Chevallier was in her full Hammerhead combat armor, Nereid and two Poniga were suited in EVA suits armed with magnetic rifles, Nereid however kept her Voelika staff in her hands. Foster glanced at the two Poniga as they gave uneasy looks at their human-made weapons within their human-made suits. Through their helmets’ visors she saw the faces of Eisila and Mavron inside the two EVA suits.
“MC, they good to go?” Foster asked.
“Did the best I could to teach them how to use our stuff given the limited time,” Chevallier said.
“It was the actions of you and your crew that saved us,” Mavron said with EVE’s voice offering the translation. “We must repay the debt.”
“And it gives us the chance to finally strike back at the Architect. Perhaps this will be one of many retaliatory strikes that will help liberate our people,” Eisila said.
Chevallier double-checked her rifle’s settings. “Just keep your head down and remember what I told you.”
The group boarded the transport with Foster and Chevallier sitting up front in the cockpit. Foster looked behind at their unusual rag-tag team; two Poniga who never fired a rifle in combat, and a mysterious psionic girl with talents unknown to Radiance and the Hashmedai. A full Hammerhead team would have made her feel slightly safer.
The transport’s engines flared, blue spikes of thrust propelled it out of the Carl Sagan as its trajectory took them to the surface of the planet, a planet that was the start of their crazy sleigh ride since their arrival in the system. The transport dipped below the darkened clouds, beneath the clouds was the icy surface reflecting the whitish-blue light of the white dwarf. The original transport they first rode in on could be seen, encased in snow and ice. It was a sign they were nearing Tiamat’s tomb.
“We should probably come back for that once this is over,” Foster said, glaring down at the first transport.
The transport’s landing thrusters scattered fresh snow in all directions as it came to rest next to the frozen over entrance to the tomb. The five all exited as its sliding doors rose, and retraced human-made, snow-covered footprints made days earlier. Nereid’s eyes fixated on the alluring design of the structure in front.
“What’s wrong?” Foster asked her.
“This is really it. The tomb of the goddess.” Nereid continued to look around wide-eyed. Snowflakes began to fall and were illuminated by the beams of light emitting from her EVA suit’s helmet. “This world must have been paradise before it met its end.”
“Let’s move!” Chevallier shouted. “Nereid, you might not be McDowell, but you still got his marbles. What would he be doing in a situation like this?”
Nereid clenched her fists, switched her sight to the entrance of the tomb and gave Chevallier a confident nod. “Right.”
The group entered the frostbitten tombs once again as Foster and Chevallier lead the way through the eerie mazelike halls. Unlike their previous expedition, power was running, lights along the walls shined upon them and the dragon-like sculptures adorning the walls. Marduk had indeed been busy. Prior to passing through a doorway, Nereid, Mavron, and Eisila stopped and kneeled before a serpent-like figure above, its design was similar to the figure on Nereid’s Voelika staff weapon.
Chevallier stopped and rolled her eyes at the three. “Guys . . .”
“Let them do their thing,” Foster said. “This is a sacred place to them after all.”
Two minutes later they pushed on into the central chambers, where it had all begun. Hordes of Marduk’s soldiers meandered next to active wormholes. Foster used hand gestures to signal to the group to hunker down out of sight. The five observed their enemy’s movements attempting to figure out exactly what they were doing.
“They were right, Marduk is using the wormhole to travel here rather than fly to it,” Chevallier said.
“Carl Sagan, are you receiving us?” Foster transmitted. As expected there was a signal loss, creating an irritating static sound inside of her helmet. “Just like last time, at least we’re prepared.”
Several soldiers entered the tomb via a wormhole linked with Marduk’s ship. They marched over to an unopened gate inside of the tombs alongside dozens of other soldiers, and waited. It was a rally point most likely. The question was, where were they waiting to travel to?
“Something tells me there’s a reason they all rallyin’ there,” Foster said.
Chevallier replied with two words that made Foster cringe. “Uh-oh.”
“What?”
Chevallier sent her helmet’s camera footage to Foster’s EVA HUD. A tiny holographic window appeared over her visor, within it she saw what appeared to be a zoomed in view of the dormant wormhole’s interface controls. There was a preview projection that showed the expected location the wormhole was set to connect with. It was hard for Foster to clearly see what the preview projection was in the distance, though one thing did stick out. A Hammerhead helmet.
“That’s the base camp Williams and Rivera set up when they discovered that wormhole in the Lyonria hub, isn’t it?” Chevallier said.
“Maybe.” Foster sent the data to her EAD. “EVE?”
“Your assumptions are correct,” EVE said. “The hologram appears to be monitoring activity in front of the gate in the Lyonria travel hub.”
“From what I was able to gather, a small screen appears next to a gate that allows the user to interact with it,” Chevallier said. “And probably to see what’s on the other side of the world you intend to visit.”
“Makes sense, gives folks a chance to look before they leap.”
“And it looks like they’re planning on leaping right on top of our forces. Captain, this is an invasion army they’re going to attack the colony!”
