Chapter 15 - X-01
Lisa stepped into the sphere. Her foot traveled further and further forward, she expected to feel anything but her body felt the same as she always did. Once Lisa stepped down where the floor would have been she tumbled forward. Weightlessness overtook her as she somersaulted without stopping. Although she saw the other platoon members stretch as they passed the barrier through the Troy Loft bridge she didn't feel anything, the medium she was currently suspended in felt like air with how easy it was to move. There was no pain or distress. Maybe the only thing she felt was an overwhelming calm. Unable to help herself she extended an arm to reach for something, feeling nothing she extended her other limbs to reach out and feel the space. Yet for what felt like minutes she only flipped across the bridge. Although her mind has been running normally her body felt slow, each hand that extended took time to respond and each thump of her heart took longer and even with how long her mind was running the pressure of keeping her lungs empty wasn't an issue. A wave of pressure as if a ripple disturbing a glass of water washed over Lisa, this made her want to open her eyes yet she kept them closed. Another wave washed over her yet it was not only pressure it carried, it carried sound. First it was unidentifiable but the more and more waves crashing into her reduced in pressure, the sound became understandable. The sound was a voice.
“Child beyond distant stars, why…” the voice, sounding like what she remembered her mother to sound, was pushed out as Lisa felt her body catch up with her mind. The calmness she felt before vanished immediately and her body felt under heavy strain. Balling herself up Lisa could feel direction again, which almost immediately caused her to vomit as she spun at lightning speed. The air around her changed; it felt thicker than the void she was just floating in. Lisa started to lose consciousness but as her thoughts became distant. Flying out at speed, Lisa collided in an airbag completely disorientated and she gasped for air instinctively. Laying on the airbag she felt movement approaching her and shortly after she felt arms lift her up.
“You can open your eyes if you haven't already.” A robotic voice rang in her helmet. Following the voice she cracked open her eyes to see two Elite soldiers standing above her on the blue airbag she was laying on. Her eyes readjusted and looked around, the room looked very similar to the one she was just in except it was just less advanced. The titanic walls of concrete with their steel beams holding the building together, weren't really there. The foundations of them yes, but there was construction androids scurrying along the walls welding or forming the walls. The robots were mainly working at the top twenty percent of the wall and the barebones ceiling. There was still a lot of work to do to fully seal the room. Barely a fraction of the personnel hard at work maintaining the Bridge, each of the engineers or scientists wore heavy hazmat suits. Remembering the briefing, the air has not been identified as breathable or safe to expose skin too, so the ruling was to keep in full armour or be fully covered at all times. As the enclosure hasn't been fully built, she assumed that the air is still not purified.
“Are your vitals reading normal?” one of the helping soldiers asked. Giving a quick look, Lisa nodded.
“You shot out at quite the speed, do you feel alright? You are the only person to have had a less than smooth passage so far.” the other asked.
“I am fine.” Lisa grumbled, shakily standing up on the airbag while using the two assistance to stabilise. Looking around, a group of 24 elites standing in formation inside a painted yellow square out of the way of the still many working individuals. The large frame of second lieutenant Cook stood at the front, one hand kneading his helmet and the other balled up in a fist. Seeing the man, Lisa shrugged off the soldiers and with an attempt to hide her wobbly movements, formed into line.
“Have to stand out huh, Worm.” the voice of Cook rang inside the helmet, each word dripped with malice.
Lisa fell into formation, none of the soldiers moved or spoke as she did so. Once she stood at attention with feet together and arms by her sides like the others, Cook turned to the group.
Lisa finally fully adjusted after the trip, with her head not spinning and the feeling of nausea leaving her system she took a stock of her suit's advanced HUD, making sure everything was normal.
