Gaian Pyramids X

Marlow proceeded to the spot where they lost a spider drone alongside sarge Krawczak and miss Evergate.

Since they were aware of reason for the drone's damage being power surge, everyone stopped walking over a dozen meters from the spot, within a distance that allowed them to see clearly drone's body.

- Ok, I'm going to pick it up and get back here - John informed the other two - I set F-suit's electric resistance to maximum, and will attach safety cord here so you can pull me should I lose consciousness.

- John, don't say it like that, it's all going to be fine - Keira said, hugging him - I will be keeping watch, so you don't worry.

- Sure, that's reassuring - he replied with a slight smile.

Major attached the cord to the metallic floor, and walked towards the spot where drone ceased to function. Surprisingly, the only traces of power surge could be seen on the drone, but structure of the room remained untouched. Moreover, the drone turned out to be in much better shape than he would have thought - of course, it needed some work to become operational again, but seeing it now, Marlow was sure it can be done quite quickly.

However, as he leaned forward to pick up the last part, his eyes caught something disturbing in the corner of the room, where the light was barely reaching.

While having bad feelings about it, he still transferred a bit of power to turn on the built-in lights of his field suit, and was close to puking despite resistance he got over the years of his military science work.

In the very corner, there was something appearing as some liquid at first, but with better light and closer look, John found the source of this liquid, and that was their colleague, Jackie, or rather whatever was left of him, his body dismembered.

Being through the initial shock, major took several deep breaths before contacting others.

- It looks like we've completed our mission here - he told them.

- So, you found Jackie? - Keira asked - Where is he and why is he not replying to any comms?

- He is everywhere in the corner, his body that is...

Miss Evergate's reaction was what he initially thought would happen to him, but she vomitted without even seeing the body.

- Major, should we come and help you with collecting his remains? - sarge also needed a moment to regain composure after the first communication about Jackie's death - Because we are going to do that, right?

- That's definitely something I would like to do - John confirmed - Though safety comes first, and given what I see here, I don't want to go in without finding out what happened to him. I will pick up the drone and return to you.

He did what he told them, brought the drone to the area that seemed the safest, and started working on fixing it.

- How bad is it? - Keira asked him as he was tinkering with the drone.

- Not as bad as it could be. I can easily fix it, though it will take a bit of time.

- Ok, I won't bother you then.

She went away and started talking to the two soldiers who were accompanying them. Marlow could hear how they were talking about the situation - they managed to pull themselves together and acted fine now, but it was obvious that anyone's death will leave marks on them, same as it was for everyone who died during the expedition so far.

In this really bad situation, all that he wanted to focus on was checking this section of the room where Jackie's body was located and collecting it, so it could be brought back for a proper funeral. Having said that, he was not really sure how all of the deaths will be handled, taking into account the length of the mission - after all, they would need to keep the corpses somewhere, and that means spending resources which were lacking at this point of time.

Even though he had to deal with all of these thoughts, it did not block him from fixing the drone within a matter of minutes.

- Okay, it is ready to go - John informed others - We can give it another try.

- I didn't want to bring this up earlier - said Keira - but it got toasted around that spot in the first place. Don't you expect this is going to be the same case as before?

- Quite possible - he agreed - That's precisely why I will be using sensors in my F-suit this time.

- Wait, you mean you will be getting closer? Isn't that risky?

- To some extent, yes, but otherwise we may lose the chance to learn something.

Everyone else was of the same opinion. However, Marlow already made up his mind and did not want to change the plan as spending more time in alien structure was a big problem for the whole group in the first place. He did not want anyone else to get hurt.

The drone proceeded to Jackie's body location, and somehow made it past the spot where it got toasted the previous time, so that little detail already mattered a lot, making everyone much more relieved.

For now, neither drone nor John's F-suit were picking up any useful signals, though it was still about twenty meters from the closest body part, so it was too soon to be at ease.

- Okay, it started picking up something - John finally got readings when drone reached about ten meters mark from their target - I will stop the drone, and try to turn the feedback into some visual.

It took him a couple of minutes to get the graphical representation for the signal drone caught.

- It looks like there is some kind of barrier around the spot where we found Jackie's body. Looking at the frequency and particles density, it may be something we won't be able to pass.

- So, it's something like this big ass barrier around this megacity we are to investigate? - asked sarge Krawczak.

- I cannot be sure, because I have no data to compare - major replied - However, I can already notice it is blocking information flow from the inside as there is a lot of noise, so my guess is that it may be an actual physical barrier. It's invisible, but if my gut feeling is right, it is capable of affecting thicker matter, meaning it can be what killed Jackie. It looks similar to a really thick, high density electric current - in specific circumstances, something like that can easily cut matter.

- But if that's the case - Keira joined in the conversation - doesn't it mean we won't be able to reach Jackie's body?

- I need more time to do a proper analysis - Marlow started explaining - If frequency is not constant, there may be time windows where passing through is possible, and that would explain how Jackie ended up within the barrier in the first place. Of course, there is also an option that he might have reached some control panel inside and activated the barrier from within, and was unaware he blocked his own way out. However, this second option would be much worse as it would mean we first need to reach the inside of the barrier to somehow turn it off.

