I was a little disappointed when the turret didn't start to melt as it sunk under the lava. Movies had lied to me again. In reality, the lava just wasn't hot enough to melt tier 3 metal.
Despite slowly sinking into the river of lava, the turret still was very much trying to kill me. Once it had stopped falling, the turret tracked me smoothly, the barrel pointing at me. I was already moving, pushing the propulsion units in my palms to as hard as they could to dodge back into cover. I slammed hard into the wall, as a plasma bolt the size of a garbage can tore through the space I’d occupied less than a heartbeat before.
I boosted toward the top of the rift, changing my altitude. I knew from experience that the turret had a pattern it would follow to try to nail me while I was behind cover. No follow-up shot came, and I switched my senses to that of the scout drone, which hovered nearby keeping an eye on the turret for me.
Something had jolted the turret off target. It could no longer depress its barrel enough to point it at me. The surface of the lava around it shook, molten stone rippling. A moment later the surface exploded, spraying lava in all directions as black worms—shining and smooth faceted creatures looking like they were made out of pure obsidian—breached the lava. Enormous mouths gaped open, filled with black, triangular teeth glowing with heat. Three of the worms immediately began attacking the turret, their teeth throwing sparks off the hard tier 3 armor. The turret swiveled and fired at one of the worms, the plasma shearing through the creature's shining black body. The worm was wounded but not outright killed. It was enraged, as part of the black surface of its body disappeared, leaving a divot. It lunged forward and seized the barrel in its jaws, wrenching with stupendous force. The massive block of metal shook in the lava.
"Marty, are you seeing this?" I asked.
"Hell yeah, I am. Lava worms, who would've known?"
Whatever they were, they were doing my job for me. I didn't have to worry about the turret anymore.
I eased back out from cover and tried to force the Interface to identify the creatures attacking the turret. Nothing happened. They weren't Union tech or Feral. As unlikely as it seemed, they must have been part of the natural biome of Mercury. Either that, or something alien.
I ordered my scout drone to flash ahead and resume its duty of keeping me safe from any more surprises. I flew into the center of the ravine and throttled up, flying over the scene with the lava worms and the turret. Unlike my drone, I wasn't stealthy. One of the worms saw me and lifted its head to track me as I flew by overhead.
The worm detached itself from the struggle between the two other worms and slowly sinking turret. With a surge it leapt free of the lava, its enormous body breaching entirely, the leap seeming effortless as it soared high over the struggle and dove neatly into the lava on the other side. The surface rippled, showing no hint that such an enormous creature had just disappeared beneath.
"Oh, that might not be good," I said.
I ordered the two particle beam drones on my back to detach and be ready, spacing them around me.
Ripples on the surface of the lava followed behind me as I flew through the chasm. The worm was tracking me.
I was already flying as fast as I could, which wasn't a lot. The chasm was not a simple straight cleft. It was a ragged, jagged line cloven into the surface of Mercury. If I went anywhere near full out and made a single mistake I would become a crater in the wall. I might be able to survive that but it wasn't something I wanted to test. The armor just wasn't built for this kind of fast and agile maneuvering.
The ripples below followed silently as I weaved back and forth following the twists and ragged turns of the chasm. The space between the walls was shrinking fast. Somewhere not that far ahead the rift would end.
Just ahead, the scout caught a glimpse of more Union material. Looking through its eyes I saw the unmistakable look of Union standard modules embedded into the solid rock of Mercury. The rift had exposed part of one node. Not having detected any further defenses, I rushed forward. Once inside the base I'd no longer need to worry about lava worms.
Not far past the exposed node I could see that the cleft in the rock became too narrow for me to proceed. If I were going to get into the base, this was looking like my best shot.
I used the salvage interface to identify the material I was looking at by quickly selecting a large piece of the wall to remove.
╠═╦╬╧╪
Standard Union wall
Salvage: Metals, tier 2
Cost: 122 Nanite Clusters
╠═╦╬╧╪
My Nanite Cluster storage was full for just this sort of problem. I brought up the salvage interface and quickly sketched out a square hatch just big enough for me to fly through with some margin. I kept my cuts as thin as was possible to conserve Nanite Clusters.
╠═╦╬╧╪
Standard Union wall
Salvage: Metals, tier 2
Cost: 23 Nanite Clusters
╠═╦╬╧╪
The roiling, molten surface sixty meters below exploded, lava splashing tens of meters up the wall as the enormous lava worm surged upward like an orca going for a dangling fish. The terrifying mouth gaped open, teeth glowing. I didn't know why an enormous lava worm wanted to eat me, but it certainly did.
My drones were on their game, and both particle beams opened up immediately. Despite what the plasma bolt had done to one of its fellows, these worms weren't soft. The particle beams disintegrated the armored surface of the creature, but failed to penetrate and reach its soft innards, assuming
