The Bouncer's body bears a straight red angry molten scar, break in a perfect half, sputtered, and slowly falls sideway to the ground. 

Behind it, Bane crouched low, his pectoral fins planted inside a deep molten scar on the metal floor. The blade like edge of the fins that runs along his ulna glowed electric blue, cooled to a dull red and winked off.

I blinked in disbelief.

I watched the sliced slab of metal composite that a few seconds ago...were robots with killer fist that had tried to crush my skull inside my helmet. 

Yup, just a few seconds ago, I checked my mission clock.

Questions start to roll inside my head (as if I didn't have enough questions in the past few days); Did he just sliced through the machine's energy shielding, armour plating, hardened chassis and all in ONE single swipe? Did Bane posses some kind of superior technology? Some kind of HALO alien plasma blade technology?

He stood up to his full height in this rectangular room—which appears to be a quite big engine room for a research vessel.

“I didn't hurt you right?" Bane practically scooped me up and placed me on my feet.

“Yea, nothing much except for my brain storming my head with questions such as" I halted mid-syllable as four contacts registered on my scanners. *sigh* Life has a good way to cut whatever you are saying.

Multiple possible ballistic trajectory lines crisscrossed in my HUD as my suit computers detect & calculate four sentry turrets, popping out from the ceiling. The firing lines solidify as my suit double-checked its calculations.

Holy sh—

“BANE! INCOMING!" I warned.

I shot a grappling hook towards a dead-still-intact Bouncer and pulled it towards me. Within 5 seconds, I managed to locate the threats and erected a cover. But apparently, 5 seconds is not enough to know that the turret is probably borrowed from The Predators (or some genius cut-down version of the usual drones)

Blue miniature suns appeared inside the muzzle of the turret. They solidify and become brighter before finally streaking the air and homing straight towards us.

Strangely, Bane's expression melted from panic to...what? Anticipation? Optimism? That diabolical smile again?

I can't really get a read on him.

As if I haven't seen enough weird things today, Bane boldly stepping in front of the makeshift cover went to the top of my list.

“NO, DON'T! WTF ARE YOU DOING?" I curse shout at him, unable to stop his 'head on' approach.

 Bane hissed in pain as the bright bolts of ionised gas hit him dead centre on his chest.

Then, impossible things start to happen.

Firstly, there is no sign of even a single third degree circular burn mark.

Secondly, instead of melting straight through his flesh (like that one time I tried to light a cigar using a blowtorch) the bolt diffused throughout his skin and dispersed into a thin almost invisible blue glow—like a film of water or oil.

Seeing all this makes me question my own understanding to plasma.

“Y-you're fuckin' plasma proof?" I stared in disbelief.

“Hell yeah!" his laugh echoed. “But they're still frickin' hot... The heat stings like hell."

He raised his left forearm as a guard against the bright flash of the incoming salvo. The entire turret array fired...and tracked their shots. Bane winced as it hit him. Strangely, the moist surface of his gills seemed to emit some steam when he exhaled.

Again, I saw the plasma being absorbed and turn into the strange blue glow. However, this time, the glow traveled...and concentrated to the tip of his finger. I bit my lower lip and mentally prepare myself.

Bane pointed his middle finger in a very arcane gesture towards a turret and a split second later... 'ZAP!' a magnesium bright lightning arc formed in the air forcing me to blink.

 When I opened my eyes, the turrets are offline, short-circuited by Bane's...uhh…ability t-to TURN PLASMA INTO LIGHTNING?

Okay, that didn't sound scientifically correct. Lightnings are made of plasma. So, Bane has the ability to reshape plasma then?

…

..

.

MIND-BLOWN!

Alternatively, he could just contain the electrical charges in a well-hidden capacitor in his clothing. Could he?

“Now that's what I'm talkin' about," Bane crowed. “An honest to God turkey shoot."

Nah, questions for another day if we survive this entrance to a secret lab. (Read: Gun-lined-booby-trapped 'entrance') I think there is even more surprises waiting up ahead. Whoever owns this boat didn't want any intruder. Even aliens, hope so. It's funny that I've never seen an anti-aircraft battery yet.

Speaking about the devil, a pair of turrets dropped down from the ceiling ten meters up ahead. The barrels extended, laser sights traced visible red lines across the room before I heard an audible click indicating that a round had went into its chamber.

