Cath

The Cradle

Such was the intimacy of the simulation, that Freyr’s feeling of anguish carried over to her real body. It was if she’d just sneezed in one place and found herself in another. She saw the harsh lights of the Barb’s staging area above, with a drone hovering in the corner of her vision. Quite like the rig, she could hear klaxons sounding in the distance.

When her vitals indicated it was safe, the drone lowered slightly and freed her from the harness. The familiar faces of a junior researcher and Masgard Xandrus loomed over her, cutting out the light. “Dr Lang, are you alright?” Masgard asked, giving her hand a light squeeze. At first she struggled to speak, her throat bone-dry. “The...uplink.” She croaked, carefully levering her body into a sitting position on the table. Someone handed her a bottle of water, which she drank greedily.

“The uplink!” She shouted once she was able. She took Masgard’s hand and jumped down unsteadily onto the floor.

“We tried to retrieve the full packet as soon as it became available, but the console went dark before we could.” Dr Zimmermann called back, from the holo-map across the room. Several of the scientists who had previously been in the simulation huddled around him, but looked to Freyr for direction. She felt her face and fists crumple up. “No!” She snarled, swiping a toolbox off a work table and onto the floor. It opened with a crack and metal tools clattered out.

She crouched on the floor with her head in her hands, trying to gather some thoughts. After a moment, Freyr reached into her pocket for another pill, and watched it jiggle in her shaking hand before swallowing it down.

“Everyone is out. Cut the link NOW!” Someone commanded over the loudspeaker. “Someone tried to hack us.” Masgard offered helpfully, crouching next to Freyr and patting her back. “Come on, let's get you sat down so someone can take a look at you.”

As Freyr accepted help getting shakily back to her feet, she spotted 595 levering her legs over the side of her harness table nearby. The Agent nodded at her, seemingly distracted.

“Rig self-destruct complete. Closing connection with the FOB now.” Dr Wetherall announced.

The Cradle

“NO, I’M SO CLOSE!” Freyr pleaded, struggling in Nirann’s vice-like grip. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” She didn’t have time to say exactly how close she was to a breakthrough, because the transit station activated and her avatar was atomised.

---

”I’m going inside, check everyone is out. Not convinced we’re getting through. Transit out, i’ll be right behind you.” 595 announced over comms. Using the rig’s spin to her advantage, she dropped onto the underside of the rig’s upper outside deck. Holding onto the metal mesh flooring, she swung round so the upside-down bulkhead door was in front of her.

Just like on the monkey bars, 595 grabbed onto the mesh again and maneuvered herself over to the door. She hit the door release with her foot as the rig began righting again; it was speeding up. She swung herself inside and fell onto one of the walls, then to the floor.

595 quickly stood up and her magnetic soles activated. She moved through the airlock into the common room. Loose furniture and supplies crashed around as the rig careered towards the ground. Alarms and red flashing lights assaulted the senses. Several of the wall panels were sparking violently.

595 deflected a chair and studied the floor. A mobile transit station had been set up in here. “Anyone here?” 595 called, in person and via the team channel.

She moved quickly through the gangway towards the bridge. It was empty as well, with another temporary transit station recharging from a recent use. The central console was mostly dead, with most extraneous functionality having been damaged. “Dr Lang! It’s me.” The Agent called over the ruckus. No response again, just the shaking from the outer hull and clanking of loose articles inside.

Suddenly, one small workspace lit up green for success. 595 saw [UPLINK SUCCESSFUL] and moved over to it. Not all of what she saw made sense, but she understood enough to realise this was important. And it hadn’t been touched yet. Resting a finger on the holo, 595 downloaded as much as she could and stored it securely.

Once she was satisfied, the Agent pulled out her sidearm and emptied a dozen shots into the command console. Sparks burst out all over the room.

595 wasted no time moving to the ‘Captain’s Panel’ by the cockpit door next. She could see through the windows there that the ground was alarmingly close. 595 quickly pulled a physical access stick from one of her pockets and plugged it into the panel. She keyed in a separate string manually, then activated the self-destruct sequence.

Holstering her pistol, 595 moved into the transit station field and prepared to exfil.

The Cradle

595 jumped off the side and quickly set her sights on the ailing rig. It had already lost some of its wheels, and was spinning through outcrops about a quarter of the way down the mountainside. She could its anti-gravity thrusters straining under the incredible pressure. The worm was hot on its tail, but had elected for a slightly more controlled descent, sliding down the side with the rest of the avalanche.

It would be on them in seconds if the rig got stuck, or if it reached the bottom without exploding, she figured. What a dumb idea this was. But she had to make sure Dr Lang got out; she needed her. “Come in, come in. Anybody left aboard the rig?” 595 called over comms. No immediate response. She could still see lights on and engines firing, which meant someone was probably still inside.

