by J. N. Chaney
“Tell me about it. Last time Nero was late, Janus gave him extra homework. I think he had to cancel a date.”
We chuckled, then said our goodbyes and split up. He went toward the engineering lab and I headed for class.
I slipped in and took a seat next to Karin just as Janus turned down the lights to play something on the wall screen. Our classes were always held in one of the viewing rooms since it was easier when we had to watch a holo recording.
This time, the image depicted our own cave system. I perked up instantly. The current view was of an empty tunnel, partially obscured by debris. The camera was operating on infrared and the picture was green. Nothing moved and I wondered what our teacher had planned.
“The caves,” Janus began, “are a massive network that runs through the mountains in the valley. For Selection, you will be required to navigate them. In order to do so safely, each of you must learn the dangers.”
“Like what?” asked Nero. “The wolves?”
The Cognitive inclined his head. “Among other things.”
Janus was always cordial, even if someone was rude to him. I didn’t know if it was possible for him to be anything else, but I appreciated his calm demeanor.
He flicked his wrist and the view on the wall changed. Now the feed showed a bony pack of wolves roaming through a tunnel. I raised my hand.
“Yes, Miss Visaro?”
“What section is this in?” I asked, pulling out my datapad to take notes.
Janus smiled, his hard light simulated clothing giving off a light glimmer. “Quadrant D, near Facility 1. I’ll send the coordinates to everyone.”
A second later the information appeared on my pad. I opened a map of the tunnel system and studied the area.
Before we arrived on the planet, the wolves had roamed the caves freely. It had been their home. Many disappeared when the facilities were constructed but returned after the collapse.
“As we’ve learned,” Janus said, turning to sweep a gaze over the group, “communication outside this compound is spotty. With the other facilities down, we have no way of keeping the signals strong.”
Another dot appeared on my map, then a few more. The first one blinked brightly, then each subsequent one leading away from our position faded until the last one barely lit up at all.
“Can anyone tell me what you’re seeing?”
I raised my hand again, but so did Karin.
“Ms. Riddell?”
“A fading signal?” she answered.
Janus smiled. “That is correct. Take note of the signal radius. If you should find yourself in trouble outside of it, you will need to rely on your education and wits to make it back. Now, listen closely.” His voice took on a grave tone and he flicked his wrist again.
A large hole in one of the tunnel walls dominated the scene and I leaned forward. Others mirrored the move as we tried to make sense of the image.
“What is that?” asked Nero, sounding annoyed.
“It is a hole, Mr. Costas.”
I grinned at Janus’ response, though I know he didn’t mean it in any way.
“Yeah, but what made it?” Nero pressed on. “I mean, couldn’t it have been a cave in, or the wolves?”
“Excellent question. This appeared a few days ago. One of our scavenging teams found it and took this picture. Unfortunately, there isn’t any footage of what caused it. With the power restrictions in effect and the lack of functioning recorders, there won’t be.”
The image changed to a closeup of the rock where the hole stopped. Striations had been cut deep into the surface.
“Boneclaw markings,” said Nell Thompson. Nell was the best tracker in our class, and it didn’t surprise me at all that she spoke up. She was small and wiry, but what she lacked in size she made up for in scrappiness.
Janus nodded. “Yes. The wolves lack the strength and the tunnel extended beyond the 50 meters the team explored, ruling out a cave in. It seems the Boneclaws are the source, but it is unclear why.”
“Will we still enter the caves for training and the Selection Trials?”
I didn’t see who spoke, but process of elimination told me it was Mark. There were only a handful of us in Selection Training, and only he and Allan hadn’t spoken. Allan sounded gruff compared to Mark’s nasal timbre.
Mark was our resident know-it-all. He was a nice enough kid, but he spent most of his time studying, saying he preferred reading the study texts to people.
Allan was just the opposite. I wasn’t sure the guy ever studied, preferring to get through as many tasks as he could with brute strength. He also had the annoying habit of following Nero around and agreeing with almost everything he said.
“Oh yes,” said Janus, and he turned on the lights. “It is perhaps more important now than ever that all of you hone your skills. Fusion cores and other resources will still need to be scavenged from the other facilities.”
My earlier conversation with Josef was still fresh in my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder about the future. What would life be like when the last frost horn was gone from the valley, there were no more fusion cores to be found, and the tritium power was completely drained?
My datapad pinged again. A large red marker pulsed outside the radius of communications, then a few smaller blue dots appeared at different locations in the other two facilities.
“The red marker is the Boneclaw tunnel. Cyril has deemed it off limits until the area has been cleared by a hunting party. Known wolf dens are shown in blue. You will pair up in teams of two and enter the caves with Alma or another seasoned hunter for practice in a few days’ time.”
Karin and I exchanged a knowing look. We always partnered together, if given the chance. I could honestly say she was my best friend.
“That’s all for today,” Janus continued. “I must meet with Cyril and the Primes to discuss colony matters. If your weapon projects are not complete, I suggest using this time to work on them.”
