by J. M. Preiss
"In position," Mason said when he reached his spot.
"Going hot," said Jacob as he peeled the auto-rifle off of the side of his thigh where it had been attached to the armor plating. Deploying his rifle, he crept up to the top of the rise and slowly stuck his head over.
The turrets didn't budge.
He slowly raised his rifle into position, made sure it was set to single fire, and pulled the trigger. There was the signature sharp crack of the auto-rifle firing. A puff of smoke and superheated metal boiled off of the closest turret.
The turrets broke into motion, swiveling and deploying as they went. They were fast.
In an instant, the guns had trained on Jacob's position, and they opened up. Jacob barely got his head down when the first volley blasted the other side of the rise from him. Snow flash boiled into steam, superheated soil flew up, and there was a clap of thunder.
Mason stood up and swung his pulse cannon into position.
The turrets started swiveling to target him.
He pulled the trigger. There was a sharp clap of thunder and a large plume of superheated metal boiled off of the turret closest to him. It kept swiveling.
Mason hit the deck just before they were able to acquire their target.
"Ok, those things are fast," he said. "Thought you said they were going to be slow."
"Apparently these aren't," Jacob said. "They also seem to be armored. That blast should've cracked it open. Switch to pulse mode," he ordered.
"Got it."
"Lisa, this time you need to fire to give Mason more time," Jacob admonished.
Lisa mumbled something incomprehensible.
Jacob shook his head and popped up for another shot. The turrets were already swiveling before he pulled the trigger. He shot fast, and dropped back behind cover.
Mason popped up again and pulled the trigger while the turrets were firing on Jacob.
There was a hair raising ripping peal of thunder from the pulse cannon as it fired.
The blasts instantaneously impacted the closest turret. They drilled into the armored housing and turned the vulnerable interior into molten metal. The superheated metal burst out of the top of the turret and finished it off.
The second turret started to turn back towards Mason.
Lisa popped up and took aim. She was too slow.
The pulse cannon locked onto her and fired.
The blast impacted her right shoulder. The armor plating exploded into a flurry of reflective metal. The air around instantly superheated, and the metal turned into a spray of superheated shrapnel. It peppered the ground, the rest of her body, and Hector. Hector tackled her before the turret could fire again.
Mason popped up, fired his second blast, and finished off the turret with a single burst.
Jacob was running over to Lisa, and he slid to a stop next to her. Rolling her over onto her back, he assessed the damage.
Her right arm was missing, a perfectly cauterized wound where it should have been.
Mason cursed as he ran over.
Jacob deactivated Lisa's helmet. Her head fell out of it limply. Catching her head in his left hand, he deactivated his helmet and removed his right glove with his teeth. Jacob checked for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak.
"She was too slow," said Mason. He cursed again.
"She's still alive," Jacob said. He checked her breathing. It was shallow and rapid. "She needs medical attention now."
Mason motioned for the sled to come over beside them. The driver was horrified.
Jacob picked her up and placed her on the sled. "Take her back to Hedington as fast as that they will go. She needs to get medical attention or she won't make it."
"Right away," the driver managed to say. He quickly sped off towards Hedington.
"She lost her arm in an instant," Hector said with a shocked look on his exposed face, having deactivated his helmet as well.
"Damn right, she did," Mason said. "That's what happens if you are too slow."
"Sadly," said Jacob. There was nothing he could do about it, so he didn't let it affect him.
"We need to get moving. There is no telling what kind of alarms we set off." Jacob reactivated his helmet and climbed to the top of the rise again.
The towers the pulse cannons had been on were smoking wrecks.
"Let's go," Jacob said when Mason and Hector joined him.
They clambered over the top of the rise and ran down towards the gate.
As they ran, a hidden turret popped up out of the ground by the gate.
Jacob dropped to a knee and rolled while shouldering his rifle. With a quick snapshot when he was upright again, the turret burst into pieces. He got back up and continued running.
They made the gate without further incident and slowly crossed the threshold.
Nothing happened. No more turrets popped up. No audible alarm sounded. Nothing.
Jacob slowly walked forward and motioned for Mason and Hector to follow him. The made it across the open space and to the door without incident.
The door was a solid metal door that looked like it wasn't going to budge.
"Pulse cannon?" asked Mason.
Jacob shook his head. "No good. This thing is going to be too thick for that."
Jacob looked around for an access panel of some sort and found one recessed into the side of the doorway. He pulled out his multitool and worked his way into the panel. There was a collection of advanced circuitry staring Jacob in the face.
"This might take a bit," he said.
Mason pointed for Hector to go to the other side of the door, and he set up watching over Jacob.
"Take your time," Mason said. "It's not like we're in a rush or anything."
Jacob mumbled and worked at bypassing the panel.
Chapter XXXII
It took Jacob almost ten minutes to finish bypassing the panel. The whole time, Hector was sweating bullets thinking about what happened to Lisa.
