The corpse was dressed in a tattered Republic uniform, suspended by thick, coiled cables wrapped around its torso like constricting vines. His face was slack, eyes sunken, mouth slightly open as if frozen mid-scream. Blood had dried in dark streaks along his neck and chest, though the exact cause of death wasn’t clear. Gravel couldn’t help but think he looked like a macabre pi?ata.
Priest stepped forward, scanning him with his Anvilx, one of the newer versions of the wristband device every crew member needed to have. The holographic interface flickered—processing, processing—then spat out results. “No vital signs. Been dead for a week.”
“Somebody was sent here before us,” Gravel said. He studied the way the body hung, how the cables seemed intentional. Like something had dragged him up there. He glanced at the walls, noticing deep gouges in the metal. Someone—something—has tried to claw their way out.
The body wasn’t just a casualty. It was a warning.
Hunter exhaled slowly, her rifle trained on the corpse, while murmuring something intelligible.
Priest tuned his wrist device to scan the surrounding area. “The cables are not standard Republic tech. Something strung him up here.” His display flickered again. “Wait. There is residual power flowing through them. Barely active, but—”
A sharp crackle cut through the silence.
The cables twitched.
A synthetic tendril lashed down like a viper.
“Shit! Hunter’s tentacle!” Gravel grabbed Priest’s shoulder and shoved him aside. He lunged forward, trying to snatch the tendril with his Morkanium-infused arms. The tendril slipped through his grasp. Then it lunged in again.
Gravel twisted his body, channeling his mutation’s energy to redirect the oncoming strike. The tendril slammed into the reinforced floor and left a jagged dent as its echo.
“Good work.” Priest said. “We move.”
Hunter’s laser gun barked out a quick burst. The beams tore into the cables, but instead of severing, they were deflected, vanishing into the ceiling with a sizzling hiss.
“Phase-shifting material?” Hunter murmured. Those cables must be important.
The corpse swayed from the impact, but remained suspended, its hollow eyes staring at nothing.
“That thing is alive?” Hunter snapped, already reloading.
“Probably semi-autonomous,” Priest muttered, scanning again. “Maybe rigged into the bunker’s power. Some kind of defensive system, or a leftover experiment.”
Gravel deadpanned. “Then let’s not give it another chance to grab us.”
The team pressed forward, stepping over the cracked floor where the cable had struck. The corridor stretched ahead. Silent again.
A putrid, organic rot clung to the back of Gravel’s throat. He could see Hunter fighting the urge to gag. He put a hand on her back, nudging her, and she glanced at him, nodding.
With a swoosh, the cables behind them shifted. Hunter glanced back once, saw nothing, then continued trudging forward.
The further they went, the colder the air became. The scent of decay faded with each step they took, overtaken by the metallic smell that wasn’t akin to blood. At least not human blood.
Hunter heaved a sigh. Her breath was visible in the chill.
Priest’s scanner flickered again. “Power fluctuations ahead. The main server room should be close.”
Gravel didn’t slow. He could feel it too—an almost imperceptible thrum in the air.
Hunter swept her rifle across the corridor. “Gravel. How was that thing back there able to move? I saw its finger twitching. It wasn’t just a cable.”
“I don’t know about it any more than you do.” He shook his head. “If Priest doesn’t have an answer, no one does.”
The hallway stretched ahead in eerie silence, and the only sounds were their own footsteps against the cold metal floor.
Then, the lights pulsed. Just once.
A low hum vibrated through the walls.
Hunter stopped mid-step. “That’s new.”
Priest frowned, looking at his scanner.
[STATUS: Unidentified Energy Surge Detected. 87% Power Spike]
[SOURCE: Central Core - Primary Systems]
He said, “Something’s—”
A deep, grinding noise cut him off. Metal shifting. Machinery stirred to life.
Gravel’s gut twisted. “Yeah, we gotta go.”
They broke into a run, boots pounding against steel. The hum grew louder, turning into a pulsing rhythm, like an artificial heartbeat.
Then, ahead of them, the walls opened up.
Panels slid back with sharp hisses, revealing mechanical arms folded into alcoves. At first, they seemed inert—lifeless remnants of an abandoned defense system.
Then they moved.
Hunter swore in her native language—Vovici of Haret—as she raised her laser rifle.
The first arm shot forward, metal claws snapping as it lunged for Gravel. He ducked, narrowly avoiding being skewered. Another swung toward Hunter—she dropped into a roll, firing upward as she moved. Sparks flew, but the arm recoiled and reset, recalibrating.
“They aren’t just swiping blind,” Priest shouted, dodging a clawed appendage. “They’re tracking us!”
Gravel gritted his teeth. “Then let’s make their job harder.”
He slammed his shoulder into one of the mechanical arms, forcing it back into its alcove just long enough to pass. The hallway was turning into a gauntlet, with defense systems springing to life all around them.
