"What is it, Reza?" Burt asked, concerned that something fearsome was up ahead. "We have reached the Resource Nozzel and just as I had feared, there's a Resource Chamber, an Offense Chamber and a bloody Gorge" Reza replied, carassing his Shotgun. "No other ways except this way?" Jack remarked. "No other ways, only this way, we gotta have to take them out" Reza answered and did a hand signal for cover-me. "Why can't we just throw a B-Grenade or something?" Jack questioned. "Do you want the entire ship of Kharaa to come looking for us?" Burt reprimanded Jack as he got into position.
Reza took another quick peep, the Gorge did not move from its position at all, this would be good. First thing to do would be to kill the Gorge. Reza pointed to Jack and instructed him, "Private Jack, this is a chance for you to prove yourself. With your Heavy Machine Gun, take out that Gorge in less than 2 seconds, beware of the Offense Chamber beside the Gorge"
Nervous and frightened, Jack decided to take a peep just like Reza. Unfortunately, inexperience along with fear made Jack leaned out a little too far, far enough for the Offense Chamber to sense his presense. Immediately, the man-height Bio-Structure got ready its spikes and its "head" began to swelled up and turned red. At this point in time, Reza heard the unmistakable 'krazz' sound, the indication that the Offense Chamber was readying its deadly spikes. In the nick of time, Reza pulled Jack back. A spike which travelled faster than the eye could see, whizzed past Jack's cheek. The deadly 8-inch spike was now imbedded deeply into the wall behind Jack and this was a slight cut on Jack's face.
"Do you know how close you were to certain death?!" Reza rebuked Jack as he took another peek, fearing for the worse. Amazingly, the Gorge had not move from its position at all! A second of thinking and Reza realised that the Gorge was asleep! "What sheer stroke of good luck!" Reza thought gladly. Reza snatched Jack's HMG and got ready.
Counting '1,2,3' under his breath, Reza sprunged out with a Shotgun on his left hand and a HMG on his right hand. Spinning round and round several times, Reza unloaded 1 shotgun blast directly into the unfortunate Gorge and many HMG rounds into the Offense Chamber before landing on the ground.
The Gorge now laid down in a pool of greenish-yellowish blood with 10 holes in its back while the Offense Chamber now seemed to shrunken up as greenish-yellowish blood begun pouring profusely out of the many holes on its body. Finally, with a loud 'splat', the Offense Chamber erupted and its blood and remains begun splattering everywhere, raining down on Jack who was well ahead, ready to finish off the helpless Resource Chamber.
"Argh!" Jack cried in surprise as he was now covered in disgusting Kharaa blood, much to the amusment of the others. Reaqquiring his HMG back, Jack aimed at the head of the Resource Chamber. Sensing danger, the Resource Chamber turned around to face Jack. Making 'murk murk' cries, the Resource Chamber raised its arms to protect itself. However, its weak defense could do little against the HMG as the bullets penetrated deep into the Resource Chamber's flesh.
The Resource Chamber begun to quiver and shake as it soon swelled up and exploded into a rain of blood and flesh. This time however, Jack was well out of the way.
"Look!" Jack shouted, pointing forward. "The lift is just ahead!"
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 11.5 - Power Failure</span>
Pressing repeatedly at the 'up' button for the lift did not toggle any response. Irriated, Mike pounded the 'up' button but to no avail. At last, Reza said "I guess the lift's stuck, we got no other choice other than to force it open, but I do not yet know what we will encounter" Jamming the tip of his knife into the middle of the lift, Reza pushed forcefully, trying to make the door slide open. At last, a small gap was made, "Reza, we are with you!". Everyone inserted their fingers into the gap and pushed sideways for they could not stay here for long, anytime a Kharaa would appear. Finally, they pushed the 2 sides till there was a gap big enough for a person to squeeze through.
Jack took a glance into the mysterious darkness. To tell the truth, he had never seen the interior of the passage for a lift. After roughly making out what was ahead, Jack suddenly reared back, fearful that he would accidently fall in.
"What?" Sophie questioned, concerned. "I know why the lift didn't work, take a look yourself, but be careful" Jack replied and moved away. Everyone took turns to see what was on the inside. At the bottom of the 'pit' was the ruins and debris of a lift that had crashed down all the way to the bottom. In the centre of the passageway was a broken cable that leaded all the way up to a darkness where everyone could not see. At the left meanwhile, was a ladder.
"Now what?" Jack asked, hoping that Reza was not going to suggest what he already had in mind. "We will all have to climb the ladder to the third floor and from then, we open the door and get to Sub-Control Room. Any questions?" Reza answered without any signs of fear. "What if we fall? What if we don't make it?" Jack clearly was not enjoying this. "Then it's your own problem"
Making a swift leap towards the ladder, Reza easily hooked onto the safety ladder with his arms. He then climbed upwards. Next to follow Reza was Burt, who too had an easy time reaching onto the ladder. Reza climbed to the third floor where there was another door and a narrow catwalk. With one hand grabbing on the ladder and another hand on his knife, Reza took aim. In one smooth strike, he hurled his knife deep into the middle of the lift door. He then jumped on the catwalk, and before he could fall, Reza gripped on to his knife. Luckily for Reza, there was an emergency 'open door' button and 'stop lift' button next to him. Reza punched the 'open door' button and almost fell forward as the lift door slided open immediately. All the while, Burt stared in amazement.
"My turn!" Mike pounched on the ladder and hooked it with his arms, he begun climbing up and soon was out of sight, leaving Jack and Sophie still on the second floor. Jack took a deep breath, certainly, this looked easy to do, just jump, grab the ladder and climb up. Throwing his body forward, Jack hit the ladder harder than he thought. He didn't get a good hold on the ladder and Jack's heart skipped a beat as he fell downwards. "NOOO!!!" Jack cried and desperately swing his arms forward. This saved his life, for he managed to hook one of his arms on the ladder.
Reza stared down at Jack as Jack breathed deeply and sighed in relief loudly. "Watch it Private" Reza seemingly taunted Jack. Jack now made sure he always had at least three of his limbs on the ladder before he proceeded upwards cautiously. When Jack had passed Sophie, she easily leaped forward, hooked onto the ladder and climbed up rapidly like an agile monkey. Jack was making slow progress and Sophie soon caught up with him. Squeezing beside Jack, Sophie was now almost reaching up as high as Jack.
Without any warning, BH begun to shake violently as if there was an Earthquake. Reza, Burt and Mike steadied themselves as they held on to anything to keep balance. Electricity sparkled on the cable as lights started flickering constantly. The vibrations continued on.
Part of the ladder below Jack and Sophie broke and Jack managed to hold on to the ladder dispite lacking the aid of his legs. Sophie wasn't holding on to the bars firmly enough when the ladder broke had, she now screamed loudly as she fell along with the ladder.
"GOTCHA!" Jack cried as he managed to get a firm grip on one of Sophie's hands as she fell. "DON'T LET GO!!!" Jack shouted to her as he now strained his arm to pull her up. "Ughhhhh....." Jack, with his greatest effort, finally managed to pull Sophie up to the point where she could grab the ladder herself. Anytime now, the entire ladder could give way and the two of them struggled as they climbed up hastily, uttering prayers and hoping that they would reach the third floor fast enough.
At long last, with the aid of Mike and Burt, Sophie and Jack were pulled up to the third floor where they now laid down, too exhausted to even talk.
There was another sudden shaking, Mike stumbled and crashed down. The lights suddenly faded, and the group now found themselves in total darkness. "Power failure?" Burt asked Reza. Reza switched on his flashlights and aimed at the light bulbs above them. Unexpectedly, the lights flickered on again.
Everyone could feel BH vibrating less now, but it was still vibrating hard enough to affect the aiming of them nonetheless. The disruption in power soon faded, but something was wrong. The Kharaa were meddling with BH's power supply. They had to get to Sub-Control Room fast to figure out what's going on.
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I wrote this chapter dispite having a deep fever just for the sake of everyone. So do give as much comments as you can so I may improve my story or correct my mistakes. As I did not have a clear head while writing this chapter, it may be of poorer quality than my previous chapters.
I will correct all mistakes when I am feeling better.
Sophie "Guys?" Reza "Yes?" Sophie "Do you guys find the atmosphere.......weird?" Reza "As in?" Sophie "It feels rather cool at first, but as time went on, I realised that this place is freezing" Reza "Freezing?" Sophie "Also, I feel........kinda dizzy, or weird, as in, there seems to be a sudden change in the atmosphere" Jack "What? You too?" Reza "Certainly, all this seems to be linked to the unusual disruption in power just now"
Burt placed his hand on a metal bar for support and jerked his hand away immediately. The metal bar was freezing.
Burt "HOLY CRAP!" Reza "What?" Burt "Reza, this place is.....freezing"
Sophie rubbed her hands together for warmth while the others inspected the surronding. It was at this point in time, that they realised that they were floating. Sophie's MREs floated out of her pocket. At the same time, a strange white mist had now surronded them. Reza rubbed his index finger over the ground and stared in confusion, for his index finger was covered in frost. The gravity was unstable and the temperature was dropping at an alarming rate.
This was highly unfavourable for them, as Nano does not react well to environmental changes. Too high or too low a gravity change could greatly affect the accuracy of their weapons. Also, Nano is resistant to heat but not to cold. After prolonged exposure to coldness, their Nano Armors would freeze, the Nanos would break, increase in weight, lost effectiveness, and finally, no longer serve as a reliable form of protection. A slight frost now formed on their armor, and Reza's HUD begun flashing repeatedly.
