The Gates of Hell

by Chris Kennedy

  As the small machines flowed through the cave system, a new set of images was overlaid on top of his IR view. Second by second, the interior of the cave complex filled his HUD, and as it did, dozens of moving targets appeared much deeper inside. It’s working, he thought. Because of the light frequency and delay, the images seemed somewhat fuzzy, with finer details lost in the 3D overlay, but there was no mistaking the numerous rushing forms of Thelosi shifting about in small clusters throughout the twisting complex.

  The drones were equipped with UV lasers that, in addition to carrying their comms, would sweep continuously, mapping the interior as it changed from second to second. The imaging data was then relayed from one drone to the next and back to where the support technicians monitored the equipment they’d brought. There could be up to a .3 second delay between the imaging data and what was really happening, but it was more than enough to perform the mission…at least, that was the theory. The Hawks had never done anything like this before.

  The Veetanho had praised the innovative qualities of Humans, and that was about to be put to the test in a live-fire exercise that could get them all killed.

  “UV comms online,” Killian said. “Count ‘em off.”

  “Cooper Two, live and alive,” Boudreaux said.

  “Cooper Three, receiving,” AZ added.

  The rest of the fireteam called in, and then the rest of Shikra checked in, followed by Lieutenant Yeo.

  There were several seconds of silence while they waited for the drones coming in from the other side of the complex to link up, and as they did, Boudreaux watched the entirety of the cave complex appear on his HUD. He was relieved to see movement in several locations much further into the complex. His targeting system highlighted about thirty moving targets, obviously Thelosi, arranged in small clusters at several portions of the complex that could only be described as choke points. It was hard to get a good idea of what they looked like, but they all seemed to be between one and two meters tall, bipedal, and appeared to have six limbs above the waist, some of which looked like they flowed and undulated more like tentacles than jointed appendages.

  “All teams,” Yeo said, “we’ve got connectivity, and it looks like we’re able to scan not only the enemy positions, but the enemy itself. Mission is a go. Proceed as planned.”

  “Roger that,” Killian called out. “Boudreaux, do you see that small group off in that left-hand side-tunnel? Just after the second branch. It looks like three of them.”

  Boudreaux scanned the HUD image, using his pinplants to shrink the image and move it into the proper perspective.

  “Affirmative,” he finally said. “Second left, along that long curve, and around the sharp corner. Looks like they’re arrayed behind a pretty solid defensive position.”

  “Seems to me they all are.” It was Hu’s voice this time. He was monitoring the whole operation from his CASPer. He’d positioned himself not far behind Fireteam Doria on the other side of the lake, ready to make any adjustments to the plan as needed.

  “Well, we did just hammer the cave entrances with a missile barrage,” Killian said.

  “That’s not what I mean,” Hu replied. “Look at it. It’s like they knew we—or at least somebody—was coming for them.”

  “We always suspected this was a trap,” Yeo said with a bit of an edge.

  “I think this goes beyond trap,” Hu said. “It just doesn’t figure.”

  “Do you want us to abort?” Yeo asked.

  There was a pause.

  “Boudreaux, how’s the decryption coming?” Hu’s voice carried with it a good deal of concern.

  “Hold up,” Boudreaux said, raising the armored fist of his Casper. He stopped in the middle of the tunnel he’d been traversing and went down to one knee, aiming his rifle down the passage. He heard Killian step up behind him and knew the corporal was taking up a position to cover him while he dove into his pinplants.

  Boudreaux examined the process running in the background of his mind. This cycle had been running for thirty-six hours, and it looked like it was nearing the end. He had no idea if it would complete the decryption function or crap out at the last second like it had the last time. He held the algorithm before his eyes and watched as tendrils of the decryption protocol plucked and picked at a massive and incredibly complex barrier that looked more like a crisscrossing pattern of webs than anything else. When he’d started, it had been nothing more than a tangle, but now most of the threads were aligned into a patchwork that almost looked like the threads of woven fabric. Satisfied that the decryption was still working, he lifted out of his pinplants, but kept the process running closer to the surface of his consciousness.