The Agent tucked her arms and legs in to assume an aerodynamic shape, and with a muffled boom her jump jets fired again. Her HUD readout alerted her that she only had one more charge left.

She sailed past the worm, aiming for the top of the rig. Before she could touch down though, it span violently over to the other side. 595 hit the side of the rig like a brick and scrabbled for a hand hold. She looked up and could see the mangled top deck gantry right in front of her. The rig carried on turning over. She was going to be on the underside of this giant flying object in a few seconds. Even now, her legs were beginning to float out underneath her.

The Cradle

“And where might that be, exactly!” 595 asked, as the vast cube they were standing on slowly drifted free of the mountain with an eerie creaking sound. The rocky shoulder that it’d been embedded in began collapsing into a wide avalanche. They were stranded.

The worm had uncovered about a hundred metres of its body, and was beginning to plummet down the now-sheer face of the mountain after the rig. It gnashed its mandibles and sprayed acid from its jaws. 595 assessed their options and made a snap decision.

“We need to go after them! This whole place is falling apart! Follow me!”

She lowered her hands and grabbed her gun off its mount. Energy still crackled around her armour now that she’d tapped into the cube’s power. She ran out from under the plasma umbrella and jumped, exploding up and through the vicious cloud of killer creatures above them. They dispersed around her, terrified.

Who configured this jump pack?! The Agent thought as she frantically windmilled through the snowy air. Dozens of talons raked her suit and blood sprayed all over her visor. She started firing her weapon indiscriminately in all directions, until the ground zoomed to meet her.

The Agent dropped, rolled and carried on firing, running towards the edge of the cube.

---

Without enough power, the anti-grav couldn’t stop the rig from crunching hard against the side of the mountain. One corner hit a solid section, and the rig began turning over. “Everyone inside, now!” Thebes commanded. “Kjartan! Get out of there, that’s an order!” He yelled at the Norse, who was still shooting at the worm.

Freyr was engrossed in the console, sweat running down her face. The Rübezahl was racing down the side of the mountain, on the inside, trying to get back to the mothership. She was frantically trying to make a connection that would allow her to extract it and the last bit of data. “Come on...Come ON!” Around her, loose articles began sliding around the floors, walls, and into the air.

The Cradle

With a bit of help from Vreta, 595 shrugged off the bulky transit station. Still sliding through the snow on her side with the Rothian keeping pace, she pulled the comms cable out of her back and stood up. The sky immediately above them was alight with plasma fire, but singed x-wings had found their way under the umbrella now and were flying about them.

Gritting her teeth, 595 caught a vampire out of the air as razor claws scraped her armour. She punched another one to the floor, then violently squeezed the creature she had in her hand. It disappeared in a flash, with a small cloud of ash floating out from between her fingers.

Bright blue accents appeared on the Agent’s armour, and jagged arcs of energy crackled around her. She pushed her arms out to either side of her, and chain lightning erupted through the swarm of predators, connecting all of them like leaves of a giant fiery tree. Hundreds thumped to the floor straight away, and the others screeched and rolled about them, confused.

“Lets go!” 595 bellowed, as the whole mountain shivered and vibrated under their feet. The rig dropped out of sight - was the cube staying still or rising up? - and a great shower of stone burst from the side of the peak off to their left.

The head of a giant worm, similar to the one who had greeted them into the simulation last time, poked out of the mountain. It was followed by more of its body, like a train emerging from a tunnel and off a cliff. Its beady front-facing eyes were fixed on the flickering lights of the rig. A continuous stream of light spat from somewhere below them, from the rig’s turret. It splayed across the worm’s face, narrowly missing its eyes.

---

”I need to reconnect with the Rübezahl! You won’t have the last minute, and that could be the key! Swap with me!” Freyr shouted over the crescendo of alarms blaring in the bridge now. She locked the steering controls in place then jumped up, moving back to the command console. “Power at 5%, anti-grav failing!” Dr Zimmermann reported, having transitioned from the code lab to the power plant. “Don’t let us spin!” Freyr urged Nirann. “Everyone else out, get clear!” Activating her mag-boots, Freyr keyed in her command override, trying to find the loose groundmast in the tumbling slurry of rocks around them.

The Cradle

595 ran forward, stepped onto a low slab of rubble and jumped. Her EVA harness jets activated, and she flew across the ruined temple, arms windmilling. She palmed off one of the standing pillars and landed awkwardly by the spectrometer, one hand resting on the ground. She quickly checked it; dead.

She straightened up and stared out of the doors, through showers of brick dust towards the rig. The mountain had receded dramatically since they’d gone inside, and it now hung precariously on the edge, one side of wheels up in the air.