Mike "Reza, you have a plan?" Reza "I am not sure about this, but I suggest we all get to Sub-Control Room. Hopefully, enough, we will be able to re-adjust the power flow"
With Reza leading the way, the group now literally floated forward hastily, as they could not keep their feet on the floor in a zero-gravity environment.
They passed by rooms, doors, bacterium stains, corridors, corners, and continued on without stopping. Aruptly, everyone's HUD stopped functioning. "What the hell?!" Jack cried in shock for he clearly had not expected this. Fortunately, Reza had anticpated it, and he had long memorized the route to the Sub-Control Room. However, he still could not understand why was there not even a single Kharaa at the third floor.
A ray of light streamed out of a half-opened door. Under the frost and bacterium stains, the words 'Sub-Control Room' were written clearly on a notice beside the door. They had reached the Sub-Control Room at last. Bursting into the room, Reza felt a burning sensation on his eyes as he struggled to check the surronding. "Whoa!" Jack shouted as he raised his hands to shield his eyes from the burning light. It was especially bright in the Sub-Command Room, or perhaps it was merely because they were all used to the low-light atmosphere for BH.
After a short while, they got more used to the bright light, and looked around freely. The Sub-Control Room consisted of a main room which had a huge screen, several super computers and some desks. Joined his the main room were 4 other smaller rooms which contained computers, files, desks, lockers and smaller screens.
Jack, Mike, Burt and Sophie each went to the smaller rooms as Reza switched on all of the super computers. To his disappointment, only 1 was in working condition. Jack switched on all of the computers in the room which he was appointed to. Mike checked all files and desks for any clue to how they should take back BH or at least, warn Earth of BH. Burt pulled inspected all the lockers, kicking open those that were locked. However, nothing useful could be found for the lockers only contained clothes, bags, worthless guns, snacks and an occasional nude photo of women. Sophie left her room, for all of the screens were badly damaged.
Reza "Guys!" Everyone else "What?!" Reza "I think all of you better come look at this"
Reza typed commands rapidly into the super computer he was working on. Meanwhile, the others had gathered beside him.
Reza "Nano-Gridlock" Sophie "As I thought, Bacterium must be interfering with BH then" Reza "Yes, I have re-activated the heater system and gravity system. The Kharaa were re-allocating the power supply to somewhere else"
Reza now clicked at several folders and opened them, as he inspected carefully all of the files. He then went on to check the power supply.
Reza "Oh god......." Burt "What?" Reza "The Kharra just......got smarter" Jack "What do you mean by that?" Reza "The Kharaa has learned to control BH on the overall, that explains why they could sent BH heading back to Earth. However, they were also meddling with the weapons system. Jack "Huh? Like earlier when they shot us with BH's turret?" Reza "That was just the tip of the iceberg. Different weapons have different level of security, depending on how powerful the weapon is. When no one is in command of BH, the security system for all the weapons activate" Jack "I don't get it" Reza "Example, the Sonic Cannon Turret can only be operated by a master hacker, the vulcans can be operated by anyone with a decent amount of computering skills. However........BH also has got nuclear warheads" Everyone else "WHAT?!" Reza "Obviously, the nuclear warheads would be protected by a top-notch security system along with firewalls. However, it won't last. The Kharaa are constantly adapting, always getting smarter. They used Bacterium to combat the security system, only until recently, they won.........." Jack "What does that mean?" Reza "It means, the Kharaa can now use nuclear warheads on BH and fire them at Earth" Jack "Oh ****, have they fired yet?" Reza "No, no, not yet. BH is not in firing range yet" Jack "So exactly how long do we have?" Reza "Until just now, BH has started moving faster than before. At this current speed, BH would reach firing range in........4 hours" Jack "What kind of damage would Earth...." Reza "Suffer? Based on my rough calculations, it would eradicate somewhat an area as large as Asia, following suit, it would send the rest of Earth into a nuclear winter..........."
Fear itself seemed to stretch out a vast hand, like a dark cloud rising up and looming in to engulf them all.
Burt "We must stop the Kharaa from firing the nuclear warheads!" Reza "Yes, certainly, however, we need to warn Earth as well" Burt "How do we do that?" Reza "I don't know, we must first devise a plan" Burt "What about the unusual tremors, screwed-up atmosphere and weird energy disturbance just now? Reza "It appears that the nuclear warheads take somewhat.....several hours to charge up, if you mean to fire all at once. To speed up the charge-up process, the Kharaa meddled with the power supply. At first, they were interfering with the boosters and fuel-jet cells, however, this not only caused a terrible disturbance to BH's speed, it also screwed up the lights and almost caused a crash-down of BH's entire power supply. Following suit, the Kharaa then re-adjusted the power supply for the first floor all the way to the third floor. The heater and the gravity used up a lot of energy, thus, they re-adjusted the energy supply and directed it towards the nuclear missiles"
A loud beeping siren echoed through the Sub-Control Room, it was the alarm signal for the smaller computers which Jack was working on. Everyone gathered in front of the computers as the image of a new spaceship was shown, heading towards BH from Earth.
Reza "That's the EX-209, that's Major Juo's ship!" Sophie "But BH will shoot it down! We must warn them!" Reza "How?" Sophie "Just communicate with them somehow! We must stop BH!" Jack "Look!"
On another computer, the words 'BH Anti-Ship Defense System Code Magma Activated'. A shockwave was seen hitting the EX-209 directly, and the ship exploded immediately. None of its crew were seen escaping.
Burt "WHAT THE HELL?!" Sophie "Oh no....this means, all the ships coming to rescue us will be shot down" Reza "Yes, and even if the crew manage to get here, I doubt they will survive the Kharaa" Sophie "Can't you stop BH from firing the nuclear warheads or something?!" Reza "No, I am afraid not. The Kharaa are using Bacterium to block us off, preventing us from manually controlling or overwritting the code. Its Nano-Gridlock" Sophie "Is there no other way?!" Reza "Just one.....we get right to the source, but it won't be easy. Theres a high possiblitie that the Kharaa are concentrated at BH's key structure points"
Hearing all this, Jack slumped against the wall. He had seen so many deaths, felt so much pain, and now, Earth was going to get destroyed, and they had no way of warning Earth. All hopes have been lost...... Tears of fright and sadness dripped down his eyes as Jack clenched his fist in frustration.
Jack "I wished I had never came on this mission......I wished they never built BH.......Earth had never meant for the Kharaa to take over BH and used it against us.........how I wish this didn't happen...... Reza "No one had meant for this things to happen, Jack. It isn't your fault, it is no one's fault. We do only what we are meant to do in the time that is given to us. If we do not do anything, if we do not help to warn Earth, if we do not stop the Kharaa, then it is our fault. For it is our duty, as Frontiersmen of the TSA, it is what we must do!
Jack looked up at Reza, suddenly, Reza didn't seemed so mean anymore. Looks of understanding and care was in Reza's eyes and he stood high up and stared down at Jack with his hand reached out. Flash of hope had gone back to his eyes, and he now understood fully what was he to do. Jack reached out his hand and Reza pulled him up.
Storage Hanger - Even bigger than TGV and PS of the NS_Nothing combined. Bascially, it would be the biggest indoor area in NS ever. It would contain many crates, boxes, and many un-openable doors.
Emergency Lift - Wait a sec.....I HAVE NEVER SEEN A TRUE LIFT IN NS YET!!! I mean enclosed lift of course.
Area outside lift - Has a vent at the side, also, it is basically a rather small room the size of MS in NS_Nothing.
Corridor - Has a vent at the side, very long and has several un-openable doors, paradise for Marines.
T-Shaped Room - Has 2 un-openable door, has 2 toilets with vents at the ceiling and a final door that leads to other areas.
Topogeography Room - Has several computers and a large holo-type globe at middle.
Resource Nozzel Room - Just a door leading to a sharp turn, there is a resource nozzel and a un-usable lift some distance it.
Sub-Control Room - A very bright room connected to 4 other smaller rooms. Contain a lot of computer, screens, tables, lockers and stuff.
Future
Main-Communications Room - Huge TGV-sized room with 2 doors leading down to a stair and huge amount of corpses and a hive in the middle.
Main Bridge - No Details Yet
Domain of the Scorpain that hovars without flapping - No Details Yet
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 13 - For Earth</span>
Reza continued entering more commands into the super computer. "There! At last!" He cried, satisfied. A square and pixel inside view of BH was now being uploaded into the screen of the computer. Among the layout, many red dots, maybe up to the thousands could be seen. Some were scattered while other red dots were massively grouped up together at several areas.
Jack "I assume those are the Kharaa?" Reza "Yes, from what I can see, there appears to be no less than several thousands of them on this ship" Jack "So.......the swarm of red dots means many Kharaas squeezed together?" Reza "Yes, there are apparently several key structure points where the Kharaa have stayed together on. I would call this 'choke points'. Fortunately, of the many choke points, we are going to only one. It is the Main Bridge" Jack "If I am not wrong, this is an advanced form of Motion Tracking right? Where BH basically detects all moving life form. Humans would be classed as 'green' while Kharaa is classed as 'red', isn't it?" Reza "So far so good" Jack "If this only detects movement, then what if there is another enormous group of Kharaa which are not moving, what if they are in our way?"
Reza remained quiet. Clearly, he was pondering over what Jack had just pointed out. Deciding to move on, Reza then pointed to a large square joined with four smaller squares and 5 green dots.
