Emancipation

by Jason Paul McCartan

  “It helps provide safety for those within the Sphere.”

  “Until it stops doing that and becomes something worse. You should read up on the privacy wars of the twenty-first century. It may open your eyes on that front.”

  The ramp led down into a large room almost a hundred meters wide and forty meters tall. The floor, walls, and ceiling had a slight sheen to them, as if they were highly polished, which also seemed to increase the amount of neon light given off by the embedded light reservoirs within. The patterns of the lights differed from those elsewhere in the cave, following patterns and all leading towards a series of glowing concentric circles in the center of the room that surrounded a very large hole in the floor, which was completely and utterly black. One of Bandura’s drones zipped freely around the room.

  “Isn’t it fantastic?” asked Jeffs, who rushed forward past Jack and Caroline to stand before the group, his arms raised high, showing off the room.

  Jack wasn’t sure that he’d call it exactly that, but then again, he didn’t have a scientist’s mind. It was interesting, and it also validated his identifications of repeating patterns. Mathematics was a language, and the Shiveen had shown a propensity towards mathematics, especially relating to prime numbers. Jack looked over the patterns quickly, identifying some clusters of lights that contained groupings equal to smaller prime numbers. Interesting.

  “Jeffs, this wasn’t in the reports you sent me already,” said Caroline.

  “We just discovered it yesterday, and I was just starting preliminary research on it,” said Jeffs. He looked at the drone flitting around the room. “I wish we’d brought some of those with us from the science station. It would have made collecting data so much easier over the past weeks.”

  As one, the group moved towards the center of the room and the pitch black hole there. No light came from it at all.

  “How deep is it,” asked Bandura, shining her helmet light down it.

  “No idea,” said Jeffs. “I ran a weighted hundred foot rope down it and it still didn’t reach the bottom.”

  “Did you try dropping something down it and seeing how long it takes to make a sound?”

  “And contaminate whatever may be down there? Certainly not! We’re scientists, not barbarians.”

  Bandura chuckled at that.

  “Bandura,” said Jack. “Send a drone down that hole to see how deep it is and capture some footage of it.”

  “Roger that, Boss.”

  The well was a curiosity. It was manufactured with almost perfect craftmanship and smooth but precise edges. What was its purpose and where did it lead?

  “Okay,” he said to Jeffs. “Tell me about the hole.”

  “The well,” sniffed Jeffs. “A lot of civilizations in panhuman past used ritual sacrifice, often using a cenote: a large sinkhole full of water. The Mayan Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza is the most famous of these. Humans and animals and other objects were thrown down into these, accumulating over the years, to appease or appeal to a god.”

  “So you’re saying that the Shiveen have a god?” asked Bandura.

  “Or gods. It’s possible. We know little about their culture, but it’s clear they have one.”

  “Except that they perform sacrifices,” said Jack.

  “We don’t know that either. I was just drawing a similarity to something in panhuman past. There’s no guarantee that this well was used for performing sacrifices but it was used in a ritual. The light patterns around the well and the central focusing of it show its importance in the overall design.”

  Jack peered down into the depths of the well. In his AHUD he saw the feed that the drone was supplying. It was already two hundred meters down now and there was still no sign of the bottom of the well, or of any light. The drone recording showed that the walls going down were smooth throughout, with no handholds on them at all. The lack of light had caused Bandura to activate the drone's exterior lights so it could record its progress down.

  “So if it wasn’t used for sacrifice, what was it used for?” he asked.

  “It could be a chimney,” said Caroline. “Providing ventilation to a deeper part of the complex. It’s not unusual to have those in underground caves that are experiencing use. Although, it is rather wide. And there’s multiple chimneys.”

  “Maybe the Shiveen design differently,” suggested Bandura.

  “I shouldn’t think so,” replied Caroline. “It’s not about aesthetic, but about practicality. You don’t want to have a singular chimney that could collapse or be filled in. You want multiples of them. Perhaps there are other rooms like this accessible from the ruins floor.”

  “We don’t have time to check for those,” said Jack. “This is what we’ve got.”

  Jack's alek chirped into life, startling him.

  "Boss," whispered Anderson over the team comm channel. "We've got big trouble. There's a bunch of Shiveen making it down the same way we did."

  The Shiveen must have been scouting above and come across the two abandoned rovers outside the cave entrance.

  Shit, thought Jack. And so far as Jack knew that was the only way back up. They had sent none of the drones back up the alternative ramps, though Bandura had captured an entire map of the central cavern.

  "How many?"

  "Looks to be a squad. Just infantry, maybe a fireteam of scouts. Not seeing any bombardiers."

  Jack considered available options.

  "Have you been seen?" he asked.

  “Negative. But that won’t last forever. And I can't take them out all by myself. I'm daft, but I'm not stupid."

  "What is it?" asked Caroline, stepping up to stand next to Jack.

  “Shiveen heading into the ruins,” Jack replied. “Looks like they followed us down."

  “Can your man take them out?” asked Jeffs. “His gun seems like it can do a lot of damage.”

  “One or two, maybe. But there's a squad, so at least ten of them. They'll take out Anderson and Nowak in seconds.”

