He could not get past the idea that, taken as a whole, the city looked almost like a castle…a very abstract, alien one as envisioned by ants or termites, but somehow castle-like. And he wondered if the castles men built were just embellished fortifications or if they were indeed inspired by race memories of places like this. Perhaps it was some unconscious attempt to duplicate the power of the alien cities, the grim and haunting majesty of them that would strike terror in the hearts of their enemies as these cities struck terror in the hearts of men.

As it was, Bell was glad he could not look up and see the thing rising above. What he could see…well that was more than enough.

Murphy brought the SDV to rest on a plate-like, fractured slab that might have been some sort of terrace once, but was now covered in corals and gorgonians. Worn, craggy sculptures like ornate headstones surrounded it in the pattern of five-pointed stars.

“I see you’re on site,” Javonivic’s voice came over the comm and Bell jumped in his suit. “Watch yourselves. Keep in VR at all times.”

“Yes, mother,” Murphy said, trying damn hard to inject a little humor, even if his guts were knotted like string.

Bell said nothing.

What was there to say?

Today was the big day: the day Murph and he actually entered the city. They’d spent the last two days on recon, getting the lay of the land, so to speak, and now it was time. No more playing pretend, now it was time to enter the big bad spook house and see how that felt, what it did to them personally, psychologically, and, yes, physically. Time to see how many more scars they could slash and burn into the soft white underbelly of their souls.

Realistically, Bell knew, they could sit around and play dumb and tell themselves this was just another job, but that was bullshit. This was not just another job. Already what they had been through had wounded something in them that would never properly heal. If they lived to tell the tale, this lake, this fucking city would be with them for the rest of their lives, showing its malign face every time they closed their eyes and very often when they were wide awake.

That was the level of damage incurred.

Because this place inspired a devastating horror, both mental and physical, that was etched into the infancy of the race. It was in places like this that primitive men, and the distant ancestors of men, had interacted with the Elder Things, the bogies. And the memory of that was not only of extreme psychological duress, but of pain, physical pain, cutting agony.

And, good God, as he neared the structure itself, Bell could feel those memories. Physically feel them.

“You ready, Chief?” Murphy said.

Bell told him he was, leading the way in.