by Richard Orr
He could hear what at first sounded like falling rocks far off in the distance, but then he realized it was far too regular. His wristcom beeped and he quickly tapped the pickup button. It was team four, probably somewhere deep off to the left and north of the entrance. Several overlapping screams issued forth, mixed with the sounds of continuing gunfire. A loud, wet smack and the scraping of something against rock and bone caused all the sound to cease.
Jonigan sighed deeply.
“That can’t be good,” Thorsen said.
“Understatement of the year...Thorsen, take some of the men and go check it out.”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
The gunnery sergeant and a couple of the guards that had stayed behind, flicked on their headlamps and double timed it down the length of the giant room to the west.
“It’s the creature.” Dr. Baxter stood quietly to the side of the Commander, holding her hands together behind her back.
“I know.”
“No sign of the creature or members of team four. Well, at least that can be identified. There’s just blood everywhere, sir.”
Jonigan continued to hold his wristcom up to his mouth as he closed his eyes and shook his head. How long could they last with this thing in here with them and the Pax possibly outside?
“Alright, gunny, get back here on the double. We’re probably going to need to move the expedition deeper into the complex.” He sighed to himself and dropped his arm down to his side only to have it beep at him once again.
“Sir, sensors on the ridge are reporting contact with several Pax dropships just entering the envelope.”
“Okay, drop back to the pyramid and make sure everyone is inside. Let me know when they touchdown.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
The Doctor was once again ensconced with her assistants and conferring deeply over a holo of the surrounding complex. She took notice of the approaching Commander Jonigan.
“I imagine it’s time to get moving?”
“I’m afraid so, ma’am. Any suggestions of where to go?”
“Oh yes, see here.” She pointed at a large space nearly at the center of the map. “This looks to be the central chamber of the complex and I’m certain we will find what we’re looking for here.”
Jonigan stepped carefully as he walked through the rocks and detritus of millennia that filled the hallway leading to the great central chamber. His flashlight cut a path through the dust and darkness ahead of him. It seemed to wrap around the beam of light as if it were alive. Everywhere he turned the beam, it pulled back from the brightness, almost as if burned. It was disconcerting to say the least.
The complex must have sat here undisturbed for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. It was said that the Elder civilization had probably reached its pinnacle over half a million years ago. This place certainly looked it. Anything not made of stone or metal had long ago crumbled to dust. Fortunately, the designers of the alien complex had seen fit to build an unpowered ventilation system into the tunnels. A steady breeze blew down the length of the tunnel, carrying the strange smells and dust of the deep.
The murmur of the people not far behind distracted Jonigan as he walked. He could hear the creak of the armor and equipment the soldiers carried as they walked at his side. Every few minutes he could hear one of them recocking and checking the readiness of his weapon. He was doing the same with his own. The feeling of an imminent battle hung over their heads. Jonigan licked his lips and moved forward.
He could make out the outline of a door not too far in the distance. This had to be the way into the massive inner chamber they had been searching for. He moved over to the right side of the hallway, waving the men with him to take up positions around the door. Silence quickly filled the space as those behind caught sight of what was happening. Others waved to quiet the rest.
Jonigan leaned around the edge of the door, peering into the vast central chamber. A soft, pale light pervaded the entire space. Massive pillars lined the walls of the room, the dome of the roof reaching probably a hundred meters above the flat, empty floor below. Almost empty.
In the center of the room sat a small pillar, atop of which sat a pale, glowing artifact. Its radiance somehow filled the entire chamber, even though it wasn’t too bright to look at. It seemed to radiate more than the light coming from it. Jonigan could feel the weight of it settling on his mind.
“That, young man, is an Elder artifact.” She walked up behind him and peered around his shoulder, using her arm to steady herself against him. “Let’s go talk to it.” He could hear the mischief in her voice.
Jonigan quickly found himself following the spry old woman as she walked into the vast chamber. He didn’t understand why he was having to walk so fast to keep up with her.
The strange radiance of the artifact seemed to land softly on his eye, leaving the rest of the room much easier to see than if someone were shining a spotlight, and yet it filled the entire chamber. The group found it much easier to traverse the length of the room, without the need of flashlights.
As he got closer, Jonigan was able to make out the details of the artifact on the pedestal. It was strangely reminiscent of a twisted ice cream cone only longer and tapering slowly to a sharp point several feet above the flat top of the pillar below. Its pale radiance hid no other color, it was a pure incandescent white. It was a sharp, almost painful point ready to delve into the depths of his mind. A strange silence beat at the air, a silence of the mind.
“Stop staring at it.” The old woman gave him a shake. They stood only a few feet from the artifact. Jonigan could swear that they had started crossing the room only a moment ago.
“Wow, that thing is dragging my mind around my head like a blender.”
“Give it a moment, you’re not used to it, but it won’t hurt you. We’re going to have to talk to it.”
“What?” Jonigan asked, incredulity leaking into his voice. “I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised.”
“Ahh, see, now you’re getting it.”
