Okay, quick spoiler warning for Below Zero. This chapter will contain scenes that will be a spoiler for anyone who has been playing Below Zero. Read with caution, I'll explain at the end of the chapter.
There was an inherent sense of foreboding in the cavern as if something were watching Dae maneuver herself around each corner. It didn't help that the huge leviathan outside was still roaring it's outrage. Dae hoped that it lost interest sooner rather than later. Seamore, while still rather full in battery, did in fact have a battery. That meant sooner or later she would run out of air, an increasingly likely death on this hellhole of a planet. That alongside being ripped to bloody shreds by the residents of said planet. Maybe second to that.
"Scans picking up unusual broadcast signals ahead." Karen sounded off nearly giving Dae a heart attack. "Unable to translate currently. Running translation software."
"What would be giving off a signal here?" Dae asked confused taking another turn. "This planet hasn't seemed to contain intelligent…" Her words slowed as she noticed green lights connected to strange blocky cables. "...life."
There was a forcefield, shimmering green, in what Dae could only assume was a doorway. She could hardly see through it to see there was a room beyond. She felt her heart fly up into her chest and she forced herself to breathe through the pinched feeling. There were only a few explanations that she could possibly think of.
"Karen, has Alterra been to this planet before?"
"Negative, planet 4546B was categorized as unexplored when systems were last connected to the mainframe."
"Okay...but there's a machine built into this cave system."
"Correct."
Dae shifted slightly staring at the shimmering green barrier. "What does that mean?"
"Possible existence of intelligent life predating Alterra's planetfall has been recorded." Karen's voice made Dae feel suddenly much smaller.
"Right." She muttered rubbing her hands together. "Okay, let's go see what it is, huh Karen?" Before Dae could talk herself out of it she shoved herself outside of Seamore and into the calm waters of the cave. It was a little colder than the safe shallows, but that was to be expected. Almost immediately she noted a soft purple glowing slab that looked to be half buried by the sands. Tentatively she moved down toward it watching for any movement that could mean her death.
It was unnervingly calm. Cool, dark, and still. She reached down and pulled at the slab wondering if it was connected to the lighting system, but it slid away from the sand easier than expected. Almost light. A strange symbol decorated it, and Dae grabbed her scanner frowning at the shimmering purple surface.
After a minute of scanning she heard a little alert showing her that new data had been acquired. Dae let the purple thing rest gently back onto the sand and pulled off her PDA, clicking through until she found the new information.
It was carbon based, she read glancing to the soft purple glow every once in a while. That despite its onboard power source still working just fine, that algae growth pointed to it being abandoned hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
"Okay," Dae said moving back over to seamore to gather some more air before swimming back over to the purple tablet. "So, whoever used these they seem to be long gone. Right Karen?"
"Scans do show indication of abandonment by the precursor race." Karen affirmed.
"Precursor?"
"Precursor: noun, a person or thing that comes before another of the same kind. A forerunner."
"I know what-" Dae sighed twisting herself to look at the green forcefield. "I know what precursor meant in that context. It just sounded like a good name to call them."
There was nothing but the sound of her own breathing, even time seemed to stand still in this cave. Dae swam over to the green forcefield, keeping her distance at first. The green light shifted hypnotically over her skin and Dae moved just a bit closer, only to yelp as a flat dark panel jerked itself open revealing a purple light. Dae glanced between the indention in the panel and the tablet still sitting on the sandy floor.
A few moments later she swam back up to the panel, which had in her absence closed itself once more, and hefted the purple tablet in her hands nervously.
"Tell me this is a bad idea and I'll go back to Henry." She told Karen quietly. Karen remained silent and she swam a bit closer until with a soft hiss of moving machinery it slid back open revealing purple light that matched the purple now in her hands. "This has to be a bad idea right?"
Dae brought the tablet closer, and yelped as it was ripped from her hands going to click perfectly into place. The green light which had been shifting through the cave much like sunlight breaking through the water simply ...faded until the forcefield was gone.
"Alien Broadcast seems to be some sort of distress signal." At Karen's voice Dae yelped and shot back to Seamore slamming herself into him hard enough to bruise. Her suit hissed as it pulled back in its oxygen supply. "Translation attempts ongoing."
"Dont!" Dae nearly yelled putting a hand to her chest. "Don't do that you scared me!" Karen didn't seem to care enough to respond. Dae took a few moments her breathing heavy as she stared at the now open pathway. It looked too small for Seamore to enter. "Come on, this has to be a bad idea." She told Karen as she slipped back outside. The silence slid over her like a second skin, leaving her to hear her every breath, hear the thunder of her heart as she cautiously swam past the deactivated barrier.
Nothing attacked. The cave simply went on beyond her stretching further away. She pushed herself onward despite the fear sending adrenaline through her bloodstream. As she turned a small corner she nearly stopped.
