Equestrian Alliance: Project Oblivion

"Control, Alpha Team, radio check."

"Alpha Team, Control, Lima Charley."

Chris adjusted his throat mic slightly and turned toward the active Gateway, surrounded by heavy security bots and armed men, several wearing exo suits like his own.

The four-legged robotic probe stood nearby. Two men in lab coats were making final adjustments. It twitched slightly, responding to test commands. One man nodded and stood up, the other shook his head and reached back in with a screwdriver.

Chris glanced back at his team. Sanchez was checking the magazines for his rifle one last time, pushing down on the bullets inside before sliding them back into his tac vest. Hamilton and McAllister both stared at the gate, their rifles aimed at the floor. Noticing his gaze, McAllister made eye contact and grinned. “Gonna be one for the history books."

Chris smiled a little. "It will be at that."

Jeff's voice rang out over the loudspeaker system. ”Robotic probe is ready and standing by. Prepare for insertion."

As the scientists walked away from the robot, it stepped towards the gateway, metal legs smacking the ground rhythmically.

All eyes were on the massive gate now, and the doglike robot striding towards it. The bubble-like surface of the Gateway's perimeter anomaly stretched and pulsed with otherworldly energy currents, distorting the image of whatever world lay beyond.
The machine stopped on the extreme edge of the anomaly. There was no sound from any of the personnel present in the dome, the background rushing of the endless waterfalls filling the dome in the expectant silence. The robot stood perfectly still for a moment, then an arm unfolded and extended out towards the anomaly field.

A video feed activated on the monitors around the area, directly from a camera on the end of the robot's arm. As it pressed against the field, the anomaly gave inward slightly, like a water balloon being poked with a hesitant finger. Then the arm slowly slid past the surface.

The video feed became a confused kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that continued until the robotic arm was pulled back out, unharmed.

"Enable autonomous mode."

The robot shook itself and refolded the manipulators, moving freely as if it had suddenly awoken from a trance.

"Begin survey."

The robot walked into the anomaly bubble and vanished from sight.

"Signal lost."

A countdown timer began on the monitors, starting at ten minutes.

People shuffled around and started talking amongst each other in low tones.

Chris spoke into his headset "Dr. Hardy? Were we supposed to lose contact with the probe like that?"

"Ah, what? Oh, yes, well... that is why we put the probe in autonomous mode. I had hoped our communications would penetrate the Gateway, but it appears there is more interference than anticipated. Anyway, the probe should be running environmental tests now, and return right around the end of the countdown."

"Roger that." Chris waited, gripping his rifle.

As the countdown neared zero, the room became quiet again.

Zero came and went.

Several seconds later, the probe came through in a graceful arc, landing on its now-muddy feet. It was oblivious to the numerous eyes and weapons tracking it as it came to rest.

Dr. Hardy came over the loudspeaker. "Signal restored. Probe reports no nuclear, biological, or chemical contamination. Atmospheric readings Earth-normal. Gravity Earth-normal. Downloading recorded video feed now... Wait for it... aaaaaand here we go!"

The monitors flickered and displayed a crystal-clear video of a forest. The view bounced around as the probe walked a short distance from the gate, then stabilized and stopped moving as it began testing the environment.

McAllister grunted. "Well, that looks simple enough."

Chris squinted at the monitor. "I expected... Well, I don't know what I expected. But not an ordinary forest."

Sanchez scratched his stubbled chin. "Hey man, it just LOOKS ordinary from here. For all we know, those trees could be man-eating plants."

Hamilton scowled. "Or they could be just trees."

Nothing else happened in the remaining minutes of the video. The probe robot finished running tests, walked back to the gate bubble which appeared to be hanging in empty air in the middle of a clearing, and leapt through.

The recording ended.

Jeff spoke. "Off-world site indicates no obvious threats. Your team is cleared for departure."

"Affirmative." Chris gestured towards the gate. "Alright, let's do this."

With a soft whine of exo servos, the four men strode towards the gate.

"You know, this feels odd doesn't it?" Hamilton said as they walked onto the large extendable bridge that crossed the ring gap and reached to the center platform.

"Say what?" Chris replied.

"This area. This is right where the rings were spinning earlier before they disappeared. I mean, they're still here, aren't they? Just out of phase with us."