“Uh-oh," I muttered. “SNIPERS!" I moved to Bane's position in two quick strides. Honestly, in my line of duty, this is not the first time I've been in the line of fire. First thing first, I recalled, “a more armoured unit need to protect a less armoured unit in order to maintain the functionality of a team." If he's smaller (or lighter maybe), I'll just cut through the chase by grabbing his collar and drag him to safety. But, considering the current situation…I charged, dumping all my energy into my legs and drove him backward towards the safety behind a 10 foot tall recharge station.

BANG! BANG!

 Sparks danced at the edge of my face-plate as a round impacted and ricochet away leaving a sharp metallic ping.

Bane is an entirely another story though.

“Ow!" he cried, either because I just slammed him against a wall or a bullet had hit him.

A dark red circular mark gave me the answer.

“Hey, at least it's not your head," I calmed him down, laid his back properly against the recharge station and pulled the dead Bouncer to cover my back.

“Umm…ah…how do you know that those aren't plasma?" Bane said through gritted teeth.

“Easy, they used laser sight. Plasma is easily distracted by laser" I replied as I took a quick look at the bullet hole. 

...

This is weird, I'm not even sure it came from a sniper rifle since it's only a few inch deep (didn't shatter or penetrate any bones).

Bane must have read my neural language because he quickly changed the topic by saying, “Oh you mean that plasma is easily distracted by a the flow of something that made up a laser beam?"

Although it seemed like an innocent question I noticed two things; Bane is way smarter than he looks ; There's a hint of deception in his voice. I think he's in quite a tight situation where he need to pretend to not know...something...(I don't think that he's the lying type of guy...just briliantly deceptive). Interesting, a shark with secrets. 

“Yup," I nodded and decided to play along. By the end of the day, I'm sure that I'll find his skeleton in the closet.

Our conversation (read: my train of genius thought) stopped abruptly by two sniper rounds that had penetrated the Bouncer's damaged chassis and hit my back with enough force to jolt me forward. An army of miniature vacuum cleaner like robots with flame thrower had poured out from the lab.

A downed teammate, two rude shots in the back and modified home appliances?! Now, I'm REALLY PISSED. THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET REAL IN HERE!

Time seemed to slow as my blood boiled and my heart rate spiked. I peeked from my cover and saw this lab's weakness. I shoved my gun through the hole in the Bouncer's mid-section, calibrated my arm position, suit parameters, and rechecked my calculation and sight lines before picking off the turrets. Two shots each. Their chamber jammed open as I shot off their ammunition belt and jammed their barrel by placing a bullet in there—An extremely accurate shot that could only be accomplished when I'm really pumped up.

Using the Bouncer as a battering ram and a Frisbee I ran before throwing it towards the piles of machine in front of me, sending them flying before they could ignite their flame weapons. I proceed by lowering my centre of gravity, skidded on the floor and fired a hacking dart towards a bank of computer terminals. A USB port pulsed as the dart hits. Alphanumerical strings marched across the display as I broke through a few hastily established firewalls before it declared: 

//Access_Granted!

All the robots crawled back into their recharge station and disappeared from sight just as quickly as they had appeared.

I realized that I had been holding my breath, exhaled a sigh of relief and dropped my head flat against the floor.

“That," Bane panted, “was close." He clicked an obsidian black throwing axe onto the magnetic strap on his chest. His shadow loomed as he moved closer and sat beside me. “Al, could you help me with this nasty piece of lead? My fingers are just too big" He winced while pointing towards his shoulder.

I knelt beside him, clicked on my flashlight and handed him my right hand gauntlet, “Hold this." From here, I could barely see a metallic object embedded inside his flesh. That's tricky.

“Bane, you know that bullets are not made of lead anymore?" I tried to distract him.

“Then what?" I saw his eyes focused on my face.

I used the split second distraction to place my gauntleted left hand precisely on top of the bullet hole and activated an electromagnet on my palm.

TING! The bullet landed in my palm.

“There you go. Your first nickel." I showed it to him.

“AAAaaaaaaa…." Bane let out an obviously fake scream.

“Seriously?" I aimed my finger towards the bullet hole.

