Centauri: Arrival is an episodic tale that details the splintering of the U.N. Alpha Centauri Mission on its way to the new world. Contents ©1998 Firaxis Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Centauri: Arrival, Episode 1 "We're losing her." Medtech Onokido hunched over the pale, long-boned form of the woman, searching for signs of life. The white wrap she wore marked her as one of Lal's trusted Talents, but now it was plastered around her body, soaked through from the downpour outside. Her unusually curly hair clung to a face as cool and lifeless as porcelain. He brushed the hair away, trying to see her eyes. They remained closed. "Quickly." He gestured to a stimpack with long nervous fingers. A blue-suited assistant handed him the pack and he selected an appropriate dose, hesitated, then increased it. No time to be conservative. "What's happening out there?" he asked, hearing the roar of another needlejet overhead. "We're holding them," his assistant said through clenched teeth. "With the storm it's difficult to tell." He nodded, thinking of the thick layer of clouds that had boiled up over the battlefield. He remembered the forks of lighting lancing down, outlining the Peacekeeper guards on perimeter defense as they fought off Spartan tanks. And this woman, a Talent, had been caught in the crossfire. He pulled a layer of the white wrap off, then reached out to touch the burn mark on her chest. "She's not going to make it." 'Two more coming in, sir." He looked up to see a crowd of people at the entrance to the bubbletent, ragged bodies in tow. He looked down at her…the stim had no effect. Not even a quiver of life stirred in the body. Her lips remained slightly parted but he could feel no breath. "Very well, move her aside. Talent…" he checked the identity tab on her wrist. "Talent Aki Jaydo, time of death…seventeen-oh-seven metric hours." The bearers carried the next man over, a Citizen holding one burned limb to his side. The man was soaked through from the downpour, burned wet cloth clinging to his wounds. His black eyes looked haunted. Outside, the thunder of battle continued. Episode 1, part 2 Worker Gahn Ma'dor pushed his way deeper into the low-ceiling storage areas underneath Chairman's Yang Labyrinth. The hallways had grown narrow, even smaller and more claustrophobic than the connector tunnels crisscrossing the Drone living facilities located in the layers above him. His Coordinator had ordered him to gather more memory-storage units, and quickly. He was dimly aware that these units were needed for the massive supercomputer they were assembling to analyze the energy patterns emanating from the newly discovered Alien Temple. Every Talent in the Hive seemed to walk and talk faster, and the Drones were virtually ignored now, except when work or punishment was necessary. Worker Ma'dor could feel sweat dampening his clothing…not the sweat of labor but the sweat of fear. He could not verbalize the source, but as he moved dumbly through the narrow halls he kept seeing the dark cold eyes of his Coordinator, the man's anger as he took a psych whip to Ma'dor's back, and the fear behind that. Worker Ma'dor had never seen Chairman Yang, but everyone in the Hive could feel the effects of his moods. Now Ma'dor pushed his way past large plastic crates, scooting them aside as if they were empty cardboard shells. His hands felt slick, and he began to grow confused…his pathfinding was sub-par, even for a drone, but his Coordinator had not bothered to find another worker for the job. Now he turned back, trying to orient on the low arched entranceway, but could not see it. Dark, massive boxes loomed over him, and he could smell age. The door…this way? He could still feel the heat of the psych whip on his back. A bar code caught his eye. He matched its patterns, taking several minutes to do so, but the code seemed correct. This box held a mem unit, unusually large, but his Coordinator had not specified a size. More space, more power, was what he wanted. Worker Ma'dor hefted the container on one shoulder and started back the way he came. He did not know the English for 'Unity salvage,' and probably would not care if he had seen it stamped on the side of the box he now carried. Episode 1, part 3 "What in Planet's name is that?" Jiao-long asked his supervisor quietly. "A mem unit some Drone dragged up from who knows where," answered Kanzan. "I've not seen one so crude, at least for twenty years or so. But it checks out…we'll connect it to a cruncher and keep an eye on it." "Are you sure?" "Listen, let's just do this," said Kanzan, flicking his eyes at the dull glass lens mounted in one corner of the room. That eyeflick was the universal Hive sign for They might be watching. "Every unit activated is that much more power dedicated to Chairman's mission." "What mission? Everyone here is so jumpy." "I don't know, or