Chapter 2
The paralyzing cold came almost instantly after the dark. As could be expected, the three hadn't made it far. They decided to stop and make camp beneath an outcropping of rock, which provided at least minimal protection from the biting wind. Teeth chattering, and hands near frostbite, Atalus and Hayden prepared a small fire they had made from a small, warped treelike plant they had seen earlier. The two dragged Damon to the place closest to the measly fire and then sat to each side of him. They sat there shivering almost uncontrollably in silence until Atalus asked, "How far to the settlement you came from Hayden?"
Hayden looked up from the fire and looked off into the near pitch black contemplatively. "Probably another day or two with Damon's weight," he said. He looked over at Atalus with a faint look of hope. "Unless you have more adrenaline," he said. Atalus shook his head. "No, I brought just enough for an emergency, nothing more." Hayden looked back at the fire, his lips pursed.
Silence reigned again until Atalus spoke up again. "Do you have an idea why he'd take the cipher and ring?" Hayden shot him a look of irritation. "You're asking me?" he said, with sarcastic shock. The two then silently gazed at Damon, who had been quiet except for a few coughs. Sensing the silence, he looked up and frowned at them both. "What?" he asked.
"You realize you're the only that really knows this guy?" Hayden said. Damon's expression suddenly turned to one of defensiveness as he looked at the two. "Atalus, you...uh…got to know him on the buggy ride here, right?" he said, turning to Atalus. The turian crossed his arms and frowned. "No, you introduced him as 'the guy I know from way back' and then we set out." Damon's expression turned resentful quickly. "Look guys, I thought that we might need an extra hand on this dig, so I got a hold of Jarack. Okay? Nothing to it," he said, looking back at the fire. "He said something about you being drunk the night before. Is there any truth to that?" Hayden asked. Damon's reply, as if he realized he was cornered, was quiet. "Yes," he mumbled. Hayden's sigh was exasperated as he paced off a ways. Atalus knelt down next to Damon and said, "You know you have a history of saying things you shouldn't when you're like that, right?" Damon didn't reply, but his expression didn't need him too. "Do you know anything about his past?" Hayden asked, the frustration evident on his face.
Damon was silent for a minute, and then said, "Me and him worked together on this mining freighter shortly after that batarian uprising ten years ago. He was trying to disappear, and I was a nobody, so we kind of hit it off. Eventually, the captain told him he had to scram because he was attracting too much heat, so he left," Damon said shrugging.
"That still doesn't tell us about his character or what his plans are," Hayden said, still frowning. Damon sighed, but continued. "He's kind of a two-sided coin. He could act like your best buddy one second, like in card games, and the next minute you're wondering who he is. I could've sworn one time in our cabin I saw another guy's stuff in his-," Damon said, then stopped, realizing what he just said. His expression turned even guiltier. Hayden just shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
Atalus sighed as a father or mother would instructing their child, and said, "Damon, do you realize what you did? You brought the exact opposite of what was needed on this dig." Hayden's outburst was sudden and unexpected. "That's an understatement! First, you compromise our trust and our secrets by getting drunk, and then you call up your old buddy that's a war criminal and has committed who's know what to come and share in a Prothean gold mine. Tell me, should I trust you anymore?"
There was a stifling silence as Atalus looked shocked and Damon looked away. Hayden instantly regretted it. His expression of outraged indignation turned quickly to one of repentance. "Damon, I-," he started. "Don't even say it Hayden," came the sharp reply. With eyes down, Hayden walked over to Damon's place by the fire and put his hand on his shoulder, which was quickly thrust off. "Damon, I didn't mean to make it about-," Hayden tried to say. "But you did. I think Atalus is right, you're more concerned about a precious heaping crap pile of Prothean tech than you are about us. Let me ask you this: what's keeping us from ditching you at the nearest town?" Damon asked, looking up at Hayden. There was more hurt than anger in his eyes.
Unable to keep his gaze, Hayden turned away and walked to a corner of the outcropping and leaned against it. In a sort of whisper, Atalus said, "That was kind of uncalled fo-," but was stopped quickly by Damon.
"You know what Atalus, can you for once have an opinion and stop playing the negotiator? Now whose side are you on? Huh?" said Damon with a quick flash of anger. Atalus opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped himself. Silence ensued as neither of the three would relent their positions. A turbulent wind blew through their alcove, drawing shivers form each of the party, and threatening to extinguish the fire. Finally, Hayden sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he walked back over to the two.
