2. Carter

TWO

CARTER

I gathered my meager belongings, which amounted to a single case, and then my guards escorted me to the hangar bay. A multitude of ships stood ready for deployment. Small, sleek Dart starfighters, larger Destroyers, and one half-refurbished skeletal Cruiser.

I wondered which one we would be traveling in. I didn't have to wonder long. Riel grunted and pointed his clawed hand at a disc-shaped cruiser of Alzhon design. I sneered at the highly detailed engravings on the hull. For once, the Vakutan shared my sentiments.

"It is much too pretty to be a battleship."

"Agreed. The Alzhon would long ago have fallen prey to the Coalition if not for Vakutan might."

I snickered, drawing glares from both of them.

"That's rich, considering the Alzhon fleet had to bail the Vakutan out at Horus IV. A slaughter, I believe it was called…"

Riel snorted.

"What do you know of war and battle? Can you even pick up a rifle with those tinder twigs you call arms?"

I chose to let that pass, because he'd insulted himself more than I ever could have hoped to. His affection for brains over brawn was one of the many reasons I held Vakutans in such contempt.

The Alzhon cruiser sent down a gangplank, which appeared as a metal rectangle until it suddenly morphed into high, shallow steps. I had to struggle to take the steps, which were intended for use by those much taller than I was.

I wondered if Dowron had requisitioned an alien ship just to irk me. I doubted it. Dowron wasn't as petty as that. I would have, in his position, however.

The guards escorted me up the gangplank inside the ship proper. They ushered me through the airlock and into the ship's corridors. After a brief trip up several decks, I was shown through a set of sliding translucent doors into the technical lab.

Several pairs of eyes turned my way. A gray-skinned Alzhon, metal cybernetics gleaming on his temple, gave me a simple but polite nod. Beside him, a droopy-skinned elder Kiphian gave me a stern frown. The lone other human perked up and held his hand out toward me.

"Hello, welcome to the team! I'm Doctor Caraway, this is doctor Buzos and Professor Kight. It's so nice to meet you, Doctor…?"

I took his hand in a firm grip and smiled.

"Reed. Carter Reed."

His smile faded, and he quickly pulled his hand back.

"This is outrageous," Doctor Kight said, his spine sparkling with red flashes. "I refuse to share space with a terrorist."

I chuckled, amused at their outrage.

"You must get used to it, Doctor Caraway." The gray skinned Alzhon stared hard at me. "My time spent in a Coalition prison camp taught me that you don't always get to choose your company."

"I'm not here to win a popularity contest. I'm here to work. Where is the available data on the underground chambers of Luna?"

Dr. Caraway's lips drew into a tight line. Disdain practically beamed out of his eyes.

"You'll know when we know. So far, they're not sharing any data about the site other than its mean location."

"Not even by quantum entanglement? What kind of amateur show is the Alliance running here?"

"One that lets criminals share space with real scientists, apparently," Kight grumbled.

"Be sure to let me know which of you is the criminal," I replied smoothly.

Dr. Buzos' eyes grew narrow.

"Perhaps you'd best spend the remainder of our journey in your quarters, Doctor? To ensure you are well rested."

"Very well. I can see that I'm among small minds who cannot handle the truth."

The Vakutan showed me to my quarters. I sneered when I saw their location.

"I see that you've put me beneath the primary power conduit. That infernal buzzing will keep me awake the entire trip."

"Your quarters were randomly assigned," Riel said. His huge grin belied the words spewing from the sewer chute that was his mouth.

"Of course they were."

I entered the quarters and the door shut behind me. I didn't have to check to know it had been locked. Some part of me wondered if I would be better off on a prison world after all.

I settled into a bed made for a much larger being. Even the bed reminded me of how small and insignificant a human seemed against our alien counterparts.

Sleep did not come easily. The buzzing of the power conduit proved annoying, but ultimately ignorable. What kept me awake was Dr. Caraway.

I hated him more than the aliens. Caraway considered the aliens to be his peers, perhaps even his friends. Didn't he know that they looked down on him with total disdain? How could he not realize something so basic and fundamental?

I wondered if I would be able to de-program him from the Alliance and IHC propaganda. My eyes snapped open wide and my heart raced as I had a new, disturbing thought. What if Dr. Caraway had an alien wife? He seemed like that type.

