by D C Tullis
Irithril guided the board from street to street avoiding any area that could potentially be hiding hostiles. Eldevui apparently barked directions to her via her helmet, but neither of us could pick up on it. As such, we were running with whatever we were told was happening. After a good thirty minutes of gliding through back alleys, abandoned courtyards, over crumbling piles of rubble, and under bridges we finally reached an entrance of a rather massive facility. It was an architectural beauty shaped like a dome on the sides, yet with cathedral-esque roofing and painted glass windows on the fifth and sixth floors. Strange golden crystals jutted out upwards from the roof almost as if they were cavern stalagmites.
“What are those?” Ellie asked as she pointed towards the crystals.
“Those, my child, are the reason why this building is still in one piece. Look beyond it to its right and left. What do you see?”
“Skyscrapers,” I cut in
“Yes, a human term, but its meaning rings true here too. We were prepared for many disasters. However, a migration such as the one we are facing is something we were not ready for at all. Those machines are gravitational shielders. They prevent heavy objects from crushing the building, and are but one of many active defenses in this facility,” she finished.
“How do you know all this?” Ellie asked.
“I hear voices,” she said with a smirk.
I chuckled as Ellie turned her face away again with an annoyed look. At that point, Khail came around from the other side of the building and removed his helmet.
“The perimeter is clear, but we don’t know at what stage the defenses will be at inside the area. We will still need to proceed with caution,” he said as he wiped the sweat from his jet black hair. “Take this, you two.”
He tossed us two little glowing orbs. Which he then motioned for us to put in a small metal crevice in the left side of our body armor shoulder plating. I felt it instantly. A subtle buzz swept my hearing and then quickly tuned in to the voice of Eldevui rambling away. I nodded to Ellie and she put her orb in as well.
“Hands on your weapons, be prepared for anything,” Khail announced as we headed towards the metal door in the back.
✽✽✽
“Now yes, repeat after me Khail, Ash-ah Kho-lehk Nuub-dah Ve-hr,” Eldevui spoke clearly into our ears.
Khail took a deep breath and then began to recite, “Ash-ah Kho-lehk Nuub-dah Ve-hr.” Nothing happened, so we waited for a second and then Khail tried again, “Ash-ah Kho-lehk Nuub-dah Ve-hr.” Again, nothing happened. “This is testing my patience Eldevui. It is not working.”
“Try again,” Eldevui replied.
“We already did that. It is failing to activate,” Khail declared angrily.
“Okay, okay,” Eldevui said in a calming tone. “Option B, you punch through and hope the security system does not try to incinerate you in the process.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Irithril sarcastically exclaimed.
“You know what Eldevui? I actually rather like that idea,” said Khail.
“We can use the explosive charges. I packed…,” Irithril began.
“You know… I like Eldevui’s idea more,” Khail cut in as the armored glove on his right hand began to radiate a bright blue which pulsed up his biotech arm. “You might want to stand back.”
Just as he launched his fist right into the metal door Irithril shoved us back behind her armored stature.
“One more,” he grumbled as he slammed his fist once more into the massive dent he had created on the door. Seconds later, the door popped out of its frame and skidded back on the solid floor leaving a trail of sparks in its wake.
“We are not dead yet Eldevui, so I would say that we are fine,” he declared.
He tossed his arm behind him and motioned us forward. Ellie shot me a nervous glance. I put my hand on her shoulder reassuringly and we moved forward into the pitch-black facility. I quickly realized that the architecture strayed far from what we’d seen at the weapons testing lab. The walls were cut from a mesh which almost gave a hint towards metal, yet looked far closer to some sort of marble. Runes and glowing white text engraved within the walls gave a slight illumination to the otherwise darkened passageways.
“Lumus lihme,” Irithril whispered.
“What did you say?” I tapped her on the shoulder and asked.
She let out a long and exaggerated sigh before replying,” It’ll give you vision on your surroundings. Your suits should have the same functionality.”
