Pull (Deep Darkness Book 1)

by Stephen Landry

  ‘Just get me close enough to the basturds rifle,’ I thought. I couldn’t even move my lips to scream. There seemed no end to the walking. I was paralyzed. Down every icy slope I could see the snow and ice dripping and smell the air as if I was standing next to a riverbed. Further and further my assailant carried me sometimes throwing me on the ground and dragging me across the hard rock surface. From the corner of my eye I could see Aira and Hayden being dragged and carried the same way I was. Each of us looked like ragged dolls. Lore was nowhere to be found. What use would they have had for a giant cyborg anyway; they probably killed him since he was by far the most different from the three of us. I couldn’t help but ask myself just what would wolves do with a machine? Lore was probably completely alien to them and so they had disposed of him.

  After hour after hour passed until the freak finally set me down. I watched its skin turn from a black and red hardened shell back to a pale white. It’s organic rifle seemed a natural extension of it’s own body but then it ripped it off. It was stuck to him like a leech and its tiny legs squirmed as he set it down on its backside. Aira and Hayden must have been shot with the same weapon I was - something exotic and out there that paralyzed every nerve in our body.

  Why didn’t they just kill us?

  I could move my eyes but everything else seemed heavy.

  I felt like I was in a daze. Aira was on the ground staring at me. She wasn’t blinking and if I couldn’t see her chest moving up and down I would have thought she was dead. All around us the shifters as there was no other word to describe them spoke in a strange tongue that sounded more akin to nails on a chalkboard then actual words or language. We were inside some giant chamber filled with various holes and tunnels and massive bones that seemed like the ribcage of a leviathan rose above us to a sharp point. These tunnels and open chambers must run through the entire orbital. Some of the shifters had their pale skin covered in bone armor sharpened at the shoulders, elbows, and knees. Some of the armor looked like it still had red rotting meat attached.

  The aroma of burning flesh came over me like a blanket of disease and sickness. The taste in my mouth like sulfur made me want to puke but none of the muscles in my body would allow me to gag. In the distance I could see shifters burning the bodies of their dead alongside several Skrav. Was this their intent? To burn us alive? No. We had become prisoners of war. If they wanted us dead they could have ended us. An hour past maybe more and I saw what they truly had planned. The Skrav weren’t just being burned they were being cooked. The shifters were cannibals. All around us they came out from their holes and hiding places and began feasting on their dead. They barked and growled at each other some fighting for another’s meal. They kept us alive because they didn’t want us to spoil.

  We were breakfast - fresh morning meat.

  When we finally regained the ability to move Aira, Hayden, and myself were each tied hands behind our backs with thick black thorny vines. One of the shifters saw my frostbitten fingers and decided it would be no good for any of them. He severed my black fingers with Hayden’s own blade and tossed them to the ground were a black and green toxic looking hound came up grabbed them and began chewing. My fingers were gone already and the slight pain it caused was nothing compared to the other things I had suffered in the last 48 hours. It was almost worth it being able to move my other fingers in directions they couldn’t bother to go before.

  “We’re really in deep shit now,” Hayden, said the moment he regained the ability to speak. The shifters had placed some kind of small leaf on his wound that seemed to act as a bandage – they were prolonging his life long enough to make a meal out of him. “Maybe they will invite us to dinner,” I responded. Trying to analyze our situation. My sarcasm didn’t help any of us. “Just wait, this isn’t the right place or time,” Aira said giving me a dirty look in the process. “Just give Lore a little more time, it takes a lot more to kill him then a couple of animals,” Aira was smiling now looking down at the back of her wrist. She had been talking to Lore the whole time via one of her own cybernetic implants. Lore who wasn’t human and too heavy to carry and could play dead on command was tracking us like a wolf on the hunt. It would only be a matter of time.