"I'm-," Hayden started, then reconsidered. He looked at the ground, trying to choose his words carefully, as Atalus and Damon looked on expectantly. A moment later he looked up with a look of remorse and weariness.
"You both don't deserve this. You've been caught up in my personal mission, and now we're all paying for it. I should have told you more about it before we even got started, but I got so eager-," he said, then stopped. In a small voice that Atalus and Damon could barely hear, Hayden said, "I've become like my father." Damon and Atalus looked at each other, and then their expressions of resentment softened.
Atalus walked over to Hayden, and put his hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know your father, but if he was anything like you said he was, you are nothing like him. The way you described him, he wouldn't have given even a second thought to sacrificing his friends for his cause. You, though, have stuck yourself out there for us time and again, and just because you got selfish over a piece of 50,000 year old tech once doesn't mean it's going to happen again." Hayden looked up at his friend with a hurt glare, but then realized the turian was smiling.
Hayden looked at the ground again in silence again, then shook his head and chuckled. "Atalus," he said, "that's the best pep talk I've gotten outside of Damon in a while." He looked up at his friend with a refreshed look of endurance. "Thanks," he said. The turian smiled, and gripped his friend's shoulder. "Now you get to apologize to Damon," he said, smirking. Hayden sighed and rolled his eyes. Atalus stepped out of the way, and Hayden walked over to Damon. He put his hands on his hips as he looked down at his friend. "I'm sorry," he said. Damon looked at him after a second with a contemplative scowl. He then switched his gaze to the fire, and said with a false neutral voice, "It's fine, just don't do it again."
Hayden smirked, and clapped his friend's shoulder as he walked over to Atalus. His looked turned serious as he approached him.
"This is going to be tough," he said in a low voice. "You don't think he doesn't know that?" Atalus said, motioning to Damon. "You guys don't know the terrain like I do. Good news is that there's no wildlife to deal with, unlike on Bahar," he said, getting a chuckle from Atalus, "but there's virtually no shelter after here, which means killer heat and cold and very few of those twisted trees to make a fire with." Atalus waved off Hayden's comments with a flick of his hand. "Nothing we can't handle," he said dismissively. Hayden sighed and sat down by the fire, with Damon to his right and Atalus to the left. The three shared a moment of reflection until Hayden broke the silence.
"We, I, can't allow that ring to fall into the wrong hands," he said, staring into the fire. "It might have already," Atalus remarked gloomily. There was a moment of silence until Damon suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! Didn't you say something about a company called Synergy Unlimited? I bet you a hundred credits its criminal, cheesy names always give them away," Damon said grinning. Hayden and Atalus both looked with incriminating expressions at Damon.
"You were out cold when we talked about that. How do you know about it?" Hayden asked suspiciously. "I was slipping in and out of consciousness, and I heard you guys talking, okay? Now, can we get back to what really matters?" Damon replied with a slight hint of anger. Hayden and Atalus's expressions softened and they continued.
"Damon has a point, that's our best lead," Hayden conceded. "Yeah, I was the first to suggest checking on them, remember?" Atalus reminded him. "So, what do you guys think we should do?" Hayden asked, ignoring Atalus's remark. "The classic approach of course, guns blazing," Damon proposed with a mischievous grin. "Or we could just ask for a guided tour of the place," Atalus suggested offhandedly. "So no serious plans, right?" Hayden said humorously. "What do you expect Hayden, we don't even know what this place deals in," Atalus replied. "Except mind control chips," Damon reminded facetiously.
"Speaking of Atalus, is there any possibility the chip inside Damon's head could be reactivated?" Hayden asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Damon slightly cringe. "I don't know, it's a possibility. The implant could've been linked only to Camden, or it could be networked to a number of controls," Atalus speculated.
"So if we run into that batarian's friends, there's a potential for Damon to side with them. Great," Hayden said sighing. There was an awkward silence as the possibility sunk in. "Wait, didn't you say that after falling down that shaft in the mine the implant was rendered inoperable?" Atalus asked. "Yeah, but it rebooted, or something like that," Hayden reminded him. "You're not knocking me out," Damon said almost instantly with firmness. "I wasn't suggesting that," Atalus denied. "It might…have to be done," Hayden said slowly.
"You're not knocking me out!" Damon repeated vehemently. "Is there anything else we can do?" Hayden said turning to Atalus. "I-I don't know, I could give Damon a sleeping pill once we get close to the nearest settlement, but that might not prevent the implant from being activated," Atalus said uneasily.
