Shadows of Arcturus (Syrax Wars Book 1)

by Tom Chattle

Haynes pulled a roll of void-tape from his pack and motioned for Moreau to place the scanner against the pole. When she did so, he strapped it in place with several long loops of tape.

  "There we go." He flexed the pole, watching the scanner on the end for movement. "That should hold."

  Bauer nodded and took the pole, turning to Moreau. "Ensign, please set the scanner to record."

  Moreau leaned over and played her fingers across the touchpad, then paused to confirm it was working before she stepped back and nodded. "All done, ma'am."

  Bauer caught Chen's eye, then inhaled deeply. "Here goes nothing." She edged toward the energy barrier, eased the pole out in front of her, and pushed it through the shimmering surface slowly. After several seconds holding it in place, she withdrew it.

  The scanner appeared perfectly fine, and it only took Moreau a few moments to confirm the readings. "As far as I can tell, it's perfectly safe. The atmosphere is similar to out here—less harsh even."

  Chen stared at Bauer. It was her ground mission, and she was technically in charge.

  The gray-eyed woman nodded and unslung her rifle. "Okay, then. What are we waiting for?"

  - 16 -

  2208.02.19 // 20:35

  Energy barrier, Arcturus b

  The barrier enveloped Chen completely, and her entire body tingled with strange energy. It felt both deeply uncomfortable and oddly pleasurable at the same time. She fell out of the other side of the thick wall and tumbled forward, nothing ahead to arrest her momentum. Her hands flailed out for purchase on anything while her mind tried to comprehend what was happening.

  Chen finally skidded to a halt on her back. She shook her head, glanced back the direction she came, and took a deep, sucking breath of oxygen from her mask. A sharp slope made up of loose scree sat right against the barrier, no doubt another artifact of the strange geological processes surrounding it. She must have slid twenty meters or more before reaching the bottom.

  Already sore from the long march, she flexed her limbs to make sure nothing was injured. Luckily, the padding of her clothes had absorbed most of the fall, leaving her with just a few bruises and scrapes. With a groan, Chen sat up and raised her head to take in what was ahead. The sight before her left her breathless all over again.

  Gone were the thick fogs and the icy winds from outside the barrier. Though mired in deep shadows as the distant sun gradually set, the view that spread out ahead of them was crystal clear.

  Chen's amazement was cut short by angry exclamations and the sound of more people tumbling down the slope behind her.

  "Well, hot damn." Brushing himself off, even Gunny Hayes couldn't hold back his amazement.

  The lone mountain they had seen from orbit dominated the horizon. A perfectly symmetrical curved cone, it flattened off at the peak, like someone had sliced off the entire top.

  But it was what surrounded it that caused Chen's pulse to race. Hundreds of spires, ranging from several stories to hundreds of meters tall, soared into the sky. Chen peered at the closest one. It seemed naturally made, but utterly unnatural at the same time. Trying to compare them to something she'd seen before was difficult, but they almost looked like the giant termite mounds of Africa had melded with human Gothic architecture. Supports and walkways spanned the gaps between the spires, crossing each other like giant cobwebs. The narrow roadways that threaded through their buttressed bases all seemed to converge on the distant mountain.

  "This is..." Bauer gazed ahead, lost for words.

  Chen was just trying to wrap her mind around the city—because that was truly the only word that could be used to describe it—when Moreau interrupted her. "Um, Lieutenant? I'm getting life sign readings on the scanner now."

  "How many and how far?" Bauer asked immediately, spinning to face the ensign.

  "Uhh, hold on." Moreau tapped at her scanner and tuned the settings as she swept it gently back and forth. "I'm reading two people. Maybe three. I can't get a solid reading at this range." She peered at the screen intently before raising her head. "From the distance, I'd say they were somewhere on the mountain."

  "Damn, that's a long way," Bauer muttered.

  She wasn't wrong, Chen thought. The mountain must have been ten kilometers away, easily. Ten kilometers through an unknown alien city. "Moreau, are there any other forms of life present?"