Making love to an alien woman is bestiality, pure and simple.

"Now that doesn't sound very scientific of you."

I looked over to see a young man in a black IHC uniform standing near my bed.

"You again. Why do you come to plague me so?"

The young man shrugged.

"You tell me. I'm a figment of your imagination, or so you've said many times before."

I hated his smug face, though the bump in his nose sellion was quite similar to my own, and our eyes were the same shade of green.

"And I was correct in my assertions. Stop talking to me."

I rolled away from the young man and stared at the bulkhead wall.

"Really, aren't you talking to yourself, Car?"

"Do not call me Car. I always hated that nickname."

"You loved it when you were a little boy."

I flipped over to face him, sputtering with fury.

"I am a little boy no longer!"

"No, you're not. You've become an adult. A bitter, cynical, and hateful adult."

"I do not hate."

He tilted his head to the side and just looked at me, which I found even more infuriating than his recriminations.

"Fine. I hate! I hate aliens. Any reasonable, sane man would feel the same. They are going to replace us! Their culture is already seeping into our own. The other day I heard two human teens speaking Kiphian because they think, and I quote, it will get us some hot scaly chicks. We are at war, and we've already been decimated by the opposition."

He did not respond, not with words. He just kept staring at me with that damn calm expression on his face.

"What?" I snapped. "Do you want me to hate the Coalition more? Because you never came home thanks to them? Please. You fought side by side with the damned Lumpys and Chipheads and Flatfaces. You're a traitor too."

His brows climbed high on his young face.

"You are the real traitor. A traitor to science. Your bigotry and hatred have no basis in fact. You do not even have a decent hypothesis to back up your theories. You're just afraid of aliens. Or more apt, you're simply afraid."

"Enough!"

I hurled my pillow at the man, but he wasn't there any longer. He had never really been there, and even though I knew this I still spent several moments searching for him.

I settled back to try and sleep, but my respite was haunted and gave me no relief. When I awakened several hours later, I almost felt worse than before.

I spent the next several days in my quarters during our journey to Luna. The Superluminal jump drive throbbed rhythmically, shooting us across the galaxy. I wanted nothing more than a catastrophic failure.

I had no place in the new destiny of Earth. The Alliance would likely never let me go. I would be an indentured servant until I died.

Thus, I experienced little joy when the captain's voice announced we would arrive at Sol system momentarily. I experienced even less when Dr. Buzos summoned me to the airlock like some graduate student.

Still, I did feel a modicum of curiosity about these relic ruins on Luna. Their mere existence should have been impossible. Yet, one often found that little was impossible when it came to Precursor technology.

Buzos, Caraway, and Kight all nattered with each other like old wives in a knitting circle. They were oh so eager to get underway. Caraway noticed my disgust and made an attempt to draw me in.

"Aren't you excited, Dr. Reed? These ruins represent a potentially incredible discovery."

"And you will no doubt take full academic credit for whatever we find."

Caraway's smile faded and he adjusted his spectacles.

"I assure you, I intend to give full credit to all members of the expedition. Even the grumpy ones."

Buzos smirked, and Kight tilted his head back and laughed, spine lighting up with intermittent flashes of color. I bit my tongue on a harsh retort and shouldered my case of equipment.

The airlock showed flashes of the silver gray lunar surface as we descended. My ears popped as we passed into the atmospheric bubble surrounding Heinlein, the largest city on Luna. It had been years since I'd been there. A couple of new structures had gone up, and the shield generators had additional redundancies, but otherwise it looked much the same.

The ship settled on its landing pylons at the spaceport. I trudged down the gangway dead last as Kregell Nore, Luna's president, came by to personally greet the science team.

I hung out near the back of the expedition. I hoped that they would not bother mentioning my presence at all, but Caraway had to run his mouth and introduce me anyway.

I waved and forced an utterly insincere smile onto my face. The president narrowed his gaze and frowned, but I don't know if he recognized me or not.

In any event, I avoided yet another awkward conversation and clambered aboard the transport shuttle with the others. I picked a seat in the very back and stared out the porthole while we skimmed along the lunar surface.

The mining facility loomed ahead. We settled to a stop just inside the atmospheric shielding.

More introductions went around, this time with the head of the mining facility, a furry little Fratvoyan who seemed more upset about the delay in his operations than pleased to be at the precipice of a great scientific discovery.