Bane laughed. “Hey hey hey…OK ok. Fine, it's just a joke." He hurriedly covered his wound with his hand and hissed from the resulting pain.

This time it was my turn to laugh.

“How might I be of service, sir?" a robotic voice came from behind.

A quick glance revealed a blue tinged hologram of a man dressed in a sharp black and white butler uniform complete with a black bowtie and nicely buttoned cuffs. The hologram appears to be emitted from the dark glassy lines that runs throughout the wall of this lab.

"Salutations and felicitations, sir, and a most jocund welcome to the lab. I am your electronic valet and household central processor. May I be of service, sir?" It speaks with a stiff, overly-verbose and faintly British accent, in the manner of a typical butler that you see in the pre-war movies. My hacking probe must have hacked his systems too. Although my instinct kept screaming something else.

“Would sir need some medical aid?" he addresses Bane.

“Uhh…sure? I…guess," Bane hesitated.

“Right this way sir," the hologram clicked on its heels and walked inside the lab.

I decide to follow it since it didn't seem to be hostile. But that didn't mean I'm ready to drop my guard. It was weird considering that a lab that is highly protected as this…is empty…and could be hacked by a single hack dart. Something fishy is going on.

The hologram led us into a large circular room. Noticeably, there's 5 workstations each with their own set of lab equipment strewn, hanged, nailed and bolted to the wall forming some kind of office like work cubicles. In the middle of the room lay a round table-sized touch screen with floating holographic display forming a direct interface to the central processing unit on board this ship.

“Yes, sir, you are looking at my central processing unit. Anything that you might need, sir?" another copy of the hologram appeared.

I took a glance at the other hologram; taking note on their similarities, considering the only OS that could run multiple personality fragments at once…

“So you are a fully functional AI after all?" I think it's time to say that —I'm not a cat in a bag. “Come on; don't hide behind that simple butler VI. Tell me, what's in the prize pool?"

The butler hologram smirked before dissolving into millions strings of blue coloured code forming a…body “Yes, sir judgement would be correct. I am Deep Blue, an artificial intelligence personality operating inside Vessel 43-3."  Deep Blue held up his hand. “Stop. I see your mind in logic lock, Elite. I would, perhaps, help to explain."

“Please," I whispered. “just address me as a soldier."

The machine sighed before continuing, “A NAV system error had led us to crash against a bed of coral in the middle of nowhere. Crew status : MIA after we were attacked by 'airborne anomaly' 5 minutes and 3.286 seconds later." The CPU let out a low humming sound, straining doing some kind of a complex task, “I'm sorry, most of my data is corrupted. I…strangely, the source of my disruptions had been cut off from the grid a few moment ago."

Bane came into the room with a bandaged shoulder carrying some kind of…robotic octopus? It reminds me of the 'squiddy' from the Matrix, a movie that barely registered in my childhood memories.

“Here, I found it. If we're lucky, it might contain some hints." Bane cracked the thing 'head' in half and took its 'brain' out. Then, he took a smashed keyboard and used its cables and wiring to connect it with Deep Blue.

Multiple files appear on Deep Blue's interface that forced him to shrink into a simple icon. I hovered my hand in a slow steady motion, rotating the holographic display carefully. I traced along the twisted file path left inside the squiddy, disabling its security barrier until I found what I've been searching for. Blue dimmed the room lights when I selected the file labelled SECURITY.

A bank of 10 security cameras display appeared. On CAM 02, a grainy video came to life displaying two people repairing some equipment on the deck. Based on how the people are standing, I think this is the time when the ship had just crashed. Unfortunately, the video files is too damaged that the audio that came out was garbled and swamped with static.  I paused all the videos.

“Any ideas?" Bane appeared with a holographic keyboard beside me.

“Bring up the 3D layout of this ship, then we could-"

“Done." Deep Blue cuts in. He enlarged the 3D model of the ship in front of him and I saw that he had extrapolated all the data available. “I made this in a few micro seconds ago. The sound came from surrounding object. I measured their vibrations and reverse engineered the audio."

I gave him a thumb up. AIs always love to show off and impress their user. It satisfies their logic of existence.

The model played showing five crew labelled 'Fix-it-Felix', 'Dala', 'Borous', '8-head', 'Zero' and 'Mobius'. Funny names. Is that a bug?