  “Sir, all I can tell you is that it’s close, perhaps even closer than the last time it crapped out on me. If it doesn’t bomb again, it could finish in seconds, minutes, or even hours. There’s no way to tell until it’s done, one way or the other.”

  “Understood, Private,” Hu said. “Yeo, Killian, I want you to proceed as planned. I’m having Sergeant Kun and his teams hit the other side as hard as they can to draw most of their attention. Boudreaux, you watch that thing like a hawk. If it finishes up, you have two priorities—send the whole data packet to me and scan through that data as fast as you can for any intel on what the hell is going on here. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, Colonel.”

  “Boudreaux, I want you to fall back behind me,” Killian ordered. “Keenes, move up in that heavy. You’ve got point.”

  “Yes, sir,” Keenes replied. Boudreaux heard the clomping of CASPer feet behind him as he rose to his feet. Knowing how tight the tunnel was, he moved to the side, putting his back against the curving wall as Private Keenes moved up.

  “Watch yourself,” Boudreaux said as Keenes passed by.

  “I got this,” Keenes replied. “You just make sure you get that data processed.”

  “Count on it,” Boudreaux replied with less confidence than he felt.

  “Let’s move people.” Corporal Killian strode past as he gave the order, and Boudreaux stepped in behind him.

  Boudreaux checked his HUD again, picking out the blobby forms of Thelosi outlined by the UV scanners. They were now fully set up behind what looked like a fortified position of stacked containers and a rocky outcropping, and it looked like all of them held long objects he guessed were the fast-cycling weapons used against the Hawks during their first engagement against the Thelosi…the ones that had taken Yeo’s leg off.

  The fireteam pressed further into the tunnel system, each step drawing them closer to their target. They made it to the first split in the tunnels and went left. Another eighty meters found them at the second split, and again they turned left.

  As Boudreaux walked, he decided to try something. He’d been ordered to keep tabs on the decryption process crunching away inside his brain, but his fireteam was walking into an enemy position defended by forces who knew they were coming. Using his pinplants, he envisioned a split between the decryption process and his HUD. At first nothing happened, but as he focused his thoughts, he felt something…click…inside his head, as if he’d flipped a switch, and suddenly both views were suspended in front of him.

  The web pattern of the decryption process, a nearly complete cross-hatch of glowing threads, was clear before him on one side, and the tunnel system ahead stretched out on the other. They walked another thirty meters, moving through the long, curving tunnel they knew would end at the enemy position.

  And then the shooting started.

  The ratatatatatat sound of multiple high-cyclic weapons echoed through the tunnels, and as they did, the areas where the Thelosi had taken up their positions started to go dark.

  “They’re shooting the drones!” Killian shouted as the shooting continued. “They can see them!”

  In seconds the five enemy positions were dark patches in their HUDs, and at the same time, a number of the blobby alien outlines seemed to disappear from their scanners, as if they’d melded righ
t into the walls and floors.

  “Hold position,” Yeo barked. “AZ and Fujimoto, cover Killian’s back. You’re past those forks, and I don’t want you taking fire from the rear.”

  “Copy that,” AZ and Fujimoto said together.

  Boudreaux checked his HUD and watched as the shooting continued, and the blank areas of the enemy positions expanded outward meter by meter. One of them was quickly approaching the last fork in the tunnels they’d passed.

  Oh, shit, he thought.

  “Everyone,” Killian barked, “take up positions to protect Boudreaux. If we’re engaged, we need to make sure he doesn’t buy it. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir!” the other privates said grimly.

  No pressure, Boudreaux thought. He put his back against the wall and focused all his attention on the decryption process. The damn thing was nearly finished, and as he scanned the cross-hatch pattern of the firewall, he saw that the decryption program had focused most of its tendrils upon a single section of the web. It poked and pried at the still-knotted area, but seemed to have come to a standstill. The section glowed before his eyes, turning from the strange orange glow to yellow.

