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Nellie and the Nanites - Bk3 - Ch.27
🕑 Added 2024-05-21 08:00:05 +0000 UTCChapter 27
Magma Power
“N.S.S. Indomitable, to Bly’s Rest,” Nellie called over the comm line. “We are on approach to the planet and expect to lose contact in five minutes.”
“Bly’s Rest, reading you,” Dar’s voice came back. “I have a message for you from Paren.”
“Go ahead,” Nellie replied.
“Message reads: I will have the first satellite ready in twenty-seven minutes. I can have it in orbit within two hours, so expect to hear from us shortly. End of message.” Dar said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“That isn’t what is said, was it?” Nellie asked, smiling despite herself.
“I might have paraphrased a little,” Dar admitted.
“Okay, now read me the real message,” Nellie sighed. Paren had not been a massive fan of Nellie and Lucy heading off into the new facility without her and had loudly made that fact clear.
“The Message reads: I’ve almost got the satellite ready, but since you are too impatient to wait an hour or two, I guess I’ll speak to you once it’s done. Please try not to die in the meantime. End of message.”
“See, now that sounds like our Paren,” Lucy chuckled. “Please inform her that we will wait to enter the compound until the satellite is operational.”
“Roger that, Indomitable,” Dar called back. “Bly’s Rest, over and out.”
The comm line closed.
“So, are we really waiting?” Quad asked doubtfully.
“Of course we are,” Lucy nodded. “Given a lax definition of ‘waiting’ and ‘compound.’ Also, it will take us almost that long to find a good approach anyway.”
“Show me the compound again,” Nellie called, and Sec brought it up on the holographic display.
The layout could not have been more different from the first one they had explored. For a start, it was all built above ground. That was not too surprising, given that it was situated in the caldera of a currently dormant volcano. Their scanners slowly cleared as they made their approach, but the metal dust in the smoke billowing from the neighboring and highly active volcanos.
In order to actually land, they would have to weave through superheated air currents and do so almost entirely blind, even with sensors. It was, in short, a great place to hide a facility.
The main complex seemed to be a three-story box of heavily shielded metal and alloy. Very little about it leaked through, with what little they did get attributable to a long, melted scar down one side.
Several other buildings were built in a ring around the main facility, with little to tell them apart.
“I’m picking up heavy metals in the ground,” Prim called from the scan station. “I suspect they plugged this thing in order to build the facility.”
“Hold on,” Tri called and flipped the indomitable through a series of tight turns. “Sorry about that; a plume of superheated air was about to cook the hull.”
“Showing off is not necessary,” Prim glared at Tri. “Just because the bosses are on board.”
“Showing off is not necessary,” Tri played the voice back in a much higher pitch. “Who’s kissing ass now?”
“Enough,” Lucy said quietly, and they returned to work immediately.
“Close up on the main building,” Nellie asked, and the image shifted.
The main building was mostly opaque, but there were ghostly outlines around the melted shielding. From what they could see, the top floor contained densely packed and highly advanced sensor equipment. The middle floor looked… confused. It almost seemed melted, and Nellie had to assume it had been exposed to too much heat for them to tell much from a scan.
The bottom floor was attracting her attention the most. There was a ghostly outline there; unless she was very much mistaken, it was a mechanical arm.
One thing the new readings made abundantly clear was that this facility, unlike the previous one, had not been stripped.
Tri made three attempts to land the Indomitable, having to abandon the attempt each time, thanks to sensor dead zones and horrific updrafts, before Nellie took over.
While Tri had most of Baz’s flight skills, there was nothing quite like experience with the ship they were flying. While this was not the original Bly, it was designed to mimic its flight controls.
That made Nellie and Lucy the best possible pilots.
“On approach, brace for landing,” Nellie warned, now on her second attempt.
“Heat plume on the port bow,” Prim reported.
“And the starboard,” Tri cursed. “Looking for another approach.”
“Not yet,” Nellie said, punching the thrust up to full. “I’m going to take her through.”
“That plume will send us into orbit,” Tri warned.
“Only if it hits us,” Nellie grit her teeth. “Hold on!”
She shot the Indomitable forward like an arrow, spinning it onto the port side and firing the starboard thrusters at full power the second the plumes scraped them.
The Indomitable shuddered, shot upward as the heat plumes caught it, and then righted as they burst over the caldera's rim.
Nellie reversed thrust and spun the ship back upright, firing thrusters madly to prevent a disastrous spin. Once stabilized, she still had to circle the inside of the caldera itself several times to bleed off speed until they could actually approach the facility itself.
The Indomitable set down on the cracked and broken black stone that made up the current plug in the volcano, and Nellie settled the weight slowly, hand on the throttle at all times, in case she heard a creak or worse.
“Down and stable,” Tri called with obvious relief.
