Revelations and Parting Gifts
"What happened down there?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"When did it happen?"
"What's down there?"
"There's no color in his face!"
"What is down there?"
"He's not moving!"
"Give us answers now!"
"Please!" the Doctor shouted over the group.
Silence soon consumed them all as did the light from the oculus above. Everyone except Kaiser Sergei was becoming borderline belligerent. The Doctor peeled his angered gaze away from the survivors and placed it delicately onto Justin's prone, motionless form at the base of the holopedestal. "He is fine, I assure you. His biometrics are perfectly normal, just an elevated heart rate. His symptoms are clearly psychological."
"Brain-washing," the Kaiser said, "he's already had too much of that."
Chris spun on a heel to face him. "Shut the Hell up." He faced back to the Doctor who was towering over all of them in the power armor—its metallic skin shining like an ancient war trophy in the light from above. "Doctor, what happened down there? What caused this?"
"I don't know. The extraterrestrial biological entity I showed him triggered some sort of traumatic response in his brain, maybe a repressed memory. We can only know for sure once he awakes."
"If he awakes." Layla scorned the Doctor. "Look at him."
"I'm awake." Justin said, slowly pushing himself off the floor.
"Justin!" Layla shouted, rushing to his side. "Oh my God, I thought you were hurt. You're okay?"
"I'm fine. How long have I been out?" Justin stood to full height and looked the group over with a pale, drained face. Layla stared back at his features with concern despite full lucidity outshining his eyes.
"About an hour." Doctor Kleiner replied. "Do you remember anything prior to the incident?"
"Of course I do. How could I forget something like that?"
"That is good news." the Doctor leaned closer. "I'd very much like to ask you some questions if you don't mind."
"Do what you want, but I'm getting as far away from that thing as I can. Now seal off that chamber and get me those weapons, Doctor."
Chris' eyes were transfixed on the massive vault door at the end of the dome's radius. "What thing?" he asked. "What did you see?"
"You don't wanna know." Justin brushed the dirt off his clothes and coughed once.
"No," Chris said, "I do want to know! You said back there that knowing was more important than anything. More important than getting weapons, more important than escape. All this talk lately about teamwork and cooperation…God damn it! I feel very out of the loop!"
"Fine, you wanna know what's in there?"
"Yes!"
"The head of the snake. You seem so eager to discuss it..." Justin stared at the elevator before walking off. "Well, we ain't gonna do it here."
Justin parted the group of onlookers standing around him and strode across the room to the lift lying in wait. The cavernous chamber was near-silent save for the plethora of fans extracting heat from the fins of methanol-filled radiators. The Doctor looked the group over while he sent the command for the vault to close, Justin waiting with arms crossed far away on the lift platform.
"Everyone, stay where you are. Do not touch anything."
"Where are you two going?" Chris asked incredulously, craning his neck upwards to look the Doctor in the eye.
"I need to speak to Justin alone for a moment. When I'm done, you can talk to him all you like before you get ready to leave."
The Doctor paced away from the well-lit platform, his suit one with the surrounding darkness as the remaining survivors remained in the light. He eventually made his way to Justin's side and the lift ascended an instant later.
"Leave?" Chris shouted. "We just got here!"
"Stop the lift." Justin said as he and the Doctor left the ground.
"Mister Reid, what just happened in there with you and that EBE is a scientific breakthrough. You must allow me to speak with you alone on the matter."
"I got news for you, Doctor, they are not staying down there. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of them. No more secrets. No more lies. I don't care about your research anymore. I've seen enough." Justin looked outwards and waved the whole group onward. They exchanged glances with one another and instantly proceeded.
Doctor Kleiner could barely be seen clenching his jaw in frustration through his helmet's obstructive faceplate as he lowered the lift to the ground. They stepped on—it instantly jolted upwards once the last shoe left the ground.
After an upward journey of silence through darkness, the elevator finally stopped at the mine shaft that was all too familiar to Doctor Kleiner's guests. He easily parted the people in front of him and was the first to clear the lift pad. He turned to them. "This way." A few steps outward and he walked over to a doorway on the left side of the corridor, one of many that lined both sides of the mine shaft for the foreseeable distance. The survivors lingered close behind.
Chris scooted up close to Justin's side. "I thought you said we wouldn't be going through these doors, Doctor Kleiner. That they lead to the worst of imaginable places."
"I did say that…to keep you from thinking you could venture wherever you pleased. I would not intentionally lead you into harm's way. Follow."
The Doctor keyed in a sequence of characters into the nearby kiosk and a bright red light transitioned to green, the doorway sliding sideways into the bulwark. Kleiner immediately stepped through, bolstering the group's confidence in him and the journey ahead. Once in, Chris noted the air was right at room temperature—climate controlled—much more bearable than the numbing cold of the mineshaft just outside. He looked back to see the door slide shut a second later. Looking ahead again, past wide shoulders, Chris could make out splotches of light streaming into both sides of the corridor up ahead in the distance.
It was steady thudding again, the Doctor's armored soles impacting the bedrock. "The level of intelligence these creatures have displayed during my time here is astonishing, but to have witnessed proof of psycho-telekinesis in a non-infected life form is something entirely new and groundbreaking. Do you understand what this means, Mr. Reid?"
"No idea, Doctor." Justin replied dryly.
"That EBE that you saw back there can communicate telepathically."
