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Earth: BRI, Coonswater Facility
August 6, 2017
7:04 PM
There was a siren, and Lilun jumped out of bed with a bolt.
“ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO THE HOLE – SUBLEVEL 34-B.”
Lilun almost forgot to don her lab coat and pants. There was little point in her wearing them, anyway; she was a Xzeejee – a creature from the planet Au’wm - which meant that she was covered in fur. She’d been working for the Benson Research Initiative for her entire adult life, and even though everyone working in the sublevels was used to working around Xzeejees and other creatures from outside of earth, the humans still sometimes called her an otter.
“I hear you, yeah yeah yeah,” Lilun grumbled, heading out into the crowded corridor. The halls were congested, and the more qualified staff bustled past her in a rush, completely ignoring her presence. As Lilun buttoned up her lab coat and snapped her name-tag to her lapel the siren sounded again, and the loudspeaker boomed, “ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO THE HOLE – SUBLEVEL 34-B.” Lilun brushed past Helenski, who already smelled of whisky and cigarette smoke. His drinking problem had gotten worse in the last few years since his promotion to management and coinciding divorce. Lilun hardly ever saw him anymore – he was married to his job, now, down in the lower levels. Lilun hadn’t been down past sublevel 30 in years – not since William Benson II, heir to the company, had started taking over business downstairs as his aging father’s health continued to worsen.
Lilun waved her security pass at the two gates leading to the elevator and stepped inside. Lilun had been hearing rumors, lately, that things down in the lower levels were getting bad. There’d been some infighting between the research departments and Benson Legal – a few people had gotten fired, a few others were running to Benson Medical with mental breakdowns, and the paperwork she had to fill out every time she ventured past sublevel 32 to go through the terminals back to her home was getting overwhelming. Despite all this, the people down in the sublevels looked up to Benson II like he was some kind of god. It was getting a little creepy – Lilun stayed as close to topside as she could get without breaching security. Lately, things had been even worse – everyone knew that William Benson I was dying, and when his son inherited the company, everything would change.
The siren blared again.
The elevator doors opened and, for the first time in three years, Lilun stepped into the Hole. She froze: before her, past a vast set of double-doors, was a vision of hell. Two floors below, past the edge of a balcony, were Xzeejees. It was a mass of hundreds, maybe thousands of Xzeejees, eyes wide and horrified, fur marred by streaks of blood, all yelling, all confused and enraged.
Lilun tore her eyes away from the mass and looked around for some kind of explanation. A group of suits from Benson Legal stood by the edge of the balcony, muttering to a pack of security guards and a woman Lilun recognized from Medical: Audrey Blake. Her best friend’s mother. Audrey’s eyes widened when she noticed Lilun standing in front of the elevator. She broke away from the group she was counseling, ran to Lilun, and stood between her and the railing, blocking her view. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” she warned.
Lilun took a step back, away from the steel double-doors of the deepest level of the Hole’s main Valley terminal, and blinked. No shit. “The alarm said all personnel,” Lilun stammered. “I just thought…”
Audrey grimaced. “It was wrong. Somebody’s getting fired over this. We don’t want you down there. Not today.”
Lilun narrowed her eyes. Audrey had never dodged her like this, never in the time that Lilun had worked for the BRI. “Why?” said Lilun. “What’s going on down there?” She pushed open one of the doors and immediately the air was filled with the roaring of thousands of voices, all anguished beyond measure. “What the hell…”
Audrey stepped next to Lilun and placed a hand on her shoulder while Lilun moved numbly to the edge of the balcony. Down below her, thousands of her people were being herded into groups, separated, some of them beaten violently as they protested and resisted. She was so far up that only the groups directly below her were really recognizable. She stared at them, trying to pick out individual faces, and felt her blood run cold – these were Xzeejees from her hometown. Merat, Nanio and Fasti were there, shaking, clustered in a tight circle. Merat looked up at her, eyes pleading, and Lilun looked away, pretending she hadn't seen him.
On the far end of the room, Lilun watched as a group of small Xzeejee children no older than four were ripped out of their mothers’ arms and dropped into cages. The women were fighting, clinging to their children’s hands and trying to reach them through the bars of the cage. One guard pulled out a gun and whipped the butt against the skull of one of the women, who fell to the ground instantly. Even from so far away, Lilun could see blood pour out of the crack in her skull. Lilun turned to Audrey and just gaped at her, unable to even formulate a question.
