Terra-33 Ep. 09

"An extremely powerful one," Ida voiced from her right shoulder.

Just then, a roaring explosion echoed behind them and Trix smiled with the knowledge that their pursuit was scrap metal. Her HUD suddenly lit up and Trix pulled her eyes to the left to follow the blip. A yellow sphere pulsed from behind a set of desks. Remi stepped forward, lowering his weapon across his chest. Trix saw Ida shift around the edge of the room, her rifle trained on the spot.

"Hello, we know you're there," Remi began calmly. "Come out and talk."

Trix caught a glimpse of a round, blue head, topped with flimsy clumps of dark hair. She couldn't see its eyes, but it the haphazard spread of the hair made her think it might be unhealthy. If it had been living alone here for who knew how long, it might also be a little crazy.

"Skysit marassk, ich taron too," the alien said from its hiding place. The voice was deep but had fluty sounds on certain syllables that made it hard to tell if it was male or female. Plus, Trix couldn't be sure that females of whatever species it was didn't have the deeper voice. Remi motioned with his hands, beckoning the alien to come forward. He held up his palms after, showing that he was unarmed.

The room suddenly lit in a brief series, light fixtures and machines powering on one after the other in the span of a few seconds. Ida had found a console with an input device and confirmed she had activated the systems when Remi asked. The dome curved gently inward, a circle of mild lighting exposing wires and conduits, all arranged in an organized fashion. Trix kept her eyes on the alien, who was now shifting around behind the desk-like cover. As Remi took a step forward, it stood and raised its hand over a large, green button. The button was attached to a panel with a lot of symbols similar to what they had seen on the viewscreens before.

The alien was bulky in a way, but also looked muscular. It had four legs which supported a kind of crab-like main body. They appeared jointed and articulated similar to normal human limbs, but Trix couldn't be sure with the clothing covering them. Its two arms were the same bluish hue as its head and face and it was gesticulating wildly with the left. Trix noted that it had four fingers and two thumbs as it held them out in the same way Remi had, but she thought it was signaling for him to stay back.

"Look, we don't want to be here as much as you probably don't want us here. We don't need to fight. What does that button do? Can you understand me?"

"Understand. Button," the alien said, its mouth struggling with the words.

"We just need to know that you have peaceful intentions," Remi said calmly.

The alien stiffened and slapped the button with its fist after Remi spoke. It reached around to its belt and yanked free what looked like a weapon. Ida's rifle competed with Trix's SMG as the round chamber filled with thunder. Remi had ducked to get out of the way and Trix watched dark fluid seep from multiple bullet punctures. The alien choked and made a rasping sound as it sank to the ground, its firearm silent.

"What the hell did I say?"

"Intentions," Ida called. "It's the same word that I used which set off the robots. I didn't realize it at the time, but it's the only connection I can make."

"It must sound like a word that means something pretty bad in their language," Trix said, walking toward the body. "What was that button?"

"No idea, let's — "

Remi was interrupted by a whirring sound that quickly resolved into a grinding racket above their heads. Trix looked up as the dome split open in a spiraling motion, spinning down into itself. The communications array began extending upward at the same time. In seconds, the cluster of electronics was pulsing with a glow that spread from the base of the thing all the way to the top. When the dome stopped grinding, Trix registered the low hum that was building to a crescendo. It was coming from the center of the room.

"I think we should find cover..." she said, backing away from the noise.

"Into the hall. Let's go!"

Remi was running even as he shouted, grabbing Trix's arm and following Ida back into the corridor. The noise was crushing now, even through the suit's sound dampeners, which had activated and were at maximum according to Trix's HUD readout. Finally it stopped. A heartbeat later, a whooshing crackle-snap roared from the room. They turned to watch the array, which now lit into a blinding rainbow of color. A pulse shot up from the cluster, firing away into the morning sky. Another pulse boomed outward, and Trix saw Remi put his arm over his visor. She closed her eyes as a third thunderclap sounded, seeing a pillar of light behind her eyelids. The cacophony subsided as quickly as it had begun, leaving a ringing in Trix's ears.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I would guess that was a coded communication, sent in bursts," Ida replied to Remi.

"Why was it so loud?" Trix groaned, clutching her head and blinking.

"I think that it might have a long way to travel. Maybe longer than you both had to travel here. I think that those pulses are going somewhere far away, where there are many more of those aliens.

"Shit," Remi said. "I hope we didn't make things worse. Terra-33 is already crowded enough with angry aliens."

"Maybe he just wanted to let them know that we're here?" Trix offered.

"I'm pretty sure that he was calling for backup."

The dome began shifting again, quieter this time, or at least that's how it seemed to Trix. That could be due to the ringing in her ears though. The communications array sank back into silence and relatively calm luminescence. As the whole thing settled back to its previous position, a door they hadn't recognized as such opened across the dome from them. Robotic defenders came pouring into the room, at least five of them fanning out quickly on their fast-moving balls.

"Move!"

Remi's shout was punctuated by the booming of his rifle. Trix turned and ran back down the corridor, shifting behind the cover of the 90 degree turn. She raised her Chanet and sighted past Remi as he cleared her line of fire. She let a magazine go, bullets tearing down the hallway in seconds, ripping into lights and bouncing off the mechanical fighters. Trix ducked back just in time as a return volley of green orbs and purple lasers lit the hall, scoring the wall to her left with burns and divots.

"Anyone got any mines left?"

"I've got this," Ida said, handing Trix a packet of putty explosives.

"Oooh!"

Trix flicked on the receiver and didn't bother shaping the rectangular charge. She put it on the floor and when the enemy firing ceased, she slid it as hard as she could down the hall. Trix popped her head around and was just in time to press the detonator.

The robots blew into chucks of metal and flashing circuitry as the explosives ripped through the hall. Trix smiled broadly, her breather mask tugging at her cheeks.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked.