Nadja Bulkin stepped beside Petrow and indicated the first holo, still showing the alien being.
»That’s certainly not a Globuster, he looks entirely different. I wonder who he might be … and what’s the purpose of this presentation?« she asked bluntly.
Petrow was about to answer, but suddenly, a deep sonorous hum filled the room. It had a low frequency, and alternated in pitch rhythmically. The alien being seemed to be speaking in an unknown language, while only slightly moving its thin lips. The tone and sound pressure, however, hit the team like a ton of bricks!
»Its voice is in an infra-sound range!« Meyer moaned aloud and wanted to cradle his head, to no avail since he had followed the orders to keep his helmet on. His gloves slid off the sides of his helmet, leaving him feeling helplessly subjected to the sound waves.
»Record the message and then let’s get out of here ASAP!« Petrow commanded.
As Petrow turned around toward the exit, the voice became stronger and seemed to penetrate their helmets and suits; even their inner organs began to be affected. Petrow felt an uncomfortable push-pull sensation in his back. Suddenly, the voice stopped and the holo disappeared.
Just in time, because Nadja Bulkin was about to vomit into her closed helmet. The infra-frequency voice had made her, Drustev and Meyers feel nauseated.
They literally fled the planetarium.
As they arrived at the corridor junction, the scintillating yellowish energy field disappeared. Petrow had made a wise decision not to take the helmets off!
»Petrow … look!« Nadja shouted, and held Petrow back.
Two Globusters – or what was left of them – were laying before them. Their bodies had partially disintegrated, looking like granular sand. Entire body parts had separated and dislodged from their torsos. Disgusted, Nadja looked at the dead beings.
»It must have been the voice from the holo! The sound waves must have burst the Globs to pieces … unbelievable!« Drustev commented aloud.
»Seems like it,« Petrow acknowledged and approached one of the Globusters to take a closer look. »They’re dead!«
Petrow signaled his team to come closer.
»Listen up, folks! This changes the whole situation. We need to re-evaluate the purpose of this base. I agree, this base has nothing to do with the Globusters. Maybe the alien in the planetarium was one of the real Matrix Architects. We need to get this info to the Union Government at once!«
»The Matrix Architects!« Meyers echoed Petrow’s words. »That means we’re dealing with two different peoples who were manipulating our past. The aliens who like the one inside the planetarium were the ones who built the Matrix, and this base, eons ago and the Globs were their guardians!«
»Not so fast!« Petrow injected. »This is pure speculation. Let’s keep looking; follow me!«
He’s on his way
Naomi Borga greeted the new owner of Fosset Enterprises in front of the hotel and strode confidently toward him. McCord stepped out of the rover and quickly looked around, then nodded at Naomi.
»The hotel’s a good choice. My journey was long and exhausting. I want to rest before we talk about business.«
McCord seemed tired, and grimaced as he walked up the steps to the hotel entrance.
»Is everything okay, Mr. McCord?« Naomi inquired concerned.
»Samuel … call me Samuel, please,« McCord replied amiably. »The flight … you know? We should look into acquiring an inertia damper for the Princess. The braking maneuvers were pure torture!«
»I understand, Sir,« she replied, and led McCord to the revolving entrance door. »All the formalities have been taken care of. You may occupy your suite immediately, Sir … uh … Samuel. Would you be so kind and tell me what the reason for your visit might be? I’d like to prepare for our meeting.«
McCord noticed the security details and the scanners in the lobby.
»You followed my directions to a T, I see. I appreciate this very much, Naomi. A man in my position needs the extra security. I’ll let you know first what my business intentions on Mars are.«
McCord’s voice had changed suddenly with the last sentence and had dropped its friendliness.
»Only so much, for now … my visit is very important for this colonial project!«
Naomi accompanied McCord to the elevators.
»I’m certain you’ll like this hotel, and the colony, Samuel,« she assured him.
McCord stopped and looked at Naomi from top to bottom with a wanting look in his eyes. His eyes stopped briefly at her well-developed breasts and the low cut dress.
