The intercom at the central computer clicked on. Thank you. That was quite amusing.
West froze in his tracks, as did the other five. Santorelli brought up the MP-15 Brian had given him, while Jake and Marco were in their best battle morphs – tiger and gorilla, respectively. Tobias was morphed to Andalite, looking all too much like his uncle, Aximili. Jeanne had the Glocks pointed at anything that moved, while Brian was left with the devastating M-25. Forming a triangular pattern with the three weapon-toting members, while the three morphed (with Petrofski riding Tobias) remained behind them, they slowly moved out of the massive jungle of electronics that seemed to breathe on its own.
Well, that doesn't sound good, Marco grumbled.
Hey, don't get so negative, Tobias replied. He twitched his tail, testing out the strength and the speed of it.
Easy for you to say – optimism is the only crap you have to deal with in there.
"Shut up," Brian commanded. He got down to one armored knee and pointed the M-25 at the only entrance and exit out of there.
A light rumbling came from behind the portal.
Whirr. Click. Whirr. Click. Click. Whirr.
"It is, some of, The One's, stronger, children," Joseph whispered.
Click. Dr. Petrofski is correct. But it is only the beginning.
Brian nodded. "Okay. Santorelli, it's you and me. Jeanne, your Glocks are low – no need to waste the ammo, so stay here with these guys."
The Seraphim Commander, with Santorelli right beside him, walked up to the portal and hit the keypad to open the wall-like door. It slid open with nary a sound, revealing the communications center. West swung his M-25 around into the room already battle-scarred, and saw nothing. Santorelli nodded his confirmation, checking the ceiling and the walls as well. "Clear."
West looked back inside the central computer. He nodded to them. They replied by forming back up on him beside the satellite control system.
Which exploded upon their arrival.
West took the brunt of the blow, flying into the terminals and shattering their monitors in a shower of glass and sparks. Santorelli and Jeanne were pushed to the floor by the shockwave, while the remainder of the group were relatively fine, albeit somewhat dazed. Brian looked up to see the culprit.
Upon first inspection, Brian knew that the creature was a hunter. A fusion of human, Hork-bajir and machine, it barely was able to walk through the door, after ducking its head down half a meter. Jagged, metal razors extended in select places on its body, while a pair of what looked to be Dracon Beams were installed on the top of either wrist. Its face was human, but obviously not – the hair, nose and mouth were gone, but the eyes were there, and small holes for the ear were likewise present. The skin was that of charcoal, and hardened into a near-impenetrable armor.
Its joint movements made whirring and clicking sounds, reminding the Commander of the SkyNet TV show that he used to watch a month before going on this ill-fated mission. Getting upright, although still sitting on the keypad portion of the station, he brought up his rifle and pumped a pair of NATO rounds into the hybrid. The two rounds detonated against it, rocking it off-balance and taking a piece of its skin-armor off of its body, which clattered and crumbled to the metallic floor. Brian blinked twice and brought the jump jets online. He sidestepped and jumped, flipping sideways in the air and triggering a three-round burst into the living machine, pulverizing more armor from its chest before landing on his feet, beside an already-fallen hybrid which was still pumping out blood.
Santorelli unloaded six rounds from his MP-15, four of which impacted against its head. It gave away with a metallic screech, and fell on its back. It got to a kneel and raised its arms, bringing its Dracon Beams online. Bright crimson streaks of light narrowly missed Brian, but managed to clip Jake in the shoulder as he charged. The tiger growled, but continued with its assault, leaping into the air and clamping down on the hunter's neck. The hunter grabbed either of Jake's flanks and shoved with strength that none of even Brian's morphs could possess. The tiger was pushed off, but not without taking a piece of its neck with him.
Seeing the opportunity, Tobias stepped forward and announced his arrival with a lightning-fast strike from his tail, cutting through the rest of the way of its neck and decapitating the creature. With its central computer missing, the cyborg-esque creature fell like a sack of bricks, with about the same capabilities.
Brian slid off the terminal station, with his rifle pointed at the dead beast. Mother of God…
Jake shook his large head to clear it. Come on; let's get out of here.
West blinked, waking himself back up. "Right. Let's move."
Guys, I think we're missing a key piece of evidence, here, Tobias piped up.
Marco looked up at the Andalite. Did you get the Andalite's instinctive condescending attitude, as well?
Ax's nephew's tail twitched in response. Have you noticed the intercoms clicking on every time The One speaks with us? How it uses the speakers to amplify its voice—
Silence.
Jake looked up to the speaker. I think I see what you're getting at.
Marco glanced between Tobias and Jake. Aside from the fact that we're all quite insane, what are we getting at?
If The One was such a powerful entity, rather than a material being, he'd have the powers of the Ellimist or Crayak. At the least, communicative abilities to speak with his children or others like that. When he came up on our viewscreen aboard the Rachel…
Jeanne nodded her accent thick in her speech. "We had assumed that what we were seeing was The One's true form."
Exactly.
Beware, children. You had the chance to be apart of something more than what you were, and now you have spat in it. The time has come to pay the debt you owe.
Marco scratched his massive gorilla head. So The One was not showing us what he really looked like…
Santorelli got to his feet with Jeanne's help. "But what he wanted us to believe what he looked like."
"So," West narrowed his eyes. "You're saying that The One isn't real?"
Oh, The One's real all right, Tobias replied. And that's just the problem. He's too real.
Petrofski nodded, getting back on the back of Tobias. "You are, all quite, correct in your, assumptions. The One, is real. However, The One, is not, a formless, being."
Yet he is capable of tracking us in every section of the ship, Marco pointed out. He knows where we are, when we're there, and there's no way he could've known that in the shape that the ship was in after we rammed it. No way he could've tracked us that well.
Joseph shook his head. "You, misunderstand, me, young man. The ship, and, The One, are one, and the, same.
"The One, is an AI, program."