CHAPTER 16

ISE'S GAMBIT

Near the Edge of Conservatory Chamber

'Captain Geer to Advocate Okoh.'

Ise stopped and answered through her comm link, 'Advocate Okoh here, go ahead, Captain.'

'John just reported some unusually hostile animal behaviour, keep an eye open.'

'Yes, Captain.'

Victor had moved on ahead, Ise looked and saw him standing next to a tree looking at something in the distance. Ise walked over to him.

'What do you see, Victor?'

'I think I spotted the pilot; he ducked down by a rock outcropping against the chamber wall. Let's go check it out,' Victor said, pulling his gun from his holster, 'weapons ready.'

Ise nodded and pulled her sidearm out and checked it. They moved forward.

Moving along a depression, they worked their way towards the outcropping that the pilot had disappeared into. As they walked in silence, they kept each other in view and kept an eye out for aggressive animals or the pilot himself.

They came to the edge of the outcropping and stopped.

Victor unfolded his helmet back over his head and tapped the side. Ise unfolded her helmet and heard his voice over the comms.

'I'm going to check. Stay put and make sure he's not sneaking around.'

'I should go first Victor; I'm a bit more resilient.'

'You're also more important to get the ship home. Stay put.'

Victor eased himself around the edge of the rocks. Ise crouched low behind a boulder and kept a grip on her gun.

'Ise? You can come here, he's gone, but there's something you should see,' Victor said over the comms.

Ise stood up and walked over. The outcropping contained a small pond, and there was a little gurgling spring coming out of the wall. However, more pressing was the animal carcass sitting on the ground next to the pond.

It had a massive bloody hole in its chest and a gaping cut running across either side of the hole. The animal had claws on its legs, and large looking fangs sticking out of its unmoving mouth. Ise knelt down low and looked closer at the wound.

'What happened to this animal?' Victor asked.

'I don't know... I'd have Lenny run an analysis, but we're still out of contact,' Ise said.

'Well the Linkal came this way, maybe this is his handiwork?' Victor suggested.

'Mmmm. That's possible. But why?'

Victor pulled out his tablet and activated something. He pointed it around the pond and surrounding area. It passed by the carcass, and he stopped, pointing it at the dead animal.

'There's something metallic in that thing.'

'What?' Ise asked, confused.

'Yeah, I was checking for any metallic signatures around here, like a door or something, and the carcass triggered a positive hit. There's something metallic inside it.'

'Where?'

'There's something right next to the wound.'

Ise reached her hand into the open wound. Her suit's glove protected her, though she still felt the warmth of the blood. She felt something hard and pulled open the injury with her other hand. There was something solid that looked inorganic. Grabbing hold of it, she tugged at it. The corpse jerked, she was startled and fell backwards. She was still holding whatever she had grabbed.

'What did you do?' Victor asked.

'I gave whatever it is a tug,' Ise said, holding up her find, 'let's wash it off and see what it is.'

Ise moved to the pond and washed off the device she was holding, and her hands. The blood mixed with the water and made wispy tendrils of red. She held up the machine and looked at it, her eyes wide in disbelief.

'What is it Ise?' Victor asked.

'This is part of an Advocate uplink system,' Ise said.

'What?'

'This thing here is what's left of an Advocate uplink system. It looks like the communication node's been broken off, probably because of the wound, but this is part of the system in an Advocate that manages communications with a Guardian.'

Victor walked over to the carcass and continued scanning it with his tablet, 'There are more systems in this thing, we should check it out, but we need to find out where the pilot went.'

'One moment,' Ise toggled her communication system on again, 'Advocate Okoh here, we've lost the trail of the pilot. He came to a small pond, and his trail has vanished. There's a dead animal carcass here too, which we suspect was killed by the pilot.'

'John here, did you say the trail went cold near a pond?'

'Yes, John.'

'We found a maintenance hatch near the bottom of a body of water; it's possible he found one and used it.'

Ise looked over at the pond. She contemplated going in there, but her attention was drawn to growling noise behind her.

She turned and looked, another animal, like the dead one, was standing the way they had come and was staring at them with fangs bared. It had pointed ears which were laying back against its head, and its muscular front legs had a set of claws just like the dead one. It looked like a mountain lion from earth, except it was a red colour, and had slits on its face which flared open with its heavy breathing.

'Stand by; we've found another animal. It appears hostile,' Ise said calmly over the comms.

'Be careful Ise,' urged John.

Ise looked at Victor. He already had his sidearm aimed at the animal.

'Stay behind me, Vick. I don't think it'll be much of a match for me, but I'd rather not find out. Let's try to get away slowly,' Ise said.

Victor nodded. Together, they backed away, sticking to the rock wall behind them and easing their way past the animal. It turned to watch them but didn't seem to be interested in attacking them. After they moved little ways off, it turned from them and walked to the carcass. It nudged it with its snout and made soft whimpering noises.

'What should we do? If the pilot found a maintenance hatch, it'll be in that pond.' Victor said.

'We don't know for sure that's where he is. He could have given us the slip. But that is our only lead right now,' Ise reflected.

They looked at the animal as it mourned its fallen kin. Over a rise, two metal skinned robots came walking toward the pond. One of them started toward Victor and Ise while the other went toward the animal carcass. As the robot got close to the corpse, the animal next to it looked up at it, and then sat down and just stared forward. The second robot came to a stop in front of Ise and Victor.

'Please leave this area. Clean up is required,' the robot said.

'We believe the alien pilot fled through a maintenance hatch in the pond. We need to go after him.' Victor said.

'You may return after clean up is finished, please leave the area,' the robot said.

'Look we're a military ship on a military mission, and this is for the protection of this facility and all of humanity. If that pilot is allowed to run amok, he could seriously damage your systems,' Ise said.

'You may return after clean up is finished, please leave the area,' the robot repeated.

Ise sighed and turned around, 'Come on Vick, we will have to wait.'

Victor fell in beside her as they walked up a nearby hill.

'What now?' Victor asked.

'I've had an idea. Let's go down by that grove of trees.' Ise said, pointing at a small grouping of green trees with bushy foliage. Once they had reached the grove and gone in the middle, it became clear that it would be tough to be seen while under its leaves.

Victor looked around checking out the area with care, and then looked at Ise. 'What's the plan?'

'I thought we might be able to be a little more direct,' she said holding out the piece of equipment she had ripped from the animal carcass.