A ruckus, even louder than the screams of the crowd, rose up on the far end of the corridor below – screams of outrage, then gunshots, then silence. The crowd cleared, and Lilun saw a group of guards standing over twenty-odd dead and dying Xzeejees, watching their blood seeping out onto the concrete ground.
“What is going on here?” Lilun yelled, turning back to Audrey and pinning her ears against her skull. Her hands were shaking – she’d broken free of the shock, and now, all she felt was anger. The silence broke, and now the roar below was louder than before, this time mixed with wailing and screaming of the friends and family of the recently executed.
Helenski stumbled up the balcony, his eyes bloodshot, clasping a clip-board in his hand. Audrey looked at him grimly and said, “They’re all here and accounted for.”
Lilun cut in front of Helenski. “Audrey, what the fuck is going on here?”
Audrey opened her mouth, then closed it, shaking her head wordlessly. Behind her horn-rimmed glasses her eyes were frustrated, but not sad. “I told you we didn’t need you for this assignment,” she said.
The door to the Hole opened and William Benson II stepped through. He wasn’t much to look at – average height, average build, hair still black despite his sixty years. His cold, gray eyes always looked pained, and he walked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Lilun couldn’t help feeling a sense of reverence about him. “Mister Benson,” she said, trying to sound respectful, “please – what’s going on?”
Benson’s expression saddened when he saw her. “Lilun,” he murmured. A sad smile pulled at the edge of his mouth. “You weren’t supposed to see…”
“Any word on your father?” Audrey interrupted. She was old enough to be Benson’s mother, and Lilun knew she loved him like a son. That was how it was with the BRI old guard – they were a family.
Benson frowned, sighing, and leaned against the railing, ignoring the screams, the stench, the pain of the Xzeejees below. “Dad’s taken a turn for the worse…”Audrey started to say something, but Benson interrupted her. “We’ve got him in the orbiter… Like he wanted. I can’t talk long.”
“What –“ Lilun began, and faltered when Benson looked at her.
“I need to let you know,” said Benson, “that the Xzeejee President has finally signed over the land we have been asking for. These are our new wards of the state,” he explained, gesturing to the Xzeejees below. “You know that we need the land for developing new terminals to other planets. Once the terminals have been completed, these people will be sent home.”
“Why would you use that land to build a terminal?” said Lilun. “It hasn’t been used for decades. Not since it was closed off after the war with the ‘Teur.”
“The 'Teur are long gone," Benson said, his voice quiet, calming. "I know it’s been a long time since you’ve been home. Things have changed since you’ve been gone. The ones you left don't understand the things you do. I know you understand how critical this development is to interplanetary trade and research. Your people… they didn’t. They couldn’t.” His eyes lightened, just a little. “Will you help them understand?”
Lilun looked down at the horrified mass below. She saw the guards shoving them through the narrow tunnel, guns at the ready. She backed away, shaking her head. “No,” she whispered. “No… no…”
Benson turned to Helenski. “Send them down,” he said.
“But it takes time,” Helenski protested. “There’s so many of them. It’ll take weeks.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Benson. He headed back to the elevator.
Audrey followed after Benson. “Bill!” she called. “Bill, you know that isn’t what the Xzeejees agreed to. That’s not what she and your father talked about – this isn’t your father’s plan.”
Benson looked at her, frowned, then stated matter-of-factly, “This is no longer my father’s company. ‘Give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.’ Helenski!” Helenski jumped, startled. He’d been edging his way down the other side of the balcony. “Separate them all into groups of one hundred and keep the remainder here on this sublevel,” said Benson. As he walked away he added, “After that... you know what to do.”
Benson disappeared into an elevator. Lilun, Audrey and Helenski stared at each other as the guards herded the last of the Xzeejees back through the hatches.
“What did you do?” Lilun growled at Audrey. “What is happening?”
Audrey sighed, “I tried to facilitate a peaceful transition for them. You know I didn’t want this.”
“This is…” Lilun’s voice trailed off and she couldn’t bring herself to look through the doors any longer.
“Different,” Audrey finished. “It was different back in his father’s day, but Billy… He’s a man of good faith.”
“Why are they here? Why aren’t they back home? Why did my president –“
Audrey shook her head. “We have to get moving.” To Helenski, she added, “You have your assignment.” Helenski just shook his head, scribbling away in his notepad.
Lilun leaned against the wall. “Why is the Benson Research Initiative treating my people like this? Benson is treating them like animals!”
