Spires

Now

Cal stood on the charred and blackened forest floor. He was a good fifty yards behind the fully assembled team. They were still fighting the seemingly unending tide of mantisors. The standard, flier and brute variants continued to assault their defensive position.

Shira was a black blur at the tip of the spear. They attracted a crowd of mantisors, which was what they desired. They slashed and tore the monsters. They were sliced in return. But the blood flowed in copious amounts and it only made the Threnosh stronger. The damage they received was repaired just as quickly.

The other Threnosh kept their efforts focused to the flanks on either side of Shira.

To the left Frequency focused a sound field that liquefied the insides of the mantisors that entered it. On the right Kynnro scorched them inside a cloud of laser lines.

Caretaker added accurate projectile fire to pick off any that managed to make it through, while Primal stood in the space behind Shira like a towering sentinel. They lobbed grenades into the mass of monsters beyond Shira’s position and raked their minigun across those that were able to get past Shira’s layer.

Cal was relieved to have both booted feet planted firmly on the ground. All that flying was starting to give him a headache. At least it wasn’t the stabbing needles feeling like it used to be. Now it was more like a handful of poking fingers, firm, but gentle. More annoying than blindingly painful. Progress. He liked tangible progress. It was difficult to gauge when his power was basically invisible.

Even though he was getting impatient with the lack of boss monster. He appreciated the time to rest his brain for a moment. He’d need it for the secret boss after the team, hopefully, defeated the regular one.

“Really need a name for them… the T-Men? T-Factor? T-Force?” Cal muttered.

A sudden feeling interrupted Cal’s thoughts. A change in the mental air, so to speak. He stretched out his telepathy. Malice and hunger driven into a frothing rage. Cal grimaced. Unpleasant to take such things inside your head, but it was necessary. There. Approaching rapidly. A presence. The same malice and hunger in all monsters, except controlled, focused. A clever mind. One capable of cunning thought. And it was extremely angry. It had one focus. Death.

“Finally!” Cal said. “Boss incoming!”

Cal floated over the battlefield to get a better look at what was coming. He spotted it right away. It was moving quickly enough that he had to speed up his perceptions.

The boss monster was surprisingly small, about the size of the standard mantisor. It had the same humanoid form with scythe-like forelimbs, the chitin face mask that resembled a human woman. Its carapace was a dull green color.

The thirty mantisors that were arrayed around it in formation were different. Their forms called to mind the three types. Except more dangerous-looking. They were bigger, their carapaces were thicker and had more spiky bits, their scythes looked sharper.

“Elites,” Cal muttered.

He was half expecting that. He considered the options. The team was going to get creamed if they had to take the boss and its guard on while still dealing with the last fifty or so regular mantisors attacking them. He probably could’ve just taken care of it himself, but they needed to fight the boss. It was the main goal of the entire exercise.

Initially he had planned to be on hand in case he needed to intervene and save them from possible death and a party wipe. That plan just changed.

“You’ve got the boss,” Cal said. “I’ll deal with the adds.”

He swooped over the battlefield. Telekinetically controlled knife blades swarmed over the battlefield. They struck at every mantisor in sight, while swerving around the Threnosh. Each blade drew blood from the monsters’ vulnerable parts.

By tagging the monsters in this fashion Cal made the next part easier. He used his telepathy to insert a blanket compulsion into their relatively simple minds.

Come get the flying guy.

As one the mantisors abandoned their battle with the Threnosh and rushed after Cal.

He flew on and sent his knife blades to do the same the boss monster’s elite guards. He plowed right through their formation. Invisible telekinetic shields blocked scything forelimbs.

Cal felt the strain of doing so many different things with his powers begin to grow. The gentle finger pokes into his brain gave way to dozens of light needle jabs.

He sent the same compulsion into the elite guards, while at the same time he grabbed the boss in a telekinetic grip and shoved it toward the team.

“All yours,” Cal said through grit teeth.

“Acknowledged.” Caretaker’s voice sounded determined over the comms.

Now all Cal needed to do was deal with roughly eighty mantisors. Fortunately he knew just what to do. There were a large number of live mines just waiting to be used to the north. It would be a shame to not use them after the four Threnosh back at the base went through all the trouble of laying them out.

“Kynnro, how are your energy levels?”

“At ten percent.”

