Skah nods. “Agreed. They were far too organized.”
“Are you suggesting someone warned them?” Mukki asks.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Skah says.
A pair of rappel ropes drop from the opening in the ceiling, and soldiers begin sliding into the lobby.
“We’ll get to the bottom of it as soon as we can,” Skah says. “In the meantime, Ilana, you go ahead. Nova and I will deal with them.”
“How are we supposed to close the door again?” Mukki asks.
“Not my problem,” Nova replies. “You wanted it open. It’s open.”
“Ilana, you’re with me,” says Mukki.
Skah turns to face the incoming soldiers.
“We’ll call you if we need backup. Get going.”
Mukki heads for the Nav Room. I follow him into a room packed with wall to wall tech. Multiple computer screens are mounted to the walls, and there are at least twenty separate workstations. Mukki takes me to the computer he’s working on.
“I’m going to try to hack in and gather as much information as I can, but they’ve got this place locked down tight,” Mukki says, typing in commands on the keyboard. “If Nova and Skah can give me time, I should be able to gather some intel and see what they’ve got going on down here. As you’ve already seen, this facility is massive. There are three experimental habitats spread throughout, and each habitat is powered by a Weather Controller Unit that maintains the habitat’s environment. If we can manage to overload the Weather Controller in each area, we can rig them to blow up their respective zones.”
“We’ve done this on a smaller scale in other facilities, but do you think the Weather Controller detonations will be strong enough to take down the entire lab?” I ask.
“Without a doubt. These are the most powerful units they’ve ever produced. We’re going to completely level this place.” Mukki walks across the room to the remaining circular metal door. “The next room leads into the first habitat: the Desert Sanctuary. It’s crawling with lifeforms, and none of them are friendly. Once you locate either the desert’s Nav Room or its Weather Controller, we’ll have a much better idea of how to approach the other areas. Plus, each habitat will provide us with invaluable data the elders will be overjoyed to see.”
I move toward the door. “Okay. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Mukki stops me. “Wait. You mentioned earlier that you lost most of your equipment.”
“That’s correct. When I was shot out of the sky, the Aether Suit was nearly destroyed. As of right now I only have basic Armor, Life Support, and Cannon systems online. Everything else is disabled.”
“It’s incredibly dangerous sending you out there like that. I’d like to scan and analyze your armor before you head into the field.”
“Sure.”
“This won’t take long.” Mukki activates the device on his wrist, and starts scanning the Aether Suit.
“The suit says it’s missing components. Where am I supposed to find anything to replace my suit’s parts around here?” I ask, shrugging.
Mukki’s scan finishes. “I see. Yes. Wow. It really is a miracle you’re still standing here. Okay. As we go about the mission, we’ll need to keep an eye out for what you’ll need to put your suit back together.”
“Do you think there’s any Ociel tech down here?”
Mukki thinks for a moment. “It’s unlikely, but who knows? Maybe someone scavenged something from previous missions and brought it here.”
I shoot the door. “Okay. I’ll keep an eye out.”
“I’ll work on breaking through their security and see what I can do to assist you. Good luck.”
I smile and nod, then step through to a short, carpeted hallway. My muffled steps lead to another door. I shoot it and cover my eyes as bright sunlight pours into the hallway.
Endless blue sky appears to stretch for miles. The narrow path I’m on is set inside of a rocky tunnel. I walk a short distance in and the door closes. High above, a projector activates and shoots a textured light at the door, camouflaging it into its surroundings.
“Stay on the move. These habitats are home to some of the strongest hybrids the humans have ever made,” Mukki says over the comm.
“Right.” I move forward hastily, knowing my map will continuously fill in the more I explore. The path rises and opens into an expansive desert valley. Rock formations, cacti, and desert grasses populate the environment. Dry, breezy air whips up small clouds of dust. This illusion is amazing, but there, against the distant rounded edges of the area, I see flat mountains plastered on the walls.
I descend into the valley by jumping along a series of large, staggered rocks, and land in open desert. I hike through the area for some time, until I end up at a narrow path set between two rocky mountain peaks. As I turn the corner, I spot a trio of scorkes—eight-foot-long poisonous hybrids with the head and body of a snake, a pair of scorpion arms with razor-sharp pincers, and a scorpion’s stinger at the end of its tail. They’re fighting with a flock of birds and haven’t spotted me yet.
It’s incredibly difficult to one-shot a scorke because of how fast they move. They’ll chase you down and coil around you in seconds, and their pincers are strong enough to cut a person in half. Attacking them head-on would be a death wish.
I move toward the rock structure to my left and begin climbing. I need to get away from the scorkes and find a better view. Thankfully, the structure’s high walls quickly obscure me from their sight, and I continue to monitor my radar while I climb.
Once at the top, I can see two other mountainous rock formations ahead. There’s a cave on the top of the left structure. The peak of the other structure is set against the wall of the habitat, and leads to one of the lab’s circular doors. At the ground level, off to the right, four turrets appear to be guarding a pathway.
The Aether Suit is picking up on something.
