by Mars Dorian
“What’s going on, Aida?”
“It seems as if a high-explosive device was detonated from within the station.”
“By the commando? And they didn’t warn me?”
“Negative.”
More pieces of space station debris sliced the void.
The main thruster glowed in alarming red.
No, no, no.
RX breathed in to keep calm. Aida flashed him another horror message.
“Warning. You’re being pulled in by ExoEve’s orbit.”
Terror in space, part III.
RX spent all his attention on evading the debris he forgot about the ExoEve’s gravity that pulled him toward the planet’s center. His APEX entered the atmosphere as the G’s dragged him toward the surface and pressed him into the seat. His status panel flicked him a warning—the temperature shot up in alarming numbers. The atmosphere’s friction coated a flaming wall around the craft. Thank Stryker the APEX was built to work in planetary atmosphere, otherwise he’d be a shrinking spark of fireball by now.
Too bad the main thruster malfunctioned.
Debris, the devil’s work.
“Aida, I could need a little help here.”
“Sub-thrusters are too weak. Prepare for crash-landing protocol.”
RX closed his eyes as he realized his predicament.
He was gravity’s bitch.
18
RX fireballed down into the atmosphere of ExoEve and gasped at his surround view inside the cockpit screen.
It flared in shades of red.
Warning.
Warning.
Warning.
Aida put on her motherly tone, as always, when the panic rose high.
“Do you want me to eject you?”
“No, no, only the thruster is damaged. Besides, I’m not going APEX-less on this planet.”
He tried to steer his APEX away from the confrontational course with the planet’s surface, but gravity wanted him bad, and the thrusters revolted.
At least RX could land his craft in a way that ensured his survival.
Burn.
The heat engulfed his craft.
The life support system worked overtime to avoid RX getting fried.
This wasn’t happening, RX thought, it couldn’t.
Everything he worked for.
Everything he strived for.
Now spiraling down space.
19
“Wake up, soldier.”
The letters flickered in the perfect darkness, read by a mellifluous voice.
A moan echoed through the black. The male unit arose from its slumber.
“RX, can you hear me?”
Aida’s voice sounded as pleasant as ever—a soothing melody that tingled through his body.
RX-88.
The memory crawled back into his consciousness.
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“Good. Please open your eyes. It’s time to rise.”
RX lifted his eyelids and stretched his neck. The menus of his cockpit display popped into existence. Blue, green and red pixel fragments flooded his face and displayed the damage report.
Red dominated.
Unfortunately.
RX stretched his arms and hit the closed space above.
“Hold on, this isn’t a cryo-tube.”
“It isn’t,” Aida said.
RX checked his surrounding. He was still seated in the cockpit of his APEX.
“Do you remember what happened?” Aida said.
The snippets of terror tore through his mind.
The mission.
The failure.
Space debris and the deep crash down.
Somewhere on ExoEve II’s surface.
“Aida, why did you put me into artificial sleep?”
“Your testosterone+ reached alarming levels. I had to shut down your body before the distress caused damage to your arteries.”
“You could have let the narnites repair it.”
“Safety first.”
“Right.”
RX didn’t want to complain.
At least he survived in one piece. He touched his body and checked for open wounds. Couldn’t find any so he sat up until a soaring pain stabbed his left side. Aida’s voice clang from the com.
“You better lay low, RX. I’m detecting three fractures in your ribcage.”
“How…”
Maybe a giant vibration caused from the debris impact. Or the gravity pull from the planet’s atmosphere?
At least the spacecraft was mostly intact, well, apart from the main thruster of course. RX leaned into his ergo seat and took shallow breaths that hurt less. He checked the status report when a vibration with a dull clonk sound caught his attention.
“Are we still airborne?”
“Negative. We're planetside."
She paused.
“I’m detecting ten humanoid lifeforms that are trying to push the APEX onto a transport vehicle.”
“What? Who are they?”
Aida enlightened the transparmor hull to give RX a surround view. The beauty of see-though™ tech: it remained transparent from one direction—the exterior appeared dark to outsiders. Perfect for observing these strange humanoids fixing ropes around the rears and looking for anchor points. They tried to lift his APEX via a crane from a nearby transporter vehicle but failed miserably.
The ropes broke.
The tall humanoids wore some sort of organic exoskeletons that magnified their strength. They looked at each other with flabbergasted faces and emitted odd sounds. RX observed them like exotic animals behind darkened glass.
“Who in the world are they? I thought there was no colony on this planet?”
“I don’t have enough data. But they’re neither US Corps nor Stryker personnel.”
RX clutched the combat rifle from the locker claws. In his current confusion and physical dismay, it was better to stay alert and vigilant.
Aida seemed to read his mind.
“Do you want to launch non-lethal defensive measures?”
“I want to know whom I’m dealing with first. Scan their bodies and tell me what you can find out.”
