considered the hideous dog-thing for a moment, searching for a name. It came to him suddenly: Harvester. Fit perfectly. He hoped he wouldn't be seeing many more of the smelly, disgusting things, but doubted his luck would hold.
He activated the radio. “Okay, Eve. I'm done, I think. And I ran into a fuck-ugly dog thing down here. How do I get up?”
A pause, then, “unfortunately, the elevator that is supposed to run from the technician's living quarters to your level was taken out in all the fighting. I've managed to locate an emergency security hatch. I'm trying to hack it open, but I'm having trouble. Head that way and hopefully by the time you get there I'll be done.”
“All right,” Enzo replied.
He jogged across the room to the security station he'd seen earlier. It was the only real place of interest on this level and he'd meant to check it out anyway. Security stations had guns, or at least ammo. He opened the door and stepped in, then frowned. The trio of gun lockers in the room were open and almost empty. Sighing, Enzo hurried across the room and checked them out. No guns, but there were still a pair of magazines for the pistol he was carrying in the bottom of one of them. Enzo pocketed them, then found the hatch Eve had mentioned.
“Hey, Eve...”
“Yeah, yeah, still no luck,” she replied.
“I think I know why.”
“Why?”
“Because someone blew the damned thing open. I can get up and out. This will take me to the next level, right, not bypass it?”
“That's correct.”
“Good.” Enzo climbed up into the hatch, which led to a narrow tube ascending straight up. Nothing inside but a ladder and some red lights.
“Why?”
“Because I want a look at that spacecraft.”
“Oh...fine, I guess I'd have a look if I was down there, too. But be careful. There's more dangerous things around than the former humans and the dog creatures.”
“Like what?”
“I...oh dammit, not again.”
Once more, she was gone. Enzo sighed. He was getting sick of this.
He kept climbing.
Chapter 06
– Not Alone –
Now he was getting somewhere.
Enzo hauled himself up and out of the tube, into another security center. This one was less ruined and more just dead. Banks of flat monitors occupied the walls to the left and right, each to be manned by two personnel on rolling chairs. The monitors were dead and dark. Two of the chairs had drifted away from the desk. One was overturned, giving hint to the evacuation that must have taken place at some point earlier.
He ignored the chairs, the inert monitors and the open, empty gun lockers. All he had eyes for was the huge, glaringly white thing residing a hundred meters beyond cracked glass of the security room. Slowly, Enzo walked across the room until he came to stand before the glass. The ship. He knew right away that it was Cyr technology. Enzo had heard about the Cyr, had encountered the scant remnants of their civilization in the form of artifacts and the occasional structure across his long career. But it was damned rare.
The government and (when they could get away with it) the megacorps got their hands on Cyr technology whenever they could, squirreling it away from the rest of the galaxy, attempting to reverse engineer it, distill its secrets. Cyr tech was lightyears ahead of what Humanity had, generally. There were even rumors that Humanity's sudden ability to travel across the stars via faster-than-light engines was a result of a hidden Cyr cache of technology discovered in the Sol System back at the end of the twenty first century.
There was never anything substantial to back that claim up, and Enzo had never been particularly interested in it. What difference did it make? But he was interested in the Cyr. There was something almost ethereal about them, something otherworldly. Enzo had put up with his shoulder pain for most of his life now. All the money he made, all the doctors and neurosurgeons and specialists he saw...none had been able
He activated the radio. “Okay, Eve. I'm done, I think. And I ran into a fuck-ugly dog thing down here. How do I get up?”
A pause, then, “unfortunately, the elevator that is supposed to run from the technician's living quarters to your level was taken out in all the fighting. I've managed to locate an emergency security hatch. I'm trying to hack it open, but I'm having trouble. Head that way and hopefully by the time you get there I'll be done.”
“All right,” Enzo replied.
He jogged across the room to the security station he'd seen earlier. It was the only real place of interest on this level and he'd meant to check it out anyway. Security stations had guns, or at least ammo. He opened the door and stepped in, then frowned. The trio of gun lockers in the room were open and almost empty. Sighing, Enzo hurried across the room and checked them out. No guns, but there were still a pair of magazines for the pistol he was carrying in the bottom of one of them. Enzo pocketed them, then found the hatch Eve had mentioned.
“Hey, Eve...”
“Yeah, yeah, still no luck,” she replied.
“I think I know why.”
“Why?”
“Because someone blew the damned thing open. I can get up and out. This will take me to the next level, right, not bypass it?”
“That's correct.”
“Good.” Enzo climbed up into the hatch, which led to a narrow tube ascending straight up. Nothing inside but a ladder and some red lights.
“Why?”
“Because I want a look at that spacecraft.”
“Oh...fine, I guess I'd have a look if I was down there, too. But be careful. There's more dangerous things around than the former humans and the dog creatures.”
“Like what?”
“I...oh dammit, not again.”
Once more, she was gone. Enzo sighed. He was getting sick of this.
He kept climbing.
Chapter 06
– Not Alone –
Now he was getting somewhere.
Enzo hauled himself up and out of the tube, into another security center. This one was less ruined and more just dead. Banks of flat monitors occupied the walls to the left and right, each to be manned by two personnel on rolling chairs. The monitors were dead and dark. Two of the chairs had drifted away from the desk. One was overturned, giving hint to the evacuation that must have taken place at some point earlier.
He ignored the chairs, the inert monitors and the open, empty gun lockers. All he had eyes for was the huge, glaringly white thing residing a hundred meters beyond cracked glass of the security room. Slowly, Enzo walked across the room until he came to stand before the glass. The ship. He knew right away that it was Cyr technology. Enzo had heard about the Cyr, had encountered the scant remnants of their civilization in the form of artifacts and the occasional structure across his long career. But it was damned rare.
The government and (when they could get away with it) the megacorps got their hands on Cyr technology whenever they could, squirreling it away from the rest of the galaxy, attempting to reverse engineer it, distill its secrets. Cyr tech was lightyears ahead of what Humanity had, generally. There were even rumors that Humanity's sudden ability to travel across the stars via faster-than-light engines was a result of a hidden Cyr cache of technology discovered in the Sol System back at the end of the twenty first century.
There was never anything substantial to back that claim up, and Enzo had never been particularly interested in it. What difference did it make? But he was interested in the Cyr. There was something almost ethereal about them, something otherworldly. Enzo had put up with his shoulder pain for most of his life now. All the money he made, all the doctors and neurosurgeons and specialists he saw...none had been able
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