The Gardens of Deathworlders: A Blooming Love (Part 119)
Part 119 A mysterious place (Part 1) (Part 118)
There is a place in what is now known as the Tall Spires Village unlike anywhere else in the easily accessible portions of the ancient and long buried ruins covering this world. A small and simple cavern with several strange objects that seemed important to someone at some point in time. It is hidden about halfway up the second tallest spire in the village, deep in the center of the once shining skyscraper, and only accessible by crawling through a complex maze of collapsed air ducts. Unlike nearly every single other hall, room, and interior structure anywhere near the modern ground level, this space was largely disconnected from the decay that came with hundreds of millions of years. Neither natural light nor significant amounts of air flowed into the chamber, necessitating any visit to be lit by fire and cut short due to carbon dioxide build up. That allowed for a level of preservation which, despite its incredible age, granted the rare visitor a glimpse of the long forgotten history of this world.
While Sinaen had only been in it to witness its mysteries twice in his life, Grompcha had no idea it even existed. The first time the Chief Scout had crawled through the labyrinth was at the request of an elder who wanted him to collect the body of someone who had been missing for about a week. That visit was short. Just long enough to see the thick layer of soot and dust that had built up over countless millennia. However, a few months after dragging out the corpse of a person who stayed in the room too long, Sinaen navigated the tunnels a second time. Though that second and final visit only allowed about ten minutes of investigation before the torch began to dim, the man was able to witness with his own eyes the ancient room full of strange boxes of various shapes and sizes, the wonderful and confusing images painted across the walls, and the strange table made of metal, polymer, and glass at the center.
Walking up to Binko's shuttle with a small posse of similarly curious and courageous individuals, Sinaen, Grompcha, and Kilchuk were amazed by what they saw. Between the unfamiliar pair of avians conversing with Tens and the truly gargantuan metal bird-beast coated in iridescent material, most had no lived experiences they could reference to make sense of this. Sinaen, on the other hand, had once before seen a painting on a wall that was suddenly beginning to make more sense. A pair of winged reptiles and a metal insect standing next to a strange machine, unfamiliar stellar constellations hanging in the distance above their heads, while being approached by a large group of much younger looking reptiles who lacked wings. While the exact details were obviously different, there were no sapient reptilians present, the parallels were impossible to miss. It was a meeting, possibly the first, between the people who called this world and others from somewhere far, far away.
“This metal bird-beast has a cave inside of it!” Grompcha shouted with delight as the group of chameleon-raptors came around to the ramp leading up to the open cargo bay of Binko shuttle. “And it's so clean!”
“I would like it to stay that way.” Binko retorted with a squawk contextualized by the device he was wearing over his chest armor. Though the flashed colors indicated sarcasm, the iridescent and colorful pattern of his feathers only visible in the UV spectrum implied a more serious tone that caused the feathered theropods to tense up. “I'm joking! You can come in and look around if you want to. Just don't touch anything if you don't know what it is.”
“And please speak as much as you can.” Tarki chimed in, her translation device displaying a pattern implying both learning and trading but in a manner that wasn't grammatically correct. “My husband's metal bird-beast is listening. The more you speak, the more we can learn your language. We only understand you as much as you understand us.”
“We must sound kind of dumb to you then.” One of the members of the crowd blurted out before immediately getting smacked by the slightly shorter woman standing next to him.
“Please forgive my husband's rudeness.” The obviously perturbed woman bowed towards Tarki and Binko while an apologetic pattern of magenta and olive-green danced across her feathers. “I am Omtuscha and my husband is Delomni. He is originally from the Metal Dish Village where they are a bit more brash than us here in the Many Holes Village. I believe I speak for all of us when I say we are honored by your presence and forever in your debt for coming to our defense in our time of need. The One Whose Feathers Flow Like Water said you would answer some of our questions when you are ready to do so. We are all looking forward to that.”
“No need for apologies. I thank you for your welcome and am happy to meet you.” It was clear to the congregation of theropods that Tarki's response and bow were far more eloquent than her translator was able to impart. “The more we learn your language, the better you will understand my answers. First, can I ask you all some questions? They will help us learn your language faster.”
While Omtuscha, Grompcha, and a few others began cheerfully engaging with Tarki and her questions, Sinaen, Kilchuk, and everyone else began exploring the cargo bay of Binko's shuttle. In its current configuration meant to recover BD-series mechs, all of the expandable compartments and collapsible furnishing had been tucked away. Though it was mostly bare polymer and metal paneling in a condition that only Sinaen had ever seen before, there were a few active display screens and cushioned seats that drew quite a bit of attention. With their dromaeosaurid morphology being similar to Kroke, some were able to comfortably rest their weight on the few folded out chairs along one of the walls. As most of the exploring chameleon-raptors began discussing the materials this flying cave was constructed from, comparing and contrasting them against everything they had seen before, only Sinaen had seen anything like this before.
