Cath

The Cradle

“Orbital strikes? What, how…” Masgard started, standing up again before flinching as a deafening sound filled the room. One in-atmosphere fighter craft screamed out of the darkness and past the skyscraper, then another. The plate glass windows rattled with the increase in air pressure, and the lights flickered. “What’s going on?” one of the Outreman science team asked from the doorway, voice quivering.

“Pack your shit, put it on the drones. Let's go! Get a move on!” An institute soldier barked from out in the corridor.

---

“Please, help me understand.” Freyr pleaded, suddenly finding her voice.

“I can help you. People will listen to me, but I need to know why we’re here.” Her eyes never left the mirror image of her family.

“We’ve met before, Human - but you won’t remember. Your form has changed, but you’re close enough for me to recognise your spark in the fire of a trillion Human minds. It is no accident, you arriving in Outremer. The Rothian too, had a part to play in our downfall.”

A shiver ran up Freyr’s spine, and the voice resumed practically inside her ear.

“You’re both here so it never happens again.”

With that, something grabbed the back of Freyr’s neck and pushed her face deep into the placid waters. Freyr struggled, but couldn’t get free - bubbles escaped from her mouth and nose. She opened her eyes, and almost screamed the rest of her air supply out. Directly opposite her, as if she were under the water looking up and he was face down in it, was Vreta’Sori. Freyr’s eyes bulged, and she tried to move from side to side to attract his attention from a few metres away.

---

Freyr began making strangled gasps for breath on the floor of her room. One fist clenched, then the other.
“Subject is experiencing ventricular fibrillation. Cardiac arrest is imminent.” The medical drones announced.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar growled softly over comms when her plan was disregarded, but moved off with the rest of the team nonetheless.

With the storm front rumbling over the mountain peaks behind them, Aegis team fanned out to surround the gun platform. Tar’s clawed boots scraped lightly over the uneven granite rocks as she carried on along the western ridge, passing the others as they got situated. It was impossible to be totally quiet, but it didn’t matter anyway. Almost all noise the team made was completely subsumed by the hammering rain, wind and thunder.

There wasn’t much cover on the outcropping furthest from where they’d emerged from the caves. So Tar just lay prone at the edge with her Carbine barrel wedged into a groove that let her peer down onto the platform below. Water whipping across the rocks found its way inside her armour and pooled around her abdomen. Lightning flashed in the thick clouds behind the massive cannon, which sprouted up from the platform below to tower over them.

She watched through her scope as sheets of rain alternately obscured and revealed frozen Unggoy sentries. The wait seemed to go on forever. Then came a verbal confirmation from Grikgar, another wait, then the explosion.

It married perfectly with a thunderous boom rolling over the western peaks. A gout of blue-green flame erupted from one of the supports, licking the cliffside underneath where most of Aegis was hidden. The ground shook, and a hideous note of rending metal carried on the wind.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the platform started to tilt. A startled Unggoy lost balance and began sliding towards the cliffs. Suddenly, a jagged bolt of lightning flickered down the side of the cannon snout, lighting the whole scene. “Hit.” Tar confirmed from her angle, turning her attention to the nearest structure sat atop the listing platform.

The Cradle

595’s vision gradually blurred and Freyr uncoupled from it. The darkness around her felt comfortable this time. She knelt motionless in a shallow pool of placid water. A faint light shone on it from above, or was it from underneath? She could see herself in the reflection, younger and fresh faced, smiling. After a couple of moments, a man appeared next to her doppleganger. His face was blurry to begin with, but eventually Freyr understood who it was - David! And he was holding her baby!

She opened her mouth to shout out, and her hands moved under the water. The reflection rippled, and another voice echoed in the dark. It sounded like leaves rustling in the wind. “Ah, ah, ah! Don’t move.” The family in the reflection looked around, startled, scared. A cadenced clicking sound moved from behind Freyr’s left ear to her right. “Such a happy family. So united, so…agreeable.”

---

“Enhanced levels of noradrenaline detected, key memory and emotional neural structures active.” One of the drones fed back to the Rothian doctor in charge. “Subject’s heart rate is outside of previously tracked threshold and rising.”

Masgard Xandrus pushed through the crowd at the door to see what was happening. He’d evidently been asleep, as his formal shirt hadn’t been buttoned up fully. “What happened? Why is she on the floor, and…all wet? Masgard moved forward, squeezing past one of the drones to kneel down at her side. “Doctor Lang? Can you hear me? Do you want us to put you on the bed?”

---

“Not all Humans are as agreeable. Too individualistic, greedy. They won’t assimilate well, when I’m all that guards the Cradle. You must bring the others back to me, before it's too late. I…lose…patience…”

The Cradle

Wallace heard Nirann clanking over as they were navigating through the tight knots of chatting locals now inhabiting her office. “Of course. Let's get inside.”

