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The Planet 7.3

7.3 Spirits frozen

I was heaving in my breaths; hard and deep. It was not the running but the cold. I looked at the dust on the flooring. It was not moving; I knew that dust were inert unless something moved it but in the cold room, with the cold air flow breezing in, the dusts remained there. I saw small collection of it formed into little cluster of various shapes on the flooring. It was as if it was trying to group to keep warm.

I crouched down to pick up one of the shapes; it had formed into oblong design with an opaque surface. I fitted on my right palm and then I saw it moved. It was slowly spreading out on my palm. I realized then it that my palm was warm. Even with my construct parts, I was generating heat from the body due to the running and partly to my organic circulation. It was spreading to get the warmth. I immediately brushed off the dust from my palm. It fell to the flooring and tried to reform but it stopped there.

Cold was its Achilles heel.

Or was it? I stooped to pick up some samples. It was then I felt the whirring sound of the refrigeration fans were turned off.  The darned dusts or whatever you may term it as alien, I don’t bloody well cared. It had shut the system down in the section and the coldness was slowly losing its effect but the refrigeration coldness took time to disperse. I knew then I have little time. I need to get out but besides the cold room there were nothing of its equivalent. I placed my fingers on the walls to feel for the circuitries of any system. I had to interface with the main system. If you know what you want, then it’s easier to locate. 

I found it and then it was tapping into it.

It may work. I found my way out. It was a possibility. If it was cold they fear, then I will work on that. The insulated red and blue pipes were connected to the main refrigeration unit. That will take some time to shut down. The refrigeration system uses a series newly discovered of enhanced nickel-manganese alloys for the magnetic fields which could lowered the temperature by 150 degrees in seconds. Or increase it in the same space of time. The catch was the pipes may take a longer time to change.

I thought hard and work out my plan. It will be a risky one. I found the first pipe in the wall, and yanked it out. It also helped when I have a construct right arm which gave me a sinister punch. I had the pipe with the cold air still inside which I directed towards the doorway. The decompressed cold exhaust froze the surface on the doorway. I dropped the pipe before moving forward. I took a peek passed the doorway. The cold air had covered part of the outer section. I saw the dust on the flooring but it was not enough. I had to work faster. I searched for the next pipe. The schematics were on my mind courtesy of the construct. I rushed to the nearby wall and yanked out the pipe. I directed the cold air towards the other parts in the section. The cold temperature had dropped by several degrees, but it still held an impact for my purpose.

The other dust tried to compensate; it was my assumption then, they tried to intrude on the system to speed up the process of lowering the temperature. Some of the other dusts worked on the droids. I read from the system that three of those units were on course towards me.

“Freeze….” What do you termed them; alien or some more demeaning profanities. My recent views of older vids shown me some expletives that was lost in the language translation or the darned academics have removed it from our reading. Hail the better days of free knowledge which had sadly managed by idiots.

Well, back to predicament then, or in the expletive terms, I was fucked.

I directed the cold exhaust and more dusts were falling. I moved on without hesitation and with each exposed areas I yanked out more pipes to freeze the area. It worked but the cold pressure was depleting but soon I was on the corridor towards the Main Section Area.

I made it there.

They were not there; Machete nor Nguyen. So were Duggan and Dmitri. Their gears were all there including the comms unit. No wonder they did not come to assist me. There was Machete energy blade still on the flooring. 

The Planet 7.2

7.2 Spirits hunt

I crouched down to feel the flooring. It was unheard of but that was the ghastly thing I did. Well, I stop at having to sniff it. That will placed me in peer with the canines; a sarcastic or was it vile comparison. Well, the darn flooring was clean. Not a speck of dust but I traced a faint trail of plasma and platelets. It was blood from the organic. I switched the view on my goggles and saw where it went.

The Corsairs were there and then moved.

But how? Spirits don’t cart away bodies.

Only a physical being could do that.

Was the dust a physical being?

I leveled my rifle and then cautiously proceed along the corridor. I moved with the trail of blood as my guide. I tried to communicate with the others but there was only static. We were jammed was the pondering question but I had no answers then.

It was my mistake then. I should have waited for the answer. I ran on without looking back. In our recon basic training, the instructor tells one basic rule on recon tactics; “If it was there, and then it went missing, then it must still there but the question where? Since it’s not ground level, then check around you. Or above you.”