“Lumus… that’s so sick...,” Ellie whispered. “I can see everything now, J. It’s like night vision, but without that stupid green hue.”
“Lumus,” I mumbled.
I felt a tickling around my eyes and then… nothing. Until I blinked anyway. Suddenly, I could see in the dim light. Every feature in the hallway was just as bright as if the roof had been removed and sunlight danced through the odd alien piping casting shadows upon the various doorways which littered the hall.
“Instructions, Eldevui, we are useless without them,” Khail said as he led us to the end of the hall and into the first of many decisions: A fork in the road.
“Oh yes, I nearly forgot. I have the map pulled up in my vision just in case my old brain has forgotten these sorts of things,” Eldevui said with a chuckle. “Turn right at this intersection. You shall follow the hall halfway and then take a left. Upon your arrival there, you shall descend three levels of stairs, cross the bridge through the initial control room, take a left and pass through the Test Lab’s Akh and Bej hallway, and then cut right into the maintenance office where you’ll find a shortcut into the maintenance transport stairs which will take you three levels down further and your first right should be the Central Security Office.”
“Eldevui,” Khail sighed. “Why did you not just download the facility maps on to our suits before we left?”
There was a momentary pause before Eldevui responded with a hint of embarrassment in his voice, “Maybe I am getting old. I do apologize.”
“Are you able to transmit the maps now?” Irithril responded.
“No, unfortunately not,” Eldevui answered. “All of the buildings between us now provide too much interference for the the available bandwidth. The map data is too large to transmit. We only have voice transmissions.”
“Jesus, this place is like a hedge maze,” I whispered to Ellie.
She snickered.
“Why do we not just take the sliders?” Irithril asked.
“Sliders?” Ellie asked as well.
“Yes, sliders, child,” Eldevui responded. “I can hear, see, and monitor your vitals just so you know, Ellie.”
Ellie blushed.
“Your heart rate just increased a bit. Did that statement somehow make you uncomfortable?” asked Eldevui.
“No. I don’t know. Maybe…?” Ellie replied awkwardly. “Our government back on Earth watches just about everything we do anyway. They happen to have taken a keen interest in Jason’s internet history, actually.”
“Wha... Oh come on, Ellie,” I said. “Cheap blow.”
“I am confused. What does this have to with sliders, and what is this internet you speak of?” Irithril inquired.
“Wow, you guys really don’t as much about Earth as you think you do,” I said as I lightly jabbed Ellie with my elbow.
“Quit the chit-chat back there. Eldevui, inform them of the sliders,” Khail declared as he guided us towards the first stairwell and our descent.
“Sliders, well… they are a sort of small-scale teleportation. Early forms of teleportation worked by separating your atoms and reforming them where you chose to land. In effect, killing a version of you… and then recreating one later.”
Ellie stopped moving to shoot me a look of absolute discomfort.
“The copy would hold the same motives and memory. The teleported individual simply became a perfect clone. At least that was how teleportation used to work. Portal Walkers use a different method for transport I have been
told. Anyway, sliding was the first alternative teleportation technology we perfected. It keeps your current state temporarily frozen as it shifts you through dimensions and then back into our own as a form of travel. We eventually improved it enough that it allowed for near distance teleportation,” Eldevui said.
“So, we’re not clones… whew…,” Ellie said as she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Towards your original question though, Irithril. Considering the defense system did not incinerate you on arrival, I would say that it is fairly likely that the power has been depleted or shut off. Which means the sliders are unfortunately dead. Conversely, it is possible someone just turned out the lights,” he said with a subtle chuckle.
“Funny,” Irithril grumbled.
I thought it was.