Once they were all standing on the transparent floor (or was it a wall?) of the ship, its consistency changed to suck just their party quickly inside. After a moment, the sounds of the concert faded, they were deposited back into the antechamber from which they’d entered Wallace’s office in the first place.

Skopec, left trapped there for an hour or more, came over. He was quiet now, but when he saw Freyr’s condition he gave Wallace a look of pure contempt. “Get her to the med bay, and plot a course back to their safehouse.” The Plenipotentiary commanded her servants, ignoring the Institute officer. “Hardly safe now. Everyone in this fucking city saw you. Didn’t they? Where the hell did you go?” Skopec snarled.

The dance floor which had appeared out of the lake for this impromptu 21st century post-hardcore gig disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Soundlessly, it sank beneath the lapping waves, leaving concert-goers to flounder aimlessly around in the oxygen-rich water.

---

They arrived back at the top of their high tower to discover a much larger delegation of Institute personnel waiting for them. This time they had a high ranking government official with a formal grounding notice for Wallace. They detained the whole crew, despite the Plenipotentiary’s strongest protestations, and moved them off the ship and into an empty office area.

A few hours later, early in the morning, a state of emergency was declared in Réunion and multiple other large cities across Outremer. A no-fly zone was enacted for all civilian craft and military checkpoints sprung up to control the flow of people entering and leaving key areas.

Song Reference time

I can see the headlights and pavements
My legs can't carry me that far
If this distance isn't enough they'll cry
Another river to see you drown (see you drown)

The Cradle

Wallace smiled encouragingly to Marae, tropical rain flattening her hair against her porcelain face. She nodded to Alderney, who began clearing a path back to the ship. Leading the Rothian scientist away, the Plenipotentiary looked back and nodded to Chirtsey, who turned and followed after Nirann. They drew a hard-light wakizashi from the folds of their robes and held it at their side as they pushed through the crowds.

---

“Heyy, get off!” Freyr slurred, taking another hit of her stim stick while pulling at the hand which held her, one knee on the barrier. “Watch it!” The person carrying her yelled as a stray foot caught him in the face.

“All of a sudden, I'm hypnotized
You're the one that I can't deny."
The bassist pointed out into the crowd. The music built toward a crescendo.
“I just want to tell them the truth!” Freyr screeched, straining with all her might to free herself, looking back towards the stage.

”Every time that I say I'm gonna walk away…”
The band looked at each other and smiled, then everyone jumped up or flailed their arms as they hit the chorus.

”YOU TURN ME ON LIKE A LIGHTSWITCH.”
The music paused for dramatic effect and an array of white strobe lights flashed across the stage. Cheering took over for a second before they launched back into action.

”When you’re moving your body around and arounnnnd.”
Suddenly, a much brighter light appeared in the background. An empyrean lance, reaching down from the clouds above to touch ground somewhere in the city behind. Another soon followed, further off to the left. The noise from the crowd reached a deafening level, including from Freyr.

”Now, I don't wanna fight this, no. You know how to just make me want…”
The band continued attacking their instruments, unaware of what was happening behind them.

Freyr’s breath caught in her throat, and she choked. Somehow, she could feel her pupils dilating as she stared into the thread of energy pulsing down from orbit. Then, as soon as they’d appeared, the lances disappeared.

”You turn me on like a light switch! When you're movin' your body around and arounnndd…”

Freyr threw up. Chunks of her dinner cascaded down in front of the person holding her up, who recoiled in terror. She felt herself falling, and even as Nirann manoeuvred into position, her nose hit the barrier below her. Everything in her vision erupted in a shower of sparks, before going black.

“You got me in a tight grip yeah.”
Her vision erupted into a shower of sparks, and Freyr closed her eyes unconscious.

---

Her eyes opened again, and though it was hard to stay awake, she knew she was looking through someone else’s eyes. Harsh sunlight reflected off sand dunes as they whooshed past. They were going fast, and the ride was bumpy; Freyr could feel her host’s hands gripping the gunwale as they surveyed the desert. Loud engines thumped behind them. The air smelled of acrid smoke and…
Salt?

Her host’s hands released the gunwale. “Doctor Lang?” A voice said out loud - one Freyr would recognise anywhere.

595.

The Cradle

“I can’t really see Skopec agreeing to a party, can you?” Wallace laughed. “Anyway, psycho-analysis aside, we should go. The situation is deteriorating - the Skinner’s Guild knows the military will overreact to provocation and alienate the citizenry. I was very clear on this, but naturally I can only do so much!” She said this while still moving to the music, though her majordomos could’ve been mistaken for statues either side of her.

