Prologue
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 7:56 pm
Derek Adler stumbled and fell forward, catching his fall by throwing out his arms. The dry dirt was rough on his hands, even through his plastic gloves.
“Are you alright?” asked Anja, putting out a hand to pull him up.
“I’m fine, ow,” he replied, wiping the dirt off his sore hands.
“Come on, we need to hurry up,” said Hans in an impatient voice.
Derek followed the other three at a faster walking pace, avoiding the petrified logs and shriveled brown bushes that dotted the landscape. He couldn’t believe that they were actually standing in the blast site of a nuclear bomb detonation, even if it was over a decade ago now. He knew that they could avoid the worst side effects by using the appropriate gear and the expensive radiation pills, but it was a supremely uneasy atmosphere all around him.
After another hour of walking, they saw something ahead that looked like an old military fort. The landscape all around it was pockmarked with craters as if there had been a battle here. Gray, steel walls stood about five meters high in a rectangle.
“Look at that, it looks like an old Colonial Marine garrison or something,” said Jonas in an excited voice. “That’s got to have some old weapons or gear left behind. Military hardware sells for bank on the black market.”
“Right, let’s get in there then. No time to waste,” said Hans, eagerly.
Derek felt a certain reticence to rush in, but he said nothing. Hans was an impatient man, and intimidating. The four of them moved across the cratered ground toward the structure. Derek stayed close to Anja, the only person in the group that he liked. He stole glances at her ass as she walked. He swallowed hard, feeling desire creeping up on him again.
BANG! A loud explosion split the air, and Derek dove to the ground in fear. His ears were ringing, and he pressed his head down into the dirt. “Come on, you chicken!” laughed Hans, kicking him in the side. “It was just a land mine, look.” Derek looked up and saw smoke settling down over a horrible sight. Jonas must have stepped on a mine off to their right. Derek saw his bag and some bloody body parts scattered around. “More money for us,” said Hans, walking over and taking the gory backpack. Derek wished he had never agreed to loot a nuclear fallout zone, but it was too late to turn back now.
The three remaining members reached the wall and saw up close what had looked like an entrance from farther away. A huge section of the wall was sheered out, and the metal appeared to be melted. Derek had no idea what could have breached the wall in such a way. Maybe it was from the nuclear blast, or maybe it was some secret weapon that could melt through metal. If nothing else, this made Derek even more doubtful of the official government story that a nuclear weapons test had malfunctioned, firing off early and in the wrong place. It was widely accepted on Zenus Vier that something else had gone terribly wrong, and the US Colonial Marines had nuked this part of the planet to cover up whatever it was. The official death toll of 9,221 was also believed to be massively underestimated.
The inside of the fort was mostly debris. Twisted metal bars and broken concrete littered the area. Derek saw what looked like old tent poles, bent and twisted up into unlikely shapes, their fabric burned up or withered away. Under a block of concrete lay something utterly unusual. It looked shiny and translucent, like old glass. Looking closely, it looked like the dome of an elongated skull. Similar remains were littered around it, including what looked like a skinny arm with a clawed hand at the end. It reminded him of an insect shell, except far too large.
Backing up uneasily, he looked up at the inside of the wall. There, he saw a utilitarian metal sign welded on above the sealed entrance to the compound:
USCM
FIREBASE ALPHA
Two hours later, the group was moving on northward. They had found a decent haul, including some pulse rifles and smartguns. The loot was stacked under a huge, dead tree, which they would come back to on the return trip. Derek would just as soon go back now, but Hans had insisted they go north to investigate some old, caved in mines. So, he had taken another radiation pill and followed orders. They stood to make a lot of money, enough money to get him off this backwoods planet. He would stomach Hans for another day or two, then forget all about it.
As they reached the mines, Derek looked down into them. It looked more like a honeycomb of tunnels, like a giant ant nest that had caved in. The nuclear blast must have removed the roof of sediment that covered this tunnel system.
“We’re here. Now, they must have processed the ore around here somewhere. Keep your eyes open for anything of value.” Derek looked uneasily at Hans. He did not trust the man. As he and Anja climbed down into a collapsed mining tunnel, he was hardly paying attention to his surroundings. What if Hans was planning to kill them too, and take everything for himself? He had been so unmoved by Jonas’s death, and the two of them were friends. His stomach turned over anxiously as they walked down the tunnel and entered what looked like a large crater.
The floor of the crater was littered with rocks and dirt and debris, but the surface underneath was slick, as if it was made of glass. It reminded him of the strange exoskeleton he had seen at Firebase Alpha. There were also some strange objects that looked almost like giant petrified chicken eggs.
Suddenly, Derek stopped. A new terror gripped him as one of the egg-like objects started to open. His heart pounded, but he was frozen to the ground. “Anja… Anja look out,” were his last words, as something leapt from the egg and grabbed his head.
