The War Across the Stars (26 page)

“This thing better work on our way out,” Cassidy murmured softly.

The doorway slid open and I felt myself fly backwards, slamming into the wall.  A sizable amount of gunfire ensued, bullets pinging off the metallic walls.  I rolled out of the way of incoming fire, taking cover behind the front wall of the elevator.  I took a quick evaluation, finding Boone and Hood using the other side as cover, Nevin behind me, and Cassidy up against the control panel.  Boone stuck his shotgun out into the line of fire and took a shot blindly.  The cry of pain marked his accuracy. 

I prepared myself to move out of the elevator when I saw a single grenade roll into the compact space.  We would all be KIA if it detonated where it was.  I rapidly crouched down, scooping the grenade with my left hand.  With my right hand firmly placed on the handle and trigger of my SF-42, I opened fire into the swarm of UED soldiers that had set the ambush.  As fast as I could, I brought my left hand forward, giving the grenade a toss straight back into the heart of the enemy squad.  There was a flash, followed by the pinging sound of shrapnel hitting my armor.

Fortunately, my armor was not the only thing to be hit by the metal fragments.  A majority of the UED formation had been impacted by the position of the grenade at its point of detonation.  Capitalizing on the opportunity, I darted forward, fully out of the elevator and leaped over the nearest cover point, landing on top of a dead UED trooper.  I fired a pair of bullets across the room at a now exposed target, when I heard someone behind me.  I spun with incredible speed, bringing my left hand to bear on the neck of a UED soldier, knocking him off his feet.  Only then, as I put the kill shot into the downed soldier, did Nevin emerge from the safety of the elevator, opening fire on the last pocket of resistance. 

“Clear,” I said, glad to have made it through the rough spot.  “Ryan, this is James.  We had an encounter with some UED troops, anything on your end?” I asked, this time over the COM.

“Blood.  Just a lotta blood,” he said, his insinuation of Tredecim responsibility being clear. 

“Alright, we'll be on the lookout for UED or Tredecim,” I replied, acknowledging my understanding.

Everyone had now exited the elevator and were looking around the vast chamber that we stood in.  The ceiling rose at least thirty meters over our head, creating an empty feeling in the expanse of space. 

“What do you think this room was used for?” Cassidy asked.

“Based off of the fact that it seems to be one of only two destinations that elevator has, I'd say it's where everyone lined up before going outside,” Nevin said, a faint smile on his face to mask the fear of what may actually be there.

We moved quickly across the immense room to a single doorway on the other side.  Tapping the single button on the touch-pad beside it caused the metal door to slide upward.  Behind the door was a darkened hallway made of the same stone material that the towers were.  Again I heard distant gunfire.

“Ryan here, we've got some Tredecim guarding somethin'.  Trying to get through enough of them to figure out what.”

“It's not going down!” I heard Max scream into the COM.

“Roger that, we've got nothin',” I replied to Ryan.

“It doesn't sound good,” Cassidy said.

“They're Rangers, they'll be fine,” Nevin stated, assuring himself as much as anyone else.

At the end of the narrow hallway was a T-shaped split, giving us two choices.  I looked over at Boone, who seemed to be thinking the same thing that I was. 

“We'll take this way,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder down the hall as he backed into it. 

Hood followed close behind him, rifle raised.  Nevin, Cassidy, and myself made our way cautiously down the other path, which turned several times without any apparent reason.

“James, we've... something.  It's... Not sure who...” I heard Ryan's voice say over the crackle of static.

“Repeat that, there's interference,” I replied.

“James... Are you... You read?” he returned, seemingly having not heard my prior statement.

“Yeah, we're here.  You aren't coming through clearly,” I repeated.

A silence ensued, making it clear that Ryan had given up.

“Well, they found something.  The question is... what?” I said. 

The other two looked at me, neither putting forth any guesses.

“Let's keep moving,” Cassidy suggested.

After the contact from Ryan, it wasn't long before we found a likely candidate for what he had found.  We entered a narrow room, extending nearly forty meters.  Along both walls were rows of tubes containing strange beings that I did not recognize.  They certainly weren't Tredecim, though they seemed plenty tall, standing a full two meters in height.  Their skin was silvery, almost white in coloration.  Its eyes were yellow and were located near the back of its elongated head.  Two small pincers were located at the tip of their face, likely surrounding a mouth.  They were angled backwards in the pods at a forty-five degree angle.  The pods seemed to be holding the creatures in a cryogenic stasis. 

“Definitely... not Tredecim,” Nevin said, observing the nearest pod.

“Then what are they?” Cassidy asked, running her hand over a tube. 

“If this is what Ryan found, Phil's got to be in heaven right now,” Nevin said, a true smile coming over his face.

Maintaining a serious tone, I replied, “I say we keep moving.  We have to be close to the Beholder.  That should answer all of our questions.”

“How do you think these things open?” Cassidy asked, searching the surface for any sort of interface.

“I'm not so sure we want it open.  Like I said, we should concentrate on the Beholder,” I repeated, wanting to get away from the creatures.

They nodded, at last acknowledging my suggestion.  The two rows of pods continued down the entire length of the hallway until a large doorway.  As it opened I thought I saw a shadow move across the room.  I entered slowly, gun raised to my shoulder.  This room was far darker than the one before it, illuminated only by a dim blue light on either wall.  It was only then that I realized one thing the SF-42 was missing was an under-barrel flashlight like that of the H-81.  I snapped the 42 onto my pack and drew my pistol, clicking on its light.  Running the light across the room I could see a heavy doorway positioned right where the shadow had disappeared.  Across from that was yet another door.  I immediately moved to the first door.  I reached down and touched the pad, though instead of opening the door, the pad merely flashed red once.  I repeated to the same result.

