The Apex of Man
The large reinforced door separated at the center and slid open ominously.
Ava reacted quickly, moving to crouch behind a worktable. She grasped her rifle, shouldered it, and took aim at the opening door.
Dominous did not take cover.
He remained standing directly in front of the doorway as it slid open to reveal six figures.
All six were clad in military assault suits. All six held their weapons at low ready. They appeared to carry double-barreled spread guns with oversized drum magazines.
This type of weapon was designed to fire a constant hail of metal at a problem until it stopped being a problem.
Ava had never had the opportunity to fire one, but she had studied them on the net while preparing for her combat certification. She had wanted to be able to readily identify weaponry on sight and understand its purpose—why it had been selected.
This weapon was chosen for tunnel clearing or firefights in tight, controlled spaces.
The six soldiers saw Dominous and began raising their weapons.
Ava did not have a clear field of fire on all of them. The men to the right were still partially obscured by the opening door, while the two on the left were blocked by Dominous.
She did have an angle on the two standing directly in front of him.
Ava pulled the trigger of her bullpup rifle, and it barked a three-round burst of high-heat thermite rounds.
The weapon kicked into her shoulder with a familiar buck, but she held it steady and sent another three-round burst into the same point on the heavy armor’s neck seal.
A suit like this could withstand considerable small-arms fire and suffer only nicks and scratches to its painted enamel. Armor-piercing tungsten rounds could prove effective when aimed at weak points.
Thermite rounds struck and continued burning, melting into the armor.
A single round would make little difference in a metal-shard slugfest, but repeated impacts against the same section would burn a hole directly through the armor and into the soft flesh of the wearer inside.
Ava fired again.
Before the final three-round burst landed, she knew it was unnecessary.
The guard was still bringing his weapon to bear when he realized he was beginning to burn. As the last burst struck, he started screaming.
The rounds penetrated the severely compromised seal, passed through his neck, and exploded against the interior rear of the suit.
Dominous stepped through the doorway and into the group.
The suits the soldiers wore—Ukko-Class Assault Suits—were top-of-the-line military technology. They were as similar to the servile Vesta-Class armor worn by the other guards as a mountain panther was to a house cat.
Ava shifted her aim toward the only other person she could reliably hit when Dominous stepped directly into her line of fire.
She began to curse, opening comms with a flick of her eyes to demand that he take cover.
Then she froze.
Dominous stepped and twisted, maneuvering among the soldiers.
His fist snapped outward and struck the man Ava had been targeting directly in the faceplate.
Punching an Ukko helmet was like punching a bulkhead.
The suit could withstand impacts from high-velocity mortars and even some medium-grade hull-mounted cannons. If the wearer suffered a substantial blow to the head, the suit’s systems would compensate and prevent whiplash by locking the neck in place.
It didn’t matter.
The faceplate shattered, and Dominous’s fist sank into the man’s skull.
Dominous continued through the movement and seized the next two soldiers to his left. He lifted them easily from the ground—a combined weight of at least twelve hundred pounds—spun, and hurled them into the two guards Ava could not clearly see.
Dominous’s hands returned to his rifle.
He brought it to bear and fired four controlled, precise shots.
Then he stood tall and turned toward Ava.
The door completed its opening sequence.
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“The elevator is clear,” he said.
Ava rose from cover and edged toward the doorway.
She peered inside at the pile of dead and broken elite soldiers in their superior equipment.
Each had been shot only once.
A hole through the helmet.
Dead center of the cranium.
Dominous stood motionless, allowing her to board before sending the elevator where it needed to go.
Ava lingered at the threshold, leaning into the elevator.
She looked toward the man Dominous had seemingly punched through.
She would not have believed it possible to drive a fist through heavy military-grade armor, but she could not deny what she had witnessed.
The Ukko helmet had shattered apart. Large pieces lay scattered around the soldier.
A soldier who no longer had a face.
There was only an open cavity where it should have been.