  "It's, um..." The ensign played with the controls again. "It's hard to say with lifeforms we're unfamiliar with. If they exist, they could be unlike anything we've seen before." Her blue eyes scanned the horizon warily. "I am detecting odd signs, though. It's definitely possible."

  Bauer pursed her lips. "I was hoping this place was as ancient and abandoned as the satellites in orbit."

  Inside Chen, the idea of discovering alien life warred with the potential risk that entailed. "I'll open up a line to the Valiant. We ought to tell them what's going on." Chen pulled her commpad from her belt and thumbed the transmission switch. "Chen to Valiant, come in."

  The only response she got was static hissing that phased back and forth. She frowned, then tried again. "Valiant, come in. This is Lieutenant Chen."

  "I think the shield over this city is blocking our transmissions, just as it was blocking our scans from orbit," Moreau suggested after several seconds of static-laced silence.

  "Just our luck," Chen growled, slapping the pad back into its holder.

  "Donovan, try and open up a link to the Valiant," Bauer ordered. She turned to Chen as the sergeant deployed her bulky comm-set. "One of our larger units might have more luck punching through."

  As the Marine attempted to make contact, Bauer motioned Chen to follow her to one side, out of earshot of the others. "Auri, I don't like this. We have no idea what's out there and a long way to travel."

  The well-trained command portion of Chen's brain battled against what her heart was telling her. To risk sixteen lives to save three was a difficult justification given their surroundings, but Chen couldn't just leave them. "Alex, there are people in the middle of this...city. We have no idea what condition they are in or how long they have been there. Besides, do you want to be the one to tell Admiral Wilde we gave up on his daughter after she survived a crash on an alien world?"

  Bauer checked a reading on her arm, then pressed a button and her visor retracted into the armored helmet. "Atmosphere is fully breathable in here." Wearily rubbing a hand across her face, she perched on the edge of a large rock. "You're right. I don't like it, but it's our obligation and our duty to rescue any survivors." She looked at Chen. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

  Regardless of the cold and the death, Chen would be lying if she denied it. "It's certainly an adventure."

  Bauer raised her eyebrows. "I just hope this adventure doesn't get us all killed."

  Chen smiled, removing her mask as well. "At least the history books would remember us."

  "Damnit, Auri." Bauer folded her arms, frown on her face. "This isn't a game. It's my responsibility to keep everyone down here alive, you included." She slid off the rock and flicked her eyes up and down Chen. "Maybe you should take this as seriously as I am." She spun on her heels and marched off to rejoin Moreau and the waiting Marines.

  Chen watched Bauer's back, and a pang of guilt stabbed at her heart. Intellectually, Chen knew that Bauer was right; the mission they were on was fraught with danger. But, for some reason, having Alex share in Chen's enthusiasm for what they were doing was important to her.

  She gazed out at the towering spires of the alien city. As an only child of a war hero and politician, Chen was used to people agreeing with her point of view, even if only for selfish reasons to improve their social standing. Because of that, her stubborn nature had always allowed her to dismiss other's views when they clashed with hers. Yet, for some reason, Bauer's opinions mattered to her.

  "Are we going to do this, Lieutenant Chen?" Bauer's call broke Chen out of her thoughts, and she nodded, hurrying back to the group.

  With no luck raising the Valiant a
nd the scree slope too hazardous to quickly send someone back out the barrier to establish a link, the rescue team headed into the bizarre cityscape, led by Gunny Haynes. Following the directions of Moreau's scanner, they picked their way through deserted avenues. Other than the crunching of their boots on the strange, paved surface, the only sound was a constant low tone that varied as the winds blew through the openings and cavities of the alien structures—a mournful orchestra playing through the surrounding spires.

  "It's almost musical," Moreau whispered, her wide eyes shining as she took in every aspect of their surroundings.

  "It's creepy, is what it is," Bauer stated, eying each spire warily, like she expected something to pop out at any moment from one of them.

  Though fascinated by the magnitude of the alien city, Chen was starting to agree with Bauer's assessment. With the weak light of the aging star dipping closer to the horizon, deep shadows grew around the landing party, and the pure blackness of every entryway and window into the surrounding spires was menacing. A sudden movement in the corner of her eye made Chen whirl around to confront the threat, but it was only one of the trailing Marines catching up to them.

