Skinner was almost in shock as he followed Aksak back towards her shuttle. “H-how did you get here? The forest—”

“Isn’t think enough to keep out a small landing craft like this,” Aksak said, gesturing to her sleek spacecraft. It was nestled among the branches and loam, its lights piercing the darkness of the woods. Skinner could now see that each individual tree wasn’t as large as he’d originally thought; they were narrow but covered in thick leaves and foliage. The bark was a flat, matte red color and each individual leaf was the size of his head. Further up, the leaves got bigger and bigger until they disappeared into the omnipresent darkness above.

“What happened to the colony?” Skinner asked before choking. “Nehuasta… she didn’t make it, did she? There were so many of those things…”

As if on cue, the side doors of the shuttle slid back to reveal the sleek, silvery form of the Senate Hunter. “It’ll take more than those things to kill me,” she said. “Same for Stekiens. We’re fine.”

“Part of me wants to hug you,” Skinner said, “and another part of me wants to run away. You’re terrifying, you know that?” He heard a noise behind him and turned around to watch several of Aksak’s armed guards pushing Syyla to her knees. She already had a set of cuffs back on her, but it wasn’t stopping her from fighting. “Hey! What are you doing?!”

“Taking her into custody until we discover her involvement in the disaster,” Nehuasta said.

Skinner squared his shoulders. “Without her, I’d be dead twice over,” he said. “She’s a slave who was forced to work at the colony – and she knows a bit about what they were doing with this structure!”

“Well well well, haven’t we grown ballsy,” Nehuasta said, putting her hands on her hips. “That’s almost impressive. Care to end up in cuffs like your friend here?”

“She’s not gonna share anything with you if you act like this! There are a lot of places in danger – a lot! More than you know. If you don’t cut her loose, I’m not helping you either. My contract with you all is over anyway. So unless you want me to just vanish into space and go about my business, let her go!”

Nehuasta made a sound like a machine grinding to a halt. “That’s enough! You are lucky I don’t cut you down where you stand!”

Skinner balled his fists in anger, but Aksak intervened. “Nehuasta, listen to him. If he’s telling you to cut her free, do it. They’re more use to us if they’re cooperative. If they know anything about this building or what’s going on, we need that information.”

Nehuasta snarled again before turning her back on all of them. She said nothing for several moments before looking back over her shoulder. “Release the prisoner,” she barked. Her visor never moved, and yet somehow Skinner knew she was glaring at him through it. “You owe me, human,” she said. “Be it information or your life.” She stalked back into the shuttle without another word.

Skinner let out his breath in a slow, shaky exhale before turning to Aksak. “Thank you.”

Aksak waved a hand dismissively. “Nehuasta is concerned with the recent developments. She had initially assumed you were lying about Schunston. Seeing those creatures firsthand gave her pause.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Skinner said bitterly. “And things are about to get worse. That structure has a whole ton of the things marching into some kind of portal, and Syyla said they were excavating things from here and selling them on the sly. Both of those are bad news!”

“What?!” Aksak said, her luminous eyes opening comically wide in shock and alarm. “Oh no! That’s not good at all. You said there’s a portal in that structure?”

“A gateway of some kind, yes,” Skinner said. “We passed above it on our way out. There’s an army of these white, four-legged drone things stomping their way into it.”

“Show me,” Aksak said as she drew her own ion saber, activating it. “Please.”

Skinner flinched. “You want me to go back in there?” he asked.

“I promise, it’s not as hard as standing up to Nehuasta. Besides, I’m coming with you this time. You’re not on your own,” the Heil said, resting a comforting hand on Skinner’s shoulder.

He paused for a moment, weighing his options. He didn’t want to go back in there. He really didn’t want to go back in there. But he also knew that if he didn’t help the Senate Hunters, a lot of people were going to die. More so than they already were. Those machines, whatever they were, had been marching off with militaristic intent. They weren’t heading through that portal to make friends. “Fine. But get me a new helmet first. Navigating that structure is a pain in the rear without my CI.”

