The only way through to the other side of the room was a circular opening in the middle. Each shelf was filled to the brim with goods that had been tied into place. Each cabinet closed and housed who knew what types of nasty surprises. The room was cluttered and vision was poor. Something made worse by the lack of proper lighting. There were a few emergency lights that illuminated the path through the room, but other than that it was dark. The fact that you could only move through the room down the middle, meant that you’d be surrounded by potential threats from all sides. This room was perfect for ambushes and traps.
‘It’s not looking good, lads.’ Jabs helmet shook from left to right as he said it. The drone revealed five booby traps, and I can’t guarantee you that there aren’t more than that. Each row of shelves seems to have at least one trap hidden in it. This whole room is rigged to the brim with traps.
‘Damn it.’ Dane said. It’s too dangerous to pass through here. Disarming all those traps would take way too long and we can’t risk missing one.’
‘I think I might know a way.’ Voss replied. ‘But only if we leave one man behind.’
‘Elaborate please.’ Dane said.
‘Jabs’ recon drone shows two types of booby traps. Heat and vibration based traps. If we turn this room into a vacuum, we can negate both.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ Hoog’s voice sounded a tad shaky as he said it. Voss couldn’t blame him. Last time an explosion had gone off, Hoog lost an arm and nearly died.
Dane assessed Voss’ words out loud: ‘That makes sense, Voss. A vacuum would negate any conventional heat transfer and aerial vibrations, and our suits are made to stop as much radiation as possible. We’d have to make sure not to touch anything though to prevent vibrations reaching the traps. We’d be taking a risk though. If we’ve missed just one motion trap based on laser light, we’re toast.’
Voss had expected Dane to come to the same conclusion he had, and already had his answer ready. We’re going to have to repeatedly pull the room into a vacuum and then repressurize it. The air inside this room is cold and damp. It will condense if I breathe out into it and that will reveal any hidden laser lights. We’ll move one ring at a time. It won’t go as fast as we’d like, but under the circumstances, I think it’s our best option.’
‘It’s too risky.’ Dane said. ‘What if there’s poison in the air?’
‘My helmet isn’t reading any anomalies. Besides, it’s impossible to negate every risk completely. I’m willing to take the chance.’
‘Alright then. Give us the details of your plan and we’ll do it.’
‘First we check the first ring for any laser based motion traps. Once we’ve cleared the first ring, we pull the room vacuum and move towards the second ring. We form a human pyramid to make sure I‘m placed between rings and completely unmoving. That way we can avoid me touching anything. I’ll attach a hook next to the airlock so that the line on my suit will keep me in place when the room repressurises. We’ll repeat this process until we’ve cleared each ring for laser based motion traps. Once we’ve done that, we pull the room into vacuum one last time. When we do, the others, bar one, will move through the room. The final man has to stay behind to repressurize the room again or we won’t be able to open the airlock to the next room.’
‘That’s all nice and dandy.’ Tick chimed in ‘but the airlock won’t work when its door is opened. You can’t just pull the room vacuum.’
‘Leave that to me.’ Voss replied. ‘I’ll override the safety and ensure it works as we want. The only question is who stays behind.’
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
‘I’ll stay behind.’ Hoog said. You guys are better suited to clean out the next room. I’ll keep guard here and warn you in case of external threats.
With the plan now set, Voss wasted no time accessing the airlock operating panel and manually overrode its safety mechanism. ‘Piece of cake, lads. These things operate on rudimentary code. These things were built in a time before safety regulations were as stifling as they are today.’. Voss turned around, signaled to the others to hold him tight, and moved towards the first row of shelves. When he took off his helmet to breathe out into the room, the extreme cold hit his face like someone plunged hundreds of needles into his face. The room was around minus seventy degrees. A type of cold unlike anything he had ever experienced before. His breath revealed no laser beams and he reattached his helmet to his suit as fast as he could.
‘Pull this thing into vacuum, Hoog.’. He could feel the air flowing past him towards the air lock. He moved through to the second ring and made sure not to touch anything. Not an easy task. It took longer than he’d have liked to completely stabilize himself between the two rows of shelves. ‘Repressurise this thing, Hoog.’
It took about ten minutes to repeat this process four more times. When he made it to the other side of the room, he grabbed a metal handlebar next to the airlock and pulled the others in. Hoog repressurised the room again. The four of them were now ready to move into the next room. Voss tried to see through the airlock’s window to scout for threats, but he couldn’t see anything in the pitch blackness on the other side of the window.
Dane took charge of the situation. ‘Helmet lights on men. Looks like they turned off the lights. Careful of traps and enemy combatants. Take up positions and shoot at the first sign of danger.’. On Dane’s signal, Tick opened the hatch to the next room and the four of them carefully threaded in. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw when they moved in.
The place was the scene of a massacre. Blood, and entrails floated through the room. There were corpses strewn throughout the room. ‘What the fuck…’ Hoog yelled out.
‘Focus men. Stay alert, damn it.’ Dane snapped back. ‘Guns at the ready and press forward.’. They were in some sort of laboratory or operating room. It was hard to tell what the function of this room had been exactly. Corpses lay on both of the operating tables. Both were still strapped in with their stomachs cut open and entrails floating out of them.
‘What the hell man, what is this place?’ Hoog cried out. The others didn’t say anything, but Voss knew they echoed Hoog’s sentiment. He sure did anyways. This place was gruesome. The kind of thing you’d expect in a gory horror story. Things had happened inside this room that could not bear the light of day.
‘This station is some type of black ops site.’ Jabs said. ‘They did some awful things in here that they didn’t want anyone to know off.’
‘KEEP MOVING, MEN.’ Dane’s voice sounded distraught. It was obvious that the scenes they were witnessing were affecting him just as much as the others. He was doing his very best to stay professional and keep them alive, but that was easier said than done.
Voss did as he was told and moved forward. The flashlights attached to his helmet followed his gaze as he scouted out the room for danger. He spotted several severed heads lined up against a wall. The heads’ eyes were all removed and replaced with mechanical ones. ‘Illegal augmentations.’ he thought to himself. This base was used to develop illegal augmentations. But for what? Elites? Soldiers? Whatever it was, it was bad. Each time he looked in a new direction, he spotted new atrocities. If any imperial forces ever came across this base, it would be enough to warrant the complete extermination of Fosfat. The types of interplanetary law transgressions that were being performed here, were all of the worst degree. Heads with the top of the skulls removed, revealing brains that had been implanted with chips. Airlocked chambers that had corpses float within them with horrendous afflictions. Had they been experimenting with the scourge in here?’. The visuals were almost too much to bear. It took him everything just to prevent himself from throwing up inside his helmet.
‘TAKE POSITIONS, FAST!’ Dane shouted. Voss looked to the airlock at the far side of the room and understood why Dane had been ticked off. Moving lights were visible on the other side of the door.
‘Emil come in. Emil come in. What is your position?’
‘We’re in D-wing. I think we’re in adjoining rooms. We see your lights moving.’
‘That’s a huge relief, Emil. For a moment I thought we made contact with enemy combatants.’
‘You wouldn’t consider it a relief if you could see the things we’re seeing, Dane. This place is horrific.’
‘It’s not much better on this side of the airlock, Emil. Not unless you are a fan of cut up corpses and unforgivable crimes.’
‘What the hell is this place man? I can’t believe they cooked this up for our final test. What were they thinking?’
‘I don’t think this is a test, Emil. This ain’t no training station, that’s for sure. I think we got pulled into some serious trouble here.’
‘Whatever, man. Just signal to the sergeant that we’ve cleared this station. I want to get the hell out of here.’
‘Blue leader to Ciklops, blue leader to Ciklops. Station has been searched through. No signs of life anywhere. Requesting extraction. Requesting extraction.’
Dane switched back to their internal intercom. ‘Let’s get the hell out of here, men. Hoog, move out through the airlock. Everyone else, prepare for whatever’s in the next room; we’re joining up with red squad and getting the fuck out of here...’