___Suit telemetry___
Network Connection: ERROR:
> Time: ERROR
> Date: ERROR
> Predicted Weather: ERROR
> Navigational Data Store: Disconnected
> Satellite navigation beacon: NOT RECEIVED
> AR Display: ERROR
> Onboard AI: Disconnected from TFM network:
> Attempt to Reconnect…
> Attempt: Failed
> Attempt to Reconnect…
> Onboard Data Storage:
>314TB / 1PB available
>>> RUN EMERGANCY CLEARING?
Suit integrity: Stable:
> Body suit - layer 1: Stable
> Body monitoring: Operational
> Chest Needle Sensor: Stable
> Abdominal Needle Sensor: Stable
> Kidney Needle Sensor: Stable
> Monitoring Pads: 14/14 connected
> Fluid Redirection: Stable
>>> RUN IMMEDIATE CHECKUP?
> Elemental Protective Suit - layer 2: Stable
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
> Graphene plating - Layer 3: Connected - Powered
> Suit Hydraulics: Connected - Stable
> L. Leg - Stable
> R. Leg - Stable
> L. Arm - Stable
> R. Arm - Stable
> Passive Hydraulics - Stable
> Helmet: Stable:
> Powered
> Currently using: Suit Onboard Reactor
> Battery power - 100%
> Network: ERROR!
> ATTEMPTING TO RECONNECT
> Voice Augmentation: Operational
> Voice Augmentation Decrypter: Operational
> Current Key: 146:4!8195F50*89217S1/1
>Next Key in: 3:20:321
> Environmental sensors: Recalabrating (2.1%...)
> Air filtration: Stable
> Chemical Gas sensors: Stable
> Biological Gas sensors: Stable
> Audio control: Operational
> Onboard Nuclear Reactor: Stable:
> 99.6333333% efficient
Squadmate status: N/A
Weapon system:
> Favorited weapons:
> L41 LASER MARKSMAN RIFLE: DISCONNECTED
> R6 S.T. P.: DISCONNECTED
> Melee weapons:
> None
> Ranged weapons:
> None
> Ammunition:
> None
> Explosives:
> None
> Other:
> None
>>> RUN WEAPON SCAN?
After looking over her internal telemetry, she concluded that everything that was connected to the Falling Mountains network was now not working but apart from that the environmental sensors needed to calibrate nothing was damaged. As she dismissed the popup she saw Cook standing facing the platoon, ready to speak.
“Direct orders from the Colonel, is for all squads to head to the shared barracks. Where we will be informed when our weapons are shipped through. We will then retrieve the weapons platoon by platoon.” the augmented voice of their squad leader echoed, “Now I shouldn’t have to repeat this but I will, the air is not breathable until confirmed otherwise. Keep out of red painted zones inside buildings, during your limited free time do not approach the outer fence…” Cook started to read out a list he most likely took from the briefing and regurgitated everything Mrs. Holland said back to them. The dribble that Cook spat got mostly droned out until he started to bark marching commands that Lisa automatically followed through with, instead of listening fully to her leader she instead pondered on what hallucination she experienced during the trip. Thinking about the waves of pressure that slowly morphed into a recognisable voice.
“Child beyond distant stars, why…” Lisa repeated in her mind, while running a system record scan to see if any communication was detected during the trip. The squad moved into an airlock guarded by a singular combat android. Her mind quickly moved from the voice that she marked in her mind as a hallucination as her system came back as negative for any communications while she was traveling. The heavy doors sealed shut behind her with a hiss as the group stood in the airlock. The many holed walls fired out white foam before cycling to a liquid solution then compressed air. As soon as a red light above the exit door flashed green, the door lifted up slowly revealing the new world to the soldiers.
The sound immediately hit them all: yelling, beeping, welding and sawing just to name a few, steamed into all of the soldiers helmets which automatically filtered out some of the abrasive sounds. The bright lights of the camp illuminated the paths of steel sheets pressed into the mud. As the door heavily slid upwards it revealed the many tents built into blocks, still inoperable, the AR functionality of her helmet did not distinguish the tents from one another. Scampering around the spider like androids moved boxes of supplies along the steel paths, they weaved through personnel and the occasional towering combat androids. Looking beyond the workers Lisa got a good view of the end of the camp, circling for what she assumed was around the camp a mesh fence was erected, and just beyond it a forest. In the darkness she couldn't get a good look and even with night vision switched on, a chilling feeling ran up her metal spine.
