Mol Synomia
Larry Mann
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"X-COM: UFO Defense" and "X-COM: Terror From The Deep"
Copyright (c) 1994 MicroProse and Mythos Software

"X-Com Saga" Copyright (c) 1994 Russ Brown
"X-Com Saga II: Tales From The Deep" Copyright (c) 1996-97 Larry Mann

ASPECT SEVEN:: Mol Synomia

- - -

TWO WEEKS LATER

	"This is Leviathan Zero-One calling Atlantia control. Come in, 
Atlantia control."
	Dan Rollins, the communications officer, keyed the transmitter. 
"Roger Zero-One, this is Atlantia receiving. Go ahead."
	"We are requesting docking clearance. Authorization Collignon-four-
zero-niner-Tango. Transmitting clearance codes now."
	Rollins activated the security computers, which accepted the data 
transmission and analyzed it. A moment later the panels all came back with 
green lights. It was legit. "Clearance granted," Rollins said. "Proceed to 
sub pen number 3. Atlantia out."
	Rollins got up and hurried out of the room, pausing only long enough 
to flag down someone to man the equipment while he took care of an 
important matter: the Commander had instructed him to notify her the 
moment this vessel arrived, and that's exactly what he was going to do now.

	Lyudmila leaned against the railing surrounding sub pen number 1, 
staring down at the Manta attack submarine floating there, silently waiting for 
its next chance to venture out and strike down the enemy. The twin 
portholes on its bow stared back at her like two shiny black eyes, and the 
ship itself looked less like a submarine and more like the animal which it 
had been named after. It was not hard at all to imagine that it was watching 
her. Hell, it was not hard to imagine that *anything* was watching her. 
Seemed like everything had eyes nowadays. They were out there. They 
were watching.
	"Commander!" She turned at the sound of Ensign Rollins hurrying 
across the decking, toward her.
	"What is it, Rollins?"
	"The ship from Tsunami's coming in. Wanted to make sure you 
knew."
	Lyudmila's expression darkened a bit. She knew this would happen 
sooner or later. "Thank you, Rollins. Tell Lieutenant Zander to meet me at 
the pen yesterday."
	"Yes ma'am!" Rollins saluted and hurried off. Lyudmila paused for 
one more long, brooding moment, looking down at the Manta as if she 
expected it to answer some unspoken question, then turned and strode in 
the opposite direction, through the hatchways connecting the three sub pens 
to one another. If she'd had more time she would have stopped to look over 
the sub that occupied the second pen, Triton Zero-Four, a faithful transport 
and one of the last remaining pieces of technology in their arsenal which 
could be considered purely human. But time was a luxury she did not have 
now, and she pressed on. Sub pen 3 had once held the old Barracuda; it had 
been returned to its British owners once the Manta had come online. 
Lyudmila had wanted to have the pen sealed off once the Barracuda had 
been dismissed, to improve security, but a direct order from above had kept 
the pen open, "to receive new equipment", as the order had been worded.
	And now the new equipment was coming in, and Lyu wasn't entirely 
certain she was happy about it.
	As she took up a position at the sub pen railing, she could hear rapid 
footsteps from pen 2, and turned to see Zander approaching. "What's going 
on, Lyu?"
	"See for yourself," she said, gesturing toward the bubbling water of 
the sub pen. "We're about to see some of X-Com's biggest secrets, up 
close and personal." A silvery gray shape was moving underneath the 
bubbles, growing closer. Then the object slowly rose halfway out of the 
water. It was about ten meters longer and five meters wider than a Triton, 
and except for the barely discernible outline of a hatch on its port side, there 
were no windows or surface features of any kind.
	"My god," Zander breathed. "Is this what I think it is?"
	"Remember how we used to call the Avenger the ultimate fusion of 
human and alien tech?" Lyudmila replied. "Same thing with this. This is the 
Leviathan. Unlimited depth range, two hardpoints for sonic oscillators, 
carries four tanks and fourteen troopers. The ultimate fusion of our tech and 
the bugs' tech."
	This last sentence was spoken with a bitter undertone to it, barely 
noticeable except by those who were sensitive to others' thoughts and 
feelings. What's wrong, Lyu?
	Keep watching, she answered, then finished verbally. "There's 
more."
	The Leviathan eased up to the docking causeway and its hatch 
opened. As Zen watched, four strange dark gray objects floated out, making 
the now familiar humming noise of an ion displacer. They raised up into the 
air and cruised over the submarine at a leisurely pace, continuing southward 
until they were no longer above water, and settled down on the decking in a 
neat line, not far from Lyu and Zen.
	"They call these things Displacers," Lyudmila said, gesturing toward 
the closest one. "Armor's twice as strong as the old tanks, turrets can fire 
either sonic beams or Pulse Wave Torpedoes, and so far they've got the 
only displacer unit that works out of the water. Perfect hovertank," she 
almost snorted, and Zen was beginning to understand her disquietude now, 
for these SWS designs did not look particularly human at all. Nor, for that 
matter, did the Leviathan.
	And finally, personnel began to troop out of the vessel, some wearing 
the latest personal armor, the same armor that Lyudmila had worn on their 
last colony assault. "`Magnetic Ion Armor' is the full name for the suits," 
Lyudmila said. "About the only thing they can't do is fly out of water." Zen 
could not help noticing that the troops wearing the armor looked rather like 
yellow turtles, the brown displacer backpacks forming the shells.
	So what's the problem? he thought. He knew the answer already, 
but Lyudmila needed to think through this.
	It's *too* alien, Lyudmila groused in his mind.
	People said the same thing about the Firestorms and the 
hovertanks back in the first war, Lyu.
	Maybe so, Zen. But the hovertanks still looked like *we'd* built 
them. Same with the Firestorms. Sure they were flying saucers, but when 
you put them alongside the real UFOs it was obvious *we* put them together. 
This stuff? This all looks like the bugs just up and *gave* it to us.
	Zen thought about that. There was a lot of sense in what she was 
thinking, because these tanks and ships did indeed look a lot more alien. 
Still, others had had these kind of thoughts about the Firestorms and even 
the Avengers during the first war... Well, think of it this way, Lyu, he 
finally offered. If the bugs actually did give this to us... then it's their 
funeral.
	Silence for a moment, and then Lyudmila did loosen up a bit, a small 
chuckle escaping her. Good point.
	While this conversation had been going on, a total of eight troopers 
had emerged from the submarine, along with one white-coated man 
(obviously a scientist) and half a dozen more engineers, all carrying crates 
bristling with munitions. The presence of the single scientist was a little 
bothersome to Lyudmila, but her mind was diverted as the soldiers lined up 
in front of the Displacers, and the unit leader stepped forward and saluted 
sharply. He bore the rank of an Ensign.
	"Troop transfers from Tsunami reporting for duty, Commander," he 
said, crisp and even. Lyu could tell immediately that he was a loyal soldier, 
no ulterior motivation. She liked him.
	"Welcome to Atlantia, Ensign..."
	"Escobar, ma'am," he answered. "Danni Escobar."
	Lyudmila returned the salute, nodding, then glanced behind him at 
the assembled troops. "As I recall, I only requested four troops and one 
Displacer from Tsunami. Why all the extra equipment?"
	"Direct orders from Captain Collignon, ma'am," the trooper answered. 
"The Captain wants field testing for the Leviathan to take place here. Enemy 
activity in the Pacific theater has decreased; the Captain says the Leviathan 
will be put to best use here. Also, most of my troops are in need of field 
experience; they can expect to get that more quickly in this theater."
	Lyudmila nodded quietly. It seemed reasonable enough, and this 
fellow certainly was not lying. Nevertheless, something seemed wrong 
about the whole thing. "Who are the other personnel, Ensign?" she went on, 
gesturing toward the scientist and engineers.
	"The engineers will be providing technical rundowns on the new 
Heavy Thermic Lances. And the scientist--"
	"Dr. Yuri Korsakov," said the man before Danni could finish. He 
spoke with only a light Russian accent, and with an almost unnatural calm 
and self-assurance. Lyu wondered what part of the world he'd actually been 
educated in. If there was something wrong with all this, according to Lyu's 
instincts it had something to do with this man, and her instincts had yet to be 
proven wrong. "I've been asked to check on the status of all research 
projects in progress here and offer any assistance I can."
	"I see," Lyu answered, suppressing the mental alarm that had just 
gone off. "As I recall all our research activity was proceeding on schedule at 
last report."
	"I'm sure it is, Commander," Korsakov replied. "Nevertheless the 
Captain wishes to expedite our work wherever possible, and I believe my 
skills will be best applied to the projects here at Atlantia."
	"Very well," Lyudmila answered with a nod and a half smile. She 
turned back to the troopers: "Escobar, I'm sure you and your squad would 
like to settle in and get some rest. I'll show you where everything is. 
Zander, would you tell Dr. Takaya and the others to expect some new 
assistance?" And tell her we're going to silent running on her project 
effective immediately, she added quickly. I'm not taking any chances with 
this bastard.
	Right. "Yes ma'am," Zander saluted, and left.
	He had to wonder how long this secret would last, and what would 
happen if and when Tsunami found out about it.

