"So we have a mystery: why is that core still active?" Ryan was truly curious.
"This ship was not archived as it was still in active command. Additionally, it seems, the Mothership is also in the same state."
"I reviewed your files. That Mothership is quite a vessel."
"I surmise that the Mothership was a hospital and training center for the Ancient Ones."
"OK, interesting, but why, exactly, did you pull me from my work?"
"To complete my story," Tsaurau went on with determination, "the ship’s logs have revealed that the original crew of this ship had boarded the Mothership, leaving only two of the crew aboard. Apparently, a life-form managed to break through the airlock bulkhead from the Mothership and into our retrieved ship. A second emergency bulkhead closed before it reached the last two crew members."
"What happened? What life-form?"
"Unknown. The data is deficient as only parts of the original database are intact enough to reconstruct. You must realize that this was at least a thousand years ago. Radiation, power fluxes, the capacitors running down, they all took their toll on the core."
"And the crew?"
"We have been able to determine that they stayed within the storage area only briefly. One of them confronted the life-form, while the other ran for the airlock, which is curious."
"How so?"
"Neither was wearing an environmental suit. We ascertain that the life-form killed the first and chased after the second. That individual managed to make it to the airlock, but left the access door open, obviously attempting to lure the life-form into the lock with him. It worked. I assume both died quickly.”
"Used himself as bait," commented Ryan. His mind was racing with the new information. He could almost picture the scene. It made the hair on the back of his head stand on end. What the hell was that thing?
"You mentioned the vessel was docked with the Mothership?"
"The docking release sequence was commencing at the same time the life-form broke through. The vessel released itself from the Mothership and drifted until we found it. A thousand years later with the outside lock left ajar."
"Tell me, Tsaurau, did you find the remains of the first crew member?"
"No, this creature apparently ingested its victims. When we examined the ship, we did a thorough sweep. Nothing was found aboard. We noted the extensive damage and initially thought it was from a battle, this information came as a surprise to us."
"Forgive me for being paranoid, but are you sure there is nothing left on that ship?"
"Such as a thousand-year-old vicious life-form? We were quite thorough on our search. We have dismantled a large portion of it already. Nothing strange has been reported. Why?"
"I don't think you'll understand where I'm coming from, let's just say I would like to be sure."
"Please, explain yourself," Tsaurau persisted.
"I ah, I saw a movie once."
"A movie? You are referring to your social entertainment?"
"Exactly."
"What bearing do fabricated stories have in common with this situation?"
"Nothing. Look, just call me paranoid. What if there is some kind of embryo, egg, something still present on that ship, but dormant?"
"Our sensors would have isolated it."
"What if your sensors aren't able to?"
Tsaurau was taken aback. He thought about it for a moment and seemed to turn a bit paler.
"Evidence suggests that this life-form was very dangerous. Its physiology is unknown but its capabilities are evidential. I doubt we have the means to suppress such a life-form. Regardless, I tend to believe that this creature, including any offsprings of this creature, are long since dead.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am not absolutely sure. If any of your concerns have any weight, we may have a serious problem on our hands." Tsaurau promptly turned and headed away, in a slight hurry.
"Tsaurau!" yelled Ryan. He caught up to join him. "I'm coming with you."
"Very well."
"Do you have any weapons?" asked Ryan.
"Weapons? I am sure what we have would prove inadequate against such a threat."
"I'll meet you there."
Ryan ran to his apartment and grabbed his modified jackhammer. He checked out the power rating: still at 3/4 full charge.
It took a few minutes for him to reach the docking bay access corridor. His vaskpar server relayed the directions, even though he had not bothered to ask.
Tsaurau had not yet arrived, as he had decided to assemble a security team. He hesitated for a moment in front of the closed door of docking bay 12. A small porthole window revealed little but sheer blackness.
Anything could be in there.
He stepped over and thumbed the control panel. The lights came on inside. He looked in again, half expecting to see something jump at him.
Nothing. Silent as a tomb. Keep calm. Nothing to be afraid of but fear itself. Been through more dangerous situations than this.
He stepped back, readied his weapon, and pushed the open switch. The door slid upwards. Small motors whined within the walls.
The outside airlock faced the south side of the mountain. He could hear the distant thunder of the wind emanate through the bay's massive exterior doors and echo throughout the enormous room, which was empty with the exception of the old warship perched at its center. The massive vessel towered above him, reaching high enough to almost touch the ceiling. The lighting seemed insufficient, casting forbidding shadows along its length.
He shook off a chill.
One of its main cargo hatches at floor level was opened. He could not see in, but the inside was pitch black.
They should do a reconnaissance of the bay first. Be thorough.
He circumvented the ship, taking his time, not wanting to miss anything. His footsteps echoed hollowly in the enormous room. A few containers were strewn about on the other side of the ship. A couple metallic skids loaded with components sat near the outside doors.
Again, nothing. OK. Should he continue on or wait for Tsaurau and his security team?
He tested the light on his weapon. Dead.