"You think another one of us is going to get injured?" he asked Mason.
"Don't think about it," said Mason.
"But it could happen," Hector mewled.
"I told you, don't think about it. Don't mention it. Don't even think about thinking about it." Mason rolled his shoulders and looked back at Jacob.
"Got it," said Jacob.
"About time," Mason said. "What took so long?"
"They didn't want anybody taking a peek in this facility." Jacob put the panel back on and pushed the button to open the door.
The door shuddered, and then it ground open. Jacob hit the button again after it was open a few feet, and the door stopped moving.
He walked over to the opening and took a peek inside quickly. It was a simple room with a large freight elevator at the end of it.
"Clear," he said.
They filed around and cautiously walked into the room. Nothing hostile moved. When they were halfway into the room, the door started grinding shut.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Mason exclaimed as he ran to the door. He made it just in time for it to slam shut.
He hit the open button. Nothing happened.
"I think they know we're here," Mason said ominously.
"Let's be even more careful then," Jacob said as he approached the elevator.
He stepped into it and motioned Hector and Mason to join him.
"Hector, stay behind Mason." Jacob hit the switch and the elevator closed and started descending into the depths of the facility.
It shuddered to a stop and opened up to a pitch-black corridor. The only light was the light from the elevator.
"Right side of your helmet, where you ear is, is a button. Push it. That will activate your low-light vision, Hector," Jacob said while activating his.
The corridor turned a dull green on the display, and they were able to make out minor details.
It was a big corridor, same dimensions as the freight elevator, and it was long. At evenly spaced intervals, there was an intersection where corridors
shot off in both directions.
"Looks like a standard grid layout. If I had to guess, this was a military complex," Mason posed.
"That would be my guess, especially with the defenses," Jacob agreed.
Hector looked around at the darkness that was no longer dark and was awestruck.
"Let's move carefully. There could still be defenses here," Jacob said as he motioned them forward.
They walked down the corridor, checking each intersection carefully, but they constantly moved forward. The corridors off each intersection led to storage rooms full of crates. When they finally reached the end of the corridor, there was another elevator, but this one was a standard personnel elevator.
Jacob pushed the button. Nothing happened.
"Not surprising," he said to himself. "Looks like power is off to this section. Let's find the stairs."
Looking either way, they saw a door off to the right. Jacob moved over to it and slowly opened it. It was a stairwell that led further down into the complex.
"Looks clear. Hector, stay between me and Mason and keep your eyes and ears open for anything strange."
They moved down into the stairwell. They were on the third level of the complex, so Jacob decided they would go to the first and see what was there.
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell, Jacob slowly opened the door into another dark corridor. Sweeping it with his rifle, he moved in.
"Clear."
Hector and Mason followed closely behind, Mason keeping an eye behind them.
"So why are we down here again?" Mason asked.
"Bottom floor. I figure that the important stuff is kept down here," Jacob explained.
Hector cocked his head to one side. "Why would the important stuff be down here?"
"Deepest point in the facility. Hardest to get to." Jacob looked around the corner down the central corridor.
It was similar to the floor the freight elevator had opened up into, but instead of there being corridors at each intersection, there were doorways.
"We need to find the reactor," Mason said. "Without that running, we can't do anything."
Jacob thought for a moment. "I think I recognize the layout of this complex. It's a standard special forces layout."
"You have your own bases?" Mason went to scratch at his face, remembered he was wearing a helmet, and dropped his hand back to the pulse cannon.
"We need a place to train away from everyone else," Jacob explained. "It's a bit strange that this is here though outside of Hedington, and it's in great shape."
"I don't like that," Mason said.
"Neither do I. The reactor should be this way," Jacob said and started walking down the long corridor.
"Did you hear that?" Hector stopped. Mason and Jacob stopped instantly and started looking around.
"What'd you hear?" asked Jacob.
"Heard a click of some kind," Hector said.
"Could just be interference from something over the radio," Mason said. "Don't worry about it."
Jacob shrugged and started walking to the reactor again.
Down the corridor and to the left there was a big set of double doors. Walking through the doors, Mason, Jacob, and Hector were presented with a grand view of the facility reactor that spanned two levels.
It wasn't the most advanced reactor design that existed, a facility of this size didn't require one like that, but it was still impressive. There were injectors all around the perimeter, magnetic containment coils, and accelerators. Coolant lines ran over the entire surface. Massive conduits were bound together along the base of the reactor and ran into the power distribution system. The control panel for the reactor was on the far wall. There was a green status indicator flashing.
"That's strange," Jacob said as he walked down the stairs and over to the panel.
"I don't like strange," Mason said. "Hector, watch the door."
Hector nodded and turned to watch the door.
Mason walked over to Jacob and looked at the panel. "Why is it strange?"
"The reactor is primed." Jacob pointed to the indicator.
"Why would the reactor be primed? The primed state isn't a standby stage unless," Mason trailed off.
