XXIII. Massacre
The entrance to the structure was a gaping hole that looked like it had been made by a massive force impacting the building. Mummified, humanoid corpses lay strewn about in varying poses of writhing agony. The three moved in silence towards the entrance, grieved and horrified by the scene. The inside was dark, save for whatever light came through a nearby window or a hole in an exterior wall.
"Will anyone's night vision be garfunkled if I use a torch?" Lara asked.
"No," came Samus' reply.
"I can filter it out," Jo said, tapping her earpiece.
Lara took her flashlight from her pack and flicked it on. The interior walls were pristine save for patches where it had been blackened by intense heat from explosions. The floor was another story. Blood, body parts, and corpses, both alien and human littered the passageways and meeting rooms. Lara saw flashes of faces desperate, horror-stricken, and aghast with terror.
"It looks like whatever happened here, happened rather suddenly," She commented.
"This may be more than just a metroid outbreak," Samus answered back. "I'm seeing signs that space pirate weaponry has been used here. We'll be able to find all the information we need from any console. There's one in the visitor's lobby straight ahead."
Lara and Joanna followed Samus through the horror scene of the passageway, the stink of charred flesh assaulting their senses. The hallway opened into a large room that at one time might have passed for a visitor's center. But like the hallway, it was strewn with bodies and splattered in blood. No one said anything, but cautiously made their way to the main desk. The body of human woman in a Galactic Federation uniform was slumped over the front of the desk, a large hole in the back of her head. Lara observed the scene carefully while Jo monitored their surroundings and Samus moved around behind the desk. Directing her suit to link up with the console, she began hitting keys. Lara turned her attention to the back wall and then the body of the woman.
"This doesn't look right," Samus said after several moments.
"Let me guess," Jo said. "You can't access any video recordings any later than…what do you say, Lara?"
"Three days I would guess," Lara replied. "This woman's been dead about that long."
Samus glanced at the two.
"How did you know that?" she directed her statement at Jo.
"Paranoia, pessimism, experience with corrupt governments," Jo replied with a shrug. "Take your pick."
"Notice anything odd about this corpse, Samus?" Lara asked, "She's the only one that hasn't been burned, blown to bits, or mummified. The distance between the desk and the wall as well as her position require that she was shot from behind, rather than from random fire. Her eyes are closed and there's no rigor mortis and definite signs of decay. This woman was executed at point blank range."
"If this is a military facility," Jo continued the thought, "no one would have been allowed behind that desk without proper clearance unless they wanted a squad of troopers up their rear. This was an inside job…at least at first."
Samus contemplated that only a moment. Of course it was typical of the Galactic Federation. But it had never gone this far. It had never reached this extent. And all her instincts pointed to one factor. Taping a few more keys, a holographic projector on the top of the desk lit up and a schematic of the facility flashed into existence. Controlling the image through her suit, Samus outlined to the others the path they would need to take.
"These elevators lead to the lower levels. Unfortunately, this console doesn't have access to the layout of the research facilities. They're Top Secret."
"But you've been there before, right?" Jo asked.
"No," Samus replied. "It was always off-limits."
"Right."
"Let's get moving."
The image flickered out and Samus turned to lead the two women down another corridor.
Samus led them through a series of hallways and intersections, all bearing the same marks they had seen throughout the facility. Eventually, they came to a hall with six single-door elevators. Telling the others to stand back, Samus aimed her cannon at the first door and switched to her grapple beam. The electro-magnetic wave shot out and engulfed the door. With a yank, Samus ripped the door from its housing. The loud banging of the door against the opposite wall seemed even louder in the deafening silence of the facility. The sound put Jo further on edge, as if they might have alerted whoever or whatever was still alive in this place to their presence.
Walking to the edge of the shaft, Samus knelt down, and gripped the ledge. She then swung herself over the edge and planted her feet on the wall of the shaft. A terrible screeching sound made the other two wince as Samus slid down the shaft wall and out of sight.
"Ooooookaaaay," Jo said, opening her belt panel. "So much for stealth." She pressed a few buttons on the panel as Lara pulled out a collapsible grappling hook and rope. Not a moment later, a distant crash echoed up the shaft.
"Guess we'd better catch up," Lara said as she fastened the hook on a metal shard left sticking out of the wall. She tossed the remainder of the rope into the shaft, allowing it to uncoil as Jo copied Samus' actions.
"Activate," she said as her feet contacted the shaft wall. Her feet and fingertips adhered to the metal of the shaft like powerful magnets. Slowly, and with some difficulty, she worked her way down the shaft after Samus. "Ugh! Reduce power by ten percent. Ah, that's better."
"Race you there!" said Lara as she repelled past her.
"Grow up," Jo shot at her.
"Oh come off it," came Lara's voice in her ear. "Learn to have some fun, Jo."
Eventually, Jo came to a floor, the middle of which had been ripped or blown open. Deactivating the electromagnets in her fingertips and feet, she dropped down into the chamber. Samus and Lara were standing outside the chamber surveying their surroundings.
"Aren't you going to wind up your rope?" she asked Lara.
"Better to leave it there," Lara replied, still looking around. "Might need it later to get out of here." The statement sparking a thought in her mind, Jo looked around the chamber in which she stood and noted the similarities to an elevator in her time. Most notably was a keypad of blank tiles and a rectangular, glass panel. Jo tapped a button on her earpiece and stared at the keypad and panel again.
"What floor are we on?" she asked.
"Sub-floor G9," Samus replied looking back at her. "What is-"
She stopped as she observed Jo placing her hand on the inside wall of the chamber.
"What are you doing?"
"Just taking some notes," Jo replied. "All done. Where to next?"
She stepped out and, like the others, viewed their surroundings. The three of them were standing in a hallway which appeared untouched when compared to the rest of the facility.
"We'll need to find a console," Samus replied. "From there I should be able to access a map so we can locate the time device."
She turned and fired an energy blast at the first door they came to. As if it were a slave obeying a command from its master, the door slid open allowing the three women access. The first and only thing Samus saw was the computer station immediately to the left of the door. A mental command changed her arm cannon setting to fire an energy burst from her suit's power reserves. A purple ball of energy shot out from her cannon, impacting and dissipating along the console, subsequently causing it to come alive with lights. Samus moved around to the other side and began working. Lara and Jo looked off into the darkness further into the room. They glanced at each other, neither fully sure of what they thought they were seeing.
"Samus," Came Jo's voice as she deactivated her lenses, "Can you bring the lights up in this room?"
Samus glanced up at the two of them, and then looked ahead as she brought up the lights. She straightened and the three stared in awe at the sight before them. Hanging suspended in a liquid-filled tube was a human male whose eyes were closed as if in sleep. Extending from his fingertips and toes were long, scarlet strings. Large bone spikes protruded from his skin all across his nearly naked body. Samus knew what it was the moment she saw it, but that did nothing to dispel her disbelief that it was there.
Before she could react further, she heard the sound of a single round being fired. She blinked and stared wide-eyed. Blue liquid poured out of the hole that had appeared in the now cracked tube. The being inside the tube was now slumped all the more, a fresh bullet-wound dead-center in his forehead, blood seeping from it and mixing with the blue liquid.
Samus turned her head to see Jo standing with her arm still extended towards the chamber, the last wisps of smoke from her pistol disappearing into the air. Jo lowered her arm.
"You get your map yet?" she asked without looking at Samus.
"Yes," Samus replied.
"Good. Let's get on with it."
She turned and walked out of the room. Lara followed, her arms crossed and her head staring at the floor. Samus looked again to the human-metroid hybrid floating in the chamber. Hitting the button to shut off the lights, she turned and followed the others.
The two women stood waiting for her, neither of them speaking. Samus glanced at each of them in turn. They both appeared to be staring at her, though Lara's sunglasses were down, which was odd considering their surroundings. They were obviously waiting for her, eager to get this whole affair over with. She was just as eager. Her visor flashed green and took on its customary mirrored finish. Inside her helmet, she brought up the map and plotted their course.
"This way," She said, turning and leading them down the hallway.