I_L: Chapter 3

 

The Inspector tapped the glass of her window. The warpspace field of the Project Station was, from what she understood, derived from studies of the same tachyon phenomenon that's reputation had recently incarcerated her partner. It was distinctly faster than the transport corridors of the Convoy realms, more of a speedy suit than that temporally-choked shipment highway. Her mind drifted back to Baron and his parting words. Now as some ridiculous replacement, the group sitting on the couch and checking through the Station's fridge were now her stooges. The room descended with slight-stairs in a circle and the ceiling went back up in a smooth done, giving way to the spherical shape of the field and the materials contained within it. Her new workspace, to take on the go anywhere among the stars. The furnished room could be transferred at faster than light speeds throughout the galaxy, but every single transfer required a boorish set of approvals and red tape, atleast in Noelle's opinion. Even with soft pastel furniture and cabinets, a chandelier and her own office room, toilet and amenities, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was a prison, one she'd have to take everywhere she went. She spotted Ragnor and Vengeance arm wrestling while Hawk and Theabelle made bets, cheering the two on. Thea noticed Noelle eyeing her and tiptoed over, leaning over the couch to scope what was going on with the sturdy Inspector.

"What's wrong? Isn't this place nice?" Theabelle squeaked. Still, the high pitch in her voice somewhat more confident than when they'd first met.

Noelle looked around the Project Station, complimentary drink synthesizer being utilized by Blackbox who was overflowing their cup with pitch-black coffee, and yet the spilled over liquid seemed to only flow along her hands going nowhere in particular.

 

 

"It's great. Bigger than my old office." She said, trying to fake a smile. "How'd someone as cute as you get a position on a place like this?"

"Oh, you know, I was some silly old thing.. " Thea scratched her head. "A bounty hunter. I think? Some men in suits approached me to come work for Asteroid Mining security for abit. Lavalites and all that.. then last month I got an offer for a new venture and, here I am!"

"Really?" Noelle paused, catching the significance of those last few words. "Last month?"

Her big 'heroic rescue' was only a week ago.

 

"Yep!" Theabelle said, dancing her head abit joyfully. "Are you worried for the robo man?"

Thea's words were so casual it almost took her speech patterns and timbre of voice for Noelle to think they were real.

"He was my partner, I've known him long enough. He'll be fine." Noelle folded her arms.

Sashaying down, Meeks glared her slits towards her new 'boss' and put her arms around Thea. "I told you, they're among us. They're always hiding in plain sight, watching, observing, trying to infiltrate and steal everything we ever built." She huffed.

"Who?" Theabelle practically held her breath to ask.

 

 

 

 

"The 'Valites. Or the Tectnoids, same diff. They've been known to come through the Cascade and sneak 'fore. Why wouldn't they now?" She said, the rasp of her voice sounding as if hissing at the Inspector.

"At any rate." The Merchant said in her sing-song soprano voice. "They cannot let him go until they've run a full investigation. We've got other more pressing boots to fill than thinking about his." The evasion of every expression she made irritated Noelle like nothing else, as if her words were as light as air and evaded any meaning or sincerity she could find at all.

"Very questionable" Brick said, throwing a towel over his back and joining the group with the other two sized units.

"What's next?" Noelle asked, looking to The Merchant. "For our first assignment." The Merchant cleared her throat.

"To investigate A.I.M. mining company operations across all of the regions it provides influence over, after recent striking incidents have led to member complaints. The usual dismissals at G.H.O.S.T. have sowed doubts in company goodwill to keep working operations safe, so they need further investigation. That's you and the Xi Consortium, which chooses representatives to the dispute table. A.I.M. doesn't directly hire the Consortium, but it doesn't go

against it either so they have no problem agreeing to someone to write-off that they did.

 

G.H.O.S.T is a little bit more stand-offish so expect the same. So, no direct contact will be made, but we'll just find the companies involved with anyone in a position of public ownership here!" She slid her finger over some documents, the oddity of nothing lighting up or popping into view a novelty for a few.

"There we go! Garmite Industries on Mars, goody. We'll stop there and check the place out. Noelle will check out the miners while I smooth things over with the representatives. The Merchant Guild will host our little teatime."

"Why you? Why them?" Meeks asked looking over.

