by Skyler Grant
Murder and slaughter avoided for the moment, Anna turned her attention towards the room.
"So, if you can talk to the system running this place, does that mean the Mercurians are still alive?" Anna asked Mechos.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so," Mechos said. "Whatever this was, it was something separate from the rest. Valuable, secret."
"They did a poor job hiding it when it was literally the first and so far the only thing we've found on the planet," I said.
Mechos shrugged, going to study some of the metal bars.
I went along with him. Without a drone to control I didn't have a body to move around on my own. The bars were more complex than they appeared. My speculation was that they were data, translated into a material framework to better survive the eons. If that was true, then we were in some sort of data warehouse made to withstand the passage of time. I wondered what kinds of secrets Mercurians kept from each other, and if the data would be of any value to us.
"If the systems are still active there has to be some kind of power supply. Can you find it?" I asked.
Mechos nodded. A section of wall peeled apart to reveal a far smaller corridor.
"I've established the atmosphere throughout the facility," Mechos said.
"I'll check it out," Anna said.
That would work, Anna had a good engineering mind.
"Another thing you are completely useless at, but let’s go with her. I need a ride," I said to Ophelia.
"This is so amazing. We've never rode the same person around together before! I've never felt this close to you before," Amy said, taking over Ophelia.
78
Anna limped down the hall. The glowing glyphs on her side created a shimmering effect on the smooth stone walls.
"Want me to try hitting that with a healing beam. It can't hurt, right?" Ophelia asked.
"You’re close enough I'm probably already getting the effect. Emma?" Anna asked.
"The projector does have some amplification and focusing properties. At most, the risk is the mental trauma inflicted on Ophelia from staring at your naked body," I said.
"Please," Ophelia said, aiming her arm, the glowing light firing out in a spray at the multi-hued glyphs on Anna's side. "If I were afraid of naked people I really joined the wrong crew. Besides, I'm kind of a doctor these days, right?"
"I wonder how Hot Stuff does it day in and day out?" Anna said, leaning against the corridor wall. "I've nothing to be ashamed of, but it doesn't mean I want to be naked."
"She hates it. That’s why being able to turn her powers off and on was so important to her. I mean, she makes a big deal of being cocky and not giving a shit, but it’s just putting on a show," Ophelia said, keeping the beam steady.
"All of you humans are always pretending to be confident when you're not. It is one of the things so amazing about you," Amy said.
"Amazingly pathetic," I said.
"Sister pretends too! Oh, look at me, I have this crazy, mad science plan that is always going to work, while all the time she is juggling all the details to keep people alive," Amy said.
"Is this doing anything?" Ophelia asked Anna
"I don't think so. Thank you for trying," Anna said.
Ophelia shut off the beam and Anna moved from the wall to resume limping down the corridor.
The hallway this time ended in a mid-sized room, machinery filling almost every bit of space. This at least was a familiar environment and Anna set about investigating. Ophelia showed rather less interest, arms folded as she waited.
"You picked the most boring host in the history of hosts," I said to Amy.
"Not everyone needs an active social life or interesting hobbies. Some people are happy just being what they are," Amy said.
"I'm right here. I mean, one of you is in me and the other is being worn, I guess, and ... wow ... that is kind of creepy as fuck really," Ophelia said.
It was, when she put it like that.
After perhaps half-an-hour of scrambling around machines Anna returned to us. "Geothermal, although the equipment doesn't even have gauges. I can get some sense with my electrokinesis and there’s a lot of power flowing into the facility."
That was good, we needed a lot of power.
"Head back to the main chamber," I said.
By the time they arrived I already had more supplies coming from Earth. Modular sections needed to construct a teleportation gate. I had Anna run a wire to the power chamber and connect it into the local system, while Mechos assembled the gate. I had a counterpart ready on Earth fueled by two dozen dedicated Bio-reactors.
Once things were ready on the Mercury side I triggered both gates. Blue light flickered erratically before the portal stabilized. The connection looked good. I sent through a drone from Earth and she stepped through on the Mercury side with her organs and mind intact. I sent her right back through to confirm transmission to the other end.
Survival both ways and the connection seemed steady. Still, I wasn't going to risk any of my primaries until I could be sure. I did bring through a research team to Mercury along with a change of clothes for Anna.
Mechos said, "I'm going to need to stay behind. I have a connection to this place that you aren't going to have with your other drones.”
I agreed, this was the best place for him at the moment.
"What about me?" Anna asked.
It was a good question, and a thornier one.
"You're the empress. I can't stop you from snagging another cookie and I can't keep you from going home, but I don't think you should. You're infected and until we can find a way to neutralize that infection you're a threat," I said.
"Then you're in charge, Emma. I want you to also keep Sylax in the loop and listen to her. You're both at your best when you're not operating alone," Anna said.
Great, bonding time with the sociopath. Still, unlike Anna, at least Sylax had definable personality traits even if they were almost all negative.
