Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

‘“AHHHHH!” Oswa screamed as Ceres entered the small cabin at the grodaw farm.

“Relax, it’s me.”

“HOW MANY FINGERS? TELL ME NOW!”

“It’s six, relax, I’m still Ceres. No possession or anything here. Are we going to do the same tests again?”

Oswa finally calmed down after a while, still spooked at what Ceres looked like. Ceres observed his black-scale armour and new look in the mirror. “Seems like my blood isn’t red any longer.”

“Are you even human anymore?” Oswa muttered, shaking his head as he tried to understand what was going on. “What in the world are they doing on the surface?!”

“Hmm, I think I’m human. That’s all that matters right? There are robots out there who have zero biological flesh left and think they are human too.” Ceres replied.

Oswa didn’t reply, instead looking outside the cabin where Halyon was lying on the ground. Halyon slowly stirred awake, before looking at Oswa and the man in the cabin in horror.

“Don’t worry, old man, I’m coming to save you!” Scrambling to his feet, Halyon heroically slammed his body into Ceres, bouncing back onto the ground.

“Halyon, it’s me.” Ceres let out a sigh.

“I don’t know anyone looking like that. Who are you and what did you do to Ceres?” Halyon shouted as he lay on the floor, acting hurt.

Ceres smirked and played along. “Why do you care so much about Ceres? Didn’t he use you as bait?”

“That was just a prank between best friends. We still count on each other to survive in this dark, cruel world. If he’s dead, then this world is no longer worth living in.”

“Well, okay then. I’ll finish you off.”

“Wait, wait, wait I was just joking, Ceres! Except for the friend part. We’re friends, right?” Halyon announced.

Ceres finally closed his eyes and instinctively receded the black armour back into his body. The armour quickly liquefied into black goo, seeping back through the pores. The black veins also disappeared, returning Ceres to normal.

Oswa stared in disgust as he witness the black goo seep back into Ceres’s pores like a metallic liquid crawling back into the body. “Kid, you need help. Omnipotent, god-like intervention kind of help. Maybe go to the Ebsian Church or something. I hope your mission to tame the mawsies go well.”

Upon hearing that, Halyon just looked at the both of them incredulously.

He had front-row seats to the sheer aggressiveness of the mawsies who continuously wanted to eat him. Even he did not think he could handle a mawsie one on one, how in the hell were they going to tame the mawsies?

Ceres nodded, wearing his heavy exosuit and assembling all his gear together along with the injured mawsies who still struggled with their limbs amputated. “I’ll head back to town first to check some things before I start exploring seriously.” He needed to solve the mystery behind the Keeper’s exosuit as soon as possible, as it had a direct link to the black goo within him.

Soon, he stood in front of Halyon, who was still lying down. “Are you going to try to run again?”

Halyon’s eyes lit up. “Of course not, I’ll be your escort. Your disciple – no your slave even. I can wear the Keeper exosuit so you don’t have to carry it. Don’t worry I don’t want to be a burden in any way, I’ll support you every step of the journey no doubt about it.”

Ceres untied him and passed him the Keeper exosuit. Halyon wore it on, checking the systems and actuation of all the joints. Just as Ceres turned around to say goodbye to Oswa, Halyon immediately dashed as fast as he could out of the grodaw farm to the nearest tunnel exit.

“Hehe, idiot. The last time he caught me, he did not have the heavy exosuit on, so there’s no way he can catch me now.” Halyon grinned to himself as he raced down the tunnel.

Soon, however, Halyon reached a dead-end in the tunnel. The tunnel was blocked by a large amount of rubble, making it impossible to dig through or move out of the way.

“Strange, the tunnel shouldn’t be blocked.” Halyon turned to see Ceres muttering to himself behind him, causing him to jump back in fright.

“Why won’t you let me go, please? I’m just a harmless human who has nothing against you.” Halyon pleaded as Ceres observed the dead-end, ignoring the flustered Halyon.

Ceres assumed some underground rock movement had shifted due to other creatures, but he did not know it was actually his previous test punch in the isolated cavern that caused such a rockslide.

Ignoring Halyon, he began to nock his arm back, winding up for a punch.

“You can’t be serious, use your drill! What’s the point of your…” The ensuing shockwave and impact shut Halyon up for good. With a single slam, the loose rocks were shaken apart, clearing up the tunnel into the next cavern.

The entire underground rumbled with force, vibrating through the rocks and soil. Halyon stared in awe. How could such a heavy exosuit with such low technology levels do that much damage with its shitty motors? Sure, it had good armour, but the armour wasn’t a factor in dealing with such strength.

“Don’t try to run again,” Ceres said, before walking off while towing a trolley filled with injured mawsies in a container.

Halyon gulped, knowing he had no chance of escape. He was not confident in his Keeper’s exosuit being able to survive such a punch head-on. He quickly followed meekly behind Ceres, giving up on the hope of freedom.

For now.

***

The punch triggered a cascading effect, with the subsequent shockwave travelling far and wide, shaking mushrooms, diamond trees and loose rubble all around.