"So what's the punch line?"
"I've only seen it communicate with you."
Justin stopped dead in his tracks, followed by everyone else. The Doctor turned.
"Only me? You've never heard it before?"
"No," the Doctor said, "I've only ever heard it through the audio setup in that room. Your experience down there…it was purely telepathic. A one-way stream of consciousness. It spoke words only you could hear. You repeated them. And in the next moment, I heard the same words from the creature through the PA system in the room. You have a connection with that EBE."
Justin bowed his head to ground, slowly shaking it in disbelief. "I don't get it. Why me?"
"You said there were plants growing in the mine entrance. Did you come in direct contact with those as well?"
"You could definitely say that."
"Elaborate, please."
"I smoked some of it."
"Smoked, as in inhaled?"
"Just trying to get high." Justin said culpably.
The Doctor's eyes widened instantly. "Oh my…"
"What, Doctor?" Chris asked.
"Messenger Theory."
"And that is…?"
"Walk with me a little further." The Doctor wasted no time in proceeding further down the dark hall, his suit light casting a wide cone outwards—showing the subtle contours of jagged rises and falls in the ground.
Chris saw the splotches of light growing larger and brighter as they progressed deeper in. Upon becoming flanked in luminosity, he saw that the light came from overhead fixtures from beyond glass portals on either side. It was what was housed inside that was the real sight.
The Doctor stopped. "Observation chambers for the combat forms." he said, gesturing outwards to either side of the hall.
Layla gasped, cupping her mouth. Joe rushed to her side an instant later, whispering something consoling into her ear.
There the group stood, just outside the windows to a scene purely horrid as Hell itself. Justin exuded no particular reaction much like the Doctor, having already seen worse just moments prior.
Chris nearly reeled back, glancing either way uneasily.
"Steady, lad." the Doctor said, sensing his fright.
Justin huffed. "Okay, Doctor. What are we looking at that we haven't seen before? Are the weapons you promised down this way or something?"
The Doctor smiled. "Just give it a moment." He walked right up to the glass, pulling a black grease pen out of a compartment in his armor. He reached up to the glass and wrote: "1 + 1 =".
An instant later, as if about to attack, one of the monsters leapt towards the window pane. But it did not howl or throw a swipe of its deadly appendages or do anything the group of survivors had seen before. Instead, it merely used its host's lungs to huff hot breath onto the glass, a haze clinging there—forming around the Doctor's question. The next moment had everyone petrified in awe.
It raised one of its tentacles, normally meant for killing, and scribed "2" in the condensation.
Justin was utterly unfazed by the display of intelligence. "Doctor, where are the weapons we need?"
"Just a little more patience." the Doctor coaxed. "Watch."
The Doctor pressed a command on the keypad of the opposing observation room and a solid metal wall dropped in front of the glass, completely obstructing the view of the three humanoid combat forms inside. The Doctor then stepped up to the opposite side of the hall, to the glass he just wrote on and cleared the arithmetic away with a swipe of his gauntlet's rubberized underside. The combat form loitering a mere meter away stood rather tranquilly in wait, its hyphae undulating rather soothingly, intently studying the Doctor. He pulled out the grease pen one last time and wrote: "7^3 =". He let the zombie get a good long look at the writing before he wiped it clean off the glass.
He then reached for the keypad for that chamber and sealed off its window pane as well, nothing but bare metal on display. Before stepping across the hall to the opposing keypad, he glanced at the group with a sly grin.
He keyed the metal drapes open.
There, already written on the glass amid fog was "343".
"Messenger Theory." the Doctor repeated.
"Telepathy," Ken said, "just like you mentioned."
"Yes. You see, space travel is long and arduous. Space is huge."
"—Get on with it." Justin said.
"This organism could be a seed-like culture of bacterium or viruses from very far away, even another galaxy, highly intelligent with its communication unhindered by distance."
"You're saying this species can communicate across the universe?" Bill asked. "What you propose goes against the laws of physics, doesn't it?"
"People thought the same exact thing about faster-than-light travel until Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa unveiled the first Translight Engine. Is it really so hard to believe that a creature can communicate over vast distances without technology?"
"I would think so." Justin blurted out.
"Put it this way," the Doctor continued, "you've already seen what these creatures can do. They can rearrange their host's DNA as they see fit. They can change components of a body depending on what sort of external stimuli its environment enacts on it or what they ultimately wish to accomplish. People are always quick to uphold the belief that alien life is large, singular and complex. But what about the idea of a colonial-based life form?"
"You're asking us, Doctor?" Chris said.
"Many minds are better than one." he smiled.
"Just entertain the man." Justin moaned. "He's going to give us better weapons if we just play along."
The Doctor continued, "I know enough about the biology of these EBEs to present a theory, coupled with what I've learned from your experiences, Justin."
"So, Messenger Theory." Justin said.
"Yes. And just bear with me. The makeup of these organisms seems to be that of a fungus. A parasitic fungus, because all lab analysis concludes that the root cells are heterotrophic, meaning they can't produce their own food. Therefore, they must hunt for organic materials instead. The specialized hyphae of the infection forms can penetrate host cells without necessarily killing them. This is where you would see human metamorphosis into one of these combat forms. But the parasite's life cycle, it seems, truly starts as a conidiospore. Spores such as these can travel upon virtually any medium. Wind currents, water, or any surface such as rock…" Kleiner gestured outwards.
