Cath

The Cradle

The Sacred band all turned to face the new threat. They didn’t relinquish their circular defensive position around the camp, but a few of the team shuffled slightly to gain an unobstructed sight picture. 595 glanced over at the Simrothians and found a few of them peeking out at the massive worm from behind their hands; all of them were still motionless on the floor. “These primitives, they’re hiding from the worm!” She realised out loud.

Ngata, who was a world-class xenobiologist, looked back up at the ridge. “Right! This thing might sense vibrations, nobody move!” But it was too late, for Rareth was already racing away from the camp; she’d already committed and couldn’t reasonably stop now, it seemed. The giant worm’s whole body quietly adjusted to watch the Datius speak, and after a few seconds a tight beam of sickly green light emitted from the beast’s larger eye. The area around Rareth lit up like a gruesome spotlight was trained on her. The Simrothians hissed quietly, sounding quite stressed, and buried their heads even deeper in the dirt.

“Carthage, get ready. Everyone else - don’t move a muscle.” Thebes cautioned, training his rifle at the worm’s head. Carthage slowly pulled a small tube from her back, which began assembling into a launcher. The silence was palpable. The worm was motionless; making no indication that it understood what Rareth had said. Until a deafening siren erupted in their private comms channel, making 595 jump out of her skin. A voice immediately followed, completely synthetic to begin with, but becoming more human with every word. It even sounded familiar in the last sentence, with the tone changing with each word. “Why are you here? Where have you come from?”

The Cradle

The line crackled for a few moments. “I’m ok, i’m alright.” Dr Ngata replied eventually. His suit lights shone from a huge pile of debris at the bottom of the valley. The scientist got to his feet and looked around. “This earthquake will make it hard for me to get back up right now, though.” 595 frowned to herself. “But...the ground has stopped shaking up here, Doctor.” She sent. “I’ve got a big heat sig in the valley. Dr Ngata, watch out behind you!” Athena reported from the ridge’s edge. 595 ran to take a look.

Through the gloom, she could see a sinkhole opening one the other side of the valley. The earth disappeared in a huge, gaping maw full of small grinding teeth. Leg/arm appendages surrounded this mouth, wiggling in the fresh air. 595 could see three domes that looked like eyes too. This monstrous face rose into the air and faced them as a worm-like head emerged from the soil. A long, thick, ribbed body followed, twisting around several times into the air until 595’s suit measured the protruding height at some ninety three metres. Even with them standing on the valleyside and this thing at the bottom, it’s face looked down on them.

“Woah, hey there little guy.” Dr Ngata said, taking a step backwards.

The Cradle

“The Cradle never made noises like that.” 595 mused, consigning a quick note and audio recording to her classified internal black box. A particularly violent judder forced her to rebalance her footing. “How are we doing in there, fellas?”

Saddam crunched over and took a handhold on the comms mast next to Dr Ngata, just as the soil underneath the stocky scientist gave way. “Woooaahhhh take it!” Ngata roared, rapidly sinking up to his armpits in the black earth. A deep, v-shaped landslide opened up underneath him, sending a massive stream of material clattering down the side of the valley. Dr Ngata disappeared briefly, until his suit lights came on halfway down the valleyside, still moving fast to the bottom. “Tai! What’s happening?!” Dr Wetherall called from the opposite side. A crackling storm of white noise was the only reply.

Saddam locked into position as the mast tottered precariously on the edge of the landslide, with no Dr Ngata holding it upright. Servos whined in the supersoldier’s suit as he held one of the support feet as well as the mast itself. “Pull it down and towards you from the other side, i don’t have this for long.” He said to Nirann and the lead scientist. He could already feel the ground weakening beneath his feet. “Where is Dr Ngata?” Dr Wetherall asked; his line of sight was almost entirely blocked by the bulky mast. “He’ll be alright, just focus on moving this back from the edge.” Saddam urged both of them.