We had reached the stairs by this point and were following Khail’s lead, weapons in hand. Despite our improved vision, our detection of motion and colors still lacked a bit in those darkened halls. As we continued, the strange mesh walls began to widen and the ceiling raised slightly. After we had crossed a path of a few hundred feet, a large mechanized cylindrical tube blocked our vision of the other side of the room. Floating, miniature orbs of sky blue illuminated the machine. A curious beige liquid pulsed through it. It was a disturbing sight to behold. Something about the liquid just emitted an eerie sense of awareness. Small gestures and the occasional bubble emerged from within the cylindrical storage casing as we passed it. It gave me the chills.
“This place is suspiciously quiet,” Khail murmured to us.
Khail was right. This entire place felt like the setting for a b-grade horror movie, but without any of the bloodsoaked walls and jump-scares. It seemed far too odd for the facility to have been left completely ignored by the Eldritch hordes.
“Well, all of the scientists and engineers did get evacuated, Khail,” Eldevui spoke to us.
“I understand that, but that does not explain the lack of defenses or the complete lack of any Eldritch stragglers. They hit this sector viciously, yet completely ignored an advanced research facility. Individually, they are violent and stupid, but the leader which controls them is not,” said Khail.
“Leader?” I asked him.
“Yes. When the Eldritch began their migration, they brought down one of their lesser gods into our realm. We have not the slightest idea where he is lurking, but if our intel is correct we can be certain that he has been universally guiding them toward their objectives,” Khail replied.
“Based on our knowledge of the Eldritch, we believe it to be a form of psychic link,” Irithril added as we navigated over the colossal bridge to the opposing platform.
Ellie stopped to glance over the rail and quickly jumped back into the safety of the solid floor.
“Let’s not do that again,” she mumbled to herself.
I took a glance over too and went frigid with awe. For at least ten more floors below us, bridges connected the two opposing sides of the alien facility over an enormous gap. On each side rested layers of minerals which resembled emerald, sarcoline, and glaucous crystalline rock. For their purpose, though, I was none the wiser. Maybe they were resources used in energy production.
“How close are we getting to the payload?” Khail asked Eldevui as we crossed to the opposite end of the bridge and entered Testing Lab’s Akh and Bej.
Tables forged from what appeared to be rock aided the researchers in testing, however, the testing looked far from humane. Alien restraints hung from the sides of the tables, and a few splatters of dried blood or blood-like substances coated the tables. Small rooms containing large animal cages lurked around the corner. Their doors were forged with bulky metal and coated in marigold-tinted text. Each held a window on the door secured by sturdy sable bars. The doors were numbered and scratches of varying sizes coated the walls. The rooms appeared to have at some point held prisoners. Whether Fae or beast, their treatment must have been appalling.
“Stop to the right up there and you will be at the maintenance office. Cut through to the stairs and you will be right there. This whole recovery has come off far easier than I ever could have expected,” Eldevui replied.
“Do not hold your breath,” Irithril cautiously replied. “I do not like this area. The aura it emits feels violated.”
“How can you tell?” Ellie asked.
“I’m usually with you on this, but chill it with the questions for once,” I replied. “Now’s not the time.”
Hands on your weapons,” Irithril exclaimed.
I tightened my grip on my blade and moved into combat stance. I briefly glanced back at Ellie who, even though her pistol was drawn, was oohing and ahhing at the light fizzling off of my falchion.
Khail moved his right fist into a counting position as he leaned against the wall inches from the Maintenance Office’s door.
“Now repeat after me, Gesh Alqu-ah Aldan Meih-ohs,” Eldevui announced.
“Gesh Alqu-ah Aldan Meih-ohs,” Khail mimicked.
Nothing happened. We stood there in utter silence as we waited for a few moments.
“I am just going to bust it down again,” Khail declared.
“Halt,” Irithril spoke as she stuck her fist up and shoved Khail out of her way.
She pointed to the hinges which upon closer examination hung crushed and unattached. Irithril then casually lay a hand on the door and gave it a gentle shove sending it clattering to the floor.
