One Dark Future Read online

  Jia shook her head. “We assume they’re dead because of what we found.” She motioned around the chamber. “And now we’ve found proof that shows that they must have survived longer than we thought.”

  Erik grunted. “So, what did they say?”

  Emma cleared her throat. “Perhaps I should send it only to you, Jia, and the captain first. It has disturbing implications.”

  “Of course it does.” Erik scoffed. “I didn’t think they were inviting us over for beignets and roast duck.”

  “It’s fine.” Captain Osei’s nostrils flared. “My soldiers are professionals. They don’t need to be coddled, and this isn’t a situation where I want to waste time repeating information.”

  “Very well,” Emma replied. “Note I have made some minor edits for stylistic delivery, but I do believe this captures the general tenor of what was intended by their statements.”

  Erik circled his hand in the air. “Get on with it. We’ve still got five more of those things crawling around somewhere.”

  Emma’s first hologram of the mission appeared, her normal redheaded appearance but with a flowing Roman stola. Jia suspected it was the AI’s way of trying to be dramatic.

  “You,” Emma began, “the inferior beings, have come upon this, a vessel of the Gods Who Hunt, the true Hunters, and have walked into your doom. We congratulate you for crawling up from your primitive huts and developing sticks you call weapons and touching the stars. You carry the stink of the toys of our prey, and we know you used their ways to come to this ship. You have ripped space apart like your precious gods, crawling and scratching for more. Know that you will die like the gods whose toys you use, destroyed by this, the memory of us.”

  Corporal Milton swallowed. “Yeah, that’s freaky.”

  Silence followed. Jia finally spoke up.

  “I’m beginning to think this isn’t a Navigator ship,” Jia suggested.

  Captain Osei turned his head toward her. “Huh? You’re saying this is Orlox because of all the biotech?”

  Jia shook her head. “No, you’re not understanding me.” She pointed at a column. “Whoever or whatever is controlling this ship isn’t Navigator tech, and it’s not Orlox. It’s something different and older. If I’m interpreting Emma’s translation correctly, this was a different ancient race, but they seem to know we used Navigator tech to get here.” She frowned at the column. “I’m beginning to wonder if this explains where the Navigators went. I think these Hunters killed them. They obviously visited Earth in the distant past.”

  Erik growled. “You’re saying those parasites are the Hunters?”

  “I don’t think so.” Jia gestured at bar-like structures along the walls. “Everything here is scaled for something much larger than humans, and there’s no way this ship was designed for anything remotely humanoid, regardless of size. If those parasites were the Hunters, I think the ship would be laid out a lot differently.” She nodded at Erik. “I think you called it earlier. This is the security system. It might even be automated. That might be what they are getting at with the memory comment.”

  “Then there’s no Hunters left on the ship?” Corporal Milton asked.

  Several other soldiers nodded their eager interest in his question. Being brave and well-trained only amounted to so much when facing any enemy beyond imagination and known capabilities. Taking down grotesque humans fell into the realm of normal possibilities.

  “I think if there were, they would be smart enough to not let us set up explosives on half their ship,” Jia answered.

  Erik snorted. “Or they’re just arrogant assholes who think we can’t do anything to them. You heard the big speech. They did everything but say, ‘Ours are bigger than yours.’ Well, screw them. We’ll blow some new holes in these Hunters’ ship and show them that humanity has a lot better spears than we did twenty thousand years ago.”

  Captain Osei looked around the chamber. “But no one else has come at us. I’m sure they’ve got those five other bastards in reserve, and we know how to beat them now. I also don’t get how they’d be smart enough to know we’re humans from Earth, but not get that we wouldn’t speak an ancient language.”

  Jia nodded. “I don’t think there is a living Hunter on this ship. I think they have something like their version of a limited AI running a standard defensive program. It might be analyzing our language, but Emma only could translate so quickly because she already had data about the language.”