Helenski groaned. He pulled a little canteen from inside his lab coat and took a sip, then handed it across to Lilun, who for once indulged herself. He belched and whispered in a haunted voice, “You don’t know the half of it.”
The roar of the crowd had diminished, but Lilun could still hear them beyond the door across the room where they’d been herded. Once again, there were gunshots – these were close to the door. Audrey and Helenski jumped. The radio in Helenski’s pocket crackled, “Helenski, we need you in the chamber. Now!”
Helenski gulped down the remainder of his canteen and hobbled over to the elevator.
The radio in Helenski and Audrey’s pockets screeched, “Blake! Helenski! Where the fuck are you?” Audrey and Helenski exchanged glances. “We could really use some translators down here!”
Audrey reached into her pocket and turned off her radio. She turned to Lilun. “Go to Eric,” she instructed. “Take a couple days off. Helenski and I have already cleared you for a week’s worth of medical-leave.”
“You need it,” Helenski added.
Lilun backed away, then ran back the way she’d came.
August 6, 2017
7:04 PM
There was a siren, and Lilun jumped out of bed with a bolt.
“ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO THE HOLE – SUBLEVEL 34-B.”
Lilun almost forgot to don her lab coat and pants. There was little point in her wearing them, anyway; she was a Xzeejee – a creature from the planet Au’wm - which meant that she was covered in fur. She’d been working for the Benson Research Initiative for her entire adult life, and even though everyone working in the sublevels was used to working around Xzeejees and other creatures from outside of earth, the humans still sometimes called her an otter.
“I hear you, yeah yeah yeah,” Lilun grumbled, heading out into the crowded corridor. The halls were congested, and the more qualified staff bustled past her in a rush, completely ignoring her presence. As Lilun buttoned up her lab coat and snapped her name-tag to her lapel the siren sounded again, and the loudspeaker boomed, “ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO THE HOLE – SUBLEVEL 34-B.” Lilun brushed past Helenski, who already smelled of whisky and cigarette smoke. His drinking problem had gotten worse in the last few years since his promotion to management and coinciding divorce. Lilun hardly ever saw him anymore – he was married to his job, now, down in the lower levels. Lilun hadn’t been down past sublevel 30 in years – not since William Benson II, heir to the company, had started taking over business downstairs as his aging father’s health continued to worsen.
Lilun waved her security pass at the two gates leading to the elevator and stepped inside. Lilun had been hearing rumors, lately, that things down in the lower levels were getting bad. There’d been some infighting between the research departments and Benson Legal – a few people had gotten fired, a few others were running to Benson Medical with mental breakdowns, and the paperwork she had to fill out every time she ventured past sublevel 32 to go through the terminals back to her home was getting overwhelming. Despite all this, the people down in the sublevels looked up to Benson II like he was some kind of god. It was getting a little creepy – Lilun stayed as close to topside as she could get without breaching security. Lately, things had been even worse – everyone knew that William Benson I was dying, and when his son inherited the company, everything would change.
The siren blared again.
The elevator doors opened and, for the first time in three years, Lilun stepped into the Hole. She froze: before her, past a vast set of double-doors, was a vision of hell. Two floors below, past the edge of a balcony, were Xzeejees. It was a mass of hundreds, maybe thousands of Xzeejees, eyes wide and horrified, fur marred by streaks of blood, all yelling, all confused and enraged.
Lilun tore her eyes away from the mass and looked around for some kind of explanation. A group of suits from Benson Legal stood by the edge of the balcony, muttering to a pack of security guards and a woman Lilun recognized from Medical: Audrey Blake. Her best friend’s mother. Audrey’s eyes widened when she noticed Lilun standing in front of the elevator. She broke away from the group she was counseling, ran to Lilun, and stood between her and the railing, blocking her view. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” she warned.
Lilun took a step back, away from the steel double-doors of the deepest level of the Hole’s main Valley terminal, and blinked. No shit. “The alarm said all personnel,” Lilun stammered. “I just thought…”
Audrey grimaced. “It was wrong. Somebody’s getting fired over this. We don’t want you down there. Not today.”
