Four's Logbook
We're almost to the rendezvous point now. The desolate and flat wasteland consisting of rocky outcrops and sand has slowly disappeared. It's been a long transition, but it's gotten much colder, as evidenced by the sand being replaced with snow. I think we must be near the arctic point of this planet for such a change to happen so fast. In any matter, the terrain is now filled with a frozen tundra with a variety of flatlands, valleys, mountains, and dunes.
We spotted something that could have been an outpost on the horizon. It was a bit far to see, even with magnification, but if it was, then it means that we're getting closer to whatever the IMC are hiding. It was out of the way, so we decided not to investigate; but we're taking it as a hopeful sign of things to come.
Erebus may be a dead planet, I'm still yet to see any trees or forms of wildlife; but there's no denying that it's pretty, and unique. Not a bad place to die on.
Still, I'm hoping that won't be the case.
—X—
The snowstorm around them was becoming stronger, as the white powder flew past them, creating coats of ice-crystals on their metallic plates. CH extended his arm and ignited a small jet of fire to melt it away, as he had done several times over the past hour. KT would pick at it every once in a while, and Skids just pushed through it, ignoring the ice for the most part.
She turned behind them to see a long trail of massive footprints left behind, stretching far into the distance until the view was obstructed by a large hill they'd traversed. She remarked on how long they'd been traveling today, and wondered how the pilots were faring.
The landscape around them reminded her all too much of Nedar, except that at least Nedar had trees and other cover. Out here in the vast tundra, there was no cover but large rises and each other. It made her worried; they hadn't been able to establish contact with the others since last night, likely due to the snowstorm. They were on the fifth day of their march, and she couldn't help but hope that Four wasn't freezing to death or something-
"We are one kilometer from the rendezvous point," came Skids' voice, startling her out of thought. She looked over at the Ronin.
"Are you sure?"
"Affirmative. 1.2 kilometers to be precise. You can cease your worrying."
She nodded. That meant only one more kilometer until they were reunited with their pilots; one more kilometer until she could make sure Four was safe-
Wait. "What do you mean, 'cease my worrying'?"
Skids paused for a moment. "You may think your thoughts go unnoticed, but your behavior betrays you. You have been noticeably more depressed this last week than I've normally observed, you wonder about their status aloud and much too often, and you grow silent for long stretches of time when you think of the potentially tragic scenarios that could befall them. Especially him."
She bristled a bit at his comments. "I exhibit none of those traits; I am operating efficiently-"
"No, you're not."
CH's optics turned from Skids to KT and back. "I am unaware of what the two of you are referring to."
Skids snorted. "KT has become affectionate with her pilot."
She felt herself flare up a bit with rebelliousness towards Skids and his cynical view of her. "Of course I am affectionate with him, he is my pilot-"
"More so than you let on. It is disconcerting to see such a bond between the two of you. I overheard your conversation with him several days ago, but have neglected to bring it up until now. Your very language and manner of speaking changes when you interact with him."
She relented angrily. "Yes, I am closer with my pilot than most Titans. Much closer. It is because of this that my combat effectiveness has increased exponentially when we fight together, so I ask you; why do you insist on labelling it as a negative influence?"
He seemed to think about that. "Cee, what are the three protocols?"
The Scorch instantly listed them off, "Protocol one; link to pilot. Protocol two; uphold the mission. Protocol three; protect the pilot."
An ocular probe on Skids' chassis turned to look at her. "I am indifferent to the kind of bond the two of you share; I only intervene because I feel it necessary to remind you of the order of those protocols. The mission comes first, then the safety of our pilots."
She was a bit shocked at the abrasiveness of his words. "If you were presented with the choice to let Vale die for the sake of the mission, or save her, you would-"
"I would let her die, yes."
She hadn't even finished her sentence before he'd answered. She didn't know how to respond.
"I would feel great remorse, and mourn for her loss. But I would put the mission before her, yes. She would want it that way, and so I would honor her. I would not disrespect her so much as to value her life over those that she is trying to save."
CH added, "I too, would be forced to allow my pilot to die if I were given such a difficult choice. And I am sure that she would also sacrifice me to uphold the mission as well. I am her second Titan, after all."
Skids continued, "I know that it sounds harsh, but it is the truth. My point is that if you were presented with an analogous scenario, I believe you would save Four rather than complete the mission. And though you may think it to be noble, it is a dangerous organization of priorities."
Both he and CH turned silent as they all continued to walk, allowing her to reflect on that. Would she do that? Could she sacrifice Four to uphold the mission?
Back with Shears, she and him held a professional relationship. She'd told Four that Shears always put the mission first, though at least he always put her safety second. She too would have placed his safety below the fate of the mission.
