Split Shift

5

“What kind of place is this?” Octavia whispered, checking every dank corner.

Tree Hugger stepped over a mud pile and replied: “I unno.”

Celestia gritted her teeth as she lifted her leg to climb over it. “Looks very solid,” Toru added. “Like some sort of facility one would want to last for quite some time.”

“Thank you, Captain Ob-, Toru. Your insight is useful these dark passageways.”

Toru waved his muzzle to a dark corridor branching off to the right, his assigned flank. “You’re very welcome, my princess.”

Darkness and decaying steel were all there was to be seen down beneath Home Base. Tree Hugger led on, Princess in tow with two trusted guards flanking her. They were saving how they caught up for a more private setting.

She disliked how water was everywhere, at least an inch deep. Splashing clinks of boots and soft, focussed breathing was the only sound, other than trickling water. Celesia nearly had to point her rifle’s built in flashlight right at the deck to not trip over bits of busted piping or mud deposits.

Tree Hugger, limited also by sight, had to take her time. This made for slow going. “What’s down here that’s so important?” Octavia asked in a whisper, checking another corner. “If you people live topside, why haven’t you put up a means to light this area?”

“I unno.”

“Alright,” Celestia said, stopping Tree Hugger with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn’t like the way her friend, savior, captor and sherpa flinched. It didn’t seem a healthy response. “Tree Hugger,” she said as warmly and gently as possible. “What exactly are we walking into?”

“I, uh,” she said, not turning around. “It’s better to show you. Come on, we’re close, I’ll explain when we get to the computer.”

“Finally, bitch,” Toru muttered. Celestia thought very hard about a giant pipe falling down and hitting his head just then. One did not. However, as they walked, Octavia discovered what seemed to be wired exiting a large box. When Toru gave the box a smack, the corridor exploded with bright light.

“Shit!” He screamed, then raised the butt of his rifle and drove it into the center of the metal box with all his might. Time froze as Celestia opened her painfully adjusting eyes. Toru’s gun slowly struck the panel, denting and crumpling it like it was foil. There was a horrible metallc bang, then a smaller, distinct glass crack. Instantly, the lights were out, and time may have gone back to normal. In the pitch blackness, it was tough to tell. The panel Toru struck might have hit the floor, a loud thud and splash may have indicated.

A furious rage simmered just beneath Celestia’s surface. She contained it through will, aided by desperate, draining frustration. She sighed, her sore muscles laxing to where standing was not guaranteed.

Octavia’s flashlight waved over Celestia’s face. She stepped near, placed a hand on her princess’s shoulder, and softly spoke. “Celestia, that was-”

“YOU FUCKING MORON!” Tree Hugger shouted, stealing the words out of Celestia’s mouth. “The lights came on! There haven’t EVER been lights down here! I could finally ‘splore down here right, but NOOOOO! No, this fatty tatty fucking daddy shitty bitty mother f-FUCK! I’m so mad I could-”

“Be quiet,” Celestia said. She was never denied. “If there’s something down here, which I’m not saying there is, he, she, or it know’s we’re about, and we’ve lost any advantage we may have tactically had. Those lights would have been a good deal of help.” Celestia lifted her weapon again, covering Toru’s chubby red face with a shaking circle of light. “If Toru’s incompetence did not decimate whatever electrical system that is, my guess is he broke the fuse. Come on. Nothing’s changed. We just lost our only advantage due to noise and light, and now we can’t explore easily at all. Let’s find that computer.”

Celestia turned, trudging through waist-deep contempt and loathing. She did not know the way to go, but no one else was inclined to take point. Tree Hugger did not correct her course, so either she also was going by blind instinct or they were going the right direction.

The president and companions continued on for several minutes in awful silence. The light splashing of eight feet on the wet deck seemed complemented by another pair, but it was hard to tell. When Celestia stopped the detail, there was absolute silence minus breathing. It was almost as frustrating as the captain.

They had taken quite a few turns, now. Metallic hatch after hatch, branching off in many directions, all with numbered nameplates that didn’t mean a thing to a foreigner. The only thing Celestia was sure of now was that in the now tight corridors, something had gone very, very wrong long ago.

Emerging into the first open space since the light panel fiasco, the detail stopped for a little break. Pitch blackness failed to describe this area. The walls were no longer close enough to reflect light regularly, so the flashlights might as well be laser pointers. No one said anything, but animosity and unrest were nearly tangible. The wet swampy smell was still strong, along with awful rust. At least there wasn’t any mud this deep. They set off again, after finding the large room’s obstacles of tables and chairs and other decayed things in haphazard. It was as if this place was hit by a tsunami, then left to rot in the sun for a few decades. As Celestia stepped over a rusted vending machine or refrigerator, she thought about how they deteriorated. It seemed unusual, like the corners and points were melted off like an ice cube’s angles. It was all very, very odd. Celestia thought about that as much as the fifth person following them. She was positive, even if there was no definitive evidence. The feeling of being watched was too strong.

The troupe went through another narrow passage, with a little bathroom and porcelain stub on the side. They emerged again in a large room, devoid of any drooping furniture or, or anything. There seemed to be a lot of pipes and valves and other fixtures, however. An electric green glow flickered from behind a tank or pipe. Tree Hugger gave a hand sign: index and pinky fingers flexing extended, the other digits clenched shut. She led on.