Lilun narrowed her eyes. Audrey had never dodged her like this, never in the time that Lilun had worked for the BRI. “Why?” said Lilun. “What’s going on down there?” She pushed open one of the doors and immediately the air was filled with the roaring of thousands of voices, all anguished beyond measure. “What the hell…”
Audrey stepped next to Lilun and placed a hand on her shoulder while Lilun moved numbly to the edge of the balcony. Down below her, thousands of her people were being herded into groups, separated, some of them beaten violently as they protested and resisted. She was so far up that only the groups directly below her were really recognizable. She stared at them, trying to pick out individual faces, and felt her blood run cold – these were Xzeejees from her hometown. Merat, Nanio and Fasti were there, shaking, clustered in a tight circle. Merat looked up at her, eyes pleading, and Lilun looked away, pretending she hadn't seen him.
On the far end of the room, Lilun watched as a group of small Xzeejee children no older than four were ripped out of their mothers’ arms and dropped into cages. The women were fighting, clinging to their children’s hands and trying to reach them through the bars of the cage. One guard pulled out a gun and whipped the butt against the skull of one of the women, who fell to the ground instantly. Even from so far away, Lilun could see blood pour out of the crack in her skull. Lilun turned to Audrey and just gaped at her, unable to even formulate a question.
A ruckus, even louder than the screams of the crowd, rose up on the far end of the corridor below – screams of outrage, then gunshots, then silence. The crowd cleared, and Lilun saw a group of guards standing over twenty-odd dead and dying Xzeejees, watching their blood seeping out onto the concrete ground.
“What is going on here?” Lilun yelled, turning back to Audrey and pinning her ears against her skull. Her hands were shaking – she’d broken free of the shock, and now, all she felt was anger. The silence broke, and now the roar below was louder than before, this time mixed with wailing and screaming of the friends and family of the recently executed.
Helenski stumbled up the balcony, his eyes bloodshot, clasping a clip-board in his hand. Audrey looked at him grimly and said, “They’re all here and accounted for.”
Lilun cut in front of Helenski. “Audrey, what the fuck is going on here?”
Audrey opened her mouth, then closed it, shaking her head wordlessly. Behind her horn-rimmed glasses her eyes were frustrated, but not sad. “I told you we didn’t need you for this assignment,” she said.
The door to the Hole opened and William Benson II stepped through. He wasn’t much to look at – average height, average build, hair still black despite his sixty years. His cold, gray eyes always looked pained, and he walked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Lilun couldn’t help feeling a sense of reverence about him. “Mister Benson,” she said, trying to sound respectful, “please – what’s going on?”
Benson’s expression saddened when he saw her. “Lilun,” he murmured. A sad smile pulled at the edge of his mouth. “You weren’t supposed to see…”
“Any word on your father?” Audrey interrupted. She was old enough to be Benson’s mother, and Lilun knew she loved him like a son. That was how it was with the BRI old guard – they were a family.
Benson frowned, sighing, and leaned against the railing, ignoring the screams, the stench, the pain of the Xzeejees below. “Dad’s taken a turn for the worse…”Audrey started to say something, but Benson interrupted her. “We’ve got him in the orbiter… Like he wanted. I can’t talk long.”
“What –“ Lilun began, and faltered when Benson looked at her.
“I need to let you know,” said Benson, “that the Xzeejee President has finally signed over the land we have been asking for. These are our new wards of the state,” he explained, gesturing to the Xzeejees below. “You know that we need the land for developing new terminals to other planets. Once the terminals have been completed, these people will be sent home.”
“Why would you use that land to build a terminal?” said Lilun. “It hasn’t been used for decades. Not since it was closed off after the war with the ‘Teur.”
“The 'Teur are long gone," Benson said, his voice quiet, calming. "I know it’s been a long time since you’ve been home. Things have changed since you’ve been gone. The ones you left don't understand the things you do. I know you understand how critical this development is to interplanetary trade and research. Your people… they didn’t. They couldn’t.” His eyes lightened, just a little. “Will you help them understand?”
Lilun looked down at the horrified mass below. She saw the guards shoving them through the narrow tunnel, guns at the ready. She backed away, shaking her head. “No,” she whispered. “No… no…”
Benson turned to Helenski. “Send them down,” he said.
“But it takes time,” Helenski protested. “There’s so many of them. It’ll take weeks.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Benson. He headed back to the elevator.
Audrey followed after Benson. “Bill!” she called. “Bill, you know that isn’t what the Xzeejees agreed to. That’s not what she and your father talked about – this isn’t your father’s plan.”
Benson looked at her, frowned, then stated matter-of-factly, “This is no longer my father’s company. ‘Give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.’ Helenski!” Helenski jumped, startled. He’d been edging his way down the other side of the balcony. “Separate them all into groups of one hundred and keep the remainder here on this sublevel,” said Benson. As he walked away he added, “After that... you know what to do.”
Benson disappeared into an elevator. Lilun, Audrey and Helenski stared at each other as the guards herded the last of the Xzeejees back through the hatches.
“What did you do?” Lilun growled at Audrey. “What is happening?”
Audrey sighed, “I tried to facilitate a peaceful transition for them. You know I didn’t want this.”
“This is…” Lilun’s voice trailed off and she couldn’t bring herself to look through the doors any longer.
“Different,” Audrey finished. “It was different back in his father’s day, but Billy… He’s a man of good faith.”
“Why are they here? Why aren’t they back home? Why did my president –“
Audrey shook her head. “We have to get moving.” To Helenski, she added, “You have your assignment.” Helenski just shook his head, scribbling away in his notepad.
Lilun leaned against the wall. “Why is the Benson Research Initiative treating my people like this? Benson is treating them like animals!”
Helenski groaned. He pulled a little canteen from inside his lab coat and took a sip, then handed it across to Lilun, who for once indulged herself. He belched and whispered in a haunted voice, “You don’t know the half of it.”
The roar of the crowd had diminished, but Lilun could still hear them beyond the door across the room where they’d been herded. Once again, there were gunshots – these were close to the door. Audrey and Helenski jumped. The radio in Helenski’s pocket crackled, “Helenski, we need you in the chamber. Now!”
Helenski gulped down the remainder of his canteen and hobbled over to the elevator.
The radio in Helenski and Audrey’s pockets screeched, “Blake! Helenski! Where the fuck are you?” Audrey and Helenski exchanged glances. “We could really use some translators down here!”
Audrey reached into her pocket and turned off her radio. She turned to Lilun. “Go to Eric,” she instructed. “Take a couple days off. Helenski and I have already cleared you for a week’s worth of medical-leave.”
“You need it,” Helenski added.
Lilun backed away, then ran back the way she’d came.
Next Chapter: 
The Tchacata Machine - Chapter Two:origin()/pre11/1b68/th/pre/f/2017/133/f/e/the_tchacata_machine___chapter_two_by_entomotheist-db93y5h.jpg)
Earth: BRI, Coonswater Facility
August 6, 2017
12:00
Eric’s few days off were usually spent in the facility commissary, drinking cup after cup of coffee and debugging his latest pet-projects. When he wasn’t working, he was spending time with his girlfriend, Maggie Verger. He hadn’t seen much of Maggie for most of the month – she’d been spending all her time topside, monitoring old Benson’s vitals alongside her father, Sam, the founder of the BRI’s Medical branch.
Eric always got a little antsy without Maggie around. It was too easy to lose himself in his work, and without her to talk to, it gave him time to think. Things tended to get dangerous when Eric was alone with his thoughts. It didn’t help that things down in the sublevels of the BRI were starting to get a little creepy. Ever since old Benson had taken ill, his son had started moving projects down to the lowest levels of the facility – the Hole. Lately, people were starting
Previous Chapter:
The Tchacata Machine - Prologue:origin()/pre04/ddd7/th/pre/f/2017/133/0/a/the_tchacata_machine___prologue_by_entomotheist-db93rxa.jpg)
Tearis
June 8, 1974
6:32AM
“Robert” was a human name. Robert himself was not human.
He stood at the edge of the empty battlefield, staring with four eyes across the soft, white terrain. He leaned against one pale blue tree, claws sinking deeply into the plant’s soft, velvety flesh. Metallic brown blood oozed from a gash in his side, darkening his red robes. Robert paid the wound no mind – one more battle scar would only earn him that much more respect from his soldiers.
Robert watched Leir, his wife, walk across the empty field and stand in the morning sunlight. She knelt and dragged one slender, amber-colored claw across the white ground, drawing the shape of a little man on the planet’s surface. This morning, under Robert’s command, she had wiped out an entire contingent of enemy troops.
There were no bodies to lay out this morning, because the planet did not allow them to remain. All dead tissue was absorbed by the planet’s living surface. L
The Tchacata Machine tells the story of an unlikely handful of friends caught in the crossfire between a corrupt business empire and a deadly alien civilization. It turns out that the path to other worlds is not through space, but under our very feet. The only goal is to stay alive, but there are fates worse than death. How much can a person go through before they are no longer the person they were when they started? Before they're not even human?
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