Reza "This is the Sub-Control Room which is the area we are at. We will then return to the lift, and move up to the Main-Communications Room, which would be on the.............twenty-third floor"
Everyone except Reza and Burt groaned in displeasure. How long and tiring was that going to be?!
Reza "From the Main-Communications Room, we can contact Earth and warn the TSA. Following suit, we then move to the Main Bridge which is also on the same floor. However, the Main Bridge is a choke point, regardless though, we must move there and attempt to drive away all the Kharaa there. The Main Bridge contacts more information than I can retrieve from this super computer, including the secret location of the Missile Silo" Sophie "Sorry to interupt, but isn't there like......several hundred Kharaas there?" Reza "I know that, but even if it costs our lifes, we must take back the Main Bridge" Sophie "What exactly is so important about it?" Reza "If we can drive away the Kharaa, we can basically control the entire BH from the Main Bridge, stop it from firing the nuclear warheads and even send BH away from Earth" Sophie "Okay, pretending that we do take back Main Bridge, how can we escape from BH? Any lifeboats?" Reza ".........................................no. I 've checked the layout for BH, there doesn't appear to be even a single lifeboat or escape pod" Jack "But what matters now is saving Earth isn't it?" Reza "Well said, Jack" Mike "What do we do once we communicate Earth?" Reza "We would first warn them of the situation, of the Kharaa and stuff, and ask them for a solution" Sophie "What if that doesn't work?" Reza "Then we call them to fire a nuke back at BH" Everyone Else "...................................."
No one realised that in the midst of their conversation, a red dot was now moving towards them steadily. Everyone now stood in a circle, and placed their hands together.
Reza "For Glory" Burt "For Death" Mike "For Honor" Sophie "For Hope" Jack "For Earth"
Done with their final reloads, weapon checks, they finished almost all of their last MREs. No toilet was available in the area and they had to make do in one of the un-used smaller rooms. Everyone uploaded BH's layout into their HUDs. The plan was now to return to the lift, climb up to the twenty-third level where they would proceed to the Main-Communications Room to contact Earth. Next, they would move to the Main Bridge, fight the Kharaas and retake BH.
Finally, the group setted out, leaving the Sub-Control Room. The atmosphere disturbance was now gone, and the floor and walls were drenched in water. Jack was glad he didn't find himself floating unusally anymore. They passed by doors after doors, corridors, rooms, and finally they arrived at a Cross-Junction.
Mike "Quiet.....I hear something"
Everyone stopped, for they trusted Mike's sharp ears. In a short while, everyone could hear loud stamping noises in a slow, regular pace. There also a heavy breathing, followed by some growling.
'PSSSSST' Pipes bursted, releasing a white steam which could be vaguely seen in the far darkness. The shape of an enormous creature was emerging through the darkness as everyone stared blankly. "Something big......" Sophie stammered as she continued watching. More pipes bursted and the creature was becoming visible. They could see 3 large horns, followed by the bulk and flesh of a gigantic Kharaa. It was an Onos, except this Onos was at least 5 metres tall.
Sophie "Oh god........its him" Reza "Him?" Mike "The Onos from before which we ran from, much earlier on" Burt "Damn, hes big. Prepare to fight everyone!"
The Onos was stomping forward at a rather slow pace, for the walls were narrow and its nose horn actually touched the ceiling, ripping a huge cut across, bursting any pipes in the way. It was blocking their way entirely, and there was definitely no way to go past the Onos. Burt raised his HMG but Mike stopped him.
Mike "Its no use" Burt "What? Why?" Mike "His headplate is thick and his shield is broad, his horns are deadly, for this creature is beyond any of us" Burt "What do we do?" Mike "What else? We go another way"
The Onos was now within 20 metres ahead of them. Sensing its prey close, the Onos let out a loud warcry and lowered its head.
Mike "****! RUN!"
Charging forward directly at them, the Onos picked up speed every second. The group scattered, Burt and Reza dashed to the left while Sopihe, Mike and Jack escaped to the right. Everyone stopped running, and waited to see what the Onos was going to do.
They didn't had to wait long, the Onos charged to the Cross-Junction and stopped, completely blocking Sophie's group from Reza and Burt. Turning its head towards the right, the Onos then shifted its massive body, as its sheer bulk crushed the floor and its horns dented the wall. "RUN RUN RUN!!!" Sophie screamed as the Onos charged at them. Why were they always so unlucky?
Sprinting forward, they could hear gunshots as Burt and Reza appeared to open fire at the Onos back. The Onos ignored its attackers as it chased after its former preys which escaped from it earlier. Never stopping for even one second, Sophie, Mike and Jack sprinted across the corridor. Turning her head, Sophie was dismaid to see that the Onos was hot on their heels, and the tip of its horns was just inches from her. Screaming, she picked up speed as curses flew out of her mouth.
Entering a narrower walkway, they heard a loud bang and an angry cry of rage from the Onos. "Look!" Jack yelled in amazement when he realised the Onos was stuck. Having been led into a narrower walkway, the fat body of the Onos did not permit it to continue forward, or was it?
Giving yet another bellowing roar, the Onos shoved itself into the narrow walkway. Crushing the metal tubes, bursting the pipes, breaking the floor, the Onos literally forced its body forward. With each thrust, the Onos would move forward a little, while denting the wall and ripping a huge cut across the ceiling. The Onos was considerablely slowed down, yes, but it was still moving forward.
"Lets go! Now!" Mike urged Jack and Sophie as they stared, almost in amusement at the Onos attempts to reach them. Its trail of destruction had not stopped though, they knew this, and the 3 of them darted away. The Onos growled in anger, for once again, its preys had slipped through its grasp.
Jack "What about Reza and Burt?" Mike "They will make it, now what we need to do is to find the lift" Sopihe "Lead the way, Mike"
Mike could hear the Onos roars from faraway, but he wasn't concerned about the Onos. They were going to be out of time. Originally, they had planned to take the short-cut to the lift but the Onos had delayed them badly. Now, they had to find another way. With that in mind, Mike checked his mini-map. The lift was at least another 10 minutes walk, or 4 minutes run.
Mike "Come guys! No time to lost!" Bolting through a maze of walkways, corridors, doors and pipes, Mike leaded the group forward. Without Reza, he was the leader once again, and no way in hell was he gonna fail this mission.
Sophie was lagging behind, and annoyed but concerned, Mike slowed down his speed. Checking his minimap every now and then while running, Mike cheered Sophie on whenever she slowed. Until at last, after 6 minutes of endless running, they had reached the lift from before.
Mike reached his head out of the lift and inspected the passageway. No signs of Burt of Reza, Mike thought in disappointment. Looks like they had to do this alone. Mike opened his mouth to shout for Sophie to jump first only to have Jack dash past him and leaped onto the ladder.
"What the hell are you waiting for?! Lets go!" Jack taunted Mike.
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 15 - Long Way Up</span>
Jack stared up, but he could see nothing but darkness high up. No signs of Burt or Reza unfortunately, but they had to go on. "Hurry up Jack" Sophie urged him impatiently.
Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Jack continued climbing up. Next to jump on the ladder was Mike. He was the one at the bottom for he was also the strongest, if anyone was to fall, he might at least, get a mild chance of catching the person.
Jack glanced down, he was the highest up climbing the ladder, Mike was the last and Sophie was sand-witched in the middle. They were back, at last, back to the dreaded ladder. To climb up to the twenty-third level was definitely no easy feat, Jack thought in frustration as he continued up to the fifth level.
With every clammy hand he placed on the next higher up bar, an annoying creak would sound and Sophie would often look up in alarm, for she remembered her close encounter with death the last time before.
After five minutes of climbing without stopping, Jack stopped at last.
Sophie "What........" Jack "Do you know how long we been climbing?" Sophie "Five minutes......ten minutes......maybe fifteen" Jack "So, which level are we at?" Mike "Are you blind? We are only at the seventh level!" Jack and Sophie "SEVEN?!"
Jack almost couldn't believe his ears when he heard Mike said 'seventh', this climbing up was seriously endless. Nonetheless, they must move on. "Come on, Jack! You can do it!" Jack cheered himself under his breath as he reached out to grab the next bar, kick himself up, and continued climbing up.
However, the group soon found their stamina fading and their energy drained from them. After another climbing up of ten minutes, of which there were many pauses in between, it was Sophie's turn to stop.
Sophie "Where are we now?" Mike ".........................." Jack "Yes?" Mike "Twelve, I guess. There now! Lets go on!"
Letting out a grunt of tiredness, Sophie breathed deeply as she struggled to climb up. "Jack, what does it look like up there from your view?" Sophie asked, her voice cracked. Jack coughed loudly, for he suddenly choked on his own saliva. "Darkness, far up ahead, I see nothing but darkness" Jack answered as he kicked himself up again.
The group climbed on and climbed on, the ladders of which seemed never-ending, menacingly high and cold and hard. There was nothing else, nothing other than narrow catwalks, lift doors, emergency buttons, and darkness. There was nothing else.
Their climbing effecient was fast fading, for the group was extremely tired, having been chased by an Onos and without any break only to run on for minutes, they now regreted their decision at not resting.
Even after half an hour, no one talked, for they all wanted to conserve their energy. Several times a row, Jack found his vision fading and he almost fell asleep, which would had been fatal. With every blink, Jack found it harder and harder to open his eyes again. Yet........he must not give up, he must continue on......................