“Are you alright?” asked Anja, putting out a hand to pull him up.
“I’m fine, ow,” he replied, wiping the dirt off his sore hands.
“Come on, we need to hurry up,” said Hans in an impatient voice.
Derek followed the other three at a faster walking pace, avoiding the petrified logs and shriveled brown bushes that dotted the landscape. He couldn’t believe that they were actually standing in the blast site of a nuclear bomb detonation, even if it was over a decade ago now. He knew that they could avoid the worst side effects by using the appropriate gear and the expensive radiation pills, but it was a supremely uneasy atmosphere all around him.
After another hour of walking, they saw something ahead that looked like an old military fort. The landscape all around it was pockmarked with craters as if there had been a battle here. Gray, steel walls stood about five meters high in a rectangle.
“Look at that, it looks like an old Colonial Marine garrison or something,” said Jonas in an excited voice. “That’s got to have some old weapons or gear left behind. Military hardware sells for bank on the black market.”
“Right, let’s get in there then. No time to waste,” said Hans, eagerly.
Derek felt a certain reticence to rush in, but he said nothing. Hans was an impatient man, and intimidating. The four of them moved across the cratered ground toward the structure. Derek stayed close to Anja, the only person in the group that he liked. He stole glances at her ass as she walked. He swallowed hard, feeling desire creeping up on him again.
BANG! A loud explosion split the air, and Derek dove to the ground in fear. His ears were ringing, and he pressed his head down into the dirt. “Come on, you chicken!” laughed Hans, kicking him in the side. “It was just a land mine, look.” Derek looked up and saw smoke settling down over a horrible sight. Jonas must have stepped on a mine off to their right. Derek saw his bag and some bloody body parts scattered around. “More money for us,” said Hans, walking over and taking the gory backpack. Derek wished he had never agreed to loot a nuclear fallout zone, but it was too late to turn back now.
The three remaining members reached the wall and saw up close what had looked like an entrance from farther away. A huge section of the wall was sheered out, and the metal appeared to be melted. Derek had no idea what could have breached the wall in such a way. Maybe it was from the nuclear blast, or maybe it was some secret weapon that could melt through metal. If nothing else, this made Derek even more doubtful of the official government story that a nuclear weapons test had malfunctioned, firing off early and in the wrong place. It was widely accepted on Zenus Vier that something else had gone terribly wrong, and the US Colonial Marines had nuked this part of the planet to cover up whatever it was. The official death toll of 9,221 was also believed to be massively underestimated.
The inside of the fort was mostly debris. Twisted metal bars and broken concrete littered the area. Derek saw what looked like old tent poles, bent and twisted up into unlikely shapes, their fabric burned up or withered away. Under a block of concrete lay something utterly unusual. It looked shiny and translucent, like old glass. Looking closely, it looked like the dome of an elongated skull. Similar remains were littered around it, including what looked like a skinny arm with a clawed hand at the end. It reminded him of an insect shell, except far too large.
Backing up uneasily, he looked up at the inside of the wall. There, he saw a utilitarian metal sign welded on above the sealed entrance to the compound:
USCM
FIREBASE ALPHA
Two hours later, the group was moving on northward. They had found a decent haul, including some pulse rifles and smartguns. The loot was stacked under a huge, dead tree, which they would come back to on the return trip. Derek would just as soon go back now, but Hans had insisted they go north to investigate some old, caved in mines. So, he had taken another radiation pill and followed orders. They stood to make a lot of money, enough money to get him off this backwoods planet. He would stomach Hans for another day or two, then forget all about it.
As they reached the mines, Derek looked down into them. It looked more like a honeycomb of tunnels, like a giant ant nest that had caved in. The nuclear blast must have removed the roof of sediment that covered this tunnel system.
“We’re here. Now, they must have processed the ore around here somewhere. Keep your eyes open for anything of value.” Derek looked uneasily at Hans. He did not trust the man. As he and Anja climbed down into a collapsed mining tunnel, he was hardly paying attention to his surroundings. What if Hans was planning to kill them too, and take everything for himself? He had been so unmoved by Jonas’s death, and the two of them were friends. His stomach turned over anxiously as they walked down the tunnel and entered what looked like a large crater.
The floor of the crater was littered with rocks and dirt and debris, but the surface underneath was slick, as if it was made of glass. It reminded him of the strange exoskeleton he had seen at Firebase Alpha. There were also some strange objects that looked almost like giant petrified chicken eggs.
Suddenly, Derek stopped. A new terror gripped him as one of the egg-like objects started to open. His heart pounded, but he was frozen to the ground. “Anja… Anja look out,” were his last words, as something leapt from the egg and grabbed his head.