"Well, this was all a waste of time," Ophelia said.
"We came hoping to find either alien intelligence or alien technology. We found a stockpile of the latter," Mechos said.
In that he was right. While the Mercurian defenders proved more capable than I'd have wanted, that gave me hope that somewhere in this facility we'd find something worthwhile. Even the technology they used to open and close doors was unlike anything I'd encountered. I'd faced foes such as the golems before, however they had always been the result of power crystals.
Nothing encountered on Mercury so far suggested a power crystal origin. We were dealing with completely new technologies and a whole new approach to power.
"I should stay too," Ophelia said quietly. "I know, I know, Ophelia is useless and me being there didn't help to heal Anna, but then I haven't left her side this whole time. If I do, we don't know what will happen to that infection."
"Roomies then," Anna said, with a bit of forced cheer. "Emma, how do you feel about baking the first cookies on Mercury?"
Who did Anna take me for? Of course, I'd brought ingredients over in the first shipments. I wasn't a savage.
79
There was no timetable for when an alien fleet might visit Earth. Flower said there was some bureaucracy and logistics to be considered even for advanced civilizations. Still, I had no time to waste.
Even as the research team was getting settled into place on Mercury I had a second team assembling at the teleportation platform for a trip to Triton. Since we didn't know at all what we might be confronting I wanted the most all-round capable team I could get. That meant the Flawless.
There were a dozen of them along with Caya and one of my drones. Their suits were, if anything, even bulkier than the ones for Mercury, built to withstand a wider range of potential hazards with heavy insulating shielding.
My scans from this far out were weak, which made this teleport especially dangerous. When the world flickered we found ourselves materializing twenty feet above a jagged plain of ice, th
e fall causing shields to flare.
In the distance there was an erupting volcano, the ground rumbling beneath the feet of the Flawless and my drone. The Flawless were perfectly sure-footed, already tapping away at sensors.
"I'm detecting structures. Marking coordinates."
"Negative on artificial energy signatures."
"We'll check out the structures," Caya said.
It was slow going, our vision almost completely obscured by a fierce snowstorm that even the sensors only intermittently penetrated.
We'd been walking for about thirty minutes when the snow was lit up by the flare of one of our energy shields, the brightness indicating an attack of some sort. Three more flares followed in quick order.
I moved towards the closest. The Flawless who had been attacked was unharmed. At her feet was a long spear, the tip some sort of blackened metal.
"Do you want to return fire?" Caya asked.
These spears were a sign of an intelligent life-form, although if this was the height of their technology they weren't a threat to us. Returning fire might be gratifying. I didn't see where it would get us anything except corpses to dissect. I could get those by other means.
"If you can contain your murderous monkey impulses, hold fire. Get sensor readings of whatever is throwing them," I said.
They got a few. The spear-throwers were nearly double the size of a human and with a high temperature compared to the surroundings. I updated the software of all the team’s scanners to make detecting them easier.
Over the next hour there were several more attacks, none pressed after no one went down from the initial spears. We came to a large ice crevasse blocking our way, too deep to scale easily.
"Go around?" Caya asked.
It would add hours to our journey and that wasn't a good idea. So far the life-support systems in the suits were holding up, but it wasn't indefinite. There was Bio-matter here, the natives made that clear. If I had to, it might be possible to engineer a solution for longer habitation. I preferred to avoid it.
"I'm sure all that sunning of yourself and tanned flesh has prepared you to do anything useful, but how good are you at taking a shot?" I asked.
My drone was not a markswoman.
Caya gave me a sidelong look. "You're thinking of collapsing the fissure. I can take the shots, if you can call the shots."
My local drone didn't have the brainpower. I had more than enough processing back on Earth to do the calculations necessary. I fed the targeting data to Caya, who placed a series of shots with her energy rifle.
The result collapsed the fissure. We only had to contend with a drop of a few meters and be careful of unstable ground. A shifting block of ice trapped and shattered the legs of one of the Flawless. He had taken a brainworm and so was networked, which gave me more options where he was concerned. Already with a backup, I could have left him behind if needed. We weren't there quite yet and another Flawless helped him along as we continued.
Fifteen minutes later the snowstorm cleared and our destination was finally visible. It was a city. Based on the height of the local aliens, there were buildings as high as twenty stories. Paved roadways ran behind them. The place seemed abandoned. There were no lights or heat signatures.
"Scan for power readings," Caya said.
The Flawless monitored their equipment as we continued to move closer. There had been a railway once, the traces only intermittently showing from beneath the ice. When we entered the city we could see the doors of most structures were long gone and the snow had drifted inside.
There were still no energy signatures and I had Caya head towards the central building, the tallest tower of the city. At least in human psychology the most central, and the highest, were all signs of authority and importance.
It was still sealed with doors having intricately carved metal images. The native species must have eyes similar to those of humans—the images were generally recognizable. Mountains, the sun, humanoid figures.
