The Ascension Myth Box Set

by Ell Leigh Clark

  Yeah?

  Well, I’ve noticed something interesting.

  Do tell.

  You remember we got the safe house data from a search I’d set up?

  Hmm.

  And it returned the somewhat anomalous result that led us here…

  Yeah.

  Well that was one of my samples.

  Of how many samples.

  13 billion, 368 million, 140 thousand and 26.

  Okay.

  Then I happened to use some of the code on the server we were using to communicate with Sean.

  And?

  Oz threw the results and the patterns he’d detected onto the holo in front of her.

  That is some seriously elegant shit! Molly felt herself getting excited.

  Are you getting…?

  Leave it, Oz.

  Molly reread the code and then looked at Oz’s analysis again.

  Does it show up anywhere else?

  It does.

  Oz produced the videos on a second holo frame and Molly waved it into her view.

  It was encrypted, but it looked familiar, so I pattern-matched the code from the previous two samples in order to decode it.

  The video clips started playing. It was the same video that Pieter had shown her of Sean capturing the second toxin device.

  That means-

  -that someone was tapped into Pieter’s cameras and was monitoring their every step?

  Exactly. Have you found it anywhere else on the XtraNET?

  I can’t scan the whole NET, simply because we’re downloading only packets at a time - to both cope with the huge distance, and to remain anonymous. But I did find one more thing that you’ll find… interesting.

  A third holo frame started playing a video.

  Oh, Oz, you’ve got the wrong one. This is of the workshop downstairs.

  Oh, no… it’s the right one.

  He paused, letting it play a little.

  WE don’t have any cameras downstairs. And there is no signal or feed streaming anything in or out of this building. But-

  Molly watched Brock hauling boxes from in front of the spooky door.

  How come there is an encrypted video from there?

  Yeah. How come?

  I have no idea.

  Brock had started moving the boxes back to cover up the door again.

  Is this the only video from there?

  No. The camera, wherever it might be hidden, seems to be motion-activated. This was just the first time anyone went near the sensor to trigger it. At least, since we got here, and as far as these videos tell us.

  So where were these videos being stored?

  All I can tell you is that they came up when I did a search. There is no data, no trail I can follow to tell us where the 1s and 0s are physically stored.

  Molly sat back in her chair, eyes wide, mouth half open, mind completely blown.

  * * *

  Molly, you there? Molly?

  Joel arrived into the room and sat down in the seat next to her. “Hey, Molly. You okay?” he asked her.

  Her eyes were glazed over, as if she weren’t even in her body.

  Joel spoke a little more loudly. “Okay, Oz, I dunno if you can hear me through Molly’s auditory implants, but I got your holo message. I’m here. What’s going on?”

  Joel’s holo flashed. TRY NUDGING HER.

  Joel reached out and pushed on her arm. Then her shoulder. “Molly…” he called out to her gently. “Oz, is this something to do with that meditation shit she’s been doing?”

  Joel’s holo flashed again. I DON’T THINK SO. HER BRAIN WAVES HAVE BEEN SLIGHTLY ALTERED SINCE SHE’S BEEN DOING THAT BUT NOT ENOUGH TO PUT HER INTO A TRANCE.

  Joel was showing signs of real concern. “Okay, so what’s going on with her - in her brain?”

  I CAN’T TELL. I’M PUSHED OUT OF HER CORTEX SO I’M OPERATING MOSTLY THROUGH THE HOLO AT THE MOMENT.

  The concern in Joel’s voice was mounting. “What was she doing before this happened?”

  THINKING.

  Joel chuffed. “Like that’s anything to write home about…”

  Suddenly Molly took a deep breath and seemed to return to the room. She looked confused, like she was surprised to be there.

  Joel put his hand on her arm, and then on her head and stroked her hair. “Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

  Molly’s eyes darted left to right, as if reading. She pulled one of the holo screens towards her. “We’re being monitored. By something way more powerful than Oz.”

  She stood up.

  Oz, monitor all frequencies; electromagnetic and otherwise.

  She headed for the door.

  Joel spun around in his chair, watching her. Registering she was leaving, he got to his feet too, and followed.

  Soon Molly was jogging down the corridor and towards the basement door. Joel had to practically run to keep up with her. “Molly, what’s going on?” he called after her, his face transfixed with worry.

  “I need to check something,” she told him, with just a hint of excitement in her timbre.

  She quickly pounded down the stairs and then through the empty workshop over to the door. She looked as if she were aiming to grab the handle and walk through it. Instead she stopped suddenly, just in front of it, and then turned around.

  She looked up.

  Joel caught up with her and stopped beside her. He looked up at where she was looking, trying desperately to understand what was happening.

  Are you monitoring everything, Oz?

  Yes. Recording on all possible channels.

  Molly waved in the direction of the camera.

  Anything?

  Nothing.

  Not even a blip in a circuit somewhere?

  Nothing.

  Molly paused, thinking. Joel just watched, knowing better than to try and get an answer at this stage.

  Molly looked at the ground, wracking her brain for something else to try.