Freyr looked around in the crowd to try and identify the voice in her head. “I don’t wanna go yet! The party is just getting started.” Freyr raised her stim stick to her lips and breathed deeply. The colour green billowed across her vision. The crowd throbbed around her, nearly knocking the stick from her lips. A hand crawled under her arm and another grabbed her thigh; she felt herself leave the ground as someone lifted her up and towards the top of the barrier.

From her elevated position, Freyr could make out Réunion in its full glory. Flashing blue lights, like the ones on police vehicles, raced up and down the lakefront promenade. “Ooh, pretty.” She said to herself, as whoever it was placed her on their shoulders. From there, she could see just a small gap between the otherside of the barrier and the stage.

“Give it up for Miss Marchenko on bass!” The singer screamed, as the music changed again to a more electronic type sound. The tall, willowy, black clad girl standing off to one side of the stage with a large bass guitar leaned into her mic.

“Why you callin’ at 11:30, when you only wanna do me dirty?”

The rest of the band cooed into their mics in response. Freyr tapped into the lyrics with her implant and shouted along, waving her hands in the air.

“Oh, fuck!” Wallace breathed, eyes glazed over as she received another report from the ship. The dancing stopped. “No, no, no, what are they doing!? Nirann, grab Dr Lang and meet us back on the ship. She then turned to Marae and put a reassuring hand on the Rothian’s shoulder. “Come on dear, lets head back. We need to be inside the ship, just to be safe.”

“Why’d you always wanna act like lovers? But you never wanna be each other’s?” Miss Marchenko crooned while fingering her bass. Everyone else in the band pounded the beat as hard as they could. Even the singer had picked up a drumstick and was working on one of the drummer’s crash cymbals.

“Wooo!” Freyr slurred. “Put me over the barrier!” she shouted. The man between her legs obliged, holding onto the barrier and leaning forward so she could clamber over.

The Cradle

Wallace surveyed the crowd, swaying gently to the rhythm. Then she leaned in and called over the music. “I’d love to stay. I would! But I’m getting reports of unrest in the city. Protests and ‘subversive’ maneouvers - stuff you would never see on Rothia. My ship can protect us from almost anything, but it is the Institute I'm most worried about. They know I've kidnapped one of their officers and a VIP and they want both back!” She was smiling, but Wallace’s eyes were dark.

Someone tripped over a buoyancy aid behind Wallace and fell over. Chirtsey smartly shoved them away from the Plenipotentiary and into the water. The band carried on playing, the singer’s previously ragged voice hitting an impressive range of notes. Wallace looked around for Freyr again. “Besides, I saw what happened just now. Dr Lang needs therapy - an environment like this isn’t helping her.”

---

Freyr smiled around at the maelstrom of faces swirling in front of her eyes. Spots of warm water pattered down onto her forehead and dripped into her mouth. She pushed quickly through the crowds forcing the bottle up from her side to take another sip. “Hey, gorgeous.” A voice said in her ear. Freyr turned her head. “Give me a boost up onto the stage.” She slurred.

The Cradle

Freyr pantomimed thinking for a second, stroking her imaginary beard. “I’ve never been up on stage at a music thing before.” She raised one eyebrow as the singer, not too far away now, ripped his sweat-drenched shirt off, swung it around his head and chucked it into the crowd. A dozen arms reached out to grab it at the front. The band started playing slower but harder as they transitioned from one song to the next.

“Ah, there you are!” A voice called out from the throng around them. Alderney pushed through the crowd and stepped aside to let Wallace through. She’d somehow changed her stola for a lightweight purple jumpsuit. “You’re all wet! Good, well, I think we should head back inside now. I’m afraid we’re attracting a bit of attention…Dr Lang?”

Freyr pushed through the crowd towards the stage. Liquid from the bottle she’d stolen spilled all over her mask when someone’s elbow jogged her as she tried to drink. “Hey, cool outfit!” Someone shouted in her ear. “You’re an amazing crowd, and we’re Precept. You’re listening to the early 21st, right here on Réunion beach!” The singer shouted as the song ended. “This one is for our new government - fuck you!”
The band started playing again, playing with new vigour. Lights shone up into the sky from around the stage, and large gouts of smoke puffed out and around the ensemble. Freyr pushed on towards the front.

Wallace just smiled as Freyr ran away, then looked at the two Rothians. “I’m going to put a shield out, but we should really leave soon. Want to head back to the ship and I’ll collect Dr Lang?” As she spoke, a subtle oil-slick bubble extended from the partly visible Cradle ship to encompass the concert within it. If you were listening carefully, you could hear a sound like undersea cables being pulled taut.

Song Reference time

Literate and stylish
(Literate and stylish)
Kissable and quiet
(Kissable and quiet)
Well that's what girls'
Dreams are made of
And that's all you need to know
(And that's all you need to know)
You have it or you don't
(You have it or you)
You have it or you
(Don't)