by Tom Chattle
Chen stood rooted to the spot, seething. Kaufman had been belligerent and obnoxious from the start, but she had never imagined he would turn like this, selling out his own commander.
"And this whole mission?" he continued, arms waving angrily in Wilde's direction. "Who the fuck would want to rescue this dumb-ass celebrity bitch? They send an entire starship just because daddy's an admiral? Pretty sure that isn't protocol!"
"Sarge, stop this, now!" Strahovski yelled, shoving him backward. "This isn't how we do things."
The larger Marine snapped his head around at her, face flushed with anger. "Don't you understand? This is what we have to do for the good of the team."
"And just what the fuck will you tell the Gunny?"
Kaufman laughed. "We're on an alien planet being chased by giant armored monsters. Like anyone wouldn't believe us when we say these fuck ups were killed by them."
Strahovski shook her head, backing away. "No way, I won't be a party to this." She pulled her sidearm from the holster clamped to her thigh. "Stand down, Sergeant."
Kaufman's shoulder's slumped. "I'm sorry you think that way. We Martians need to stick together." With a quick motion, he surged forward, thrust both arms out before him, shoved Strahovski firmly in the chest, and sent her sailing over the edge of the chasm.
She seemed to hang in the air for a long moment before plummeting into the darkness. Chen winced and jammed her eyes shut as Strahovski's scream echoed around the mountain before being swallowed up in the wind.
"You're going to pay for this, Kaufman!" Bauer screamed, unslinging her rifle and taking aim. But Kaufman had already vanished into the mountain, a faint, crazed laugh all that remained.
Moreau slumped to the ground, her chest heaving as she tried to suck air into her lungs. "What do we do now?"
The banging from the door was getting more urgent; it seemed that their pursuers knew they were stranded. Chen turned to Bauer. Tears stained the Marine lieutenant's face as she gazed, hollow-eyed, into the abyss where Strahovski had fallen.
Chen wanted desperately to comfort her, but there wasn't the time. Placing a hand on Bauer's shoulder, she shook her head. "I don't know."
- 29 -
2208.02.20 // 5:05
Mountainside, Arcturus b
The four women searched around the platform frantically for any way off that didn't involve going back through the door that was starting to take obvious damage from the implacable aliens on the other side.
At the far corner of the balcony, Moreau called out when she found something embedded in a small alcove. "Here, what about this?"
Chen and Bauer raced past the door to see her discovery, while Wilde eyed the deforming exit with worry.
"Some kind of control interface?" Bauer surmised, tapping at it.
It seemed familiar to Chen, but she couldn't decide why. A faint purple glow painted the walls around it. "Even if it is, how do we use it?"
"It doesn't seem to have any power." Moreau felt around the edges of the panel. "Maybe I can pull it out and use the power cell from my plasma pistol to get it running?"
"Even if we had the time for you to do that, how the hell do we know how to work it?" Bauer frowned, tapping at the panel. "It's not like we have an alien dictionary. And we don't even know what it does. It might just open the door again."
As the others discussed the problem, Chen felt a peculiar pull to the panel, almost like it was talking to her. "If it doesn't have power, how is it doing that?"
Bauer gave her a funny look. "Doing what?"
"The glow around it, almost like it has an aura?" Chen couldn't understand why they didn't see what she saw.
Moreau glanced at Bauer, and Wilde wandered over, head tilted to one side while she tried to figure out what Chen was talking about.
"Umm, ma'am, there isn't any sort of aura." The ensign offered an apologetic smile, but her stance was uneasy.
"What do you mean? It's right there!" Frustrated, Chen slapped a palm down on the panel. Instantly, the entire console lit up, alien runes cascading across its surface. Turning back to the others, Chen raised her eyebrows. "Okay, you see that, right?"
"Sure do," Wilde confirmed. "What did you do to it?"
Chen cast a wary eye across the device. "I have no idea. It just lit up when I touched it."
"But it didn't light up when either Moreau or I touched it," Bauer stated. "You had to have done something differently."
Chen threw her hands up and shrugged. "I don't think I did. It just seemed like the right thing to do." She didn't feel it would be useful to try and explain the noises echoing through her head if they hadn't seen the aura around the device.
Bauer flashed a glance at a particularly loud thump from the door. "Whatever you did, we need it to do something that's more helpful than a pretty light display."
Chen peered closely at the screen and tried to decipher anything that might point them in the right direction. The runes scrolled before her. Something tugged at the back of her mind, but no matter where she tapped, nothing further happened. "I have no idea. This stuff might as well be gibberish."
A heavy clang rolled across the ledge, and the huge door moved visibly.
"Well, unless any of you can fly, better get ready for a fight." Bauer checked her rifle and moved to get a better firing angle on the doorway, crouching and aiming as she did.
Chen's frustration overcame her, and she snarled and punched the console. Regret filled her immediately when an electric pain shot up her arm. A whining hum snapped their heads around. A wide, flat bridge of shimmering energy crackled to life from the end of the platform. It flashed into the air and spanned the gaping chasm in an instant, hovering in the cold, night air before them.