Hector looked over his shoulder. "Unless what?"
There was a sharp crack. Hector's chest burst into bright light, and he went sprawling.
"Hector!" Mason shouted. He dove for cover behind the reactor as another crack filled the air.
Jacob rolled behind the power distribution panel and pulled Hector over to him.
"Never take your eyes of your guard point," he said to Hector.
Hector groaned.
Looking quickly over the panel, he saw a figure ducking back behind the safety of the wall.
"Slag the wall," Jacob said calmly.
"Gladly," Mason said.
He spun out over cover after the next volley from the assailant and brought the pulse cannon to bear. Flipping it into pulse mode, he pulled the trigger.
There was a sound of ripping thunder that echoed through the reactor room. It would have been deafening if not for the helmet cancelling out the noise to save their hearing.
The wall the assailant was hiding behind blasted into superheated chunks of concrete and metal. There was a sharp scream, then nothing.
Jacob looked back over the panel he was hiding behind and covered the doorway.
"Activate the reactor. We need power," he said.
Mason quickly trotted over to the control panel and slapped the activation button.
There was a loud whine then a deafening pop. The reactor spun up and sprang to life.
Jacob spun around to the front of the power distribution panel and started flipping switches. The facility sprang to life.
While Jacob was activating systems, Mason ran over and checked on Hector.
Hector had a burning hole on the center of his armor. Mason checked the hole with his fingers. It didn't make it through the armor.
Hector groaned again.
"You stupid idiot!" Mason said loudly at Hector. "Never take your attention off your guard point."
Hector waved Mason away. "That hurt."
"Well yeah, of course it hurt. You got shot," Mason said as he helped him onto his feet.
"So that's what it feels like," Hector said.
Mason dropped him back on the ground and walked over to Jacob.
"What's the word?" he asked.
"Power is back up all the way. There's also something here that I don't recognize," Jacob said. "No matter. Let's get to the computer vault. Hopefully we should find the information we want there."
They carefully ascended the stairs to the entrance and were met by the burning remains of the person that had attacked them.
"AI," growled Mason.
The charred remains weren't human. They looked human, but the glowing power cell partially exposed in the chest cavity gave it away.
"How did they know we would be here? What do the Elders want?" Hector asked.
Jacob shook his head. "We're in the right place. They don't want us to learn what is in here."
"Why would they be afraid of the truth?" Hector picked at the charred armor plate on his chest while looking at the remains.
"They're afraid of the truth. All tyrants are," Mason answered.
"Let's get going, and keep your eyes open. There has to be more of them in here," Jacob said as he stepped over the remains and walked down the corridor towards where he remembered the data vault to be.
He started to walk around a corner and jumped back an instant before a crack shot through the corridor. Molten metal went flying off of the wall behind where Jacob had been moments before.
Dropping to a knee, he spun around the corner again and fired. He shot the man the next time he rounded the corner to fire on them.
Mason ran to the opposite side of the intersection and peeked down the corridor. There was nothing else moving.
"You special forces guys are scary accurate
and fast," Mason stated as he broke cover behind Jacob.
Jacob quickly scurried down the corridor to the body. It was another AI.
"This is getting serious," said Jacob.
Hector went to scratch his face and bounced his hand off his helmet. "It wasn't before?"
"Well, not to diminish the value of human life, Hector, but these AI units have to be worth a lot," Mason said.
"They've already lost four units against us," Jacob pointed out. "They wouldn't throw them at us if we weren't a serious threat to them."
Mason shook his head. "Why are we a threat though? Sure, we're looking for the truth, but this is something more than hiding the truth."
Jacob nodded in agreement. "Guess we can ask them next time we get the chance."
Mason grunted as he followed Jacob down the corridor.
They stepped over the body of the AI and entered the data vault.
It was a simple room with computers along all the walls and lined up in rows in the middle of the room. The computers were in standby mode after the power had been restored.
"What's with all of the computers?" Mason asked as he tapped a few of the hardware keys on one.
Jacob walked to the mainframe access point. "You could run a lot of intelligence through these facilities. All missions would start from here with studying the pertinent materials."
"So this was the brain center for a region," Mason said. "What makes you think that the data vault in this one is still intact?"
"They had active defenses at this facility," Jacob said.
"Touché." Mason walked around the room and looked at all of the computers while Jacob began accessing the mainframe.
It was a simple matter to initiate the startup sequence. After the mainframe had booted, he was faced with a login screen.
"Well, this could take a while," Jacob said.
"I don't like things taking a while anymore, Jacob," Mason growled. "Make it snappy. We don't know if we have more company coming."
"Working on it. I'll do my best."
Jacob started trying to access the code for the mainframe to hack it.
Wait, what if, his thoughts trailed off.
He input his identification and entry code to the login screen. It sprang to life.
"That's weird."
"What's weird?" Mason walked over next to Jacob. "Why is it weird that you are in the mainframe?"