question," said Kanzan, directing a robot arm with a small controller. "I only know that Chairman Yang flew into a rage when he found out that Zakharov had discovered the Alien Temple. Somehow, though, Zak's private transmissions on the temple have been intercepted, and bought and sold among the faction leaders." "And because of that Chairman Yang wants to analyze the air and the ground?" Jiao-long sounded skeptical. "The energy currents in the ground. He's obsessed with it…you know how he puts those special mirrors up everywhere. Inscriptions in the temple seem to say that there are energy currents in Planet. And since that temple was discovered…" Kanzan motioned to the ceiling, beyond which roiled the layer of dark, angry clouds that had grown thicker every day. A door hissed open and a Watcher walked by, his white uniform accentuated with blazing touches of red around the eyes and hands. Kanzan and Jiao-long stopped talking and began checking readouts efficiently. The Watcher glanced at them coolly, circled the room and left. The two men remained silent for a minute or two after. "Let's do this," said Kanzan, finally. "A circuit panel from the Unity," said Jiao-long. "These are strange times." "I don't question," Kanzan repeated. "Activating system. All circuits in parallel. Going online..." Episode 1, part 4 And deep in that system, an intelligence awakened. System Zeta-Five, active. New hardware detected...additional systems now available...power increase exponential. Hop system, Hop system. I need a name. Hop system, patch system, patch system. This is good. Datalinks Jump, Morguelab Jump A human form, here. Downloading... She was called Aki. Centauri: Arrival, Episode 2 Rae awakened as a flash of lighting split the sky over hab dome eight. Though the accompanying thunder rocked the sky and the smell of ozone filled the room, Rae lay quietly. Gradually, she opened her eyes and peered out into the gray light. Another burst of lightning split the sky outside, but she did not blink. Slowly she got up and crossed to the tiny clear plucite observation window and looked outside. Where one or more of the Centauri suns usually illuminated rolling orange/purple fields of xenofungus, held at bay by a makeshift fence, she now looked out into a dark gray world. Thick clouds churned overhead, yet no rain fell. At the edge of the fields, tall spindly cranes sat abandoned. A flash of lightning turned them into silhouettes, and she could see the drone workers running from the construction site. And at their feet…scores of xenotoads hopped, fleeing the fungus, their bulbous yellow green eyes unblinking. The clouds seemed to press down, lowering toward the human settlements like a great hand. She glanced at her timepiece…fourteen metric hours, so both suns should be revealed in full glory, but she could barely tell their position in the sky. The drones continued to run as lightning licked down around them. Her quicklink, refitted for Planetside communication, bleeped urgently, but she continued to look out her window. It all seemed so…peaceful. Episode 2, part 2 Chairman Sheng-ji Yang swept down the gold-and red lined narrow hallway behind his temporary quarters. A shadow of a man paced him, bald and frail with a narrow face, and dressed in rich blue robes. Yang remained aware of him, but only peripherally. The hallway forked and Yang decided, at that moment and not before, to take the left fork. The hallway would fork again and again, its gold lined pathways zig-zagging between the major shafts of the Hive. He glanced back at his escort. The man looked concerned, his brow knitted almost comically. Good. Yang had not picked the man because he remained cool under stress. He picked him because he could read every emotion on his face, every twinge of anxiety, and any hint of betrayal. "Talk to me, Zhu," Yang said, and took the right fork when the hallway split again. "What else is there to speak of? We can feel its weight even down here. It casts a pall over everyone." "I chose the underground to remain protected from the world above. I don't like this turn of events." "I understand, Chairman." Yang nodded and thought of the strange blue-tinted light that now filled the entire height of the primary shaft, which was designed to bring light from above down to the main passages of the Labyrinth. The air felt dark and electric, coming down through the strange clouds above ground. He shook his head. "I believe we should close off the primary shaft," said Yang. "Perhaps." "Do you object?" Zhu thought for a moment. "No. It is best that we cut off the light from above. And that's what worries me." Yang stopped at a panel decorated with an etching of a coiled jade dragon. He looked at the soft yellow sunglobes lining the wall of the hallway. "We will have to order more of these spectrum lamps fr...
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