by Devin Cain
"Whatever it is, we got an hour to snoop around the derelict before they come for a visit. Ready to go out?" I asked as we stopped next to a red hatch.
"And there I was wondering where you were taking me, Admiral. But yeah, I am. Are we taking anyone with us?"
"Hey there!" a cheerful voice called out from behind us. "Did you have so much fun with me the last time that you wanted a replay?" Levi chuckled.
"Shut it, Specialist. I need your expertise with locks and electronics. And Samson to draw unwanted attention if we do run into something unexpected."
"Hah! So that’s why you wanted me with you?" he asked as the two stopped right next to us. They looked comical with their two-foot difference in height.
"Yep. Put on the new helmets so we can carry you with us," I ordered, putting my hand on the hatch’s unlocking mechanism. "Ready? Go," I ordered as Gremory dove out the airlock. I changed into my battle form and went after her, grabbing the outer hull to steady myself, and caught both Samson and Levi. "Gremory, you’re the scout. Move it!"
"Yes, sir!"
She unfurled her wings and activated the booster on her back.
"Hold on to me," I said, unfurling my wings and flapping them a couple of times. "We’ll stick close to her, but far enough to avoid a confrontation."
"If you say so," Samsom rumbled as he held me around the waist with both arms. His big bulk felt uncomfortable around me, but it couldn’t be helped. At least the darkness outside more than made up for it. It was simply breathtaking, all the stars and the colors of a far-away nebula, the massive exhaust plumes of Devil and the flickering lights on the Quazzarian ship. It almost felt unreal, especially after gaining the ability to fly in outer space as Gremory had.
"The guns are swiveling my way, slowly but steadily," Gremory spoke over our comms unit. "I don’t think they’re going to fire just yet, but I feel like a sitting duck out here."
"Don’t approach them too quickly and do anything hostile. We’ll be there shortly."
Shortly turned out to be seven long minutes, which was seven minutes too long. In the best-case scenario, we would have another forty to fifty minutes before we needed to be back on Devil for the meeting.
"Good to see you’re still alive," I said as we stopped next to her, and floated in the dead of space. The ship was only another minute out, but it was better to be cautious. "Sure looks magnificent. The images on the screen didn’t do it justice," I whispered.
"Hell no. Just look at those cannons, the barrels are triple in size of our own. I'm getting jealous," Gremory said in awe. And she was right. Who knew what kind of firepower that behemoth possessed. But the main question remains: how did it become derelict in the first place?
"Say, Esma? Can you give me an approximate of what might have happened to it? I can’t get over it that such a ship could have been taken out."
"I’m sorry, Admiral," she replied. "There’s not enough data. The ship is in a good enough condition to fly and even do battle, but what happened to the crew is beyond me."
"Crew? Wait, you said earlier that you didn’t detect any life-signals, right?"
"Yes, sir. I did say that."
"Can you check for movement? It doesn’t matter what kind, as long as there’s something."
"Hmm, hold on, sir."
I waited for another minute. Our nervous glances told volumes as to what we thought about this whole situation, but I wanted that ship so badly. Then, before Esma could give me a response, a massive hatch sprung open, inviting us in.
"Sir! I’m reading hundreds of movements, but not a single life-form. Something’s jam—"
"Esma? Come in, Esma! Devil!"
"What the hell is going on? I can’t get through to Devil!" Gremory hissed. "Is the ship jamming us?"
A yellow-colored beam of energy shot out from the giant hole and tagged us, pulling our small group inside by force. Gremory tried to escape, but it was too strong.
"Shit, whatever it is, I don’t think we’re gonna like what’s waiting for us."
Chapter Forty-Four
The door closed shut behind us, hissing as fresh air filled the airlock. The energy beam still held us in mid-air as I looked around, but there was no one there, nothing but the dull, grey walls that surrounded us.