 

"Well, I'm technically part of the Xi Consortium as a third-party. They know we're not going to be too hard on the operation of their contracts. Merchant Guild members are known to be, shifty, you know the funny saying how you want someone unbiased? Well we're kinda the inverse of that.. They know we're self-interested." She waved a folder in front of her face like a fan. "If business doesn't bloom between big corpa, our dollar bills wilt. Ohohohooo!"

Everyone gave pause as she fixed her hood over the top of her mask. Thea sighed. "Better the devil you know, I suppose."

Blackbox flipped through their pocket Compt."I'll make some calls to Earthside Lot, find out what deals Garmite has. They need some extra minerals for export, and they might know something we don't."

"Okay thank you. I'm going to make sure all the major transportation routes are kept clear for you and no one interferes with the investigation. We don't want the environmental nerds at

E.E.D snooping around." Ragnor added. "Will help with that! Lottta paperwork."

 

 

 

 

It was a short ride to Mars.. about 3 nanoseconds to transport the Project Station and 30 minutes to set out all preparations and clearances to be allowed to dock-in. The world seemed to hang above them, a bright shining light in the red sky. Tall stacks of sail-like architecture kept the seedy city of Vendas afloat for an endless barrage of aerial traffic, cargo and shipments from the northern hemisphere devoid of anyone lacking a coffer to stuff. The air on Mars was so thin it stung your lungs and was so dry and cold it was a wonder it didn't freeze the land beneath. But, the first step the colonizers took towards terraforming it and changing it into a livable world had warmed it considerably. From the far distance massive saplings had grown hundreds of kilometers high, from the soil to the bio-engineered atmosphere, but these were but seedlings.

Interior to the city-stacks was a hollow core where a full grown tree once stood, the cities beams and decks were built around them and they were mined for their bio-mass afterwards. Many of the leathery-appearing sails and wooded structures decorating the rustic parts of the city were built from the wood of the tree itself. The most massive of rounded disc-like desks formed bazaars radiant with golden paint, keeping the city warm with gilded roads for all kinds.

Noelle and the group stepped out of the pod now positioned on a giant platform over a citydeck, the Merchant greeting three individuals standing with their hands folded neatly.

Standing about 3’4 was a young looking girl with a dazzling hoop shaped disco-dress and teal hair matching her sheened tights and gloves, her body appeared to flicker and Noelle recognized her vaguely enough as a Popstar rather famed on Venus.

“I’m Rosalita, the bigwigs at G.H.O.S.T. send me when tiny woopsies like this flare up!” Noelle was taken back, she turned her head and saw an automated cart with three latex-bodied sacks inside projecting the girl.

“They sent a, child? A celebrity?” Rosalia pouted. “Technically I’m 3, AI-syntegration with the pop scene is really catching on! Besides who do you expect them to send to deal with these hard-hatted babies or scarved mercs?” She fluttered her hand in dismissal, revealing diamonds studded into her fingernails. The other woman wore a labcoat, a simple dark ponytail and a red waist-belt. She appeared pragmatic and plain by comparison, gently shaking Noelle’s hand. “Dr. Dessner. I’m a Biomedical expert at an A.I.M. pharmaceutical company that also specializes in maintaining life support systems. We work closely with Garmite mining due to various health concerns.”

“Hm?” Noelle peered around abit. “There wasn’t any news of a life support failure in the report.”

“Yes, I know. They tend to make do with scruffles like this.. gives plenty of breathing room for the sharks.”

Behind her, a feminine figure clad in beige stretch fabrics from head to toe left only her avian eyes exposed, wings pouched into the tight immaculate material which left her somewhat lanky and shapeless.

“And that’s.. Well they’re nameless. The Merchant Guild’s watchful eyes are rather mysterious no?” The Merchant told her. Noelle looked around the dock crowd to see many others dressed similarly, some with scarves or varying ragged accessories. “She won’t say or do anythin, just kinda observe. That’s why I’m here to take care of business anyway. I’ve got this side of business with Rosalita taken care of. Now, why don’t you hop in the H0TSP0T with Dessner and check on the dirt and rabble? What do you say, feel up to being a Canary today?”

Noelle flicked her arms away. “Be back at Noon, we’ll have this dispute figured out. Don’t make a scene." “Tsk, such a bore! The last inspector took me out for Icecream atleast.” Rosalita made gagging gestures and pointed towards Noelle.

“Sooo, she’s taking on her first job, huh?” Dr. Desner whispered to The Merchant as she looked over her.

“Yeah, but with the way she moves and talks, she’s one of us.” The Merchant patted her on the shoulder.