“Roger that.”
She used the sensors of the APEX to identify their armor style. RX hovered his index finger above the trigger of his rifle and tracked the scavengers ‘working’ on his APEX.
Did they know he was inside the craft?
They looked humanoid, but a faint green tint smeared their skin. RX couldn’t tell whether they were civilian or military. They also conversed in a tongue that RX had never heard of.
“What kind of language are they speaking?”
“None that can be found in my database. It seems to be a mix between Indo-Germanic and Sino-tibetan, along with some rim colony vocabulary. I can collect sound bites and decipher the language for you.”
“Yes please.”
“But it will take a while. I need more data.”
RX nodded and watched the scavengers talking to each other, probably scheming on how to transport his APEX away from the crash site. Their irregular movements and failed attempts to lift the colossus showed they had never dealt with an APEX before. But who were these humanoids?
“Four targets are in direct contact with the hull. I can discharge an electric pulse and scare them away.”
The casual way Aida offered her defense measure caused RX to chuckle. He sometimes envied her ability to stay detached from turmoil. And although it seemed like a smart tactical choice, RX needed to know more about his situation. With no way to escape this planet anytime soon, he needed to know exactly where he was and with whom he was dealing with. That’s what he learned in the first lessons of Basic training: gather intel before you stri
ke.
Aida responded.
“I’m awaiting your orders.”
“We’re waiting.”
“Are you sure this is the smart decision?”
“Are you questioning my authority?”
The AI waited with the answer.
“You’re exhausted and carry three broken ribs that inflict a high amount of pain. You’re in a state of distress that hampers your critical thinking ability.”
“We do as I say.”
“As you wish.”
RX fumbled for his first-aid kit and took out an injector plus quickheal capsule. He shot the salve into his bloodstream and felt the pain wane. This would buy him time. The humanoids attached a new, thicker rope that was four times as thick as the first one and attached it to the anchor points. They finally managed to lift the spacecraft and placed it on the loading ramp of their large transporter. The scavengers cheered like degenerate children and congratulated themselves. RX watched them in silence and studied their movements, their gestures, their speaking pattern.
Just where the hell did he crash-land?
20
Riding on top the transporter’s shipping space, RX got a sightseeing tour for free. The heavy vehicle entered a sand-colored highway with five lanes. RX remained seated in his APEX and watched the surroundings fly by. Ruins of former structures protruded from green meadows. RX could see as far as the horizon. The highways themselves lacked traffic—the transporter seemed to be the only vehicle to ever roll over them.
"Pretty lonely around here."
Aida didn’t reply, she rarely did when she lacked sufficient data. The ride to the scavenger’s ‘homebase’ took 43 minutes and 11 seconds.
The transporter entered a complex with oval-curved structures. Old steel plates and ruins merged with the organic matter. Maybe some colonist bio-mimicry at work? Only one entity would know.
“Are you still analyzing the environment, Aida?”
“Of course.”
“Good, talk to me as soon as you have enough data.”
The transporter halted at a spacious intersection. Humanoids arrived from all directions and approached the APEX with care. Their eyes rose wide open, but no colonist panicked. The humanoids with the exosuits leaped from the transporter, controlled the crane and lifted RX’s APEX in front of a hangar-like entrance. Ten or more muscle-soaked humanoids with organic armor approached the rear and pushed the APEX into the center of the hall. An ear-shattering shriek sound resulted from the friction on the ground, but none of the colonists seemed to care. Inside the hangar hall, RX noticed crates filled with spacecraft parts and electronic rubble. At least these savages owned a decent level of technology. Hope was still on the horizon. Four of the men grabbed welding devices from the nearby tool lockers and approached the APEX’s left wing. RX grunted.
“Are they seriously trying to cut through my armor with that?”
“What do you suggest?” Aida said.
“Wait and see.”
Slow and steady, he told himself in silence, won every space race.
The man with the build of an amped ground-pounder pushed his welding device into the hull.
Sparks flew high.
To no avail.
The device dulled the second it touched the APEX’s armor, but that defeat didn’t damper their morale. Another male unit grabbed a rotating saw device. The blade spun so fast it turned into a circulating spark whirlwind. When it connected with the APEX’s armor, the blade broke apart and bounced off in every direction. RX laughed as the humanoids consulted each other with flummoxed faces. He almost enjoyed observing these savages desperately trying to dismantle his superior machine. RX chuckled every time another welding device broke. Even ten damaged tools later, the humanoids kept trying with no change in emotion. Serenity washed over their faces. RX wished he could understand them.
“How’s the translation going so far?”
“Still working on it.”