»I’ll let you know if I need something. I’m certain, you’ll want to make my stay on Mars an unforgettable experience.«
Naomi’s eyes widened briefly as she noticed McCord’s ogling and clumsy “invitation”, but a moment later she had regained her self-control.
»You know how to reach me, if there’re any complaints,« she replied quickly, a bit more reserved in her tone.
She turned around and swiftly walked toward the ladies room near the reception area, while McCord kicked the luggage robot to indicate that he wanted it to go to his suite.
Naomi waited until the door to the ladies room had closed. She quickly looked into the empty stalls and then spoke into the disguised comm-device she had received from Arkroid.
»You were right, Arkroid. McCord’s behaving strangely; he comes across very arrogant – not in character. This may not be important, but warn your man inside McCord’s suite that he’s on his way!«
No delays
McCord staggered through the corridor on his way to his suite and reprimanded a security officer who had rushed over to help him.
»Get back to your post!« he yelled at the surprised man, while he swiped the holo ID for his suite.
He sank to his knees as soon as the door had closed behind him and moaned loudly. McCord clamped his head in pain with both hands and fell to the floor, where he remained, twitching, succumbing to a spastic attack.
»What’s wrong? What’s going on with me?« he screamed; unheard because his suite was hermetically sealed from the corridor and the other suites beside his.
The heir to the Fosset Empire crawled to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. He struggled and pulled himself up the sink. He twitched with shock as he saw his face in the large mirror over the sink.
»Can’t be space sickness,« he whispered with a trembling voice, »this is all part of my mission. I … I have to complete a mission! That’s the only reason I came to Mars!«
His face suddenly changed from a pain-distorted twist into a diabolical grin. An observer would have thought that McCord was possessed by two souls.
He washed his face with cold water, staggered into the living room and slumped into one of the plush seats. He buried his face in his hands for a couple of minutes before he suddenly straightened. He looked at the ceiling.
Was there a noise from the ceiling? A shadow for a moment? he wondered, peering closely at the six-armed crystal chandelier. Is the chandelier moving? Uh … no! I must be hallucinating … There’s nobody else here. Nobody can get past my guards! I am the most powerful man in the entire solar system. I will show these Humans what fear is!
Suddenly, he realized why he had followed his inner voice to fly to Mars. It was like a divine revelation. He knew now what he had to do. No more hesitation!
The colony is going against the principles of the Reserve! Humanity shall no longer spread like weeds on Earth. I have to destroy this colony. It won’t take long! No delays! I start now!
Are they friendly
It seemed to Petrow that they had entered a highly secured area. Two motionless Globusters lay near where an intersecting corridor led into a cave. The path looked rigid and the walls were rough, as though chiseled out of the rock. It looked completely different from the various sections the team had passed through so far. The corridor beyond the entrance sloped downward and was sealed with a faint glimmer that indicated an energy field.
»Got to be Globuster quarters!« Meyer warned. »Seems this cave is a late addition to the base, not part of the original construction.«
Petrow activated his infrared equipment and acknowledged Meyer’s observations.
»I’m detecting energy flow along the walls via a web-like material … just like on Quaoar! Let’s check it out. The energy field is weak, shouldn’t be a problem.«
»Do you remember how Quaoar ended?« Nadja replied nervously. »A man got killed, right? Don’t go poking at Globuster technology; there are plenty of other locations to explore. If we’re in the Globuster cave and that energy field changes, we’re screwed!«
»We don’t have a choice,« Petrow told her firmly. »Our mission is to deliver a full report on Sedna, and it looks like two different parties are active here. My gut feeling is that the Globs weren’t the first ones here, but if they created an underground cave system, we need to know why! I won’t order you to follow me, but I’m going into the cave to see what’s going on!«
Alexander Drustev and Mark Meyer nodded briefly in agreement.
