off instantly and apply raw UST powder, or you lose the limb."
...
The memory faded. Sophie shuddered.
"Okay. So that is the bad bath."
She looked at the sword suspended over the pool.
"I have to be careful not to fall in. But the sword is directly above it. How can I reach it without taking a swim?"
She questioned herself, searching for a path.
Beside her, Aidro jumped onto a thick cable that ran parallel to the walkway. He scurried along it upside down.
Sophie watched him. A realization struck her.
"The webs."
This place was covered in metal cables. They stretched across the ceiling and anchored to the walls.
"I can climb onto the web. I can dangle down and grab the sword before that Corroder even knows I'm there."
She nodded firmly.
"That is the plan."
She looked around for a loose cable. She found a coil of thinner wire near a winch. She gathered enough length and wrapped it around her waist and shoulder to create a makeshift harness.
She climbed a nearby pole where several thick ends of the web were attached.
"Here goes."
She stepped onto the tensioned cable. It vibrated under her weight, but it held.
She moved toward the center of the room.
It wasn't only the Corroder who occupied this web space. Other Decayer spiders were scattered across the network. Some appeared dormant, their legs tucked in tight. Others shifted lazily.
Sophie moved with extreme care. She flipped her body and climbed upside down along the cables, using the shadows of the ceiling to hide.
Because she was so small and the cables were so thick, the spiders she passed didn't notice her. She was a flea navigating a giant's lattice.
She closed in on her target. The Corroder loomed ahead, massive and silent.
"It looks like it's sleeping."
Then she frowned.
"But is it really? I just saw it not too long ago in the other area. The explosion drew it there. It can't be sleeping so quickly."
She paused.
"By the way, do Rusters even sleep? They are just chunks of metal. Does a toaster need a nap?"
She shook her head to clear the confusing thoughts.
"That doesn't matter. It looks asleep, so I won't miss this chance."
She climbed closer. She stopped right next to one of its massive, articulated legs. The metal was pitted and scarred from battles.
Sophie stared at the sharp tip of the leg.
She remembered how her brother, the real Aidro, had been stabbed by a similar leg. She remembered his scream as he died.
Anger flared in her chest. She wanted to kick the spider. She wanted to smash it.
"No," she told herself. "Regain your cool. Now is not the time to confront the Corroder. I need the sword first."
She unslung the cable she had tied to herself. She knotted one end securely to the thick web strand above her.
"Okay. Down I go."
She lowered herself slowly until she hung in the empty air. She was in line with the sword now. It was roughly twenty meters away, suspended on the spider's back.
She squinted at it.
"How is it just sticking there? There are no ropes."
She realized it was magnetism. The spider was using its own magnetic field to keep her mother trapped.
"That sword is made of Adamantine. Aren't Rusters allergic to it?"
She wondered why the spider kept it so close.
"Is it a trophy? Does it want to prove it is stronger than the blue metal? It doesn't matter. I am freeing her now."
Sophie started to swing her body back and forth.
"One... two... three!"
She gained momentum. She released her hold on the line and made a wild leap toward the sword.
She sailed through the air. Her hand outstretched toward the hilt.
"I got you!"
She felt success at hand. Her fingers brushed the blue light.
ZRAK-BOOM.
A powerful magnetic force blasted outward from the spider's back.
"AAHH!"
Sophie was repelled instantly. She flew backward through the air as if she had hit a solid wall.
CRASH.
She landed loudly atop a hollow shipping container. The metal boomed like a drum.
The noise echoed throughout the dungeon.
SCREEE.
The Corroder awoke instantly. Its multiple eyes flared red.
All around the room, the lesser Decayers uncurled and hissed.
Sophie groaned and stood up. She rubbed her bruised back.
Aidro scurried up the side of the container and climbed back onto her shoulder.
Sophie lifted her head. She realized the spiders were awake. Hundreds of red eyes stared at her from the shadows.
The Corroder shifted its massive weight on the web. The cables groaned. It positioned itself to face Sophie directly.
The monster stared at her. It sensed something. The biological signature of this tiny human was strange. It felt... familiar. It felt like Rust.
The Corroder released a low-frequency pulse.
HUMMM.