I did not check above me. When I looked up, I saw the mass of dusts there; layered to the ceiling. It must have moved there from the flooring. It had formed into a layer of dust coating that was glued to the ceiling. I took up my pace. When I ran past it literally rained from the ceiling but behind me. I sneaked a back view of it. It had formed into a form that resembled one of us with the four limbs but its upper limbs ended in a blade formation. The foot long blade was slashing from right and left as if it was fighting a foe. I grabbed a pencil explosive and armed it. I tossed it behind me when I turned the corner. The explosion went off but I was on the other adjacent corridor. I felt the vibrations of the blast but I was not stopping to check the damage. I did not need my instinct to tell me that dust had resumed the chase. I leveled the rifle in reverse over my left shoulder while pulling the trigger. I was firing blind but it may hand been a respite for me from the dust. I heard the click on the rifle and tossed it. I kept on running and took every turning I could find. Finally exhaustion overtook me.  I slumped against the wall and then leaned on the wall. It was then I took a glance for my foe.

Fool hardy perhaps. I guess I wanted to see them before I lose my head.

I was surprised not to see any dust on those corridors. It seems to have cleared off.

Well, I was wrong.

Suddenly it was in front of me. It had formed a wall of dust that blocked the corridor behind me.

“Damn!” I grabbed two pencil explosives to arm before tossing it. I then crouched down for the blast. It went off and the vibration blew me away. I guess my construct parts took the major blunt of it. I did suffer some shards of metals that were embedded into me but I was alive. The explosion also blew a hole in the wall next to us.

So much for the years of training in battle tactics. I was aiming the explosive towards the wall of dust and blew the space next to it. My instructors will peeve if they were there.

Or what Duggan will say; if you can’t toss it then canned it up your butt. Don’t waste my explosives.

No time to dwell on the mistake. I ran past the open hole and found myself in a cold room. It was huge. I wondered why they needing such a big cold room for but I was past reasoning for every event. In the cold room were rows of shelving that were lined up there. Every shelf was filled with some containers and was individually marked. I ran past the shelves for fear of the dust on the shelves before it could form into any blade; or I was just lucky to miss it any that was there.

I ran forward with my hands over the head. I took the turnings on cue on the shelves while sweeping the dust off my sleeves or head gear. I did not stop until I saw the closed doorway. I reached it and grabbed the handle. I pried it open and then rushed in. I slammed the door shut behind me before I took my deep breath. I care not what I was breathing but it was refreshing.

And damned it was freezing there.

It was then I noticed the dusts were falling off my body like droplets of rain. 

The Planet 7.1

7.

7.1 Spirits in the Corridor

Peggy struggled hard but her construct parts did not reach the legs; she was all women from waist below. I only guessed but Dmitri probably knew. Peggy reached for her sidearm but I cautioned her back.

“Don’t shoot it. It may be a …an alien.” It was an ironic assumption then. After all we did establish that aliens do not exist. We were not the lonely planet but also the lonely race of humans. We were a hundred billion overpopulated on Earth so that made us very much a big mass of humans but lonely we were.

I was to voice more mumblings but by my instinct I knew I was no better off. My legs were still mine even though it was covered in those dusts to the knees. The same predicament of Peggy had involved me thought I have a construct left leg so I kicked at it. It worked for me initially as I was able to move but the dust built back fast.

“Decide, John.” Peggy hollered out. It looked at her and saw the dust had built a pair of dusty over sized shoes over her knees. “If it gets any higher, I will disappoint Dmitri.”

Peggy still had the side arm on her right hand aimed at the left knee while her left arm held the rifle. She was mad to think that by shooting it she will be free. I wanted to caution her that being more organic counts for being human.

“Don’t shoot. I will figure it out.” I replied while my fingers work their magic. I scanned the dust and analyzed the content. It was all like the previous reading; minerals and more metals. All bullshit but that darned dust was creeping up my knees too.

I had to act.

Peggy wanted me to do it.

I would but something beat me to it.

It was there on the wall that Peggy was leaning on. It was standing next to her. It was shaped like … heck, how would you describe that was indescribable. There was no real or defined form. It was narrow and then oblong before it revert to some form that had no words to it. It was solid in one moment and then opaque in the next moment.