  It’s gonna crap out. Boudreaux was on the brink of panic. I’ve got to do something. He pushed his mind against the stubborn area of the security net, and as he did, he realized that the section wasn’t part of the wall, it was the actual lock…or a keyhole. The damn thing must be a prompt requiring a response of some kind. Its hue was changing from yellow to a pulsing red. That’s why the decryption always bombed. It needs someone, a conscious mind to turn the key. But how?

  Will.

  His only option was will alone. Drawing heavily upon the processing power of his pinplants, he dove at the glowing point of light like a hawk diving into deep waters after a fish. He felt his mind impact upon it, and as it did, he saw a small, complex pattern of lines tangled in disarray. He pushed again, pulling and pushing at them, and as he did so, he found that he could move them. One line at a time, he adjusted the tangle, laying them down in what seemed to be a logical pattern.

  “They’re almost on us!” Killian said. “Target any movement, and fire at will.”

  Boudreaux ignored the command and pushed harder at the threads. Time froze. Boudreaux laid out one strand after another as if he were straightening a bowl of tangled yarn. The pattern blazed before him, and the pulses quickened to the point where it was almost a solid, burning point of light.

  I’m not gonna make it, he thought in a panic.

  Another thread…and another fell before his will.

  The last thread dropped into place, and there was a flash of light in Boudreaux’s mind as the entire security net collapsed around him…broken.

  He dove into the data beyond, pouring all his energy into scanning the files and data as quickly as he could. His brain burned with the amount of data assailing his consciousness. He portioned off a section of his mind and sent the entire data packet across the network and into the waiting hands of Colonel Hu.

  “Thirty seconds to contact,” Killian said.

  Boudreaux sifted through data as fast as his pinplants could process them. First, he found a Thelosi translation protocol for the pinplants. After that there were hundreds of communiques between Praeliet Tokarra and a Praeliet named Litarran, mostly regarding Thelosi prisoners, and a wager. He reviewed logistics files, unit orders, comm frequencies, even a file detailing the Hawk’s first engagement with the Thelosi, as well as the Hawks’ mission against Veetanho mercs in possession of a Depik adviser. As his brain absorbed the data, he saw what was really going on. Rage flared within him.

  “We’re like dogs in a pit…” he said out loud as he installed the language file into his pinplants. He sent the same file to Colonel Hu and everyone else on the net.

  “What did you say?” Killian asked.

  “Corporal, we have to get out of here. We can’t engage the Thelosi,” Boudreaux’s voice was pleading.

  “What? Are you out of your god damn mind? We’re in the middle of—”

  “Boudreaux.” Colonel Hu’s voice broke in. “I want you to disarm and try to make contact with those enemy units. Surrender if you have to.”

  “Sir?” Killian blurted with disbelief.

  “I’ve reviewed the data just like Boudreaux has. This is the only way out of this and keep our souls intact,” Hu added.

  “Yes, sir,” Boudreaux said. His mouth went dry, and fear clutched at his insides. “Everyone swap over to radio frequency 21.34 kilohertz, and Yeo, have the techs broadcast this across all remaining drones.”

  “Copy that.” Yeo’s voice was just as disbelieving as Killian’s had been.

  Boudreaux stepped away from the wall, handed his rifle and sidearm to Killian, and turned toward the bend in the tunnel.

  Open canopy, he thought and marched forward, moving past Killian and then Keenes. His canopy opened with a hiss of atmosphere, and he initialized the onboard lights of his CASPer, illuminating the dark tunnel before him. I just made myself the easiest target in the galaxy, he thought.

  In as loud a voice as he could, and activating the PA speakers of his CASPer, he took a deep breath and spoke.