Now? She was not sure which call she would make if the time came for it.
"We will arrive in thirty seconds."
Having heard that, she immediately perked up. She'd sort out everything that Skids had made her think about later, but all that filled her mind now was the thought of seeing the pilots and Four again, after nearly a week of-
Something wasn't right.
The snowstorm was clear enough for them to see ahead to the rendezvous point. It was just another expanse of tundra, but that wasn't concerning. What was concerning was the fact that the pilots were not there.
The three Titans continued to trek forward until they were standing right where everyone should have met up. They looked around.
"No sign of the pilots detected. They have not reached this checkpoint yet." CH glanced around, scanning for footprints, heat signatures, anything to give them a clue.
Skids crouched down. "Agreed. Two possible scenarios. They have not made it this far yet-"
"Or they have encountered a problem." KT looked out to where they should be coming from, and saw nothing. She felt the beginnings of anxiety creeping up on her.
"Affirmative." Skids stood up again. "My inference is that the former has occurred. I would hesitate to assume trouble until absolutely sure."
Holding onto those words, KT stood and scanned the horizon. She would wait, and look for any sign that they were coming.
So they waited.
And waited.
She wasn't sure how much time passed as she stood scanning the horizon. Every so often, she'd try to reach them over the comms. "This is KT-0298 to pilots, please respond. Four, are you there?" And when there was no answer, they would wait.
And wait.
And-
"One hell of a snowstorm, huh?"
She quickly spun and looked out ahead towards a rise in the land. Through the flurry of snow, she could barely make out three shapes approaching in the distance. She felt all of the tension she'd had for the last two hours leave her metallic form, and eagerly awaited the arrival of the pilots.
It was another minute or so before the three of them finally reached the Titans. The one in front approached KT and gave a thumbs up.
"Glad to see you guys are all in one piece."
KT knelt to the ground, presenting her head as Tobias reached forward and ran his hand along the top of it affectionately. "Likewise, Four. I've missed you."
He chuckled. "The feeling is mutual. Sorry we took so long, but this snow is a pain in the ass."
She glanced over to see if Skids was going to comment, but he was busy reuniting with his own pilot. Just because he didn't seem to approve of the closeness between Four and KT, it didn't mean he wasn't close to his own. Vale leaned against one of his legs with her elbow, the two of them enjoying a silent exchange rather than a vocal one.
"Good to see you, Cee!" called Tyra, walking over the the Scorch while slightly laughing at the play on words. He held his arm out for her to stand on, and opened his hull.
"It is good to see you as well. I recommend you embark; we will all move faster if you three are piloting."
"Agreed," concurred Skids, and his hatch opened up to allow entry for Vale to hop in and sit in the pilot's chair.
KT looked at Tobias, and nodded. Her own hull opened up, and he gripped the sides of the entry to pull himself in. No matter how many times he did it, it was cool every time. He sat down in the pilot's chair and linked his arms and legs as the projection screens in front of him lit up and showed him what was going on outside. There was a small feeling like cold mercury seeping into his spine, and then-
He looked right, and tested out the movement. When the Ion's arm moved, it wasn't his arm, and it wasn't KT's; it was their arm, controlling it together through a bond of neural sensors and trust. He flexed their body, trying to get a feel for the environment. It wasn't really cold anymore, not in the way that humans felt it; it was more like a dull presence in the back of his mind that nagged him, but didn't take away his concentration.
He turned to see Vale and Tyra now in control of their respective Titans as well. Both turned to face him.
"We ready to move out?" he spoke. The Ronin nodded.
"Following you," came Vale's voice through the speakers.
He beckoned to them. "Let's go, then."
And so the band of Titans moved out, crossing the snowy landscape along the path towards any sign of an IMC presence.
...
"So, you guys didn't see anything IMC either?"
KT replied, "No. We believe we spotted a potential outpost, but we could not confirm it through the snowstorm."
He thought about that. "For a fleet that large to be stationed here as defense, I wonder where all the IMC are? It feels odd that we wouldn't see any sign of them so far if this planet was so heavily important to them. I wonder if-"
"I'm seeing an anomaly on the horizon, can anyone confirm?"
He stopped and looked towards where Tyra was indicating on the HUD. There was a small hill ahead, but it seemed to end rather abruptly. A cliff? "Yeah, I'm seeing that too."
"Might be worth checking out."
"I agree, Vale. Let's see if we can look out and get a vantage point or something."
With Tobias and KT in the lead, the three Titans trudged up the incline to stand on the lip and see if there was anything of interest, or possibly a path they could spot forward. He finally reached the top, and took a look out to see-
He froze, at a complete loss of what he was looking at.
