by Jake Bible
“You talking to Hessa at all?” Roak asked.
“No, I’m talking to you,” Bishop replied. “Hessa? You there?”
No response.
“That ain’t good,” Bishop said.
“No, it ain’t,” Roak responded. “Reck? Pull that plug.”
“No,” a small voice gasped in Roak’s ear.
“I could do a lot of damage to the AI if I pull this plug,” Reck replied as if she hadn’t heard what Roak just did.
“Leave it…” the voice said.
“Hessa?” Roak asked.
“Yes… Hard to communicate… The AI is…substantial…”
“Don’t get lost in there with her,” Roak said. “She is not known for playing well with others.”
“No wonder…you two…know each…other…”
“Funny. You sure you can handle this?”
“Already am…”
“Alright. We keep going,” Roak said.
“Who are you talking to?” Reck asked. “Hessa? Is she talking only to you?”
“Yeah,” Roak said. “It’s taking all her processing power to move the AI from the satellite and into the ship’s quarantine drives.”
“Considering the Calmerium layering going on here, I’m not surprised,” Reck said. “The quantum density is incredible. This satellite could have taken a direct hit from a GF destroyer’s main plasma cannon and still kept ticking.”
“Then what knocked it out of orbit?” Roak asked.
“Something big,” Reck replied. “Wouldn’t be too hard. The density is exponential as you get closer to the center of the layering. The drives the AI are housed on probably weigh as much as the ship. Each.”
“That kind of crap breaks my brain,” Roak said. “I get it, but still. Who designs this shit?”
“Mostly AIs,” Reck said. “Or they did before the Galactic Fleet cracked down on AI involvement within GF operations. Now most AIs are basic and meant for servitude.”
“Don’t let Hessa hear you say that,” Roak responded.
“I heard…it…”
“Great,” Roak muttered.
He took a deep breath, but held it instead of letting it out. He heard something. No, that wasn’t right. He felt something. The breath slid through his teeth as a high whistle.
“What?” Reck asked instantly. She stood and brought her rifles up. “You see something?”
Roak holstered his Flott and knelt, placing a gloved hand on the ground. He stayed that way for a full minute then stood back upright and pulled his Flott out again.
“We got company,” Roak said. “Something is headed this way.”
“Shit,” Reck said as she wobbled a little on her feet. “I feel it now too.”
The ground shook, but not in a rhythmic footfall pattern. It was more like a heavy rumble that grew in intensity with every second.
Then the rumble stopped and the ground was still once more.
Roak spun about in a tight circle, but all he saw was a cloudless, orange sky and a whole bunch of rock stretching all the way to the horizon where a mountain range sat.
Roak turned away then froze. He slowly looked back to study the mountain range.
“Were there mountains when we first stepped off the ship?” Roak asked.
Reck turned to the horizon.
“No,” she stated with obvious certainty. “There weren’t.”
“Nimm?” Roak called over the comms.
“I’m here, Roak,” Nimm replied.
“You wouldn’t happen to be sitting at the weapons console would you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I offered, but she thinks she’s a better shot,” Bishop interrupted.
“She is,” Roak responded. “Nimm? I’m going to ping you what we’re seeing. Lock on and do some deep scans while you also bring up full plasma cannons. I want crosshairs on those mountains.”
“Crosshairs on mountains. Yes, why not,” Nimm replied. “Scanning now. Targets locked.”
“Tell me the second you notice a change,” Roak said and walked towards the horizon.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Reck asked. “You’re here to cover me!”
“No, I’m here to distract whatever is out there from going after you,” Roak said. “I won’t do much good if I’m standing right next to you.”
“You won’t do much good if you walk up to a giant and get squashed before we’re even a tenth of the way done, either!” Reck snapped.
Roak paused and looked back over his shoulder. “A tenth? That’s all that’s transferred so far?”