Bauer stared at it for a moment, grabbed an empty ration pack from the side of her suit, and tossed it toward the bridge of energy. It bounced off the surface with a flash of light and skidded along, coming to a rest halfway across. Bauer jumped up and sprinted toward it. "Auri, I don't know what the hell you did, but we've got to get out of here, now."
Chen followed the Marine and raced across the bridge, each footstep flashing with a ring of violet light. She kept her focus trained on the other side and managed to not look down at what must have been a terrifying drop. A squeal from behind her suggested that either Moreau or Wilde had not done the same.
When Chen reached the other side, she spun around just in time to see the heavy door fly off and tumble across the platform with a metallic screech. Moreau and Wilde were not far behind, and two large alien warriors stormed out from the mountain, raising their weapons menacingly.
Without hesitation, Bauer volleyed off several screaming bursts of fire and ducked behind an outcrop of rock as a pulse of energy burst back in retaliation.
Chen ducked to avoid the attack and reached out her hand. "Come on!" She grabbed Moreau's arm and flung her backward into cover. Wilde was almost across when the energy bridge started to sputter and fade out.
"Katrina, jump now!" Chen cried, and the young woman complied without hesitation, flinging herself toward Chen just before the surface dissipated from under her. Eyes wide in terror, Wilde half landed on the ledge with a smack, her legs dangling off into space.
Chen grabbed her by the arm, hauled her up, and rolled backward. Katrina sprawled onto the ground. A dangerously close burst of energy sent them scrabbling for the safety of the new doorway that opened before them. Bauer sent a blast of fire into the wall console across the ravine, covering their retreat before joining them.
Chen stumbled through, then glanced back at the entryway, hoping it would shut itself just like the last one. A spike of pain flashed through her mind, and the door slammed shut without prompting. Chen and the others leaned against the wall, chests heaving while they tried to catch their breath.
By the time she could breathe again, Chen noticed the strange looks that both Bauer and Moreau were giving her in the dim light. "What?"
"As much as I'm grateful,
I'd like to know just how in the hell we managed that escape." Bauer wiped her face with a weary hand.
"Yeah, I'd like to know, too," Chen shot back. "Why am I having to answer these questions? Moreau's the science officer here."
The Marine exchanged a glance with Moreau. Then she turned back to Chen and seemed to have trouble finding the right words. "Look, Auri..." She cleared her throat. "Lieutenant, there's been something decidedly off about you since we pulled you from that room. Are you feeling okay?"
Annoyance furrowed Chen's brow. "Well maybe that's because I was trussed up and had a fucking alien rooting through my mind," she snapped. As soon as the words came out, shame overcame her, and she slumped back against the wall. "I'm sorry. I don't know what the hell it did to me, but everything feels different since then."
"Different how?" Bauer asked, worry written across her face.
How could she explain the lights, the visions, and the sounds in her head without sounding totally crazy? Scanning their faces, she bit her lip. "I think I'm sensing stuff you can't, maybe things built into the city that humans can't see."
Bauer narrowed her eyes. "Yes, but you are human. Right?"
"Damnit, Alex, yes," Chen snapped. "But that thing wasn't like these hulking brutes chasing us. It was different." Images of skeletal claws caressing her face flashed back through her mind, and she shuddered. "It was ripping the memories from my head."
"A psychic link?" Wilde spoke up for the first time.
"That's not a thing," Moreau muttered from one side.
"Maybe not for humans," Wilde shot back, "but this is an unknown alien race we're talking about."
"No scientific studies have ever shown the human brain has the potential for any kind of psychic activity!" Moreau protested.
Wilde shook her head sadly. "I'd hope such a big fan of my show wouldn't be so narrow-minded. There are so many things we can't explain, even now with all our advanced technology."
Moreau was about to answer but seemed to second guess herself.
Not in the mood for their bickering, Chen straightened. "As much as I like standing here and reliving having my mind ripped apart, shouldn't we leave before those things find another way around?"
Pursing her lips, Bauer nodded tightly. "Yes, of course." She turned and scanned the passageway they'd escaped into. "Any suggestions?"
- 30 -
2208.02.20 // 5:24
Alien mountain, Arcturus b
Without any lights to hint at the path they needed, there wasn't much option in which direction to choose. Besides the way they had come in, there were only two branching tunnels laid out before them. The one on the left appeared to lead toward another exterior door, whereas the other curved downward, disappearing into the shadows.
"We need down, right?" Chen nodded at the descending path. "Doesn't leave us much in the way of choice."
With an absent-minded nod, Bauer set off down the tunnel, and the rest followed in silence.
After several minutes, Moreau slipped. "Damnit, I can't see where I'm putting my feet on this slope. Someone's going to break an ankle."
Confused, Chen glanced back. "What do you mean? There's plenty of light."
Moreau gathered herself and took a composing breath, then gazed anxiously at Chen. "Umm, no, ma'am. It's almost pitch black in here."
Chen snapped her head back and forth, studying the details of the walls. The curving ribs of the tunnel stuck out plainly to her, but they did have an ethereal, purple glow now that she paid closer attention to them. Everything did.
"That's strange," she murmured as they continued on their way. She was beginning to second guess everything that was happening to her. Even her own senses didn't seem to be reliable ever since the cavern.