  “That’s true,” Emma offered.

  Jia continued, “Everything from allowing boarding to letting us explore the ship when it’s clear we’re not under the influence of the mind-control field doesn’t seem like something an alien would allow. It’s bad tactics.” She unslung her rifle and lowered it into her hands. “The good news—I think—is we have a chance. I believe the system does not have access to its total resources. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be relying on recycled human mutants to throw at us.”

  Corporal Milton stared at her. “Let me get this straight. We board this ship we think is a Navigator vessel, only to find out it belongs to some other race, and they might have been tough enough to take out the Navigators?”

  “I should note,” Emma interrupted with a smile, “that we don’t know they wiped out the Navigators. Bluster doesn’t have to be accepted at face value simply because it comes from an advanced alien race. They could be, as you fleshbags put it, ‘working your nerves.’”

  “But it’d explain where the Navigators went,” Jia countered with a thoughtful look. “It’d also explain why humanity has only found limited Navigator artifacts rather than troves suggesting a galaxy-spanning civilization. It might be that all the artifacts we and the other races found were from refugees.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Erik muttered, his speech clipped. “This ship can screw with people’s minds and infest people with parasites that make them slaves of the ship or whatever asshole Hunter is hiding in a closet somewhere. I don’t care if it’s operating on reserve mode. We need to take it out before it figures how to power itself back up.” His gaze dipped to his rifle and back to Jia. “The UTC higher-ups can figure out if they want to change the history books after we send this ship to join the rest of the Navigators and Hunters in history.”

  “There’s a problem,” Emma reported, her hologram vanishing. “Mutants just attacked one of the repeaters and drones in a room between here and the exit. The attack proves they have additional forces. I’m detecting increases in emissions and signal interference as well.”

  A hologram appeared, showing three mutants pouncing on a repeater. Two were obviously derived from the human crew of the captured conspiracy vessel, but the third was something else—a much larger humanoid. The mutations and additional arms were similar to the humans’, but the original bulky body approached three meters in height. It lacked clothing, but its entire body had been almost entirely covered with the dark green and black patches of the other mutants, this time thicker with an oily layer over a bony material.

  Corporal Milton shivered. “I bet that big guy was a Navigator.”

  “Maybe.” Jia stared at the image, both fascinated and horrified by the implications.

  “Gamma Squad, report,” barked Captain Osei. “The AI is reporting enemy contact between our position and yours. Are you under attack?”

  “No contact, sir,” replied Lieutenant Zhang. “We thought we heard something and were just about to call you about that. Should we meet with you?”

  “No, hold your position. We don’t want those things making it onto any of our ships.”

  “Another set of repeaters and drones is under attack,” Emma reported, sounding annoyed. “The mutant stock doesn’t appear to be either human or potential Navigator. They are much smaller. Both forces emerged from different rooms.”

  Jia took a deep breath and tried not to laugh. Having to deal with a horrific alien menagerie struck her as the expected outcome of a mission to a mysterious comet at the edge of the Solar System.<
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  They’d been unlucky.

  The other crew had obviously stirred something long-dormant, but now it was an open question how long it’d take the Hunter ship to activate its full systems.

  Jia glanced at Erik. She wasn’t going to die here. He wasn’t going to die here either. They both still had things to handle, and there were certain things she would tell him when this was all over.

  Erik inclined his head toward the explosives in the room. “I think we’re going to have to gamble that the explosives we’ve set up are enough to take this ship out.”

  “But they’re knocking out the repeaters,” Captain Osei replied. “They will be going after the explosives next.”

  “Not if they’re attracted to specific types of transmissions,” Jia suggested. “That might be why they’re leaving the explosives alone. They might not recognize what they are. They’ve seen us use guns, but not L-48.”

  “But without the repeaters, we won’t be able to set them off remotely.”