“Less than a tenth,” Reck said. “That’s the problem with Calmerium layering. Nearly indestructible, but time-consuming when it comes to data transfers. There’s always a trade”—”
“I notice a change,” Nimm interrupted.
“Talk to me,” Roak ordered.
He jogged towards the horizon, the targeting protocol in his heavy armor locking onto various points of the mountains that weren’t mountains. A squeeze of the trigger and he’d nail every single target lock with the Tonal.
“The mountains are breathing,” Nimm reported. “They are also burrowing.”
“Burrowing? How so?” Roak asked.
“Burrowing,” Nimm emphasized. “As in they are digging below the surface.”
“Can you see where they’re going?”
“No. Scanners can’t penetrate the ground. Which is weird.”
“No shit,” Roak said.
Then Roak slid to a stop and looked down at the dirt below his boots. He gave the ground a hard kick and tried to dig up some of the dirt with his toe. Only dust plumed up into the air and drifted off in the slight breeze.
“Eight Million Gods damnit,” Roak muttered. “Reck? How are we looking?”
“Fifteen percent,” Reck replied.
“Hurry it up,” Roak snapped.
“I can’t hurry it up, Roak!” Reck shouted. “Pull your head out of your ass and pay attention!”
“I am!” Roak shouted back. “And we need to hurry it up! How do we do that?”
“Second tether,” Reck replied. “Or more.”
“How many more?”
“Three more would be ideal,” Reck said. “But we don’t have three more tethers. What we’re doing here is not normal, Roak. I’m surprised Hessa had one tether available.”
“Can you make more?”
“Make more? Yeah. If we have the materials.”
“Go back to the ship and start looking,” Roak said. “Then make more. Yellow Eyes can help. Bishop? Send Yellow Eyes down to the cargo hold. He’s on assembly duty.”
“Not sure what that means, but okay,” Bishop replied. “Yellow Eyes! Go help down in the cargo hold! He’s on his way.”
“Roak? What is going on?” Reck asked.
Roak walked back to the satellite and pointed at where it had impacted with the ground.
“That look normal?” Roak asked.
“Nothing here is normal,” Reck said.
“Look closer. The ground. It’s not broken. It’s bruised.”
Reck opened her mouth to argue then shut it fast as she stared down at where the satellite had impacted with the ground. It was obvious once Roak had said it out loud. There should have been a broken crater under and around the satellite, but there wasn’t. Instead, the ground was dented and bruised.
Bruised.
“Shit,” Reck said and spun in a circle as she took in where they were. “What are we on?”
“A giant,” Roak said.
“Those mountains aren’t the giant?” Reck asked.
“Those mountains are eye ridges,” Roak replied. “I think we landed on its head. The satellite knocked it out when it crashed.”
“We’re on a giant with a concussion. Great,” Reck said. “What else would I expect? You just draw trouble to you, Roak.”
Roak tried to find an appropriate response, one that would be filled with plenty of expletives, but instead, he shook
his head. “Shut up and go make more tethers. Nimm? Bishop? You catch all that?”
“Caught it,” Bishop replied. “Can I throw it back? I think I’d prefer to return to blissful ignorance.”
“I’m moving to the pilot’s seat, Roak,” Nimm said. “I doubt weapons will be useful considering our precarious situation.”
Roak looked at his own weapons and nodded as he slung the rifle across his back and holstered the Flott.
“Yeah, let’s try to avoid shooting the giant we’re standing on,” Roak said. “This thing is a lot larger than seventy meters tall. It sneezes and we’ll be sent up into orbit.”
Reck was carefully walking back to the ship. Despite being in an enviro suit, she moved with grace and ease. The desire to not wake a sleeping giant was a great motivator to be careful of how one trod.
“I’ll keep an eye on the satellite,” Roak said.
He moved closer then halted mid-step as the ground rumbled once more. As soon as it stopped, Roak continued on then sat down next to the crashed satellite. Roak studied the orbital machine, admiring its efficiency. He carefully placed a hand on the surface and felt the hum of life within even though it was artificial life.
