The USM Vapor's main engines were cooling as the ship moved toward Mars and settled into orbit. The red planet's surface dominates the port-side view. The crew waits for Phobos to complete its orbit before beginning an approach to the tiny moon.
Dr. Carmichael and Dr. Mason were in the recreation room, playing a holographic match of target practice. The mock weapons spray streams of light, a large monitor tracks their scores. Susan was winning by a couple of hundred points.
The game had slimy green aliens as targets that burst into blobs of holographic slime upon being zorched. Allen's accuracy improved mid-match but it wasn't enough to catch up with Susan's lead. They zorch the last of the aliens and the match ends with a cheesy cartoonish cutscene that they tried their best to ignore. They placed the mock rifles into a cabinet and walked out onto the ship's deck.
"Good game, Susan." Mason says.
"Thanks. I hope we can do as well against the aliens waiting for us on Phobos" she replies.
"Speaking of which..." Mason notes, gesturing to the view of Mars outside the wide reinforced viewport.
"Looks like we will be arriving soon" Mason observes with a grim tone.
Susan sighs.
"I can't believe were actually back here, already" she comments.
Mason remains silent, unable to come up with anything helpful to say. Captain Revok came walking toward them as they were watching the red planet's slow orbital spin.
"Hello, Doctors. Did you enjoy our targeting simulator?" The Captain asks.
"Yes. It was nice to sharpen some skills. Thank you for recommending it to us" Mason replies.
"That's good to hear. I regret having to follow these orders, but my hands are tied" Revok said.
"We understand, Captain" Susan returns.
"Allen, I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but I need to have a private moment with Dr. Carmichael. Would you mind giving us a moment?" Revok asks.
"Very well, Captain. See you later, Susan" he says, then turning to leave. Revok watched him until he was out of sight.
"Some UAC officials have been doing some talking on your behalf and it has been agreed that because of your expertise and technical contributions to the portal project, you've been deemed too important to risk your life by sending you to Phobos" Revok explains.
Susan maintained a reserved expression.
"As it stands, me and you are the only ones on board that know about this and for the sake of morale, I'd like to keep it that way" Revok pauses as a crewmate passes by.
"Here's how I want this to happen: you are to be suited up in your armour with your weapon, alongside everyone else in the air-lock chamber. After the door opens, the choice is yours to make. If you decide not to go, you will quietly stay behind in the chamber and you will be brought back on board" he explains.
"I must admit, I was pretty confident that this would happen" Susan confesses.
"Well, I'm not surprised. You science-types have a way with predictions, Revok replies, on the other hand, from what I've heard over subspace, upper management really seems to want their specimens"
"I guess they need portal specialists even more" she suggests.
"I've got one more thing to pass on and remember to keep this quiet, there are rumors going around that UAC is developing another portal. Now I've got a ship to run. See you around"
Carla and Diane walked through the white walled halls of the Leipzig UAC building.
"If this is as important as you say it is, then our senior research staff needs to see it. They're in Jupiter Labs, it's where the teleporter is kept" Carla says.
"Can they be trusted?" Diane asks.
"Yes, it's fine. I already know who can't be trusted and I might as well just tell you" Carla answers, the Paranormal Division was looking for you. I was in pretty deep with them but I don't like the idea of turning over my friend. They have a pretty complex thing going on behind the scenes" Carla explains as they arrive at a security door.
Diane suddenly remembered the foul look the man in the crowd was giving her earlier.
"They want the research, don't they?" Diane asks.
"Mm-hmm" Carla confirms, they don't like it when their activities get exposure"
In the Jupiter Labs complex of the UAC facility, technicians were making adjustments to the portal's dormant equipment. On the other side of the viewscreen a group of senior researchers were monitoring in front of the wide touch-screen control station.
"This configuration of the particle beams is operating better than expected. We should add testing routine eight to the operating schedule to see how it functions with those changes." Kasper concludes.
"That is likely going to require a greater plasma density over time. We can work out a fix, but I think we can stretch the control margins in the meantime" Henrick replies.
"That fresh graduate from the institute seems to have the right idea with this technology" Kasper reflects.
"Yeah, hopefully some other interest doesn't come along and carry them away to another project" says Henrick.
The door to the control room opens, Carla and Diane step into the lab and are greeted by the technicians.
"Diane has recovered critical research from Phobos" Carla explains.
"This genetic study was inquiring the mutations that affected the teleporter's first test subject" Diane explains.