Did he really want to search that ship in the dark? Nothing like taking the wrong step and breaking your neck on some five-story fall, or worse, be the unlucky victim of some ravenous millennia-old creature. No, he needed light. Best to wait.
Tsaurau's team appeared shortly, armed with small hand weapons.
"I've checked out the room, it’s clear," Ryan reported.
Tsaurau directed the team to the old warship. A couple accompanying engineers turned on a network of internal lights, and the ship instantly lost its foreboding disposition.
"What are we looking for?" one of the party asked.
"Anything strange, out of the ordinary, probably biological. Search everywhere,” replied Ryan. “Tsaurau, can we take a look at that airlock?"
"Which one?"
"The one the creature broke through."
"Follow me," he instructed.
Together they moved through the ship. The corridors were empty, and their footsteps echoed eerily through the metallic walls. They found the airlock on the middle level, near the stock rooms. The hatch was half-embedded into the wall, with only a sliver of metal left to hold it upright. Ryan inspected it closer. It was made of a 10 centimeter thick alloy. The door had been ripped apart like it was made of tin. He grabbed a twisted splinter and tried to bend it. No, give at all. The alloy was strong. He remembered the data from the Xeronian library. "I believe this alloy has the sheer strength of 1500 kg per square cm."
Tsaurau mentally converted the estimate into his own native representation. "I concur; it would require at least that much force to open this door in such a manner."
They continued on through the rooms. There were obvious signs of destruction everywhere: crushed consoles, panels and railing strewn in all directions, deep scars ripped through the floor and walls.
"Look
s like it went through here. Tell me what the hell could gouge and warp these metals like this?”
Tsaurau shook his head - a very human characteristic of disbelief.
“You said they made a dash to the storage locker?"
The Xeronian pointed to over to an adjoining room, only a few meters away. They walked through the entranceway, stepping over the remains of yet another mangled hatch door. Pieces of it lay strewn over the floor into the center of the room
Ryan whistled.
They approached the opposite wall, to the now open door of the storage area. For some reason, this door was twice as thick as the outside hatch. A large dent was impregnated into the metal where the thing must have hit with full force. Undoubtedly the creature wasn't able to penetrate this one.
"Look at this Tsaurau," Ryan said, kneeling down to inspect another dent at the door's base. The imprint was in a strange shape, like a cloverleaf.
Tsaurau moved in for a closer look.
"It left an unfamiliar impression. We must send a team down here to study this, possibly extrapolate some physiological data pertaining to this creature."
“Perhaps pull some genetic remains off the torn metal?”
"Possibly, but they may no longer be viable.”
“The walls here are dented throughout, as if the creature was literally bouncing off them, banging back and forth like it was insane," commented Ryan. He glanced above at the ceiling panels. They showed signs of warping and twisting as if they were subjected to incredible heat.
“Strange,” commented Ryan.
“I assume it was very agitated that it could not reach them. This creature was obviously very active," said Tsaurau.
"Active? It was stark raving mad," corrected Ryan.
They both entered the small storage room.
“Empty. We conjecture this was used either for ammunitions or possibly radioactive materials storage in order to explain the room's construction methods. Its contents had been emptied most likely as they were in the process of decommissioning of the vessel."
Ryan stood in the center of the small dismal room. "So, the two of them knew where to go to stay safe from that thing. They huddled here and waited for the creature to leave. Then the first one dashed out and went... which way?"
"Out this room and then to the right and down the corridor," answered Tsaurau.
"Where was he headed?”
"I would assume the weapons storage area, no more than 15 meters from here."
"Where was the creature at that time?"
"The ship's logs indicate it was located within the library, about 100 meters away, two levels down."
They left the room and turned right. As Tsaurau had said, they walked roughly 12 meters, took another right turn, walked for another three meters and found themselves facing the entrance to the weapons room. Its door stood open.
Ryan stepped into the small room and pulled out one of the laser rifles from the wall rack. He checked the charge. Dead.
"Give these buggers a charge, and this will outdo your little pistols there. Do you think there’s any life left in it?"
He aimed down the corridor and pulled the trigger. A crimson red laser blast shot out and burned a deep scar in the ceiling 20 meters down.
"Holy shit! Damn thing still works!"
Tsaurau eyes squinted in a Xeronian smile, temples bobbing. "Notice also, all the weapons remain in place, and none are missing."
Ryan looked at Tsaurau eye-to-eye. "Are you sure the computer logs are correct?"
"Yes, I am confident."
"Tsaurau, that creature was almost the length of the ship away, and crew member number-one does not have time to reach a room 15 meters away before that thing overtakes him? It was two levels down when that poor devil ran out from the storage locker!"
Tsaurau added another observation. "Notice, as well, there are no scars down this corridor. It is a very good possibility that a weapon was not fired in haste."
"What happened next? The second fella makes a dash for the airlock, right? Where is that from here?"
"Almost directly across from the storage locker from where they were hiding."