"These spores in particular, are highly resilient. The parasitic fungal spores, which we'll just call Super Cells for now, can reproduce asexually, allowing its propagation abilities to increase on orders of magnitude. The Super Cell exists on a cellular level but can converge with other spores when necessary to form larger multi-cellular structures, thus you get varieties such as an infection form, combat form…and the dreaded pure form. And others still…
"The plant you inhaled is in fact not a plant, but a large cohesive colony of fungal spores that you introduced into your respiratory system. The Super Cell has spread to the cognitive centers of your brain, albeit on a much smaller scale and at a much slower rate than normal. I would consider you very lucky."
"Wouldn't the heat from the flame have killed them?"
"Not necessarily. Spores of any kind are very hard to eradicate—even temperatures as high as one-hundred degrees Centigrade aren't enough to ensure sterilization. Now, it is possible that you weakened the spores enough from the introduction of heat such that they're unable to carry out their task in full. For if the Super Cell you contracted totally altered your mind and body as it normally does, you would not be human anymore. It may be that you've hindered their abilities and that the process of infection has slightly retarded, or even reached a static equilibrium."
"You're saying to me that it might be only a matter of time before I turn like any other?"
"Maybe, and maybe not. There's no telling how much damage you inflicted on the Super Cells before they entered your body."
Doctor Kleiner shook his head in amazement. "I finally realize now that life for the EBE community starts as the fungal spore, latches on to whatever it can and grows. It reproduces asexually, and with enough mass it can form growth pods. And so be it, that is precisely what occured at the mine entrance! By the Leader's own design and by some turn of chance, the colony sent a part of itself journeying through the cracks and fissures of these mines to reach the surface...where it encountered other life to take a hold of."
"Forgive us if we aren't as amused as you are."
"The residual effect of you being able to receive telepathy from its central intelligence without consequence is something truly wonderful."
"You'd take that statement back if you were in my place."
"Possibly. It is a shame you must be going, nonetheless. You would be the ideal specimen for study."
"Doctor, I'm not a specimen. I'm a fucking human being trying to survive this outbreak!"
"Right. Well, let's get you armed and on your way."
"Wait," Bill pleaded, "I've heard it too, the voice. Justin, you're not the only one."
"Amazing." the Doctor said, now staring at Bill. "Two separate entities with identical occurences."
Justin nodded at Bill. "I had the feeling all along." Justin said. He turned to Ken. "You too?"
"I didn't want to say anything. I thought I was going crazy or something. I guess that's what got Pete. The voice called him over to the vent and he surrendered to it. And it made him free the parasites from…oh God, Pete! I should've kept an eye on him that night. I—"
"There was nothing you could've done, Ken. That voice got a hold of him. It was going to find a way. It was going to get someone. That someone was Pete. Don't dwell on it, just be glad it wasn't you."
Ken nodded.
Justin turned. "Doctor?"
"Yes, follow me and we'll get you squared away, Mister Reid."
The Doctor proceeded further down the tunnel, and as one the survivors followed after. "Don't call me Mister Reid. I'm not your next-door neighbor. Call me Justin."
The trek through the tunnel was taking longer than Justin expected. He glanced over his shoulder, instep with the Doctor. Everyone looked down on spirits, but nevertheless determined to go the last mile. So rather than hang back with the group, Justin stepped up his pace to come side by side with the Doctor once again.
"You called that big EBE back in the vault a central intelligence."
"Yes, the community's leader. "
"I've never been able to say anything to it. Is the communication always one-way with that thing?"
"It would seem so from all observation. The entire EBE community is of the same, basic Super Cell. It would seem as though they are all linked by this Messenger type of communication ability. Apparently, it was determined by the colony as a whole that in some point in their history an evolution take place among its collective in order to overcome something in its environment—an enemy or natural event that required a being to be able to perform complex thought and movement. The fungal colony adapted to meet these needs and created a sentient being able to issue commands no matter what circumstances befell them."
"And how would it do that without interfacing with any technology?"
"My personal theory is organic oscillation."
"And what the Hell is that?"
"Oscillators are nothing new. They are the basis for any signal generation in radio transmissions. Oscillators occur naturally as crystals, usually quartz. If you can attain a rhythmic signal, which certain materials emit, you can produce communications. Simply find a way to transduce sound waves into an electrical signal, then modulate that signal onto a carrier wave and you've got a line of communication ready to transmit to anyone able to listen, provided the amplitude of that signal is powerful enough to go the required distance. My belief is that the central intelligence form is able to fabricate oscillators out of organic material and use them to create a telepathic event between it and any other sentient being. But infiltration of the host would be needed first in order to…be on the same level, if you get my meaning. The spores traversed your blood stream into your brain, slightly altering your neural pathways and your brain chemistry, allowing reception of that connection."
"I'd say it was fascinating, Doctor, if not for the sickness I felt every time."
"That's just your body's immune system attacking your own cells. Right now, it's trying to distinguish between what is you and the Super Cell, the virus. The problem is the virus is now a clone of your own cells. You may be stuck with this until I can synthesize a cure."
"Fuck me, right?"
"Ahem. I'm afraid so, yes."
"I seem to be fine as long as it's not talking to me. Can I survive this?"
