Late March 1998 Story

[Monorail Terminal, I15 on Surface Level Map]

The abandoned terminal is dark, empty. . .almost spooky as Urugg looks around. No sign of any activity yet. Maybe he was wrong about his hunch. . .

Urugg's pointed ears perk up. What's that sound?

Rrrrrrrr! RRRRRRRRR! RRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Headlights glare into Urugg's widening eyes. Someone on a hovercycle is heading straight at him at top speed!

"By the--"

Urugg cuts himself off in mid-sentence as his Yazirian instincts kick in. The cycle headlights brighten like oncoming suns, and the lanky Yazirian reacts.

[Urugg REACTION SPEED: 65; Rolled: 50]

In a single, fluid motion he leaps for the panel that activates the emergency seal for the monorail terminal habitat section. Like most colonies, all of Metrosphere's habitats have emergency hatches to seal off sections which blow out or are ruptured. Designed to seal off a breached section near-instantaneously, they are easily accessible near major exits and connections between sections.

Alarms squeal to life, blasting Urugg's pointed ears, and a computer voice babbles something about security being notified and about unwarranted use of the emergency seals bearing a heavy penalty.

But the sound does not compare with the roar of Syte's hovercycle as it barely misses Urugg's lithe form. Had the Yazirian not moved, the cycle would have hit him straight on!

An armored wall of metal hisses downward, blocking off the monorail tube. But with a quick tilt--and apparently no regard for self-preservation--Dakka Syte darts underneath the security hatch and is gone.

Mere seconds behind roars Syzygy's cycle--and with it about as much care for self-preservation and Dakka seemed to show: Instead of slowing down or maneuvering to miss the hatch, Syzygy accelerates!

[Syzygy REACTION SPEED: 75; Rolled: 85]

Urugg wants to yell: "No! Syzygy! You won't make it!"

But there is not even time for that!

The hell-bent Vrusk and his cycle collide full-speed into a descending wall of hardest alloy. The cycle shatters into a thousand scraps and sparks. Urugg dares not look to see if Syzygy has shattered as well.

[Passenger collision damage: 175 (cycle top speed) / 20 (rounding down) = 9d10 + 18 (vehicle is cycle); Rolled: 46 + 18 = 64 points damage! 32 of this is absorbed by Syzygy's skeinsuit, bringing the suit's structural points down to 18. The other 32 is subtracted from Syzygy's STAMINA, bringing it down to 8.]

The rest of the team has a better chance to notice the closed hatch and react in time.

Rolls to notice closing hatch far enough ahead to slow down...
[Kare INTUITION: 55; Rolled: 93]
[T'Klkk INTUITION: 40; Rolled: 59]
[Taanik: Automatic (slow down declared in post)]
[Tork INTUITION: 51; Rolled: 44]
[Zane INTUITION: 70; Rolled: 77]

Rolls to perform an emergency maneuver, avoiding hatch at last instant...
[Kare REACTION SPEED: 70; Rolled: 64]
[T'Klkk REACTION SPEED: 71; Rolled: 46]
[Zane REACTION SPEED: 57 + 20 (slower top speed) = 77%; Rolled: 21]

Tork and Taanik hit their brakes, slowing down early as the other three zoom past.

"Look out!" hollers Tork, but it is too late for Kare, T'Klkk and Zane to stop gracefully. The three squeal to a spinning halt, and miraculously, none of them are injured.

Having reduced ids cycle's speed to a saner level, Taanik activates ids chronocom. "Selson, There's reason to believe you may be in danger. Give me your location and I'll be there ASAP. Wait--is this a secure channel?"

Selson's face replies from the tiny chronocom viewpanel. "I'll be all right. From here in the Spire I can make sure that Dakka doesn't return to the city. What I need you to do is follow him, wherever he goes, and stop him for good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Those are orders. Stop Dakka Syte!"