"Yeah, that... that's true." Chris noticed the faintest shimmer in the air, but felt nothing as he stepped through after only the briefest hesitation. They continued to the pad four abreast, and spread out slightly, standing in front of the shifting, flowing spatial anomaly bubble.

The room got quiet again as Chris reached out and gingerly touched the field. It gave slightly, and he pushed until his hand slid in, the bubble engulfing it up to the elbow. He pulled back, and his hand slid out. He waggled his fingers around, then turned halfway back towards the others.

"Feels like water or something. Okay, I'll go first. Send the robot back in as a courier once we're through."

Jeff's voice came across the headset again. "Good luck, Team Alpha. Get back here at the first sign of trouble."

"Roger wilco." Chris took a deep breath, and walked into the bubble.

For a moment, the universe spun around him, and he felt as if he had fallen into a dizzying pool of color and light. Almost instantly it was over, and he slipped and staggered forward a few steps on wet grass.

He steadied himself and immediately scanned his surroundings. His head swiveled back and forth rapidly, his rifle at the ready.

He was standing in a brightly lit grassy clearing, with dark, heavy forests all around the perimeter. He glanced up, seeing a crystal blue sky with no clouds and the sun high in it. Butterflies flitted about the small meadow, and there were scattered dandelions poking through the lush grass.

Behind him, he heard the other three coming through.

Sanchez immediately took up a spot on his left, McAllister on the right, and Hamilton began checking around the Gate.

"Well that's one small step for me, and one gigantic manly dong swinging over this virgin planet," McAllister said, grinning evilly. "Please tell me those are the first words spoken by a human on this world."

Chris groaned audibly as he realized it was true. "Congratulations, McAllister. You've just forever ruined a truly historic moment. How does it feel?"

"Pretty damn good, man." McAllister said, shamelessly. He swung his head around. "Uh, this looks like Earth. Tell me I didn't waste my witty comments on the Ozarks or something."

"Birds, there are birds," Sanchez added.

Chris looked up again. There was Indeed a small flock of songbirds soaring above the meadow.

"They look ordinary enough. Is it possible we are still on Earth?"

McAllister tapped his HUD controls for a moment. "GPS reports no satellites found, coordinates unknown."

"Interesting. Keep your eyes open."

Chris keyed up his comms. "Control? Do you copy? Jeff? Dr. Hardy? Anyone?" The channel remained silent. He looked at Hamilton. "Well, we haven't been attacked yet. Let's have a look around."

At that moment, the probe followed them through the gate.

Hamilton raised one finger. "Just a moment." He leaned over and spoke quietly to the robot.

"I just ordered it to return to the Gate as fast as possible if anything... goes wrong. There is no GPS, but it has ways of remembering how to get back here. The other side will need to see whatever happens to us."

Chris grimaced. "An unpleasant thought, but a good idea nonetheless. Actually, that makes me think. Wireless comms aren't working, but could we perhaps try having the probe drag a wire or fiber link through the gate and see if we can communicate over it?"

Hamilton looked thoughtful. "It's certainly worth a try. I wish I'd thought of that."

"Give the probe the message and send it back through, they can start working on it while we investigate further."

Hamilton spoke to the robot again. Then he stood and gave Chris a thumbs up while it trotted back through the gate.

Sanchez spoke up. "I see a path leading into the forest over here. It's pretty dark in there."

The other three came up behind him and peered ahead. The path was several feet wide, beaten dirt.

Sanchez pointed. "It looks better maintained than an animal trail. Look, the branch on that tree. It's been cut in the past."

Hamilton squinted. "A blade, like a machete?"

McAllister kept glancing behind them. "I'm planting a tracking beacon here." He pulled a small device out of his pocket, unfolded it into a short pole, and stabbed into the earth with a whir of his exo servos. "Beacon is online, I see it in my HUD. Everyone else got it?"

There were several grunts of agreement.

Chris pointed toward the path again. "I think we need to find out where that goes."

There was a sudden noise at the gate; the robot had returned.

An audio message played across their headsets. "Glad to see you guys are okay. We have technicians building a wired communications relay system now. It should be ready inside a few hours. Proceed however you think is best, you are on the far side of that gate, not me. We are going to send a second team through shortly to cover the gate area."

On cue, another four-man team appeared from the gateway.

Chris waved and keyed up his communicator. "Comm check."

One of the newcomers gave a thumbs up. "Lima Charley!"

"We're gonna go check things out."