Foster looked again, this time via her suit’s HUD as more soldiers marched in unison away from the wormhole connected to Marduk’s ship and toward the dormant one, now set to open and ambush the UNE forces. “They must have used EVE’s copy to bypass the lockout and connect to that planet.”
“I don’t get it; why not just use the wormhole on his ship to launch the invasion?”
“Safer for him,” Foster said. “Last time that gate was connected to his ship he done lost all his prisoners. Had the Hammerheads been there he would have been faced with a full-on boarding party. He connects via this world, even if they lose; there are minimal direct risks to his ship.”
“In addition, Captain, the hostile environment of this tomb will pass through the wormhole,” EVE said. “Hammerheads without adequate protection will freeze the longer the wormhole is active.”
Foster got to her feet and tried her best to stay silent as she crept closer to the deep pit within the central chamber. “EVE, what do you make of all this?”
A miniature projection of EVE’s hologram appeared above Foster’s EAD as she pointed it toward the pit. “I am detecting possible bio signatures down below the platform, Captain.”
Foster took a closer look at the pit, where makeshift ladders dangled off the ledges and dipped deep down into the dark abyss. “That must be where the control center is,” Foster said as she moved her sights forward. She looked at the central raised platform in the chamber and the strange container-like object they first encountered seconds before they were attacked. “And that must be Tiamat’s final resting place.”
“This is going to be tricky if we need to get down there,” Chevallier said. “Once they figure out we’re here there’s nothing stopping them from sending reinforcements on top of us.”
“Unless they have a reason to stay up, such as their invasion.”
“Don’t tell me you’re just going to let them go through?”
Foster inched closer to the pit, her feet accidentally kicked a tiny pebble down, it didn’t make a sound as it vanished from sight. “We don’t have a choice; we can’t fight them ourselves with what we have. The only way now to prevent the invasion is to have the Carl Sagan blow this place from orbit. That’s gonna require us to run outside to get a signal and m
ove to a safe distance. All while not solving the problem of disabling the drone network—”
Bright light flashed away from the dormant wormhole where Marduk’s forces had rallied. The shimmering vortex subsided as the insides of the Lyonria hub appeared along with spooked out Hammerhead forces shocked that the wormhole suddenly opened. Foster snickered. “Case in point . . .”
Chevallier lunged forward quickly looking at the new problem unfold. “Ah, shit!”
Foster observed the darkened pit again, her HUD failed to give her an approximation on how deep the fall was. It wasn’t comforting news at all, she needed to get down, and she needed to find the control center for the drones before Marduk did. Now or never. “Any idea how far down that goes, EVE?”
“I estimate the drop to be between four and six kilometers.”
Chevallier looked at a handful of Marduk’s soldiers climbing down the ladders slowly like ants entering their nest. “And they’re going down by a ladder?”
“Marduk’s probably too injured to teleport them all down, which gives us the advantage,” Foster said. “Nereid, please tell me ya powers are strong enough to break a fall?”
“They are. What do you propose?”
The soldiers began to push through into the wormhole, time was out. They needed to act. Now. “Nereid, with me. MC, Mavron, and Eisila, try and get through that gate. I doubt our people there received our transmission on how to defeat Marduk’s soldiers. Get through, spread the word, and give them a hand!”
Foster quickly moved back, wrapped her hand around Nereid’s skinny wrists padded by her EVA suit, and dragged her over to the ledge of the pit. Jumping off would allow her to reach the bottom faster than climbing down the ladders, not to mention make it difficult for his forces to directly target and fire at them.
Or so she hoped.
“Captain, this is reckless!” Chevallier said.
Foster defiantly shrugged her off, there was nothing that was going to change her thrill-seeking mind. “No,” she said with a grin. “This is bungee jumping without the cord!”
Foster and Nereid leaped off and allowed gravity to perform its job. Their EVA-suited bodies formed into a swan dive motion as they plummeted into the darkness below, their presence alerting Marduk’s soldiers to them, thus creating a distraction. She hoped it was enough for the other three to slip through the gate as they continued to fall past several ring-shaped platforms on the way down.
Laser blasts streaked past them, Nereid used her telekinetic powers to force their bodies to swerve and shift, avoiding the blasts from above and around them and the occasional ring platforms they nearly slammed into. Foster noticed several of his soldiers still climbing down the ladder, many of them had not made it to the bottom. Eventually there were none hanging on the ladders, proof that their leap of faith was indeed the express route to the bottom.
Halfway into their seemingly endless descent, she saw light emanate from the bottom of the pit. It was white light, and it grew the closer they got. It was a tiny dot at first, then a small circle, then a large one. Along the sides of the walls they fell past, were large holes with what appeared to be dormant drones inside, no doubt some sort of storage garage for the hundreds of thousands of drones not operating in space.
This is it; the control center must be below!
“Captain, you didn’t answer my question?”
“What?”
“How do you wish for us to, as you put it, break a fall?”
“So, what you’re trying to tell me is you don’t have a solid idea what to do in the next—” Foster’s eyes opened wide as she saw the light from the floor below increase in size. “EVE, ETA 'til impact?”
“Fifty-six point eight seconds, Captain.”
“Fifty-six seconds and we’re dead, use your space magic!”