“Athena, get eyes on Dr Ngata!” Thebes ordered. “Yes sir.” the sniper confirmed, just as the ground abruptly stopped shaking. For a few moments, the only things to be heard was grunting over the shared channel by the people wrestling with the mast, and the frightened whimpering on the Simrothians. Then, one more deafening sound echoed around the valley, which 595 recorded, and a bright burst of light blinded 595’s night vision. She put her hands to her eyes while it adjusted. The Simrothians shoved their faces closer to the dirt.

When 595 took her hands away from her eyes after a couple of seconds, she was looking right at the source of light. Far away, a thin finger of white luminescence reached from the shoulder of a mountain, up into the dark sky. “Look.” She said, pointing to it. “There’s something over there, on that mountain. What's that at the source of the beam?” Gradually, the light dimmed until the surrounding mountain range was shrouded in gloom again, but the source was still clearly illuminated.

“Looks like some kind of structure!” 595 commented excitedly, zooming in as far as she could with her implants. “That has got to be what we came for.”

The Cradle

“Everybody spread out. I want eyes all around the camp.” Thebes called, stepping backwards slightly more as the Sacred Band fanned out around the transit station. 595 stepped out from behind the team leader’s armour to watch the Simrothians. They lay as one quivering mass on the onyx ground. “What are they so afraid of that they don’t even try to run...” She murmured, looking out across the valley.

“I’ll take your observations on board but i don’t think we can make any design changes to the mast right this second.” Dr Wetherall grunted back at Nirann from the edge of the shield. The part of the mast protruding from it wobbled slightly. 595 could hear a faint hissing sound coming from nearby, growing louder despite the persistent rumble all around them. “The hillside is shifting!” Dr Ngata crackled. “I’m slipping!”

“Saddam, help them!” Thebes ordered. “On it, boss.” The sanguine coloured soldier peeled away from the perimeter and ran into the opaque shield. “There’s a heck of a lot of...something falling down the side of the valley this side.” Carthage called from her position next to Athena. “The earthquake must be causing a landslide. We need to move the mast, or it’s going to fall!” 595 realised. “Yes…please.” Dr Ngata groaned, from somewhere under the mast.

Just then, a deafening, synthetic sound overlaid with that of the shifting, rumbling ground. 595’s suit filtered it down to an acceptable level, but the Simrothians couldn’t. They covered their ears and ululated as a single entity. “What the fuck was that?” Memnon asked, cycling his heavy repeater so it was primed to fire at a moment’s notice. “Wait, shut the hell up and let us listen.” 595 commanded. A couple of seconds later, another different sound caused the Simrothians to wail even louder.

The Cradle

“Good idea! Lets go opaque.” Dr Wetherall pounced on Rareth’s suggestion. He grunted with exertion while putting the case of equipment down near the interface screen. With his hands now free, he started fiddling with the settings. After a few moments, the transit station effectively disappeared into the darkness for everyone outside the shield.

“Good, some privacy. Yes, your nimble fingers and sharp mind will doubtless come in handy. Pass me one of those holo-pads, would you old boy? Lets see what we can see.” 595 emerged from behind the shield and walked back to the Sacred Band.

She could see Simrothians (as she called them) crowding in close around Rareth again as she offered up the gift to them. Seizing the initiative, one of the larger in their group snatched the knife out of the Datius’ hands. The others jostled him, but he managed to get the knife out of its sheath and held it above his head for all to see.

The other Simrothians backed off slightly, making awed noises and studying the lofted blade. This sound turned to worried mewing when the Simrothian with the knife brought it down and levelled it at one of the other villagers in particular. The target put their hands out in front and began inching away. “Maybe we should take the knife away now.” 595 smirked.

