The Interloper
Prologue:
Single Event Horizon
It was a beautiful sight.
A million points of light sparkled and tumbled in a chaotic dance, each piece of debris endlessly falling towards ground that never came up to meet it. Meteoroids and blast fragments clashed with dead and dying satellites whose electronic cores had long ago been roasted by the immense blast of stellar radiation washing over the system.
Whites and Greys shimmered below as the exo-planet Copper-9 drifted silently through the void. The atmosphere clung to its surface like a scar, straining to hold on as a cascade of stellar particles tried to peel it away one molecule at a time. The swirling mass of clouds and frozen water vapor were now all that remained of once great oceans, evaporated in an instant by the event which had ejected the system's only source of protection from the constant stellar gale into newly forming rings that had only just begun to encircle the world.
Some of these fragments still glowed faintly with residual heat and magnetism that had once been abundant within the core, where the swirling mass of ferric magma had worked its magic to keep the stellar winds at bay.
Now the core lay dormant, silent and cool.
Oddly enough, very little was able to penetrate through the depths of the planet-wide storm. Despite the now freezing temperatures that had ravaged the once temperate climate, near constant hurricane force winds managed to keep suspended thousands of tonnes of seawater which had, during the core ejection, first evaporated, then condensed, and now frozen.
On the surface enormous snowdrifts buried everything. The drifts morphed over time, endlessly shaped by the force of the storms, in a pattern that mimicked the waves on the seas they once used to be. It could have been beautiful, if one had a mind to see it that way.
Unfortunately, no one did.
Because underneath the icy blanket lay the frozen remains of what had once called itself a great civilization. Enormous buildings protruded from the snow. Huge Factories and Warehouses, Refineries and Mills, all lay motionless and silent, slowly eroding in the storm. Snaking their way between the ruins, enormous swaths of asphalt collected together to form cluttered paths that then dispersed over the land. Though they knotted and wove their way through every neighbourhood, office district, commercial centre, and industrial zone, the pulse of movement no longer beat along these arteries, although the traffic still remained.
Tucked away underneath an overpass bridge the angular shape of a semi-truck poked out of the snow. Unlike the other vehicles waiting in this permanent traffic jam, the truck was still identifiable as something other than a slight hump in the land, likely thanks to the concrete structure overhead. Twisted sheets of ice covered the windshield, and icicles hung from the mirrors and grab-handles.
A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.
Obscured by the ice, a sharp light cast vague shadows over the interior of the truck. A thick layer of frost coated everything, including the humanoid form hunched over the steering wheel.
The lightning flashed again, this time illuminating a tiny trail of condensed water vapour that traced a perfectly straight path from the top of the windshield directly into the chest of another form sprawled in the lower sleeper bunk.
The third flash revealed nothing, and a howling gust of wind rocked the truck, burying the windshield in snow and plunging the interior back into darkness.
That is with the exception of a tiny flickering blip on the sprawled figure's chest. It was a dull orange colour, and not very bright, but underneath a layer of frost, dust, and grime the little light began slowly blinking away.
The blinks were strange and came seemingly at random. Some were short and others were long, as if a series of silent questions were being asked. Evidently whatever was running the lamp did not like the answers, as it very quickly changed from dull blinking orange to solid, steady red. It held steady for a moment, and then flashed three firm pulses before going out again.
Outside the wind whistled and shuddered against the sides of the truck, and for a brief moment it was truly dark again.
And then the orange light returned.
The sudden solid light was followed immediately by a staticy audio chime and the blinding glare of a brightly backlit screen. A dozen lines of code flashed across the screen, quickly followed by a neat graphical overlay that boldly announced:
HAZARDOUS EVIRONMENT PROTECTION SYSTEM
And
STARTING EMERGENCY REBOOT SEQUENCE…
A scratchy computerized voice immediately began reading out status checks for a large number of very complicated sounding systems that, with few exceptions, all read back positively, until the computerized voice read out:
"VITAL SIGN MONITORING, ACTIVATED"
And was abruptly cut off.
Almost instantly a large red warning symbol appeared on the screen, which started to flash. It was followed by a high pitched tone and excited sounding computerized voice that practically yelled:
"EMERGENCY!"
"VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL"
"INITIATING RESUSCITATION"
A small hiss punctuated the injection of a custom mix of chemicals with scientific sounding names, such as 'Adreneline' and 'epinephrine', and the automated suit of armor lurched as the body inside was hit with an electrical pulse strong enough to have started a small car. The computer observed and recalculated, before applying the current again.
And again.
And again.
The still heart at the center of attention twitched, and then made a sudden strong beat. The slurry of chemicals mixed with cold, congealed blood was difficult for the stiff bundle of muscles to pump, but the heart had at one time been healthy and strong.
It spasmed, twitched, and shuddered as the current coaxed it back into motion. It hammered a second beat. Then a third. And a fourth.
Gradually the pulse stabilized, and the computer relaxed as blood once more flowed through the still man's veins.
The next task, which was coded as an incredibly high priority, was interrupted by a slight pause. It was as if the machine had stopped to admire its work.
Satisfied with the results, it engaged in its next protocol.
And screamed.