Urugg lets out a warrior's cry as he stands over the broken remains of his fallen friend and ally. Waves of guilt and frustration blind his eyes and tear his soul. Dakka WILL go down! vows the angry Yazirian. And he WILL go down NOW!

[Urugg Battle Rage: 07 + 10 (trauma over Syzygy's accident) = 17%; Rolled: 14--Urugg and Tork are now both in battle rage, and will be until the action slows down]

The red vessels swell in Urugg's wild eyes as he activates the nearest holographic communication panel.

"Selson!" roars Urugg. "Dakka has escaped into the rail tunnel! We know there is a working train in this damn rail system! Get your techs to activate the train and bring it in to the station at top speed!"

The 3-D image of Selson Streel appeared only midway in the conversation, but the Human city director has correctly assessed the situation. "No need for techs," says the Human, activating a keyboard mounted on his left arm. "I can activate the train from here. I can't block Dakka off though. You're going to have to follow Dakka towards Lost Point. Kill him on sight if you have to. We can't risk any more lives!"

The alarms silence and the security hatch lifts back up. None of this is the team's doing. Selson must be controlling it all remotely. A monorail train is already pulling up by the time the security seal has opened.

Selson watches the team eagerly as they begin to step aboard.

"I don't like this," says Tork. "We don't even know if there's breathable air in Lost Point and we're rushing there without spacesuits or anything."

"You will find spacesuits in the monorail train's storage closet--which I've now unlocked," replies Selson's hologram. "I'll have a robot detail fetch any equipment in your quarters that you may have left behind. I'll have it transferred by cargo-bot. It should arrive at Lost Point just a few minutes after you do."

The team has settled into the train by now, and a new hologram of Selson appears inside the train.

"Don't you need our authorization to get into our quarters?" asks Kare.

"No," answers Selson. "I can override any security from here. I'm also going to seal off the city so that Dakka can't get back in. Just find him before it's too late."

The train goes into motion, all by itself--as if a ghost were at the wheel.

"Okay team-mates," says T'Klkk, getting up from a thickly cushioned seat. "Here's the storage closet. Everyone suit up."

Syzygy is barely coherent, Taanik at his side.

"I'm not sure we should have brought Syzygy along for the ride," says Taanik. "I'm no doctor, but he seems to be in pretty bad shape."

"Well, I am a doctor," says Zane, pulling out his medkit. "Let's see what we can do before our next stop." The Human medic sets about applying first aid, and then performing minor surgery.

[Zane Diagnosis: 60 (base) + 30 (skill x 10) + 10 (INTUITION modifier) = 95%; Rolled: 23]
[Zane First Aid: Automatic, 10 STAMINA points recovered, 1 dose biocort used]
[Zane Minor Surgery: 40 (base) + 30 (skill x 10) + 10 (LOGIC modifier) = 80%; Rolled: 98, no points healed, infection caused, 1 dose anesthetic & 1 dose biocort used]
[Zane Diagnosis (for infection): 60 (base) + 30 (skill x 10) + 10 (INTUITION modifier) = 95%; Rolled: 07]

"It's worse than I thought," says Zane. "He's infected, and his wounds are going to require major surgery. Damn! I wish we were in a medical facility!"

[Zane Controlling Infection: 50 (base) + 30 (skill x 10) + 10 (LOGIC modifier) = 90%; Rolled: 18, infection eliminated, 1 dose omnimycin used]
[Zane Major Surgery: 20 (base) + 30 (skill x 10) + 10 (LOGIC modifier) = 60%; Rolled: 32, 22 STAMINA points healed, 1 dose anesthetic & 3 doses biocort used]
[Syzygy's STAMINA is now restored to 40]

The monorail train shoots through the transparent rail tube at blinding speed. The structural rings surrounding each tube segment melt into a constant white blur. As the team gazes beyond the tube walls at the endless black sky and the empty, rocky terrain--which is almost as black, they realize just how lifeless this moon is.

T'Klkk turns to her team-mates. "Self does not like this situation. It lends itself easily to ambush."