In spite of myself, I did feel a little thrill when we took the lift down and I saw the gleaming, green metal walls of the facility. I laid my hand on the striated, angular doorframe of a large oval portal and gasped.

"It's warm."

"There appears to be a current of energy running through it. Not electricity or plasma based, though." Caraway met my gaze as he rested his hand near my own. "Would you please try and find the source of the power, Doctor?"

I decided that such a task was, in fact, in my purview.

"It will be my pleasure, Dr. Caraway," I replied with intended mock sincerity. He ruined it by taking my reply at face value.

"I knew you'd cheer up once you got a look at this place. And this is just the first level, which isn't all that interesting. The really cool stuff is further down."

I glanced his way sharply, and he grinned. I hated him for having piqued my interest.

"Yes, there's the mind that wrote Analysis of Quantum Entanglement's Effect on Silicone based Circuit Rot. "

I blinked in surprise.

"You read that paper? That was so long ago, when I was but a first year student at Titan University."

"Yes, indeed. I found it to be brilliant."

I studied his face carefully, but could see no indication he was being anything other than sincere.

"Don't be so surprised, Doctor Reed. A giant once lived in your body. Prejudice shrank him into a dwarf, but I get the feeling you could experience a growth spurt any minute now."

He patted me on the shoulder and left me to stew in my own juices. I got out my compad and set it into scanning mode while grinding my teeth in anger and frustration.

Growth spurt? A dwarf? Really? Because I don't share his pink cloud vision of harmony with the alien threat? My intellect is keen as ever, and my prejudices are based upon verifiable scientific…

I squeezed my face into a contorted mask of agony. Who was I trying to justify myself to? All of my friends in Blue Dawn were either dead or facing lengthy sentences. Our movement was dead. Perhaps we could cause some small ripples in the galaxy, but we would never affect lasting change.

I was nothing more than a prisoner of war, paraded around to prove that the IHC/Alliance philosophies were best.

Why could I not have been captured by the Coalition? At least the Ataxians would have the good grace to torture me to death in short order, instead of letting me linger like the remnants of a poorly-scraped tumor.

I turned on the scanner, desperate for a distraction. When I saw the readout on the holographic display, I let out a grunt of disbelief.

"What is it, Doctor?"

Buzos came to my side, but I was too intrigued to be fully annoyed by his alien presence.

"The energy doesn't appear to be shunted into the walls by a conduit. It's being generated by the metal alloys itself."

Buzos gasped, leaning in closer and wafting his machine oil breath over me.

"You're right, Doctor. Incredible. Obviously these materials are not native to the Sol system. The sun is not large or hot enough to produce such exotic minerals that went into its construction."

"Indeed. We may find a clue as to the moon's origins."

I sighed in resignation.

"It is indeed a potential revolution in both science and galactic history. With your leave, I would traverse to the next lower level to see if this phenomenon is consistent throughout the facility."

Buzos shook his head, cybernetics gleaming in the bright lights of overhead drones.

"No, it is too dangerous. We will finish our readings on this level, and then move down to the next as a team."

I glanced over at our Vakutan guards. Riel spotted me and grinned, pointing his fingers at his eyes and then pointing them at me.

"I hear he requested this assignment especially."

Buzo's voice held a note of worry that surprised me.

"If I were you, Doctor, I would avoid being in his vicinity while no one else is about."

I felt a twinge of fear, which I desperately tried to tamp down.

"I suppose I dug my own grave with him, pun fully intended."

Buzos didn't reply, not with words. His gaze spoke volumes, however. He found my assessment to be most accurate.

I took more readings while waiting for the others to finish up. My findings proved consistent throughout. The very structure of the facility generated its own power supply, and there appeared to be no central nexus.

After an hour or so, we finally gathered at the mining lift and made our way to the next level. More green, glittering metal greeted my gaze.

"How did the builders of this facility move from one level to the next?" Caraway asked. "There don't appear to be any elevators, or even stairs."

"Perhaps they sealed up the routes of ingress when they abandoned this facility. Or maybe they had means of transit that we can't perceive based upon their artifacts."

Surprised stares turned my way. I don't think anyone expected me to speak, much less with such enthusiasm.

