Grey Silhouettes Part 1

Chapter 2
26-January-2032
12:34



The room is black and full of shadows. Metal clatters and nothing is stable. We drift gently from left to right, as the drop ship shifts course; its gentle engine hum soothing me, my only comfort. This transport vessel was poorly designed if you ask me. No light, no comfort, no contact other than the metal that surrounds me. The only other sound is the chatter of the other soldier's radios. I decide to join the conversation.

"Hey, what's up?" I speak into my vocoder. The response from it is a haze of un-understandable radio mess. One of the soldiers turns to me in the darkness. His glowing blue eyes set upon me.

"Just general chit chat about where the hell we are going." Was his response. His voice too sounds like radio static, but somehow it forms itself into words for me. He speaks again. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I sigh. The vocoder scrambles again.

"Ok…" He replies shiftily.

"Hey, you're the new kid, aren't ya?" Speaks another soldier, his vocoder sounds slightly different.

"Yeah, just transferred a couple of days ago." I reply. There is a brief silence, and the drop ship hums on. "May I ask you guys an embarrassing question?"

"Sure, but don't bet that we won't take this piss if it's funny." replies the same soldier.

"Do these suits have night vision?"

"You bet, just switch the dampers on the left side of your helmet." He chuckles in reply. His real voice is a sharp contrast to the mesh of sound that comes from his helmet.

"See, that's the problem. My helmet isn't like you guy's. I'm an assassin, remember?"

"Oh yeah, you have helmets like elites do don't you. Well in that case, just access "options-visor-illumination-night vision" and that should sort you out." He soberly replies. I follow his directions and soon, everything becomes more visible, washed in a red haze. I can see my group. Five other identical soldiers, all padded in grey and blue, all armed with different weapons. I then look down at my rake thin, white amour and compare myself with their bulky form. "What's your name?" Asks the same soldier.

"X01" I reply.

"Can you remember your real name?" Asks another.

"I think it was "Selina," or "Sarah" or something to that degree."

"Heh, it must suck being the only female soldier out here." laughs one of the others. "Well, meet the team. I'm H22, that's H23, H24 and H26."

"No H25?" I ask curiously, noticing the number gap.

"H25 is over there." Says H26. I turn around and look at a suspended metal pod at the back of the room. The instantly recognizable form of a stalker is being held inside.

This "post-human" creature is a common drone. Its forearms have been removed and replaced with building tools and its forelegs with metal stilts. Its eyes have been gouged out and replaced with a building laser.

"Ouch." I gulp hard. "Poor guy."

"Nah, it ain't as bad as they say…" Replies H22.

Before conversation can continue, there is a sudden clatter from the back of the room. We all stare down the back of the thin metal corridor, and notice that the transport pod is open. Next to it is the Stalker, H25.

"Aw shit." grumbles one of the soldiers. "Get back in there you piece of piss, before I come over there and make you."

"Leave him alone H26, how would you like it to if you were stuck in that thing for this journey?" shouts H22 in reply.

"Shouldn't we get it back in the pod?" I ask out of nowhere.

"Nah," calls the same voice. "Let it stretch its legs. It'll go back in by itself."

The stalker suddenly looks up, quivering, unsteady on is stilts. It growls in a raspy voice.

"That can't be good." complains one of the soldiers.

"All right, I'm giving you ten seconds to get back into that pod before I blow your circuits right out of your head." Shouts H16. It suddenly occurs to me that the stalker is looking at me. Even though it has no eyes, it is looking in my general direction. Whether it was staring at my visor in the darkness, or it really could see me didn't matter. It turns away, and began to wander down to the back of the pod. "Didn't you hear me?" shouts the same soldier.

The stalker ignores him, and bends forwards slightly. Suddenly, my visor goes white as a piercing sound like a torch cutter echoes through the vessel.

"Shit" shouts one of the soldiers. "Turn off your night vision guys." There is a frantic mess as everyone tries to turn off their night vision. When things come too, we are able to see a small illuminated section of the room. The stalker has fired its laser against the wall of the transport pod. Before anyone can act, there is a sudden shift, and the whole pod shakes.

"What the hell do you think you are doing H25, you trying to get us killed?" Shouts H23. The stalker roars again, and as it does, H26 raises his gun.

"I warned you!" Shouts H26, but before he can fire, the room shifts again.  A sounds like an explosion comes from outside, and the pod suddenly tilts to the left, then literally swings on its side. Everyone collapses onto the left wall. I suddenly hear the engine of the drop ship begin to splutter. Then with an almighty clang, the entire pod shatters into two parts, one of which falls into the sky.

"Holy hell, the drop ship's gonna release!!" Shouts H22. At this point, I notice H25 standing up at the edge of the gap he created. He screams, raises his arms and falls backwards into it. Everyone goes silent.

"No so bad eh?" Shouts H23 above the racket. I look up through a broken section of the drop ship pod and see the ship above us. Its semi organic, lobster like form reaching down to try and pick up the broken pod. There is a sudden crash and another explosion from outside, and then silence.

What worries me about this particular silence is the hum of the drop ship engine has stopped. Another sound begins to take its place, a whistling sound. I look into the gap outside and see the floor rushing towards us. Before any of us can scream, it's too late, and everything goes black…


("Hold on, move the memory banks back a few days. We are too far ahead into the story here, so let's not miss vital details.")

(Rewinding, prepare for further memory syndicate file downloads...)