It was a torment for the climbing group, no food, no rest, no water, nothing to see. Grinding their teeth, they struggled against their desires to give up as they just kept climbing up. The stench of their sweaty bodies was stifling. On and on they went, and everyone soon gasped with thirst, eyes tired with the never-ending desire to give up. No matter what, they must endure! They must continue! They must not give up!
Jack reached out a clammy hand to grab the next higher bar but he stopped, and his hand dropped and fell by his side. Now hanging with only a single hand at the bar, Jack slowly closed his eyes............he was too tired to continue, too drained of his strength...........Jack's grip on the bar continued to weaken, anytime now, he would drop, and all would be lost.
A vision of Earth drifted through Jacks mind and his eyes suddenly bolted open. Regaining his senses once more, Jack gripped the bar tightly with 2 hands. He will not give up now.
Even Mike was grim and silent, for he found his strength fast fading from him. His eyes grew heavy, licking his lips, Mike opened his mouth only to hear an unfamiler croak. Was this his voice? How could it sound so........hoarse? Was he really that tired?
Jack "Guys.....gu....." Sophie "Wha............" Jack "Brek, take.....brek"
Jack now rested his bottom on one of the catwalks. Sweat dripped down his body and drenched the catwalk. Looking down, Jack saw that Sophie and Mike had rested on different catwalks as well and he sighed in relief. His will would not last him much longer, and clearing his throat, Jack now managed to say loudly in a clear voice.
Jack "Okay....guys. Take a break, we rest for five minutes, then we continue on. Do not sleep." Sophie "Guys....guys, I got 3 final pack of MREs and.......a half flask of tap water" Mike "Gd....paz mi"
Sophie drank the water heavily, and passed the flask to Mike, who drank heavily as well. Jack was the last to drink the water, but he did not complain. Everyone each got just a pack of MRE, and they ate it hungrily. MREs were not the best tasting of food, but they had to make do.
Until at last, Jack gave the alarm call that they had to move on. It was rather amazing that no one had fell asleep. It was equally amazing how hard it was to continue on. Everyone fell like staying there and resting, for as long as possible, as long as ethernity.....................
Jack reached out another clammy hand to hold the next catwalk for support, his hand sweeped across the catwalk..........and he felt a small pack. Immediately, Jack kicked himself higher up to take a better look. There at was, an empty pack of MRE, left there by someone else.
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 15.5 - You Guys Are Late</span>
Jack picked up the empty MRE pack and stared at it carefully. There were some pieces of small crumbs and a sweat-stained finger print. Obviously, someone had just eaten it and left the empty pack there.
How long had they climbed this ladder? How long had they fought against their desires? Finally, at long last, there was some hint that Burt and Reza may very well be alive.
Jack smiled, at last, for a very long time.
"GUYS!!!" He screamed, a tone of thrill and excitement in his voice. Sophie and Mike looked up at Jack, with their pale faces and dazed expression, this was a news they were going to like. "They are alive! I repeat! BURT AND REZA ARE ALIVE!!!" Jack cried as he immediately turned back and climbed up.
With a strength and determination which surprised even themselves, the group now climbed up the ladder rapidly like never before. They were at the twenty-first level, it was just a while more before they could reach the twenty-third level and meet up with Burt and Reza.
"Come on guys! Hurry up!" Jack roused Sophie and Mike once more, for he now felt a dash of hope. They were not alone after all. Jack now knew Commander Reza to be a wise and understanding Commander. Reza would be the one man to lead them to victory, to help them save Earth. Jack however, didn't really know Burt that well. He had only seen Burt for a while, and besides being generally quiet and always sticking close with Reza, Jack knew nothing else about the stern-face marine. After all, they had almost never chatted before together.
Sophie's chest heaved up and down, as she breathed heavily and took a short pause to regain her strength. She couldn't believe it, Reza was still alive! That was good news. Smiling, she raised her hand to grab the next bar. Her arms were exhausted, tired, and painful beyond words. Sophie suddenly found her eyes closing and herself losing conscious. Slapping herself, Sophie regained herself once again. No, she couldn't give up now, she couldn't falter. She must go on!
Mike now saw Jack under a new light. Jack was once dependant on him, and could not do anything right without others help. It was different now, his best friend had now sur-passed him at last. Jack was now the one leading the group, Jack was the one raising their morale and spirits. He had lost track of time entirely, and he hoped that they weren't too late to stop the nuclear missiles from being fired at Earth.
One metre...........he was just one metre from the twenty-third level. Jack raised an arm weakly, and held the next bar. "Come on.......get up!" Jack muttered to himself. Kicking himself higher, Jack could now see light at last. The lift door to the twenty-third level was open! Light streamed through the door, and Jack could almost pictured the door as a gateway to heaven. Raising another hand, Jack let out a grunt as he tried to hold the catwalk. The silhouette of a man blocked the door. "Who......" Jack couldn't see the face of the man above him.
A helping hand reached out to Jack, and he raised his sweaty palm and held the hand. Jack was pulled up by the strong arm and at last, he finally could see it........Reza pulled Jack up and slumped Jack's arm over his shoulder. "You guys are late" Reza remarked, smiling.
Jack went down on his knees as his sweat dripped over the floor. Jack turned, Sophie was now being pulled up by Reza. Letting out a final smile, Jack collasped and laid there like a dead thing.
nooooo, i wanna read more <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> but i suppose ill have to wait, its not like im blaming you, cos this story seriously rocks, maybe it could convince amckern to try and do single player ns again
im not complaining as such, but this story seriously rocks better than harry potter anyday <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
wow i just sat here and read the whole thing! wow! thats awesome. i can picture everything perfect! thatd be a tight movie! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> (books are always better <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->)
Geez... after reading this ill make a turret farm in my room or try to find a HMG and camp in my bed all night... Damn great story, got excited all the way, especially when reading in the night. We want more, we want more, we want more!
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Chapter 16 - A New World</span>
Jack bolted up as if someone had just slid an icecube on his neck. Turning around, he could see Mike and Sophie lying beside him with Burt and Reza guarding them.
Jack "How freaking long have I been sleeping?!" Burt "Thirty minutes" Reza "Thirty-seven minutes to be exact" Jack "What the hell?! You didn't wake us up?!" Reza "Uh huh" Jack "Ain't we a little short on time here?! The Kharaa are going to nuke Earth anytime and here you are, letting us sleep when our concern should be getting to the Main-Communications Room!" Reza "Sleep is just as important as anything. Without rest, you are unable to function properly or do your missions well. Without rest, your accurancy is affected, and so is your ability to think and interpret a situation well" Jack "Huh?!" Reza "I would rather you guys sleep here for thirty minutes and then proceed with the orginial mission than you guys do not rest and screw up our mission" Jack "How long do we have left?" Reza "One hour and twenty-seven minutes left"
Cursing in frustration, Jack gave Sophie and Mike a prod. They too, were equally shocked when they heard the news they had been sleeping for thirty minutes straight.
After giving themselves a few good stretch, the group checked their weapons and Reza now led the group into a walkway.
Jack, Sophie and Mike gasped in shock and awe at the scenario that laid before them. Bacterium growths were everywhere, on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling. Weird ferns decorated the walls on either sides while mysterious tentacles, some small and some enormous, stuck out from the ceiling. Everywhere, there was a reeking smell of rot and death. The entire walkway was painted a darkened greenish-yellow.
They were in another world. A world of the Kharaa. No longer were the steel pipes visible. No longer were the pipes on the ceiling existing. No longer was the hard metal floor cold and dull. It was now a huge fat growth of bacterium and other foul organisms. The atmosphere was heavy and humid.
Sophie "What is........this place?" Reza "The very stronghold of the Kharaa on BH" Jack "What? They converted this entire place or something?" Reza "Apparently, yes. This whole place is now covered in bacterium" Mike "Are there any danger to us?" Reza "I hope not. Hold on, I will try first. All of you step back"
Reza took a step forward, a slight squashing sound could be heard when he stepped on a extra fat layer of bacterium growth. Swallowing his breath, Reza took out his knife and cut the wall on his right carefully. A very slight squealing cry was heard and a disgusting yellow juice was now sapping out from the cut. It was as if, the entire place was alive. Reza was about to touch one of the tenacles when he stopped aruptly, he could had sworn he saw one of the tentacles waving about slightly.
Sophie "Ugh..........revolting" Reza "Try not to yank out any of the tentacles on the ceilings, for we do not know how they would respond" Sophie "I don't even want to try it!" Reza "Good, anyway, follow me! Beware, cause this is Kharaa territory"
Reza checked his minimap and the group now cautiously proceeded forward, making sure they did not stepped on any particularly fat Bacterium growth. A large flying insect whizzed past them. Reza stared in shock, for it was quite impossible for an insect other than cockroaches to live on BH. As the insect flew too close to one of the arm-sized tentacle, the tentacle jerked outwards, snapping the insect and swallowing it up. The tentacle made a slight growl and retracted back to its original position. All the way, everyone stared in amazement.
What if they met a tentacle even bigger than them?
It's chapter 16 already and still not skorpian that hovars without flapping! Where is my skorpian that hovars without flapping??? I want my skorpian that hovars without flapping!! Wah!!1
Comments
"What is it, Reza?" Burt asked, concerned that something fearsome was up ahead. "We have reached the Resource Nozzel and just as I had feared, there's a Resource Chamber, an Offense Chamber and a bloody Gorge" Reza replied, carassing his Shotgun. "No other ways except this way?" Jack remarked. "No other ways, only this way, we gotta have to take them out" Reza answered and did a hand signal for cover-me. "Why can't we just throw a B-Grenade or something?" Jack questioned. "Do you want the entire ship of Kharaa to come looking for us?" Burt reprimanded Jack as he got into position.