“Connect to the portable battery.” Caretaker directed them to the supply zone a dozen meters to the rear of their defensive formation.

Caretaker watched as Honor flew through the air and dragged all the mantisors after him. With one exception. One he sent back in their direction.

“Prepare yourselves. We have incoming.”

The mantisor boss tumbled across the charred ground, propelled by an invisible force that even it couldn’t overcome. It dug its scythe-like forelimbs into the ground to arrest its momentum. It leapt to its feet ready to join its subjects and give chase to the flying meatbag.

A sudden stinging pain across its lower back dashed all thoughts of pursuit from its mind.

The mantisor boss spun and slashed across with its forelimb.

Shira ducked underneath the scythe and swiped their claws into the thinner carapace at the stomach. Their black power armor drank in the small amount of monster blood they drew.

The monster lashed out again, this time too fast for Shira to dodge. They had to parry.

Blood gushed from the deep cut in the armor plate on Shira’s arm.

The two slashed and cut at each other as they moved too quickly for unaugmented eyes to follow. The mantisor boss’ carapace was stronger. Shira’s claws could only scratch the surface. While the monster’s scythes sliced deep cuts all over their power armor.

The blood flowed freely. This time it was Shira doing the bleeding.

Recognizing that they were losing, Shira blurred back and gained some distance.

Before the mantisor boss could follow a burst of minigun fire forced it to fall back in the other direction.

Caretaker was relying entirely on their predictive algorithm, but even then the monster was so fast they were only landing about a quarter of their shots on target. The projectiles dented the carapace, but didn’t do much else.

Kynnro tried to deploy their laser cloud. The monster moved out of it before it took any damage.

Primal tracked it with their minigun, but even the targeting assist program of their power armor couldn’t keep up. They might’ve tried bracketing the monster with their grenade launcher if they weren’t out of ammunition. If only they had the time to reload at the supply zone just thirty yards to the rear of their defensive position. The monster was moving too quickly for that and it was moving toward its next closest target.

Frequency tried to trap it inside one of their sound fields, but it moved around it in a blur.

The mantisor boss dashed across the blackened forest floor, bits of charred wood chips thrown up in the air in its wake. Its human face mask was devoid of expression, a blank look that belied the rush it felt at an approaching kill.

Frequency threw their arms wide in desperation and released their most powerful sound wave attack from all of the speaker-like devices set into their power armor.

The sound threatened to overload the other Threnosh’s auditory systems even when they weren’t directly targeted by the waves.

The effect on the mantisor boss was immediate and devastating. Its mouth opened to reveal two rows of pointed teeth and it screeched in what could only be pain. Its segmented eyes widened, as the sclera around the pupils filled with blood from burst vessels. More blood flowed freely from its ear holes.

“It is not a face mask like the others,” Kynnro said, shocked. “That is its face!”

“Shoot it while it is distracted,” Caretaker said.

The mantisor boss staggered as Frequency’s attack suddenly stopped.

“My system was about to overload.” Frequency backed away as fast as they could.

Caretaker, Kynnro and Primal took advantage of the opening and opened up on the monster. It fell back from the barrage in a blur.

Shira appeared out of nowhere, charging straight for the monster.

“Cease fire!” Caretaker said sharply. “We might hit Shira.” They felt anger at their teammate. Their shots weren’t doing much damage to the carapace, but they felt that might’ve been their best opportunity.

The mantisor boss’ rage grew. The soft meat in their hard shells dared to inflict pain. It saw the black-clad one, the first to hurt it, rushing forward. It snarled, as it moved to meet Shira.

The two were on a collision course. The monster had a different idea. The carapace on its back opened and four membranous wings unfurled in an instant.

The wings carried it over Shira. Surprised, they weren’t able to react in time. Scything forelimbs cut deeply into their back. The precious blood sprayed out.

Shira spun on their heel and leapt up at the flitting mantisor boss.

A mistake.

They couldn’t alter their trajectory in midair.

The mantisor boss, however, could. It avoided Shira’s outstretched claws and thrust one scythe-like forelimb deep into their stomach and out their back.

This time the blood that flowed wasn’t just from their power armor. It was mixed with Shira’s own.

Shira hissed, a strange mix of pain and hunger.

“Shira!” Caretaker took aim, but Shira’s body was in between them and the mantisor boss. The solutions their algorithm gave indicated that they’d hit their teammate at the same probability as hitting the monster.