“This isn’t my first choice,” Roak said, making sure his comm wasn’t broadcasting. “I’d let you rot in this thing, but Hessa has a way of forcing me to face issues I’d rather keep buried.”
Roak looked at the state of the satellite and chuckled.
“Not that you aren’t already kind of buried,” Roak said. “I know you can’t hear me right now, but I still want to get one thing straight. This is more for me than you. We’ll have this conversation for real later. But for now, I’d like to say that no matter how much you help, we’ll never be good. I may not want to completely wipe you out, but I’m gonna get you off my ship as fast as possible once I get what I need. We good?”
As expected, there was no response.
“Good,” Roak said as if there had been a response. The ground rumbled, but only for a split second. “First, we have to get you out of a giant’s scalp. Because that’s how my life is going right now.”
Roak reached for the tether.
“Don’t touch that!” Reck barked over the comms.
Roak pulled his gloved hand back and made an obscene gesture towards the ship.
“You might initiate a static spark from your armor,” Reck explained in Roak’s ear. “Then we have to start all over.”
“Not gonna touch the tether,” Roak said. “You got more tethers made?”
“I just got back to the ship, asshole,” Reck said. “I’m still gathering materials.”
The ground shook. Hard. Roak watched the horizon shift.
“We felt it,” Reck said. “No need to tell us to hurry up.”
“Wasn’t going to.”
“Right…”
The ground shook again and the horizon shifted considerably more. Everything started to tilt. After about a fifteen-degree change, the movement stopped. Roak waited, but the ground had mellowed.
“It’s gonna wake up soon,” Roak said. No response. “Is the comm working?”
“It’s working,” Bishop replied. “We’re a little busy at the moment.”
“With what?” Roak asked.
“Nimm’s figuring out hovering maneuvers in case the giant awakens and decides to stand,” Bishop replied. “We’ll need to lift off if that happens. But we can’t disconnect from the satellite until the transfer is complete.”
Roak heard a tone in Bishop’s voice that gave him chills.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Roak asked. “Have you guys been talking over the comms without me?”
“Sometimes it’s more efficient that way,” Bishop said. “Skips all the yelling and scolding.”
Yellow Eyes appeared next to Roak and handed him the ends of three new tether cables.
“Don’t plug those in yet,” Yellow Eyes said and disappeared back inside the ship before Roak could blink.
Reck was walking toward him, a large case in her hands.
“What do you have there?” Roak asked.
Reck reached him and set the case down. She pointed at it. “Your next job. Found that in one of the crates. It’s going to come in handy.”
“Why’s that?” Roak. “I don’t know what that case is.”
“Jump box,” Reck said. “It can give a ship enough wattage to boost the engines and pull away from a heavy grav planet, if needed.”
“This planet isn’t heavy grav,” Roak said. “And the ship has plenty of power.”
“Not for the ship, dipshit,” Reck said. “That’s why I’m giving it to you. Open the case and jam the leads down into the ground. If needed, you flip that switch and we’ll shock treatment the giant back into unconsciousness.”
“You want me to fry its brain?” Roak asked. “What if it’s not enough power?”
“Jump boxes can produce a ten thousand terawatt shock for half a second,” Reck said. “That’d put down a pack of osB’flo’dos and they eat energy for food.”
“You ever shocked a giant into unconsciousness?” Roak asked. Reck glared and cocked a hip. “Didn’t think so. Which means we have no idea what will happen.”
“That’s why it’s a last resort,” Reck said. “Hand me those.”
Roak handed her the three new tethers and she plugged them into the satellite.
“Bishop?” she called over the comms. “How’s it look?”
“Quadrupled the transfer,” Bishop said. “Math is fun.”
“I estimate we’ll need five minutes,” Reck said.
The ground shook. And kept shaking. The angle changed and in seconds, everything began to go sideways.