The forest was made of towering pillars of brown that cast what felt like impossibly black shadows behind them. With floodlights bathing the first layers in bright light the shadows that the trees behind grew ever darker. As she stared into the gaps between the trees, her unease grew in the pit of her belly, ever so slightly. Living on Ithlathis all of her life, dark acts always manifested in the even darker alleyways. The feeling she felt deep within her stomach wasn't new, she remembered being scared of the dark as a child thinking monsters lurked in the deep recesses of shadows, until she was trained to be that monster. Looking into the darkest reaches of the trees she felt like a child again, the fear was primal. The door lifted fully with a clang showing the moving canopies of the forest swaying aggressively with the strong wind of the night, the dark green was unlike what the simulation’s depiction. Heavy grey clouds collected in the sky above them and they were primed to storm.
Once the doors finished opening with a clang, Cook took action and began marching. He maintained a three pace lead while making his way through the camp. The squad did not move out of the way of rushing personnel instead continuing without hesitation, this did mean Cook barked at a few engineers who were talking in the center path. With his voice altered they jumped out of their skin and almost fell into the mud. Lisa focused on marching, Cook was already more than pissed with her and if another issue came up she feared that he would write her up to HR. However even with her focusing on blending in she couldn't help but have her attention drawn by a tree, entirely illuminated with the surrounding plantlife cut away. A combat android stood guard for eight scientists that examined the tree, while a drone scanned a large scorch mark on one of the branches. The rest of the march was smooth with it starting to rain and Cook scaring more oblivious personnel who were in their way. IZ-213 finally made it to what they assumed was the military barracks; long green tents were organised at the edge of the camp; a stone's throw from the perimeter. Cook led them into the first of five massive tents and into the accompanying airlock. Once the soldiers had been decontaminated they walked there in a temporary mess hall, the space was smaller that the other halls in the classified facility but could easily fit 150 people inside.
With a hiss, Cook removed his helmet, “Well done, most of you, on the trip. it was easier than i thought at least.” he gave himself a chuckle, before pointing down the hall to a door near the end, “Go to our compartment and find your bed, you are prohibited from leaving this tent so keep yourselves entertained. I have a meeting with the other squad leaders, once I am back I assume our weapons will have crossed the Bridge and we can collect them.” he gave a once over of the squad not lingering on anybody, to Lisa's relief.
He resealed his helmet before barking. “DISSMISSED!” not a single soldier moved however until he marched himself into the airlock and out of eyesight. Most of the soldiers deflated and all moved to their groups. Lisa and Joe made their way to each other and away from the rest of the platoon.
“Are you doing alright?” Joe asked worriedly, “Everyone else just stepped through the Bridge like it was a doorway, you were shot out.”
“Im fine,” Lisa brushed off, “ I think I overstepped or something.”. This got a dissatisfied grunt from Joe as he continued to press.
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t know what else to say man, all of that science shit is massively above my paygrade, could be anything.” she responded with a shrug, she didn't want to mention her hallucination to Joe because she knew he would only worry.
“Right, yeah.” He nodded before looking at the other soldiers filtering into the room with IZ-213 painted on the flap acting as a door, “Lets find our beds and have a lie down, I'm going to have some ice cream.” he said with a grin. Lisa rolled her eyes and followed the man to the barracks.
____________________________________________________________________________
Leandos stepped onto the boat, it rocked slightly with the waves; while Katlin leaned on him as her legs were still weak. Timalis was talking to the captain off to the side while Ithlix was talking to a few crewmembers about what he should be doing. Once all the members were on board the boat detached from the dock and departed to the open sea. Leandros and Katlin couldn't help but look back at the forest behind them as dark clouds collected over where the mysterious camp would be.
