“Safer for him,” Foster said. “Last time that gate was connected to his ship he done lost all his prisoners. Had the Hammerheads been there he would have been faced with a full-on boarding party. He connects via this world, even if they lose; there are minimal direct risks to his ship.”
“In addition, Captain, the hostile environment of this tomb will pass through the wormhole,” EVE said. “Hammerheads without adequate protection will freeze the longer the wormhole is active.”
Foster got to her feet and tried her best to stay silent as she crept closer to the deep pit within the central chamber. “EVE, what do you make of all this?”
A miniature projection of EVE’s hologram appeared above Foster’s EAD as she pointed it toward the pit. “I am detecting possible bio signatures down below the platform, Captain.”
Foster took a closer look at the pit, where makeshift ladders dangled off the ledges and dipped deep down into the dark abyss. “That must be where the control center is,” Foster said as she moved her sights forward. She looked at the central raised platform in the chamber and the strange container-like object they first encountered seconds before they were attacked. “And that must be Tiamat’s final resting place.”
“This is going to be tricky if we need to get down there,” Chevallier said. “Once they figure out we’re here there’s nothing stopping them from sending reinforcements on top of us.”
“Unless they have a reason to stay up, such as their invasion.”
“Don’t tell me you’re just going to let them go through?”
Foster inched closer to the pit, her feet accidentally kicked a tiny pebble down, it didn’t make a sound as it vanished from sight. “We don’t have a choice; we can’t fight them ourselves with what we have. The only way now to prevent the invasion is to have the Carl Sagan blow this place from orbit. That’s gonna require us to run outside to get a signal and move to a safe distance. All while not solving the problem of disabling the drone network—”
Bright light flashed away from the dormant wormhole where Marduk’s forces had rallied. The shimmering vortex subsided as the insides of the Lyonria hub appeared along with spooked out Hammerhead forces shocked that the wormhole suddenly opened. Foster snickered. “Case in point . . .”
Chevallier lunged forward quickly looking at the new problem unfold. “Ah, shit!”
Foster observed the darkened pit again, her HUD failed to give her an approximation on how deep the fall was. It wasn’t comforting news at all, she needed to get down, and she needed to find the control center for the drones before Marduk did. Now or never. “Any idea how far down that goes, EVE?”
“I estimate the drop to be between four and six kilometers.”
Chevallier looked at a handful of Marduk’s soldiers climbing down the ladders slowly like ants entering their nest. “And they’re going down by a ladder?”
“Marduk’s probably too injured to teleport them all down, which gives us the advantage,” Foster said. “Nereid, please tell me ya powers are strong enough to break a fall?”
“They are. What do you propose?”
The soldiers began to push through into the wormhole, time was out. They needed to act. Now. “Nereid, with me. MC, Mavron, and Eisila, try and get through that gate. I doubt our people there received our transmission on how to defeat Marduk’s soldiers. Get through, spread the word, and give them a hand!”
Foster quickly moved back, wrapped her hand around Nereid’s skinny wrists padded by her EVA suit, and dragged her over to the ledge of the pit. Jumping off would allow her to reach the bottom faster than climbing down the ladders, not to mention make it difficult for his forces to directly target and fire at them.
Or so she hoped.
“Captain, this is reckless!” Chevallier said.
Foster defiantly shrugged her off, there was nothing that was going to change her thrill-seeking mind. “No,” she said with a grin. “This is bungee jumping without the cord!”
Foster and Nereid leaped off and allowed gravity to perform its job. Their EVA-suited bodies formed into a swan dive motion as they plummeted into the darkness below, their presence alerting Marduk’s soldiers to them, thus creating a distraction. She hoped it was enough for the other three to slip through the gate as they continued to fall past several ring-shaped platforms on the way down.
Laser blasts streaked past them, Nereid used her telekinetic powers to force their bodies to swerve and shift, avoiding the blasts from above and around them and the occasional ring platforms they nearly slammed into. Foster noticed several of his soldiers still climbing down the ladder, many of them had not made it to the bottom. Eventually there were none hanging on the ladders, proof that their leap of faith was indeed the express route to the bottom.
Halfway into their seemingly endless descent, she saw light emanate from the bottom of the pit. It was white light, and it grew the closer they got. It was a tiny dot at first, then a small circle, then a large one. Along the sides of the walls they fell past, were large holes with what appeared to be dormant drones inside, no doubt some sort of storage garage for the hundreds of thousands of drones not operating in space.
This is it; the control center must be below!
“Captain, you didn’t answer my question?”
“What?”
“How do you wish for us to, as you put it, break a fall?”
“So, what you’re trying to tell me is you don’t have a solid idea what to do in the next—” Foster’s eyes opened wide as she saw the light from the floor below increase in size. “EVE, ETA 'til impact?”
“Fifty-six point eight seconds, Captain.”
“Fifty-six seconds and we’re dead, use your space magic!”
A glittering lavender barrier enveloped the two, conjured by Nereid psionic powers.
“Captain, by my calculations this barrier may shatter on impact due to your speed reaching terminal velocity.” EVE said.
“This is not the news I needed to hear!” Foster panicked.
“Thirty seconds until impact, Captain.”
“Nereid!”
Telekinesis quickly took hold of their bodies, pushing them upward slightly. “Rate of descent has decreased, Captain, but it is still inadequate for survival,” EVE said.
Foster looked down again, the floor was the only thing she could see and quite possibly would be the last thing. “Shit, shit, shit!”
Smack.
They crashed into the ground. The impact caused Nereid’s psionic barrier to shatter and Foster’s helmeted head to face-plant on the ground slightly cracking her visor. The force of the impact vibrated through their bodies, knocking the wind out of Foster. Foster checked the alert on her HUD as she slowly pushed her body up within the small crater on the floor the two made. The crack wasn’t large enough for the life-giving environment inside to leak out.
“Captain, we have survived the impact.”
Foster grunted. “That’s an amazing observation, EVE . . .”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Foster, you OK?” Chevallier transmitted to them amidst the sounds of weapons fire from above.
“Ugh, we’re good.”
“Saying shit three times doesn’t sound like good to me.”
“Actually, Captain,” EVE chimed in. “Your breathing, perspiration, and heart rate accelerated significantly during the descent to levels I have never scanned in you before.”
“MC, how are you three doing?” Foster snorted.
“Like fish in a barrel, we got the high ground. For how long? That’s another story, these guys look super pissed. The sooner we get back to the ship the better.”
“Understood, hang tight MC, we’s almost outta this.”
The two slowly got back to their feet and observed the long vividly lit tunnel ahead. It wasn’t anything like the maze of halls above. Perfectly polished tiles were below, devoid of any dust and debris. The walls looked as though they were made of pristine frosted glass and a light source buried within it gave off an eerie glow.