“Knock knock, is anyone at home?”

  “The radar is clear. The weaver's ribbons are raised. Most likely, they have already caught someone.”

  “Look carefully weavers, creatures nimble. Thorns are sharp.  If the spike gets between the armor plates, you can get a serious injury.” Cap warned.

 The narrow tunnel looked more like an endless corridor. Inscriptions were visible on the dusty walls. Old tattered ribbons of weavers hung from the ceiling of the corridor. The squad continued to advance, turning from time to time to where Cap pointed. When they entered a wide corridor, Cap lit the walls with a flashlight, looking for something.

  “It looks like a grave!”  Dave noticed.

  “Dave. Dave can you hear me?” Someone touched Dave's shoulder.

  “Phil is an idiot!” Dave hit Phil on the helmet.

  “Stop making noise! Now all the creatures will run to the noise.” Gak intervened. “Cap, are you lost? We've been wandering the corridors for half an hour!”

  “Here symbols indicate the path to the obelisk. Now I'll compare it with our data.” Replied Cap.

  “And he said he didn't know the language!”

  “This is a map, not a text, everything is much simpler here!” - Cap justified himself.

  “Something is moving from above.” - Dave raised the weapon up.

The ceiling stirred, and the hideous faces of the weavers appeared in the light of the lanterns. They were small young predators and there were a lot of them.

  “Guys! Looks like we're in serious trouble! This is a nest of weavers.”

  “Attention, everyone. Back to back, moving on. There aren't many of them.” Cap commanded.

 The soldiers opened fire on the approaching creatures. Weavers descended the walls, crawled out of adjacent openings and crevices, and, struck down by hot metal, covered the floor of the corridor.

  “Don't let them get too close!”

 The detachment moved forward, some fell, stumbling over the corpses of the weavers. The drone flew from side to side along the corridor, protecting the lagging soldiers, the fire of its weapons tore the weavers to shreds.

 “I see a way out, Cap!”

 “Sam. Move forward.” Cap commanded. ” Stay away from the walls.”

 Sam was the first to leave the corridor and into the huge grotto. Cap ran out next. He was grabbed by the head by a weaver hiding above the exit from the corridor. The creature lifted Cap to the ceiling, but Bolt hit the predator with a well-aimed shot.

 “Sam, get Cap away from the aisle.”

 “Cap is unconscious, his helmet is damaged, and we need to remove it immediately.”

Everyone except Dave came out of the hallway. The weavers crawled back into the darkness of the corridor.

  “Wait, where's Dave?” asked Gak.

 Ceasing the fire, the soldiers looked around. They were in a huge underground grotto, its walls were fortified and large old stone slabs lay on the floor. The grotto ended with a cliff and a stone staircase descending into the neighboring even larger grotto. In the ceiling of the grotto there was a vertical tunnel to the surface, through which the light of the local sun passed. Light slid along the damp walls and illuminated the dense vegetation at the bottom of the grotto. This grotto was followed by a similar grotto and further, as far as it was possible to see through the moist underground air.

 ”Well, how is Cap feeling?” Bolt asked.

  “It's okay, it's pretty cool here. But the clean air smells like a forest! Sam, Phil, find Dave. Gak, go down and see what's in there.”

 Gak went to the stone stairs and went downstairs. Sam and Phil reluctantly went in search of Dave. Bolt and Cap were left alone.

  “We made a fuss in the nest, Cap. Now thousands of other creatures will gather on a hundred corpses. We've used up a third of our ammunition. We can't go through this passageway to the surface!”

  “Calm down, Bolt. There is a way to get out of here without firing a shot. The only thing that can prevent us from getting out of here is a drone. We need to disable the drone. “

  “All the same, I have doubts, Cap.”

 “Bolt. You and I have known each other for many years! Have I ever let you down? “interrupted Cap. “I did not promise an easy walk. Only we two will get out of here and with the load.”

 Bolt shook his head and walked over to the drone intending to turn it off. Bolt Rapp age 37, b. 159  Danian. Professional hunter. Since 185, a member of the warrior caste. Member of the fighting. The military rank of corporal. There was a junior assistant in the team.

 Meanwhile, Sam and Phil walked cautiously down the dark corridor strewn with the corpses of weavers.

  “The main thing here is not to get lost.” Sam said.

  “Maybe Dave got scared and ran to the exit? Honestly, I would now go back to the exit to the surface. Before entering the corridor, I turned on the route recording on the scanner. Cap took us along the corridors for half an hour in search of a room with inscriptions. Although there is a short route ten minutes and we are on the surface! What do you say, Sam?”

  “If you want, you can leave. I'm only afraid you won't last even five minutes. Now there are too many weavers, they devour the corpses of the dead. I heard that when the weavers are full and then they may not eat for a week. Then the chances of getting out of here are much greater. But it's not that. Throwing a team when they need you is wrong.”

  “You propose to continue to follow Cap, which will inevitably lead us to death! It is right!”

  “Phil. I'm an optimist. I hope everything ends well. But only if we are a team.”

  “What a team what are you talking about.”

  “There is a weak signal from Dave's armor. Ten meters away.” - interrupted Sam.

Sam pointed the flashlight in the direction where Dave should be.  “Look there he is! It is under the corpses of the weavers.”

  “Dave, can you hear me?”  Phil threw aside the weavers' carcasses, freeing Dave from the blockage.

  “The sensor shows that it is dead.”

  “This is a bad omen!”  Phil said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The soldiers have an old omen - when the first soldier dies, just as he killed his opponents. Dave had a favorite knife, he knew how to handle it, he worked quickly and quietly. Now he has a weaver's thorn between the plates of his armor.”

  “I do not believe in omens, take him by the legs, and I will take him by the hands, we will carry him out of here, until the weavers return.”

  “Sam, together we can get out of here. Cap is dying! He is sick, his DNA abnormality is progressing.”

  “How do you know he's sick?”

  “I accidentally found out a month ago. Cap offered me to earn extra money. I was guarding one doctor at the station, one day the doctor went over alcohol and left his ditab. Well, out of curiosity, I looked what was there. Came across the results of Cap's analysis, the diagnosis is disappointing.”

  “Phil, if that's the case, why are you just talking about it now! Although it doesn't matter anymore. We go back to the rest.”

Sam and Phil spent about half an hour carrying Dave's armored corpse to the exit to the grotto.