I was in Seclusion for so long that everyone forgot about me

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

“All clear, I repeat, all clear,” came through the com.

Not long after Stalker had mentioned the interference, her sensors picked up signals from machines ahead of us. From what she could tell, it was the distribution hub of the Cradle, and it was in use. This gave us enough information to know that the easy part was over and that something was indeed wrong here. Even Stalker seemed puzzled but kept whatever was going on in her circuits to herself.

With no other option, we stopped the speeder and ventured forwards step by step, always behind cover until we reached a ventilation shaft in our vicinity that Stalker managed to find, leading up to the Cradle. There was only one problem:

“How are we supposed to get up there?”

“We climb,” said Jack flatly as he looked up.

“Why does a place like this even have ventilation…?” I murmured.

Before I had a chance to think about this any further, Stalker took the first leap and grabbed the bottom bar of the ladder.

“We’d better keep moving,” she started, but then paused for a moment, looking nowhere in particular. “The hub has gone eerily quiet. I don’t like this. This place should not even be in operation.”

“I agree,” said Olivia. “We’d better move.”

I sighed, knowing there was probably no other way up. I just hoped the rungs would be able to hold our weight. Jack signaled me to follow Stalker next. I took a deep breath and jumped, catching the ladder.

The ascent was slow, but that only highlighted that the Cradle was on a different level altogether. The ventilation shaft alone showed how much the design had changed. It was modern and well maintained, and the Luferium gave everything a rather clinical look with how white and polished it was. Not like stone anymore, but rather an aesthetic that reminded me of plastic and metal fused together. It was neither, and yet looked so much more—for lack of a better word—high-class. It definitely reminded me of how earlier generations had pictured space stations, mixed with the charm of a sterile laboratory. I wasn’t exactly excited about what the rest of the Cradle would look like, because—depending on the layout—we might be stuck wandering around without finding what we wanted in time.

Instead of thinking about the worst-case scenario, I kept climbing until Stalker stopped.

“Something wrong?” I asked through the com.

“I’m getting some weird signals again farther up ahead, but I can’t get a proper layout scan. I need a minute to get Feepsy ready.”

“Feepsy?” asked Matheo.

“My personal drone,” she said plainly, grabbing a ball-shaped machine out of one of her belt pockets and tossing it into the air behind her.

After a second, it stopped midair and small vents opened up to stabilize its hover and doubled in size. I’d never seen such a drone.

“That’s new tech?” I wondered, half-demanding.

Returning to the ascent, she answered, “Yup, this little cutie is called Mr. Feepsy. He is a pet-SAI and something I’ve kept working on since I fled. Saved me more than once. It is also equipped with some gnarly weaponry.

“Go on, boy, do me a favor and scout the area above us. Would be purrfect if you find a way out for us too.”

A static noise was heard, and then the drone sped away.

I was furious with myself. I’d nearly pulled the trigger on her without a second thought, and only now did I see the whole picture—the potential she held for us once we returned to Earth. But getting ahead of myself wasn’t going to help anyone right now; there’s many a slip between cup and lip. I decided the best course of action was to focus on not screwing up this operation and getting her out of here safely. Whatever else she represented, investigating this and maybe getting even more new tech was just the cherry on top.

So, up and up we went, until I eventually wondered if this ladder had an end at all. But to my delight, the drone returned before long.

“Fee found an exit that seems safe enough, past a grating where we can actually stand again.”

“Finally!” groaned Olivia.

“Someone neglected their training, huh?” Jack taunted his partner.

“If I fall, I take you with me,” she said in the most serious tone I’d heard from her so far. I couldn’t see Jack from where I was, but I’d have bet anything his face had drained of color.

Soon after, the metallic mesh grid appeared. Once I was on top of it, I pushed myself off the ladder and took a deep breath, enjoying that my arms could get some rest now. The mesh was just large enough to allow sufficient air for ventilation without the risk of falling through. But only just. Again, I found myself wondering what machines that didn't breathe even needed ventilation for.

The others followed me shortly after, although Kanta was a little too big, so they had to squeeze their way through the ladder slot, which earned them some grins.

