Chapter 13: Showdown
Showdown
That was a nest. A giant, living, moving nest.
In Warren Fahy's sci-fi novel Fragment, there are plants with hearts and blood flowing through them. Although they look like plants, they lay eggs, hunt, and even raise and eat seabirds. They are predators with roots and branches. When I read it, I thought it was a pretty interesting concept, but now that I see something similar in front of me, that thought is completely gone. After all, stories are tragic when viewed up close, even if they seem comical from afar.
Gwoooong!
Its appearance was similar to a cross between an anemone and coral.
"Two hypotheses confirmed at once."
The origin of that massive nest is the hydroponics facility. Numerous branches grew from there, rising into the sky like coral. The tentacles, as thick as tree trunks, sprouted from the ends of the branches and writhed repulsively. If that were the only issue, it might have been bearable, but the problem was that those tentacles had mouths. From those mouths, a gas that clearly looked harmful was being sprayed everywhere.
[Increasing concentration of air pollutants. The concentration is rising significantly in the areas where those tentacles are spraying.]
Artemis showed me a cross-referenced map and air concentration data on the PDA, and it was obvious that the nest was the cause. The bar graph spiked wildly in response to the tentacles' emissions.