Pegasus in Chains (RV VI), Chapter 8
Inspired by the poem Pegasus in Pound by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I’ve decided on the title of Pegasus in Chains for the sixth book in the Reckless Faith series, at least until I think of something better. In the meantime, chapter 8 is complete, and can be found below.
Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/
The sun had just set behind a distant mountain range in the west, and those waiting at the boundary to the Saffron Exclusion Zone were glad to be dressed warmly. This was easily accomplished since the mercs had donned their combat armor suits, and the contingents from the Fox and the Bellatrix were wearing their EVA suits, though sans helmets at the moment. They had also retrieved their rifles from their shuttles, as according to the locals, they would almost certainly need them.
Following the coordinates provided to them by their hired guide, they proceeded on foot east from the spaceport for about three miles. The high desert terrain didn’t change while they traveled, but did take on an ominous feel once the sun went down. At that point the boundary to the Zone was easy to spot, as they arrived at a manned checkpoint. Two soldiers from the Vastus Military Force were there, and asked their business. When Marcon simply said they were waiting for someone, the soldiers went back into their shack and ignored them.
Not long after that, a Z’Sorth wearing a leather trench coat appeared from the south, trailing behind him a shaggy pack animal with a porcine snout and long, swept back horns. Strapped to its back was a burlap bundle, along with what appeared to be an entire kitchen’s worth of cooking utensils. The Z’Sorth was mostly dark blue in color, though its scales glinted of silver in the vestiges of the dying daylight. Eva happened to be closest to him, so she approached first.
“I take it you’re our guide?” she asked.
“Igamu,” came the blurted reply.
The Z’Sorth shuffled around the group and toward the checkpoint. Since Eva’s translator hadn’t offered her any meaning to the statement, she had to assume it was his name.
“Chatty fellow,” said Vecky, cradling her Phalanx in her arms.
Igamu spoke to the soldiers, then gestured roughly back at the group.
“I guess we’re good to go,” said Cane.
Though she was in good physical condition, Eva was hoping their guide would show up with a ground vehicle. Their recon had showed them that it was nine miles to the scientific center, and ten miles to the canyon. Still, that was only a three-hour walk. The group began to walk past the guard shack, and one of the soldiers held up his hand.
“Since you people are obviously looking to cause trouble,” he began, “we’re going to require an additional contribution.”
“What did you have in mind?” growled Marcon.
“One set of combat armor, a plasma rifle, or one of those space suits.”
“Would you be happy with a combustion weapon instead?” asked Eva.
The guard glanced at the AK-74 strapped to her back. “Where am I going to get ammunition for that thing?”
“You can have my suit,” said Jim, and began to remove it.
“You might as well go back to the spaceport without that,” said Talyn. “Unless someone’s got another closed-cycle respiratory device they haven’t mentioned.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Jim passed off the suit, and the soldiers went back into the shack. Igamu gestured impatiently, and they resumed walking.
“Are you sure you still want to come?” asked Marcon. “I’m sure we’ll be fine without you.”
“Jokes on them, I’m an android. I was only wearing that in case someone needed a replacement.”
Marcon laughed lowly. “Let’s hope that doesn’t end up happening.”
Once it was clear that the soldiers weren’t going to mess with them any further, Marcon arranged the group in a double-wedge formation, with himself at the center. He placed Alsade on point, behind Igamu and his beast, and Helvetios on rear security. This arrangement was vaguely familiar to Eva, having received some infantry training from the CIA. The road turned to the northeast, and they set off.
The next hour went by without incident. The sky was clear, and the stars shined brightly. The only sounds were their footfalls, and the chirping of avian life unseen to the naked eye. They arrived at a small town, its buildings completely dark, with the main road offering a foreboding passage through its center. The team knew of its location, and Marcon had asked Igamu for a risk assessment. The Z’Sorth had only said that it was deserted, and of no concern. However, upon arrival, they caught a whiff of a campfire somewhere nearby. Since their guide showed no sign of stopping, Marcon halted the formation and walked up to him.
“It smells like someone is around,” he began. “Are you sure you want to march right through the center of town?”
“Caravaners,” came the curt reply. “Not hostile.”
“That may be, but I’d rather divert around the town if it’s all the same to you.” Igamu merely grunted, so Marcon went back to his spot. “Alsade, give me an azimuth north. We’ll skirt around the town. Should only add about thirty minutes to our trip.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, and accessed the HUD on her visor.
As predicted, it took the team about half an hour to bypass the town, having never spotted a campfire or anyone who might have built one. Meeting back up with the main road, they continued northeast. About an hour later, they became aware of a low hum in the distance, and the road began to descend into what they knew was a gentle valley. Soon, the hum resolved itself into the rush of a westerly wind, a force that continued to grow in power as they progressed. By the time they reached a notable crossroads, the wind was constant at nearly twenty miles per hour. A street sign lay face-down in the road, but Igamu revealed its message.
“Science place, one mark,” he said, pointing to the road to the north, then to the east. “Saffron Canyon, two marks. Do not contact me again.”
With that, the Z’Sorth turned himself and his animal around, and lurched back the way they’d come. Since they could barely hear him over the wind, those that hadn’t yet donned their helmets retrieved them from their rucksacks and did so. Vecky led her people on a comm check, then they confirmed a good connection with everyone else. As planned, they headed north.
Other than the wind constantly pushing on them from the west, the terrain continued to make for easy travel, though the road’s surface was becoming increasingly deteriorated. After about thirty minutes, the road winded around a small hillock, and the research center came into view at the center of the valley. It was a monolithic block of a building, five stories tall, and about two hundred meters on each side. It was situated next to a small river, which ran the length of the valley. Though the river to the west of the building was flanked with vegetation, such flora thinned out just before the structure and was nonexistent to the east. Alsade must have taken that as a clue to start scanning, and she spoke.
“Radiation levels are slightly elevated compared to a minute ago, but not even remotely dangerous. For now.”
“Good,” replied Marcon. “Keep an eye on it. Let’s approach upwind of the building. Switch to infrared if you haven’t already.”
Eva’s interface with her suit was her PDA, so she pulled it out and activated the infrared function of her helmet. The terrain lit up accordingly, and the sky glowed with millions of previously-unseen stars.
“Holy shit, are you seeing this?”
Vecky’s comment brought her attention back toward the building. Her jaw dropped, as it was impossible not to notice a bright shaft of shimmering, shifting light emanating from the center of the structure, piercing the veil of darkness and seeming to escape the atmosphere itself. She double-checked her PDA, only to find that whatever force was causing the vibrant eruption wasn’t showing up in her scans.
“I’m not getting anything here,” said Alsade, her eyes on her own PDA.
“Nothing from me,” said Cane.
“What could be causing that?” asked Laurent.
“Probably a result of whatever caused this catastrophe in the first place,” replied Jim. “Gamma radiation from a particular source, having breached its containment, would be a directed energy. If that breach was upward, then it might look like this.”
Eva raised her eyebrow and looked at him. “Do you know more about the disaster than you’re letting on?”
“No, it’s just a plausible explanation for what we’re seeing. Proceed with caution, everyone.”
The team left what remained of the roadway, and began to flank to the west. They rounded what was a large parking lot, and turned to the north. As they drew near to the west side of the building, they spotted the burned-out remains of five armored personnel carriers of unknown design. Marcon gestured for the team to spread out, and they got in a line, focusing their attention straight ahead. Moving at a measured pace, it wasn’t long before they found several corpses; the tattered uniforms that hung loosely from their desiccated flesh matched those of the soldiers back at the cordon. Any other evidence as to what had caused their demise had long since faded away into dust.
“Fire team Alpha, check the northwest corner of the building,” began Marcon. “Bravo, secure that entrance.”
Alsade, Eva, Vecky, Cane, and Talyn moved north until they reached a large patio area, overlooking the river, while Marcon, Helvetios, Laurent, and Jim approached the largest doorway on the west side of the building. Finding nothing, Eva’s team came back. A set of double doors had once been in place at this entrance, but now one lay on the ground and the other was nowhere to be found. The dark maw of a wide hallway into the first floor seemed to beckon them forward. Marcon nodded, and Alsade activated an IR illuminator on her helmet. She moved inside, the stock of her rifle tucked tightly into her shoulder. Eva and Vecky were fast on her heels, but stopped as soon as they crossed the threshold. They could both feel their hair rising off their skin, as if a cold breeze had just washed over them.
“Can you feel that?” breathed Vecky.
“I can,” murmured Eva.
“What are you two on about?” asked Cane.
“It’s just like when I was transported to Earth,” said Vecky.
Eva nodded. “And when I watched you go. The fabric of our beings touching the skein of the Kira’To.”
“Now is not the time to get freaked out by your own superstitions,” said Marcon.
“After everything that happened at the Swan, you still think both the Adherents and the Cygnians were just religious nuts?”
“I don’t know, I was just there to do a job. I couldn’t have cared less what was motivating everyone to kill each other. Is this going to be a problem?”
“To me, it just feels like the hint of an old memory, nothing more.”
“I’ll be fine,” added Vecky.
“And I assure you, the Kira’To are very much real. What constitutes that reality, however, is up for debate.”
Marcon grunted. “Clear as mud, thanks.”
Alsade said, “Ambient radiation is up to 125 pfligents, nothing our suits can’t handle.”
Eva checked her PDA for a measurement she could understand. Her own device was showing 500 milliSieverts, which would be a minimal risk to a human as long as they didn’t take up residence in the hallway. She activated the IR illuminator on her Phalanx, and began to poke around. A few feet down the hallway, there were sets of sliding doors on either side. Shining their lights through the windows set in the doors revealed nothing but grime and more darkness. Marcon gestured toward the room on the left.
“Move in, nice and slow,” he said.
“Adeler, get on that side,” began Alsade. “Venator, Kitsune, you’re up.”
Eva and Alsade each grabbed one side of the doors, and wrenched them open. Cane and Vecky swept inside, with the first two women fast on their heels. They found themselves on a landing above a cavernous area, with a set of stairs leading down one floor. Cane and Vecky took a knee, their rifles poised over the railing, while Eva and Alsade moved down the stairs and took up positions at the bottom. Thanks to their illuminators and visual enhancements in their helmets, they could see the limits of the space, if not every corner. It was a laboratory, two stories in height, and appeared to take up the entire northwest corner of the building. At first glance, it was impossible to determine the purpose of the lab, as it had been thoroughly ransacked at some point.
“In place,” said Alsade.
Marcon and the rest of the team came in, and together they all methodically cleared the room. It quickly became clear that anything of value had already been stripped, and what machinery and equipment that had been left behind was smashed beyond recognition. Eva ended up next to a shallow pool of water near one of the corners, and scanned it with her PDA.
“I’m detecting alpha radiation from this water, with an energy of 5.5 MeV. This is consistent with the decay of element 95241, which itself is a decay product of element 94. So they must have been experimenting with one or both of those.”
“We already know they were using element 94 in their research,” replied Jim.
“I find it strange that someone went through the trouble of destroying this equipment,” began Cane. “Why risk illness or death on vandalism for entertainment purposes?”
“It could have been done by the employees here, upon given the evacuation order,” said Talyn.
“That would make more sense.”
Marcon said, “From what we were able to learn on the ‘net, they had very little time to get out, let alone attempt to preserve corporate secrets. I sense something more sinister happened here.”
“Our armor, and your EVA suits, are top-of-the-line,” said Alsade. “If whoever did this didn’t have adequate protection, it would have been suicide.”
“We’re all committing suicide, just with different timing. Come on, let’s keep moving.”
The team explored the room across the hall, which was a mirror of the first. The situation there was much the same, although they also discovered a tablet-size PDA among the wreckage. Jim declared that it was salvageable, though it would take some time to restore its contents. He stuffed it into his rucksack for consideration later. Moving further down the hallway, they were stymied by gamma rays emanating from a point in a lower floor.
“Jim, is something you can withstand?” asked Marcon.
Jim shook his head. “Not for long. My circuits would be scrambled within minutes.”
“Adeler, any chance you can determine the origin?”
Eva frowned, and scrutinized her PDA. “These readings are strange. I’m seeing positron emissions consistent with isotope 93244, but the gamma rays are from another source. Though it suggests spontaneous fission, I’m not getting an exact match with anything in my database.”
“It seems to me that the scientists working here got too ambitious with their experiments, and unleashed something hell itself couldn’t contain.”
“Weren’t you just saying not to let our superstitions get the best of us?”
“I was being poetic.”
“Fair enough. From what I can tell, even if we find a way to this phenomenon’s origin point, it would be fatal to investigate it further. My recommendation is that we withdraw to a safe distance, set up camp for the rest of the night, and proceed to Saffron Canyon City in the morning.”
“I agree. We’ve all been awake for far too long. Perhaps Jim might be able to find something useful on that tablet in the meantime. Let’s withdraw to the parking lot. Everyone stay alert.”
The team made their way out of the building, and got as far as the wrecked APCs before Alsade barked an alert.
“We’ve got company,” she said, unlimbering her plasma rifle.
From the east, kicking up dust that was immediately carried away by the wind, a convoy of trucks approached. Upon reaching the parking lot, they spread out in a line, revealing seven wheeled vehicles. The team took cover behind the APCs, and watched as about two dozen humanoid dismounted and surveyed the area. They had rifles, or other long arms, but at the distance of a hundred or so meters, no other detail could be discerned.
“I guess we got the attention of the welcome committee,” whispered Talyn.
A lone figure broke off from the group and walked ahead. He seemed to know exactly where the team was, and shouted at them.
“Interlopers,” he began. “You have defiled the sacred ground of the Kira’To. Surrender, and your deaths will be swift. Otherwise you will know suffering reserved only for the most egregious traitors!”
“What was it you said about committing suicide?” asked Helvetios, smirking.
“They must think we’re common thieves,” replied Marcon. “Everyone choose your target, left to right. I’ll initiate fire.”
Marcon didn’t hesitate, laying down a brilliant swath of blue plasma toward the right flank of the new arrivals. A split-second later, the rest of the team began firing, with the Phalanxes adding several decibels of an ear-splitting cacophony to the valley floor. The strangers replied with a fusillade of projectile weapons, the bullets of which either caromed off of the APCs, kicked up dust in the parking lot, or found their way into the murky depths of the river. Some of them attempted a flanking maneuver towards the building, but were easily cut down in the open terrain. Just as quickly as it had begun, the action was over, and the team suffered no casualties. Marcon spoke again.
“Bravo team, move up. Alpha team, watch our backs.”
Marcon and his fire team cleared the parking lot, and found and disarmed one survivor. The others, once they were sure they weren’t being flanked, joined Marcon and set up a perimeter. Talyn grabbed his medical kit, and attended to the lone survivor. He had been struck by a round from a Phalanx in the abdomen, so Talyn applied a pressure dressing. Though he was displaying the professionalism of a soldier, the others couldn’t help notice the appearance of the man. A native Vastusian, his flesh bore many piercings, some of which were still weeping blood at the point of puncture. He also showed signs of radiation poisoning, including blisters all over his body. Despite his care, Talyn couldn’t help but rupture some of them as he attempted to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound. He was muttering something unintelligible, until Marcon grabbed him by the neck.
“Captain, wait,” objected Talyn, dropping his bandage before he could secure it.
“What happened here?” asked Marcon.
“Interlopers,” wheezed the man. “You have defiled this holy place.”
“Holy to whom? Answer, and we will treat you.”
“The Illuminated Path, the true children of the Kira’To.”
Though she recoiled at the sight of him, Eva drew closer. “What do you know of the Kira’To?”
“Their presence was revealed to us here. This is their sanctuary. Only those of true belief can approach it.”
“Did the Kira’To give you a name?”
The man laughed, then coughed. “They have no names. No more than the galaxy itself…”
His eyes rolled back into his head, and he stopped breathing.
“He’s lost too much blood,” said Talyn. “There’s nothing more I can do.”
“And here I thought we had exhausted our supply of Kira’To lunatics,” said Vecky.
“I’m not so sure that’s what’s going on here,” said Eva.
“I really don’t care right now,” said Marcon. “Let’s withdraw to the hillock we passed on the way here. We’ll set up camp on the leeward side and search the rest of the research center in the morning. If we don’t find what we’re looking for, we’ll proceed to Saffron Canyon. Any objections?”
There were none, so the team arranged themselves in the previous marching order, and headed back toward the road. Vecky looked at Eva, the older woman’s expression inscrutable behind the visor of her helmet.
“You don’t think the Kira’To are actively involved here?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Something about this whole situation feels different from what we encountered on the Eagle and the Swan. I mean, I felt what you felt back there in the hallway, but it felt more like a distant memory. I’m not sure how else to describe it, except it lacked the same urgency as before.”
“I guess I can agree. I’ve never been too confident in my connections with them. I always felt like I was just as soon telling you about a dream I had last night, as opposed to actual missives from those beings.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