Abruptly, a low BOOM filled the valley like rolling thunder. The ground beneath them shook, and alarm sounds bleated from behind the transit station shield and on the comms mast interface. The Simrothians all screamed as one and prostrated themselves on the floor. The Sacred Band all raised their weapons and took a dozen uniform steps back toward the camp, until 595 could practically touch Thebes’ light blue armour. “Datius - defensive position, now!” The agent barked, drawing her pistol.

"The mast is coming loose!" Dr Ngata shouted. "Grab it! Don't let it fall!" Dr Wetherall yelled.

The Cradle

Thebes thought for a moment. “Memnon, throw Rareth your knife. Best keep our distance to avoid spooking them.” Memnon wordlessly detached a long utility knife and it’s sheath from his breastplate. “Up high, Datius.” He crackled, chucking it in a perfect arc toward Rareth. “Athena, run circuits of the base. Make sure this isn't a diversion.” Thebes ordered next. The sniper nodded and left the shield wall to walk around the perimeter.

The transit station flashed again behind them as Nirann came in. The assembled Sim-Rothians, including the ones closely examining Rareth’s outstretched hand, instantly recoiled at the light, covering their eyes and squealing loudly. They recovered quickly though, and some of the braver individuals began shouting and pointing around Rareth to the Sacred Band and the camp. They sounded angry.

“Oh crumbs. Is Dr Dlamini alright? Yes. The simulation has been playing merry hell with our equipment. It seems divergence in source code between the Cradle and this place may be behind it... Ah, good! You’ve brought diagnostic tools and spares with you.” Dr Wetherall greeted the droid, eyeing up the carefully arranged piles of cases. He disabled the transit plate before stepping out and picking up bits from the pile.

595 addressed the droid’s other concerns. “Not yet, but the flash from the transit station is riling them up. Surely it’ll be attracting others too, we need to fix that as soon as possible.” Dr Wetherall interjected. “I think the flash is energy misuse. So not only are things coming in slightly crooked, but we’re lit up like the galaxy’s most invasive Christmas tree. Would someone help me move this stuff?”

The Cradle

Despite her concern, Freyr was actually very interested in seeing how this gambit panned out. Rothian AI technology was obviously very advanced, and she was the first to admit there was a learning opportunity here. “It doesn’t make me happy...but your plan could work. And it’s the best we have so far.” Freyr admitted. “Strap in. I’ll get you the schematics.”

---

The envoys tilted their heads and listened to what Rareth was saying. They chatted together, and then tried to replicate the words she kept repeating. “RAHJAH”. The slightly more cautious villagers soon followed suit, until the entire group were chanting the two syllables. Some of the envoys crept closer, arms stretched out as if to touch Rareth’s armour.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we have an insert queued from base. One Nirann, it seems. Want me to bring them in?” 595, who was acting as the floating resource within the fighting group, came over. She figured Rareth was slightly indisposed. “I’m surprised they haven’t sent more. That could mean they’re having issues too. I think we have things under control here, bring them through.”

The Cradle

Freyr sighed. “Alright! Lets try it. Just be sure to isolate the fragment you send in. We can check for signs of corruption when it’s downloaded back from the simulation. With any luck, you’ll be able to circumvent some of the issues us organics are having on exit.” She looked worriedly down at Dr Dlamini, who was being scanned for brain function and given fluids by the medic.

“No, it’s not normal. Nirann if you’re set on going in, i will stay here and to work the problem from this end. Look for deviations in notation that could be causing these malfunctions. Until we can figure this out, no one else comes back out. I’ll send in my systems engineer to help you, but holistic research will have to wait for now.

---

The aliens stopped in their tracks when Rareth began approaching; Some of them even retreated slightly. When she spoke, they all fell silent as one before looking curiously at her and among themselves. And then, they began chattering again, conspiratorially pointing and shaking the objects they held in their hands. Some of the creatures near the front pushed and jostled each other in some kind of heated debate before three of them edged forward.