Ava felt a sudden wave of revulsion and looked away.
She tried to remain calm and focused.
She had seen what Dominous could do to an unarmored man with his bare hands, but this was magnitudes greater.
Military-grade meant exactly that. The suit had been designed to shrug off high-caliber rounds and survive much heavier strikes.
She knew such suits had weak points where precision and tactics could prevail against them.
But this had been nothing but brute force.
Dominous had punched directly through the helmet with enough power to crack it into shards.
Surely that much force should have destroyed his hand or damaged his own suit.
She turned toward him.
“Give me your hand,” Ava demanded.
Dominous stepped forward and raised one hand toward her.
“And now the other one.”
He allowed his rifle to rest against its sling and raised the other hand as well.
Ava inspected them both for damage.
There was none.
Not even a trace of blood.
The suit resembled her own Klavis Mark 3, designed for space exploration and reclamation work. Such a suit provided marked increases in strength and speed, temperature regulation, and a modern UI with AI compatibility.
It was far from a combat suit, though it was better than some weaker Class C models.
If Ava had attempted that punch, she would likely have damaged the suit’s gauntlet and shattered her own arm.
Dominous’s suit looked similar but subtly modified. The angles across the chest were slightly different. The material appeared thicker and more complete.
There were no breaks in the carapace where there should have been gaps to accommodate joints or seals.
He had created the suit from the artifact.
Whatever the artifact was made of, it was stronger than the titanium-alloy weave of an Ukko Class A suit.
Ava glanced again toward the faceless corpse, and her stomach churned.
She fought the urge to tear off her helmet and rush into a corner to empty her stomach.
The hollow where the face had been was a dark-red and black mass, with spots of white that could just as easily have been bone or teeth.
She had been afraid she would see his brain.
The bones and teeth were worse.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“To secure our passage to the navigational beacon, we had to eliminate all hostile personnel. These men are likely the first of many. Shall we proceed?” Dominous asked as he withdrew his hands from her inspection.
“No. I mean, why didn’t you just shoot them?”
“He was within easy reach as I moved toward his comrades. He also had his weapon raised and trained on your position,” Dominous answered as though it were obvious. “It was the most efficient course of action.”
Ava stared at him.
“You punched through him.”
“Yes.”
“His armor was rated to withstand medium-caliber antimateriel fire.”
“Yes.”
“And you just…” She made a vague motion with one hand. “Did that.”
Dominous regarded her silently for a moment.
“It appears I am stronger than the armor.”
“That doesn’t explain anything!” she snapped.
“No,” he agreed. “It does not.”
Ava blinked.
“You know, you’re very frustrating.”
“I will make a note. Thank you for your assessment, Salvage Team Lead.”
She released a breath that was almost a laugh, though it quickly died as she looked back toward the corpse.
“Could you have just shot him?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Dominous tilted his head slightly.
“There was no practical reason to expend ammunition.”
Ava stared at him in disbelief.
“You saved bullets?”
“Yes.”
“You turned a man’s head into paste to save bullets?”
“Yes. Convenience was also a factor.”
There was another long silence.
“Okay. Maybe don’t do that again.”
Dominous remained silent for several seconds.
“If the tactical situation permits.”
Ava rubbed her face with one hand.
“No. See, that isn’t reassuring.”
“Would you prefer that I lie?”
“No.”
“Then I do not understand the issue.”
Ava let out a long sigh.
Of course he didn’t.
She looked back at the dead soldiers once more before stepping fully into the elevator.
“Just… next time, shoot them first.”
Dominous considered this.
“That appears to be a sentimental preference rather than a practical one. The result unsettles you.”
“Yes. Probably. It is barbaric. Savage.”
“I assure you that he felt nothing. I will attempt to account for the perceived barbarity without sacrificing efficiency.”
Ava looked toward him.
“Thanks.”
“You are welcome, Salvage Team Lead.”
The elevator doors began to close.