“Begin the cycling. Leave them out there long enough, and they’ll just force their way in,” said Cain to one of the security officers present.

  The officer Chief Cain had been pointing to, approached the airlock control panel and ran the cycling process.

  “Regardless, let’s hope they don’t come in guns blazing,” said Francis.

  “From what I know, they were very good at that,” said Savin.

  Francis gave a confused look to Savin.

  “He has his suspicions about who they could be,” said Cain.

  “And now you’re telling us,” said a shocked Melina. “Who do you think they are?”

  “The Kaskari Ascenders. We uplifted them, promised them the universe, and they threw it back in our faces.”

  “Something tells me he’s not telling us the complete story,” said Pyotr. “I was in his memories. You’re not being honest with us. Your people didn’t just uplift them. They treat them like cattle for their power.”

  Savin's haughty stare remained fixed on Pyotr. He smiled and shook his head. “We were running ascension experiments, it's true. The Kaskari possessed an affinity for the psychic realm, an entirely unexplored frontier that, until that point, had only been explored through space travel. The Kaskari had mastery over those arts. Wouldn’t you do anything to take it for yourself?”

  The loud noise of the airlock finishing its cycling caught all their attention. The round doors clicked and parted, smoke billowing out, revealing a darkly lit chamber and three individuals inside. Their armour looked like a sleek, polished silver and reflected the human faces staring back at them, the visors were tinted black and their weapons looked equally futuristic. Cain was glad they hadn’t tried to pick a fight. We’d probably not have a Mars base at the end of it if we got into a fight with them.

  The boots of the aliens loudly clanged as they exited the chamber and into the welcoming station. The aliens stood taller than the average human and gestured to each other first before they each nodded and began fiddling with their helmets. Not a minute later, they were taken off, revealing three distinct faces, one black like charcoal, another bronze, and the middle one looked silver. Their ears were leaf-shaped and their hair was not too different from a human's. It was their eyes that stood out. They each had a noticeable brightness and a red colour to them. Their irises were shaped like diamonds.

  The following silence was a long one as each waited for the other to make the next move. Savin looked ready to step forward, but Cain did so first. If they get a read on him and learn about who he was, this peace might not last, especially if there’s history there. I am making a habit of this - dealing with psychic aliens. Why do they get to have all these cool tricks?

  Cain held out his hand for a handshake. The middle alien looked from one to another and then to the pink hand in front of them. Without hesitation, the alien reached forward and clasped Cain's hand.

  Nothing happened at first, but that was because the alien hadn’t yet engaged its trace. Once it did, a feeling not too different from when Reginald did it washed over him. Except this time the power became a crushing weight on his forehead, like his brain was being squeezed.

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  ‘Cain, we come in peace.’

  ‘You have some way of showing it.’

  The alien released their hold on him, and Cain stood back up. “I’ll have to ask that you refrain from doing that with anyone else here. It’s rude to pry into our memories.”

  “We - can - oblige.”

  English sounded strange coming from his mouth, but at least it meant that they could understand each other.

  The alien then turned its focus to Savin. Cain joined him in this, fearing that the trace had exposed who Savin truly was.

  “You, you are not like the others.”

  Cain cursed inwardly at himself for allowing his mind to be so easily read. Savin, in acknowledgement, stepped forward. “What makes you say that?”

  “You have taken that body as your own and, in doing so, are suppressing the primary consciousness,” said the alien. “You also know of us.”

  Savin glared at Cain but managed to smile still. “You saw that then. So, are you going to finish what you started all those centuries ago?”

  The alien stepped up to Savin, and despite Reginald’s height, the Kaskari easily dwarfed the man. “What my people started? What yours started, you mean.”

  Cain made it a point to pull Savin back. “Whatever happened between the Nirikiri and the Kaskari - That’s what you are right? That’s in the past. We’ve got bigger problems right now.”

  “Yes,” said the Kaskari. “Namely, what lies deep below? You should never have tried to access it. You’re lucky the Primor hasn’t overrun this place.”

  “Indeed,” said Savin. “Perhaps we should talk somewhere more discreet, and settle this matter properly.”

  The alien looked at its companions and they each nodded in agreement. “Then lead the way, since you’re the one in charge.”

  While Savin began leading the aliens, Cain found Francis grabbing him by the arm. “There’s a lot at stake here, Cain. Do you really think you can handle these two? It’s clear they would sooner kill each other.”

  “I’ll worry about that, Frank. In the mean time you should probably rest. You’ve not stopped since you got here.”

  Hydroponics was a bio-dome that cultivated plants and trees using soil brought from Earth and kept them under strictly managed conditions. This led to the dome becoming its own habitat with an abundance of trees that helped produce oxygen and other resources. The water source came from below ground and was managed by a filtration plant. Except the plant itself wasn’t a human construct. Much like with how they even made it to Mars in the first place, the first arrivals had discovered that various constructs already existed a few feet below the Mars surface, all they needed to do was dig and build the main base on top.

  The five of them navigated the mazelike, humid environment until they reached the ramp that led into the alien-built part. Eva stopped before the obsidian doors etched in symbols, a part of her now recognised but had no true way of understanding. She wondered if due to how the symbiotes worked, it may have once known what these symbols meant, but now all it recognised was the shapes, nothing more. On her right was a control panel that opened the door. She gestured to one of the miners to try the biometrics reader. He did so, but the panel turning from green to red came as no surprise. None of those with her would likely have authorisation to enter the filtration plant. They would have to find another way.

  “Then there is no other choice,” she said, looking at Harvey. “Are any of your cores developed? Are they enough to cut through this door?”

  Harvey cocked his head and clenched his right fist. It took some concentration and focus, but the psionic purple blade ignited from his fist. “I can certainly try,” he said, taking his position in front of the door.

  He thrust forward, and the blade passed through, searing the metal surface. He cut off half an oval at first before adjusting and finishing it fully. A black smoke engulfed them as he kicked out and a loud thud signalled that he had been successful. The miners entered first, leaving Eva as the last. She looked behind her and smiled to herself.

  All that’s left to do is spread an inviolable truth, and let chaos reign.