Conflicting Objectives IX

- Ok, so it is activated now, but we don't know what's happening? - Rashid was standing next to John, looking at the cuboid object, previously completely black and now having a visible shade of blue - I actually feel I've seen something similar before, yet I cannot remember when and what exactly it was.

- Well, it looks like electric sparks - Martin said as he looked from distance, while squatting - Maybe it's some kind of energy container? Or a device that's using electricity?

- Can we just let it be as it is and go deeper? - Moussa visibly did not want to deal with this suspicious object - I say we have quite a bit of materials from this room.

John was aware they still needed to investigate much more, and staying here for a longer while could be risky, but there were some concerns he had for leaving uninspected object behind.

- I would like this decision to be easy - he finally spoke - There is a problem, though. What if this object activates something dangerous we may come upon further on?

Rashid was unhappy hearing that. However, he knew John was not the kind of person to look for problems, so he ultimately sighed and said:

- You do have a point. Still, how should we tackle this?

Marlow already considered a number of scenarios, and yet, he scratched his head either way before replying:

- The simplest way would be to just touch it and see how it reacts - that was the most honest thing he could say - Then again, it is also the riskiest thing to do.

They looked at each other for a moment before Alina spoke:

- I have finalized the simulation and, based on all of the marks Jackie left, it is most likely he was tinkering with these objects before moving forward. Since there are no blood marks around, the bleeding was not so severe at his point. While I want to learn what happened to him, I feel one of these objects may be the culprit.

Major bit his lip, thinking about the approach they should take - as he was doing that, John touched his forehead with left arm, feeling the cold of metal it was made of. Over the time he was equipped with this artificial limb, he got so used to it, he was actually forgetting it is not his original limb. Looking at this piece of military-grade cyber, an idea came to his mind.

- I'm going to touch it in the end - his words surprised everyone, and some were disagreeing, saying it is unwise - Don't worry, I'm going to use this arm - he pointed at artificial limb - If anything happens, it's really sturdy so it should withstand quite a lot, and - if not - well, we lose a piece of military equipment.

- You know that colonel wouldn't like it, right, major? - it was sarge Krawczak who asked that - Though, if I may give my personal opinion - Marlow approved his request by nodding - We should consider equipment as tools soldiers are provided with to complete missions. I support your decision, sir - he ended up speaking with official tone.

- I will do that wisely, promise - John said to everyone - I will set the arm to a mode that allows me to keep its shape, while enhancing its defense system, and subsequently setting my F-suit to full combat mode. Worst case scenario, I should end up only with slight wounds. After all, I believe the reason why Jackie got such damage was because he didn't have a military F-suit, but science team's version.

With Marlow explaining his plan, no one else raised any more concerns, though they remained worried - well, most of them at least. Having everything explained, everyone aside from John moved away from the activated cuboid object.

While standing in front of the object, he set all systems accordingly, then reached out and put the artificial hand on top of the cuboid.

Everyone held their breath, and yet - nothing really happened. Rather than that, there was no reaction at first, or maybe - it was that no one else noticed? The thing was, for a moment major felt as if all of his surroundings stopped, as if the time was not moving, as if this very second was frozen. He had a weird feeling of being detached from everything around him, then his body became numb, and some unusual voice echoed - John could not tell if it is something he picked up with his ears or was he hearing it from within? The voice, he could not tell whose it was, though having more female-like sound, was telling him to find the voice's owner, but - truth be told - he could not be sure if it was a voice anymore as some images started appearing in front of his eyes. Marlow had trouble grasping the situation, what is going on around him, and how much time passed. Then, suddenly, he felt a pain in his forehead and...

- For godness sake, you gave us quite a scare! - it was Martin leaning above John, who was lying with his back on the ground - You suddenly fell unconscious! We thought you were electroshocked or had heart attack or something...

- Martin, don't put him through additional strain right now - Rashid appeared from the other side - John, can you stand up? - he asked Marlow.

Major tried to get back on feet, but his muscles were too stiff.

- No, give me a moment, I'm not able to move properly yet.

- So what happened, John? - Martin asked, sitting next to him - Was it some kind of electroshock?

Marlow recalled that he simply blacked out, and then started hearing the voice, and seeing the images, telling him to find someone, though he could not make any sense of who exactly. Somehow, he felt that the series of images was supposed to show him the way, but how was he supposed to tell others that he had such a vision? He already had similar situation before, and ended up discussing with Keira due to circumstances. However, she was a bit of a special case owing to their relationship, and John could not expect the same understanding within a group of people - Martin, maybe Rashid too, these two could potentially be trusted as people, whom he knew for longest, but could he be sure? To be honest, major did not want to be called crazy or detained as someone dangerous, therefore - for now - it was best to keep it to himself.

- Given the situation, shouldn't we go back? - Moussa asked - With John like this, going further sounds unwise.

- Rashid, are you really that afraid to want to go back so badly? - John replied with a question - Don't need to worry, I'll be back on feet in a moment - he actually already started feeling the numbness leaving his muscles - Just give me a chance to regain my breath. It kicked me quite hard.

