[PG-13] Expendable: Gamma Moon

[Azazeal849]

"I would surmise these were the living quarters for the people in charge," CES Spock answered, turning back to the rest of the party. He pointed to the lit doorway. "I believe our hosts are expecting us."

"Hold up a sec." Sonia deadpanned, holding her torch against her shotgun barrel and taking a few measured, cautious steps up the corridor directly opposite the open doorway. One of the basic rules of being a gang hitman was to have your fucking escape route planned out, and everything about this extended come hither trap was setting her instincts screaming.

"It could be Rawlings trying to guide us?" Margrew suggested as her torch's pale beam wavered across the corridor walls.

Sonia's jaw tightened. "Y'think?" she countered sourly. "After you were stuck down here however many days, y'think he suddenly found out how to crack the system?"

She advanced further, checking methodically as she went.

"If it's the same guys who set the robot C.Os on us, I'm not feeling much of an urge to go where they say."

That is, she refused to add aloud, Y'know, if there is another option. The possibility that there wasn't was more terrifying than she cared to admit.

[Enigma]

"If it's the same guys who set the robot C.Os on us, I'm not feeling much of an urge to go where they say."

"Shooting up the detention area most likely triggered the security bots," CES Spock replied. "Odd how the shutter for the conveyor did not close until after we were all inside, but we were allowed access to the preparation room and this one. It seems very unlikely that whoever is leading us around has hostile intent."

"So... someone doesn't want to hurt us?" Paul asked, confused.

"Can't be sure of that, laddie," CES Scotty rumbled. "Perhaps they were savin' us fer themselves. Can't fault the lady fer being cautious, best we take a look around before we trust what's behind us."

"Uh, right," Paul said, swallowing. "I'll uh, check that out over there."

He crossed to the dark doorway on the left of the door they'd entered, straying to the right side of the wall. Steeling himself, he quickly jerked his head over the edge and flattened himself back against the wall.

"It's... too dark," he admitted, red faced. Pushing himself off the wall, he turned and slid in front of the open passageway and took a step inside. Lights immediately came on overhead - and Paul crashed to the floor, looking around wildly. When the eight doorways revealed by the light and the strange carving at the end of the hall didn't react, he shamefully began picking himself off the floor.

At the far end, there was a gurgling noise, causing Paul's head to jerk upright - as a thin film of water began pouring out of a slot high on the wall and falling into the carved basin below.

Paul sighed. "Sorry, I don't know what I expected...."

"Who are you?" demanded a woman, stepping out of the lit passageway, next to the suddenly frozen CES unit. She was wearing a survey uniform that matched Paul's, but in much better condition.

"Davis?!?" Paul demanded, turning.

[Azazeal849]

"Wouldn't've thought this was the kinda place for water features." Sonia observed as she peered past Margrew at the carving and its gurgling water stream.

"Who are you?" demanded a woman, stepping out of the lit passageway, next to the suddenly frozen CES unit. Sonia wheeled round, and the only thing that stopped her from blowing the woman away - and probably catching the CES in the blast too - was the fact that she was wearing a survey uniform that matched Paul's, but in much better condition.

"The rescue party." Sonia snapped back at the woman, being selective with the truth. "What's left of it anyways. Who the mother fuck are you?"

"Davis?!?" Paul demanded, turning.

"Hold up." Sonia interrupted in a steely voice, putting a restraining arm out across Margrew's chest and shooting a questioning glare at the newcomer. "If you're Davis, how the hell you get outta that tube that Margrew said the robots put you in?"

[Potatrobot]

Max kept his hands on the door frame as the CES, Sonia and Paul scurried under his arms and into the passageway. The door didn't attempt to close on any of them as they passed, and as Max let go and tentatively stepped into the passageway after the others, it stayed open. It was only after he had stepped some distance from it that it shut itself.

"Who's watchin' me..?" he muttered to himself as he turned away from the door. He couldn't see any obvious cameras, but he supposed that would be the entire point. The corridor wasn't entirely featureless, so there might have been a tiny peephole hidden in some otherwise innocuous detail. He eventually resigned to his lot at the hands of whoever was guiding them through the facility, and trudged after the others, drawing his sword again.

He stepped into the common room just as Paul began inspecting the doorway on the left. It didn't help Max's confidence in him that he made a sorry display of it. He didn't notice someone step into the room from the corridor on the right until she spoke.

"Who are you?" The woman demanded, drawing everyone's attention - except for the CES. Max found his lack of movement particularly disturbing, and held his sword up with two hands in a defensive position.

"Davis?!?" Paul blurted out.

"Aaah," Max said, piecing together the situation. His sword lowered a bit, but he caught himself and raised it again. "So this is the Davis you've been bangin' on abou'. Where's the other one, then? Rowling, or some shit like tha'."

[Enigma]

"Davis?" the woman frowned, eyebrows furled in confusion - and then they relaxed.
"Ah," she said, laying a hand on her chest. "This body's name is Davis."

"Please do not be alarmed," Davis continued. "The person who belongs to this body is still here unharmed, merely sleeping. It has been centuries since the facility received new arrivals, nor have we been contacted for retrieving those who are stored here. This one bore the authority of a Caretaker, but gave up the token to be put into the system. We felt it necessary to question all of the recent biological arrivals, including this one."

"After you shot up the Internment area after retrieving that one from storage," she added, pointing to Paul, "We felt that you would be less likely to shoot one of your own people. So I shall ask again, who are you and why are you here?"