	It was fairly common knowledge that Motoko Takaya was one of the 
best medical doctors in the entire X-Com organization, sometimes referred to 
by Marcelle as a modern-day Doogie Howser because of her youth and 
prowess. She had supervised the reawakening of the troopers at Icehouse, 
and when that base had no more personnel in need of caring for, she had 
been transferred to Atlantia, where her medical skills were again put to use 
patching up those who had been wounded in the various assaults the 
Commander's squad had undertaken.
	What had been less well known, at least to the general public and 
medical community, was that she also carried a Xenobiology degree under 
her belt. At the time she had been in medical school Xenobiology was 
something of a "nowhere" medical science, mostly theoretical in nature due 
to an obvious lack of resources. She had responded effectively to criticism 
of her choice of study by maintaining that it might be of use; she had always 
had a feeling that any knowledge of xenomorphs, no matter how minimal, 
would come in handy someday. She was quickly proven correct, and the 
chance to apply her knowledge, to work with real aliens, was thrilling. She 
supposed she ought to be terrified by some of the things she had discovered 
in the past year, but she was too busy being both fascinated by those things, 
and annoyed at the fact that so many of the aliens and alien bodies kept 
getting swept away to places unknown before she could make the kind of 
studies she'd wanted to make.
	Then the Commander had come back from an impromptu colony 
assault two weeks ago, taken her aside and introduced her to a woman 
named Stefanie Dreyfus, and all that had changed. Oh, gods, did it change, 
far beyond her wildest dreams. It was difficult to stop thinking about 
everything she'd documented and learned in the last two weeks: all kinds of 
discoveries which could be applied to human medical science. The potential 
for saving hundreds, maybe thousands of lives, was tremendous, and there 
was still so much more to be learned as well...
	"Dr. Takaya?"
	Motoko stopped and turned at the voice. "Lt. Zander," she 
acknowledged. Something about his hurried pace gave her a very bad 
feeling. "What's the matter?"
	"We have a problem, Doctor," he said. "We need to talk to Miss 
Dreyfus right away."
	"Certainly," Motoko nodded. She had suspected from the beginning 
that the top brass at Tsunami had never been notified of Stefanie's presence 
at Atlantia. They would have been swarming all over the base otherwise. 
She was also certain that if they did find out, not only would she never gain 
any more knowledge, but gods knew what might happen to Stefanie. As a 
doctor and an ethical scientist, she could not allow something like that, war 
or no war.

	Dujardin slowly got up from his guard chair and tried to stretch, with 
limited success. One side of his body was still not totally responsive after 
the nerve damage he'd suffered. Therapy had so far gotten him back to a 
halfway ambulatory status, but without a really good power armor that could 
compensate for his lost reflexes, field operations were out of the question. 
He had resigned himself to guard duty assignments from the Commander, 
and what little psionic training he could get from the spooks; they were 
reluctant to have him do anything that might stress his nervous system 
unduly. He respected their logic, but it didn't make this work any less 
annoying.
	"How are you feeling?"
	Of course, there were some things which made it not completely 
annoying, notably the alien -- or maybe `former human' would be more 
appropriate -- currently in the first isolation cylinder, and in fact the only 
individual currently held in Atlantia's containment facility. Her voice came 
through a small vocoder attached to the tank, since she could not speak to 
him through water and the psi-suppression collar around her neck prevented 
her from communicating telepathically.
	"Better," he shrugged, turning to face her. She had a beautiful mane 
of blond hair which floated about her in the water. That was one of the few 
vestiges of her original humanity which remained. "Still having a little 
trouble moving my left arm and leg," he said, the pronounced limp in his gait 
emphasizing the point as he walked over.
	"I wish I could help you," Stefanie sighed, looking downcast. "It's 
partly my fault that this happened to you in the first place. I wish they would 
let me help you. Dr. Takaya thinks I have the power to induce healing as 
well as destruction."
	"You know you have to stay put, Miss Dreyfus," Dujardin answered 
with understanding. "We can't afford to have uncontrolled aliens running 
around the base -- sorry, but that's what we have to treat you as now." He 
looked sheepish. "I'm not even supposed to be talking to you, really."
	"I know," she looked down at her hands, with their sharp claws and 
webbed fingers. Her gaze traveled further down, to the clawed flippers her 
feet had become, and the weight of the psi-suppression collar seemed to 
increase. "I know the Elemental is doing what she feels is right. But, still..."
	Dujardin sighed. His heart went out to this poor girl. Despite what 
had been done to her, she was still very much a human being inside. It was 
a miracle that she was still reasonably sane. Dujardin figured he would 
have gone off the deep end immediately if something like that had happened 
to him. He really wished there was something he could do for her. "Listen," 
he finally offered in attempt to buoy her spirits. "Someday this'll all be over 
and life'll get back to normal again, huh?" He knew, almost as soon as he'd 
finished saying it, that it was a stupid thing to say, or even suggest. Yeah, 
real good one, Neil, he grumped to himself.
	Stefanie continued to stare at the floor of the tank, even more 
depressed. "Life can never be normal for me anymore." There was silence 
for a minute or two, and then she looked back up at him again. Despite the 
fact that her eyes were only black orbs now, there was still plenty of emotion 
visible there, and a small smile did grace her face. "But thank you for your 
understanding, Ensign Dujardin."
	"Please, call me Neil," he said, his face reddening a little bit.
	At that moment the door lock pinged. Dujardin took the couple steps 
back toward the security monitor, to check who was outside, and verify the 
person's code. Both matched up, and the double doors on the lower level 
unsealed. A moment later Lt. Zander and Dr. Takaya appeared as they made 
their way up the stairs. Dujardin could tell by the looks on their faces that 
something was wrong. Steffie could sense it too.
	"Doctor, how long can she be out of the water?" Zander asked 
Takaya.
	"I wouldn't keep her out for more than a couple hours at a time," 
Takaya replied. "The gills in her neck need to be kept moist, and the same 
goes for her skin. Her physiology is primarily Gillman, with some Aquatoid 
traits; neither race was intended to spend long periods of time away from 
water."
	"What is going on?" Steffie asked them.
	"Let's just say that the Commander is concerned for your safety, 
Miss Dreyfus," Zander replied. "We're moving you to another part of the 
base."
	Takaya pressed a button on the containment vessel's console and 
the water began to drain out. "I suggest we use my quarters," she offered. 
"They're fairly secure and I have a bathtub." As the drain cycle finished, the 
containment cylinder began to raise up. Steffie hunched over for a moment, 
expelling the last traces of seawater from her lungs and then taking in a long 
breath of air, and then gingerly stepped down to the deck with an assist from 
Takaya.
	"All right," Zander nodded. "But make sure you know where your 
keys are at all times. Dujardin, I want you to escort Dr. Takaya and Miss 
Dreyfus to the Doctor's quarters. I'm going to make sure nobody else sees 
this transfer."
	Steffie wondered who and what might be threatening them, and 
wished she wasn't wearing that blasted collar so she could see for herself. 
"Can't you tell me what the problem is, Lieutenant?" she asked. "Maybe I 
can help."
	"That's not an option, Miss Dreyfus," Zander answered. "I'm sorry, 
but please do as we say."
	Steffie sighed and bowed her head in acknowledgement. There was 
nothing she could do but trust in the Elemental. She'd taken a few steps 
toward the stairs when she abruptly froze, and began looking around.
	"What's going on?" asked Dujardin, who noticed that Zander had 
also come to a halt.
	"Do you feel that?" Steffie asked quietly. The question was directed 
at no one in particular, but Zander answered it.
	"I... think I do..." he replied, and he didn't like it.

	"You seem to be in a bit of a hurry, Commander. Is there some 
problem?"
	Lyu allowed herself a small mental curse. Zen's departure had of 
course not gone unnoticed by Korsakov, despite the veneer of innocence 
she'd tried to cover it with. She could tell he was suspicious now, and 
focusing on her as a result. Damn. Perhaps he had some psionic skills of 
his own, although if he did he was extremely good at concealing that fact.
	"No problem at all, Dr. Korsakov," she lied. "Escobar, go ahead and 
get your people settled, and we'll arrange a briefing for the HTL weapons 
later."
	"Yes ma'am."
	"I believe it's important to point out," Korsakov went on 
conversationally as Lyudmila flipped through a Stores manifest, making 
sure everything from the Leviathan was accounted for. "That the funding 
governments and corporations are very concerned about the progress of the 
X-Com project, and the Captain shares their concern very much."
	"Are you implying something, Doctor?" Lyudmila glanced at him, 
annoyed.
	"I'm implying that it would be bad for the project if the Captain were 
not aware of everything going on within the organization. X-Com needs 
every bit of knowledge it can acquire if we're going to fight these aliens. You 
do understand that, I trust."
	"Are you implying that I'm withholding information from Command?" 
Lyudmila replied, not bothering to conceal her anger this time. "I don't like 
people who dispute my integrity as a soldier."
	"No, no, not at all," he answered, waving his hands in a dismissive 
gesture, but his voice told a slightly different story. "I'm sure you have the 
interests of humanity at the top of your agenda. I'm merely voicing a 
concern."
	And with that he walked away. Lyudmila watched him go. All her 
senses told her that the top brass knew, or at least strongly suspected, that 
something was out of sorts here, and they'd sent this fellow to either confirm 
or deny that suspicion. She'd taken as many precautions as she could; 
hopefully Zen and Dr. Takaya had found a safe hiding place for Steffie. She 
was *not* going to let anything happen to Steffie again. With any luck, 
Korsakov would see what Lyudmila wanted him to see--
	That was when the strange, unsettling tingling sensation began, 
derailing her thought train very quickly. It felt like something was reaching 
out and surrounding her, probing every cell of her nervous system. It felt 
like dozens of tiny needles dancing up and down her spine, and she did not 
like it one bit.
	Then the alarms went off.

	"What've we got?" Lyudmila demanded as she barged into the 
control room, with Escobar and Korsakov not far behind. In the middle of the 
Mediterranean Sea, a purple cross had appeared to mark the Alien activity. 
"Shipping lane under attack?"
	"Doesn't look like it, ma'am," Rollins answered as his hands flew 
over the control boards. "There's no ships in that area and no sign of any 
distress calls... But our listening post at Gibraltar just reported a massive 
increase in Molecular Control Net transmissions, both in frequency and 
power. Our MolNet sensors here are reporting an increase too!"
	"A communications array?" Danni wondered aloud, glancing at 
Lyudmila.
	"Sounds like it," Lyudmila nodded. "Feels like it too. Probably a 
high-powered Synomium transceiver. Damn, that could be a coordinating 
site for the entire Eastern Hemisphere if we're feeling it all the way out 
here."
	"What's the situation?" Zen called as he bounded into the room with 
Marcelle and Himiko not far behind.
	"Far as we can tell they've activated a communications array for the 
MolNet," Lyu answered. "Real strong one too. Marcelle, Escobar, get 
everyone who's able and get them and the Displacers into the Leviathan. 
Sonic Cannons and DPLs by qualification ratings. We have to shut that thing 
down ASAP."
	"Yes ma'am!" Marcelle and Escobar saluted, and Lyudmila and Zen 
followed them as they hurried out the door.
	Did you find a secure place? Lyu thought in Zen's direction.
	Yeah. Dujardin volunteered to guard both of them but I think you 
should hang back.
	I can't stay here. This mission will take everything we've got, if the 
power I'm feeling is any indication.
	Somebody has to, Lyu. We can't risk not leaving some kind of 
garrison behind.
	Lyudmila thought hard.


ONE HOUR LATER
MEDITERRANEAN SEA

	In broad daylight the blue pyramids on the ocean floor did not blend 
in with the white sands at all. At night they probably would have been 
considerably harder to spot. Lyu was glad they were in daylight, because 
the prickly sensation in her spine told her they were going to need every 
advantage they could get.
	"Damn," Zen remarked as he steered the Leviathan downward. "No 
good landing spots except right in the middle."
	"Try and get us as much space as you can," Lyu said. Several of the 
pyramids, were obviously open and had windows and doorways from which 
snipers could either shoot or spot for the psi-attackers, which Lyu knew had 
to be here in force. One of the largest pyramids near the southwestern edge 
of the site had an extension on one side, making it look a bit like a hangar. 
Lyu guessed that might be the way in. "Armor check!" she ordered, and a 
chorus of affirmatives came back as the troopers verified that their armor 
was sealed and ready. Most of the ranked officers were in Magnetic Ion 
Armor; Escobar and his people were in the standard Ion Armor. "Flood bay."
	"Flooding now," Marcelle called, and the hold began to fill with water. 
The Leviathan settled to the ocean floor, kicking up a small cloud of sand 
which settled almost immediately. The clicking of power clips and Disruptor 
Bombs being loaded into Sonic Cannons and DPLs was muted by the rising 
water a moment later. "Down and flooded," Marcelle reported.
	"Okay people," Lyudmila said. "I want everyone out and under cover 
ASAP. Groups of two, pair high-psis with low-psis in case they try to zap us. 
Watch out for movement in the upper windows and don't bunch up! We have 
to secure every single one of these pyramids before we go anywhere. Got 
me?"
	Another chorus of affirmatives. Lyudmila nodded to Marcelle, who hit 
the release pad, and the Leviathan's side door snapped open. "Tank One," 
he ordered. "Get onto the roof and do an area sweep." The Displacer 
obediently floated forward, the hum of its displacement unit echoing through 
the water. It was starting to rise upward when a clanging sound was heard, 
and the troopers closest to the hatch were treated to the sight of a Tentaculat 
pecking violently at the tank.
	"Daniels!" Escobar snapped. "Knife that son of a bitch!" The rookie 
immediately jumped out, perhaps a bit overenthusiastically, and stabbed at 
the monster with the Heavy Thermic Lance he'd also been carrying. The 
Tentaculat, totally preoccupied by the Displacer, was unable to defend itself 
and sagged to the ocean floor in a spray of blood and brain tissue. The 
snarl of a Sonic Cannon rang out and Daniels quickly ducked to avoid an 
enemy blast, backpedaling into the Leviathan.
	"Damn!" Lyudmila growled; the bugs were ready for them, as she'd 
expected. "Tank Two out! Target hostiles and fire at will!" The second 
Displacer rolled out and promptly came under fire as a sonic blast glanced 
off its right side, denting the armor. The tank rotated its turret and snapped 
off a shot of its own. Through her HUD Lyudmila saw the shot impact with a 
Tasoth, who collapsed with a squeak. Two more bug markers flashed as 
Displacer One reached the roof of the Leviathan and scanned the immediate 
area, finding an Aquatoid with a stunner and another Tasoth, this one armed 
with a DPL. Quickly determining the greater threat, the Displacer sighted 
and fired on the Tasoth. The shot staggered the creature but it did not fall, 
and it aimed its weapon at the tank and fired. Fortunately, its aim was bad, 
and the lethal torpedo sailed harmlessly past and out of the battle zone.
	"That was close," Zen remarked, observing the action through his 
own HUD.
	"Too close," Lyu answered. "Alright, all squads out! Escobar, take 
the little pyramid on the left! Marcelle, your people are Near Squad! I'm with 
Far Squad; we're heading for the southwest pyramid! Tank Three, cover Far 
Squad!"
	As the third Displacer floated out and up, scanning the area, the 
troopers charged out of the submarine. Another shot rang out as Displacer 
One achieved another firing solution on the Tasoth, killing it this time. Then 
it went after the Aquatoid. The creature panicked and tried to shoot the tank 
with its stunner, but of course that was ineffective, and a moment later the 
tank's next blast had disemboweled the monster. Marcelle spotted another 
Tasoth coming around the corner of one of the far pyramids and reported it to 
Zen, who grabbed his MCD and snared the monster, ordering it to turn 
around and scan the area. The Tasoth found a Tentaculat and another 
Tasoth standing nearby and was able to kill the former before being shot 
itself. Marcelle took aim at the latter and blew its head off with a well-placed 
sonic blast.
	Meanwhile Displacer Two rolled up to another of the small pyramids 
with Escobar and a rookie named Amy Linden. They were almost there when 
Linden caught a flash of movement behind her and spun to see another 
Tentaculat charging down from an opening above, straight at her, too fast for 
her to react. But instead of attacking her, it turned and began pecking at the 
Displacer right next to her. Not one to pass up a gift, Linden activated her 
Thermic Lance and knifed the monster, spraying brain tissue about.
	"Commander?" Amy keyed her comm. "Looks like the Tentaculats 
are attracted to shiny stuff; they keep going after the Displacers."
	"Roger that," Lyudmila answered as she and the rest of Far Squad 
edged up along the base of the big pyramid. She winced for one brief instant 
as a psi-attacker tried to force its way into her head and was promptly 
repelled. "Watch it, people, they're starting the psi attacks! Tank Three, 
move ahead of us and find an entry point!" Displacer Three obediently 
glided forward with Lyu right behind. A shot rang out from one of the nearby 
mid-size pyramids, grazing the tank, which almost contemptuously swiveled 
its turret and fired upward, catching the Aquatoid at the sniper's post full in 
the face and knocking it out of sight.
	While the tank was occupied with this business Lyudmila turned the 
corner of the big pyramid and found herself looking into a large open area 
which contained a glowing transport platform: definitely the way in. 
Unfortunately there were two Tasoths and a Tentaculat there also, the former 
of which opened fire. Lyudmila threw herself out of the way, ducking behind 
the Displacer. In the next minute the Tentaculat came roaring out of the 
structure, but as Linden had reported earlier, it was attracted to the shiny 
armor of the Displacer. Lyu quickly unslung her MCD from her backpack and 
focused her thoughts on the Tentaculat. The animal immediately stopped 
pecking and just floated there, waiting for instructions. Good, very good.
	"GAAH! KILL IT! KILL IT!!" somebody shouted through the comm 
channel. There was a sound of sonic weapons fire. Then the same voice: 
"GAAH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!!"
	"What the hell's going on?!" Zen called, relieving Lyudmila of having 
to say it herself.
	"Sorry about that, Commander," Marcelle's annoyed (yet also 
amused) voice came through. "One of the rookies got up close and personal 
with a Hallucinoid. He'll be okay after we clean him off. Pretty wild ride." 
Zen rolled his eyes and kept his comments to himself. Lyu, for her part, 
wished she could have seen it. "Pyramids on the northwest edge are 
secured," Marcelle continued.
	"East side is secure," Escobar reported a minute later. "Ready to 
move in."
	"Good," Lyu ackhowledged. "Get down here and keep your eyes 
peeled for snipers." Now the Tentaculat spun around and went barreling 
back into the hangar. The Tasoths immediately fired on it and it went down, 
but in so doing they forgot all about the humans and their tank, who were 
also charging in. Several shots and alien squeaks later, the hangar was 
clear.
	"All units, entryway is secure," Zander reported. "Proceed to our 
location immediately."

