Father where art thou? Saalz follows (3)
PART 3
Saalz was tiring of the travelling through the hostile lands. The commander did little to alleviate the boredom of it, and the three ladies said nothing at all. He found them all uncomfortable to be around, what little the commander did converse about was the weather and interesting species that abounded. He still couldn’t place their accents, for he had been to many Worlds on his contracting work as an Engineer, maybe they were from the outer Worlds?
He was beginning to wonder what his role in the group was to be? They had the most sophisticated technology. During the days they would set up a small portable generator and activate a huge cloak over the campsite while they rested. The triplets seemed to communicate via telepathy, a bit too well. He didn’t recognise any of the equipment they used at all. The commander would occasionally bring out a pole like object that expanded and seemed to be made of living tissue, dark tendrils that wrapped around each other, used for support when climbing the rough terrain.
With this in mind he still couldn’t understand what he had to contribute… Who were these people? As they stopped at a small oasis he decided he would ask the Commander who was hunched over bathing his sweat sodden face.
“Excuse me Sir, I have a question to ask.”
The commander rose up and looked at him with a slight smile on his face, “Wondering when you were going to ask about your position in the team. Not bad, it’s been a few days, others would have asked me before now.” He went back to bathing his face. Saalz was shocked and realised that his thoughts were exposed to them as well.
“Well, what is it… my position in the team?”
“Simply put Saalz, my employers are doing you and your brother Shaun (Sightsee) a favour. Believe me when I say you’re a liability, I’m not happy about you or your droid being part of the deal either. But we do what we are told… just try to keep yourself alive on the journey.”
“But what about-“
“The great Barrier”, the commander interrupted, “Automated defences, easy to deal with.” The Commander smiled with a glint of sarcasm in his eye. “Right people, hustle up! Were close, another nights march and were there.” Saalz felt as though it was said out loud for his benefit, as it seemed that they were able to talk to each other without words.
It was near to morning when they crossed the brow overlooking the huge Wall that stretched from East to West known as the barrier. The weather here for the past few miles had got worse and changed with alarming frequency. The commander as always was in front of the team when he raised his hand to indicate they stop. He then got down to his belly and brought out some hi-tech binoculars. He studied the wall and the shimmering shield that was concave above them, glowing like the northern lights of Earth. The triplets unpacked their environmental suits, opened up the few trunks they carried and activated the nano-shrunk powered armour which folded out by their own accord to about humanoid height. Saalz couldn’t help but note that they looked like a fashion statement, with striking colours and sleek anamie style design, nothing like the dull hulking powered armour that he had seen for hostile environmental conditions. He also noticed there was only four, none for him? The commander rose and put on laugh directed at Saalz.
“Don’t worry, we got a spare, more traditional envirosuit.” Saalz, was getting fed up by his mind being read, it was intrusive, and ‘what of my secrets, my dreams?’ he wondered.
“Don’t worry we don’t pry”, the Commander said, “We wait here, the ‘namless’ are going in for now.” Saalz wanted to hit him. The three ladies were already in the powered armour, then leapt off the brow of the cliff, about a few feet from the ground anti-gravity engines kicked in and brought them down gently. The commander brought out a basic vacuum suit for Saalz to wear, which he put on. Saalz tried to not think too much, but couldn’t help but ask himself why was he given a suit that if cut even slightly would bring about death? He remembered back to the night before and remembered that this commander had told him to stay alive.
“Why you think they went ahead first huh? You’ll be safe don’t worry.” The Commander said.
“It seems that you were not fully prepared? And another thing, how far into the unterra-formed area is this site might I ask?”
The Commander got into his powered armour and winked before the helm of the armour closed around his head.
Saalz was beginning to feel his nerves order his glands to produce that adrenaline rush. He couldn’t believe that soon he would find the answers, or at least some clues as to what his foster Father was involved in all those Years ago. He wished Sightsee were with him now to experience the feelings of apprehension, anticipation and joy at being so close to the site that their Father had set foot on.
Nameless 1, managed to hack the service door open to the barrier wall, she could not detect any movement through the X-ray or thermal views into the darkness of the maintenance shaft. The other two were stood either side of her, always scanning the area around them. ‘Sisters, I’m going in’, she thought and received the go ahead from them. In her mind was the map, data flowed from the systems nearby that controlled the security, she had already falsified records in the central data base seconds before. Directions on a more ‘physical’ map on her HUD opened up with a “Welcome, Omni Tek is your friend” text flashing up for long enough for one to read. She was recognised as a high clearance Omni Engineer, and a few seconds later, as she made her way into the main Control Room for that section, so was the rest of the team.
Saalz and the Commander had made their way down to ground level, buffeted by the violent winds that seemed to wrap around them, as if to force them to fall. The towering War Bot followed them with ease, but moved its head frequently as if paranoid at the howling winds. Saalz noted that the main doors were open, and that all the ladies had obviously gone in. They approached and Saalz started to pray to ‘God’, the commander took point and span around frequently pointing a huge cannon to the cliffs behind them. Saalz looked around inside before following, and ordered his bot to guard him closely. It seemed the commander was right, no personnel were inside, but neither were the automated security that the commander had mentioned earlier?
They made their way to the triplets know as ‘nameless’ in the control room, then moved to the other side of the barrier, where outside would be the hostile true Rubi-Ka, an area with no oxygen, devoid of all life with storms that flow into ones darkest nightmares. The outer doors in the airlock slowly opened, revealing the darkness outside, deep purple and black clouds seem to move towards them, as if to devour them before they had set foot outside. Saalz’s heart began to beat faster, he had never imagined the view before him to be so bleak. The commanders powered armour seemed to nod forward, and the nameless triplets ran out as if they were familiar with the hostile and scary lands ahead.
