"...should've packed warmer clothes," Wei Jie grumbled as he trudged over another lump of snow, cloaked in Void light, teeth chattering from the cold. He peered across the snowy wasteland, electronic scanners returning nothing from their pings.
"And that's the third time you've complained about that," Sparkle buzzed in mocking laughter. "Your own damn fault for ignoring the 'snowy wasteland' part of the VANNET report."
Wei Jie rolled his eyes. He knew that no one could see his face under the ceramic-composite armour, but it helped to relieve some of his annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Sparky. You're the one who's going to have to revive me when I inevitably die of hypothermia."
"And I'll gladly do it, just to watch you freeze again," snarked the Ghost.
"Less yapping and more updates, Sparky." He paused to run his gloves over the rifle's scopes, which had begun to frost over. He ignored the telltale prickling of frostbite and flushed his limbs with Solar light to put the problem off.
"Geez, cool it, will ya? Get it?" the Ghost sent a hum of humorous anticipation at Wei Jie.
"I get your awful pun. Now, updates on the airwaves, please," Wei Jie said, peering downrange through Royal Chase's boxy scope. He took a quick glance at the rifle's radar sub-unit, which once again informed him that he was alone out in the wasteland.
"Right. Firstly, some of the radio signals we've been getting are definitely human."
Wei Jie perked up. "Vanguard comms? Have you tried raising FOTC channels?"
"Nope. These stations aren't the usual, and they seem to be stuck on 'send'. No responses to any messages I'm sending out. Charlie and Sidonia concur. And as for the few frequencies that
are active, I've got some classical music, pre-Golden Age probably, and a numbers station of some kind."
"Let's hear it, then," Wei Jie grunted as he once more toggled a scan, which told him the same damned thing it had been telling him: no one else ahead. He suppressed the uneasy feeling that he was nonetheless being watched. It was probably just the snow playing tricks on his mind.
Sparky tuned into the channel – 125.000 kHz – and interrupted, "Just so you know, it's spoken in an Old Earth language. I've translated for you. Aren't you glad that your Ghost loves reading as much as you do?"
"I do, Sparky. And
silence is the perfectest herald of joy, so
shush and let me hear it."
The radio hummed out three musical notes in cycles, before a woman's voice came on, through a haze of background static. "Attention, attention. 03246-16, 38146…" The pattern continued for a while, and Wei Jie listened for a while longer before signalling for Sparkle to turn off the radio. Sparkle's attention turned to him expectantly.
"You're asking what I think?" Wei Jie exhaled, climbing over another snow dune, scans once again returning empty. "Well, it's automated, to begin with. All the words have the exact same intonation. Apart from that it tells me nothing, I don't exactly have the context for these numbers."
"Neither do I. They don't match any on the Vanguard codebook. No pattern to the numbers, either. Polybius, hexadecimal and ASCII – I've tried an assortment of decryption methods to no end." The Ghost explained.
"Curiouser and curiouser. Do we at least have an origin to the signals?"
"No, they don't appear to have any noticeable origin. The signals sort of just radiate from the environment."
Wei Jie nodded, trying to suppress the feeling of being watched. He couldn't help but feel like he and his fireteam were intruding on something sacred (or unholy). He took a deep breath to quiet his heart before soldiering on, checking his rear for possible tails before speaking. "So, any updates from the others?"
The Ghost whirred. "Charlie got some interesting things from the scans he took of the body. According to its onboard data storage, we're looking at a human settlement, well-industrialised and populated, possibly located outside Sol. They appear to be entirely unaware of us, much less of the City or the Light."
"Another Neomuna situation?"
"Seems like it, although the Eusan Nation – that's what they call themselves, by the way – seems to be much larger than Neomuna, since it occupies numerous worlds. There's even a mention of a war within that system, with other humans."
Wei Jie frowned. Human-on-human conflicts were deeply distasteful to him. In an age where Sol's human populations were restricted to a mere two cities in a star system, war between humans was unthinkable. Human life was more precious now than ever in the history of Sol.
If these people fought with each other, and they were unaware of the Light, then they probably wouldn't hesitate to shoot him if they considered him a threat.
"Any other actionable intel? You know what the ancients say.
'If you want peace, prepare for war.'" In that case, he would need to know of any potential abilities or skills of these people to avoid getting blindsided in a fight – and win one, if need be. The thought of taking the life of a Lightless human was disagreeable, but Wei Jie was sure that if he were to fight, he wasn't going to lose.
From the hum of agreement, he knew that Sparkle agreed wholly.
"It's likely that the Eusan nation doesn't field organic human soldiers, but rather more of the body we found on
Penrose-512. You see, that body is something that the Eusans call a
Replika. Not a true human, but a copy of a human mind in a mechanical body – not unlike an Exo, like Fran." Wei Jie nodded along, attention split between absorbing Sparkle's analysis and watching the desolate wasteland. Another scan returned empty-handed.
