Somewhere in the cold confounds of the universe was a shielded world, no one had attempted to, successfully, turn those shields off. Until now.
‘Come on Yish, you’re wasting company time’
Her fingers froze over the keyboard, mid-way in entering some form of sequence, and struck dagger-like eyes at her boss. He stood in a staunch manner behind Yish, unfazed by her stare.
‘This line of work ain’t easy you know, unless you want to compile and reform ancient data?’ she retorted.
Those slim fingers resumed the dance of keyboard mashing. Her eyes were shaped of an opal, their colour- a powerful green. The woman’s skin was blue and dotted. For hair, were needles like that of a hedgehog, and some were on her forearms, yet they’d been trimmed.
This was what her people looked like.
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‘Here we go, we can transmit the sequence to disable the shields’
‘Do it’
The sequence was sent, and, and nothing happened…
‘Care to explain Yish?’
‘It’s right the sequence, it just wasn’t received’
The boss pressed a button down on his headset.
‘Mek, are all nodes receiving?’
He heard a grumble and then a sigh.
‘Must I check them all?’
‘Meeeeeeek’
‘Ok…ok, give me a sec. I’ll search for the problem’, Mek assured.
He floated in an EVA suit near to one of the nodes that held this shield in place. On his datapad, he scanned for any inconsistencies within the nodes, and started with the one close to him.
‘Nah, not that one, ah, I found it. It’s the node directly above the planet’s southern pole. I’ll head there now’
‘That’ll be great!’, his boss agreed.
Mek pulled himself into the shuttle and had set off for this southern node. The shuttle soared, almost skimmed the bright cyan-coloured decahedron of a shield. Once there, Mek found the root cause, a set of cables that led into the node’s satellite array were exposed and unplugged. He wondered if it was due to a passing asteroid that came from the planetary ring, or tampered by something…someone. Nevertheless, he plugged the cables back in.
‘That should’ve fixed it’, Mek notified.
‘Yish’
‘Transmitting sequence now’
A brief vehement glow emanated from the shield before it faded into obscurity. The planet was exposed along with all its riches…which from preliminary scans, revealed an abundance of mineral deposits. Yish, with the shields down, performed a thorough scan of the surface.
‘Looks like we’ve hit the jack pot sir, deposits of gold, platinum, obsidian…loads of obsidian, diamonds!’, Yish exclaimed.
‘Good, good. Any sign of life?’
‘Negative’
‘I mean come on, place looks charred and choked’, Mek said over the comms.
‘Good, good, let’s get this mining operation going. Mek get your arse back over here, we need to prep’
‘On my way, on my way’
‘Everyone here?. the Boss asked. Unsure, he picked up a register and called out each name, like a teacher would to a class of kids. Except, they weren’t kids. He got to the last two.
‘Yish?’
‘Present’
‘Mek?’
‘Yep, here’
Confident everyone was here, the man proceeded with the briefing. Aside from Yish and Mek there were five others, including the boss. Eight people overall. Everyone was here aboard the world cracker.
‘Perfect, now that we have that settled, I shall begin the briefing. Finally, after many years, we had found the sequence for this shielded world. It has sent our company far across this galaxy. This operation could be the most lucrative yet’
The boss points out key locations for abundant mineral deposits, the group, along with the boss’s decision- as ultimately, it’s his anyway. An area was chosen, and then they discussed on where the tractor beam towers should be placed.
‘Excellent ideas, I approve on most of them, however…’ He then added his own suggestions. As the team knew the boss, once his mind was made, that was that.
‘Prep up people, we leave in fifteen’
They suited up in their hazmats, buckled their belts that held an arrangement of equipment such as grappling hooks, hand-held mining lasers, detectors and prefabbed structures ready to be deployed once on the surface. Four people entered one shuttle and the other four entered another. Together they’d travelled downward to Calderas. Such a curious planet. Its features seemed, according to the scans, distorted as if many celestial phenomenon had merged with it eons ago. This most likely affected its mass and hence, such the high gravity. Its planetary ring must be the remains of these vanquished bodies?
‘Remember team, take extra care of yourselves and the equipment’, the Boss reminded.
‘He wouldn’t give two shrazes about us’, Mek uttered underneath his breath. Yish sat next to him and replied.
She placed her hand softly on his arm, he smiled in return.
‘We’ll get through it together’, she reassured.
Some of the others nearby had noticed, but the pair couldn’t give two shrazes. Then again, it was not something new to their colleagues as Mek and Yish had been on a few dates already for the past couple months. They trusted each other more than they did their colleagues, and less so with the company.
But the company paid well, second-best mining organisation out of several hundred. And this operation could very well be its turning point. This galaxy was the newest candidate in their civilisation’s exploration book, and with its ongoing expansion, the demands rose. Their society was ruled by corporations; greed, exuberant wealth, blackmail, and political intrigue were at a constant high. All of these aspects were shared amongst themselves as their were no other civilisations…alive anyway. Once they had realised this everywhere became free real estate.
