Chapter Fifteen

Day after

It had been the strangest night for Ruslan.

It was a few minutes after midnight, when he found himself standing outside the trailer, among the wilted grass that was beginning to peek out from the snow. He was wearing only his uniform. He had no gun and no coat. He didn't know how he had gotten out. He had never suffered from sleepwalking and, as far as he knew, there was no history of it in his family either.

The only thing he knew for sure was that, before he realized he was outside, he was certain he had seen one of those crimson glows to the south again.

And what was more, stars. The sky was clear of clouds and the gibbous moon bathed the place. The clear sky allowed to see how the orbital belt was rising, right across the night-sky and blocking part of the Moon.

While still in shock and awe, of the strange situation, he walked back to the housing trailer. He was closing the door when he felt a few twinges in his head that almost made him lose his balance. It was a sudden, piercing pain, but it disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared.

It was already Friday and he had to get ready to receive his replacement later. Two days of freedom.

Or so he thought.

Since his time in the guard, he had never seen so much movement in the place. The deployment had begun an hour after he suffered the twinges. First some ships arrived. He stepped out of the housing trailer again and, against the star studded sky, saw the Skyfish, the official Kazakh SID ships. It was followed by other smaller official ships. Only a couple of hours later, the camouflaged trucks and other black convoys began to arrive, making their way at full speed along the route, as if the park was being invaded by alien forces.

He wanted to see what all the hustle and bustle was about with his own eyes, but he had been told almost nothing, just something about a joint army/SID operation from Nevermore. He had to wait a few hours until his replacement arrived before he could approach the site.

The first hours of that Friday passed, and his replacement arrived before noon but, instead of getting ready to leave, Ruslan was now standing at the top of the hill on a path that led to the shores of the lake with his mouth open, as if he could not believe what his eyes were seeing, as the sun beat down hard on his head.

The view of the lake was beautiful, if one ignored the remnants of uprooted trees here and there, and areas where one could tell there had been major earthworks. It looked like it was at the site of some cataclysmic disaster.

At least two hundred people in black, yellow and white bio-safety suits were deployed all over the area, including the lake and the forest. They were going back and forth around the site, taking samples, or carrying material to some tents that had been set up on the site.

Over the lake floated some of the ships he had seen passing by in the night. Not to mention that he was not sure how many soldiers were on site, and there must have been at least ten huge piloted security robots, and others for support in case of disaster. They moved around the forest, while carrying huge logs trying to clean the area. He was especially struck by an insect-like one with black and red colors, near the waters. But he was even more surprised when he noticed two other robots dragging a black car out of the water.

It was the car of the agents from the previous day.

He was wondering if they were all right and if all the commotion had to do with them, when a woman's voice behind him caught his attention.

"Excuse me, honey. I'm trying to get through."

He turned around and there stood a black woman waiting to pass on the downhill path. Ruslan quickly turned away without taking his eyes off her for a few seconds.

"...Y-yes ma'am."

"Thank you," she said, smiling.

She was at least a head taller than him. She had brown eyes and very short blue-midnight hair, which was slightly dishevelled. She wore a high collared formal dress, violet in color, with a white coat that didn't disguise her slender, but voluptuous figure.

The woman walked past Ruslan hurriedly and went down the hill.

Her name was Virginia Mortenson, and although her position was that of diplomatic liaison for legal matters for the World Security Council, she herself considered that in recent years she had become like a nanny between Nevermore's Special Investigation Division and the Council.

Although her figure imposed respect, almost all SID members, who already considered her as a member, affectionately called her Virg. And she had decided to give in to the nickname, because although she tried to be serious with them, the truth is that so many years working with them she considered them as family, even though on more than one time they caused her problems.

She strode steadily, dodging the on-site technicians, towards the silver long-haired figure, dressed in a one-piece jumpsuit who stood on the bank of the lake. The girl was with her hands on her hips, watching as the robots finished turning the muddy vehicle around.

The figure was Mai grumbling, with some dark circles under her eyes because she had been up all night. Next to her, and this time dressed in his uniform and a huge military overcoat, was Amir Zejho.

"This is what happens when you guys decide on your own to stick your noses into a case that wasn't on the books," she said, saving the few meters she had left to catch up to Mai and with a frown on her face.

Mai turned and pursed her lips at the sight of her, but put on a nervous smile afterwards. Zejho gulped and took a few steps away from Mai, pretending to be distracted.