It kicked ass then.

The formed blade sliced through Peggy’s neck in one cut. The cut was perfect that the head remained in place with her agitated expression. She must have not felt anything; a clean cut that severed all her arteries and then the bones with the remaining flesh. She only reacted when the cut line showed the drip of blood. Heck, it was not all blood but also the stuff they pumped into our constructs. Hey, the constructs have small pipes that kept the construct parts working.

Peggy tried to speck but there was no sound. I could just imagine her shock but I will stop at the words she will utter. I still hold the top marks in the moral sessions.

I kicked hard on the dusted shoes. I managed to budge on the construct leg but the dust compensated fast. I kept on kicking and then moved my right leg. It was a calculated move. Whatever was in the dust was like the endless enemies I fought with. They reinforced the weaker points as I expected. I managed to kick out and twisted my body to move my left leg. It worked for the dusts moved to the right leg to hold it down but that weakened the hold on my left leg. I kicked harder to free the left leg. I then rushed over to Peggy who was then going through the shock of her life seeping away.  She had dropped her rifle and sidearm. She reached for her neck with her hands. Her hands were soon bloodied and her organic went into dilation. She was dying.

I reached her just when her knees buckled. I held her up with me crouched. She was dead then. I knew for it for my fingers were scanning her constructs. The constructs system was linked to the organic mind and heart. Once those were in shutdown mode, the construct system also shuts down. I saw her construct eye went dark; its eyeball shut down on the cue. I lowered her body down and then turned my attention on the threat.

It was not there anymore.

So were the layers of dust.

All was spick and span on the flooring. Even the air was cleaner.

My spirit was gone.

Like it was never there.

But I still saw Peggy there.

She was dead.

That tells me there was no imagination needed there. 

The Planet 6.3

6.3 Corridor D54-2

I knew the answer was at Corridor D54-2. Duggan was still out. Damned I might have given you him more than a headache. Nguyen confirmed it.

“You gave him a concussion. He’s flat out for at least a day.” Nguyen was right. The commander was attached to the recovery unit. It looked like an eight feet freak measuring six inches in length and width that was attached to his face like in the old movie that they still rerun to scare the kids.

“Next time hit his crotch.” Nguyen was helpful. “Blow his balls off. He won’t fuck anyone anymore.”

“Back off!” I glared at Nguyen. “I am going to check out the corridors. I am taking Peggy.”

Peggy remained seated with the Corsair. She was not moving. She was still cradling the other.

“Fuck your friend. Peggy, you are moving. I am your senior here.” I had to pull rank. “You are still a ….soldier. You have …”

“I know my duty, Sir.” Peggy stood up after she pulled herself away. “Don’t bitch about it.”  

Soon the two of us were on our way towards Corridor D54-2. We did not meet any droids; working or battle droids. Either one was bad news to us but we were prepared. I have the pencil explosives on ready for the toss. I will blow them to pieces if they were seen. Our recon was hampered then by the dust. I mentioned before it was everywhere but during the recon, it was also in the air. It was as if it was dusted with and was hampering our view. Peggy and myself got the gas mask on. We do have the risk of biological and chemical threat then. It helped us to be prepared.

“Sir, we have count of metals in the air.” Peggy was point and doing her task like the professional we were paid to do. Her face mask have a built-in contaminants filter to give the results. Mine was not. Not all constructs were the same.

“Screw the analysis. I want to see the so named spirits.”

“Ghosts you mean?” Peggy was playing me for a fool. I brushed off the dirt that was coated on the face mask goggles. That was my tenth time I been doing it but it will soon get coated. I decided to turn on my goggle alternative views. I switched between thermal to infra and then to what we termed as shadow shaded. Heck! I don’t know what it does but it gave me a runny headache. It was displaying analysis printout on the left side of the screen as if I was expected to read it. It would have helped if they stopped scrolling it vertically.

One line seems to be flashing

That was the irritant that gave me the headache.

It read as Element L 391.

How was to I know what is Element L 391? I am only a mercenary construct. I was paid to pay to kill and not read mineral listings.

