Silverbird, p.43
Silverbird, page 43
It was time for one last rodeo with the Rioteers.
-x-
Flying in the dark was hard. Flying when it was dark, below freezing, and over a well-protected fortress that housed an unknown number of Synths, Elites, and other mysteries and technologies however, was a formidably herculean task.
Following in low behind Storm, they stared down at the gigantic facility as they soared in her wake. They had to keep to the shadowed meadows and treetops that covered the upper levels of the building, being low enough to duck under wind turbines, but not so low that they crashed into the canopy. Every rumble of engine from a transporter or crunch of boots of a patrolling guard knotted their stomachs in trepidation. There were so many ways they could get caught out here.
‘I hope Aura is on our side for this.’ Storm mused loudly to Wilny. ‘Do we know where they’re meant to be?’
‘Beth said on the west side near section six.’
‘That’s good. We’ll be at that end anyway.’
A buzz of anxiety and worry grew through Wilny’s mind like weeds. He had any concerns and questions, and for the most part his Ruby training was calming him and ironing out the creases in the plan with logic and reassurance, but there was still something on his mind that he couldn’t shake off.
‘Storm,’ asked Wilny, ‘how do we get Beth out of here after?’
‘Beth?’
‘She’ll be stuck with the Rioteers at the time we do this.’
‘It’s Beth. She’ll find a way out, I’m sure of it. She’ll go down swinging if she has to.’
Landing on the roof, Amell and Katana helped one another to open a solar-glass skylight. As they had planned with Beth, they were to go in from above the dome then drop down the levels to get to section six. The Rioteers would be going in from other angles, but this would be their main escape point should all else fail. It was the easiest point to blow up, Storm had overheard Joy say. She just hoped that they could get out before the Rioteers decided to burn everything to the ground once again.
“We’re going to be sticking close together for this. I know it would be easier and faster if we split up but it’s safer if we’re all together. Only use callsigns. I know most people probably know who we are, but we should keep to our callsigns anyway.” Said Storm in a low voice as the Rogues readied themselves. “If anything goes wrong however, you run. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Strix, are you ready?”
“Ready. I’ll be with you the entire way.” Beth’s voice came through their earpieces. “Cameras are looped. Good luck.”
Getting Amell to hold onto her legs, Storm hung upside down for a moment, looking and listening for any signs of movement before she dropped down first into the grand hall beneath. Her wings beat to slow her decent, the silvered edges of her feathers flashing in the dimmed patrol lights that illuminated the walls in a soft blue and purple. There was no sign of movement, but as she turned, Storm startled away, slapping her hands to her mouth to muffle a shocked yelp. She froze in place.
Confused by the lack of instruction to drop down, the others followed after her, the gentle rustling of their feathers and subtle movements of their clothing made louder by the absolute silence.
“St- Thunderbird?” Kat whispered as Storm bristled up like a terrified cat, staring ahead down one of the branching hallways.
Storm pointed slowly, and Kat turned.
Huge, bladed teeth and claws glinted in the dim blue and purple lights, fur and feathers tussled in the breeze stirred up by the Avios wings, and bodies remained still and illuminated from below, as Kat found herself staring up at many creatures.
Creatures designed by ARCDA.
27
Hrimfald, Svartisen, Meløy, Norway.
It was unlike any museum, zoo, or facility that they had ever seen before. A clash and unification of the existing living animals that had evolved upon the earth and the synthetic designed by ARCDA.
Taxidermies of Synths stood on podiums, posed dynamically alongside dioramas of natural animals in various environments, encouraging the viewers to picture where in the natural order the Synths they had created could fit. Every exhibit was meticulously designed in such a way that they could observe the Synths from all angles with a skeletal companion beside the specimens for comparison. Some spanned across the central gulf below the dome, wings outstretched and poised as though they were gliding down from the upper layer.
Storm supressed a shudder at the sight of the taxidermied creatures.
“Creepy.” She tried to joke to Kat. Her voice echoed almost too loudly in the huge antechamber, and she clapped her hands to her mouth again, fearful of attracting too much attention. Not that she could feel anyone close by, or that Kat indicated that she could hear anyone.
The four Rogues stared out into the empty abyss, taking note of everything they saw: a foyer with posters and information boards, a cafeteria area, even a little shop with trinkets and toys. It was a beautifully organised layout before them as a central ramp spiralled downwards through the floors like a helix, opening out into other departments and floors that flowed and curved about meanderingly, disrupted by planters full of softly glowing bioluminescent blue flowers and silver leafed trees. There were maps on the walls, naming the sections from zero to eight, and dividing each level up into what was hidden behind the arched gates.
“Section six, floor three.” Beth instructed as Amell read out the signature. “But be sharp. There’s patrols with radios.”
“Can’t you interrupt them or distract them?”
“Not without some issues. I’ll let you know if you need to reroute.”
It felt more like a shopping mall in some places, as everything was clean with benches and tables here and there, vending machines, and bright artwork illuminated softly by colour changing lights. It even smelt like a shopping mall as there was no underlying tone of disinfectant or metal that the Rogues were familiar with from Core and Atlas; all they could smell apple blossom and sweet lime perfuming the air. What they could hear however, through the thick silence, was the distant sounds of creatures bellowing and a thin electrical hum and rush of air through the air-conditioning units.