“I think it’s locked.  Nev, try the other one,” I ordered.  Nevin placed his finger on the opposite door's interface, resulting in the door slowly opening.

Unlike the other doors, this one appeared to be dual layered, the first layer rising while the second split in the center and slid to either side.  Inside was yet another surprise.  A bright light flooded out of the room, a stark contrast to the prior darkness.  As I entered the room I realized it was far different than any other room or region I had been in since landing on Marzoc.  The room overflowed with plant life, trees and shrubs distributed throughout.  Some of the trees even seemed to bear small fruits of some sort.  I could only make assumptions that the temperature and air quality had changed as well, though through my armor it was unclear.

“Whoa...” Nevin said in awe as he looked around the large room. 

“I bet we could eat these,” Cassidy said, plucking a round purple fruit from one of the trees.  “We haven't had food since arriving in-system.”

“But what if we can't?  What if they are harmful to us?” I asked, feeling a slight pain in my stomach from over a day without food.

“We'll die eventually if we don't eat somethin',” she replied.

“You both make good points,” Nevin interjected.  “But I'm leaning towards Cassie's argument.”

I sighed, giving a long gaze at the fruit in Cassidy's hand.

“Maybe we should get a go-ahead from Phil first,” I finally said, completely unaware of how our bodies would react to the fruit.

“Phil this, Phil that.  Phil's always the answer!  What does he know about a random fruit in an underground city?” Cassidy said, sarcasm lining her tone.  “Alright, I'm throwin' some in my pack.”

“Go ahead.  We have to be close though,” I said, a hint of excitement in my voice.

Nevin and I approached the only other door in the room, a straight walk from the first one, while Cassidy gathered more fruits.  Dropping my guard a bit after the pleasant surprise of the present room, I tapped the button.  The door opened in the same complex manner as the one before, revealing a pitch-black hallway.  Only the light from the bio room illuminated the entrance, though the entrance was all I needed to see.  Multiple Tredecim were piled up against the door, some leaning against the walls in a sitting position, others sprawled in the center of the hallway.  I brought my pistol up to a shooting stance immediately, but held my fire.  Many of them looked at us longingly, some rising slowly to their feet.  None of them showed any signs of aggression. 

“Hold,” I murmured softly to Nevin, careful not to move much.

The group of Tredecim continued to rise, then began to meander into the bio room.  As they came nearer, I backed up, keeping my pace slow and deliberate.  The first Tredecim to emerge began to make a series of noises.

“What are you doing?” Nevin asked in a hushed tone.

Not responding, I slowly took one hand off my gun and reached out carefully toward the beast.  In response, it lifted one of its arms and cautiously touched my gauntlet with its massive claw.  My heart rate began to elevate as I considered how fast everything could go wrong.  Its face had a large scar across its right eye, which did little to reassure me that it was friendly.

“I'm James,” I said in a friendly tone, unsure why I even dared to pursue communication.

The Tredecim grumbled a return, though I was still clueless to its meaning.

“Friend,” I offered, placing my pistol back at my side.

“James who are you...” Cassidy said loudly before pausing.  “What are... uh...”

“It's okay,” I said to both her and the Tredecim.

The creature said something else.  Several of the Tredecim behind it began to push by, entering the bio room.  They reached for plants and trees, taking down fruits and eating them by the handful.  At last the one before me lowered its arm, nudging past me into the room.  I stood in place, amazed that this was happening.

“May we enter?” I asked, trying to sign my question to them by pointing at us, then down the dark hallway.

Only the lead Tredecim watched me as I spoke, though it had no reaction to my question other than casually looking back at the fruits it was picking.  Cassidy's face still showed clear signs of shock, but we were still alive, and so were the Tredecim.  I silently motioned for us to enter the hall, and the three of us moved in.  After we entered the hallway, I redrew my pistol to make use of its light. 

“I hope Boone doesn't find them.  He and Hood will probably open fire,” I said after escaping earshot of the bio room.

“Okay, yeah, but why are they friendly?” Nevin asked.

“I... I don't know,” I said, realizing it just didn't seem to make sense. 

The incredible darkness made traversing the area particularly difficult, especially due to the small stairwells and abrupt turns that littered the path.  Though the environment did its part to slow us down, it wasn't long before we stumbled upon something incredible.

We exited the darker tunnel, entering a tremendous room.  The room had several points along the walls lit with an ominous blue light.  The source of the light couldn't be seen, but it reminded me of the ones I had seen beneath the first Observation Post.  In the center of the room stood an enormous column that protruded from the floor to the ceiling.  Upon the column was a screen of some sort displaying an unusual picture.  A single yellow eye, perfectly symmetrical stared down at us.  Though at first I believed it to be unmoving, it seemed to have adjusted to view our entry.

“Whoa,” Nevin murmured, taking in the surroundings.

Excitedly, I glanced over my shoulder at the other two, then took a cautious approach toward the screen.  It was then that it began to speak in a voice that seemed both deep and mono-toned.

“The Beholder recognizes three entrants.  All human.  Origin... Eli,” the voice stated calmly.  “To what end do they enter the Bastion?”

“We are the Rangers.  We are here to attempt to learn more about... you.  And this planet,” I said, slightly unnerved by the eye's penetrating gaze.

“The Beholder has access to all knowledge provided by the Praetorians.  Any questions in pertinence to Marzoc, its native population, or the Beholder's Mission can be answered.” 

“The Praetorians?  Are they the ones from the tubes?” I immediately inquired.

“The Praetorians are the masters of all.  They forged this world into what it is today.  They forged the Beholder. They now rest in a prolonged slumber, until their triumphant return.”

I looked over at Nevin, figuring we both had the same thought. 

“So they are here?  In this facility?” I asked.

“Yes.  The Praetorians are here.  Should they need to be awakened to defend their creations, they shall.”