The man he knew as Pyotr stepped into the dark room with him and despite the bulky suit, he now carried himself more majestically than anyone from his team. Charles wasn’t sure how best to tackle this situation since he was without a weapon or backup. What had started as a simple recovery mission had gone far off the rails and, with the others unaccounted for, he was alone with a man possessed by an ancient alien conscious.

“So Savin, is he just asleep inside you, or did you fully supplant him?”

“I wish I could give you the answer you want to hear. It’s not so simple. Who are you? And why do you trespass here?”

“Look inside his memories.”

“Perhaps he is still alive inside me, as I am drawing a - how would you say, blank?”

“We had been sent down into this godforsaken place to rescue some miners. I knew we might run into some problems, but none like this.”

“You were at least smart enough not to come alone,” said Savin, looking disdainfully around the room. “The fungi, what is it? What is the Mortalis?”

“Something you’ll get to know soon enough, I imagine.”

Savin approached the ruined obstacle and crouched down, almost being able to touch it, but he recoiled back and looked at Charles. “While I slept, I dreamed. I dreamed of my people’s screams. Is this what they became?”

“How should I know?” asked Charles. “Savin, you’re coming with me topside. We’ll get one of Cain’s men to run a trace on you, and see if we can save Pyotr from whatever this is.”

The man laughed. “You think I would surrender willingly?”

“Or would you rather stay here with the remains of those you once knew?”

Savin swallowed anxiously, staring at the dark gloop that coated the walls and floor. “Lead on Charles. I presume you know where you’re going.”

“You think it's that easy? That totem I destroyed. It gets inside your head and makes you see things. No telling how deep we are inside this facility,” Charles said, using his wrist-mounted suit control to switch on his shoulder lights. That at least illuminated some of the room. It really has been thoroughly consumed by Mortalis. “You know, since you know this place better than me, how about you lead Savin?”

Savin rolled his eyes and took point, though Charles could sense the man’s palpable fear. And no wonder, not every day you wake to your home being turned into a hive and your people turned into monsters.

----------------------------------------

The bowl of black fluid was almost to his lips when the illusion broke and he was standing once more before the giant obelisk. Except this time he, Melina, and Echo had their hands pressed against it. At their feet, the miners previously entranced appeared to regain consciousness. Francis stepped back from the eldritch structure and looked to Melina for answers. “I don’t think it would just let us go, right?”

“It just did, I’ve never felt the greater presence shift its focus so - aggressively.”

“Could it relate to events on the moon?” asked Echo also stepping back.

“Possibly, I don’t want to wait around for it to ensnare us, we’re leaving this place and telling the Overseer to bury it!”

Melina shook her head at the suggestion. “You know that’s not how this works, Frank.”

“It’s still worth trying. If we can’t last down here, I don’t see how anyone else can.”

“I’m just saying he won’t listen to reason. No one does when faced with all this technology.”

“We can discuss this later. For now, let’s check on these three. It seems they’ve been released too. A bit convenient, don’t you think?”

The three miners that had once been lying down were now standing, and each of them had a look of immediate confusion.

“What happened to us?” asked the middle one.

“You were caught in the Obelisk’s snare, but it’s let you go,” Francis said as he side-eyed Melina.

‘If it’s what I think you're asking, no, I don’t sense the mutation in them.’

Stolen novel; please report.

‘So we can take them topside.’

‘I don’t see why not. The problem is, I doubt we can all fit in the crawler.’

‘We’ll see if the outpost has a spare transport parked up.’

“They sent you to find us, then.”

“Yeah, and we got a lot more than we bargained for,” said Echo, folding her arms.

“There were others with us, too. Did you find them?” asked the left miner.

Francis shook his head. “Not yet. We kind of got split up from our main group. I hope they aren’t too far away.”

“I guess we’ll just follow you then,” said the same miner.

----------------------------------------

Eva dragged herself back to her feet. A cold, numbing sensation traversed her being as the oozing brown amorphous fluid appeared to integrate with her suit. The two stood idle beside her until one helped her stand without even giving her a chance to protest. I'm still alive?

No. She shook her head and put her gloved hand to where the monster had punctured her suit. It had simply laid claim to her. Even as she stood there, she could feel the other two’s mental presence overpower her own individual thoughts, pushing her down until the darkness claimed her. In her place, the newly formed symbiote would pilot her and she would be nothing more than a passenger in her own body. The two miners led the way, drawn by the other presence, corrupted by individual will and the machinations of the inheritors. While they were aware of her, the three True Mortans made sure to camouflage their own minds, existing in an isolated bubble while their symbiote resembled the original organ it had once been. By the time they rounded the corner, the other group was caught completely off guard. Thanks to Eva joining them, they knew who had been sent to recover them. The man was Francis, and the two women were Melina and Echo. Melina was the corrupted Mortalis, a manmade weapon cut off from the True Mind. We will change that.