"I would think so. As far as I've seen, the infection forms comprise the primary form of host assimilation. And the central intelligence form is there to issue commands to all it controls. You don't show signs of converting into a combat form, so I'd say you're on the safe side. But I'm afraid the nausea will still remain as long as you receive communiqués from the leader, and the leader will still talk as long as it's still alive."
"And you're going to keep it that way."
"Yes. It's no good to me dead right now. Keeping it alive also gives me the chance to create a cure to the victims. But I make no guarantees."
Justin didn't reply. He saw the end of the corridor in sight. Where it terminated, another large and cavernous chamber began.
"You should expect to hear more from this central intelligence form now that you've had a visual encounter, especially if you come into contact with any more of the EBEs out there. And there's no telling how high they number now."
The Doctor cut the conversation short as he walked through the threshold and into the cave.
Stepping through, the group collectively looked to the left. The ceiling tapered down and met the far end, a silvery reflection of a grotto pooling still. Looking to the right, only one other path could be seen leading out and sloping upwards as it left the chamber—not unlike the old mineshaft they originally ventured in from. Where it led to, no one could tell. Only darkness loomed, to where human depth perception lost all value. Inside the expanse they currently occupied was a ring of consoles in the center. Justin and the group followed the Doctor here.
"I don't get it." Justin said. "These are computer terminals. Where are the weapons?"
The Doctor hunched over and quickly keyed in a sequence of characters into one of the consoles and then briskly stood up. "Right here." he stated.
From out of the ground near one of the walls sprouted wide pillars of solid metal, nearly a meter in circumference. No one had even noticed them, their seamless integration with the bedrock surrounding them. They slowly rose without a sound until they measured roughly three meters tall, nearly impacting the ceiling as though they were structural braces. The Doctor led the group a short walk over to this row of pillars, spaced evenly and in a perfectly straight line.
The closer they got, the brighter the glow became from light fixtures recessed inside the pillars. Strange contraptions looked as though they hovered inside their clear windows. "It looks like a missile launcher." Chris said. "The kind you carry on your shoulder."
"Close," the Doctor said, "but not quite."
Right at shoulder height, ironically, the Doctor reached forward and swiveled the glass door open and retrieved the prototype weapon from its mount—a three-phase electrical socket.
He cradled it in his upward-facing palms, a look of satisfaction brimming from beyond his bowed faceplate.
"This," he said executively, "is the Grindell-Galilean Nonlinear Rifle. A shoulder-fired, man-portable, high-powered, Carbon Dioxide Continuous Wave LASER. It has a tunable Etalon controlled by an exterior interface. Though, you'll probably just want to leave that at the highest power setting. Better to kill first and ask questions later when dealing with these organisms. Speaking of which…use it on the largest kinds, for the ammunition is a precious commodity that dwindles rapidly."
The Doctor bent forward and handed it off to Justin for him to inspect. "You get the largest and heaviest version with a larger battery. It will yield approximately five shots in total. However, there is one small caveat: the weapon discharges high volumes of its active fuel with each use, so you'll need to 'reload' after every five shots. I've given you three extra gas canisters to make do with, yielding fifteen shots all told." The Doctor slapped a gauntlet on the directed energy weapon for emphasis, "Use them wisely."
"Nice, Doctor." Justin looked into the magnified, top-mounted scope and peered inward. "But where's the crosshairs?"
"No need for a targeting reticule. When you pull the trigger, a seven-hundred nanometer pilot beam will provide all the aim you require, painting the target, if you will, in a pencil-fine red light. Be careful, though! The pilot beam is a parametric oscillation of the main beam, which reaches full charge capacity in only three seconds. Be sure of what you're aiming at before you let the weapon discharge."
"I can already tell I'm gonna like this."
"Now, give that one back to me," Kleiner instructed, "we have to let it charge a little while longer. Please, make yourself comfortable until it reaches full capacity."
"How much longer?"
"Give it…thirty minutes. That will ensure a fully-charged battery."
"Fine."
Justin claimed himself a spot at the far end of the cave away from everyone else and the light, near the grotto that pooled silently in the darker recesses. He chucked pebbles into the grotto to pass the time, watching the way the ripples spread outwards like events in time. They slowly, leisurely undulated.
"Hey." he heard.
He looked up: standing over him was Layla, her smiling face casting a wave of serenity over him more so than the pool near his feet.
"Hey." he smiled. "Come sit."
She bent down and took a seat next to him, wincing as she tried to find as much comfort as the rocky ground would permit. Before either of them could enjoy one another's company, Kaiser Sergei strolled into view, the light from behind him cresting over his shoulders, face masked in darkness.
"What?" Justin asked.
"I see you're fraternizing with the enlisted."
"What is it you want, Kaiser?"
"Times are changing. Would you agree?"
Justin didn't answer.
"We've got what we need to eradicate any threat." Sergei continued. "We're only another day from the Pelican, at most. And soon we'll be on our way off this planet once parts arrive. And what then? Priorities will shift. They always do."
"Are you here for a reason, Kaiser? Or did you think I actually cared for small talk?"
"How about some straight talk?"
"How about we don't talk?"
"A lack of communication and pent up aggression is a recipe for disaster, you know." Kaiser Sergei looked to Layla, the smile on his face barely visible. "Does she know of your future plans? Of whatever it is you're going to do once we reach that underground hangar?"