The Cognitive blinked out of sight, leaving us to talk freely.
“Do you really think there are Boneclaws in the caves?” I said excitedly, pushing my datapad aside and leaning over my workspace.
Mark looked up with wide eyes and stared at me before sweeping a frantic gaze over the others. “They don’t ever come this far into the caves. There had to be a cave-in or something and they just dug it out,” he said.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Nero said, a hint of smugness behind his words.
Every head in the room snapped to him, waiting for an explanation.
He hesitated, then shook his head. “I’m not supposed to say anything.”
Nell huffed and rolled her eyes. “You can’t just say something like that and not follow up.”
Across the connected tables, Allan grunted his agreement.
“We all know you wanted us to ask you for more information. Now just tell us,” sighed Karin. We exchanged a smirk and stared at Nero expectantly.
He hesitated a moment longer then sat up a little straighter, looking at each of us in turn to make sure we were listening. “I heard my dad and some of the other hunters talking before I left this morning. They think the Boneclaws are organizing.”
“Get real,” Karen scoffed. “We’ve been here nearly 2000 years, and not once have they done anything sentient. How could they suddenly be ‘organized?’”
I thought back mourning Boneclaws. It suddenly didn’t seem too farfetched after all.
Nero shrugged. “I don’t know. Evolution? Look at us, for example.” He spread his arms out in an encompassing motion.
“That was gene manipulation, not evolution,” Mark pointed out. “The Eternals were trying to get back their immortality. They wanted perfection, and they got it, just not the way they wanted.”
“Yeah, they’re the perfect murder machine,” I added.
“And now they’re in our caves,” Nero said gravely.
“Which is why that area is off limits,” Karin commented.<
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Nero sighed. “For how long though? Something needs to be done.”
Everyone was quiet for a beat.
“You don’t mean us?” Mark asked, going even paler than usual.
“Honestly, Mark. How are you even a prospus?” Allan snickered.
Mark went red. “I’m just saying, it would be ridiculously dangerous to go. Not to mention stupid.” He tossed Allan a pointed glance, but the barb went over the other prospus’ head.
Nell spoke up next, a trace of pride in her tone. “The colony is constantly on the verge of extinction. Part of that is because of the Boneclaws. It might be dangerous, but what do you think we’ve been training for?”
“Exactly!” agreed Nero, slapping a hand down on the table, which made Karin and Mark jump. “If it gets left to roam, it might come to the compound next.”
“The key word there is ‘training.’ None of us is actually a hunter yet,” Karin argued. “We’re not equipped to take on a Boneclaw by ourselves. Or more than one, if it comes to that.”
A snicker came from Nell’s side of the table. “Speak for yourself.”
“Do you know how much trouble we could get into for going against the Director's orders?” She looked at me for help.
Nero turned and focused on me. “What about you, Visaro? Scared as well?”
I tended to lean in the same direction as Karin and Mark. If we got caught, the Primes would not be happy, especially so close to Selection. Plus, I actually wanted to make it to the ceremony. Still, I had to admit it was interesting.
“She’s too much of a daddy’s girl,” Allan guffawed when I didn’t answer, then he turned to slap hands with Nero, who just shook his head. Crestfallen, Allan let his hand drop awkwardly.
Everyone was quiet, waiting for me to say something.
“Well?” Nero prompted.
“I’m not a daddy’s girl,” I said, slanting a look at Allan, who smirked. “But I am the Director’s daughter. I know the caves are off limits until the problem is resolved, for everyone’s safety. For all we know, a team is already gearing up to go. You really want to run into them and explain why we’re there?”
Everyone seemed to consider that for a few minutes.
“Well, I guess if you’re too scared,” Nero started to say, but I stood up, the legs of my chair scraping loudly on the floor.
“Fear isn’t the issue,” I told him, gathering my datapad. “I’m just not willing to get kicked out of Selection just to go exploring.”
4
As Janus had suggested, I made my way to the engineering lab to work on my prototype. Part of the Selection evaluation centered around our projects working. Josef had been helping me here and there with some of the electrical components, and I’d created the initial design, fabricated the shaft from pieces of scrap found in the caves, and written the code.
The lab door slid open as I approached, revealing the darkness inside. That meant Jo wasn’t working or had become so absorbed in a task that he hadn’t bothered to reactivate the bright, motion-activated lights.
It turned out to be the former as the lights blinked on to expose the empty space. I’d half expected to find Josef hunched over one of the workspaces doing calculations, but he wasn’t there. I preferred his company to almost anyone else’s, besides Karin, but I also enjoyed working alone. Sometimes I just thought better with no one else around.
I walked over to the biometrically locked storage area to retrieve my nearly complete weapon. The storage area consisted of variously sized lockers, with one large portion dedicated to fusion core storage.
Only the Science and Prime Engineer or his apprentice had access. Everyone else had to send a request to Acquisitions, which was a pain. Supervised students could study the cores in class but couldn’t request them unless Janus signed off.