  The scout on point crouched in the middle of the slowly widening avenue and held up a hand to halt the party. Bauer motioned Chen and Moreau into the cover of a large, ribbed buttress that protruded from a nearby spire. Chen craned her neck and peered across the roadway to see what was going on. Gunny Haynes and several Marines had moved up to examine a shapeless mound lying at the side of the road.

  Bauer tilted her head and focused, listening to the comm device inside her helmet. Her mouth moved in response, but Chen couldn't make out the words. She glanced in Chen's direction and nodded grimly. "Makati found a body."

  "A body?" Moreau gasped, clutching her scanner to her chest.

  "From the Wilde Star crew?" Chen asked. It was unfortunate, but not surprising. They knew three people had survived the wreck, but Moreau had only detected two definite life signs in the mountain. While less harsh than the environment outside the shield, the city still didn't seem a great place to try to survive. She just hoped the body wasn't Wilde herself.

  Bauer shrugged, an ungainly movement in her bulky armor. "Certainly seems that way." She motioned for the pair to follow and set off toward Haynes and the rest of the Marines, who had formed a loose perimeter around their discovery.

  Chen crossed the road—she wasn't sure if that was the correct word, but it certainly seemed like one—and approached the crouched figure of Makati.

  Straightening, the Marine nodded at Bauer. "It's a weird one, LT. I've never seen anything like it."

  Bauer glanced down at the messy scene on the ground, nose curling with distaste. "Fuck."

  - 17 -

  2208.02.19 // 21:12

  Alien city, Arcturus b

  Surprised at Bauer's outburst, Chen stepped past the Marines and paled at the sight before her. Partially curled up, the body of a woman lay in the shadow of a tall, angular plinth. Of central Asian descent, her neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, dark eyes clouded over as she stared skyward.

  "Oh, no," Moreau whispered from behind.

  Chen swallowed, and Bauer bent down to examine the woman more closely. "Are those knife wounds?"

  Bauer poked a gloved finger through one of the large tears in the woman's jacket and lifted the material. "Pretty brutal ones."

  The body before them was covered in a frenzied mixture of slash marks and deep stab wounds. A pool of long-congealed blood oozed out from beneath her, staining the dusty ground a dark red.

  Moreau made a muffled sound, and Chen turned just in time to see her bend over and vomit onto the gray paving. "Moreau, you okay?"

  She gave a thumbs up and nodded. "I'm fine, ma'am."

  One of the Marines snickered, nudged his comrade with an elbow, and muttered just loud enough to hear. "See? Earther kid can't hold her stomach."

  Several of the surrounding Marines chuckled.

  "Can it, Kaufman." Haynes narrowed his eyes, squaring up to the smaller Marine. "Or I'll give you something to really laugh about."

  Kaufman held up his hands, a harsh smirk still on his face as his hard eyes flicked up and down Moreau. "Aye aye, Gunny."

  Although acting casually indifferent, Kaufman seemed more on edge than Haynes or even Bauer to Chen. His eyes darted around the shadows, his hands firmly gripping his rifle at all times.

  Chen saw a pointed look pass between Haynes and Bauer. As much as Fleet Command pushed the "one fleet" message, simmering tension between the different sides of a war that ended over twenty years ago was a constant source of minor conflict throughout the ranks. Some hadn't taken Mars' defeat well, even if they were barely alive at the time.

  Chen brought her gaze back down to the body before them and grimaced. "Looks like she was mauled by a bear. Moreau, do you have the crew list for the Wilde Star?"

  "Yes, ma'am," the ensign replied, choking back a retching noise as she flipped through screens on her scanner. "I would say this is Jaya Varma, listed in the crew manifest as a producer-slash-researcher."

  "What the hell happened to you, Miss Varma?" Chen muttered under her breath. She turned to Bauer. "We haven't seen anything alive at all, let along something that could do this."

  Bauer's mouth firmed up. "Yet." Her eyes scanned the encroaching gloom. "There's still a lot of city left to go."