“Launch sensor drones,” Nellie ordered, hearing the twin clunks a moment before the feeds came online. “I want a full perimeter scan immediately. Focus on the stability of this ground first, then move out.”
“Yes, Captain!” the Cents called immediately.
“Nice flying,” Lucy said, coming to stand next to Nellie’s chair.
“How close did we come to being cooked?” Nellie asked, wiping her brow in relief.
“About a half second,” Lucy grinned. “Like I said, nice flying.”
“It's a Good thing this boat handles like the original,” Nellie grinned before turning to watch the drone feeds. “What do you think is in there?”
“I just hope we can find out,” Lucy replied, eyes fixed on the sensor readings.
===<<<>>>===
“Did you wait?” Paren called, the voice and image crackling slightly thanks to the thick clouds of interference.
“We did,” Lucy nodded. “But we need to go in soon. This place is not as stable as I’d like.”
“Great,” Paren rolled her eyes. “We have Cents for missions like this, you know?”
“Hey!” Sec called, sounding hurt.
“Shut it!” Paren snapped. “It’s just a body now. You are constantly being uploaded to the Rest.”
“Oh, nice,” Sec gave Quad a thumbs up.
“Anyway,” Paren said, shooting a glare out the screen, “Since you didn’t want me coming with you, I have sent some of my drones with you.”
“You did?” Nellie looked around. “Will they survive out there?”
“My Mark3 Heavy Smiler can survive just about anywhere,” Paren grinned. “Just wanted to warn you.”
“Thank you,” Nellie laughed nervously. “Where are they?”
“It, not they,” Paren added. “I only have one so far, so please take care of it if you can.” They watched her make a few gestures in the air, “It is on the way to the flight deck now, don’t scream.”
They all turned as the door to the flight deck opened, and Nellie swallowed hard.
At almost a meter and a half long, this creature was significantly larger than its brethren, and that change applied to the smile as much as anything else. Gleaming silver mandibles twitched as they encountered the door, and a heavy series of clicks sounded.
“No, got through, not eat,” Paren laughed over the comm line.
A pair of legs clad in black alloy gripped the sides of the door, and it twisted almost onto its side to slide through, the legs seeming to come out of nowhere. The plates on the creature's back were of the same alloy, and they rippled and shifted as it entered the room.
“Wait, is that a monocle?” Nellie looked again, now certain she saw a monocle perched over one gleaming black eye.
“It’s part of the HUD system I use, but I thought a monocle instead of a contact lens would make it look more friendly. Why? Did it work?” Paren asked hopefully.
“You know,” Nellie looked closer. “I think it did.”
“Awesome!” Paren clapped excitedly. “Now, all I need to do is figure out how to add colors to them.”
“Ooh, a pink one!” Sec suggested. “Or a blue one?”
“How about stripes?” Quad offered. “I like stripes.”
“Noted!” Paren said excitedly.
“People, we have work to do,” Lucy sighed. “Paren, will you continue to monitor the channel, please. You might see things we would miss.”
“Which is why I should be there,” Paren pointed out, “But yes.”
“Too dangerous,” Nellie insisted.
“What is it?” Lucy looked over at Prim, who had raised their hand.
“Can I ride it?” Prim asked abashedly.
Nellie and the others were wearing heavy suits as they exited the Indomitable. Even the Cents: Prim, Sec, and Quad were suited up. The air temperature was enough to severely burn even nanite-toughened skin, so the extra protection was necessary. The Cents were armored mostly to protect them from the particulates in the air, which could wreak havoc with their systems if they got in the wrong joint or vent.
“Everyone check your weapons,” Nellie called, and they each discharged a beam from their rifles and sidearms. Thanks to the feedback from their implants, it was almost unnecessary, but Nellie was nervous after the last I.E.S. facility and did not want to take any chances.
“All good,” Quad gave her a thumbs up, and they moved slowly toward the main entrance to the compound.
There was a lot of rubble in the area, and Nellie guessed they had attempted to make a wall when the facility was still functioning. Time and the constant quakes in the area had shaken them apart.
They passed beneath the large archway, and Lucy took control of the scout drones, bringing them in to float ahead of the group.
“Am I seeing things, or is that flowerbed?” Nellie gestured to one side, where the burnt and blackened remains of what might have been living plants.
“They must have had one hell of a shield,” Lucy noted. “Which way?”
The cracked remains of a wide pathway were visible beneath the dust. Smooth white tiles were now heavily covered with black dust and ash. The pathway split here. The main path carried on to the large, imposing metal facade of the main building, while a smaller one led to either the left or right, circling the complex and giving access to the other, smaller buildings.
Nellie looked around and saw a mostly collapsed building to the right while something like a hanger was on the left.
“We go left,” Nellie nodded. “Circle the outside, then hit the main building.”
The group turned and followed the path, the heavy smiler’s plated spikes cracking and shattering what remained of the tiles as it followed along behind them.