Tork agrees with a nod of the head. "Let's just hope we can catch up with Syte before we reach Lost Point."

"Whatever happens," says Urugg, "and despite what Selson said, we need to capture him alive."

"Self concurs," says T'Klkk. "Syte's behavior at the life support building was most unusual."

[T'Klkk Comprehension: 21%; Rolled: 80]

"Self-T'Klkk cannot explain why he did not kill us when he had the opportunity."

"At least he didn't get our boss," says Zane from his position over Syzygy. "That was some ride, eh?"

"I'm not here to go on the rides, bookworm," says Kare, cocking her needler pistol. "The next time I see Syte's flat face, he'll get the taste of spikes! I'm sorry--no one grenades me and gets away with it!"

[Monorail Station, I6 on Lost Point Map]

Taanik looks about the empty terminal and states the obvious. Ids voice broadcasts over the radio within ids spacesuit. "Looks like Dakka got here before we did, assuming he didn't slip out one of the airlocks in the monorail tube walls."

Urugg finds some humor in that remark. "Without a spacesuit to protect him, I don't think he went out an airlock."

Tork steps out of the monorail train, his fangs nervously clenched, his automatic pistol at the ready and his eyes still seething with battle rage. The frantic monorail ride seems to have fed the two Yazirians' rage, rather than calming it.

"Syte may have found a spacesuit in a locker somewhere," says Tork, "like we did."

T'Klkk, who has already stepped down onto the terminal floor, returns to the group. Her compound eyes continue to analyze every centimeter of the vaulted area--her mind calculating the best tactical strategy. "Team-mates, the time has come to split into two sub-teams. We must fan out and find this Dakka Syte."

"What's that sound?" asks Zane. His voice echoes metalically through his spacesuit microphone as the rest of the group stops to listen.

The sound is faint. . .growing at times. . .moaning, crying, screaming. . .

Tork's voice soaks with dread. "I don't like this. . ."

Syzygy's antennae perk up within his domed helmet, and he remembers why the sound is so familiar. "I've heard this before, when I tuned into my chronocom that was taken to Lost Point. I have no idea what it is."

Kare's eyebrows knit with confusion. "It sounds like a hundred babies crying."

"It's behind this door," says Urugg, approaching a damaged airlock to the west.

Tork consults the Lost Point map. "According to this, that's the old government center."

Taanik steps cautiously towards the airlock. "I think we should go in. . .but all together."

T'Klkk reluctantly agrees. "The only way to find Dakka Syte is to explore this installation."

Taanik activates the airlock controls. The heavy door trembles, as if struggling to open.

Then it opens, and the wail beyond becomes overwhelming.

Urugg and Zane step through with a sense of urgency and astonishment, speaking in unison. "What the...?"

Dirty Yazirian and Human faces: tired women, weakened children, screaming infants, dying elders--there are at least 200 of them, all huddled together, pulling back in fear at the sight of these seven spacesuited intruders. The thin air is swamped with the combined stench of filth, rotting food, excrement and dying flesh. Mothers hush their children as cries of misery echo off the merciless steel walls.

Zane examines his toxy-rad gauge. "We've got to get these people help. There's barely enough oxygen in this place to live on."

The team enters the room, trying to decide what to do next.

But Syzygy steps back. "Déjà vu."

Taanik notices the Vrusk's caution. "What's wrong, Syzygy?"

The whole team looks up, noticing a few. . .unusual areas of the room that seem to be rippling with distortion. Taanik tries to rub ids eyes, but bumps ids hand against ids helmet instead.

Syzygy looks left, then right. "We're in deep shit!"

The blotches of distortion begin to take shape. There are four of them. Bipedal. Slightly larger than a typical Human or Yaziran.

The four entities slowly become more and more visible, blending in with the shapes and colors about them. They are. . .either robots or men in armored suits, equipped with very intimidating blades!!!

Chameleon armor sketch by Barry Beldam, Jr.