Their destination – the steel gates of the first pathfinders, at the forgotten region Lairealai.

Aviators' fleet crossed the boundary of the unknown, following the maps of the first pioneers. Many fell to the mirage storm at the Nebula of Stolen dreams, but here they are – at the Emerald Ocean.

Two vast green skies, one above, one below. Twin jungles interconnected by gigantic stalks and stems. It wasn't easy to navigate between their vines and leaves, when trillions of sorcerer's cicadas jammed their signals, and there lurked another invisible danger – an imperceptible beast known as a thorned dragon cricket.

Although thorned dragon cricket vaguely resembled its namesake, its anatomy differed in four aspects – size, thorns, visibility, and structure of a tongue. The insect was massive, aviator ships were the size of its pupils. Due to the animal's camouflage, steel hulls often rammed into sharp barbs on its back, but that wasn't the only danger, the creature's tongue was like that of a chameleon and hunted for swarms of cicadas, which ships were often mistaken for.

Seven-tenths of the fleet was destroyed, but others arrived at safe haven, named later the Abyss of Lanterns, after the horizontal pit where the flora consisted of branching black stems with bioluminescent orange orbs at their ends, biggest the size of a white dwarf.

Once the first few colonies were established, these willing to still risk their lives were on a voyage to the horizon which, like a funnel, expanded into a giant void.

After years, behind the dark curtain, the gates of the first pathfinders showed themselves. An ancient array of iron corridors built by their predecessors, who one day vanished without a trace. Each tunnel was leading to a one-way portal with a different destination. They knew, that the answers where they lead were in the gate's archives.

Their squadrons landed, each with the task of deciphering maps of the skies...

[ . . . ]

"What is it, John? Afraid of the dark, are we?"

John fixed his glasses and looked at a lion mercenary in black uniform. Half of the soldier's mane was tied into braids and dyed red at their ends. The lion carried a minigun with a triple barrel and had a heavy backpack of miniature missiles on his back. At his belt, was a small double axe.

"Easy, Laurael. Let the freshmeat breathe a little."

It was a young, feminine voice of an infiltrator in a tight, black battle suit, with a short cape, sleek helmet, and a silken hood. She carried two pistols holstered at her belt and a silver smg. Right above her shoulder hovered a spherical drone with four antennas in the shape of small wings. Various accessories were attached to the girl's attire in easy to access locations, be it strange cybernetic needles, vials with mechanical spiders, gluable tracking devices, and alike.

John, was an average android. He wore no synthetic skin and instead opted for a long coat that hid its entire interior, including the neck concealed behind a tall collar. John also lacked any distinguishable features. His lack of hair, gray eyes, and white plates were typical for his model.

"Machines don't feel fear." - John uttered in a pragmatic voice.

"You tell him, rookie." - The girl in a hood cheered and laughed.

"Ohh..." - Laurael laughed too, then continued with a roguish smirk. - "...but can they feel pain?"

"It... it depends on the model." - John replied, although timidly.

The infiltrator slapped the lion's back, it was quite a hit.

"Ouch! What is it for, Eri?"

"Don't tease him."

"I'm just curious!" - Laurael protested, but Eri acted like she knew what kind of game the lion was playing. She passed the lion, taking the lead, to indicate that now she's the unofficial boss here and gestured that she is watching him.

"What's her deal?" - Laurael whispered after leaning to John's ear.

"I can hear you!" - Eri wasn't having any of this.

"Okay! Okay!" - The lion lifted his both hands, to gesture that he's giving up.

John fixed his glasses again and focused on his job. He stared at the ceiling and watched the markings on the cables. They were interested in the gate's registry, one of the many.

"Turn le..." - John uttered, but bumped into Eri, who has stopped for some unknown reason.

"John..." - Eri's weapon was aiming at the dark corridor in the front of the intersection. - "..stay back."

John's eyes turned bluish, he observed the tunnel in infrared. There was nothing there.

Eri's weapon lowered. - "It's gone. What was that!?"

"I didn't hear anything." - Laurael responded.

"Same. The tunnel appears empty." - John added.

"You two are useless." - Eri sighed. - "I'm telling you, we were being watched." - She uncorked the vial with steel spiders and set them free. Nine screens appeared in corner of the display in her helmet, tracking the arachnids.

"Oh, ho ho ho! Someone is getting paranoid!" - Laurael laughed heartily.

"Stop jesting, it's a serious concern for the integrity of the mission." - Eri complained.

"Booo! It's a ghost of Lairealai! It'll steal your pennies!" - Laurael continued to mock the girl.

"Thickhead!" - Eri yelled out.

"Oh, hoh hoh! We'll see! Do you want to bet and check it out?" - Laurael bantered.

"You bet, I do!" - Eri hissed slowly, as she stood on her tiptoes to reach the lion's eyes with her own.

"The objec..." - John tried to speak, but Laurael extended his hand and stopped him.

"Stay out of this, rookie." - The lion said.

John felt silenced for a moment, but he gathered the confidence and spoke again. - "The objective of this mission is to obtain..."

"Oh, ROOKIE! Come on! We've got a thing here! Don't you see!?" - Laurael grumbled.

"A thing!" - Eri burst into laughter. - "I knew you're a joker, but I would've never thought you would aim this far."

"Hey! I thought that you tried to..." - The lion protested.