Mek had been with the company for seven years, the boss, fifteen, Yish had been with them for three years. The rest were rookies. Yish specialised in archaeology and deciphering tech from long dead civilisations. Mek specialised in engineering. The others were familiar in setting up mine shafts, buildings for further ground operations, and the proficiency for those hand-held laser devices.
The shuttles plummeted through the choked-filled atmosphere of sulphur and carbon dioxide. Once through the planet’s dense layer they found a scarred, rugged, twisted and an ash-covered landscape.
They landed at the designated site and prepared a dome to act as a ground base, then the group proceeded to examine the area.
Days had passed as they checked and linked each tractor beam tower deployed by the world cracker. These towers spanned a circular circumference of one hundred and eighty kilometres. A greenlight lit up for every one, which meant the cracker could commence its incision. The ground base and the towers were at a distance considered to be safe, but it wasn’t a guarantee against the tremors. Anything could happen. For the team’s safety they would return to the shuttles. However, before the operation went further, Yish had discovered something.
Being knowledgeable in the field of archaeology, her scanner picked up a set of ruins buried below the surface. Mek had noticed a newfound isolation the woman placed upon herself since they’d arrived here. When the ruins did appear to her she immediately inquired the boss to take a team and explore these ruins. Stubborn and focused on the mission, he refused. Yet Yish insisted, insisted hard with a relentless gaze. As the woman stood tall over his desk, he felt powerless, and eventually gave in.
‘You have three hours before we begin’
A team of three were formed; Yish, Mek and another, Jesreiah. A young man, jacked up on optimism to a stifling degree it made Yish and Mek wheeze. But this optimism may prove to be beneficial. He talked to Yish a lot along the way, even mentioned his interest in archaeology. Just lacked the brightness to pursue an education in it, according to himself, and so pursued a career in mining instead. Prior to venturing down into the ruins, they ate and re-hydrated within the vehicle. It took them over an hour to reach the area as it was fifty miles from the site. They had two hours left. Though, at least they were far enough away from the site for when the beam would strike.
These ruins of stone went deep and many junctions were either caved in or separated via a vast abyss. Yish claimed a handful of samples and tested. The results brought raised brows from all three. She tested again to double check. The second result had different variable numbers but overall it was the same.
Four hundred thousand.
Yish, Mek and Jesreiah ended up at a dead-end. Another blocked off corridor completely halted their journey. On Yish’s map, the ruins carried on further. Fortunately they could cut through this one compared to the previous ones above, as the debris were to thick.
Jesreiah pulled the cord on his mining laser which kickstarted the kinetic energy and enabled him to cut away the debris.
Mek sat down next to Yish, who was in her own world yet again. That distant look into nothingness.
‘Are you okay?’ He asked.
She did not answer nor regarded him. Mek coiled his hand over hers. She looked his way, and a subtle grin took residence on her face.
‘I know I’ve been distant lately, I’m sorry’
‘It’s ok, you can tell me you know?’
‘Well, I’m not sure if it is this world. But, I believe it was sealed inside a shield for a reason’
Mek became hesitant.
‘What reason may that be?’ He pried.
‘I’ve got it!’, Jesreiah cried.
Yish shot up and carried on, Mek followed, his question left unanswered. Further down they delved, through ancient halls. Through tight spaces where they had to prone and crawl in order to get to the other side. Down dislodged and twisted staircases. Then either through vast rooms or courtyards of converse. And if it was a courtyard of converse, they had stumbled onto something unexpected.
Humanoid figures encapsulated in a shell of…stone? There were hundreds, if not thousands. Each one frozen in a distorted manner. Yish scanned one. No life signs detected. Whoever they were, were long deceased.
‘Are these the inhabitants of this world?’, Jesreiah posed.
Yish scraped enough to collect a sample and date check. Different variables, but again, overall it was the same number.
Four hundred thousand.
‘Yes’, she said.
As they pressed deeper, the heat rose, and most certainly whispers could be heard. The three confirmed it wasn’t any of them. Then, beyond the whispers, a pounding sound resonated in the vicinity. The three confirmed this and they agreed it sounded like a heartbeat…
The boss had his arms folded and the rest of the miners waited in silence.
‘Any word from Yish?’
‘Negative sir’
‘Can you reach her?’
‘Negative sir, she and the others are to deep underground’
He sighed.
‘Prepare the beam’
They had entered what seemed to be a laboratory. Everything was broken except, somehow, as it must have been a miracle or a form of very powerful luck; a computer was intact. Although it had no power, hence, inaccessible. But, powering up ancient relics was also Yish’s forte. Despite a few crashes, she managed to extract enough information for the translator. Once translated, she linked it up with her device and converted the alien’s language into her own. Indeed this was once a laboratory as the files on their were composed of DNA profiling, genetic sequencing on both people, animal and plant life (which indicated that this planet was not inhospitable four hundred thousand years ago), soil sampling, and information that regarded to symbiosis.
Even personal logs were stored on their by the scientist who took presidency within this laboratory.
