CHAPTER 6: DEEP BLUE SOMETHING
Hunter Log 3843
I've finally got a chance to breathe. I can control the locks in this tiny control room, so it should be safe for a while.
I can afford to take a small rest here for a few hours while I figure out what to do next. Should I move on to the next fragment, or should I go deeper and try to find out more about what's going on?
You know, I really don't want to think about that right now. I need some sleep...
Samus out...
Samus took
a seat and leaned up against the main control panel. She had disabled
the lift and energy bridge and had sealed the only other way into the
room.
Within minutes, Samus had slipped from consciousness.
A faint light appeared in the darkness. A simple, small, white light. It began to move forward, then sped forward even faster. It traveled down a tunnel, winding and twisting its way into some apparently ancient structure. It finally plummeted straight down until the tunnel opened up into the center of a massive dome-shaped chamber.
The ground was piled with lifeless bodies of Chozo. Many more were lined all around the wall, standing with their backs against it.
One imperfection stood out against the smooth, solid walls of the dome. A small nook with a ramp interrupted one part of the wall. On the small ledge above the ramp, there was a piece of machinery, and a Space Pirate. Two more Space Pirates emerged behind another Chozo. The two pirates forced the gentle creature down the ramp and against the last open place along the wall, then scurried back up the ramp.
The lighting in the room went dim, then what looked like purple electricity pulsed upward from the Chozo to the hole in the top of the dome. All of the Chozo that had stood along the edge of the dome collapsed to the ground in one synchronized motion.
A flood of pirates made their way down the ramp and began to heave the lifeless creatures into the other piles toward the middle of the room.
Suddenly the view began to pull backwards. Back up the hole and into the tunnel, twisting, turning, spinning, then darkness again...
----------------------
Samus awoke in a cold sweat. Condensation had formed on the inside of her visor from her body heat. She removed her helmet and wiped the sweat from her upper lip and forehead, then wiped the inside of her visor.
"What was that?" Samus thought, "Was it real? Could it have possibly been something that actually happened?"
She didn't recognize the large chamber, but then again, she hadn't recognized too many things in the once familiar Brinstar. Things had definitely changed since her last "visit".
Something caught Samus' attention. The control screens indicated that someone was trying to activate the lift from the bottom.
She had to get out of the room.
Samus first activated the energy bridge and waited for it to connect to its destination, then she powered the lift. She quickly dashed across the bridge.
This bridge was much longer than the last one. It connected two large planet fragments directly to each other.
Before Samus had made it too far across the bridge, she felt a rush that nearly made her fall forward. She stopped moving her feet and noticed that she was moving forward, hovering over the ground.
"Hmm...I might as well sit back and enjoy the ride," Samus said with unusual laxness.
The bridge carried her all the way to the end and into another control room, similar to the previous one. She attempted to cut off the energy bridge, but the system wouldn't respond.
UNABLE TO PROCESS REQUEST...
BRIDGE IN USE...
READY
She was being followed. She had to get out of the room. She had the same choice as she had just faced. Go down or go forward. Since she had someone behind her, she decided to do both. She activated the lift and sent it downward. Then she opened the door and proceeded through, sealing it behind her.
In the next room, a small tunnel was the only other exit. A track with a capsule-like structure were linked to the tunnel. Samus hopped in and the shield on the capsule closed automatically. Then it disappeared into the tunnel.
Multicolored lights flashed into the capsule through the clear shield. The light show dazzled Samus. Zebes had rarely shown a softer, more beautiful side. Before long, the lights dimmed as quickly as they had appeared and the capsule seemed to slow abruptly.
The capsule was now vertical. Outside, Samus saw fish and aquatic life swimming freely. She had arrived in Maridia.
The capsule exited the aquarium-like environment and re-entered another docking station, where it came to rest. The shield retracted and Samus stepped out. She was now in what appeared to be an extensive lab area. There wasn't particularly a lot of equipment, and what little there was stood on or near the walls. The far end of the lab was strikingly visible to Samus.
As she approached it, she noticed it was mirror-like. She saw a reflection of herself, as well as the rest of the lab. The closer she got, the more she noticed the small permutations in the surface. Something was holding back a wall of water.
There was a constant hum that grew louder the closer she came to the wall. A strip of yellow ran in an inch wide line from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. It was seemingly some type of device designed to restrict the flow of water.
Samus reached out to touch her reflection. Just as her hand reached inside the yellow strip, a small trickle of water began to flow towards Samus' finger. She began to pull her hand back, but just as she did, a matching hand shot out of the water and tried to pull her in by her wrist.
A tug-of-war began over Samus' wrist. She desperately fought to keep herself out of the water and the strange hand yanked to pull her inside. She reached back and fired her grappling beam at the far wall of the lab. After a moment, it connected.
As if being pulled one way wasn't bad enough, now she was being pulled in two directions. The strength of the arm was immense. Samus felt as if she was going to split into two pieces.
Finally she gathered enough strength to pull on her grappling beam. When she did, the hand was pulled from the water.
When Samus landed on the ground, she noticed a second thud after hers. She shot a glance back toward the water...and saw herself.
Another Samus was lying on the ground looking back at Samus. It quickly jumped up and fired a shot at Samus. Samus rolled to the side and returned fire on the clone. It mimicked the same move. Shots rung against the steel walls and the two Samuses rolled, dodged, and fired upon each other. Eventually they fought toward the water again. When they got close enough, two more Samuses emerged from the water and joined the battle.
Samus dodged as long as she could, but finally caught a blast under her right arm on her side. She fell to the ground injured. The three clones approached her and readied their cannons.
"Suckers..." Samus said with pain in her voice.
She shot a charged ice beam blast at the center clone. The ice spread through each of them and froze all three in place.
Samus rose up off of the ground, clutching her side.
"So you think it was a good idea to pick on someone with an ice beam when you're made entirely of water? I would have to say that the odds were in your favor, though." Samus said with incredible tact in her voice.
She walked back a few steps, then fired a missile into each of them, shattering the clones and sending their shards ricocheting off of the walls.
If this was a sign of things to come, then she was taking a left at the next intersection.