  Hours passed over us in silence. I tried to get some sleep but the only bed I had was a pile of rocks. We were deep enough underground now that we were no longer cold. The snow and ice ended the moment we were in the chamber. “The orbital must be hollow,” I said. “It makes sense, if they did research here they could study anything they wanted from below the surface it also made living space easy. All they had to do was mold the land right and they could have as many artificial rooms as they wanted. “

  One of the shifters approached us. It was salivating at the mouth.

  “Tesh- Kar, Tesh-Kar,” It said those same words over and over. It seemed like a good enough name for whatever the hell they were.

  Another hour passed and then Lore walked into our prison bashing the head of our Tesh-Kar guard against the wall. His armor was covered in dry blood. He carried his heavy rifle over his shoulder like a miner would an axe. He opened Aira’s cell first by grabbing the bone bars and breaking them lose from the ground. The Tesh-Kar was nothing without their leech weaponry. Perhaps they had been bonded to it in some way they could sync their minds together. Hayden tried to use one and it did nothing but move up and down his arm slithering and crawling leaving a small glue like substance behind. Lucky for us Lore came equipped with extra weaponry. Most of his body was nothing but shielding the only parts of him that remained human were his brain, heart, and maybe some of his spine and nerves all of which had been integrated with out-tech and human engineering. The hollow parts of his armor stored small pistols, grenades, and two extra M7 Rippers. It wasn’t First Descent’s preferred choice, most of us used M44’s and the like, but we had been trained to use every rifle onboard the Erebus at one point or another. This was part of the training Balkava herself had given me. Maybe Aira was right after all and Balkava was planning to create an empire, an imperium of soldiers born and bred for battle knowing nothing but utilitarism. That was how she had treated First Descent sending us into battle against the Skrav, against the Antliods. She could use the simulations to create a fictional heaven or hell – rewards and punishments for those willing and unwilling to follow her. She had all the means of starting a new world order. Humans after everything we had done were already feared by most alien civilizations. If she took out the Skrav nothing would oppose us. Alien empires would surrender to us because of our exploits alone.

  Lore began leading us to the exit but something was wrong. The ground around us seemed to shift and move. We had made a fatal mistake. When Aira clawed one of the shifters to death after our first encounter it mutated and evolved into something else. It’s very body twisted into a spider-like form spouting new eyes, legs, and teeth. All around us shifters began to screech and cry in pain as they took new form. It made sense now. This is why they paralyzed their ‘dead’ and cannibalized them; none of them ever really die they become something else, something hostile even to their own kind. This had to be something they had adapted to survive on this hostile world or a genetic mutation, one of the Lethe’s less kind experiments. All around us the Tesh-Kar shifted into their hardened black armor grabbing whatever weapons they could to do battle with their dead brethren. Their shelter had now become a deathbed filled with chaos as various mutants climbed ledges and walls and killed one another. The four of us ran through the first tunnel unaware were it might lead us or what trouble would find us next.

  Deeper and deeper into the hollows we ran. We used several grenades to blow walls and block passages but for every hole we made another was open in front of us. Finally we crawled through a passageway barely big enough for Lore and we crossed into an open field. We were outside the mountain outside the hollows and the caves. The only problem was nothing looked the same as it had before. There was no sign of the ruined cities or the wreckage of the Erebu
s instead in place of both there before us was a wide jungle and another ship. It’s hull was made of bio-organic metal. It looked like a hybrid of Skrav and human design. It was so familiar. Parts of it were reminiscent of the Tritan while others seemed taken from Skrav daggers and warships. It was small, maybe only large enough for a few hundred people and nowhere near the size of generational ships. At most the wreckage seemed to resemble a torn down rustic cross that had been sitting for years overgrown with moss and jungle. There were only a few shifters still following behind us. Each stopped at the site of the wreckage like some kind of invisible wall held them back. What kind of force was keeping them from moving closer? The closer we ran the farther behind they stayed. I thought perhaps this was once their ship? Could this be some kind of sacred relic to them? Had they landed on Eden long ago and forgotten their technological ways degrading into the animals they were now?