Reza took another quick peep, the Gorge did not move from its position at all, this would be good. First thing to do would be to kill the Gorge. Reza pointed to Jack and instructed him, "Private Jack, this is a chance for you to prove yourself. With your Heavy Machine Gun, take out that Gorge in less than 2 seconds, beware of the Offense Chamber beside the Gorge"
Nervous and frightened, Jack decided to take a peep just like Reza. Unfortunately, inexperience along with fear made Jack leaned out a little too far, far enough for the Offense Chamber to sense his presense. Immediately, the man-height Bio-Structure got ready its spikes and its "head" began to swelled up and turned red. At this point in time, Reza heard the unmistakable 'krazz' sound, the indication that the Offense Chamber was readying its deadly spikes. In the nick of time, Reza pulled Jack back. A spike which travelled faster than the eye could see, whizzed past Jack's cheek. The deadly 8-inch spike was now imbedded deeply into the wall behind Jack and this was a slight cut on Jack's face.
"Do you know how close you were to certain death?!" Reza rebuked Jack as he took another peek, fearing for the worse. Amazingly, the Gorge had not move from its position at all! A second of thinking and Reza realised that the Gorge was asleep! "What sheer stroke of good luck!" Reza thought gladly. Reza snatched Jack's HMG and got ready.
Counting '1,2,3' under his breath, Reza sprunged out with a Shotgun on his left hand and a HMG on his right hand. Spinning round and round several times, Reza unloaded 1 shotgun blast directly into the unfortunate Gorge and many HMG rounds into the Offense Chamber before landing on the ground.
The Gorge now laid down in a pool of greenish-yellowish blood with 10 holes in its back while the Offense Chamber now seemed to shrunken up as greenish-yellowish blood begun pouring profusely out of the many holes on its body. Finally, with a loud 'splat', the Offense Chamber erupted and its blood and remains begun splattering everywhere, raining down on Jack who was well ahead, ready to finish off the helpless Resource Chamber.
"Argh!" Jack cried in surprise as he was now covered in disgusting Kharaa blood, much to the amusment of the others. Reaqquiring his HMG back, Jack aimed at the head of the Resource Chamber. Sensing danger, the Resource Chamber turned around to face Jack. Making 'murk murk' cries, the Resource Chamber raised its arms to protect itself. However, its weak defense could do little against the HMG as the bullets penetrated deep into the Resource Chamber's flesh.
The Resource Chamber begun to quiver and shake as it soon swelled up and exploded into a rain of blood and flesh. This time however, Jack was well out of the way.
"Look!" Jack shouted, pointing forward. "The lift is just ahead!"
Pressing repeatedly at the 'up' button for the lift did not toggle any response. Irriated, Mike pounded the 'up' button but to no avail. At last, Reza said "I guess the lift's stuck, we got no other choice other than to force it open, but I do not yet know what we will encounter" Jamming the tip of his knife into the middle of the lift, Reza pushed forcefully, trying to make the door slide open. At last, a small gap was made, "Reza, we are with you!". Everyone inserted their fingers into the gap and pushed sideways for they could not stay here for long, anytime a Kharaa would appear. Finally, they pushed the 2 sides till there was a gap big enough for a person to squeeze through.
Jack took a glance into the mysterious darkness. To tell the truth, he had never seen the interior of the passage for a lift. After roughly making out what was ahead, Jack suddenly reared back, fearful that he would accidently fall in.
"What?" Sophie questioned, concerned. "I know why the lift didn't work, take a look yourself, but be careful" Jack replied and moved away. Everyone took turns to see what was on the inside. At the bottom of the 'pit' was the ruins and debris of a lift that had crashed down all the way to the bottom. In the centre of the passageway was a broken cable that leaded all the way up to a darkness where everyone could not see. At the left meanwhile, was a ladder.
"Now what?" Jack asked, hoping that Reza was not going to suggest what he already had in mind. "We will all have to climb the ladder to the third floor and from then, we open the door and get to Sub-Control Room. Any questions?" Reza answered without any signs of fear. "What if we fall? What if we don't make it?" Jack clearly was not enjoying this. "Then it's your own problem"
Making a swift leap towards the ladder, Reza easily hooked onto the safety ladder with his arms. He then climbed upwards. Next to follow Reza was Burt, who too had an easy time reaching onto the ladder. Reza climbed to the third floor where there was another door and a narrow catwalk. With one hand grabbing on the ladder and another hand on his knife, Reza took aim. In one smooth strike, he hurled his knife deep into the middle of the lift door. He then jumped on the catwalk, and before he could fall, Reza gripped on to his knife. Luckily for Reza, there was an emergency 'open door' button and 'stop lift' button next to him. Reza punched the 'open door' button and almost fell forward as the lift door slided open immediately. All the while, Burt stared in amazement.
"My turn!" Mike pounched on the ladder and hooked it with his arms, he begun climbing up and soon was out of sight, leaving Jack and Sophie still on the second floor. Jack took a deep breath, certainly, this looked easy to do, just jump, grab the ladder and climb up. Throwing his body forward, Jack hit the ladder harder than he thought. He didn't get a good hold on the ladder and Jack's heart skipped a beat as he fell downwards. "NOOO!!!" Jack cried and desperately swing his arms forward. This saved his life, for he managed to hook one of his arms on the ladder.
Reza stared down at Jack as Jack breathed deeply and sighed in relief loudly. "Watch it Private" Reza seemingly taunted Jack. Jack now made sure he always had at least three of his limbs on the ladder before he proceeded upwards cautiously. When Jack had passed Sophie, she easily leaped forward, hooked onto the ladder and climbed up rapidly like an agile monkey. Jack was making slow progress and Sophie soon caught up with him. Squeezing beside Jack, Sophie was now almost reaching up as high as Jack.
Without any warning, BH begun to shake violently as if there was an Earthquake. Reza, Burt and Mike steadied themselves as they held on to anything to keep balance. Electricity sparkled on the cable as lights started flickering constantly. The vibrations continued on.
Part of the ladder below Jack and Sophie broke and Jack managed to hold on to the ladder dispite lacking the aid of his legs. Sophie wasn't holding on to the bars firmly enough when the ladder broke had, she now screamed loudly as she fell along with the ladder.
"GOTCHA!" Jack cried as he managed to get a firm grip on one of Sophie's hands as she fell. "DON'T LET GO!!!" Jack shouted to her as he now strained his arm to pull her up. "Ughhhhh....." Jack, with his greatest effort, finally managed to pull Sophie up to the point where she could grab the ladder herself. Anytime now, the entire ladder could give way and the two of them struggled as they climbed up hastily, uttering prayers and hoping that they would reach the third floor fast enough.
At long last, with the aid of Mike and Burt, Sophie and Jack were pulled up to the third floor where they now laid down, too exhausted to even talk.
There was another sudden shaking, Mike stumbled and crashed down. The lights suddenly faded, and the group now found themselves in total darkness. "Power failure?" Burt asked Reza. Reza switched on his flashlights and aimed at the light bulbs above them. Unexpectedly, the lights flickered on again.
Everyone could feel BH vibrating less now, but it was still vibrating hard enough to affect the aiming of them nonetheless. The disruption in power soon faded, but something was wrong. The Kharaa were meddling with BH's power supply. They had to get to Sub-Control Room fast to figure out what's going on.
-------------------------------
I wrote this chapter dispite having a deep fever just for the sake of everyone. So do give as much comments as you can so I may improve my story or correct my mistakes. As I did not have a clear head while writing this chapter, it may be of poorer quality than my previous chapters.
I will correct all mistakes when I am feeling better.
"Blah blah", said Jack. "Blah?" replied Sophie.
When you haven't reached the Sophie part, you still think it's Jack talking. It'd help if you'd format it like this:
"Blah blah", said Jack.
"Blah?" replied Sophie.
Etc. Get it?
Otherwise, awesome! Poor gorge. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Im not quite sure, correct me if im wrong. But isnt metre spellet meter, and i does (to my knowledge) have a s-plural, as in "10 meters"
Anyways, great story, keep up the good work! Just cant wait for more!
Sophie "Guys?"
Reza "Yes?"
Sophie "Do you guys find the atmosphere.......weird?"
Reza "As in?"
Sophie "It feels rather cool at first, but as time went on, I realised that this place is freezing"
Reza "Freezing?"
Sophie "Also, I feel........kinda dizzy, or weird, as in, there seems to be a sudden change in the atmosphere"
Jack "What? You too?"
Reza "Certainly, all this seems to be linked to the unusual disruption in power just now"
Burt placed his hand on a metal bar for support and jerked his hand away immediately. The metal bar was freezing.
Burt "HOLY CRAP!"
Reza "What?"
Burt "Reza, this place is.....freezing"
Sophie rubbed her hands together for warmth while the others inspected the surronding. It was at this point in time, that they realised that they were floating. Sophie's MREs floated out of her pocket. At the same time, a strange white mist had now surronded them. Reza rubbed his index finger over the ground and stared in confusion, for his index finger was covered in frost. The gravity was unstable and the temperature was dropping at an alarming rate.
This was highly unfavourable for them, as Nano does not react well to environmental changes. Too high or too low a gravity change could greatly affect the accuracy of their weapons. Also, Nano is resistant to heat but not to cold. After prolonged exposure to coldness, their Nano Armors would freeze, the Nanos would break, increase in weight, lost effectiveness, and finally, no longer serve as a reliable form of protection. A slight frost now formed on their armor, and Reza's HUD begun flashing repeatedly.
