...
...
...
... backup.systems recalibrating {DESIG. KILO_TANGO - 0298} last.activation (74:18.39 min ago)
> WARNING [CRIT SYS OFFLINE]
//ATTEMPT 1 REBOOT//
> [STATUS: FAILED]
//ATTEMPT 2 REBOOT//
> [STATUS: FAILED]
//PERFORM ALL SYS SCAN//
> [ANALYSIS: all primary systems and critical functions are offline ~ recommend immediate repairs to prevent further damage to AI]
//PERFORM PILOT SCAN//
> [ANALYSIS: pilot has sustained injury (fatal?.no) ~ alive]
PROT. 1 {SUCCESS}
PROT. 2 {IN PROGRESS}
PROT. 3 {IN PROGRESS}
//RETRIEVE PRIORITIES//
> [PRIORITY 1: analyze potential methods to uphold the mission]
//OVERRIDE//
> WARNING [OVERRIDE UNAUTHORIZED]
//OVERRIDE password.key (tobias_0298?.accepted)//
> [OVERRIDE AUTHORIZED]
> [PRIORITY 1: protect pilot at all costs]
// You are my priority, Tobias. I told you to trust me. I won't let that trust be in vain. //
—X—
He opened his eyes.
The dim interior of the cockpit was illuminated by nothing more than a morose red light that blinked on and off as a warning of damage to the hull's integrity. He checked his wrist pad for the time. It had been roughly an hour and fifteen minutes since they'd fallen.
He quickly did a quick analysis of himself. Arms, fine. Legs, fine. He had a massive headache, probably from hitting his head against one of the consoles. Fortunately, his helmet had protected him from the brunt of the impact. His visor was intact, but now cracked. He moved a little, and grimaced in pain; that rib that he'd brushed off was now hurting again. He must have reopened the fracture in the bone. He'd live, but it was going to hurt for awhile.
He felt like there was something else he needed to check, something vital, something...
"...Four..."
He immediately became alert. "KAY!" He flicked on the ocular systems, only to find that there was nothing but a dark grey mass on the lens.
"...buried... under snow. Fell... off ledge..."
He remembered how high the cliff had been, and remarked on how miraculous it was that they had survived a fall this large. He wouldn't be surprised if the IMC didn't come looking for them, they probably assumed that they were both dead. With the snowfall that was normal around this region of Erebus, they had to be under a few feet at least.
Shit.
"Just... j-just hang on, w-we'll figure something out..." he stammered, trying to push through the emotional turmoil he was feeling at the image emblazoned in his mind; KT, almost utterly destroyed, holding him in one hand protectively as he realized she was beyond repair.
"The mission is... compromised. Pilot Tyra... evacuated before... receiving the intel..."
His eyes widened, and he looked to his chest where he'd sheathed the data knife. KT was right; Tyra had made the right call by extracting, but she didn't have the base's info with her. Now, all the Militia would know is what she could tell them; namely, that the IMC were digging up ruins and looking for something.
He made a fist, and clenched it hard. The whole plan had come apart; and now not only did the Militia not know what the IMC were looking for, they were unaware that Gates was a traitor. He bit back tears at the thought of one of his friends relaying information to the enemy the whole time.
"Analyze the data... with... my systems..."
She was right, he could still find out for himself what the IMC were doing. He glanced over to the right side of the cockpit, where a slot resided. Pulling out the data knife, he inserted it into the slot and watched as the ocular system's screen changed from the view of snow to a data exploration program.
In the most basic code, he could see names of files and logs that he could access. Excavation sites, personal logs, recorded data, projects, and so on.
Navigating to excavation sites, a new paneled layout of various images appeared. Each image was a photograph of different ruins and sites like the ones he, Vale, and Tyra had discovered. He was shocked to see that there were hundreds of documentations, many of which didn't even appear to be from Tyche. There were some deep below the surface of an ocean, something that Erebus didn't have. There was many in a desert planet, one that wasn't cold like Erebus, but appeared to be hot and scorching.
"This isn't the only planet with ruins..." he muttered. "What are they looking for?"
