Conflicting Objectives XI

The group reached the wall opposite to the spot where John was sitting, while using the drone, and being approached by someone unknown, and definitely not part of the current team.

- Anyone sees something? - Martin asked after several minutes of checking around - I found absolutely nothing so far.

- Same here - several other voices replied in unison.

- I hope we didn't have some kind of group hallucination - Rashid said that as he was examining one of the walls - Though it would have been quite a crazy thing for everyone to experience exactly the same.

- Are you referring to something like these mushrooms from back then? - Johnson spoke to Moussa - You didn't find something of the sort in here?

Their plant specialist shook his head with all seriousness.

- If I did, I would have told everyone to get out of here - he started explaining - In such a closed space, it would have been a suicide to stay. Either way, I found species of something that could be compared to Earth's moss, heather and, what I believe to be, a miniature sub-species of the trees you saw growing in this area, though I will know for sure once I run an anlysis. Oh, and there is this one flower beauty...

- Ok, ok, I got it, there were no plants like that - Martin interrupted him as to not end up listening to lecture about flora of this planet - Still, if we are not seeing and hearing things, there should be something...

- And I think there is, we just need to look up - Alina was the one who said that, pointing at a spot several meters above where she was standing - Though, I'm not sure if this what we are looking for.

Others went closer to look what she found - there was something that looked a bit like some kind of cavity with the walls around it in irregular shape, so unlikely intentionally crafted to be there.

- Did you manage to get a reading on it with your PEC? - John asked Alina as his own implant was unable to pick up anything - All I get is interference, which blinds my implant's sensors.

Boskovitch shook her head.

- It's the same for me - she said - Not sure what's exactly there, but it's suspicious such a spot cannot be scanned.

- It's six meters above us, and there are absolutely no traces on the ground here - sarge Krawczak started analyzing the area - If I'm to be honest, being first hit by major's cyber and then climbing so high in such a short amount of time sounds crazy. Unless impact from the major's hit was so strong to launch someone, or something, so high into the air.

The way Andy said that made John feel as if he was treated as some kind of beast because of this military-grade upgrades done to his body.

- It would be good to investigate this spot - he told others - though we have no fully operational drone here at the moment. I'd rather not turn back the one I was using just moments ago for additional risk of using it.

- Can't we just climb there? - Martin suggested - I mean, our F-suits are equipped for such cases so we potentally could...

- We definitely could - sarge agreed - not that it would be safe option though. It is extremely hard to cover someone when climbing and the size of this opening in the wall won't be enough for two people to stand next to each other, so even if we get in there, only person up in front can shoot properly in case of a fight.

- Isn't leaving the spot unchecked risky too? - Alina asked - You were approached there just a moment before, John. What if someone else is left on their own, or even two of us are together, and we get attacked by someone or something?

Marlow was well aware of that, and personally wanted to figure out who or what approached him back there, but - at the same time - he did not want to take additional risks and lose time. Already staying here and taking stops delayed them quite a bit, and - while there were no casualties so far this time - the danger was real.

- How secure do you feel about staying guard for everyone in case we may be approached from behind? - John asked Andy.

Sarge sighed and scratched his head.

- I would love to say we can manage alright, but I cannot. We already have quite limited options down here, so unless everyone stays together, we are unlikely to defend the group as it stands.

- I don't want to take unnecesary risk here, so question here - what do you think is the best action here? Should we check the cavity?

- It definitely poses risk to be left untouched, so it would be best to check it.

Major gave this topic a longer thought, and - ultimately - decided the group should investigate. Usually, it would have been some lower-ranking soldiers being ordered to proceed with such a task, but given the structure of their current team, they did not have enough resources to do that, plus there had to be someone staying behind to guard the rest of the group. Due to that, after taking some additional considerations, Marlow decided to proceed with himself and sarge Krawczak climbing the wall.

Not everyone was happy with the leader volunteering for a potentially dangerous task, but before making this decision, John passed the instruction to have Martin take over command in case of him getting hurt or dying. Of course, command meant ultimate decisions concerning the task and not military supervision as Johnson was not a part of army.

Either way, Marlow was not planning on dying or getting hurt, therefore he treated this order as a precaution in case of anything.

Having provided instructions to everyone, John and Andy started preparing for the climbing operation - the material F-suits were made of had a honeycomb structure with individual patches being capable of adjusting the size and density in order to perform variety of tasks, including what they were aiming for right now.

For the best adherence, climbing mode was changing the density and shape of patches located on the palms of their hands and boots' soles, creating a surface similar to octopuses' tentacles, making it possible to proceed even up the vertical wall. Of course, while it was making the activity easier, they still had to rely on their base physical strength to move upwards.

There was a secondary option of using small thrusters usually applicable for slowing down in case of a fall from the height, but these were using way too much energy they could need later on, so it was considered too risky to rely on them.

With that, two men started climbing the wall, and others were standing below, securing the area on the lookout for potential dangers.

