Archie found himself in a large, dark, cargo-hold-style room. The temperature was so cold that, had he any real breath, it would be visible each time he exhaled. The ground, too, was shrouded in a light mist, obscuring his boots as he walked. For a biological, this would have been an overt nuisance; thankfully, it was not enough to perturb the Hologram.

Flipping out his Tricorder, Archie scanned the room. The mist on the ground had the same properties as the mist that was in the forest, the same composition as the Shroud. Lining along the floor in neat rows were hundreds of 5-foot-tall dodecahedra; their makeup was identical to the Blackstone structures they had encountered before, but he was not able to get an initial scan of what was inside.

Snapping his tricorder shut, Archie looked up towards the ceiling and, giving it a wild shout, called out. “Computer, Lights.”

Answering the call, the room began to illuminate, although Archie could not quite pinpoint where the light source was originating from. It was enough, however, for him to begin to notice faults in the formations. Some lines had structures missing, but he could see several rows down that some of the polyhedra were not fully formed yet, with an entire side facing missing.

Stepping over to the latest unbuilt unit to investigate, a wave of relief crashed over him as, sitting unconscious, inside the most recent pentagonal pod was Bui. Using his tricorder once more, Archie confirmed Bui was unharmed, but was in an induced coma, as the smell of Cyclopropane was pungent from inside the pod. Stowing the device, Archie reached in to grab Bui and hoist him out of the Pod, leaning him against the back wall next to the latest row.

As he turned from Bui to examine the pod further, he watched as the partitions that made up the structure seemed to fall apart back into the misty floor, as if somehow detecting nothing was inside and it was no longer needed. Even when one of the pentagonal walls fell onto the floor, there was not a loud crash as one would expect from a dense and heavy piece, which was strikingly odd.

Left without that to look at, Archie moved to the next semi-open structure. This one was more built up than the last, with only the top three faces still missing. It was nearly filled to the brim with a liquid his Tricorder identified as akin to [isopropanol]. As he scanned deeper, internal lights activated inside the pod, once again as if something derived his intent, revealing who was inside. The revelation was enough to shock Archie backwards.

Floating in the vat of preservation fluids was Hakon. Various tubes and wires had been implanted into his body. When Archie finally gathered the courage to check, scans indicated that over 60% of his bodily functions had been replaced via crude implants. If Archie were capable of it, he felt he would have been sick at the sight.

He wasn’t sure why yet, but the crude organ replacements were keeping Hakon ‘alive’ in the technical sense, but his replaced lungs were helping his body ‘breathe’ in the vat, and an artificial pump was regulating heart function. There was a nutrient and hydration tube that was already providing his body with the necessary compounds to stay alive, but why like this? Archie wondered if it was even possible to extract Hakon in such a condition. Then the real horrifying thought struck his mind.

Looking up from the dodecahedron Hakon was floating in, he agonized if ALL of these were holding similar bodies. Apprehensively, Archie climbed down from Hakon’s pod and began to look into others. Once more, as if some unknown force within the room was sensing his intent, the opaque surfaces of a facing side of the polyhedra would shimmer transparent, allowing viewing and scanning of the interior of the sealed structures.

Many of the contents were the same. Various Brynarians were held in rudimentary suspended animation, with most of their vital organs replaced with prosthetics, keeping them alive. Most were recent additions from contenders Archie recognized from the Ascension Ritual. But as he continued down the line, he started noticing older and older specimens. Projected date ranges as far back as 200 years old.

Then there were the vats with the non-living bodies. They, too, were suspended in fluid, but this was more for the Dissolution of the body into an oddly familiar black muck. This must have been where the flesh monsters that attacked them earlier were formed from the biological remnants of these ‘vat’ people.

He had seen enough; he needed to gather Bui, get him out of here. He needed to get back to the Commander and warn him. But how? This WILL program must know. Was he the one showing Archie this whole time? Shaking the doubt from his head, Archie threw Bui over his shoulders in a fireman carry and headed back to the Veil portal to get them back to the control room, where he could access the medical kit that was left in the storage box the Fox had beamed down to try and stabilize the warrior before confronting WILL.

Brynar: The Bones of the Gods [Power Distribution Node]

The room appeared more focused on Crystallography than Technology from Michael’s perspective. Then again, how would an 18th-century blacksmith look upon a starship’s warp core? WILL gave Michael a brief overview of the power distribution network before approaching another control pedestal.