“Done. There should be a spare in the lander. I’ll go get it.” Aksak deactivated her sword and marched up the stairs after Nehuasta. Skinner watched her go, massaging his temples as he took out Lumos’ chip and turned it over and over in his hand. Less than a day ago this had been a relatively simple life. Someone points out an old shipwreck, he goes and plunders it and gets a share of the goodies. Now he was held loosely prisoner by a pair of Senate lackeys while these machines seemed to be haunting every moment of his existence.

Aksak returned a few minutes later with an extra polyform helmet, offering it to him. “It might be a bit roomy, but it’s the best I’ve got at a moment’s notice. Sorry.”

“I’ll make it work,” Skinner said as he slipped the helmet on. It still fit better than his original suit. He popped Lumos’ chip into the port on the side, waiting for her to boot up. A moment later, he received confirmation that the chip was loaded and that his CI partner was once again online and at his side. “Captain?”

“Good to have you back, Lumos,” he said. “We’re going to be doing another dive into that structure. Care to help us out?”

“As best as I am able, Captain,” she responded. “Lead the way.”

Aksak once more activated her saber and advanced on the structure, keeping it down and to her side. Skinner stayed behind her, making sure he was well out of range of her blade. The orange ions along the blade were superheated to insane temperatures capable of punching through iskindite hull plating, let alone his polyform armor. Even an accidental blow from her weapon could kill him if he wasn’t careful.

They stepped into the structure, Aksak looking around to make sure it was safe before motioning him inside. Skinner wasted no time in bring up Lumos. “Still have that map you took from the substation?” he asked her.

“Affirmative. Shall I bring it up?”

“Please.”

Following the map, it didn’t take Skinner long to guide Aksak back to the opened corridor. The ground was still split like a gaping wound, revealing the path beneath. For the moment, there were no more of the quadrupedal monsters stalking down the hallway—for which Skinner was grateful—but something told him they didn’t have long before more showed up. “This is the place.”

Aksak surveyed the corridor from above before leaping straight down onto the pathway below her. Skinner almost yelled in alarm as she landed on the ground, looking around before turning her gaze back up to him. “Keep an eye up there,” she instructed. “I’m going to have a look around.”

“Are you nuts?!” Skinner yelled. “There’re gonna be more of those things! I can feel it.”

“Probably,” Aksak responded, “but this is the best opportunity we have to examine the structure. If what you’ve told me is true, we need all the information we can get.”

Skinner chewed on his cheek. “Is that information worth your life?” he asked.

“If it spares millions, yes,” Aksak said. “Now keep your eyes peeled – better yet, have that CI of yours keep tabs on everything she can.”

“Captain, judging by the power readings inside the structure, more of those creatures are activating all throughout the central column.”

“Lumos says more of those things are on the way. You need to get out of there!”

“Nope, sorry – that’s not how this works,” Aksak said as she drew a second ion saber. “When I became a Senate Hunter, I signed up for this.”

“Captain, leaving her down there alone puts her odds of survival at less than three percent.”

“S-s-so what the heck do you want me to do, jump down there with her?!” Skinner hissed into his helmet, his nerves shaking in his jaw. Fear clenched around his heart like an icy talon. “Absolutely not!”

Lights burst to life in the corridor around Aksak, the ground illuminated in neon blue. She looked around, perplexed, before her gaze stopped on the portal at the far end of the corridor. “Ah, there it is,” she said, walking towards it. The round frame activated as she grew close, pulsing and writhing like a living thing.

“Captain, nine more of those large energy signatures are online and moving through the structure’s ducting. They will be here any minute.”

“Aksak, listen to me!” Skinner said. “You don’t have long to—”

“If you are scared, then go!” Aksak said as she stared up at the gateway. “I will not judge you. This is my place, not yours.”

“Captain, retreat may be the only viable option,” Lumos informed him. “The longer we stay here, the greater the chance of being found by more of those machines. I am picking up smaller signatures coming online as well as the larger ones. It appears that this facility is activating in stages.”