  “We won’t. We’ll sweep back the way we came at double time. We’ll activate timers on as many as we can with a generous margin and get the hell out of here.” Erik scowled. “I’m not becoming a pet for these Hunter bastards, and I’m not letting this ship continue to float anywhere near Earth.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  “Timer set!” bellowed a sergeant. He looked satisfied with himself.

  The team had backtracked two rooms and hadn’t encountered any new enemies, but harsh screeches and bangs echoed in the distance. It had become clear there was no way they’d escape without engaging the enemy reinforcements.

  Erik didn’t want to admit to the soldiers or Jia that he was worried.

  They’d equipped and staffed the mission based on the idea they would be fighting humans, not mutants. Now that the ship was flinging mutants built out of species they hadn’t ever encountered at them, he couldn’t be sure about anything.

  Emma’s hologram presented a mutant that was much better armored and farther converted than the human stock they’d fought. If yaoguai derived from UTC tech could present a hassle, he couldn’t imagine what the Hunters might bring to the fight.

  “Emma, make sure Raphael and Cutter know what’s going on,” Erik ordered. “It might come down to using the biggest guns to finish this ship off.”

  “I’ve been keeping them apprised, and they’ve closed the distance, but I’ll give them specific situational details,” Emma replied. “Should I put them through?”

  “No. We don’t need to be distracted with relaying information to them.”

  Captain Osei gestured urgently. “Next room! Pick it up unless you want to go up with this ship!”

  The team jogged toward the next room, everyone’s faces locked in intense focus. They didn’t have time for fear or worry to overwhelm them. They had a job to do that involved saving their own lives and protecting the UTC.

  “I’ve lost more drones,” Emma transmitted, her voice now more difficult to make out because of the drop in the audio. “I’m having trouble overcoming the increased local interference. Incidentally, I can now account for the remaining five humans. There are also some more exotic, smaller creatures that have appeared. I’m doing my best to dodge with my drones, but those parasitized predators are rather insistent on destruction. Annoying and rude behavior from those fleshbags.”

  “More proof they know exactly what they’re doing,” Erik replied. “Or at least whoever’s in control does. Are they still not going after the explosives?”

  “Not yet. They are exclusively targeting my drones and repeaters.”

  “Definitely not mindless,” Jia observed with a deep scowl. “But they have their limits. This timer plan might work.”

  “I hope so,” Erik replied. “And I hope they’ll get a couple of seconds to regret it when we blow the charges and it rips this ancient piece of crap apart.”

  They arrived in the next room, and a soldier hurried over to set the timer on the explosive. Erik and Captain Osei were decreasing the times the closer they moved toward the entrance and synchronizing them for simultaneous explosion.

  There was a margin for error, but not enough if they got pinned down.

  Both men understood the implications. Erik didn’t plan to die, but he also needed to make sure the Hunter ship was destroyed, and his best shot involved blowing it from the inside.

  The increased activity had him concerned. What kind of weapons did a ship that large carry?

  “Contact!” shouted a soldier. “Six o’clock!”

  Five parasitized humans loped out of a passageway, flanked by two of the taller hosts.

  Erik wasn’t sure if they were Navigators or some other unfortunate race. In any other circumstance, that might have been a huge revelation, but the xenoarchaeology was the last of his worries, with the minutes ticking down and more parasitized mutants undoubtedly converging on their position.

  It wouldn’t be any better to die at the hands of a Navigator than a human.

  “Open fire!” ordered Captain Osei.

  This time the troops didn’t need to experiment or waste ammunition. Each squad fired at their closest mutant target. Everyone aimed for the abdomen and fired almost as one, a massive volley of bursts from the high-powered rifles. The angry swarm of bullets ripped into the advancing enemies.

  The enemies collapsed to the ground in a shower of blood, most of their midsections gone. One man’s body had been all but sheared from his legs by the assault. The taller humanoid hosts staggered back, green and orange blood pouring from their wounds. They rushed away from one another, loping across the ground using a combination of both sets of arms and their legs. One gripped the bars on the wall to climb up.

