The Excisionists: Book 1

by Rebecca Jensen

  My eyes spanned the group and took one last look at them all before we would emerge as who knew what. I pulled on the black helmet and was amazed by the display on the screen. I watched as the sheath formed a flexible black covering that connected with the boots we’d slipped on previously.

  “This thin thing is really going to protect us?”

  “That is correct. The suit protects against all currently know Eydis weapons and changes color with the terrain to camouflage wearers. You may now enter the terrain testing area. Your objective is to work together, locate the hidden object, and destroy the alien base.”

  Wes chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “We’re destroying the alien base. Technically we’re aliens too.”

  I smiled. “Guess we can just get rid of everyone now.”

  “Exactly.”

  Mica pushed past me. “You two are so annoying. Let’s go already.”

  We followed him into the forest and I was surprised to find we could touch the trees and ground. It was tangible and extremely realistic which made me nervous about going into battle. I had no idea what we’d be seeing, and I didn’t know if I could kill a species I hadn’t known about until this very moment especially because they appeared so human. Could I really kill the Eydis? What if one of us die? How can possibly protect Mica in all this craziness?

  “Hey, watch this.” Mica barreled headfirst into a massive tree trunk that knocked him flat on his back.

  I ran over to check him for injury but found him unharmed laughing. “What is wrong with you? That could have seriously injured you.”

  He shook his head. “Nah. Cygnet said we’d be fine.”

  I helped him up and we went on our way. We followed a pathway through the trees to a fast-moving river. I scanned the river and watched the stats scroll across my screen.

  Zuri considered our options. “All species we know of need water. I suggest we check downriver for a settlement.”

  I crossed my arms and considered her statement. “I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but what if they don’t need water? And what if the hidden object is in the forest?”

  She shrugged. “I’m just trying to be logical. What do you guys think?”

  Mica ran and did a cannonball dive into the river. When he emerged from the water, he was several meters away and moving further every second. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Everyone jumped in and I followed them reluctantly. The river carried us quickly toward a clearing up ahead. When we could see the dark domed structure, we pulled ourselves out and crept closer for a look. I was amazed at how well we all blended into the background as I watched the others in front of me. All of the sudden, the Eydis flashed into existence before us. Dozens of black eyed pale humanoid creatures started slashing and shooting at us with high-tech weapons. Streams of purplish blasts smashed against our suits. I was knocked to the ground with such force that I could barely breathe. I pulled out the semi-auto handgun from my side holster and shot bullet after bullet into the Eydis.

  I was gripped with fear as one landed on top of me. The sharpened claws tore at my suit and the short tail stabbed at my legs. I lifted my gun to its head, but the creature immediately knocked away before I could pull the trigger.

  “Help me!”

  A bullet ripped through the cranium splattering red blood across the viewing screen of my helmet. The heavy body slumped forward, and I struggled to push it off of me. Wes’s eyes were visible through his helmet and his leg muscles flexed as he kicked the dead beast away.

  When I got to my feet, a piercing high-pitched noise resonated inside my skull. This time I didn’t let it phase me and focused my weapons on the remaining Eydis. When we finished off the bunch, the horrid noise stopped. I tried to shake off and wipe the blood away, but there was too much of it. We quickly reloaded and took stock of our remaining ammo.

  Zuri pointed to a dark spot on the dome. “Let’s go there.”

  I watched her step through the dark film and then followed behind her. It felt like passing through thick smoke mixed with tiny fiber like fingers of cloth. “That’s weird we can feel some stuff but not others in these suits.”

  The walls on the inside of the structure were covered in sheets of crystal and the floors were swampy with dark liquid. My viewing screen displayed stats about humidity, composition, and likelihood of injury. Another screen image flickered red to display dots that represented enemies hiding somewhere in the structure. As they approached, the display showed the distance and thickness of layers between us along with calculations on percentage of weapons effectiveness through the walls. We decided to stay together instead of splitting up in case any of us ran out of ammo. After we killed the first three Eydis, an alarm sounded, and the crystals shifted color from pale pink to lilac. Steam rose up from the now boiling floor. According to my display, the vapors contained toxic components that could kill us with only a tiny level of exposure.

  We left the room and moved through the structure systematically to clear all of the rooms. By the time we reached the last area, all of the Eydis had neutralized. In the center of the room was a massive metallic orb. Crystals of every color sparkled both above and beneath the orb. White characters ran downward around the orb in a protective cylindrical shield. Zuri inspected the room along with the rest of us and finally determined we needed to find the power source to shut it down. We split into small groups and located a shaft that led underground to a spinning sheet of crystal that glowed with a bright white light.

