Chapter 3: "Everything that I Believe is Fading…"

Lostan heard him again at night. Ulen was muttering again in his sleep.

"Ughn…we…facili…arm…weap…dev…"

Lostan stood up…Ulen was either reliving some combat scenario, or he was going crazy. He walked closer to where the old man slept, thrashing in his sleep.

"Il…we shall…oldsmo…crush…deat…"

As he got closer, Lostan noted something…some glowing substance on Ulen’s arm…he was compelled to touch it, but at the same time, thought that it was dangerous…

"Devi…devi…gun…destro…"

Finally, Lostan decided to try to touch the substance. As he got closer, he felt voices inside of his head start to grow…like something was talking to him. Suddenly, his vision flashed, and he saw, within a split second, an image…a machine…coated in a bubble, screaming souls surrounding it. Its head was resembling the torso, and suddenly, in that split second, Lostan could feel a face staring at him…staring at him.

Suddenly, from nowhere, he heard a voice. It was not spoken, but he heard it.

"Come to me…"

Frightened, Lostan withdrew his hand, which had hovered over the substance, but had somehow, not touched it. For some reason, he felt glad he hadn’t…he raced back to his bunk, and closed his eyes, and he would spend the rest of his sleep trying to forget that face, and its hideous voice.

"Come to me…"

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The next day, everyone was silent during breakfast. Lostan stood, eyes deep in the sockets, staring at nothing. Ulen was still not up, and Sireck was becoming worried. The whole steel camp was just deathly silent. If something was wrong with the mood of the team this early, then it was going to be a long time on Mars…

Sireck tossed a glance over to Vidd. Vidd, unlike most of the crew, was smiling, although Sireck suspected no apparent reason. Vidd saw Sireck, and nodded. Sireck shrugged to his friend, and took another bite of his food.

Finally Ulen stumbled out of his room, muttering to himself. He looked up, and the light shone upon his face, his eyes still half-closed. He walked over, and silently took some of the food out, and took a few bites.

Ulen finally looked up, and his weariness was suddenly, gone, now replaced by a vicious looking grin. Sireck winced at his smile, but Ulen shook his head to clear his mind, and stood up straight.

"Well, kids. You ready to get back to work? Solak, get the computers. Get ready to leave in 30 minutes. No stalling." Ulen coughed, and walked off.

"This is getting strange…" mused Asan. He anxiously looked at Lostan, expecting him to speak up, to say something. But Lostan just stared, eyes looking at nothing.

"This is certainly bull…" muttered Quisail as he put on his space suit. Sireck himself didn’t know what to do, so he just put on his own suit, and hoped the rest of the day wouldn’t be this hard on the rest of the unit.

It would be a long time on Mars…

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"I’m telling you, I didn’t see this passage when we first came here…" anxiously exclaimed Rilen, as he guided Sireck and Asan down a twisting hallway that they had not seen before. "It’s just like it…opened up…out of thin air."

"Can it, Rilen. Stop thinking like it’s a cursed place," retorted Asan, although he was eagerly looking at the hallway as well.

Sireck look around the hallway. This one was different. Instead of the dark, cold steel, this one…was…sticky? An odd filament covered the walls, top to bottom. It looked like some kind of webbing…the air here was somewhat moist…as if untouched by the Martian air…

"I’m still freaked by this. Think we should head back to Ulen?" asked Rilen, his voice jittery.

"No! He’ll just kick our butts for doing something stupid like this without telling him in the first place. Now shut up, be a man, and go inside."

Asan’s argument killed off whatever disagreement was in Rilen, and the three continued down the hall. As they continued farther down the hall, Sireck could have sworn he heard a voice…

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Lostan stood atop a mobile suit, his black hair blocking one of his eyes in his suit. He typed some more on the laptop, as he examined the suit. The mobile suit was large and stocky, with two three-clawed hands, and a cannon in each hand. Its round head housed six missile launchers. It was an interesting design, decided Lostan.

Suddenly, Lostan’s head began to throb. His left eye began to twitch uncontrollably. He suddenly was seeing a scene in his mind again…the dark chasm…voices cackling…and the face…

The face…the face of a demon…

"Come to me…"

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"This is way too odd for me…what the hell?"

Rilen shone a light upon one of the walls. The light revealed most of the room…it was wider…but it was filled with…

"Large glass chambers? Huh?" Rilen scratched his leg of his suit unconsciously, trying to think. "This doesn’t look like some biological station…"

Many of the glass chambers had been smashed. Some were in perfect condition, with some fluids in them…but nothing inside. Pieces of glass covered the floor, covering much of the webbing. This room was moist as well…more moist than at the entrance…

Asan turned, and looked the ground. "Huh? What’s this?" He pointed to something…something glowing…an odd substance, a goo of some sort…Sireck looked at it. "Huh…looks like the stuff I saw on a mobile suit yesterday."

Asan touched it, and looked at it on the fingertips of his suit. It glowed a little brighter, then, after a few seconds, stopped glowing.

"Huh. That’s odd…" Sireck scratched his head, and shone a light down the hallway. More glass tubes…except that an object was in one…and it was strangely human…

"Uh…This isn’t right…" The object resembled a decomposed corpse, but the head was covered in the same green substance that they had found, a strange filament. The right arm was bone, and its left foot was in shreds. It looked as if it had survived many years of aging…preserved…in some grizzly fashion. Sireck looked…there was a hole in the head beneath the filament…a bullet hole.

Suddenly, a rumble sounded through the base…

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"Come to me…"

Gripping his head, Lostan was on the verge of madness now. The face would not stop starring at him…it glared right into his mind, feeling his thoughts…browsing through his memory, available to the beast like an open book. And the voice would repeat over and over again…

"Come to me…"

He then suddenly saw the oddest thing that he had ever seen. Nearby, was a green mobile suit, with a mono-eye head and a face guard, like a respirator. Suddenly, the head, like pudding, began to morph…melt, change. The respirator-like object disappeared, and the head began to change, being replaced with a more cycloptic eye, with some sort of pupil in the eye. The head grew a spike, and looked like some helmet from the ancient German soldiers during the old times of earth. The machine-gun like beam rifle changed, growing spikes on its sides. Finally, the color, like liquid being poured into a container, began to change, to a blood red and dark gold color scheme.

Lostan whirled around, and saw the other suits in the hangar begin to change in the same fashion, each retaining its body, only its main hand armament, head, and color scheme changing into the hideous uniform fashion. And they walked. They began to walk, to scan the area, looking for prey.

Suddenly, the formerly-green mobile suit turned towards him…and gazed upon him…all Lostan could do was stare back, as the voice in his head grew to nearly a shout, as it finally spoke again…

Come to me…my friend…

The mobile suit’s eye shone crimson red.

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"MOVE IT!!! Get the hell outta here!"

Asan, Sireck, Vidd, Quisail, and Rilen were now running. The suits had started up, and had not fired yet…but they had noticed them on the ground. The humans dashed to the exit, hoping to reach their suits.

Ikal and Ulen stood near the mobile suits out front. Ulen was silent, sullen. The five of them came darting around the corner. "GET IN THE MOBILE SUITS!!! RUN!!!" screamed Asan.

The two standing next to the mobile suits immediately saw the machines coming around the corner, and began to climb up into their machines. The others did so too. Sireck climbed inside the SUMO, and immediately started it up.

"Move it! Let’s go, now!"

The SUMO raised its beam gun, and fired a shot at the first suit that came around the corner, a Sireckian with a change in head and color and spikes on its bazooka. The shot smashed into its shoulder, but the modified Sireckian raised its beam bazooka, and fired a shot. Vidd’s SUMO stopped the shot, however, as it had already had its IF generator deployed, and the shot reflected off the IF screen.

"Hurry it up, children. These guys are all over the place," yelled Ulen over the coms.

"Hold on a sec," suddenly blurted Asan, as the suits began to run away from the base. "Where’s Lostan?"

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Lostan felt like he was in hell…visiting it, staring at Satan, face to face.

The lair was moist, and filled with oxygen, as his helmet was off…he had suddenly awoken to find his helmet off. He heard a whine, and looked to the right. Two massive metallic heads stuck out of the ground, wailing. Several of the modified suits stood to the side.

And before him…the beast he had seen in his dreams…the machine. It lay there, half covered in a slimy cocoon, with broken machinery strewn before it, like sacrifices before an altar.

"Come to me…"

This time, it was spoken out loud, and Lostan heard it. He stood still, as multiple cords came down from the machine, and began to entwine around him.

"My friend…join me …come to me…"

Lostan could not say anything. He was too horrified to do anything. He could not cry, he could not scream, he could not move, he could not even whimper. The cables lifted him up, and brought him closer to the machine, like an octopus drags its prey into its mouth.

The chest of the beast opened, revealing a bed of cables and cords…an open coffin, a final resting place. Lostan, still conscious, still watching, slowly was lifted into the nest, and placed inside.

The chest closed, incasing him in darkness.

But just then, he began to see again. He saw what the beast saw. Its mind spoke with his mind. Nothing was not shared between the two…Lostan knew what the beast was…knew it’s importance…and the machine appreciated Lostan’s own existence.

Lostan could not determine whether he was still conscious and awake, or if he was asleep, dreaming…maybe it was both…maybe he was awake and dreaming…

"We are one…"

This time, Lostan’s voice was merged with the beast’s. With the machine’s.
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