1:2:8 Scouting (Part 2)

Ace didn’t speak but rather showed exactly what it would do. They activated the board; it silently raised itself from the ground to a cruising altitude of twenty centimetres. Ace mounted it. A bubble of energy, starting at their feet enveloped them. With a gentle push, the board accelerated from zero to one hundred kilometres an hour. Both Curve and Midpoint stood there, mouths agog, as they watched their sibling vanish into the distance before they returned to gloat.
“That alright for you?” Ace dismounted, ready to help their siblings with their boards.
“It’ll do.” Midpoint begrudgingly handed over his board for Ace to modify.
“Right, you need to be careful when accelerating. I know you both know how to ride these things but with us plugged into them, they’re a whole different kettle of fish. Be gentle and try not to fall off.” Ace stepped into their board’s foot loops, waited for the field to fully encapsulate them, then set off at a reasonable speed. Curve followed their procedure exactly and was rewarded with the same result.
Midpoint let his impatience and dislike of the transit form get the better of him as he rocketed past Ace and Curve before coming to a complete and sudden stop. “Ow.” His body had been thrown ten metres from his board with the remnants of the second wall preventing it from travelling any further. He stood, nursing his bruised ego and thanking his genealogy for the speedy recovery.
“You alright?” Ace dismounted nearly as quickly but with thousands of times more control, rushing to their sibling’s aid.
“I’m fine. I’m fine. Just a few bumps. All healed now anyway.” Midpoint pushed them away as he plugged himself back into the board and remounted it.
“Wait.” Curve barked at him as though he were an impetuous dog. The energy orb appeared and closed around him. “Now you’re good.”
Second wall down, they weren’t too far away from the exit. Now all together and making good progress, they skimmed over the swamp in no time. The walls of the great glass dome were coming to their end as they came to the outer door. A thin skin of concrete and glass separated them from the unforgivingly cold and brutally violent landscape of Illia. Tolan’s card saw them through the door and into an airlock.
“Heaters on.” Curve tapped at her wrist computer causing her armour to begin producing a thin veil of water vapour as it heated up.
“Right. Probably a bad time to ask but you do know how to get to Sanctuary Point from this exit?” Midpoint was now steaming too.
Ace thought about putting their helmet back on but waited so that their brother could see their facial expression. It was somewhere between confusion, betrayal and disgust. “’Do I know how to get to Sanctuary Point?’” They repeated in disbelief. “Obviously. This is near enough the same exit we always use. The Conglomeration hunting exit is a hundred metres ahead of us and Sanctuary point is about a thousand five hundred more in the same direction… Give or take.” Ace cycled the airlock, choosing to keep their helmet off for now.
The door opened and the outside came in. Curve and Midpoint were thankful for their pre-emptive activation of their heaters as, while they did feel some of the planet’s chill, it was nowhere near as much as Ace was feeling. Their suit’s computer was flashing and blaring at them, cautioning them to their exposure to temperatures in the negative forties. Ace remounted their board as if they were still under the dome.
“Are you alright?” Curve shouted over the roaring wind at their sibling.
“Fine. Why?” Ace hovered, unphased in the snow.
“Well, at least we now know what your thing is.” Curve nodded. “Come on then.” She sped off.

Their boards were surprisingly more than capable than they thought. The landscape was unforgiving, boulders protruded from under the flat, white snow creating breeding grounds for stalagmites of ice to crystalise and grow; the neighbouring house sized frozen shards highlighted just how large they could grow to be. Much to Midpoint’s displeasure, he found himself enjoying the boards and even envying their agility in the increasingly hostile terrain as they approached Sanctuary Point. The stalagmites grew around them forming mountain ranges and valleys; at their current pace, Sanctuary Point didn't feel that far away. The wind’s whistle echoed off of the valley walls disguising the other noises present. The three clones hovered near silently towards their goal. Blending near perfectly with the snow, three bhioch waited in ambush. The silence was shattered by the revving of an engine.
“Slow down.” Ace signalled their crew. “Head towards the wall.”
The others nodded as they changed their course to wrap around the walls of the valley.
Barrelling through the valley’s throat, a frenzied being on a hover bike.
“Is that… I didn’t know they could ride.” Curve chuckled.
The reason for their fear became rather quickly as a living snowstorm of bhioch came rampaging behind them. Ace stopped their convoy and moved them into a better position to help. Weapons drawn, Ace fired a shot into one of the attacking creatures. The waiting bhioch lunged as the bike passed them. Two of them took down the rider, the third, the bike. With the rider pinned, there was no stopping them. Ace waved their hand sending Curve and Midpoint into battle, taking up the rear. Ace and Midpoint began laying down fire, expertly avoiding hitting Curve or the rider; between them, they managed to incapacitate two of the creatures. Due to their natural cloaking abilities and the frenzy of snow they were churning up, it was difficult to get an exact count but there were at least three left. Curve batted another off of the rider. It was only then that their suspicions had been confirmed; they were human. Layer upon layer of dense, cold weather clothing and faux fur had obscured their figure so well that they could have been Sat’Mach. The snow took on a red hue as the remaining creatures were dispatched. Curve cleaned the clear blood from her blade as she and Ace rushed to attend to the rider. Midpoint stood close by, weapon ready, to ensure they were alone.
“That looks like a lot of blood.” Ace looked down at their patient. The snow around them was stained crimson, matching where their jacket had been torn.
“Could be nothing.” Curve tried to be optimistic.
Ace neared the face and held their wrist over the rider’s throat. They shook their head. “Nope.”
“Well, least we can do now is find out who they were and what the hel they were doing out here.” Curve started rifling through the body’s pockets. “Interesting.” She held up the polymer rectangle to get a better look. “They were staff at the ‘Sanctuary Point Installation’. Dr. Danica Farkle. Shame.” She passed the card to Ace.
There was a moment of silence. “I hate to sound callus but this could actually help us.”
“What?” Midpoint turned to face them. His gun’s barrel flew into the air as he did.
“We don’t need to work out a way in now, we have their card and their body. If Danica's ID was to make it to Celreagaire, there’d be chaos. Sanctuary Point would likely do anything to stop that to save the experiment. We take the body back to them, explain what happened then, we’re in. They trust us and we use that to get what we want. Win win.” For a plan they weren’t sure would fly well with the others, Ace did sound proud.
“Okay…” Curve had many questions but started with the one she thought most appropriate. “How are we going to get their body to the base?”
“One of us will tow it. Our boards should be more than powerful enough to pull the bike. We put it in neutral then tow it. The other two fly behind to make sure the body doesn’t fall off.”
“Morbid.” Curve turned up her nose. “I am not pulling them.”
“I will.” Midpoint volunteered.
“Right then.” Ace thought their plan had fallen at the first hurdle. “Is that rope in their pocket?”
“No. It’s a tape measure.” Curve threw the coiled fabric ruler to her sibling.
“This will do.” Ace tied the measure around the handlebars of the bike before setting it in neutral. They then trailed it to the rear of Midpoint’s board. They loosely affixed it to the rear stabiliser and gave the nod.
Midpoint lifted the body back onto the bike. “Eww. I was hoping they’d be stiff.” The body flumped in his arms.
“It would have made things easier but all those layers would definitely keep them warm.” Curve backed away and mounted their board.
“There we go.” Midpoint grunted as he set the body down. The bike’s built in seatbelts came in handy.
“Off we go then. Mid, you lead the way.” Ace waved him on.

The station walls were within sight.
“It’s much bigger than I thought.” Ace looked up in amazement at the satellite antennae. They came to a stop.
“That’s what they said.” Curve laughed at her own joke. Her siblings looked at her confused. “Neither of you watched classic entertainment package seven? Really?”
“Three was better. Seven was just a weak clone.” Midpoint anticipated her retort. “I get to use that word too remember.” Curve sighed.
The closer they got the more they realised that it was more than just a communications station. Somehow, hidden entirely from Celreagaire, there was another, large but not quite equal, settlement. It was well over four hundred metres tall with the main attraction standing proud at the centre. It held an almost mythical significance to them being the holder of every piece of information The Protectorate had sent to Illia in their lifetimes. Their bug lingered in the cold nearby but the information it had managed to scrape was nothing in comparison to what remained behind the doors.
“Weird… No oxygen farm yet it’s got a dome.” Midpoint looked around. “Pipeline.” He pointed over at a resurfacing pipeline.
“Must lead back to Celreagaire. I wonder what else they’ve stolen?”
“I guess we’re about to find out. Mid, come on.” Ace signalled for them to move on. They removed their helmet from their belt, placed it on the back of their head and then activated it. Once it had successfully sealed, they moved closer to the wall.
The door stood tall above them. At its lintel, a pair of cameras. While they were visually similar to what they knew cameras looked like, they were wildly different to the ones that surveilled Celreagaire. There was a panel by the door. It had three buttons, each with their own symbol, Ace jabbed the button marked with a microphone and took a deep, solemn breath. Serenity.