»There’s a significant difference, though, Nadja,« Meyer interjected. »The Glob on Quaoar was alive and active. It reacted to an intrusion. There’re hundreds of Globs in this base, but they’re all dormant. If they could wake from stasis by themselves, we’d be dead by now.«
»Thanks for the newsflash, Meyer!« Nadja snapped. She took her Globuster Fist from her shoulder and checked the weapon. »It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?« She winked at Petrow, merely from habit since she knew he couldn’t see through her dark visor. »After you, Gentlemen!«
They stepped through the weak energy barrier and found themselves in a dark tunnel. Their infrared vision equipment displayed a dimly lit scene. The tunnel walls and ceiling seemed alive with clearly delineated and pulsating, meandering energy paths.
»Organic technology!« Drustev remarked. »According to the Quaoar reports, this material can heal or repair itself. If we make a hole in the wall, it will try to close the wound again.« Drustev knew he was repeating what the team already knew, but it calmed his nerves.
They kept walking slowly down the tunnel, Drustev and Meyer now holding their Globuster Fists as well. Nadja smiled satisfied.
Heroes, she mouthed dryly.
The tunnel ended 50 meters into a large cavern. Drustev and Meyer activated IR- illuminator sticks and threw them into the cave to improve the general lighting conditions.
They saw eight pedestals, protruding in a star-like arrangement from a hollowed out rock niche, pointing toward the center of the cavern. Eight Globusters were crouched on them, surrounding four smaller objects in the star’s center. It looked like the Globs were guarding them, like honor guards. The objects, about one meter high and three long, were open at the top, facing the center of the room with their foot ends. Their construction appeared simple, almost primitive.
Coffins? Nadja assumed. Arranged as if by wind directions, their head ends joined together!
Instead of lids, these “coffins” were sealed with energy fields.
»Good Heavens … what’s that?« Drustev shouted from the cave entrance. »What’s in those boxes?«
Petrow clenched his teeth and slowly approached the coffin-like objects sidewise, taking special care to avoid touching the Globuster guards. He looked into the first coffin … and froze.
»Petrow! What is it? What do you see?« Nadja screamed at him.
Petrow paled. He turned around and signaled his team to come closer.
»See for yourselves!« he invited them. »But you won’t believe it!«
Drustev, Meyer and Nadja held their breaths as they stepped closer to the box. There was no Globuster inside the box, but an extraterrestrial that looked like the one they’d seen on the holo display in the observatory. Petrow went over to the other boxes and saw that they all held the same beings. The remotely humanoid beings were tall, almost too thin. Their skin was blue. Petrow couldn’t tell if they were naked or wearing a very tight-cut garment. Their long arms ended in three-fingered hands; each of the fingers was thin and about as long as a Human hand. The upper torso displayed several rows of ribs, as if the beings were starved. Petrow couldn’t tell whether that was actually the case or if the aliens looked like that normally. Their heads were dominated by large pointed ears. Their small eyes were closed, as were their thin-lipped mouths. They appeared completely hairless.
»Uhuh … that answers that question,« Petrow admitted in a muted voice. »There definitely is a second lifeform on Sedna!«
»Now the question is – are they friendly … or not?« Drustev added.
Quadrant 4
Naomi brought the bad news to Arkroid and Fosset personally. She looked disturbed, breathless and anxious.
»What’s happened?« Fosset asked, seeing her face. »You’ve got news for us?«
»I do,« she replied hastily, »very bad news!«
Arkroid and Vasina, standing by the door, waited for Naomi to speak up.
»Four of the security details assigned to McCord’s personal protection were found dead. McCord is gone and his suite is totally ransacked. It’s like he must have had a fit and then left.«
Arkroid and Vasina looked at each other and yelled simultaneously, »PAAFNAS!«
The team, with Naomi, stormed into the corridor, past several perplexed looking security people. No one made a move to stop them, and they went directly to McCord’s suite.
The main room looked as if a fight had occurred. All the furniture was in pieces. Arkroid was speechless for a beat.