Backing out of the menu, he instead selected recorded data. A plethora of charts and graphs appeared before him, many of them too difficult to read. What he could gather was that they tested each planet with ruins for its gravitational pull, the gaseous composition of their atmospheres, and other variables. He backed out again.
Personal logs. He pulled up one that was titled, 'findings'.
We have tested each planet upon which these ancient ruins appear for several instances, and my findings show that the results are consistent across the board. Though the planets themselves are often much bigger, smaller, and different from one another, they show very little variations in important traits that planets exhibit. My guess is that these planets were terraformed by a race much more advanced than us, hundreds of thousands of years ago from our carbon date testing, and who's to say millions of years, if these beings were so advanced? We may be finding evidence of extraterrestrial entities that have been around since perhaps the earliest records of this galaxy, imagine that!
- Head of research, Dr. Blaire
He shook his head in disbelief. They really were alien ruins, and ones that had been space-faring long before humans had discovered fire. It was a lot of information to take in. He decided to move on, and selected a different file labeled, 'progress'.
We have tracked it here, to Erebus. All of the charts we found on the other planets seem to point here as a place of great importance. Progress is still slow, as is to be expected. Most of the ruins are buried underneath the desert and rocks, some of them have even been found much farther north, in what would be Erebus' arctic region. With hundreds of teams working on finding it, however, it is only a matter of time before we do.
- Head of Ares Division, General Marder
So they were looking for something, and still hadn't found it yet. He felt a slight wave of relief, but furrowed his brow. Was there not anything in here that could tell him what they were looking for? He navigated back, and selected projects. Inside, there was only one entry.
Project Inferno.
He felt chills cascade up his spine, and opened it.
Summary: Project Inferno is being headed by the scientific branch of the IMC, the Ares division. It is the goal of the project to locate and procure the ancient artifact known as 'the Inferno'.
Directive: Once the Inferno is secure, we can use it to find the location of [REDACTED].
He sighed, frustrated by the 'redacted' censor. Not to be defeated, he highlighted 'Inferno', and told the project file to define it.
The Inferno is an unknown artifact or device of great importance to the ancient race that inhabited various planets around the galaxy. Though records indicate there may have existed more than one of these artifacts, it seems that only one is permitted to be active at any one time. As of now, it has been tracked to somewhere on Erebus. We have discerned that its use is somewhat like a map, and we are hoping that it will lead us to [REDACTED].
His eyes widened. So they were spending all this time looking for something, this 'Inferno'... just so they could look for something else?
He shook his head. That wasn't important, what was important was that they couldn't find their end goal without the Inferno first. Which meant that he had to find it first.
With a click, he removed the data knife from the slot and the ocular systems shifted back to a view of the snow burying him and KT. He sheathed it, and made a fist.
"How do we make it out of this one, Kay?"
The Titan did not answer right away. He waited for her to say something, anything. He was surprised when the first noise she made was that of a sad sigh.
"We can't."
He shook his head. "Don't say that, there's got to be-"
"But you can."
He froze. "Stop. Please don't-"
She cut him off as her voice grew stronger. "In my present condition, I am only hindering your survival and the mission. You need... you need to leave me."
"I can't do that, I WON'T do that-"
"Tobias."
He felt a wetness begin to form in his eyes, and he closed them shut. He pulled off his helmet to wipe them away with his glove, as his voice grew weaker. "Kay..."
Her voice weighed heavily with a resignation to her fate. "We both know that my chassis is doomed. Now, you are my only priority."
"But the mission-"
"Both Skids and Cee asked me that if it came down to a choice between saving you or completing the objective, which would I choose?" She made a synthetic noise, almost like a shuddering breath like one would make if they were crying. "I've made my choice, Tobias. Though it may not make me a good Titan... I hope that it makes me a good friend."
He had no words to describe the heartache plaguing him now. His best friend, and only constant companion since they'd found each other on Nedar, was telling him to abandon her. To leave her to die.
He finally broke, and the tears began to fall down his cheeks. He became wracked with grief, silently crying at what he knew was the truth.
"Please," she whispered. "Live. For me."
He remained there for a moment or two, before looking around the cockpit as though she surrounded him. "Kay... you are, and always will be my friend. My best friend. I was just some guy fighting for a cause I didn't believe in, until we met. You helped me see the truth, helped me find a real purpose."
