Mol Synomia
Larry Mann
Back to X-Com Page
"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