As they moved cautiously down the spiral that threaded through the centre of the dome, through the large hallway into the section marked Volante & Synthasauria, that acted as the gateway to section six, Kat stared in amazement at a stuffed Drake Raptor standing proudly alongside its smaller jewel-feathered cousins, as well as the bones and sculptures of a velociraptor and deinonychus that mirrored the pose of the Synths.
‘Aerovenatrix raptor’ it read beside the Drake Raptor in a digital display that laid out details of the habitat it had been designed for and its diet. ‘A reimagining of an ancient predator for a new age.’
Kat scoffed a little at the description.
Within the same diorama that lead inside the section were several more creatures which she didn’t recognise, one which looked like a gigantic vulture, and another that was the bones of a toothed seabird which stood as tall as she did. Above them hung the taxidermied body of a huge critter, the size of a light aircraft with a heavy beaked head, forelimbs and wings, but a long serpentine tail. It was poised with its taloned forelimbs outstretched in a swoop towards a long-bodied reptile-like creation, with a crested head and scales marbled in orange, brown, and pale blue that was mid-pounce upon a tiny grey and red spotted winged-lizard.
“It doesn’t look so scary like this.” She muttered, not daring to raise her voice any louder than needed, eyeing the teeth in the jaws of the creature marked as a Galiana and the sharp beak of the Quetzal above.
“If you say so.” Shuddered Wilny, still watching the stuffed Drake out the corner of his eye. “It still looks like it could come alive at any second.”
Storm started to smirk, but it quickly vanished as she remembered that these critters were alive once.
Amell was staring too. A mixture of wonder, fear, and recognition at a huge red crocodilian-like creature with a huge neck-frill, hissing and snarling silently as it reared up onto its kangaroo-long hind legs.
“Hello, Inkari, my old friend.” He sighed as he caught Storm watching him.
“You’ve met this critter?”
“Yeah, back when I was beta-testing.” His wings and shoulders rolled uncomfortably. Storm winced. She forgot that Amell had once been used in ARCDA to test out their new creations.
“It wasn’t too bad. I’ve met a lot of these critters in person. Inkari are sweet once you show them you’re not food. Those however-” he pointed to lion-sized reptilian creatures that circled the taxidermied Inkari within the diorama, “-those little shits are Gentarra. They’re nasty little creatures.”
Storm nodded. She quite liked how all of the critters looked and how they were designed. She could see elements of living creatures in them with their colours and textures, but also designs based upon prehistoric creatures in their body structures and the shapes of their skulls. Thought and detail went into the building and designing of critters, and she knew that the scientists in ARCDA were very proud of their work. How they would have behaved and how nasty they were would have been something a little beyond the control of the scientists who created them, beyond the crude manner of controlling what they ate. Some were trainable and could be educated in how they acted, socialised, and hunted, others however were savage from the moment they could walk.
“I know we’re good at this infiltration shit, but even in a hospital or museum or whatever this is,” said Wilny as they advanced on into a darkened section, “but I’d expect to see at least someone walking around.”
Storm slowed as they walked past dimly lit enclosures, each closed down for the night. Each enclosure was decorated to resemble a small tropical biome with an information board to one side. She leaned in to look at the information board for one.
Pseudoraphus kanaka | Iridescent Dodar
A reengineering of an extinct columbiform from its living cousin the Nicobar pigeon.
Inside was a goose-sized bird with its head asleep under its wing, its feathers an iridescent green-grey that formed a mane of longer feathers over its neck. As they passed it opened a scarlet eye and watched them as they passed by.
“It’s not a hospital.” Said Storm. “It’s a zoo.”
“According to our insider, Inmyeonjo,”- to which Beth meant Wilheim - “ARCDA uses it as a genetic bank of all of their products as well as a way of showing new investors and new hires what they make. As well as showing them what is wrong with some of the products and how those problems have been fixed with newer models. Like a living museum of evolution except everything in here is synthetic.”
“Are there Preternaturals in here too?”
“Yes, but they’re in a different section. The one above this in fact.”
They continued through the section, marvelling and shuddering at the critters and displays both living and dead. A large black snake-like critter with a tail like a lotus flower was curled up in a pond. A small enclosure full of a flock of sleeping winged creatures that looked like little wyverns roosted together. A case with a taxidermied black and white eagle-like critter with a forked tail and a red breast posed proudly and in mid shriek with a captured seagull in its talons.
“What is that?” Kat breathed, stopping dead in her tracks as they entered into a section with larger critter enclosures. Amell crashed into her wings and followed her pointing finger.
It had been set up to resemble a ruined roman temple, with pillars of granite and marble and fallen rubble strewn about the rockery, surrounded by thin pines and olive trees, grasses and a concrete pool full of murky green water. It looked natural, as if ARCDA had carved it out of the landscape to bring inside Hrimfald, however even in the dimmed twilight coloured setting, Storm could see the outline of a backstage door. No doubt where the keepers came in to feed them from. But that wasn’t all that caught her attention. Scattered white bones lay strewn across the patchy grass and caught between the granite where they had been thrown down from the peak of the pillar on which sat the creature that had laid them all to rest, only visible once it had decided to shift its great bulk and move into a more comfortable position.
“Febris Agami.” Amell whispered gently, amazed.
“A what?” She frowned and peeked again.
“A Febris. Don’t worry, these are like gigantic vultures.”
It was huge, a well-constructed creature that resembled a dragon. The Raptors were six-limbed, this monster was eight-limbed with four wings resemblant of a pterosaur and four stocky legs. From nose to tail it was easily five meters long, mottled green and speckled with black and white scales, with droopy catfish-like whiskers, a thin sail running down its tail, and a colourful orange-blue dewlap that opened out in display as it yawned.
“What are those, Zeus? Are those it’s babies?” Wilny asked. Amell frowned and looked to where he was pointing.
Around the habitat, were smaller creatures, six-limbed and vivid green and orange marked with black. At first they appeared lizard-like, until two moved to avoid the flat tail of the Febris where they scurried and leapt across the rocks before sweeping out their butterfly-patterned wings and gliding off to a safer location within their limited range.
“Those are other Agami. Amit.”
Storm examined the enclosure. It was sealed in with no external doors that lead inside. ‘This is the viewing side,’ she noted, ‘there has to be a backstage where they’re put in and can get out. If they’re all built like this, there has to be somewhere that we can get Nil and Zero out.’
As she examined the hallway for a possible entrance, Kat looked to the walls to find the screen that held the information on creatures in the habitat in front of them.
Synthasquama agami febris| Febris
Designed with an acute sense of smell, the original intention of Febris is that they should be allowed to hunt and devour the sick, thus eliminating pathogens from populations of animals and humans for the betterment of ecological health and removal of organisms susceptible to those pathogens. The name Febris is derived from the roman goddess who embodied and protected people from diseases such as malaria, and Februus who was the god of purification.
“They made it to hunt sick people? That’s…” Kat’s face scrunched up so hard at the incomprehension that she just shook her head, unable to verbalise the strange logic of it.
“I…sort of understand,” Said Beth, also sounding confused and uncertain, “It’s like what would happen in the wild before the invention of medicine, but to target specifically disease carriers and eliminate them from the population.”
“Or they could- you know- study and make vaccinations for it?”
“Well, when you find a way to make people want to take vaccinations, let me know.”
“The idea of a giant monster hunting me if I got ill would definitely make me want to be up to date on all my shots.” Amell snorted softly and began to quickly stride away. Wilny frowned at him, concerned.
“If it only eats sick people, why are you so worried?”
“Because I don’t feel so good.” He gave a nervous laugh. “I’m just glad that I haven’t seen a Katari yet.”
“A what?”
Amell shuddered and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”
-x-
Moving through the facility was frighteningly easy, albeit it took a long time with the slow distracted pace they were moving at. The enclosures and displays kept drawing their attention and forcing them to stop to admire or gawp at the creatures inside. They did hear the footsteps of a night patrol, but they made sure to keep themselves stealthy.
“They’re getting close.” Beth warned at one point. “Go up a level.”
Obedient to their technician and her expert skills of subterfuge, the Rogues ducked into a stairwell through a security door that Beth had opened for them. Emergency lights lit their way and cold metallic air chilled them as they followed her directions through the maze with their wings pulled in tight out of anxiety through the simple concrete corridors until they came upon a sign for where she had sent them.
Sapiential Ward: Preternatural
Storm grinned. Pleased that she had an answer to her question. It was the backstage to the beautiful and well-constructed forefront they had seen on the other side of the enclosures. This is how they put Synths into the enclosures, but it also meant that this is how they could get them out.
They advanced, but windows along the side of the wide corridor caught their attention and they paused to look inside. Sleeping in wide bunkbeds, were people, some awake and some asleep.
“Preternaturals?” Amell questioned in a gentle and horrified voice.
“They’re still Synths. Even if they look human.” Wilny caught his hand and squeezed, trying to keep a brave face even though he was appalled by it all.
Each cell allowed a view into the sleeping quarters through a heavy-duty Perspex screen, with the only way in through an airlock door that sat between two cells. It didn’t look uncomfortable inside however, as there was a TV, shelves, toys, and other assorted books and items, and through a doorway to the back of the quarters they could see the viewing glass on the other side of a large and grassed area. The cells reminded Wilny a lot of his barracks in Core with their similar bunkbeds and assorted gifts and rewards they collected throughout their training, except that he knew that none of these soldiers were likely to get out any time soon to collect any more.
He looked across at the interactive panel at the side, reading their ID labels.
“Grace, Charity, Patience” | O:GEMINI-04, O:GEMINI-05, O:GEMINI-09.
The ones in this cell were some of the first GEMINI Preternaturals that had been produced.
‘Of course,’ he mused to himself, ‘they would want to keep hold of their first accomplishments of everything.’
Unhappily, Amell shuffled his wings. “They don’t seem bothered by us at all.”