Shira looked like they were about to die. They stunned everybody, even the mantisor boss, with what they did next.

They hooked their claws into the monster’s arm and pulled hard. They kept pulling until they were close enough to the monster to sink their helmet’s fangs into the its neck.

Cal’s first impression had been correct. It was improbable, but Shira’s power armor had working fangs.

They allowed them to drink deeply. The blood the power armor took in kept Shira alive, while their own blood flowed freely from the hole through their stomach.

The mantisor boss’ flight grew erratic as it tried to pry Shira from its neck.

As they drank, Shira reached their arms around the monster’s back and tore at their wings.

Locked in their deadly embrace, the pair plummeted to the ground and landed with a thud.

The impact tore Shira’s fangs from the mantisor boss’ throat.

The monster pulled their forelimb out of Shira’s stomach. This left a gaping hole through both Shira and their power armor. The hole in the power armor slowly started to repair itself, but Shira remained unmoving.

The mantisor boss raised a scythe-like forelimb. It took its time to relish the impending kill.

Another mistake.

There was a loud pop and the monster found itself surrounded by tiny particles that glittered in the sunlight. A split-second passed. Small lasers reflected all around it. They cut burning lines into its carapace and more vulnerable areas. Reflexively closing its eyes was the only thing that saved it from being blinded.

The monster was forced to abandon its kill to escape the deadly cloud.

Caretaker, Primal and Frequency rushed to Shira’s side. The former two fired at the monster with their miniguns to keep it occupied. Kynnro was forced to remain connected by cable to the energy battery that allowed them to fire their laser so many times.

The mantisor boss circled around them, while they continued to spray projectiles after it.

“Frequency, grab the mantisor bodies. Get their blood on Shira’s trueskin.” Caretaker kept their attention on the monster. Their algorithm told them where to place their shots, but their reaction time was too slow and the monster was too fast. They missed more than they hit, which was better than Primal, who only missed.

“How can I do that?” Frequency’s voice was verging on the edge of panic. A very un-Threnosh like display.

“Their trueskin is covered in blades and spikes. Just push the bodies on,” Primal growled.

“Hurry. It is the only chance to keep them alive,” Caretaker said.

The mantisor boss suddenly raked its forelimbs across the ground. It threw clods of dirt and charred ash into the Threnosh. The momentary distraction was costly.

The monster appeared at Primal’s left. It slashed through their power armor’s barrel-thick arm, near the shoulder. The scythe-like forelimb cut clean through and their left arm dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

In the blink of an eye it stabbed straight through Primal’s chest armor.

The Threnosh’s massive power armor toppled onto its back and remained still.

Caretaker poured minigun fire at the monster, but it dodged most of the projectiles as it rushed in their direction.

The predictive algorithm’s attempts to direct Caretaker’s actions felt frantic. They just couldn’t keep up with the monster’s speed. They desperately called for a last ditch effort.

“Kynnro, on my position!”

Three things converged on Caretaker’s position. The mantisor boss, a small shiny cannister and a pencil-thin red laser beam.

The lasers in the cloud cut into all. They cut into Caretaker’s power armor and weapons. They cut into the monster, which distracted it just enough. The gimbal arms that helped them wield the minigun broke from the laser damage. The belt that fed ammunition from the pack was severed. Still, there was just enough left and Caretaker’s spire exoskeleton gave them enough strength to wield the heavy minigun.

They emptied a hundred projectiles at point-blank range, center mass, into the monster. Its chest carapace cracked and it screeched as it retreated.

Caretaker hoped that it was in pain.

While Frequency hurried to drag mantisor bodies to the fallen Shira and Caretaker stood on guard, the mantisor boss shifted its attention to a more vulnerable target.

Kynnro was isolated at the supply zone. They turned and ran. They tried to hide within the piles of crates as the monster stalked them.

A pile of crates was never going to be a serious impediment to the mantisor boss. It was a wonder why it didn’t just slash them out of the way. Perhaps it wanted to savor the fear in its prey, perhaps it needed a few moments to catch its breath, so to speak.

Caretaker did what they could with useless shots from their recoilless rifle until it finally gave up under the strain of the damage it received from the laser cloud.

Inevitably, the mantisor boss cornered Kynnro, who was at the literal end of the cable that connected them to the battery pack.