These envoys began talking at her in their own tongue, slowly and carefully. They were all studying Rareth in great detail, moving forward sideways on, so they could dash away at a moment’s notice. The lead creature beckoned at Rareth specifically, and then at the armoured figures behind her. “Lots of potential weapons.” Knossos grunted over comms. “Hold position, eyes on a swivel.” Thebes ordered.

Ignoring half of that directive, 595 peeled off and walked slightly back toward the transit station, checking all around them for anyone sneaking up on their position. Everything seemed clear, for now.” She gave a thumbs up to the two scientists watching from inside the shield bubble.

The Cradle

“Senty Dlamini, can you hear me?” Freyr asked loudly, opening the girl’s eyelids. Her pupils were almost completely dilated. “Can I have a medic in here now please!” Freyr shouted. Dr Dlamini moaned suddenly, struggling within the harness. Freyr quickly worked to unplug the junior researcher from the device, and helped her sit up.

“Senty, do you know where you are?” The girl didn’t acknowledge her, instead abruptly slumping to one side. Freyr managed to catch her before she hit her head on the floor, awkwardly holding her up. “Medic!” Freyr yelled. One of the Barbarossa’s doctors sprinted over with a satchel in hand. Together they maneuvered Dr Dlamini back onto the harness table. “You’re alright.” Freyr soothed.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” She shook her head once the medic had taken over. “These objects are much more adept at controlling artificial systems than organic ones. We don’t want to give it open-ended access to your mind, especially at this early stage. We could lose you in there. In fact, I have half a mind to scrub this mission altogether until we can adjust our equipment. Although we’ll need to run diagnostics on my colleague first before we can even consider pulling everyone out.”

---

“That’s done it. They’re coming up here now.” Athena confirmed. Her feed showed a few of the shapes had broken ranks and were making their way up the slope toward the ridge. “Looks like they may be heading for level ground before approaching us.” More of the group were following behind the first figures, while some stayed behind at the village limits. “I count...maybe one hundred?” Athena offered helpfully. The sound of an alien chattering registered on the group’s sensory net for the first time as they drew closer.

“Sacred band, shield wall. Keep your weapons down.” Thebes ordered, before pointing at Dr Wetherall and Dr Ngata, who were desperately trying to fix the comms mast. “You two, go in the transit station shield and stay there. Be ready to jump out on my signal.” The Sacred Band jogged over and formed a loose line between the array of equipment and the approaching mass of heat shapes. That included Athena, who detached the scope from her rifle to continue tracking the life forms. 595 shrewdly arranged herself behind the shield wall.

The Cradle

Freyr shook her head. “We don’t have the infrastructure in place to support a hologram inside this thing. He’d need to come down here and go in person, I'm afraid. How far away is he? If it is a re-code they need, I could go and oversee this personally. I may have more luck inside, where i can analyse the equipment directly.”

A low humming sound interrupted Freyr’s train of thought. “Transit plate is live, and we have Dr Dlamini queued to RTB. Want me to bring them back?” One of the technicians asked from behind a row of holo-screens. “Yeah, hit it. Someone start loading the transit plate, please!" Freyr called, jumping over boxes and jogging to Dr Dlamini's side. "Come on, honey. Come back to us."

---

“Good luck my dear." Dr Wetherall presented two thumbs up to his assistant as she stood on the transit plate. "Tell them to bring spare parts and a good engineer, would you?" She nodded, crouching into a brace position. After a few seconds, there was a bright flash and the junior researcher disappeared. Dr Wetherall put his gloved hand in front of his visor to stabilise his vision again.

“If by some miracle our new friends hadn't spotted us yet, they definitely have now. A whole bunch of them are coming this way.” Athena reported, sharing her feed again. A mass of heat shapes quickly flowed to the edges of the village, which the sniper tracked with her scope. They stopped before the incline of the valley increased, and fanned out so they presented a broader face. “Looks like they’re signalling at us....” Athena mused, as some of the shapes wiggled at her. “Bit of arguing and pushing going on too.”