by Arlin Fehr
'We are being watched,' she said.
'Pardon?' Victor said from behind her.
'There's a robot over by the next shaft, and it looks like it's watching us.'
'Not much we can do about it right now. I am ready for you to give this a try. I've got you linked up to the suit communication, but these things are pretty short range, I don't know it it'll work.
'I'll give it a try.'
'Lenny, do you read?' Ise said, over her uplink.
'P...Tr...B...,' came the staggered reply.
'It's still not letting me communicate.'
'Blast, nothing I can do then, unless we can link into the communication systems of this installation. What about that wireless network we picked up coming from here?' Victor asked.
'Without the access codes, I won't be able to link in.' Ise said.
'If one of those robots get's close again, we should ask the Guardian here if we can use it.' Victor said.
'Maybe that one I spotted will still be by the other shaft when we get there.'
'Lets get moving.' Victor said.
***
Dan was standing on his own, not needing support from Sam. He seemed to be almost healthy. Sam knew that he was still just as injured, he just wasn't feeling the effects at the moment. She was acutely aware of the risk he still had to contend with of becoming further injured.
'Captain Geer to Lt. Hale.' Sam said through her communication system.
'Lt. Hale here,'
'Any luck on the communication front?' She asked
'No captain. We tried connecting to Lenny via the suit comms, but we can't establish a solid connection.'
'Any suggestions?'
'If you see a robot, ask them if we can use the facilities systems. There's still that wireless network we detected earlier, but it is encrypted.'
Sam looked quickly around her, 'Could you hack it?'
'Possibly. If it's running on older systems like the rest of the place I might be able to crack it, but I can't recommend it.' Victor replied.
'Why's that?'
'If the facility Guardian decides it doesn't want us to crack the encryption, there's not much I can do without having Lenny back me up.'
Sam nodded to herself, realizing the implication of that. Without their Guardian in contact, they'd never be able to keep up with the efforts of the facilities own Guardian, PE model or not, 'Let's not do that. Keep an eye out for a robot then. We'll ask nicely.'
'Yes Captain, it seems like the best option.'
'Captain Geer out.' Sam closed the channel.
She walked over to where Dan was standing. She looked at him, he had a small smile on his face and was looking out over the field in front of them.
'How are you doing Daniel?' Sam asked.
'Just fine. Whatever the robot gave me is really taking the sting off. I'm actually enjoying myself a little. I mean this place is pretty amazing. Granted, we have no idea why it's here or what it's being used for, but if you had told me on the outset of this mission that I'd be standing in a room full of plants and animals, I probably wouldn't have believed you.'
'I don't think anyone could have expected this,' Sam took a moment to look around. She looked up at the powerful solar lamps in the roof of the chamber. The fact that there was a roof was enough to ruin the illusion of openness, 'I'm going to call John and Jing and have them on the look out for more of our robot friends.
Dan nodded.
Sam toggled her comms back on, 'Captain Geer to Lt. Cmd. Macce'
'John here. What can I do for you Captain?'
'Keep an eye out for any of the Guardian's robots. We need to ask them for permission to use their wireless system and communication system.'
'Aye Captain. We'll keep our eyes open.'
'Good. Captain Geer out,' Sam toggled the communication off and turned to Dan, 'Well Daniel, shall we continue?'
'Yeah, I think can handle the next leg of the journey Captain.'
***
John and Jing approached the larger water source they had been heading for. John looked around them, but didn't spot any animals or any of the robots they had been told to look out for. He turned his attention back to the water source.
There was flowing water coming out of an out cropping of rock located in the middle of a body of water. The body of water was surrounded on three sides by a rock wall, leaving a sandy beach on one side as the only approach to the waters edge. The body of water drained through a cleft in the rock face, and flowed as a stream down the grassy hill it was on top of.
'This is clearly artificial. The set up of this area is just too perfect,' Jing said.
'This whole place is artificial, that's not exactly a mystery there Jing,' John commented.
'Fair enough. How do you want to go about this John?'
John walked up to the waters edge and had a look. The ground angled sharply and quickly vanished out of sight under the murky water. 'I'm not sure I like the look of this lake.'
Jing stood next to him and looked in, 'That does look deep.'
'I think it's safe to assume it's clean though, if this is the source.' John said.
'Want to try and wade out to it?' Jing asked.
John reached up a slid his helmet back over his head, unfolding it from it's storage position. He activated a test sequence in the suit and watched as his heads up display showed him the status, 'All my seals are good. I should be good.'
Jing activated his comm link with John, 'Just keep the channel open and leave your lights on.'
John stepped out into the water, 'I don't think it'll get that deep. How far away is the outcropping?'
Jing pulled out his tablet and aimed it at the outcropping, 'Range finder says about fifteen meters.'
John started forward, moving slowly so he could feel his way. The slope was sharper than he expected, 'With this rate of drop I'll be swimming soon.'