I scanned the work stations and found a photograph scribbled with their names using a marker pen. A quick cross reference revealed that they are: Robert Klein the Captain; Melcia Mandala, a mineralogist; Ben 'The snake keeper'; Oliver O'Ryan and someone labelled “Mobius strip expert"???

“If you are wondering, those are their nicknames, sir." The AI read my thought.

I got a hint of nostalgia reminding me of 'callsign' that I got when I was still a cadet. I sighed seeing another family torn apart by this war.

Back to the 3D security recording, they seemed to have a punctured ballast tank, communication problems, main generator power failure…...all their repair activities stopped abruptly when a ship wide broadcast declared, “XENOs…INCOMING!"

Personally I prefer calling a spade, a spade. But, Xeno sounds appropriate.

In the blink of an eye, the research vessel quickly turned into a battlefield as Xenodrones dropped from the skies. The security systems available are easily gunned down as the drones hijacked their anti-intruder bots. Horrifyingly, humanoid figure in jetpack strapped jet black power armour joined the hijack party (Xenotrooper)—a sign of full assault from a Xenodropship. The situation turned from defensive to a harvest. The ship slowly went dark, section by section as systems get hijacked, cameras got busted and…the true horrors began as the crew are taken alive by Squiddy & friends to become the alien's crew.

Strangely someone did survive.

A video flickered to life as a heavy duty repair mech came to life inside the cargo bay on the 2^nd level. The video showed an empty cockpit as the mech plough through the army of aliens, trampling and squashing everything in its path. The mech charged straight onto the deck and held the fighting forces there to buy some time for Dr. Mobius and Deep Blue deep inside the ship secure room.

The model enlarged until it become 'real-sized' and mapped onto itself. In the lab, a semi translucent form of Dr. Mobius flickered on the floor. His face was pale, his body was paralysed from hip to toe due to a few rounds hitting his spine. “Blue, codeword : Ragnarok. Countdown : imminent. Keep it safe for them…," he breathed his last words before collapsing in front of the holographic projector. I caught a pixelated blur of a Xenotrooper bursting into the room before the display went dark and the word

[[/$Y$T3M_oV3RLO@D…$HUTT1NG D0^^N]]   

The text flickered, sputtered and the display went blank. Deep Blue binary code filled body appeared.

Now I've got more questions than answers. “Blue, what did Mobius meant by 'them'."

The AI blinked, “I am sorry but my system had been formatted. The only data left is this fragment recovered from a Xenodrone that had tapped into my wiring during the abduct-"the AI frowned. “There is a few bits compressed into my core files…scanning…It appears to be a direction pointer." A blue beam of laser appeared and hit the crew photograph hanging on the wall.

I moved closer to the photograph and removed it from the wall. To my disappointment, it's a chart showing enzymes lock & key combination –not the typical secret safe in the wall.

“Wait a second," Bane bumped his nose and sniffed the chart. “It's empty."

“Of course it's empty. What else? Do sniff-"

“NO, I mean its oddly empty, dark, HOLLOW. Yes, that's the word: hollow. I can't see any wiring or sensors behind it. Maybe if I," Bane punched through the metal panelling behind the chart and revealed a keypad.

“Uhh…sir," Deep Blue interrupted. “That is an emergency ventilation duct (in case of fire or chemical mishaps) for this lab. Its subsystem is extremely isolated and directly connected to the engine. I guessed a wrong code would initiate a failsafe that would burn all of us using reverse suctioned engine exhaust."

I was about to say something when the AI interrupted, “Don't ask me. I did not know the code nor I have any other clue…Please do not die. Working with you had been an entertainment for my intellect and artificial consensus. Also, dead bodies could not-"

“Yeah, we get it," Bane hit the mute button.

The AI frowned in frustration and crossed its arms.

Bane and I began to look around. This is a puzzle. Puzzle are meant to be solved. It is made so that only certain people with THE answer or know how to get THE answer could solve it. The motivational drive behind this Indiana Jones-ing is to get something so precious that it worth more than an entire ship with a functional AI.

My train of thought continued as I walked beside Dr. Mobius workstation when Bane declared, “I found it!" He flashed a sticky torn note high in the air before rushing to the safe.