The H0TSP0T was a massive ship to make the journey to the docks and dock it. There were many other ships, each owned and operated by one of The Merchant’s friends or business associates. There were also smaller, more privately owned ships docked along the docks. Noelle found the H0TSP0T quite intimidating in its size, looking almost atleast as big as some of the small towns on the city-stacks.

There were several doors, all guarded by The Merchant's men, and some of them were unlocked so the two could board the H0TSP0T. She was ushered in one of the unlocked doors and escorted inside where Dr. Desner was waiting. Vengence, Brick, Hawk and Thea went

exploring some of the ship's facilities after hopping aboard and the ship's ion propulsion systems set it towards the Garmite mining regions. Desner operated some visuals.

“You’re a bit roughed up,” Dr. Desner commented.

 

Noelle looked at her. "I was attacked when celebrating my own promotion."

 

"I'm sure you weren't left in the worst shape, but that's a good start. You need to take better care of yourself, you know.

A holographic map of the mines floated up from the panel, Noelle and Dr. Desner could see the exact location of the Garmite incident. The H0TSP0T appeared as a small dot on the hologram, and a cloudy red-cluster appeared in the holographic tunnels.

"The other day section 17831UI-B87 of the south-west sector experienced a tunneling collapse. There were no fatalities outside damage of mechanical equipment. Such incidents aren't too uncommon in this line of work, however what's weird is the company's response, with their lack of progress in such a short time and the fact that they're making no attempt at all to rescue anyone, only word of staff repairing the damaged equipment."

"Cold hearted bastards only care about their profits and aren't known for their sympathy.

 

What's new?" Noelle leaned on her hand abit and looked away, flicking her hair in a mild- manner.

"Well for starters it's a huge liability. Deep-core mining provides the Nitridium that stabilizes warpspace vessels, and trained highly specialized miners and engineers take weeks to replace. Losing that would be such a uptick setback to the Convoy realms that G.H.O.S.T. would

have a fit at an A.I.M. company costing them this kind of business. It'd be enough to put the whole company under, or have an Xi committee revoke their independence."

Desner closed the hologram, seeing the mining fields coming into distance across the domed window panels in half the room. "Secondly, A.I.M. hasn't gotten any reports from the section managers or leadership on this. It's just been the workers throwing a fit."

"A coverup maybe?" Noelle suggested.

 

"If they were trying to cover it up, they'd have atleast hushed off their staff with bribes, that doesn't seem to be the case." The ship slowly landed on a rugged patch of soil with vegetation breezing across, dandelions crushed atop the vessel's haul.

"At any rate, we'll figure out what's been keeping them held up." The doctor lead Noelle to the exit hatch, who turned around to see the group peaking shortly behind from the hatch ramp. "Everyone, stay in the ship. I'll handle things from here. If any problems arise let me know." The inspector said, seeing on their faces that they weren't the happiest with that order. "Noelle.. I mean Boss." Theabelle peaked her head forward from Brick's shoulders.

"With all do respect. I don't think that's a good idea. We should at least see how their doing!" She said. "We could come in handy for something."

"They're just Miners. Please, stay back. I'll deal with this.” The inspector said, trying to reassure her team that she had the situation under control.

⍟

With the hatch closed and the two departed, the group went back up the ramp. Noelle and Desner boarded a small motorcycle and after a quiet dusty short trip, drove a mile to the chrome entrance of a massive shaft atop a large hill. "This is Doctor Desner.”

They knocked twice, waiting in eerie silence before that too was cut by the loud, scraping creak of the entrance pushing it's lock upwards, letting them both in. A fennec in a thick rubber hazmat suit coated in black tarry grease waved with an electrical lantern in hand and instructed them to follow. Through the smell of dirt in the air and acidic reek of old, hot metal, Noelle followed behind the other two into the tunnel. The effluvium had her covering her nose, before going down a shaft with the three and dropping into the main work bay. A flowing river underneath was occupied by heavy clunky equipment, drills and industrial stacks and attended to by a busybody of similarly hazmat-ted figures.

"There's a lot going on right now, but we can get right to it. Doctor Desner asked for the site where the collapsing machinery is going to be dug up. They're in a cave that's been cut into the hill. That'll take a few hours, then we can go down to have a look," The Fennec told the crowd, who all seemed to be looking at the two like a pair of agitators.