  Just then, she became aware of a faint rumbling, as if something around the area was powering up. A red glow started flashing, filling this whole corner of the workshop.

  Molly and Joel looked around, looking for the source of the light and the humming.

  An audio feed cracked on, and static sound filled the room.

  “Congratulations, Molly Bates. And Team.”

  The voice was commanding, and older. “You have earned the right to pass.”

  The pair looked at each other, eyes wide, and ears disbelieving.

  Holy fuck!

  Holy fuck is right.

  The heavy, metal, reinforced door of mystery - with no keypad or access point - seemed to be unlocking. Mechanical parts sliding over each other made a sound that thrilled Molly to her core. A thrill ever-so-slightly different from the thrill she had looking at the elegant computer code not long ago.

  Joel immediately stepped in front of Molly, and stood strong, adrenalin putting him in full battle mode. She rushed forward, though, intent on seeing whatever was happening up close and personal. She moved to the door, gathering intel through all of her senses; listening to the door, looking for the moving parts or any signs of an access point appearing.

  Joel tried to pull her back, but she shrugged him off, enthralled by the unfolding of something she couldn’t understand.

  The door opened a crack and a musty scent, carried on cold air, wafted out.

  Without thinking, Molly reached out and pulled on the door, heaving it open. Joel grabbed her hand.

  “What are you doing?”

  Molly blinked at him. “Well, duh. I’m having a look.”

  She pulled at the door. It was heeaaaavvy. As soon as it was open enough, she turned and pushed a little to create enough space to walk through easily. Somewhere in there, Joel started helping.

  As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could see another small corridor. Short. There was a set of
double doors at the end, and another to the left. A damp musty smell hung in the air. It was as if no being had been there for decades.

  Molly felt excitement well in her chest. She started to move forward, but Joel pulled her back, stepping in front of her.

  “Uh uh,” he told her definitely. “Geeks behind Gladiators. You don’t know what’s in there.”

  Something in his tone said that even though he was trying to be “space marine honorable,” his actions were actually because he cared.

  Molly appreciated the sentiment. Even in this moment of finally seeing what might lie behind this door, she noticed his hand slip from her arm as he stepped in front of her.

  Joel moved forward, well aware that if he didn’t get on with it, Molly would get out in front of him, and walk into who knew what.

  He moved towards the first door. “We sweep like in training, yeah?” he instructed Molly.

  Molly couldn’t see anything but his big shoulders in front of her.

  “Fine,” she said, a little frustrated.

  Joel moved to the door. He had no weapon on him, but this couldn’t wait for him to fetch one. And besides, what was going to be alive - that he could shoot – anyway? The thought of the dimensional travelers whipped through his mind. He shuddered.

  He pushed through the door. It was stiff and heavy, but there were no handles or visible locks. It swung open against his weight. He headed in, Molly in close proximity behind him and straining to see past him. He headed into the room and scanned it visually, his eyes now adjusted to the dark. He told Molly to hold by raising his arm vertically head height with his fist clenched.

  She huffed, and stood, noisily stomping her boots together like an impatient child. He ignored her and moved through the room. Molly watched him disappear along the wall.

  Something started humming, and lights started flashing here and there. A glow started up around the periphery, as if the room was waking up.

  Joel’s voice came through the darkness. “What did you do?” he hissed.

  Molly used her normal indoor voice. “Nothing. Jeez.” But now, with light revealing more of the detail of the room, Molly moved closer to an object in front of her. It seemed like a console. Or table.

  Console… definitely a console.

  There was another in front of it, and another to the side.

  Molly looked over as far as she could see. The walls were becoming illuminated, and the size of the room was quickly becoming apparent.

  Molly stood with her mouth open. She was standing in what could only be an operations room. Consoles hummed, and screens started flickering on. There were giant star maps plotted on a holo over on the far side of the enormous room. Maps she didn’t recognize. Space she’d never seen before.

  She looked across at Joel, who was crouched a little, having been stealthily moving through the darkness. Now revealed in plain sight, he looked like a doofus.

  “Ops room?” she asked him.

  Joel stood up straight and looked around, hands now on his hips. “Yup. Ops room.”

  Molly grinned, the excitement of childish adventure spilling out of her. She jumped up and down on the spot silently squealing and clapping her hands together.

  Joel looked over at her, grinning at her enthusiasm. “You look like you’re gonna burst.”

  “Eeeeeeeee!” she squealed audibly this time. “I think I might.”

  Well that’s another way to kick me out of your circuits.

  Molly ignored Oz, noticing another door on the other side of the control room.

  Joel looked over the equipment and wandered over to one of the consoles. “Looks like super advanced shit. Enough tech here to run a war…”

  Molly was already heading towards the next door. She jogged past him, catching his attention. His eyes followed her as she approached the door that would lead them deeper into this place.

  Joel realized what was happening. “Wait!” he called after her.

  Without hesitation, Molly pushed her way through the second door. Again, she stepped into blackness, her night vision shot to bits from the lights coming through next door.

  “Molly!” Joel was calling after her. “Are you sure you want…” and with that he was standing right beside her, also straining to see into the darkness.