“Hokay...” Tree Hugger mumbled, turning the corner to find a raised metal platform. The computer terminal was at one side of the square stand, it’s space enclosed in a puny, rusting railing. Tree Hugger swung her legs up and over easily. Octavia skillfully vaulted it as well, followed less gracefully and silently by Toru. Celestia took the time to find the small set of stairs.

The party approached the glowing terminal, the only light besides a trio of white cones sweeping around the space. Celestia followed a submerged power cord to it’s penetration point in the bulkhead. The power either came from there, in the next room, or from the equipment enclosed below the terminal.

Tree Hugger pulled the logon screen up, then stepped aside. “Thar she blows,” she said softly. “The computer.”

“Well?” Octavia whispered impatiently. “Log in and answer our questions, already.”

“You first, princess,” Tree Hugger said, putting her hands on her boyish hips. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“You mean you don’t know the password?” Toru asked aloud, dropping his guard in desperation. “Why do we bother?! Every time we get closer to the DCC, it’s always two steps forward and five steps back!”

“Says who?” Celestia jumped in, holding her weapon like a real rifleman at a ready rest. She turned toward Toru and took in a very deep breath. “I fell out of the sky, walked for a hundred miles through sweltering desert heat with hardly any water, murdered a gun demon, walked another few dozen miles while missing a gallon of blood, fell out of the sky again, survived, and even ate an alligator. I’ll be DEAD before I give up on this mission, Captain. If it takes hours, days, or months to guess this fucking password, so be it. I’ve given everything for this. You’ve given quite a bit, too, I think, so tell me: is a stupid password going to slow down a senior officer in MY SPACE COMMAND?!” Celestia’s abdominals and throat were on fire at this point, but she didn’t care. She was about ready to drop Toru and beat his face into the submerged steel.

“Uh...” Toru half froze, trying to remain in control. He shifted his weight, but tried to keep his eyes locked with Celestia’s. A heavy length of time passed, Celestia’s words no longer ringing in his hollow head, just spiteful indignation. Celestia ground her fingers into the pistol grip of her rifle harder and harder, her forearm muscles aching fiercely as she stared death into Toru’s head through his detestable eyes.Tension continued to build at a constant rate, pressure increasing by the second. Blood boiled in Celestia’s face, her thoughts turning darker and angrier and angrier. What was started out as a motivational monologue now seemed more like a death threat. It was rather fitting, as death was the only thing capable of stalling Celestia indefinitely.

Octavia, standing by with what Celestia assumed was a worried look, remained uninvolved. From her peripheral, the princess noted their guide sitting on the rail, swinging her legs. Celestia slowly shifted the weight of her weapon to her weak hand. She snuck her strong hand into a fist. Just clenching it hurt. She sucked in a breath through her nose as she drew back quickly. She shut her eyes and rolled her shoulder forward with the punch, throwing all her weight into it.

A meaty noise rang out, but her knuckles hit nothing but air. Celestia opened her eyes to see Toru fall over heavily like a sack of chicken nuggets, eyes rolled back. He landed face down, creating a large splash.

“Cover!” Octavia shouted, dropping to the wet deck. Celestia stuttered, but got down, her knees aching. Tree hugger followed suit last, the one who was most shocked.

Celestia hated to see her companion go down as much as she hated to not be the one to make it happen, but his well-being took precedence to getting even. She risked reaching out to flip him over so he could breath, if he was alive. A bright blue ball, no bigger than a golf ball, whizzed by her face just as she pulled back behind a panel. Celestia looked past the computer to the left, following the fast projectile until it hit a far off bulkhead. It fizzled out with an electric storm when it hit the water, whatever it was.

Celestia followed her instinct and fired off a blind shot in the general direction where the ball came from, giving Octavia a moment to think. The princess risked a peek over her cover, but was forced down again by another blue ball of electricity.

“Dammit-” Celestia hissed, heart racing and adrenaline flooding her whole body. “Tree, what’s going on?” she quietly screamed. From where her friend sat, across from her and equidistant from the locked control computer, Tree Hugger looked up, finally seeming capable of reacting.

“I don’t know!” she gestured frantically. Octavia snuck off a blast from her position, getting a pair of blue balls fired past her. Celestia looked over as she heard them whiz by. A faint pair of lights, very small and close to each other, hid themselves so quickly, Celestia was unsure if she had seen anything. She ducked down, positive whatever was attacking knew exactly where she was. The two lights, they looked like-

Drop of a hat

Celestia aimed right where the dots were, but hit nothing with her energy bolt. As it flashed by, however, the blue light shown a shadow on the wall to the left of it. A figure was illuminated for such a short time, Celestia couldn’t figure out what it was. She fired two more times, missing and illuminating nothing.

Their attacker remained silent for a moment, perhaps moving, perhaps just as scared as she was. Celestia directed Octavia’s eyes to six o’clock while she searched the forward sector. Celestia wished her flashlight was stronger.

The image of the underground corridors lingered in her mind. Celestia scanned the pitch black, considering which corners the enemy could come from. The little stage the three plus Toru were on was well illuminated by a sickly green glow from the computer screen, two rifles with flashlights circling around in the darkness. The enemy, or enemies, Celestia had no clue how many eyes were upon her, was invisible in the shade.