“How far up did we climb?”

Stalker looked at us, “300 meters, so 984 feet. Didn’t even take us half an hour.”

My head turned upwards, gazing into the endless ascent. “Any idea how tall the Cradle is?”

“The part above the surface? Several kilometers… or miles, if you will. Fee’s scan indicates that we are still a good distance below. He also says that this is the best option to access the interior. The surveillance is the laxest here. Best chance we’ve got.”

Hesitantly, we all agreed and hoped for the best as the SAI and her violet-colored drone opened a large hatch. From here on, Jack took the lead, directly followed by Stalker and the rest of us.

Once I stepped over the threshold, an icy feeling ran down my spine. Call it premonition, but I just knew there was evil afoot.

Guns at the ready, we made our way through the long-white hallways step by step, listening to Stalker’s constant updates about the security system. Everything went smoothly. Too smoothly. There was no way that such a place would have no guards and so little surveillance. I had no doubt that Stalker was good, but this good? No, never.

It was more like something was pulling us on an invisible string in a certain direction and I reaaally didn’t like the feeling of how hyper-aware it made me of everything. I had to remind myself of my training to not freak out—that would be unprofessional and would only give Jack funny ideas.

“I feel like we’re running in circles…” muttered Olivia.

“Stalker, any idea where we have to go already?” asked Jack.

She sighed, “Not yet, the energy signature the Federation sent seemed so weak and all over the place that Fee can’t pick it up. I tried hacking into the Cradle’s system directly, but there seems to be an area with an air-gapped system—wherever that is. My best guess is that whatever we’re looking for is there.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” I asked.

“How about triangulation? If we split into groups and connect our signals to what… Fee is needing, we might be able to narrow down the area we have to be in,” suggested Matheo instead.

Stalker nodded, “That could work, but is your equipment capable of doing so?”

Jack smiled, “Let’s find out.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Stalker, Xatha, and I had split from the rest, heading down a different hallway in search of a way up. All our gear was now connected to Fee too, trying to get into a favorable position to triangulate the signals. I had no idea what she did, but I couldn’t recall the techies ever mentioning that our equipment was able to do this. Yet it took Stalker and Matheo barely minutes to tweak it so that it worked, letting her drone do all the heavy lifting.

We were now also able to send a video feed so that everyone on the main channel could follow if something important was happening.

Unlike originally planned, our groups weren’t evenly split, with us three on C3, Matheo and Kanta on C2, Jack and Olivia on C1, and Sky, our lovely pilot, on C0. I had no idea why she was alone in there, but Jack must’ve had a reason to retract his previous order.

“I still can’t believe I am in the Cradle! This is so hyper-amazing!” said a giddy Stalker.

“Can you not be this loud?!” I hissed at her.

She laughed, “Gee, don’t be so melodramatic. There is no immediate threat, so chill out. Can’t you try to be like Xatha?”

My head turned to the silent merc who only gave an emotionless nod, as if I were the crazy one here.

I frowned. “Don’t you think it is highly suspicious that we can walk in a place like this without much trouble?”

Maybe this question would put some sense into her, or so I’d hoped. Instead, she shook her head.

“Why should it be suspicious? We’re inside the Cradle. This place is old, like real old for moon standards. Sure, there were some unexpected things, but Fee and I have enough prowess to basically do as we want here now that we are finally inside. And, for starters, the only reason y’all were able to land here is because of me and me alone,” she stopped for a moment and turned directly to me, nearly touching my face with hers, “No human could’ve done what I did. Your mission would have ended as soon as your feet touched down in the factory district. I may be young, but I am a genius.”

A grin spread on my face, “Then why do you need us humans to leave the moon, Mrs. Genius?”

Her expression darkened and she turned away, “You humans have no idea how hard it is for someone like me to simply vanish from this rock. And it doesn’t end here. Without the protection from your government, they could simply force me back by sending an SRRT battalion.”

“Force you? On Earth?”

“Yup.”