"Then it wouldn't be wrong to assume," Wei Jie reasoned, gears turning in his mind, "That these Replikas, like Exos, were developed for war. Certainly makes more sense to toss replaceable bodies into the meat grinder of industrialised combat than to toss in irreplaceable organics; you could always make more Replikas."
How did that quote go? Wei Jie strained his memory to an earlier reading from a recovered pre-Golden Age archive, '
The effectiveness of military forces is largely dependent upon the efficiency of the industries supplying those forces.' Distasteful, but it made sense from the cold logic of total war, especially one that occurred at a planetary scale. Didn't make the thought of eliminating hundreds of human-equivalents feel any better, Wei Jie reflected with some bitterness.
"Your conclusions match mine. If the generic model number of that body – LSTR-512 – means anything, then yes, they're likely mass produced. As for each Replika, a quick-and-dirty simulation of the polymers that comprise its muscular and skeletal tissue mean that it would have excellent striking force for a human, and would be reasonably more resilient."
Wei Jie sighed, the respirator blowing up clouds of condensation. "Great. Any
good news?"
"Yes. Material analysis of its armour shows that plain old ballistics and Light would both work fine. Their CPU is in the head, so do what you do best, Mr. 'finest marksman in the Tower.'" Sparkle teased. Wei Jie laughed, feeling the tension disappear from his shoulders. "It was
just the one time," he protested, "And I was drunk when I made that claim. I'm a great shot, but far from the best."
"Yeah, as Ana proved the next day. Scuttlebutt from the Tower says that you owe her two thousand Glimmer, but I'm your Ghost. I know it's a lot more than
that." The Ghost transmitted a sense of smugness.
"As you keep reminding me. Any other details, smart guy?"
"Not really," Sparkle sent an impression of a shrug over the link. "Data corruption was fierce, and–"
A sharp, clipped tone cut their conversation short. "Hold that thought," Wei Jie interrupted. "Terrain scanner just gave me a solid return signature. Sparky, I want that on my HUD."
Sparkle dutifully placed a red marker on his map. Pulling on the Void, Wei Jie stalked forward, Royal Chase in a low-ready stance. He silently checked his ammo counter a final time before continuing forwards. Before long, he could
just make out the outline of a blocky, cuboid structure through the billowing snow, his helmet's onboard AI helpfully highlighting the building's outlines.
Who are you?
He paused, laying down in the snow and ignoring the ripple of shivers that passed through his body. That feeling again. He felt like something was being demanded of him, but what?
That power. It's almost like…
"You feel it too, don't you?" He muttered. Sparky transmitted a sense of worried assent. Worry practically dripped from the mental transmission.
Wei Jie took a prone position, rifle aimed at the building. "Sparky, call the others. Tell them that we've found something out here." Fortunately, the thermal scope didn't find anything. The paracausal itch remained.
"Done. They're on their way here now. But I have something more pressing." Sparky said seriously, all traces of his earlier blitheness gone. He interfaced with Wei Jie's helmet and placed several markers on the snow. "I've got some footprints, here and over there. We aren't alone out here."
Wei Jie stiffened, feeling an adrenaline spike. He toggled another scan, but predictably got no returns. "Details?" he murmured urgently.
"Fresh tracks, but snow has started to fill them, so they only just passed us by. If we assume normal feet shape, then they're heading towards the structure."
"Thanks, Sparky."
"Aw, I love you too, Wei." The Ghost hummed a buzz of amusement.
"Not that familiar, you pesky Ghost!" Hunter and Ghost shared a muffled snigger. Anything to ignore the sensation that they had stepped into a tomb.
Not yours. It's mine.
Hafiz stepped forward, shotgun up. Fireteam "Past our Expiration Dates" weren't alone out here, as the tracks into the heretofore unidentified structure attested to. As far as Wei Jie's scans and investigations could tell, the tracks belonged to only one other person, but Hafiz wasn't about to let his guard down. Not all enemies of the City left footprints, after all.
He took comfort in the fact that not many things would survive a hot load of FOTC-standard 12-gauge. And most of what could survive the first wouldn't survive the second.
Behind Hafiz, Fran-11 crunched through the snow, anti-Nightmare charms clinking as they bounced on the polished polymer surface of Arc Logic. Though the threat of Nightmares had been largely reduced throughout Sol, Fran swore up and down that the charms improved his weapon's effectiveness against paracausal enemies.
At the very least, Hafiz and Wei Jie had managed to convince Fran to purchase a newer Seventh Seraph SAW for his heavy weapon. Said machine gun rested on Fran's back, ammo belt loaded and ready to spew a stream of hot Arc death.