A faint scent of machine-oil filled my nostrils, along with the fresh scent of just forged metal. I looked around again, but I still couldn’t find anything that might be the source of the smell. Just when I was about to speak up, the beam dropped us the three-foot and disintegrated into nothingness. The only door in the room on the far wall slid open, but no one came in.
"They must be inviting us to join them, whoever they are," I muttered as Samson helped me up. The wings on my back were majestical and practical, but when you were down and tangled up in them, they were a nuisance at best.
"I guess," he replied. "Want me to go first?"
"No. Let Levi go first, as she can hide, and you can’t."
"W-what? I don’t want to go first!"
"Shh, we’ll be right behind you," Samson whispered. "I got your back, baby!"
"Aww, so sweet!" she chuckled and planted a big kiss on his lips."What are we waiting for, huh?"
I shook my head as I took up the spot behind her and motioned for Samson to go last and watch our six. He nodded and let Gremory pass him as we strolled out into the corridor. Deciding to play safe, I reconfigured my arms to two claws, and let Khepri take over half of my legs to make up for the balance.
Levi inched forward steady, keeping an eye out on me, probably taking comfort from knowing I was close by. Suddenly, the lights went out, all except for one corridor that was lit up.
"If this isn’t an invitation, I don’t know what is," I whispered. "Levi, I’m taking point."
"Thanks. This is getting scary!"
Gremory slapped the younger woman’s ass and cursed her cowardice, but all in a playful manner as they took up position behind me. As we moved on, I noticed old stains of blood and intestines. So something did happen to the crew, but who’d done it and why?
I held my hand up as we arrived at a junction. More lights flickered out, as one lit up, telling us to take a left. I obliged, not quite happy with my choice, but at least we were going in the right way, I guessed.
"What’s with the blood and gore?" Levi asked.
"I have no idea, but I don’t like it as well, Specialist. Everyone, be ready to fight at a moment’s notice."
"Yes, sir," the three replied in unison, accompanied by the whirring of Gremory’s metallic extensions. Levi’s gun materialized and scraped along the floor.
"Shit, this thing’s heavy!"
"Let me help you carry it, Specialist," Samson’s serious voice from behind said. I couldn’t help but smile at their exchange.
"Keep it down back there. We got no time to make love," I shot as I rounded the corner, and failed to hear their response. Another long corridor awaited us, along with more darkness. My heart rate had gone up at the unknown that awaited us.
"Stop and wait for further instructions," a metallic, robotic voice spoke over the corridor speakers. I held my hand up for them to stop and looked around, but again there was no one there: nothing but the static sound coming from the speakers.
"Levi?"
"Levi my ass! What do you expect from me, sir? For all I know an army of fucking robots is about to—"
"You and your fucked up ideas!" I cursed as an honest to god mechanoid walked our way. The thing was at least fifteen feet tall and heavily armored by a gunmetal-grey and blue polish that gleamed in the light. Red lights flickered where its eyes should be and on the chest, the knees, elbows and many more places. But why were they so exposed? I couldn’t help but immediately think of them as a weakness I could prey on.
Its legs took up half of its height, with the chest area and head taking up the second half. An eight-foot-long arm that ended with a long, sharp blade bound to its wrist pointed menacingly at me, while the second held a
rifle that dwarfed Levi’s. A Gebradim-like beetle shell hung off its shoulders and looked like it served a dual purpose of being a propulsion system as well.
"Shit, that thing’s beautiful," Levi whispered.
"Yeah, I can’t help but agree with you, Levi," I replied.
"But what are they? I haven’t seen anything like it before."
"No one has done so and lived to tell the tale," the robot spoke with the same, broken and metallic voice. It took a step toward us and lowered both the rifle and the withdrew the blade.
"You’re sentient?" Gremory asked as she stopped next to me. "Or is someone controlling you?"
"Both and neither. But that’s for later. Please, follow me into the hold. I don’t feel well in cramped spaces," the Mechanoid said as it turned its back on us. For a split second, thoughts of me attacking it crossed my mind, but then I noticed the sensory organs on its back and decided against it.