“Five minutes is too long!” Roak yelled as he started running toward the mountains that were the giant’s brow. “Everyone get ready to lift off as soon as that transfer is done!”
“Where are you going?” Reck shouted.
“To buy us the time we need not to die!”
13.
A heads up display activated in Roak’s armor, showing him that the ship was lifting off from the ground, but only enough so it wouldn’t go tumbling as the giant stirred and began to stand. Reck had anchored herself to the satellite which showed zero signs of budging.
The tethers pulled taut and looked like they’d pop free, but the ship stabilized its hover and kept enough slack so the cables wouldn’t snap.
Roak observed all of that peripherally. His main focus was on the ever-changing landscape before him. The horizon was rising fast and Roak wasn’t sure he was running fast enough to meet it before the giant was fully upright.
A noise filled the air and Roak stumbled. He was nearly brought to his knees before his helmet was able to filter out the head-splitting cacophony that engulfed him.
“What in all the Hells was that?” Roak asked.
“Speech,” Bishop replied, sounding exhausted. “Very loud speech that is not meant for little ears.”
“We’ve got a dampener on the external mics,” Nimm stated. “The ship’s systems are now tuned to the noise so we don’t go deaf the next time”—”
Her words were drowned out by another round of the Eight Million Gods awful noise. Roak’s helmet glitched for half a second and that time he did fall to his knees, his gloves grabbing at his helmet as agony filled his head.
“Roak? You good?” Bishop asked.
“Do I look good?” Roak gasped. He forced himself back up, checked his heads up display, and nodded. Reck was secured to the satellite and the tethers were still connected. That’s what mattered. “Give me a time!”
“Two minutes,” Reck responded, her voice weak over the comms.
“You hurt?” Roak asked, almost to the crest of the fake horizon.
“Massive migraine from that damn”—”
The noise increased and Roak heard it for what it was. Not speech so much as a cry of pain. The giant was waking up with a migraine of its own, Roak guessed. Not
that the new knowledge made Roak’s own pain any less. He increased power to his legs and let the armor compensate for and overcome his intense desire to lie down on the ground and curl up into a heavy armor ball.
Roak made it to his destination and gasped as he saw what they were all truly standing on. He kicked his boots down into the giant’s flesh and anchored himself in place. Another cry filled the air, but there was a tone of irritation, not pain so much. Roak was a mosquito that just took a little nip.
The horizon that Roak had thought was the giant’s brow was more like a ridge around the giant’s mouth. In fact, as Roak stared down at the thing’s massive features, he couldn’t find a brow. Not one that would have been stationed over eyes. As far as Roak could tell, the giant had no eyes. Just a huge mouth and lots and lots of very sharp, very large teeth.
A tentacle came flying at Roak and he flattened himself just in time to keep from being swatted.
“Reck!” Roak yelled.
“Thirty seconds and we’re done!” Reck shouted back. “Don’t use the jump box until the transfer is over or you’ll fry the satellite!”
“What? Fine!” Roak shouted.
“Twenty seconds.”
“You better be right!” Roak yelled as he ducked another swipe of a tentacle. The width of the appendage had to be the same as his ship. “I’ll keep it occupied until then!”
Roak drew his Flott and pressed the barrel to the giant’s skin with one hand while he gripped the skin with his other. The armor’s gloves had a trillion microhooks in the palm so that Roak could stay put. But even being micro, the hooks were noticed.
Four tentacles whipped by above Roak’s body then came down fast. Roak disengaged the glove and rolled to the side, unable to get a shot off with his Flott, and kept rolling as the tentacles impacted the giant’s skin, one after the other, each getting slightly closer to crushing him.
Roak came to a stop and took aim with his Flott, switching the targeting to laser cluster spread. He squeezed the trigger as the light was blotted out by the tentacles falling fast on his position. The Flott shot true and every laser connected with a tentacle. The four massive appendages jerked back from the sting and disappeared from Roak’s view.
“Done!” Reck announced. “Get your ass back here!”
