Four's Logbook

We're almost to the rendezvous point now. It's gotten much colder the further north we go, we're starting to see ice and snow on the surface of the sand. It's such an odd combination to see, sand and snow together—but it just goes to show that you can never be too sure of what to expect out here in the frontier. Sometimes, real life is stranger than fiction.

We spotted something with our binoculars that could have been an outpost on the horizon. It was a bit too far to see clearly, even with magnification, but it definitely didn't look natural, which means we're getting closer to whatever the IMC are doing here. It was too far out of the way, so we decided not to investigate, but we're taking it as a hopeful sign of things to come.

Erebus may be a dead planet, I'm yet to see any sort of trees or wildlife—but there's no denying that it's pretty, and unique. I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever seen a world like this before. There are definitely worse places to die.

Still, I'm hoping that won't be the case.

—X—

The storm around them was becoming stronger. Both snow and sand blew into their chassises, coating their metallic plates in frozen crystals of ice and silicon. Cee extended one arm and ignited a small jet of fire to melt his away, as he had done several times over the past hour. KT would pick at her crystals every once in a while, scraping enough off to prevent it from becoming an issue. June's shell seemed to have been modified by McFarlane to keep water and debris from collecting on it, and Skids just pushed through it, seemingly unconcerned with the buffeting weather.

She looked behind them to see a long trail of massive footprints left behind, stretching far into the distance until they were obstructed by a large hill they'd traversed earlier. She remarked on how long they'd been traveling today, and wondered how the Pilots were faring.

The landscape around them reminded her somewhat of Nedar, though at least Nedar had had cover in the form of outcroppings of rocks and forests of trees. Out here in the vast tundra, there was nothing to shield them but large rises in the terrain and each other's bodies. It made her worried; they hadn't been able to establish contact with the others since last night, likely due to the storm. They were on the fourth day of their march, and she couldn't help but hope that Tobias wasn't freezing to death or buried underneath the sand somewhere—

"We are one kilometer from the rendezvous point," came Skids' voice, startling her out of thought. She shifted her optic to glance over at the Ronin.

"Are you sure?"

"Affirmative. 1.2 kilometers to be precise. You can put your mind at ease."

She nodded. That meant only one more kilometer until they were reunited with their Pilots, one more kilometer before she could make sure Four was safe—

Wait.

"Put my mind at ease? What are you implying?"

Skids realized his error, and took the time to carefully explain what he meant. "You might think you shield your thoughts, but your behavior betrays you. This is the longest period in weeks that you've gone without linking with your Pilot—and in that time you've become quite irritable. You inquire about their status aloud and far too often, and you grow silent for long stretches of time when you worry about them. Especially him."

She bristled at his comments. "I exhibit none of those traits, I am operating as efficiently—"

"No, you're not."

June and Cee looked at one another in confusion, then back at the other two. June's optics rotated from Skids to KT and back. "We're unaware of what the two of you are referring to. What is the problem?"

Skids snorted derisively. "KT has become affectionate with her Pilot."

She felt a bit of anger flare up within her towards Skids and his derogatory remark. "Of course I am affectionate with him—as you said, he is my Pilot—"

"More so than you let on. It is disconcerting to see such a bond between a human and Titan," Skids cut her off. "I overheard your conversation with him several nights ago, but have neglected to bring it up until now. I remember telling you that his influence was causing your view of the Pilot-Titan relationship to change, and it would appear that I was right; you alter your language when you interact with him, speaking to him like a fellow human."

She thought back to that night in the hangar, when he'd come to see her. She thought about what he'd said to her after she'd taken the time to tell him what he meant to her ...

You're my other half, Kay. Never forget that.

"Yes, I am closer with my Pilot than most Titans," she relented angrily. "Much closer. It is because of this that my combat effectiveness has increased exponentially when he and I fight together, so I ask you—why do you insist on labelling it as a negative influence?"

Her response finally seemed to give him pause. After a few seconds, he rotated to look at the Scorch behind them. "Cee, what are the three protocols?"

The large Titan instantly listed them off. "Protocol one, link to Pilot. Protocol two, uphold the mission. Protocol three, protect the Pilot."

An ocular probe on Skids' chassis spun to the side to look at her. "I am truly indifferent to the nature of your bond with your Pilot. I only intervene because I feel it necessary to remind you of the order of those protocols; the mission comes first, then the safety of our Pilots."

She was a bit shocked at the blatantness of his words. "If you were forced to choose whether to let Vale die for the sake of the mission or save her, you would—"

KT hadn't even finished her sentence before he'd answered, "I would let her die, yes."

She had no idea how to react, and so she simply stared at him wordlessly.

"That's not to say I wouldn't feel great remorse and mourn for her loss—but I would put the mission before her, yes. She would want it that way, and so I would honor her wishes. I would not disrespect her so much as to value her life over those that she is trying to save."

Cee added, "I would also allow my Pilot to die if I were presented such a difficult choice. And I am sure that she would do the same to me in order to uphold the mission—I am her second Titan, after all."

Skids continued, "I know that sounds harsh, but it's the truth. My point is that if you were given an analogous scenario, I believe you would save Four rather than complete the mission. And though you may think it to be a noble choice, it is a dangerous organization of priorities."

June said nothing, but from his body language he seemed to agree with the others. All three became silent as they marched on, allowing her to reflect on the hypothetical question Skids had given her; if it was Four's life on the line, could she make that choice? Could she sacrifice him to uphold the mission?

Back when she was linked with Shears, the Captain had made his stance very clear. She'd told Tobias as much, that Shears always put the mission first and her safety second. At the time, she too would have placed the objective before him.

But now? She wasn't sure which call she would make if the time came for her to decide.

"We will arrive in thirty seconds."

Skids' announcement immediately cheered her up. She'd sort out everything that he'd made her think about later, but all that filled her mind now was the thought of seeing the Pilots and Four again, after days of—

Something wasn't right.

The storm was clear enough for them to see ahead to the rendezvous point. It was just another expanse of tundra, but that wasn't concerning. What was concerning was the fact that the Pilots were not there.

The four Titans continued forward until they were standing right where everyone should have met up. They looked around.

"No sign of the Pilots detected. They have not reached this checkpoint yet." June moved about, scanning for footprints, heat signatures, anything to give them a clue as to the humans' location.

Skids crouched down. "Agreed. Two possible scenarios. The storm slowed them down, and they have not yet made it this far—"

"Or they've encountered a problem," KT finished. She gazed out into the direction where they should be coming from, and saw nothing. She felt the tendrils of anxiety beginning to creep up on her.

"Affirmative." Skids stood up again. "My guess is that the first scenario has occurred. I would hesitate to assume trouble until we're absolutely sure."

Holding onto those words, KT stood in place and scanned the horizon. She would wait.

So they waited.

And waited ...

...

... and waited.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she'd begun standing here. Every so often, she'd try to reach them over the comms. "This is KT-0298 to Pilots, please respond. Four, are you there?"

And every time, when there was no answer, they would continue to wait.

And wait.

And—

"One hell of a storm, huh?"

The comlink transmission was brief, but strong. She quickly snapped to attention and scouted out ahead towards a rise in the land. Through the flurry of sand and snow, she could barely make out four shapes approaching in the distance. She felt all of the tension she'd had for the last three hours leave her, and she allowed herself to finally relax.

It was another minute or so before they all reached the Titans. The silhouette in front approached KT and gave a thumbs up. "Glad to see you guys are all in one piece."

KT knelt to the ground, presenting her head as Tobias reached forward and ran his hand along the top of it. "Likewise, Four. I've missed you."

He chuckled. "The feeling is mutual. Sorry we took so long, but the wind was a real pain in the ass."

She glanced over to see if Skids was going to comment, but he was busy reuniting with his own Pilot. It seemed that, despite his expression of disapproval for the closeness she and Tobias shared, he wasn't exactly the distant type either. Vale leaned against one of his legs with her elbow, the two of them enjoying a silent exchange rather than a vocal one.

"Good to see you, Cee!" called Tyra, walking over to the Scorch while giggling madly at her own pun. He held his arm out for her to stand on, and opened his hull.

"Very clever. I recommend you embark, we will all move faster if you four aren't on foot."

"Agreed," concurred June, and his hatch opened up to allow entry for McFarlane to hop in.

KT looked at Tobias, and nodded. Her own chassis opened up, and he gripped the sides of the opening to pull himself in. He sat down in the Pilot's chair and linked himself up as the ocular systems in front of him brought themselves online and displayed what was going on outside. There was a small feeling like cold mercury seeping into his spine, and then—

He looked right, and tested out the movement. When the Ion's arm moved, it wasn't KT's, and it wasn't his—it was their arm, controlling it together through a bond of neural sensors and trust. He flexed their body, trying to get a feel for the environment. It wasn't really cold anymore, not in the way that he'd felt it before; it was more like a dull presence in the back of his mind that nagged him, but didn't take away his concentration.

He turned to see the other three now in control of their respective Titans as well. All turned to face him.

"We ready to move out?" he asked. The Ronin nodded.

"Following you," came Vale's voice through the comlink.

He beckoned to them with a wave of one hand. "Let's go, then."

The band of Titans set out once more, trekking across the seemingly endless barren landscape towards their objective further north.

...

"So, you guys didn't see anything IMC either?"

KT replied, < No. We believe we may have spotted a potential outpost earlier, but we could not confirm it through the storm. >

He thought about that. "For as secretive as the IMC were about Erebus's existence, I wonder where they all are? It feels weird that we haven't see any sign of them so far if this place is so important to Atlantis. I wonder if—"

"I'm seeing an anomaly on the horizon, can anyone confirm?"

He stopped and looked towards where McFarlane was indicating on the HUD. There was a small rise ahead, but it seemed to end rather abruptly. A cliff? "Yeah, I'm seeing that too."

"Might be worth checking out."

"I agree. Let's see if we can use it as a vantage point."

With Tobias and KT in the lead, the four Titans trudged up the incline to stand on the lip. He was hoping to see something of interest, possibly a path they could use to continue forward. He finally reached the top, and looked over to see—

He froze, at a complete loss of what he was looking at.

Tyra noticed his stiffness, and she turned Cee sideways to look at him before following his gaze. "What's the matter? Did you—oh my god."

They were standing on the edge of a massive crater, miles and miles across. In the bottom of it were some kind of large structures, buildings and formations that stretched out in all directions until they reached the walls of the crater, and disappeared within them. It appeared to be an excavation site, and the buildings had been buried in it.

"Are those IMC facilities?" asked Vale.

He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know about you, but I've never seen any IMC facilities that look like that."

Their shape differed from the standard bunkers he'd seen the IMC install for outposts, seeming far too flat and precise compared to the ridges and components that usually came with a prefabricated building. Deciding that this was too interesting of a discovery to pass up, he positioned their arm to scrape into the side of the cliff, and slid down the wall of rock. He bent their legs upon reaching the bottom to absorb the impact, then stood up and began to make his way over to the anomalies. He could hear the scrape of metal against stone as the other three followed his lead.

After walking for ten minutes or so, they reached the outer perimeter of the structures. The group analyzed them from every angle, drinking in their strangeness with a thirst they hadn't previously had. Support-wise, the buildings would be just as efficient as any other. But architecturally and artistically, they were very different from anything they'd ever seen before. Some were asymmetrical, some were even. All were made of different material, different shapes of infrastructure ... everything from the foundation up was foreign to them.