Something didn't seemed right. I dunno what it exactly is…but my instinct is screaming (again) at me saying that it is too easy. Okay, instinct, shut up. I need reasons. I stopped all my train of thought, took a deep breath and listened to my brain. There must be something in my subconscious mind that I missed. I noticed that Bane found the note near Ben bla-bla-bla workstation……….. My eyes caught a glimmer of a combination lock reflecting Deep Blue holographic lighting near the—.  OH NO!

A blast of alarm prompted my muscle reflex to run towards Bane, a lifetime of military training kicked in as I choose to fight instead of flee. Only that this time I'll be fighting against time—Worst enemy ever, expect everything.

“Arrgh!" Bane hissed painfully as a reinforced steel mesh dropped inside the vent—effectively stabbing a few centimetres deep into his arm.

“Could you pull your arm out?" I asked him calmly.

He winced and shook his head.

“Sir," Deep Blue interrupted with his voice coming from a desktop speaker, “you have around 86.254 seconds before the engine burn. I had delayed it as long as I can. Please solve the puzzle to disable the failsafe," He sounded monotone, his strings of blue code doubled and dimmed, straining to utilize available processing power as he generated and dumped zeta-bytes of junk data to flood the engine subsystem.

Okay, I got 'some' time to think…

The only clue given is a laser precise coordinate…pointing towards a photograph? I checked the photo frame, scanning its every surface—it's a bit dusty but…nothing found. “The only things written on it were names. Five crews named Robert Klein which is the ship captain, Melcia Mandala a mineralogist, Oliver O'Ryan and two people nicknamed 'Ben the snake keeper' and 'Mobius strip expert'."

“But, they're also nicknamed 'Fix-it-Felix', 'Dala', 'Borous', '8-head', 'Zero' and 'Mobius'…" Bane said before realising, “Oh, are you talking to yourself……Sorry, go on."

Hmm…I got two name lists. If I combined them I'll get : Robert 'Fix-it Felix' Klein, Melcia 'Dala' Mandala, Oliver '0' O'Ryan, Ben 'Borous the snake—“WAIT! That's it." I've figured it out.

“That's it what?" Bane remains clueless of what he just said.

“The answer is INFINITY!" I shouted out loud.

Bane scratched his head.

“All of the names translate to:

'8-head' pronounced as 'egghead' is obviously hiding the number 8 (eight) which is a rotated symbol of infinity.

Borous the Snake, is probably reference to the ancient symbol Ouroboros, which is typically depicted as a snake eating its own tail - another looping and infinite figure.

Mobius, which is a reference to the Möbius strip or Möbius Band, a 3D object which topologically has only one side.

Felix Klein, a mathematician who thought of the Klein bottle, basically…an equivalent to the Mobius strip in a higher dimension.

Uhh… 'Dala' Mandala is still a mystery though" I let the thought hang in the air.

“In that case," Bane said. “'Dala' must be a shortened form of 'Mandala', which means 'circle' in Sanskrit, another looping and infinite figure." He blinked and paused, “What are you waiting for? HOW DO I ENTER AN INFINITY NUMBER USING A NINE DIGITS KEYPAD????!!!!!"

“Try pressing '8' dumbass," I almost yelled.

“Negative," he replied through gritted teeth.

“10 seconds remaining…" Deep Blue warned and started a countdown timer.

OH NOW YOU TELL ME. FUCKN' AI. WHY IS EVERY TIMER THAT COULD KILL YOU IS DISPLAYED IN THE LAST 10 SECONDS. I mean, look at an egg timer. That thing could make you wait for hours!

“Fill all the digits with '8's!" I managed to say despite all the rage.

“00:00:06" Deep Blue displayed in red. 

“Not working!" Bane reply was deafened by a familiar hum of a turbine powering up.

“00:00:04"

Here goes nothing! I ejected my gauntlet away, shoved my small unarmoured left hand under the steel mesh, rotated the keypad and jammed my thumb against the '8' button with closed eyes.

….

…

..

.

The turbine powered down. I realize that I have been holding my breath. Bane and I crashed in a heap at the side of the air vent.

Bane gave me a fist bump and exhaled in relief.

Which I returned while panting heavily.

No words.

We're free.

Only the soldier is a free man, because he can look death in the face. - Friedrich Schiller