Eri moved her index to the lion's lips. - "You think, and talk too much." - She then directed her gaze helmet towards John. - "What is it, you tried to say?"

"The records are kept right to our left." - John replied.

"...and?"

"...and it's our mission?" - John added, unconfidently.

"...so?"

"We should go there?"

"Then go." - She then moved to a front tunnel, Laurael just looked at John, shrugged, and followed.

"Alone!?" - John shouted, but Eri would simply wave her hand in silence.

[ . . . ]

"There is not the slightest possibility that anything lives in this place." - John uttered to himself and clutched his handbag to his chest. - "Anything."

The gate to the registry stood right in front of him, the door was open, but John didn't like what he saw. Their hydraulics were dented, and pieces of steel were broken off.

"Anything." - He reiterated, entering inside.

This was a small, square room, consisting mostly of panels and screens. In the center, was the main computer, which was just a chaotic mass of cables and monitors connected to a very wide pillar of iron tubes.

John pressed the big red, restart button, unlocking the manual override lever. It was a bit rusty, so he had to give it an extra push. Immediately, the ventilators at the ceiling started working, replacing stale, dusty air with a nice, chilly breeze.

John's fingers danced between the keyboards, inputting commands necessary to reprogram security protocols. There was quite a lot of hacking involved and at some point, John just stopped, blankly staring at the screens.

"What am I supposed to do? It's Eri's job!"

He turned, slid down, and sat, leaning against the steel computer cases.

"Hello, in a bad mood?" - A distorted voice spoke to John's ear. He jumped on the spot. - "Oh, hoho! Care, or you might crush me!" - It added.

"Who is it?" - John inquired, a bit unsettled.

"Ohhh... don't you recognize me?" - The voice complained. - "What a shame, and I thought we got to know each other."

"Hey!! HEY!!" - A sound of knocking on a glass surface followed the voice. - "HELLO JOHN!! Hey... does he hear me?"

"Of course he does! And take that hand away!" - The first voice added.

"Ohh, it's you Eri." - John looked at the source of the sound, it was a small spider on his shoulder. The android responded, relieved. - "Did you find the ghost?"

"Hahaha." - Laurael laughed.

"Hey, don't encourage him! And no, we didn't." - Eri answered. - "Hmm... how are you doing there?"

"I'm stuck." - John explained.

"Allow me to help." - The spider climbed down, then to the keyboard. A thin needle emerged from its back and pierced the electronics. 'Access granted' appeared on all of the screens. - "Here we go."

"Thank you, Eri." - John's fingers moved to the buttons once more and he began browsing the files.

"No problem, don't wander off once you're done." - Eri replied.

"Sure, sure. Do you want me to wait for you, or...?"

"Your choice. We're on our way back, so we'll catch up."

"Okay, then... I guess, back to work?"

Eri giggled. - "Sure, rookie. See you."

"See you."

"BYE." - Laurael added, a tad too loud.

"Oh, don't just break in!" - Eri's complained.

"I can still hear you." - John said with a smile.

"Ohh, sorry!" - At this point, Eri disconnected.

John worked for a few minutes more and in the end, retrieved the data. What was left, was to analyze it, back on their ship. What secrets did the gate hide? Perhaps, an answer to the disappearance of its people was right there. John kept smiling as he packed a cube data carrier into his bag, until he stopped, at the door, once again, and looked at the dents.

Then, he heard it... a growling.

[ . . . ]

"Machines don't feel fear!" - Laurael parodied John's voice.

Eri just giggled, it was too funny. - "Stop it!" - She waved her hand.

"Of course, they don't, maybe they're just allergic to spiders!"

Eri snorted with laughter. - "I'll show you a recording once we get back to the ship. Just... don't tell him I have it."

"Oh, hoho. I get it, I get it... I can't wait to see his expression, the day he finally finds out!"

Eri secretly smiled behind the dark screen of her helmet, watching the replay.

Laurael, however, had stopped. - "Eri..."

Eri, slightly taken aback, turned off the video and asked. - "What is it?"

Laurael picked a piece of synthetic fiber with his talon. - "Look."

"Is it... John's?"

"I'm afraid it is." - He sniffed the air with his snout, then moved a few steps more. - "Eri, bad news."

Eri's eyes were wide open. There was a smudge of blue blood. The girl immediately pointed for her drone to scout ahead and rushed into the tunnel, she was too fast for Laurael to stop her. A trail of blue spots led to what used to be a cafeteria. Her drone hovered in the center, scanning the area. There was no further sign of John. It was like the trail was cut short.

Then, Eri realized, but it was already too late.

[ . . . ]

Laurael lagged off, behind. He heard a sudden muffled scream and adrenaline surged into his veins.

"Eri! ERI!" - The lion screamed but heard no response. He prepared his gun for the worst and aimed right in front of him.

Then he heard it, an approaching growling.

The lion charged in, screaming. A blurry silhouette of a four-legged, black shadow was barely visible in the darkness, but Laurael knew not to wait. His minigun spun rapidly, shooting hundreds of exploding missiles at the beast.

The shadow, however, jumped to its right at an incredible speed, leaped off a wall and to the ceiling, all while being pursued by projectiles, then jumped right at the lion's neck. The last sight Laurael noticed, was a jaw filled to the brim with sharp teeth...