Hard drops were no easy feat, especially for the inexperienced. Which would explain why Levian was strolling around totally unruffled. He must have endured at least a dozen drops in his career.
“The dizziness is normal,” he reassured them. “It should wear off momentarily.”
Parker lifted his face, cheeks flushed. “And if it doesn’t?”
A thrumming whine vibrated the air. Aphelion soared overhead, gradually decelerating, and settled in the valley. Sheets of golden armor closed over the energy-absorbing panels on its sides. A few minutes later, the entry hatch slid open.
Kenon emerged from the opening and walked over to the pods, brittle grass crackling underfoot. Under the wide-eyed scrutiny of his teammates, he shrank into his harness.
“Nice flying,” Alana remarked, hoping to break the awkward tension. He dipped his head slightly in response, perhaps a little more at ease.
“So, where’s this gate?” Jenkinson asked.
Levian swiped his finger across a seam in his gauntlet to activate his suit’s holographic interface, and a topographical scan of the area enveloped his forearm. A thread of light streamed towards their destination. “According to your Doctor’s coordinates, the entrance should be there,” he said, motioning to a thicket of thorns sprouting from a rocky outcrop.
This jagged formation was what the locals called Terrak’s Toe. Positioned at the very foot of the Terrak Mountain Range, it was a popular picnicking spot—or had been, before the planet revealed its true colors and started to shed its earthy skin.
Igniting his energy blades, Kenon marched over to the barbed bushes and swiftly chopped them down. The branches slumped to the ground in a smoldering pile, popping like logs in a fireplace.
Sure enough, there was a path leading into the cleft, and it appeared someone had passed through recently. The grass was trampled, picked apart by clawed feet. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign they were about to walk into an ambush.
The team advanced, weapons at the ready and eyes fixated on their motion sensors. But no other signatures winked on. Even the white blips of birds and critters were absent.
They must have migrated to escape the rising temperatures.
As Echo rounded the next bend, the light thread on the Fleet Commander’s arm receded into his gauntlet. Up ahead, tucked into the mountain, was a hexagonal gateway. Its gaping maw gave way to darkness.
Jenkinson’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit. The codes were right.”
“Your people colonized this planet decades ago. How could this have remained hidden for so long?” Jhiral asked, somewhat skeptical.
“The Bureau managed to keep the truth of Calypsis from us all these years,” Parker replied. “Can’t have been much harder to hide a door.”
“Well, let’s check it out.” Activating her helmet flashlight, Alana walked up to the gate and peered inside. A perilous bridge stretched out before her—sloped, no more than three feet wide, and spanning a chasm of unseen depths. There were no supports beneath it, nor any wires to suspend it.
Curious as to how deep the chasm was, she nudged a pebble over the edge. It plummeted into the gloom, tumbling end over end. She listened for a splash, a clack, some indication that it had landed.
No sound returned.
Carter whistled. “Hell of a drop.”
“Hell of a fall,” Jenkinson muttered. “We’re going to have to take it slow. And remember, once we’re inside, we won’t be able to contact the fleets. From here on in, it’s just us.” He shook his arms out as if to banish the nervous tension from his body. “Everyone ready?”
The group nodded in unison and entered the cavern single-file. Levian took point, while Kenon brought up the rear. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the gate slid shut behind them, erasing the subtle glow of daylight from outside.
Not that there had been much to illuminate anyway.
Blind to all but the bridge beneath their feet, they descended into the planet. The shadows stretched on for what felt like miles—seemingly impenetrable, all consuming—until a warm glow permeated the blackness.
Alana peered over the edge of the bridge.
Streams of lava spilled from the walls below, cascading into a bubbling pit at the bottom of the chasm. Through the smog, the ash and smoke, she could just make out a landing at the end of the bridge.
They were nearly there.
Alana’s head snapped up at the whoosh of movement to her right. As she craned her neck to scan the cavern walls, her flashlight swept over something shiny. Something metallic. When she shone her light there again, it was gone.
The rest of the team paused.
“What’s wrong?” Jenkinson asked.
“I thought . . . I could’ve sworn I saw something.” She squinted into the haze, glanced at her motion sensor, then back to the rock formations again. Nothing shimmered, nothing moved. Surely she couldn’t have imagined it?
“Well, let’s—”
A chattering noise cut Jenkinson’s sentence short. Soft yips and chirps followed, accompanied by the frantic skittering of claws on stone.
Levian drew his rifle. “We are not alone,” he hissed.
Echo Team snapped out their weapons, aiming blindly into the dark. A single red orb flared in the shadows above them. Two more winked on further up the walls. Then another joined, and another. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded by the glowing specks.
And Alana knew exactly what they were.
“Ravagers!” she cried.
The Nephera’s infernal machines.
The mechanical creatures descended on them. Echo Team bolted across the bridge, down its steep incline to the landing, and made a beeline for the open doorway on the far side.
