Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1)

by Shemer Kuznits

  “That sounds reasonable, but I was kinda hoping your new Path would give us a way to get rid of those horrible Warped.” Lana smiled ruefully. “I’m afraid my Path, Expert, has no combat capabilities, so I would be pretty useless in a fight.” She clenched her jaw. She would never ever mention that Berserker Path to anyone. Ever.

  Nori scratched her cheek distractedly. “Don’t worry, that’s why I selected the Level Suppression trait.”

  Lana gaped at her. “You did what? But the Tec Infusion boost was way better.”

  “It was better in the long term,” Lana corrected her. “But our immediate needs take precedence.”

  She drew the Disruptor from her belt and held it firmly in front of her.

  Disruptor, Rank: F5 (Active)

  “Looks like it worked. The prerequisite is gone,” she said with satisfaction and pointed the weapon at the far away wall. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot inside the ship,” she said as she saw Lana’s alarmed expression. “I’m just getting a feel for it.”

  Nathan approached Lana and tugged at her sleeve, pointing at the alien’s corpse. A teardrop-shaped gem had appeared on its torso.

  The two women exchanged looks, then Nori bent and picked it up.

  piTec: 5600

  She frowned. “What the hell is piTec?”

  “Hmmm, sounds similar to Tec, maybe a sort of subtype,” Lana said. “Maybe try infusing it and see what happens?”

  Nori contemplated the small gem in her palm then shook her head. “Better not risk is. As far as we know, doing that could be lethal.” She placed the item in her belt pouch.

  “Now what?” Lana asked.

  Suddenly, the green light that illuminated the room turned blue. With a low whooshing sound, the door next to them slid upward, revealing a dark interior.

  4 - Scavengers

  The two women stared at Nathan as he withdrew his fingers from the light console.

  Nori looked at him with a frown. “How the hell did you do that?”

  Nathan smiled faintly and shrugged.

  The dark-haired woman moved next to him and put her hands on the console.

  Prerequisite unmet: Expert Level 10

  She frowned. “I need to be level 10 to use this console.”

  “Let me try.” Nori moved next to the shorter woman and touched the console.

  Shuttle Bay Console:

  Close door

  Initiate launch protocol

  “It’s a shuttle bay!” Nori exclaimed.

  “How can you tell?” Lana asked.

  “I have access to the console, I can even give it commands.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense,” the dark-haired woman protested. “Even with your level suppression bonus, you’d still need to reach level eight to use that thing.”

  Nori concentrated on the console in front of her and a new message popped up.

  Access Granted (Navigator score 5)

  “Looks like my Path allows me to use the console. Says here it requires a Navigator score of five and my score is listed as ten. I bet that’s also how Nathan opened the door.” Nori looked at him. “You have a path that allows you to do that, right?”

  The man nodded.

  “Is it Navigator?”

  He shook his head.

  Nori nodded. “It makes sense; not everyone in the crew can be a Navigator. There are probably a whole bunch of Paths that can use that console, but I guess your Expert Path isn’t one of them.”

  “Oh.” Lana visibly deflated.

  “Cheer up.” Nori clapped her shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll find a ton of stuff you’ll be able to use that I won’t. Now let’s check out this shuttle.”

  They went through the circular door and lights flared into life around them. The shuttle's interior was round, roughly four meters in diameter. Metal harnesses were attached to the wall and a raised dais with screens was situated in the exact center.

  Nori moved to one of the harnesses and pressed her back against it. A metal cage descended, surrounding her body, anchoring her in place, but leaving her arms free to move.

  “What are you doing?” Lana asked nervously.

  “Just checking how this thing works,” Nori said as a light console appeared in the air in front of her. The Navigator put her hands on it and her fingers thrummed over it as if they had a mind of their own. “Wow, that’s intense. I have no idea how I know what I’m doing ... but I know what I’m doing.

  A message flashed before her eyes.

  Exit chute blocked. Launch aborted.

  “Shoot,” the tall woman said. “We can’t launch.”

  “What?” Lana's voice raised in pitch. “Why would you even try? This sounds like a huge risk.”

  “Odds are this ship is busted,” Nori answered in a businesslike tone. “Otherwise the alien we saw would have taken off with it, but the shuttle might still be working. With all that alien tech, it’s bound to be a better aircraft than our planes, right? Imagine what we can do with it, how many people we can help.”

  “Wait, do you know what I just realized,” Lana said slowly. “We can use the technology here. Until now we used to think the Calamity destroyed all of Earth’s tech, but maybe we just didn’t have the level to operate it anymore.” She turned and looked at Nathan wide-eyed. “Was that how you activated the monitors and radio in our hideout?”

  The man nodded.

  “Did you gain a level before we got here?”

  He shook his head.

  Lana sighed. “Nathan doesn’t know how he was able to do that.”

  “It probably has something to do with his status as a Human-Scion,” Nori said. “Maybe it grants him abilities even at level zero. But I think you’re right. I bet we can go back and turn on the TV, though there’s never anything good on.” She smiled ruefully, then her expression turned thoughtful. “Actually, I’m pretty convinced that we can. Bulco drove a Hummer and we know he’s level four. Everything adds up.”