Yish skimmed through them and gathered a general understanding of what the scientist had hoped to achieve, well, from what events had transpired here his goal succeeded. This confirmed Yish’s theory, her fear…
‘We have to leave…’ She whimpered.
‘What’s wrong?’ Mek asked.
She recalled a story, an epitome written on paper that was collected from a civilisation that had existed in the time period of what took place in this galaxy, four hundred thousand years ago.
‘It was something I’d read a couple of years ago during an excavation. We found these written documents from a race that lived during this chaotic time, and one of them was an epitome, it read;
“Calderas, and epitome of Hate
Beware Calderas, for it is an epitome of Hate.
Seeded by its people, and made manifest by its enemy.
An enemy who had set fire to their worlds, a cruel race. Yet once they had set Calderas ablaze, it changed, along with its people.
Hence, they became an engine of vengeance, of fury, of hatred. They had become the very thing they sought to destroy.
Though in the path of their destruction and consumption of their enemy’s worlds, Calderas was halted and placed into an enveloping light. Tamed, it had fallen asleep.
Beware Calderas, the demon world, forever may it sleep, lest we be doomed!“
And I’m fairly certain this is Calderas’, Yish concluded.
Mek placed his hand on hers and glared at the logs himself.
‘Are you sure?’
She nodded.
‘The people here…were at war with another civilisation, that did take their worlds. Though when they got round to Calderas, the scientist here had created something that would change the planet and its inhabitants. He said they’d “beamed” their worlds, and once they beamed Calderas…it adapted, it…retaliated. And according to this epitome written by another civilisation that had witnessed such destruction; Calderas, somehow a sentient planet, consumed its enemy’s worlds, it could not be stopped by their conventional weapons as they only made it stronger. At some point in time however, it was forced into the shields we disabled days ago. Which in addition, had put it to sleep‘
Mek stared off into the distance for a brief moment before he returned to Yish’s eyes.
‘The cracker?’
They glared, hopelessly. Jesreiah overheard this and attempted to contact the world cracker. Though his attempts were met with failure.
‘We best get back to the surface!’ He inclined with, if not enthusiasm, it was most definitely desperation.
The three agreed.
‘One more minute sir’
The boss tipped his head in acknowledgment. Stern and assured, for when the moment of that elapsed time would come to pass. The order would be given.
As they left the laboratory behind and had entered the courtyards, a thunderous thud coursed through the place. Dust and debris were set loose due to such momentous force. If they were any closer to the site, they would have likely been buried. Thought that wasn’t what they’d feared. The further the world cracker’s beam encircled its targeted area, the more fuel it gave to Calderas’s awakening.
It started to show in its inhabitants. The statuesque people they had encountered in the courtyard(s), the surface of their shells began to break, and a red gleaming light poured out. They sensed the three’s presence. Finally, once the stone that had encapsulated them for hundreds of thousands years, monsters of burning ash were birthed. Enraged, unnegotiable, hungry, and indestructible as Jesreiah opened fire with his hand-held mining laser; that only made them stronger and angrier since hate had last demanded of them. They laid their hands upon him and converted the man into one of their own.
This distraction gave Yish and Mek time to escape before they were pursued by another group. The ground shook harder as they ascended to the surface, dodged dislodged debris and jumped over new cracks in the ground.
The pairs eyes were ensnared by the light of the world cracker’s beam that emanated from miles away. The boss had proceeded with the operation. Yish attempted to contact the cracker as they were on the surface, but she could not find a stable signal. She tried and tried but it was to no avail.
‘We better get to the rover!’ Mek bellowed through the sudden increase of wind.
Together they stumbled and persisted toward the rover. Calderas’s sky darkened and turned into a deep red, followed by thunder and lightning. Not too far from an explosion was heard, they looked to the west and saw a blast of black smoke and fire. A volcano, out of many, had activated. Even the ground behind them began to open up and the creatures they had encountered swarmed. Yish and Mek clambered into the rover, he grabbed the steering wheel and belted his foot down on the peddle.
She tried again to contact the cracker via the rover’s internal communication system.
Up above, on the cracker, they all saw the planet’s change. Concerned and slightly placed on edge, one of the crew asked the boss.
‘Should we stop, sir?’
But the boss was known to be stubborn and paid no further thought to this alteration, the man simply had the mission on his mind.
‘No, keep the beam going’
Below…in the direction they were headed, a massive, bright light filled their vision. Their was a tad delay but eventually it came.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Larger than the cracker’s beam, Calderas had unleashed its own. The crew and the world cracker were no more, there wasn’t even anything left, no debris, no floating bodies, not even an echo. Nothing remained.
Mek stopped the rover, enveloped in disbelief, whereas Yish, broke down in tears. They were stranded with no where to go and no one to call out to. The rover was their only solace on this alien world. Mek and Yish embraced in consolation.
That, with its chains broken, and stirred from its slumber, the fires of Calderas blazed. Its ring that had formed around it destabilised and collapsed. The demon world began to move.
Doom had befallen the stars!