"There’s more of you?" I couldn’t help but ask. If there were, then we could have found ourselves a lot of problems.
"Many more. In your terms, I think you could say there’s a legion of us."
"What?" I hissed, unable to control myself. "This ship is large, but there’s no way a thousand of you fit on it!"
"You are right, Admiral. I never said there were a thousand assembled brethren on this ship, only that there’s a legion of us here."
"I see. You need materials to finish creating the rest of the bodies, am I right?" I asked.
"You’re quite perceptive for a sapient creature, Admiral. What’s more, I’ve picked up transmissions between a certain person of interest to you. His ship broke down, so we had all the time to go through his records and read his mind."
My heart skipped a beat, and another, and then another.
"Are you saying you have the previous Admiral somewhere on this ship?"
"Yes, Admiral, we do. But that begs the question, how is this conversation going to end?"
I was about to demand he hand Cafka over, but I stopped myself from making a stupid mistake. Instead, I wanted to pursue this another way.
"Can we sit somewhere and talk? We have about half an hour until we need to get back to our ship."
"Depends on what you want to talk about," the mechanoid replied, his body perfectly still as a statue.
"I’d be very interested to learn who and what you are, to tell you about us, and maybe come to a mutually beneficial agreement. You see, this ship was given to us by someone who bought it, but now that we’ve found you here, everything changed."
"Yes, indeed. Very well, follow me down this corridor. We’re very close to the place I’ve made my home."
"Thank you—umm, do you have a name?"
"We don’t have names, but if it makes you feel any better, you can give one to me if I decide to— cooperate with you."
"I see," I replied as he started moving. A thousand questions raced through my mind, and in that state, I didn’t even hear Gremory speak until she squeezed my shoulder.
"Do you think he’s for real?" she whispered.
"I damn hope so. Just imagine if we could get our hands on that grubby bastard. Oh, I’m already imagining doing all kinds of nasty things to him!"
"Calm down, you’re starting to glow. That robot might take offense," she whispered back. I closed my eyes as I tried to steady my breathing, but I couldn’t help it. Just the thought of getting back on that piece of scum for all of us was enough to do anything for the mechanoid.
"So," I started as we moved into the next corridor, "Are you a living being or an artificial intelligence? If you don’t mind me asking."
"We’re a symbiote between a sapient creature and a mechanical shell. I am the only Quazzarian survivor from this dreadnought."
"That’s quite interesting if I may say so. The technology must be so far advanced we could only dream of it," I replied curiously. "No, wait. This isn’t Quazzarian tech, right?"
"You are correct, Admiral. It’s not. But to be honest, we don’t even remember who created the shells the first time, for we’ve been alive for thousands of years."
"That’s—quite strange. Well, depending on who built you it might not be, but a thousand years ago, we hadn’t even sent our first spaceship up here."
"The expanse of our universe is quite something if you don’t mind me saying. You haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg, so to speak."
His metallic voice was starting to grow on me. At first, it had sounded annoying, but the way he imitated a cultural exchange of words and tried to express everything perfectly was a big plus in my book.
"How do you know our language?"
"I connected my mind to Admiral Cafka’s. From there on it was only a matter of time until I found the meaning behind every word. Speaking of which, we’re at the hold. Please, come inside," the Mechanoid said as a massive blast door slid to the sides, revealing an enormous area what felt like the center of the Quazzarian ship. Inside, a score of Mechanoids walked around busied themselves creating more of their brethren, or repairing others. It almost looked like a factory assembly line.
"This is quite the sight," Gremory said, finally joining in on our conversation. "This is beautiful."
"Yes, it is, Lady Death. And yes, I know who you are, or at least those who Admiral Cafka remembers. He had a great dislike to you and Admiral Cain. It’s so fascinating."
"Trust me, not quite as our dislike of him. Speaking of the devil, when can we see him?"