Justin glanced over to her by his side. He hadn't told her, of course not. Not Layla. Sweet, innocent Layla. The look in her eyes confirmed she had no idea what was on Sergei's mind. And, how cunning the Kaiser really was. The king of the criminal underworld knew something was brewing for him. The look in his eye was enough to confirm it.
But she was purely innocent and could have no knowledge of it.
"Kaiser, whatever you're thinking…whatever ideas you've got cooped up in there…they're real. They're going to happen. Prepare for them, okay?"
"Well, that certainly answers everything." Sergei walked away.
"What was that all about?" Layla asked once he was out of earshot.
"I don't know, beats me. And I don't care either. I just care about you and me getting out of here and starting a new life. Fuck him. Fuck this whole place and all the scumbags in it."
"On the brighter side, you don't look so bad anymore." She reached out and caressed her palm softly along his jaw line. "Your face has all its color back."
"Thanks. I do feel a little better."
"The other girls and I back in the factory use to talk about you. We wondered if any of us would ever get the chance to meet you, to get to know you, especially me. I thought it was almost a miracle I ever found out your name."
"My friends usually do most of the talking."
"We used to point and laugh at you every day for a while just to get your attention, but you were invisible. We eventually gave up. I started to think the only man you were was just that shell." She looked into his eyes. "I wanted to know the man inside."
Justin furrowed his brow, searching for words. "I'm not so good at these kinds of things. It's…just been so long, you know? What specifically did you want to know?"
"Silly," she laughed, "in time." She rested her head on his shoulder. "Let's start small. Where are you from?"
"Reach."
"Ah, military world. Guess just living there just winds up sucking you into the great UNSC."
"My father was a Marine. His father was a Marine. Family tradition."
"Is Reach anything like Earth?"
"I don't know. I've never seen Earth, but I heard it was decent. Maybe we'll live there. Get a house, get married. You know, start a family."
She smiled playfully. "Hey, I said we'd start off small."
Justin chuckled. "Maybe it's that I can't help myself when it comes to you."
"I wish the girls could see us now. They'd see that miracles are possible." Deep worry suddenly pronounced itself on Layla's face. "But they're probably all gone now, aren't they?"
"You never know," Justin said consolingly, "they could've escaped. They could be alright, somewhere. But I doubt we'll ever know."
"So what is the plan now?"
Justin sighed. "I have this crazy choice to make before I do anything. The Doctor told me so much back there."
"What sort of things?"
"The awful truth about this place. And just when I thought I had a good bead on things."
"Would you like to tell me?"
"I'm not even sure I should. It seems better just to carry on the vicious cycle of things and perpetuate a lie, if only for your benefit. No one should have to learn what I've learned. You know, even if we could leave this place and forget it all, everything we witnessed here, it's not gonna change what happened. And it would torment me for the rest of my days, I just know it."
Layla reached out and grabbed Justin's hand.
"Justin, from the moment I saw you, you know what I said to myself? I said, there goes a man of principle, a man who will stand by what's right. He'll shepherd the innocent, ward off the wicked, preserve the truth. You never proved me wrong. So just follow what's in your heart. Do what is right."
"The right thing is to escape, first and foremost. We're powerless as people if we don't."
"What's this you and Sergei keep saying about escape? You said it first on the way down here into the mines. Have you found a way off Traxus Nine?"
Justin scooted close to Layla. So close, he doubted even the most sophisticated listening devices could pick up what he was about to whisper. "What would you do if I said I did?"
She whispered back, "First, I would cry tears of joy. Then, I'd put the biggest smile on my face and shout joy to the world because you're taking me with you to Earth."
"And that's why I can't say any more."
"You're trying to keep it a secret."
"Yes. And now that you know, you can't tell anyone. Can you keep silent?"
"Of course. For you, I will."
"Good. Because if you don't, we'll never leave this place. Our days will be numbered like they are right now and we'll never see Earth together."
"My lips are sealed until that day, Justin. Now, does that Doctor know of it?"
"No, he would've brought that up during our little pow-wow if he did. Or, Hell, maybe he does know but he just won't mention it aloud, like he knows there's still a chance for us to leave and he wouldn't do anything to jinx it." Justin looked toward the Doctor at the far end of the cave, scrutinizing displays and tending to his equipment, the scientist totally engrossed in his tasks. "I believe that he truly wants to do right by us, but there's no telling what he already knows. He's had his eye on us the whole time. He's wired into everything. So, we keep it under wraps regardless."
"That's that." she smiled.
"Bottom line," Justin said, his whisper barely audible, "we use the only means of escape before it's gone for good."
"No matter what choice you make in the end, Justin, I'm with you. I'm always with you."
"Nothing makes me happier than you saying that, Layla."
Layla hooked strands of her own hair over her ear, leaning even further into him as they overlooked the grotto at their side, the black ceiling barely visible in the silver, undulating portal.
Justin savored the moment as if it was forever. "Layla, you're my light. You know that? You are. You help me see what is right."
"It's easy to do when I'm with you." she said. "Now what's on the agenda after escaping this place?"
Justin swung his gaze away from the water pooling below and straight into her eyes.
"Exposing it for what it really is."
"There!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Everyone, it is time."
Justin immediately pushed himself off the rocky floor and held out a hand to Layla, pulling her up the next instant. Together they walked over to the line of metal pillars towering over all else in the mineshaft. The Doctor was already there with Chris and Hendricksson. Everyone else gradually converged, the Kaiser wisely hanging a few paces back.