Dr. Baxter turned around and faced the pedestal, bringing both hands up in front of her. She reached out to touch the artifact, she seemed almost hungry as she leaned forward. Jonigan watched patiently to see what would happen and wondered if this would be anything like the incident in the tent earlier. He almost didn’t comprehend the twisted parody of the artifact that had suddenly sprouted from the good doctor’s back, or the fact that it was glistening red, instead of pale white. It took him a moment to realize that the creature had materialized in front of the doctor and impaled her on his arm. The monster then flung her back toward the group of people who had begun to gather around the artifact.
Bullets ricocheted off the scaled cowl protecting the creatures head and neck. It turned to find the source. A moment passed before Jonigan realized that the creature had been distracted from killing him as well. The monster waded into the group surrounding the pedestal, indiscriminately killing as it searched for the one who had fired a weapon at it. The grace and finesse with which it moved was astounding. Jonigan realized his chance. There might be only one way to stop it.
He reached out and touched the artifact on the pedestal before him. All movement ceased, even the air around him seemed to halt in its flow. Time stopped. All except for the artifact sitting in the pedestal. It seemed to come alive, the twisted shape quickly unraveling and extending to reach throughout the room and the walls. Jonigan could feel the overwhelming sense of awareness bearing down on his mind. It wanted to communicate with him, merge with him, it desired to know what he wanted. He opened his mind in the way the old woman had shown him earlier. A barrier dissolved and the pressure on his mind eased. He could feel it waiting, connected to him in a way he didn’t yet fully understand, but it was there in his mind. It showed him what it was. Amazement filled Jonigan’s mind as a new reality unfolded before him. He could suddenly perceive much more of the world around him, the pyramid, the forest surrounding it and life that was i
n it. The blazing lights that were in the sky above him, in space. The artifact’s perception of the people surrounding it was strange, painful. It was reacting, trying to push away the danger to it. It needed guidance. It had all this power, but no direction. Those who had given it direction had left long ago.
Jonigan suddenly understood that he could control the artifact. He reached out and touched one of the tendrils of energy that extended out from it and intersected with the creature. Time began to flow again. Screams and the clamor of firearms filled the air as the creature stopped and crumpled bonelessly to the ground. Jonigan took his hand from the artifact.
“Wha…?” Thorsen mumbled in disbelief as he dropped to his knees, his weapon clattering to the floor. The creature was only a few feet from him when it had dropped to the ground. He looked up and saw Jonigan who was on his knees next to the old woman, tears beginning to fill the Commander’s eyes. Dead and dying members of the expedition littered the floor around him. A few of the people who had fled toward the walls were slowing making their way back to the center of the room.
“What happened, sir?” Thorsen asked, still struggling to catch his breath. Nothing in war had prepared him for the slaughter that had just occurred.
“I stopped it…” Jonigan sat with the old woman’s head in his lap, his head bowed low over his chest. “It was so fast.”
He heard a murmur of sound, soft almost undetectable. If he hadn’t had his head bowed low, he would have never heard it.
“S’okay, my boy.” He opened his eyes to see the intense blue of the doctor’s eyes staring back at him. Pain racked her features. “S’okay, my boy. It’s yours now, use it to get out. Fight Pax. Time to go. Don’t worry, there’s more to come.” She smiled up at him and moved her hand to cover his own. “Show you.” She grimaced as another wave of pain passed through her body and then she was still.
“No, NO!” Jonigan pulled her closer to himself. Then it was suddenly upon him, it was as if the sun itself had broken through and he felt her gentle reassurance. Dr. Helen Baxter bid him farewell and seemed to walk through a door and was gone.
His wristcom began to beep intently, craving his immediate attention. He sat there for a few moments and let it beep. He touched the button.
“Report,” he said simply.
“The Pax dropships have landed.” Jonigan can hear the sigh of bitter disappointment pass through the group that now surrounded him.
“What are we going to do?” One of the members of the expedition asked as she knelt down on one knee beside Jonigan. He could hear the fear creeping into her voice.
Jonigan looked at each of the group standing around him, a firm determination beginning to fill his features. He looked over at the creature lying on the ground.
“I think its time we caught a break.” He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the artifact in the middle of the room.
“Tell everyone to stand back.” Then he touched the artifact.
The quiet darkness of the command deck betrayed the reality that the Resolution was at full alert, all crew at battle stations. Her hackles were up, as it were. Each member of the command crew sat in silence as the Captain contemplated the tactical display spread out before him.
“How long until they detect us?”
“Thirty minutes, sir. They’ve managed to make the translation back into real space fairly close to ZR-723-g. This would indicate that they have a fairly comprehensive map of local conditions. It appears that the Pax have been in this system previously,” Lieutenant Anderson responded.
“Never seem to get a break. Do we, Lieutenant?”
“No, sir.”
The Captain sat back in his chair, pausing a moment to collect his thoughts. Before he had a moment to think, he was interrupted.
“Captain?”
“Yes?”
“Sensors are now showing three Pax vessels.”
The Captain sighed. When it rains it pours.
“Do we have any idea what types of ships they’ve brought with them?” he asked. It would make all the difference when it came time to decide how to respond. Three capital ships would mean it was time to make Resolution disappear.
A voice from the other side of the bridge spoke up. “It looks like we have two Shell class battle cruisers and an unknown vessel, sir.” It was Lt. Commander Call seated at the main weapons console. “I haven’t ever seen anything like it.”
“Well, we must have skipped the frying pan altogether.” The Captain lifted his hand and began to stroke his chin, thoughts swirling through his head.
Everyone on the bridge knew what the Captain was thinking. The Resolution was not a match for two battle cruisers in a direct confrontation and that was before factoring in the unknown variable of the strange ship that accompanied them. He was going to have to find another way to deal with the situation and do it quickly.
“Lieutenant Anderson, I need you to get on the horn and inform Commander Jonigan of the situation. I’m afraid they are going to have visitors soon. He’ll probably have to find a defensible position and wait it out until we can find some way to deal with the Pax.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
The Captain listened as Lieutenant Anderson made the call to the surface of the planet. She seemed to be having difficulty with the signal.
“Captain, it looks like the Pax translation into the system, at such a close distance to the planet, is causing some kind of interference in the communication bands.”
“Alright, Lieutenant, see if you can send a message to them without worrying about getting a response. Hopefully we can get something to them. I don’t want the expedition to be caught flat footed.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Even as the Captain finished speaking to the Lieutenant, an idea flashed into his head. He turned quickly and began to manipulate the controls on the display before him. The tactical display changed to show the planet and moon system in which the starship orbited. It showed that the Resolution was currently deep in the gravity well of the only life bearing moon that orbited the gas giant ZR-723-g. But it was not the only moon in the gas giants system. In fact, there were several orbiting the giant planet. Three of which orbited closer than the green moon that the ship now circled. One of those moons, a cratered rock with no atmosphere, was very near.
“What if we went here?” The Captain asked and then pointed at the display.
“Why, sir?”
“To hide,” Lt. Commander Call said, as he realized what the Captain was going to say next.
“Correct. Let’s get moving people. We’ve only got a little time before the Pax sensor envelope is in range. Helm, bring us about on a heading directly for the third moon, full acceleration please. I want to be on the other side of that moon before they can lay sensors on us.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” came the quick response.
Belying its great mass, the Resolution moved with alacrity. Systems aboard the ship negated the ever present Newtonian physics that governed normal matter, allowing the vessel to achieve accelerations that would have pulverized anything left unshielded. One moment she was serenely sailing the skies of the life bearing moon, the next she was streaking away.
“Get me a stealthed sat on station as soon as possible. I want to be able to see what the Pax are up to when we get to the other side.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Lt. Commander Call responded.
A small hatch slid open in the side of the starship. The matte black surface of a cube shaped object poked one of its corners through the opening. With a puff of pressurized air the object was propelled out and into space, it tumbled for a moment and then reoriented itself, no trace of any sort of propulsive force could be seen as it departed the area and disappeared.
Fortunately, for those aboard the Resolution, the Captain had noticed that the angle of approach the Pax vessels were using would cause them to create a sensor shadow that could be exploited. The life bearing moon would hide all that was behind it for some t
ime. If he was lucky, the Pax would never know they were in the system.
“Rig the ship for zero emissions, Lieutenant. I don’t want them to even catch a scent.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Rigging for zero emissions.”
Jonigan was grateful to whatever alien intelligence had designed the artifact. It was not heavy, at least not so heavy as to be immovable. With only a few helping hands, Jonigan was able to move the artifact from its pedestal and onto a wheeled cart. He could not allow it to fall into alien hands. Who knew what capabilities they might have in relation to it, or if they could even interface with it as he had? Jonigan himself was only scratching the surface of something that was entirely too vast and deep to understand now or possibly ever.
It only took ten minutes for the members of the expedition to scramble back to the vast hall at the entrance to the giant pyramid. Jonigan was surprised at the speed of their return, the group had taken so long originally to explore the spaces they had passed through.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” he stated. He had kept his hand on the artifact the entire time, nervous for what it could mean for the group standing around him.
Jonigan could feel the almost overwhelming pressure of the artifact bearing down on his mind. He didn’t feel as if it really cared that it had been moved. In fact, it seemed to be in some sort of standby mode, as if it were hibernating. Yet, he knew that if he just thought a certain way, things would happen.
Gunnery Sergeant Thorsen came around the corner through the entrance to the pyramid. He noticed Commander Jonigan standing with the artifact. Jonigan motioned him over.
“I need a sitrep, Gunny. What can you tell me?”
“Sir, we have four Pax dropships on the ground at this moment. They are dropping infantry squads as we speak. I estimate one hundred and sixty hostiles.”
“Thank you, Gunney. I don’t want anyone to leave the pyramid without my direct permission. Get me a couple of men to watch the hole we came through to get down here. I’m going to try and do something with this artifact.