"Indeed," Caraway said, a slight smile forming on his face. "This is why it helps to have a specialist in Xeno technology on the team."

He looked pointedly at Dr. Kight when he said so. Kight snorted ruefully. The elevator settled into place on the next level. My eyes widened as I beheld the vast subterranean chamber.

"The ceiling must be a hundred feet high," I marveled.

"A hundred and fifty," Caraway replied.

Towers roughly thick as an elder elm tree broke up the floor of the vast chamber, almost creating a maze of sorts. Each tower bore conical ‘fruit' in the form of metal pods. I touched one of the pods and found it eerily cold compared to the rest of the facility.

"What is the purpose of these?"

I thumped the side for emphasis. Buzos shook his head.

"We are uncertain. They have been ruled to be harmless and inert, however. Unlike the other parts of the facility, they appear to have no power generation properties."

"Yes, but why? Why create them if they serve no purpose?"

I checked the readout on my compad and my jaw fell open.

"There are traces of organic compounds within these strange fruit."

"Yes, that was determined as well. There are many species which mix organic and technological components together." Dr. Kight chuckled at my expense. "It's not the revelation you seem to think it is."

"Could these be stasis pods?"

I rested my hand on the side. I didn't know why, but the pods caused me great anxiety.

"If they are, then whatever was inside died a long time ago. There's zero energy going into them, and they aren't cold enough for cryogenic preservation. Just forget the pods, our objective is beyond this chamber in what we think is a control room."

I nodded, but I couldn't tear my gaze from the pods. I couldn't help but feel they were sinister, somehow.

We entered the maze of towers. I kept my compad on constant scan mode, though no one seemed to share my anxiety.

"Relax, Doctor Reed," Caraway said. "There have already been several teams penetrating this far and further, with no ill effects."

"How large were those other teams?"

"Not more than three to five."

I groaned with the agony of his stupidity.

"And you didn't think that there might be a different reaction because of a larger number of interlopers in this facility? Especially when they bring weapons?"

I gestured at a vakutan soldier and Caraway shrugged.

"This facility is older than humanity itself, Doctor. It has yet to cause us any harm, including the hundreds of years of a moon colony."

My compad chirped and I grimaced as I turned the screen around to show him.

"Then why are the pods suddenly heating up? Four degrees in just the time it has taken you to read the screen."

The procession stopped. Riel looked to Buzos.

"Are we in danger, Doctor?"

"There's no reason to believe we are. Dr. Reed is correct, the pods are heating up, but that doesn't mean they're malignant."

"Everything I see here is consistent with a security protocol, Doctor Buzos." I shook the compad at him. "Perhaps you think I am racist, and perhaps you are right, but I am not wrong about these readings. We need to vacate, immediately."

I moved toward the mining lift, but Riel stepped into my path.

"You're not going anywhere," he said coldly, but how his yellow eyes blazed with hate.

"Doctor Reed, please come along," Buzos said. "Perhaps the answers we seek are in the control room."

"Or perhaps only death awaits us there."

I cast one last, forlorn look at the mining lift before it passed out of sight. I turned my gaze forward as we navigated the maze of pods. After several minutes of walking I could not say for certain which way the mining lift lay.

No point in trying to run, now. Just have to hope I'm wrong. Ironic.

"Doctor Buzos, I think you are leading us in circles. I am certain we have been here before."

Dr. Kight put his hand on one of the pods and then removed it, clearly alarmed.

"And the pods are almost too hot to touch. As much as it pains me, I think that perhaps we are in danger here?—"

The pods glowed with a bright, somehow sickly light. A clawed hand impossibly thrust out from the metal without making a hole or so much as a seam. I jumped back, eyes transfixed on the mix of machinery and muscle fiber.

"Something is coming out."

"Soldiers!" Riel bellowed. "Go hot!"

A high pitched whine reached my ears as the Vakutan powered up their formidable weaponry. I stepped further back as the creature trapped in the pod continued to drag itself out, bit by bit. It had at least four limbs with manipulating appendages at the end. We had yet to see its face.

"Calm down, Lt. Riel," Buzos said. "Just because the entity is strange to us does not mean it is hostile. It might be confused and scared. Pointing weapons at it, or even turning them on, is a bad idea."

"I think I'll keep my weapon hot just the same."

"I think that I am in command of this expedition," Buzos said firmly. "I do not believe there is any danger as of yet. Power down your weapons."

