Chapter 2
Myala and her retinue headed off to the temporary HQ as I stayed to help unload the shuttle, fighting off a couple of wolflike critters that tried to steal some of the food supplies. Things seemed normal enough at first, but it wasn't long before I started noticing some trees that seemed to have been cybernetically enhanced. I pointed it out to a Mordesh tech, and he shrugged. "Well, what do you expect on the Eldan homeworld." That really brought home where we were. The legendary lost world of Nexus.
Yes, Nexus. The legend made real. Supposedly, a thousand years ago, the Emperor Dominus had come from this world to found the Dominion. Then, suddenly, the Eldan had vanished from the universe. For a thousand years the Explorers' League had sought for it in vain, until just ten years ago, when an Exile captain named Dorian Walker had stumbled across it. Now, it was the Exiles last hope for survival. We'd fled in our arkship, The Gambler's Ruin, to hopefully start a new life on a world not yet destroyed by the Dominion's greed. But somehow, I didn't expect that the Dominion would make that easy. They claimed exclusive rights to anything Eldan.
Not that we were just gonna roll over and give up now that we were here.
Anyway, now that the shuttle was unloaded, I checked with the site chief and got told to go scout. This was my favorite part of being an explorer. I'd always loved poking into all the nooks and crannies of anywhere I was at and never seemed to get lost. As the cargo sleds headed north, I looked for a nice climbable tree.
From the top I could see we were on a nicely forested peninsula and see what appeared to be an absolutely gigantic tree about two miles to the north. The HQ was off that way, and knowing Myala, she'd probably be camping at its roots. I didn't see anything terribly interesting close by, so I bounced down from the tree and landed lightly on the grass by the trail. I wanted to feel relaxed and just enjoy the feel of the forest, but I couldn't. There was a scent of ozone in the air and the faint hum of machinery mixed in with the smell of the leaves and the sounds of the critters. No matter where I looked, I could see the green glow of cybernetics in the shadows. This forest had been… altered and for no reason I could discern. It felt like someone had meddled just because they could.
I shuddered and started following the tracks of the sleds. My ears quivered as they swiveled to every sound. The feeling of joy at being back on solid ground instead of the steel of a ship's corridors was muted by the unease this forest radiated. I was too weakly connected to the weave to hear the trees, but I had to wonder if Myala had heard them screaming.
About a mile down the trail, I once again saw a flash of blue out of the corner of my eye, but all I saw when I turned to look was a large leaf bouncing gently, like someone had been peeking from behind it and had ducked when I turned to look.
I pulled my pistols and went to check it out, but there were no tracks I could find. Instead, what I found was a small golden cube floating in mid-air. It was covered in some kind of engravings that made no sense to me, but I figured the scientists probably would want it. I'd never seen one, but it matched the description I'd been given of Eldan data cubes. I cautiously poked it, and after it didn't react, scanned it with my comm to read it.
Ohmna: Order of the Progenitors
I am very pleased with the progress that we have made on the Elderoot Initiative. It has long been known to us that plants of a certain age and size develop a primitive awareness of their surroundings, but we have amplified that awareness exponentially. Put simply, we are creating a sentient tree. What secrets will it reveal when at last it speaks?
Sentient trees, all this tech to make sentient trees? Didn't they know about the Weave? Trees were already sentient when they grew old enough. At least they were on Arboria.
I stuffed the cube into my pack. I hunted around the area, but found nothing else.
Hehehe.
I whirled, swearing I had heard someone chuckle. But all I saw was a jabbit nibbling on leaves. It gave me a wary look before darting away.
I made it back to the path, feeling all the while like I was being watched. But there was no sign of any other presence but a few little critters. I kept my pistols drawn as I moved silently and on high alert.
So, when the Chua attacked, I was ready. I flipped over the burst from the flamethrower and shot the tank on the Chua's back, setting off a small explosion that reduced the six pack down to two. I gated behind the first and unloaded both pistols into his little furry skull. As his head exploded, I kicked the last one skyward and shot him twice on the way down. I was about to search them, when…
Hurry!
I whirled towards the whisper only to see a giant plume of smoke rising around that huge tree and heard the faint sound of explosions. I left the bodies to rot and sprinted down the path