The Destruction of Sennacherib

“For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, 
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; 
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, 
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!”
The Destruction of Sennacherib
Lord Byron 

Our story started 10 days ago, when we landed on this god damn moon. Basilica 10. The 10th moon of the planet Basilica. It's funny how they ran out of the names after the great space explorations in the '90s. In order to understand the cold you need to realize that Basilica is located in the far end of the New Solar system. 150 solar years away from our post. The orders from Secretariat said that our job was just a routine check of the automated antimatter plants located underneath the surface of this forgotten moon. How wrong were they?

The first thing I noticed, as we were docking at the shipyard, was the snow. I never saw snow in my life. It was beautiful. The entire moon was white. My thought was followed by a usual automated monotonous greeting from a computer.

"Welcome to Basilica 10........" than a wave of static noise...big voice was dead, and the facility was completely empty. At the check-in terminal there should be at least 3 to 5 people. No one was here. Something was wrong. We divided our group into two teams. Our fire team of six proceeded to the housing area. Fire team Bravo went to the antimatter plants. Among them were two scientists from Earth, the only one capable of understanding the technology behind the antimatter plants.

Something about black holes, that was all I remembered about them.

Housing area welcomed us with the same emptiness and silence. Automated doors were broken so we had to break in. Luckily the heating system was still working. Dead silence. No one was here too. It looked like they were never here...

- "Where are these antimatter plants located?" - asked 45 [45 was short from 00045].

- It should be a few blocks down the road on the left...you can't rally miss them...the giant wolfram carbide doors are hard to miss. - replied one of the scientist with grin on her face. 

A beautiful blonde girl she was...I noticed she had the ring on her hand...she was married...well there go my chances...

- Contact Bravo! - said the lead.

He was in his 50s, still doing the ground work. An honorable man, waiting for his 30 year to get out of "forgottens". A name given to the members of the Strike Group Alpha - deployed to the most remote regions of the known universe. “Once an Alpha always an Alpha” - they used to say. 

- Affirmative! - replied 46 [again short from 00046].

- Bravo lead, this is Alpha 1. Over.

- Static noise came from the other end.

- Bravo lead, this is Alpha 1, do you read me? Over.

- Nothing. - said the lead. Must be the damn radiation belt.

- Nope it's not, said the scientist. It can't be. There's no radiation belt around Basilica.

- Whatever, replied the lead. Let's go.A few minutes later, a giant gray door appeared on the left. There was a huge hole on the left side of it. The edges were bended outwards, towards us. The hole was around 2.5m in diameter in a shape of a perfect circle.  

- This can't be happening. WC is one of the strongest materials in the universe.

- What's a WC? Water Closet?

- Wolfram Carbide. Will you please shut up! – said the scientist.

- Yes ma'am! You're the boss! 

- Ok let's get in! -said the lead in a calm voice. 45 and 49 stay here! The rest inside - pointed the lead with his head.

It was dark inside. Dusty. Particles were floating around the room flickering in the light. 

-Ok we need to get to the control room. It should be the room 5B89. - said Whitney braking the perfect silence.

- Can you explain me what exactly are these antimatter plants? - asked 47 [short from 00047]. 

- In a short...these are mini black holes. You know what black hole is, right?

- Sure... - replied 47.

- Anyhow, we create the mini black holes and harvest their energy. Insane amounts of energy. We're able to generate enough energy to power the whole colony and the mining facilities.  

- Aren’t black holes dangerous?

- Yes they are that's why they are 300m underground in WC sarcophagus and that's why we have those wolfram doors outside. Well used to have. Give me your magazine. - said the scientist.

- Ok see this - and pointed on the jacked of the bullet. That's WC...it goes through anything. Your series is a really dumbed down version of the previous ones. I remember working with Elpida series and boy those guys were brilliant.  

- What can I say. Budget cuts.

- Anyhow this elevator should take us right down.

Six of them entered the elevator. It was a pretty big elevator. Largest I've seen in my life and the cargo elevator on the Optima 4 [Leviathan class ship] could fit a full size Heavy Bomber some 40m wide. This one ought to be at least 50. Why would they build such a big elevator? My thought was interrupted when the elevator stopped. The door slowly started to open. 

A few ball shaped drops of something floated in the elevator...they were the size of a basket ball. They were absorbing the light. 

Stay away from these. - said Emily.

This is the oil from the hydraulic pumps. What the hell is it doing h...She was interrupted by the silhouette that appeared in front of them. Then the silhouette stepped in. The man was about 2.5m tall with piercing blue eyes. Unnaturally blue. That was all she was able to see. The carnage started and everything was over in just a few minutes. Last thing 47 was able to see was this picture moments before he died. We recovered it from his memory unit. 

- Wait, is this what I think it is?

- Yes Sir! The team is assembled and 45 will be joining us. He is the sole survivor. We found 49 a good 100m away from the "Dome". He was covered in blood, his liver was blown to pieces. It is still unclear how he managed to get that far. His memory unit and hippocampus are missing, no information from him. -

Too bad. Anyhow, I will personally administer the mission. By the way what happened to the Bravo team?

- Never got hold of them Sir.

- Also Optima 1, 2, and 3 are ready per your orders. That's almost half of our fleet. 

- Well, better safe than sorry. 

- How old are these Leviathans?

- Well Optima 1 was commissioned at the end of 21st century. 2095 if I remember correctly. So it should be over a 100 years by now.

- Tough ships. It is remarkable we're still using them.

- We'll the tech didn't progress that far after they were built. And the Particle Wars didn't help also.

- Yes, millions died. The old man took a deep breath and continued... Do you know how they got the name Leviathan?-

No Sir. 

- Walk with me, I'll tell you a story. I need a smoke. After a few steps the old man asked again. Do you believe in God Marcus?

- Nietzsche said “God is dead”.

- Well, Nietzsche is also dead. Correct?  – replied the old man. What do you believe?

- Well, after seeing this I don’t know what to say Sir, I never believed in God. I don’t know what to say now…The old man started to talk about the Leviathan…