  Lana pursed her lips. “I don’t get these aliens. Why would they infect us with something that prevents us from using our own technology, unless we have the appropriate level or Path?”

  Nori shook her head. “You’re looking at it the wrong way. They gave us something that allows us to use technology - if we have the appropriate level or Paths.”

  “How’s that different from what I just said?”

  “Look around you,” Nori said simply. “We’re standing inside an alien ship, and we can access its systems like it was made for us. Whatever the aliens did, it’s … it’s amazing. It makes different types of technology accessible by anyone - pending a small prerequisite. I’m leaning more toward the ‘gift’ theory now.”

  “Maybe …” Lana looked around her uncertainly. “So what do we do now?”

  “Let’s take a closer look at the main bridge.”

  The three walked back to the bridge, and Nori approached one of the light consoles. Her fingers tapped on the holographic keys, seemingly on their own, and lines of text ran across her view.

  “It’s like I figured,” she said after several long minutes. “The ship is busted. I can’t understand most of what I’m getting here, but it looks like the engine is damaged and the primary power source is offline. We’re operating on auxiliary power right now. It should last a while since we’re not flying.” The Navigator tapped the console a few more times. “This ship has no external weapons … it’s just a freighter.”

  “Any information on why it’s here, what race built it, or who’s the dead alien we found?” Lana asked.

  “Err …” Nori’s fingers paused. “I’m not sure. Whatever I just did …. it was more like operating on instinct. There is all sorts of extra data here, but it’s like I have to access it consciously, and I don’t know how to do that. Why don’t you give it a try?”

  “Me?” Lana was taken back.

  “You’re the Expert, aren’t you?”

  “Mmm … I guess.”

  “It’s easy, come
on. Just put your hands on this thing.” Nori stepped back, and the console’s light dimmed slightly.

  Lana stepped forward and timidly put her hands on the console.

  As soon as she did, her mind filled with data and knowledge, far more detailed than the simple text that imposed over her view.

  “Oh, wow,” she said.

  “Cool, right?” Nori lips curved.

  Lana’s fingers started zooming on their own, and the console keys changed colors as she pressed them faster and faster.

  “This is so cool!” She smiled. “This ship is a Gretqa-C9 type, and you were right—it’s a freighter. It was built by the …” She slowed as she carefully pronounced the name, “In-thid-lon. That’s the same race as the corpse we found.” A three-dimensional image flickered to life next to the woman. It looked like the corpse they found, only this one stood tall and proud with its arms spread to the sides. The image rotated slowly, showing more of the short fleshy bristles growing all over its body.

  Nori gasped. “How did you do that?”

  Lana grinned. “As you said - I’m the Expert. Hmm, I think I’m going to make that my new catchphrase.”

  “Anything else interesting?”

  “I can access the ship’s main logs, but it’s weird—there’s nothing on it. It’s like it’s been scrubbed. Wait a minute … “ The Navigator frowned slightly as Lana closed her eyes, her hands still hovering over the light console. “I’m getting an option from my Path to recover the last entry. I’m going for it.”

  Several long seconds passed, then the Expert’s eyes flew open. “It worked!”

  “What have you found?” Nori asked.

  “The captain … his name is too hard to pronounce, and several others like him … received one billion piTec each to, and I quote: ‘Infuse the third star of the Helios system.’ There’s a progression indicator here. It says he only used ninety-nine percent of the cargo.”

  Nori frowned. “PiTec? You mean the stuff that came out of his body?”

  Lana looked at her helplessly. “I guess? But why would the stuff the captain hauled be on his body? Do you think that’s the one percent that was missing?”

  Nori shook her head. “We only got a few thousand piTec out of him, so I’d say it's safe to assume that’s not where he stored the ten million the logs claimed were never used. But I think we just discovered an important piece of the puzzle.”

  “What piece?”

  “The reason why this ship was shot down in the first place. Remember that mounted cylinder the other ship took from this one? I’m betting that’s where the piTec was stored. Someone wanted to rob the piTec the captain saved for himself.”

  Lana sighed. “There’s just more and more questions. I can’t find any other information on this thing. I wish there was an alien version of Wikipedia here.” She withdrew her hands from the console. “Now what?”

  As if to answer her question, Nathan approached the console. As soon as he put his hands on it, a series of clicks came from the first room they checked and the light within turned blue.

  “Nathan, did you just unlock all the doors in that room?”

  The man smiled shyly and shook his head.

  Lana's eyes widened. “In the entire ship?”

  He nodded.

  “Good job!” Nori tried clapping his shoulder. Nathan fidgeted at first but didn’t try to worm away from her touch. He looked extremely uncomfortable about the contact though.

  “Err, sorry about that.” Nori awkwardly returned her hand.

  “Let’s check the first room again,” Lana said as if nothing happened.

  The three went back to the first room. This time, all the doors had a blue light on them. Nori reached for one and it opened to her touch. There were several metal parts with various bits on them. Nori passed it to her companions, but none of them received any information. They continued checking the storage compartments. Most of them were empty, and those that weren’t mainly held more unidentified parts, but then Lana made a discovery.

