Jacob Sand
Fourteen years. Fourteen years of waiting. We had waited so long for something to change for the better, but it never, ever did. Things either got worse or didn't change at all. It hurt to think that perhaps nothing would ever change, or perhaps it would change in a way that spelled disaster for all of us. It hurt that we could only wait, and it hurt even more that we were stuck this cycle; Sasha was depressed, and had been for the past decade-and-four-years. Everything had changed the day Ollos Silver took Jack Malla Corren from her hands. That was also the day that Zanos Millen was murdered, and the day when the Island Guard went from being a respected and feared force for good to a relentless group of mad and proud men and women. That first winter was the hardest by far, especially without Zanos to lead the survival efforts. Fortunately another Island Guard commander came along, as wise and strong as Zanos, and as respected. Dorriun Stopattys was an Obraxian war hero, who fought against the massacre. When the waters froze over, and times were looking desperate, he answered the call and stitched the Islanders back together.
Twelve winters later Sasha sent me and a small team of scientists and engineers on a mission that she promised would rid us of the dead for good. She recounted the Aurora Survivors tales, and decided that a northern pass fitted perfectly with one of his stories. If she was correct, down this cave system would be a ruined alien facility, designed to fight against the disease. If I was able to salvage parts from this facility I could be able to cure the bacteria once and for all. All Sasha gave me was a crew and her high hopes, and she set me off on my journey.
And lo and behold, she was right.
The facility looked like an enormous metallic die with tubes and pipes shooting out in every direction. Vines hung from every pipe and outcropping of metal and the ground beneath was strewn with loose plates of shimmering metal; a metal that a long-ranged scan couldn't identify. The Hydra parked as close to the rocky walls surrounding the base as our captain would allow, and I and five other men hopped into the sub's six dive suits and made out way out. One of the Hydra's swimsuits didn't have a working microphone equipped, but it did have speakers. We set up a game of poker to play on our way down to the facility, and Timmit lost that game. He would be wearing the faulty suit.
We all tread water just beneath the Hydra, stasis rifles in hand in case anything dangerous lurked about inside. The Hydra was bigger than the usual Cyclops; it had two extra turbines beside the first, each plated in grey, coarse titanium. It was also built to be more streamlined, and its hull was three inches thicker than that of a standard Cyclops. It was strange, because usually you would need an engineer to perform this job. Now, however, everything is done by machine, and a hacker needed to be set to the task instead. This was all fourteen years ago now,but it's something that I still find interesting.
All six of us tread in a large circle beneath the sub. "Trech, do you copy?" I looked at him opposite me.
"Loud and clear, Jacob," Trech smiled. Then he looked a Becky. "Beck, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear as ever," Becky groaned. She turned to look at Brandon. "Brandy, you copy?"
"I can hear you just fine, Beck," Brandon grinned. "Amanda, do you read?"
"There aren't many good books out here, Brandy," Amanda tried to rub her eyes but instead pinched her visor. "Damn, that's annoying..."
"We've still got one more, Amanda," Trech grinned. Timmit looked around to Trech and promptly stuck his middle finger up to the entire circle, slowly making his way around so that nobody was missed.
"He can hear us," Brandon laughed.
I smiled. Then I looked up at the belly of Hydra. "Captain Luru , do you copy?"
"Loud and clear, Jacob," Luru assured down her mic. "Quickly, get in there. You've only got four hours of oxygen, so I wouldn't recommend getting lost in there."
"Nor would I forgive myself if I did," Becky looked back at the ominous metal cube in the middle of the cave. It sat there, and with every glance at it ripples shot up my spine. I tried to take my mind off of what could be inside, but counting to fifty didn't seem to be doing any good.
"We are also detecting predatory lifeforms in the area, but they appear to be sticking to the sea floor. Don't swim too far down and you should be fine," Luru said.
So we swam as quick as our legs and flippers would allow. We pushed our way forward through the water, which felt very thick and heavy in the area, and we eventually made it to an enormous entrance in the side of the facility. It was overgrown, and we could barely see inside. the vines and moss were covering the opening up pretty well, although there were some dim lights on the other side. "It's still getting power," I told Luru. "I can see the lights inside." Luru didn't respond, but I heard the clicking and tapping of a keypad on the other end of the mic. "Do we have permission to look inside?" I wanted Luru to talk to me.
