Sylver led them through the undersurface of the ship. Typically, only the starship’s engineers visited this section of the vessel. Arrays of tubes and pipes spanned the walls and ceiling of the maintenance chasm. A forest of wires and metal frames obscured much of what could be seen otherwise between the labyrinth of ducts. It was dark and musty. Various clinks and clanks were harmonized by the billows of steam and fumes. As this was the section of the ship most closely situated near the engine room, it shuddered and rumbled alongside low oscillations of the nearby machinery.
Rayna flitted about Sylver, illuminating the narrow passages they traversed; they had to crouch in order to not bump into the ceiling. Eventually, the small group arrived at the far side of the chamber. A long and slender window spanned what would be the west, underside of the vessel. They could just narrowly see the asteroid outside.
“This is it,” Sylver whispered.
“Why are we whispering,” Rayna said loudly.
“Because they might hear us,” Sylver rolled his eyes.
“Who?” Vylet asked.
“I don’t know,” Sylver conceded, “I really don’t. But they might hear us anyway.”
“Suits on, kids,” Satyrn commanded.
Vylet, Satyrn, and Sylver tapped their AMCD’s and their space suits and helmet materialized.
“Nanotech is so fun,” Sylver admitted, “But out you go now.”
Sylver kicked open the window to allow Vylet and Satyrn to slip outside. He closed the window and waved enthusiastically as Vylet and Satyrn got on their hooves, and turned to wave back at him. They started on their way, while Sylver scrambled to navigate back to the upper deck.
“So, why isn’t he coming with us?” Vylet asked.
“Because he didn’t want to,” Satyrn replied, snarkily.
The asteroid was barren and lifeless without the multitude of analysts scrambling around, taking note on every crag and plateau.
A few moments later, Satyrn and Vylet arrived at the mouth of the cave. They stepped carefully and checked every corner for any surviving changelings. As they started towards the deeper end of the cave, Satyrn checked frequently for any traces of Kytzdominum. Nothing came up until they reached the point where Satyrn first encountered the changelings. A pool of still, grey liquid covered the floor, in which Vylet scooped some up into a bottle. They continued on.
Eventually, they reached the room where Satyrn found the door. Rayna drifted along the wall, willing her incandescence to become a brilliant beacon in the darkness. She looked back at them; Vylet and Satyrn were shielding their eyes.
“Little too much, Rayna,” Vylet instructed.
Rayna frowned and reluctantly dimmed herself. Satyrn examined the door and the area around it.
“I couldn’t figure out how to open it,” Satyrn said.
“Open what?” A voice blasted into Satyrn and Vylet’s ears.
“SYLVER!” Satyrn and Vylet shrieked simultaneously.
“Did you forget I was on the line?” Sylver chuckled. They exchanged glances with each other.
“Honestly, yeah,” Satyrn replied.
“Oh… whoops, did I scare you?” Sylver bantered.
Vylet retrieved the Kytzdominum sample, and poured some on the door. Nothing happened.
They exchanged glances again, then nodded. Vylet began to whistle as he did back in the lab; the substance began to sear through the door slowly. He kept it up for as long as he could before running out of air.. Promptly, the Kytzdominum stopped melting through the door. Satyrn picked the same note and whistled: the melting began again. Moments after, various metallic scrapes and pops echoed through the chamber, until the doors gave way.
“The alloy reacts with high frequencies. It might have something to do with how they can shapeshift,” Rayna noted.
“That would make sense,” Vylet nodded.
They peered through the doorway into what looked like an empty abyss. Satyrn drew her gunblade, and Vylet activated the recording function on his AMCD. He captured images and video of their surroundings.
No chirps. No hissing. Nothing hostile as far as they could figure. They stepped cautiously into the chamber. Abruptly, the room became illuminated as lights along the walls activated.
The room was filled with strange machines and monitors. Each machine was branded with an emblem of an overturned, striped triangle with three circles above it. Initially the machines were all lifeless, and each monitor was blank. However, as Satyrn and Vylet advanced deeper into the room, they realized that the machines were slowly stirring to life. The monitors began to display various transmission logs and diagnostics.
“What is all this?” Satyrn asked in awe.
Vylet was analyzing the text on the monitors.
“This place is like a satellite. Look,” Vylet pointed to some transmission logs on one of the monitors, “this is in Ponish.”
Satyrn inspected the screen and her eyes widened.
“Sylver, you’re getting this right?” Satyrn asked.
“Loud and clear, kid. Wish I could see it,” he replied.
“You will, don’t worry. Vylet’s capturing everything right now,” Satyrn said.
“Ponish transmission data, standardized peripheral ports,” Vylet inspected the machinery around the room, “this stuff could only be at least five years old.”
He dusted off a keyboard that sat below one of the screens. Navigating through a series of data tables and diagnostics, he discovered a fully transcribed transmission that was dated to June 12, 2050. Vylet read aloud,
“Satellite, I have received your plans for the attack. I wish you luck.”
CALLSIGN: SPCRXI
SERIAL: 3890-1902
INTERCEPT: FALSE
TYPE-ID: XI02H - BD348 - MD000
OCN: EQCVWR
“Sylver, do you recognize the callsign ‘SPCRXI’? Vylet asked.
“No, not really,” Sylver replied over the comms.
Satyrn examined the transmission herself.
“Satellite,” she read aloud.
She exchanged glances with Vylet, who started scrolling through various windows and displays on the screen. A sudden tremor shook the room.Satyrn and Vylet struggled to keep their balance, and after a moment, it subsided.
“What now?” Vylet complained.
“Listen!” Sylver shouted into their comms, “the asteroid is being bombarded right now. There are other ships coming in!”
“What the hell?” Satyrn asked.
Another tremor shook the room. Light debris rained down from the ceiling, sifting down onto the floor beneath them. Vylet hastily captured as many photos of the room as possible before he and Satyrn started towards the exit.