"Well, our friend doesn't seem too keen on being forcefully put out, so we should probably leave it up to him if we don't want to get knocked ourselves," Hayden said humorously as he looked to Damon. His friend looked from him to Atalus with a look of hardly concealed feigned sternness with a suggestive look, until Hayden finally sighed exhaustively and said, "Please." Damon instantly softened and said, "Okay. If it were anybody else Hayden, I wouldn't be doing this." Hayden chuckled in reply, and sat back leisurely. There was a moment of silence until Atalus looked at his Omni-Tool. "We've got seven hours to sunrise, I suggest we get a little sleep." "We're going to need it," Hayden affirmed. Within ten minutes, the day's toils had put them all sound asleep.
Hayden was rudely awakened in his opinion. Opening his eyes, his first view of the day was the goofy grin of his friend.
"Up and at 'em," Damon said while extending his hand. Hayden grabbed ahold and was pulled to a standing position. Looking around, he saw Atalus's bent over silhouette outlined by the rising methane shrouded green sun. The fire had been extinguished already, and his turian companion was nearly done packing his share of their gear. Hayden began groggily packing his things. A moment later an energy bar was thrust into his hand, with an accompanying slap on the back from Damon. Standing up and shouldering his pack, Hayden noticed Damon was almost completely devoid of any signs of his previous limp and injuries.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" he asked Damon. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" his friend replied casually. "Oh, just the fact that you got worked over yesterday by a psychotic batarian, and you were half- dead, that's all," he replied, only half-joking.
Catching his drift, his friend gave him a strange and uneasy smile while replying, "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." Sensing the apprehensiveness, but not knowing how to reply, Hayden averted his friend's gaze and kicked around dust until Atalus promptly walked over.
"Hayden, according to what you said we should probably get going," he said before stopping and looking at the two. "Yeah, let's get going," Damon said almost immediately with urgency as he walked past the two. Atalus looked inquisitively at Hayden in response, who just shrugged his shoulders uncertainly and began walking after Damon.
The change of temperature was immediate and palpable as they exited the outcrop, easily in the mid triple digits during the middle of the morning. Hayden took a second to examine their surroundings and establish a heading. To the north was an endless looking amount of sand dunes stretching to the horizon, and to the west were menacing looking mountains that jaggedly rose towards the sky. Hayden pointed to where the two terrains met to the northwest. "That way," he told the two. "So you're telling me you traversed this hellish landscape without a buggy? How suicidal can you get?" Damon asked as he wiped his already perspiring head persistently. "Don't you wish you didn't have any sweat glands right now?" Atalus chuckled.
"Didn't have much choice…after I spent the rent money at the poker table." Hayden replied in a low voice, quickly looking the other direction. Atalus just sighed as Damon chuckled and said, "And here I thought I was the only one with vices." There was no response, and so they plodded on, occasionally checking the horizon for their progress and taking sips from their canteens.
"How much farther Hayden?" Atalus asked after they had traversed several dangerous crevices and hills. "Can't say exactly, but it should be over that rise over there," Hayden replied, indicating a range of hills in front of them that gradually sloped upwards towards the mountain range. "Just wait, it won't be over that hill, but the next, and then the next, and then-,"Damon said, rolling his eyes and making circular motions with his hands, but was cut off by Hayden. "You know what Damon, I just think that we're glad we don't have to carry you're a-," An ear-splitting roar pierced the air as the ground suddenly shifted violently beneath them, catching them off guard and throwing them to the ground. The three quickly recovered and drew their weapons, eyes darting in each direction looking for the source of the quake and unearthly screech.
"Thresher maw?" Damon shouted over the din of continued shaking. "I didn't see it mentioned in the files on this place!" Atalus shouted back. "Keep looking!" Hayden commanded as they formed a back-against-back triangle looking in all directions. Seconds passed as they continued to screen their surroundings, but no threat emerged. Abruptly, the ground stopped shaking, leaving the three perplexed and uneasily looking at each other. "What could that have possibly been?" Atalus whispered to his companions. Hayden shook his head, examining his surroundings with his scope.
"Don't know, Thresher Maws don't just break off-,"
The ground suddenly disintegrated beneath them, making them freefall for thirty feet to slam into back breaking hard ground and landing them with an echoing thud. All three groaned almost simultaneously as they felt the effects of the jarring fall.
Damon was the first to attempt to move, as he pulled himself into a kneeing position, and then put weight on his outstretched leg to help him stand, albeit shakily. He trudged over to Atalus offering his hand to the turian, who took it and stood even more dubiously than Damon, and then to Hayden, who was curled up in a fetal position and said as they approached, "How the heck are you two standing?" he said, eying them both, especially Damon.
A deep and echoing growl cut off any response however, as Damon and Atalus were forced to examine their surroundings for its origin. It looked like they had fallen into a cavern or sinkhole, which was hollow except for several pillars of dirt and rock holding it up, and having no luminosity, except for the ground they had fallen through acting as a skylight. The menacing growl came again, motivating Hayden to come out of his fetal position and look around. The two standing backed up to Hayden and pulled him to his feet.
"We need to get out of here," Damon said, nervousness tinging his speech. "That much is obvious," Atalus muttered, his eyes scanning the different areas of darkness. "What happened to our weapons?" Hayden asked, looking about. His gaze came to rest on a sand pile near the hole they made that was increasing in size gradually due to sand being swept in from the surface. A glint of metal poking out from underneath the pile caught his eye.
"Atalus, I think I see your rifle over there," he said in a low voice to the turian. His friend reluctantly took his eyes of the darkness and looked on the area Hayden was indicating. His eyes widened hopefully for a second, and he began to slowly make his way towards it. A roar louder than any before suddenly rang out from deep in the caverns, and a sound similar to galloping could be heard coming nearer, then suddenly stopped at the edge of the veil of darkness.
Abandoning all reserve, Atalus sprinted towards the sand pile and recovered his rifle, quickly bringing it up and levelling it out to meet the sound. There was an eerie silence for a long second, as the three waited apprehensively for the being to show itself.
The darkness was suddenly illuminated by six oval-like white orbs, with black circles in the middle of them. They flashed back and forth, surveying the party, and then suddenly disappeared. A plodding sound could be heard moving forward, with a sickening sound like bones crunching accompanying it. A massive figure came slowly into view, giving the three a chilling sight.
The thing could be compared to be similar to a yahg, a sentient apex predator that had a nightmarish appearance of four pairs of eyes adorning a serrated tooth-filled triangular face with a muscular nine foot tall body and scaly skin. This creature only had three pairs of eyes, but more than made up for it with increased muscle mass, two long horns stemming from its head, and a barbed tail that continually whipped about, lashing against each side of the cavern. The animal was on all fours, and was sniffing in the direction of the three, who were too paralyzed to move.
"Hayden, what do you want to do about this?" Damon suddenly asked, not taking his gaze off the creature. "I don't know," Hayden replied lowly, his body tense and hands raised. "Hayden, the sand pile," Atalus said, motioning with his head. Hayden slowly and cautiously looked to his right, and saw that the pile had increased almost enough to allow them to climb out of the hole.
"Okay, what we're going to is I'm going to provide a diversion for this thing and you two will make a run for it," Hayden said, looking to each of his companions. The creature was still sniffing, as if it couldn't pick up anything understandable off of them. Damon let out a nervous chuckle. "I've heard some stupid crap in my life, but that's at the top. You actually think you can outrun that monster?" he asked disbelievingly, looking at his friend with a disconcerted glare. "No, I was thinking we could all run at it and try to take it down with our fists," Hayden retorted, returning the glare.
"Guys!" Atalus interrupted sharply, making the creature whip its head towards the turian. Atalus paused for a moment as they waited for it to make a move, but it just continued to watch him. The turian began to speak slowly. "I think you're forgetting I have a rifle. I've been examining those columns that are holding this place up, and I think I can shoot through one of them and cause the ground above to collapse on it. It'll give us enough time to get out of here."
They exchanged glances with each other, and then looked back at the thing, which was scraping its nails against the floor as if sharpening them. "Do it," Hayden finally said. "Get ready," Atalus replied, focusing in on the nearest column to the beast.
The gun went off with a crack, bringing with it the sound of crumbling ground. The creature looked from the gun upward to the ceiling, as if surprised of the outcome, then tried to dodge out of the way, but not quickly enough, as it became submerged by the collapsing dirt and rock. Sunlight poured into the cavern from where the ceiling used to be, making the three squint and cover their faces. Just as their eyes adjusted, a sound came from beneath the pile as the creature burst out of the pile with a bloodcurdling roar, eyes fixed on the three.