- So, it was the electricity in the end? - Johnson moved his eyes towards the object Marlow touched - Indeed, it seems the sparks are no longer there. Did you free the charge perhaps? Wait a moment - he activated his PEC's communicator - Yes, he is back up, yes, got it - he looked at John now - It's Keira, she's saying Kate is done with other work she had so can join us down here or support from up there. What's your call? I think we could use her help to get you back on feet.

Major was not feeling too good about having another person risking joining them. Besides, there was also the case of the time she would need to get to where they were. He shared this opinion with others, but ultimately they decided the area was safe enough to bring in more people to help collect items they found and take them back, making it easier for John's group to go further.

This approach also gave doctor Warner enough time to reach their location. Obviously, the very first thing she did was approaching Marlow, who was now able to stand, though he could now feel slight pain in his muscles.

- It does seem like there was some exposure to electricity as flow within your body is quite irregular - Kate said to John after a short examination - That's the reason why your muscles tensed up and your body felt numb. I will give you a small shot to get you back in shape. I need to warn you, though. This one works wonders, but you may get some side effects after it wears off, so better not stay here longer than the drug is active, okay?

- And how long is that? - Marlow asked immediately.

- It depends on the person, but with your physique - she measured him with her eyes for a moment - I would say it's around five, maybe six hours.

- Ok then, give me this shot then.

- As you wish, stay like this for a moment - doctor Warner took out the injector tool and put it on his neck - Hold your breath, and here you go - she shot the drug in - How is it now?

John started feeling a chill going down his spine, and then a feeling of warmth going through his body.

- It seems it's the same as usual - he said, stretching his body - Looks like I can move all fine.

Kate let out a sigh of relief, which seemed she did not want him to see.

- Is something wrong? - Marlow asked her.

Doctor Warner shook her head immediately, and focused on removing the vial from the injector - John already walked away, so he could not see the "experimental" text visible on the vial, which Kate seemed to intentionally hide from him.

On the other hand, major was already focused on what was yet to come.

- There is indeed a stable source of energy here, and these unusual objects on the ground are connected to it, given what we saw just a moment before - he shared his observations with other - We definitely should secure this place and investigate it better, but let's leave it for later as we still have quite a bit in front of us.

- And we still don't know what happened to Jackie - sarge Krawczak mentioned, visibly worried - Before, we did not have time, and today, we simply couldn't find any traces.

- It troubles me too - John nodded, while answering him - That's why we need to be even more careful from this point on.

With that, they entered the narrow corridor that was already a problem on their previous visit underground - not only did they have to walk one after the another due to its size, they also did not have an active drone to use at the moment as the group only gathered parts of the damaged ones and did not repair them yet.

Knowing the dangers of this place, everyone had to turn on the highest safety settings for their F-suits before entering the corridor, while also having specific order of people walking after each other - soldiers were put both at the front and the back, with sarge Krawczak leading and major Marlow just behind him.

Aside from using all possible defense systems of their uniforms, everyone in the group was supporting their vision with PECs - obviously, these were common devices used in society nowadays, and yet, there was quite a number of different modifications one could get for their personal computers, which was also the case for augmented sight, therefore people in current team were seeing things differently because of technical differences.

- Remember about the mechanisms we found the last time - John spoke to Andy as they were walking through the corridor - I've marked them for the visual interface, you only need to load them in your PEC.

- Shouldn't we investigate these, though? - it was Alina who asked the question - What if it was one of these that wounded Jackie? We may not be able to learn what happened to him iif it was the case.

Marlow sighed, before replying:

- I do get your point, but it's too risky to check in such a narrow space. I was originally planning to use a drone here, but we don't have any functional one at this moment. We will first pass through the corridor, then secure our position and think about repairing one of the drones on spot, and sending it back there.

- As long as we do investigate these, I won't complain - Alina said that, and did not have any additional complaints concerning that topic.

Several minutes later, they entered a spot where corridor was widening and finally reached the biggest area found in the whole complex - a huge, cube-shaped room.

- Hm, it looks quite different than before - John commented just after entering, and having a short look around - It seems it didn't fully return to the original shape after we were going through the route in the mountain's slope.

- How bad is it for us? - asked Martin, for whom it was the first time in this place.

Marlow was already using his PEC for data analysis.

- I will know in a moment, but since we lost last drone we sent somewhere in this area, it complicates our further job here - he said, while reviewing the maps he had against the current visuals - It may be a problem for us to actually reach the spot, where we saw Jackie's body.

After spending a little longer on reviewing the data he had, John finally made a decision:

- Ok, there is no point in going further like this. We need to try and repair the drones and put them in use. Martin, help me out. The rest of you can investigate the surroundings, but please don't go outside the set perimeter I transmitted to you via PEC.

With these instructions passed, Martin focused on working with Johnson, and their colleagues proceeded to investigate whatever they could around.