I wanted to push back, but Stalker sounded so sure about it that I had to ask myself if this really was possible. If her talents alone could trigger the deployment of an SRRT battalion… I had only ever heard stories and read reports about them. War-machines that formed the spearhead of every major SAI military operation, targeting only the most critical human infrastructure. They didn’t care about the losses on either side, only the mission mattered to them. Sure, we had our own countermeasures, but it always ended in a massacre. But something didn’t add up.

“How didn’t they find you on the moon yet?”

“Oh, they did. But I was smart enough to put up tons of ELSs and interference signals all over the moon. They do a pretty good job at masking me, so yeah,” she explained.

I furrowed my brow, “But why didn’t you try a ship, though?”

“Ah… that. I don’t think I could explain it even if I tried to, but it has something to do with my core. At a certain distance it triggers a lot of protocols that force me back to the moon. Luckily, the ship you came on is special.”

“Huh? Special? How so?” I pressed on.

“Let a girl have some secrets, will ya?” she said with mirth in her voice.

I grumbled but dropped the topic. Once on Earth, she would be dissected anyway. There was no way, after all, that they would have such a security risk as her run free. But this wouldn’t be my problem anyway by the time we were back.

After this conversation, a tense silence settled between us. Sure, Stalker was still humming, but it was a quiet hum. We had nothing left to say to each other.

That was until Xatha stopped, staring intensely at a closed door.

I looked at her. “What is it?”

She pointed at the door.

“Use words, please.”

Xatha tilted her head.

I sighed. Some top mercenary she was.

“Do you know what she means by that, Stalker?”

“Gimme a second,” came the answer swiftly, but after a minute of silence, she shrugged. “Honestly, no idea. The door is locked and based on the outlines of the room behind, this is a sleeping quarter.”

Xatha huffed and pointed again at it. Slowly, I began to question whether we all had just died during the landing and I ended up in hell. Quite the reasonable assumption if one asked me.

“I’ll just open it. Maybe her ability picked something up that I couldn’t,” she admitted.

“I don’t remember something like this being on her files but sure, go ahead. I’d rather not waste much more time here.”

Using her pad, the door swiftly opened an—

“Huh,” we said in unison, whilst Xatha lightly clapped her hands together, smiling.

“A hidden elevator,” mumbled Stalker.

“We can use it?”

She nodded. “Yeah… but I am a little bit concerned about how I couldn’t pick something like this up. Give me a moment to check if it is secure to use.”

“The Cradle’s technology is amazing. Even after all this time everything here is well maintained and working properly. Without Xatha, I wouldn’t have even considered all those things that are hidden—what an intricate system. Whoever created this must have been a genius. But, I am also something of a genius myself.” And with that, she stepped inside and motioned us to follow.

We did as she told us and once inside, the elevator door closed.

“And up, we, go,” Stalker laughed.

I ignored her and gave a status report on C4, “Found an elevator, going upwards.”

The symbols on the elevator panel changed swiftly, we were pretty fast. It didn’t take long until the door opened and we stepped outside.

“Another white hallway, great,” I said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, we are pretty close to where we have to be for the triangulation, actually,” Stalker remarked.

“Maybe we—” I started, but saw something in the distance that looked like the hallway was opening up.

I motioned for them to stay quiet, and we went carefully ahead, Fee silently hovering in close proximity just ahead of us, in case the security system finally decided to play its first tricks on us. Slowly, a railing came into view, followed by a wide-open area that showcased perfectly how gigantic this place truly was. We could see clearly all the way up and even down to what I assumed to be the ground floor.

Suddenly, I heard voices. They were pretty far away and difficult to discern. Stalker noticed them too and pointed downwards and then fiddled with something on her arm. Before I could make out what she was doing, the voices became clearer, well, at least one of them.

“I know what I said, but the plans have changed,” said the amplified voice.

I knew that voice… Whose was it again? Carefully, I stepped closer to the railing, seeing a woman talking to someone else that was just out of sight. Her attire resembled the ones only high standing SAI government officials wore.

I tossed a questioning look at Stalker, who apparently knew this person, judging by how bewildered she looked. My attention returned to the conversation—now also starting to stream the video feed—as I repositioned myself for the best view.

“This is out of the question! I worked way too long on this, and we finally got to a point where true peace is within reach. So, I won’t sabotage my own effort, not even for you,” continued the voice angrily.