“Oh that’s not good. How far along is it?”

“Difficult to know. I cannot calculate the upper limit of the structure’s power systems. But judging by the last two activation sequences and the amount of viable machines in the facility, it could continue upward activation for several days. There is also a single enormous power signature from the central shaft. It is increasing in power with each activation cycle.”

The structure shook as though struck by a missile. Skinner’s grip on the edge of the chasm failed and he slipped over the edge. Years of operating in unstable wrecks taught him to think quickly and he caught himself on the edge, dangling several feet above Aksak. “Ah beans…” he cursed, looking down. “Lumos?”

“We do not have time to evacuate the structure,” she announced. “And in your current predicament, motion is advised. Do not remain in your current position.”

“Wow, thanks!” Skinner said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. There was no way he was going to pull himself back up. He didn’t have the strength in his good arm. If he risked using the prosthetic he was certain that it was going to tear out of its socket again. He looked down, spotting the Senate Hunter below him. “Aksak! Heads up! Looks like I’m coming down after all!”

“I’ve got you,” Aksak said, running towards him. Skinner released his hold falling downwards towards the Heil. She snatched him out of the air as if he weighed little more than a child, setting him on his feet. “You alright?”

“Worse than I want to be, not as bad as I could be,” Skinner muttered as he looked around. The corridor was far larger than he had initially thought. It was easily thirty feet in diameter, which made him shudder to think about what would have happened if Aksak hadn’t caught him. “This didn’t look as big from above.”

“Distortion field,” Aksak said. “I noticed when I jumped in. The upper part of the corridor is shielded to give the illusion of the tunnel being smaller or further away. When I jumped through the field I saw the actual scale.”

Skinner approached the portal, examining it cautiously from a distance. “Lumos, anything?”

“I am attempting to triangulate some kind of output position,” she said, “but there is considerable interference. A lot of Cherenkov radiation blocking an attempt to scan the other side. Furthermore, this seems to act like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge.”

“A wormhole?” Skinner asked, shocked.

“Or a quantum-entanglement gate,” Lumos said. “Theoretically, there is no difference apart from scale between the two. This one seems to promote passage through the portal in both directions so long as the gate is open and active.”

At the far end of the hallway, a sound like a bubbling liquid drew Skinner’s eye. One of the enormous mechanical crabs had emerged from what looked like a huge organic valve. Aksak grabbed him and ducked behind the frame of the portal, keeping them both out of sight. “Stay down!” she hissed.

“You don’t need to tell me twice!” Skinner whispered back. “Lumos, keep a scan on the gate. See if you can figure out where it leads when that thing walks through it.”

As the white machine drew closer, Skinner could hear his heart pounding in his head. It was going to see him or pick up on a scanner. There was no way it was going to miss him – he was the only organic thing anywhere in the vicinity other than Aksak.

And yet, despite his fears, it passed seamlessly through the portal without noticing him… or at least without reacting to his presence. He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Lumos? Anything?”

“Kolovea,” she said. “Although that is an extremely rudimentary guess. As the creature passed through the gateway, I briefly managed to gain some atmospheric and planetary data from the other side. They match Kolovea with an 89.9% accuracy rating.”

“Kolovea?” Aksak asked, startling Skinner. “Why there?”

“Are you eavesdropping on our conversation?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Call it being perceptive,” she said with a thin, lipless smile.

“I don’t like you sometimes,” Skinner said, “but you’re still better than Nehuasta.”

“I cannot confirm why they are heading for Kolovea, if that is indeed their destination, but the portal is now giving out different readings. I believe that once a creature passes through it, the gateway shifts its output to a new location. I do not know how it is selecting them or where all of the outputs lead.”

Skinner took a deep breath, putting one hand on the portal frame. “Okay… so we know it’s a gateway and we know it sent one of these things to Kolovea. Or we think it did. Now what?”

“Now we leave and head to Kolovea,” Aksak said. “Let’s see if your CI was right.”