  She stepped inside, and generators started to hum. Lights started coming on at various points. The pair stood watching, trying to make out what was there. There was lots of space… but after the space, there were racks. Racks and racks of…

  “Weapons!” Joel breathed.

  Molly wandered over to the racks. These were some big ass guns and stunners. She ran her fingers over a couple of them. “Don’t recognize any of these from my time in the military. They look kinda hi-tech.”

  Joel had moved over to one of the racks and was examining one without touching it. He peered closer, able to see more with each second, as the ambient light increased gently. “Yep. Definitely nothing here from the Sark System. This is alien.”

  Molly giggled. “So FUCKING cool!” she exclaimed.

  Joel stepped back out from the racking to see her emerge from another row, and walk briskly down the aisles.

  “Shit!” she said now in her outdoor voice, calling back to him.

  Joel started jogging to catch up to her. He had no idea how big this room was, but it was starting to feel like a warehouse. An underground frikkin’ warehouse behind a secret door, which someone had let them venture through.

  His internal conspiracy theorist suddenly went nuts: Maybe it’s a trap. Maybe it’s a government organization that they’d happened upon, and now they were going to kill them. Maybe it was a recruitment center for terrorists.

  Shit - he should give his conspiracy theorist voice a fokking name, at this point.

  Molly interrupted his thoughts. “Big fuck-off artillery down this way…” she told him.

  He caught up to where she was standing, looking down an aisle with different types of racks holding shells, bombs, and all kinds of badassery.

  “Enough to run a war,” he repeated.

  Molly nodded. “Looks about right,” she said. “You recognize any of this shit?”

  Joel shook his head. “I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s all from outside our system. This tech is too advanced. We’d need to look at it more carefully to figure out some of this shit. All I can say at this point is that it doesn’t look like someone was just trying to put on a fireworks show for the local PTA meeting.”

  Molly glanced over at him. She grinned the biggest grin he had ever seen. His heart stopped for a moment. And then she was gone.

  “Hey, wait up…” he called after her. She was jogging back through to the ops room.

  “Come on!” she called excitedly. “I wanna see what’s behind door number three!”

  * * *

  Meanwhile, back in the workshop, Brock had re-emerged with a fresh mocha from upstairs. He went back to his workbench and reactivated the holo frames he had left out.

  He paused. Something felt… different. He looked around his workspace. Everything was as he had left it.

  He started reading one of the holo screens, getting his head back into what he’d been doing. Absentmindedly, he reached for his mocha, and brought it to his lips. To sip it, he had to pull his eyes from the screen. He lifted his head up and tipped the cup back, allowing him to take in a mouthful of the beautiful, hot nectar.

  And that’s when he saw it.

  Across the workshop, the door. The door was opened. His eyes went wide. His heart went to his mouth.

  His mouthful of mocha sprayed all over the workbench.

  “HOLY FUCK WITH A DEVIL ON THE ICE CREAM!!!” he shouted without thinking.

  “Molly!” he shouted. “Molly! Molly!”

  He ran towards the stairs, then back to the workbench to see if he could call her on her holo. Then he changed his mind again and decided to try and find her.
/>
  Conference room, he thought.

  He scrambled towards the stairs, nearly falling over himself. He had his foot on the first step when he heard voices.

  Molly’s voice.

  From THE OTHER SIDE of the open door.

  He barely remembered getting there, but next thing he knew, he had covered the length of the workshop and was at the door, watching Molly and Joel come out of a room off to the left, down a very short corridor.

  “It’s incredible!” Molly said to him excitedly. Her face beamed.

  Brock stepped back away from the doorway.

  Molly looked at him. “Brock, what’s wrong?”

  Joel looked at him too. “He’s gone… pale.”

  Brock looked down at his arm, and pinched it with his other hand.

  Joel grinned. “Not dreaming, buddy. Come on, Molly wants to check out that door at the end of the corridor.”

  He beckoned for Brock to follow. “I have the job of stopping her from setting off any booby traps, or starting up the Etheric Wars with the shit we’re finding in here,” he joked.

  Brock couldn’t believe how relaxed they were. His eyes still wide and his heart now beating out of his chest, all he could do was nod. He took a few steps forward.

  Molly skipped off to the double doors at the end of the corridor, followed closely by Joel.

  Brock silently and cautiously traipsed after them.

  Now more confident they weren’t going to step into a room holding a monster or a trap, Molly burst through the double doors to find herself standing on a platform, overlooking what could only be described as a hangar-deck.

  As the lights slowly started coming on, it became apparent that this was where they kept the ships. Starships. Actual space-going starships! None of the interplanetary shit they’d been playing with.

  No, these were the things of the legends. The things that they had assumed existed in other systems where civilizations would trade with and fight each other.

  Dozens of ships were all around. And they had guns, and missiles, and all kinds of “toys” for blowing things to shit.

  But there, in the center, was a ship to rival all ships. It looked like it could carry at least a hundred troops, and took up most of the deck. But that wasn’t what had instantly grabbed Molly’s attention. Painted on the side was something that made her squeal with sheer delight.