‘Why is Ambassador Eva here?!’ shouted a surprised Sky through the com.

My eyes went wide—Sky was right. This was most definitely Ambassador Eva. She was part of all this!? Fuck, those damned SAIs really planned sometin—

I stopped myself from falling into this thought. The Ambassador just said that she wouldn’t sabotage her own effort for peace. So, was there a rogue element? Something their government was opposed to. I hadn’t known that there were splintered groups. I’d always assumed SAIs worked together. My head felt like it was hurting. There were way too many variables that didn’t make sense.

“No, no, I am not calling it that. You can whine as much as you… no… no… yes, okay, fine. We can call it Project Valkyria. But we will have a talk about that later when I am back. And about Project Sidereal… do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t endanger the peace.”

‘Project Sidereal,’ came through the com. ‘That must be what we are looking for,’ deduced Jack.

I only nodded in agreement and hoped their conversation would still keep going for a bit, but Ambassador Eva didn’t. Instead, she walked behind the corner—mumbling something that even Stalker’s tampering couldn’t pick up—and vanished.

Closing the feed, Jack raised his voice again, ‘The ambassador must be on her way to the peace ceremony to sign the treaty.’

“We’re running out of time,” I mumbled through the com.

“Let’s hurry up then, we’re nearly at the triangulation point… we just need to get down there somehow,” said Stalker, peering over the railing.

For a moment I feared someone would notice her, but like all my fears so far, they had been unfounded. Which honestly made it even worse. I simply couldn’t shake off the feeling that everything so far had gone way too smoothly for us. No one in this universe had this much luck…

To my dismay, Stalker was simply wandering off again, ignoring the potential danger we were in. It struck me as weird that she wasn’t questioning Ambassador Eva's appearance in the Cradle. Did she know?

Shaking my head, I tried my best to keep up with her in a way that would give me the best coverage in a dangerous situation or sneak attack. Luckily—and for my mind’s sake—Xatha at least was doing her job properly and covered me from behind.

As we hurried, my eyes kept drifting back to the room, if you even could call it that. It felt more like a cave carved straight into the very material it was made of. Not worthy of being called “Cradle” yet, but astonishing in its very own way. Especially with how the Luferium had transformed this place into a fortress. Even if the moon blew up, this building wouldn’t suffer one scratch.

The way we were going eventually ended in another hallway with a flight of stairs that finally allowed us to rush downwards. It went down in a spiral and was entirely closed off, so I couldn’t tell which floor we landed on when it ended.

Instead, another straight white hallway greeted us, this time without the doors, more akin to a tunnel.

With no other path and time slowly running out if we wanted to get back in time, we had no other choice but to follow it until we reached a crossroad. The left one was unmistakably connected to the ground floor of the room before. Straight ahead didn’t seem like an option either, given the layout, it would only bring us back up.

So, without much ado, we turned right, which also appeared to be the way we had to go anyway. How could a place like this just be so empty? I shuddered—I didn’t even want to imagine how packed it was during its prime. From time to time, Stalker stopped in her tracks, before continuing.

As she stopped for the third time, her lips opened, “This is so weird. I am getting warnings all over and suddenly they are gone. They are moving in different directions, without breaking their pattern, just to be back on their old track.”

“Could it be a trap?” I asked.

She shook her head, “No, but I can’t say why either. It is more like that something we aren’t aware of keeps emitting interference signals. The system behaves like ants that suddenly lose their pheromone trail. My best guess would be that whatever they are doing here is damaging their protocols.”

“I have to agree, this does make sense. But would they really leave themselves open to such a critical flaw?” I interjected.

“This is the only thing that makes sense.”

I grunted, “Gah, damn all of this. But we are already too deep into this mission to turn back. Try to be prepared for every eventuality.”

Stalker and Xatha gave a light nod and we kept going.

Naïve as I was, I thought nothing could surprise me anymore at this moment, but not long after the tunnel opened up. By the end of it, we weren’t even running anymore, just slowly walking.

‘What the—’ came through the com as I started the video feed.

“The sheer size is…” mumbled Stalker.