  For the first time since they landed, a chill ran through Chen. Bauer's admonishments to take this more seriously rose to the fore of her mind. What had seemed like an adventure not long before now took on a new peril. "Okay, let's push on, find these people before whatever attacked Miss Varma finds them."

  "Strahovski, set a marker beacon here. We'll swing by on the way out to retrieve the body," Bauer ordered.

  Once the young Marine had retrieved a transmitter from her bag and placed it, Haynes covered up the body and the party moved out, pressing on into the alien city.

  Still troubled by the horrific wounds they'd encountered, Chen moved next to Moreau on their march through the shadows. She noticed that the Marines looked much more cautious than they had before, weapons raised, suit lamps scanning the darkness for any signs of what had killed the unfortunate member of the Wilde Star crew. "What did you make of that, Moreau?"

  Pulling her jacket tight, Moreau shot a worried glance at Chen. "I don't know, Lieutenant. I've never seen anything like what happened to that poor woman."

  Chen was about to reply when a looming shadow caught the corner of her vision, and she focused on it. "Holy shit!"

  All the Marines whirled around at her exclamation, narrow white beams of light converging on the towering object.

  "Hold fire!" Bauer called. She raced to Chen, then peered up. "I think it's just a statue."

  It was like no statue Chen had ever seen before. A wide, angular pedestal formed its base, but the figure that rose from it was terrifying. Two heavy, back-jointed legs held aloft a slender torso that broadened into wide, armored shoulders. Twin arms stuck out from beneath the thick plating, holding a heavy-barreled cannon that was integrated into the limbs themselves. A jagged carapace sat upon the shoulders, tapering down into a snout that looked bear-like, fanged teeth snarling down at them.

  "What the fuck is that?" Gunny Haynes growled, putting down his rifle and approaching the plinth.

  Chen recovered from her surprise and examined the figure. "I'm guessing that's what the things that built this place look like."

  "Two-and-a-half meters tall, bipedal..." Moreau was already running scans on the statue. Staring up at it, she raised her eyebrows. "I think it has a third arm on its chest."

  "Uhh, LT?" Strahovski called from further up the road. "I think there's more of them."

  Several sets of lamps panned in her direction, illuminating more of the sculptures ahead. They were set every hundred meters or so, staggered on each side of the broad avenue, each more or less identical to the others.

  "Those t
hings do not look friendly," Bauer murmured.

  "They're just statues." A frigid blast of air gusted down the avenue, and Chen huddled into her excursion jacket. "They can't hurt us."

  "Yes, but let's just hope that whatever made them in their likeness is not still here."

  Bauer wasn't wrong. Whatever these things represented, they looked mean as hell to Chen. She glanced back up at the towering monolith, an uneasy feeling spreading through her chest. Faint noises from Moreau's scanner drew her attention. "Something up, Moreau?"

  The ensign craned her neck at one of the sculptures and edged around it, searching for something.

  "I'm getting some strange readings from these things." Moreau frowned at her screen, swiping through information. "It's almost like they have some form of internal power supply."

  "Why would statues need a power supply?" Bauer asked.

  "Maybe they're supposed to be lit up or something?" Chen surmised, staring at the closest one. "I mean, these things have to be ancient, right? Surely anything they were meant to do is broken by now."

  "I haven't been able to get a firm date on anything," Moreau replied, "but I would guess they are hundreds of years old at least."

  Bauer was less interested than the two naval officers and jerked her head in the direction of the enormous mountain. "Someone else can answer these questions later. We need to find Wilde's crew and get the hell out of here." Motioning for the Marines to move out, she strode down the avenue.

  "Don't mind her." Chen caught Moreau's troubled gaze at Bauer's back. "Ground-pounders don't have the same sense of exploration." She smiled. "We'll get our answers eventually."

  Moreau nodded and trailed after Bauer.

  Chen gazed at the hulking form above them for a long moment. It was incredibly detailed, every ridge of armor and finger joint expertly sculpted. Shaking off a foreboding feeling that something was amiss, she hurried to catch up with the departing group.