Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1)

by Shemer Kuznits

  “Too bad, you’re overruled. And since we’ve just established it’s not a democracy ...” Nori pushed past him toward the cargo hold.

  “Fine!” he hurried after her. “But I’m driving.”

  “I’ll let you park the car when we’re back,“ she said, not bothering to look back.

  The large man grumbled but took the passenger seat without further argument. Lana and Nathan obediently climbed into the back seat.

  The Hummer’s doors closed with a whoosh, sealing the air inside. Nori input a series of commands on the vehicle's console and the giant cargo door lowered. The Hummer’s engine roared to life and Nori pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The giant vehicle shot out of the ship, picking up speed along with the rush of escaping air. They raced up a mound of dirt and became airborne. Lana screamed in fright. With the moon’s weak gravity, the jump took them a hundred meters, landing on the other side of a rocky, jagged field. The Hummer screeched as the Navigator turned it into a narrow channel between two hills, and then it stabilized as she maintained a steady course.

  Bulco was breathing quick and shallow. “Damn, girl, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  “Told you that you needed me to drive,” she said detachedly. She checked the monitor. “We still have some distance to cover, and by the looks of it, the terrain doesn’t get any better.”

  “Maybe you can slow down just a tad?” Lana said with a squeaky voice.

  Nori shook her head. “Sorry, no can do. There’s a chasm at the end of this flat expanse and we need to pick up speed to make the jump.”

  “What jump?”

  “This one.” Nori pointed ahead.

  A vast fissure appeared at the end of the road. It was more like a rift, easily two hundred meters across.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” Lana said. “We have to find another way.”

  “Relax,” Nori said, her eyes shining in excitement. “I got this.”

  She pressed on the gas and turned the wheels toward the elevation on their left. The Hummer’s engine roared even louder as it churned the rocks and climbed the side of the hill, gaining altitude.

  The hill ended. The ground dropped beneath them and then they were flying over the fissure.

  Lana screamed, Nathan whimpered, and Bulco’s knuckles turned white as he grabbed the edge of his seat.

  For several gut-wrenching seconds, it looked like they were not going to make it, but then the giant wheels grabbed the edge and catapulted them forward.

  “Wooohooo!” Nori shouted.

  “You’re crazy!” Lana screamed as Nori laughed exuberantly.

  The terrain became smoother after that and they were able to cover the rest of the way with relative ease.

  Once they got closer to their destination, Nori turned the Hummer to scale the side of a large boulder at a near vertical incline, a feat that was only made possible by the moon’s low gravity. They reached the top, and finally the Hummer came to a stop. The land stretched below them, revealing several kilometers of uneven terrain. At the center of it stood several perfectly square blocks of dark metal.

  Nori turned back to her still reeling passengers and grinned at them excitedly. “Found it.”

  ***

  The Hummer drove forward slowly, its passengers on high alert for signs of danger as they neared the metal blocks, but there was no movement.

  “Looks abandoned, don’t you think?” Nori whispered.

  “I don’t see any spaceships,” Bulco whispered back.

  “Why are we whispering?” Lana whispered as well.

  Bulco gave her a pointed look. “So the aliens don’t hear us. Obviously.”

  “But sound doesn’t carry out here in space.”

  “Oh.” The large man looked at her sheepishly. “I guess we don’t need to whisper then,” he said in his normal voice.

  “I think I see something behind those boxes,” Nori said. The metal squares were about ten meters in length and five meters in width. She slowed the Hummer-come-moonlander and bypassed one of the boxes.

  A giant metal pike slammed into the ground in front of the Hummer. Nori cursed and hit the brakes, barely avoiding ramming into it. Another pike landed on their other side and another one behind it.

  “We’re trapped!” Bulco shouted.

  Something large and bright shone in front of them. Lana gasped as a gigantic head rose above the metal box. It was perfectly round and full of glowing, projector-like, eyes. “It’s a Warped!” she screamed.

