Disenfrancised
Beep Beep
Jan took the next right at the intersection; the grim rusty tunnel he’d just entered was only distinguishable from the one he just left by the codes painted on the junction. The symbols, black to the standard human, appeared to be glowing lurid blue for Jan, thanks to the standard package of retroviral genetic therapies the Integumency fleet was now equipped with. Unlike some factions the NAM didn’t hold with gross alterations to the human frame like packing more muscle on or cosmetic ears and tails, all the changes were subtle and made at the levels of organs and biochemistry; altered eye pigments to see into the ultraviolet and infrared, strengthened internal membranes to withstand higher g-forces, and the hundreds of minor modifications to make zero-g a comfortable long term environment. Most of the older generations already had these alterations, but maintaining the complex networks of gene interactions in the face of genetic drift since the scourge had meant most of the younger cohorts had gone without until the information package from Capella had been received. Perhaps most importantly, at least for the fleet posted to Betelgeuse as Jan was, was the anti-cancer therapies that made it possible to leave the Carriers protective shielding for longer than a few hours at a time, and now full exploration of the system could commence.
Jan was wandering through an abandoned complex on planetoid 0000, as the cluster termed the warpgate body in the system, the largest body the system contained. The still functioning hyperstatic field complex was emplaced down in the southern hemisphere, a hundred klick sprawl of impenetrable machinery and incredibly dense energy readings hidden beneath its protective field. Galleries and conduits led out from the primary complex all over the planetoid, and it was part of that warren of machinery and tunnels that Jan was exploring now. Most people disliked the slightly slippery feel and headaches you got from being within the influence of the hyperstatic fields block of altered space time, but Jan rather liked the sensation. He had been at work for some hours now, and had already made the trip quite worthwhile having uncovered a few datastores and a scourge damaged factory robot, and was just fixing another breadcrumb transponder to the walls of the tunnel, when things suddenly changed.
A glint of light in the corner of his eye, a subtle static feeling, and he was instantly certain he was not alone. He turned quickly, but whatever it was had vanished. A quick interrogation of his databracelet revealed its sensors had detected patterned energy, confirming the reality of what had just happened. Jan then decided to defy conventionally procedure, and flipping his bracelet to full telemetry transmit back to the Steel Swarm, he ran down the tunnel after the visitor in a low-gravity loping stride.
Arriving at another intersection stacked with drums of Elerium cells, Jan looked wildly this way and that. There, a few hundred metres away at the far end of one of the tunnels was his apparition, still blurry and hard to make out in bright tones of ultraviolet, it seemed to fill the corridor with its vague presence. Like a shoal of shining fish it seemed to blink and disappear as it darted off down the corridor. Jan grinned and gave pursuit, for if he remembered the tunnel systems schematics correctly, this tunnel lead to a dead end after a few twists and turns.
Minutes later he rounded the last of the corners to find the thing pooled at the end of tunnel, filling the corridor like an iridescent film of soap shining a soft ultraviolet, further in he could make out more structure as tiny purple glowing filaments coiled and spun. It was inhumanly beautiful, and Jan felt a strange sense of joy that he had been privileged to see this wondrous thing. That sense of elation lasted mere seconds as the entity changed colour, ramping its energy levels beyond which even his altered eyes could see and a portion of its field reached out and slammed him down to the floor. The rest of the entity flowed over and past him and back into the tunnel, and Jan’s vision faded to blackness.
It was several hours later before the team found him and rushed him up to the Steel Swarm, and a few days more before he awoke from the coma his injuries and the things fields had put him in. But his databracelet had recorded it all; from the first glimpse to the force field it had used to knock him down, and next time Jan would be forewarned…
Jan was wandering through an abandoned complex on planetoid 0000, as the cluster termed the warpgate body in the system, the largest body the system contained. The still functioning hyperstatic field complex was emplaced down in the southern hemisphere, a hundred klick sprawl of impenetrable machinery and incredibly dense energy readings hidden beneath its protective field. Galleries and conduits led out from the primary complex all over the planetoid, and it was part of that warren of machinery and tunnels that Jan was exploring now. Most people disliked the slightly slippery feel and headaches you got from being within the influence of the hyperstatic fields block of altered space time, but Jan rather liked the sensation. He had been at work for some hours now, and had already made the trip quite worthwhile having uncovered a few datastores and a scourge damaged factory robot, and was just fixing another breadcrumb transponder to the walls of the tunnel, when things suddenly changed.
A glint of light in the corner of his eye, a subtle static feeling, and he was instantly certain he was not alone. He turned quickly, but whatever it was had vanished. A quick interrogation of his databracelet revealed its sensors had detected patterned energy, confirming the reality of what had just happened. Jan then decided to defy conventionally procedure, and flipping his bracelet to full telemetry transmit back to the Steel Swarm, he ran down the tunnel after the visitor in a low-gravity loping stride.
Arriving at another intersection stacked with drums of Elerium cells, Jan looked wildly this way and that. There, a few hundred metres away at the far end of one of the tunnels was his apparition, still blurry and hard to make out in bright tones of ultraviolet, it seemed to fill the corridor with its vague presence. Like a shoal of shining fish it seemed to blink and disappear as it darted off down the corridor. Jan grinned and gave pursuit, for if he remembered the tunnel systems schematics correctly, this tunnel lead to a dead end after a few twists and turns.
Minutes later he rounded the last of the corners to find the thing pooled at the end of tunnel, filling the corridor like an iridescent film of soap shining a soft ultraviolet, further in he could make out more structure as tiny purple glowing filaments coiled and spun. It was inhumanly beautiful, and Jan felt a strange sense of joy that he had been privileged to see this wondrous thing. That sense of elation lasted mere seconds as the entity changed colour, ramping its energy levels beyond which even his altered eyes could see and a portion of its field reached out and slammed him down to the floor. The rest of the entity flowed over and past him and back into the tunnel, and Jan’s vision faded to blackness.
It was several hours later before the team found him and rushed him up to the Steel Swarm, and a few days more before he awoke from the coma his injuries and the things fields had put him in. But his databracelet had recorded it all; from the first glimpse to the force field it had used to knock him down, and next time Jan would be forewarned…