On his next step, his foot came down, but as soon as he put weight on it, he began to slide. He tried to step back again, but lost his footing and fell down into the water.
'John?' came Jing's voice over his comms.
John sank down and fell against the ground, though he was still sliding downward. He tried to get a grip, but the ground had given way to a metallic surface.
'I'm okay, but I'm sliding down a metal surface. I can't stop myself.' John was surprised by how calm he sounded. The water was remarkably clear, though his descent was kicking up a layer of sediment and forced him to turn on his suit's lights. A cone of light cut out through the growing murky cloud of disturbed dirt.
He leaned his head forward trying to see where he was going, when he saw something looming in front of him. He braced himself as his legs slammed into it. His bracing action kept him from sliding sideways.
'I've hit something down here.'
He braced his feet against the tube he found himself against, and tried to push up. His footing proved tenuous at best as his feet were still on angled ground but he did mange to right himself. He looked around himself and saw a collection of tubes and pipes in front of him.
'I think I've run into the filtration system. There's some kind of equipment down here,' John said.
'How are you though, are you alright? I can't see you through the cloud of whatever you kicked up,' Jing said.
John ran a quick diagnostic on his suit, 'Suit checks out. My legs are a little sore, but I'm doing fine.'
'Alright, turn on your camera, I'll let you know if I recognize anything.'
John toggled the camera feed on his suit and started to work his way around the pillar of equipment. He saw a small metal box with a hinged door. He opened it and saw a lever inside, 'What's this?'
'Probably an emergency shut off.'
'Not a very good place for it.'
'You're not a robot. It's probably just fine for the Guardian's robots,' Jing replied, 'They don't need to breath. As an added bonus, no one would think to look down there.'
'I bet if we pulled i
t we'd get his attention.'
'That probably isn't the best idea I've heard today. How likely do you think it is that the Guardian will be in a good mood if we start shutting off his systems?' Jing said.
'It's a Guardian, it doesn't have moods.'
'Either way, I don't think it'll be too cooperative.'
'Alright I won't pull the lever.' John said.
'Good. Can you have a look at that thing to your left?'
John looked to his left, he saw a cylinder covered in a fine mesh, 'What is it?'
'It's a water quality sensor. I haven't seen one like that in quite some time.'
'Is it just me or does everything in this place seem old?' John said.
'I think you may be onto something.'
'Hang on, there's an info plate here.' John said.
John bent down, and reached over to a small metal place that was on the side of one of the pipes. It was covered in something. John reached down and brushed it clear with his hand.
It was covered in Chinese characters, 'Jing, a little translation here?'
'That can't be right...'
'What is it Jing?'
'It says it's property of the Lin family of Joseph's Landing.'
'Joseph's Landing, where's that?'
'It's a colony world about a hundred light years from earth. The Lin family is a wealthy Chinese family who run a shipping company.'
'How do you know all this?'
'My brother, Sai, worked for them as an accountant.'
'And why is this impossible, this filtration system here?'
'Because the Lin family uses automated cargo ships, none of them would have needed a filtration system. They only had three manned ships in their fleet, and two are still in service.'
'What about the third?'
'My brother Sai told me that it was lost, along with all hands, after a bad jump.'
John worked his way around the pillar of equipment, recording everything for later analysis, 'Bad jump?'
'Apparently the Guardian on board went haywire and the jump calculations were off. No one knew where it jumped to. It never showed up again. The family looked for it, but... well, space is really big, and it had a jump range of twenty light years. If it had been in a straight line, and just stopped short of it's destination, that would have been one thing, but that's an awful big area to try and search.'
'Did they call for help?' John asked
'After the jump there were no more communications. Everyone figured they must have been destroyed by an overload, but here we are, looking at it's filtration system.'
'We don't know if it's the exact filtration system.' John pointed out.
'There's a very good chance it is.' Jing said.
'Well Jing, that's a whole circuit around this thing. I'm coming up.'
'John, check below you.'
John looked down, he saw a seam in the metal below him, 'Is that a door?'
'It probably is. Maybe it's access to the rest of the systems. You'd have to drain the lake of course.'
'Probably. I'm coming back up now.'
John positioned himself against the pillar of equipment behind him and kicked himself off. He swam for the surface and ended up near the edge of the lake. He was close to one of the rocky walls. Steadying himself against it, he started to walk towards the beach.
'Advocate Ise to all crew, I've spotted the Lobster pilot.' came the unexpected call over the comms. Thoughts about the door at the bottom of the lake were replaced instantly by the reminder of their mission.
***
Sam turned on her comms and said, 'Captain Geer here, do you currently have eyes on the pilot?'
'No Ma'am. I spotted him along the rock wall that rings the ground here. He's on our side of the compound, but I don't have eyes on him now, he ducked down into a valley,' Ise reported.
'We know he's here,' Sam replied, 'did you see which way he was going?'
'Around the edge, probably towards the far shaft, though really all we know is he's going around the edge.'