Tobias spied something on one wall in particular, and furrowed his brow. Unlinking himself from KT and hopping out onto the ground, he moved closer and raised a hand to scrape away some of the ice and dirt caked onto it. Underneath the powder were etchings and engravings in odd, triangular patterns that were unfamiliar to him. The material itself seemed to be some kind of metal-like substance, but eroded away until its smooth surface had become akin to sandpaper. The less damaged areas were silver in color while the rest of it was faded and had become a sort of black and bronze mess.

"KT, you ever seen anything like this?" he muttered, still trying to grasp what exactly they were looking at.

"No. These structures and those engravings are completely unknown to me."

He scanned around. Even now, it seemed like these weren't complete buildings; their bases weren't revealed, which meant that there were probably still bits of them not yet uncovered. He glanced to his right and saw large bulldozers, cranes, and other heavy machinery scattered around the site. They seemed abandoned too, however—rusting and frozen, left behind to rot in the elements.

He pointed to them. "Look at that excavation equipment. This was a dig-site, they were unearthing everything they could find. Looks like they haven't been here in a while."

"Why would the IMC suddenly be interested in archeology?" asked Vale, walking over to stand next to him.

"I don't know," he murmured. He gestured at the wall. "Look at how old that is, though; the condition this stuff is in, I can't even imagine—"

"I am analyzing the depth of the crater, and forming an estimation based on how long it would have taken structures to have been buried this deep," KT cut in. She was silent for several seconds as her processors worked to provide an answer. Finally, her optic pulsed with a blue light. "These structures are at least two hundred thousand years old, potentially older."

McFarlane hopped out of June, joining Tobias and Vale on the ground, and Tyra followed immediately after. "That's ... pretty old."

"Indeed. It more than predates the oldest records of human civilization."

Everyone froze.

Slowly, Tobias turned to face her as the impact of those words hit him in full force. "You mean ...?"

"Humanity as you know it has only existed in an advanced state of being for the last six to seven thousand years. These ruins were created before humans ever achieved behavioral modernity."

Tyra just sat down hard in the icy sand, her mind struggling to process exactly what they'd just discovered. Vale was silent, but noticeably stiff. She didn't know how to react to this. McFarlane just looked at Tobias, his expression unreadable.

Four went ahead and voiced what everyone was thinking, but was unwilling to say.

"We've just discovered evidence of alien life."

KT looked around the ruins. "Not just alien life—intelligent life. This was a civilization that could create structures to last for more than two hundred thousand years. Most human constructions would not last even a tenth that long."

He held a hand up to his head, trying to stem the pounding headache he was getting from the rapid flow of too much new information. He tried to put the pieces together—the ruins, the secrecy, the excavation tools ...

"That's what the IMC are doing here—they found these ruins a while back, and now they've digging them all up."

McFarlane recovered enough to stare at him and voice a question. "Okay—but isn't that pretty harmless? Just digging up old cities and ruins? Granted, they're alien ruins, but why all the secrecy?"

He shook his head. "It's not just that. All that excavation equipment there, it's just abandoned. They're not actively searching here anymore, they've moved on—they're not doing this for the sake of discovery."

"Then why are they doing it?"

"When you look for something, but you can't find it, what do you do?"

Vale sighed. "Look somewhere else."

He nodded. "Exactly. You remember what Briggs told us about the fold-weapon? How we haven't developed the technology to operate anything like it yet?"

For a moment, they all stared at him—then, Tyra's hand covered her mouth in shock as what he was suggesting clicked in her head. "Oh my god. This is bad."

He clenched his jaw. "This civilization, whoever they were ... they had a two hundred thousand year head-start on us."

"Are you saying that t-the fold-weapon ... is an alien weapon of mass destruction?!" McFarlane choked out, his voice struggling to maintain its composure.

"Seems that way."

"Hang on," interrupted Vale, holding her hands out to quell their theorizing. "If the fold-weapon really is