[Azazeal849]

"Ah," she said, laying a hand on her chest. "This body's name is Davis."

Sonia blinked at her. "Are you high?"

"Please do not be alarmed," Davis continued. "The person who belongs to this body is still here unharmed, merely sleeping. It has been centuries since the facility received new arrivals, nor have we been contacted for retrieving those who are stored here. This one bore the authority of a Caretaker, but gave up the token to be put into the system. We felt it necessary to question all of the recent biological arrivals, including this one."

Sonia shook her head. "None of that makes sense."

And it didn't. But Margrew's still-baffled expression told him one thing - this definitely wasn't the Davis he knew.

Her thoughts turned to the poor alien bastard lying in the trench outside the facility, as if it had fallen to its death while trying to flee. And then there was Mouse's calculator, being sorted by those fucking robots. Davis could claim to be a simple Caretaker benignly sharing her host all she liked - Sonia wasn't letting her guard down until those and a whole load of other things had been explained.

"So when the hell did you thaw out Davis?" she probed, wondering just how long this Not-Davis had been watching them.

"After you shot up the Internment area, after retrieving that one from storage." 'Davis' added, pointing to Paul, "We felt that you would be less likely to shoot one of your own people. So I shall ask again, who are you and why are you here?"

"I already told you, we're the rescue party." Sonia snapped. "We're here to get our people back, and that's all. And I don't know what you call shoving people in storage pods, but we have something similar back home and we call it cryo-prison."

Prison.

Sonia stopped herself, her mind suddenly winding back to one of the clauses in the contract she and Max had signed.

Clause 8: Provide substantial information on the purpose of this structure, and your record will be expunged and you will be released on the inhabitable planet or station of your choosing.

Sonia had dismissed it out of hand at the time. The company clearly had no idea, and were obviously never expecting their expendable explorers to find out either. It was a red herring; an impossible sweetener, designed to sucker in the dumber marks. But now their new employers had really written themselves into a corner. This was bigger than being spared the cryo-pods. This was bigger than getting her sentence reduced.

Fuck 20k for finding Margrew and Davis. Bring this alien back to them and I'm getting out.

"I'm sorry." she backtracked, lowering her shotgun just a fraction. "This is a lot to process."

She might even give the so-called Caretaker the benefit of the doubt, up until whenever it started politely suggesting that they surrender their weapons.

"Hey Max." Sonia suggested, lowering her gun muzzle a little more but not taking her eyes off 'Davis' while she addressed the former human. "This is all a bit above our pay-grade, huh? Maybe she should come up top with us and speak to the guys in charge?"

[Potatrobot]

"Ah," she said, laying a hand on her chest. "This body's name is Davis."

Max's head tilted in thought at the comment, but before long the penny dropped, and he sank into a defensive stance.

"We've go' a body snatcher..." he muttered, perhaps only loud enough for Sonia to hear. It didn't seem to matter; she was already having a heated conversation with the weird woman in the doorway. Max kept his optics trained on her as well as the CES, who he could only imagine was shut down by Davis, or some other agent of the facility.

For that reason he had reason to be wary of the woman. If they could shut down the CES, they could just as easily target him. He was also acutely aware that they needed to return the CES at the end of their mission. If he was dead as a broken toaster, that could bite them in the arse later.

The sound of his own name penetrated the fog of his thought process and brought him back to the situation at hand.

"Hey Max." Sonia suggested, lowering her gun muzzle a little more but not taking her eyes off 'Davis' while she addressed the former human. "This is all a bit above our pay-grade, huh? Maybe she should come up top with us and speak to the guys in charge?"

"If we can all ge' to the surface intact," he muttered back, "then yeah. Problem is getting up top."

A thought scuttled across Max's mind.

"What 'appened with the rest of our lot?" He called out to Davis.

[Enigma]

"Hey Max." Sonia suggested, lowering her gun muzzle a little more but not taking her eyes off 'Davis' while she addressed the former human. "This is all a bit above our pay-grade, huh? Maybe she should come up top with us and speak to the guys in charge?"

Davis eyed the small trio of humans curiously.

"If we can all ge' to the surface intact," he muttered back, "then yeah. Problem is getting up top."

A thought scuttled across Max's mind.

"What 'appened with the rest of our lot?" He called out to Davis.

"Probably the same thing that happened to my crew," Paul muttered, still staring at Davis.

"The caretaker system works automatically for new arrivals," Davis responded. "New caretakers are brought to the center transportation pad, those without credentials are brought to the processing area. They are most likely shelved, and hard to reach with the damage to the arm."

Davis paused, looking up at the ceiling as if she was listening to something, then looked back down at them. "Please return to the center transportation pad, we will override the Caretaker system to release everyone in storage and allow transportation to the surface."

"What about you?!?" Paul demanded. "I mean, Davis?"
"Davis will be returned to you shortly," the woman said, waving them towards the door to the processing area.

[Azazeal849]

Please return to the center transportation pad, we will override the Caretaker system to release everyone in storage and allow transportation to the surface."

"Just one thought on that plan." Sonia opined. "When you say release everyone...now who else might you be lettin' out along with our guys? There's a lot of specimen jars in there."

[Potatrobot]

"What abou' you?" Max jabbed, looking down his sword at Davis. "Are you just gonna disappear once we get up there?"