As they watched, another ear-splitting boom shook the mountain. Rocks fell from the peaks off to their left, and a big crack appeared between the top face of the cube and everything else. The rig dropped about ten metres as the shelf of rock it clung to came loose, then carried on slipping down the mountain.

“Freyr, can you re-” 595 started urgently calling in, when the cables attached to her snapped taut, pulling the agent off her feet, down the temple steps and through the snow of the plinth, now flashing blue. “Argh!” 595 grunted, struggling to get the transit station off her back.

---

”Not yet! The ground team is out there!” Freyr shouted from inside the cockpit. She slipped into the pilot’s seat and wrestled with the controls. “If we’re being sapped, so are they! Someone please give me everything we’ve got to the anti-grav thrusters!”

---

The rig’s sonic countermeasures had ceased, which meant the swarm above them was regaining its coherence. They saw an isolated, tasty morsel sliding out of the temple, and swooped in for the attack with a deathly screeching.

The Cradle

595 stood up unsteadily and grabbed her gun. She could tell there was more to learn here, but they needed to re-establish contact with the rig first. “Alright. Let’s move.”

They set off at a jog, scanning in all directions. They’d only made it halfway round the masonry covering the throne when the relative calm of the simulation was interrupted by an unbearably loud blip.. “I’ve heard that before! Ground team, come in and tell me you heard that.” The Agent urged while on the move.

“What...have...you...DONE?” A synthesised voice called to them from behind - the hatchway! 595 spun round and raised her weapon, breathing heavily. She could see nothing there. Just then, a burst of static arrived via comms from the rig. It was drowned out by a longer sound they’d identified as some kind of data transmission, then an immense crash from the mountain they were on. She could hear cracks spreading. “Shit!”

595 looked back towards the door. They only had a thin view through the temple at the spectrometer. She focused, and saw the boxy shape begin to scrape backwards towards the rig, pulled by its cable.

---

Freyr had only just recovered from her own vision when the mountain started to collapse. A faint blue light shone through the snow covering the plinth, and the lights inside the rig started flickering wildly. Some consoles around Freyr turned off completely; others flashed with alien symbols.

“What's going on?” Dr Wetherall shouted. He’d moved up to the bridge to attend Freyr when she’d shown signs of distress. No immediate response from Nirann. “Nirann!”

Freyr’s stomach lurched, and suddenly the floor wasn’t even any more. She grabbed hold of the command console for support. “Get back downstairs now! Figure out what's going on.” She ordered. “Marae, where is Nirann?” She asked, moving awkwardly towards the cockpit.

The Cradle

The group hallucination in the temple only lasted a couple of minutes in real time. About halfway through, the crew of the Barbarossa knew something was wrong.

Captain Andersen had felt a bit like a spare part to begin with. She’d remained in the staging bay with her officers, even as most of the scientific staff had been rushed down to the forward operating base.

The rows of harnesses were quiet now, with just a few people and drones attending them. So, they’d clustered around the workspace that was feeding through telemetry from the simulation. Andersen didn’t understand most of it, so she contented herself with listening in on comms chatter between the rig and the real world team.

She grew fidgety when it became apparent the rig had lost comms with the team inside this alien temple, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it too long. A holo of her XO, stationed on the bridge, appeared on the table facing her.

“Ma’am, we’ve uncovered a signal originating from outside of this system! They’re sniffing our connection to the FOB, and hacking into our mainframe.” Andersen’s eyes widened. She looked at Rareth, who appeared on the surface as surprised as she. “What!? How is that possible?” She asked her second in command.

“It looks to be piggybacking on the simulation’s connection, ma’am.” her XO replied.

“Well shut it down!” Andersen snapped.

“We can’t close the connection now. Our team will be trapped inside.” The sole awake Human scientist from Freyr’s team who stayed behind on the Barb protested. Andersen was in her personal space almost immediately. “Well you tell them to pull out then, NOW!”

Andersen whirled around as the scientist rapidly got in touch with the FOB. She stormed past Rareth with her staff in tow, towards the waiting buggies. “I’ll contact you from the bridge, Rareth ‘Jharn.”

---

595 blinked furiously, her mind full of scorpions. She felt confused and extremely hungry. She eventually realised Vreta was talking to her. Her mind cleared a little bit, as one of her newly configured implants administered chemicals to level out her brain activity. She forcefully pressed her need to feed to the back of her mind. “Uhh...yeah. I can move. What just happened?”

The ground beneath them shook violently. 595’s ultra sensitive hearing picked up the sound of rocks falling in the distance. “Ground team to the rig. What’s your status?” … Nothing. 595 looked at Vreta.

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