Chapter 14 – Heading Back To The Enemy
"Alpha-Seven encoded," Dude announced. The aqua water once again appeared as the Spacegate made a connection to the one on P38-451. "You dudes are ready to travel."
"Thanks, Dude," Daniel said, while he walked over to John with Alex.
They looked at their Colonel, sitting above them in a drug-induced sleep, and felt an immense hatred towards the alien race that had made it. They also felt sorrow and a deep sense of helplessness, for their leader was as vulnerable now as they thought he was invincible before.
The Colonel was still sitting atop the ladder, though there were new straps of support under his arms and legs, so he wouldn't go anywhere just in case something would happen to the ladder. He was also sitting on a pillow, so as to ease the pressure on his back and tailbone.
With the two alien metal rods sticking out of his body, John looked like a Thanksgiving turkey, somewhat, with two carving knives sticking out of it. After taking the Colonel's hands and promising that they'd return as soon as they could, Alex and Daniel left through the Spacegate, following their salute to Hoffman and Ellerton.
"You know," Daniel said as they walked away from the disconnected 'Gate, "without the radiation suits and all the other cumbersome breathing equipment and stuff, the planet's not that bad."
"Yeah," Alex agreed, "but I wish we were here under different circumstances." They went to the room they had found the artifact in.
"I'll be here." Daniel sat on the ground and began translating, a paper in hand for each of the photographs he had taken.
The translation was coming to him easier while in The System, though it wasn't as fast as he would've liked it. He was getting the gist of things and was almost done when Alex called him over.
Pointing to the sort of pedestal where the artifact had been found, she said, "There are writings here. Can you translate them?"
"I'll try," the linguist said and began to decipher them.
"'The threat of destruction will spur us on, you cannot even hope; that when threatened, we are an explosion, when detonated, no one can cope…'" Daniel muttered a minute later, reading the inscription. Reading it again for good measure, he hadn't noticed Alex had knelt by him until he jumped a bit when realization sank in.
"Alex! The artifact—it's a bomb! We've got to get back there!"
"Oh, God," she said. "Do you know how much time we have left?"
Daniel nodded as they ran to the Spacegate and the DOC. "I've gotten the translations done. We have 96 hours from when the bomb was activated. We have about a day left, or so." Daniel finished dialing in and the 'Gate established a connection. Pressing his jewel, Daniel and Alexandra quickly ran up the stairs to the Spacegate and into the rippling aqua portal.
"It's a bomb!" Daniel announced when he walked down the ramp on the Karma. "We've translated it, and it's a bomb!"
"What?" Hoffman exclaimed over his comm as he walked down the steps from the Dialing Room. "A bomb? Are you sure?"
Nodding, Daniel said, "Yes. My translations are correct. The writing on the artifact also describes what it does."
"Which is?"
"It'll detonate when threatened—don't ask me how. It also says that we have 96 hours from when it felt threatened to when it'll explode. I think that when we disturbed it was when the countdown began and so we have about a day or so to stop it before it goes."
The General glanced up at his Colonel and then back at the two people before him. "Do what you need to by all means necessary to stop the bomb and to get Colonel O'Brien out of there."
"Um, sir?" Daniel said, stopping Joseph before he left.
"Yes, Daniel?"
"The artifact, besides describing extensively about what the explosion could do to the Sinnartians, the Androidians, the Guardia, the Machiá, and many more peoples, it said that after the first 36 hours of spearing something it releases a pathogen into them, which starts to make internal organs begin to fail if that thing happens to be living. It also says that it can only be detected by energy—that's the thing on John's face and neck. The writing also said that we have until an hour before the detonation to cure him and shut the bomb down before it becomes too late…"
"Do whatever's necessary," the General repeated grimly, and turned away, seeming defeated by all the bad news he had received in the past week.
Daniel turned to look at Alex. "Let's get going."
"First, let's drop all this stuff off back in the science bay and pick up different things. I need to get my tools." Daniel nodded, and they left to get things done."
Hoffman walked into the room where Dude and Dagón were still trying to research the origins of the artifact. Dagón had rejoined Dude in the search after the failed attempt at freeing John and had just sat down when the General walked in.
"Find anything yet?" he asked them, eager for any news that was new to them all…news that could make them more aware of the danger they had discovered, and news that could help them stop the bomb and free their man.
"Not yet, sir," Dude said. "The awesome Dagón-dude has come back to help me, so we should get farther. There's really virtually nothing about this artifact or the people who created it in the databases we've gone through. Sir, if you'll pardon me, I'll be as radically bold as to say that I've hacked into some of the most respected and powerful alien race's databases, and have still found nothing. I'm trying to see if the ancient data ports of the Guardia are hackable, but I'm not getting anything."
"Keep up the search," Hoffman said, and handed each of them a cup of a caffeine-enriched drink that was ever so popular on Karma. The drink kept the body going even if it was on the verge of collapsing, and it tasted a whole lot better than coffee did. They had to drink it regularly, though, because if they didn't, they could just collapse right there and then, and they wouldn't wake up for a very long time.
"Thanks," Dude and Dagón said when the General returned, handing each of the searchers a steaming cup of goopy lime-green liquid. Dagón didn't seem so enthusiastic, as his symbiote didn't digest the drink that easily.
Raising his glass up in the air, Dagón said glumly, "Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!" and gulped it down quickly, grimacing at the feeling in his stomach and heart.
"Yeah, dude. You're so totally right." Dude swallowed it quickly, and they both went back to work.
Joseph, smiling weakly, then went to see how Alex and Daniel were doing, bringing them some drinks, as well.
"Argh! This isn't working!" Alex complained loudly as the General entered the room. "Are you sure that's what it said?"
"Very sure," Daniel replied. "It said that the countdown mechanism is under that panel. We just have to find a way to get to it. The crowbar didn't work, right? Do you have a welding torch? We know it goes through this metal."
Alex looked a bit defeated while she replied, "It's worth a try. Could you hand it to me? It's in that box over there. Oh, and those gloves and helmet, too, please. Thanks."
Both scientists looked up suddenly to find Hoffman standing there, offering the drink. "I wasn't doing anything, so I thought that both of you could use some more caffeine."
Alex smiled. "Thanks."
"What is it?" asked Daniel.
"A drink with very high caffeine levels," Joseph said. "It keeps you going, though if you don't drink it regularly while you're working, you fall into a deep sleep and cannot be awoken for a long time."
"Ah. Gotcha." Daniel looked into the cup he was given and saw the special neon green liquid there. "What's it called?"
Joseph looked thoughtful. "It doesn't really have a name. We just call it That Drink. It needs one, doesn't it?"
"I guess," the linguist said and took a sip. "Whoa! It really has a kick to it! You should name it something like Pow, or Whoosh, or Zing."
The General smiled. "I think I like Whoosh. I'll spread the news. Daniel has renamed That Drink to Whoosh." He left the room then, laughing a bit at the new name.
The two finished their drinks and turned back to their work with renewed energy and strength.
"I'll start to work on this," Alex said, putting her welding helmet and gloves into place. "Why don't you go see how Kate is doing? See if she needs any help. I'll call you via comm if I need anything translated or if I get this thing opened."
"When you get it open," Daniel amended as he nodded. "All right. I'll be back." The linguist turned and left the room right when he heard the torch ignite and start to burn through the metal. Turning back, he moved his gaze from the hard-working Alex to the trapped John. Saying a silent prayer for the safety of all of GC-1 and the salvation of their Colonel, he left to talk to Kate.