“This reminds me of…” Sinaen's voice faded as his feathers began to form a coloration that would appear to someone who couldn't see UV as similar to the nearly-black shade of purple of Binko's plumage.
“Reminds you of what, my old friend?” Kilchuk asked while placing a clawed hand on Sinaen's shoulder. “Have you seen materials like this before?”
“Yes…” The Chief Scout's voice was a whisper, just barely loud enough for his old friend to hear. “It is a hidden place. Very dark and dangerous to be in for long. The elders of my village, those who have witnessed it with their own eyes, believe it contains secrets left by ancient people. The walls, ceiling, and floor of that cave are made from the same material as this place.”
“Where is the place you described?” The equally quiet question didn't come from Kilchuk, causing the two chameleon-raptors to look towards its source to see Ansiki standing surprisingly close to them.
“Why do you-” Sinaen instantly retorted in a hushed but clearly hesitant tone before suddenly pausing when a thought came to his mind. “Wait… You said you came to this world once before, correct? Long ago, back before the terrible war that killed the ancient creators that lived here? When another type of intelligent being called this place home?”
“Yes…” The Singularity Entity began showing a display of simple confusion by modulating the containment field in a specific color pattern. “Is this about the cave you mentioned?”
“Yes. And I believe you said your people are actually insects. Is that right?” After receiving a silent but positive answer in the form of a quick color flash Sinaen asked a question that genuinely shocked Ansiki. “Tell me, were your people once associated with large reptilians with wings?”
“What?!?” Before Ansiki could muster an answer, Grompcha shouted in despair from across the shuttle's bay. Though Sinaen didn't know it, Delomni had just mentioned the fate of his home village. “What do you mean the Metal Dish Village was wiped out?!? When?!?”
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“Are you sure about this, Lieutenant?” Captain Marzima's tone carried just a hint of concern as it came through Tens's comms. “Nula'trula and I can be there in an hour to provide support.”
“I don't want to leave any of the villages open to attack. And the quicker I take out the fabricator, the better.”
Tens was forcing his mech to move at a full thruster assisted sprint across a large and most open plain and towards a distant, crumbling satellite array. Learning a village of the dromaeosaurids had been wiped out just a few weeks before he and the Order of Falling Angels entered this star system had triggered something in him. Where he previously felt a compulsion to protect these young people from a substantial threat, thoughts of wrath and vengeance filled his mind. Grompcha had cried when she learned the fate of his extended family living in the Metal Dish Village. Witnessing that innocent young woman weep hurt Tens in a way he hadn't experienced in a long time. This fight was not longer just about testing his skills. He wants no honors or recognition for the deed he was about to commit. All that mattered now was putting an end to the threat as quickly as possible.
“I am following close behind with twenty drones and leaving another twenty back at the Many Holes Villages.” Ansiki chimed in, their attention split between controlling over a hundred separated portions of their body at once. “Just make sure that everyone is ready for more hostiles when Tens and I get close to the central control node, Captain Marzima. I suspect any lingering warforms will go on the offensive when their fabricator is threatened. And when the control signal is cut, they will likely revert to internal programming and relentlessly attack anything they see.”
“I'll have all units ready for any additional attacks.” As much as Marz wanted to share in the glory of taking down a Hekuiv'trula fabricator, she knew better than to argue with a Singularity Entity and that there was no way she could catch up with Tens before he dealt the finishing blow. “Do you have any idea how large of a force we should be expecting?”
“To be honest, not really.” Ansiki had brought their sphere down into low orbit and was using substantial amounts of energy to maintain a stable position over the estimated location of the Hekuiv'trula central control node. “My scans aren't showing any active warforms on the surface or down to about two kilometers underground. However, I know the buried city extends far deeper than that. I'm estimating the fabricator is almost three kilometers below the surface in an area once used to produce energy cells. There could be hundreds more warforms. Or the control node may have deployed its entire force during that last attack. We won't know until we know.”
“Alright… Well… I wish you two the best of luck. Don't hesitate to call in if you need back up. And… Uh… I guess I'll see you when we regroup at the Tall Spires Village, Lieutenant.”
“I'll bring you back a warform's head as a souvenir, Captain.” The inflection in Tens's voice was so close to genuine that Marz couldn't tell if he was joking or not. “Actually, I'll bring back two. That way we can mount them as trophies in the cantinas on the Dagger.”
“That sounds good to me.” Marz let out a short and deep laugh before becoming a bit more somber. “Just make it back in one piece. We still have a couple more planets to check out before heading back to The Hammer. Over and out.”