  “This has got to be the power source. How are we going to turn this thing off?”

  Wes bent down to inspect the sheet. “Either we bust it up or we knock it of whatever is rotating it.”

  I pulled out my weapon and shot at it. The bullet bounced off it and ricocheted back at me. I barely moved out of the way in time. “Geeze, that thing barely missed me.”

  “Yeah, let’s not do that again. Help me lift it.”

  We pulled and pushed against the circle, but it didn’t budge. “Other thoughts?”

  He shook his head.

  “Hang on.” I laid flat against the floor keeping my eyes above the dark liquid. I could see another plate of crystal and several gears. “I have an idea. Find something I can jam into some gears and we’ll see what it does.”

  “How long does it need to be?”

  I estimated the distance. “Maybe more than half the distance into the center is where I need to hit.”

  “Got it.”

  He bounded off to find something as I watched the gears turn to find the best spot to jam it and try to stop it or maybe kick it off its tracks. The orb shifted smoothly as the gears cranked the plates of crystal around. By the time he returned, I knew exactly what to do.

  “Here.”

  He handed me a long thin staff of wood and a shorter piece of black crystal. “Where’d you get these?”

  “Not important. Can you make them reach?”

  “I think so.”

  I slid the crystal as far as I could and then used the staff to push it into place. When it was almost where I wanted it, I straightened it out and slammed the back edge hard with the staff. It stuck between two gears and ground them to a halt. The bright white light flickered and then went out.

  “You hear that?”

  I nodded. “The alarm is off. Let’s get back to the orb.”

  We splashed our way back and found the room dark. Zuri and Phineas had switched on their suit lights so we could see them, but the orb no longer had light. It was resting directly on the bottom set of crystals and the shield of characters was gone. We got together and rolled the gigantic object outside and found a large crack on one side that was leaking pink fluid.

  Zuri pulled out a knife and pried at it. “I think there’s something inside.”

  We all found a spot we could reach and helped her crack it open. A smaller orb was inside that responded to our touch by lighting up. Before we could open it, a second wave of Ey
dis appeared seemingly from nowhere and engaged us in another fight. I whipped around and fired bullets until I was out but there was one Eydis remained. I ran toward the evil eyed creature and slashed its neck with my knife. Red blood spurted but it didn’t die. It kept punching me and trying to knock me to the ground. The others ran up to stab the Eydis on all sides and after countless strikes, it finally dropped to the ground.

  “That was intense.” I was physically fatigued from the battles and squatted down among the corpses. “I wish these would go away like they did in the game.”

  Mica nodded. “They’re pretty creepy.”

  Zuri took a deep breath. “I think we’re almost done though.”

  We watched as she inspected the small orb. “I can’t see anything else we can try with this, so I think we should head back to where we came from.”

  Mica shook his head and folded his arms. “We haven’t destroyed the base yet.”

  I turned to Zuri. “True. The crystal was too hard to break down with what we have so what do you think about it?”

  She ran her hand across the top of her helmet. “Well, there may be some kind of self-destruct mechanism inside.”

  I shook my head. “Ugh. I was hoping we didn’t have to go back in. Plus, we’ll probably have to get the power source going again to activate it.”

  “My thoughts exactly. You and Wes should handle that while Mica and I go to the control center.”

  We split up and soon found ourselves back by the crystal plates. I dropped to the floor and reached toward the crystal but couldn’t quite grab it. “I don’t think I can pull that out.”

  Wes dropped down to the floor and looked at it. “I think I can. My arms are longer than yours.”

  I stood back up and let the dark sludge drip off my suit as he struggled beneath the plates. The bright white light flickered back on as the plates eked back into a smooth circular rhythm. We trudged around the compound until we found our compatriots sitting at the alien controls. Phineas was drawing symbols in the air with a small piece of black crystal. They lit up and turned white when they connected with the dropping characters that ran like rain down the holographic display. Some of the characters looked exactly like the scrolling scars that were on Wes’s avatar.

  “How do you know what you’re doing?”

  He kept scribbling. “Uh, it was something I picked up in the game. There. Let’s get out of here.”

  The alien characters flashed red and several rows of characters stopped moving. We ran out as quickly as we could and made it out less than a minute before it imploded.

  Mica jumped in the air and pumped his mechanical fist. “Yes! That was amazing.”

  Phineas smiled. “Yeah. I think that’s it. We should be able to leave now.”

  Just as we started to walk back to the entry, a tiny white ship landed behind us. The door opened and we got in. There wasn’t a viewing screen, but we could tell we were moving upwards. Minutes later, the door opened, and we were back to the beginning. As we stepped out of the clear box, the blood splatters vanished. I flopped down on the bench near the wall of sheaths and disengaged my suit. I pulled off my helmet and boots and leaned back against the wall.