	"Looks like it split us up again," Zander observed as he made a 
quick head count and found only seven troopers and one Displacer on the 
dimly glowing lift platform they'd arrived at. "All units, report in!" A series of 
acknowledgements came back, and Lyudmila was able to determine that the 
other seven troopers and two tanks had arrived on a lift platform several 
dozen meters away, probably on the opposite edge of the site. Two more 
things she noticed were that the prickling sensation from the Synomium unit 
was diminished here, probably because they were inside, and the lighting: 
either it was much darker in here, or the glowing blue-white discs which 
represented internal lift platforms were brighter. Probably both.
	"Regroup," Lyudmila ordered. "All units with me are Squad One, all 
units on the second lift are Squad Two. Fan out and we'll rendezvous at the 
center. Report anything that looks like it might be a control center. Out." 
She turned to the Displacer, which had identified itself as number two. "Onto 
the lift. Group of four onto the pads after the tank, then the other three. I'm 
with the first group."
	The substructure had a total of four levels to it. The lifts all offered 
no exits of any kind on the top three levels. Lyu guessed the control center 
was on the highest level, meaning they'd have to work their way back up. 
And the farther down they went, the more uneasy they all got. The tension 
proved to be justified, for as Displacer Two eased down onto the bottom 
level it immediately was hit hard by a sonic blast. It shot back and struck 
the offending Tasoth, killing it instantly.
	"Damn," Zen growled as the tank floated unsteadily out of the lift and 
he descended to the bottom level with the rest of his group, reading the 
damage report from the Displacer. The Tasoth's shot had been well placed, 
punching through the armor and wreaking havoc on the tank's power 
systems. It was still mobile and able to fire, but it probably wouldn't 
withstand another hit like that one. "Wouldn't trust this thing to last too long, 
Lyu," he said. "Another hit and it'll be gone."
	Lyu nodded, studying her HUD for a moment. "Right. Tank Two, 
head southwest and sweep the corridors there for any hostiles. Everybody 
else fan out and head east."
	"Bug left!" Linden called, crouching down and aiming at another 
Tasoth with her weapon.
	"Wait," Lyudmila interjected, holding her MCD up. "I've got it." Sure 
enough, the Tasoth stopped and looked around. Lyu had it take a couple 
steps west and was rewarded with several more bug markers flaring on her 
HUD. "Three Tentaculats and another Tasoth... shit, we've got a town 
meeting up there! Zen, send `em a present."
	"With pleasure," Zander nodded, programming a set of waypoints 
into his DPL. The glowing red bomb screamed out of his launcher, turning 
around several corners and disappearing. A moment later a flash lit up the 
northwest corner of the base and the immensely satisfying sound of several 
bugs dying all at once could be heard.
	"Nngh!" Linden suddenly buckled and fell to her knees.
	"Shit! Psi-attack!" Zander warned. Suddenly another of the rookie 
troopers dropped his weapons and bolted forward into the dark corridors 
ahead. "*Davies*!" Zen hollered, but it didn't do any good. "Fuck. Find that 
attacker, people!"
	"I'm on him!" Linden said angrily, as an Aquatoid popped out of a 
doorway they hadn't noticed earlier and glared at her with burning red eyes. 
Linden yelled and opened up with her weapon, spraying sonic blasts around, 
one of which caught the bug in the leg and knocked it down. It reached out 
with its mind to try and get more effective control of Linden, but another 
rookie by the name of Dan Cook took aim and finished the thing off.
	"Eat that, you little shit," he growled.
	"Nice shot, Cook," Zen complimented him. "Sorry, Lyu, I thought that 
was a wall there."
	"So did I," Lyu answered. "All units: be aware that totally black walls 
with glowing light-strips under them are doors. Proceed with caution. Out. 
Linden, you got your head back on straight now?"
	"Yeah," Linden replied, shaking her head to clear out the last traces 
of alien cotton.
	"Good, go find Davies. Tonida, you're with Linden. Zen, you and 
Richards head north and make sure we don't get jumped from behind. Cook, 
you're with me, we're headed for the center."