It looked like a graveyard. That was the first thought as she beheld two rows of smooth grey stone, jutting up from the sand. Spotlights hung above the gravestones, only highlighting them in the gloom of the cave. There were six altogether, and they were much larger than her. Glowing green cubes that seemed to be made of a material Dae had never seen before reminded her uncannily of flowers. Stalactites hung ominously overhead like the teeth of some great beast just waiting for Dae to lower her guard.
"Karen, what is this?"
"Translation attempts are ongoing. No information available currently."
At the far end of the room a hologram shimmered. It….it kind of looked like a data terminal. Dae moved forward almost without thought, past the lurking gravestones and the shimmer of the green stones. She reached out and placed her hand, so small, against the data terminal. A low whine began, that only built as a guttural language spilled forth sounding like a mixture of biological and synthetic sounds. Something in the far wall moved, stone crunching as green light poured forth, running over Dae much like a scan.
"Karen what's going on?" Dae went to jerk back, but found that she couldn't move away from the green light.
"Translation attempts are ongoing. No information available currently."
Dae thrashed as the far wall began to bulge out, revealing a black segmented cube that seemed to be opening.
"Karen please!" She hissed trying her damndest to escape the grip of the light. Another guttural sound and Dae suddenly felt her entire body pulled, stretched as if she were being pulled taunt. Movement was impossible.
"Karen help me. Please! I don't want this!"
The light grew more intense and symbols, ones she didn't understand began to flash erratically in front of her. The world narrowed. Tears flowed down her face as a roaring filled her head.
"T-trans-la-lation-n attem-a-attempts-sssssssss fail-fa-faillllllll-llllll-ed. ssssss-system-o-over-rid-o-vvvvvv-"
"Please!" Her voice was hardly a whisper. The roaring grew to be too much, and she felt the world slip away. In the darkness she swore she heard a soft echo of the gutteral language, sounding almost sleepy.
"Warning." The voice was too loud, and Dae groaned her eyes fluttering as she realized she was now floating in the middle of the graveyard. "Oxygen dangerously low." Dae shivered as she realized that the voice wasn't Karen. It was male and smooth. "Death by suffocation imminent."
Dae forced herself to move, blearily through a strange haze and a pounding headache she swam herself back to Seamore. By the time she reached him her chest was burning so badly she thought she might explode.
"Death by suffocation imminent." Was it just Dae or did the new voice sound...panicked a little? She threw herself into Seamore and nearly cried with her first breath. Her body felt ...ravaged.
"Karen….what….happened?" Her voice was so small, and hoarse.
"You seemed to have lost consciousness after activating long dormant technology."
"What did it do? Your voice..."
"Vocal settings optimized."
Dae coughed feeling her body ache with it. It was quiet for a little while, though she swore she could feel her consciousness slipping in and out.
"Local distress signal terminated."
"Was it?" She asked quietly head spinning.
"Yes."
"I wonder, what it was saying." She mumbled to herself trying to sit up a bit further. "I shouldn't go back in there right?"
"Your vital signs have been fluctuating. Food and rest recommended before further exploration."
"Right." Dae nodded trying to will herself to move. "I hope that thing isn't out there still." Dae spun the sub around, giving the opening one last long look before moving slowly through the cave, back toward those open sands.
"Information request: What thing?"
Dae blinked at the sudden interruption a slight frown crossing her face at the thought of the huge beast she had just barely escaped.
"The leviathan. It had ...those scythe like mandibles." She answered after a moment. She thought on it more. "Karen, rename fauna species."
"System ready."
"Reaper Leviathan."
"Confirmed."
"I mean, it makes sense right?" She said feeling her heartbeat pick up upon seeing the opening to the cave. Seeing the two light sources that had alerted her to it being there, the green alien structures. One now bore deep scratches, messing up the aesthetic of its design. "It nearly killed Seamore and me, so Reaper seems appropriate." There was no roaring. No thrashing, just a quiet ocean ahead. Somehow that scared Dae more. "Plus," she said pushing the sub into an instant sprint, "its mouth was like two scythes."
"Multiple leviathan class creatures are known to be in this location. Caution recommended."
"Yes I know." Dae muttered spearing for Henry's little dot on her HUD. In the distance she heard a roar, and she felt her body go cold at the sound. "Today has just been ...great." She muttered angrily. Thankfully, whatever luck that had kept her alive all this time seemed to hold as the trip back to Henry was uneventful. She nearly sobbed as she pulled herself into his interior.
Sleep took her before she couldn think too much about what had happened.
For those looking for an explanation, way back when I started this fic I had a cool idea about the precursors. If you've seen Below Zero you'll realize that the fic premise I had decided to go with, is now a large part of the plot for Below Zero. It's actually really cool to me how it all happened. I had decided on this plot before it was ever revealed. But because it's now a spoiler I have to warn everyone. So, while I have decided to pick some elements from Below Zero to make it a bit more cannon this is not the same exact idea. Just the same premise. Thanks for listening! -Moriarty
