It was dark, very dark. The
only source of light came from the beam emitted from his belt which
projected a cone of light in front of him. It only partially
illuminated the cavernous mucus-lined intestine, but it was easily
enough light to see, especially once his eyes had adjusted.
There was also a deep foul
smell, one that seemed to permeate every inch of the air around him,
which in itself was thin and oppressive.
Already, he could see the
walls of the upper small intestine were red and inflamed though as of
yet there had been no sign of any parasite or indication that there
was even one there.
That
changed the moment
he made his way around the first bend. Along
the walls were purple growths that
were covered in pulsating orbs.
They were clustered in
patches and honestly
reminded Ray of grapes. Or
perhaps a closer comparison were
fish eggs.
“I’ve
found something,” he said over
the radio.
“What?”
came the voice of Diana from the other side.
“Honestly,
I don’t know. They kinda look like fish eggs.”
“Get
rid of them!”
Diana said fiercely.
“Hold on,” Doctor
Wexler said. “Are
they loose or are they embedded into the intestine wall.”
“They are attached to growths which are attached to the intestine.”
“Do you think that cutting them off will damage the lining?”
“I’m not sure, but if they’re eggs then whatever’s infected
her might soon have friends.”
“Remove them,” the doctor
said. “Get a sample then destroy what’s left if you
can.”
“Understood,” he said as he raised his hand and fired a cutting
beam.
He made sure to be as precise as possible so as to not damage or risk
hurting Wonder Woman. While he knew she was one tough cookie, he
didn’t know how or to what extent the growths may have weakened
her.
He sliced off the first egg, then the second and third until all of
them had been removed. After gathering a sample or two, he cut them
to pieces before crushing what was left in his hands.
“The eggs are gone,” he said. “But the growths along the wall
are still there. I’m not going to risk removing them just yet,
though I am going to look for more and whatever laid them.”
“Hurry,” came Diana’s
voice.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“I felt it a little bit. I think. Just keep going, I’m fine.”
“As long as you’re certain,” he said as he began to walk
forwards, continuing on down through her small intestine towards the
next bend which he could see far up ahead.
The small intestine of an average human was around twenty feet long.
At his scale, it was a lot farther than that and he knew he was
looking at miles of tunnel that he had to search. Thankfully, it was
pretty much straight through, though with all the blind curves he
knew that he could waltz into a terror beyond his imagination at any
moment.
He just hoped that whatever had infected Wonder Woman wasn’t beyond
his capability to deal with.
“Update?” came the
doctor’s voice.
“Nothing more yet,” Ray
answered. “The walls are red and sore looking. Heading towards the
fourth or fifth intestinal bend now.”
As
he rounded the corner,
he saw more of the egg-like
growths.
“Found more,” he said. “I’m going to destroy them like the
last ones.”
“Good,” came the doctor’s
voice. “Keep it up.”
“Make sure you get everything,”
Wonder Woman’s voice added.
“I intend to,” Ray assured them.
Like the last clutch, he cut them all off, making sure he got all of
them off completely before destroying them.
“Done,” he said. “Continuing
on.”
*
“Everything okay?” the doctor
asked Wonder Woman.
“I can feel him cutting them off,” she answered. “It is like
tiny sharp needles inside me.”
“I can tell him to be more careful,” the doctor offered.
The amazon shook her head. “No,
it lets me know he’s making
progress. In a strange sort
of way it puts me at ease.”
The
doctor folded her arms as she leaned against the wall. “I should
have had a tracker on him so I could see how he was progressing in
real-time. Also a camera so that I could see what he is
seeing.”
“It is too late, now,” Wonder
Woman said. “Though he did
have something extra on his belt.”
“He did?” the doctor asked. “I never noticed.”
“Regardless, at least he had the foresight for the radio, otherwise
he would have been completely alone.”
“As long as he succeeds,” the Amazon said.
“Let’s hope he does.”
*
Ray had heard everything they said,
but he decided to not respond. He
was too focused on making sure he shone his light on every inch of the intestine so as not to miss anything
that didn’t belong there.
He knew that as long as he
was methodical and took his time that he would easily accomplish what
he had set out to do.
Of course, the presence of
the parasite that had laid the eggs – or whatever they were –
continued to weigh on his mind. Any kind of conflict could easily put
Diana at risk and he didn’t want to hurt her, even by accident. He
wasn’t naive, though, as he also understood that if it came down to
it, he might have to hurt her in order to save her.
Ray pushed on, moving down
five more stretches of the intestine without seeing anything out of the
ordinary, other than the red inflamed flesh. As he rounded the bend
that would have led to the sixth consecutive stretch of the intestine, he
saw more of the egg-like objects growing on the walls.
As with all the others he
cut them off and destroyed them before he continued on.
Things were going far too
well and it worried him. He knew from experience that when things
were too easy it was because life was going to throw a curve ball
right at your face.
It was shortly after he had
gone around yet another bend when he heard a strange noise from up
ahead. It had the cadence of a growl, but sounded nothing like one,
at least not in terms of pitch.
“I hear something ahead,”
Ray said as he slowed his stride to a plod.
“What is it?”
Diana asked.
“Something,”
he responded. “I won’t
know until I find it.”
It
was strange how the intestines felt like a maze even though there was
only a singular path. All the
twists and turns made navigating it a lot more interesting, yet it
also made any progress he was
making feel nonexistent.
“Coming
up to another curve. I’ll see if anything’s behind it,” he
said.
“Keep us informed,”
the doctor said.
“I
intend to.”
Cautiously,
he moved around the bend only
to find more of the same.
The intestines were still red
and sore looking, and while
there were some growths scattered around,
there were no eggs and no sign of whatever had made the sound.
He
pushed on towards the next bend which at his scale looked to be
around seventy
feet ahead. His ears strained
with every step as he listened for any signs
of other strange noises. He
heard nothing.
Then
he heard it. The strange noise and it sounded like it was a lot
closer. Ray stopped in his tracks and raised his hands, pointing the
energy cutters
ahead of him.
“What
is that?” he muttered.
There
was a soft blue glow from somewhere up ahead and it was slowly
getting brighter.
“Something
is approaching,” he informed the others.
“What is it?”
Diana asked.
“I
don’t know yet. I’ll find
out what it is when it comes around the bend. What
I do know is that it has a soft blue glow to it.”
“Tell us when you see
it,” the doctor said. “And
try to describe it.”
“I’ll
do my best,” he answered.
Ray
stood there at the ready as the blue glow grew brighter and brighter
until the whole section of the intestine was illuminated with the soft
blue glow. It wasn’t nearly as bright as his flashlight, but it was
certainly brighter than the usual pitch darkness the intestines dwelt
in.
“Let’s
see what you are,” he whispered as he rolled his shoulders in
preparation.
The
parasitic creature moved into view, it walking on the walls of the
intestine on long thin limbs which numbered in the dozen. It stopped
in its tracks as it seemed to look at him with its single compound
eye.
It
stared at him and he stared right back.
“Hey,
guys,” he said. “I think I’ve made contact.”