“Princess,” Octavia hissed, backing up nearer. “Respectfully recommend allowing Tango Hotel to use Captain’s weapon. We need to cover the way we came in, and-”

“Eyes on,” Celestia slowly whispered, flipping Toru’s weapon Tree Hugger’s way. “Tree Hugger, you heard her. Cover the way in. We may need to retreat.”

The scared teen’s shaking hands snatched up the PIAR, her resolve solidifying perceptibly. She flipped an unsatisfactory little salute and shuffled over Toru’s body to cover the entry way. Celestia looked back to check her technique, not noticing any terrible errors, but did spy something much worse.

“Tree, look out!” Celestia quietly screamed. She herself whipped around and squeezed the trigger, sending a long jolt right where she thought the eyes were. The blue beams lit up the doorway they entered earlier, showing an unnerving form for just a split second before it was gone. The enemy’s lurid colors were tainted by the blue bolt, but it’s body was unmistakably human. A fit, little frame, like a gymnast’s, and a large, wide-brimmed hat. Something about the hat was eerie, Celestia couldn’t place what in the split second she had to think before Octavia stood and blasted off into the darkness, spraying five bolts out in front of it.

Celestia clapped her shoulder and dragged Octavia down to the deck, just in time to have several electric ping-pong balls miss her black hair. It would be a war crime to harm that beautiful, long black hair. Celestia peeked up right away, looking for those eyes. “Look out for those,” she whispered, scanning more than ever. “Remember, you two. We’re lit up like Canterlot Square here, and whoever’s out there is fast, invisible, and you know what they’re capable of. Be smart.”

“Tree Hugger,” Celestia continued, not turning around. “We need light in the entire room, now. Switch places with Octavia and cover her area while she works on hacking the control computer.”

“Roger that,” Octavia whispered back. The ensign propped her rifle against the computer casing, cursing as three more spheres whizzed by. Celestia spun around and popped off two quick blasts, finding that Octavia’s side was much more constricted than her own. That portion of the room, to the left of the entrance, contained some tanks of enormous volume, all placed close enough to touching and bolted to the foundation. The opaque white tanks were uncaring to two high-energy beams discharging on the surface. She didn’t see the ninja.

“Mother hump-” Octavia hissed, closing the terminal and opening it again, slapping the spacebar until the encryption screen came up once more. “This is beyond ancient,” she thought out loud.

“Heh, your ma,” Tree Hugger whispered back. “Shit!” She pulled the trigger, wildly blasting twelve or so bolts down the entryway. Celestia spun around and aimed all around, the cone of her light finally hitting the attacker. Black and gold and orange metal shone as it sprinted by. Celestia led the runner and dropped it with one pulse. Her light finally shone clearly on a male-looking figure, robotic in appearance. The sparking hydraulic joints were leaking badly, it’s legs and arms gushing yellow fluid out of the knees and elbows.

“Woah...” Tree Hugger said out loud, drifting towards the corpse mindlessly.

Celestia gripped her shoulder and pointed back to the entryway. “No telling it was alone.”

She turned to her sector, scanning the seemingly endless blackness for more angry yellow eyes. She looked back and saw a beaming girl, giddy with adrenaline and a job well done, so far. Celestia leaned back and held out her fist, instantly snapping back when it was slugged hard.

Octavia was still bent over her computer screen, trying for the tenth time to open the computer’s secrets. “Keep trying,” Celestia said to her. “There’s no telling what else is down here. Tree Hugger, you haven’t run into these... things before?” Celestia snapped to her right, trying to spot those yellow dots. The blackness was maddening, growing, it seemed.

“Never!” she shouted out. The cones of light seemed to become weaker and weaker. A blue dot moved in her peripherals, but when Celestia turned to face it, there was nothing. She doubted she really saw it at all.

“Come on,” Octavia hissed. Celestia could feel the frustration coming off her, but had to ignore it. There was another dot, red, but it was gone the second she looked at it. They didn’t attack, the invisible darkness demons, but they still drained. The aches in her freshly demolished body grew to become nearly intolerable.

A light flashed, and Celestia’s finger jerked the trigger as she jumped. A blue bolt struck the blackness, sparking as it dissipated against whatever it hit. The lights flickered again, then remained on. The fluorescence gave Celestia a powerful headache very quickly, but that was infinitely more desirable than the damning pitch darkness.

Tension boiled out of Celestia’s body in shaking little spasms. She sat on the wet metal, trying to calm down. Octavia and Tree Hugger were at her side quickly, marveling at the underground they could now behold. Celestia’s eyes were drawn up again to see a sight she didn’t expect.

Pipes and tanks were everywhere, dormant pumps and generators and other machinery stood, rusting and doing nothing else. Water and other liquids leaked everywhere. Dirt and silt and other deleterious material clung to the ancient steel pipes. Above was an enormous run, the outside diameter over three feet, Celestia guessed. The section above was flanged to another section, but there was severe leakage and the bolts were brown-orange with rust. It was doomed to fall in the very near future, especially if flow were to start up again.

The massive tanks in the room, also of ancient steel, looked to be faring no better. Most were cylindrical and had little paint, if any at all. The doorway, a watertight door with automatic dogs, looked like it was ready to come off it’s hinges. This place felt less like a basement and more like the belly of a sunken ship.