"Fully charged and ready to do some damage. You'll be the first ever to use it." the Doctor said with a boyish smile. "This weapon system was designed for use in large-scale, forward combat areas...by Spartans."
"Spartans?"
"Yes. There's quite a kick to this weapon. I'm assuming you know what I mean by that. So, when you fire it, make sure you have a firm handle on it." Kleiner nodded for emphasis.
Justin hesitated briefly before stepping up to one of the stout columns. The amber LED that pulsed for nearly thirty minutes now shone a solid green. He bent forward, unhinged a glass door and gingerly reached his hands inward. He grabbed the weapon with both hands on either end of it, plucking it off the three-phase socket, letting the weight of it drag his shoulders just a little. "Solid." he remarked. "Just to hold this thing…"
"Makes you feel indestructible, doesn't it?" the Doctor nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well, that's a no-no. Put your faith in yourself, not in this weapon, because it will not last you forever. Remember what I said, now." Kleiner cautioned. "Three seconds…and BOOM. Make sure nothing is in the line of sight that you don't want vaporized."
"That sounds so awesome when you say shit like that, Doc. Just let some bugger come my way. I'm praying they do."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Alright, then. Let's get you back to your city. The sooner, the better. Do anything you can to fortify its defenses as quickly as you can. Even with this weapon, you must evade the EBEs at all times. For their numbers will grow exponentially—maybe they already have."
Justin glanced at Layla, then back to Kleiner. "I know."
"Follow me back to the main tunnel, that's as far as I can escort you. To get to the surface, you'll have to ascend the mine shaft alone."
It was a short walk for some through one of the many observation halls, but a long walk for others. The Doctor procedurally led the way. Justin chose to take up position at the group's six should anyone lag behind in fear. He'd be their pick-me-up if need be. To his content, no one straggled. Though, it couldn't have been easy on any of them. Justin half-expected a voice to tear through his thoughts again, but the Doctor courteously closed all the metal drapes to the rooms as they made their way back to the main shaft.
The Doctor waited outside the threshold, looking them all over as they emerged. It was then that Doctor Kleiner activated the overhead lights to full brightness for as far out as they'd go, shepherding a small portion of their retreat. There by his side was a robotic dolly, the solid rubber casters locked to prevent it from rolling anywhere. Its flat bed was laden with all variety of mil-spec weaponry, water and non-perishables.
Justin was last out. He glanced both ways. To the right: the elevator that led to the oddest and most frightening discovery of mankind, however exclusive it was. To the left: the upward slope that would lead them back to the world above.
"What time is it, Doctor?"
Kleiner's eyes swung downward as if trying to see his own chin. "It is oh-seven-hundred on the dot." he replied. He smiled for a moment at Justin. "I've learned a great deal with your help. Despite these circumstances, it has been a pleasure knowing you, Justin." The scientist regarded each survivor. "…All of you. You have my best wishes. Unfortunate events have transpired and the future is uncertain, but if you work together to overcome this outbreak, you may yet survive it. I have such high hopes for you all."
The others began plucking firearms from the dolly. Justin cast an uneasy glance at Kaiser Sergei as he lifted a fully-loaded shotgun for himself. "Thanks, Doctor." he nodded. "You've been a great help to us too…in more ways than one. It's a shame we'll never run into you again."
"Well, I may drop a line from time to time and check up on you, Justin."
"How long until your work is done?"
"That all depends on how fast I get it done. My best estimate, if progress remains linear, is a few months from now. You'll forgive me that I cannot legally give an exact timeframe." Kleiner shrugged with the powersuit's assistance.
"A few months and you're gone? You mean you won't stay for the scenery?"
"Yes." the Doctor chuckled brightly. His eyes suddenly widened. "There's several prospects abroad I'm considering."
"Can you tell me where? I mean, it's not like you'll disclose anything classified by narrowing it down to a whole world."
"There's one in the Sigma Octanus system, one at Herforst. But I think I've already made my decision. And no, it's not based solely on the money."
"Well, where?"
"The next assignment for me is Zagosa Prime. Big mission there."
Justin strode over to the pile of weapons and took a scoopful of ammunition for his shotgun, cartridges of triple-ought-six. "Zagosa Prime, huh? Never heard of it. Must be new."
"Fairly."
"Well, Doctor, this is it." Justin winked. "You take care of yourself, eh? Don't work too hard down there."
"It's never work when you enjoy what you're doing, Mister Reid."
Justin smirked. "Touché, Doctor."
As one, the group turned and began the long and grueling trek up the mineshaft on Justin's lead, the Doctor seeing them off until they were but shadows in the darkness.
The journey upward was long and bereft of incident. The group accomplished step after laborious step for nearly two hours, some of them showing signs of exhaustion. Such was an uphill battle. No word had been spoken, however much distance was accomplished thus far up. None of them truly felt conversation to be of real comfort, just an opportunity to waste precious breath. Many things occupied each of their thoughts, though. As if on autopilot, they continued to march at a fifteen degree grade—something of a hardcore training regime be it appropriate or necessary on some other world, living some other life. But collectively, they had definitely slowed as a result of their immediate environment, no longer able to maintain the pace they had set out on. Justin picked up on this trend as he slowly and steadily pulled away from them, barely able to hear their footsteps against the rock anymore.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, realized they were too far behind and set the shoulder-fired LASER gently on the ground, eyes ever on the way ahead. The prototype, however priceless of an asset it was, had become burdensome over time. Technology has its drawbacks, he mused while at rest. He doubted he'd ever complain about its weight issue in the moment its use became mandatory. In fact, Justin could hardly wait to put the directed energy weapon through its paces.