Sam thought for a moment,'Captain Geer to John and Jing, please report in.'
'We heard it captain. We're checking out a water filtration system here.' Jing reported.
'Listen up gang, we've spotted our quarry, and now we have a chance to get him, but we've got to be careful, the ground here isn't level and there's plenty of places to hide. We need a plan to pin him.'
'If he's staying close to the edge, we should be able to close up our line and pin him in.' John said.
'What would you propose?'
'Jing and I can make straight for the far shaft, you and Dan will split the difference and come between our team and Ise and Victor.' John said.
'Sounds good, Ise, I want you and Victor hot on the pilots tail. Keep him in sight as much as you can.'
'Yes Captain.'
'Remember, he's dangerous even if you don't see a gun.' Captain Geer warned.
Everyone gave their acknowledgement. Sam turned to Daniel.
'Let's get moving Dan, we'll make for the support column between the far shaft and the shaft on Ise's side. It's a good mid way point.'
'Aye captain.'
***
John stood on the shore of the lake, his space suit still dripping. He'd folded his helmet back into it's storage position, and was currently checking his side arm.
'Maybe he'll just surrender when he realizes were on to him.' Jing commented from near by.
John looked up at him, and saw he was also checking his side arm.
'Wouldn't that be nice,' John said quietly, 'How's your weapon?'
'Power pack is good, and mass supply is still full. Magnetic accelerators are on green light. I think I'm good. How's yours?' Jing said.
'Green lights across the board. It is a little damp though.'
'Unless you've secretly swapped it with a flintlock pistol, I don't think that'll be a problem.' Jing said.
'Just have to make sure I've got a good grip when I pull it out of the holster.' John said, holstering his side arm.
Jing put his sidearm in it's holster and started up a rise that lead to the tops of the rocky half circle that wrapped around the lake. John followed him up.
They looked out over chamber. The elevator shaft they had been heading for loomed to their left, while the far shaft stood a bit to their right but quite some distance away, with one of the support pillars roughly dead ahead.
'That's a bit of ground to cover.' Jing commented.
'Of course we'd be on the far side.' John said.
'Hey, it was your suggestion.'
'I wish I had something to fly. It's be quicker than walking.'
'Who said anything about walking?' Jing said as he took off on a light jog.
'Remember to pace yourself.' John said, following after him.
CHAPTER 7
Victor and Ise had cut to their right, going around the far side of the shaft they had been heading for earlier. They were sticking close to the rocky wall that lined the edge of the chamber.
'Do you see him Ise?' Victor asked, scanning the area in front of them.
'I've only seen him once more since the first time. He was still against the edge. I think he knows he's being watched.'
'If the elevators are the only way out of this place, then so long as Jing and John get to the far shaft before he does, we should be good.' Victor said.
'We don't know if that's the case. There could be maintenance tunnels.'
Victor nodded, and they kept moving. A herd of grazing animals came into view as they came up over the next rise. They were clustered around a small pond being fed by a water source that was gurgling out of the rock wall they were against.
'Looks like a detour.' Victor said.
Ise turned and started around the herd. The herd looked up at them, and then arranged themselves around the water, facing outward.
Victor stopped and started, 'What the heck?'
'Maybe they're protecting the water source. Come on, we
can't stay and stare.' Ise said.
Victor hurried along behind her, 'You know, you're probably right. There probably are maintenance tunnels. We should keep an eye open for them. If he ducks into one, we could have a hard time tracking him down.'
'Yeah. Keep your eye's peeled Vick. Can't lose him now.'
***
As they made their way to the support pillar midway between the far shaft and the shaft on their right, Sam noticed something standing on a hill some distance away from them.
'Dan, at about three o'clock, on a hill, do you see a humanoid figure?'
Dan stopped movement, and looked in indicated direction, 'About six hundred meters away?'
'Yeah'
'I see it. It's one of the robots.'
'It's just standing there.' Sam said.
'Should we go check it out? We did want to have a chat with them.' Dan suggested.
Sam thought about it for a moment, 'No, let's keep moving, the pilot is our priority.'
'Yes Ma'am.'
They continued onward. While they walked, Sam switched on her comm link with the rest of the crew.
'Captain Geer here, has anyone else noticed one of the facility robots just standing around watching you?'
'Advocate Okoh here, yes Captain, Victor and I spotted one by the nearest elevator shaft. It seemed to be watching us and not doing anything else.'
'John? What about you and Jing?' Sam asked.
'No captain, we haven't seen any yet, but we'll keep our eyes open. Anything we should do in relation to them?'
'Keep an eye on them, but keep going after the Lobster pilot. He's still our top priority.'
Both Ise and John acknowledged the order. Sam switched her comm link off again.
They were getting close to a support pillar. They were keeping to it's left. Sam looked up at it, as it stretched up away from the ground and to the roof of the chamber.
'Daniel, how big do you think the base of this is?'