Even in the town, Captain Kai noticed loose dirt and soil falling from the ceiling. He frowned, wondering if it was a sign of things to come. They were not completely safe from any tectonic movements or earthquakes, which could easily throw all their plans awry.

Further away in the depths, the expedition sent by the town stood in front of an ancient temple. No one had seen it before nor heard about it from their predecessors.

A young girl stood near a makeshift workshop in a temporary tent, checking up on all their mining equipment. She wore simple mechanic overalls that were spotted with grease, while she wore mining googles to protect her from the toxic particulates that came with the job.

She sighed as she looked at a dented mining hammer drill. “These idiots can’t take good care of the drills. What’s the point of the expedition if we use more of our spare parts to mine even less exotic metals. At this rate, we’ll only be breaking even or even making a loss! We can’t even afford to buy food at this rate.”

Taking a quick break, she walked out of the tent. The expedition had set up camp right in front, in full view of the ancient temple. The main double stone doors to the ancient temple had a large archway, carved with unreadable scribbles that were definitely not any human language. It stood close to seventy meters tall, towering over the expedition’s tent town like a skyscraper.

In terms of travelling time, it had taken about two months to reach this point.

If they ignored all the stops, they made along the way fighting feral humans like the Chosen, fending off mawsies and mining known exotic metal veins, walking from here to town would maybe take two weeks or so.

They’ve been sending regular messengers back every week or so, so no one in the expedition felt particularly isolated from the town.

The area was filled with multiple tents and machines of all sorts, looking like a travelling caravan. The dominant machine was a large drilling vehicle, about ten meters high. The drill was close to a third of the entire twenty meters of the machine, while it primarily moved on caterpillar tracks designed to be highly durable.

A small crew of technicians were still desperately trying to clear any rubble or loose metal stuck in the tracks, as well as check on the engine intake vent to ensure nothing got caught in it.

It was their main machine used to create large enough tunnels for the expedition to move to and fro. The expedition also left these large tunnels behind to be used by the town in the future in case they found additional sources of water or food.

Tunnel-making was not the main priority, however. The objective had never changed – find more exotic metal to sell for food.

This was also the main reason why she had a slightly irritated expression ever since they found the ancient temple. The temple was a tough nut to crack – it seemed to be made of almost indestructible rock.

She had never seen anything like it before in her 26 years of living, nor heard about it from her father Zhang. But Yan was pretty sure they could blow up the door of the temple if they seriously tried.

As she walked through the tent town, most people ignored or tried to avoid her. She headed for one of the largest tents, the command tent. It was still a single-storey tent, but significantly larger in area than any other tents nearby. 

Inside, a large table was laid out, along with a single multi-terminal holographically showing the 3D map of the route they had taken so far. Five people had been arguing in a heated debate, constantly twirling the hologram map around to show what they meant.

“I understand your concerns, Cuo, but the fact remains that while scanners have definitely shown preliminary readings of good deposits of exotic metals nearby, the ancient temple can easily provide for the town for close to ten years. Think of all the good tools you can finally buy for your engineering team.” An older man reasoned calmly to a young man, both wearing the same greyish protective suit that had been standardized to the town.

“Mo, let’s be honest with each other. You know that’s just a guess at best, what I don’t like is taking risks. We have a clear path to confirmed rewards, yet why are we dawdling here at the ancient temple? Every week we wait here, more elderly people have to fast and ration in the town. I was fine with spending a week observing more about the ancient temple, but I believe this is a long-term project and should not involve the entire expedition. Do not overuse your position as leader of the science team.” The young man, Cuo, disagreed heavily.

“So what you’re saying is to give up the ancient temple? What if we lose access to the ancient temple in the future due to tunnel collapse, the Chosen invading, or mawsie occupation? Maybe the lava fills the cavern and completely blocks our entrance forever? We need to explore it here and right now.” Another man carrying the only rifle in the command tent spoke.

Mo nodded in agreement, while Cuo shook his head. At the end of the long table, a lady sat on a simple stool, her hands clasped as she watched the argument.

She had short brown hair that looked more like a boy’s haircut, but her face showed sheer determination and willpower. Wearing the same grey protective suit as everyone somehow did not reduce her presence.

“Lin, what do you think?” She asked another young woman who had not participated in the argument yet.

“I do not have any personal opinions on the matter, but I must speak as part of my role of being in charge of logistics. Remaining in a fixed location reduces our fuel consumption and enables us to bring supplies to and fro to the town. Utilizing the large tunnels we had made so far, we can easily bring the already mined exotic metal back to the town for them to trade.”

“I’m sensing a downside to this.” The lady said.

“Yes, it will require a lot of manpower, and the vehicles used to transport the metal will need to make multiple trips, potentially wasting fuel. Additionally, we will need a military escort from Ren’s men to ensure the safety of the transport. Multiple groups of Chosen still are within the vicinity, and they will only become bolder when they notice less of us together.” Lin nodded her head towards Ren, the man carrying the rifle.

Cuo slammed the table. “Under no circumstances are we to split up the expedition. If just one of those transport groups gets taken out it will be a huge blow to our resources and defence. The only reason why our expeditions have been successful thus far is that we are the largest and strongest human group out here. If just a fifth of us leave, the Chosen and mawsies will immediately test us and strain our defences. They are already circling us, waiting for the right time to strike!”