"No smiles. You and Shin are grounded for the next few days. No cases until you solve the mess you got yourselves into," Virginia said.

"We solved a biological threat," Mai said.

"Hello?" Virginia raised her arms and glanced around. "I wouldn't call this solving."

"The case had been on the books for some time, but the possibility of a Dark Event was dismissed. The last incoming call we received put us on alert."

"The records say the last call related to this was yesterday. You guys must have flown from Astana to get here so fast... or maybe someone gave you the tip days before and someone forgot to put it in the log… " Virginia said, looking at Mai questioningly.

"How do you think we would do that? Who do you think we are?" Mai said, in an innocent tone.

"You called Carissia and she landed in the middle of an avenue with that thing, sweetie..." she said, pointing at the huge insectoid robot.

"I was hallucinating from the fumes and fungus when that happened."

"… I hope that's not the excuse you're going to present to the Council," Virginia said.

That was precisely the excuse that Mai presented to pretend to forget what had happened at the end, or at least to omit certain details.

Amir, who had stood the whole time watching the maneuvers, cleared his throat. "I have to take a call," he said, and walked a few meters away in the direction of the robots.

The truth is that he knew of Miss Mortenson's reputation, and he was in no mood to confront her. He had already had too much trouble since last night, when he had to run to the nearest base, to be on site in the early hours of the morning.

"So, how are you?" Virginia asked, changing her tone.

"I'm fine, just a few scratches. They've healed."

"What happened to the car?"

"The fungus dragged it while we were gone."

"It must have been a hell of a fungus. This thing has no defence system?" Thing seemed like one of Virginia's favorite words.

"Yeah, but the signal never activated. The drones were disabled too." Mai said, pointing to a nearby table where the drones and other objects rested.

"You got a very smart alien this time. One less monster on the loose to get a good night's rest.” Virginia looked around. “Speaking of aliens, where is that? I have to tell him several things too."

"Don't call him that. He's my partner."

"And boyfriend… Just because you and Lizbeth are boinking the same man, doesn't take away from the fact that he's an alien from another universe, sweetie."

"Don't say it that way, it sounds lewd…"

"Call it what you want. I'm not judging you sweetie, in fact I'm happy for you two."

Mai pursed her lips and gave a half smile and pointed behind her shoulder.

Virginia watched as two of Nevermore's technical staff, dressed in yellow suits, dragged Shin towards one of the disinfection tents. A third person, dressed in the same suit, but with a mask reminiscent of the Black Plague doctor, was leading the group while shouting at Shin. From her voice, it could be deduced that she was a woman.

"If you run away again, I will put you in cuffs!"

"No time for this, I'm already dirty, I can collect more samples before the last traces fade. On top of that I have to find my trench coat too."

"We already have people on it. What you need now is a decontaminating shower! And, on the other hand, most of the interesting traces vanished when the main core escaped. You're a spoilsport."

"But there's plenty of testing to do anyway! I want to help... Tsk!"

"No tsk!, if you don't stop moving we're going to have to give you sedatives!"

"Good luck with it. That depends on what you got for me." Shin said, with an attempt at a smirk on his face. He waved to Mai and Virginia as his feet were lost inside the tent.

"I don't even want to ask what he's up to," Mai said, shaking her head.

"Are you two sure about this? I mean Shin. You know his past, technically even though he has been pardoned for his past actions, to the council he is still considered a dangerous criminal and a threat to public safety."

"I think I speak for Liz too when I say the three of us are happy. You know very well that much of what is blamed on him is also lies."

"I know that, but you know how important you are. A relationship like that can cause a lot friction."

"Our relationship doesn't affect our work, we know perfectly well how to compartmentalize our time."

"Yeah… I don't want to know what other things you guys compartmentalize." They both stared for a few seconds at the lake and Virginia turned to Mai once more. "I read in the preliminary report that the area was gassed?"

"Yes, but the levels have returned to normal a few hours ago."

"It's a beautiful place,” she said looking back at the lake.

"It is now," Mai noted.

"How could that thing fool you? Didn't you notice it before?"

"I had been smelling the fumes for so long that I didn't notice, and also the fungus penetrated my blood system, when I was attacked by a stag. Was a stupid mistake. Apparently that thing has been making a network with every person that came near here. That explains why so many people had psychological problems, when they came in contact with the fungus or the meteorite. The spores are completely gone after the core disappeared, but the meteorite must have been big before, and there are pieces along the shore too."

"Well, at least I'm glad you're okay. Still you guys can't move until we get this mess sorted out."