The senior technicians shared a curious look.
"That's very interesting to hear. There was some rumors circulating about that. We, of course, assumed it was true" Kasper recalls.
"The Paranormal Division was after Diane, and that was likely because she recovered this research, which means its probably one of the division's projects" Carla elaborates.
"Paranormal Division? I've never heard of it" Henrick admits.
"They operate covertly and regularly try to bring consequential science projects and technologies under their control" Carla explains.
"A member of station security was used as a test subject for this project against his will. Apparently, everything about him was wiped from the database and his memories were altered" Diane continued.
"The Marine was somehow released from stasis, he rescued me from the Data Storage Vault" she explained.
"No kidding? Henrick says, That really thickens the stew, because after reviewing station logs and surveillance footage, it was theorized that the same marine that made that rescue was the same one that made an undocumented jump through the portal, in fact..." he turns to face the control station.
"We've managed to access the alien's home dimension with this system and after sending drones to record footage..." he trails off as he clinically sifted through pictures of the scarred hellish landscapes, Diane was horrified by the sights.
"It reveals evidence of marine corp weaponry being used here"
The researcher zooms in on an image to reveal plasma charred rocks, cooked aliens and spent energy cell canisters.
"He's trapped in that awful place?" Diane blurts.
"Can you bring him back?" Carla asks.
"I know, it doesn't look good, but it's a major discovery. Theoretically, yes, we can bring him through a portal, but we can't pinpoint his location. However, I think we've worked out which way he's heading, we've already begun sending supply crates to him through the portal"
In the alien dimension, the marine followed the orb of light through a flat, barren terrain of blackened ground. Tall mountains loom in the distance. The orb stayed close to the marine as they moved through the area.
From the corner of his vision, the marine had been seeing phantoms watching him ever since entering the territory. The activity increases the further they travelled. Evil spirits and lost Mortick ghosts roamed around them. He sees the faces of Mortick warriors and intellectuals in his mind.
After walking further, angry, jealous spirits throw black pebbles at the marine which bounce off his armour, he tries to ignore them and presses on.
After a few more minutes of travel, the marine suddenly stops in his tracks. The orb turns back and drifts around and around the marine. An evil spirit had taken control of his mind.
The marine turns away from the guiding orb and wanders away into the barren terrain. He drops his rifle and bag of cells, then eventually dropping his helmet to the dusty ground as he walked away. The orb of light zips toward the marine, coming alongside him, it is angrily swiped away by the former human.
The marine grows.
"Leave me alone" he shouts, staggering.
The orb follows and eventually manages to discreetly come from behind and touches the marine's mind. It looks through his memories, gently looking for an emotional link that would serve to bring him back.
His memories had been affected by UAC tech, but the orb was able to find most of his past.
It sees memory of the marine patrolling the uniform halls of the Phobos station, others of his messy divorce and all the arguments that preceded it. The orb was getting worried after discovering his unhappy childhood, constantly moving from town to town.
The orb then found a glimmer of positive energy. A childhood pet, his much loved rabbit, Daisy. The orb settles on that memory, allowing it to resurface.
'Daisy'
Her name rang through his head, the memory menifests in his thoughts. The former human comes to a stop.
"Daisy" it says in a demonized voice.
The orb buzzes in front of the former human, then drifts to the ground and takes on the form of his rabbit. The former human looks down at the rabbit, confused. The small rabbit hops toward the marine, he suddenly remembered.
The Marine's presence came racing back to his body, the evil spirit is cast away by a flood of care and affection for his pet rabbit. He returns to his body, he looks around in confusion and eventually realized what happened to him. His possessed form had strayed him way off track.
The orb leads him back to his dropped equipment, he collects his things and was again going in the right direction. He walked a short distance further when a flash of portal energy attracts his notice, it flared a different colour than the ones sent from Deimos. A supply crate appeared from the dissipating energy. He approaches the crate and lifts the lid, within was a data sheet with a short message.
Greetings, Marine.
We have found traces of your activity in this parallel dimension. We are monitoring you to the best of our abilities from the UAC portal laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
Scrolling down the data sheet reveals a picture of the project's science team.
He removes a sheet of canvas and finds a pack of water and rations, beside it was a brand new rocket launcher, fresh off the factory floor along with its munitions and extra energy cells. The marine's mind races with all sorts of uses for this new weapon, he happily lifts it from the crate.