“Peggy, what is the flashing on the goggles screen?” I communicated to her on the comms when we were at start of Corridor D54-2. She was still on point. She stopped to lean on the wall while she adjusted her goggle. I stood opposite her to wait. I was to ask again when she responded back with a hostile look. With the face mask on, well she looked like a freaking impression of an alien from the old days of interpretation of how they should look like. Oval eyes and nozzles for breathing; ironically they did not add in the mouth, well as if aliens do need it at all. I have not seen an alien yet; not even with a hundred years of space exploration by the Earthlings. I guess the ‘welcome, I am from Earth probes’ were a waste of money but we done more than that. We have colonized over ten habitable planets with our own overcrowded and dying from the daily humping on its sub-terrain for resources and staking in new caverns for housing. Even with the ten planets occupied, half of it was mining explored and the other half was used for the elites who could afford the fare there. I won’t bicker if I was given a two thousand miles spread of land for my home compared to my four hundred feet concrete bunker on the eighty nine floor with my neighbor a stone throw away.

Maybe we are the Uno numero. Sure feel lonely out there.

We were surely alone. Despite what Dmitri told us, there were no dead bodies there. It was only dusts.

“Hold your orgasm. I am almost there.” Peggy gets horny in a manner of speech when she’s upset. “I am reading it. It’s Element L 391-2. It may the stuff they were mining here.”

Geez, the sensor went cautious on it. I need the tech section to recalibrate the system.

“What the hell is Element L 391-2?”  I hollered back.

“Get an education, you nitwit.” I loved Peggy when she goes for the upper position. I was to compliment her when I noticed the dust had accumulated over her legs. It was like a layer of coating up to her knees. It was not a fucking coat but a mass of layers on her.

“Peggy, can you move your legs?” 

The Planet 6.2

6.2 Corsairs’ fate

It was unbelievable.

The whole tale stunk. Well, the part of how a twelve men squad with years of battle experiences could get so screwed up. That was how it was related to then.

“We were told to recon the plant.” That was biggest lie. The Corsairs was there to damage the place. “We came in via Tower Three and Four. We have this program to override the code. It was called Intrusion. It was laser systems that override the phasers at the tower. I guess its override the controls.”

That was a good Intel. We never knew they had it working. Ours was still undergoing testing.

“We breach in at the plant area and did our recon. We wanted to see what ticks there. We roamed the corridors.” I stopped him then.

“There was no data or clips of your team.” I wanted to clarify the lack of data in the system.

“We have our own intervention solution. We hit it on the consoles and then we are invisible.” Dmitri was lying. How can they be invisible? Well, Dmitri had the answers to the lies. His lies and he managed to correct it.

“I do not think you believed we could go invisible.” Dmitri asked. “We did. I’ve seen it in training. The solution once interfaced to the cams hid us. If you looked harder, you might make out the outlines. We had to be careful when we move, single file or we will hit the snag. We were disciplined; we were Corsairs.”

“We were everywhere. It was all silent then. We thought we were good, but we were wrong. We did get cautious at the droids and they were everywhere. It hits you when you turn the corner there will be one situated there. They were just situated there; non- moving. We tried to ignore them but it was foolhardy.  I recalled Tiny, one of our constructs popped the…”

“Construct? Don’t peeve on us. You are one of us.” I was upset being referred to as a non organic.

“Heck, I was never one. I am fully organic.” That hit me then. I was more upset then. I had assumed Dmitri to be one of us. He was licking onto Peggy. It was a shocker when Peggy defended him.

“Yes, he’s fully organic. We also fucked each other.” Peggy called in. “There are parts of me that were organic like my piss hole. It’s all there.”

“Is yours still intact?” Peggy had to taunt me. She knew I was a construct but I still have my pride.

“I’ll be damned!” There was a rule of conduct; no fraternizing between constructs and organic. It was taboo. We were better off humping droids then organics. They don’t discriminate us as long as we pay them. Darned some of those servicing droids were a knock out with the silicone implants. Who cares whom you fucked when all you wanted was your own pleasure.

“Let me continue on.” Dmitri spoke out. “Like I said we were doing the recon and then we came to coring section. There we saw the damaged drills.”

So when the Corsairs arrived the plant had stopped operations. So they were here not long.

“We checked the damages. It was then Tiny got into a panic mode. He was implanted with the new psychic vibration sensor. He gave the call for us to retreat.” Dmitri voice cracked then into a state of panic. “We ran...”