Ten broken welding and cutting devices later, the humanoids had enough. Night knocked, and the men and women left the hall and shut the gates behind them. RX waited another hour just to make sure no other savage came in for a surprise visit. He disconnected himself from the APEX and adjusted his gear. With the face shield on, he checked his MP7 and crawled from his seat. RX took a deep breath from the oxygen recycler on his back and opened the cockpit. He connected his boots to the ground.
And stumbled.
Like an alcohol-abusing colony dweller.
“Are you okay?” Aida said.
“Not used to on-planet walking. The damn artificial gravity messed me up in space.”
He crawled on the ground and tried to get back up. His legs felt like two dangling cables refusing to stand straight. Aida intertwined.
“Take it slow, you’re still hurt. Remember?” she said from the APEX’ speaker system.
Almost forgot about that.
At least the quickheal collaborated with the narnites in his bloodstream. Otherwise he’d be squeaking a ballade of pain.
“Don’t stray too far, RX.”
Aida was right again. He staggered backwards, grabbed the linker from the cockpit and attached it to the transplant behind his left ear. He was now able to connect with Aida beyond the APEX’ speaker reach. RX tiptoed toward the gate and found it locked, of course.
“Can we blow it up?”
“Of course, but it’s going to produce an audible sound.”
That was true. Going for rockets would be overkill, but a beam with low concentration could both melt the door and still remain quiet. Besides, he didn’t want to waste a single rocket. RX moved out the way and commanded Aida to unleash the beam device. She activated the cannon that rotated into the right shooting angle and kept the sound levels under 15 decibels. The low-intensity ray impacted the gate and spat sparks in all directions. The surface turned into a firewall of fox red before melting from the middle. When the hole measured one meter in diameter, RX commanded Aida to stop. He waited for the heat to wane, took another deep breath from his helmet and climbed through the newly created O-shape. Aida spoke to him via the implant linker behind his ear.
“What do you intend to do, RX?”
“I want to find out where I am.”
He surveyed the area. No one stood outside, but a few light sources brimmed from within the organic structures. RX left the intersection and stuck close to the wall of a single-story, oval-shaped structure.
“What the—?”
The surface consisted of tiny plates that were interwoven with each other. They seemed to move on a minuscule level. Organic tech, RX thought. He wanted to inspect it up close when he glimpsed a lonely female unit in the right corner of his eye. She moved toward the hangar gate he just burned with his beam. The female unit covered her mouth and shrieked. RX cringed. If she was going to tell the others, half the colony would hunt him down. He couldn’t allow that to happen, so he leaped from his cover and launched after the female. He expected her to crumble under his brute force, but she stood steady like a pillar.
Such strength.
RX twisted her arm behind her back and covered her mouth.
“Aida, can you translate?”
“I can try, but I could only decipher about 303 words so far.”
“That must be enough. Tell her she’s not going to get hurt if she shuts up.”
“Okay,” Aida said, but it was too late.
Lights hummed from the nearby structures in the colony complex. Hundreds of humanoids burst out their structures and gathered around RX in a half-circle. He pushed the pistol against the young female’s temple and barked. The humanoids gasped and stepped back. RX prepared his words.
21
“Dear citizens, I’m pilot unit number RX-88, property of Stryker Solutions™. I have crash-landed on this planet and seek to return to my carrier in space. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to speak to the person in charge of your settlement. I come in peace.”
RX real
ized the fallacy of his words, considering he just took a hostage. He still hoped he could settle this dispute without bloodshed. Aida translated his words while RX waited for the response.
The humanoids stared at him with blank looks on their faces.
They seemed neither pleased nor upset.
Just curious.
Which pissed RX off.
This wasn’t child’s play.
“What’s the matter? Didn’t you translate my words?”
“I did.”
“Then do it again, slowly.”
Aida repeated his translated words, and yet nothing changed in the humanoid’s behavior. They kept staring holes into RX’s armor.
He hesitated, but couldn’t detect any firearms, which meant he probably dealt with civilians.
“Just translate this, Aida: I want to speak with whoever is in charge.”
And the AI worked her translation again.
And RX received the same answer, yet again.
Emotionless faces wherever he looked.
“What’s the matter with these savages?”
“Maybe they don’t understand your question.”
“How could it be any simpler? I just want to know who runs this place.”
The female he held hostage remained calm. Her breath was deep, her motions still. RX whispered into her ear and hoped Aida could make it clear.
“Who is in charge?”
He glanced around the gathering of humanoids and looked out for people trying to make a move. To his amazement, no one stepped up, not even from behind. As if these humanoids had never dealt with a situation like this. RX tried to form the question differently when a new group of men and women approached the crowd. They looked older than the rest, but still oozed the same fitness and natural elegance. The female with the gray hair stepped up and raised her hand toward RX’s direction.
“What is she saying?”
Aida helped him.
“She wants you to let go of the woman and settle this in peace.”
“Ask her if she’s in charge.”
The elderly female shook her head.
“Then ask her who is.”