Francis did little to hide the relief on his face. “Eva, we thought we lost you!”

“I’m fine, Frank, and as you can see, I’ve found two other miners.”

“Then we’re missing one,” said Harvey. “There were six of us.”

Francis looked at Melina. He knew, all along! “It’s possible they are with Charles. He’s the only one on our side unaccounted for.”

“If they found us, maybe he will too,” she answered.

“Maybe, but we can’t stay down here. That presence is still gnawing at my mind,” said Samuel.

The now larger group attempted to navigate the labyrinthian alien tomb, but the strange architecture bled together, from Mortalis fungus and spreading symbiote bio-matter, the metal structure bent and warped reactively to their presence, like the metal itself also had life in it. The ancient Nirikiri had not slacked on defending their home from intrusion. Once you get in, they won't let you leave.

After walking in what felt like circles, the group soon came across the missing two members of Black Knight. One was the frustrated-looking Charles. His mind signalled something was annoying him. The other was Pyotr, except his behaviour and posture indicated something else.

Francis said with a single hand gesture, “glad you’re both okay. We have found all but one miner.”

“I killed him,” Charles spat. “Bastard was infected. It’s a miracle they aren’t too.”

Melina then spoke up, “we aim to keep it that way, Charles. We’re trying to find a way out, but it’s looking quite hopeless. This facility conspires to keep us here.”

Pyotr stepped forward, arms still resting behind his back. He had an unnatural presence about it. Like he was a different man. “That’s how we kept prisoners. Breakaways would soon find that nowhere in our facilities was safe, the walls see and hear all.”

“Excuse me, did he just say our?” said one of the miners.

Charles just shook his head and shrugged. “Long story, Frank, Pyotr is possessed by - I’ll let him explain.”

“It better be good.”

Peter smiled. “I am Savin, formerly Nirikiri, now human. Your friend is sleeping within me.”

Just like Eva sleeps within me. The two of them are caught in different dreams and neither will likely wake.

Francis balled his fist. “What are you? Some kind of Mortan.”

“You’re not going to believe this, Frank. He’s one of the guys that ran this place before we even existed. Pyotr came across him napping.”

“When we get back to base, we’ll have to run some tests. At least most of us are accounted for and that’s all we came here for. Let them worry about what becomes of this place,” Francis said. “You - Savin, can you lead us out of here?”

“Of course, not a problem. I wish to better understand what has changed in the intervening years.”

“I’m sure Cain is going to love him,” said Echo, managing a smile.

“Yeah, I bet,” added Charles.

Pyotr took the lead and, as promised, he led them to the exit hole. He baulked at it. “You apes blew a hole in the facility, you compromised it!”

“How else were we supposed to enter, Savin?” Melina asked.

The man struggled to keep his anger in check. “Using the entrance lift, of course.”

“Like we knew where to find it, we burrowed our way down here.”

“How very human, even when presented with something easy, you make it difficult,” Pyotr said with some amount of disgust.

Once everyone had passed through the breach, only Eva and Francis were left. He had insisted on being the last one out. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Nothing happened while you were separated, did it, Eva?”

“No, sir. Had a bit of a scare, but I think that was just the hallucinations. That place gets inside your head even without something eldritch poking at your brain.”

He scrutinised her face and looked down at her miner suit. “Well, get going then. I’ll be right behind you.”

Soon enough, the facility’s corrupted walls were replaced by rock and stone. As the group climbed back to the surface, they passed miners going to and from shift. “I’ll radio to the outpost and make sure they have a spare ride. The Crawler isn’t exactly built to hold that many passengers.”

“Crawler?” asked Pyotr.

“Is he stopping you from seeing his memories?” Melina asked.

“Somewhat.”

“Then I guess you’ll be in for quite a surprise once we’re topside. For you, this will be the first you left the facility, right?”

“Now that you put it that way…” Pyotr’s voice trailed off.

Eva stopped focusing on them because she couldn’t shake the fact she was being watched and still, behind her, still ever suspicious, was the leader of the Black Knights, Francis. I just need to play it safe and not do anything to upset him, besides even he can’t hope to stop what comes next.