  Before either one of them could act, the giant monster opened its mouth. A steady stream of blocks poured out of it into the open top of the box. The four companions exchanged bewildered looks. The flow ended, then the thing’s eyes dimmed and the head pulled back, the legs following.

  “What the hell was that?” Lana asked weakly.

  Nori shifted gears and carefully guided the Hummer forward. They turned the corner in time to see the huge, spider-like, robot burrow into the ground. Its main body was a thick ring with eight pike-like legs attached to it. It lowered itself into the ground, and the giant head hovered above the ring body. The mouth opened again and a stream of yellow energy erupted out of it, burrowing into the ground while the ring served as a bracer for the hole’s edge.

  “What is it doing?” Nori frowned.

  Bulco chuckled suddenly. “It’s not a Warped, it’s a mining machine.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Easy, it says so on my display: Inthidlon excavator mark four.”

  “So these boxes are … what? Shipping containers?”

  “Looks like it. I think we just hit the jackpot.”

  “Why would the aliens drop an excavator on the moon and then leave?” Lana frowned.

  “Maybe they discovered something that was worth the effort?” Nori said.

  Bulco studied the machine and shook his head. “We should be careful. That thing must be worth a lot. They’re not going to leave something like that lying around unguarded.”

  “So what do we do now?” Lana asked.

  Nori narrowed her eyes. “It looks like those four containers will fit snugly inside Unity’s cargo hold, don’t you think?”

  Nathan nodded and looked at Lana pointedly.

  “Nathan says you’re right,” the dark-haired woman translated. “Everything here is Inthidlon design, just like Unity. It was meant to go together.”

  “Alright,” Nori said. “We should figure out exactly what this thing is mining and how much it has collected so far.”

  “There’s a console on the side of each of the container,” Lana pointed. “I bet it can tell us what’s inside.”

  The Navigator nodded. “Alright. I’ll drive the Hummer out of the way, we don’t want that thing to accidentally step on us.” She put the vehicle in reverse and drove a hundred meters away. “Alright, masks on, everyone, we’re going out.”

  The Hummer’s doors lifted upward and the four companions stepped outside.

  “Let’s go,” Nori said.

  They walked slowly on the moon’s uneven surface, keeping a careful watch on the excavator. The giant machine continued drilling into the moon’s crust, ignoring the intruders. When they reached halfway, the excavator rose again, huge pike-like legs lifting it off the hole and walked toward another box. It lowered its head above it and released another stream of square objects.

  The companions continued until they reached the closest container.

  “I’ll check the console,” Lana said and approached the opaque screen.

  She reached her hand and touched it lightly. A light console switched on. The opaque screen instantly flared to life, displaying rows of data.

  A terrible metallic screech erupted, causing everyone to wobble in their place.

  “What was that?” Lana asked with a pale face.

  “I thought sounds don’t carry over in space!” Bulco shouted, looking frantically to the sides.

  “It doesn’t. It carried through the ground and the air in
our suits,” Lana shot back.

  “It’s the excavator!” Nori yelled. “It's coming this way, run!”

  They left the container behind and made a mad dash toward the Hummer.

  A stream of yellow energy hit the ground in front of them and it exploded outward. Luckily, the beam vaporized everything it hit, so there was no debris, but the concussion was still strong enough to throw everyone away like bowling pins.

  Lana was thrown backward toward the crate and her back slammed painfully against the hard surface. She squinted in pain but her eyes shot open in horror at the view in front of her.

  The excavator was chasing after her friends.

  The impact had sent them all flying in the moon’s low gravity, but their zero-grav boots were advanced enough to pull them back down. Down to the ground and the enraged machine. It charged at Nori first, trying to squash her with its legs, while the head spun to the side and released another beam that barely missed Bulco. Lana could clearly hear Nori curse as she nimbly evaded the machine’s legs, using her arms as well as her legs, to launch herself back and forth. Lana thought for a moment she was seeing things as Bulco’s eyes flared in red. He picked up a rock the size of a dinner table and threw it at the excavator. The rock hit its head, turning it around, but not doing any discernible damage. Instead of turning back to the Engineer, the machine’s eyes flared up, pointing at a different figure sprawled on the ground. Nathan.

