E1M1: The Black Gate

Zand struck himself true. Though, paradoxically - or perhaps predictably, he felt the spear pierce his own chest. The cold embrace of death stung him. He saw a beam of light pierce through the black gate, and everything went black.

When he awoke he saw the greenery of a planet, plants and enormous mushrooms he had never seen before. He could smell the bounty of the pollen and spore. Feel the rich oxygen suffusing his blood.

Zand bore witness to something spiritually intimate. An enormous serpent coiled about The Commander. It was staring down at The Commander, and though it could have swallowed him with no effort, the embracing coils of the snake seemed somehow more intimate. Zand had a sense he was observing something private, deeply personal communion. The snake, in a voice like splitting stone intoned and rumbled what sounded like a particularly curious interrogative. The Commander responded in a similar manner, sounding sure, but the articulation of fear in his voice in his position was evident. The answer seemed to satisfy the Serpent, who's tone became chiding as if correcting a child's incorrect response. It noticed Zand, turning its massive head to Zand, saying something.

Zand found himself once more floating in darkness, the only light a glowing silver thread that snaked into deeper darkness. Pulsing with and connected to his heart. Something at the other end of the thread was pulling it.

Mellencamp SOLI readout: "Unconscious, crippled torso, internal bleeding, punctured lung"

The apparition made no noise, save where the tool hit the backfill. It did wave before disappearing. Maybe an attempt to communicate?

Mellencamp's feet came into view first. Relatively easy to extract. The trauma plate of his torso was face up, punctured, the emergency seals fired, keeping the hermetic seal intact. He was in bad shape and would almost certainly die if not taken to surgery quickly. Frothy pink blood covered his visor obscuring his face.

Badger and Rochenko, in spite of outmassing Zand by more than 90kg, were unable to move him. In fact, as soon as they seized Zand crushing force knocked Badger to his knees, violently, overcoming the motivators in the legs of his suit. An alert informed him that a servo had sustained minor damage as a result. The magnitude of force, without any inertia, was an impossibility to all known physics. Zand was transfixed staring directly at The Commander arms raised in defense as if shielding himself in the exact same position he had been in when the monolith exploded.

Seizing him once more Rochenko appeared to slip off of Zand. "Hey Badger" he said interrupted as the slip triggered a fall. "Doesn't this resemble some kind of Defense Matrix?" He continued after a suppressed grunt. Rochenko's SOLI read out "Irradiated" but the count wasn't high enough to be life threatening, he was likely burnt, as his disposition and voice indicated he was in some discomfort.

Cydonia - 1042hrs Zulu



Titanus Giganteus Mauritius

Terraforming Beetle "Terrorbug"

This 60cm insect was bioengineered by WU Corps in 2055 in tandem with its food source. Its exact properties were a closely guarded secret. However, a beetle of that size posed a substatial threat to any ecology.

Rochenko began digging backfill from the hole Mellencamp was in. "Contact 300m, lots of contacts." Piling regolith and sand to form a barrier. Then another, and yet again another. He was consuming oxygen rapidly. Mantling out of the hole he immediately began to shore up the trench. Hunkering down he marks a thick part of the swarm on his HUD.

He was breathing hard, recovering his breath. He hunkered down and aimed the array of his pulse rifle. A four by four array of 6.5mm caseless. The sustained barrage of fire, even through the dust storm, lambent orange blood erupted in clouds of flourescent mist.

It must have been a design oversight, as soon as they were deployed the turrets indicator light flashed orange. They were recalibrating their targetting sensors. Unable to establish a clear firing solution due to the dust and density of the storm, the microcannons tracked the swarm. The firmware would not allow the turrets to fire.