  “Honored Thelosi warriors, we surrender and wish to speak. We know you want to go home, and that this conflict is not of your choosing. I repeat, we surrender.”

  His words were instantly translated by the pinplants and broadcast in the Thelosi language, which seemed more like a barely-audible, high-pitched squeaking chatter of random tones.

  His guts churning with a storm of fear, Boudreaux strode forward one heavy step at a time. As he approached the bend in the tunnel, he raised his hands over his head.

  “Their progress has stopped,” Yeo said disbelievingly into the comms.

  Boudreaux took a deep breath, prayed that he wasn’t about to get riddled to pieces, and turned the corner. He spotted the enemy defensive position. He took several steps forward and saw two dark shadows shift behind the cargo containers, their multi-barreled weapons trained on him. He still couldn’t get a good look at them, but their skin looked black, and they didn’t seem to have eyes on their elongated heads.

  “I am unarmed and only wish to speak,” Boudreaux said. One of the Thelosi shifted behind the crates, but it said nothing. “Your people and mine are being used. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  Seconds ticked by, and he picked up a series of squeaking noises that still went untranslated.

  “We do not want fight you any longer,” Boudreaux said. “I give you my word that we will vacate these tunnels if given the opportunity. But before we do, we would like to give you all the information we have about those who hold the others captive.”

  At that, a shape appeared beyond the crates. It seemed to grow out of the rock face, swelling like a bladder being filled with air, and it stepped forward. The other two Thelosi shifted slightly, and there was an exchange of squeaking that still didn’t come through translated.

  Boudreaux felt the blood drain from his face, and he felt ill. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was about to die.

  The alien stepped out from behind the crates, and Boudreaux got his first good look at a Thelosi.

  The being was a meter and a half tall and stood on two legs that looked almost canine in its digitigrade formation. It’s skin…or suit, he thought…was completely black, as if it was wrapped in vulcanized rubber. Four swaying tentacles rose up from its back and hovered around its body in slowly gyrating motions. It its three-jointed arms, it held a strange-looking weapon with five barrels, a central body and stock, and a curious grip. There was a blocky casing just aft of the trigger assembly that Boudreaux thought might be for ammunition. The alien’s body was tapered somewhat, almost like an elongated teardrop that terminated in a thin neck. Its head was strangely elongated front to back, and at the top was a row of dark patches that Boudreaux could only assume was some sort of sensory apparatus. At the muzzle of its long head was a slim line, which opened
as it spoke.

  “We hear,” it said, in a high, screechy voice, and it seemed to punctuate its words with subtle motions of the tentacles. “We understand. Blood has flowed between. You are the Foe of today…”

  Boudreaux tensed at its words but remained motionless. He could barely hear the squeaking sounds of its voice, but the translation came in through his pinplants.

  “You are not the Enemy of yesterday,” the Thelosi said as it set its weapon on a nearby crate. “Yet will we decide whether you are the Enemy of tomorrow.”

  “How do you want to proceed?” Boudreaux asked nervously. Enemy of today and tomorrow?

  One of the tentacles reached behind and then rose, revealing a Veetanho slate secured by small suction cups that lined the underside of the appendage. “The Foe will transmit all data to this. We must learn and evaluate. The Foe will then retreat from this stone and into the light. Await our word and take no further action. Any deviation, and blood will flow with the Foe of today.”

  “I understand,” Boudreaux said. Through his pinplants, he picked up the signal of the Thelosi’s slate and transmitted all the data, including their current mission objectives. Moments later he lowered his hands, which prompted the two-armed Thelosi to tense. “I’ve transmitted the data. We will now pull all of our soldiers back into the light and await your words.” He started to turn away, but then he looked back at the alien who was now examining the slate. “Thank you,” Boudreaux said.

  The Thelosi paused for a moment. Boudreaux couldn’t tell if it was looking at him or not. It clearly didn’t have eyes in the traditional sense of the term. It lowered the slate slightly, then two of its tentacles waggled in his direction.