  “Hey, check it out.” She drew out a silver bodysuit.

  “Hmmm, looks like a space suit, but lighter than what our astronauts are using,” Nori said. “Here, I got something too.” She drew out a metal contraption with a lot of connected joints.

  Exoskeleton, +2 Strength (Prerequisite: level 5)

  “An exoskeleton? Sweet!” Lana exclaimed. “And look at the description. If I put it on I’ll be three times stronger than I am now.”

  Nori smiled at the enthusiastic youth. Though they’d only known each other for several hours, Lana’s openness was starting to grow on her. “I think we’ve looked through everything here. Let’s check the next door.”

  “You should put on the Exoskeleton first,” Lana said.

  Nori raised a brow.

  “It makes sense,” the dark-haired woman insisted. “You’re the only one of us who can use it anyway, and it’s stupid not to take advantage of an asset that could help us survive.”

  “Alright, I see your point,” Nori said. The tall woman took the metal contraption and tried to put it on. It was easier than she’d thought. The device rotated on its own, opened up, and wrapped itself smoothly around her torso. Arm and leg bracers extended over her limbs and thin metallic fingers coated her own.

  Lana took a step back and looked at her in awe. “Wow, you look like some sort of futuristic cyber-hunter. And a badass one at that.”

  Nori couldn’t help grinning. She lifted an arm and the device moved along smoothly, supporting the action. She opened and closed her fist several times, watching in fascination as the contraption followed suit, not hindering her movement in the slightest. “This feels great,” she said and reached toward the dark-haired woman.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Lana fumbled backward.

  “Testing.” The tall woman caught the shorter one’s belt, and with a single grunt, she lifted her in the air. A low mechanical hum sounded as the device engaged to support the extra weight. “Oh, I really like this thing,” Nori chuckled.

  “That’s awesome,” Lana said as she desperately clung to the taller woman’s hand. “Mind putting me down now?”

  “Sure, no problem.” She gently lowered the woman then turned to the unopened door. “Let’s check what’s behind door number three.”

  Nathan nodded and approached the door. It opened to his touch.

  “Oh, wow,” Lana said. They had reached a large room, four meters across and fifteen ahead. The floor on the other side of the door extended into a short platform overlooking a three-meter-deep pit. A futuristic-looking machine filled the entirety of the pit, with pulsating cables feeding into it. At the center of the machinery sat a large metallic sphere with a jagged crack running across it. As they stared in amazement at the alien technology, red sparks flew out of the wide crack.

  “I think we found the engine room,” Nori said. “And it doesn’t look good.”

  “Seems like the engine takes most of the ship’s space,” Lana looked at the ceiling. “Parts of it are even extending above and over the habitable rooms.”

  “So, a small freighter, with limited space and a large engine, sounds like a smuggler ship to me,” Nori said. “Let’s just hope it's not going to explode any time soon.”

  Lana gulped. “It won’t, will it?”

  “No idea. There’s no console here that I can see, only this large table.” Nori pointed at the metallic table. It had weird looking tools and implements connected to it. To her surprise, a message flashed before her eyes.

  Workbench (Prerequisite: level 12)

  “It’s a workbench. Hmm … I’m starting to get the impression that without the appropriate Path everything here will be inaccessible,” Nori said.

  “You might be right,” the dark-haired woman agreed. “Well, now that we’ve gone through every part of the ship, what do we do?”

  “Let’s head out and check the shuttle’s exit chute.”

  Lana paled. “But that gang migh
t still be out there.”

  “Slim chance of that. We’ve been in here for a while now. They wouldn’t stay out in the open for so long. It tends to draw in the Warped.”

  “That’s even worse,” the shorter woman protested. “What are we going to do if there are more of those monsters out there?”

  Nori drew out the Disruptor. “Then I guess I’ll finally be able to test this baby out.”

  ***

  The ship’s exterior door opened into the dark night, lowering to the ground, and drawing in the two Warped that were sniffing at the hull.

  As the two monsters approached to investigate the new opening, a shiny silver item emerged from within and a blue ray shot out, impacting one of the beasts and killing it instantly. The second monster hesitated, and that short indecisiveness spelled its doom. The silver item moved, and another ray claimed its life.

  “I think I’m in love,” Nori said, looking at her new toy with shining eyes as she came out of the ship to survey her catch.

  “That was amazing!” Lana said. “Zap, zap, and two Warped are goners.”

  Nori nodded. “This Disruptor is crazy powerful. With a few more like it, we could clean up the entire city, then everyone would be able to leave the shelters and live normally again.”

  Lana chuckled nervously. “That would be something, but I don’t see any other crashed ships around here or dead aliens.”

  “Then we’ll just have to find some,” Nori said with a dangerous tone.

  Lana shifted uncomfortably, hoping the strong woman was referring to more crashed ships, rather than dead aliens.

  Nathan shielded his eyes and pointed at the upper part of the ship.

  “Damn, you’re right,” Nori’s face fell. “That opening looks about the size of the shuttle. Part of the hull has become twisted from the impact and is blocking the exit. We’ll need something powerful enough to twist it back into shape.”