The climb went smoothly, and both John and Andy reached the cavity within a few minutes. For safety reason, they did not proceed to get inside immediately - rather than that, they positioned each other on the sides of this irregular hole in the wall.

As the men were hanging on the wall, Marlow carefully moved his hand in order to use built-in camera to investigate the insides before attempt to get inside.

- How is the visual for you? - he asked sarge Krawczak - Can you see everything clearly?

- Well enough - sarge replied - and I can already see something in there. Just move your hand to the right. Yes, there, looks like a body.

- It seems like it, but the person is not moving. The sensors cannot pick any life signs though.

- So, this person must be dead it seems.

- As long as it's not one of these ghasts, just temporarily inactive. I will check the area a bit more, then we can try poling the body.

John was obviously disturbed by the sight of another dead person, and Andy was most likely feeling similar way - it was not the first sight like that for each of them, but it did not mean that it did not matter anymore. Even though the world they came from was dark and human life was taken lightly, each time they saw someone from the crew being dead, it was hurting.

Still, they had to keep their composure to handle the situation properly, therefore Marlow calmly analyzed the visuals before using his right hand extension to reach towards the body - as expected, there was no reaction from his touch.

- Ok, it seems it should be safe to get in there - he told sarge, who climbed in after hearing that - How does it look?

Andy caughed for a moment, then he turned to John.

- The body is in a bad shape, didn't die today for sure - he explained, pointing at the wounds - Such damage to the body is lethal, but I can see a mark here, which seems to happen after he died.

Marlow got closer to have a look himself and gasped.

- It might have been him I hit, look at this damaged part - he pointed at some broken ribs - But since you are sure he's been dead for a long time now...

While it was another casualty they had from this mission, John actually felt relieved that person was already dead when his arm reacted, even though this meant some other problem.

- It must have been controlled by a ghast - he continued speaking - It's better we don't stay next to the body for too long so none of us gets possessed.

Andy nodded.

- I fully agree, but it seems this cavity goes a bit further inside. Shouldn't we check?

Major shook his head.

- Better not. At least for now. Let's close the passage for now, and we can have someone check the spot later on.

- Don't we want to take the body with us? - sarge asked - After all, we aim to take Jackie's remains, so leaving another crewmate...

- If we have a suspicion it might have been ghast, this is much safer approach, even if it seems heartless. Honestly, if similar turns out to be the case for Jackie, I will also consider leaving his remains here.

- Ok, understood.

They connected a special metal net to the walls within the cavity, blocking the path leading outside. Such a net was quite sturdy and equipped with a sensor that would notify them in case of a breach.

After securing the path, the two men climbed down and rejoined the rest of the group.

- Did you check the identity of that person at least? - Rashid asked once he learned about the body inside the cavity - Is this anyone we knew?

John shrugged.

- I don't know him. Based on the comparison I did with crew data, his name was Shion Lee, from one of Chinese colonist groups.

- Hm, no such person I recall from our camp - Martin said, looking at Rashid - So, since the guy is not from ours and John doesn't know him, I guess he came from somewhere else than any of the two camps. Does it mean some other group from our ship ended up in the area, or maybe this guy got here on his own?

 - It would be weird if we had missed another group like that, unless they could not pick up our signal for some reason - Marlow told others, while thinking about the circumstances - And even if, I wonder how we didn't notice other people getting into the facility. We've been here for some time now, so it's hard for me to understand how this person got here unnoticed. I just cannot imagine someone staying inside here for much longer than we know this place.

- Well, there was time when we did not have many people around so maybe then? - Andy suggested - This still means that person would have spent quite some time in here before we established a camp, but it could happen...

- Or he died while back and his body was simply taken over - Alina pointed out - After all, these creatures manage to use the body for a limited amount of time, which could explain why it fell after being hit by John. It's not necessarily about the power, it may be the case of reaching exploitation limit.

- So you mean it was on the verge and wanted to change the host? - Rashid asked with eyes wide open - You could have been done for, John!

Honestly speaking, until now, Marlow was more worried about the fact he could have accidentally killed someone than about being hurt himself. For all this time since he was approached and his cyber arm reacted, John did not really think about himself being in danger. 

- I guess it's good I had this thing on me on a time like this - he said shortly, pointing at his left arm - More importantly, it indeed seems like there are ghasts lurking around in different places so we need to be extremely careful and have the systems turned on to look for traces of these. Speaking about this - he turned towards Alina - it may turn out that Jackie was infected, then we won't be able to prioritize recovering his body. I don't want to risk more lives here, okay?

Boskovitch was not really happy about what she was told, but ultimately nodded, confirming she understands the situation. Still, the look she had on her face made John uncomfortable to the point of planning countermeasures in case Alina was up to doing something against the orders - Andy was instructed to incapacitate her should she trying anything unauthorized connected to the rules they established for encounters with ghasts.