The monster raised a scythe-like forelimb. Kynnro stared up at it. They were frozen. Their eyes were wide, as the shadow of their death fell across their eyes.

A sudden rush of movement accompanied by thudding steps that shook the ground. The forelimb descended. Kynnro fell back, eyes closed.

A greater shadow shaded them. Kynnro opened their eyes to find a giant metal-covered form standing over them. There was a hole in its back. The back of a tiny, speckled gray head was visible.

In one quick motion Primal raised their one remaining arm high in the air. They slammed the mantisor boss into the ground. Great clods of burned debris and dirt showered the immediate area.

“You missed me,” Primal growled. They stomped a tree trunk-sized foot down on the monsters head. The power armor’s foot was so big that it practically covered the monster’s entire upper body.

The mantisor wriggled, but the weight and downward pressure was too much.

Primal took a giant arrow from their quiver and thrust it through the monster’s stomach. They pushed it in deeper to pin the monster in place.

Satisfied that it was secured, the Threnosh pulled their power armor’s foot off the mantisor boss.

It was a mistake.

In the blink of an eye the monster’s forelimb lashed out.

Damage alerts blared inside the giant power armor. Primal had no idea what had happened. They pulled their leg back a step and promptly tipped over.

A sizable section off the bottom of their leg was gone. It had been sheared off.

The scythe-like forelimb lashed out again and again. Primal’s armor was being shredded. In desperation they blindly reached out with their one remaining arm. Providence was with them. The next slash happened to strike them right in the metal palm. They closed their hand tightly.

The scythe-like forelimb was completely engulfed within the massive metal fist.

Damage alerts continued to bombard Primal. The sharp forelimb was slowly cutting through their power armor’s fingers as the monster struggled to pull it free. They tightened their grip, but that only helped it cut faster.

“I cannot hold it! I require assistance!”

“Frequency,” Caretaker said.

“But… Shira…”

“I will take over. This is our best and last chance. I no longer have combat effective weaponry. Primal’s trueskin is broken. Shira is— You still have energy.”

Frequency nodded. “Acknowledged.” They ran over to the struggling mantisor boss and Primal, but they were going to be too late.

Kynnro bought them time. “I am here,” they said as they stepped close to Primal. “Hold it still. I only have enough energy for one more attack.”

“What does it appear that I am trying to do?” Primal spat.

Despite the complaint they tightened their grip and held the mantisor’s arm steady at the cost of a few more inches into their metal fingers.

The laser emitter on Kynnro’s helmet glowed brighter. A brilliant red laser beam lanced out across the monster’s first joint, closest to the shoulder.

The entire limb went flying along with the severed metal fingers of Primal’s power armor.

The cauterized end of the monster’s limb sent the sickening smell of burnt biological matter into the air. Its screech of pain triggered the automatic shutdown feature of the Threnosh power armors’ external auditory systems.

The mantisor boss glared with pure hatred at Kynnro. It slowly began to pull itself up the arrow. Its body contorted in a way that seemed physically impossible.

Kynnro scrambled back.

Primal dragged themselves over to the monster and used their body to slam it back down to the ground. Minus one arm and the bottom portion of one leg they were reduced to pinning the monster’s legs and remaining scythe-like forelimb by laying across it.

Frequency finally arrived. They stood over the mantisor boss’ head and spread their arms out to encompass it in between. They triggered their sound field with their remaining energy.

The monster twisted and turned, but was held fast to the ground. None of the Threnosh heard its screeching. Their auditory systems automatically shut down.

Thirty agonizing seconds. Near the end the monster’s eyes burst. Its brain was turned to mush. The liquid leaked out to form a puddle around its unmoving head.

Frequency abruptly fell back. They had overridden their power armor’s safety protocols and had poured every bit of energy into their sound field.

They did it. The team had triumphed over their first boss.

Right on cue a chime sounded in all of their ear holes. The voice and text that appeared out of nowhere confirmed it.

Congratulations!

You have completed the Task.

Clear Spawn Zone 315349.

Defeat the Boss.

You have received 50000 Universal Points for Task Completion.

Enter a spire to claim the rest of your reward.

Congratulations!

You have the option to fight the True Boss.

Success Parameter: Defeat the True Boss.

Failure Parameter: Die or Flee.

Rewards: Control of Encounter Zone 315349, Varied.

Failure: Creation of Spawn Zone.

Will you accept?