After a long moment of silence, Wilde spoke up. "Lieutenant Chen?"
"Auri," Chen mumbled without thinking, swallowing the queasy feeling that kept coming and going.
Wilde nodded. "Auri. I've been thinking. You seem to be in tune with this city to some degree, able to see directions, apparently see hidden lights." She locked gaze with Chen, her green eyes taking on a strange hue in the odd lighting. "And I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but I think you can exert some kind of control over some of the things here. Doors opening and shutting around us, and the energy bridge, for example."
Chen began to dismiss the idea but hesitated. She had started to wonder; the way things just seemed to happen around her in this place was unsettling. "I mean, maybe..." Thinking about it made her skin prickle. "But how could that even be a thing? I don't understand."
"Hmm." Wilde chewed on her lip, thinking as they made their way down the seemingly endless curve of the tunnel. "You said this alien was in your memories?"
"Deep in them," Chen murmured. Any thought of that thing inside her mind sent a shudder of revulsion rippling through her. "It saw everything, back to when I was a child. Memories I didn't even remember myself." She winced as a flash of pain shot down one side of her head. "And I think it knows where Earth is."
The idea that a race that seemed so hostile and dangerous might know the location of humanity's birthplace was disquieting. Everyone trudged on in silence for a while before Wilde spoke back up.
"Did anything else happen?"
Chen ran an idle finger along the wall as they continued. It was icy cold, but it seemed to resonate with hidden power. "That was the strangest part. I remember seeing the last memory I have of my father, just before he left for the war. It made me so angry that this beast would be watching a memory so important, so personal, and then something just changed."
"Changed, how?" Wilde prompted after a few moments of thought.
"I think I broke out of whatever it was doing to me for a moment. It tried again, but I was watching another scene entirely, not my memories..." Chen frowned. "I think I saw memories from it, from the alien. Their race battling and failing over years, maybe decades or centuries."
Wilde narrowed her eyes. "It was sharing these memories with you?"
"Not intentionally." Chen shook her head, sure of that fact if nothing else. "It felt surprised and almost worried, then withdrew itself as fast as it could, leaving me in the state you found me."
"It sounds like it wasn't expecting the reaction you had to it." Wilde flicked a piece of dirt off the arm of her leather jacket. "I wonder why?"
Chen shrugged. "I have no idea."
"If..." Moreau cleared her throat. "If these things are psychic—not that I'm accepting that as true yet—perhaps some of whatever powers or abilities this creature has transferred to you?"
"But why would that happen? It didn't seem like it was expecting any kind of risk," Chen said. "It felt like it was used to the process, used to ripping the thoughts from the minds of its enemies."
"I don't know," Moreau replied, "but different species are going to respond differently to things. If it hasn't encountered humans before, maybe it had an effect that was not intended?"
"If the doors are opening because she has some kind of psychic alien power, how come those brutes chasing us didn't just open the doors again?" Wilde wondered, picking her way through the dark.
Moreau frowned. "Maybe because whatever was transferred to Lieutenant Chen came from their leader?"
"Makes as much sense as anything else," Chen grumbled.
Bauer—who had led silently while they discussed—held up a hand and froze in place. The others stumbled into line behind her. The Marine crept forward and rounded a corner, rifle raised. She scanned the view before her, then she waved an okay at them, and they moved after her.
Finally, at the end of their long, winding descent, the room they entered was not dissimilar to where they had been hours ago when they had managed to contact the Valiant. Less grand, it appeared more geared toward function rather than display, lacking the raised amphitheater-style seating the last had. A console still took center stage in the room, but it was bulkier and had three separate columns that tapered to the dista
nt ceiling.
"Maybe we can get it to pull up a map like the last one?" Wilde suggested.
"No!" Shaking her head vehemently, Bauer eyed the device. "No way. We can't risk another possible transmission being sent."
"But what if Auri could control the console?" Looking at Chen, Wilde tilted her head. "They're clearly designed to respond to the alien psychic commands. If some of that rubbed off on her then she could guide us out of here, or maybe even disable some of the stuff the aliens use."
"And what if she can't?" Bauer shot back. "What if it just sends us further down the shitty slope this mission has been on since the start?"
"I believe she can do it."
Chen had no idea why Wilde was so certain. She couldn't tell what the stranger feeling was: potentially using psychic abilities to control alien technology, or someone actually believing in her ability to do something.
Chen turned to Moreau—who'd kept her opinions to herself through this—and locked eyes with her. "Moreau, what do you think of the idea?"
"Honestly?" Moreau threw her hands up, hopelessly. "I have no idea how any of this shit works. You could magically work their technology, or we could all die when alien monsters figure out where we are and trap us."
Chen wasn't used to such language from the young ensign. The stress was taking its toll on the normally quiet and timid woman.
Wilde stepped forward and placed a hand gently on Moreau's arm. "Moreau, you're a scientist, right?"
"Of course," she responded cautiously.
"Well, isn't science all about discovering new things, changing theories as more evidence is discovered?" Wilde gestured around the room. "I'd say we have pretty strong evidence that this stuff doesn't respond to what we would consider regular interaction."