The duo hiked over a small incline, taking care to watch each other's backs as they made their way towards Wei Jie, whose Void cloak left him nearly invisible in the snow. But years of dealing with Nightstalkers in Crucible and Vandals in combat had left both the Titan and Warlock with a keen eye for the telltale shimmer of Sol's many invisibility techniques. Soon both of them had Wei Jie in sight.
Hafiz pursed his lips to whistle—
You're not her.
He blinked. "You felt that too, didn't you?" Fran suddenly said. Hafiz swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded an agreement. There was that paracausal force again. Stronger, too. He steeled himself and summoned his will:
a Titan is a bulwark upon which the Darkness breaks. He dismissed his fear and pressed on.
Can you hear me?
He stepped forward, lips pursed, and whistled sharply, a keening tone cutting through the whirling snow. A lump in the snow shimmered once before it stood up, revealing an irate Wei Jie.
"Took you long enough."
"Sorry, land nav in snow isn't my best suit," Hafiz replied apologetically. "Any updates?"
Wei Jie gestured in the negative. "No movement, no heat, no shifts in the electromagnetic spectrum. But Sparky tells me that the paracausal force we felt in the ship suffuses the place. I don't like this."
"Neither do I. But we have a mission. Fireteam, hup!"
The fireteam formed up in a line: Hafiz in the front, shotgun aimed ahead; Fran in the middle, scanning for flankers; and Wei Jie, holding up the rear.
The trio scooted towards the facility, low, clipped tones marking their conversation. Before long, they'd moved past a damaged steel-wire fence, and after that, they arrived before a blast door, marked in letters of foreign languages. Fran summoned Charlie in a splash of Light, who zipped over to scan an access panel.
"Fran. Get that door open," Hafiz called, him and Wei Jie fanning out, weapons at the ready. Each took cover behind debris that littered the snowy field, eyes watching the unchanging landscape for movement.
"Roger," Fran answered, extending the Splicer components attached to his gauntlets. With a whir, he'd formed an interface with the system, working with Charlie to slice through security. A nudge from Charlie told him that Charlie had already handled the translation of the system's native language to City Standard, to which he responded with a flush of affection. Fran then turned his attention to the system, parsing its readouts row by row:
BEGINNING SYSTEM STARTUP
FIRMWARE VERSION 52▒▒▒▒▒▒.▒▒▒▒.1
BOOT DEVICE FOUND - DISK 0
RAM DETECTED
CURRENT DATE: ▒▒▒▒▒▒
WELCOME TO AEON FACILITY SIERPINSKI-23
WARNING! THIS FACILITY IS CURRENTLY ON LOCKDOWN UNDER ORDERS OF AEON SECURITY FORCE COMMANDER FLKR-S23▒▒▒▒▒▒
LOCKDOWN CODE: ▒5▒▒▒▒2▒
ACCESS DENIED
GLORY TO THE REVOLUTION AND THE EUSAN NATION
Fran frowned under his Arc matrix helmet. Well, he and Charlie were both pretty certain they could hack this machine. If they could interfere with the Vex, this pissant machine would be a minor obstacle. A flex of his will and a flash of Light later, the machine had been sufficiently convinced to release its locks.
With the creak of disused steel and the groaning of old hydraulics, the armoured door shuddered open, dust falling from its surfaces to reveal a messy foyer of some kind: furniture had been overturned, and only a few overhead bulbs remained lit. Writing covered the walls, which were painted grey and white. Some posters hung on the walls.
"Hafiz, Wei, door's open!" Fran called. Titan and Hunter smoothly stood up from their cover and walked backwards into the now-open foyer, rifles still aimed outwards at any potential threat. Now indoors, the Guardians took cover behind overturned furniture as Fran disengaged his Splicer gauntlet, trusting that Charlie could handle the door, whose electronic security was a joke.
"That was easy," Wei Jie spoke up, standing up from behind a flipped-over desk. "Usually, when we open a door, hundreds of dubious little creatures come pouring out of the woodwork while our Ghosts scare themselves silly trying to get it open." A tinge of disbelief coated his words. Fran couldn't help but agree, and feel slightly insulted. Sure, an easy door was one thing, but why was the electronic security so awful? Rusted scrap from the Badlands had better protections than
that. The only thing that door was keeping out was the snow.
"Yeah…that was pathetic," Fran said, "For a nation that can make lifelike humanoids, they sure skimped on security."
"Let's not get distracted," Hafiz announced. "Their failure is to our benefit. Now that we're no longer at risk of freezing to death, we need to refocus on our goal. As Sidonia has told me, the paracausal force is deep underground, way below us. Let's secure the area, then use it as a staging site for deeper exploration below."
"ROE, Hafiz?" Fran asked.
Hafiz paused, conferring with his Ghost. "Ask for surrender. And if they're hostile…do what you have to do."
Please, if you see her…don't hurt Elster.
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