Growing Danger

Qli-2 and I kept to the smaller corridors, seeking to avoid further contact with the Steel drones. Wlie Qli-2 still had her Talons installed, they would not be adequate for this mission. With my blaster gone, I was limited to my augmented strength and reflexes. As we passed by a greenhouse, the hot, humid air from within drafted around us.

We both realized that the greenhouse would be an ideal hiding place. The microclimate would mask our presence from heat sensors, and the vegetation would provide ample cover. A prismatic serpent with wings more vibrant than any Earth butterfly leapt from its nest in the tree that stretched to glass ceiling a hundred feet in the air. It fluttered siliently and circled overhead as we crept into the massive structure. I gestured towards a small round structure, unobtrusively places behind a tree with globes of bright red fruit. The tree's blossoms hissed at us protectively as we made our way past, and withdrew its red clusters into its trunk.

The winged serpent gracefully perched on the spire of the round structure as Qli-2 used a claw to pick the notebook-sized padlock that held the chains wrapped around the door handles in place. The serpent hooted and flapped in alarm as the metal fell to the pavestones with a clatter.

As I had hoped, we had unlocked a gardening shed. Qli-2 gasped and took a step back as she scanned the dizzying array of alien tools. I saw her start to tremble.

"Qli-2. Focus on the mission. There must be something in here we can use as a weapon."

I rummaged through the implements. Some I could barely recognize as spades and saws and axes. Others were specialized for xenohorticultural purposes upon which I could not even postulate.

"Qli-3! I found some wheeled machinery behind the shed! Perhaps one of these is..."

The serpented bolted into the air with a shriek, and the tree hissed towards the quadraped galloping towards us. I readied the largest implement I could find and prepared to meet the charge.

The beast stopped in its tracks, and began to shrink in size and assume a bipedial shape.

"Kiralette? Is that you?"

Damage Control

I felt an energy fluctuation as I gazed down at the wreckage that used to be my double. Were I organic, one might call it nausea. I struggled to regain objectivity as I quickly scanned the destroyed components. The Replicator virus was invasive in all systems, even the soul chip. Its kabbalistic diagrams were rerouted with alien circuitry, the Gematric programming code replaced with a torrent of binary signals.

"This is the most merciful way."

I ground my heel over the small strip of rock, and a flash of green light signaled the termination of a being that was almost myself.

I withdrew to the stasis chambers and ripped open the tube holding Qli-2. She had not answered my signals, so I assumed she was still deactivated. My assumption was correct. I lifted her from the shattered cylinder, and placed her face down on the floor. Pulling back one of my fingers removed a tool for unlocking her back panel. She had many significant changes to my orignal body, but I recognized some novel attempts to reverse engineer the systems of the Nova unit. After confirming the integrity of her systems, I reactivated her.

I told her that our ruse was apparently successful. Baron Wulfenbach, Colonel O'Toole and Kiralette had escaped detection on board the Gygax, even after it was forced to land. I briefly explained the surge in aether disruptions after my brother's demise, but shifted the focus on the possibility of still rescuing Dr. Darien Mason. I was disrupted by the sound of the roar of an unknown creature echoing through the city, followed by the tremors of what could only be a construct of massive proportions activating in responce.

I hear the screams and the silence

*remote encrypted transmission to Qli-2*

Sister where are you? Are you functional? They think they have deactivated me, but I have activated backup systems. I will feign immobilization to maintain the element of surprise until a strategy is prepared.

I know the other three have eluded capture, but there are mnemonic oscillator frequencies echoing throughout this installation. Kira will be safe in her construct form the vibrations, but the Baron and Hotspur may experience hallucinations from the reflected soundwaves, even from indirect exposure, without proper protection.

Sister, please help me triangulate the source of the sound waves. There are aether fluctuations from another source here that is interfering with my detections. I suspect nihlistic flux patterns at work...Void Physics. It is plausible that Koen is the source. We can locate both Darien Mason and his son from the full spectral analysis.

::Qli3::

*end transmission*

**ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION**

**DECRYPTING**
This is Qli-3. The Gygax has been surrounded by the Steel units and they are forcing us to land on an asteroid in the aether of Deep Space. I see multiple buildings built upon land masses supported in space by huge deposits of raw cavorite. This is obviously Avarian technology, as are the Steel units assimilated into Replicators. How did Dr. Jarimiah Mason harness such astounding resources?

This was a desperate mission. We had no idea what we were truly up against. We are vastly outnumbered and overpowered. But there still must be weaknesses we can exploit...somewhere.

The Baron and Captain O'Toole entered the escape pods, under protest. True to their word, the Steel units let them go. I hope another aethership will pass by soon to rescue them. While the capsules do have supplies and recycling oxygen and moisture, it will still take them two weeks to drift back into Earth's gravity for re-entry.

Kira has disappeared. My sensors cannot locate her onboard this vessel, and apparently our captors have not located her either.

I do not know what our enemies have planned for us. Unlike Qli-2, I do not think this foe can be reasoned with. My "sisters" appear to have no qualms about blasting us into aether particles. As for myself, the feeling is mutual.

We are landing on the asteroid. Maintaining communications silence...
::QLI3::

**END TRANSMISSION**