Before they could reach it, the door slammed shut.
Alana skidded to a halt and spun about in search of a new escape route. Smooth-faced stone to the left, smooth-faced stone to the right. A lava-pit lay behind them, and they didn’t have a chance in hell of making it back up the bridge.
The ravagers had chased them into a corner.
Levian pushed Kenon back as the machines closed in, driving the group into a tight circle around the young warrior. Serrated plates bristled like hackles along their shoulders. Metal jaws chattered.
The pack leader pounced.
Jhiral whacked it aside with the butt of her carbine.
As it hit the ground, the rest sprang into action—a flurry of silver and gleaming scarlet between muzzle flashes. Then one broke away from the battle, scurried up the nearest wall, and leapt for Kenon.
It bowled him clean out of the circle, snapping at his throat. He threw his arms up to block its jagged teeth and it clamped down on his gauntlet instead, thrashing from side to side in an attempt to break his barrier.
“Levian, get Kenon!” Jenkinson shouted.
Holstering Alkastoran’s Fire, Levian activated his energy blades and stormed over to the young warrior. He thrust one blade into the gap between the ravager’s shoulders, then slashed its neck open with the other. Orange fluid spilled from the tightly-woven mass of cables. It released Kenon’s gauntlet and flopped to the ground, squealing as though it were in pain.
Alana twisted at a pinging sound.
“Door’s open!” she alerted.
The team retreated toward the opening. As soon as they were inside, the door slammed shut again. Alana could hear the ravagers outside clawing at the frame, desperate to get in and eliminate the intruders.
“You fought these beasts before?” Jhiral asked breathlessly. There were not many things that could shake her up, but it seemed the machines had succeeded in doing just that.
Kenon shook his head. “They were not like this. The first ravagers we encountered were calculated. Organized. These ones are acting erratically, like starved predators to prey.”
“And if they don’t bust down that door, they’re bound to find another way in,” Jenkinson pointed out. “Unless we want to become their next meal, we should keep
moving.”
“Maybe that can help us.” Parker motioned to a holographic sphere, a miniature Calypsis, floating in the middle of the room they had entered.
Swarms of colored markers drifted around the globe, representing the fleets engaged in orbit. A couple of the red markers then disappeared, along with a collection of smaller signatures—indicating the loss of two ships and a unit of starfighters.
One of the larger red icons vanished next—a Nepheran vessel, judging by its tapered silhouette.
Carter approached the hologram and tried to interact with it, but it did not respond to his touch. His hand simply passed through it. “Hey, Valinquint.” He beckoned to the warrior. “You managed to get one of these things moving last time. Work your magic; see if you can find anything useful.”
————
Kenon walked over and studied the projection for a minute, then tapped a blinking icon above the planet’s northern hemisphere. A wire-mesh grid unfurled from the poles, and four new tabs popped up beside it.
One by one, he swiped the tabs. The first highlighted all points of entry from the surface, including the gateway Echo Team had accessed in the valley. The second illuminated a series of transport tunnels trailing under the planet’s crust. Some areas glowed yellow, perhaps to signify that they were damaged or inaccessible.
And the third highlighted Calypsis’ many layers: its terraformed surface, the armored shell hidden beneath, and two layers of enormous caverns connected by a sparse arrangement of tram systems and passageways. However, some of the passages didn’t appear to lead anywhere. They just stopped. And at the end of each, there lay a starburst design.
They had caught Alana’s attention as well. “What are those, portals?” she speculated aloud.
Parker hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe the planet has some sort of teleportation grid built into it. Not a bad idea, considering how long it would take to travel between certain areas on foot. Now the question is, could we use it to our advantage?”
Kenon cocked his head. As he stared at the map, he couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. “Lieutenant Jenkinson,” he said. “The storage device Doctor Chambers gave us; do you have it?”
Jenkinson retrieved the chip from a compartment in his belt and passed it to the young warrior. While there were no slots in which to insert the device, there was another pulsating tab beneath the globe. When he held the chip up to it, the hologram shivered.
More passages sprouted from the innermost cavern. Like veins, they traveled towards the center of the map—to an orb suspended in the heart of the planet. Kenon gave the orb a curious tap, only to have the system beep at him in refusal.
It wouldn’t let him in.
Thankfully, that told him what it was.
“This is where we must go,” he said, pointing to the orb with a claw. “This is the activation chamber.”
“You’re sure?” Jenkinson asked.
“Positive.”
“Alright. Everyone, download that data to your displays. We’re gonna have to map out a few routes so we don’t get lost.”
CHAT ENABLED
CONNECTING . . .
>>CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
DATE / / 06:32 PM, 09/14/2442
STALLION >> Are you there?
STALLION >> Gretchen?
STALLION >> . . . Come on, Gretchen. I know you’re there. Your status icon is green.
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> I’m not in the mood, Leonard.
STALLION >> There’s something I need to tell you.
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> About Serenity?