Tyra noticed his stiffness, and she turned CH's optics to look at him before looking at what he was seeing. "What's the matter? Did you- oh my god."
They were standing on the edge of a massive crater, miles and miles across. In the center of it were some kind of structures, buildings and constructions that stretched out in all directions until they reached the walls of the crater, and disappeared within them. It would appear to be an excavation site, and the buildings had been buried in it.
"Those IMC facilities?" asked Vale.
He shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I've never seen any IMC structures like that." Their structure differed from the standard kind of bunkers he'd seen the IMC make, and he'd seen many of them in his time. Deciding that this was too interesting to pass up, he and KT positioned their arm to scrape into the side of the cliff, and slid down the wall of ice. He bent their legs upon reaching the bottom to absorb the impact, then stood up and began to make his way over to the structures. He could hear the scrape of metal against ice as both Vale and Tyra piloted Skids and Cee to do the same.
After walking for ten minutes or so, they reached the outer edge of the structures. They looked all around them, taking in the oddness of the architecture. Structurally, they would be just as efficient as any other. But architecturally and artistically, they were very different from anything they had seen before. Different materials, different shapes of infrastructure, everything.
Tobias walked next to one wall in particular, and detached himself neurally from KT. Hopping out of her her hatch, he moved closer and scraped away some of the snow layered onto it. Underneath the powder were etchings and engravings in such odd patterns that he'd never seen the likes of before. The structure itself seemed to be some kind of stone-like substance, but eroded away until it had been so tarnished that what could have once been a perfectly smooth surface was now jagged and bumpy. The less damaged areas were silver in color, while the rest of it was discolored to be some sort of black and bronze combination.
"KT, you ever see anything like this?" he muttered, still trying to grasp the gravity of the situation.
"No. These structures and those engravings are completely unfamiliar to me."
He looked around. Even now, it seemed like these weren't complete buildings. Their bases were not revealed, which meant that there were probably still bits of them as of yet uncovered. He glanced to his right and saw large bulldozers, cranes, and other heavy machinery scattered around the site. They seemed abandoned too, however. Rusting and frozen, left behind in the elements.
He pointed to them. "Look at that excavation equipment. This was a dig-site, they were uncovering stuff. Looks like they haven't been here in a while."
"Why would the IMC suddenly be interested in archeology?" He looked to see Vale walking across the snow to stand next to him. He shook his head.
"I don't know." He gestured at the stone. "Look at how old that is though; the condition this stuff is in, I can't even imagine-"
"I am analyzing the structure and the environment." KT was silent as her processors worked to provide an answer. After a few moments, her eye pulsed with a blue light. "These structures are well over fifty thousand years old, although the level of excavation performed to reveal these ruins places an estimate of several hundred thousand years to be buried this deep."
Tyra hopped out of CH, and her gaze darted around as well. "That's... pretty old."
"Indeed. It more than predates human civilization."
Everyone froze.
Slowly Tobias turned as the impact of those words hit him full force. "You mean...?"
"Humanity as you know it has only existed in an advanced state of being for the last six or seven thousand years. These ruins were created before even the first humans walked the Earth."
Tyra kind of just sat down hard in the snow, her mind struggling to process exactly what they'd just discovered. Vale was silent, but noticeably stiff. She didn't know how to react to this.
He went ahead and voiced what everyone was thinking, but were unwilling to say.
"We've just discovered evidence of other life."
KT looked around the ruins. "Not just other life; intelligent life. A civilization that could create structures out of material that would last for more than hundreds of thousands of years. Most human structures would not last even a tenth that long."
He held a hand up to his head, trying to stem the pounding headache he was getting. He tried to put the pieces together; the ruins, the secrecy, the excavation tools.
"That's what the IMC are doing here; they discovered this ancient civilization, and now they're digging it all up."
Tyra recovered enough to stare at him and voice a question. "Isn't that pretty harmless, though? Just digging up old cities and ruins? Granted, they're alien ruins, but why wouldn't they just tell everyone about it?"
He shook his head. "It's not just that. All that excavation equipment there, it's just abandoned. They're not actively searching here anymore, they moved on. They're not doing it for the sake of discovery."
"Then why are they doing it?"
"When you look somewhere for something you've lost, but you can't find it, what do you do?"
Vale sighed. "Look somewhere else."
He nodded. "That's what they're doing. This isn't just something they're curious about. I think they're looking for something, and they just haven't found it yet."
"But then why'd they suddenly start moving their fleet around? That one we found at Tyche, why did they move them here?"
He thought about it, and the answer clicked. And it frightened him.
"Because something big came up. They've almost found it."