There was silence for a good few seconds, but Luru eventually said "Of course, of course." She seemed very distracted, and it only took a brief glance sideways to know why. There was a blinding blue light at the other end of the cave. It looked like a vortex, swirling in the water, bubbles popping from its centre and floating upwards as far as they could go. There was purple in the flurry of light alongside the flashing whites and light blues, but eventually the light subsided. In its place was a creature, of the likes none of us had ever seen before. It appeared to be human, but its abdomen and torso were blue and translucent, and it wore a shell of purple tiles, and it had six long tentacles in the place of legs. Its eyes were red and its hands pointed like daggers near their ends. It only sat there, and stared at us.
"Another life form just showed up on the radar,"
"I can see it, Luru!" Brandon yelled. I saw Timmit say something, but I didn't hear the words. "What the hell do we do?! What's the protocol here?!"
"We stay calm!" I ordered. "We stay calm, okay?" The rest of the group raised their stasis rifles at it. It continued to stare at us with its four glowing eyes.
"We're running a long range scan," Luru informed. "I'll need it to stay in one place, so don't do anything stupid Brandon." Brandon didn't say a thing. We just sat there, and it just sat there, and we stared each other out.
Then the creature began to move forward.
"Amazing..." Luru gasped. "This creature's anatomy is something to behold. All of its cells are completely artificial; there isn't a cell in its body with a nucleus, heck, they don't even have mitochondria. This thing doesn't have nerve cells, either, so if you were planning on zapping it it won't work."
The creature was coming dangerously close, but I was locked in place due to my own fear. All I could think to do was observe the creature. It looked stunning, and it was hard to believe that it was artificial. Perhaps it was made by the same precursors who created this facility, or maybe an entirely different species altogether. It was extremely close to me now. "Get back," everyone said, but I couldn't. I and the monster stared into each other's eyes for longer than I felt comfortable with. It was a beautiful creature. What made it so extraordinary to me was that it was crafted by working, thinking brains. That meant something.
Then it began to rear back. Its spiked hands were held above its head, and its tentacles splayed out beneath it, looking like a propeller. The blue translucent parts of its body shone, and its eyes beamed a fearsome red. I pushed away from it and began to turn away, but it was too damn fast. It squealed an astoundingly high-pitched cry, and its two dagger-like hands pierced each side of my chest. I felt them erupt from my back. I felt no pain, and there was no blood, but when the creature took the weapons from my body there was a sting, then an ache, then a pain, and then agony. Blood erupted from the two wounds like geysers, and I yelled, and heard everyone yelling down their respective mics. They called my name. "You purple fuckin' bastard!" I heard Brandon shout. I heard the shot of a stasis rifle, and saw a flash of blue from behind me. I covered both of my front-side wounds with my hands, but there was nothing I could do about the two holes in my back. I heard Brandon's and Amanda's dying groans flood the mic, and I heard Becky and Trech start to make their way back to Hydra.
"Jacob!" Trech yelled. "We're coming back for you!"
But there was no going back for me. I could feel my arms and legs becoming weaker, and the blood rushed from my brain like a tidal wave. Salt water was flooding my suit and it made the whole ordeal that much more unbearable. My vision began to blacken. I could no longer feel my fingertips, nor could I feel my toes, nor could I feel my head. I turned around to see Brandon and Amanda's dead body, and the monster send its daggers through Trech's stomach. He groaned down the mic, and Beck yelled. The water was red and full of bodies, and in the heart of all of it, only half visible from behind the slowly rising blood, was the monster that had caused it.
"I'm back at Hydra!" Beck yelled. "I'm boarding a Seamoth to come get you! Jacob, do you copy? Jacob? Jacob?!"
Darkness.
Flagship Eclipse act 2:
Diamond Crusade
Read Flagship Eclipse if you haven't already
(Although I'm writing this story in a way that you can read it without having to have read Flagship Eclipse)