STALLION >> About Lincoln.
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> Ugh. What is it?
STALLION >> He’s keeping secrets, Gretchen. Not just from you and me, but from DuFrayne as well. He’s been lying to us for years—about the Calypsis Project, about Xavier and Director Bishop . . .
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> Please don’t feed me this garbage. I’ve had enough bullshit from you over the last couple of days to last me a lifetime.
STALLION >> You don’t believe me?
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> No, Leonard, I don’t. Because if Lincoln had fallen for these rumors, he wouldn’t have hidden it from us. He would have warned us and tried to break up our alliance with the Nephera.
STALLION >> That’s the problem. Lincoln doesn’t care about us.
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> It’s his duty to ensure our safety. That task is ingrained in his coding. It’s part of who he is and he cannot violate it.
STALLION >> You won’t even consider the possibility?
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> Look, I won’t deny that he has a few secrets tucked away. But what do you expect? He’s a liar. We all are. It’s our job, Leonard. If he’s lying to us, it’s only to keep us safe. This is what we have to do in order to protect humanity.
STALLION >> . . .
STALLION >> Are you sure that’s what we’re doing?
PREPARING TO SEND FILE [DOC: S0.CLASS7 // THE CALYPSIS PROJECT . . .
>TRANSFERRING DATA . . .
>>TRANSFER COMPLETE
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> Leonard, what is this?
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> Are these . . . are these Director Bishop’s personal files?
STALLION >> They are. And when you’re ready, I want you to take a look at them. Make sure you read and watch every last one, then rethink the answer to my question.
STALLION >> Mind you, I probably won’t be around to hear it.
LIBERTY ANN YELLOW >> What’s that supposed to mean?
STALLION >> . . . Goodbye, Gretchen.
/CHAT OFFLINE/
Chapter
—TWENTY-SEVEN—
1850 Hours, September 14, 2442 (Earth Calendar) / Internal Network, planet Calypsis, Sol System
Levian’s heads-up display wavered as they neared another gateway, and the hum of active machinery filled his ears when they passed into the massive chamber on the other side. He moved to the railing and peered into the depths of the cylinder, then turned his head skyward. It must have been at least a couple hundred meters from top to bottom. They had emerged just above the halfway point.
Three smaller chambers sat in a triangular formation around this one, separated by a series of glass-faced observation rooms. Grated catwalks ran up and down the interior, bridging the gap between the walls and the silver pillar that spanned floor to ceiling. One walkway spiraled to a landing at the pillar’s middle section.
“Whoa, feel that?” Carter held out his arms and bared his teeth in a wide grin. “Man, there is some crazy electrical energy in here. This must be what it feels like just before you get struck by lightning.”
Lieutenant Jenkinson looked around the room. “This place wasn’t on the map. Where the hell are we?” he asked, his voice reverberating off the metal walls.
Summoning the holographic interface on his forearm, Levian examined the data from the Legacy’s scan and cross-referenced their current coordinates with the ones displayed on the screen. “We are directly below one of the spires.”
“That thing must be feeding power to the shields.” Alana jerked her weapon towards the pillar. “If we can shut it down, that might reduce some of the static interference on the comm. Then we can keep Anderson updated on the situation.”
“We should not stray from the path for long,” Kenon said. “There is still a great distance between us and the core, and every second we spend down here is a second the Nephera spend tearing our allies apart.”
“Never underestimate the strength of the UNPD,” Jenkinson said. “We survived the Drocain. Now we get to reuse all of our tricks against the Nephera. Besides, this won’t take long.” He pointed across the chamber. “Carter, take Alume and Parker and search the rooms over there. Carmen, Valinquint, and I will investigate the ones on this side. Watch your sensors. Alert us if you find anything.”
Echo Team split up and went their separate ways, leaving the Fleet Commander to investigate the central chamber. Once he had explored the upper level
s, he made his way down to the landing.
A luminous screen hugged one side of the pillar. The left-hand column showed a two-dimensional image of the planet encircled by its protective energy barrier, while the right-hand column displayed a collection of data. Though written in Nepheran, the symbols beside each line of text clearly signified what they were.
Cooling systems were online, core temperatures reading normal. Surface temperatures, however, appeared extremely elevated. When Levian tapped the data string to bring up more information, an array of shield generators lit up across the globe in the first column—including the one he stood before now. He prodded its icon with a claw, and a status report filled the screen.
This pylon was highly unstable, operating at a mere sixty percent capacity. The other pylons gave similar readings, energy output varying between thirty and forty percent—occasionally dipping into the lower teens. They must have been responsible for the erratic surface conditions.
As the Fleet Commander tapped his headset to inform the others, he noticed red blotches skirting the edge of his motion sensor. There were too many signatures for him to count. They were about to be overrun.
“Contact,” he shouted. “Protect Valinquint!”
The Calypsis Project Boxed Set (Books 1-2 - The Echo-Alpha Duology) Page 55