[ALERT: Suit components detected.]
The suit plots a waypoint to the cave on top of the left mountain. I look around for signs of other hybrids, and find nothing.
I move forward and jump to another rock below, slide down a steep dirt path on my feet, and sprint across the landscape toward my destination.
To my left, a cactus sprouts large orange eyes and comes to life. It’s a cacterkiller—an insectoid creature that buries half of its body in the sand, and lies in wait for prey while camouflaging as a cactus. It leaps into the air and spins, then lands with a heavy thud and begins its pursuit.
I glance back and fire at it repeatedly, but the shots miss and cause the ground to explode. I’m still way too far from the safety of the mountain, so I stop running and turn to face the creature. It circles around me at a distance as another cacterkiller shows up.
They stop moving and coil up, preparing to spring at me. One of them leaps into the air and flips forward, swinging its tail at me. I jump to the side and fire at it repeatedly with both cannons, and the creature cries out as it’s blasted apart. I turn my attention to the other cacterkiller, but it’s gone.
I hear it at the last second, and leap away as the creature smashes the ground I was standing on a moment before. I roll over and fire at the creature until it explodes, then get to my feet.
I hear the shrieks of the scorkes and race toward the mountain. I need to get to high ground. Thankfully the birds are still pecking at them and slow them down enough for me to reach solid ground. I switch to my hands and scale the rocks as quickly as possible. Once I’m far above them and out of range, I quickly check my radar, then switch back to the cannons and fire at the scorkes while the birds continue to attack them.
They dodge the first several shots, and one of the creatures springs up toward the rock I’m standing on. I fire at it repeatedly, and it falls in pieces against the cliff, dead. The remaining scorkes flee as the flock of birds continue dive-bombing them.
I stop to catch my breath, then turn around and search for the best way up the mountain. It’s
a steep climb, so I’m forced to go slower than I’d like, and my jets make it so I must face the wall while navigating.
The last section before the top is flat, and I’m able to take three large steps up to the rocky peak. A long stretch of mostly flat rock stands before me and my point of interest. I see movement on my radar ahead. Something big. I move in.
I walk far into the cave, seeing scorch marks all over its interior. My target is close, but the farther in I go, the darker the cave gets.
I arrive at the center of the large red dot on my radar, but there’s nothing there. I glance around, wondering if there’s something wrong with my motion sensors, when a loud piercing screech from above tears through the cave.
I hop back and take aim at the creature. It’s too dark to make out what it is. I begin retreating to the cave entrance, and can just see it crawling along the ceiling. It opens its mouth and shoots a huge fireball at me. The projectile barely touches my leg, but the heat is incredibly painful. As I lure the creature toward the light, I see that it’s a giant bat mixed with something I can’t quite identify.
I open fire at the creature as it drops from the ceiling. It spits another fireball as soon as it lands, and begins crawling toward me as I sidestep and shoot at it with both cannons. It screeches as the shots connect, and leaps toward me. I’m sent flying back and smash into the wall.
I get to my feet and find the bat’s ugly face staring at me as it rears to spit another fireball. I kick it away and shoot into its mouth, blasting a hole through the side of its neck. The bat tries to spit the fireball without opening its mouth, and screams as the inside of its mouth is torched. Fire shoots out from the hole in the bat’s neck, tearing it apart while puffs of smoke escape from its mouth. The bat collapses backward and ignites, screeching as it burns.
In a matter of seconds, the bat completely burns away, leaving behind a large amount of energy and a strange object in its ashes. It looks like an internal organ, but it’s some kind of metallic, multi-chamber chemical storage device.
My visor highlights the object. This must be the component. I move to touch it.
[ERROR: Incompatible data.]
What?
“Mukki.”
“Is everything okay, Ilana?”
“I tracked down a suit component, but the Aether Suit is rejecting it.”
“It’s rejecting it? That’s no good. You should bring it back here. Maybe if we take it apart, we can see how it’s supposed to function.”
I watch as the suit absorbs the yellow energy to heal, and for some reason, Mukki’s words stand out to me. Take it apart. The Aether Suit always absorbs things I destroy.
“Mukki, I have an idea. I’m going to see what happens if I destroy it.”
“Are you crazy? You were lucky enough to find a piece of tech, and you’re going to blow it up?”
“It’s just an idea. I hope I don’t regret this.”
I step back and take aim at the device, then shoot it once. It starts sparking. I shoot it again. It’s fracturing. I shoot it three more times, and the device explodes into light blue data fragments. The Aether Suit absorbs them, and my legs start glowing the same blue color as the suit reassembles the pieces.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Stabilizers upgrade installed.]
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Stabilizers repaired.]
“Mukki, it worked. My stabilizers are back online.”
“That was a risky move. Good work.”
“Thanks. Proceeding with the mission.”
I step outside to test out the stabilizers. It seems strange to use them without the jets, but at least I have a chance at fixing my suit now.
I activate the stabilizers on the back of my legs. I’m thrust forward with a significant burst of speed. I land and jump, then activate the stabilizers on the bottom of my boots and jump again before landing.
