by Isaac Hooke
“Up yours,” Chow said, apparently assuming the sarcastic bent.
“No, I’m serious,” Bender said. “Buddy system. Besides, who wouldn’t want a woman who was named after food watching their back at a time like this? When we’re all hungry for some Chow.”
She didn’t answer.
“Don’t mind him,” Pyro transmitted. “He always gets this way when the nerves start. Teasing team members is a way of loosening up.”
“Yeah, that’s right, reveal all my secrets now, won’t you?” Bender said.
Halfway through the room, Bender swerved inward, toward the bigger crates that resided in the center of the room.
“Careful,” Rade said.
“Just want to get a bit closer…” Bender approached the nearest row of those bigger crates, and walked alongside it.
“I can almost sense the Slicers lurking inside, waiting to leap out,” Bender said. “Come on you alien bitches, show me what you got. I ain’t scared. I got big bad Chow on my side.”
Bender abruptly spun about, lifting his 5-way and stingray, and pointed it at the crate behind him.
“You good?” Rade asked.
“Thought the crate behind me was opening up,” Bender replied. “Must have been my imagination. Chow, quit shifting about back there and distracting me.”
“I haven’t moved a muscle…” Chow said flatly.
Bender continued forward, and reached the far side of the room without incident. He stood next to the ramp that spiraled alongside the wall to the next floor.
“Well?” Bender said. “Should I climb the ramp? Seems big enough to fit a mech. Or do you guys want to come? Or what?”
“Valjean, can you give me an estimate of the kind of signal strength we can expect if Bender continues alone?” Rade said.
“Based on signal strength computed during the perimeter patrols of our former base of operations, strength will decrease rapidly,” Valjean said. “We did have an open wall in that building, which helped the signal. But here, once Bender passes through to the next floor, we won’t have that luxury. We will quickly lose communications.”
“Then the rest of us may as well proceed,” Rade said.
“Actually, I’d recommend you stay here,” Pyro said. “I can go with Bender, and stand at the top between floors, letting my mech act as a repeater. Just in case things go south, so you’re not trapped inside with us…”
Rade didn’t like it, but he knew it was pointless to resist: the others would want to protect their chief.
“All right, do it,” Rade said.
Pyro entered the building, while Rade stayed just inside the entrance with Tahoe in his passenger seat. Jiang scanned the room with her rifle from her perch on Pyro’s back.
Following much the same route as Bender, Pyro stayed close to the wall, until he reached the ramp on the far side. Then he and Bender walked onto the ramp and ascended in single file.
They reached the top floor. Bender went through, while Pyro stopped after his upper body vanished past the ceiling.
Rade focused on the feed from Bender’s video signal. Little light from the first floor made it to the second level, and since there were no windows, Rade authorized the activation of Bender’s headlamps.
With headlamps turned on, Bender scanned the area. This particular room contained a vaulted ceiling just like the previous level, however a series of crystalline rods protruded from the central area. The rods were bundled close together, and each rose to varying heights, with the tallest coming in at just below the ceiling.
“Well, I have no idea what this is supposed to be,” Bender transmitted.
“Why does it make me think of an alien equivalent of an AI core?” Pyro said.
“Personally, it makes me think of an alien masturbation device,” Bender said. “I can just imagine all those Slicers gathering here and getting off.”
“You go ahead and imagine that,” Pyro said. “Myself, I’d rather not.”
“There isn’t anything else here,” Bender said. “There’s another ramp on the far side of the room… looks like it continues to the next floor. Should I take it, Chief?”
“Go ahead,” Rade said. “Pyro, stay where you are. Boost his signal.”
“I intend to,” Pyro replied.
Staying close to the wall, Bender crossed the room, and then took the next ramp with his headlamp active. Following the curve of the wall, he reached the ceiling, and stepped past to the next floor.
The video signal suffered mild pixelization from the interference, but otherwise Rade was able to discern Bender’s new surroundings readily enough.
This latest floor contained another vaulted chamber. However, this one contained several floor-to-ceiling glass tubes, which formed pillars of sorts throughout the room. Inside each of these tubes was a yellow mist with glowing sparkles dispersed throughout. The light from these negated the need for Bender’s headlamp.
Near the center of the room, residing between those pillars, stood a creature similar to the alien Rade had seen emerge from the ship earlier. It had the same nimbler digits on its forelimbs, thinner legs, a back free of bony plates, and a quarter-sized tail. He couldn’t be sure it was the same alien, or merely a member of the same species or caste. Also, it seemed to be wearing a utility belt of some kind, with several pouch-style components.
It seemed to be looking directly at Bender’s mech; though the Falcon had its environmental blending active, Chow’s rifle was partially visible, peering past the mech’s shoulder. And the headlamps were a dead giveaway as well.
The alien raised one of its limbs, touching the closest tube, and the sparkling mist flushed from it and all the other glass containers, emptying them so that the only light in the room was from Bender’s headlamp. The alien itself did not move once it lowered its limb: it merely stood its ground in the center of the room.
Bender aimed his weapons between the empty tubes at the creature. “What do I do, Chief?”