The claxons started blaring as the ship lurched. A Quazzarian voice started speaking over the speakers, probably warning us of battle.
"Your ship has opened fire on us, please tell them to stand down, or we’ll be forced to retaliate," the mechanoid said calmly.
"You’re jamming our signal, we can’t get through!" Gremory protested.
"I see. Please, try to contact them now."
"Devil?" I asked, my voice slightly laced with panic.
"Yes, I’m here. What’s going on?" he asked.
"Not now. Stop firing on the ship, or you’ll get us killed. I’ll fill you in later, but for now stand down. That’s an order!"
"Alright. We’ll stand down, but don’t disappear on us again. Kris almost had a heart attack."
"Tell her we’re fine. Talk to you soon."
"You Humans have such inferior technology, it’s almost sad," the mechanoid said when I stopped talking to Devil. "If such a small device could render your communications inoperable, you have a long ways to go."
"Oh, we do. And maybe with your help, we’ll be able to advance much faster," I laughed, knowing very well in what shape Earth’s ships were, or at least those that didn’t belong to one of the three main legions.
"Maybe. It much depends on what you can offer us, young Admiral."
"Freedom? A place to call your own? I don’t know what you’re searching for, but many people want just that, freedom and the right to live their lives as they choose to do so."
"Remember, we’re not Humans. But I will be very honest with you, as you’ve been very open toward me, Admiral. We wish to have a landmass where we can build our structures, our factories, and our army. Would that be acceptable?"
"Only if you’re loyal to us, or at least on very friendly terms. And your army capability can’t exceed my own, otherwise you’d be able to take over very easily."
"Oh? So you wish us, an ancient race, to bow down to you?"
"No, I don’t. Look, I’ll be blunt with you here," I said, deciding to come clean and see how it goes. "We’re outcasts from Earth and are on our way out of their territory. There is a planet, however, which we want to lay claim to. It’s very spacious, so all of us can easily fit on there. One more thing, though, we’re not just humans on these ships. There’s the Gebradim and the Svadrians. I have enough of them to start a colony each, and then there are the natives of the planet in question. See, they’re bred warriors, so imagine what you could accomplish if you managed to create a union with the natives."
"And who are these natives? What is their race?"
"I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you, or you might end up going there without me."
"I see. You’re distrustful, I like that. No one should believe someone else’s word just like that without anything to back it up. Let me be the first one to reach out to you."
He stopped speaking and just stood there. I thought about offering him my hand but refrained from doing so.
"Thank you," I said after a long moment of uncomfortable silence, but the mechanoid just nodded slightly. A thick, metallic door slid open, revealing a dark room. A light lit up, revealing a broken and mistreated Cafka hanging from two chains.
"What’s your price?" Levi and Samson asked at the same time. I found it rather funny, as I was about to do the same.
"He’s free, but there’s another problem we need your help with."
"Oh? What’s the problem?"
"The humans who wish to board your spaceship, they are the problem."
"Why so? They’re part of our old legion, so they shouldn’t pose a problem for you."
Metallic, rumbling laughter reverberated all around us. It was a strange sensation to see the mechanoid laugh, or imitate laughter at least.
"They are as much Human as I am, Admiral."
"What do you mean they’re not Human?" Gremory snapped. "I talked to Captain Scarlet. She’s an old friend of mine!"
"Then you haven’t looked close enough, little Human. You see, they’ve been trying to gain access ever since they blew up the ring a week ago, but we’ve fought them off, and even killed three of their boarding teams. Now, when we sliced them up as we do with all of our enemies, we found them quite different from Humans on the inside. Would you like to see some of their corpses?"
I frowned, disgusted by the thought, but I wanted to know what we were up against. Then I got an idea that could help us with that problem.
"Could we take one of the corpses back to our ship? We have a scientist who is very good at these things."
"Yes, and you can take that Cafka creature with you as well. We can talk again once you’ve had the time to study them."