The horde of spider minions stopped their advance. They froze in place, waiting.
"Huh?"
Sophie noticed the pause.
"They've stopped advancing?"
The Corroder glanced at the sword on its back, then turned its gaze back to Sophie.
Sophie didn't know what the spider was thinking, but she was exposed. There was no point in hiding her intentions.
She walked to the edge of the container. She pointed a finger accusationally at the massive beast.
"Hey! You! Ugly!"
She yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Give that sword to me! It belongs to my mother! You have no right to carry it around like a trophy!"
Her voice echoed in the cavern.
"That sword comes with me! And I am not leaving here without it!"
The spider didn't speak. It only stared at her with a cold, mechanical indifference.
"Do you hear me?" Sophie shouted. "Can't you understand? Hand over that sword now!"
The lesser spiders chattered their mandibles. They looked at their overlord. They seemed to ask, Are you just going to let this human girl act so arrogant?
The Corroder understood its authority was being threatened. It let out a piercing shriek.
SKREEEE!
It gave the signal.
"Coward! If you won't give it, I will take it by force!"
The minions attacked.
A Decayer lunged at her from a nearby cable.
Sophie reacted. She leaped to another container and rolled.
CLANG.
The spider's claws gouged the metal where she had just stood.
"You missed!"
She climbed up a platform and swung from a hanging cable to avoid another attack.
She landed on a spider's back.
The creature bucked wildly. It turned upside down to shake her off.
"Whoa!"
Sophie held tight to its carapace, but Aidro was flung away into the darkness.
Sophie looked down. Directly below her, the Rust pool bubbled.
"I can't fall in there!"
She tried to reach for another cable, but the spider's movement was too frantic.
Another spider positioned itself on the wall. It shot a web line.
THWIP.
The heavy, sticky mass hit Sophie in the chest.
"Oof!"
The impact blasted her off the spider's back.
She fell.
She plummeted straight down into the orange glow.
SPLASH.
She hit the liquid Rust. It was thick and hot.
She tried to swim.
"Help!"
But she remembered she couldn't swim. And this liquid was heavy.
She struggled, thrashing her arms, but she sank.
The liquid burned cold. She felt her skin hardening instantly. Her fingers fused together. Her legs turned to heavy iron.
Her head was the last thing to sink into the bath.
Glub.
She went under.
The area became quiet again. The spiders watched the ripples fade.
After some minutes, a body floated to the surface of the pool.
It was a statue. A perfectly preserved, rustified corpse of a small girl. Dead metal.
Thwip.
A web shot down from the ceiling. The Corroder pulled up the metal scrap.
It dangled the statue in front of its face. It inspected it keenly with its sensor pits.
It scanned for the unique Adamantine resonance it prized.
The statue was just iron. It was dull.
The Corroder lost interest.
It tossed the human scrap away.
CLANG.
Sophie's rusted body landed in a dark corner where piles of other scrap lay forgotten.
The Corroder returned to its slumber. The spiders returned to their resting areas and became dormant.
The dungeon fell silent.
A couple of hours passed.
Something moved swiftly in the shadows.
It was a Rotter. A lizard with blue liquid swirling in its gut.
Aidro scuttled through the obstacles. He ignored the sleeping spiders. He arrived at the pile where scrappy Sophie lay.
He climbed onto her chest.
He melted.
The blue liquid seeped into the cracks of the rust casing.
Seconds later, the statue began to vibrate.
CRACK.
A fissure appeared on the face. Blue light seeped out.
KRAKOOM.
The rust cocoon faltered and shattered.
Sophie gasped.
"HAAHH!"
She sat up, surrounded by shards of her own metallic coffin. She was pink, whole, and alive.
She picked up Aidro, who had reformed beside her.
"What took you so long? I've been frozen for God knows how long!"
She rubbed her arms.
"I felt... heavy. And cold."
A deep growl emanated from her stomach.
"And I am starving."
She looked up at the webs high above. The sword still glowed in the darkness.
"I have to get out of here. Before my gut starts growling loud enough to wake them up again."
She stood up and crept toward the exit tunnel.
She looked back one last time.
"I'm leaving now, Mom. But I promise. I will return. And next time, I'm bringing a bigger weapon."