"Go ahead, we'll secure the perimeter and keep an eye on things here."
Chris turned back to his team.

"Well, we didn't come here to do nothing. Let's take the path and see where it goes."

Scanning their surroundings, the four men began walking down the path, the dirt soft under their steel-toed combat boots. Almost immediately after they entered the trees, it became rapidly darker. By the time they had gone thirty or forty feet, the light had reduced to a gloomy dusk.

Chris squinted. "Some thick tree cover here."

Miguel's eyes darted around. "Keep an eye on the ground too. Could be snakes. Or something."

Hamilton chimed in. "Not a big fan of the 'or something' myself. And it feels like it isn't even daytime in here."

The sound of night insects and crickets grew thicker as they continued forward for a long distance. Unseen things moved through the brush, but the few moving things they had seen all looked normal for any Earth forest.

Hamilton paused, squinting into the gloom. "Guys, I saw a rabbit. I'm pretty sure this is Earth."

Chris stopped too. "It may look like Earth, but we are on the other side of the gate. This may not be our Earth. It may be a different time. It could be anything. We have to be careful."

Sanchez agreed. "And even on Earth, this place could be dangerous. We don't know where we are. Those things we saw on the video. They may be from here. By the way, how far have we come?"

"About a mile. Look up ahead. I think that's a wider road," McAllister said.

They began walking forward again.

Even though they kept a sharp eye behind, they did not notice a large, dark form trailing them silently in the shadows.

***

It was over an hour later of walking under the looming trees before they saw a notable variation in the scenery.

"Look." Hamilton pointed.

By the side of the road, a large red flower glowed and danced in the breeze. Only there was no breeze. The air was perfectly still.

"The hell is that? Hang on, I'll check it out." Sanchez stepped off the road and into the brush, heading carefully towards the strange flower.

Chris called out to him. "Careful, there might be something in the bushes."

"Yeah, I don't see anything yet though." He was about ten feet away, stepping carefully and peering into the bushes, when something rustled in the grass. "Uh oh. Looks like some kind of a green snake here, after all." He tried to step back and stumbled over a vine that had wrapped itself around his foot.

"What the-"

He kicked at it, and it tightened, abruptly yanking him off his feet and hauling him towards the bushes.

"GET OFF ME!"

He grabbed the root of a tree with his left hand as he slid past, and hung on. The strength of the vine gradually increased, and his fingers started to slip. He tried to use his free hand to swing the rifle around and take a shot, but was unable to do so without shooting himself in the leg.

The vine jerked again, and he dropped the rifle and grabbed the root with both hands.

Sanchez had just enough time to see Chris, Hamilton, and McAllister chasing after him before the root tore loose and he was sliding through the underbrush again, his rifle sling dragging the weapon along behind him.

Chris ran harder as Sanchez vanished into the undergrowth. As he approached, he looked for an attacker in the bushes. He saw nothing, and a second later he was being yanked sideways by an iron grip around his own ankles. He hit the ground hard, his gun landing in the dirt. He held onto the rifle, but was soon sufficiently tangled in the bushes that he could not get it at aimed at a remotely useful angle. He was dragged along at some speed in the same direction as Sanchez.

McAllister went down too, but Hamilton pulled a machete from his belt, swinging it swiftly down and severing the vine that held him. A misty spray of blood shot from the vine, and an animalistic howl of pain erupted from somewhere out of sign in the forest as the "vine" curled up and snaked away hastily.

Hamilton helped McAllister up and he drew his own machete, then they rushed towards the bushes, this time watching the ground carefully for any additional tendrils.

McAllister pointed. "I see a way through!" Machete in hand, he leapt over the smaller underbrush and after a few moments of pushing his way through plants he entered a small clearing.

The smell of death hit him like a wave, flipping his stomach and making him grimace involuntarily.

The first thing visible were piles of bones and partially dissolved animal carcasses. Deer and rabbit skeletons lay next to fragments of things that were beyond recognition. Flies buzzed in a great cloud over the scattered, rotting remains.

The second thing he saw was vine-like tendrils reaching down from overhead, several of them heading back towards the road. He looked up to see where they were coming from, and his eyes widened in horror.

"Oh hell."

Behind him he heard Hamilton cursing under his breath.