“You said Tiny popped. What did he pop?” I asked.

“Popped? Oh, yes. That meant to me he shouted. We ran out in the same manner which we came in.” Dmitri looked at me. “We are the Corsairs.”

“Then why the panic earlier.” I intervened. Dmitri did not reply immediately. Then he shut his eyes and continued.

“We were disciplined but suddenly Tiny went down in pain. He was screaming while holding his ears. He even threw aside his rifle. We saw him fell to the flooring crying out.” Dmitri voice dropped to a whisper then. “I tried to help but then the others were also affected.”

“Where was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” Dmitri shook his head. Then he told me. “It was Corridor D54-23. It was near to the corner towards the Storage Area. I don’t know what happened next but it was total chaos. Ivan shot Dmitri and then Peters went down. It was then we ran back. I was in the flank and they overtook me. I followed on with them. I saw Charlie hit the wall. It was then I saw the spirit. It rose in front of us…..”

“How does it look like?” I had to know.

“I don’t know. One moment it was solid and then it was not there. It changed shape and hit us.” Dmitri voice went up and then he was sobbing again.

“The spirit? Tell me more.” I wanted to know but the Corsair was not talking. He was sobbing as if he had seen the spirits.

“Stop it.” Peggy went to his aid. “Let him be.”

“There are no spirits.” I shouted back. “You are a coward.”

Dmitri did not reply. He won’t be any help. I accessed the consoles. I looked at the corridor cams. Dmitri’ tale needed to check.  I had checked the system and came out zilch. I want to verify the tale. It took me some time to detect the abnormalities in the clips.

I saw the Corsairs then.

And I saw them running.

And then nothing.

It was wiped out.

The clips after the run.

The Corridor D54-2. 

The Planet 6.1

6.

6.1 Confession

Peggy held on the fear stricken man like a young babe seated on the flooring while Duggan was pacing the floor. Damn I felt stupid standing there when we should be kicking ass to get answer. Machete was getting better then; he was communicating with some far flung droids. He was not doing a good job then; nobody of the mechanical means was responding. The bum was a failure then. I wanted to laugh but with Duggan around, I need to look grim.

Duggan was outraged by then.

“Peggy, screw your friend or I will do it.” Duggan hit out. He has a soft spot for her. We all knew which was why Peggy gets the cushy number on the tasks.

“Commander” That tone from Peggy meant that one she was upset and two she may kill us if we cross her. She had her rifle next to her. With us construct, that was as good as the rifle being cradled on the hand. Duggan glared at her. It looked to me like a standoff. I read of one before; OK Corral it was called. Great gunfight and lots of bad guys went down.

So are we the bad guys? Or the droids? Funny it never crosses my mind before.

“John!” I heard the shout that rumbled my thoughts. I looked at Duggan.

“Yes, you. I was trying to talk to you. Are you with me?” Duggan looked at me. “I want you to check the system again. There may be something we missed.”

I nodded and the decided to be the smarter guy, I looked at Peggy and then Dmitri.

“Why can’t we ask him?” I motioned to Dmitri. Even before we could react, Peggy had her rifle aimed at us. She was quick on there. I had rifle down or OK Corral would had been replayed there.

“Touch him and I will kill you.” The bitch was really mothering the Corsair but it was the later who stirred.

“There are ghosts here.” Dmitri muttered out. “They were everywhere. Everywhere.”

Dmitri was either crazed or was making us believe in spirits. We were into the 23th century with all the innovations but the concept of spirits still baffled us.  Last I read on the news vid was Halloween; a silly prankster holiday for the children to have a treat and for those of us who were older, the only night to act more stupid. It was last Halloween when I decided to play the ‘Russian Roulette Challenge’ with the then Sidney of the DOD. We were drunk and it was Halloween. Maybe the darker spirits came onto us then but Sidney lost the challenge. He lost half his face with the brain matters. No healer could re-construct him back so we left him there on the flooring. I guessed the others buried him. Or maybe the spirits took him away. I cared not but the scene of Sidney’s last moment haunted me for some nights. So I guess spirits do exist then with me playing the challenge those nights. The only difference was I died in those dreams. I also dream of all the others whom I killed. They haunt me nightly. I told no one and suffered in silence.

