Scions of Humanity - A Metaphysical Space Opera Adventure (Aeon 14 Read online

  Sera asked, an easy laugh following her words.

 

  Sera nodded absently as he set the white-hot torch to the door, moving it in a slow circle to burn a vent hole through.

  she mused.

  he said.

  Sera commented. It didn’t go so high that a tall creature would be comfortable.

 

  Jen added.

  Sera nodded.

  Jason suggested.

  She laughed, leaning against the wall.

  Jen said.

  Sera heaved a deep breath.

  Jen added.

  Jason said.

  Sera nodded.

  Jen agreed.

  The plasma cutter completed its hole, a soft puff of air pushing out into the narrow space protected by the grav shield.

  he commented.

  Sera pushed off the wall and rolled her shoulders.

 

  The captain laughed.

 

 

  Jason kept the plasma torch on low power so as not to catch anything on fire while Sera sent a passel of nanoprobes through the hole to scout ahead. She almost didn’t want to, preferring to see whatever lay inside first with her own eyes, but at the same time, she didn’t want some discovery to be the last thing she saw, so prudence won out over her sense of adventure.

  The first thing the probes did was analyze the air. It was mostly almost entirely helium with traces of hydrogen. The ground was covered in a very fine snow of the other atmospheric elements—mostly oxygen, nitrogen, and methane. It was hard to say what the exact mix would have been, but from what the analysis showed, the lighter gases may still have been the most prevalent.

  Or it could be that a tank of helium had leaked in the intervening years, and the current atmospheric composition had nothing to do with what the former occupants had once breathed.

  If they breathed at all.

  The room beyond was long and narrow, with more doors—smaller ones, in this case—lining the left-hand side. These portals were not so well sealed, and Sera’s nanoprobes slipped right through, finding the fibrous ruins of what might be some sort of bedding in the corner of each room.

  Jen commented.

 

  The AI sent a feeling of affirmation.

 

 

  The probes continued down the narrow room—or perhaps wide hall—to another door. As the nanobots attempted to get past the next obstruction, Sera turned back to the cylinders strewn about behind her and Jason.

 

  Jason asked.

  She passed him a visual of the small chambers lining the next hall.

  he paused dramatically,

  Jen groaned.

  A minute later, the section he’d cut out fell inward, and the pair stepped through. Sera approached the first door on the left, spotting what looked like a manual release. She slid her fingers into it, feeling a long, narrow slot. Her middle finger only went partway down the slot, but she felt a toggle with the tip, and pushed it in. The release pivoted, and the door slid open a few centimeters.

  Jason said, digging his fingers into the gap.

  Together, they prised it open and stepped into another corridor with more sleeping chambers lining the side. This went on for several more iterations until they came to a foyer where two other passages branched off, with a wider corridor running toward the structure’s center.

  Jason said, looking up.

 

 

  Sera shrugged.

 

  She looked around, unable to find any access to the objects dozens of meters in the air.

  Jason nodded absently, walking to one of the walls where a row of spherical objects were mounted.

  They moved toward the door that would take them to the center of the structure, once again faced with a pressure-sealed portal. Jason set to cutting his way through while Sera wandered the perimeter of the space.

  Small piles of desiccated fabric lay on the ground, detritus from the suspended nests high above. She knelt down and touched one, feeling the coarseness of the threads, wondering if it had stiffened in the intervening centuries, or if the fabric was always so scratchy.

  Jen’s voice was a whisper.

  Sera replied, carefully picking through the pile, disturbing it as little as possible.

  A small chip of reflective black material caught her eye, and she fished it out of the fabric it was buried under, dropping it into the palm of her left hand.

  Jen reported.

  Sera asked.

  Jen hmmmm’d softly for a moment before signaling in the negative.

  Sera whistled into her helmet.

&nbs
p;

  Jason asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

  Sera rose and walked to the door—which was nearly cut open.

  He shook his head.

 

  Jason turned back to his task while Sera directed nanoprobes through the gaps he’d cut.

  The structure was wider inside, over a hundred meters across, and filled with….