I can dash and double jump. That’ll speed things up.
I test out the stabilizers a few more times to get used to the timing, then run toward the edge and dash jump off the mountain, timing the second jump to slow myself down as I near the ground. I land as soft as a freshly fallen leaf.
“Mukki, there are some heavy turrets guarding a path I want to check out. Anything you can do about them?” I ask.
“Hang on. If I’m reading this right, I can make the turrets see you as a friendly asset.”
“Are you saying they’ll shoot other things, but not me?”
“Yes. I’m assigning your signature to their database. Okay. Done. I’m about to ask you to do something incredibly dangerous. I want you to walk past one of the turrets and see what happens.”
“Sometimes I wonder why I trust you.” I make my way across the field and approach the turrets. “Here I go. Famous last words.”
The turrets whir to life and begin tracking me as I move closer. They take an interest in me for several long seconds as I aim my cannons at them, but then they move on without firing, and I let go of the breath I didn’t realize I’d held.
“Okay. It worked.”
“You really were worried, huh?” Mukki teases.
“You’d feel the same if you were staring at them face-to-barrel.”
I walk between the two pairs of turrets and head downhill along a sandy path. I follow it for some time, and come to a cavernous corridor. The air is much cooler down here, and I wander through to the very end, where I discover another lab door. I shoot it open and find a room full of computers.
“Mukki, I’ve found the Desert Sanctuary’s Nav Room,” I say.
“You can bet there’s a lot of expensive equipment in there. That’s why it was protected.”
The room seems to have been built right into the cavern. The walls appear to be natural earth, and the ceiling even features small stalactites. I wonder how much of each environment is real, and how much is manufactured.
I step up to the terminal, activate it, and input the commands for the map data. The equipment emits a low hum while the data processes.
A chime on the computer confirms the download is complete. The Aether Suit receives the data, and I pass it on to my squad.
“Good work,” Skah’s voice comes through the comm.
“What’s the situation in the lobby?” I ask.
“We’ve taken out several waves of enemies with ease. It’s been quiet for a while now,” Nova replies. “Do you need backup?”
“There are a few scorkes lurking in the area, and I’m certain there are other hybrids lying in wait. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m still handicapped. Can you help me secure the habitat?”
“On my way.”
“Mukki, is there anything else you need in here?” I ask.
“I’ll make my way over there with Nova to extract their research data.”
“Sounds good. I’m on my way to the last section of the habitat.”
I return to the main area of the desert and look for a way up the remaining mountain. Every groove is far out of reach, so there’s no hand or foothold to speak of.
I decide to try using the stabilizers to scale the mountain by dashing toward the wall, kicking away from it, and using each second jump to get back to the rock face.
It’s a long way up before I finally reach a flat enough surface to land on. When I do, I’m more than halfway up the mountain. It doesn’t take long to double jump up the remainder of the structure.
At the top, I take a few moments to catch my breath, then approach the door.
I shoot the door open and step inside. A short distance in, there’s a big drop to a lower level. There’s another door at the far end of the room, marked with W.C.U. in white letters on a wooden sign. Suddenly, the door behind me locks shut. I'm trapped inside, and I'm not alone. It dawns on me that this is a lair.
Breathing that isn’t my own reaches my ears, so I move forward to see what it is, and spot a nest over to the right, at the top of a dusty staircase. There’s a giant brown bird sitting in the nest with three human-sized eggs. It’s
unlike any species I’ve ever seen, and looks prehistoric. The bird doesn’t seem threatening.
[ALERT: Suit components detected.]
In here?
The suit plots a waypoint to the nest.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I move forward as quietly as I can, and drop into the pit, timing my second jump for a soft landing. I hit the dirt in a crouch, hoping the bird’s still asleep. It twitches, and then settles. I begin inching toward the sleeping giant, stepping past smashed rocks, broken branches, and large bones.
The nest is within reach. I peer inside to see what the suit wants, and find a multifaceted hunk of shining metal among the bird’s collected objects. I disable my cannons and reach inside the nest, but it’s too far away.
I slowly climb into the nest and collect the material. I can barely carry it in one hand, so I heft it under my arm. Considering the size of the object, it’s surprisingly lightweight.
[ERROR: Incompatible data.]
“Yeah, yeah.”
Oh my god.
The nest rustles as the creature awakens. I dash jump to get away, then hurry toward the new door and shoot it open as the massive bird screeches behind me. The door opens and I barely make it through safely. As the door closes behind me, I can hear the creature scratching and pecking at it. For a moment, I’m relieved, but then the door locks itself.
What’s going on here?
I search the new room and see a towering computer in front of me that stretches from floor to ceiling, but not much else. No other doors, no enemies, and only one way out. But I’ll deal with that later.
I shift the material forward and set it on the ground, activate my cannons, and fire at it repeatedly. It starts glowing molten hot, then explodes into light blue data fragments that cover the entire suit. Once the suit is done absorbing the data, I get a notification.
A Plague of Dragons (A Dragon Anthology) Page 41