Starborn: Origin of the Stars

With a metallic hissing, a little display extended from the right side of the huge monolith. While Timothy excitedly rushed over, Landom and Alena both tensed up and redoubled their efforts in watching out for danger. Their weapons were at the ready as they observed their surroundings in alarm. If their theory was right, now would be the perfect time to interrupt this operation of the Hubble’s crew.

Robin quickly moved to the display. It was made of some kind of glass and showed something like a menu with unknown characters labeling many little panels.

“Can you read that?” He asks the researcher who arrived next to him.

Timothy inspected the display with a thoughtful expression before he shook his head.

“No, I can’t and I doubt anyone other than the Keeper themselves would be able to read this. That should be their native language, it’s said that it’s from the time before the unification of the civilized universe. In all their dealings with mankind or any other race, they are using the universal language. They never shared their tongue with the other races.”

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:13:22 remaining

Wireless interface detected

Trying to access…

“Huh… Whatever, any idea what we are dealing with?” Robin asked.

“This should be the menu to interact with the monolith. But since we have no idea what the monolith is for, I can’t even begin to guess what each panel would do…” Timothy said but his voice faded to the end.

“But…?”

“This looks interesting.” He said and pointed at a little panel in the top right corner, “I would say we can safely assume that it’s universally accepted that big red blinking letters are used for warnings or important notifications.”

Robin hadn’t noticed it before but Timothy was right. A red symbol was aggressively blinking there, calling for attention.

“Well, could be anything from a notice about low power supply all the way up to ‘hey did you realize that the freaking sun is about to explode?’, who knows?”

“You don’t know? That is a bit of a disappointment now…” An artificial voice answered his rhetorical question.

When Robin and Timothy spun around, they saw two figures walk out of the jungle close to where the drone had landed after ROMAS stopped controlling it to save energy. They wore armored suits in blue and green with helmets that completely hid their features and artificially projected their voice. The newcomers had weapons but, unlike Landom and Alena, didn’t have them at the ready but loosely pointed to the ground.

“And who might you be?” Robin asked calmly and raised a hand to stop his friends from doing something rash.

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:12:56 remaining

Connection failed

Searching for protocol information in the log of the map-file…

“Greetings Mr. Tulward, we are adventurers from far away, just like you. I’d love to introduce myself properly, however under these circumstances I can’t give out our names and since you probably already guessed why we are here, just call me Asshole No. 1 and my friend next to me,” He pointed at the second person, “He is Asshole No. 2.”

“I like your style, have to give you points for that!” Landom said and Alena quickly agreed.

“He might be an asshole but at least he shows some basic decorum, unlike some other pricks we’ve met…”

“Don’t talk bad about the dead!” Robin said with a sigh, “So, Assholes from far away, what now?”

“Now you will have to step aside so we can get the data from this console. Also, please hand us the tablet with the research information you wrote down while trying to access the artifact.”

“Ha, I would rather delete everything before giving it to people like you!” Timothy shouted and waved the tablet around. Robin was amazed to see his friend this fierce in the face of danger when it came to his research.

“Too bad, I thought as much though…” No. 1 said and made a sign with his hand.

Suddenly a loud bang tore the peaceful atmosphere apart and Timothy yelped in surprise when the tablet splintered to pieces between his fingers.

“At least we can use this to prove a point.” Asshole No. 1 said, “You see, we have another friend hidden in the forest, armed with a Storm XXC. He is here to ensure that you do as we order for the time of our little meeting.”

Robin was confused for a moment but ROMAS quickly helped out.

Strom XXC, heavy ballistic sniper rifle

UAS equipment for special forces

Designed to eliminate high value targets in armored vehicles

Rate of protection from your armored suit: 0%

Chance of survival on hit: 0%

Warily, Robin looked into the forest from where the shot had come.

“We wondered what you would prepare… armor-piercing weapons, that still comes at a surprise.” He said out loud so his friends too would know what they were dealing with, “Tell me, who are you really? What is so important, that you are willing to go against the UAS to get this data. As far as I understand you too don’t know what this thing is all about.”

“You are well informed, Mr. Tulward. I had planned a speech to explain how dangerous this rifle is and that this is our insurance that you don’t try anything funny thinking your suit would save you from the worst. A marvelous weapon, isn’t it?” No. 1 said and slowly they walked closer to the monolith. Exactly at the border of the formation platform they stopped however. Even though they couldn’t see his face hidden behind his own helmet, the two Assholes still managed to catch a bit of Robin’s disappointment.

“You didn’t think we would be stupid enough to step in range of this freaking machine with you nearby, did you?” No. 1 continued, “So, Mr. Tulward, what do you think about my offer for cooperation?”

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:07:13 remaining

Protocol information found

Protocol information analyzed

Trying to access the interface…

“Huh, it was worth a try, right?” Robin said and when he finally got the message he was waiting for over the short range comm, a smile formed on his lips, “But I still don’t think that this job is open for new partners, sorry.”

Turning to Landom and Alena, he loudly ordered “Take their weapons and remove their helmet, I really wanna see who these dudes are!”

Surprised, No. 1 and 2 both froze for a second. That was not going as they had expected at all.

“Tulward, you should take this more seriously!” No. 2 snarled and both raised their guns, “If you start messing around, we will just kill you and be happy with what data we can salvage from the artifact.”

Robin ignored them and concentrated on the feeble connection he still had in his head. ROMAS couldn’t work with the drone any longer, too high were the energy costs. However, at the end of the day, the BWT drone was still made for a normal human to control. It may be clunky, but with him standing right here, he had enough options at hand to wreak havoc.

Landom and Alena didn’t miss their chance and fired both at once the moment the black drone crashed into Asshole No. 1 and 2 from behind. They stumbled forward from the first blow and backwards again, when their shoulders were hit by energy projectiles.

Before they could stabilize their footing, Alena was upon them. Her rifle was switched out for a long, thin blade that pointed directly at the heart of Asshole No. 1.

The fight at the plateau had been a wake-up call for her. Not wanting to be humiliated like that again, she had asked Sevastian to bring her trusted blade. There weren’t many situations where she could make good use of it, but with these energy-resistant beasts all around, it definitely was the weapon of choice.

“Are you stupid? Damnit!” Asshole No. 2 cursed, waved his hand and then stopped.

After a moment of silence, Robin couldn’t hold back a chuckle, “What? Did you expect my head to explode? You should learn to count my friend…”

“What? Why? Who? We know exactly where all your team members are…”

“Ah! That’s my cue!” A friendly voice came from the forest and Ang’Tue walked out of the jungle. Over his shoulder a huge rifle with a big scope was slung and Robin didn’t need to guess that this was the Storm XXC.

“Who the hell are you?” Asshole No. 1 asked, totally baffled.

“Well, I’m afraid he also cannot give out his name. Sorry mate!” Robin laughed and motioned at Landom, “Take their helmets off, I have to check out the monolith for a second. We will leave in a minute!”

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:02:56 remaining

Connection established

Downloading data…

“No! We aren’t allowed to take off our helmets, please!” Asshole No. 1 pleaded but Robin ignored him and hurried back to the monolith.

“What is it?”

Download still active

First analysis shows structured data

Data is a specific knowledge pack: 41%

Data is part of a database: 62%

Data is incomplete: 87%

“Huh, so about whatever this is, there is only a little left?” Robin asked and looked at the little display when he arrived. Nothing had changed, “What about the warning?”

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:01:32 remaining

Language unknown

Nature of warning still unknown

Download: 37%

“Timothy!” Robin shouted at his friend when he also arrived at the artifact, “Pack your things, we need to leave. I got the data but don’t put your hopes up high. Seems to be some little part of a bigger database. I’ll send you the data later, then you have time to check it out, okay?”

“You have the data? How? Where did you store it?”

“Uhm.. put these questions on the list, too!”

“Wha-” Timothy wanted to complain but was interrupted by blood-curdling screams of the two assholes.

When he turned to look at them, he saw that both, Landom and Alena, had each taken off the helmet of one of the attackers. Their faces however were an unidentifiable, red and smoking mess. When the screams finally stopped, he saw that they looked like someone sprayed really nasty acid on them, disfiguring them so much that you couldn’t even tell their race.

“They had a kill-switch! We have to leave now!” Landom shouted and looked at Ang’Tue, “What is with the last one?”

“Just unconscious, didn’t see a need to kill him.” The Eltaran said.

“Leave him be,” Landom shouted and began collecting their stuff, “Hurry up folks, we leave now!”

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:00:47 remaining

Download: 100%

“Just who are these guys? Who would allow the installation of such cruel kill-switches in their armor?” Robin wondered while they ran through the forest to the little camp. Moments later, Happy was leaving with Sevastian in the Melody to prepare the Hubble and meet the rest on their way for a quick evacuation.

The others began a fast but orderly retreat through the jungle, each one lost in their own thoughts.

Robin’s mind was thrown into a real tumult again when he read the last message ROMAS had sent before the power finally ran out.

Neuro-Chip State Of Charge (SOC): 1%

00:00:02 remaining

Warning identified

SOS from a…-

Shutdown initiated

…

“A SOS? What the hell?”