"We'll take a break." Justin said as Chris approached his side.
Chris stopped there and hinged his NVGs over his forehead, setting his two submachine guns down on the bedrock next to the newly-acquired prototype. He let the darkness consume his vision, giving his strained eyes a rest from the harsh green pixelization that saturated his optic perception for the last two hours. He rubbed his brow, almost pressing it outwards with thumb and forefinger. "Damn," he said, "it's never fun going uphill."
Justin chuckled, though Chris didn't laugh with him, nor even cast a smile back. He instead reached for his brand-new canteen and poured half the water on his face, soon gulping the rest down.
"Does the meaning of the word ration elude you?" Justin asked, not expecting an answer. The ex-Captain glanced upwards once again, hoping, maybe there'd be at least a pinprick of light staring back—something to encourage their labors. Even with the light-amplifying ability of the optics, there was nothing. Just the same green. He glanced back at everyone slowly approaching, "We'll rest here for fifteen minutes. I hope everyone's cool with that because we're on a timetable from here on out."
No complaints were voiced.
Chris seized an opportune moment and stepped over to Hendricksson, the marooned commander lost in space and time. Before Chris sparked conversation with the man, he quietly hoped there'd be some measure of peace to be found in his life. Joe had nothing much like him, he now realized. All hopes and dreams and familiarity of a real life were gone, stripped away by the infinite fugue of the cosmos. For what reason had the universe done this to people like them? There was no certainty in any guess. Maybe it was the design of pure cruelty from a higher being, a deeply malevolent force that slowly tortured rather than killed outright. Maybe these creatures were its divine manifestation. Or, perhaps it was the wrath of one such intelligent, all-knowing Master that the human race was far too atrocious unto itself to be shepparded through the random, chaotic events of time. Mankind wasn't deserving of redemption, all previous attempts failed. This was it. Hung out to dry.
He gathered that Bill himself might've agreed at this point. And he had experienced so much more than Chris.
But they survived thus far with merely each other. Chris would see it through and be there for them all, no matter what the outcome.
"Hey, Joe." he said, slowly taking a seat nearby.
"Hey. How you holding up, kid?"
"Okay. Long enough to make it back to the city again, I guess."
"You know, I never got the chance to tell you…you're a pretty good shot with a pistol."
"Yeah? Thanks, Joe."
"Where, no, when did you learn to shoot like that?"
"Truthfully, I've never shot before. That was my first time."
"A natural. You should be in the armed forces or one of those sharp-shooters who gets paid to tour the worlds. You know, showing off and making easy money. Easy women too, if playin' the field's your thing."
"It's funny you say armed forces. About a year from now, I was set to join the Marine Corps."
"Shame, they could've used you. I knew a guy like you once." Joe's eyes glazed over and he momentarily glanced away. "His name was Jefferson. Private Jefferson. Everyone called him Ace back in his training days. Could shoot the dots off a pair of dice at a hundred yards out."
"What ever happened to him?"
"Screamer got him."
"I'm sorry."
Joe nodded.
Chris began to bite his nails. "Just one of them can't copy itself that fast, right? We'll be okay, won't we?"
Joe feigned a smile for Chris. "…Sure."
15 minutes later, the group resumed the march uphill. It might've been better not to break at all, some would undoubtedly say. At least droning on—however slow it may've been—their minds were wholly occupied with the events in Doctor Kleiner's domain. Now, it was as if a fresh slate had been carved into their consciousness, a soft reset. Now, most of their minds were strictly occupied on the pain their muscles had sustained in the journey up.
No one could truly tell how much distance they accomplished. Any athlete would surely approve of their endurance, dub them champions.
But, suddenly they were not alone. Something broke the monotony.
"Stop!" Joe screamed. Everyone halted.
"Why are we stopping?" Justin asked, slightly ahead of everyone else.
"Shut up and get behind me! Everyone get behind me!"
Chris and Bill readily complied, knowing full well it could be one of the machines Joe had feared. Gibson, Layla, Ken and Kaiser formed up after Justin.
"Single file!" Joe ordered.
They did as they were told, peering out, watching. Waiting.
"There!" Joe pointed dead ahead.
Everyone looked on over one another's shoulders, about ten meters up where the wall met the ground to the left. There, resting lifelessly against the bulwark was a rat.
"It's fuckin' vermin." Justin spat. "C'mon, let's keep moving. We don't have a lot of time."
"No." Joe said. "Wait. Don't move from behind me. I have a feeling." Joe brought the TAB strapped to his wrist to bear right in front of his heart. And not a second later, a Screamer emerged right next to the rodent.
Justin squinted harder at the ground and articulated a minute calibration input to the optic's single focusing aperture. The glint of a Screamer's metal body boldly announced its presence as flashlights struck its chassis. "And what the Hell is this?"
"That is an Autonomous Mobile Sword. A Screamer, Type One. It followed me here aboard my life boat. There's probably more of 'em."