  “If they get into the base camp,” said Caroline, “they'll know we're around somewhere. They’ll find our research and samples. They’ll come looking for us.”

  She had a point. The Shiveen were smart. If they saw one soldier, they'd know more were around.

  "Most likely. So, we get out of here and leave the samples. My orders are to rescue you, not your research.”

  “So you keep reminding me, private. I need that research.”

  That needled Jack, but he didn’t let it show. “We’ll grab what we can. And there’s still what’s up in the rover.”

  As long as they haven’t destroyed them, though Jack. He didn’t want to think about that. Without the rovers, they would really be at a disadvantage.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Shirazi. Everyone looked to Jack. Bandura nodded at him.

  I hope to hell I don’t mess this up and kill us all, thought Jack. He spoke into his comm.

  “Anderson, get Nowak and move towards the opening. We’ll meet you there and we’ll bug out up one of the other ramps.”

  “Roger that, Boss-man. On our way.”

  “Bandura, leave that drone recording as long as you can and have it follow us out once it's complete. The rest of you, get behind me and keep up. This will be dangerous.”

  12 Reliquary

  Grel, Shiveen platoon leader and priest, led its combat pod, including those carrying the dead, into the Reliquary.

  The group had passed by the two panhuman rovers parked outside below the plateau and combed them, finding nothing of consequence except a corpse. These panhumans were savages, covering and discarding their dead with such abandon. That itself was proof that they had no respect for the rest of the universe and would never understand The Purpose, never be able to understand the sacrifice it took.

  It led the combat pod down the tunnel into the Watch Room, where the three Watchers lay sleeping. It was time for them to awake, time for all Watchers to awake. The actions of the panhumans had instigated th
at.

  Grel touched the first of the green and black oval shapes with its hand, directing its thoughts through it to the sleeping Shiveen deep inside it. It felt the Watcher stirring and waking.

  Awake, Watcher. Awake and perform your sacred duty once more.

  Grel moved to the two other ovals and performed the same steps with each of those. With all three Watchers waking, the shell of their resting places melting away, Grel turned and led its combat pod towards the cavern leading down to the Offering Room and the final resting place of the fallen members of its pod as they gave themselves fully to The Purpose.

  13 The Shiveen Arrive

  Jack heard Anderson and Nowak running down the elongated ramp before he saw them, their feet slapping against the organic ground and echoing loudly through the ritual chamber. Both men were sprinting, Anderson holding his heavy rifle tight to him while Nowak clutched one of the smaller sample cases under an arm.

  "What the hell, Anderson?" said Jack, pointing his rifle away when he realized it was the two men and not a group of Shiveen. "Why the hell aren't you at the top of this ramp?"

  "Because… the damn Shiveen… are heading towards it… through the camp…" he panted as he pulled up to Jack and the others. He instantly pivoted and pointed his heavy rifle back in the direction that he and the bearded scientist had come from.

  “Dammit,” said Jack. “That's our way out of here.”

  "We could use some side tunnels here," said Shirazi. "Perhaps they lead up."

  “If anything,” said Jeffs, “they probably lead deeper into the structure. Most likely down into wherever the well opens up into, or other antechambers.”

  “What about going down the well?” asked Shirazi.

  Jack looked at the video that Bandura’s drone had provided of the well. The well itself was over eight hundred meters deep and ended in a room at least three times the size of the ritual room they were in now. The drone's lights showed several entrances into the room, all at different levels, with the higher ones using ramps like the one in the main ruins cavern. In the center of the room was a huge mass, similar to the three smaller ones in the upper antechamber. It was at least a hundred meters wide and thirty meters high. The room was pitch black.

  "The well is a no-go. At least as a pathway. We don't have rope and there's no hand-holds to go down. And there’s little time."

  “So, what do we do?” cried Jeffs in a panicked voice.

  “Well, according to the drone we sent down,” said Jack, “it looks like there are multiple doors that lead into the lower room of the well. There may be multiple tunnels that lead down and into that area. I don’t see any choice but to head down one of these side doors and hope it leads down and out into that lower well room and that another one leads back up somewhere else.”

  “Go deeper?” asked Caroline. “That makes little sense.”

  “If there’s no way out, we might be able to wait out the Shiveen by using the tunnels to stay hidden.”

  Of course, that all depends on how many Shiveen end up inside the cave, thought Jack. There was only one squad in it the cave currently but there was always the possibility of more arriving.

  “Bandura,” he said. “Have a drone go through one of these side doors and start mapping a way down to the lower well room. Once it gets there, have it find its way to the surface. Make it find us a way out of here. Send the drone in the well out and soon as it scans the well room. And leave one here in the air with the audio on so that we can monitor this room as we bolt.”

  “Roger that, Boss.”

  “Anderson, you have the rear. I’m taking point. Everyone else between us with Bandura in the center. Break out the helmet lights and any other light sources you ahve and follow me.”

  This is not what I signed on for, though Jack.