Riel looked as if he wanted to bite Buzos's half metal head off, but he complied.

"Shut it down," he growled through gritted teeth. His men reluctantly obeyed.

"I must agree with Riel, Buzos. Even if this creature is not hostile, it could still be dangerous in other ways. Distance and sensible precautions seem like?—"

"Enough. I will not be lectured by an inferior intellect marred by xenophobia. Everyone please, project an aura of calm as we greet our new friend."

A saurian head, more machine than flesh, thrust out from the pod. It opened up to display a maw of bronze teeth. It took me a moment to realize they were gears spinning at high speed rather than organic food mastication growths.

"Look at its mouth," I gasped.

"It could be used for tunneling or some other benign purpose. You really must stop assuming the worst, Doctor Reed."

The alien pulled itself fully out of the pod. Some part of my mind not ruled by terror noted there were still no openings on the pod itself. The thing must have somehow moved its molecules through solid matter.

It lay there, looking almost like an ebon skinned jungle panther from earth. Servos whirred as a cyclopean red light flicked about on top of its domed head. It seemed more machine than animal.

"Doctor Buzos, this creature bears none of the signs of intelligent life. Its hands are more rightfully claws, meaning it cannot manipulate tools. I do not think?—"

"If he talks again, smack him," Buzos said with an exasperated sigh. Riel grinned his toothy grin and took a step closer to me. "And remember everyone, keep thinking positive, non-threatening thoughts."

The creature struggled to its feet, limbs splayed wide in an awkward dance off with gravity. It nearly toppled, then held steady. I heard the distinct sound of gyroscopic balancers inside of its chassis. I refused to think of the amalgam of flesh and chrome as a body.

"Yes, that's good. Someone get a camera drone going, I want to record this on holo."

Caraway deployed a fist-sized orb from his belt, which hovered near Buzos as he took a step toward the creature.

"Now I'll give the universal greeting. Any child of the Precursors will know the rhythm of the language, even if they don't understand the words."

He turned toward the creature, offering his red-scaled hand.

"Ba weep gra na weep?—"

The creature moved like a striking viper. Quicker than an eyeblink, the cyborg monstrosity clamped its jaws down onto Buzos' hand. I heard the servo motors winding up, and knew what would happen next. I couldn't tear my eyes away though I truly wanted to.

"Go hot!" Riel bellowed.

The Vakutan soldiers quickly powered up their weapons. Riel himself aimed a kick for the creature's flank. His boot bounced off as if he'd struck a skyscraper's support pillar.

His cry of surprise and pain mingled with a wet buzzing as the creature's gear teeth spun faster than the speed of sound. I threw my arm up over my face as a deluge of bloody chunks and bits of cloth showered our position.

Buzos didn't scream, which somehow made it even more horrifying. He just stared at the mangled, shredded stump that used to be his hand, blood spurting out with the beating of his heart.

The creature's movements smoothed out, and it stood straighter. Its central eye glowed brighter than it had before.

"It's converting the mass of his hand into energy," I said in disgusted awe.

"Light it up!"

Caraway grabbed my arm and dragged me to the floor as the Vakutan soldiers opened up with their combat rifles. Shards of metal zipped through the air so quickly they took on a molten, red glow. The projectiles tore into the creature's carapace, leaving ghastly holes. One of its four arms dropped away, spilling some blood but mostly viscous brown machine oil.

The men continued firing, and I kept thinking that the creature must surely fall. Nothing could withstand such an onslaught. Yet when their magazines ran dry and their guns issued clicks rather than deadly slivers of magma, the creature still stood.

"Reload!"

Riel's bellowed order was unnecessary, as most of the Vakutan already had new magazines jammed into their weapons. The nearest one to the creature opened fire.

The thing leaped upon him, remaining three arms tearing, clawing, and catching. I watched as a seven foot alien soldier who could squish me with one hand was torn to pieces by the much-smaller cyborg monstrosity.

"Fall back!"

I ran, unsure of where the lift lay, but knowing that if I remained I would die. Clawed limbs thrust out of the solid stone pods, blocking my path. I ducked beneath them, leaped over them, did whatever I could to avoid being snagged.

Once I came around a bend in the maze to find one of the newborn creatures struggling to stand. I flattened my back to the wall and inched my way around it.