The rat began to twich violently much in the way a larger prey item would when in the clutches of an infection form. They all watched the display in front of them intently. The Screamer extended two appendages that grabbed a hold of it, reverse-burrowing as if to try and take it underground.
"Do we shoot it?"
"Normally, I would say yes, but it doesn't care about us right now. Let it go."
"It's just gonna be a problem later. That's what you're making it sound like." Justin took aim.
"Don't." Joe hissed. "It will only attract attention."
Justin smiled. "But I have this cool gun now."
"Better to be on the safe side, Justin. My TAB is the only thing keeping us alive right now. If we fire, they could learn from it. Let's not invite trouble, trust me."
"Okay, commander. If you say so."
A faint screeching was audible as the Sword pulled it completely under. The group panned their flashlights outward and saw what remained of the burrow trail it left behind in its wake, displacing the thin layer of dust above the rock and zooming all the way up to the surface of the mineshaft with improbable speed.
After enough walking, each individual's nerves had calmed since their introduction with the Screamer, an encounter Joe knew was both rare and appreciated. For nine times out of ten, it resulted in someone getting dismembered and bleeding out. That statistic also included those fatalities whose TABs malfunctioned or ran out of battery power. On Sirius 6B, it was radioactive fallout that was responsible for corroding the static recharge terminals on the TABs exterior, thus it couldn't maintain a charge. Joe was starting to worry if the excessive industrial fallout of Traxus IX would produce similar effects.
"Hey, Joe?"
He glanced down and it was Chris again, chumming along at his side near the front of the group.
"Hey, kid. What's up?"
"That rat…they don't eat them, do they?"
"Well, I'm not sure really. They're scavengers and they learn. They use everything. Rotting meat gives off methane gas, gas is fuel...Hell, I don't know. Maybe eyeball jelly makes handy blade wax."
"So, what, are they machines? Or, are they like...alive? 'Cause, the part I still don't understand is—"
"—You can ask me all the questions you want, Chris. I don't have all the answers."
"Okay, just, where are they coming from?"
"Underground. They always come from underground. That's their main habitat."
"Even on Sirius 6B where you came from?"
"Yeah, at least as far as I've seen for the Type Ones anyway. The more advanced the model, the more varied their environments can be."
"So your side of the war on Sirius 6B created them. And you've never been down there?"
"No. No one's been down there since they pushed the first button and ran like Hell. After the day of their activation, it was all automated. They make themselves now."
"How?"
"No one knows."
"No one knows?"
Joe stopped.
Chris beamed up at him with confusion. "You mean they could be down there right now, breeding like rabbits, and no one knows."
"Chris, what am I speaking, Swahili? That's exactly what I mean."
"Shut up." Justin barked, briefly scowling at the two before looking ahead. "The surface is not far."
Joe looked on. "Where? I don't see any light."
"That's because I'm the one with the NVGs, now stop talking. Everyone."
"How much further?" Joe asked.
"Maybe a thousand meters." Chris said, stealing Justin's thunder.
"Alright," Reid said to everyone as the remainder of stragglers neared, "not much further. Prepare your weapons. We don't know what it's gonna be like out there."
The group took a moment where they were, once again activating their flashlights. The air around them was filled with the cacophony of rattles and clicks as people inspected their firearms and prepared all variety of ammunition, locking and loading in a beautiful, simple, mechanical symphony.
It steeled Justin for whatever was to come.
He surveyed them all. Nothing but hard eyes stared him right back. "Let's do this."
It wasn't until a hundred meters of the entrance that the light of day truly flooded in. The sun wasn't even visible, completely 90° due West of their Eastbound orientation. Nevertheless, Justin and everyone else paused there as the light all but burned their retinas. Slowly, the white haze subsided and the colorless plain of Traxus IX revealed in its muted absence.
And it was then, too, that a hum became audible. The source: an amalgamation of noises originating from many directions, of many living and non-living beings.
Even after all they'd witnessed, the group was awed once again by the sight before them. For the sheer amount of activity outside was unprecedented on this barren world.
Chaos reigned from one side to the other.
Denizens, both alive and of undead combat forms alike, scurried in all concieveable directions either escaping death or chasing after the living. Little parasites struggled to keep up and strike at any passerbys unfortunate enough to stumble and fall. Amongst the never-ending supply of horror were a clutch of Screamers zigzagging through the dirt with speeds unfathomable. Their debilitating shrieks reverberated all across the plain and into the mineshaft. Unpredictably, one would launch out of the ground and saw off the limbs of anything that moved in mid-flight. Whatever still had a heartbeat was prime opportunity for the Swords. Already, pools of blood and puss gathered and gradually increased in size with every passing second, nearly connected with one another so as to appear a lake of horrors unquantifiable. And all around the periphery of this battle royale were other denizens sporting all manner of weaponry, leisurely picking off targets as if gathering for practice—Sergei's army. Machinegun fire streamed inward from all sides, pitting the ground with geysers of dirt. Looming in the backdrop was City 17, the mighty Eastern spire casting its towering, Sauronesque presence outward as plumes of smoke dotted various unknown locations nestled along the Easterly horizon.
"This is crazy." Layla whispered. "How are we going to make it across?"
"I'll tell you how." Justin said, unlimbering his LASER rifle.
Sergei took a step closer to Justin, standing merely a whisper's distance beyond his shoulder. "Part the sea, Moses."