The alien offered no response to those weapons being pointed at it. Maybe it couldn’t see them, thanks to the environmental blending. Either way, the creature simply remained standing there, unmoving.
“We should go,” Jiang said, sounding almost hysterical. Rade didn’t blame her, considering she’d lost her entire platoon to the brethren of this creature.
“Jiang, stay calm,” Rade said on a private line. “We have to be rational, and clearheaded, here.”
She didn’t reply.
Rade did a quick scan of the room with the crates directly in front of him and confirmed that no Slicers were emerging. He also checked Pyro’s video feed, and saw that everything was quiet on his floor as well.
“We’re going to have to try to communicate with it,” Rade said. “I want you to run through the entire first contact protocol.”
“All right.” Bender’s voice sounded disappointed, as if he was hoping Rade would have given him the order to open fire. Bender always did want to go down with his guns-blazing. Well, Rade was going to have to deny him that aspiration, if only for a little longer.
Bender deactivated environmental blending, as per the first contact protocol, and materialized completely. The alien offered no response.
Bender’s headlamps flashed three times slowly, and then dropped to a dimmer setting to await a reply. When none came, the headlamps flashed again. Twice more Bender engaged those lights in the prescribed flash-pause first contact fashion without eliciting anything from the alien.
Next Bender switched to a series of squawks, which his speaker system emitted at regularly intervals. These, too, had no effect.
“Maybe try the gesture protocol,” Tahoe offered.
“Yeah, yeah, slow down sailor, I’m getting to it.” Bender lifted one hand and held the palm flat. He waited, and when the alien did not respond, he lowered his hand, then tried again. “You know, for all we know, this is a swear in their language. I could be telling him we’ve come here to rip off his tail and shove it down his
bifurcated ass. Which wouldn’t be all that far from the truth.”
When the hand signals didn’t produce any results, Bender attempted different radio signals, ranging from the simple, to the complex, the latter of which included multiple unencrypted phrases in different human spoken tongues. But once again, the alien did not reply. Bender tried simple LIDAR and thermal emissions, but those too were a bust.
“The only thing left is touch,” Bender said. “But I doubt this alien is going to let me walk up to it and lay my hands on it. Then again, though I’m in a Falcon mech, I probably have more to be afraid of from doing such a thing, considering what this a-hole’s brethren are capable of.”
“Hold off on that part of the protocol,” Rade agreed.
“I don’t suppose I can get permission to fire a stingray burst at the alien though?” Bender said. “Just a quick one?”
“No,” Rade replied.
“So, what now?” Pyro asked.
“We wait,” Rade replied. “Let the alien make a contact attempt.”
Bender stood motionless, waiting as Rade asked. After a couple of minutes of that, Bender said: “I don’t think it’s working. This alien doesn’t seem very interested in communicating at the moment…”
“It’s possible this is its communications attempt,” Jiang said.
“What, just standing there?” Bender said.
“Yes,” Jiang said. “It could be the alien’s way of telling us it’s peaceful.”
“Well, the thing isn’t attacking, so she might have a point,” Tahoe said.
“Bender, you haven’t detected any emissions or signals from the alien at all?” Rade said.
“None whatsoever,” Bender told him.
“This is certainly damn peculiar,” Rade said. “What are we missing?”
15
Rade thought for a moment. And then had an idea. “The tubes.”
“What?” Bender said.
“I want you to walk to the closest tube,” Rade said. “And place a hand on it.”
“Okay,” Bender said. “We’re going back to touch after all.”
“Yes, but not touching the alien…” Rade said.
Bender approached one of the glass tubes, and touched it. Immediately the container filled with yellow mist and sparkling light. Bender released his hold.
The alien responded by stepping forward and touching another tube. It, too, filled with mist. The sparkles embedded in that mist no longer seemed random, but appeared to form a set pattern.
Rade noticed the glimmers inside Bender’s tube were also located in a specific pattern. In fact, the pattern seemed to be identical to the sparkles within the alien’s tube.
“Bender, touch the glass again, in exactly the same spot,” Rade said.
“The exact same spot?” Bender said. “I’ll have to get my mech to do it.”
A moment later Bender touched the tube once more. The sparkles within shifted very slightly, but otherwise remained in the same positions.
“Okay, now touch it in a different location,” Rade said.
Bender’s avatar shrugged. “Okay.” He shifted his hand and touched the glass again. This time the sparkles moved to a new position.
The alien responded, touching a spot on its glass that seemed close to the area Bender had touched on his, so that the sparkle locations within the creature’s tube repositioned to mimic Bender’s.
“Now we’re communicating,” Rade said.
“Yeah, except we have no idea what the hell we’re saying,” Bender commented.
Bender touched the glass a few more times, and the alien mimicked him once more. Though it wasn’t true communication, it was a first step.
The alien produced a strip of metal from one of the pouches at its belt, and wrapped it partway around the adjacent tube. When the creature released the strip, it remained affixed to the glass. The alien then stepped back.
There were hundreds of small cubes embedded in the strip of metal, and some of them activated, pressing inward. A moment later the sparkles inside the glass tube repositioned, reacting to the artificial touch.
“That’s gotta be some kind of AI-driven machine,” Pyro said.