  When we were a good distance away we turned back and saw them attacking each other. I wasn’t surprised. We had no choice now but to move forward as there was no going back the way we came. How much of the underground was crawling with those freaks? It was becoming more and more clear that like us they weren’t natives here. Maybe that is what this place does to people; it turns them into monsters.

  We set up camp and ate the last of our rations. The only food we had left to survive and now it was gone. Hopefully if we had to spend anymore time out here we could hunt and eat animals that lived in the jungle but that would be a risk all itself. For all we knew everything on this world was poisonous or worst died and came back the way the shifters could. Together we decided our best bet was to see the wreckage of the starship and see if there was anything we could salvage.

  We had Lore check the area around us for signs of life; another advantage of having a cyborg. Night was falling and we could hear several large hellbeast nearby. Lore called it ‘target practice’ in his scrambled voice. The night air was getting colder and we had no choice but to take shelter cutting open one of the hellbeast and using its body and wing like a cave. One of the strange things about the hellbeast - even in death they gave off body heat for hours; it was something about the way they stored residual energy inside themselves. It was like lying near a nice hot furnace.

  Lore kept watch since he no longer needed any sleep or even downtime to recharge; his body was adaptive and he was gaining energy from the stars.

  The night came and went and the morning ‘sun’ rose.

  Hayden was the first to wake catching several Vesp and cooking them like rats on a stick. We were only guessing they were edible. They tasted like nothing. It tasted like air only you could tell there was something solid there. I imagined eating tofu or at the very least how I thought tofu would taste. A few bites and each of us had become full. Perhaps that was their true purpose

  - not as pest control or scavenger but as a form of sustenance for wanderers. A full stomach had made me feel optimistic.

  We approached the starship with caution. The closer we came to it the more and more human it looked. It didn’t make sense. There were only three human deep space ships. The trinity; the Erebus, Aelita, Tritan – were there more lies buried in our past? It seemed to extend half a mile into the distance. Long parts of it were buried under the ground. Wherever it had come from it had crashed and it had been here a very long time. We walked for half an hour around the base of it until we found a hatch. Lore touched his hand to the cold flat surface. Some more out-tech poured from his hand and extended over the door like glowing veins. Suddenly the door opened and the veins disappeared. Another superpower. I could see more and more why Aira had chosen him as her bodyguard - I just wish the Lore I had known didn’t have to be dead for this one to be here. I think in the end he would be proud of his sacrifice as it was still he who walked with his team and protected us.

  As we entered each of us readied our rifles and stepped inside.

  It was just like the outside, a jungle. Overgrown tree vines and flowers bloomed in every direction. Fresh pure oxygen filled the air. One deep breath would have made any of us (except Lore) pass out. We still had our breathers from the crash so we put them on. They were one of the few things on our armor not stripped from us by the Tesh- Kar. I was already dizzy and ready to black out when Aira helped me to stop struggling and get my breather on correctly. For a moment I felt like a child struggling to do something I knew how to do right so wrong. I could feel the sting in my chest as I once again felt like I was able to breath. Behind some of the vines and tree bark the metal structure of the ship was still visible. Parts of it seemed rusted beyond repair but other parts looked fresh - grown from the same biomass the Erebus used to protect itself.

  We walked through various corridors as Lore led the way. It was as if the ship itself was whispering to him guiding him through the spaces. After about ten minutes we finally stepped into a long rectangular stasis chamber. The chambers themselves had been smashed to pieces the glass and structures warped like the eye of a tornado. The floor had been flooded with clean water. Pure H20 not a single strand of radiation or toxin (Lore checked). For a few seconds each of us took of our breather and drank our fill. Behind the stasis chamber Lore opened a door leading us to the bridge. It was the only room that wasn’t covered from top to bottom in plant life though the ground still retained all the colorful vines and flowers. Three massive monitors and several chairs sat before us. This was most definitely the control room.