	"Man, this place gives me the creeps," Cook remarked as he and 
Lyudmila edged along the wall toward another corridor. The entire place was 
illuminated by low-powered flourescent strips in the lower parts of the walls, 
which cast a dim and decidedly eerie half-light over everything.
	"You think this is bad," Lyudmila replied. "You should see what 
their colonies look like."
	"I dunno, ma'am, I've seen the camera footage..." He peeked 
cautiously around another corner and, spotting nothing, waved Lyu forward. 
"And I dunno why, but... I think this place scares me more than the colonies 
do."
	"Try not to talk about getting scared, soldier," Lyudmila said, even 
as she was starting to agree with him for reasons she couldn't quite define 
either. She wondered if it had anything to do with the Synomium unit's 
power. Everything seemed to get a little darker, more foreboding. She 
shook her head to get rid of the feeling.
	"Sorry ma'am," Cook replied, taking a few more cautious steps 
forward. The narrow corridor they were in was about to open out into 
something larger. "Guess I'm still not used to this stuff."
	"I didn't expect you to be. But get that way soon, understood?"
	"Yes ma'am," he answered. The corridor had come to and end and 
Lyudmila could see that it opened into a rather large room, which looked like 
it might have a vaulted ceiling. Cook glanced past the edge of the wall, and 
kept glancing. "Goddamn..."
	"What is it, Cook?" Lyu asked. Then she turned the corner and saw 
it herself. "What the..."
	The room was indeed very large and spacious, with a large column in 
its center leading into the ceiling. Stairs on its south side led into the 
interior, and the ceiling ended at the third level. Part of Lyu's mind guessed 
that this was the control tower, and the Synomium unit directly above them.
	The other part of her mind was noticing the metal piping surrounding 
the tower. "Brass pipes?" she wondered aloud. Surely they weren't 
actually made of brass, but they sure as hell looked like they were. She 
keyed her comm. "All units report... have you been seeing what looks like 
brass pipes anywhere?"
	Marcelle's voice came to her ears, along with the sound of gunfire in 
the background. "I'll do you one better, Commander: how about what looks 
like a bunch of old-style ship boilers? Check Escobar's cam."
	Lyudmila brought up Escobar's view on her HUD. He was in the 
middle of a large room in which more rows of the pipes were clearly visible, 
but also visible were large oblong structures which did indeed look like old-
style steamship boilers. As Escobar turned and bent down to salvage some 
ordnance from a dead Aquatoid, his camera offered a closer view of the wall, 
with its glowing flourescent lights and its metal paneling. And abruptly she 
understood why this place was far more disturbing than any alien colony:
	The colonies, at least, looked alien.
	"Damn..." Lyudmila said as she looked around uneasily at her 
surroundings. "*We* could have built this."
	The words of the Cydonian Brain kept ringing in her head.
	You cannot kill us. You are part of us...
	"COMMANDER! WATCH IT!!" Cook suddenly hollered and shoved 
Lyudmila back into the corridor. Lyudmila regained her senses just in time 
to see Tentaculats bearing down on them, the closest one starting to wrap its 
paralyzing tentacles around Cook's right leg.
	"No you *don't*!" Lyudmila snarled, seizing her MCD. Her vision 
reddened, and the Tentaculat froze, releasing Cook. Turn! she hissed in a 
frightening voice. ATTACK! The creature promptly spun and began 
pecking at the one behind it. Blood and brain tissue flew everywhere, and 
the hostile brain sagged to the floor.
	As the carnage dissipated and the seawater became clear again, 
Lyudmila and Cook could see the figures of Zen and Richards at a 
passageway in the northwest corner of the room. Zen took aim at something 
at the other side of the room and fired, then edged inside, staying close to 
the north wall. Checking her HUD, Lyudmila saw that several troopers were 
closing on the room.
	She also noticed that Cook's marker was flickering. "Cook! You all 
right?!" she knelt down beside him.
	"Rrrgh... don't think so, ma'am." He clutched at his right leg, where a 
greenish ichor was visible on his armored leg. Oh hell. "Fucker tagged 
me."
	"Jesus Christ!" Escobar shouted from across the room. "We've got 
at least six more Tentaculats coming at us from above! Pull back!"
	*Six* Tentaculats? Lyudmila thought, and immediately realized 
they must be the guard dogs for this tower. Good plan on the part of the 
bugs. She quickly scanned her HUD again, and noticed a possible opening. 
"Tank Three! Move into the room and raise up to second level. Sight and 
fire at will! Everybody else get ready to shoot!"
	Escobar and another trooper moved out of the way as the Displacer 
rolled past and floated up. Immediately three Tentaculats converged on it, 
while another one continued to attack Zander and Richards. Zen put an end 
to his attacker's threat. Meanwhile Escobar and Marcelle, at different 
entrances to the room, began ducking in and sniping at the Displacer's 
tormentors. At another entrance Davies, apparently recovered, charged in, 
heaved a Pulser up toward one of the ledges Lyudmila saw lining the upper 
levels of the room, and the resulting explosion blew another Tentaculat into 
nonexistence. Seeing an opportunity, she gave her orders.
	"Zen! Linden! Marcelle! Run for the control tower now, while they're 
distracted. I'm with you! Tank One, move in and cover our rear! Hang 
tough, Cook," she added to the fallen trooper before making a run for the 
tower. The Tentaculats remained distracted by the shiny Displacer (which 
was taking a bit of a beating now but also giving as good as it got), and the 
four troopers made it to the lift without incident. The control tower had 
another 4-unit lift in it, and said lift was being used by a Hallucinoid which 
rose up from some lower chamber to attack them. Linden shoved her 
Thermic Lance deep into the creature's body and it splattered into a slimy 
mess on the flooring. "All right, we're in!" Lyudmila said triumphantly as 
Displacer One floated into the entrance, effectively blocking it. "Tank, cover 
this exit and wait for further orders. Okay, go up together and watch out for 
any last-minute surprises, people!"
	The four troopers ascended the lift as one. There was a small 
anteroom in the third level with contained a couple panicked Aquatoids, but 
Zen and Linden fixed that problem, and soon the four troopers found 
themselves in a much better lit chamber on the top level of the complex.
	"Is this it?" Linden asked, looking around.
	"See that?" Lyudmila responded, pointing toward the western wall. 
Right in front of said wall sat a squat round device, reddish brown in color. 
Multicolored lights danced along its base, and above it two shiny metal rings 
rotated about each other in defiance of gravity. "That's the Synomium unit. 
All the power in this place comes from there."
	Lyudmila and Zen stepped forward as Linden and Marcelle checked 
the back of the chamber for any hiding bugs. As they got closer to the 
Synomium unit, they could feel the power emanating from it.
	Damn, Lyu... Zander thought. This one's at least ten times more 
powerful than all the others... it's getting hard to *think* around this thing.
	Yeah... Lyu answered. She seemed to be straining even more 
against the invisible psionic current this device was churning out. She 
unhooked a Pulser from her belt and primed it, reaching out to drop the 
grenade inside the slowly revolving rings. The roar of the psi-waves was 
almost deafening, and she almost lost her balance and had to lean against 
the machine for support...
	And suddenly she went stiff as a board, eyes wide open and glowing 
brightly. "Lyu?!--NNGH!" Zen started to shout but was overwhelmed by 
something powerful and collapsed to his knees, his own vision turning bright 
red.