"Oh frack," muttered Damon as they darted in unison for the sand pile. The animal bridged the gap between them in one leap, making them scatter, Atalus firing wildly at it. He was the first to be intercepted by the beast, and was backhanded with its enormous claw, sending him sprawling to the opposite end of the cavern. "Atalus!" Damon yelled, making a dash to help his friend. Upon hearing his voice, the animal's head jerked around to look at him and gave a snarl. Damon stopped in his tracks and ran the opposite direction, trying to get behind two of the supporting columns that created a small arch. He dove inside just in time, but the safety was short-lived as the beast bounded into the structure, head butting it repeatedly.
Several feet away and trying to help the debilitated Atalus, Hayden watched as Damon's protection was almost destroyed. Trying to think, he suddenly remembered he had a small hunting knife in his boot. Drawing it, he let loose a yell as he sprinted towards the thing and jumped on its back, stabbing into its flesh. The creature cried out with an unearthly roar as it tried to claw Hayden off. Unable to reach him with its hands, the beast began to slash at him with its barbed tail, but only hurting itself in the process as Hayden held on with one hand flipped out of the way, making the creature stab itself. The creature then began to flail around and backed up against another column, smashing Hayden against it with crushing force. This allowed the creature to finally grab him, and fling him across the room.
Hayden's body had taken too many hits over the past day, so he was only able to watch as the creature began to trudge across the room towards him and lift a claw to kill him. As the beast reared back to finish him, Hayden saw a figure to the right of him on the outside of the cave dart by. A second later a shot rang out, and suddenly the beast began convulsing, electricity coursing across its body as it stood paralyzed in place. It tried to take a step forward but another shot rang out and hit its chest, letting Hayden see some sort of node had become attached to it, sending more shockwaves of electricity through it. The beast fell to its knees, and then fell over as it finally stopped moving.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Hayden turned to check on his companions. Damon had come out of the arch and was jogging over to help Atalus, who was barely moving. As Hayden slowly got to his feet, a figure jumped down from the outcropping onto the cavern floor near the beast. The small humanoid was wearing armor and a helmet, and sporting an odd large cylindrical weapon with a strange muzzle. The person began to poke and prod the incapacitated creature until Hayden yelled, "Hey!"
The person whirled around, aiming his contraption at Hayden. Hayden quickly threw his hands up in a gesture of pacification as the person came closer. It stopped right in front of Hayden and surveyed him head to toe before saying in a muffled voice, "Stupid humans, and a turian no less! What were you thinking coming out here?" the voice demanded.
Hayden didn't know what to say, instead hearing Damon ask, "The better question is, what's a salarian doing hunting big game?" That's when he realized what kind of species he was dealing with.
Rotating his helmet counterclockwise, the person lifted upwards as it came off with a hiss, revealing a sweating salarian. Salarians were a race that looked strikingly similar to amphibians on Earth, having long, thin elongated bodies made of cartilage, two short horns that protruded from their heads, and jet black wet eyes with pale, purplish skin.
The salarian turned to look at Damon, who was assisting Atalus, and said with an irritated gaze, "None of your concern human. In fact, I believe I saved you from a grisly and horrible death at the mercy of this targ." "Targ?" Hayden asked. "Yes, that thing," the salarian said pointing to the beast, "I've been hunting it for some time now."
"Did you kill it?" Damon asked bluntly as he looked warily at the creature. The salarian focused on him again with a look of apathy before saying, "Yes, how idiotic would I be to keep such a creature alive?" Damon looked down and rolled his eyes as they stood there looking at each other warily until Atalus began to cough violently, droplets of blood coming out of his mouth. The salarian crossed his arms and said nothing as he alternated scrutinizing them with a scowl.
Hayden looked worriedly over at his injured friend and finally said, "Look, we're thankful you helped, but we really need to get him to a doctor. Do you have some kind of transportation?" The salarian turned his scowling gaze on Hayden and said, "I've saved you once, what's it worth to me to take you?" Hayden returned the scowl at these words, but looked over at his friend's worsening condition, replying after a moment, "There's a mine filled with Prothean archives south by southwest of here, I can indicate it on your Omni-Tool." Atalus suddenly perked up and gave Hayden a shocked glance, who in return gave him a grim smile.
Turning back to the salarian, he saw that he was once again inspecting him contemplatively. After a few moments of silence, the salarian replied, "If I find out you're lying to me I will leave you here to walk all the way to the nearest settlement." He then clicked back on his helmet and started up the slope to the surface, only to turn back to the dazed wounded three to say, "Well come on! Are you going to wait until another of those things comes out and finishes you off?" This spurred them into action as Hayden rushed over to help Damon carry Atalus to the surface.