Several of Caya's engineers set to work on the doors. They were secured by ancient locks, frozen shut, but it wasn’t anything that a few well-placed low-energy shots and a set of tools couldn't open.
It was dark inside.
"There is an electrical system," said one of the engineers, moving to investigate a wall panel near the entry.
I wasn't seeing anything yet that looked a threat to us. Powering up the building might activate some latent defenses.
"Do try not to kill us all when you restore the power," I said.
The engineer hooked up one of our Bio-reactors to the power system. Lights flickered on, dimly illuminating the interior.
There were skeletons were everywhere. This building had been crowded with people when some tragedy hit.
80
Caya knelt to study one of the skeletons. "Leaving aside any discussion of physiology, I'm not seeing any signs of violence."
That wasn't quite true. The building had been filled with people, the doors had been locked and they were all dead. They might not have died from weapons fire, but something had killed them.
"Break up and search the building. Go in teams of two, it would be a minor inconvenience to lose you," I said.
The injured Flawless was sitting with his back against the wall. I'd already upgraded him with accelerated healing, but even so it would be a time. Not all got the ability equally and he seemed to have gotten a particularly weak version.
It soon became clear that we were in an ancient structure that had been built and improved over a long time. There were sections of the building filled with artwork and engravings far more complex than others, and almost free of bodies. A social hierarchy, it appeared. Something catastrophic had been happening and they allowed in others to find shelter.
I was disappointed in what I was seeing of the technology. Although clearly the result of an advanced society, it wasn't more advanced than Earth. It looked as if Titan had been perhaps a century behind where Earth had been where the Cataclysm hit.
A few hours later we'd managed to thoroughly explore the building. There was what seemed to be a library, thin metal sheets filled with carefully placed holes. A research lab as well, with equipment strange yet also oddly familiar.
There was a room containing long-exhausted batteries that must have once served as some sort of backup. It took us more time to find the real facility that once powered this building. It was unusual enough that an engineer called for me and Caya to come down for a look.
The power source was an ovoid. It looked like nothing so much as a large egg that might have been carved of malachite. The floor had shifted, breaking it free of the connectors holding it in place. The Flawless had tried to right it—and died for their trouble of an electric shock that overwhelmed the shields on their suit and fried them. Fortunately they were on the network too and had a backup. I started the process of growing a replacement clone for them back on Earth.
"This isn't consistent with what else we've seen here," Caya said.
It wasn't. It clearly wasn't a power crystal, for all that it might have been mistaken for one with the energy it was putting out.
"Once more you prove to be a pretty face capable of stating the obvious," I said.
"If that is the best insult you have, you're getting senile," Caya said. "According to these readings we'll have no problem powering the teleportation gate at least."
We'd be able to do a good bit more than that.
"I'm bringing supplies into the main lobby. Get your people to work, we aren't going to trust the existing power framework," I said.
It was a good sixteen hours until we were able to do what I wanted. We'd set up shield emitters at key points around the city and fueled by the power supply I erected a force shield. Protected from snow it let me use heaters to melt the ice. We'd probably even be able to set up an atmosphere in the dome eventually, but for now I wanted to make sure that our atmospheric gases wouldn't damage any of the alien equipment we’d found. So that c
ould wait.
Once the ice had been melted and a large portion of the central square cleared we erected the gateway there. It was stable and soon I was using it to bring in new personnel and supplies from Earth and rotating back the Flawless.
Apart from the energy source we'd not found anything that might suggest a technological edge worth preserving. That energy source did raise questions that needed answering. It was difficult to make a real study while using it. Where there was one, there might be others and we'd explored only one building in this city.
"Will you be returning to Earth or do you want to stay and oversee things here?" I asked Caya.
"No pools, no nightclubs, not exactly my sort of town," Caya said with a wry smile. "Still going to stay for awhile. There is something here. I'm sure you've noticed the lack of heaters in buildings? Combine that with the rail system and it tells an interesting story."
I had, it was smart of Caya to pick up on it. The inhabitants of this city had been used to far warmer temperatures. Something dramatic had happened to the environment on Titan between the era it was inhabited and now.
"Those people didn't die all at once from a terraformer," I said.
"No, but that doesn't mean there weren't stages to destroying these people’s civilization. We didn't see any signs of plasma fire. Still, it may have been the Venusians. There are records, and the locals may have some lore," Caya said.
If anyone could establish contact, it would be the Flawless. The nature of their gifts made you want to like them.
"It can't be pleasant for you to look at," I said.
Caya sighed at that. "Of course not. Everything is so ugly. In a way it’s refreshing that they are all dead. I look at the ugliness of Earth and I want it destroyed. Here, someone has already accomplished that."
I really did need to increase the watch on Caya. Sentiments like that made it clear just how twisted her worldview had become since absorbing the Beryl. However dangerous she might be, I needed her more now than ever.