They returned to the first storage room and followed a small corridor adjacent to it. Sure enough, no more than eight meters down, the corridor ended at an open airlock door. Ryan stepped through and over to the external door, which was also wide open. He looked down. It was about 50 meters to the floor. He could see groups of Xeronians moving back and forth from the ship.
He turned from the door. "Let's retrace this. The creature breaks through a main cargo airlock, ripping open an alloy door as if it was paper. It proceeds through, what, five, six rooms?"
"Six," offered Tsaurau.
"Wait a minute." A thought came to Ryan. "In what room were the controls to release the ship in?"
Tsaurau consulted the Par. A second passed. "I see. There is a room before the storage area. There is supposed to be a terminal control there."
"Alright, they were probably doing some work within that room when the airlock was breached. Let's go back there."
They found the terminal, crushed and almost beyond recognition.
"They were here, together. They heard a loud noise, possibly security sirens started wailing. The terminal issues a security warning. One of them enters the commands to release the ship, just as the creature is in the midst of breaking through the airlock door. The two have just enough time to reach the reinforced storage locker. The creature tries to get at them but can’t, and becomes enraged. Maybe it gets distracted by something at that time, heads down two levels, destroying everything around it as it goes."
"The two sit there for a few minutes and formulate a plan. One of them makes a break for the weapons locker. The creature hears or smells, or somehow senses him. Before the poor fella can run the 15 meters, the creature runs over a hundred meters and reaches him just as he was opening the weapons storage door, leaving it ajar as we found it.”
“The other crew member decides to sacrifice himself and jettison this thing, and somehow manages to reach the airlock before the creature gets him too. Why the wait? Why didn't it get him before he made it into the airlock?"
"It was eating," replied Tsaurau flatly.
"Right.” He shook off another chill. “The other guy proceeds to enter the unlock sequence on the control pad, and manages to time it just right so that thing shows up just in the right moment to catch a view of the stars."
Tsaurau added, "Yes, it is clear the inner door was left open to lure the creature in, and the outer hatch would have, in this instance, required a manual override to force it open."
Ryan could picture the last tense moments as the lone survivor desperately plugged in the override sequence on the console, hoping he had enough time since the creature was temporarily distracted devouring his friend.
Whoever he was, he was one brave sonofabitch.
"So the fella knew he was going to die and took that thing with him."
Tsaurau nodded in agreement. “Very courageous. However, we do not know the gender of this crewmember.”
Moments later they heard noises from the search team as they approached. They had not found anything suspicious.
Ryan remembered something, something that had been nagging at the back of his mind, something he had seen in the files. "Tsaurau," he asked, "weren't you given the order not to board the Mothership?"
"Yes, Tseman asked us not to venture onto that vessel."
"Do you think one of these things could still be alive, after all this time?"
"That is doubtful, but it is not impossible. We have encountered many life-forms that can survive for millennia, although most tend to be single-celled creatures such a bacterium, or slightly more complex viruses. We have not encountered any higher-order, complex creatures capable of exhibiting such behavior. It is highly probable we will encounter species in the future that are capable of life beyond that duration.”
“Well, let’s hope it
’s dead.”
They searched the remainder of the ship and found nothing. Further tests were set up to scan for unusual signatures, metals, and various radiation levels. They declared it secure and work was allowed to proceed.
Another surprise was in store for them days later, when their information specialists managed to activate the warship's old core. The Xeronian diagnostic system was literally taken over by the ancient system. Unable to control it, they isolated the compromised diagnostic system from the rest of the network in a frantic effort to stop further infiltration. Word of it soon engulfed the Par.
Ryan, who checked the Par only periodically, learned of the news late. Wanting to see for himself, he traveled through the underground city to the lab and found a crowd blocking the door, some of them actually talking. Xeronian excitement was not expressed at any equivalence to human emotion, but actual vocal discussion was an obvious sign. It was an unusual alteration of their composed state, as their minds were most often settled firmly within the Par.
Ryan saw Tsaurau amongst them and waved. "What's going on?"
“Come,” beckoned Tsaurau.
Ryan pushed his way through the crowd.
"They have found an entity - a sentient program operating within the core. We surmise the program's function was to maintain the ship's systems. It still thinks that it is required to do so. The program was inadvertently activated by our retrieval efforts. It is only partially functional, and we have contained its networking access."
"How can it infiltrate into any part of your network?"
"Remember that many of our technologies share the same roots as the Ancient Ones. Base assumptions remain constant throughout the evolution of concept."
"So you think you can communicate with it?"
"Let us talk to the technicians in charge. I prefer not to bring this up on the Par, as some may find this troubling, at least, not yet."
The specialists were huddled in front of a holographic projection, which was an incredibly complicated collection of vectors, shapes, and symbols. They were referencing it continually, gesturing and talking quickly.
Tsaurau interrupted them. "My greetings brethren."
The lead technician gave a nod. "It is good to see you, Councillor, as a decision falls within your realm of authority. We have a dilemma."
A Bellicose Dance Page 22