Chapter 22: Guests from the Sky and the Call of the Core
For Kael and his men, trapped within the rusted metal walls of the shipwreck, the descending UFO seemed like a harbinger of inevitable doom. Its bright spotlights mercilessly illuminated every niche they had taken refuge in, leaving no place to escape. In the sky, the other UFOs were still engaged in mortal combat with the purple chaos entity; explosions and waves of energy had turned the night into a battlefield. But this one UFO had a clear target: Kael and his Chitauri technology.
Kael raced through his mind. Fight? It would be suicide in the face of this superior technology. Run? Where? The UFO seemed to have cut off all possible escape routes. There was only one option left: face the unknown.
The Chitauri power core in his palm was no longer just pulsating, it was projecting a clear, repetitive series of symbols, a sort of mental "map" into Kael's mind. Was it a call, or a shelter? Kael felt the core guiding him deeper into the wreckage, toward an old cargo bay that had been submerged under the waters of the river. It seemed insane, but right now, the most logical option was to trust the whispers of the core.
"Follow me!" Kael commanded the Lion and the three remaining Echoes. "Be quick and quiet!"
The UFO had not yet launched a direct attack. Rather, it was conducting some sort of scan, perhaps analyzing the energy Kael and the core were emitting. That brief moment of hesitation was all Kael needed.
With Kael leading, the team made their way through the decayed corridors and flooded sections of the shipwreck, toward the mysterious cargo bay that the Chitauri core was pointing to. They expected an attack from the UFO at any moment, but for now, that metallic eye in the sky seemed to be only watching them.
Finally, they reached a small, metal room, almost completely submerged, through a narrow door. In the center of the room was a rusted console with a few Chitauri lights still dimly lit. It appeared to be a much older piece of shipwreckage, perhaps a forgotten Chitauri escape pod or small rover that had crashed years ago. The core began to vibrate even more violently as they entered the chamber, as if it had returned to its "home."
At that moment, a metallic, melodic voice, apparently coming from the UFO, was heard from outside. It was not speech; rather, it was a calm but authoritative message sent through a universal translator:
"Unidentified entities. We have analyzed the Chitauri artifact in your possession and your interaction with the entity we call the 'Chaos Echo'. You are playing with dangerous and forbidden technology. Do not resist. Hand over the artifact and come with us for questioning."
"Chaos Echo?" whispered Aslan. "They are talking about that purple thing."
Kael ignored the message. His eyes were fixated on the Chitauri console in the room. The core was pulling him towards it. When he placed his hand on the console, a simultaneous flow of energy began to flow from the core and the console. His mind was filled with the same complex Chitauri data, but this time it was clearer, more understandable. This console was a kind of emergency beacon, and also a highly risky escape mechanism that could make a short-range "jump." The jump coordinates were uncertain; it could launch them anywhere, even into the void of space. But staying here meant certain doom.
"Final warning," the metallic voice outside continued. "If you do not release the artifact in five seconds, we will be forced to use force."
Kael had no time to waste. "Hold on tight, everyone!" he shouted. He focused all his willpower on the Chitauri core and the console. He closed his eyes and activated the vague jump command in his mind.
The room was filled with blinding white light. With a metallic crackle and a terrible sense of pressure, Kael and his men were thrown into the unknown. For a moment, they felt the coldness of space, the dizzying dance of the stars, and then the shock of hitting another metallic surface.
When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a completely different place. They were still in a metal chamber, but it was smaller, narrower, and the technology around them was definitely not Chitauri. The old Chitauri console from earlier was gone. There were muffled voices and the smell of a different atmosphere coming from outside.
Where had they come from? Had the jump been successful, or had they fallen into a worse trap? And those UFOs... Had they escaped them? Kael looked at the Chitauri core in his palm. The core was now pulsing more calmly, but it still emitted an energy. It was as if he had felt a different "echo" in this new place.
Just then, the door to the room they were in hissed open and two figures entered, clad in metallic armor of a type they had never seen before, holding strange weapons in their hands. The figures took a step toward Kael and his men, and one of them spoke in that same metallic, translated voice:
"Welcome to the Nova Corps, Earthmen. It looks like you've had quite the eventful night."