"How many know?"

"Few, General Sedenov will handle the matter carefully. You owe me big time for this. I don't want to know what awaits us if this gets any more serious." Virginia continued to lecture Mai for a few minutes, until footsteps approaching from behind them made them turn around.

It was Shin with the hair slightly wet, due to the quick shower, dressed in a suit similar to the techs, accompanied by Carissia, Arsen and the woman in the yellow hazmat suit with the plague doctor mask.

The latter finally removed her mask and the hood of the suit, revealing that she was a fey girl with dark skin, green eyes and blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Her name was like the suit, Hazmat, and she was the head of Nevermore's Biosecurity Division on the island that served as the main base. She had flown in the middle of the night from the Canary archipelago to Kazakhstan, when she heard about the end of the case. And although the disappearance of the giant core, along with the monster, erased most of the evidence, she was still excited.

"The reason you were confused, and the creature fooled you, is because of the inhalation of hydrogen sulfide. It was in the chemical composition of the fungus as well, along with pockets of methane produced by the earthquakes, and sulfur that was also present in the air, and in the meteorite rock. The pulsating lights were emitted by the meteorite chunk, each time it emerged with an earthquake, but were amplified in the atmosphere by the presence of ice crystals. The other lights seen were earthquake lights." Hazmat blurted out her entire explanation without taking a single breath.

"Hello to you too," Virginia greeted.

"Hi!" Hazmat replied with a happy smile.

Zejho had finally finished his conversation and joined the group. Shin looked at him sighing looking at the lake, after all it had been his friend who had lost his life there. They had taken it upon themselves to tell him the truth. Or at least the part they could. Shin had omitted to tell him about their conversation inside the core.

"That creature was only directly guilty of the deaths of Ivraeva and Komarov and probably a few others, but not all of them." Shin said.

"..." Zejho turned to look at him.

"What killed all those people years ago wasn't the thing at the lake. It was those," Shin said and pointed to one of the robots moving one of the logs.

At that moment, the mech stumbled as if pushed by something, and fell to the ground, sliding a few meters down the mountain. Almost immediately they could hear the shouts of insults from the soldier inside.

The invisible stags were close by. As if now that all the strands of the fungus, and the creature, were gone, they were no longer bothered to hide. But, with the midday sun, they could see how the light was distorted in certain parts and it was easy to tell the animals were there. They had been crossing slowly from the other side of the lake, over the logs that had formed a new dam.

"And that… how is that even possible?" Amir Zejho asked.

"Lamarckism… maybe," Shin said.

"… the what?" Zejho asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Darwinism accelerated by environmental stress. In this case triggered by the meteorite spores. The species here have been generating their own means of adapting to the environment each time the core, and fungus, came up from the bottom of the lake, and began to contaminate and change conditions."

"Dude… There have never been reports of invisible deer's or any other kind of animal," Arsen said.

"Well, the changes introduced by the spores didn't completely disappear when it was submerged and somehow passed those mutations on to the next generation. They were simply characteristics that remained dormant and were activated once the core went up with the creature," explained Hazmat.

"As if that creature was the natural enemy of the animals? But the core and the other monster vanished last night, how come they are still invisible?" Zejho asked.

"It could be possible as a hypothesis. Maybe that invisibility will disappear in a few days. When we were in the forest, in that sort of sanctuary in the other side, I noticed that there were marks just above those carved figures, where the fungus didn't reach. Those were hoof marks, I think, and they had been on the tree that had the creature carved into it. Apparently the thing had been killing the surrounding animals all this time, especially the stags that came down to drink water. Although it only appeared from time to time, it is obvious that the animals here have always remembered it as a natural enemy and tried as much as possible not to go down to the lake whenever it appeared."

"But the animals have changed because of that too."

"Just adaptation," Mai said, with a shrug. After all, it wasn't the first time that kind of circumstance had made an appearance in the division's cases.

"My suspicion is," Shin said turning to Zejho, "that within some time the animals are likely to return to their normal size, evolutionarily, they are too big for the place. And if I am wrong, believe me, it is in your best interest they never to leave this valley. They are more dangerous and intelligent than you think."

"Deer are like dolphins, people see them in pictures and you think they are cute, until you meet them head on and realize they can be sons of bitches," Hazmat said, as she put her mask back on.

"How do you know it was the stags?" Amir Zejho asked, raising an eyebrow again. "I understand that they know that thing is their enemy but, why go on a rampage and kill all the other people?"

"The answer is in the pictures. The weapons. The people didn't just come to worship the lake creature, they probably organized hunting parties. The sculptor, we know, was here that year when the deaths occurred or maybe before. He is the author, but all the sculptures have the same resemblance except for one. The one of your friend Komarov. I have a suspicion that the creature was much smaller at the time, when this sort of pilgrimage started and, over time, it got bigger."

"Poor bastard..." Zejho said.

"Things we do for love…" Shin said.

"What do you mean?"

"I think in his final moments, rather than being part of the core, what Komarov was looking for, was to be with Ivraeva again. His mind was broken by the influence of the fungus on his brain, but I think deep down it was the relationship he had with his professor that brought him here in the end. He was waiting for years, modifying the data and doing what the fungus central core told him but, I think, it was because he knew his girlfriend was here that he decided to end it all by coming to the place where it started."

"I was under the influence of that thing too? I mean, the night Ivraeva disappeared?"

Shin walked a few feet to the water and rummaged around until he found a black stone. He examined it closely and showed it to Zejho. "You said that, prior to the disappearance, you were at the lakeshore collecting samples, right? I have my suspicions that either Ivraeva, or Komarov, maybe both, already had fragments of the meteorite or the fungus was already in their nervous systems. I mean, it was acting at a distance. It was creating an information network not only with its victims, but also with anyone who came close, thanks to the spores too. Like a giant brain."

"Is that even possible? Spooky action at a distance?" asked Zejho.

Hazmat explained. "Yeah a lot actually. We had a case in Brazil some years ago of a type of fungus that was spread hundreds of kilometers and affected people. There was a three-month quarantine to clean up the whole place. And even today, the health systems are on alert in case it comes back."

Zejho looked thoughtfully at Mai and Shin and then asked. "But you guys didn't find Sergey's body, right?"

I want to be a part of this. Shin remembered the arms of the sculpture and then those of the creature. "No, we didn't find him, but most likely the creature or else the fungus dragged him into the depths," Shin lied.

"Anyway, all the people who have had contact with the meteorite, or the fungus spores, have already been taken to hospitals to check that they are okay. You too Colonel will have to undergo tests," added Arsen.

Zejho nodded, and then looked toward the lake. "We are going to have busy days, they want to set up an observation base here. Just in case something happens again. And the central government has already sent a request to the Council to bring in Gate Seed's. Maybe in a year this place will be back to the way it was years ago, before all this mess. Also they are thinking of putting needles to release the pressure just in case a new earthquake happens."

"Needles? What is that?" Shin asked.

"Pressure needles. Is a technique that the United States started using after the Great War. It basically prevented the destruction of Yellowstone," Virginia explained.

"Sounds good. I haven't heard of that one," Shin said, looking around when he detected Ruslan watching them from the hill. "…"

"Is something wrong?" asked Mai looking at Shin.

He narrowed his eyes as if thinking something.

"… wait a second, Hazmat can I borrow your book? Mine is in the coat.”

"Don't do anything weird," she told him as she took a book almost exactly like his, from one of the wide suit pockets.

"I'll be right back," he said, taking the book and headed up the hill.

Arsen walked away from the group as well, crestfallen and a bit grumpy. "I'm going to be with my team on the other side of the forest. We still have to figure out why the support drones that were sent in first ended up crashing about a kilometer from the entrance,"

Virginia turned to face Amir Zejho. "You and I need to talk about something."

"… Of course," nodded Amir and felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck, after all he had just admitted that he had been the one to inform Mai and Shin.

They both walked away in the direction of a group of soldiers who were in the vicinity, and were talking about a huge stag antler they had just seen.

Carissia, still sheathed in the robot pilot suit, looked at Mai sadly. "I'm sorry… "

"Why? It was my fault, don't worry about it," Mai said, and smiled at her.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you guys to do this anymore. I know you're stubborn and our boss, but you're our friend too," Hazmat told her.

"I know, thanks. We were just coming to check and this ended up happening… "Mai turned one more time looking at the lake, at the destruction, and sighed in sorrow. Carissia hugged her from behind which caused Mai to blush. "What was that for?"

"I just wanted to," Carissia said and stroked the silver head.

Of the wounds Mai had sustained during the fight there was no trace left.

"Damn! Do it again, I want to have a picture of you hugging Mai," Hazmat shouted excitedly.

Carissia regained her composure showing her taciturn face again. "No."