My staff looked good, though it couldn’t activate on my touch without a source of power. I carried it hurriedly to the table.
I’d chosen to build a directed energy staff for a few reasons. Primarily, I didn’t think anyone else would think of the same thing, so I’d get points for creativity. It would be much harder to build than a rifle or spear, but could be more versatile. If it worked as I intended, once a fusion core was integrated to the power housing, it would be capable of firing beams of energy pulses of varying strengths.
It was nearly ready. I grabbed a test energy cell and brought it to the table. Though not as powerful or long lasting as a fusion core, the cells were still a precious commodity here in the caves.
When I inserted the cell, the staff reacted by lighting briefly. Then, I laid my hand on it and watched my tattoos light up in tandem with the markings I’d painstakingly etched into the metal shaft. I picked up the staff and held it in my hands. A thrill whispered through me at the sight, only to sputter and die when the power running through the staff pulsed red and faded to nothing.
This had been an ongoing problem I’d asked Josef to let me solve alone. I needed to know my weapon inside and out. He wouldn’t always be there to help me fix it.
The staff was tied to my biometrics and designed to react to me alone. I’d used the data from my tattoos to code it, and it worked until I used both hands. It had been a point of frustration for the last week and I had yet to figure it out.
I opened the schematics and began studying the notes again on my datapad. The bio locks used the unique identifier of my tattoos and I’d taken that directly from a scan of my signal. Everything worked perfectly up until a few seconds after the point of contact from my other hand.
An inspection of the data showed a discrepancy between the origin signal and something that was identified as a handoff process.
If I took the bio coding out of the sequence, it worked fine, but not just for me. Anyone with the Eternal skin tech could access most of the equipment because that made sense for day-to-day activities. For my weapon, however, I wanted it to respond to no one else.
I kept coming back to the handoff process. A deep dive into the subject revealed that when two individuals came into contact with the same piece of tech that was designed for a single user, the coding was written to allow for dual contact as long as one person let go within an allotted time.
This had to be it. I spent the next few minutes tweaking the algorithms for signal detection then did another test run.
I held my breath and willed the staff to work as I laid first one hand, then the other, on the shaft. It pulsed red again, this time faster than before. When I checked the fault code, the problem was different. It now read “identical identifier detected.” Still an error, but it was progress.
After another hour of tweaking, I was ready to try again.
The staff sat propped up on a stand and I curled one hand around the grip. It glowed to life and my tattoos followed suit. I didn’t move right away and made sure the connection held. The lights went out, since I hadn’t made any big gestures in a while, but the light from the staff was bright enough. With one last deep breath, I laid my other hand on the staff.
There was a single pulse as the handshake completed its process and the staff continued to glow. I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over my face and satisfaction flowed through me.
I was about to wave the lights on again when a voice sounded outside the door and I waited, expecting Josef. My first thought was that it would be funny to startle him. A voice chimed in and I realized if it was Jo, he wasn’t alone.
The pair spoke in low tones, obviously not wanting to be heard, but I could make out some of it.
“We can talk here; the apprentice is with Elias and the prospus are in class with Janus. What did you hear?”
So it wasn’t Josef. I remained still and kept listening.
“The hunters didn’t make it back. Only Mario, and he said that they were attacked by a Boneclaw in the caves,” said the second man.
“This is the third attack and yet Cyril does nothing. This cannot continue,” replied the first.
�
�It won’t. If things go according to plan, he won’t stay in charge for much longer.”
I didn’t recognize who the voices belonged to and leaned forward trying to catch more.
“There’s a meeting later. Tell the others. Go to—”
The lights turned on from my movements and cut off the speaker.
“What was that? Never mind, let’s go talk somewhere else.”
Damn, I thought, as two sets of feet shuffled away from the door. That hadn’t sounded good at all. My earlier elation from the staff’s success had faded and been replaced by worry. I put my tools away and placed the weapon in a storage locker before heading out of the lab. I had to tell my father what I’d just heard.
I found him with Janus and my mother in one of the conference rooms. The conversation looked grave and I wondered if he already knew about the plot forming against him.
“Lucia dear, come in,” he said, waving me inside. “This concerns you as well.”
I entered the room and made my way around the battered table to stand with them. Janus inclined his head in greeting and offered me one of his kind smiles. I returned it, then kissed my mother on the cheek before turning my attention to Cyril.
“Father, I’ve just heard something disturbing.”
He sighed and nodded. “The missing hunting parties?”
“Yes—” I started to say, intending to tell him about the rest of the conversation I’d witnessed, but he cut me off.
“The colony is getting anxious, but I don’t want to make a move until we understand fully what is going on.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Mario believes that the monsters are waging a war on us.”
“Aren’t they just doing what they’ve always done? Killing when we get too close?”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know that they’re killing the hunters. At least not all of them. There’s little blood where they are going missing.”
“I’ve never heard of them doing that,” I said incredulously.