Chapter 58
I made my way through the halls, following signs pinned up and pointing towards the Auction Hall. It was a fairly uneventful walk.
I did, however, make a wrong turn at an intersection that had no sign. And I found myself in a short hallway overlooking the Auction Hall. There was no discernable way to get in from up here, but … no matter.
And I saw my quarry. Swift. He was tiptoeing along, as all glukkons are forced to do in those ridiculous clothes, and barking orders.
And I was in a perfect place to try and snipe him. But … I had left my weapon in Communications.
Time to find a new one.
I continued to the end of this short hallway and through an open doorway into a large chamber. The door way itself was lined with eight levers, which probably meant that it would lock or unlock when they were all pulled. No matter, the door was open now.
There were many smaller doors lining the sides. Most were open, and revealed little bedroom type areas, from which many vykkers were running in and out, trying to look busy. The room had high ceilings, and as I looked up I noticed a metal catwalk that spanned the whole room up overhead … and … were those spooceshrubs? Growing out of metal?
No time to ponder this. I had just noticed a machine that resembled a vendo, but the logo on it was a snuzi.
Grinning, I went over and pressed the button. With a hollow clang, a snuzi fell out of the chute. I reached in with my two lower arms and picked it out.
I looked around. Did I want to try and take out all these vykkers?
No. Too many. They would rush me and overtake me in no time.
But … I could go back to the area overlooking the auction hall.
I returned through the big open doorway and stopped partway down the hall. I looked through the glass siding in the hall and down into the auction chamber. Swift was still shouting, but not so much about the Auction anymore. He had taken to bragging. Things like, “Everybody loves me,” or, “I need me an ass the size of a truck to fit this wallet,” and even “Mama’s gonna be so proud of her little glukky.”
I raised the snuzi quickly, fumbled it, and lined up a shot.
He was mid phrase - “I’m at the top o’ the world!” - when I fired. He flew back and hit the wall, and flopped to the ground.
The vykkers and other glukkons in the room gasped in comical unison. They all gathered around Swift, instead of looking for who had shot him or crying out for help. This blessing helped me decide it was time to split.
I moved back the way I had originally come - away from the Vykker suites. As I fled, I skirted around a corner and realized what had made this hallway even take a corner.
There was a large, caged off area in front of me. Inside were numerous vykkers, all clad in tough armor. They marched around with large, wide knives and were cutting random bits off of some poor creatures on operating tables. At first they appeared to be studying these dead animals closely, but I soon realized that they were actually giggling and laughing as they chopped each successive piece off of the animal.
Okay. Disgusting, and a little putrid. But I had seen worse in my visions … this wasn’t so bad …
And the Vykker in me wanted to join the party.
NO! No time! I have to get moving before someone decided to inspect up here to see who sniped Swift.
Okay, keep moving.
I skirted the caged-in-operating theater and moved to the far end of the hall. It let out in a much smaller, darker hallway. I passed through here, noted a sign that said I was near “Loading Bay R.” And then …
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