Metal balls, the remains of the projectiles from earlier, were submerged under the three or four inches of standing water. They weren’t likely to hold any charge still, but Celestia forbade Tree Hugger from picking any up. A ruler herself, Tree Hugger disgruntledly obeyed. Celestia was helped to her feet by her two friends, the captain remained comatose, his chest rising and falling slowly.

The conscious trio huddled around Octavia as she navigated the computer. This was indeed the master control computer, full of years and years of operational logs. Octavia clicked through the list, noting that the first one was made in the ancient past: 2045 AD. Such a time was over a thousand years before her own, predating the parallax communication, interstellar transit, proton inversal technology, nanogeneration, countless other conveniences Celestia somehow knew much about, as if she grew up knowing them, utilizing them.

Her mind wandered on those topics for a while, not really scanning the computer’s data with the others. How did proton inversal work, again? She knew that a proton’s mass was efficiently and safely converted into energy using an ultraplasma fluid chamber in older models. The only problem with that concept was the thermal energy required to generate one million degrees Kelvin, and to contain it.

Celestia looked at her weapon. Somehow, she knew that extremely efficient electromagnetic light photon accelerators imparted kinetic energy to the atom’s parts, not just the entire molecule, lessing the effect of the strong and weak nuclear forces, thus making the process quite easier. She put her thumb on the insulated inversal chamber, where the loose atoms were separated and the protons were converted into energy by colliding with antiprotons, the temperature only a few hundred thousand degrees Kelvin. Toru had all the right in the universe to piss his pants when Celestia put her weapon to his head. She knew he would have that scar on his temple forever.

“Waitwaitwait, what was that?” Tree Hugger asked Octavia. Celestia’s interest returned enough for her to read over Octavia’s shoulder. They were in the section titled “Engineer’s Journal”, and there were hundreds and hundreds of entries.

“What was what? There’s seven hundred and forty seven entries, how could one stick out?”

Tree Hugger pointed to log number 731, dated 30JUN46. “Click it,” she ordered. Octavia obliged.

30JUN46 THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED. ALL USN AND DOD PERSONNEL ARE SUBJECT TO NJP FOR UNAUTHORIZED VIEWERSHIP, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING, OR DESTRUCTION OF THIS DOCUMENT. VIOLATION OF SAID INSTRUCTION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH AT ANY AND ALL TIMES.

0000 CDR FORE ASSUMED THE DUTIES OF THE PLANT ENGINEER. PLANT CONDITIONS AS BEFORE.
0001 PLANT STARTUP BEGUN AS PER NAVCOMNANINS 9897.57 C
0002 ASSIGNED WATCHSTANDER MM1 CYBAK. RELIEVED THE WATCH, ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL.
0003 TANK NAN-7 WATER LEVEL 4 INCHES BELOW IDEAL SYSTEM LEVEL. BACKUP FWP AUTOMATICALLY CYCLED, LOW LEVEL ALARM SOUNDED.
0004 WATCH DEPARTED FOR TOUR OF ALL SPACES.
0005 BACKUP FWT NAN-17 WATER LEVEL DECREASED FROM 47 TO 45 INCHES. TANK NAN-7 WATER LEVEL RETURNED TO IDEAL SYSTEM LEVEL. ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL.
00023 WATCH RETURNED FROM TOUR OF ALL SPACES. LEAK FOUND IN PIPE FROM TANK NAN-17 TO QA-4. CAUSE SUSPECTED: GASKET DEFORMATION.
0024 TEMPORARY SHUTDOWN REQUEST SENT. REASON: EMERGENCY GASKET REPLACEMENT OF VITAL SYSTEM.
0028 TEMPORARY SHUTDOWN REQUEST APPROVED BY CPT SPARR. HEATERS H-1, H-2, H-3, H-4 SECURED. ALL FWT AND BFWT SECURED. QA FILTERS SECURED.
0044 WATCH DEPARTED FOR TOUR OF ALL SPACES.
0047 LT HUSON ARRIVED FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE INSPECTION. MMC DUKE AND MM3 BANNERGLOTZER ARRIVED FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE INSPECTION AND QUALIFICATION.
0048 BEGAN GASKET REPLACEMENT AS PER NAVCOMNANINS 9899.9 S.
0052 SPILL OF PLANT LIQUID IN SPACE. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATED, PLANT STILL SECURE.
0053 SPACE SECURED. MM1 CYBAK UNABLE TO EVACUATE.
0054 WATCH UNABLE TO RETURN FROM TOUR OF SPACES. REASON: COMPARTMENT SECURED.
0055 MM1 CYBAK RELIEVED FROM WATCHSTANDER DUTIES. REASON: UNABLE TO COMPLETE DUTIES DUE TO CASUALTY.
0056 MM3 BANNERGLOTZER ASSUMED THE WATCH. CONDITIONS AS BEFORE.
0057 HMSN NELSON ARRIVED TO GIVE MEDICAL ATTENTION TO MM1 CYBAK.
0059 GENERAL QUARTERS SOUNDED.
0107 NANDIV MUSTER CONDUCTED BY CDR FORE. ALL NANDIV HANDS PRESENT OR ACCOUNTED FOR EXCEPT MM1 CYBAK.
0108 PLANT LEAK CONDITIONS BRIEF GIVEN. CLEANUP PERSONNEL EQUIPPED IN PPE. CREW AS FOLLOWS: MMC DUKE, HOSEMAN. MM3 BANNERGLOTZER, HOSEMAN. ET2 GILEAD, NOZZLEMAN. ETC FULTON, WATERTIGHT INTEGRITY CHECKER. EMCS SAUNDERS, PUMPMAN. MM1 GOLDSMITH, PUMPMAN. ETCM DAHN, ELECTROMAGNETIC NOZZLEMAN AND GAS-FREE ENGINEER. CDR FORE, SUPERVISOR.
0110 SPACE ACCESSED. GAS FREE. NO REPLICATION OBSERVED. ELECTROMAGNET DEPLOYED.
0111 PUMP STARTED. SPILL CONTAINED. SPILL IS UP.
0112 SPILL DISPOSED AS PER NAVNANHAZMATOPINS1242.8 C, CLASSIFIED.
0113 MM1 CYBAK TREATED FOR SPOT REPLICATION. QUARANTINED IN MEDICAL, RECOMMENDED FOR BRAVO ZULU FOR SELFLESS ACTION FOR THE SAKE OF PERSONNEL AND PLANT SAFETY.
0114 DISPOSED OF ALL MATERIAL CONTACTING SPILL: TWO FLEXITALLIC GASKETS, 18/42-5” BOLTS, FOUR DECK PLATES AS PER NAVNANHAZMATOPINS1242.8 C, CLASSIFIED.
0125 SECURED SPILL TEAM. RESUMED EMERGENCY GASKET REPLACEMENT.
0155 RELIEVED THE WATCH. MM2 SINGBO ASSUMED THE DUTIES OF WATCHSTANDER.
0156 WATCH DEPARTED FOR TOUR OF ALL SPACES.

