"We have to help them," Jerry cried. He watched the events unfold on the television screens, as did Rimmer and Kane. They had seen the batling's release and the subsequent escape of Andy and Lucas.

"You will do nothing," said Kane. "You are a nuisance I sought dealt with. Sergeant Rimmer, take him to one of the cells on subbasement 1. We will discuss the matter of his lingering presence, and the fact that you disobeyed an order, later.

Rimmer grabbed Jerry by the cuffs that bound his wrists. "Come on, kid. Let's make this quick. I have a mountain of shit to climb out off without you dragging me down deeper."

Jerry didn't argue. While Rimmer had spared his life once, he held little hope of it happening twice, especially within the boundaries of Kane's radar.

They re-entered the elevator and headed downwards to subbasement 1. When they stepped out, they were met by a handful of security guards. The men on this floor had only side-arms.

"Sergeant, we're waiting for orders."

Rimmer shoved Jerry forwards. "Stand by for now. Take this man to a vacant cell."

"Yes, sergeant."

One of the guards reached out to take Jerry but, just as he did so, an alarm began sounding. It was exactly like the siren that had sounded above Wolfie's cell before it had opened. This time, however, the alarm was coming from above every cell in the cellblock."

Rimmer shoved Jerry backwards out of the way. "Shit! Men, stand ready. The cells are opening."

"What, how can that be?" asked one of the guards. "You would have to override the entire system."

Rimmer checked the magazine in his pistol before holding it pointed down the corridor. "Well, obviously somebody has. Get ready."

The cells slid open, one after the other, like a cascading wave. The first cell held no movement, but immediately something from the second cell began to emerge. The long black spindly legs made its nature obvious. It was one of the giant spiders.

"I think I just shit myself," said Jerry.

"I would not blame you," said Rimmer, opening fire as the spider emerged from its cell.

Rimmer and his men hit home with their gunfire, their target large and bulbous, but they lacked the penetration needed to bring the beast down. As is the nature of a spider, it leapt towards the wall and moved itself up to the ceiling.

Its fellow cellmate quickly expelled itself from the cell and came upon the guards immediately. The men urgently fired on the second spider as a single unit. Their magazines all ran empty at the same time. As each guard fought to reload their rifles with shaking hands, the giant spider on the ceiling dropped down and landed on the man furthest forward.

It pierced the man's chest with its abdominal stinger, sending him to the ground screaming. He lay there for a moment, writhing back and forth, until a gout of blood exploded from his mouth and his eyes swelled in their sockets. Slowly the guard's torso expanded, blowing up like a balloon. Then he split open at the ribs and a thick white substance spilt forth from his carcass.

Rimmer strode forward and fired his newly reloaded pistol. He emptied an entire clip into the spider, leaving it without two of its eight legs. It let out a squeal and retreated.

Its cellmate took up the attack.

Rimmer dove aside and the spider struck one of his men. It quickly caught the guard's skull between its fangs and cracked it like a hollow Easter egg.

Jerry screamed. He scurried down the corridor, back against the wall, wrists still bound behind his back.

Rimmer grabbed him. "Follow me."

The attacking spider was engaged with the remaining security guards, giving Rimmer and Jerry the opportunity to make their way down the corridor. It was only a matter of feet, however, before they were faced with yet another abomination.

The creature blocking their path was a woman, yet a woman with the body of a serpent. Her skin was grey and olive-green. She hissed at them with a lizard's tongue.

"It's a basilisk," Rimmer said, cursing under his breath. He fired off a shot, striking the snake-woman in her chest and doubling her over.

But within moments she was standing tall once more and approaching again quickly.

Rimmer glanced around, his usually unflappable manner quickly melting away. "In here," he said, shoving Jerry into one of the cells.

Jerry tripped and fell to the ground, which turned out to comprise of sharp sand. Rimmer remained outside the cell, quickly tapping away at the LED screen on the wall.

The basilisk closed in on Rimmer, swiped a talon at his face.

Rimmer dodged the blow, abandoned the LED screen, and combat rolled into the cell beside Jerry. The basilisk slithered into the entrance and hissed at them.

Just when they seemed totally fucked, the cell door slid closed, separating them from the horrors in the corridor.

The basilisk swiped at the glass hatch at the top of the door, glaring in at them.

"It's going to get in here," Jerry said. "It's going to get us."

Rimmer leaned up against the wall. "No, it's not. Three-inch steel. We'll be fine."

Jerry picked up a handful of sand and let it flow through his fingers. "Yeah, long as we don't step foot outside again. I don't see how being trapped in here makes us any less screwed. That's a pretty big knife you have strapped to your belt. Can I have it? I don't have a weapon."

"No, it's my backup."

"Well, what about that other knife, strapped to your thigh. Can I have that one?"

"No that's my backup to my backup."

Jerry sighed. "What is this place anyway? A giant sand pit?"

"It used to house a nest of scorpions. We sent them to down to Albuquerque."

"Albuquerque?"

"They're working with DARPA to develop high-tech armour systems made from chitin. They requisitioned any creatures that have natural armour capabilities."

Jerry watched as the basilisk moved away from the glass hatch, probably to find easier prey. "Why do you guys move the creatures around so often? Isn't it risky?"

"Yes," Rimmer said. "But it's necessary."

"Why?"

