by Dan Davis
“So they’re bribing them?” Ram asked.
“Exactly,” Father Robert said. “It is the temptation of earthly rewards. It’s selling your soul. As I said, it is satanic.”
“They took some people and made them these Wayfinders. Why not just round everyone up and indoctrinate all of us?” Ram said. “What’s the difference?”
“We think that they want willing participants. They want people to decide for themselves. The Wayfinders claim they can’t force people, just open their eyes to the truth.”
“But it’s just desperate people doing whatever they have to in order to survive,” Ram said.
“There’s still a choice,” Fraser said. “The Wayfinders come around every now and then and ask to speak to us. We always say no and they leave. We’re a solid community here, guarded by our faith. There’s plenty of easier prey out there in the world.”
The priest nodded meaningfully at Ram. “Atheists.”
“Oh yeah? What’s wrong with atheists?”
“Nothing at all,” Fraser said, smoothly.
“They are metaphysically vulnerable,” Father Robert said, ignoring the mayor. “Some wise souls like Ewan here learn to embrace Christ. Those that do not are as powerless to indoctrination as babies are to a threshing machine.”
“Well,” Ram said, patting the stock of his weapon, which was as big as the priest. “Luckily for me I have my own threshing machine right here and it can mow down Hex like wheat at harvest time.”
“You sound angry, Lieutenant,” Father Robert said.
“I’m not angry,” Ram replied. “But you should be.”
“I should? At who?”
“All of you. Angry at the Hex and at the traitors who have betrayed us.”
Father Robert shrugged. “I forgive them.”
Fraser nodded.
“Why have you forgiven them?” Ram was incredulous. “They don’t deserve it, whatever their reasons.”
The priest and the mayor glanced at each and Father Robert replied. “Forgiveness isn’t about whether they are worthy to receive your forgiveness but whether you are strong enough to grant it.”
“That sounds great and all but what does it mean in practice?”
“Isn’t it obvious? It means if you truly forgive someone it frees you from the weight of holding it. Whether they or anyone else knows about it isn’t necessarily important. It’s about you, not them.”
Ram did not know what to say. Just then, his ear crackled and Cooper spoke, the sound of drills hammering in the background. “We’re through here, sir, and the rubble is almost cleared. Shall I start to unlock it or do you want me to wait?”
“Hold for me, Cooper, I’m coming now.” Ram smiled down at the mayor and the priest. “Thank you, gentlemen, I appreciate the information. We’re almost ready to attempt entry. There’s no booby traps or deadly gas or anything like that but it’s probably a sensible precaution if you move all your people away from that quarter of the town, just to be on the safe side.”
“Alright, I’ll see to it.”
Ram had one more look at the church before he left it. He did not feel the presence of a god or anything like that but it did feel incredibly peaceful and calming inside. It made him breathe more deeply and he almost wished he could stay longer. When he noticed the priest watching him with a small smile on his face, Ram turned and made his way back to the tower.
Soon, Ram stood in the doorway to the ground floor of the tower while Cooper bent to the center of the steel hatch and tapped in the codes on his handheld device. It pinged, audibly, and Cooper tapped in something else in response.
“That’s it,” Cooper muttered and stepped back out of the way. Motors whirred under the hatch and slowly it hinged up, screeching as the edges ground against pea gravel and pieces of rock rumbled as they slid down. Underneath, it was black as deep space but only for a moment, before lights flickered on.
“What is that?” Stirling said, watching through Ram’s feed.
“It’s an elevator,” Ram replied. “Alright, everyone, assembled on me. We’re going in.”
8.
“I don’t want to divide the team,” Ram said to Stirling on the command channel, “but I don’t want to end up stuck down there, either.”
“You think the locals might be hostile?”
“No, no,” Ram said. “But we don’t know them. They seem like decent enough people, I guess, but by their own admission, they’ve seen some shit. Only the most ruthless have survived this long, they said it themselves. If it came down to it, they’d choose their community over us in a second.”
“Course they would,” Stirling said. “Anyone would.”
“Exactly. So, you and Fury stay up here and keep an eye on things. Keep Red out of sight, if you can. The outpost is shielded so I doubt our comms will work but if you need to, you could send Fury down on the elevator.”
“I was thinking I could wrap a note around a rock and toss it down the shaft.”
“Don’t do that.”
“What about Red?” Stirling asked. “You really want to leave him up here?”
Ram looked around before answering. Neither of them were comfortable with Red being in the team, even though Cooper, Fury, and Flores had confirmed the wheeler had proved himself in multiple missions in previous years.
“I’d rather not leave him on the surface but I don’t want to take him down there, either. I know he’s an ally but this is supposed to be one of the top military research sites we have. I just…”
“I know, sir. It’s just that he freaks out the natives.”
“He freaks you out, you mean.”
“That he does. You too, sir.”
Me most of all.
“The others seem to trust him,” Ram said, meaning Cooper, Flores, and Fury. “But the way he talks about the Hex, I don’t know how much we can rely on him to hold his fire if we need him to, you know?”
“Alright, sir, I’ll bear it in mind. Good luck. Don’t take too long.”
“That clock’s ticking down in the corner of my eye every second. I’ll get the weapon as quickly as I can, drag it back up in the elevator, and we’ll be on our way to the launch site.”
“Hope it’s not too big.”
Ram pointed at the hatch. “Can’t be bigger than the elevator.”
“That’s true.” Stirling winced and shook his left arm, flexing his fingers.
“You okay, Sergeant?”
“Just aches and pains. I’m fine. Just not fighting fit. I’ll be alright.”
“Get some rest, if you can, while I’m gone.”
Cooper and Flores went down the short flight of steps into the elevator and Ram followed. It was a steel base with low safety railings around the sides and a gate that let them in. A panel on the opposite side blinked at them and Cooper bent over it.
“Well, Cooper?” Ram asked. “Do we need a code or—”
The elevator lurched and motors underfoot whirred, dropping them down into the shaft. A red light on the panel barely provided enough illumination to see the rock walls of the shaft passing by them, going faster with every moment.
“How deep is the outpost?” Flores asked.
“Don’t know,” Cooper replied.
Ram checked his suit’s accelerometer in time to see it pass 10 meters per second and keep going. “We’re getting up some speed here.”
“Is this right?” Flores asked, an edge of panic in her voice as the elevator rumbled with increasing intensity. “Fifteen meters per second? Eighteen? Are we in free fall?”
“No, it’s fine. We’re okay,” Ram said, though he had a moment of terror bubbling up in his guts before the speed came down again. “See, we’re decelerating already.”
After 64 seconds of descent, the elevator slowed to a stop. It came out in a rock-cut chamber that had a massive blast door in front of it with a red light on top. The door was fully three meters tall and four wide. Ram’s suit said they had descended 658 meters.
>
“That’s deep, right, we’re super deep?” Flores said. “How deep are mines?”
“No idea,” Ram said, approaching the door.
“Some are four thousand meters, I think,” Cooper said. “Are you claustrophobic, Flores?”
“Course not,” she snapped. “Just don’t want to die buried beneath the earth.”
“Sounds like claustrophobia to me.”
“Alright, that’s enough,” Ram said. They were both nervous but Ram was on edge too and their panicked banter was only making it worse. “Cooper, how do we open this?”
“The intel just had the codes and interface for the hatch. There’s nothing for down here.”
Shit.
“Well, try it again, will you?”
“Same codes? Yes, sir.”
He stepped up to the door but before he could do anything the light overhead changed from red to green and began flashing and Cooper jumped back. A deep boom sounded and air rushed around them as the door swung slowly inward. Ram kept one hand near the grip of his sidearm as he walked through into a huge airlock lined in steel, with the others coming in behind him. The outer door swung shut and the inner one in front of them stayed closed.
“Come on, come on,” Flores muttered.
“It’s just got to equalize the pressure,” Cooper said.
“I know that,” Flores snapped.
“Maybe it’s scanning us,” Ram said. “Making sure we’re the good guys.”
“Hey, Flores,” Cooper said. “What would you do if the other door never opens and we’re stuck in here forever?”
“I don’t know. Wait until I was dying of thirst and then blow my brains out. You?”
“Same.”
“Sir?”
“I’d do whatever I had to in order to break out,” Ram said, “or die trying.”
The inner door flashed a green light and swung open. Ram hadn’t known what to expect. Part of him was hoping to discover a slick weapons platform of some kind, ready to go. But he thought it was more likely to be a warehouse where they’d have to hunt down a series of crates and lug them to the surface. That or an innovative explosive device of some kind and he would be stuck riding a weird bomb up the elevator, across the surface, and into space.
Instead, the door opened to a well-lit reception area. A perfectly ordinary room with white and gray painted walls, strip lights above, a low reception desk and two rows of chairs along two walls. A corridor led away from the reception room.
Standing directly in front of them was a slightly built young woman in a white lab coat with a remarkably pretty, smiling face.
“Welcome to Outpost Omega,” she said. “Please, step inside and make yourselves comfortable. My name is R1 and I am Dr Monash’s assistant. Can I do anything for you while you wait?”
Ram looked at his team members who stared back at him.
Deciding he should probably be polite, Ram took his helmet off before answering. “My name is Lieutenant Seti, and this is Cooper and this is Flores. Did you say your name was R1? Are you an Artificial Person?”
She smiled wider. Her teeth were perfect. “That is correct. My name is R1 and I am an Artificial Person, Lieutenant Seti.”
“What is this place?”
A small frown creased her forehead. “It is the Omega Program outpost operated by Dr Jacob Monash. Can you confirm why you are here?”
“Right, I see,” Ram replied. “We are here to collect a weapon and remove it to… another location. Do you know anything about that?”
“A weapon? I understand, of course,” the young AP woman said, relaxing and smiling once more. “Dr Monash and I have been working to ensure… the weapon is prepared for transportation.”
“You have? That’s great but how did you know?”
Her smile fell and the faint frown returned. “The schedule is the schedule.”
Ram hesitated and nodded slowly. “You’re right, the schedule is the schedule. So, we should wait here while the doctor brings the weapon here?”
“When Dr Monash is ready, I will escort you to him.”
“How long will that be, do you think?”
“Dr Monash will be as quick as it is possible to be.”
“Great, alright.” Ram turned to the others. “Make yourselves comfortable, people.”
“Can I get you any refreshments?” the attractive young woman asked.
“No, we’re fine, thank you. So, I call you R1?” She nodded, smiling. “Alright, R1, how long have you been down here?”
She tilted her head. “In one form or another, I have been working in the outpost for eighteen years and two months.”
“God, that’s since before the Hex invasion. People have been working here that long?”
“Of course,” R1 said. “The program that established Outpost Omega and the others like it was initiated when the new Orb Station Alpha was detected. UNOP expected that we would be facing a new xenobiological enemy requiring unique approaches for analysis and ultimately weapons development.”
“How many of you work here?”
“The current workforce of the outpost consists of myself and Dr Monash.”
“What happened to everybody else?”
She did not hesitate. “Sixteen APs were destroyed in workplace accidents, eighteen APs were euthanized due to the effects of accumulated physical degeneration, three were euthanized for repeated disobedience. One human committed suicide, fourteen humans died in workplace accidents, one was murdered and one was executed as punishment for committing murder.”
“My god, what the hell happened here?”
R1 nodded gravely. “The work has been challenging.”
“This is a weapons research facility?”
There was only a moment’s hesitation. “Dr Monash will explain everything that you need to know.”
“Alright,” Ram said. “But I don’t really need to know anything, I guess. I just need to get the weapon and get out of here.”
R1’s face clouded over for a moment and she stared through Ram before focusing on him and smiling. “Dr Monash will see you now. Please, follow me.”
R1 led them deeper into the outpost. Everything was clean with the concrete walls painted a bright white but with very little else on them other than small signs in stenciled lettering. These labeled rooms or pointed toward others, naming dozens of labs, workshops, quarters, plant rooms. Ram was surprised to find the corridors wide enough for three of them to walk abreast and tall enough for him to walk upright and still have plenty of headroom. Large doors in the walls were left closed and they turned off down one branch and then another. There was a constant hum of machinery but very little else other than the sound of their footsteps on the concrete floors. Through it all, Ram had the sense of a truly enormous place, spreading out deep underground for who knew how far in every direction.
Behind him, he heard Cooper mutter to Flores. “You ever see a smoking hot AP like her before, Flores?”
She scoffed. “Try to keep it in your pants, Cooper.”
“I’m serious.”
She ignored him.
Passing dozens of rooms, Ram tried to work out what kind of facility it was by reading the signs but there were so many that he gave up. Analytics Labs 1 -9, Quality Lab 4, Biosafety Lab 6 Containment Lvl 4, WARNING Cleanroom Lvl 2 authorized access only. They turned into another corridor and R1 tapped a code into a panel to unlock the door, over which it said CLINICAL WING. The doors off the corridor were different, with windows in most, and Ram peered in as they walked by. The signs started to make him feel nauseated. Pathology, Serology, Histology, Virology, Bacteriology and whole series that said Molecular Biology.
“Oh shit,” Cooper said.
“What is it?” Ram asked.
“I just realized something,” he replied. “This is going to be a biological weapon, isn’t it.”
“We said it might be a possibility.”
“I know but still. Do you think that’s what they’re going to
do? Release a virus that targets hex biology?”
“If it is,” Flores said, “you know it’ll only kill the Hex, right? So don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, right,” Cooper said. “Biological weapons are totally safe and they’re bound to work just how they’re supposed to. You know viruses mutate, right?”
They turned into yet another wing, and Ram began to wonder even more about what the hell was going on. Incubator Lab 1 - 12, Synthamniotics Production Lab. A sign pointing down a separate corridor brought him to a stop. He pointed at it.
“That says Subject Creche,” he said. “This might be a dumb question, but does that mean a creche for subjects? Subjects as in artificial persons? You’re raising them from birth? Is that for testing? What are you making here?”
R1 smiled. “Dr Monash will explain everything to you. We are almost at the hall.”
“Hall?” Ram said. “What hall?”
But R1 had already turned and walked away and she did not reply or stop and so Ram and the others hurried to catch up with her. Just a few doors away, she turned and knocked on a door. It had DR JACOB MONASH printed on the glass.
“Enter!” A high pitched male voice inside called out.
R1 pushed open the door, stepped inside and held it open. Ram ducked inside to a large laboratory, all white with steel benches and medical machines all around.
A thin man who appeared to be in his fifties turned and came toward them. He had dark hair and dark eyes but his skin had a sickly pale and yellow-green color to it.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Dr Monash said, rushing closer with a smile on his face and a hand outstretched, his creased lap coat flapping open behind him. “I’m working as fast as I can but there is so much to do, so much. Welcome, my friends, welcome. You are so very welcome, Mr. Seti. You don’t know what a joy it is for me to meet you like this, I honestly never expected I would get the chance and I am overjoyed that it is you who has come. Rather appropriate in fact, don’t you think? Well, we’re almost ready, just making sure we have everything we could possibly need.” He waved a hand back the way he had come where a screen filled with data glowed over a bench. “Getting all the data, of course, so very much of it, years and years of data. But also everything else as you can see.” Dr Monash pointed at stacks of crates by the door.
