The Revenant

[Garrett Jax]

Chapter Three

As expected, his ship docked onto the alien base. Before he could power down the engines, he took note of sophisticated automatons performing various functions within the base’s hangar. A few of them ceased working and lumbered toward his ship. Their appearance gave Darius an indication of their function. Long fork like prongs extended from their torsos, telling him that these machines were heavy lifters. Smaller automatons, driving long trains of empty carts, quickly passed their bigger counterparts and waited patiently for the doors of ship to be opened. Darius obliged and opened up his cargo bay doors.

He was immediately impressed with the order and precision of the automatons. Each one carried out its role without difficulty and soon his whole cargo bay was unloaded, the contents placed in overhead storage compartments situated on the back end of the hanger bay.

He disembarked from his transport to find an automaton seated aboard an open car waiting for him to board. Once seated, the car proceeded on its way out of the hangar bay and deeper into the asteroid base. Darius observed much activity within the base. Mining ships, carrying ores of various types, were unloaded, their contents dumped into blazing hot smelters and refined. Other bays within the base, took the molten ore and poured it into cast parts of various ship components. He passed still other bays where these parts were assembled together into various types of spacecraft, the styles of which were foreign to him. Everything was automated. Other than himself, no organic life could be seen anywhere thus far on the base.

His eyes caught something strange up ahead. A dark ship, the size of a heavy fighter, emitting a purple glow. After a few moments, the ship disappeared. As his car passed the location where the ship disappeared, the purple light returned, revealing the ship again. They have cloaks, Darius observed. He quietly wondered what race of beings possessed this technology.

Deeper down into the center of the asteroid, the car slowed considerably. Darius wondered at the similarities between this alien race and humans. There was a constant light source flowing down into the darkest regions of the base. They possessed similar modes of transportation as well. Now, at the center of the entire factory was the largest aeroponic facility ever designed. Organic food was grown without soil and without significant amounts of water usage. Every so often a mist of water was sprayed upon the plants, assumedly with the proper nutrients. Each and every vegetable and root looked healthy and edible. There was enough food here to feed a small city.

The car navigated past the aeroponic bays and into a section of the base that appeared to be Central Command. The computers that ran the automatons and every base function appeared to be stored here. Monitors displayed various sections of the base, docking, manufacturing, and engineering among others. There were even screens that displayed activity beyond the base. He watched as a formation of ships patrolled a nearby jumphole and then cloaked. Was that the jumphole to Omicron Alpha? He couldn’t tell.

Finally, the car stopped. Ahead of him, in neat little rows, were hundreds of bunks. Not the most pleasant of sleeping arrangements, but adequate, he supposed. It appeared this base contained everything necessary to maintain life, however, other than him, there was no sign of life, human nor alien.
Suddenly, a voice caught him unawares. “Do you find these accommodations satisfactory, human?”

Darius jumped as silence was broken. He turned around to see another automaton, this one more human like in form.

“What? What did you say?” he asked.

The automaton managed a small laugh. “I asked if these accommodations were satisfactory for you. We worked quite hard to make them such.”

Darius was dumbfounded. Did that automaton just laugh? He stepped back away from the strange human like machine. The implications from the automaton’s question were staggering. These accommodations were designed for humans, not aliens. The technology appeared alien in origin, but for what purpose?

“Who are you?” Darius asked. It seemed the most obvious question to ask.

“Who am I?” the automaton asked. “I am but a slave of the mighty Daam K’vosh.”

---