Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

Base, as though he could make it disappear through sheer willpower. His frown deepened as he reached out with his mind. "Well; it's not an illusion, or a telepathic broadcast. It has a physical existence. But I'm not picking up any life signs inside."
    "Widen your scan," said Silence. "Is there anyone, anywhere near here?"
    Morrell closed his eyes, and concentrated. "I'm picking up… something. But I can't make any sense of it. There's certainly nothing human in the vicinity, and no trace of intelligent life for as far as I can scan. No lesser creatures either. Not even insects in the air or in the ground. But I'm getting…
    something. It's like a muttering, or a chant, or a song. But it's coming from everywhere at once… and it moves so fast." Morrell opened his eyes and looked at Silence. "Captain; I've no idea what I'm picking up here. I've never encountered anything like it."
    "Does it feel dangerous? Threatening?"
    "Damned if I know, Captain. This is entirely outside of my experience."
    "All right," said Silence. "Let's try the obvious route. See if I can raise
    anyone in the Base on my comm implant." He turned to face the open doors, wanting to be ready if anything came charging out. "This is Captain John Silence of the Dauntless, representing the Empire. Is anybody listening? Is there anyone in Base Omega who can hear me? Make yourself known."
    There was no answer. The hum of the open comm channel seemed muted by the quiet.
    Barren shifted his feet uneasily. "Maybe the nanotech… just wore out? And everything went back to normal again?"
    "Unlikely," said Carrion. "First, if the nanos had died out, or ceased to function, this should be bare volcanic rock. Secondly, the nanos were programmed to reproduce themselves indefinitely, using the whole planet as material, if necessary. In fact, I'm almost surprised the planet is still here, with so many nanos at work for so many years. This… all of this… should not be here. It cannot be natural."
    "If Base Omega has survived, by whatever miracle," Morrell said slowly, "the lab computers could still be intact. They might still have information on the nanotech, and exactly what it was originally coded with. Hell; there might even be information on how to shut the damned stuff down."
    "If the computers are there," said Silence. "And if we could trust what we found in them. This smells more and more like a trap of some kind. An intact Base Omega, just waiting for us to make use of it… that's too good to be true.
    Remember the Shub and Hadenmen ships we found abandoned in orbit? This could be their doing. Though the motivation frankly escapes me for the moment. But we can't just stand around here. We have a maximum of four hours' air inside these shields. When they both run out, we'd better be a comfortably far distance off this world."
    "We can't ignore the Base," said Carrion.
    "No," said Silence. "We can't." He looked at Carrion, knowing the man in traitor's black was remembering a similar time on Unseeli, when they had stood together before the open doors to Base Thirteen, not knowing of the awful thing that lay waiting for them inside. And then everyone stiffened and looked around sharply. A voice was sounding through all their comm implants, and it was a voice they knew.
    This is Base Commander Jorgensson. Commander. Security has been breached. There are monsters and nightmares running loose. In the corridors. This is Jorgensson.
    Jorgensson. Signing off.
    They all looked at each other. "It can't be her," said Silence. "Not still alive."
    "If she was really in there, I'd have detected her," said Morrell. "There's no living being in that Base."
    "Perhaps some kind of recording," said Carrion. "Triggered by our presence. I don't know if you noticed, but all the words we just heard came from Jorgensson's last broadcast. That can't be a coincidence."
    "Could be some attempt at communication," said Morrell. "Put into a form we'd recognize. Try answering it, Captain. See if you can get it to respond with something that wasn't in Jorgensson's last message."
    "Indeed," said Carrion. "We need as much information on the current situation as possible, if we are to put an end to it and regain control of this planet."
    "Oh great," said Morrell. "The only living thing we've found here, and you only want to communicate with it to learn how to destroy it. I guess once an Investigator, always an Investigator. Maybe it'll be something small and furry, so you can stamp on