Chapter seven of my story Origin. As always hit that survey, leave a comment, and enjoy the read. Part two will be listed below. Chapter 8 “Why would the Vex do that?” Velox asked. “Unknown. Although from what I can tell, the shield is not completely blocking the signal. That’s why we have no communication.” Gaia said. They arrived at the gondola and stepped inside. The power was still on, and with a few beams of light, Nymph got the decrepit thing moving again. The darkness was beginning to wan and a steadily brightening area could be seen far off on the horizon. “I’ve been analyzing the signal and something strange has been brought to my attention. The signal shows characteristics of being human engineered.” Nymph commented. “Well Gaia said it wasn’t Vex so why are you surprised that it is human?” Azrix asked. “Because it also shows characteristics of the Vex.” The room was silent except for the low humming of the motor on the gondola. “So you are saying that someone crossed human and Vex technology?” Velox asked. “As unbelievable as it sounds, yes I think someone finally cracked it.” Nymph said almost in a disbelieving tone. “That’s impossible. The amount of calculation to break the biological encryption on a Vex would take thousands of years even with every super computer in the City.” Gaia objected. “It would but, what about a War Mind?” Velox asked. “It could break the encryption but it would still take hundreds of years.” “We can sit here and speculate all we want but, the fact is we still need to shut down the signal to get off this planet. The information we have on the Vex and how they use time manipulation is too valuable for us to worry about damaging or destroying a War Mind. Besides if the War Mind was active, it would have used its military assets to destroy the shield.” Azrix said ending the conversation The Gondola stopped a hundred meters away from their destination. Azrix peered out the frosted glass and saw the lights on the far side docking building. It was quiet. The wind had died down and only the occasional snowflake gently glided past the glass. “Nymph?” “The motor has burnt out on this one as well.” “Great. Remind me to put in a complaint to the maintenance staff. What are you doing?” Azrix asked. “Well we can’t get this thing moving so we have to go the rest of the way on foot.” Velox said opening the sliding door. She jumped to the roof and grabbed hold of cable and started shimmying towards the docking building. Azrix followed in trace but was slower than her. His bulky armor made it difficult to move at more than a snail’s pace. “When we reach the other side, we make a break straight to the hole in the shield. I never want to see another gondola again.” Azrix said looking down. Dismounting the cable they hit the ground and sprinted back up the hill. At the top, the scenery had changed dramatically. There was a huge rip in the shield accompanied by a large gash in the ground leading into a freshly carved cave. The rock had been melted and traces of the molten tungsten still glowed orange in the dim light. The shield was slowly repairing itself as small pixels materialized out of thin air. The two guardians jumped through the hole and made their way through the derelict streets and buildings. Once they arrived at the large concrete building, they saw a small sign above it. “Installation 006 Mount Carnel. Advanced Aerospace research facility. Project Spera. Why would a war mind be here?” Velox asked. “Not a clue. Let’s get inside and find out what’s putting out that signal.” Azrix said pushing past the rusted blast doors that he presumed was the entrance. Inside, a number of half assembled aircraft occupied what could only be described as a hanger. The craft were old, a thick layer of dust coated all of them. Whenever this place had been attacked, it had been sudden and swift. Dozens of skeletons littered the floor. They had all been shot in the back and all of them looked as if they were trying to make it deeper inside the facility. “Look.” Velox said pointing to the dust covered floor. A set of somewhat fresh boot prints vaguely apparent. “Someone is in here?” Azrix asked. “Maybe we aren’t the first guardians that Ikora sent out here.” “Keep your guard up. This is just getting fishier by the second.” They continued towards the far end of the hanger finally arriving at a massive lift. Five aircraft that looked to be fighters sat on the thing and there was enough space for five more. Nymph flitted over to a control panel mounted on the far wall and began scanning. “The signal is coming from somewhere below. Far below.” The lift shuddered and began to descend. Soon the hanger entrance could not be seen. Gaining speed they dropped faster and faster. The only lights illuminating the platform were two rotating caution lights at either end of the lift. “The shield, it’s not a dome. What we saw was only a very small section of it. It extends for miles all around us. There is something down here. Something very large.” Nymph said. Suddenly the concrete wall gave way to four steel support beams with cross bracing between them. Beyond that, a cavern the likes of which neither Azrix nor Velox had ever seen emerged. It must have extended nearly two miles in either direction. Other elevator shafts, similar to the one that Azrix and Velox were descending in, occupied the huge void. In the center of the cavern surrounded by dozens of buildings, lay a ship that put all others to shame. It was massive. Easily a mile in length and over a hundred stories tall. Sparks could be seen cascading down its sides and along its thick hull. The name of the ship could be seen painted on its side. “Spera” Azrix and Velox just stared as they descended. How had something this large remained undiscovered for so many years? Perhaps the most worrisome question in their minds was this. Who was building it? As they got closer Nymph shouted. “Vex! They are everywhere in here. Get ready!” Azrix readied his rifle and Velox pulled out her sniper rifle. She zoomed in on the area where the sparks were coming from and sure enough a goblin sat with a welding torch attaching two plates of steel. Something was off about it though. It’s eye was blue instead of the traditional red. “Azrix something is wrong with these Vex. Their eye is blue.” “What do you mean blue?” She handed him her sniper and he took a look for himself. “That is weird. I have never seen a Vex with a blue eye before.” “We should wait to engage them. Only fire if we are fired upon.” Velox suggested. “That doesn’t exactly sound like my cup of tea, but I will go with it.” The lift slowed as it reached a large three story building and descended inside it. The elevator came to a stop and the large metal doors slid apart. A legion of vex goblins stood before them all perfectly aligned and in order. Azrix held his rifle targeting the closest Vex. Velox did the same with her sniper. Time ticked by at an excruciating pace. Finally Velox lowered her rifle. “If they wanted to kill us they would have done it by now.” “Yeah you are right. They wouldn’t even have to aim.” Azrix said lowering his own weapon. “So what now? We have a bunch of pacifist Vex?” Part 2 can be found here. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/107265098 Chapter index can be found here. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/102926644/0/0