“Wait!” Honor’s voice came in over the Threnosh’s comms. “Don’t answer that yet. I’ll be over after I take care of this.”

In the distance a series of loud explosions shook the sky.

“Well… shit.”

One look at his team and Cal immediately knew that they weren’t going to be able to take on the secret boss. Primal’s power armor was a wreck. Frequency was flat on their back, but a quick check showed that their power armor was just drained. Kynnro and Caretaker both looked worse for wear, but they were at least on their feet.

Shira was a different case.

“Status on Shira?”

“Honor.” Caretaker saluted. “Their trueskin repaired itself with blood from the mantisors, but as for Shira. They are critical. I recommend immediate transport to the facility for medical treatment. The healing chamber should take care of them.”

“How long till the transport gets here?”

“Ten minutes,” Caretaker said.

“How will the wait affect Shira’s condition?”

“Uncertain, but likely negative.”

Cal focused his attention back to the spire system message. The voice and text came back.

Congratulations!

You have the option to fight the True Boss.

Success Parameter: Defeat the True Boss.

Failure Parameter: Die or Flee.

Rewards: Control of Encounter Challenge 315349, Varied.

Failure: Creation of Spawn Point.

Will you accept?

From his experience he knew that the option would remain open to him as long as he didn’t exit the spawn point. He couldn’t trigger it with the Threnosh still inside the area. Taking on the secret boss was going to be difficult enough solo without the added distraction of having to keep them safe. At the same time could he really risk Shira’s life for this?

If he refused the option the spawn point would reset over an unknown length of time. Weeks or months and new mantisors, a new boss would respawn.

Cal thought about it for all of a second. Then he sent his mental reply.

“We are not facing the True Boss?”

“Huh?” Cal looked at Caretaker.

“The spire stated that you refused the Task.”

“Interesting. I wasn’t sure that it worked that way. Seems that as the leader, my word was final,” Cal mused.

“Has it not worked this way in your past experiences?”

Cal sighed. “Well, Caretaker… it has not. It’s worked in a couple of different ways. One time all it took was one person to accept to trigger the secret boss fight. Another time it required a simple majority consensus. I can honestly say that whatever logic the spires use to govern their system is bullshit.”

“I do not understand all of your words, but the sentiment is clear.”

“Alright, I’ll fly Shira over. I can get them back to base faster. The rest of you wait for the transport and tell Mechanica to get the healing thingy ready.” Cal gently lifted Shira’s motionless body with his telekinesis and zoomed into the sky with them in tow.

Cal had just watched the process of Shira being extracted from their power armor and placed inside a healing chamber. Despite the gravity of the situation a part of him couldn’t help but geek out a little.

The entire apparatus looked like a bacta tank. There was the small sarcophagus like chamber which was then filled with a bluish liquid of some kind. An oxygen mask was attached to Shira’s face and they were summarily placed in the chamber.

What was even more amazing was that the gaping hole that should’ve been in their stomach was already in the process of healing according to the visuals and readings. It seemed that Shira’s power armor didn’t merely repair itself. That wonderful feature extended to the Threnosh inside.

As Cal waited for the rest of the team to return on the transport, he sought out Interrogator Ebbing Tides 2337 in the drone control chamber.

“Tides. I need you to handle something for me.”

“What is your command, Designation: Honor?”

“You know all those mantisor bodies left out there?”

The interrogator appeared to take a second to compose themselves before venturing a wary answer. “Yes?”

“I’m going to put you in charge of collecting them and setting up a harvesting and processing system,” Cal said.

“To what purpose?”

“Universal Points,” Cal grinned. “Once they are cleaned and separated into the desired parts we can trade them in the spire’s marketplace for points or other items.”

“I do not understand.”

“Seems that you can turn monster parts into weapons and armor or use them as ingredients in potions and cooking. I haven’t really had the chance or desire to figure it out, especially the latter stuff.” Cal shrugged. “Basically, somewhere out there are individuals and groups that are willing to buy monster bits. The spires provides a virtual marketplace of sorts to do that.”

“I understand slightly better. I will comply.”

“Thanks, Tides. Oh and make sure to take special care with the boss monster’s parts. I want to see if Riverport and Mechanica can turn its scythes and carapace parts into weapons and armor. The way it stood up to minigun fire and the way it cut right through Primal’s armor…” Cal shook his head. “I want to know everything about the mantisors. Next time the team needs to be better prepared. They cut it pretty close today.”