- Both options sound dangerous, if you ask me - sarge Krawczak pointed out, and suddenly froze, fixing his eyes on something - By the way, can you see that?

- What exactly?

John and Keira asked the same question in sync, and turned their heads into the direction sarge showed them. It took them a moment to notice, but there was some weird energy ball within the barrier - everyone was looking at it know, and it suddenly moved fast, disappearing in contact with Jackie's upper body.

They kept observing as this body part started moving in an awkward manner for a moment, trying to reach out of the barrier, but bumped away in contact with it.

- What the fuck was that!? - sarge took a step back, seeing what happened.

- Electricity could potentially cause a slight body movement, even in rigor mortis state - said Marlow - But it was far from what could be expected if it was just electric impulse.

He started thinking and remembered the first time they investigated one of these alien pyramids with Connor Cunningham, when the energy pulses and all these weird noises were popping up.

- So, what's the plan now? - miss Evergate asked - Are you going to try and get the drone inside?

- I hate to say it, but let us wait for a moment here, see if anything happens with this light again.

They did not have to wait for long. A while later, this same weird ball rose from the current part of Jackie's body and went into another. It jumped that way about three times within five minutes.

- Doesn't it look for you as if this thing was alive? - Keira finally asked - What do you think it is trying to do?

John shrugged.

- I have no idea what it is, it only has energy signature, and isn't transmitting anything that could be considered communication.

He said that, even though he felt this entity indeed had a peculiar behavior, and he could not rule out it actually had some kind of consciousness.

- Either way - he continued - I will try to get closer and see what happens.

Keira caught his arm.

- I get it, John. I know you want to make sure, but isn't this enough for now? How about we go back and return here later, better prepared?

- Wasn't it you who suggested it may be conscious though? Shouldn't we check it at least?

- I did say what I think, but it doesn't mean I want you to risk.

- I would feel bad leaving like this, so please just cover me when I approach the barrier. Trigger the cord the very moment you notice anything dangerous, okay?

Others nodded, taking positions, while Marlow started walking slowly towards the barrier.

As he reached the spot, the weird energy ball started moving fast, flying around within the barrier, and bumping on the walls. In the end, it calmed down and was hovering in the air, just above the top part of the Jackie's corpse.

Somehow, John felt - if this energy ball had eyes - they would be staring at each other right now.

This crazy "staring contest" continued for another minute or so, when the ball finally entered Jackie's upper body once again, and this moment Marlow felt uneasy, seeing Jackie's eyes and mouth moving again.

It seemed as if he tried to say something, but John could not hear a thing, and it repeated again and again. Finally, major decided to move as close possibly, thinking that maybe he is too far and the barrier blocks sounds too. However, the very moment he did that, there was indeed something he heard from Jackie's mouth, though not something he could consider to be words, and second later the body moved suddenly, as if trying to attack him.

Marlow felt a strong push caused by his colleagues using the safety cord, pulling him away from the barrier. At the same time, everyone noticed lights turning on inside the whole room, changing colors and giving the whole area an ominous aura.

- Not sure what's happening here, but I have a bad feeling about it - Keira said the very moment they pulled John back - I say we get out of here right now.

- Yes, I agree - John nodded - As I see it, this energy ball looks dangerous. Better leave it for now. It would be bad if it got out.

Before they managed to start walking back, loud noises started echoing all around, and new walls started emerging from the ground, as if the area was sealing off now.

- Run away! Now! - Marlow shouted to others - That way! - he pointed towards the entrance they used to get in here.

While running, new walls were popping up, forcing them to change their route - major felt terrified noticing they are getting farther and farther away from the entrance, as if the room was intentionally leading them somewhere else, likely into a trap.

- Watch your surroundings! - he instructed others - Shout if you see something!

Others confirmed without stopping on their tracks.

As they were getting closer to the one of the walls they previously checked, Keira started shouting:

- Over there, I can see a passage! Look!

She was right. Even though they did not register anything like this before, there was indeed a path opened on this side of the room. John hesitated for a moment, but seeing path behind them closing, he told others to go for it, being the last one to jump inside.

The second they ended up inside, loud sounds stopped and the wall closed behind them. Everyone got scared, but then the lights went on and they felt "the room" started moving. Moments later, another wall opened in front of them.

- Wait, you've got to be kidding me - it was sarge Krawczak who spoke when they saw it - We are on the other side of the mountain!

In front of them, there was a vast landscape they could observe from a high ground - a plain, a forest, and a swampy area with lots of mushrooms.

- So, how far are we from others? - Marlow immediately asked - I get it is area you managed to scan?

- To an extent - sarge replied - Not the spot we are at right now, as we are quite high above, but the plain you can see from here is a part of our route. We are about twenty kilometers from our current camp now.

- You are kidding, right? - Keira's face got pale out of a sudden.

- I would like for it to be the case, but that's what I see based on the maps.

They quickly looked for a safe spot to stay at, before making attempts at contacting the temporary camp.

- I honestly doubt this will work in this area, but let's try - sarge was not sounding optimistic - Kris, do you copy? We somehow went through the mountain, need transport. Kris, do you copy?

- Yes, sarge, loud and clear - he heard the reply nearly immediately - Please send me the coordinates.