I gulped, “So that is why they call it the Cradle.”

All of us—even Xatha who had shown any real emotions for the first time—stared at the towering cluster of dark green prismatic crystals right before us in the middle of the colosseum-sized room, hall… whatever you called this.

It rose from the cratered heart of the room like a frozen explosion of emerald glass, countless vertical blades fused into a single colossal mass, each surface smooth, dark and polished like the most precious gem one could ever fathom in their lives. Yet the shards weren’t simply still, no, they pulsated—like an aethereal heartbeat—seeping light through their very core.

The crystals weren’t uniform—their lengths kept colliding with each other, intertwining, stepped in smaller and smaller ridges until their formation ended splintered into a jagged crown before they nearly hit the white Luferium, mirroring the white abyss in the impossible green and vice versa.

At the base, the crystal opened far enough to allow a peek into its hollow being: a spiraled maw with many rows of sharp gem teeth that became bigger the farther out they were, drawing in what felt like my very soul. There was something there, something I could not tell, but the cratered slope made it impossible to discern more without going inside. But what was visible was the helix-formed energy winding from the base to the top of this colossal edifice.

This thing—this monolith—wasn’t normal, it was eldritch to its core. Cube-shaped shards flew in rhythm, changing with others that were woven in the helix, charging, creating some kind of magnetic resonance.

My gaze drifted to Stalker, who stood aghast, eyes lost, into the green, as if she had suddenly gained a soul that was about to be taken away from her.

“What is this thing?” I asked, my voice raspy.

This question seemed to have loosened her mind as she whispered, “Vivianite.”

‘The corpse gem?’ muttered Matheo in disbelief.

Stalker tore her gaze from the cluster, “There are many ways to grow this… but…”

My eyes went wide, “You think they are human-grown.”

Stalker looked pained and visibly uncomfortable, biting her lower lip in desperation. “I… didn’t know. Committing atrocities like those... Yes, we were at war, but this, at that scale—this is simply unforgivable.”

Her reaction surprised me. Never would I have expected a SAI to react so humanly. A novel sight, but a welcome one. This cluster on the other hand was nothing short of why we should hate the SAIs.

“That cluster might be the reason why the Cradle became off-limits in the first place. They were burying their history. Let’s just hope that we don’t have to go inside that thing for the triangulation… and let’s hope that this isn’t what we were looking for in the first place,” I said.

Stalker shook her head, “No, it isn’t. To be honest, it gives off energy signals that I’ve no clue how to classify, nor any way to do so. I am also pretty sure that this isn’t a normal vivianite. Its purpose is an utter mystery to me, and I am not sure I want to know what they did with it in the first place, especially since Ambassador Eva is involved.”

‘She is right, boy. We will report this later to the command once we’re out of here. It is not our job to figure out what that thing is, our mission is another. So, get back on track,’ announced Jack through the channel.

I gritted my teeth, but he was right.

Closing the video feed, I turned to the others. Xatha’s face had turned doll-like again whilst Stalker still wore a brooding expression. Both reactions made me suspicious, but I doubted I’d get a straight answer even if I asked. So instead, I opted for what we were here for.

“How much farther must we go? An open space like this is dangerous to stay in. I don’t want to stretch our luck too thin.”

Stalker pulled her tablet out, “A lil more to the left, so three or four minutes.”

‘We are already in position,’ said Kanta.

‘One more minute and so are we,’ said Olivia.

Not wasting any more time, we hurried over and Stalker instantly went to work. Her facial expressions were all over the place until finally a grin appeared, followed by a rather... hysterical laugh.

“Wuhaha, I am a genius!” With a half-pirouette, her attention focused back on us. “You wanna know why I am one?”

My lips parted, but she didn’t give me the time.

“Because I figured out where we have to go—it is settled somewhere below the cluster, just slightly offset—and how we get there without meeting up first. Yes, I managed to create a proper layout of the Cradle. Gosh, I am amazing!”

“Huh…” was my entire response.

“Captain Jack, comrade Kanta, I'll send you the route to follow along with a map. I'll mark the rendezvous point on it.

“See you there.”