Mike "Reza, you have a plan?"
Reza "I am not sure about this, but I suggest we all get to Sub-Control Room. Hopefully, enough, we will be able to re-adjust the power flow"
With Reza leading the way, the group now literally floated forward hastily, as they could not keep their feet on the floor in a zero-gravity environment.
They passed by rooms, doors, bacterium stains, corridors, corners, and continued on without stopping. Aruptly, everyone's HUD stopped functioning. "What the hell?!" Jack cried in shock for he clearly had not expected this. Fortunately, Reza had anticpated it, and he had long memorized the route to the Sub-Control Room. However, he still could not understand why was there not even a single Kharaa at the third floor.
A ray of light streamed out of a half-opened door. Under the frost and bacterium stains, the words 'Sub-Control Room' were written clearly on a notice beside the door. They had reached the Sub-Control Room at last. Bursting into the room, Reza felt a burning sensation on his eyes as he struggled to check the surronding. "Whoa!" Jack shouted as he raised his hands to shield his eyes from the burning light. It was especially bright in the Sub-Command Room, or perhaps it was merely because they were all used to the low-light atmosphere for BH.
After a short while, they got more used to the bright light, and looked around freely. The Sub-Control Room consisted of a main room which had a huge screen, several super computers and some desks. Joined his the main room were 4 other smaller rooms which contained computers, files, desks, lockers and smaller screens.
Jack, Mike, Burt and Sophie each went to the smaller rooms as Reza switched on all of the super computers. To his disappointment, only 1 was in working condition. Jack switched on all of the computers in the room which he was appointed to. Mike checked all files and desks for any clue to how they should take back BH or at least, warn Earth of BH. Burt pulled inspected all the lockers, kicking open those that were locked. However, nothing useful could be found for the lockers only contained clothes, bags, worthless guns, snacks and an occasional nude photo of women. Sophie left her room, for all of the screens were badly damaged.
Reza "Guys!"
Everyone else "What?!"
Reza "I think all of you better come look at this"
Reza typed commands rapidly into the super computer he was working on. Meanwhile, the others had gathered beside him.
Reza "Nano-Gridlock"
Sophie "As I thought, Bacterium must be interfering with BH then"
Reza "Yes, I have re-activated the heater system and gravity system. The Kharaa were re-allocating the power supply to somewhere else"
Reza now clicked at several folders and opened them, as he inspected carefully all of the files. He then went on to check the power supply.
Reza "Oh god......."
Burt "What?"
Reza "The Kharra just......got smarter"
Jack "What do you mean by that?"
Reza "The Kharaa has learned to control BH on the overall, that explains why they could sent BH heading back to Earth. However, they were also meddling with the weapons system.
Jack "Huh? Like earlier when they shot us with BH's turret?"
Reza "That was just the tip of the iceberg. Different weapons have different level of security, depending on how powerful the weapon is. When no one is in command of BH, the security system for all the weapons activate"
Jack "I don't get it"
Reza "Example, the Sonic Cannon Turret can only be operated by a master hacker, the vulcans can be operated by anyone with a decent amount of computering skills. However........BH also has got nuclear warheads"
Everyone else "WHAT?!"
Reza "Obviously, the nuclear warheads would be protected by a top-notch security system along with firewalls. However, it won't last. The Kharaa are constantly adapting, always getting smarter. They used Bacterium to combat the security system, only until recently, they won.........."
Jack "What does that mean?"
Reza "It means, the Kharaa can now use nuclear warheads on BH and fire them at Earth"
Jack "Oh ****, have they fired yet?"
Reza "No, no, not yet. BH is not in firing range yet"
Jack "So exactly how long do we have?"
Reza "Until just now, BH has started moving faster than before. At this current speed, BH would reach firing range in........4 hours"
Jack "What kind of damage would Earth...."
Reza "Suffer? Based on my rough calculations, it would eradicate somewhat an area as large as Asia, following suit, it would send the rest of Earth into a nuclear winter..........."
Fear itself seemed to stretch out a vast hand, like a dark cloud rising up and looming in to engulf them all.
Burt "We must stop the Kharaa from firing the nuclear warheads!"
Reza "Yes, certainly, however, we need to warn Earth as well"
Burt "How do we do that?"
Reza "I don't know, we must first devise a plan"
Burt "What about the unusual tremors, screwed-up atmosphere and weird energy disturbance just now?
Reza "It appears that the nuclear warheads take somewhat.....several hours to charge up, if you mean to fire all at once. To speed up the charge-up process, the Kharaa meddled with the power supply. At first, they were interfering with the boosters and fuel-jet cells, however, this not only caused a terrible disturbance to BH's speed, it also screwed up the lights and almost caused a crash-down of BH's entire power supply. Following suit, the Kharaa then re-adjusted the power supply for the first floor all the way to the third floor. The heater and the gravity used up a lot of energy, thus, they re-adjusted the energy supply and directed it towards the nuclear missiles"
A loud beeping siren echoed through the Sub-Control Room, it was the alarm signal for the smaller computers which Jack was working on. Everyone gathered in front of the computers as the image of a new spaceship was shown, heading towards BH from Earth.
Reza "That's the EX-209, that's Major Juo's ship!"
Sophie "But BH will shoot it down! We must warn them!"
Reza "How?"
Sophie "Just communicate with them somehow! We must stop BH!"
Jack "Look!"
On another computer, the words 'BH Anti-Ship Defense System Code Magma Activated'. A shockwave was seen hitting the EX-209 directly, and the ship exploded immediately. None of its crew were seen escaping.
Burt "WHAT THE HELL?!"
Sophie "Oh no....this means, all the ships coming to rescue us will be shot down"
Reza "Yes, and even if the crew manage to get here, I doubt they will survive the Kharaa"
Sophie "Can't you stop BH from firing the nuclear warheads or something?!"
Reza "No, I am afraid not. The Kharaa are using Bacterium to block us off, preventing us from manually controlling or overwritting the code. Its Nano-Gridlock"
Sophie "Is there no other way?!"
Reza "Just one.....we get right to the source, but it won't be easy. Theres a high possiblitie that the Kharaa are concentrated at BH's key structure points"
Hearing all this, Jack slumped against the wall. He had seen so many deaths, felt so much pain, and now, Earth was going to get destroyed, and they had no way of warning Earth. All hopes have been lost...... Tears of fright and sadness dripped down his eyes as Jack clenched his fist in frustration.
Jack "I wished I had never came on this mission......I wished they never built BH.......Earth had never meant for the Kharaa to take over BH and used it against us.........how I wish this didn't happen......
Reza "No one had meant for this things to happen, Jack. It isn't your fault, it is no one's fault. We do only what we are meant to do in the time that is given to us. If we do not do anything, if we do not help to warn Earth, if we do not stop the Kharaa, then it is our fault. For it is our duty, as Frontiersmen of the TSA, it is what we must do!
Jack looked up at Reza, suddenly, Reza didn't seemed so mean anymore. Looks of understanding and care was in Reza's eyes and he stood high up and stared down at Jack with his hand reached out. Flash of hope had gone back to his eyes, and he now understood fully what was he to do. Jack reached out his hand and Reza pulled him up.
Jack "What are we waiting for? Lets go!"
My favorite part of the story was at the beginning when you described the onos attack.
Dustin Michaels
Seth, if you want, by all means.
Currently
Storage Hanger - Even bigger than TGV and PS of the NS_Nothing combined. Bascially, it would be the biggest indoor area in NS ever. It would contain many crates, boxes, and many un-openable doors.
Emergency Lift - Wait a sec.....I HAVE NEVER SEEN A TRUE LIFT IN NS YET!!! I mean enclosed lift of course.
Area outside lift - Has a vent at the side, also, it is basically a rather small room the size of MS in NS_Nothing.
Corridor - Has a vent at the side, very long and has several un-openable doors, paradise for Marines.
T-Shaped Room - Has 2 un-openable door, has 2 toilets with vents at the ceiling and a final door that leads to other areas.
Topogeography Room - Has several computers and a large holo-type globe at middle.
Resource Nozzel Room - Just a door leading to a sharp turn, there is a resource nozzel and a un-usable lift some distance it.
Sub-Control Room - A very bright room connected to 4 other smaller rooms. Contain a lot of computer, screens, tables, lockers and stuff.
Future
Main-Communications Room - Huge TGV-sized room with 2 doors leading down to a stair and huge amount of corpses and a hive in the middle.
Main Bridge - No Details Yet
Domain of the Scorpain that hovars without flapping - No Details Yet
Missile Silo - No Details Yet
Reza continued entering more commands into the super computer. "There! At last!" He cried, satisfied. A square and pixel inside view of BH was now being uploaded into the screen of the computer. Among the layout, many red dots, maybe up to the thousands could be seen. Some were scattered while other red dots were massively grouped up together at several areas.
Jack "I assume those are the Kharaa?"
Reza "Yes, from what I can see, there appears to be no less than several thousands of them on this ship"
Jack "So.......the swarm of red dots means many Kharaas squeezed together?"
Reza "Yes, there are apparently several key structure points where the Kharaa have stayed together on. I would call this 'choke points'. Fortunately, of the many choke points, we are going to only one. It is the Main Bridge"
Jack "If I am not wrong, this is an advanced form of Motion Tracking right? Where BH basically detects all moving life form. Humans would be classed as 'green' while Kharaa is classed as 'red', isn't it?"