Michael scanned some of the massive crystalline structures that were affixed to the room, like centerpieces to a rock garden. The complexity of these crystals reminded him of data from his studies of the Crystalline Entity back in the academy, complex even still beyond Starfleet’s understanding. But through his scanning, he could also detect the underlying problem vexing WILL’s progress.

“This has a similar makeup of Dilithium, a substance some primitive lifeforms have been utilizing for FTL travel in the quadrants.” Michael began as he continued to scan other large crystals. “They can generally be recharged over time, but even then, they have diminishing returns on their effectiveness, eventually degrading and needing to be replaced.” He finished, still maintaining the façade of his presumed elevated status.

WILL nodded at the assumption. “These storage crystals have been maintaining the power grid all this time. I have been attempting to, unsuccessfully, match their discharge rate with re-energizing efforts from the planetary core draw. But even with powering down all non-critical systems, it’s still under load to the point I fear even if I find a suitable power source, they will not hold the energy needed without buckling under the stress.”

Michael crossed his arms and sighed deeply. “Finding replacement crystals is going to be a tall order, not that we can’t get a replacement system here, but it will take time.”

Michael placed his hand on the control orb; a holographic image of a bipyramid, the superstructure they were in, appeared before him. “Let me see the current outline of power distribution,” He directed, seeing if either the control orb or WILL would acquiesce to his request.

For the most part, the figure remained dark, with only faint traces of current flowing through the top section like glowing strands of hair. WILL approached the diagram and pointed at the central base. “This is the labyrinth section we generally test the surface stock on, large enough that we can hold multiple trials without integration. “I only power that once a cycle.”

Although faint strands of ‘energy’ could be seen being drawn out from the center crystal zone, there was a slightly stronger current that Michael could see that was actually feeding into the crystal chamber from below. “What’s that?” Michael asked, pointing through the hologram to the brighter energy display.

“That is the Biomass farm I have been cultivating. My program is deemed non-essential, so when power rationing efforts began to activate, I had to switch my power draw off the main crystalline chamber to something else to sustain me.” WILL Explained. As he spoke, another pedestal with a small, luminated crystal on display hovered over to them both. “This is what has kept me running for centuries, always ready, always waiting.”

There was the echo of footsteps that cut the conversation short, drawing both of their attention away from the crystal. “Tell him more about the Biomass farm, WILL. Tell the Commander what you have used to power that all  these years…” Archie’s voice came through, cold and curt.

WILL’s facial expression never faltered. “The Surface stock, of course. I obviously elevated some through bioengineering to support my efforts from the surface, but they were mere puppets to keep the populace in order. I hoped that by drawing more down here this year, I might be able to harvest their biological energy to help jump-start the generator. I was just waiting for you to pick your host candidate before I ran the engine. It would burn through the stock reserves, but if I can get the facility back online, it will have been well worth it.”

Michael masked his feeling of horror at the revelation, went to stow his diagnostic tool, his hand hovering in the pocket for an extra second as he realized the other ‘tool’ still in his possession. “Bui?” Michael asked Archie, flatly.

“I have him secured in the control room sir. He’s unconscious, but stable.” Archie reported, still glaring at WILL, who seemed oblivious to the emotional perception of the other Hologram.

“Good. The others? Hakon?” Michael continued, as the hand in his pocket shifted.

Archie shook his head, “Harvested. Technically alive, but the chance of recovery is almost nonexistent. Hundreds of them, sir, spanning Decades.”

Michael nodded, turning to WILL, “And once you activate the engine, it will purge the stock completely?”

WILL nodded in agreement. “You only need a single spark to ignite the fire, my lord!”

Michael nodded knowingly again, a defiant glare at Archie was enough for the XO to realize the Commander’s intent and ready himself to react. Michael withdrew his hand from his pocket, the Type-1 Phaser he had pocketed when he was transported out of the trial chambers in hand, and raised it to the small Power Crystal powering WILL’s program. Having been charging in his pocket, Michael fired the full burst of energy from the weapon at the crystal, shattering it into pieces.

WILL’s horrid, echoed screams filled the room as his power core was destroyed. And before the program could even react, the holographic shimmer of its form dissipated into nothing, the first glimpse of emotion, a look of confusion and betrayal upon his face as it faded into the black.

Archie had thrown his hands up to shield his view from the weapon fire, looking back to his C.O.

“We need to make sure this facility never reactivates. Let’s get back to the control room.” Michael declared, disregarding his spent weapon onto the floor next to the sharded remnants of WILL’s Power Crystal.

[To be Continued]