Priest skidded to a stop, his wrist device flashing red. “Server room’s ahead—ten meters!”
“Override that door,” Gravel ordered.
A metal arm lashed out, striking the side of his rifle and sending it clattering to the floor. He didn’t stop. No time. He pulled his sidearm, firing at a cluster of wiring in the wall that was already riddled with bullet holes for some reason. One of the arms spasmed, then went still.
Hunter sprinted ahead, leaped, slid up to the reinforced door. “Priest, now!”
Priest was already there, tapping furiously at the control panel. “Almost—”
A mechanical screech rang out from behind them.
Something bigger was waking up.
Gravel didn’t look back. “Priest, open it!”
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The door hissed, then slid open.
The three of them dove inside.
Priest slammed his hand against the emergency override. The door groaned—then locked shut just as the corridor outside erupted in motion.
A single bang thundered on the other side of the door. The screeching stopped.
Silence settled over them, save for the quiet purr of servers lining the room.
Hunter exhaled slowly, rubbing her temple. “What is this place? It has tech that should not be on uninhabited planet.”
“You wanna go back and find out?” Gravel asked.
“I’m good.” She caught her breath. “You weren’t this chatty a minute earlier. Were you perhaps . . .” She moved her face an inch closer to his. “Scared?”
He chuckled. “You should’ve seen your own face, lady. Paler than a Virrok. I was only trying to help you compose yourself by keeping my mouth shut.”
Priest was already moving, scanning the server racks. “Where is it?”
Gravel exhaled, sweeping his gaze over the rows of humming servers—tall, dust-coated monoliths blinking with weak status lights. The air was warmer here, thick with the scent of old circuitry—heated metal, faintly burnt insulation, and the stale tang of dust long settled in forgotten corners. The low, vibrating croon of the server pressed against their skulls non-stop. Every few seconds, a dying coolant system let out a strained hiss, like an old man straining his coughs.
Hunter ran a hand through her hair, glancing at the sealed door behind them. “I think they might have found a way to activate residual nerve activities in corpses. You know, like how frog legs can still move after they’ve died? Or maybe they’ve found a way to stimulate muscles through those cables.”
“Are you still caught up on that?” Gravel asked. “Hunter, we’ve got a Republic murder-spider outside.”
“It’s not just science experiments, Gravel. It’s relevant. If they’re messing with nerve activity in corpses, what’s stopping them from doing it to live subjects?”
Priest didn’t look up. “Statistically unlikely. The energy required to sustain that level of neural reactivation in a corpse would be impractical for large-scale deployment. But . . .” His fingers danced across his wrist device, cycling through security logs. “. . . it would explain why this bunker’s power grid is still active.”
Hunter was about to say something, but Gravel signalled for her to not bother Priest. “What are we looking for?” Gravel asked.
Priest said, “An encrypted storage unit. Should be somewhere.” He turned toward a terminal and hooked in his device. A stream of old data scrolled across the screen, fragmented and corrupted. “The system is barely holding together.”
Hunter moved to a nearby server stack, sweeping dust off a cracked ID plate. “Any chance we rip it out and sort the decryption later?”
“Not unless you want to trigger a failsafe,” Priest muttered. “Wait.”
Hunter crossed the room, scanning the rows of hardware. Something about the silence didn’t sit right with her. The walls felt too still, the air too heavy.
She stopped at one of the larger units near the back with an ajar casing. Faint scratches marred the metal near the access panel. Something had been here before them.
She narrowed his eyes, reaching out to pry it open.
The panel gave way with a quiet creak, revealing the tangled mess of cables and drives within. Her gaze swept over the components, his instincts bracing for something—anything—to lash out. But nothing did. No automated defenses, no sudden alarms, no more dangling corpses. Just old, neglected hardware vibrating in the darkened space.
She took a deep breath. Finally, something straightforward.
“Priest,” he called, stepping aside. “This might be it.”
Priest was already moving, his scanner whirring as he crouched beside the open casing. “Looks promising. Give me a minute.” His fingers danced over his wrist device, syncing with the system, tapping into the drive’s interface.
Gravel leaned against a nearby rack, arms crossed. “You know, Priest, if I had a ducat for every time you said ‘give me a minute,’ I’d own this bunker by now.”
Priest didn’t reply.
Priest’s scanner pulsed with faint blue light as he ran decryption protocols. The server cooed, then purred, then shuddered in response, data streams flickering across his wrist display.
“Come on,” he muttered. “Give me something useful.”
Gravel tapped her fingers against her rifle. “Any idea what exactly we’re pulling?”
Priest didn’t look up. “Could be fleet routes, supply chains. Even R&D projects.”
Hunter chimed in. “Maybe there will be data to explain the diamond-skinned tigers out there. Or that moving corpse.” His brow furrowed. “Whatever it is, someone thought it was worth burying in a death trap.”
Gravel scanned the room again. “How long?”
“Another couple of minutes,” Priest said.
Hunter sighed. “Famous last words.”
A low vibration thrummed through the floor. Subtle, but distinct.
Hunter’s jaw tightened. “Tell me that was the server.”
Priest’s fingers hesitated over his device. “That wasn’t the server.”
A deep clunk echoed from somewhere beyond the room. Metal shifting. Locking.
The lights sputtered. Then, the unmistakable click of a security system rebooting rattled the walls.
Priest cursed. “The bunker just sealed itself.”
Hunter groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her breathing became slightly irregular.
Gravel whispered at her, “Stay cool, Hunter. Just because the door’s closed doesn’t mean space got any smaller.” He knew she was claustrophobic, but he also knew she’d never admit it.
Priest was already working on his wrist device, fingers flying across the interface. “Security protocols just locked every entrance and scrambled the external comms.”
“Perfect,” Gravel muttered. At least I won’t have to deal with Fang for a hot minute, he thought.
Hunter paced, eyes flicking between the reinforced doorway and the still-whirring servers. Then, her expression shifted—something clicking into place.
“. . . What if we don’t go through the door?”
Gravel raised an eyebrow. “Did you miss the part where we’re underground?”
“No, genius.” She smirked. “But you know what isn’t underground? The giant murder-spider outside.”
Gravel blinked. “You want to call the Spider mech? The same one that tried to vaporize us five minutes ago?”
Hunter shrugged. “Think about it. That thing’s got enough firepower to rip a hole through this entire bunker. If it’s recharged its plasma cannon already, all we need to do is make it angry in the right direction.”
Gravel stared at her. “That is either the dumbest or the smartest idea I’ve heard today.”
“Get your inky armor ready, boulder boy,” she replied. “You’ll need to tank when it hits.”
“Great.”
Priest tapped his comms, flipping to an emergency frequency. Static hissed in his ear as he adjusted the signal, searching for anything that could still transmit past the bunker’s jamming.
Then, he heard a faint, rhythmic pulse. The spider-like mech’s automated targeting system.
He keyed in a command, overriding the transmission filter. “You want to taunt it, Gravel?” He turned to him.
Gravel’s grin widened as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. “Oh, absolutely.” He then leaned into comms. “Hey, bitch-ass-faced arachnid. Should’ve killed me earlier, but you were weak.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a distorted beep—sharp and aggressive—crackled through the channel.
Gravel smirked. “Oh yeah, I think it remembers us.”
Priest scanned the telemetry feed. “It’s redirecting. You have about thirty seconds before it locks onto this location.”
Gravel exhaled. “Let’s hope this bunker wasn’t built to last.”
Outside, the jungle trembled as the Spider mech adjusted its stance. Servo motors whined, and a deep, throaty whirr signaled the charge-up of its primary cannon.
Priest’s screen flared with warnings. “About to fire.”
“Armor ready,” Gravel confirmed.
Hunter and Priest found cover, Hunter and Gravel behind an overturned console and Priest behind the most reinforced server stack labelled ‘Classified’. Gravel grabbed Hunter by the arm and pulled her in, shielding her with his body as Morkanium surged over his back like living ink.
The air thrummed.
Then—
BOOM.
The explosion roared through the bunker like a thunderclap. Metal screeched as a section of the ceiling buckled inward, debris crashing down in a storm of dust and shattered panels. The blast wave knocked a server rack and tore some cables. Some energy reached Gravel, but the bunker walls had absorbed the bulk of the damage.
Gravel shielded their faces. “That—cough—was reckless. Love it.”
Hunter wiped the grime from her cheek. “If only we’re this approving of me every day.”
“Do not move yet,” Priest warned.
Above them, twisted metal groaned, and daylight poured in through the gaping hole the mech had blasted open.
Then came the high-velocity railgun rounds.
Sparks rained down as ruptured power lines burst overhead and server racks were punctured.
The rail slug slammed into his Morkanium-coated forearm and back with a crack. Across the room, Priest raised his arm, releasing a gravitational pulse. The energy unfurled like an invisible barrier, distorting the air around it. As incoming bullets entered its field, their trajectories warped, slowed, then collapsed, plummeting harmlessly to the ground.
Then the railgun volleys halted.
“Hurry before it reloads,” Priest moved with the drive already in his hands. “My cyberhand will overload if I try to make another barrier.” The others followed suit.
A burst of static crackled in Gravel’s earpiece, followed by Hua Fang’s voice, sharp and urgent.
“Glad to catch you again, guys,” she said, breathless. “I’m right outside—but I’ve got company. And they fly.”
Who would be the most likely to get a speeding ticket?