  Lore walked over to the first monitor and touched it. I was expecting a holo to appear, something more like the controls used in our assault ships, shuttles, and I would assume the bridge on any of our human ships. Instead language appeared on a flat surface in front of us followed by zeros and ones. Lore began to translate the best he could but some of it was garbled and meant nothing or was so foreign he couldn’t comprehend. The first thing he confirmed was that the ship was absolutely human; the second thing he confirmed was it was also a Skrav/human hybrid; and third the name of the ship was the XA-1 prototype aka the Praxis. Slowly Lore began to recite the history of the ship straight from it’s logs.

  Log - 1

  Year 00110010001100100011001100110111

  ENTRY: 010101110110010100100000011000010111001001100101001

  000000110000100100000011101100110010101110011011100110

  110010101101100001000000110111101100110001000000110110

  001101001011001010111001100101110001000000101011101100

  101001000000110000101110010011001010010000001110100011

  010000110010100100000011101010110111001110111011000010

  110111001110100011001010110010000101100001000000111010

  001101000011001010010000001110101011011100110001101101

  10001100101011000010110111000101110

  ‘We are a vessel of lies. We are the unwanted, the unclean. My name isn’t important. It’s just important that you know what happened to us. The things we have seen. The hell we have gone through. If you are able to decipher this then I hope to God you are human if you aren’t and you are a Skrav I am sorry. I am sorry for what we have done to your world. I understand please if there is any of us still out there please show some kind of mercy.’

  0110110101100101011100100110001101111001

  Log - 2

  00110010001101000011010000110000 ‘Cold black empty space. We’re on our way to nowhere. Parts of the hull wither away. Time itself is telling the ship it’s time to decay. Inside the dim lights show nothing but shadows and silhouettes. Controls need to be felt for and it is only because of the hard jagged surface of a console you would even know you were on the bridge. The ship smells old and musty it’s amazing we can even breathe. The air is stale. Most men or women would have gone insane. You can feel the abyss that is cold space outside trying to push itself in on you. The walls are always closing in. The darkness reaches its hand in front of your sweaty broken face. It is ready to suffocate you. It begs you to let go constantly reminding you there is nothing out there. No one is coming for you. E
veryone you have ever known is dead and you are not worth saving.’

  Log – 3 00110010001101000011010000110000 ‘The smell of copper fills the air. It's the smell of the lucky ones; those that died in their stasis chambers. Their bodies lay over broken glass severed limbs void of life they lay like dried fruit. Their bodies have long since withered away long before I woke up; they are nothing more than fossils now. A small reminder of what we will become soon enough. It's only when you take a deep breath does the madness of it all sink in. You realize you are breathing the dust of their remains. There were only a few of us left in our new home here on this starship. It’s the first of its kind. It was meant to hold a few hundred unfortunate there are so few of us left now. Welcome to the Praxis. Glad you could wake up and join us.’

  Log – 11

  00110010001101000011010000110100 ‘When we made first contact we committed one of the most voracious acts in the history of man. Genocide wouldn’t even be a good word for it. We washed with the blood of our enemies and covered our hands with dirt. They weren’t like us so what did it matter. The universe is a hostile place and if we are going to survive we have to be the ones to strike first. We made a preliminary attack against an alien force known as the Skrav, an alien species we know absolutely nothing about. We forced their armada to fall from the sky. Certain intelligence was given showing evidence that they had intended a hostile takeover. Yeah intelligence, that was part of my job at the U.E.C. before I went black ops. It was enough it always is. All it takes is one man to say the wrong thing. The Skrav meant to destroy us. In the end I wonder if they actually had -it seems from my point of view they succeeded at least. At the time of the first attacks we had barely made it out of our solar system. Most of our exploration and research past Mars was done using drones equipped with sophisticated A.I. systems. Plug and play that was the most a drone could do. We spent most of our time, money, and manpower mining for resources and rebuilding Earth. I didn’t fight in the resource wars myself but I saw the video, the films and the things we did to each other; the most powerful nations in the world dissolving one after another. Every few years a new independent nation would start and fail building over the ashes of an old one. When the Skrav came the human race united. Our reward for their failure; we recovered their starships far superior to our own and it changed everything. No longer divided the human race could flourish. The stars were ours.’