Inevitability pt 3
Inevitability pt 3
After John had finished eating, he examined the other items that had been inside the cube. One of the myriad of items that had caught his attention was a small metallic object. The surface had a slight sheen to it, as if had been wet. It measured about three inches square, though it was more of an oblong shape. The surface was a dark blue color, with bands of white snaking across it. John turned it over in his paws. There were no marks that he could see on its surface. Finding no way to activate, indeed no obvious use at all, John set the shape into his backpack. After putting the object away, John reached for what looked to be a small computer screen. When his paw touched the device, the screen blinked on, and a pre-recorded message began to play.
"If you are listening to this," the voice of Markos said, "then you are a survivor from the plague, either immune or un-infected. In your hand you hold the key to your salvation; hold this recording device within one foot of the blue metal object." John reached into his backpack and pulled out the object. Slowly, carefully, he moved the two objects closer together, as soon as the two objects were less than one foot apart, the blue item split in half, revealing a paper card with metal circuits imbedded into its surface, and a roll of plastic. The voice continued "Inside, there is a paper card, hold on to this; it is your ticket off-planet, assuming you can get to the launch site. The other item is a map. Not just any map, however, it constantly updates your position via orbital satellite. It will lead you to the evacuation zone, assuming you survive to get there. On the map there is also a timer, it has already begun counting down, when it reaches zero, all of the escape shuttles will have left." The recording stopped, and a few seconds later, "If you are listening to this..."
John sighed, "That Markos must really be crazy; it was only a terrorist attack, not the result of some infection." Despite what he had said to reassure himself, something in the back of his mind told him that what Markos had told him was true. "Who cares what Markos thinks? I sure don't." He said to no one in particular, especially since he was the only person in the cave. He began to put everything that had come from the cube into his backpack, including the cube. He zipped shut his backpack, and put it on, and walked towards the mouth of the cave. However, he put the folded map and the card in his pocket, just in case. "I'm getting tired of looking at the inside of this cave, anyway." As if in response to his statement, the groaning sound began again, this time much louder. Standing at the edge of the cave, he looked out, trying to find the source of the noise. The groans grew louder still, and more frequent. Looking down, John saw what had been making the noise. Gathered, nay, swarming at the base of the rock face, were tens of them. Covered in manner of battle wounds and garbed in ragged strips of soiled clothing, the infected moaned collectively at the sight of John.
"Oh hell no! That lunatic was right!" John shouted as he backed into the cave. "Okay, calm down, just calm down, John. Maybe he left you something you can use to get past them." John said to himself. He took off his backpack and dumped the contents out, which landed in a pile. He immediately began to dig through the pile, begging, pleading, that he would find something useful. He suddenly realized that he could use the recording as a lure; they seemed to be attracted to voices. As he was about to throw it, he caught himself, thinking he might need it later. He set it down, and again began to search for something he could use. Spying a small piece of the blue metal, he grabbed it and held it next to the recording device. A new message began to play.
"At this point, you must be wondering why whole worlds must be sacrificed to stop the infection" Markos' voice again. "We ourselves wondered this, until we saw what the infected were, and are, capable of. Years ago, the crews of ships in our Fleet watched as we deliberately infected a prison colony. The results were... depressing. The infected, they do not fear, they do not think. We watched as they trudged across an acidic lake, slowly dissolving, not caring. Eventually, the sheer chemical mass of their combined bodies neutralized the lake, and the rest marched on, unimpeded.
To Be Continued