She was worried that the heels of her shoes might dig into the creature’s back, but Emilia put her mind at ease.
“They have a kind of natural armor plating under the soft mossy exterior,” she told Christine. “You couldn’t pierce it with a sword, let alone your shoes, so don’t worry.”
Christine found a seat across the aisle from Emilia and Rarev and got settled.
“Do I need any kind of a seatbelt?” she asked, looking for one and not finding it.
Emilia shook her head.
“No, don’t worry about that. The wole runs very smoothly—you don’t have to worry about falling off.”
“Not even if I stand up while it’s moving?” Christine asked. “I mean, it seems like people could just fall right over the side,” she added, looking to her right, where there was quite a drop from the wole’s back down to the track its chitinous feet were placed on.
“Don’t fear,” Rarev told her. “Once the wole starts running, an invisible force shield will be raised on the sides. You cannot fall out—it’s quite impossible.”
Christine was glad to hear that, though it still seemed odd to be riding on the back of an enormous millipede.
“Oh—they’re raising the bait ball—here we go!” Emilia exclaimed.
A moment later, the carpet-wole was rushing down the tracks with a speed that quite took Christine’s breath away.
The Transport Hub was gone in a moment and then they went down a long, curving tunnel lit from above by the glowing blossoms. The wole ran so fast, it reminded Christine a little of a roller coaster—even the clicking of its many chitinous feet sounded like a coaster rushing down the track.
“It’s like a roller coaster,” she said, looking over at Emilia.
“It is, rather,” The other woman nodded and smiled at her. “Just wait until we reach the hill above the twenty-second level where the Sacred Grove is located! You’re going to love it.”
“The hill?” Christine asked, just as the wole began climbing upwards. “Oh!” she exclaimed, as she was tipped back into her seat by the force of gravity. The wole went a bit slower as it climbed upwards but soon they were at what seemed to be the top of the Monstrum Mother Ship. The vast expanse of the ceiling was covered in short, dense, glowing grass, Christine saw. And hanging in its center was a glowing green sun, too bright to look at. Below her, laid out like a colorful carpet, was what looked like a tropical jungle.
“That’s the Sacred Grove,” Emilia told her. “Just wait—we’ll be going right through it. Oh, this is always my favorite bit!” She clutched at Rarev’s arm, a look of excited anticipation on her lovely face.
Christine had ridden enough roller coasters to know what was coming next. She gripped the armrests of her seat—which was covered in a soft, gray heather that felt amazing to sit on—and then the carpet-wole began surging down the track, towards the jungle.
She gasped as she was suddenly engulfed in the tropical jungle on either side. Green and blue and purple leaves as big as houses rushed past the sides of the wole, and all of them seemed to be draped in vines that sprouted multicolored flowers—many of which glowed.
And though there was an invisible barrier on the sides of the wole, there was none above. Christine could feel the wind rushing through her hair—it was scented with the delicious aromas of flowering plants and ripe, fruits and the dark, earthy fragrance of growing things
It was, Christine thought later, one of the most surreal experiences of her life. Rushing through the alien jungle with the wind in her hair, riding on the back of an enormous millipede—it was stranger than any dream she’d ever had. It was almost enough to drive the reason she had come out of her mind—almost.
The wole seemed to gain momentum from rushing down the hill because the rest of the Monstrum Mother Ship seemed to pass in a blur until, abruptly, they came to a halt.
“Oh!” Christine exclaimed—she had nearly been thrown out of her seat at the sudden stop and had to catch herself against the seat in front of her.
“My apologies for the abrupt stop,” Rarev growled, frowning. “The operator must have lowered the bait ball too quickly. I’ll have a word with him.”
“No, no—it’s all right.” Christine stood and patted her hair, which had been whipped around by the wind. She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble and she didn’t want to waste time. Right now getting to Roarn was all that mattered.
Emilia seemed to understand because she squeezed the Monstrum commander’s arms and shook her head.
“She wants to see her Monstrum, sweetheart,” she murmured to Rarev. “Come on—is it almost time for the Time-Lock to disengage?”
Rarev consulted a light-chronometer hovering above his wrist and nodded.
“It is. Come—we’ll go at once.”