  “No!” Lana screamed in horror as she saw the creature lowering its head and opening its mouth, aiming at the prone man.

  Though her back still hurt, she pushed herself off the container’s wall and ran at the giant construct. “Leave him alone, you big rust bucket.” With a thought, she deactivated her boots and kicked her legs, launching herself at the creature. She hit the creature’s head just as it fired. The head jerked slightly, and the beam missed Nathan. Lana slid down onto its ring body.

  “Lana, do something!” Nori cried. The athletic woman was moving like a circus acrobat as she dodged the many legs that kept trying to crush her.

  Lana frantically looked around and spotted a dark console just next to her. She reached out and tapped it. A message flashed across her view.

  Defense mode engaged. Interface locked.

  “I can’t access the controls!” she shouted in panic. “It’s locked.”

  The machine ignored her and turned to Nathan again.

  “Use the Zapper!” Bulco yelled; his eyes looked normal now. He ran at one of the legs and punched it hard. The Puncher sprang forward adding to the force. Between the weapon and the exoskeleton, the Engineer’s strike had fourteen points of strength behind it. The mining rig’s limb was yanked out of the ground by the force and the entire thing wobbled, taking several precious seconds to stabilize itself.

  That was all the time Lana needed. She drew out the small alien weapon and fired at the console. The weak beam hit, blasting it to bits and exposing the circuitry behind. The excavator tilted violently, nearly losing its balance, and Lana dropped the weapon to find a handhold. Two of its eight legs hung limply from its side but the other six worked furiously to balance it. Lana was almost hurled away. Her hand waved frantically looking for a purchase. She reached through the broken console and grasped a scorched, cylindrical component.

  Tec extraction commencing.

  Beams of light shot out of the twisted metal and flowed into Lana and her companions.

  Extracted 12 Tec (15% success rate).

  Level 5 reached

  Before Lana could make sense of the multitude of messages on her view, Bulco shouted. “Holy shit. I just hit level five.”

  “Me too,” Nori shot back. “Lana, whatever you did, don’t stop. The machine looks like it's about to get its shit together.”

  The giant excavator stopped thrashing and was slowly rising to its full height. Three light consoles flared up to life on other parts on its ring body and streams of information ran on their monitors.

  Lana’s hands clutched the machine with a death grip as even more data streamed across her own view.

  Path crossroad reached. Choose one:

  Admin: improve systems access and information gathering

  Agent: Improved communication and networking

  The excavator finished recovering and wobbled on its six remaining legs.

  Lana stared at the closest console, three meters away, and made a decision.

  Admin.

  She released her grip, stood up, and launched herself to the next console. The machine turned and she nearly missed her mark, but her foot caught on a bend in the metal, which was enough for her to shift to face the console.

  The same message as before appeared, but this time a new option showed.

  Defensive mode engaged. Interface locked. Hack?

  Yes! Lana thought desperately. Nori had finally fumbled a dodge and one of the giant legs kicked her, launching her dozens of meters away, despite her boots.

  A myriad of pictures and text appeared on Lana’s view. She didn’t know what it meant or what to do with it. All she could do was watch in desperation at Bulco, who held up another giant boulder as the machine charged and stepped on him, burying him under the heavy load. Then nothing stood between it and Nathan's still unmoving body.

  “No!” Lana screamed. The images and symbols flashed across her view as her mind struggled to comprehend what was happening.

  The machine’s mouth opened again, aiming at the young man.

  Nathan stirred. He lifted his head to stare directly at the death that awaited him. He pointed a finger at the giant machine and his mind filled with the insistent demand of the Tec to be heard. Then his eyes rolled up and he fainted again.