Interrogator Ebbing Tides 2337 turned to leave.

“Good job out there, Tides,” Cal said. “You guys got the Task reward?”

“Negative. The Task was only given to you and the special candidates by Prime Custodian 3.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I wonder if we can change that for the next time. At least you got points for all the kills you participated in. That should be a good amount. We must’ve killed over a thousand of those things.”

“One thousand three hundred and thirty-seven.”

Cal laughed. “Is that the exact count?”

“That is correct.”

“Man, the Threnosh data collection capability is something else.”

Cal dumped his battle-dirty armor in the armory. Riverport and Mechanica would take care of it eventually. Although with all the damage to the team’s power armors they’d be very busy. Meh, he could fight in dirty, blood-splattered armor just fine.

Clad only in the wonderful Threnosh full-body suit he made his way to his office. The suit was amazing. It was skin-tight, yet it didn’t chafe or show any unsightly bulges. It wicked sweat away way better than any old climacool fabric back on Earth. He felt clean, dry and comfortable even after a life and death battle with humanoid mantis monsters.

As soon as Cal plopped down in his less than comfortable metal chair an alert pinged on his PID.

He wasn’t even given the opportunity to answer it when Prime Custodian 3 suddenly appeared via holographic projection in the middle of his office.

“Designation: Honor,” Prime Custodian 3 said.

“What’s up, PC3? I was just about to send you a brief preliminary report on the team’s successful quest… er… task.”

“That is not the concern at the moment. The Collective and I am calling upon you to fulfill the terms of the agreement.”

“Okay…” Cal narrowed his eyes. “Is it the Dominion?” That was the last thing he wanted to deal with. He flexed the remaining three fingers on his left hand. Epic quest notwithstanding, he was not looking forward to fighting another of those angel bastards.

“No. It is something else. Something none of us expected.”

“Fine,” Cal said finally. “Give me the info.”

Prime Custodian 3 immediately sent everything to Cal’s PID.

He took a few minutes to skim it over.

“God damn it! What the hell is this bullshit?!”

“Designation: Honor?”

“Wait… why can’t you just shoot it with a bunch of missiles?”

“If I understand your guery,” Prime Custodian 3 said. “We lack munitions of that scale. Our entire military apparatus is geared toward fighting standard size invasive organisms.”

“And you haven’t ever seen something on this scale. Well, neither have I, so I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do about it.” Cal folded his arms across his chest.

“The agreement—”

“Didn’t mention kaiju.” Cal raised a finger. “However, I’m not opposed to some amendments to the agreement. If your Collective will agree to more material support, an increase in personnel and access to a wider pool of special candidates. Then I’ll be willing to add giant monsters to the kill list.”

“This matter requires immediate attention.”

“Don’t worry we can work out the details later. As long as I have your word that there will be concessions,” Cal said. “I think we both want the same things here, PC3.”

Prime Custodian 3 remained motionless. Their eyes didn’t blink. “Very well. I concur. The agreement will be amended. Details to be determined.”

“Alright, awesome.” Cal frowned. “I’m not going to be able to take that thing on by myself. I’ll definitely need your help. That beam cannon thing you’ve—”

“I am unable to provide aid. The Threnosh way requires that only the exact appropriate level of force be used to deal with a threat.”

“What? A giant monster looks like the exact thing one of you primes is supposed to handle.”

“A prime is the last resort. If you fail. Then I will intervene.”

Cal shook his head. “That military doctrine is not very good.”

“It is as is determined by the Collective.”

“Right, so you lack large scale weaponry outside of elites and you primes. However, you’re only going to fight as a last resort. Alright. I’m going to need to dig into this data,” Cal gestured at the projections hovering over his desk, “and watch the recordings before I can come up with a plan. I’ll be needing some help from you. Fighters, weapons, explosives and transport. How critical is this?”

“At current flight speed the organism will cross the ocean in thirty-two hours. From there the nearest population zone is two hours away.”

“Do we know what it’s doing? Where’s it going?”

“There.”

Cal’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“Its projected track indicates that it is headed to your facility.”

Prime Custodian 3 didn’t understand the string of loud words that erupted out of Cal’s mouth. The universal translation system wasn’t able to find anything that corresponded to the Threnosh language.