Chương 86: Wanderer - Part 2

We don't have a lot of time here so…

"Shut up," Helen snapped. She was struggling to cross the debris covered floors to reach Angela. Beg your pardon?

"I said 'Shut Up'. I'm already aware we're pretty fucked, but I have other priorities than speaking with you. We'll have a discussion when I'm done here." Angela didn't look great. After being smashed by the Antithesis she'd landed on her side and slid into one of the bookshelves. The front of her suit was ripped open, and a massive purple bruise covered her entire abdomen where the creature hit her. Carefully she reached down and took Angela's hand.

"Helly… it… hurts." Angela's face twisted in pain with every word.

"Don't talk, and stay still. I'll save you, I promise." Helen carefully inspected the wound, her hand hovering just above the skin. There was almost certainly internal bleeding, probably organ damage too.

"Loky if I have been chosen as a Samurai that means I can buy things with points, right?" Correct, but considering the situation you may need your points to purchase weapons if…

"Shut up, don't even think about finishing that sentence." Helen replied, her voice cold. Fine. Most Samurai typically unlock the Class I medical utilities catalog, which costs you fifty points, then you can purchase new equipment and consumables, like the Class I nano-regenerative suite, for twenty points.

"I want to unlock the Class I Robotic Medical Tools Catalog, and a Mark one trauma pack if I have the points for it." How do you even know about that?

"Is that important right now? Do I have the points or not?" The AI was silent. Instead of replying with words it teleported a package into the small gap between the two women. Helen opened the plastic package, revealing a small metallic box. It resembled one of the tablets she liked to use around the office, at least roughly. The box was around 10 inches long, 9 inches wide, and five inches deep. One side had a touch screen on it, and the other contained a series of hatches surrounded by a soft silicone like layer.

Gently Helen pressed the device against Angela's abdomen, and pressed the 'Start' command on the screen. After a few seconds Angela stopped moaning, her breathing stabilized, and finally her eyelids fluttered and closed.

"There, now you can explain the situation Loky," Helen said, her hand still holding Angelas, and her eyes glued to the diagnostic screen. It's about time. As I was saying earlier you, and your people, are kind of fucked. Do you have any idea where you are?

"Not a clue. I thought the building was hit directly by an Antithesis seed pod during the incursion, which caused it to collapse, but we didn't fall that far." Helen waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the window.

"That area outside doesn't exactly look like any part of Seattle I'm familiar with either." You're on an Antithesis staging world. Helen paused for a moment as her brain processed.

"Beg your pardon?" You have no idea how astronomically low the odds are of not only this happening, but of you and your people surviving the process. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"How did this happen?" So, I'm simplifying for the sake of time and your sanity, but in order to send Incursions across the galaxy the Antithesis need to create specialized hives that are hundreds of miles in diameter. These complexes do nothing but collect energy, either through photosynthesis or from absorbing models sent from elsewhere on the planet, and once they have enough energy they create a seed pod, and fold space around it.

Usually they target clear areas within a planet's atmosphere, but unfortunately for you, sometimes the aim is off. The process literally swaps the seedpod for whatever is at the target location. When it's empty air that's no problem, when there's a building in the way… well then there are issues.

"Fuck me." I'm not done yet. Now these hives are usually full of fruit-like structures that store the energy, these serve two purposes. First they provide enough power for the hive to open a rift, and second they EXPLODE when the hive is attacked, with enough power to level the surrounding area. Somehow you've not only been swapped to this planet, but you arrived when the hive had completely exhausted its reserves. Unprecedented. Helen sighed, "So how the fuck do we get home?" Well, you have to act fast.

The area around the incursion hive is normally clear of Antithesis, with the exception of the old growth models that tend to the site, since they're absorbed for energy. You got exceptionally lucky, the pods are grown directly above the main trunk and when the pod and the building swapped places it kinda damaged the main structure.

"What does that have to do with us getting back to earth?" I'm getting to that. The main trunk has a nerve cluster in it, some sort of organic computer that makes all the calculations for folding space possible, and the protectors want it. I'm prepared to reward you with both points and tokens to buy whatever you need to get out of here if you can recover it.

"Fucking wonderful! Not asking much are you?" It's better than the alternative, which is being stuck here without a single option for getting off the planet. Helen sighed, "Right, no choice." She gently massaged her temples, "Heimdal what's the status of our transports and arsenal?" [HAV One had cleared the building prior to the spatial event occurring. HAV Two was on stand-by on the roof landing pad, it took damage when the building was transported but I managed to take control of the Auto-pilot and land it on the side, now the top, of the building safely.]"Well, that's something." [Between the seventy third floor and roof of the building there are only two armories, your private locker and the lockup for the response teams. Although it contains the most advanced weapons in Kwon Security Service's arsenal, it only holds the primary weapons and backups for Teams one through three.]"They'll have to do. Connect me to Jacobs." Helen's earpiece beeped, and then after a moment a deep masculine voice came across the line.

"This is Jacobs""Heimdal informed me your squad engaged the Antithesis, what's the status of our defenses?"

"We're fairly safe now, there are exterminator auto turrets covering both stairways, which are the only easy ways in after the shutters closed."

"And our personnel?"

"Neils is dead, killed by a huge fucking model three before we had a chance to react. We also lost about half the people from the seventy fourth floor before Samuels managed to kill another one down there and evacuate the support staff." Jacobs kept his voice even, but Helen could hear the stress in his voice. She sighed, "Fuck… Alright. First, send some people to collect supplies, whatever food, weapons and medical supplies they can find. Make sure they don't take any chances, we need everyone we can get.

Second, find a way to the top of the building and get Ramirez up there. One of the HAVs survived, and we'll probably need it to evacuate, but it was damaged. When that's sorted out, send Samuels over here with some breaching charges, Angela and I are trapped in my office and she's been injured."

"Shit… how badly?"

"She's fine, thanks to some Samurai technology, but I still want her checked." There was a moment of silence on the call, Helen could sense the question coming and decided to head it off.

"I'll discuss it once everyone gets together, now isn't the time. Make sure your squad is prepared for action by the time I get to you. We're going to need more than the HAV to get out of here."

"Yes Commander!" There was a low moan from Angela's location, so Helen immediately cut the line and leaned down to check on her. Slowly, the blond's eyes opened.

"Hey sleeping beauty, how do you feel?"