  At her perch on the excavator, Lana’s eyes widened as she felt another’s presence in her mind, and suddenly the symbols organized on their own.

  Hack successful. Score results: 30/30

  Access granted.

  The text displayed on the machine’s monitor slowed and formed into new options.

  Excavator Controls:

  Logs

  Deactivate defensive mode

  Lana's hand shot forward, nearly punching the console.

  The excavator's mouth, already filling with energy, froze in place. Its eyes dimmed and its body slowly descended. The legs folded around the ring-like body, and the head lowered to rest in the middle. It looked surprisingly like a flying saucer.

  Lana breathed a sigh of relief and jumped off the dormant construct.

  She looked around frantically, searching for her friends.

  Bulco was nowhere in sight. Nori was sprawled on the ground nearly fifty meters away and was struggling to move. And Nathan lay motionless on the ground not far from her.

  Earth Force was down.

  15 - Earth Force Rising

  “Nathan!” Lana bent over him and sighed in relief when she saw his spacesuit was still intact. The young man didn’t seem injured, as far as she could tell, but his eyes were glazed over, the white showing.

  A movement caught her attention, then Nori stumbled toward her.

  Lana gaped. One of the woman’s arms was bent the wrong way, and her legs didn’t seem to be working properly, but the tough Navigator pushed through the pain to reach her.

  “Nori, are you alright?” She looked even worse from up close.

  “I’ll live,” the tall woman said, clenching her teeth. “I broke my arm, and I think I smashed both my kneecaps, but the Tec’s already working on fixing me up. Where’s Bulco?”

  Lana lifted a shaking hand and pointed at a boulder. “The excavator stepped on him just as he was about to throw that boulder. I think … “ she swallowed hard. “I think he’s dead.”

  Nori’s expression hardened. “We’ll see about that.”

  She limped toward the boulder and squatted next to it. A leg, obviously crushed, protruded from under it.

  Nori tapped the leg lightly. “Wake up, big guy.”

  A low moan sounded over their
comms.

  Nori signed in relief. “He’s alive. I figured it would take more than a giant rock to kill someone with his strength.” She winced as she looked at her broken arm and glanced back at Lana. “I’ll need your help, I can’t lift that thing on my own.”

  Lana stared at her. “What are you talking about? That thing must weigh a ton.”

  “We’re on the moon, remember? It only weighs a couple hundred kilos at most.”

  Lana's eyes lit up. “Right, sixteen point five percent of Earth.” She frowned. “That’s still too heavy for us to lift.”

  “I know, help me get to the Hummer, we’ll shove the boulder off him.”

  Lana shook her head. “It’s too risky, you could end up squashing him even more.” She looked with concern at Nathan’s still body. “I have an idea, but I’m worried about Nathan. Will you watch him?”

  Nori let out a pained sigh. “Sure, I can play sitter.”

  Lana helped her limp over to Nathan, then walked to the disabled excavator.

  “Lana, what are you doing?”

  “Just watch.”

  She climbed on the machine’s ring body and accessed the hacked terminal. Her fingers thrummed on the light console for a few seconds, then she lifted her head. “I can’t fully control this thing, I don’t have the right Path for that, but I can still do this.” Her fingers touched the final key.

  Two giant legs unfolded underneath the construct. They gently squeezed the boulder and lifted, revealing the flattened Engineer.

  His body was literally pressed into the ground, forming a human-shaped indent. It looked like every bone in his body had been broken, but his head appeared mostly intact, thanks to his shattered hands that were positioned protectively over it.

  Bulco’s eyes fluttered, and he spoke weakly. “Did we win?”

  “Yeah, we did,” Lana smiled at him, then her face fell as she looked at him. “How do you feel?”

  “I think I suddenly understand what being a pancake feels like. Not a great experience, I can tell you that.”