A glittering lavender barrier enveloped the two, conjured by Nereid psionic powers.
“Captain, by my calculations this barrier may shatter on impact due to your speed reaching terminal velocity.” EVE said.
“This is not the news I needed to hear!” Foster panicked.
“Thirty seconds until impact, Captain.”
“Nereid!”
Telekinesis quickly took hold of their bodies, pushing them upward slightly. “Rate of descent has decreased, Captain, but it is still inadequate for survival,” EVE said.
Foster looked down again, the floor was the only thing she could see and quite possibly would be the last thing. “Shit, shit, shit!”
Smack.
They crashed into the ground. The impact caused Nereid’s psionic barrier to shatter and Foster’s helmeted head to face-plant on the ground slightly cracking her visor. The force of the impact vibrated through their bodies, knocking the wind out of Foster. Foster checked the alert on her HUD as she slowly pushed her body up within the small crater on the floor the two made. The crack wasn’t large enough for the life-giving environment inside to leak out.
“Captain, we have survived the impact.”
Foster grunted. “That’s an amazing observation, EVE . . .”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Foster, you OK?” Chevallier transmitted to them amidst the sounds of weapons fire from above.
“Ugh, we’re good.”
“Saying shit three times doesn’t sound like good to me.”
“Actually, Captain,” EVE chimed in. “Your breathing, perspiration, and heart rate accelerated significantly during the descent to levels I have never scanned in you before.”
“MC, how are you three doing?” Foster snorted.
“Like fish in a barrel, we got the high ground. For how long? That’s another story, these guys look super pissed. The sooner we get back to the ship the better.”
“Understood, hang tight MC, we’s almost outta this.”
The two slowly got back to their feet and observed the long vividly lit tunnel ahead. It wasn’t anything like the maze of halls above. Perfectly polished tiles were below, devoid of any dust and debris. The walls looked as though they were made of pristine frosted glass and a light source buried within it gave off an eerie glow.
Their deep venture through the tunnel took them to a circular room, within it was a single piece of machinery. It had three silver-colored ovals stacked on top of each other, the bottom one being the longest and widest. A glowing orb up top pulsed with sky-blue light, the pulsing grew stronger the closer Foster and Nereid stepped toward the device. When they were a meter away, the pulsing sky-blue became a solid source of light.
Foster waved her EAD in front of it, EVE’s hologram materialized and conducted a quick scan of the device. “Guess this is the power house for the drones,” Foster said.
“And much more than that, Captain,” EVE said. “I am detecting a significant concentration of psionic energy emitting from this device. Correction, psionic energy is being transferred to it and then redirected elsewhere.” EVE’s hologram pointed to an access port. “I believe I may be able to interface with the device here. It is likely this is where Marduk has attempted for a number of years to gain access to this device.”
EVE’s hologram dematerialized as Foster placed the EAD over the interface. “All right, EVE, what do you see?”
“Captain, we are too late,” EVE’s voice transmitted to her with static in the background. “Marduk and his copy of my programming has gained access to this device and altered it.”
“Then why the hell were his minions trying to climb down here?”
“It would appear they were attempting to access the drones themselves along the walls to ensure they would receive the new reprogrammed instructions.”
“Shit, please tell me you can undo this?”
“Attempting to bypass—”
Static.
Foster checked her EAD, the screen had gone blank.
“EVE?” Foster asked amidst the static. “EVE, talk to me!”
There was no response, EVE was gone.
37 EVE
&n
bsp; Drone Control Center, CPU
Tiamat’s Tomb, SB-417, Sirius B system
May 22, 2050, 18:56 SST (Sol Standard Time)
EVE’s scans confirmed that she had successfully left Captain Foster’s EAD and transferred her AI into the computer responsible for the control of Tiamat’s drones. An additional scan revealed the computer was not only responsible for the drone network, but powered the tomb itself, and served as a psionic power distribution center for the cities that once were on the planet.
EVE attempted to contact Captain Foster, but all pulses of communication data were blocked by another user currently logged into the mainframe, most likely the rogue EVE AI Marduk had acquired recently.
It didn’t take EVE much time to decipher the language the computer had used. She identified words similar to the Lyonria language within its programming code, though several words and letters were different. The most probable cause was a different dialect. She continued to scan the apparatus, its data banks, logs, maintenance records. The central Lyonria travel hub in Sirius A sent psionic energy to the tomb’s command center and to all wormholes in the system. It was a fascinating discovery, the mystery of where the wormholes received their power was unveiled, considering that no wormhole had appeared to have been connected to an external power source and clearly lacked a major internal one.
The computer she was in, used its built up psionic energy to power the faculty along with the entire drone network, minus the drones that had been manually disconnected and repurposed by Marduk. An unopened cluster of data revealed that the drones worked in unison to create a telepathic dampening field to deter Marduk from calling for outside help, somewhat contrary to Tolukei’s discovery. According to the information she managed to translate, all Lyonria controlled systems operated in a similar manner in which a massive hub in its capital city powered everything via pure psionic energy.
The Siege of Sirius: A Splintered Galaxy Space Fantasy Novel Page 28