The log went on for several more hours, but mostly just departing and returning of the roving watch, and a successful gasket replacement.

“Okay,” Octavia said, scrolling through the list of logs again. “That was a waste of-”

“No!” Tree Hugger interjected. “This one! Right meow.” She pointed to the second to last log.

“And you haven’t accessed this computer before?” Celestia asked the girl. She was ignored.

4JULY46 THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED. ALL USN AND DOD PERSONNEL ARE SUBJECT TO NJP FOR UNAUTHORIZED VIEWERSHIP, DISTRIBUTION, COPYING, OR DESTRUCTION OF THIS DOCUMENT. VIOLATION OF SAID INSTRUCTION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH AT ANY AND ALL TIMES.

0000 CDR FORE ASSUMED DUTIES AS PLANT ENGINEER. CONDITIONS AS BEFORE.
0001 ASSIGNED WATCHSTANDER MM2 WOOD. RELIEVED THE WATCH, ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL.
0002 TANK NAN-7 WATER LEVEL 2 INCHES BELOW IDEAL SYSTEM LEVEL. BACKUP FWP MANUALLY STARTED, LOW LEVEL ALARM NOT SOUNDED. CPT SPARR NOTIFIED.
0003 WATCH DEPARTED FOR TOUR OF SPACES.
0022 WATCH RETURNED FROM TOUR OF SPACES. ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL.
0023 WATCH DEPARTED FOR TOUR OF SPACES.
0024 SITE OOD ENS CARPENTER MADE TOUR OF SPACE. TANK NAN-7 WATER LEVEL NOMINAL. BACKUP FWP SECURED.
0025 RECEIVED POD.
0035 TANK NAN-7 WATER LEVEL 2 INCHES BELOW IDEAL SYSTEM LEVEL. LEAK SUSPECTED FROM QA-4. BACKUP FWP MANUALLY STARTED, LOW LEVEL ALARM NOT SOUNDED. CPT SPARR NOTIFIED.
0036 WATCH RETURNED FROM TOUR OF SPACES. LEAK FOUND FROM QA-4 AND DOWNSTREAM PIPING. REQUESTING EMERGENCYARF(THUMBPRINT SIGNATURE SAT.)
0036 WATCH RETURNED FROM TOUR OF SPACES. LEAK FOUND FROM QA-4 AND DOWNSTREAM PIPING. CPT SPARR MADE TOUR OF SPACES. EMERGENCY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN BEGUN AS PER CAPTAIN’S ORDERS.
0037 PLANT SECURED.
0038 LARGE LEAK FROM QA-4 AND CONNECTING PIPING. GREY SLUDGE CONFIRMED.
0039 ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATED. GENERAL QUARTERS REMOTELY SOUNDED BY CPT SPARR. COMPARTMENT SECURED. EMERGENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC CONTAINMENT SYSTEM AUTHORIZED.
0045 NANDIV MUSTER CONDUCTED BY CDR FORE. ALL NANDIV HANDS PRESENT OR ACCOUNTED FOR.
0046 EMERGENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC CONTAINMENT SYSTEM ENGAGED.
0047 EXTREME PLANT LEAK CONDITIONS BRIEF GIVEN. CLEANUP PERSONNEL EQUIPPED IN PPE. CREW AS FOLLOWS: MMC DUKE, HOSEMAN. MM2 SINGBO, HOSEMAN. MMFA GILBERTSON, HOSEMAN. MM1 CYBAK, PUMPMAN, LEAK CONTROLMAN. EM2 FIRMRITE, NOZZLEMAN. ETC LOCK, PUMPMAN. EMCS SAUNDERS, WATERTIGHT INTEGRITY CHECKER, GAS-FREE ENGINEER. LTJG EVERETT, ELECTROMAGNETIC NOZZLEMAN. CPT SPARR, SUPERVISOR. CDR FORE, ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR.
0048 SPACE ENTERED. GREY SLUDGE CONFIRMED.
0050 GREY SLUDGE CONTAINED.
0054 HOSE FAILURE. GREY SLUDGE LEAK THROUGH HOSE AT JOINT TO PUMP. MM1 CYBAK EXPERIENCED DIRECT CONTACT WITH SLUDGE. QUARANTINED IN SPACE BY MM2 SINGBO, EM2 FIRMRITE. PPE FAILURE, MM1 CYBAK SEVERELY INJURED.
0055 MMFA GILBERTSON RELIEVED BY ET2 GILEAD.
0056 GREY SLUDGE GROWTH. ALL NONESSENTIAL PERSONNEL EVACUATED, NEW WATERTIGHT BOUNDARY SET.
0057 REMOTE CHANGE OF PPM INSTIGATED BY CPT SPARR, IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH [TOP SECRET]. CONDITIONS EXTREME. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATED.