Reza "So far so good"
Jack "If this only detects movement, then what if there is another enormous group of Kharaa which are not moving, what if they are in our way?"
Reza remained quiet. Clearly, he was pondering over what Jack had just pointed out. Deciding to move on, Reza then pointed to a large square joined with four smaller squares and 5 green dots.
Reza "This is the Sub-Control Room which is the area we are at. We will then return to the lift, and move up to the Main-Communications Room, which would be on the.............twenty-third floor"
Everyone except Reza and Burt groaned in displeasure. How long and tiring was that going to be?!
Reza "From the Main-Communications Room, we can contact Earth and warn the TSA. Following suit, we then move to the Main Bridge which is also on the same floor. However, the Main Bridge is a choke point, regardless though, we must move there and attempt to drive away all the Kharaa there. The Main Bridge contacts more information than I can retrieve from this super computer, including the secret location of the Missile Silo"
Sophie "Sorry to interupt, but isn't there like......several hundred Kharaas there?"
Reza "I know that, but even if it costs our lifes, we must take back the Main Bridge"
Sophie "What exactly is so important about it?"
Reza "If we can drive away the Kharaa, we can basically control the entire BH from the Main Bridge, stop it from firing the nuclear warheads and even send BH away from Earth"
Sophie "Okay, pretending that we do take back Main Bridge, how can we escape from BH? Any lifeboats?"
Reza ".........................................no. I 've checked the layout for BH, there doesn't appear to be even a single lifeboat or escape pod"
Jack "But what matters now is saving Earth isn't it?"
Reza "Well said, Jack"
Mike "What do we do once we communicate Earth?"
Reza "We would first warn them of the situation, of the Kharaa and stuff, and ask them for a solution"
Sophie "What if that doesn't work?"
Reza "Then we call them to fire a nuke back at BH"
Everyone Else "...................................."
No one realised that in the midst of their conversation, a red dot was now moving towards them steadily. Everyone now stood in a circle, and placed their hands together.
Reza "For Glory"
Burt "For Death"
Mike "For Honor"
Sophie "For Hope"
Jack "For Earth"
Done with their final reloads, weapon checks, they finished almost all of their last MREs. No toilet was available in the area and they had to make do in one of the un-used smaller rooms. Everyone uploaded BH's layout into their HUDs. The plan was now to return to the lift, climb up to the twenty-third level where they would proceed to the Main-Communications Room to contact Earth. Next, they would move to the Main Bridge, fight the Kharaas and retake BH.
Finally, the group setted out, leaving the Sub-Control Room. The atmosphere disturbance was now gone, and the floor and walls were drenched in water. Jack was glad he didn't find himself floating unusally anymore. They passed by doors after doors, corridors, rooms, and finally they arrived at a Cross-Junction.
Mike "Quiet.....I hear something"
Everyone stopped, for they trusted Mike's sharp ears. In a short while, everyone could hear loud stamping noises in a slow, regular pace. There also a heavy breathing, followed by some growling.
Something big and inhuman was coming.
'PSSSSST' Pipes bursted, releasing a white steam which could be vaguely seen in the far darkness. The shape of an enormous creature was emerging through the darkness as everyone stared blankly. "Something big......" Sophie stammered as she continued watching. More pipes bursted and the creature was becoming visible. They could see 3 large horns, followed by the bulk and flesh of a gigantic Kharaa. It was an Onos, except this Onos was at least 5 metres tall.
Sophie "Oh god........its him"
Reza "Him?"
Mike "The Onos from before which we ran from, much earlier on"
Burt "Damn, hes big. Prepare to fight everyone!"
The Onos was stomping forward at a rather slow pace, for the walls were narrow and its nose horn actually touched the ceiling, ripping a huge cut across, bursting any pipes in the way. It was blocking their way entirely, and there was definitely no way to go past the Onos. Burt raised his HMG but Mike stopped him.
Mike "Its no use"
Burt "What? Why?"
Mike "His headplate is thick and his shield is broad, his horns are deadly, for this creature is beyond any of us"
Burt "What do we do?"
Mike "What else? We go another way"
The Onos was now within 20 metres ahead of them. Sensing its prey close, the Onos let out a loud warcry and lowered its head.
Mike "****! RUN!"
Charging forward directly at them, the Onos picked up speed every second. The group scattered, Burt and Reza dashed to the left while Sopihe, Mike and Jack escaped to the right. Everyone stopped running, and waited to see what the Onos was going to do.
They didn't had to wait long, the Onos charged to the Cross-Junction and stopped, completely blocking Sophie's group from Reza and Burt. Turning its head towards the right, the Onos then shifted its massive body, as its sheer bulk crushed the floor and its horns dented the wall. "RUN RUN RUN!!!" Sophie screamed as the Onos charged at them. Why were they always so unlucky?
Sprinting forward, they could hear gunshots as Burt and Reza appeared to open fire at the Onos back. The Onos ignored its attackers as it chased after its former preys which escaped from it earlier. Never stopping for even one second, Sophie, Mike and Jack sprinted across the corridor. Turning her head, Sophie was dismaid to see that the Onos was hot on their heels, and the tip of its horns was just inches from her. Screaming, she picked up speed as curses flew out of her mouth.
Entering a narrower walkway, they heard a loud bang and an angry cry of rage from the Onos. "Look!" Jack yelled in amazement when he realised the Onos was stuck. Having been led into a narrower walkway, the fat body of the Onos did not permit it to continue forward, or was it?
Giving yet another bellowing roar, the Onos shoved itself into the narrow walkway. Crushing the metal tubes, bursting the pipes, breaking the floor, the Onos literally forced its body forward. With each thrust, the Onos would move forward a little, while denting the wall and ripping a huge cut across the ceiling. The Onos was considerablely slowed down, yes, but it was still moving forward.
"Lets go! Now!" Mike urged Jack and Sophie as they stared, almost in amusement at the Onos attempts to reach them. Its trail of destruction had not stopped though, they knew this, and the 3 of them darted away. The Onos growled in anger, for once again, its preys had slipped through its grasp.
Jack "What about Reza and Burt?"
Mike "They will make it, now what we need to do is to find the lift"
Sopihe "Lead the way, Mike"
Mike could hear the Onos roars from faraway, but he wasn't concerned about the Onos. They were going to be out of time. Originally, they had planned to take the short-cut to the lift but the Onos had delayed them badly. Now, they had to find another way. With that in mind, Mike checked his mini-map. The lift was at least another 10 minutes walk, or 4 minutes run.
Mike "Come guys! No time to lost!" Bolting through a maze of walkways, corridors, doors and pipes, Mike leaded the group forward. Without Reza, he was the leader once again, and no way in hell was he gonna fail this mission.
Sophie was lagging behind, and annoyed but concerned, Mike slowed down his speed. Checking his minimap every now and then while running, Mike cheered Sophie on whenever she slowed. Until at last, after 6 minutes of endless running, they had reached the lift from before.
Mike reached his head out of the lift and inspected the passageway. No signs of Burt of Reza, Mike thought in disappointment. Looks like they had to do this alone. Mike opened his mouth to shout for Sophie to jump first only to have Jack dash past him and leaped onto the ladder.
"What the hell are you waiting for?! Lets go!" Jack taunted Mike.
Jack stared up, but he could see nothing but darkness high up. No signs of Burt or Reza unfortunately, but they had to go on. "Hurry up Jack" Sophie urged him impatiently.
Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Jack continued climbing up. Next to jump on the ladder was Mike. He was the one at the bottom for he was also the strongest, if anyone was to fall, he might at least, get a mild chance of catching the person.
Jack glanced down, he was the highest up climbing the ladder, Mike was the last and Sophie was sand-witched in the middle. They were back, at last, back to the dreaded ladder. To climb up to the twenty-third level was definitely no easy feat, Jack thought in frustration as he continued up to the fifth level.
With every clammy hand he placed on the next higher up bar, an annoying creak would sound and Sophie would often look up in alarm, for she remembered her close encounter with death the last time before.
After five minutes of climbing without stopping, Jack stopped at last.
Sophie "What........"
Jack "Do you know how long we been climbing?"
Sophie "Five minutes......ten minutes......maybe fifteen"
Jack "So, which level are we at?"
Mike "Are you blind? We are only at the seventh level!"
Jack and Sophie "SEVEN?!"
Jack almost couldn't believe his ears when he heard Mike said 'seventh', this climbing up was seriously endless. Nonetheless, they must move on. "Come on, Jack! You can do it!" Jack cheered himself under his breath as he reached out to grab the next bar, kick himself up, and continued climbing up.
However, the group soon found their stamina fading and their energy drained from them. After another climbing up of ten minutes, of which there were many pauses in between, it was Sophie's turn to stop.
Sophie "Where are we now?"
Mike ".........................."
Jack "Yes?"
Mike "Twelve, I guess. There now! Lets go on!"
Letting out a grunt of tiredness, Sophie breathed deeply as she struggled to climb up. "Jack, what does it look like up there from your view?" Sophie asked, her voice cracked. Jack coughed loudly, for he suddenly choked on his own saliva. "Darkness, far up ahead, I see nothing but darkness" Jack answered as he kicked himself up again.
The group climbed on and climbed on, the ladders of which seemed never-ending, menacingly high and cold and hard. There was nothing else, nothing other than narrow catwalks, lift doors, emergency buttons, and darkness. There was nothing else.