The first thing we immediately picked up on was the wretched stench. It was a noisome cross between gutted fish and prune juice. The scent was so vivid it danced upon my tongue daunting me.
“What the hell?” I shuddered as I gagged and pinched my nose.
Ellie followed my motions and immediately pinched her nose as well. It failed to help as much as I hoped. The scent was so vibrant it damn near replaced the oxygen in the room.
“Masks,” Khail called out as he began to advance.
Irithril pointed to an unlit rune on our necks and simulated the motion of tapping it. We followed her instructions and immediately the veiny kevlar mesh expanded and shielded everything below our eyes. The filtered air was harder to breath than the real deal, but it was leagues above suffocating on that putrid scent. Meanwhile Khail and Irithril put their helmets on.
As we stepped into the room, I nearly regretted the decision entirely. The floor, which was decorated with a carpet of glorious golden spirals, lay defaced with gallons of dried alien blood.
Three Fae lay mutilated in the rightmost corner. An elderly male wearing what appeared to be a lab robe, and two younger female Fae dressed in what might have been research assistant or secretarial garb. Their organs hung from the walls of their opened bellies like dangling webs of flesh. The maintenance doorway stood bare. Flashes of indigo text burned themselves on the walls in rapid and unreadable kaleidoscopes of color and motion.
Khail moved towards the maintenance stairwell door and began to call out, “Keep your eyes….”
He was immediately cut off by the slicing force of an elongated limb fusing an unholy mixture of bone and scaly tentacle. The being, or should I say beings then began to burst out all around us. Three entered from the doorway behind us, while a crowd began entering from the stairwell. Four even broke through the metal ceiling above to drop down and further entrap us. These beasts were near impossible to accurately describe. They defied logical anatomy in every way. Ghoulish winding tentacles emerged from their chests and arms in random patterns. Their legs appeared amphibian and twisted, stained with the blood of previous slaughter. Every slight movement they took sent chills down my spine and sent me closer to shielding Ellie. The beasts of pure Eldritch blood were not the only ones who had cornered us. Fae disfigured by some daemonic conversion now shambled towards us. They no longer seemed sentient in their actions and they certainly weren’t alive any longer. Their eyes were an unpleasant lipstick red, their bodies contorted in unhealthy ways that seemed to crawl up your spine. These, however, proved of far less terror
than what was inhabiting their fleshy bodies. Their sweaty bodies were coated in cysts and lumps of nauseas proportions, and to make it even worse there were living things crawling beneath these bumps. Squirming, maneuvering, and burrowing through the bloated flesh.
I would have vomited right then and there had I not been overwhelmed by an intense surge of survival instinct.
“Stay together. If they divide us we are dead!” Khail shouted.
“Eldevui, do you copy?” I shouted into the comms. I heard nothing but a steady stream of static in response.
Ellie and I pushed our backs into each other as we readied to slaughter every last one of the vile beings. Khail launched our offensive as he removed two pistols from their holsters. Seconds later one of the infected Eldritch was missing a fist sized hole from its face. Mossy green ichor exploded from the wound and leaked down onto its slimy body. Irithril took this as her cue and she placed both hands on her staff and tightened her grip. Luminescent spearheads appeared on both ends of her staff. She took a deep breath and whispered, “Illus.” Suddenly, all of the color from her suit had faded. In its place remained a chameleon hue rendering Irithril almost invisible. She then reached into a pouch and withdrew three small globes about the size of golf balls. She tossed each ball in a different direction, one towards each group.
That’s when everything sort of went a tad bit insane. Shards of light shot out from one of the balls and began to dance in a strobe-like flutter around the room. It was blinding and certainly disorienting. The second and third ball exploded in thick fields of light grey gas that failed to visually impair us, but completely caused Irithril to disappear. I swung my gaze around the room and noticed that our attackers appeared to be just as confused as we were. Those who hadn’t launched into attack backed off a little before the row behind them forced them forward again.
“What the f...,” I began to mutter before I saw it.