"To prevent power struggles."

Jerry stood up on the sand and found a place to sit on a nearby boulder. "Power struggles?"

"Yes. There are a lot of internal politics at play in Deus Manus. There was a time when the facilities with the more dangerous prisoners would take liberties over the others. During the Cold War we discovered the Moscow facility was working with Soviets to try and train the inhabitants of their facilities. They were trying to tame an army of monsters to do their bidding. They were getting results as well."

"Shit, that's pretty crazy. What happened in the end?"

"When it came to the attention of the Deus Manus senior council, the decision was made to destroy the Moscow facility. An operative was sent in undercover and the self-destruct sequence was initiated. The Moscow facility is no more and the Soviets are gone. Since then, prisoners are regularly exchanged and the council keeps a tighter leash on its various facilities."

Jerry went up to the hatch and peered outside. All of the guards were now probably dead; the spiders feasting on their flesh. The basilisk was slithering up and down the corridor while various other beasts mingled around the cellblock.

"What's going to happen now? Jerry asked. "We can't get out of here, can we?"

Rimmer was sat on another of the boulders and was checking his large pistol. "Not unless someone lets us out from the other side. Hopefully Kane will send down a team to clear the floor. If not..."

"Then they'll do that concrete thing and fill the entire floor in."

"Pretty much. Let me try the radio. I'll see where things lie."

Rimmer clicked on his radio and clasped the talk button. It crackled for a moment and then Rimmer spoke.

"Sergeant Rimmer requesting a status update. Rimmer, requesting a status update. Subbasement team 1 is down. I am currently pinned down in cell 1; multiple hostiles. Civilian present. Requesting immediate rescue."

"Negative," came the reply.

Rimmer cleared his throat. "General Kane. What is the status of the facility?"

"FUBAR. Every single cell has been opened. All prisoners are loose. Situation is non-salvageable. Evacuation window is one hour. Over and out."

The radio went dead.

"General Kane... General Kane, please respond. General Kane..." Rimmer threw his radio into the sand. "Damn it!"

Jerry turned away from the glass. "What is it?"

"Kane cut my radio. The facility is being evacuated."

"Great," said Jerry. "Are they coming to get us?"

Rimmer shook his head. "No. Only levels 1-4 will be evacuated. All of the subbasements will be destroyed."

Jerry grabbed his head with both hands. "What? How do you know that?"

"Because Kane said the evacuation window was one hour. When that hour is up, anyone left inside will be dead."

"That psycho fuck."

Rimmer shook his head and shrugged. "Kane has no choice. The facility has been taken."

"Well, then let's take it back."

Rimmer laughed. "With what? You, me, and my Desert Eagle?"

"You have some men still alive on subbasement 10 with the Dennisons. Andy and Sun have lived through this type of thing before. We need to get to them."

"How? We're trapped in this cell."

"Then we need to find a way out," said Jerry. "And fast!"

"Either that," said Rimmer. "Or we die in less than one hour."

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Dr Gorman sat in her lab and stared at the screen in disbelief. All of her lab assistants had hurried into the conference room to lend assistance, but she had stayed right where she was.

She had known from the start that letting outsiders into the Spiral had been a terrible idea and now her assertions were bearing fruit. Her biggest mistake was allowing herself to be swayed by Kane and his talk of future rewards.

Rewards will mean nothing after this. We'll be dishonoured for allowing the facility to be so badly compromised. That fool. Kane's lack of precaution will be the death of my career.

Again she began to regret her past choices, the ones which had led her there.

After losing her mother-her only surviving relative-to stage 4 cancer, Thandi had been intent on becoming a medical researcher. She longed to add her name alongside Pasteur and Jenner, and other great minds who had improved the health of the entire world. She wanted to make sure that no other young girls lost their mothers like she did.

Then a fellow student raped her at a party and her plans fell apart.

As did her entire world.

In the hazy, semi-lucid days that followed, Thandi stopped socialising completely, frightened of every stranger's glance in her direction. She confined herself to her room and her books. She stopped going to class, choosing to get work brought back via a friend. For days on end she locked herself in her dormitory and became more and more withdrawn. Until she reached a point where things could not continue.

Somehow she survived the third-story fall to the concrete below, a broken hip being the only immediate consequence.

The lasting consequences were far more severe. She was placed into mandatory care; her studies critically suffering as a result. Now she lacked even the hope of a brighter future.

Deus Manus had reached out to her in hospital. They'd been watching her progress for a while, impressed by her medical acumen. In her vulnerable state of mind, their offer to take her out of the world and allow her to devote herself to science had been a way out of her nightmare. She readily accepted their offer to join.

Two days later, the boy who had raped her was hit by a garbage truck and killed. Six months later, she graduated College with full honours. A day after that, a black SUV pulled up outside her dorm and took her away forever. She had been at the Spiral ever since.

And now it looks like I might die here.

From inside her lab, Thandi could see that all ten cellblocks had been breached. How such a thing was even possible, she did not know, but she knew what Kane's response would be. Any minute now, the corridors would flood with cement, sealing everyone to their doom.

And what will I have left behind? Nothing, that's what. I thought Deus Manus was saving my life, but really they took it away. I never found a cure for cancer, I never had a real friend, I never loved a man... I'll never have children.

I've wasted my life.

No more.

I will make Deus Manus pay.