Casimir's Effect
Chapter 1 - An Interrupted Peace
"Casimir, you're up!" The depot manager motioned a meaty hand towards an empty hoversled. "Load it with fertilizer and bring it to the irrigation tower at plot E17."
"Yes, chief." A sinewy youth just short of leaving his teen years, six feet tall with short cropped black hair, jumped into motion. He hefted metal boxes onto the hoversled's wide, flat bed as the manager clomped away to direct other laborers. During Casimir's five months on the Eden Prime farming colony he had proved a diligent, trustworthy worker, if a little aloof. Most of the other laborers resented him as the boss' pet, but a few bloody noses and broken bones had taught them to give the newcomer a wide berth.
Six crates weighed down the floating sled and Casimir hopped into the cramped driver's seat at the front. He activated the controls and a panel flickered to amber-hued life, a 3-D interactive projection generated by the powerful processor in the vehicle's dashboard. With a few taps on the display the sled drifted out of the warehouse and into the early morning sun.
Casimir drove in silence, allowing the sounds of wind, plant and animal to drift to his ears. It was the absence of background noise that he treasured most of colony life and the reason he always jumped at the chance to take these long drives through nothingness. His upbringing on Earth's Texan Megapolis had been a constant riot against his senses, every second a struggle to hear oneself think. It was further complicated by his induction into gang life at 12 years old, and he was careful to never let the crimson tattoo on his forearm show outside of his long sleeved shirt nor let details of his past slip into conversation. He held onto every moment of peace in his new life as if it were the last.
Two hours later and the sled slowed to a halt beside a metal tower that provided irrigation to green-gold fields for miles around. Casimir hopped from his seat and popped open a long, metal panel from the side of the tower where six empty crates waited to be replaced. He wrestled the empties clear, deposited the new containers, and was setting the second empty onto the sled when he felt a tremor run through the ground beneath him and a painful jab in his skull like the sudden onset of a migraine.
"What the," another shock-wave rolled through his soles and he jumped into the sled, eyes set on the distant shapes of the Eden Prime colony and the startling sight of an alien dreadnought hovering above. His heart thudded against his ribcage as he pounded an override into the panel. The engines kicked to speeds well past operational norms, but this was no time for safety protocols. His new home was in trouble and he wouldn't let anyone take it away from him without a fight.
The sled screeched a final warning and died. The amber panel faded, grav lifts shuddered, and the vehicle crashed nose first in a spray of dirt and rocks. Casimir tucked into a practiced roll and sprang to his feet, headed for the nearest building at a run. The pain in his skull had faded but he still didn't have a plan. This area was unfamiliar to him, the primary spaceport he had passed through six months ago and that had been cordoned off by scientists days earlier. He reached the metal siding of a long storage shed and crouched, the sounds of small arms fire and the screams of violent death waking repressed memories. Buried instincts bubbled to the surface and his calm, collected face faded into a snarl. He crouch-walked to the edge of the building and paused, a trickle of voices borne to him on the wind.
Two figures stood on a raised platform thirty feet distant, a Turian and a ... machine? The Turian, a bipedal creature with flat, reptilian-like features, was gesturing with a three fingered hand at something that resembled an old earth obelisk. Casimir moved from his cover for a closer look but dove back as another figure strode into sight around a corner of the platform. Close enough to see clearly, it was a cybernetic humanoid shaped like a man but coated in metal plates, with a single bright light instead of a face. It held a rifle in its hands and paused, head swiveling in Casimir's direction. It emitted a series of digitized noises and raised the rifle.
"Oh, hell," pulse rounds tore into the metal wall vacated by the human as he sprinted away. Casimir rounded the corner of the building and pushed himself faster towards another shed, the strange creature emitting more noises as it followed. Another computerized voice sounded ahead of him before Casimir crashed through the shed's door. He scanned the shelves and crates and grabbed an omni-tool from a desk set against a wall. The small device fit into his left palm and an amber image similar to the console for the sled flickered to life, encasing his left hand. He quickly began punching a code sequence, hoping that his skills had not faded with time.
Mechanical voices spoke to one another outside; feet clomped in the dirt and a shadow filled the doorway. Casimir hit the last command and aimed the omni-tool at the raised rifle. A burst of energy exploded outward from the weapon, blasting the creature backwards as the rifle emitted a warning claxon echoed by the weapon held by another enemy standing outside. Casimir dove for the gun and scooped it up as the second creature jumped into the shed, swinging its overheated rifle like a club.