Yan nodded in agreement. No doubt the Chosen were already nearby, in position to strike the moment they sensed weakness in the expedition.

“That’s reasonable, but you can’t ignore that Ren has a point. Losing access to the ancient temple in the future is very possible, and we need to make the most of it here. We don’t have the equipment to ensure that lava or rockslides won’t block the ancient temple, so we should accelerate our exploration of the ancient temple.” Mo argued back.

“You’re only saying that because of a hunch. It’s not a certainty. We’re lucky to have no one die on the expedition so far thanks to proper planning, but this throws everything off. What if our exploration team dies? We’re risking the lives of our fellow townspeople here for something that is not guaranteed!” Cuo shouted back.

“Enough.” The lady on the stool raised her voice as she stood up, prompting the other four to immediately stand up straighter. “I have heard all your opinions. Return to your posts and continue working for now. I will decide within the hour.”

“Yes Leader.” The four bowed, before leaving the tent. The young girl did not leave, however, instead still staring at the holographic map.

“Yan, how’s the repair work going?” The lady asked.

“Terrible, the ancient temple’s material is extremely hard to crack. More than 30% of our drills are continuously being worn down and cracked even. We had a few exotic metal drill bits snap cleanly even.” Yan, the young girl, shook her head.

“What do you think of the opinions just now?”

“I’m on the side of Cuo. We should be going for confirmed minerals. I don’t believe that the environment can change so quickly, and we have a deadline to return within a month. At the rate we’re going, we might burn off more spare parts than we can make or buy on our next trade convoy with Rockhold City. Don’t forget the Chosen are hanging around just beyond our range – they can attack and harass us anytime they want.”

The lady paused, thinking to herself. A few minutes of silence passed as the lady swiped through the hologram, marking out temporary routes to the next confirmed deposit of exotic metal. She compared it to the current projected progress of the ancient temples, which could not tell much.

None of the scanners could properly penetrate the walls of the ancient temple, making it hard for them to figure out what was inside. Somehow, the walls were layered in a way that blocked everything they had available on their scanners. The lady frowned as she weighed the options.

Yan decided to speak up again. “Imagine if we all went back to the town safe and full-on cargo from the exotic metal. That’s perfect, right? That’s a guaranteed win and success. Anything to do with the ancient temple can be solved another day. So what if it gets covered by lava? No one in the town has to suffer even if it did. It’s not worth the risk to remain here and get attacked by the Chosen.”

The lady finally stopped frowning, smiling instead. “You’re growing up to be more and more like your mom every day. I can’t wait for the day that you lead your own expedition. You’re right, Yan. I’ll make the announcement now.”

Activating a microphone near the table, the lady’s voice was carried out through the localized radio system, blasting out on loudspeakers.

“Attention all expedition members. This is Leader Misa speaking. All exploration of the ancient temple is to be halted immediately. The next target is a confirmed deposit labelled ST-118. Check with your local group representative for more information. We move out in two days. Keep an eye on the Chosen and watch out for traps.”

Yan smiled. She truly believed exploring the ancient temple was too dangerous and should be done as a separate expedition. Yes, the expedition was about making ‘money’, but who could say that money, not death, was hiding in the temple?

Just as she was about to leave, however, a single small shockwave rumbled through the cavern. It was not a particularly large tremor and was definitely not as attention-catching as their main drilling machine.

Yet Yan could feel it come from a long distance away. Everyone could having lived all their lives in the subterranean environment.

Misa frowned. “Didn’t the last shockwave just happen a few hours ago? It’s not related to the ancient temple isn’t it?”

“I doubt so. Our tremor sensors indicate it came from the direction of the town, but as to how far it is, I can’t say. Assuming it’s an earthquake, it should be more than a hundred kilometres from us.” Yan pulled up the live tremor sensors. “This shockwave is a lot stronger than the last one, about close to five times stronger.”

Suddenly, the ground rumbled again with severe intensity, causing vibrational waves to shake the entire tent town. “Lock down all machines, especially the drilling machine, quick!” Misa roared into the radio, before wearing a protective helmet and running out of the tent.

Yan too grabbed a nearby helmet and ran out, but she soon noticed that no one was doing any work, instead staring at the ancient temple. This time, the tremor was much stronger. She gulped as she knew everyone in the vicinity would feel the tremor, even those in Rockhold City.

Equipment and tents began to vibrate violently, causing things to fall and clatter to the ground. People were knocked off balance by the sudden vibration that seemed to stem from the temple.

The unrecognizable glyphs on the arch of the ancient temple’s entrance were glowing with blue light, shining brightly like stars. Soon, the shaking stopped, and the tent town was hardly damaged, though slightly worse off.

However, Misa’s and everyone’s faces paled.

They had a saying in their town: ‘A calamity follows every tremor.’ With such a large tremor, it was bound to attract the attention of everyone around.

In the distance, they could hear screeching and shrieks echoing from the tunnels behind them, along with an increasingly loud stomping sound. It was the Chosen – rushing them for the temple!

“PREPARE FOR COMBAT, LEVEL 4!”