Now they were among much larger shells. "These things are supposed to be more than a meter in length," said Sel. "The closer to the entrance, the smaller."
Po stopped, pointed at the lamp. "They're heading toward the light?"
"Maybe we'll be able to see one."
"Rock-devouring larvae that grind up solid rock and poop out bonded stone columns."
"I didn't say I wanted to see it up close."
"But you do."
"Well. Yes."
Now they were both looking around them, squinting to try to see movement somewhere in the cavern.
"What if there's something it likes much better than light?" asked Po.
"Soft-bodied food?" asked Sel. "Don't think I haven't thought of it. The formics brought them food. Now maybe we have, too."
At that moment, Po suddenly rose straight up into the air.
Sel held up the stick. Directly above him, a huge sluglike larva clung to the ceiling. Its mouth end was tightly fastened on Po's back.
"Unstrap and drop down here!" called Sel.
"All our samples!"
"We can always get more samples! I don't want to have to extract bits of you from one of these pillars!"
Po got the straps open and dropped to the floor.
The pack disappeared into the larva's maw. They could hear hard metal squeaking and scraping as the larva's teeth tried to grind up the metal instruments. They didn't wait to watch. They started toward the entrance. Once they passed the first gold bug's body, they looked for the bits of blanket to mark the path.
"Take my pack," said Sel, shrugging it off as he walked. "It's got the radio and the DNA samples in it--get out the entrance and radio for help."
"I'm not leaving you," said Po. But he was obeying.
"You're the only one who can get out the entrance faster than that thing can crawl."
"We haven't seen how fast it can go."
"Yes we have," said Sel. He walked backward for a moment, holding up the lamp.
The larva was about thirty meters behind them and coming on faster than they had been walking.
"Is it following the light or our body heat?" asked Po as they turned again a
nd began to jog.
"Or the carbon dioxide of our breath? Or the vibrations of our footfalls? Or our heartbeats?" Sel held out the stick toward him. "Take it and run."
"What are you going to do?" said Po, not taking the stick.
"If it's following the light, you can stay ahead of it by running."
"And if it's not?"
"Then you can get out and call for help."