"I missed the moment. I could have taken a picture of our boss blushing." Hazmat pursed her lips sadly and then turned to look up the hill. She was still waiting for her book back.

"What is Shin doing?" Carissia asked, who also turned to look.

Shin was hugging, as if they were old friends, the soldier Ruslan while, with the other hand, he was holding Hazmat's book. The poor soldier was embarrassed and obviously confused. He talked for a few more seconds, until he gave him an effusive handshake and came smiling down the hill.

"Thank you for the book," he said, handing it back to Hazmat.

"… what was that for?" asked Mai quizzically.

Shin once again turned to Hazmat. "Do you have an evidence bag?"

Hazmat rummaged through the loose pockets until she extracted an empty wrapper.

"Open it, I'm not going to take custody of this one, but just in case you're going to find two types of fingerprints."

Hazmat opened the bag and Shin put a pendant with a black stone inside. The three girls looked at the piece. It wasn't pretty by any means, it was a simple leather cord holding a black stone with jagged edges.

A piece of meteorite.

Shin started to explained. "Remember when I told you that soldier had looked at me funny at the entrance? And when he told us that two weeks earlier, he had been on the lakeshore nearby checking that everything was in order?"

"Yeah." Mai recalled. It seemed like more time had passed than she remembered, even though it had been the day before.

"That's the reason he looked at me funny," he said, pointing to the meteorite. “Even though we had the camouflage, something was telling him I wasn't human or fey. Maybe before, or after, he'd been around and picked up that stone from the lake. And then when he said he had recently been back because of the drone thing. I have a suspicion that he was influenced to disable them as well."

"Why?"

"The drones Arsen sent crashed in the forest, that was the explosions we heard when you were shooting at me. The soldiers on duty all got access to the drones through Neurowire subroutines."

"You really shot your boyfriend?" Hazmat asked, amused.

Mai nervously ignored Hazmat's question. "D-did he d-disable the drones in the car as well?"

"I don't think so. The signal from ours is different and they only deactivated when we were near the lake. It's highly likely that thing was sending signals on some frequency that deactivated them." Then he turned to Carissia and said. "Maybe it's lucky you didn't fall in here the moment Mai called you. Your mech might have been disabled… and who knows if you were too."

"...!" A shiver ran down Carissia's biomechanical spine.

"Well at least that explains most of it," Hazmat said.

"I'm not sure." Mai added worriedly.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm still worried about those tree carvings. The one of the other animals."

"Yeah, that was weird," Shin said, recalling the carving of the tree with the bird poking out of its chest.

"Do you think it has any connection to the cult?" asked Hazmat.

"I don't know. But it's worth taking a look at it later."

"If it has any connection to the one you guys're looking for, then it's many, many years old. I mean this cult practically died out sixty years ago. The current victims don't seem to have more than an unfortunate connection, but it doesn't look like they were part of them." added Shin.

"Let's hope that's all it is. An unfortunate connection… "

The four turned their gazes to the lake, as if searching for something lost among the trees.

"It's really over, isn't it?" Carissia asked.

"We still have to send divers and robots down there, in case we can find some access to the groundwater or caverns there might be." Hazmat said.

"It's a big place, who knows if there aren't core debris further down, or bigger pieces of the meteorite. This thing was underground for thousands of years. Waiting, evolving. The one who escaped last night could be just one of many." Shin wandered with a blank stare, not speaking but listening attentively.

"I guess in any case, time will tell. The universe has something this planet doesn't have too much of," Mai said.

"What's that?" Shin asked.

Mai simply put on a melancholic smile and said one word while looking at him. "Patience."

Shin looked at her quizzically, but smiled back. "You're right," Shin said, and turned to look back at the car. "Hey Hazmat, I've got samples in suspended animation hanging in the car. Will you take them?"

"Sure, that's not even a question," Hazmat said and left behind Shin, who walked towards the muddy vehicle.

Mai kept her eyes on Shin for a few moments and sighed. "I know you are hiding something from me about this case. But I'm going to wait until you tell me what it is," she said in a barely audible voice.

Shin, who was passing the industrial case containing the samples to Hazmat, turned to look at Mai and their gazes met.

"Sorry, give me a little more time," he said, softly. "It's about you-know-what."

Mai turned to look at the lake but, with the tip of one of her antennae sticking out of her hair, she heard his words and nodded.

"It's okay," she said, smiling.

Just a little more, Shin thought, biting his lips. I need to know that you two are safe in this time.

Volume One END