The blow caught him across the shoulder and he smashed onto the desk, bits of metal and plastic from unrecognizable projects skittering across the floor. The monster swung again and Casimir rolled away, pivoting to bring his weapon down on what he hoped was the creature's knee joint. A crack issued from the leg and mechanical arms gripped the table for support, rifle clattering to the ground. Casimir lifted his weapon for another strike and was tackled from behind by the creature whose chest plate was blackened from the initial attack.
The pair rolled across the floor, metal fingers seeking purchase in delicate flesh around windpipe and arteries. Casimir kept his grip on the rifle and wedged it between them, lifting, pushing, and willing himself to stay conscious until suddenly the warning claxon silenced and the weapon burst into life. Rounds shredded through the creature's torso like needles gashing through cloth, tracing jagged holes through the now lifeless mess of metal. He twisted and aimed at the second creature as it lunged for its now active weapon. Casimir didn't release the trigger until the warning sounded and the weapon turned hot and lifeless, rage and rifle both spent in tearing the metal construct to pieces.
Exhausted, bruised, and bloody, the youth pushed the dead attacker away and stood, his limbs shaking from the sudden drop in adrenaline. He searched the bodies and found a spare, undamaged block of ammo. Assuming that the alien weapon functioned in similar fashion to the human models he had used on earth, reloading was a rarity given that the rounds fired were shaved off an ammo block in tiny increments. He pocketed the block just in case. A check of the rest of the shed revealed little of use, mostly unknown parts and half-built devices left by the scientist who had used this area as a workspace.
Casimir poked his head out the door and scanned the area. More smalls arms fire drifted from the direction of the platform. He ran from the shed, skirted the platform and headed for the warehouse depot to check for survivors, rifle at the ready.
The manager's body was splayed like a ragdoll, jagged red gashes across his chest, eyes wide and lifeless. Casimir stooped to nudge the eyelids closed, anger once again boiling in his stomach. His vision blurred as desire for revenge warred with his instinct for survival. He was jarred from his thoughts by a metal crate crashing to the floor behind him.
"What is that?" He pointed the alien rifle at the creature stumbling towards him. It had the size and shape of a human, skinned to expose gray-black mechanical workings rather than organic, with thick blue veins bulging through the surface. Its glowing eyes held Casimir transfixed as it walked towards him, black hands groping forward, fingers outstretched, gray lips opening in a moan.
"Stop! STOP!" The rifle pulsed to life, rounds shredding the torso into chunks that sparked like exposed wiring. The husk fell to the concrete and Casimir looked up to find three more of the creatures rushing at him.
"Shit!" The rifle fired again and again as the man backpedaled, head on a swivel. One husk collapsed, a mangled corpse, then a second before the weapon rattled to a stop, the metal hot to the touch.
Casimir turned and sprinted from the depot, a half dozen more of the strange husk creatures in pursuit as if the moaning summoned them from his nightmares. He couldn't return to the spaceport, not with Alliance and machine soldiers covering the place, but there was a secondary landing pad not too far away. He held onto the hope that a cargo ship was docked and redoubled his pace.
The open square of concrete that functioned as secondary landing pad for the colony's cargo haulers sat empty but for a single long ship, formed from a series of wide pods linked together into a chain with the cockpit at the front, like a giant metal and glass caterpillar. Casimir, breath ragged, crouched behind an empty shipping crate and scanned the area. The firing in the distance had stopped and the dreadnought was no longer visible, but the husk creatures were still in pursuit, visible fifty yards distant. He bolted from his hiding place and reached the rear hatch, activating his omni-tool on the way. He held the amber display next to the hatch's lock and manipulated the security codes until a chime signaled success.
He slipped inside the ship and slid the hatch closed with one last glance at his pursuers. He prayed that they didn't have the ability to hack open the lock as he used his omni-tool to re-seal it. He moved quickly to the cockpit, ignoring the open sections on either side of him that were used by the colony to transport cargo or house passengers. Casimir jumped into the pilot's seat and powered up the ship, a banging noise echoing from the far hatch. The creatures didn't have sophisticated tools, but they were persistent.
Through the forward viewport Casimir had a clear view of Eden Prime's sun glinting across waves of gold and green. His eyes lingered on that glimpse of peace as the ship rose into the sky. He kept the cargo hauler angled away from the still smoking buildings, not wanting his last view to remind him of what he had lost. A quick sensor scan showed one Alliance military ship had touched down at the spaceport. He flicked off the communication system as it crackled to life and powered the engines to full. The youth set an approach vector for the nearest jump gate, eager for light years of distance between him and Eden Prime. The ship would quickly become a liability but for now he was still free from his past, free from the violence that had managed to follow him across the universe.