0059 GREY SLUDGE PENETRATION OF WATERTIGHT BOUNDARY. NANDIV BERTHING EVACUATED. CASUALTY REPORTED TO ADM FORRESTER.
0112 MMFA GILBERSTON REPORTED INDIVIDUAL DEACTIVATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC CONTAINMENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION. RECOMMENDED NJP AFTER CASUALTY, ARTICLES 92 AND 141.
0113 MMFA GILBERTSON DETAINED IN BRIG FOR PROTECTION., MMC DUKE, ET2 GILEAD, LTJG EVERETT AND ETC LOCK RECOMMENDED DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR VIGILANTE BEHAVIOR.
0120 SITE EVACUATED. GREY SLUDGE NOT SIGHTED OUTSIDE NANDIV.
0144 EM2 FIRMRITE ENTERED NANDIV.
0148 EM2 FIRMRITE RETURNED FROM NANDIV. GREY SLUDGE CONFIRMED. NO GROWTH DETECTED.
0158 EMCS SAUNDERS ENTERED NANDIV.
0200 EMCS SAUNDERS CONFIRMED NO GREY SLUDGE GROWTH.
0201 BOUNDARY SET OUTSIDE NANDIV BY CDR FORE. ENTRY WATCH STATIONED BY CDR FORE. ASSIGNED WATCHSTANDER MM2 SINGBO.

Tree Hugger pushed Octavia away from the terminal with an elbow, breaking Celestia’s concentration on the small text. “Okayokay, some crap went down, what next?” She clicked the last log, but this entry was hardly up to the military standard.

1900 CDR FORE. GREY SLUDGE IS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY, EXCEEDING WORST CASE SCENARIO PROJECTIONS. MOST PERSONNEL IN NANDIV WERE EVACUATED, EXCEPT MM1 CYBAK, MMFA GILBERTSON (IN BRIG IN NANDIV QUARTERS, HOPE THE SPINDLY LITTLE SHITFUCK ROTS IN THE WORST HELL HE CAN THINK OF. HE’S THE REASON THE NANOBOTS ARE OUT OF CONTROL! NO SURPRISE THE DILDO WENT TO MAST TWICE BEFORE COMING HERE ON DELAYED EXIT ORDERS.), AND MYSELF. CAPTAIN SPARR LEFT ME HERE TO MAKE SURE THIS CATASTROPHE DOESN’T EAT THE ENTIRE PLANET. IT TOOK SERIOUS CONVINCING, BUT HE KNOWS I’VE MORE EXPERIENCE, BEING AN LDO AND ALL. AS PER CLASSIFIED INSTRUCTION NAVNANHAZMATCONINS 10000.0 A, I’VE FLOODED NANDIV SPACES. THE WATER SHOULD DILUTE THE SLUDGE FOR A LITTLE WHILE, LONG ENOUGH FOR THE SUPERELECTROMAGNETS THAT I’LL MANUALLY SUBMERGE TO CONTAIN THE REPLICATION.
1920 SPACES ARE FLOODED, ALL OF NANDIV AND THE ENTIRE PETERSON BUILDING. THE ISOLATED FLOODING PUMPS WORK BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. A LITTLE GREY WAS SEEN IN THE WATER, THOUGH, SO I’M SURE I’LL BE AT EXTREME RISK.
1930 NO GREY IN THE WATER. IT’S LIKELY THERE WILL BE INSIDE.
1935 I’VE FINISHED SINGBO’S “SECRET” FLASK, I’LL NEED ALL THE COURAGE I CAN. I PRAY TO CELESTIA THAT I DON’T DROWN BEFORE I REACH THE PRIMARY TERMINAL. I PRAY TO CELESTIA THAT CYBAK DIED QUICKLY, THE SLUDGE DIDN’T EAT HIM SLOWLY. I BET THAT’S THE WORST WAY TO GO. AND LAST OF ALL, I PRAY THAT GILBERTSON NEVER HAD ANY CHILDREN, AND IF HE DID, THAT THEY NEVER EVEN THINK OF HOLDING ANY POSITION WHERE THEY CAN HARM ANOTHER SOUL IN THIS UNIVERSE WITH THEIR NEGLIGENCE.
1937 TO WHOMEVER READS THIS, KNOW THE TRUTH. THESE MECHANISMS WERE CREATED TO DESTROY, TO ANNIHILATE THE ENEMY ON LAND, AIR, SEA, OR SPACE. INSIDE THE HUMAN BODY, HOWEVER, THEY CAN REMOVE IMPURITIES IN MINUTES AND REPAIR TISSUE IN HOURS, EVEN SET BROKEN BONES, WITH VERY LITTLE REPROGRAMMING. THIS MIRACLE OF SCIENCE IS DESIGNED TO BE WASTED ON WAR. CYBAK SHOULDN’T BE DEAD. FUCK THE NAVY. FUCK THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. AUSTIN ROLAND FORE, COMMANDER, UNITED STATES NAVY, SECRET NANOSCALE ROBOTIC RESEARCH ENGINEER, SIGNING OFF.

“Drama queen,” Tree Hugger said out loud. Celestia held her hand over her open mouth. What was this place? Was that monster defending this room the commander or the “MM1”? What kind of purpose did the nanobots serve? How did this terminal still have the logs on it, let alone function, being submerged and subjected to the wrath of the man-eating “grey sludge”? And most perplexing, how was she known? Why was the commander praying to her?

Octavia touched her shoulder, and Celestia collected herself quickly. Tree Hugger was already walking through the water below, not a care about the microscopic robots. With her new knowledge, Celestia was scanning every corner for that grey sludge. The commander must have been successful... right?

“AH!” Tree Hugger’s screams were piercing. Celestia ran to the rail while Octavia raised her weapon. The robotic creature had the teen’s ankle in a horrific grip, one of its eyes sparking yellow.

“STOP! LET HER GO!” Celestia roared, lifting her own PIAR, trigger half-cocked.

The robot, head half lifted, slowly let Tree Hugger go, leaving finger-shaped marks on her skin. With his one operable arm, the cybernetic insurgent attempted to right himself, failing and falling down again. Tree Hugger had hit his right shoulder, melting the arm clean off. It lay, Celestia noticed, about ten feet behind him. Tree Hugger jumped up and over the railing without even touching it, hiding right behind Celestia. She let her trigger slack, but Octavia was still tensed.

The robot was uncannily humanoid. Assembled, it would have two legs, arms, eyes, ear(holes), ten fingers, probably ten toes, and Celestia swore the supporting structures in the arms and ribs were very similar to human bones. The barred metal, lipless teeth weren’t perfectly aligned, either. In fact, they were clenched in a strange fashion, and looked angularly misaligned as well.

“What are you? Why did you attack us?” Celestia asked in a low voice.

“Unit des-des-designation: OPERATORRrr-” The robot spoke with much difficulty. Celestia doubted it would last much longer. “Direc-rective:” The robot continued, “To ov-see plant operations, protect co-con-con-confiden-tial materials, and prev-ve-vent hazard and unsafe acts and conditions.’

“That’s just vague enough for government work,” Octavia added. “I think we’ll get more answers from these logs and other files.”

“Stop, uunauth-o-o-rrrized p-e-ersonnel!” the OPERATOR crackled. It clearly did not have the means to impede Octavia, but it tried anyway. The robotic remains dragged its corpse along the wet deck to their little command post. Celestia didn’t bother raising her weapon.

“Why?” Tree Hugger asked no one in particular. “It’s been like forever years since you flooded this place, why do you give a fuck?”

Celestia wanted to tell the teen to watch her language, but it was pointless. She was the president, after all.

Not ceasing its pitiful quest, OPERATOR answered. “Because it’s my mmmmission.”

Celestia came forward to the steps he was nearing, ready to obliterate the cryptic cyborg. “Either we’re not asking the right questions,” she started, “or it doesn’t want to answer. Or maybe it simply can’t. We’ve got to try something else if we want answers.”

“Remember our own mission, Princess,” a groggy male croaked. Celestia’s guts nearly jumped out of her mouth.

“That’s right,” Octavia softly said, turning away from the computer. OPERATOR grabbed the first step. On one knee and helping her captain to his feet, Octavia continued. “We need to find a way to the DCC, which means finding a way out of here.”

Toru, slipping as he tried to get up, slouched against the rail. OPERATOR was struggling with the second step. “Well, girls,” he started, clearing his throat. “All my sudden... questions aside, why can’t we just leave the way we came? This, uh, guy isn’t really an obstacle. What is in our path that we can’t just climb up and out and be on our merry way?”

“The nans, dur,” Tree Hugger said in a bored voice, swinging her legs as she sat on the railing near OPERATOR. He, or it, was struggling with the third and last step. “Anyone who leaves the swamp who’s drank the water gets real sick and dies like, instantly.”

“What?” Octavia asked, stealing Celestia’s words yet again.

