The moon itself was like nothing Hudson had seen before. Considering his recent experiences, this was saying something. It was clear that whatever civilization had occupied it had once been great. There were sprawling cityscapes, interspersed with vast open spaces that were orchestrated with precision and grace. Each of these spaces had been connected by sweeping bridges, as elegant as they were vast. However, like the structures on the surface, most of these were now scorched and broken. Hudson could only imagine how beautiful the moon must have been before its ruin. He shuddered at the thought of the monstrous power that was capable of dealing damage on such a global scale. However, he no longer needed to imagine the thing that was capable of sowing such destruction. Since Morphus had implanted the knowledge into his brain, Hudson had an innate awareness of Goliath’s murderous capabilities.
The other unique aspect of the moon was that there were no Shaak radiation signatures coming from the surface. Whatever this civilization had been, its technology was distinct from the alien hulks that littered the other portal worlds. This made it both exciting and terrifying. No-one knew what to expect, but every hunter in the galaxy wanted to be the first to find out.
The only Shaak signatures were coming from the space around the gas giant. The fractured remains of the Revocater remained in orbit around it. Some hunters had even forgone the planet in an attempt to salvage what they could from the broken ship instead.
Suddenly, the navigation scanner bleeped, and a red chevron appeared on the map displayed on its screen. Hudson quickly checked the readings and confirmed that the new contact was Cutler’s ship. It had landed in what appeared to be the remains of a major city center. Despite there being no Shaak signatures, the area seemed thick with technology. Hudson was picking up objects that could have been ships or transports, and there was an abundance of other rare and precious metals. A plentiful hunting ground… Hudson told himself.
Hudson began his descent towards the city, but then he realized that there were a number of other hunter ships also in the vicinity. These crews had obviously spied the same potential for a big score as Cutler and Griff had. He picked a landing spot about a kilometer from Cutler’s FS-31, avoiding the other landed ships as much as possible. However, it was clear that he would have to tread carefully. This was not only because of Cutler and Griff, but the other hunters too. It was a case of every hunter for him or herself, and Hudson expected bullets to fly more freely than words.
He set the Orion down in the middle of a large building that had been hollowed out by some kind of bomb or weapon. However, its walls were mostly intact, which made it an effective hiding place. It was about as concealed as Hudson could hope for, given that the roar of the landing thrusters would have alerted anyone on the surface to his arrival.
Hudson shut down the main drives, but left the reactor hot, in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Moving through the ship and into the cargo hold, he then checked and loaded his pistol, before hitting the release for the ramp. Cool air rushed in and Hudson stepped outside, looking up at the cloud-covered grey sky. Prior to Morphus imparting him with knowledge of the Corporeals’ history, he would have been amazed that the moon had an Earth-like atmosphere and gravity. However, given the shared ancestry between humans and the long-dead population of the moon, it now all made sense.
The ramp whirred shut behind him, and he drew his pistol, before climbing over the rubble to scout his way ahead. He had attached a simple wrist pad to his left arm, which showed the location of Cutler’s FS-31, plus a beacon displaying his own ship. The route would take him through broken streets and a dozen other fractured buildings. Conflicts on Earth were now mostly economic in nature, but this landscape resembled the war-ravaged cities of the late twentieth century. An ambush could wait around any corner, and spring from behind any wall.
Hudson took a deep breath and forged ahead, occasionally glancing down at his wrist pad to stay on course. The going was not easy and he wished he’d worn his backpack full of relic hunter gear.
He scrambled down the side of a collapsed tower, and checked his wristpad again. He was still over half a kilometer from Cutler’s ship, but without climbing higher there was no way to see it. He considered risking a short ascent up the remains of a skyscraper, but then he heard the sound of debris falling. He dropped to one knee, raising the pistol in readiness, and remained still, listening for the sound. It came again, echoing cleanly off the smashed walls of buildings all around him. Hudson couldn’t pinpoint the location accurately, but he knew it was close by. Hudson quickly reconfigured the wristpad to show movement and then spotted a blip about fifty meters from his current position. The blip was steadily moving and, as Hudson quietly observed its progress, he realized it was heading directly towards him.
CHAPTER 7
Hudson crept closer towards where his wristpad indicated the rival hunters were approaching from, and climbed a steep mound of rubble to gain some elevation. He’d hoped to spot the other hunter crew's advance, but the crashed remains of some sort of alien flying transport blocked his view. It had cut a long groove through the city, before eventually smashing through the base of a tower block and coming to rest. Hudson cursed himself for not avoiding the crash site. It was exactly the sort of thing that would attract a hunter looking for a high-tech score.
The crashed craft lay between Hudson and where he needed to be, but to go around it would require a lengthy detour. It would also bring him close to where some of the other hunter ships had landed. Hudson weighed up his options and cursed under his breath. “Damn it, Hudson, this is another one of your stupid ideas,” he whispered into the chilly air.
Hudson dropped down to street level and crept along the side of a building towards the crash site. He glanced down at his wristpad again, and to his relief, the other hunters now appeared to be moving away from him. Once he was past the crash site, he’d be able to steer a wide berth and avoid them entirely.
Climbing in through a smashed window, Hudson began to navigate inside the downed vessel. It was vaguely similar to the commercial passenger transports that ferried people between the portal worlds, except at least three times the size. Hudson briefly marveled at the technology that would have kept it airborne, but then another sound grabbed his attention. He dropped low again, and saw a shadow moving towards him inside the vessel. He checked again, and the blips on his wristpad were still moving away. This was someone else, he realized.
He gripped the pistol more tightly and began to circle around, watching the shadow through the broken and mangled rows of seats. Suddenly, the shadow darted towards him, but Hudson reacted just as fast. He saw a pistol glinting in the gloom, but Hudson had already closed the distance between them. He deflected the attacker’s aim, then grabbed his opponent’s jacket with his free hand. Driving forwards, Hudson wrestled the figure – now more clearly identifiable as a young man – backwards over a row of seats, while pressing his pistol under his chin.
“Drop it, and don’t do anything stupid!” Hudson called out, adding more pressure with the barrel of the pistol.
“How about you drop it instead, asshole,” said another voice, as the cold feel of something solid pressed up against Hudson's throat from behind. However, he wasn’t afraid; he would recognize that voice anywhere.