For a brief moment, the only sounds entering Tens's perception came from the high pitched hum of ion thrusters and thunderous pounding of mechanized footsteps. He only had a few more minutes of running before he would reach the site of the few week old slaughter. From there, he would turn fifteen degrees North-Northeast and continue on for another minute or so. Once he reached a particular cave entrance that Ansiki had spotted and marked, the journey underground would begin. He didn't need to know which passageways had collapsed over the past few hundred million years. The sensors in his mech and those of the Singularity Entity's drones would guide them way through the ruins. It would take just another ten minutes or so to find the fabricator producing new Hekuiv'trula warforms and the node controlling them. Assuming there were few if any hostiles standing guard, the non-sentient threat to this world would end in less than an hour.
“Tens…” Ansiki softly called out to the human warrior through his comms. “I want to warn you that I am detecting spikes in the energy reading at the estimated location. I don't know how many warforms we will face, but I know more are being made as we speak.”
“Then it's a good thing we're running as fast as we can.” Tens retorted with a laugh. “I'll focus on any warforms while you find and shutdown the fabricator and control node. Does that sound like a plan?”
“As good of a plan as I can think of. But… These energy readings… I'm willing to bet the fabricator is trying to produce at least one of the larger warforms. The hexapod ones covered in weapons you may remember from our simulation runs.”
“Ha-ha! The ones that look like spiders?” That question was immediately answered when an image of the warform in question appeared in Tens's HUD. “Oh yeah! That sounds like fun!”
“You may have a speed advantage against them in open areas, Tens. But we will be in tight quarters with little room to maneuver. Your mech's shielding and armor may be impressive. However they can't without a full barrage from one of those. I've seen one destroy a dozen Singularity drones in a single salvo. I would hate to see what even a single hit from its primary weapons would do to your mech.”
“You won't have to find out if it can't land a shot!”
In order to demonstrate why he felt so overly confident, Tens disabled all limiters and made a few quick darting motions side to side while maintaining all of his forward momentum. According to the scanners in Ansiki's drones following close behind the Nishnabe warrior's mech, the mech was pushing close to eight hundred meters per second squared, over eighty-Gs, of acceleration. Though they felt the urge to call out and ask Tens if he was hurt, the sound of diabolic laughter immediately answered their question. That movement speed wasn't just impressive, it was hard for Ansiki to believe that a biological being could handle those forces despite the triple layered inertial dampers of the BD-6. Even the miniscule amount of organic material in their drones would struggle to cope. If Tens could maintain that kind of maneuverability for extended periods, there is a solid chance he wouldn't take any damage at all in the upcoming battle.
“Now you just need to do that in a cramped cave while being shot at, possibly from multiple hostiles firing multiple weapons, and you just might survive this.”
“So it'll be like clearing a Chigagorian or Arnehilian command bunker on their stronghold worlds?” Tens once again let out a devious howl that had put fear in the hearts of fascists crabs and reptilian slavers alike. “Because I've handled plenty of both by myself. And those bastards are sapient and willing to sacrifice their own.”
“Yes but neither have ever really posed a threat to all life in the galaxy.” Ansiki was struggling to accept the fact that Tens wasn't showing even the slightest hint of hesitation while charging head first into battle. “But maybe you're right. If we had access to mass produced BDs during the War of Eons, maybe it would have only been a minor conflict that only lasted a few hundred years at most.”
“You know we have at least eight thousand of these in the Nishnabe Militia inventory, right?”
“Ha! You call that mass produced? Tens, I mean millions of them! So many that it would blacken the sky and blot out the sun above any planet they would drop on. The largest battle during the War lasted for two decades, stretched across six star systems, involved twenty billion military personnel on our side, and we faced off against thirty billion warforms, not including their void craft.”
“I bet I could take out a million of them in a single battle. Especially if I was able to resupply a few times.”
“Ughhh… That's…”
As much as Ansiki had grown to think of this young human man as a friend and incredibly capable soldier, the thought of him being able to kill a million Hekuiv'trula warforms was simply absurd. So much so that the Singularity Entity almost thought that boisterous statement was a joke. However, before they could try to continue explaining why Tens would be lucky to destroy a thousand of the real life warforms before being overwhelmed, they remember something they had learned while examining the highly classified history of Earth. Throughout the history of Tens's species there had been countless examples of individual warriors holding out against impossible odds while dealing unimaginable amounts of damage to their enemy. And what made those situations so special is that the humans were facing off against other humans. If a single sufficiently motivated human could kill dozens, maybe even hundreds, of their own kind, then maybe a million Hekuiv'trula warforms wasn't such an outlandish estimate.
“There's the Metal Dish Village.” Tens announced as he slowed his breakneck sprint, the sight of a dead chameleon-raptor causing primal rage to build in his heart. “Can you have some of your drones start collecting and cleaning the bodies? I want Grompcha to be able to bury her aunt, uncle, and cousins in a good way. These people deserve at least that much.”
Posted May 17, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC