Star Force: Hamoriti (SF62) Read Free Page A

the insanely high corovon readings, which required breaking
through a secondary internal hull. A defense program had been hindering their
progress for months, but finally they’d been able to shut it down via some
well-placed explosives and burn their way through the inner hull to get their
first look at the corovon deposit.
    It wasn’t as large as the interior, rather just a
‘small’ object laying inside the 10 kilometer-wide empty internal cavern.
Whatever it was wasn’t pure corovon, that was obvious by the dirty blue
coloration, but it was giving off such high readings that even a tiny piece of
the mile long object would be invaluable to their operations on the planet…let
alone what the entire mass would do for the lizard empire as a whole once they
got to the point of sending out exports.
    But apparently there had been some sort of chemical
contamination, for the workers on the collection efforts had begun reporting
illnesses as they tried in vain to chip off even a small portion of what
appeared to be a massive statue. The high levels of corovon were obviously
responsible for that and it would take some time to break it down into
transportable chunks for processing, but if there was a contaminate in or
around the object the tech lizard was going to be the one to ascertain what it
was.
    To that end it was carrying an array of gear strapped
to its body on top of the envirosuit it wore. The three standard variants wore
no protection, nor did the others still working in the massive artifact, but if
this one was to leave for further analysis of any samples collected it couldn’t
risk bringing the contamination out in its own body so protocol dictated that
it err on the side of caution.
    When they came out of the descending tunnels they
passed through the original breach point in the artifact and were met with reports
of additional illness, though it had escalated to onsite incapacitation rather
than the mobile and conscious patients that had been examined previously by
standard variant medics. If this was a disease locked away for who knew how
long then it could very well wreak havoc with the Li’vorkrachnika population on
the planet.
    Before it went any further the tech relayed an order
to seal the shafts at the surface. If they couldn’t contain this then they’d
die here rather than risk spreading it to the others, but if they were going to
die he’d need to gather information to send to the others up top so they could
devise a cure or countermeasure because this corovon find was by far the
largest ever recorded, and even if it meant the deaths of billions of his kin
it would be worth it to the empire once harvested.
    Knowing what his duty was, the tech variant hurried
forward with its assistants/escorts through the outer ring of compartments
until they got to the inner breach site and found a mass of their kin waiting
there. They were stopped immediately, then the tech variant was allowed to pass
to the front of the crowd where he was pointed towards the sea of tiny dots
ahead that were the other Li’vorkrachnika that had been affected.
    A standard variant passed him a magnifying scope and the
tech placed it over his left eye, allowing him to see in more detail those who
had fallen ill…except they hadn’t fallen. They were standing perfectly still,
every last one of them.
    A perplexed expression crossed the tech’s face, then
the others pointed out the approximate boundary of the affected region, citing
that when they’d sent another team in they’d become affected almost
immediately. The tech turned his attention to that location and saw the 18
Li’vorkrachnika there, all standing still like statues.
    He took a moment to think through the possibilities,
in a way that only his scientifically engineered mind could, then told the
standard variants to stay put while he investigated, given that he was the only
one with a body suit. So he began the long, multiple kilometer trek alone and
by foot, not using