»Paafnas … where are you? Say something!« he yelled into his comm-device. Paafnas didn’t answer.
Enraged, Arkroid faced the chief of security, who had just arrived.
»Didn’t any of your people hear this destruction and intervene?«
The chief looked distraught.
»It’s a secure suite! It’s soundproofed from the inside!« he barked.
»What killed your people?« Arkroid demanded, hiding his real concern for Paafnas. Where was the alien?
»We don’t know, Sir,« the chief admitted. »It looks like nerve shock. We have emergency teams on the way. We’re giving this top priority!«
»Nerve shock?« Vasina echoed unbelievingly. »A weapon? What kind?«
The chief was unable to answer her questions. He looked at them; saw Fosset standing there undisguised, and nearly fainted.
»You’re Hugh Fosset!« he blurted. »You’re alive!«
The situation was beginning to get out of control. Arkroid nodded at Vasina, then they both removed their masks and passed their ID chips to the chief. New security people were arriving – a special unit of the colonial police force.
Naomi gave the officer in charge a quick briefing and requested that he prevent the media from entering the hotel. Some pictures had been taken in the meantime, though, so it was very likely that information had leaked to the press.
»We can’t stop it now,« Arkroid whispered to Vasina. »The agitator will know what happened here. He could drop McCord like a hot potato – sacrifice him.«
Arkroid felt a sudden pull on his left leg. He twitched in surprise and looked down.
Paafnas had switched off his disguise field and was struggling to get up from the floor.
The security people had never seen a Pleunatan before. They backed a couple of steps and leveled their weapons. Now the shit could hit the fan any moment!
Vasina tried to block Paafnas from the view of the police officers, while Arkroid pulled Paafnas into an adjacent room within the suite.
»Damnit, Paaf! What’s going on?«
Paafnas looked very weak.
»Toiber … this man McCord is extremely dangerous. There’s something inside him, something that means ill for your people! I tried to follow him, but he got away. He’s planning something horrible …«
Arkroid looked around desperately.
»What do you mean, Paaf? What is it … that
… that … what’s inside him?«
»McCord has changed. I’m unable to analyze and replicate his neuronal net. He’s like Morgotradon – or those Treugolans. I know we expected that, but there’s more: a hidden program or ability! I don’t think McCord knew why he came to Mars – until now. His brain is no longer Human, no matter how much he believed it himself. The alien in him was kept alive by the crystal substance after his replication … he was supposed to feel and act like a Human, like he was … before.
Vasina tugged at Arkroid’s arm.
»Let’s move, Toiber! We have to catch McCord before he causes a catastrophe! We still don’t know what he’s up to!«
»Wait a second, Vasina.« Arkroid turned to Paafnas again. »What exactly happened here?«
Paafnas dragged himself into a small seat and pointed at the destroyed furniture.
»He must have fought an inner war, but in the end the neuronal program shunted aside the rest of his Human features and took over. He went mad, destroyed the room. The two personalities screamed at each other until the negative personality won out, and killed the last cell of Humanity left in McCord.«
»What were they yelling about? Did you understand any of it?« Arkroid demanded.
»He intends to destroy the colony!«
Arkroid paled.
»What? How can one being do that?«
»All he needs is a body. I heard him where I was listening from the ceiling. Then he ran out into the corridor, where the security people collapsed and died.«
Arkroid signaled Vasina.
»Vasina, we need to find and eliminate him. The worst case is about to unfold!«
Arkroid turned to Naomi and Fosset.
»Contact the Princess and tell the crew to cut communication to McCord. Explain yourselves to them. Take Paafnas. Make sure he’s not swarmed by the media and local officials. He’s weak … needs to recover.«
Arkroid and Vasina raced out of the room, past where emergency doctors were examining the dead security people.
»Paaf, keep in contact,« Arkroid warned via the comm-link. »As soon as they learn what killed these people, I want to know about it!«
NEBULAR Collection 3 - Morgotradon: Episodes 12 - 16 Page 20