  Cygnet came to greet us. “Congratulations, you did well.”

  “Answer a question for me.”

  “Certainly.”

  “Why am I so tired and hungry? In the game we didn’t have to sleep, eat, or reload. Why did we have to reload here?”

  “The game was designed to determine your ability to function with a fighter drone. In the tanks, we can control your environment and give supplements to enhance your abilities. When you are in a partial sheath there is limited space for supplements. This interactive session tested your abilities without any enhancements to determine what level of supplementation you require to be an effective soldier.”

  I rubbed my aching shoulder. “Is there such a thing as a full sheath?”

  “Yes. This option requires much of your human form to be removed however, it greatly increases your strength, decreases need for nourishment, and makes you impervious to many of the ailments humans are afflicted with.”

  I cringed. “That sounds horrible. I’ll stick with a partial sheath.”

  Wes shrugged. “I might like some extra strength.”

  Cygnet’s voice was just as sweet when she was saying something terrible as when she was saying something pleasant. “Upgrades to a full sheath will occur over time as limbs or functionality are lost. All members present will begin with a partial sheath.”

  Zuri was still her practical self. “All this aside, we need to rest and fuel up for the fight. Where do we go to get food and sleep?”

  Cygnet lifted her hand to indicate the way. “Tonight, will be your only night here on Sky Outpost. Tomorrow you will be briefed as you travel to Zerkola. Enjoy yourselves.”

  We explored the portions of Sky Outpost we were allowed into after eating whatever we wanted from the meal dispensary. Wes and I left the group and followed Mica around to see the places where the fighter drudge pilots would be. Thousands of pods spanned the pale gray room but this time we could see they were all connected at the base with a hive patterned rope of red lights that led to taller cylinders containing a chair encircled by countless controls and displays. The cylinders had a metallic base and stood out in regular patterns among the clear pods with a white base.

  Another room contained chambers filled with pale blue fluid and things that appeared like squirming deformed human embryos. The umbilical cords were attached to a thick membrane with colored fluids dripping on to it inches above the top of the membrane. I was too disturbed to get any closer, but Wes got close enough to touch the tanks.

  I turned away from them. “That’s so gross. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

  “We can go. Hey Mica, let’s go.”

  I was happy to see the other rooms contained specimens of plants and animals that seemed normal despite many of them appearing to be from an extraterrestrial origin.

  “That other room freaked me out.”

  Wes held my hand as we walked but didn’t say anything.

  Mica ran around from plant to plant exclaiming his fascination for one reason or another.

  I leaned back against the wall and identified many of the plants from Dobleest. “I like that one that looks like raindrops.”

  Wes nodded. “What else do you want to do before we leave?”

  “I don’t know. Mostly I’d like to spend time with you.”

  “Not Mica, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes and leaned my head against his shoulder. “We’ve had lots of time together. Was there something that you wanted to do?”

  He shook his head. “Nah. Let’s head back to the cabins.”

  I squeezed his hand. “I hope this is all over soon.”

  “Me too.”

  We told Mica we were leaving and to come with us, but he didn’t want to go to sleep yet or sit around with boring adults. We took the train transport to the cabins which turned out to be large rooms with racks of bunks imbedded in the walls. Since there wasn’t anywhere to sit, we went back to the meal dispensary to chat. The longer we talked, the more I realized how decent and intelligent Wes was. I was impressed with his abilities to fix things and the tactical abilities he possessed. He diagramed his plans for the Eydis and showed me how to stay out of the line of fire. By the time the rest of our group arrived, hours had passed, and we were both ready to go to sleep.

  I hopped up in the bunk above his and waved at the others. When Vanya and Edan entered the room, I was surprised by their appearance. “You two look just like you did at the end of the game.

  Vanya smiled. “They were able to give us extensions to replace the parts of our bodies that don’t work anymore from the damage done by the game.”

  Edan’s strange eyes surveyed the group. “Honestly, I prefer these replacements over being completely human.”

  I grimaced. “Does that mean you’re going t
o be part of the terrain missions or the fighting drudge missions?”

  Edan responded first. “They told us we’d be in the pods while we adjust to the new implants. Do you guys know where you’re going?”

  I shook my head. “I think they’re telling us tomorrow. Hey Crispin, are you liking your upgrades?”

  He looked down and examined his arms. “Yeah. It’s still a little weird to have skin but it’s good.”

  “Well, I like the color and it goes well with your eyes.”

  He smiled. “Thanks. I was hoping it would be less golden and more flesh colored but I guess you’re right the gold in my replacement eye matches it.”