  One of the creatures shouted in a low, deep voice.

  “They’re saying you’ll never escape,” Emma translated, sending the transmission only to Captain Osei, Erik, and Jia.

  “Yeah. Whatever.” Erik nailed one of the mutants in the head. It stumbled backward but didn’t drop. He followed up with another burst to both sides of the chest. The mutant pitched forward and landed hard on the ground.

  The observant soldiers altered their aim and opened fire, soon downing the giants. The one climbing was the last to die, losing his grip and crashing to the ground. He bounced hard before his head lolled to the side.

  “It’s more stalling shit,” Erik muttered.

  “They’re trying to bring more reinforcements,” insisted Captain Osei.

  “At least we know now there’s no way the conspiracy guys were ever going to gain control of this shit. Emma, how we doing?” After five seconds of silence, he tried again. “Emma? Can you hear me?”

  Jia gave him a worried look. “They’re awfully insistent on taking out those repeaters, and she was having trouble as it was.”

  “We don’t have time to mess around with this. If they aren’t relying only on humans, we can’t predict how many they can throw at us. For all we know, they have a huge storage room filled with hosts they’ve collected from all over the galaxy.”

  Captain Osei frowned. “Gamma Squad, status report.” His pained combination of worry and a scowl deepened on his face. “Damn it.”

  “It could just be the repeaters,” Jia suggested. “They hadn’t been attacked yet.”

  “Could be.” Erik inclined his head toward the exit. “Let’s only set the timers on explosives in half the rooms.”

  A soldier shook his head. “But sir, L-48’s not going to go off just because another explosion hits it.”

  “I know that, but Gamma Squad might need us, and we can’t let them stall us for too long. We’ll have to gamble that half the explosives we set will be good enough to wound this ship and give us enough time to dig through with our ships and blow the hell out of what’s left. L-48’s not a toy, either.”

  “What if we don’t get out fast enough?” Corporal Milton muttered sarcastically.

  “Then the obvious happens,” Captain Osei replied.
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  Erik let out a bitter chuckle. “Yeah, the Hunters aren’t the only ones who’ll be history. We’ve got time, but not a lot. Let’s move.”

  The arming and withdrawal process had become an exact science, and the hard running had them panting but closing in on Gamma Squad and the entrance. If they skipped the rest of the explosives, they could get back to the original chamber in under ten minutes by Erik’s estimate.

  After the team entered the latest chamber, Erik stopped and swept the area with his gun, his eyes narrowed. The room had previously contained tall mounds feeding into a pool, but the mounds lay open, their outer sides flat on the ground like peeled leaves, exposing an orange-fluid-covered inside.

  The conspicuous absence of anything inside convinced Erik he’d found the source of some of the mutants.

  Erik jerked his gun at shifting shadows. A horde of creatures clung to the roof, each the size of a large dog, with long, sharply jointed legs. Hardened prickly shells covered most of their bodies, and while they lacked arms and any obvious eyes, the layered mandibles protruding from the small mouths dripping bright orange fluid looked like they could deliver plenty of pain.

  He wasn’t sure if they represented some poor race parasitized in the distant past or a combat creation of the Hunters.

  “Gren—” Captain Osei began.

  The monsters rained to the ground screeching, and the soldiers opened fire. With the enemy in their midst, the opportunity to use grenades had vanished.

  Bullets bounced off the creature’s exteriors, leaving small dents and cracks but not stopping them. Erik jumped out of the way of a falling monster and fired at one of its legs. Two bursts managed to sever it, but that only slowed the monster.

  It rounded on Erik and charged him, snapping with its mandibles. He spun to avoid the attack and took out another leg with a controlled shot. These days, he was used to weird things trying to murder him.

  Jia fired directly into the mouth of one of the following monsters. It crashed into the ground and fell onto its back, its legs curling up.