"We don't have a few hours. Me and the doctor will go alone to see the incident. We'd need another team to be ready when we get there, Where's your supervisor? Why hasn't the company announced or made any news of this incident?" Noelle interrogated the one who'd brought them here, hand on hip.

"Our supervisor's office is in that tower, but they made it urgent that-" Noelle ignored his urging and stormed up a grate of metallic stairs, workboots clanging as she did so. Within no

time at all she knocked on a door repeatedly, only to fail to get a response. Eventually the doctor caught up to her to see her smash her foot into the door, smiling to her other.

"Maybe we should be more diplomatic?" The doc shrugged.

 

The door went flying open. "If you wanna dip, that's on you." Noelle headed in.

 

A man in a lay slain on his chair, a large hole in his chest and the aftermath of incendiary burns lighting the room in a quiet disarray. His tie flatly over his chin, tiny trickle of blood out his mouth.

While the doctor shook her head, Noelle checked the digital records. "Looks like he was trying to the word out, atleast. Still, doesn't quite explain why if the staff had to inform about the incident first the company would be hush about it."

Desner looked over at a bottle of fallen pills by his side. "Sodium-UltraNitrates? These are.. prescribed for aquatic macrolife. A single one would be too much.."

"Did they commit suicide, or try to? Doesn't seem like it from the looks on their chest." Noelle inspected the blast mark.

"No signs of vomiting or stiff paralysis, muscle contractions, so I doubt it."

 

"Maybe someone wanted him to take them? And when he didn't.." The doctor's deductions weighed on Noelle's mind and they looked at one another. "Let's go check out the incident site."

⍟

The two went out back to the crowd, whom seemed irate upon the morbid discover. One of them butted their oversized head at Noelle. “Just great, so they sent a coverup team. Gotta bury the bodies right?” The heavy padding of their suit and mask hid much expression at all, leaving all of the emotion conveyed by voice. “We’re not here to coverup anything. Could you show us to the tunnel where the incident occurred?” Noelle could see an entire wall of bodies forming from the suited workforce, gathering in droves and huddling side by side against the two like linebackers.

“Why, so you can further sabotage our work? What are you, a G.H.O.S.T agent? N.P.E. sent to make us behave?” A female voice yelled out, others echoing dissident in turn. The one who brought them here whispered behind them.

“I think you two should leave. They’ve had enough meddling lately..”

 

Noelle took out her Volt gun. “We are NOT leaving.” “I-inspector Noelle?” Dessner looked over. “Oh relax, it’s got a low voltage stun-function.” She squinted abit. “Dunno if it’s works against insulation tho..” the combination of oily suits and bodies huffing at them in squelched rubber made Noelle feel abit uneasy.

She received a beeping along her thigh and picked up her Comm. “Inspector Noelle here, come in.”

“We’ve got a bitty situation.” Theabelle squeaked. “What?” “Raiders. I think they caught wind that the company mine is in shambles right now, they’ve got a small battalion it looks like! They’re heading towards the Mine, the ship officers won’t let us pursue with the vessel or do anything. What do we do?”

“Well the first thing you need to do, is make sure you take care of that.. Ugh, waitasecond.” Dessner looked up at the crowd to see them charging towards the two angry. Noelle grabbed her by the arm and lead her back up the stairs, chased into the supervisor’s corpse-filled den and put a chair over the locked doorknob while the staff banged on the door.

“Like I said, you need to stall and take care of them. The Mine has some platforms and barriers they’d need to get past first, so don’t panic. Just try to negotiate and do what you can.” She eyed the room quickly, spotting an elevator exit inside the office. “Hey Doc. Any clue where the tunnel incident would be?”

Dessner was gasping and looking at the pounding door. “Uhh hold on a moment, they have facility layouts here..” She ran through the nearby computer and typed away, trying to ignore the crowd. “Okay got it!” Noelle rushed to the screen, the two cheek and cheek. "If you take the west-side cart from here it'll transport you to tunnel B87."

"Are you going to be able to calm down these fussy fanatics?"

 

"Yeah, trust me I've dealt with worse patients. You need to get down there."

 

"Kay but bit of advice?" She picked up a chart nearby. "Wear a helmet when you get down there, kk?"

Noelle took a deep breath, and nodded her head in acknowledgement. As she walked away, she thought it was the best plan. At least they were on the same side. "Good luck doc!" She opened the elevator and went down, its speed surpassing that of the crowd's momentum. As they continually tried to push through the door, Dessner took a deep breath and marched forward.

Noelle relaxed, everything falling out of view. She felt the tremors and shakes of the elevator system descending her a few hundred meters, before a hard 'stop' almost threw her off the stainless steel wall. Shaking herself back to focus, she went out into various caves marked only with blinking electronic signs.

She headed towards a tunnel to the west and hopped along a mechanical slider along a track. The drips of the Martian soil seemed to echo with eerie intent, as if inviting them deeper into the deepest crevices of the world and singing her a somber welcome. After the minutes ticked away, she arrived on an elevator cart specified. “B87. Here we go..” With a pull of a lever, Noelle accepted descending into the deep dark abyss.

⍟

 

Truly dark. For a moment or few. All the lights were out and electricity seemed to cease to flow past a certain point. But there was something else keeping a lit presence in the cave. As she looked down, a cyan blue glow started to light her downwards descent. “What in Xi?” She reached the bottom minutes later and hopped off, following the lit path. Several suited workers, seemingly the crew sent to manage and recover the equipment sat around, shaking and stranded, some without helmets and in a visible look of distress. Noelle rushed forward to help one up. “What happened here?” The female staffer shook, slow to turn her head and respond. “T-there was.. this big explosion, I don’t know it sounded like a missile.”

“A missile? When?” Noelle took a small cantina of water out of her pouch and offered it up. “Just yesterday. I thought we’d all evacuate but, we got orders to stay put, and to take care of the company property. Engineers came down and, well something else appeared and they didn’t come down..” The fear she expressed had her eyes darting back and forth mid-sentence.

It was clear the worker was worried but had seen nothing, and didn’t know where to begin. Noelle took back the offered cantina and turned to leave. “I don’t know,” she said looking over her shoulder, “but if that’s the case, I’ll make sure you get out of here.” She looked back at the group of workers and nodded, “Get yourselves in some helmets, it’s going to be a while before help can get here. For those of you that can, take the elevator and get out of here." The workers could only nod. One, sipping something foamy from a cantina tapped her on the shoulder.

"It was.." he coughed several times, Noelle helping him take off his headgear. "Yeah?"

"P.F.A." He uttered.

 

Noelle's heart skipped a beat. "No that's.. that cannot be. Even they wouldn't stupe to a petty act of terrorism like this." He eyed her, the scar on his eye having not healed in decades.

"Contact them and see. You'd be surprised." She had to help him walk about, his limp taking him only to a wheelchair where another worker could sit him.

"And what do you know about Paramor Frontia United?"

 

The gruff man took reached into his pockets and dazzled her with an ochre tinted arrowhead. The rare metal.. Oscine or "Song bird metal", was unmistakable, the craftsmenship. She put it to her ear, tapped it and the beautiful vibrations played like a melody to the simplest touch. "That, cannot be real.."

He placed it to her chest, the song the metal played flowing through her heart practically. "Only veterans are given these.. relics like me. Analyze and hold onto this, every Emblem the

PFA distributes has a wavelength that can be traced. You'll see, I know they're making a move soon. They'll never rest until Xi is destroyed."

He put the Arrowhead in her pocket as if she would need it again. As the ex-operative coughed, spitting up some mucus from a phlegmatic throat, another worker started to wheel him away. She watched him taken up the shaft as he said goodbye, knowing she would regret heeding his careless words.

As the workers left to the elevator, she looked over her shoulder and found that she was alone again, standing over waves of bright cyan light that seemed to rush by the area like a fading ocean wave though the air. The farther she went, the brighter it got. Dazzlingly bright, almost made Noelle feel a little festive actually. Something reminiscent, something whimsically lost, seemed to make Noelle lose herself for a minute, as if walking into a surrealist painting or entering a daydream. As she paced forward the light got so intense, it became a radiant collage before her of dancing diamond shapes and squares glittering in a row, rotating among the walls in a fantastic display.

Slowly the enchanting light dimmed, just enough for Noelle to see what she was looking at. She was in some wide chamber with, a house? Not just any house, one that was anachronistic. It had conspicuously old-fashioned panels and windows, a pastel pink apparition appearing right before her eyes. Like some kind of doll house, juxtaposed with the grime and murky soil around it, even patches of green grew around its shape across the ground. Something appeared to be falling from the ceiling, pale white motes that blew about and nipped Noelle’s pores to the touch. Noelle looked up, and past these tiny dots, like cold pixels raining from seemingly nowhere, was the source of the cyan tint.

“Tectonids?” The large creatures appeared to be a crustacean variant, parading in decorated rows and patterns along the walls with gleaming shells. They all moved in sync, sending shimmery patterns of light cast on the house and across Noelle’s frosted cheeks. Briefly, her lips pulsed red and eyes started to water, trying to fight the spirals forming in in her pupils and the dizziness that came with it. The inspector shook her head and went to peak into the window of the house, seeing an old fashioned scene of a fireplace, some wrapped boxes on a vinyl couch, and even an inflated coconut tree. It was rather, odd she felt to say the least, her concentration broken when she saw a few wading figures behind her in arm mitts and aprons.

Noelle turned around.

 

“You’re here! We’re so glad, it’s almost time.” The woman held various dishes or boxes, they were in retro outfits with curled hair, squeaky rubber kitchen-gloves and clacking heels.

Their faces were oddly reflective aswell, as if merged with their aprons and skirts and they stood with a blissful, vapid smile that stretched red-painted lips. “What the, how did you-” She backed away. “What’s almost time?”

One laughed heartily, shaking with a red latex sweater covered with little white and pink stars next to Rudolph. Noelle didn’t believe what she was seeing.

"You're almost home!" She said.

 

They giggled and moved towards the inspector. Their eyes, a dull yellow full of spirals, were all the same. The orb-like march of creatures overhead seemed to speed up, while the strange women's giggling got louder, the clacking of their heels got closer. They were standing next to her close enough for one to smell their perfume, and Noelle backed away, shaking.

 

 

 

“This is your home, Miss. You are safe."

 

Noelle squinted at the one addressing her. There was an oddly faded mark on her shiny apron, one she'd seen on the staff before. "Wait, you're the engin-" An explosion from the ceiling threw her off and had her covering her ears, the strange women all scattered in a hurry.

The Inspector caught the incident only in the aftermath. An expanding fireball along the luminary display sent the bugs scattering in a screeching hurry. She turned around to see a new combatant approaching her. Hulking, armored, face hidden behind a sleek visor with two horn- shaped antennas on the side. Clad in fuchsia with scarlet decals and shoulderblades, the plates layered and suggested untold levels of refinement, protecting whoever lay underneath. The faintest catch of the entity’s bodily rhythm was all it took for Noelle to see this was not a synthetic or mechanized drone but someone shielded to the 9s.

They raised up their arm, a singular blast furnace of neon-pink light concentrating into the shape of a spiraling chasm built into their left side. The light, like a roaring star was aimed directly towards them. "Holy s-"

She leapt, or some part of her, some instinct leapt as the beam sped towards her, engulfing everything in its path with daylight. She'd just barely dodged its cinders, but when she pulled herself off the floor, the smell of kerosene and electrons danced in a hazy, ashen smell.

The sound of thunder from the shot still had her ears numb, she opened sore eyes to look at the building behind her.

Ex-Building.

The beam had uprooted the ground and left a massive crater sizzling with sparks, without a trace of the decorous property.

"You bastard! What the hell are you trying to pull?" Taking out her Volt pistols, Noelle began to rain fire on the armored husk in front of her. Trickles of electricity and plasma pitter- pattered across their armor, like raindrops before fading out ineffectively. "Wait a second.. they said some kind of explosion caused the Mining collapse? Are you the one that caused this incident?"

They raised their cannon again, marching forward. A death march, an approach signaling the intent of an executioner's axe. Noelle could hear the horrific engine of the cannon's furnace starting up again, ready to reduce her to bits and lights like the remains of the building. With no effect from her Volt gun, Noelle ran forward and tackled the armored sentry, slamming her hand into its visor.

"Owowow.." She shook her hand, although it had slid them both a few meters forward, tumbling over. They stood up and held Noelle by the neck, pointing their cannon at Noelle's face. She could see the beam growing brighter with each spiral, the ambition of Xi's starkest engineers couldn't replicate its horrific gleam. Noelle closed her eyes and eyes and awaited the light.

She was instead thrown back, the armored fighter instead tackled back. "Hm?" It was, a Tectonid? They were wrestling a tectonid to the ground, trying to keep its pincers and tendrils at bay. Their beam reduced it to vapors, but another rushed to their side in assault, and then a third, then a tenth and so on. Noelle watched as the entire swarm seemed to dogpile onto Noelle's mysterious assailant. She looked down, sighting growing fissures of color across the ground, spreading fast - tachyon activity. Noelle recognized it, it was just like the rapid phenomenon

back on the ship, the cracks speeding towards the sentry. She had an inkling of what was about to happen next.

Noelle ran as far from the concentrated splintering in reality as possible. The energy sparked like a match and shot up like a match to a barbeque. The bright technicolor light appeared, and for a second there was a crackling boom. But only for a second, then it was gone.

Her attacker was gone. The Tectonids were nowhere to be seen. Noelle was alone. Silence. It was deafening.

When she really thought about it, that house and the gleaming swarm were really pretty to look at.

She looked at the ground. Blood was dripping from her cheeks, and she only realized now that her eardrums had been numb for a full minute. Everything started to spin for her. She collapsed on her knees, let herself lay back and let her catch her breath.

Noelle tried to run, she'd made it about five yards when a Tectonid jumped in front of her, knocking her back. Its pincers and tendrils reached for her and she fell to the ground, unable to get up. The Tectonid grabbed her left hand. She struggled to break free, but she couldn't break free.

The Tectonid was too strong, and she didn't even realize she had been pulled into one of its tendrils. And yet, once taken onto its back she wasn't infected or dissolved, she felt a warm bath of gooey liquid pumped into her head and on her wounds, like a thick tub. She was being carried, she then realized, taken off by this beast of burden transporting her on itself. The world seemed to fade out of view, motes of white light chilling her as again as she lost consciousness.

⍟

 

 

 

 

When she woke up, Dr. Dessner was waving to her on a nursing bed. Noelle lay on her back in the bed, the IV in her arm pulling blood into her system. She hadn't felt pain since she'd come out of augmentative surgery a few years back, and even her additions were a fairly light load in this day and age. There was an impulse to ask about the Techtonid, but something in her hesitated to seek further clarity, and she presumed Dessner found her at some point after. She got up slowly, Dessner giving her a thumbs up. She'd even patched the fringes of bruised, swollen blisters near her ears and cheeks from proximity to the Sentry's attack.

The company was willing to give full "Bonuses" as severance pay for everyone keen to the rumors or injured to keep hush. While Dessner stirred tea, Noelle answered her comm and saw the Merchant performing on stage with the holographic puella aeterna delighting an audience with enchanting vocals. Her mind leapt back to the sinister destroyer in the mines, and she swore she'd keep that encounter her own little secret.

Dessner rolled her eyes and turned off the Comm. "I told you to wear your helmet," she said, pushing Noelle's chest with a small fist.

She came close to Noelle and gave her a hug, something, that in many cases was not appreciated by the patients. But here the recipient felt warm and contented.

Negotiation were complete.

 

When Noelle and the Doc finally got out, the large metal gates of the mineshaft opening the two back to Martian sunlight. While on the back of a light motorcraft, she pulled out the

ochre Arrowhead, it pulsed again, and for the first time since she first touched it, a golden light shone through the tip, illuminating her path, her heart, and it was not a light that she liked, but the light that she needed to show her the path she needed to follow. The Inspector had a million questions and only an enigmatic new clue. An enigma in the domain of the ever descending darkness of Xi.

While rubbing her fingers together, some kind of odd soapy fluid started to drip from them, floating upwards against gravity instead of dad. “Huh?” Noelle had never seen anything like it, the droplets bubbling like suds between her fingertips and leaking out her palms. Each slip of this oily substance felt like melted rubber oozing with a sticky flow. “I.. should have Dessner check that out later.” She said, turning to the doctor on the other seat.

When the two rode their motorcraft back through the sands, Noelle had to pull off her goggles to rationalize the absurdity of what she was seeing.

"Looks like some kind of warzone.." Dessner turned away and alluded sight-seeing the destroyed vehicles, artillery, copious craters and patchwork destruction in the desert wake. The sight of bipedal torsos and bodies were strewn about en masse, and that's when Noelle finally spotted her crew.

Theabelle, riding on Brick's shoulders and raising her arms in victory fisted to the air.

 

They turned around and spotted Noelle.

 

"Look at it, girl! It's victory!" Vengeful smirked, raising his electrical axe.

 

"What the hell, what did you do?" She asked, fear echoing anger. She covered her mouth at the slain hordes before her.

Theabelle stuck out her tongue.

 

"What's it look like? We took care of it!"