“Nanosc-scale robots are fueled by a micro-micrrrrogram of Americium tac tw-tw-two four three each.” OPERATOR did not cease his painfully slow assault. “When the standard operAAAAaaating magnetic field -czz- no lonnnnnger present, the isotope is unres-restricted, allowing neutro-trons to escape unimpeded into the surrounding enviirronmen-men-ment. Depending on the concentra-tration, the loss of electrons to contain the high-concentration neutrons can result in ex-ex-extremmmme radiation flooding. Initial scans indicate all unauthorized personnel in NANDIV spaces contain twenty-seven point sev-sev-sev-sev-seven seven seven six seven times the amount of nanosc-scale robots for a lethal dooosssse.”

Celestia should have been surprised, but something felt like this was to be expected. Two steps forward, five steps back. A defeated look overtook everyone except Tree Hugger. All they had been through, the foes and obstacles overcome for the ultimate, unreachable goal, was truly impossible now. At least, it seemed certain for now.

OPERATOR was fully onto the main platform now, his one arm frantically clawing the near useless pile of servos and metallic joints forward to the computer. Octavia was hardly interested in either ancient piece of the world before. Celestia’s curiosity, however, was burning intensely despite her frustration.

The robot corpse uselessly attempted to destroy the terminal, but the sturdy casing was hardly scratched by the robot’s hydraulically useless fingers. “I have so, so many questions, but,” Celestia asked rubbing her temples as Octavia slowly took aim. “The one that comes to bear is why does the United States Navy, or America, or whoever. How do they, or at least the commander, know and, and pray to me?”

The robot stopped its/his efforts slowly; Celestia was unsure out of conscious volition or inability to continue. “You are,” it began lowly. “P-Prince-e-e-ess Celestia?” The hope in his/its tone was uncanny, eerie, creepy.

“Alive and somewhat well,” she said. “And I’d like to stay that way or better, if I may.” Her weapon felt heavier.

OPERATOR swiveled it’s metal head around, the steel looked melted in the fluorescent light. “That... I d-don’t und-dersstand. You, h-u-umano-oid in... stature. Why are you hummmmman?” He was losing power to his speech functions, or more, Celestia warranted. The pitch in his slow, artificial voice was decreasing more and more. Soon, he’d be completely inscrutable.

“As opposed to what?” Octavia asked this time.

OPERATOR turned his head to her. “Pony, d-uh.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. This place was weird, and this was just another oddity. So she was some pony princess now, who fell from the sky twice and nearly died the same number of times. Quite a lot would be needed to shock Celestia, now. It was just left turn after left on this herself-forsaken planet.

“What’s your name, OPERATOR?” she asked. “Before you were OPERATOR. Commander Fore? Or MM1 Cybak?”

His/its eyes flickered. “Com-man-mander Fffffffff-” OPERATOR’s low, weak tone trickled out to a mechanical clicking. He went limp, dead, and uttered one last message with his remaining power. “Ff-fi- n-num- two tree tw- fo- nin-.... dirrrec-” The commander uttered.

His already limp half-torso didn’t do anything. “What?!” Tree Hugger said after a moment had passed, breaking the somber silence as the cybernetic commander failed to do anything. “No twitching? No final little puffs of electrical smoke? No rudding fantastic self-destruct?! Laaame!”

Octavia, Toru, and Celestia exchanged looks of adult, professional disapproval, yet Octavia couldn’t hide a trace of that spontaneous enjoyment. Tree Hugger had a point, Octavia thought, and Celestia couldn’t help but think the young officer that much more adorable.

“I don’t even understand any of this shit,” Toru mumbled. “First off,” Toru said with a finger pointed at Tree Hugger, who was kicking Commander Fore’s corpse now. “Who the shit are you? Second, what the fuck is that?” This time, fingering the robot. “Third, what the fuck did he say? And last,” Toru shouted, pointing back at Celestia. “What the FUCK are you doing, being a pony or whatever? What the hell does that even mean?!”

“Oh my god. Shut up, Toru!” Celestia shouted right back, rubbing her aching temples. “I am far from in the mood to explain-”

“Princess Celestia’s a white alicorn pony princess with a sun on her butt in a tv show called ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’ who basically runs Equestria’s shit. Right now, she’s also some stupid sexy MILF with a badass gun and super smarts and just killed a Commander in the Navy who was also the head engineer dude guy for the Navy nanobot research lab thing, which basically got fucked by that Gilbertson dude. Er, I guess we killed him, but... The nanobots took over in a big way after that dick shit the bed and the commander stayed back to contain the catastrophe, so I guess he got eaten by the bots like that Cyback mechanic guy, but we don’t know what came of him. THEN, I think he said something like ‘File number two three four nine directory someham’, but he died. Like what’s his green butt in Star Wars, it’s been a sec since I watched it and stuff. Oh, and I’m Tree Hugger, el Presidente of la America. That’s Italian for ‘Leader of the Free World’. Nice to meet you, shitbag!” Tree Hugger held out a hand, smiling wide.

As many questions as that tirade answered, Celestia had three times more now. Toru smacked her hand away and struggled to his feet, grumbling four-letter words and holding his head. His headache, Celestia reasoned, was likely worse than her own. The little blistered scar on his head had opened up badly from the projectile and was bleeding, but not bad.

“What are we waiting for?” Octavia asked. “Let’s find that file.”

Celestia sighed deep. “Let’s.”

Next Chapter