“There are no ghosts.” Duggan hit back. “You are crazy.”

“No, you are just a coward. You ran like a ferret.” Duggan continued on. He was all about the bravery code. To him, 

anyone who ran was from the battle was a coward. “You ran and in my view is also a disgrace.”

“No…There were spirits. I can’t explain.” Dmitri tore his way of the clutches of Peggy. He pushed himself up but was wobbly on his feet. Peggy up and held him.

“Fuck you. You are a coward.” Duggan was all flat out then in his anger. He rushed towards Dmitri and pushed Peggy off the man with his right fist. He then landed a left hook fist onto Dmitri on the face. The Corsair went down onto his knees and had Duggan right knee in the face.

“Coward!” Duggan was deranged then. I used my rifle and clubbed him on the back of the head. It stopped the man who went down. I then found myself looking at the raised rifle of Peggy. She was tethering at the edge of shooting me and Duggan. I stepped over to cover Duggan. It was the decent thing that I guess.

“No….Peggy.” It was Dmitri. The Corsair had stood up. “Don’t shoot. He did not mean it.”

“No, no one will believe us.” Dmitri staggered on his feet.  “Nobody will believe that we did not run. We retreated. We are the Corsairs. We do not run. It was the ghost which we were retreating from. You have to be there to know it.”

“I was there. I saw it.” Dmitri continued on. “I fucking shoot it.”

“I shot it.” Dmitri cradled his head in his hands. “I tried….”

“I tried. God, I really tried.” Dmitri started sobbing. Peggy went to his aid but I pulled her away.

“Don’t baby him. We need to know the truth.” I snapped at her. “It’s Intel that we need. He is the only one with the Intel.”

Peggy came to her senses and stepped away. I was relieved then. I approached Dmitri and grabbed him by the jacket lapel. I pulled him close to me.

“Start talking.” 

The Planet 5.3

5.3 Dmitri

The Corsair was all shaken up and covered in dust. He was dusting off the dirt from his sleeves and then his neck. He had recovered somewhat and had sat down on his haunches. I stood over him with the rifle aimed at the corner.

“They are all dead.” Dmitri was muttering to himself. “I had to. It was the only way.”

“What happened?” I shouted. The man was not replying so I dragged him up. I pushed him to the front and got him running. The later was what he’s good at then. He soon outpaced me but I kept up. I then recalled then there may be more of them on our flank. I went for the pencil explosives on my pack. I did not checked what it was but I knew where the pin was. I pulled it and then tossed it.

The pencil explosive went off. It was a fragmented model and it caused some structural damages. Part of the walls collapsed but we behind it. I ran with my sight on Dmitri who kept on running, He ran on without stopping. He turned a wrong corner. I had to stop him.

“Stop!” I shouted but the man was past listening. He was running scared. I tried to catch him but he was faster. I thought I lost him around the next corner but there he was. He had stopped and was catching his breath. I came up to him and landed the punch. He fell down on his knees while I held back my anger to land another punch.

“You fool. Stop when I tell you.” I hollered to the man’s ear. “I am here to ….save you.”

The last two words came out with a hollow sound. He was enemy and I cared not if he lived but orders were to find out why. And Dmitri had that one reason to be spare the death penalty. I grabbed him up and then pulled him with me. I was heading back to the Main Control Section. He got a better reception when we arrived.

“You bastard!” Peggy swung at me with her right fist. That was gratitude for me when I brought her friend through. I deflected the punch with my rifle barrel and then pushed Dmitri in. The man slipped but Peggy had him cushioned for another fall. Peggy ignored me and took care of her friend while I staggered in. The running and the excitement took its toll then on me.

“So you found him? Do you know why?” Duggan stepped in but his glare was on Dmitri. He was looking for the other if he had any arms. He saw the sidearm and then reached for it. He pulled it out before throwing it aside. I had not reply and that agitated him.

“Do I need to say please to get a reply?” Duggan was at his best; sarcasm at his tone. I shook my head and then replied.

“No, I don’t know why. I intercepted him at the corridor. He ran and I chased him. I caught him and he is here.” Damned best line of reply I could find. Duggan looked at me with his dismal expression. I knew that expression. It meant I was screwed. He then stepped way and went off to look for the couple.

Damn good choice, Duggan. Leave me alone here, you bastard.