  Jack watched the feed from the drone in them ritual room as he led his everyone on what he’d called a ‘duck walk’ back home on the farm. Two Shiveen entered the ritual room, the three pairs of their long legs moving them smoothly and rapidly down the ramp. The sensitive microphone on the drone picked up the click-clack-click-clack of their toes on the room floor as they did. Jack hoped that the drone could stay out of sight long enough to give them some decent intel on the Shiveen.

  “What do you…” began Jeffs, but Bandura smacked him on the arm with the back of her hand.

  “Shhh,” she whispered. “Sound carries easily in tunnels.”

  Jeffs looked wounded from the rebuke and almost about to say something else when Caroline put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head at him.

  As they walked, Jack followed the path the drone was mapping out for them, while watching the feed from the other drone in the ritual room. The mapping drone had taken a few wrong paths and had to double-back on itself, but it was slowly and steadily making its way down through the wide tunnels, slowly showing that it was getting deeper and deeper into the tunnel complex by its altimeter reading.

  The feed from the ritual room showed that almost all the Shiveen squad were now in the room. Jack could easily make out the squad leader: he was larger than the others and in the center of the room, the others maintaining a defensive pattern around him, their weapons scanning the ritual room as they all moved through it. The squad leader was making his way to the well at the center of the ritual room, his four upper arms moving in a series of circular and angular motions, something he’d never seen a Shiveen do in any of the vidcasts or simulations he’d seen.

  He heard the soft sibilant hissing of the Shiveen’s breathing over the drone’s microphone as it approached the well. To Jack that sound had always sounded like a slow leak escaping a pipe. He remembered that when the Shiveen seemed to speak, they did so in frequencies higher than most humans could hear.

  Jack quickly typed a message to Bandura via his alek, telling her to add a frequency filter to the drone. She did, and Jack heard the Shiveen speaking in low, drawn-out syllables that sent shivers down his spine as he heard them.

  “Shy veen noh tah geet shak bar soo tee woo,” said the Shiveen, its arms doing their peculiar dance as it did. “Noh teh shy veen ash. Shy veen noh tah geet shak bar soo tee woo.”

  No, not speaking.

  Chanting.

  The damn thing was chanting!

  Jack looked back to Caroline and pointed to his alek then to hers. He flicked his hand and sent her the feed from the drone, including the audio.

  Caroline’s expression showed her surprise.

  It’s chanting? she said in a text message to Jack.

  Jack shrugged his shoulders. His fingers rattled over his alek.

  Keep watching and see what happens, he typed back. I need to focus.

  As fascinating as watching the Shiveen was, it was also distracting him, and that was dangerous. He needed to make sure he stayed focused and led them safely down to the well room. Having Caroline watch whatever was happening in the ritual room made sense, anyway as she was the one with all aliens.

  Jack turned his attention back to the tunnel ahead of him and continued following the path that the drone was laying out for him to follow, hoping it would not lead them to their deaths.

  14 The Well Room

  The well room was massive, even with the huge mass in the center of it reaching up. High in the ceiling, the opening to the well was barely visible, the blackness of it merging with the blackness of the room itself. The walls, ceilings, and floors of this room, unlike the ritual room far above them, were devoid of the embedded lights in the ritualistic patterns. The light from the marine’s helmets and from the handheld flashlights that the scientists were carrying threw cones of light around the room, illuminating dust particles dancing in the air.

  “Holy hells,” whispered Bandura, her voice still echoing softly. “It’s dark in here. It almost feels like the light is being sucked somewhere.”

  “Status on the drones,” said Jack, his own voice a whisper.

  “They’re ranging right now. So far no contact with t
he enemy, and it looks like three viable paths up.”

  “So far, so good,” said Jack. “Anderson, Bandura, secure the room.”

  Both marines started walking through the huge room, stepping carefully, scanning the room for any danger. Sweep and clear.

  “Now what?” asked Jeffs loudly, his voice reverberating around the room, increasing in volume as it echoed. The other scientists quieted him.

  “Interesting,” said Caroline in a low whisper. “There’s some special acoustics in this room. We need to stay as quiet as possible, as there’s a good chance any sound in the room will amplify and go back up the well.”

  Another complication Jack didn’t need.

  “We communicate by alek only as of right now on a local mesh,” said Jack. “Everyone stays quiet.”

  With a few flicks of his finger on his own alek, Jack established a local text chat channel. He watched as everyone else’s alek’s connected to it. He also opened up another private channel between his fireteam.

  Fire only if you need to, he messaged Anderson and Bandura. Both of them acknowledged.

  Jack began assessing their situation, just as he'd been shown how to in basic training. He ran through the entire protocol that he'd been taught until he knew it by heart. He, his fireteam, and the scientists were trapped underground in an acoustic-amplifying cavern. Above them were at least ten hostiles who held the high ground. Potential alternative pathways were being mapped by drones. Assets included three rifles, one of them heavy, and three personal handguns. The scientists were untrained and potential sources of chaos during any combat operation, likely to get themselves, or one of Jack's fireteam killed.

  That was bleak.

  A thought occurred to Jack.

  Bandura, he messaged. How many drones do you have left?

  Running low, Boss, replied Bandura. Down to my last half dozen.

  Can we weaponize them?

  I can overload them, but they do little more damage than a small grenade.