“We have a problem,” Nellie said as she brushed dust and ash off the control panel.
Standing back, she moved aside so that Lucy and the others could see the blinking orange word on the small screen near the heavy rolling door.
Locked
“This place still has power,” Lucy gasped, looking around them nervously. “How the hell is that possible?”
The ground rumbled ominously.
“Shit, magma-powered lab?” Nellie asked.
“It looks that way,” Lucy sighed. “Which means we can’t fuck with it, or we might bring the I.E.S. down on us.”
“Maybe not,” Paren chimed in. “What if we ran a massive scattering field from the Bly and another one from the Indomitable?”
“There's no guarantee they can’t still get a signal out,” Lucy shook her head. We just don’t know their capabilities.”
“If they can do all that, aren’t we screwed anyway?” Paren offered.
Lucy tilted her head to one side for a second, face blank.
“She’s not wrong,” Nellie sighed.
“No,” Lucy laughed suddenly. “Huh, my threat algorithms do not return a change to the I.E.S. threat level even if they are capable of doing that. If they cared for this facility, it would not be in this state.”
“We’ll still set up those scattering fields,” Nellie decided. “No need to take any extra risks.”
“Agreed,” Lucy nodded. “This will take an hour or two.”
===<<<>>>===
Three hours later, they were back in front of the security lock, a pair of Paren’s best scattering fields blanketing the area. It wasn’t perfect, but it was damn close.
Still, this whole thing made Nellie extremely nervous.
“I could connect to it and try to take it over,” Lucy offered.
“Not here,” Nellie said firmly. “If anyone could overpower your core, it would be them.”
“Still, we have to try and get in somehow,” Lucy noted.
“What about this button?” Quad pointed to a green icon that read ‘Unlock.’
“It can’t be that simple, can it?” Nellie laughed.
“Try it,” Lucy shrugged.
Quad hit the icon.
User ID not recognized. Please try again…
Options:
Call for a security officer.
Alert management.
Emergency override.
“Oh, that’s tempting,” Nellie said when she saw the override option.
“Let’s not,” Lucy grinned. “Who knows what we would set off.”
Reluctantly, they turned away to continue searching. The door problem would have to be solved eventually, but it was worth having a good look around first.
So, they moved on, coming to another locked building before arriving at what appeared to be a small residential house. Again, it had the ash-covered remains of a garden outside it.
“At least we know how they powered a shield,” Lucy added as they walked up to the door. It, too, was showing ‘locked’ on the pad attached beside the door.
“Damnit,” Nellie grumbled. “At this rate, we are going to have to try an override at some point.”
“What about this?” Quad called from where he had wandered down the side of the house.
Nellie and Lucy followed the sound, finding Quad standing next to a large, open hole in the side of the small building. A crater inside showed a powerful impact had shattered a section of the roof, taking the wall along with it.
“Well, it’s the best we will get, I think,” Nellie said, pulling her rifle up and checking the power levels before carefully leaning into the gap in the walls.
Inside, the house was swamped in a layer of ash that rose almost to their shins where small drifts had formed.
“More of those datapads,” Lucy noted, picking them up and dusting them off. “Power cells are long dead, but we should be able to pull something off them.”
“An override code would be best,” Nellie muttered as they swept the room with the lights on their rifles.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about that,” Lucy sighed and set the pads aside to be collected later.
They continued through the house, boots clicking against the tiles where the ash and dust were thin enough. It was strange to be wandering around a house made of metal, but other than that, it was a house.
The kitchen had devices that were different enough to be alien while familiar enough to be recognizable, while the bathroom had corroded pipes and peeling enamel on the perfectly round tub.
“This is fucking weird,” Nellie said as they moved on to the rooms upstairs. One room was an office of some kind, furnished with a metal desk and desiccated desk plant. It was so depressingly mundane to be found in this primal world that was supposedly outside of settled space.
“I just found a weird thing,” Prim called from the room across the hall. “And a corpse.”
Nellie and the others joined Prim in the bedroom. It had a single bed, a side table, and a mirror—that was it. There was not even a wardrobe, just hooks on the wall.
And one corpse.
It was mummified where it lay on the bed, which had discolored around it. The skin was so shriveled and blackened that it was impossible to tell what species it had been, but what was clear was the cause of death.
A pistol was clasped in its hands, the barrel still resting under the chin even after all this time. A discoloration on the wall behind was almost covered over by the fire that had burnt whatever bedding had been there away.
Somehow, the image of the mummified corpse settling into the fire as it burned around it was worse than the actual body itself. Nellie shook her head quickly and noted the one thing hanging from the hooks in the room.
Security Pass
Delta Clearance
S. Peterson, Dr.
“Well, looks like we have an access code after all,” Nellie delicately lifted the thick plastic card off the hook. “Let’s go see if this opens anything useful.”