Suspended from the trees overhead were several objects that looked like a Venus flytrap with leaves the size of a twin bed. Each one was connected to an equally large potato body, with multiple long hooked legs holding it to the tree. Two eye stalks with compound eyes like basketballs swung from one end of each potato on long stalks. They were covered with slime, and some were moving in slow, sloth-like motions. The creatures were almost invisible with their drab-colored bodies until they opened their rosily colored traps.

As they watched, one of the creatures opened and the slimy half-digested corpse of a bear fell to the ground with a wet plop. The creature's tentacle unfurled after it, dropping towards the clearing.

"Where the hell are..."

McAllister trailed off as Chris and Sanchez slid into view on their backs, connected to two of the tentacles. They were being reeled in with considerable speed.

There was only time to act. Without a word Hamilton and McAllister ran over to the others. As they approached with machetes at the ready, the ground suddenly came alive with more tentacles and ensnared them both.

Struggling in vain, the four men were dragged roughly towards the slavering trap monsters.

"Shit!" McAllister bellowed, trying fruitlessly to swing the machete below his feet. He swung again and again, narrowly missing his own legs but unable to make contact with the tendril.

As the thrashing men began the unpleasant vertical journey into the trees and certain, agonizing death, a hooded figure rushed into the clearing and threw a bottle high into the leafy tree canopy.

There was a brilliant flash and a shock wave of energy.

The creatures in the tree let out an unearthly squeal of pain and frustration. The tentacles holding the four men released instantly, and the entire clearing became a waving nightmare snake pit of thrashing tentacles and disturbed bones clattering together.

Several of the disoriented monsters fell shrieking from the tree onto the ground with a noisy splat, moving feebly while pools of blood spread around them.

A strongly accented female voice rang out.

"Hurry! The distraction will not be long, and when their wits they compose, we must be gone!"

Chris and the others required no further incentive. Picking themselves up off the ground and grabbing their weapons, they rushed towards the seemingly inhuman four-legged figure.

As they approached it, it reached up with one of its front hooves and pushed the hood back.

The head of a creature much like a zebra appeared from underneath. Large gold earrings hung from her decidedly feminine face. Her hair was pushed up in a black and white Mohawk, and a series of golden rings hung around her neck. She was breathing heavily as she regarded them with large, intelligent blue eyes.

Chris took it in stride and continued towards her, but then he plowed into Hamilton, who was staggering slightly.

"Ze... Zecora???"

The zebra's eyes widened in surprise.

"My name you speak! But time is short, go now or the future is bleak!"

Hamilton looked dazed. "This is a dream."

Chris shook him. "Pull it together man, or it's about to become a damn nightmare."

He gave him a push towards the road, and together they poised to rush back through the bushes.

Then they saw it, creeping quietly toward them and blocking their escape to the road.

The creature was similar to the others, but at least ten feet tall and walking freely on the ground with four clawed legs. It had two other longer legs in front with evil-looking scythes on the end of them. This one had no flytrap on its back, instead carrying what appeared to be a large egg sac, and a smaller mouth-like sphincter opening underneath the eye stalks. It was obvious that this creature did not hang quietly from a tree. This was a hunter, and left little doubt that it could move with speed.

It regarded them coldly, light reflecting from the facets of gigantic compound eyes.

Chris didn't have to be told to know what he was looking at. "Brood mother."

His horrified whisper met silence as the others looked towards the beast.

One more of the tree-larva monsters fell a short distance away, exploding on impact with a squelching sound.

The brood mother let out a hiss like a steam locomotive.

Zecora spoke softly.

"I have no tricks for a monster like this one! And it will certainly kill us if we turn and run!"

"Well, lets hope our guns are enough."

Chris, Hamilton, McAllister, and Sanchez stepped forward, shouldering their rifles.

The monster hissed and crouched to spring.

Suddenly, a male voice came from the road behind the monster.

"Hey ugly!"

The creature's eye stalks swiveled back, distracted.

"Catch!"

A metal sphere flew through the air, landing on the ground in front of the monster.

The creature squawked with rage and snatched the canister up, then shoved it into the sphincter-mouth.

There was an expectant silence while it sucked on the object thoughtfully.

Then it exploded in a fireball.

Guts sprayed in every direction, leaving steaming chunks of foul matter hanging from the trees and bushes.

"Jeez, didn't your mama ever teach you not to take candy from strangers? Oh, and I'm out of grenades, so you guys had better get your wits about you before something else happens," the voice from the road commented matter-of-factly.