“That would be my assertion, too,” Valjean said. “I believe it’s some kind of an AI trainer. Meant for our AIs.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” Rade agreed. “The alien wants to teach us its written language… it makes sense to remove organics from the equation. AI to AI communication removes the tedium from the process, allowing for very fast, very efficient language learning.”
“So, I’m going to have to abandon my mech here, at some point, you’re saying,” Bender commented. “Because I ain’t sitting around inside while my Falcon goes through the motions of learning an entire alien language.”
“I’d recommend leaving your mech at some point, yes,” Rade said.
The alien opened its bifurcated mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth, then it turned around and headed toward the ramp that led up the wall to the next floor.
It paused at the base of that ramp, and opened its jaws again before walking up the ramp.
“Hm,” Bender said. “Am I interpreting this correctly? I believe the ugly bitch wants me to follow.”
“Don’t do it!” Jiang said. “It’s obviously a trap.”
“We’ve seen no evidence of that,” Rade said. “I know you’re predisposed to distrust these creatures. I am, too. But this one is trying to communicate with us. We’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we ignored those attempts. Bender, follow.”
“What about you guys?” Bender said. “Won’t uh, I pass out of range?”
“I’m going to follow two floors behind you,” Rade said. “Pyro, you continue as you are, staying one floor behind him.”
Bender crossed the room, approaching the ramp to pursue the alien. Pyro did the same on the level below him. Rade, meanwhile, cautiously entered the vault located on the bottommost floor.
“Is this really a good idea?” Tahoe asked on a private line as Rade made his way along the curving inner wall.
“What, having Bender follow the alien, or entering the building behind him to maintain signal range?” Rade asked.
“Both,” Tahoe replied. “Maybe Jiang is right.”
Rade glanced at the ominous looking crates that resided in the center of the chamber. “Could be. But we have to communicate with our hosts at some point. And I refuse to abandon Bender and Pyro if the shit hits the fan.”
“I hear you, brother,” Tahoe said.
As he climbed the ramp, Rade kept the feeds of both Bender and Pyro active in the upper right of his display, allowing him to view the other floors the lead mechs passed. The fourth level was filled with spheres whose surfaces were mirrors; they hovered in place, each a different size. The next floor had long rods protruding horizontally from the walls into the central area; these were of different lengths, and moved in and out. There was a wide aisle through the center of the room that these rods never reached, allowing Bender to cross to the ramp on the other side, where the alien was beckoning with its bifurcated jaws.
The alien led Bender to the sixth floor, which happened to be the rooftop. Rade, who had been following along, stopped at the entrance to the fourth floor with its mirror spheres.
The roof was flat, and completely enveloped by a glass dome that allowed one to look at the city beyond. The building was one of the smaller in the area, so most of the surrounding buildings ate up the skyline.
“Looks like I passed through some kind of airlock to reach this floor,” Bender said. “There were inner and outer hatches at the top of the ramp. Hm. They’re sealing. We’re probably going to be losing communications here, real quick.”
“Get out of there!” Rade said. But it was too late: Bender’s signal froze as his friend’s comms cut out. “Valjean, if Pyro gets right next to the door, will we get a signal?”
“I believe so,” Valjean said. “If not, we could always reposition outs
ide, where the reception through the glass might be better.”
“Pyro, get up there,” Rade ordered.
He considered going outside as Valjean suggested, but that meant he’d lose contact with Pyro… if he didn’t get a signal, he’d have to scale the building in order to get closer to Bender; he had enough jumpjet fuel to make it half-way, and he’d have to climb the remaining distance.
It would be faster to take the ramps.
He hurried underneath the mirror spheres and crossed to the next ramp.
Pyro reached the fifth floor with its moving horizontal rods, and moved between them to the ramp on the far wall. He climbed it. “I can confirm that a heavy door is sealing access to the rooftop.”
“Can you read Bender yet?” Rade pressed.
“Not yet,” Pyro replied.
Rade scaled the ramp and approached the fifth floor with its moving rods.
“Okay, I’m reading Bender again,” Pyro announced. “Signal intensity isn’t all that great.”
Rade glanced at his HUD. Bender’s signal status was “connected” once more.
“Bender, bro, talk to me,” Rade said. “Sit-rep.”
“Everything’s fine,” Bender said, his voice distorting slightly. “The alien hasn’t tried to assault me or anything. But the atmosphere is venting… wait, okay, that was the last of it. There’s no atmosphere… just void. The alien isn’t affected in the least. Guess these suckers can hold their breaths for quite a long time. And I guess, given how resilient their bodies are, it’s not surprising the cold and lack of pressure aren’t affecting it.”
Rade reached the fifth floor with its moving rods and sprinted between them.
“Hm.” Bender said. “I take that back. The alien is showing signs of duress… it’s opening and closing those bifurcated jaws like it’s panting or something.”
“Maybe it’s turned on by you…” Pyro quipped.
Rade reached the ramp to the rooftop and started to scale it.
“A sign of duress?” Tahoe said. “Or a communication attempt? This could be its way of asking for a sample of your air. Maybe it wants to create a breathable environment for you.”