  What the heck is all that?

  Up until now, the ambient light following them in had provided enough illumination for their nano and augmented vision to make out their surroundings, but beyond this next door, the interior was utterly black.

  Sera spread the probes out, directing them higher, using ultraviolet imaging to make out the strange objects. To help her own eyes, she pulled a pair of hover-lights off her belt, holding them ready to toss overhead once they were inside.

  The door fell inward a moment later, Jason wordlessly glancing back at her before stepping through. Sera followed after tossing the lights into the air, where they hovered near the ceiling, lighting up the long room with daylight-levels of illumination.

  Jason’s head was on a swivel as he took in the vista before them, mouth agape.

  Sera asked.

  Jen snorted with amusement.

  Jason walked up to one of the smaller plants and poked it gently, causing a part of it to disintegrate and fall apart.

  Sera added.

  Jen said.

  Jason added.

  Sera said.

  Jason had walked a few steps down the walkway that ran through the park. At her words, he glanced over his shoulder and shook his head.

 

  His lips pursed, nearly disappearing.

  Sera said as she took a few long strides to reach his side.

 

  Jen laughed softly.

  Sera said with a nod.

  Jason replied.

  Jen passed a mock-scolding look into their minds.

  Jason gestured for Sera to lead the way.

  She groaned.

 

  Sera nodded vigorously.

  he asked with a wink.

  She gave him a light punch on the arm.

  Jen added.

  Jason coughed.

  His statement was cut off by the mental impression of Jen giving them both a disbelieving stare.

 

  Sera added.

  The AI groaned.

 

  Jen suggested.

  Sera shook her head.

 

  Jason said, gesturing to a section of path before them that was overgrown by a few smaller plants.

  Sera mused.

  Jason shrugged.

  A minute later, they reached the end of the park, where another pressure door waited. This one wasn’t fully sealed, though it took nearly a minute of pushing to get it to slide aside enough for the pair to step through.

  Sera said, looking around the long, empty hall.

  Sure enough, halfway down the passage, they found a door on the left, and for the first time, there were windows on either side. The illumination from Sera’s mobile lights created elongated shadows across the space, casting a row of low, lumpy objects in an eerie half-light.

  she asked.

  Jason replied.

  Sera said.

  Jen added.

  Pushing aside their curiosity to investigate the low, bulbous vehicles, the pair continued down the passage to the next door. The pattern of barracks, commissaries, parks, and garages repeated twice more before they reached a larger atrium. Here, ladder-like staircases twisted up toward the hundred-meter ceiling, branching off to five other levels.

  Jason commented.

  Sera said.

  Jason strode forward, reaching out and giving one of the ladder-stairs a shake.

  The lowest passage was largely unadorned, though for the first time, windows gave a view of the outside terrain—at least on one side. The other was obstructed by the dust piled up on the side of the structure.

  Sera said as she approached one of the panes and peered out.

  blame them?> Jen asked.

  The moon had swung its back around toward the local star as they’d moved through the installation, and dusk was beginning to settle over the crater. Given the position of the celestial objects and the depth of the crater, Sera gauged it would be full dark in just a few minutes.

  Jason said.

  Sera nodded silently and caught up to him as he ambled down the middle of the wide passage.

  she asked after a minute, pointing at a glint of light.

  Jen crowed.

  Jason drew the word out.

  Sera replied.

  Jen countered on a laugh.

  Sera ducked her head, imagining what it would be like to encounter a creature that lived in such frigid temps. It would not only move more slowly, but it would likely think slower too—or perhaps faster. It could be that its mind would operate like a natural superconductor network.

  Jen said a moment later.

  Jason said.

  Sera said.

  Jen began, only to have her warning cut off by a heat signature lighting up on Sera’s torso.

  Jason shouted, dashing toward one of the support columns that held up the levels above.

  Sera made it behind one next to his before her flow armor reached thermal saturation.

  Jason muttered.

  A marker appeared on the map of the area, noting the fire originating just over a hundred meters away, almost directly behind the EM source.