⫸ [ TIME: 00:15 LOCAL PLANETARY TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: JUNGLE PERIMETER – CRASH SITE B ]
⫸ [ STATUS: SALVAGE OPERATIONS ]
The jungle smelled of burning cedar and ozone.
Elian moved through the undergrowth. He pushed aside ferns that were thick with magnetic dew. He moved with the heavy and deliberate gait of a predator who had already eaten but was still hunting.
He held The Arbiter. The massive railgun was slung across his chest. Its barrel was still warm. The thermal vents glowed with a faint orange light in the darkness.
Behind him Grom and a squad of ten Giants followed. They carried torches. They carried empty sacks. They were silent. They had seen the "Iron Demon" bring down a flying ship with a noise. They were no longer just afraid. They were devout.
[ Commander. Radiation levels spiking ahead. ]
[ Source: The debris field of the hostile vessel. ]
[ The energy signature matches the "Thermal Spike" used by the Leader. ]
"Good," Elian whispered. "That means the batteries survived the crash."
They broke into the clearing.
The hostile ship lay on its side. It was a ruin of gold-leafed wood and torn silk sails. It had plowed a furrow through the iron-bark trees before slamming into a rock face.
Bodies lay scattered in the mud. Men and women in red robes. Some were crushed by the impact. Others were impaled by splintered wood.
Elian walked among the dead. He did not feel pity. He felt the cold calculation of resource management. Every one of these people had come here to kill him. Now they were raw materials.
He stopped next to a corpse. It was a young man clutching a long sword. The sword was glowing with a dim blue light. It floated an inch above the mud.
Elian picked it up. It was heavy. The metal was folded thousands of times.
"A.R.C.," Elian said. "Scan the weapon. How does it fly?"
◤ ARTIFACT ANALYSIS ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Object: Alloy Blade
⬢ Composition: High-Carbon Steel infused with Unknown Isotope
⬢ Mechanism: Micro-etched circuits on the blade surface
⬢ Status: Active
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[ Look closely at the surface Commander. ]
[ Those are not decorative runes. They are circuits. ]
[ When energy is channeled through them they generate a localized anti-gravity field. ]
Elian ran his thumb over the glowing symbols etched into the steel.
"Programmable matter," Elian realized. "They are not casting spells. They are running a script through a conductive medium."
He tossed the sword to Grom. The Giant caught it by the blade. He didn't cut himself. His skin was too tough.
"Collect them all," Elian ordered. "Every sword. Every knife. We can melt them down for the alloy."
He continued toward the hull of the ship. He needed to find the power source.
He climbed through a hole in the broken deck. The interior of the ship was inverted. Furniture was nailed to the ceiling.
He found the engine room.
There was no reactor. There were no pistons.
There was a pedestal.
In the center of the pedestal sat a pile of crystals. They were cut into perfect rhomboids. They glowed with a steady white light.
[ Energy Density Critical. ]
[ Commander, these crystals are pure solidified Isotope. ]
[ One of these contains enough potential energy to run the Fabricator for a week. ]
Elian picked one up. It hummed against his thermal skin.
"Solid-state batteries," Elian whispered. A greedy smile touched his lips. "Forget the bugs. This is the real fuel."
He opened his pouch. He began shoveling the crystals inside.
[ Motion Detected. ]
[ Aft Cabin. One bio-signature. Weak. ]
Elian froze. He dropped the bag. He raised The Arbiter.
He moved down the corridor. He stepped over broken beams. He reached the door to the captain's quarters. It was jammed.
He didn't knock. He kicked it.
CRASH.
The wood shattered.
Inside a figure was huddled in the corner.
It was a woman. She wore white robes that were stained with blood and mud. She held a jade flute like a weapon. She was one of the "Commanders" he had seen on the lead ship.
She looked up at him. She saw a grey-skinned monster in insect armor holding a cannon.
She trembled.
◤ THREAT ANALYSIS ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Subject: Humanoid Hostile (Female)
⬢ Status: Concussed / Multiple Fractures
⬢ Energy Level: Low
⬢ Threat: Minimal
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
She shouted something. Her voice was high and panicked.
[Translation Matrix: Active (Confidence: 60%)]
[Input:] "Stay back Demon! My Ancestor will burn your soul!"
[Meaning: She invokes a higher authority. She threatens metaphysical damage.]
Elian lowered the gun slightly. He tapped his vocal synthesizer.
"YOUR ANCESTOR IS ASH," Elian ground out.
The woman flinched. The mechanical voice seemed to hurt her ears.
"I HAVE QUESTIONS. YOU HAVE ANSWERS."
Elian stepped forward.
The woman screamed. She raised the jade flute. She blew a sharp note.
SCREEE.
A blade of compressed air shot from the flute.
It hit Elian in the chest.
THUD.
It pushed him back a step. It scored a deep groove in his Chitin Armor.
If he had been wearing the old suit it would have cut him in half. But the Chitin held.
Elian looked at the scratch on his armor. He looked at the woman.
He was tired. He was hungry. He wanted to go home to Alara.
He didn't shoot her. He didn't stab her.
He walked forward.
She tried to blow the flute again.
Elian backhanded her.
SMACK.
It was a blow delivered with reinforced bone and 8.5G muscle density.
The woman hit the wall. The flute shattered. She slid to the floor unconscious.
[ Target Neutralized. ]
[ Condition: Alive. ]
"Grom!" Elian shouted.
The Giant squeezed into the room. He looked at the unconscious woman. He raised his club to finish her.
"No," Elian commanded. "Bag her."
Grom paused. "Meat?"
"Data," Elian said. "She knows the name of this rock. She knows where the rest of them are."
Elian turned back to the pile of crystals. He hefted the sack of loot.
"We are done here. Strip the ship. Take everything that glows or shines. Burn the rest."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 01:30 LOCAL PLANETARY TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: HORIZON SEEKER – MED BAY ]
⫸ [ STATUS: CRASH ]
Elian dumped the sack of Crystalline Capacitors onto the workbench. They clattered like diamonds.
He slumped into a chair. The adrenaline was gone. The exhaustion hit him like a tsunami. He had been awake for forty hours. He had mutated his body. He had fought a war.
His hands shook uncontrollably.
[ Warning. Neurological stress levels critical. ]
[ Your brain requires a reset cycle to map the new neural pathways created by the mutation. ]
[ You must sleep Commander. Or you will suffer permanent cognitive damage. ]
Elian looked at the prisoner strapped to the operating table. She was still unconscious.
He looked at the blast door where Alara slept.
"I can't," Elian whispered. "If the Tribe turns on us... if the Red Robes come back..."
[ The Tribe thinks you are a God. They will not attack. ]
[ The Red Robes think you are a Dragon. They will not return without an army. ]
[ You have bought time. Spend it. ]
Elian tried to argue but his eyes were heavy. The grey fog of sleep was pulling him down.
He activated the internal comms.
"Grom."
"Iron-Star?" the Giant's voice crackled from the cargo bay.
"I am entering... Hibernation," Elian said. His voice was thick with exhaustion. "My core needs to recharge."
[Translation to Grom: "The Iron-Star enters the Long Sleep. He gathers his fire."]
"Grom guards," the Giant promised. "Iron sleep well."
Elian leaned back. He let the darkness take him.
For the first time since the crash the Horizon Seeker was quiet. The reactor hummed. The sensors swept the sky.
And deep in the jungle the Titan Ape roared in the distance.
Elian Vance slept.
And while he slept his body continued to change. The heat from the reactor seeped into his thermal skin. The radiation from the white crystals on the table drifted into his pores.
He was adapting.
[END OF CHAPTER 11]