Shrike Nanowrimo 2009 Day 2
1025 words
“Processing matrix? That means a good chance it’ll have high-precision dust, maybe even theta or omega grade.”
“What it means is we just paid for this entire expedition!”
The third day found Mompati down in the explored pyramid with a couple of the more experienced and knowledgeable members of the team, examining the various pieces of machinery identified by the probe team the night before. Among them was Noreen, who had spelled someone off while they drove the probe into the second pyramid and was the temporary expert.
With several lightpoles set up the interior space was actually reasonably well illuminated, the glassy internal material reflecting the lights and softening the sharp-edged vacuum shadows. It remained difficult to see just what buried in the walls though; in his experience Mompati had seen nanomachine storage tanks, power cells, processing hardware and a half-dozen other valuable contents. Some of the sensors brought in from the Iris might be able to peer through the layers and make a determination. In the end though they would still need to disassemble the pyramids, no matter what they were – baring the discovered that they were sleeping drones or magnetically unstable antimatter tanks, or something else equally unpleasant.
Mompati was measuring the birefringence of the central object that had been tentatively ID’ed as a processing matrix when the call came from outside.
“Hey boss, the processing rate in that blacklisted server’s doubled in the past minute.”
Dammit. Maybe it was just a routine packet transfer but better safe than sorry.
“Everyone douse your lights! There’s some activity upstairs so power down while they trace the source.”
There was a chorus of Rogers and Alrights and one after another suit and pole lights switched off, leaving the pyramid’s inside lit only by the shadowy twilight that filtered through the thick walls. For a minute or two it was quiet and then suddenly the young voice of Noreen came over the local channel.
“Hey guys? I’m seeing something over here.”
Heads turned. There was definitely some light near her and of clearly different color from the vague red fug that penetrated the walls. Then Qin Liu, the one closest to her suddenly exclaimed.
“Ma de bi! Noreen! Your suit!”
A soft blue glow had begun to cover the suit, rapidly illuminating it with a St Elmo’s Fire. She stumbled back, ineffectually attempting to brush it off.
“Oh. Oh.”
“Noreen, listen to my voice. We’re here with you. Calm down. Deep breath.” Mompati’s eyes scanned the pyramid. Nothing else. “Everyone, lights on so we can see.”
The lights came back on, dulling the glow but revealing little. The medical telemetry from Noreen’s suit floated in the corner of Mompati’s eye; they were slowly returning back to normal values as she calmed down. Qin Liu crept around Noreen, then froze. Her voice came into Mompati’s earpieces, a light denoting it was a private channel.
“Lao ban, there’s things floating around her. Mites. I can see them in my light. She’s – “
“Allah, it’s all over!”
Mompati broke the channel as Noreen cried, vitals spiking crazily. “What is? Noreen, talk to us. Stay calm.”
“Pins and needles all over. Ahh Allah they’re in my head!” She doubled over, clutching her spacesuit’s bubble helmet ineffectually.
“Qin, get back. Get BACK.”
Mompati hardly needed to say anything though as all the other people had already begun to carefully back away. Noreen had switched to Farsi, having lost control of herself – or perhaps having had control taken from her. Then she stopped yelling and straightened up, turning to face the others. Motes of glitter could be seen inside her helmet and vague discolorations had appeared on the surface of her suit. Medical readouts were reporting values far too normal for someone who had been panicking ten seconds earlier. The EEG was more akin to someone in REM sleep, but people in REM sleep didn’t move like that.
Mompati crossed himself. “God and his saints have mercy on our souls.”
The explosion as the rifle grenade detonated was a soundless white flash, throwing Noreen’s upper body – or what had been Noreen before the posthuman machinery had gotten to her – against the wall. Gore steamed and froze at the same time in the frozen vacuum. What was left of her face had an eerily calm expression.
“God-damned honeypot! No, don’t touch her! Everyone out!” On the main channel: “Everyone shut down. This place has active and dangerous machinery. We’ll reconvene at the Iris.” Then finally he closed all the channels and started cursing. The fact that was effectively dead even before he fired the grenade was little consolation. Though ‘dead’ was relative too, when one was dealing with posthuman machinery.
Three years since the last loss; at least this time wasn’t nearly as bad. It could be a dangerous business, messing around with posthuman artefacts. The worst part was they probably didn’t even know or care what their leftover detritus was doing.
Later on, in the Iris’s ‘planning’ room, Mompati pondered what to do. Seamus O’Kell sat across the table from him, sitting backwards in a chair and idly spinning the stellar map display set into the table’s smartscreen. “Look, it’s only one jump to Redstone, we won’t even need to move to use the hyperwave. We take a finder’s fee and let them dig all that junk out and trip the rest of the traps. Greg’s crew doesn’t think there’s any disassembly code to be had, so we’d need to blast the place apart as it is. We’re not abandoning this just because Noreen got her mind sucked out of her skull. She knew the risks as well as everyone else. I’ve already got Greg’s crew seeing if they can specify what we’re up against. If it’s truly a honeypot we’ll drop a warning beacon and flag it for the turingcops to nuke.”
Mompati took a deep breath then exhaled. “Yeah. Still never get used to it. Poor kid. Alright, I won’t wallow in it. I’ll open negotiations with the ‘stoners. I need you to find out just what the hell’s hidden there so we don’t get any other nasty surprises.”