	"Command has a right to *know*!!"
	"This cannot be!"
	IT IS WHAT IS AND WHAT SHALL BE.
	Stop this! Elemental, save me! I must not go with him!!!
	"Damn you, K'Tulu! STOP THIS!!"
	YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS DREAMER SHALL BE *MINE*, 
ELEMENTAL!!!
	*NO*!! ELEMENTAL!! HELP ME!!!
	"NOOOOOO!!!"

	For one moment, something incredibly black and horrible flashed 
through the minds of Linden, Marcelle, and every other human being within a 
3000 kilometer radius of the battle. And then, just as quickly, it was gone.

	Lyudmila shrieked as she was thrown backwards from the Synomium 
device. The grenade clattered to the floor directly in front of the device and 
began beeping, armed and active.
	"ZEN! LYU!" Marcelle shouted as he and Linden rushed over to 
them. By the time they'd gotten there Zen was halfway to his feet and 
pulling Lyudmila away from the device, clear of the grenade's blast radius.
	"What the hell *was* that?" Linden asked, not hiding her mild panic.
	"I don't know..." Zen panted. And he wasn't sure he wanted to either, 
but...
	Lyudmila suddenly jerked awake again, visibly panting inside her 
armor. "Lyu!" Zen cried. "What happened??"
	"shit... oh shit..." Lyudmila wheezed, and looked straight at Zen. 
"Did you see it?"
	"I saw it," he answered. And he really wished he hadn't.
	"We have to get back to Atlantia *right now*," Lyu said as she 
scrambled to her feet. "We have to hurry!!!"
	Lyudmila raced toward the lift at an impossibly high speed. 
"EVERYBODY BACK TO THE LEVIATHAN!" she barked. "FORGET THE 
SALVAGE! WE'RE BUGGING OUT AND I MEAN NOW!!" Having little other 
choice, Zen glanced back to make sure the Pulser's timer was indeed 
working and then raced for the lift with the others.

	Approximately one minute later, the Pulser exploded, obliterating the 
Synomium unit. Had it been nighttime in that part of the world, the flash of 
an underwater explosion five minutes later would have been visible. As it 
was there was no one to see the explosion.
	Although several thousand people in Europe who'd abruptly become 
empaths and telepaths for the last few hours lost that ability again just as 
quickly.


45 MINUTES LATER
ATLANTIA BASE

	The Leviathan nosed up to the deck a little too rapidly, and the deck 
hand who was securing the ship was nearly bowled over as Lyudmila and 
Zen all but exploded out of the submarine. They were joined in their run by 
Himiko, who looked mad as hell. The base was a flurry of activity, all of 
which Lyu and Zen ignored and hurried past, and they only really heard part 
of what Himiko was ranting about: something about the Manta and the 
Leviathan (when it got back) being recalled to Tsunami. Lyudmila didn't 
really hear any of this. There was only one place on her mind right now.

	The door was open a crack and Lyudmila didn't even bother 
knocking, slamming the door bodily aside and charging into Takaya's 
quarters. Zen and Himiko were right behind her.
	"Jesus..." Himiko said when she saw.

	Takaya and Dujardin lay on the floor, out cold.

	The bathroom was empty.

	There was dead silence for a long long time, and then Lyudmila sank 
to her knees. "Damn..." she moaned. "We're too late..."


END SEVEN


END