Slowly Reaper moved forward. Toe to heal. Balance was all important.
Keeping his eyes forward, he used his peripheral vision to watch for any movement. Cautiously he made his way up the metal staircase to the upper platform where the monitoring systems were.
The soft humming of the machinery vaguely reminded him of crickets on a hot summer's eve back on the ranch his uncle owned.
Reaper approached the command center's computer. As he did so he could see one monitor was focused on the blast door that sealed the pumping station from the toxic waste holding and disposal facility. He froze.
That moment would take on a surreal quality that John Grimm would never be able to completely bury in his memories for the rest of his life.
Technicians. Men and women in white lab coats pounding, beating, all but throwing themselves, against the impenetrable wall that stood between them and what they thought was safety.
Two steps forward and he watched as their panic became hysteria. They began to turn on one another. Pushing each other towards whatever it was that approached them.
Then he took another step towards the monitors. Even without sound he knew their screams were deafening. The threat, whatever it was, could not be a virus or any other airborne illness. Whatever this biohazard was it had form and shape that people could see. He watched, feeling both impatient to see what it was that terrified these people so, and also agonizingly frustrated that there was nothing he could do to help them. He knew, through knowledge gained by years of bloody combat and being a first-hand witness to biowarfare, these people were about to die. They were going to be slaughtered like the helpless animals they now were.
Reaper gritted his teeth and forced his any sympathy or pity he might feel for these poor souls away into the most hidden regions of his own mind. He could not help these people, but the knowledge he gained from watching whatever enemy it was that advanced on them could be vital to the survival of others, not to mention, himself.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash from the monitor. Instinctively he moved back into a defensive stance, but his eyes stayed on the monitor. Some of the people were down. His mind fought to make sense of what he was seeing. Blinding flashes of light kept coming. People kept falling, some slammed against the wall by the light, some had body parts torn off and even others seemed to be burning. What kind of weapon was this? If he didn't know better he would have described the lights as a fireball. But that made no sense. Yet there didn't seem a better description of the lights. What little he could see of the projectiles was a yellow-orange ball of some fiery substance. The surface seemed to burn, so it was not an entirely solid, yet once the projectile hit something it disintegrated as if it was some form of liquid. What kind of weapon fired ammunition that was both liquid in nature, yet held a solid form?
"Damnit!" He shouted in frustration, swinging the flashlight down to his side, as he realized that all the people were dead, yet he had not caught even the smallest glimpse of the enemy. Whomever, or whatever, had fired the fireballs had done so from a distance and clearly did not feel the need to check to make sure all of it's victims were actually dead.
Reaper looked around. There was no way in hell he was staying put in the pumping station while the battle raged elsewhere. He had no weapon, but that was a minor point he would deal with later.
First he had to get out of the sector he was in. He grabbed the PDA and realized Ryan had sent another message:
Unknown organisms detected in AO labs
Origin unknown
Number unknown
Objective unknown
Known: hostile/extreme threat
SFLQTI
"Shoot first, leave questions to investigators," Reaper softly translated the acronym at the bottom of the message. It's meaning was clear. UAC was not in control of the situation. Lethal force had been approved for use by the guards who had been sent in, but Ryan either knew or didn't think the men sent in would be enough. As bad as things were, they were going to get a lot worse before they got better.
Quickly he typed in a quick message of his own to Ryan:
Trapped in pumping station
Need exit
Need routeNeed weapon
He waited impatiently for a reply. He wanted out. He wanted to know where the fight was. Even if Ryan couldn't direct him to a weapon he was pumped enough to use just the flashlight and his fists if he had to. He just wanted to find the enemy and destroy it.
Reaper listened to the strange quiet that had fallen over the room. It should have been loud with the sound of machinery. The computers should have been actively monitoring them. There should have been movement of the occasional technician or laborer. But now there was nothing. Almost as if the base had been abandoned and he was all alone.
Finally the reply came back:
Go to north door
Will openGet to AO
Many casualties
Evacuation begun
Possible weapon in process control
Check lockers
Reaper moved quickly to the north door. While the standard Earth polar directions meant little on Mars, the doors had been labeled this way anyway.
He positioned himself to the right side of the door. There was no telling what, if anything, would be on the other side, but he wasn't about to start off by making a target of himself.
Seconds later the door opened. He held his breath. They sounded ridiculously loud at the moment. If there was anything nearby it had certainly heard them. He waited patiently for a moment, using both his ears and nose to try to detect anything. He heard the soft hissing of the pipes used to move the heating fluid through the base as water that condensed on the cold pipes fell on it. There was no smell of coolant or solvents or any other toxic substances he was familiar with. Crouching down just slightly he pressed his back to the wall and slowly turned his head to peer out into the hallway. He knew he was four levels down and nearly one klick from the entrance to the Alpha-Omega labs so he was a good distance away from the origin of the threat, but to assume that he was therefore safe was as good as inviting death over for coffee.
He saw no unusual movement. Nothing caught his eye, so he quickly moved to the other side of the doorway to check for anything that might be hiding in the corner behind his previous position. Again he saw nothing.
Quickly he typed in a message to Ryan:
Entering HVAC area
Need enemy data asap
Number/position
ID loc BU
Moving out
Reaper knew that going into a hostile situation went against every piece of training he had had drilled into him, but until Ryan could tell him where they other guys were to get himself some backup he had no choice.
Silently he stepped into the HVAC station. He needed to get to the AO labs as quickly and safely as possible, but on his way he was going to do his damnedest to find a real weapon. If he remembered correctly the HVAC area was connected to the Facilities Maintenance warehouse. He should be able to find something there. Hell, even a handheld blowtorch would be preferable to the flashlight.
Once he reached the doorway to the facilities warehouse he quickly glanced down at the PDA. The message he saw there made his blood run cold.
UAC orders safe retrieval of Swann
AT ALL COSTS
All guards ordered to AO lab entry ASAP
Idiots lifting full lockdown
Lt Palani in charge of base until Swann secured