The monster's scarlet, glowing eye snapped my way. One of its clawed limbs tore through the air, ripping my sleeve and scoring a bloody line across my ribcage.

I cried out, clapping my hand to my burning side. I ran, the sounds of battle all around me. Every so often, I heard a soldier scream.

My hand grew wet with blood. I strove to hold the flap of skin closed as I ran. Blood continued to flow all the same. I feared leaving a trail that the cyborg monsters could follow.

Staggering around the edge of another tower filled with grasping, clutching fruit, I caught a glimpse of the mining lift. Hope surged in my heart.

A black blur came in hard on my side. A scream tore its way out of my wide open mouth as one of the cyborgs tackled me. We hit the floor hard and rolled end over end. Sharp metal cut my cheek to the bone. Machine oil poured into my many wounds, burning like fire. I screamed and struggled, kicking at the monstrosity until at last I got myself from underneath.

Its red eye had gone dark. Bullet holes riddled its corpse. The thing was dead. It had probably been dead before it struck me, its momentum carrying it along until it crossed my path.

I ran for the mining lift, but my left knee twinged and buckled. I sprawled on the floor, slipping and sliding in my own blood. The sounds of gunfire came less and less often, but the growling and snapping maws of the creatures had become a vast chorus.

I struggled to my feet, but my left leg would hardly bear any weight at all. I staggered along, dragging one leg behind me, using it like a crutch instead of a limb.

I risked a glance behind me. One of the Vakutan came into view, stumbling out of the maze. Three cyborgs clung to him, tearing away at his scaled flesh as he cried out in anguish.

"Help me!" he cried. Even with half his face missing, I could tell it was Riel.

"Like Hell I will," I muttered, turning my back on him. I just had to hope he would last a little bit longer, and keep the monsters distracted while I limped my way to the lift.

Come on, Riel. You're a tough guy. Strong. Vakutan. You've got this.

I heard renewed blasts of gunfire from behind me. Maybe Riel got his second wind, or was able to lay hands on another weapon. All I knew was the mining lift drew ever nearer. I stretched my hand out when I was still ten feet away, desperate to feel its metal carapace and know I would be safe.

My hand closed on the chassis at last. Half sobbing with relief, I threw myself on board and grasped at the control panel.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I turned at the sound of the gurgling, wet voice. My jaw fell open. Riel shouldn't have been able to stand, let alone talk. One of his arms was simply gone at the shoulder, a geyser of frothy blood spilling out onto the floor. White bone made up more of his form than flesh, half his face nothing but a grinning skull.

My hand covered my mouth when I realized I could see through him. His abdomen had a hole in it I could have put my arm through without touching the sides.

"If I'm going to die," he sputtered, blood flecking his lips "I'm going to make sure you go with me."

I threw myself onto the deck plating of the lift as he fired his gun. The recoil proved too much for his ravaged body, pulling him in a lazy circle before he flopped onto the ground. He missed me entirely, but the lift wasn't so lucky.

His wild shots damaged the antigravity matrix, leaving it a sparking, smoking mess. The lift tilted badly to the side, throwing me into a tumble until I slammed into the safety railing.

"No, no, no!"

I grasped the railing, legs dangling over the side as the lift dropped deeper into the shaft. The sounds of the cyborgs faded, but I knew they were still up there, still waiting to devour me to power their ancient servos.

The lift's safety protocols kept it from plummeting down the shaft. But it was a one-way trip, down only, the power requirements for upward mobility simply too great.

I rolled out of the lift about five feet before the bottom, landing hard on my side. The damaged lift came down all wrong, buckling and folding like an accordion. It wavered crazily for a moment, and then fell toward me.

Crying out with agony, I rolled myself out of the way. The lift slammed down inches from where I lay.

"Oh god," I gasped, sitting up and clutching my side. "Oh god. Got to call Luna base. Got to call…"

I dug my compad out, only to find it torn by a cyborg's claw. The screen remained dark no matter how I tried to jury rig it.

I was alone at the bottom of a mine shaft, with hundreds of ravenous cybernetic horrors between me and safety, and I had no way of calling for help.

"At least," I gasped between heavy pants "I don't have to listen to Dowron's shit anymore."

I laughed, though it hurt and I didn't find it the least bit funny.