She spoke again, this time sounding just like he did; emotionally broken. But at least she seemed relieved that he was going to listen to her. "You are my best friend too, Tobias. You also gave me a new purpose. You made me realize that I'm not just a machine, not just a tool of my creators; you made me understand that I can be a friend, I can form relationships... that I'm a person. Thank you."
His chest heaved as he tried to form the words to respond. "KT, I... Kay, I..." He couldn't finish it.
"I know."
He looked up at the ocular screen as KT turned the status light from red to green. "The hull is ready to open. I estimate that with how long it's been since we've fallen, as well as the depth we could have made when we landed, there is a layer of at least six feet of snow between us and the surface. As soon as the hatch opens, it will begin to pour in here. Make your way to the surface as fast as you can. Normally, one wouldn't be able to dig themselves out, but you have the thrusters on your jump kit. Use them."
He wiped away the last of his tears, and nodded in acknowledgement before putting his helmet back on. He checked that his CAR was securely fastened to his back, and that he had a few magazines in his pack. He looked up at the release trigger, and gripped it tightly. He flexed his fingers, and inhaled deeply to prepare himself.
"Good luck, Tobias. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," he choked out, and focused on the task at hand. He gave himself one more moment before he tugged on the trigger.
The hatch only made it up a quarter of the way before it jammed, unable to push the pile of snow up and off of it. The white powder began trickling in from the small gap that was already open, and he quickly moved to press his hands against the interior, and shove it open farther.
With it open about halfway, the snow began to completely fill up the now unoccupied cockpit. He scrambled to pull himself up and out of the hatch, making sure to grab his pack before it was completely buried along with him.
Now out of the hatch, he could feel the weight of the snow above threatening to push him back down, and envelop him. He definitely didn't want that, but he wasn't quite ready to leave yet.
He had one last idea.
Working against the clock before the snow hardened and kept him from moving upward, he moved to the side and forced the hatch back down to where he could stand on it. Once it had moved back down, he placed his body above it, hunching over so that nothing came down and buried what he was looking for.
KT's eye was still blue in color, but wasn't lit up anymore. She must have deactivated herself early, not wanting to see whether he made it out or not, and definitely not wanting to spend her last moments alone and buried under snow. He grunted with pain as his chest strained to maintain the stance he was in, resisting the pressure and weight of the frost above.
Quickly, he felt around for the release button, and pressed it. Clasps around the eye opened up, and he hurriedly removed the transparent casing. Behind it was the data core, circular and blue just like the others. He reached in, and slid it out of its position.
Now ready to leave, he quickly leapt up as far as he could through the powder. As expected, he only made it a few inches before he felt himself get stuck as the snow filled in the gaps around his body.
With one arm extended high above him, he tried to wiggle it around as much as he could. Slowly, he felt the snow around it shift, and finally his hand could move freely. That meant that his hand was now above the surface of the snow.
He made a pulling motion with it, and simultaneously activated his jump kit's thrusters. The end result was that he was slowly but surely able to pull himself up and out of the hole. He reached another arm up, and activated the thrusters again.
And again.
And again.
He was determined. He was not going to die here, so help him.
With both of his arms and head now completely exposed, he kicked and thrusted several more times before finally, he propelled himself out of the hole and onto the hardened snow nearby. He wheezed in exertion a few times before feeling around on the snow around him. It was hard to the touch, likely frozen over with ice from the night temperatures.
Groaning, he stood up and looked at the hole he'd just crawled from. It had sunken in on itself, and once again buried the Titan chassis below.
He held his hand up to the front of his helmet, looking at the data core in his grasp. Emblazoned on the side was an ID.
KT-0298.
He held it close to him, and closed his eyes tightly. "It's not over, Kay. I promise, we're gonna get out of this one. I promise."
With nothing left to hold him here, he looked out into the dark landscape of snow. With one tentative step after another, he began a long journey towards any chance of survival he could find. He was going to make it out of here, and he was going to find this Inferno, no matter how hopeless the cause seemed.
In such a grim situation, hope was the one thing he had left. And he wasn't going to give it up easily.