Their climbing effecient was fast fading, for the group was extremely tired, having been chased by an Onos and without any break only to run on for minutes, they now regreted their decision at not resting.
Even after half an hour, no one talked, for they all wanted to conserve their energy. Several times a row, Jack found his vision fading and he almost fell asleep, which would had been fatal. With every blink, Jack found it harder and harder to open his eyes again. Yet........he must not give up, he must continue on......................
It was a torment for the climbing group, no food, no rest, no water, nothing to see. Grinding their teeth, they struggled against their desires to give up as they just kept climbing up. The stench of their sweaty bodies was stifling. On and on they went, and everyone soon gasped with thirst, eyes tired with the never-ending desire to give up. No matter what, they must endure! They must continue! They must not give up!
Jack reached out a clammy hand to grab the next higher bar but he stopped, and his hand dropped and fell by his side. Now hanging with only a single hand at the bar, Jack slowly closed his eyes............he was too tired to continue, too drained of his strength...........Jack's grip on the bar continued to weaken, anytime now, he would drop, and all would be lost.
A vision of Earth drifted through Jacks mind and his eyes suddenly bolted open. Regaining his senses once more, Jack gripped the bar tightly with 2 hands. He will not give up now.
Even Mike was grim and silent, for he found his strength fast fading from him. His eyes grew heavy, licking his lips, Mike opened his mouth only to hear an unfamiler croak. Was this his voice? How could it sound so........hoarse? Was he really that tired?
Jack "Guys.....gu....."
Sophie "Wha............"
Jack "Brek, take.....brek"
Jack now rested his bottom on one of the catwalks. Sweat dripped down his body and drenched the catwalk. Looking down, Jack saw that Sophie and Mike had rested on different catwalks as well and he sighed in relief. His will would not last him much longer, and clearing his throat, Jack now managed to say loudly in a clear voice.
Jack "Okay....guys. Take a break, we rest for five minutes, then we continue on. Do not sleep."
Sophie "Guys....guys, I got 3 final pack of MREs and.......a half flask of tap water"
Mike "Gd....paz mi"
Sophie drank the water heavily, and passed the flask to Mike, who drank heavily as well. Jack was the last to drink the water, but he did not complain. Everyone each got just a pack of MRE, and they ate it hungrily. MREs were not the best tasting of food, but they had to make do.
Until at last, Jack gave the alarm call that they had to move on. It was rather amazing that no one had fell asleep. It was equally amazing how hard it was to continue on. Everyone fell like staying there and resting, for as long as possible, as long as ethernity.....................
Jack reached out another clammy hand to hold the next catwalk for support, his hand sweeped across the catwalk..........and he felt a small pack. Immediately, Jack kicked himself higher up to take a better look. There at was, an empty pack of MRE, left there by someone else.
Jack picked up the empty MRE pack and stared at it carefully. There were some pieces of small crumbs and a sweat-stained finger print. Obviously, someone had just eaten it and left the empty pack there.
How long had they climbed this ladder? How long had they fought against their desires? Finally, at long last, there was some hint that Burt and Reza may very well be alive.
Jack smiled, at last, for a very long time.
"GUYS!!!" He screamed, a tone of thrill and excitement in his voice. Sophie and Mike looked up at Jack, with their pale faces and dazed expression, this was a news they were going to like. "They are alive! I repeat! BURT AND REZA ARE ALIVE!!!" Jack cried as he immediately turned back and climbed up.
With a strength and determination which surprised even themselves, the group now climbed up the ladder rapidly like never before. They were at the twenty-first level, it was just a while more before they could reach the twenty-third level and meet up with Burt and Reza.
"Come on guys! Hurry up!" Jack roused Sophie and Mike once more, for he now felt a dash of hope. They were not alone after all. Jack now knew Commander Reza to be a wise and understanding Commander. Reza would be the one man to lead them to victory, to help them save Earth. Jack however, didn't really know Burt that well. He had only seen Burt for a while, and besides being generally quiet and always sticking close with Reza, Jack knew nothing else about the stern-face marine. After all, they had almost never chatted before together.
Sophie's chest heaved up and down, as she breathed heavily and took a short pause to regain her strength. She couldn't believe it, Reza was still alive! That was good news. Smiling, she raised her hand to grab the next bar. Her arms were exhausted, tired, and painful beyond words. Sophie suddenly found her eyes closing and herself losing conscious. Slapping herself, Sophie regained herself once again. No, she couldn't give up now, she couldn't falter. She must go on!
Mike now saw Jack under a new light. Jack was once dependant on him, and could not do anything right without others help. It was different now, his best friend had now sur-passed him at last. Jack was now the one leading the group, Jack was the one raising their morale and spirits. He had lost track of time entirely, and he hoped that they weren't too late to stop the nuclear missiles from being fired at Earth.
One metre...........he was just one metre from the twenty-third level. Jack raised an arm weakly, and held the next bar. "Come on.......get up!" Jack muttered to himself. Kicking himself higher, Jack could now see light at last. The lift door to the twenty-third level was open! Light streamed through the door, and Jack could almost pictured the door as a gateway to heaven. Raising another hand, Jack let out a grunt as he tried to hold the catwalk. The silhouette of a man blocked the door. "Who......" Jack couldn't see the face of the man above him.
A helping hand reached out to Jack, and he raised his sweaty palm and held the hand. Jack was pulled up by the strong arm and at last, he finally could see it........Reza pulled Jack up and slumped Jack's arm over his shoulder. "You guys are late" Reza remarked, smiling.
Jack went down on his knees as his sweat dripped over the floor. Jack turned, Sophie was now being pulled up by Reza. Letting out a final smile, Jack collasped and laid there like a dead thing.
but i suppose ill have to wait, its not like im blaming you, cos this story seriously rocks, maybe it could convince amckern to try and do single player ns again
Time constraint for me coz my O'Levels this year.
better than harry potter anyday <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
wow! thats awesome. i can picture everything perfect!
thatd be a tight movie! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> (books are always better <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->)
Imagine how insane going through this would be??
WOAH
~Jason
We want more, we want more, we want more!
Jack bolted up as if someone had just slid an icecube on his neck. Turning around, he could see Mike and Sophie lying beside him with Burt and Reza guarding them.
Jack "How freaking long have I been sleeping?!"
Burt "Thirty minutes"
Reza "Thirty-seven minutes to be exact"
Jack "What the hell?! You didn't wake us up?!"
Reza "Uh huh"
Jack "Ain't we a little short on time here?! The Kharaa are going to nuke Earth anytime and here you are, letting us sleep when our concern should be getting to the Main-Communications Room!"
Reza "Sleep is just as important as anything. Without rest, you are unable to function properly or do your missions well. Without rest, your accurancy is affected, and so is your ability to think and interpret a situation well"
Jack "Huh?!"
Reza "I would rather you guys sleep here for thirty minutes and then proceed with the orginial mission than you guys do not rest and screw up our mission"
Jack "How long do we have left?"
Reza "One hour and twenty-seven minutes left"
Cursing in frustration, Jack gave Sophie and Mike a prod. They too, were equally shocked when they heard the news they had been sleeping for thirty minutes straight.
After giving themselves a few good stretch, the group checked their weapons and Reza now led the group into a walkway.
Jack, Sophie and Mike gasped in shock and awe at the scenario that laid before them. Bacterium growths were everywhere, on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling. Weird ferns decorated the walls on either sides while mysterious tentacles, some small and some enormous, stuck out from the ceiling. Everywhere, there was a reeking smell of rot and death. The entire walkway was painted a darkened greenish-yellow.
They were in another world. A world of the Kharaa. No longer were the steel pipes visible. No longer were the pipes on the ceiling existing. No longer was the hard metal floor cold and dull. It was now a huge fat growth of bacterium and other foul organisms. The atmosphere was heavy and humid.
Sophie "What is........this place?"
Reza "The very stronghold of the Kharaa on BH"
Jack "What? They converted this entire place or something?"
Reza "Apparently, yes. This whole place is now covered in bacterium"
Mike "Are there any danger to us?"
Reza "I hope not. Hold on, I will try first. All of you step back"
Reza took a step forward, a slight squashing sound could be heard when he stepped on a extra fat layer of bacterium growth. Swallowing his breath, Reza took out his knife and cut the wall on his right carefully. A very slight squealing cry was heard and a disgusting yellow juice was now sapping out from the cut. It was as if, the entire place was alive. Reza was about to touch one of the tenacles when he stopped aruptly, he could had sworn he saw one of the tentacles waving about slightly.
Sophie "Ugh..........revolting"
Reza "Try not to yank out any of the tentacles on the ceilings, for we do not know how they would respond"
Sophie "I don't even want to try it!"
Reza "Good, anyway, follow me! Beware, cause this is Kharaa territory"
Reza checked his minimap and the group now cautiously proceeded forward, making sure they did not stepped on any particularly fat Bacterium growth. A large flying insect whizzed past them. Reza stared in shock, for it was quite impossible for an insect other than cockroaches to live on BH. As the insect flew too close to one of the arm-sized tentacle, the tentacle jerked outwards, snapping the insect and swallowing it up. The tentacle made a slight growl and retracted back to its original position. All the way, everyone stared in amazement.
What if they met a tentacle even bigger than them?
keep up the good work
Ok, sorry. I'm a bit hyper today.
That was a great addition. I WANT MORE
The Scorpian That Hovars without Flapping is gonna be one of the 'final boss' along with Queen, the giant Onos and.....................(spoiler)
Spoiler Ends